Saturday, October 25, 2014
China : Occupy 'will tear Hong Kong community apart
The Occupy Central movement will tear Hong Hong's community apart and severely affect the city's economy and livelihood, Hong Kong's former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa said on Friday, calling on protesters to end the occupation.
Tung, also vice-chairman of the national committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made the remarks at a Friday press conference, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Tung expressed concern over the harm caused by the nearly month- long protests over constitutional development. "The occupation is approaching one month and now it's time to end it," he said, adding that he worried the "civil disobedience" movement was "a little bit out of control."
Tung said he understands the students' demands for universal suffrage but the idea of civil nomination, which he claimed violates the Basic Law and the decision made by the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, could not be carried out.
During the first face-to-face talk held Tuesday with student leaders, government negotiators offered to write a report to the central government detailing protester sentiments and suggested setting up a joint committee to discuss further political reform.
Student leaders decided on Thursday to start a straw poll on Sunday evening to collect citizens' opinions on whether the government offer should be accepted.
According to Alex Chow Yong-kang, one of the student leaders, the poll will focus on two things: whether the government report to Beijing should be able to change the decision made by NPC Standing Committee on August 31, and whether the joint committee formed should address reform on the elections due in 2016 and 2017.
The poll results will be handed to the government on Monday.
Stanley Ng Chau-pei, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, a pro-Beijing labor group, and a Hong Kong NPC delegate,told the Global Times that such polls and the Occupy movement are illegal and will not have legal effects.
The protesters are using the poll as an excuse to continue the movement while the Hong Kong people become more rational and more will oppose the movement, Ng said.
"There won't be constructive results if we continue to stay without making any efforts to figure out a realistic solution," said Lee Ka-wah, a protester, adding that some of her friends also started to hesitate about whether to continue the protest.
Many anti-Occupy people have criticized them for causing social disorder to Hong Kong, Lee said.
Tung added that he believes that the PLA will not get involved in handling the ongoing protests, since he is confident in the capabilities of police in Hong Kong.
Video Report - Tough Talk: Putin's key quotes from Valdai speech
Vladimir Putin criticized the West for "sawing at branches" with sanctions against Russia and releasing a "genie in a bottle" with color revolutions. RT looks at the Russian President's five best quotes from his speech in Sochi.
Vladimir Putin also lashed out at the United States for destabilizing the world order of checks and balances for its own gains. The Russian President understands that there is a need to change the systems in place within international relations, but according to him:
"The US has been destabilizing the world order of checks and balances for its own gains."He added that the US, as perceived winners of the Cold War, is trying to create the world “for their own gains," which has weakened global and regional security. Any country that does not agree with Washington’s view of affairs is all but blacklisted.
President Putin clearly lays the blame for ongoing terrorism in the Middle East squarely with the United States, for policies that have been repeating themselves for decades. He also accuses the West of, "turning a blind eye," to the encroachment of international terrorism into Russia and Central Asia.
The Russian President laid the blame for the crisis in Ukraine firmly on the West for meddling in affairs, which did not concern them. He mentioned that Russia had tried to discuss the issue of Ukraine with the EU for a long time, but in no uncertain terms he was told it was none of Russia’s business.Vladimir Putin voiced his disagreement with the West’s position on Russia, which he likened to the Latin proverb "What is permissible for Jove is not permissible for an ox." However, he said the Russian "bear" won't ask anyone for permission and demands that its views on global issues should also be respected.
Towards the end of his speech in Sochi, for the Valdai Club, which is an informal gathering for political scholars, the Russian President, alluded to fears that Russia was looking to expand its empire and that Moscow is looking to destabilize the world order. With relations between Russia and the West at a very low ebb, Putin also hinted Russia will look to develop allies further afield. He also used the notion of a bear defending its territory to have a swipe at the US for getting to close to Russia's borders.“He is considered the owner of the Taiga, but he, I know for a fact, does not want to go to a different climatic zone, as it is uncomfortable for him there. However, he will not give it to anyone else; I think that this should be clear.”
Video Report - Russia: "U.S. fighting the consequences of its own policies" says Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on the origins of the crisis in Iraq during the 11th annual Valdai International Discussion Club meeting in Sochi, Friday, accusing the U.S. of playing with fire and today fighting the "consequences of its own policies." Putin noted that the international coalition which deposed the Ba'ath Party fostered resentment among those loyal to the former government, raising the question as to whether this explains the rise of the effectiveness of the so-called Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL). Meeting under the title "The World Order: New Rules or No Rules?", this year's meeting brings together some 108 experts and analysts from both Russia and across the globe. First Vice-Premier Igor Shuvalov is also attending Friday's meeting.
Hundreds of thousands rally in Rome in protest over ‘anti-job’ reforms
Protesters from all over Italy have packed the streets of Rome to express their anger at labor market reforms, one of the main building blocks of the government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s policy.
Ebola crisis: Cases pass 10,000 as almost 5,000 killed by disease in eight countries
Pakistani, Afghan experts eye China's greater role in Afghanistan
Pakistani and Afghan foreign affairs experts agree in their view that China can play a proactive role in Afghanistan because of its policy of non- interference and quest for enhanced economic engagement.
They say China role will also be very important in the elusive peace after the withdrawal of most of the foreign troops this year as it enjoys good relations with key stakeholders like Pakistan and Iran.
The political watchers have also attached high hopes to the upcoming visit of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai to China this month.
Ghani is scheduled to hold talks with Chinese leaders and will also attend the ministerial conference of the Istanbul Process, Heart of Asia Ministerial Conference on October 31.
The Heart of Asia process that was launched in November 2011 in Turkey aims to rouse regional co-operation for security and development in Afghanistan and its near and extended neighbors.
Chairman of Pakistan's Senate Defense Committee, Mushahid Hussain, says of all countries, China probably has the most credibility and capability to promote peace, security and stability in Afghanistan.
