Thursday, November 5, 2015
Russian planes in Syria destroy warehouse containing terrorists’ anti-tank weapons
Russia’s Sukhoi-25 planes have destroyed a warehouse in Syria’s Idlib province containing anti-tank missiles meant for the terrorist group Jabhat al Nusra, Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov has said.
"In the area of Maarat al Nu’man, Idlib province, according to data obtained through the joint information centre in Baghdad, a batch of anti-tank missiles had been delivered to a warehouse several days ago," Konashenkov said, adding that the weapons were addressed to militants for destroying the Syrian troops’ advancing armour.
"After this information was confirmed by several other sources a pair of Sukhoi-25 fighter-bombers attacked the target. The warehouse and the stored ammunition was destroyed," Konashenkov said.
Russian air group wipes out Islamic State stronghold 30 km away from Palmira
According to the spokesperson Russia’s Sukhoi-24 bomber has wiped out an Islamic State stronghold near the community of Tadmor, 30 kilometers away from Palmira.
"In the area of the community of Tadmor, Homs province, a Sukhoi-24 bomber has destroyed a large stronghold of the Islamic State, a tank in a firing position, an anti-aircraft system ZSU-23 and a mortar battery," Konashenkov said.
"The destroyed stronghold was more than 30 kilometers away from Palmira," Konashenkov said, adding that Tadmor was the largest community in this desert area, so its name was used for convenience to denote the specific location.
"Let me point out that Russian aircraft have been attacking only terrorist targets far away from architectural monuments," Konashenkov said.
It was not the first strike against terrorist forces in the area of Tadmor over the past few days. On Monday, the Defense Ministry said that a Sukhoi-25 fighter-bomber destroyed fortified positions and two ZSU-23 air defense systems.
http://tass.ru/en/defense/834224
Afghanistan - 'No armed combatants, no fighting': MSF issues Afghan hospital bombing report
A Médecins Sans Frontières investigation into the Afghan hospital bombing by US forces has found that there were no armed combatants or weapons within the compound, and no fighting in the direct vicinity of the hospital at the time of the airstrikes.
In its report released on Thursday, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF/Doctors Without Borders) addressed the “relentless and brutal aerial attack by US forces” which took place in Kunduz on October 3 and killed at least 30 people, including MSF staff.
“The MSF rules in the hospital were implemented and respected, including the 'no weapon' policy and MSF was in full control of the hospital at the time of the airstrikes,” the organization stated.
The document also said there were “no armed combatants within the hospital compound and there was no fighting from or in the direct vicinity” of the trauma center at the time of the strikes.
The hospital was “fully functioning” at the time of the airstrikes, with 105 patients admitted and surgeries taking place, according to the findings of the investigation.
In addition, MSF said the “agreement to respect the neutrality of our medical facility based on the applicable sections of International Humanitarian Law was fully in place and agreed with all parties to the conflict prior to the attack.”
Despite that neutrality, the hospital was still the target of a US airstrike, leading MSF to ask how such an attack was allowed to happen.
“The question remains as to whether our hospital lost its protected status in the eyes of the military forces engaged in this attack – and if so, why,” MSF said in its statement.
Presenting the report, MSF general director Christopher Stokes said: "From what we are seeing now, this action is illegal in the laws of war. There are still many unanswered questions, including who took the final decision, who gave the targeting instructions for the hospital."
The MSF statement described the tragic situation at the hospital.
“Patients burned in their beds, medical staff were decapitated and lost limbs, and others were shot by the circling AC-130 gunship while fleeing the burning building. At least 30 MSF staff and patients were killed,” it states.
MSF says its demand is simple: “A functioning hospital caring for patients, such as the one in Kunduz, cannot simply lose its protection and be attacked; wounded combatants are patients and must be free from attack and treated without discrimination; medical staff should never be punished or attacked for providing treatment to wounded combatants.”
Following the aerial attack, the Pentagon initially attempted to shift responsibility onto Afghan security forces, claiming they had requested the airstrikes.
However, the commander of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John Campbell, later admitted the attack was a“US decision made within the US chain of command.” He went on to say that Washington would “never intentionally target a protected medical facility.”
Muslims Who Gangraped Christian Girls at Gunpoint Acquitted by Pakistani Court
Muslim men who abducted and gang-raped two Pakistani Christian teenage sisters have been acquitted of the charges by a Pakistani court.
The Christian Post reports that sisters Sherish and Farzana went outside in the middle of the night to use the bathroom since their home does not have inside plumbing. While outside, they were captured by Muslim men and gangraped at gunpoint.
The two young women were found the next morning lying unconscious on the side of the road several miles from their home.
Although the family of the young women was threatened against pursuing legal action, they pressed charges against Muslim landlord Muhammad Shabaz and the other Muslim men.
Gunshots were fired at the family’s house after they took the girls’ case to court. Sherish and Farzana have taken up residence in a safe house, rented by the London-based humanitarian organization, British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), due to the threats the family has received.
Although Shabaz and fellow Muslim Muhammad Azeem were charged with the crime in court and brought to trial, they were ultimately acquitted.
The family of Sherish and Farzana claim the acquittal was due to a key witness taking a bribe and changing his testimony.
