Friday, October 31, 2014
Turkey Sultan unveils new palace: Another break with symbols of secular state
Ecologists denounce ‘White Palace’ as environmental blight and opposition says it is evidence of Erdogan autocratic tendencies.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday unveiled a new presidential palace on the outskirts of Ankara, denounced by ecologists as an environmental blight and by the opposition as evidence of his autocratic tendencies. Erdogan hosted his first official event at the new palace, a ceremony congratulating dignitaries on the annual republic day marking the foundation of modern Turkey in 1923 out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. The complex, located in the Bestepe (Five Hills) area, has become known as the Ak Saray -- the White Palace. An immense project -- built at a reported cost of $350 million -- has an area of 200,000 square metres (21,50,000 square feet), 1,000 rooms and architecture that is supposed to marry modernism and the traditions of the mediaeval Seljuk dynasty. Erdogan cancelled an evening reception that was to be held Wednesday evening at the palace because of a mining disaster in the southern Karaman province that has left 18 miners trapped. "It would not be appropriate to hold this reception at such a time," Erdogan told reporters in televised comments inside the palace, before heading to the scene of the disaster. According to Turkish media reports, invitations for the reception had been sent out to 2,500 couples. The palace will become the new home of the Turkish presidency, marking an historic break with the Cankaya presidential palace in downtown Ankara. The Cankaya has been the seat of the Turkish president ever since the modern republic's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk became president and for many has been a symbol of Turkey's modern history as a progressive secular state. From Ataturk to Erdogan, it has been the home of 12 Turkish presidents. The move to the new palace is a vivid symbol of what Erdogan touts as his drive towards a "new Turkey". But for the opposition, the new palace marks another betrayal by Erdogan of Turkey's secular heritage bequeathed by Ataturk who based the republic on a strict separation of religion and state. The opposition accuses Erdogan, who became president in August after over a decade as prime minister, of imposing a gradual Islamisation and riding roughshod over Turkey's democracy. For them, Erdogan has rubbed more salt into the wound by opening the palace on republic day, the dearest of all Turkish holidays for secularists. Umut Oran, a deputy for the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) ridiculed the extravagance of the palace, saying that with the same funds Turkey could have sent three satellites to Mars. "What could have been done with that money?" he asked according to the Dogan news agency, claiming the presidency's budget was three times that of the British royal family. The Bestepe complex had initially been envisaged for the Turkish prime minister but in the end Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his staff will move into the Cankaya. The name of the palace, Ak Saray, is also a play on the name of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) which is known to its followers as the AK Party. The post of president has been a largely ceremonial role in recent years. But Erdogan has vowed to wield real power, something he has clearly done in his first weeks in office. The new complex is also controversial among environmental activists because hundreds of trees were cut down to make way for it, even though it was one of the best preserved green spaces in the city. Furthermore, the palace has been built on land where Ataturk created a forest farm that was then donated to the state. Erdogan in March defied a court order halting the construction. According to Turkish media, the design of one of the offices is based on the White House's oval office.
Feminist activist detained in Saudi Arabia over 'calls for women’s liberation'
Rori Donaghy
A complaint is being investigated against Souad al-Shammary she broke the law in the process of campaigning for increased women's rights
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Pakistan: Asia Bibi losing hope on death row: family
A Pakistani Christian woman condemned to death four years ago for blasphemy is losing hope that she will be freed or pardoned, her husband, forced into hiding by his wife's conviction, told AFP Friday.
Asia Bibi has been on death row since November 2010 after she was found guilty of making derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) during an argument with a Muslim woman.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) confirmed the death sentence two weeks ago, dashing hopes it might be commuted to a jail term.
Speaking to AFP after visiting Bibi for the first time since the Lahore court's ruling, her husband Ashiq Masih said it had come as a crushing blow.
“Asia was hopeful that her appeal would be admitted and she would be freed, but now she has lost hope,” Masih told AFP.
“She was distraught, weeping for most of the time I had with her, appealing to the Supreme Court and president to use their powers to give her justice.”
Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in the majority Muslim country, with even unproven allegations often prompting mob violence.
Masih, 50, lives in hiding with two of his five children and has to keep his identity secret as he scrapes together a living as a daily labourer. He visits his wife once a month, making a five and a half hour journey to her jail in Multan in southern Punjab.
Reaching the condemned cell, where Bibi lives in her white prison uniform, clutching a Bible for blessings despite being illiterate, involves yet more hours of checks and screening.
Controversial case
The allegations against Asia Bibi date back to June 2009, when she was labouring in a field and a row broke out with some Muslim women she was working with.
She was asked to fetch water, but the Muslim women objected, saying that as a non-Muslim she was unfit to touch the water bowl. A few days later the women went to a local cleric and put forward the blasphemy allegations.
Amnesty International has raised “serious concerns” about the fairness of her trial and has called for her release.
The family insists the case against her was fabricated, the allegations invented to settle the personal dispute – an abuse of the blasphemy law that campaigners say is all too common.
“We were surprised by the order of the high court confirming her death sentence,” Masih said.
Three of Ashiq's children are married and he lives with daughters Esha, 14, who has problems walking and speaking, and Esham, 13.
Despite four years of separation, the memory of their mother is still vivid for the girls, and they made a card to send her in prison on Mothers' Day.
“We miss her. We want her to be with us as soon as possible,” Esham, dressed in her white school uniform, told AFP.
“I still remember the days when we used to sleep with her. She used to change our clothes and cook our favourite food for us.”
Also vivid is the memory of the day the family's lives changed forever.
“I came back from school and some people had taken my mother from home and were beating her. Her clothes were torn,” Esham recalled.
“I asked them to change her clothes but they pushed me to the wall of the room. They were asking her to become a Muslim if she wanted to save her life while she kept saying she had done nothing.”
Pakistan has never executed anyone for blasphemy and has had a de-facto moratorium on civilian executions since 2008.
But anyone convicted, or even just accused, of insulting Islam, risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of vigilantes, and prison is no safe haven.
An elderly British man with severe mental illness, sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan in January, was shot by a prison guard last month.
An internal investigation has found that the guard had been radicalised and goaded into the shooting by Mumtaz Qadri, a police bodyguard who murdered the Punjab governor in 2011 for suggesting reform of the blasphemy laws.
Pakistan - Bombing of All Saints Church - "We are still begging for justice" - Peshawar Anglicans
Anglican Alliance] In a recent visit to the Diocese of Peshawar, Pakistan, Andy Bowerman, Co-Director for the Anglican Alliance, heard from those affected by the bombing of All Saints Church last year. He writes this reflection.