"Unlike Russia or the United States, China carries no historical 'extra-baggage' and unlike Pakistan, Iran, Turkey or the Central Asian Republics, China has stayed away from all previous conflicts or civil wars in Afghanistan, therefore it is not tainted in any way as far as the Afghan people are concerned, and, unlike the increasingly bankrupt West, China has the financial resources to sponsor much-needed investment in key sectors of Afghanistan's development," Hussain told Xinhua.
Dr. Davood Muradian, Director General of the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies, believes that China's role will be important in the sense that China is Afghanistan's largest most prosperous and most important neighbor of Afghanistan.
"Therefore we expect a corresponding contribution from China to Afghanistan's stability and prosperity. We really expect China to act as it is powerful neighbor of Afghanistan," Muradian told Xinhua in Islamabad where he attended the Afghanistan-China- Pakistan trilateral dialogue.
"China is one country which does not have hegemonisti, territorial and strategic ambitions. It has only economic and commercial ambitions in Afghanistan which is not objectionable," former Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan, Rustam Shah Mohmand says.
Mohmand says that China can also play a key role in Afghanistan 's peace and reconciliation process because of its friendly relations with Pakistan and Iran, the major key players in Afghanistan.
"China is coming with a very clear slate. China's role now in the world and in the region is recognized by everybody. So I think it is time that China also gets involved in the peace negotiations which are based on the assumption that there would be no foreign militants in Afghanistan," the former ambassador told Xinhua in Islamabad.
A senior Pakistani analyst and writer Hasan Askari says that Pakistan, Afghanistan and China can work together to contain terrorism as "China has concerns about terrorism in Xinjiang region and those elements are to be found in Pakistan tribal region and also in Afghanistan."
"China can also help to defuse misunderstanding and tensions that develop between Pakistan and Afghanistan because it has good relations with both and both trust China," Askari said.
He said China can contribute to Afghanistan's reconstruction as unless there is reconstruction and economic development, the people will not have much hope for the future and Chinese can contribute to economic development and reconstruction of Afghanistan.
China's Afghanistan policy: Testing the limits of diplomacy
http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/
Dirk van der Kley
In just two months' time, international forces in Afghanistan will hand over security responsibility to local personnel. In preparation for the handover, and the eventual withdrawal of foreign militaries, Beijing has substantially raised its traditionally low-key diplomacy in the country.China has pursued dozens of bilateral and multilateral diplomatic mechanisms with Afghanistan and surrounding countries that have focused on the issue of security. As I write in a new Lowy Institute Analysis, diplomacy is one of China's two major policy pillars in Afghanistan (the other is to substantially increase economic engagement). Beijing's key interest in Afghanistan is security. China wants to prevent the spread of terrorism, and in particular terrorist ideology, into the Chinese province of Xinjiang, as well to ensure that Afghanistan does not function as a strong base for Uyghur militancy. Beijing will not commit militarily to Afghanistan, so how will it use diplomacy to prevent new instability spreading to Xinjiang? Beijing will attempt to reduce the security threat in two main ways. Stabilise Afghanistan, or prevent further deterioration in the Afghan security environment. If 1. fails, limit the spread of new instability regionally and reduce the direct threat to Xinjiang. Beijing's direct influence in stabilising Afghanistan is limited. It will commit huge levels of economic support. Diplomatically it is encouraging surrounding countries to contribute to the reconstruction of Afghanistan. But security will be left to Afghan forces and any residual foreign troops. The US will likely play the role of mediator in Afghanistan if necessary, as happened during the recent electoral deadlock. On point 2, Beijing has more diplomatic options. China maintains contacts with a broad range of actors and groups in Afghanistan, including the Taliban. Since the Karzai Government came to power in 2001, contact with the Taliban has often been via intermediaries. But more recently Beijing has reportedly rebuilt the direct links it had with the Taliban prior to the US invasion in 2001. Beijing seeks guarantees that Afghanistan won't function as a base for Uyghur militant groups. It also wants Chinese investments in Afghanistan protected from Taliban attacks. There are mixed views to how effective this approach will be. Some Chinese sources say the Taliban doesn't want to raise the ire of Beijing because this could complicate the Taliban's relationship with Pakistan, which has close ties to China. Others question the Taliban's commitment to China's requests. Insurgents have attacked Chinese resource projects in Afghanistan on numerous occasions, and in 2012 Reuters quoted a Taliban spokesperson saying it opposed China's largest investment in Afghanistan, a copper mine near Kabul. Beijing has also vastly increased its regional diplomatic footprint. China hopes to achieve a consensus on the Afghan issue among surrounding countries because they are at the front line of containing any new Afghan instability. What this consensus may look like is vague, but could include increasing regional cooperation on issues such as anti-narcotics and counter-terrorism, with practical measures such as intelligence sharing, joint military exercises and judicial or law-enforcement training (some of these already happen bilaterally or through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization). There are clear obstacles. Officials in Central Asian countries are suspected of close links to the drug trade. And there are long running concerns that Pakistan's security and intelligence services help shelter terrorists. Also, many countries in the region have antagonistic relationships with each other. Despite challenges, Beijing's diplomatic approach may suffice to quell the terrorist threat from Afghanistan. The number of Uyghur militants sheltering in Afghanistan (and Pakistan too) in all likelihood remains small, and the capability of external Sunni Uyghur militant groups to launch attacks in China appears limited. It would take a significant capability leap from these groups to be a constant operational threat to China. However, diplomacy, economics or military intervention cannot prevent the spread of terrorist and religious propaganda into Xinjiang. This was consistently identified by Chinese interlocutors in research interviews for my Lowy Institute Analysis as the greatest external threat to Xinjiang's stability. The Chinese Government probably hypes the ideological threat from abroad – as many governments do. Xinjiang's problems are overwhelmingly domestic, stemming from a disenfranchised Uyghur population that chafes under religious repression, economic imbalances and ingrained discrimination. But concerns abound that ideological messages could resonate with this group. The most prominent external Sunni Uyghur militant group, the Turkistan Islamic Party, undeniably encourages violence in Xinjiang and supports Uyghur separatism. Its media output has become more sophisticated in the past few years. Other groups such as the Islamic State and al Qaeda have also expressed ideological support for Uyghurs in Xinjiang, although this doesn't appear to have led to operational support. Chinese analysts understand the limits of diplomacy in regard to Afghan security, but it is seen, along with an economic contribution, as the least-worst policy option. Shi Lan of the Xinjiang Academy for Social Sciences sums it up: 'Dialogue is the best choice we have for solving this issue. Of course, I feel it may be difficult to achieve results with dialogue, but we have to try.'
