The Express TribuneAfter revelations that Adviser to Prime Minister on Aviation Shujaat Azeem was court-martialled by Pakistan Air Force, a similar case of a high-ranking National Accountability Bureau officer being court-martialled by Pakistan Army has come to light. Sources familiar with the development revealed to The Express Tribune that Husnain Ahmed, currently serving as Director General NAB Punjab was court-martialled by the army during training of Pakistan Military Academy Long Course-69. According to the Army Act, a person who is court-martialled cannot hold any public office or government post. Ahmed and three others were also appointed as directors-general on BPS-21 post in NAB by ex-chief Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari when the caretaker government was in power. After the Supreme Court passed an order suspending appointments and transfers made by the caretaker government, these four newly appointed DGs – DG Human Resources and Finance Altaf Bahawani, DG Operations NAB headquarters Zahir Shah, DG NAB Headquarters Brigadier (retd) Farooq Nasir Awan and Ahmed – are still occupying these positions illegally . Bokhari appointed them despite the fact that the Election Commission of Pakistan, in response to the accountability body’s letter, barred it from making new appointments. But NAB concealed these facts from the apex court as well as the implementation cell of the federal government that was established regarding careful review of all decisions and directives of the caretaker government in compliance of Supreme Court’s orders. The contents of the letter of the Cabinet Division vide No1/2/2013-IMP-II available with The Express Tribune reads, “The Prime Minister has desired that the Cabinet Division may undertake a holistic review of all directives issued/decisions taken during the incumbency of the caretaker government and re-submit them for orders of the Prime Minister whenever appropriate. “It is therefore requested that all directives issued/decisions taken by the caretaker government may please be conveyed to this division for desired action.” Despite receiving this letter, NAB has concealed facts from the Cabinet Division in its reply that no appointments and transfers were made during the interim setup. Sources also revealed that Ahmed is occupying two official residences at the same time in Islamabad and Lahore despite the fact that a public servant is entitled to only one official residence.
M WAQAR..... "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary.Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." --Albert Einstein !!! NEWS,ARTICLES,EDITORIALS,MUSIC... Ze chi pe mayeen yum da agha pukhtunistan de.....(Liberal,Progressive,Secular World.)''Secularism is not against religion; it is the message of humanity.'' تل ده وی پثتونستآن
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Pakistan: Illegal post: Court-martialled army officer grabs NAB post
PPP delegation meets Imran Khan

Pakistan Peoples Party’s delegation consisting of Raza Rabbani‚ Khurshid Shah‚ Qamar Zaman Kaira and Rehman Malik held a meeting with PTI chief Chairman Imran Khan at his residence. Talikng to media, PPP leader Senator Aitzaz Ahsan said that the meeting with PTI Chairman was positive and constructive. He said people should wait till Friday for final decision regarding fielding a joint candidate for presidential election or boycotting it.
Pakistan: SC decision on presidential poll date attack on federation: Rabbani

PPP to make decision on contesting presidential election today
http://www.geo.tv/The Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) candidate for the presidential election, Raza Rabbani said Thursday that the party would make a decision regarding contesting the polls later today (Thursday).