“Last year was the worst year of my life. I do not see things getting better in the near future,” says Uzma Insar, a 33-year-old homemaker, who belongs to the Christian community of Peshawar.
Uzma lost her two children on September 22, 2013, when two suicide bombers blew up All Saints Church located inside the Kohati Gate of the old walled city of Peshawar after a Sunday service, killing nearly 100 worshippers.
She tells me that she remembers she tried to convince her nine-year-old daughter, Nehar, who was running a fever that day, and her 11-year-old son Eshan Gohar to miss Sunday school at the church. “They were excited to attend school, as they had done their homework and wanted to show it in the class,” she says. For Uzma time has not moved on, it’s frozen. She vividly recalls every detail of the explosion – the two blasts and then destruction, smoke, painful cries, blood, bodies. “I wish I had not lived to see it at all”, she says quietly.
The explosion had critically injured Uzma. She was kept in the intensive care unit for a week and then in the ward for two months, where her injuries were treated. One year on, Uzma and her community members live under the shadow of the two blasts. She says there is no respite from fear. “I could not weep or smile for two months after the incident. I had to go through psychological counselling for a month to feel anything like normal,” says Uzma’s husband Insar Gohar.
The tragic incident has however enabled him to find what he calls a deeper faith. “We go to church regularly but avoid the All Saints Church. We go to other churches because All Saints Church reminds us of our children,” he says. “But we count it as a privilege that we have been enabled by God’s grace to go through this trial and come out with a stronger faith.”
Insar is part of the religious counselling programme and visits the survivors of the bomb attack at their homes. Many are still dealing not just with the physical but the mental affects of the tragic events.
All of the Christian families that I met in the Kohati area of Peshawar have a heart-wrenching story to tell. According to data collected by the Diocese of Peshawar, the September 2013 attack, left 54 children orphaned, 16 widows, seven widowers. Five people that were critically injured are still recovering and seven others have been significantly disabled.
Several people belonging to the Christian community have already moved from Peshawar to Sri Lanka and Malaysia. “Most of the families who have links or resources have either left the area or are in the process of moving,” says Danish Younis, 35, who was injured in the blast.
Danish goes to the church regularly but feels the place has changed. “We have to go through strict security checks. There are signs of destruction from the blasts on the walls of the church. Every visit to the church reminds me of September 22, 2013. My two children were also with me. They were saved but I saw dozens of children getting killed,” he says, adding, “It is not easy to forget those scenes.”
Although the religious leaders of the community still preach faith and hope, Rev. Joseph John, priest at Diocese of Peshawar says, “the current situation is difficult. Yes, there is hope because ours is the God of hope but the entire Christian community feels insecure after the attack”.
Rev Joseph continued, “There is a danger that the church will lose its identity. It is no more the All Saints Church — but the church that was attacked in September 2013 when nearly 100 people were killed.”
Haroon Sarab Diyal, chairman of All Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement and executive member of Commission for Peace and Minority Rights, says every second non-Muslim Pakistanis (he refuses to use the word minority for them) and even members of some Muslim sects want to leave this country: “Nine members of the Sikh community were killed in Peshawar in the last year. In January, this year, a Hindu temple was attacked,” he said.
The Director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, I.A. Rehman said “Minorities in Pakistan are increasingly feeling insecure since the present government came to power in June last year. He referred to their 2013 annual report saying that the last year was “one of the darkest ” for Christians in Pakistan, with the deadliest ever attack on the community mounted in Peshawar in September.
A year on, and the Christian community in Peshawar is still waiting for justice and fulfillment of promises by the government. “We are still begging for justice,” says Bishop Humphrey Peters, Diocese of Peshawar and Anglican Alliance board member. “But we don’t simply want handouts from people, we want recognition and them to support us to be the church that God has called us to be”
The federal government pledged to fund Rs200 million for an endowment for orphans and widows. “We decided to develop a church house for orphans and widows with the promised amount but it has not been released yet. The struggle for justice and compensation has already become too long,” says Bishop Humphrey.
http://www.anglicannews.org/news/2014/10/we-are-still-begging-for-justice-peshawar-anglicans.aspx
Pakistan - 3 more polio cases surface in Balochistan, toll hits 235
Three more polio cases emerged in Balochistan on Friday, raising the toll of this year to 235. According to details, the National Health Institute has confirmed presence of the polio virus in at least three children in Qila Abdullah district. The sources said that paramedical staff in the Balochistan province faces political interference causing difficulties in fight against the polio epidemic. The total number of polio cases in the province has reached 10.
Bilawal, Aseefa meet Malala in Birmingham
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his sister Aseefa Bhutto Zardari met Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and her family in Birmingham on Thursday, according to a tweet by Bilawal.
“Met Malala @MalalaFund to congratulate her on winning the #NobelPeacePrice,” stated Bilawal’s tweet.
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2014/10/30/national/bilawal-aseefa-meet-malala-in-birmingham/
Pakistan names women's tournament after Malala
Pakistan's cricket authorities have named their under-21 women's tournament after Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai in an effort to encourage girls to take up the game.
Malala, who campaigns for the right of all children to go to school, survived a Taliban assassination attempt in 2012 and earlier this month became the youngest ever winner of the Nobel peace prize.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said the Under-21 women's event to be held in December this year would be dedicated to Malala.
“PCB has decided to honour Malala, Pakistan's young Nobel laureate for peace 2014, by naming its inaugural Under-21 national women cricket championship 2014-2015 after her,” said a PCB release.
PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said he hoped the move would give female cricketers “inspiration and stimulus to excel”.
Khan said PCB has been focusing on women's cricket.
“Our women cricketers have gradually picked up and only last month the women's team has retained the Asian Games gold at Incheon,” he said.
The tournament is scheduled to be held in December with 12 regional teams taking part from all over Pakistan.