Iran-Pakistan: Will border tensions boil over?
There have been a number of rounds of border skirmishes between Iran and Pakistan since the first week of October. However, reports that Pakistani forces have returned mortar fire is highly unusual and represents an increase in tensions that have marred this region for years. Last week some 30 Iranian security force personnel crossed the border in pursuit of anti-Iranian militants. The Iranian raid resulted in the death of a Pakistani Frontier Corps soldier. Islamabad lodged a diplomatic protest. A meeting on Wednesday in Tehran on increasing intelligence sharing between the two countries was meant to end this latest spat. That meeting clearly did not achieve its objective.The problem is considerably deeper than merely finding ways to share intelligence about border crossings. Officials in Tehran have for years maintained that the Pakistani side is either incapable or reluctant to stop cross-border attacks. In fact, Iranian officials often accuse elements in Pakistan - with the alleged backing from Gulf States - of providing sanctuary and support to anti-Iranian militants to try to create instability for Tehran. The Pakistanis have always rejected such charges. Turning point The militants at the heart of the dispute are from Jaish Al-Adl (Army of Justice). It is an ethnic Baloch and Sunni group which purports to fight for better living conditions in Sistan Baluchistan, Iran's most impoverished province. It is widely believed to be the successor to Jundullah, another Iranian Baloch group, which the United States in 2010 designated a terrorist organisation. Jundullah, which emerged on the scene around 2003, was responsible for the deadliest attacks against Iranian government targets, including an assassination attempt against then President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.The group's most high-profile attack took place on 18 October 2009 in the border town of Pishin. A suicide bomber that Tehran claimed had crossed the border from Pakistan blew himself up at an assembly of Iranian Baloch tribal leaders and senior commanders from Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).Among the dead was Noor Ali Shooshtari, the deputy commander of Ground Forces of the IRGC, a man close to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. That attack was a turning point. Major difference It is most likely not a coincidence that the recent attacks by Jaish Al-Adl come on the fifth anniversary of the Pishin attack. As is the case today, top commanders from the Revolutionary Guards then vowed to retaliate and put extreme pressure on Pakistan. It was most likely with Pakistan's help that, within four months of the Pishin attack, Iran was able to capture Abdolmalek Rigi, the young leader of Jundullah. Rigi was hanged in Tehran in June 2010. The most recent Iranian actions, including the pursuit of militants across the border and shelling inside Pakistani territory, is very similar to what occurred in the aftermath of the Pishin attack. The major difference this time, however, is that the Pakistani side is now openly returning fire against Iran. This amounts to an escalation that breaks with past Pakistani behaviour. Islamabad, which over the last few weeks has also had to deal with skirmishes on its Afghan and Indian borders, apparently feels it has to react to deter the Iranians from any further unilateral action. The record from the last decade shows that both sides are disinclined to let the violence get out of control. Tehran and Islamabad have for a long time been willing to accept "contained hostilities" in the border regions as part of life and assumed that border violence will always be limited and localised. That is a dangerous and potentially a very costly assumption.By Alex Vatanka
Pakistan's bewildering array of militants
The sacking of Pakistani Taliban (TTP) spokesman Shahidullah Shahid for supporting Islamic State is the latest sign of divisions in an already fragmented militant movement. Over the years Pakistan's insurgents have spawned a bewildering array of splinter groups and factions, reports M Ilyas Khan.
Shahidullah Shahid, as he was known, was the third TTP spokesman to part company with the leadership in recent months.
Before him, Azam Tariq left with the Mehsud faction of Khan Said Sajna that quit the TTP in May. Another predecessor, Ehsanullah Ehsan, became the chief spokesman for a group of Mohmand tribesmen that goes by the name Jamaat-e-Ahrar.
This splintering of the TTP shows that like any other social entity, large and geographically inclusive militant groups also contain sub-groups.
Back in September when the spokesman of the Pakistani army blamed an unknown group of militants - the al-Shura - for carrying out the October 2012 attack on education activist Malala Yousafzai, few eyebrows were raised.
After nearly 35 years of conflict involving non-state actors, Pakistanis are used to insurgent groups breaking from the herd to launch an attack which grabs the headlines, often under one of those spiritually inspiring names from the Islamic texts.In most cases, they disappear from the scene just as quickly.
The trend started in the post-9/11 period, when elements within the militant network that were uprooted from Afghanistan started to hit targets in Pakistan.
These groups comprised fighters from the Pakistani tribal militants, the Punjabi Taliban, Central Asians, Arab fighters and militants from East Asia. Most of them gravitated towards the umbrella militant alliance called the TTP which was formed in 2007.
The earliest such group to make headlines was Harkatul Mujahideen al-Almi, which was blamed for a string of attacks in Karachi in 2002, including an assassination attempt on then President Pervez Musharraf, the bombing of the Sheraton hotel and a car bomb explosion outside the US consulate.
The group's name was similar to that of a major Kashmir-focused Punjabi Taliban group, but the addition of a suffix - al-Almi, or international - appeared to give it wider scope.