Watchdog critical of State Department contracting in Afghanistan

Did India ignore warnings in free meals scheme?
U.S. Award For Afghan Justice 'Deficient'
http://www.rferl.org/Federal inspectors say a U.S. government award to an organization that promotes the rule of law in Afghanistan does not appear to contain basic oversight provisions from the State Department. In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry on July 24, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said there were "serious deficiencies" in the award to the Rome-based International Development Law Organization. The award, meant to benefit the Afghanistan Justice Training Transition Program, is expected to cost U.S. taxpayers about $50 million. Special Inspector General John Sopko said lack of oversight requirements could indicate that the U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs is scaling back on its oversight of a program that is considered central to U.S. efforts to promote the rule of law in Afghanistan. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. State Department.
Pakistan: Democratic Delusions
By Joseph Loconte, Ph.D.The contrast between political rhetoric and everyday reality is often stark, even in democracies, where politicians are free to speak the truth about the ills facing their societies. But the discontinuity seems greatest in the Islamic world, where religious dogmas and delusions thrive, and nowhere greater than in Pakistan. Just consider President Asif Ali Zardari's address to a joint session of parliament last month, following national elections that returned Nawaz Sharif to power as prime minister. After noting his role as the nation's first elected civilian to oversee a "democratic" transfer of power, Zardari praised the establishment of democratic government in Pakistan. He extolled the "grace and glory of democracy" that had taken root in his country. He announced the "success of a prolonged struggle" toward democracy, insisting that "a dream has come true; a promise has been redeemed." He claimed that parliament had "purged the Constitution of undemocratic articles." He explained that voter participation in the parliamentary elections "shows that the ethos of our people is democratic." Thanks to the sacrifice of the nation's political leaders, he said, "democracy has arrived." The great, historic test of democracies, however, is not their capacity to hold elections. It is whether they deliver justice to the least powerful members of their societies, especially their ethnic, racial, and religious minorities. Put another way, democracies differ from tyrannies by their ability to make peace with modern pluralism. And by this test, Pakistan -- a self-declared Muslim state devoted to upholding Sunni Islam -- represents a loathsome retreat into sectarian terror. "This is not an economic battle any longer, this is a battle of ideologies," Shuja Nawaz, director of the South Asia Center of the Atlantic Council told a Washington, DC gathering last week. "Pakistan is what I would call a failing society." That dark assessment was echoed at a panel discussion, hosted by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), about the growing threat of religiously motivated violence against Muslim and non-Muslim minorities. The panel included Rahat Husain, legal affairs director of the Universal Muslim Association of America, which advocates for Shi'a Muslims; Peter Bhatti, chairman of International Christian Voice; Qasim Rashid, spokesperson for Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA; and Jay Kansara, associate director of the Hindu American Foundation. USCIRF's report, "Pakistan: A History of Violence," documents 18 months of publicly-reported attacks against religious communities. The findings make the bloodletting in Iraq and Afghanistan almost seem like child's play. Over the course of the study, there were 203 separate acts of sectarian violence, injuring more than 1,800 people and claiming the lives over 700 men, women, and children. The largest number of attacks was against Shi'a Muslims, followed by Ahmadis, Christians, Hindus and Sikhs. The methods include suicide bombs, bombs in markets and mosques, drive-by shootings, attacks on religious sites, torture, beheadings, and mob violence. The victims, overwhelmingly civilians, included: An opthamologist and his son, shot and killed. A doctor gunned down in his clinic. Four shopkeepers fatally shot while at work. A 14-year-old girl killed at a religious meeting. A 12-year-old girl gang-raped and murdered. An 11-year-old boy, burned, tortured, mutilated and murdered. A 44-year-old school teacher fatally shot on his way home. A 43-year-old school teacher tortured to death while in police custody. A prayer leader killed in a mosque. A disabled man burned alive by a mob. And the list goes on. It is true that "private citizens" and militant groups officially banned by the government committed most of these atrocities. But the real atrocity is that Pakistan sustains what USCIRF calls a "climate of impunity" for this violence. Perpetrators are rarely apprehended or prosecuted. The overall response of the Pakistani government, according to USCIRF, has been "grossly inadequate." The problem is not just a failure of political will, but rather a deep conflict between the doctrines of political Islam and the tenets of liberal democracy. A government that uses blasphemy laws to criminalize speech deemed "offensive" to Sunni Islam does not have a democratic ethos. A law enforcement regime that refuses to ensure the security of an entire community because of theological differences -- the Shi'a Muslims, who have endured scores of lethal attacks as police looked the other way -- does not have a democratic ethos. A constitution that politically disenfranchises people because of religion -- the Ahmadis, who cannot vote without publicly renouncing their faith -- does not have a democratic ethos. A state education system that vilifies people because of their beliefs -- the Hindus, portrayed in textbooks as extremists and "the enemy of Islam" -- does not have a democratic ethos. No, the ethos that appears to be overwhelming the state of Pakistan is not inspired by democratic ideals. It is, instead, nurtured by the visions and hatreds and paranoia of a perverted faith. This is the cultural crisis of Pakistan. It was on tragic display earlier this month, when Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani teenager campaigning for girls' education, visited the United Nations in New York. The 16-year-old Yousafzai barely survived an assassination attempt by the Pakistani Taliban last October, when she was shot in the face at point-blank range. As she told an appreciative audience in New York: "Extremists are afraid of books and pens." Back home in Pakistan, however, Taliban leaders lashed out at her in an open letter to the Pakistani people, calling her efforts "satanic" and part of a larger Western plot to enslave the world. The extremists seem to be winning the argument. "Many people hate Malala," Zubair Torwali, a newspaper columnists from the Swat Valley, told The New York Times. "Anything here in Pakistan related to the West or America becomes a thing of conspiracy. The Taliban's ideology is flourishing in Pakistan. It is victorious." This ideology of exclusion and hate may not be triumphant in Pakistan, but it does seem to be gaining ground. A turning point came with the assassinations in 2011 of two prominent government leaders critical of the nation's blasphemy laws and systematic repression of minorities. One was Salmaan Taseer, a Muslim, and governor of Punjab, and another was Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, and the federal minister for Minorities Affairs. Their deaths were openly applauded by leading politicians and clerics. The great tragedy of this lurch toward extremism is that it alienates large segments of the population from Pakistani society -- individuals and groups that could help to moderate and reform its political culture. The founding fathers of Pakistan "had a broad vision of inclusion" and recognized that "Christians have played an important role" in the history of the country, said Peter Bhatti, brother of Shahbaz Bhatti, who has taken up his brother's cause. Despite the spike in violence against Christians, he said, "we will remain loyal citizens of Pakistan." What religious minorities in Pakistan appear to share, in fact, is a commitment to a democratic state worthy of the name: a nation that ensures equal justice under the law for all its citizens, regardless of race, gender, or creed. This is what constitutes a democratic ethos, in law and in custom. Political philosopher John Locke, in his Letter Concerning Toleraton (1689), explained the core moral obligation of a just state in this way: "It is the duty of the civil magistrate, by the impartial execution of equal laws, to secure unto all the people in general, and to every one of his subjects in particular, the just possession of these things to this life." Pakistan's political leadership gives lip service to this principle, as if prompted by a guilty conscience. "Let everyone be judged by the same yardstick," President Zardari told the parliament. But until Pakistan takes significant steps toward this goal -- in its politics as well as its broader culture -- its descent into a violent, sectarian quagmire is assured. Joseph Loconte, PhD, is an associate professor of history at the King's College in New York City and the author of Gospel of Liberty: John Locke and the Struggle for Religious Freedom (Lexington Books, forthcoming).
PPP mulls quitting the race over ‘biased’ decision by SC
PPP evaluating decision to contest presidential election: Aitzaz Ahsan
PPP to consult PTI, others over election boycott today


Senior Frontier Reserve Police official injured in Peshawar attack

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