3 Reasons Modi Is Misguided on Pakistan
The new Indian government has pursued a noticeably harder line toward Pakistan-based terrorism than its predecessor. During the recent electoral campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a “zero-tolerance policy” and promised to “Talk to Pakistan in Pakistan’s language because it won’t learn lessons until then.” He has responded to the ongoing firefights along the Kashmir divide with aggressive shelling. Consonant with his tough-guy image, he boasts that “The enemy has realised that times have changed and their old habits will not be tolerated,” and displaying his skill in wordplay he proclaims that “This is not the time for empty talk [‘boli’] … but for bullet [‘goli’] for our soldiers.” Mr. Modi’s National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, stated last week that while New Delhi is willing to talk with Islamabad, “effective deterrence” is key to dealing with Pakistan. Referring to the cross-border skirmishes in Kashmir, Indian Defense Minister Arun Jaitley similarly warns that “Our conventional strength is far more than theirs and therefore if they persist with this, the cost to them would be unaffordable. They will also feel the pain of this kind of adventurism.” And a senior government official reports that “The prime minister’s office has instructed us to ensure that Pakistan suffers deep and heavy losses.” The merits of this tougher posture have sparked a lively debate within India. Some observers caution that “machismo has never worked as a plan against Pakistan” and that an approach based solely on coercion is “a dangerous game” that could easily spin out of control. A former Indian envoy to Pakistan contends that a policy of escalatory response is “what the Pakistani army wants and we are falling into this trap.” Others, however, argue (here, here and here) that Mr. Modi has no choice but to reply robustly to what are deliberate Pakistani tests of his resolve. But beyond this debate, there are other problems associated with Modi’s new line toward Pakistan that have so far escaped much notice. The first is that the coercive policy does not differentiate between jihadi groups over which Pakistan has some control and those that operate entirely in defiance of the Pakistani state and view triggering conflict between New Delhi and Islamabad as a way to advance their own interests. This problem is rooted in what can be called the Sorcerer’s Apprentice syndrome, from Goethe’s classic tale about the dangers of Pakistan’s habit of conjuring up proxies it cannot ultimately handle. A timely example occurred two months ago when jihadi forces assaulted a naval dockyard in Karachi, apparently with the aim of seizing a Pakistani frigate that would be used to attack Indian warships with anti-ship missiles. So far, New Delhi shows no evidence of even recognizing the deterrence conundrum raised by such actions. The risks of this approach are compounded by a second, even more basic, problem. The Modi government seems to believe that it can pursue a get-tough approach without the bother of engaging Islamabad diplomatically. Despite Modi’s active courting of India’s other neighbors, a leading spokesman of his political party argues that New Delhi has no interest or reason to focus on Pakistan until Islamabad proves its credibility as a negotiating partner by lifting the shadow of terrorism. According to media reports, Modi’s government is in no mood to take the first step to de-escalate cross-border tensions or resume diplomatic talks. In August, New Delhi abruptly cancelled foreign secretary-level talks on the grounds that the Pakistani ambassador had continued with the longstanding practice of meeting with Kashmiri separatists. This reaction may have been right in principle. But in practical terms, it amounted to a demand that Pakistan – which draws much of its national identity from the Kashmir conflict – make a significant diplomatic concession without receiving anything of importance in return. This was certainly no deal that any civilian government in Islamabad could accept as the price for merely beginning a conversation with Modi’s team, much less one that was then embroiled in a deep political crisis at home and uncertain of the military leadership’s allegiances. More recently, New Delhi has rebuffed other diplomatic overtures from Islamabad and Mr. Modi failed to take the time to meet with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif when both were in New York for last month’s annual conclave of the U.N. General Assembly. Indeed, the Indian government is in danger of becoming captive to its hawkish rhetoric. Defense Minister Jaitley emphasizes that “Of course we can talk to Pakistan, but it is up to Pakistan to create an atmosphere for talks.” Given the turmoil inside Pakistan, it will be difficult to start any sort of meaningful dialogue with Islamabad as long as that condition is strictly insisted upon. A third problem is even more fundamental. Mr. Modi appears to believe he can revitalize India’s great-power prospects without the trouble of reaching a basic accommodation with Pakistan. Yet New Delhi’s continuous ructions with Islamabad have constantly proven vexatious to its larger ambitions. They sap precious national resources (including the armed forces) and divert the attention of those leaders who prefer to look to larger arenas. They also create a paradox: India yearns for a place in the first ranks of world power and yet cannot establish much sway over its own neighbors. Despite the common civilizational and historical links that permeate South Asia, New Delhi has been unable to integrate the region in the same way that Beijing has economically stitched together the much more culturally diverse and geographically disperse East Asian area. Ignoring Pakistan may well score short-term political points at home but it is a poor strategy for the longer-term items on Mr. Modi’s agenda. Crafting the right blend of deterrence credibility and substantive engagement with rival states is a hard task for any government. But so far, the Modi government seems fixated one objective while paying little heed to the other.By David J. Karl
Behind India’s Pakistan quandary
Faced with Pakistan’s firing across the LoC, India has no option but to respond. However, in general, more subtle strategies to contain and counter threats from Pakistan would be in the country’s interest.Pakistan’s annual ritual of raising the Kashmir issue and the outdated U.N. resolutions at the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) has been followed by similar statements in Pakistan, including by the Chief of Army Staff, Raheel Sharif. Young Bilawal Bhutto has vowed to wrest every inch of Kashmir from India! The National Assembly has called for a diplomatic offensive. Pakistan’s desire to internationalise the Kashmir issue has been mentioned as one of the plausible reasons for the recent ceasefire violations by it. Left to Pakistan, the Kashmir issue would never go off the international radar screen. However, Pakistan’s efforts to internationalise it cannot succeed in the face of a mature Indian response. For starters, the international scenario has completely changed from the days when Pakistan’s theatrics on Kashmir attracted international attention. India has come a long way since then. Above all, Pakistan is not the same, both in its capacity to mobilise international opinion and the priorities of its people. Manifestos and Kashmir issue The ruling Pakistan Muslim League (N)’s manifesto for the May 2013 election in Pakistan contained the following paragraph on Kashmir: “Special efforts will be made to resolve the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, in accordance with the provisions of the relevant UN resolutions and the 1999 Lahore Accord and in consonance with the aspirations of the people of the territory for their inherent right of self-determination.” Significantly, this paragraph found a place in a three-page chapter on foreign policy and national security, beginning at page 80 of the 103-page document, with the first 79 pages devoted to bread-and-butter issues such as economic revival, energy security, agriculture and food security, a new framework for social change, democratic governance, science and technology, the employment challenge, speedy justice, etc. The chapter began by acknowledging that Pakistan was at war within and isolated abroad, its independence and sovereignty stood compromised, its economic weaknesses were forcing it to go around with a begging bowl in hand; while foreign states undertook unilateral strikes on its territory, non-state actors used it as a sanctuary to pursue their own agendas, oblivious to Pakistan’s interests and the country’s social, economic