It faded away soon afterwards and has not been heard of since.
In 2004, a group calling itself Jundullah surfaced with an audacious ambush of the Karachi Corps commander. Then it took an eight-year sabbatical. Soon after it re-emerged it seemed to fall out with the TTP over who carried out the 2013 killing of nine foreign climbers on Nanga Parbat.
Jundullah claimed the credit for itself, but the TTP said a specially established unit called Jundul Hafsa had done it. Police in Karachi have blamed some recent attacks on Jundullah, but the group itself has made no comment.
As for Jundul Hafsa, it has turned out to be another one-hit wonder, at least so far.
Other short-lived groups include the Asian Tigers and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Almi (LeJA), another group with a familiar name but a differentiating suffix.Both were briefly in the news during the spring of 2010.
Apparently, the Asian Tigers claimed that they had captured two former ISI officials and a British journalist of Pakistani origin. Later, one of the ISI men was beheaded for "spying".Some weeks after the killing, there were reports of a series of attacks in North Waziristan in which two top leaders of the Asian Tigers were said to have been gunned down by someone calling himself the chief of LeJA.
This man himself was killed along with two others by unknown gunmen two months later. The killers left a note written on a TTP letterhead accusing the dead men of kidnapping former ISI officials who "during their active service had been kind to Taliban".
Make of all that what you will - it's not straightforward.
More recently, the group calling itself Jamaat-e-Ahrar (JA) has broken away from the TTP.
It is not clear if JA is some kind of successor to a TTP-linked group called Ahrarul Hind, which represented those elements within the TTP who believe in the "final battle for India" in which, according to them, a Muslim victory was foretold by Prophet Mohammad.The recent launching of al-Qaeda's South Asia wing is seen by many as a continuation of this strand of militant thought.
All these groups seem to have grown from a common source - the Afghan mujahideen of the 1980s and their Arab and non-Arab allies who later morphed into al-Qaeda and the TTP.
This process was born in the shadows of a military regime that ruled Pakistan during the 1980s and hosted a seven-party alliance of Afghan mujahideen - called the Peshawar Seven - to destabilise Kabul under Soviet occupation.
The regime's ideological tilt created room for fundamentalist groups to dominate the Afghan jihad, ultimately giving rise to the Taliban movement in 1994.
By 1996, when Taliban had captured Kabul and put an end to the Afghan civil war, the Arab Wahhabi groups and Salafists who had earlier left for Africa, the Caucasus and the Balkans began to pour back into the Pakistan-Afghanistan region, thereby completing the toxic mix that has characterised local militancy in the region.
Since 9/11, the number and numerical strength of these groups has multiplied, and many of them have Pakistan - an ally in the US-led "war on terror" - near the top of their hit-list.
Earlier this year, Pakistan's interior minister Chaudhry Nisar told parliament the main TTP movement included more than 35 groups. Later, a security policy document listed around 60 groups that successive Pakistani governments had proscribed since the late 1990s.
But there are dozens of others - all vying for limelight and funds.Most of them have local interests. They are natives of the areas under their control, and tend to organise into regional groups to form territorial entities. They are often named after their top commander or their area of operation, such as the Mullah Nazir group, or the Mohmand Taliban.
Others have broader ideological aims.
They mostly comprise fighters from Punjab province with a background in the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) which exists to wipe out Shia Muslims. These fighters have links with al-Qaeda and its affiliates, especially the TTP and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).
They move in and out of larger groups either due to tactical or operational reasons, ideological considerations or internal group rivalries.
Many shine for brief periods, then fade away only to re-emerge in new avatars.
Pakistan’s militants - Taliban tumult
FOR years Pakistan’s government and army put off confronting the Pakistani Taliban and their allied fanatics who had set up what was almost a state of their own in North Waziristan, the wildest of several tribal agencies on the country’s north-west frontier with Afghanistan. The reason for such reluctance was a belief that any attack on the militants would trigger savage reprisals. Imran Khan, a populist politician perhaps most responsible for discouraging military action, has countless times predicted a big “blowback” in the cities.Yet since the army launched a belated offensive against the militants in North Waziristan on June 15th, the number of terrorist attacks across the rest of Pakistan has fallen by nearly 30%, according to a database maintained by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies in Islamabad, the capital. Deaths from terrorism are down by more than half compared with the same period in 2013. Indeed, the widespread assumption is that Operation Zarb-e-Azb, named after a sword of Muhammad, has badly undermined Pakistan’s militants. Independent confirmation is impossible, but the army claims it has killed more than 1,100 terrorists in North Waziristan. (More implausibly, it also claims that its “precision” air strikes have killed precisely zero civilians.) Militants appear now to have lost what was once a secure sanctuary where fighters could be trained and suicide-bombers groomed for self-destruction. The army says that more than 40 of its soldiers have been killed in the course of capturing key towns in North Waziristan, notably Mir Ali and the agency’s capital, Miran Shah. The campaign adds to the steady progress Pakistan has made in recent years in restoring its writ over the tribal areas, nearly a third of which were controlled by militants in 2007-08, the army says. Meanwhile, the Pakistani Taliban, an umbrella organisation of militant groups officially known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), may have all but fallen apart. For that, perhaps, the United States is as much to thank as the army offensive. Nearly a year ago a CIA-operated drone managed to kill Hakimullah Mehsud, the long-haired tribesman who had run the group since 2009. His death sparked a bitter succession struggle, with the leadership eventually passing to Mullah Fazlullah, a militant who masterminded the Taliban’s takeover of his homeland of Swat, once a popular holiday destination, in early 2009. Mr Fazlullah has since been unable to hold together an organisation traditionally ruled by members of the Mehsud tribe. For his own safety against government attacks, he moved to eastern Afghanistan, a choice that earned him disparagement among fellow jihadists. Meanwhile, disagreements grew over whether the movement should negotiate