and political schisms were creating grave misgivings even in the minds of its friends. It noted that Pakistan is located at an important junction of South Asia, West Asia and Central Asia. Therefore, it could be a bridge between the energy-rich Central Asia and Iran on the one side and energy-deficit countries like China and India on the other and could also become a flourishing transit economy as the shortest land route from western China to the Arabian Sea, while linking India with Afghanistan and the Central Asian Republics. The paragraph on Kashmir figured at s.no.viii among the policy objectives listed in this chapter. It was preceded and succeeded by others such as establishing cordial and cooperative ties with Pakistan’s neighbours, making foreign policy formulation the sole preserve of elected representatives, making sure that all civil and military institutions, “including those dealing with security and/or intelligence matters” act as per the directives of the federal government, and according special importance to promotion of external trade, etc. The manifesto of the other major party, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had similar prioritisation with the first 60 out of 74 pages devoted to empowerment for all, inclusive and equitable growth, infrastructure and a new social contract, etc. However, the following reference figured on page 73: “We support the rights of the Kashmiri people and during our current government we initiated and continued to pursue a dialogue process agenda with India, including on Kashmir. We will not allow lack of progress on one agenda to impede progress on the others. Without prejudice to the UN Security Council Resolutions, we support open and safe borders at the Line of Control [LoC] to socially unite the Kashmiri people. We note that India and China have a border dispute and yet enjoy tension free relations.” Ties with India This did not imply that Pakistan’s major parties were about to jettison the Kashmir issue. Far from it. However, since political parties trim the sails of their manifestos to the winds of public opinion, the two manifestos were a good indicator of the priorities of the Pakistani people and the issues agitating their mind. To be sure, a civil or military leader in Pakistan can still whip up short-term hysteria on Kashmir, especially in periods of tension with India. But in a reflection of the public mood, India was not an issue of even marginal consequence in determining the choices of voters in the May 2013 election. The manifestos were unusual in their candour and content and a departure from the influential security state narrative, which ranks confronting “enemy India” over the welfare and progress of the Pakistani people. However, what has transpired after the 2013 election is extraordinarily usual for Pakistan and India-Pakistan relations. Soon after the election, the Pakistani media reported that the then Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Kayani, had advised the Prime Minister-elect, Nawaz Sharif, to go slow on relations with India. Subsequently, the killing of five Indian soldiers in a Pakistani ambush at the LoC in the Poonch sector in August 2013 put paid to the efforts of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to revive the peace process with the Nawaz Sharif government. During the visit of Mr. Sharif’s brother, Shahbaz Sharif to India in December 2013, it was decided to take the trade agenda forward, with India agreeing to give significantly improved market access to Pakistani products in return for Pakistan moving to a non-discriminatory market access regime (euphemism for Most Favoured Nation). However, Pakistan baulked at the eleventh hour, reportedly because of opposition by the army and the reluctance of the Nawaz government to clinch such an important deal with the outgoing Indian government on the eve of elections. Whatever the reason, Pakistan has failed to seal the trade deal, widely acknowledged by its top economists and businessmen to be in its interest, in spite of the positive attitude of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on the issue. The promise generated by Mr. Nawaz Sharif’s visit to India for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in in May 2014 was cut short by the meeting of the Pakistan envoy with the Hurriyat leaders. From recent events, it appears that the security state paradigm, which is revisionist not only regarding accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India, but also India’s leading role in South Asia and beyond, is on the ascendant again in Pakistan. Pakistan’s adversarial posture towards India has entailed heavy costs for us and significantly heavier costs for the smaller Pakistani economy. The gap between the two economies is growing. Therefore, sustenance of this posture by Pakistan would imply increasing detriment to its economy and the well-being of its people who, more than Kashmir, crave better governance and economic opportunities. The imperatives underlying the candour and constructive ideas in the manifestos mentioned remain unchanged. Therefore, it would be wrong to assume that the thinking underpinning those ideas has vanished or should count for nothing in our policy formulation. Countering threats Pakistani provocations, not entirely missing in periods of dialogue, tend to increase in its absence. Some are attempts to infuse life into its flagging “Kashmir cause” and drag us into verbal duels in the international arena, but have no impact on the ground situation. These, therefore, deserve cursory dismissal. References to Kashmir at the U.N. and the Pakistan-inspired hackneyed resolutions by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are some examples. We did well in responding to the Pakistani reference to Jammu and Kashmir at the UNGA at the level of a First Secretary, while offering, in Mr. Modi’s speech, dialogue without the shadow of terror. There are, on the other hand, provocations which impact the ground situation adversely for us. These include Pakistan’s continued harbouring of anti-India terror groups, infiltration of terrorists across the LoC and attempts to destabilise the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of India. Such efforts need to be thwarted resolutely. Faced with Pakistan’s firing across the LoC, we have no option but to respond. However, in general, more subtle strategies to contain and counter threats from Pakistan would be in our interest. Finally, the jingoistic and threatening rhetoric in a section of our media in response to each provocation from Pakistan does us no good. Our growing power ought to be felt by our adversaries and not flaunted. Threatening language tends to drive a significant number in Pakistan, who think constructively of relations with India, into the arms of the security state proponents.
Pakistan: Imran Khan in his labyrinth
His obstinacy is depriving him of erstwhile alliesLed by false hopes Imran Khan has landed himself in a cul-de-sac. It has suddenly dawned upon him now that the army and courts won’t support any move against the status quo. One is not sure how long this moment of lucidity remains. Instead of going round and round and reaching the same dead end, he needs to stop for a while, relax and do some thinking. Unless he does so it may not be long before workers, tired of unproductive protest marches, start ditching him. Despite all the commitment on the part of his workers and spending huge amount of funds, Khan has failed to get Nawaz Sharif’s resignation. A good leader has to try a new set of tactics when the old ones fail. It is not a matter of shame to change course or stage a retreat when necessary. The resignations sent by his MNAs have yet not been accepted. Would it not be more sensible to try now to achieve his objectives through Parliament? By returning to NA the PTI can play a key role in evolving the much needed electoral reforms. Imran Khan’s obstinacy is depriving him of erstwhile allies. The first to part company was Tahirul Qadri. He needs now to take note of Sirjul Haq’s remarks whose Jamaat-e-Islami is a part of the coalition led by the PTI in KP. The unbending stance taken by Nawaz Shrif and Imran Khan has led Haq to maintain that “both are playing dirty politics for their own benefits”, and that the both are “two sides of the same coin”. Despite its confrontationist politics, the PTI is considered to be a party with a modern outlook. Khan needs to review what kind of an image the PTI is acquiring by following JI’s ideological lead. On Wednesday the KP Assembly put aside a resolution for Malala Yousafzai whose Nobel brought honour to KP and Pakistan. Instead the Assembly passed another resolution to press the US for freeing Aafia Siddiqui.
Deprived province: ‘Flawed policy main obstacle in development’
The Express TribuneScholars on Thursday emphasised that development activities and political participation were to go hand in hand if economic progress was sought in Balochistan. Speaking at a conference on “Balochistan: Enhancing the Pace of Development and Prosperity” they stressed that the main obstacle to development has been flawed official policies which pursue programmes and plans without involving the public. Inaugurating the conference, organised by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed explained the standing committee on defence, of which he is the head, had initiated the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package. Secretary Ministry of Communications and former chief secretary of Balochistan, Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad, presented an overview of the development work in the province.”It is no wonder that today Balochistan has the lowest social indices,” he said. He added that this year, for the first time, 90 per cent of the allocated funds were disbursed. Vice-Chancellor of the Agriculture University, Faisalabad, Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan added to the discussion saying that Balochistan had 33 million acres of cultivable land which was about the same as in Punjab. “Only the problem of water scarcity has been neglected otherwise Balochistan could have been a source of food security for the entire country,” he said.
Pakistan: The PTI circus
The PTI may have a flair for drama but possesses precious little regard for democratic norms. Ever since Imran Khan announced that all his MNAs would resign from the National Assembly, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq has made clear that each MNA would have to confirm their intention to vacate their seats alone and in person. The thinking behind this is that the MNAs may have been pressurised to resign by Imran against their will. There is some reason to believe this may be the case since only 25 of the party’s 33 legislators showed up at the National Assembly, with one member being sick and Imran himself staying away. This means at least six PTI MNAs may not wish to resign and there are reports that a total of 15 want to retain their seats and had been assured by Shah Mehmood Qureshi that there would be no resignations handed in. Whether those reports are true or not, it is undeniable that the MNAs were there to provoke further controversy rather than follow the speaker’s rules. They showed up en masse and wanted to collectively confirm their resignations. The only reason they would do this is the worry that the MNAs would waver if the party leadership wasn’t around to pressure them. Now the PTI wants to clarify its stance by writing to the ECP, but this is likely another distraction since the power of the election body to involve itself in parliamentary matters is limited.
Opposition leader Khursheed Shah has now urged the MNAs to not be afraid of the party leadership and follow the procedures for resigning. One cannot help but remember how Shah Mehmood Qureshi, after giving his fiery speech at the joint session of parliament, was asked by the speaker to come to his office to confirm his resignation but chose to ignore that and flamboyantly walked out. The double game it seems the PTI has been playing all along is to press for the dismissal of the government but to retain its seats if that doesn’t work out. Had the PTI MNAs resigned and the government survived, the party would have lost seats in the next Senate elections. This mix of revolutionary fervour on the surface and calculating pragmatism underneath is an unappealing combination. The negotiating jirga team has urged the government not to accept the resignations with the rationale that it will box the PTI into a corner and possibly lead to midterm elections. But the system should be strong enough to survive this prolonged drama, no matter how it ends.
Pakistan: Imran, Siraj befooling masses
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Awami National Party (ANP) Senator Zahid Khan has criticized Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Ameer Sirajul Haq, Geo News reported. In a statement, Zahid Khan said Sirajul Haq and Imran Khan were support for each other and they were merely befooling the masses through their statements. He said Sirajul Haq will not quit the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa because he knows this way the PTI government will be paralyzed.
Pakistan: Politics of resignation
ON Wednesday, as most — though, tellingly, not all — PTI MNAs went to parliament to confirm their resignations, Asad Umar joked on Twitter that it was more difficult to resign than to get elected.
While there are some obvious punchlines in the cat-and-mouse game between the PTI MNAs and Speaker of the National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq, the issue of PTI resignations remains a serious and complex matter.
To be sure, there are no real legal or constitutional impediments to resigning from parliament — anyone who wants to resign can and should be able to do so. The matter is purely political: for several reasons, the PML-N, and possibly the speaker in particular, would rather the PTI not resign from parliament.
For one, a National Assembly without the party that garnered the second highest votes in the May 2013 general election would lose some of its claim to completeness and representativeness. For another, a spate of by-elections nationally would allow the PTI, even if it only backs so-called independent candidates, to keep in the spotlight the issue of alleged rigging in 2013 and would act as a mini-referendum on the PML-N government.
Perhaps most importantly, the PML-N and Mr Sadiq are hoping that the PTI will reconsider —– knowing full well that the push for resignations has come not from the MNAs themselves but from PTI chief Imran Khan.
Yet, the PML-N seems singularly unwilling to do the very thing that could possibly get the PTI to reconsider on the issue of resignations: pushing ahead aggressively with electoral reforms. Having seen off the immediate threat from the anti-government protests led by Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri, the PML-N leadership seems to have slipped back into complacent mode, determined to work on an agenda of its own choosing. But electoral reforms are very much a political and governance necessity and for the PML-N to pretend they are not — or that the issue can be tackled leisurely at a time of the PML-N’s choosing — is to set up further problems for the party.
Even on the nomination of a permanent chief election commissioner, the PML-N seems content to work in tandem with the PPP to delay an appointment, ostensibly because electoral reforms should be finalised first, even though there is no urgency on the electoral reforms front to begin with.
Yet, for everything the PML-N does wrong, the PTI more than matches it in terms of stubbornness and bloody-mindedness. Having spent much of the year focusing on electoral reforms, the PTI seems least interested in the latter now, for what else could justify its wanting to resign from parliament and taking itself out of the electoral reforms process altogether?
Even the Supreme Court, in throwing out challenges to the 2013 election, has indicated that the correct path to all things election-related is to follow laid-down procedure.
Pakistan: Lesson for the PTI
Pakistan: Will we de-radicalise?
Thursday, October 30, 2014
China urges UN to focus on poverty reduction, promotion of development
Poverty reduction and promotion of development should be placed at the center of the UN development system's work, a Chinese envoy to the world body said Wednesday.
"There are still over 1.2 billion people living in absolute poverty around the world, one third of whom are children," Wang Min, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN said at a UN General Assembly committee meeting.