with the Pakistani government. To date four separate groups have split off from the original TTP, two later merging with each other. They have taken much of the TTP’s fighting force with them. In September a group calling itself the Punjabi Taliban announced that it would abandon domestic terrorism in favour of preaching and waging war in Afghanistan instead. Some analysts took that as a sign that Pakistan’s military spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI), has had some success in directing the energies of militants towards creating chaos elsewhere in the region. A long-standing ISI policy of fighting only those seeking to topple the Pakistani state while tolerating or even supporting groups on Pakistani soil that restrict their violence to Afghanistan and India has long been a source of despair to Pakistan’s Western allies. They point out that, wherever they operate, militants with bases in Pakistan share ideas, fighters and often allegiances. Western spooks appear convinced that the Haqqani network, a particularly lethal Afghan insurgent group, received ample warning and even assistance from the ISI in making their escape from bases in North Waziristan before the launch of Zarb-e-Azb. Sowing further discord among the jihadists is the excitement generated by the success of Islamic State (IS) in conquering swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. Leaflets praising IS and declaring Pakistan, Afghanistan and bits of India to be part of a caliphate have been circulated in Pakistan’s north-western city of Peshawar. This month six senior TTP leaders announced that they had declared their allegiance to IS’s “caliph”, Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi. As for al-Qaeda, the terrorist group now in competition with IS for leadership of the global jihad movement, it is attempting to shore up its position in Pakistan, where American drones have killed many of its leaders. Last month the group announced a new franchise, called al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent. However, its first big operation, an apparently overreaching plan to hijack a Pakistani frigate and attack American warships, came to naught after it was foiled by a guard. Although the army’s battlefield success, splits in the TTP’s ranks and a tug-of-war between IS and al-Qaeda have reduced violence in Pakistan, hopes of this lasting are not high. Jihadist militancy has a record of evolving for the worse, and the especially loathsome tactics of Islamic State may inject a new radicalism into Pakistan’s already ferocious militant groups. And for as long as the army’s spy agency continues to regard some militants as helpful to its regional designs, then Pakistan is unlikely to be properly at peace.
Pakistan - Desperate Christians Find No Place For Burials In Torey Wala
In the tiny village of Torey Wala where most homes don’t have windows and meals are cooked over fire pits, Christians are used to feeling like second-class citizens.Christians say they earn less than 200 Rupees (2 $) a day working in the sugar-cane fields. They must shop at the meagrely stocked Christian-run shop. They are not allowed to draw water from wells tapped for Muslim neighbours. Now, in what many consider to be a final disgrace, they are struggling to bury their dead. “There is discrimination, and that is very much clear and obvious to all of us who live in this country,” said Nizar Masih, 65, a farmer who, like many Pakistani Christians, has a surname that refers to the Messiah. Christians in Pakistan have been targets of what human rights activists call an extraordinary wave of violence against religious minorities, including Shiites, Ahmadis, Sikhs and Hindus. Christians’ dwindling burial space is an example of a less dramatic but more persistent battle they say takes place on daily basis. - See more at: http://www.christiansinpakistan.com/desperate-christians-find-no-place-for-burials-in-torey-wala/#sthash.B9Bijijp.dpuf
Top Pakistani Shia Leader Says Pakistan Is The Base Of ISIS
shiapost.comAllama Sajid Naqvi, Chief of Shia Ulema Council, has said that takfiri terrorism including ISIS originated from Pakistan but they were bound to fail because of Shiites rational course of action. “Masterminds of ISIS are those who invented takfiri nasbi terrorists in Pakistan and their prime target were Shia Muslims but we defeated them by unity of Muslims and now ISIS are disgusted, condemned and isolated outfit,” he said speaking at “Ulema Conference on Protection of Azadari and Defence of Shiites,” in Karachi. He said that those who stage rallies and public gatherings for Hazrat Usman lacked any right or justification to oppose the azadari processions and congregations. “We need alternate policies to stop genocide against Shia Muslims in Karachi and other parts of Pakistan. We should remain vigilant during Moharram in particular and strengthen our unity to counter plots of enemies,” he urged. The SUC officials namely Allama Arif Wahidi, Allama Baqar Najafi, Allama Shabbir Maisami, Allama Shahenshah Naqvi and Allama Jafar Subhani also spoke at the scholars’ conference.
Pakistan: PML-N govt has little interest in Council of Common Interests!
There has been no meeting of the Council of Common Interests since the formulation of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government in the Centre, while the cabinet of its Punjab chapter has met only for once in its present tenure.
According to a report in the local media, officials said that most of the decisions in Punjab were being made through executive orders.
Only matters considered important by the provincial government were being approved by the cabinet through the method of circulation. This method does not involve any discussion. The ministers follow instructions to approve a file.
According to the report in Dawn, different inter-provincial issues were pending approval by the CCI but it had not met even for once since the inception of the Nawaz Sharif government.
The government issued notices for two CCI meetings in the recent past but they were cancelled at the eleventh hour.
Under the constitution, the prime minister chairs the CCI meeting. Federal inter-provincial coordination minister chairs the minister-level meeting of the junior Inter-provincial Coordination Committee.
The third is the CCI’s secretary level committee which initially considers issues pertaining to the Centre-province matters and, if found sound, forwards them to the minister-level committee for consideration. This committee finally sends the matters worthy of decision to the CCI.
Officials claimed that both subsidiary committees too had not met during the present government of Nawaz Sharif.
They said the Punjab cabinet of Shahbaz Sharif had met once for approving the provincial budget in June this year. A special meeting was held in September only to approve a relief package for the flood victims.
Sources said majority departments were normally asked to quickly prepare cases for approval of the cabinet. This was done to avoid wrath of the authorities but the matters kept pending a decision for a lack of cabinet meeting.