"Poverty reduction remains one of the biggest global challenges," he said, stressing that the UN development system should continue to put poverty reduction and promotion of development at the center of its activities, strengthen management and coordination, improve efficiency, and effectively help developing countries and countries in special situation, among them least developed countries in particular, achieve sustainable development.
Wang added that the priority of development financing should continue to focus on honoring Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitments.
"At present, North-South Cooperation still serves as the main channel of international development cooperation, and ODA is still the main source of development financing that cannot be substituted," he said.
The Chinese envoy also called for more support for South-South cooperation.
"The United Nations development system and agencies should provide South-South cooperation with necessary policy and financial support while respecting the special features and principles of South-South cooperation," Wang said.
Saudi Arabia and its merciless judges
Sixty people have been executed in Saudi Arabia since the start of 2014. Even religion-related crimes can carry the death penalty, because the kingdom sees itself as the protector of Sunni Islam.The punishment was harsh, but for some it wasn't harsh enough. Writing on his website "Free Saudi Liberals," Raif Badawi had criticized leading Saudi scholars and the role of Islam in public life in Saudi Arabia. The judge called that "offending faith," and went on to accuse Badawi of ridiculing Islamic dignitaries and crossing "the boundaries of obedience." Later, a charge of apostasy was also added to the list, which carries the death penalty in Saudi Arabia. In July 2013, the sentence was passed - 600 lashes and seven years in jail. Badawi appealed, and in May this year the judge announced a new sentence: 1,000 lashes and ten years in jail, plus a fine equal to 195,000 euros ($250,000).
Badawi's fate is no isolated case. In Saudi Arabia, human rights activists and critics of the establishment are regularly sentenced to draconian punishments. In July this year, one court sentenced the activist Walid Abu al-Khair to 15 years in jail. According to an Amnesty International report, the judge found him guilty of "disobedience to the ruler," "attempted questioning of the legitimacy of the king," "damaging the reputation of the state by communicating with international organizations," and the "preparation, possession, and passing on of information that endangered public order." Al-Khair is also a human rights activist who earns a living as a lawyer, and one of his most prominent clients is Raif Badawi.Flexible law In his ruling, al-Khair's judge also made use of a new anti-terrorism law, even though that was not in force when al-Khair was charged. The law, which came into force in February 2014, was meant to give the state a weapon against "terrorist crimes," a catch-all term that the legislature used to encapsulate the following crimes: attempts to "disturb public peace," to "destabilize the security of the population of the state," to "threaten national unity," or to "damage the reputation or the image of the state." The Saudi judges are now basing a number of their rulings on these flexible terms. In the last two years in particular, several Saudi human rights activists and bloggers have been sentenced to long jail terms, which has led to a severe limitation of press freedom in the country. Saudi Arabia currently occupies number 164 out of 180 countries in the press freedom index published by Reporters Without Borders. Meanwhile, the country is close to the top of the table when it comes to capital punishment. According to Amnesty, at least 79 people were executed in the country in 2013, and 60 in 2014 so far. Blasphemy The death penalty is mainly imposed for murder and drug-dealing, but it can also be imposed for "crimes against religion." The Shia cleric Nimr Bakir al-Nimr was sentenced to death in mid-October for allegedly stirring up violence between faiths and organizing protests, as well as disobedience to the king. The conviction sent out a signal, according to Menno Preuschaft, Islamic studies professor at the University of Münster in Germany. "It demonstrated that they are not willing to tolerate any formof, or tendencies toward, revolution or transition," he told DW. Preuschaft said it was not surprising that so many rulings are based on religious laws. The ruling family in Saudi Arabia draws its political legitimacy from its role protecting Islam and its holy sites. That role justifies its theological leadership position within Sunni Islam both nationally and internationally. "From the monarchy's point of view, any criticism of religion is a criticism of its own leadership," said Preuschaft. "That's also how it defends its own monopoly on power." Diplomatic challenge The disastrous human rights situation in Saudi Arabia represents a diplomatic challenge for German foreign policy. Saudi Arabia is an important international player, both strategically and economically, explains parliamentarian Ralf Mützenich, who sits on committees on both foreign policy and human rights in the German Bundestag. That leads to strains in the relationship, because of the human rights situation and the death penalties. "Of course, it raises difficult questions," said Mützenich. "But we can't ignore those. We have to address them openly."
U.S: The Secrets of New Jersey
IN his very first promise as governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie pledged on Inauguration Day in 2010 to shine daylight on the workings of his government. “Today a new era of accountability and transparency is here,” Mr. Christie said. “Today, I will sign executive orders that will make our finances, our budgeting and our processes more transparent for all citizens to see. Today, change has arrived.” But that change never did arrive. The Christie administration has defended itself against at least 22 lawsuits from watchdog groups and news organizations seeking information under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act. One of those lawsuits was filed by WNYC. Our reporters have requested dozens of documents from Mr. Christie, and those requests have been met with silence, resistance or outright refusal. For example, we’ve asked about taxpayer spending on Mr. Christie’s travel out of state. He has been away for some part of more than 100 days in 2014, often to raise money for Republican candidates. In the process, he has built name recognition and constructed a political operation that appears to be laying the base for his own presidential run. Most of these trips are paid for by campaign groups or the Republican Governors Association, which Mr. Christie chairs. But some are paid for by the state, and a security detail always travels with the governor. The public has a right to know how much taxpayers spend on this travel. In response to an open records request for information about just two days of his travel, the Christie administration sent us a document so heavily redacted as to be all but meaningless. During the New Jersey Legislature’s investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closures, it came to light that state employees at the governor’s office were engaged in political activities during Mr. Christie’s 2013 re-election campaign. They kept a list of potential mayors who might support him; they compiled information about those officials and visited them to ask for their endorsement. We filed an open records request to see that list of mayors. The administration argued that this information is exempt from open records act disclosures, and denied our request. One of our reporters also asked to see written notifications from the governor’s ethics officer to executive branch employees about participation in partisan political activities during his re-election campaign. After all, by law, election campaigns must be run separately from the offices of government. That request was denied for similar reasons. If Mr. Christie has politicized his office, he’s hardly the first elected official to do so. And no party has a lock on government secrecy. As WNYC’s Andrea Bernstein has reported, the administration of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York has persuaded the Federal Highway Administration not to release New York’s financing plan for a new Tappan Zee Bridge. Years after the plan was drawn up, it remains a secret. Open records laws like New Jersey’s — called freedom of information laws in other jurisdictions — are key tools for reporters and citizens in learning whether laws are being violated, what officials are doing and what it is costing taxpayers. When a request for public documents is denied in New Jersey, the only recourse is to appeal to a council appointed by the governor that has yet to rule against him, or file a lawsuit against the government. The Christie administration is losing many such cases and being told not only to release the documents, but also to pay the legal fees of the plaintiffs. The open records law was explicitly designed to create incentives for elected leaders to act transparently, and to punish them for violations. But Mr. Christie is using the state attorney general’s office to fight the lawsuits, causing delays and running up costs that are ultimately borne by the taxpayer, not by the governor. From January 2012 through Aug. 7 of this year, the administration paid more than $440,000 to reimburse lawyers in open records cases. The right to know is a pillar of democracy, and Mr. Christie may well be asking us to elect him president in two years. It’s time he stopped fighting the public’s requests for information and fulfilled his own promise to usher in “a new era of accountability and transparency.”By LAURA R. WALKEROCT. 26, 2014
Hillary Clinton: Working Women Are Good for All Economies
http://news.gnom.es/
Former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the economic case for women’s participation in the economy Thursday at Georgetown University. An oft-rumored presidential candidate, Clinton said policymakers shouldn’t ignore any solution that might work when it comes to encouraging more women in the workforce.