Pakistan: Repeating mistakes?: Govt set to approve $22.5m project for reforms
By Shahbaz Rana
Instead of mustering the political will to take difficult economic decisions and build institutions, the government is set to approve a $22.5 million (Rs2.3 billion) project for implementing reforms and hire expensive consultants, many of whom will be foreigners, towards this end.The Public Sector Enterprises Reforms Project is being presented as the government’s response to increasing criticism for not initiating reforms. It is likely to be approved on October 27, a day before the special cabinet meeting convened to evaluate the government’s performance. The project will be funded through a $20 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) at an interest rate of 2% in dollar terms. The country will return the loan in 25 years. As much as 75% of the total cost or $16.9 million (Rs1.7 billion) will be set aside for paying salaries to consultants hired for the project. Foreign consultants will be paid Rs65,000 a day and local consultants will be paid up to Rs20,000 a day, official documents revealed. The entire project will be implemented through 321 consultants, including 175 foreign consultants, according to project documents of the finance ministry. These consultants will be hired in the ministries of finance, water and power, petroleum and natural resources, and the Privatisation Commission.
Pakistan: Waking up to FATA
By - Mona Naseer
For urban Pakistan, FATA is its Achilles heel because it is the hub of all terrorism. According to them, drones fuel terrorism and so drones must stop.When we talk about FATA, the emotions stirred in urban Pakistanis are only related to drone attacks causing civilian casualties, fuelling terrorism and violating our sovereignty. We have recently seen a popular political party raising the issue of drones, conducting protests and ultimately closing the NATO supply line going through the Peshawar-Torkham border. Urban Pakistan, living under the 1973 constitution, which provides them fundamental rights like the right to fair trial, right to freedom of speech, right to access of information, liberty, dignity, equal protection under law, privacy of the home, so on and so forth, has finally recognised that the people of FATA are vulnerable and that they are ready to own the people of this region. Of course, my delusion did not remain for long. The most important question that has failed to capture the minds and discourse of our literate Pakistanis is: why is the region kept under deliberate political and social isolation? Why is the outrage over the drone debate not linked to FATA reforms and immediate streamlining into Pakistani society? For urban Pakistan, FATA is its Achilles heel because it is the hub of all terrorism. According to them, drones fuel terrorism and so drones must stop. Beyond that debate, FATA is just not exciting enough. I apologise for trying to question the moral indignation of urban Pakistan over the drone debate. It is, however, not important for the urban dharna (sit in) participating crowd that FATA, which comprises of seven Agencies along with Frontier Region areas, remains Pakistan’s poorest region, with a population that, according to unofficial estimates, has reached over seven million. Nearly 66 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. The region continues to be directly governed by Pakistan’s federal government through a special set of laws called the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), a body of laws based on six chapters, 64 sections, three schedules. Article 247 of the 1973 constitution of Pakistan grants special status to FATA, whereby no act of parliament or the jurisdiction of the supreme judiciary is extendible to the region. The FCR guarantees no dignity of life and personal freedom to the people in the region. The literacy rate in FATA is only 17.42 percent, compared to the national average of 40 percent. Among women, it is three percent, compared to the national average of 32 percent. The per capita income is roughly $ 250, half the national average of $ 500, with a growth rate of 2.19 percent only. With hardly three percent land holdings, FATA’s 50 percent population is dependent on trade activities with Afghan brethren on the other side of the Durand Line. FATA’s forbidding terrain further isolates tribal communities from markets, healthcare, education services and many positive, external influences. The above statistics place FATA in the fourth world of the south. The tribal nature of the people and the geography of the region are being deliberately used to keep the region militarised. Defending the honour of the Pakistani state, the tribals were encouraged to fight jihad in Kashmir in 1948, since the fortress of Islam that is Pakistan was in danger. The people of FATA — trigger-happy cavemen — were ideal for providing human fodder from 1948 onwards to the current war on terror. The biggest war theatre in FATA was enacted by our military establishment to fight Islamic jihad in Afghanistan with petro dollars against the ‘infidels’ of the USSR. In 1979, FATA assumed special importance for our state when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. A massive jihad operation, from human fodder recruitment to drug factories, started operating in the region conveniently. During the Afghan war, more than 15,000 Arabs, Uzbek and Chechens were repatriated to and settled in FATA to fight a holy war against the Soviets. Also, nearly 1,000 or so unregistered madrassas (seminaries) were established primarily in FATA, many of which preached jihad against infidels. The continuation of the FCR by the Pakistani state made their various adventures possible in the region from 1948’s militarisation to the ultimate disintegration of the Soviet Union to the current war on terror. There are roughly 21 leftover jihadi groups from 1979 and 39 sectarian groups operating in FATA. These jihadis have now turned into the Taliban with different interests to manipulate and control the local population. However, 13 peace agreements were signed between the Taliban and the government between the periods 2007 to 2009 without involving the local population at large. In all these peace agreements signed with the militant Taliban, people sitting in Islamabad were taken on board but most of them lack understanding of local problems while dealing with these former jihadists now turned militants. To counter the former jihadists, a military operation was initiated by the state. Pakistan’s military has launched 12 major operations since 2002 against the Taliban. These military operations have completely militarised/destroyed the social and economic life of the people of FATA. Presently, military operations in the tribal belt have led to the displacement of more than three million people. The largest displacement is from South Waziristan where around 428,000 people have been displaced. In the summer of 2013, the Pakistani military launched an operation in Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency, which resulted in a huge exodus of more than 80,000 people. The military operations and Taliban takeover have played havoc with an already most impoverished area of the region. Agriculture, forests, water resources and lakes have been ruined. More than 32 percent of the educational institutions in the tribal areas of Pakistan have been destroyed in the militancy. Along with the bombing of schools by the Taliban, the healthcare sector has had a major setback by the targeting of polio workers in the region. FATA has 41 hospitals for its seven million strong population. The whole debate on this war on terror has been dominated by a very parochial, false and superficial discourse. The All Parties Conference held by the Nawaz Sharif government, which had participants from all major political parties in Pakistan, was a further disappointment. The conference called the tribal people their own people but called for no immediate and drastic reforms in the region, not even by those who championed the anti-drone policy. Urban Pakistan’s imagination is only caught up with one thing: how drones fuel insurgency and kill innocent people. Let us assume these leftover jihadists did not exist in the tribal region before the drones, or are not responsible for the killing of more than 1,500 tribal elders, murder and rape of the local people. Or maybe that the 1979 radicalisation of the area never happened. And we can deny that there are no Arabs, Chechen and Uzbek militants enjoying Pakistan’s tattered sovereignty. Or maybe I keep on forgetting they are sitting in Alaqa ghair (territory which is outside the domain of civil Pakistan). That debate can be bought by someone who is trying not to see the whole picture. Maybe if the press and media were allowed into the region we would get half of the ugly picture. However, no press and media are allowed and, under FCR’s draconian laws, no tribal can participate in national or international debate. We see no outrage over poverty and inhumane laws operating in FATA, let alone the deliberate militarisation under the pretext of Americanised jihad. If Pakistan is trying to own FATA through drones protests only, I regret to inform them that there is more to FATA than just drones. Protesting against drones can be good for one’s moral soul because they do cause civilian deaths along with those of high profile terrorists but this will not make the people of FATA Pakistanis.