After a staggering rise beginning in the middle of the 20th century, the labor force participation of working-age women in the U.S. has steadily fallen since the year 2000. At 56.7 percent, it’s still well behind the rate for men, which is 69.1 percent, according to the Labor Department. Though about 4 in 10 primary bread winners are now women, women in the U.S. make about 78.3 percent of what men do.
“It’s very clear that the more women we can get to participate fully and get paid equal pay for equal work, the faster our economy will recover and economies across the world likewise,” Clinton said. “The GDP projections that have been calculated if we could get women’s labor force participation to equal men’s are really staggering.”
In developed countries like the U.S., closing the participation gap would result in an 8 to 10 percent of an increase in gross domestic product over the next 15 to 20 years, Clinton said. In less developed countries, it could be 30 to 40 percent and around the world, GDP would grow by nearly 12 percent by 2030.
“It is true that if more women have the opportunity to participate fully in the formal economy, they, their families and their communities will prosper,” Clinton said.
She also pointed to lessons the U.S. could learn from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose national agenda is focused in part on encouraging more women into the labor market and with whom she met a few weeks ago at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York.
“He spoke about the obstacles discouraging Japanese women, educated women, in a highly developed country, from entering the workplace, and the cultural shifts that are needed to break down those barriers,” Clinton said. “Expanding flexibility in the workplace, access to child care and elder care, and would boost productivity and allow more parents – men as well as women – to work full days without stress and heartache.
When workers aren’t performing to their full potential, the economy on the whole can’t either, Clinton said. Basic workplace policies can address some of the barriers for women.
“A lack of flexible and predictable scheduling, affordable child care, paid sick leave and paid leave – we are one of the few countries without it – keep too many women on the sidelines.”
Clinton stressed the need to measure the role of women in what she referred to as the “informal economy,” performing unpaid labor like housework and child care, which underpins stability of the formal economy. At the same time, she said, access to capital, markets, skills training, capacity building and leadership – all undertaken by the council Clinton founded as secretary of state called the International Council on Women’s Business Leadership – would encourage more women to head their own businesses.
The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, took to the same stage at Georgetown less than a month ago to voice a similar message.
“We have pushed the envelope on the negative effects of excessive inequality on growth, the fiscal implications of climate change and – something very close to my own heart – the role of women in the work force and their powerful potential to boost growth and incomes,” she said in an Oct. 2 speech.
Turkey Finds Out 1 Is the Loneliest Number
By: Kadri Gursel
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) leaders who have ruled Turkey for the past 12 years generally ignore and sometimes deny the criticism that they have pushed Turkey into loneliness in the region and the world because of their foreign policies.There is only a single reference of AKP officials accepting — with reservations and justifications of course — that they are the architects of Turkey’s loneliness. It is a 140-letter Turkish declaration in August 2013 in social media by Ibrahim Kalin, then-chief adviser to the prime minister. His tweet read: “The claim that Turkey is alone in the Middle East is not correct. But if this is a criticism then we must say. This is precious loneliness.” The godfather of this so-called concept of “precious loneliness,” Kalin was appointed deputy secretary-general of the presidency after Recep Tayyip Erdogan was elected president. But AKP circles did not adopt his concept, and the child was abandoned and hoped to be forgotten. This so-called preciousness Kalin attributed to Turkey’s loneliness could at least have had some boast of "standing on the right side of history at the risk of isolation and adhering to ethical superiority." But in international relations, loneliness means the inability to set up alliances and failure to persuade international organizations to take action. To assert that this loneliness is an asset for Turkey is nothing more than a futile attempt at spin-doctoring. I noted in an international meeting in Bodrum on Oct. 17-19 that Kalin’s “precious loneliness” concept, which was received with cynical smiles by the world at the time, has not been forgotten despite the passage of time. A senior Western security official who was attending the 10th “Bodrum Round Table,” organized by prestigious Istanbul-based think tank Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM), when talking on the unwillingness of Turkey to join the anti-IS coalition, posed a question: “Is Turkey being dragged to a dangerous loneliness?” I later found out that this “dangerous loneliness” warning by this official who didn’t want to be identified was actually a predetermined message. It wasn’t spontaneous. If Turkey’s loneliness really needed a modifier, that would obviously be not “precious” but “dangerous.” To be in danger is in the nature of Turkey’s loneliness. Turkey with its policies, until the eruption of the IS crisis at its southern border, had already sentenced itself to loneliness in the region and world. Ankara, by exaggerating its affinity to the Muslim Brotherhood in its reactions to the July 3, 2013, coup in Egypt, had already confronted the new administration in Cairo as well as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Ankara’s Gaza and Hamas-focused Middle East policy had become a factor blocking a satisfactory solution to efforts of normalizing relations with Israel that were severed after the 2010 flotilla incident. After 2011, Ankara’s Syria policy, which sought to topple the Damascus regime and replace it with a Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government, brought Turkey into confrontation with Damascus-Baghdad-Tehran. As a result, the only country in the Middle East that Turkey has an alliance with is Qatar. The AKP government opted to distance Turkey from the EU perspective and in general terms from the West and orient it to the Middle East as a strategy compatible with Ankara’s internal and external politics. The outcome was loneliness also in Europe. In the General Assembly vote for two-year UN Security Council membership on Oct. 17, Turkey’s resounding defeat with 60 votes (against 132 votes for Spain) was noted as a dramatic illustration of Turkey's loneliness in international organizations as well. Before Ahmet Davutoglu became foreign minister in 2008, Turkey received 151 votes to become a Security Council member for a two-year term.