Pakistan: PM waking up?
Pakistan: State failure or failed state?
That Osama bin Laden lived in urban Pakistan undiscovered by the authorities or with their connivance was bad enough; that the US Special Forces were able to find and eliminate him deep inside our country was clearly an intelligence failure for which heads should have rolled. But, of course, since the blame for this failure could be laid squarely on the country’s so-called premier intelligence agency, as such matters are its responsibility alone, the then director-general made a perfunctory offer before parliament to resign. This particular officer’s claim to fame to this day is his disdain for civilian politicians and the elected set-up. So, our elected public representative saw an opportunity to keep him onside by pleasing him. They didn’t accept his offered resignation. In fact, he was lauded for the ‘unprecedented’ gesture. A judicial commission was indeed set up. The fate of its findings was no different than those of dozens of others that have looked into instances of catastrophic national shame. No targeted blame was assigned. Therefore, the possibility of accountability did not arise. Our country today is bedevilled with militancy of every conceivable denomination. Each strand can be traced to a state policy of waging jihad via proxies more commonly known as non-state actors to further Pakistan’s perceived foreign/security policy goals. Perish the thought that anybody has been, or will ever be, held responsible for this unmitigated disaster that has made the country virtually ungovernable and claimed tens of thousands of lives. The victims have either been innocent bystanders or those battling this existential threat as the monster turned on the creator. In a better-late-than-never move, the new army leadership has finally taken a decision to take on some elements of this threat. The army has patted itself on the back, with partial justification, for pre-empting a ‘blowback’ for its anti-TTP operations through intelligence-based operations in many urban areas including Karachi. However, as has been witnessed on many an occasion in the past, the militants are in the process of morphing and now joining avowedly sectarian outfits. This serves two purposes. First, the TTP type militant finds protection as many key decision-makers of the state apparently still believe that these sectarian outfits have utility in the event of external aggression and allow them to operate quite freely. Secondly, the sectarian TTP members, which used the anti-imperialist cloak so effectively that even popular national leaders fell for it, then carry on with their activities as before with impunity. What else would explain the spurt in sectarian murders all across the country and particularly in Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar and in areas such as the Kurram Agency? The Taliban threat wasn’t dealt with firmly for years as many in the intelligence set-up had influenced opinion so favourably in the upper echelons of the military of these ‘God-fearing, patriotic fighters’ that no action was taken till they became an outright existential threat. A similar lethargy (or is it complicity?) is in evidence in taking head-on this sectarian monster. No matter how numerically limited believers of their ideology may be the sectarian takfiri groups have enormous firepower and clearly seem to operate with no fear of the law. Balochistan offers an interesting case. The military-led law and order apparatus, which includes the paramilitary Frontier Corps and Rangers as well as an undisclosed number of ISI officials and agents, has been in a lead role in the province for nearly 10 years. During this time, hundreds if not thousands of Baloch of all ages have disappeared only for their families to find their tortured, tormented bodies dumped later in public places. And these were the fortunate ones since, despite their agony, they were able to bury their loved ones and get closure. There are many others whose loved ones disappeared without a trace. They must exist in living hell, waiting for their loved ones even as they fear finding them. Many believe that the Baloch separatists have now started targeting even non-Baloch poor labourers and that this is a sign of their frustration because they are finding it hard to target their main foe, the security forces. The brutal anti-separatist operation where human rights have been openly violated, some argue, has been that effective. So, where the authorities want they can smother any threat. Frankly, Operation Zarb-i-Azb so far, since its launch in North Waziristan, leads one to the same conclusion. It is continuing apace with the military now controlling infinitely more space than it did before. In the process, many TTP bastions have been flattened as has happened with many IED-making factories which provided the militants with the bombs with which to wreak havoc, whether they were targeting military convoys or city centres. Shia Hazaras, particularly those in Quetta, will tell you that dismantling Lashkar-i-Jhangvi sanctuaries is as important as overrunning IED factories as they are equally lethal. They’ll argue that putting a lid on hate speech in their city should be a much greater priority than muzzling Baloch nationalist sentiment. Ask a Shia Hazara in Quetta today and don’t blame him/her for seeing Pakistan as a failed state. Imprisoned in their own homes with many unable to step out of their two ghettoes to educate themselves, earn a living or do as other Pakistanis do, this is their reality. The state has failed them miserably. If this dangerous drift continues the state will have failed itself too. So much so that it may forfeit the right to call itself a viable entity. Many patriots will take umbrage with this assessment but what else will Pakistan be when its key institutions fail to stand up for it?By Abbas Nasir
Pakistan: South Waziristan's Tribal elders take polio drops, join eradication campaign
Tribal elders of South Waziristan set a unique example on the World Polio Day observed on Friday by taking the vaccination drops themselves to persuade fellow tribesmen to get their children vaccinated and offset growing impact of propaganda against the anti-polio campaigns by certain quarters in their region.
The elders held a jirga to mark the day and a walk was held from the SWA Rest House to Bab-i-Waziristan where prayers were offered. The walk was attended by elders of Mehsud and Barki tribes, clerics, officials of the administration and health department and representatives of organisations associated with efforts to eradicate polio.
The elders asked the agency’s political agent Nawab Khan Safi to administer polio drops to them to show the world that “we want elimination of this crippling disease from our soil once for all”.
The elders and officials said the Mehsud and Barki tribes had proved that they want to end the disease from their areas.The tribal elders pledged to administer the drops to their kids and also help vaccinate other children around them.
Only Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan still have transmission of the wild polio virus.
Since 1988, the number of polio cases in the world has been reduced by 99 per cent from 350,000 a year to about 400 in 2013.
This year Southeast Asia has been certified as polio-free.
Earlier this year, the director general of the World Health Organisation declared polio to be still a public health emergency of international concern.
The WHO urged polio-impacted countries to ensure that travellers leaving their borders were immunised against the disease.
There is no cure for polio, but for as little as about Rs60 worth of oral vaccine, a child can be protected from the disease for life.
Dr Elias Durry, who heads the WHO’s polio eradication efforts in Pakistan, said in a statement that of 220 cases reported in the country this year, most had been detected in the northwest, where the Taliban had fought to prevent immunisation, killing about 60 workers and police escorting polio teams across Pakistan.
He told The Associated Press that the government would launch a fresh anti-polio campaign in the northwest on Saturday to reach children who had missed out on previous efforts because of the militants.
Pakistan: 3 more cases reported on World Polio Day
After three new cases were reported in Sindh and Balochistan on the World Polio Day Friday, the total number of the children suffering from the deadly virus in Pakistan rose to 210 in 2014. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) sources, two cases were reported in Korangi, Karachi while the third surfaced in Zhob, Balochistan. The new cases were reported in the backdrop of the World Polio Day being observed globally. Only three countries, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan still have transmission of the polio virus.
Aysha Raza Farooq, focal person of Prime Minister’s Polio Cell, admitted in an interview with BBC that there were some flaws in the polio eradication programme as well as vaccine quality problems. She, however, said the government was framing a policy to handle these issues.Despite efforts by the government and other stakeholders, the number of polio cases in the country has increased by four times in year 2014 when compared to the corresponding period last year. As many as 206 cases have surfaced this year, which is a record. The reasons behind increase in polio cases are refusal of parents to administer polio drops to their children and attacks on the teams deputed to carry out this job. From December 2012 to date at least 60 health workers and the police personnel deputed for their safety have so far been killed in attacks on them. Owing to increase in polio cases, the World Health Organisation imposed certain restrictions on Pakistanis with reference to their travel abroad. Under these restrictions, every Pakistani intending to go abroad is bound to furnish a certificate before his departure that he has been administered polio vaccine. Currently, the polio virus is found in three countries of the world, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. According to the United Nations Children Fund (Unicef), a record number of polio cases surfaced in 2014 whereas a decrease in such cases was witnessed in Afghanistan and Nigeria. The Unicef says this year206 cases surfaced in Pakistan, but only six cases were reported in Nigeria though the number of such patients in 2013 was 49 in that African country. Similarly, a considerable decline in such cases was witnessed in Afghanistan this year, the Unicef reports.
Pakistan: Far from polio-free
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/With 500,000 children yet to be vaccinated, Pakistan stands at a deplorable position on this year’s World Polio Day where it adds 85 percent of polio cases to the world. More than 200 cases have been reported since January this year alone, a fourfold increase as compared to last year. Such escalation of the disease creates many doubts about the stat’s measures and their outcome. As if the government’s inability and lack of an efficacious regimr to tackle this pandemic was not enough, there had to be a conspiratorial element to further depreciate all the efforts. Somehow, the terrorists’ narrative got it into some people’s mind that the polio vaccinations are actually meant to render us sterile and is therefore an un-Islamic act. Hence no parents should allow their children to be vaccinated. Moreover, the polio immunisation teams whose workers carry out door-to-door vaccinations should be killed as they are part of this sinister conspiracy against Muslims. Since this narrative got out, a series of attacks have been carried out targeting polio teams and killings dozens of health workers, mostly in the troubled areas of Khyber Phakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan. As a result of which the most challenging issue for the government is how to retrieve the lost public trust where people in these areas now refuse to get their children immunised. A report suggests that all of the six polio cases reported from Quetta were solely because of their parents’ refusal to get their children vaccinated. Despite many edicts being issued by different clerics and religious scholars to unequivocally endorse the necessity of these immunisations, no adequate narrative seems to be in place and after having all these alarming facts in front of us, one wonders why the government has not adopted an effective policy on a war footing. When will it come out of its slothful mode? The country needs a strong counter-narrative to make people realise the sense of urgency and the threat it poses to us and the world otherwise the field is open for this crippling disease to take hold even more widely. Is it not shameful that in the entire world, Pakistan remains one of those three countries where polio is still being categorised as endemic? Its contagiousness poses a threat to the rest of the world that is polio-free. Surely, we do not want to isolate ourselves from the rest of humanity. It is not only for our own sake but in order to be an active member of today’s dynamic global world that we need to get rid of this affliction as soon as possible.
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