Grim Fate Awaits Women, Girls Captured by Islamic State
The Islamic State militant group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has captured hundreds of women and girls over the last few months. The very few who have been able to escape tell stories of rape, forced marriage, and sexual slavery. VOA’s Ayesha Tanzeem reports.
Former President Asif Ali Zardari paid rich tributes to martyred soldiers
http://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/
U.S. Watchdog Says 'No Unified Strategy' For Afghan Counternarcotics
The Capabilities of the Afghan Military Are Suddenly a Secret
time.com
Mark Thompson
Watchdog says U.S. taxpayers can’t know if investment is paying off.For years, American taxpayers have been able to chart how well the Afghanistan security forces they’re funding are faring, because “capability assessments” detailing their progress have been routinely released. As the U.S. military prepares to withdraw most of its 34,000 troops still in Afghanistan by the end of this year, the American-led command there has suddenly made such information secret. Classifying the data “deprives the American people of an essential tool to measure the success or failure of the single most costly feature of the Afghanistan reconstruction effort,” John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, says in Thursday’s quarterly report to Congress. “SIGAR and Congress can of course request classified briefings on this information, but its inexplicable classification now and its disappearance from public view does a disservice to the interest of informed national discussion.” A U.S. Army spokesman says the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan decided to classify the capability ratings as part of its “responsibility to protect data that could jeopardize the operational security of our Afghan partners” as they assume “full security responsibility” for their country’s defense. U.S. taxpayers have spent more than $50 billion training and outfitting Afghan security forces. In the prior quarterly report, issued in July, the IG used the then-available-but-now-classified data to report that 92% of Afghan army units, and 67% of Afghan national police units, were “capable” or “fully capable” of carrying out their missions.
Upset with delay, Kabul shelves request for arms aid from Delhi
Frustrated with India’s failure to deliver long-promised military aid, new Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has told New Delhi that he wishes to revisit his predecessor’s request for assistance, diplomatic sources have told The Indian Express. President Ghani’s decision to place Afghanistan’s arms-aid request on hold, the sources said, had been conveyed to negotiators from the Ministry of External Affairs earlier this month. The freeze on the aid request, a government source in Kabul said, reflected President Ghani’s belief that the outreach to India would poison the country’s relationship with Pakistan, without yielding any dividends in return. New Delhi was reported to have firmed up plans in February to pay Russian firms to supply Afghanistan’s armed forces with small arms, field mortar and air support platforms — much as it backed anti-Taliban warlord Ahmad Shah Masood in his battle against the Taliban before 9/11. No equipment has, however, been delivered so far. The Ministry of External Affairs did not respond to requests for comment from The Indian Express. Sushant Sareen, an analyst at the New Delhi-based think tank Vivekananda International Foundation, said the Afghan move showed President Ghani “is doing the same his predecessor first did, and betting on appeasing Pakistan”. “This should also be a lesson to us that delayed decisions mean lost opportunities,” he said. Ghani’s predecessor Hamid Karzai had first requested Indian military aid in 2012, invoking a strategic partnership agreement, which commits New Delhi to assist in “the training, equipping and capacity building programmes for [the] Afghan National Security Forces”. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government, however, stalled Karzai’s request, fearing arms aid to Afghanistan would complicate peace talks with Pakistan. In February, the then External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had said that India would deliver helicopters desperately needed by the Afghan air force “very soon”. “We have also been giving them some logistical support and we hopefully will be able to upgrade and refurbish their transport aircraft,” he had said. Karzai had sought helicopters for Afghanistan’s fledgling military, badly hit after the Pentagon terminated contracts of Russian-made Mi-17s, saying the contractor was in violation of sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria. India agreed to supply two Cheetah light helicopters, which were to have been delivered in May 2014 but have not yet arrived. New Delhi’s assistance was also sought to refit six ageing An-32 transport aircraft in Ukraine, where the Indian Air Force is now upgrading its own fleet. Afghanistan has received four modern C-130 transport aircraft from the US, but an earlier $500 million contract for the supply of 20 second-hand Italian-made C-27A aircraft had to be scrapped amidst problems with maintenance and spare parts. Finally, Afghanistan sought A2.A18 105-milimetre howitzers, light artillery that has served the Indian Army for decades in the mountains and is now in the process of being phased out. The Afghan army now has an estimated 84 second-hand A2.A18s — donated by Slovakia and Bosnia — but needs greater numbers for its expanding mountain counter-insurgency units. International observers have become increasingly concerned about the ability of the Afghan army to hold in the face of Taliban attack in the coming years, a fear underlined by the collapse of similar multi-ethnic, US-trained forces in Iraq. Afghanistan’s government does not have the revenues to meet the costs of maintaining an army, estimated at $ 4.7 billion a year. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation donor states agreed in 2012 to meet the costs of the Afghan army until 2017, but also sought “gradual, managed force reduction” to about 2,28,500. Kabul fears the social consequences of putting over 100,000 trained soldiers out of jobs, and worries that recession in the West could lead to a further scaling back of support. In addition, Afghanistan’s army is riven by the same ethnic tensions as the country. The army’s strength is 38 per cent ethnic Pashtuns, 25 per cent Tajik, 19 per cent Hazara and 12 per cent Uzbek. In the event international funding for the forces dries up after 2014, the army could start collapsing back into the warlord militia organisations from which it was initially drawn.by Praveen Swami |>
Pakistan: I Still Dream Of The Day Mother Was Tortured And Arrested Says Daughter Of Asia Bibi
Esham Masih only 9 years old when the incident took place says, “My friends told me that people were torturing my mother at the fields where she used to work.” “I rushed to the spot and found that she was being abused and tortured by men,” she added.The daughter of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman being held on death row in Pakistan, has spoken out about the alleged torture her mother experienced at the hands of enraged mob.
“I still dream of the day she was tortured and arrested,” she said. “I could not sleep properly. They had torn her clothes. The angry men came back and started torturing us both and tore down her clothes again. They dragged her to the centre of the village. We both were crying but there was nobody to listen to us. After half an hour or so, the police came and my mother asked me to go and find my father, who was hiding at my uncle’s house. But he was too terrified to leave. I ran back and by that time police had taken my mother away.”