"The case has allegedly been lost due to the unreliability of a key witness who originally, in the face of threats, refused to attend the court, then when instructed to attend by the court changed his original statement," a BPCA press release explains. "Mr. Ghafoor, who was previously a family friend, has been accused of taking a bribe and altering his statement in lieu of this payment."
Farzana has been struggling with anxiety and depression caused by the ordeal. The girls’ father says he will appeal the court’s decision so that his daughters can receive justice.
Pakistan - Punjab Education’s Financial Fiasco
The Auditor General has detected corruption and financial irregularities amounting to Rs 5.28 billion at the Punjab Education Department and directed the authorities concerned to take punitive action against the responsible officers. This comes as no surprise considering the sad state of public education in the region.
According to the audit report of 2014 there have been massive financial irregularity in the Education Ministry of Punjab. Purchased items worth Rs363 million have been wasted at the Lahore Engineering University while nine educational institutions have made bad investments of Rs 3.78 billion at different levels. Moreover, nine government colleges have wasted Rs 269 billion in the name of maintenance of buildings and other repair work.
The report further says that various colleges have made transaction of Rs212 million in bank accounts of their own choice while different colleges have spent Rs117 million on the purchase of unnecessary items. “Purchase(s) of Rs27 million was made without the permission of purchasing committee while Rs20 million were distributed among undeserving people in the name of cash award,” the document read.
Moreover, Rs7 million have been wasted in the name of scholarship and various colleges have given Rs100 million to employees in advance, while students have not been given Rs20 million in allocated scholarships. Such vast sums of money were simply wasted or pocketed and there was no accountability of where it was going.
The Secretary of the Provincial Higher Education Commission expressed complete ignorance about this mega-corruption fiasco. Under his nose the Education Department has become the most lucrative departments in the government, having one of the highest numbers of employees, teachers and the greatest neglect in transparency.
Recently, a new summary of Rs4 billion has been prepared to seek funds to “overhaul the dormant system”, in rural and urban schools of Islamabad. But there really isn’t any point considering past performance. Big budgets are spent each year on the construction of schools staffed with ghost teachers, and upon the salaries of such ghost teachers. Hiring, transfers and postings at voluminous levels bring windfalls for those at the helm of this department.
The government officials themselves are one of the sources and causes of this parasitic and dysfunctional system. The top echelons in the education branch barely spare time to fix the faults, except for directors, deputy directors and the director-general ferrying between to sort out bundle of official files that are only related to promotions, perks and privileges.
#earthquakeinpakistan - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa - In numbing cold, Chitral's homeless sleep amidst rubble
The nights are bone chillingly cold in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Chitral district — especially for those who have to sleep out in the open because their houses were destroyed in the aftermath of the deadly October 26 earthquake.
For Ahmed Shah and many other residents, it is an ordeal to endure these nights. "I shiver all throughout the night despite wrapping myself in a blanket and a heavy quilt," Shah says.
The mercury is falling in KP's Malakand division with temperatures plummeting below freezing in Chitral, which has also seen snow and heavy rain.
The massive October 26 quake wreaked destruction in upper districts of KP which is situated near the epicentre, and shares borders with Afghanistan.
Almost 231 people were reported killed in five districts of Malakand:
- Shangla (50)
- Chitral (32)
- Swat (35)
- Lower Dir (26)
- Upper Dir (20)
Houses, schools destroyed in quake
According to the Pakistan Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), the high-intensity jolts also destroyed infrastructure, including houses and schools, in Malakand.
The disaster management body's initial report said that 26,697 houses were destroyed in total, including 8,307 in Chitral.
Soon after the quake occurred, the centre provided a helicopter to KP's provincial government for carrying out smooth relief operations in affected areas. Several days have gone by but survivors in remote and hilly areas say they are yet to receive any form of assistance from the government.
A spokesman for the PDMA in Peshawar says that the weather conditions do not allow them to run helicopter services in Chitral. He, however, says the government has directed the local administration to arrange tents, food items and other relief goods for the quake survivors of the district.
Speaking to DawnNews, an official at the District Disaster Unit claimed that the body launched relief operations soon after the quake and that relief goods and tents were distributed among the affected people with the help of the local administration.
So far, it has distributed 5,565 tents, 4,865 blankets, 1,877 food items and 850 foams among survivors in Drosh, Danin and other areas.
But the assistance is yet to reach upper and remote villages such as Owir, Lashpur and Yarkhun.
'Actual losses higher than what PDMA states'
Locals and survivors reject the PDMA report, claiming that the actual losses are much higher than what it states. "No one bothered to pay a visit to us to express solidarity or to collect data on damages," Dinar Gul, 52, laments.
“I am worried about my children and parents because they are more vulnerable to the extreme cold,” says Ahmed Shah.
Disappointed with what they call the lukewarm response of the government, district administration and aid bodies towards quake relief activities, the survivors of these remote villages of Chitral have started rehabilitation work themselves, and are trying to retrieve their belongings from the debris.
A group of volunteers, including 60 members from Booni, were the first ones to reach Owir village in Upper Chitral to help survivors build temporary shelters for protection from the chilly weather.
A small and remote village, Owir — which is a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Chitral — has been badly affected in the quake.
“We were the first ones to reach the area,” says Shah Nawaz Ali, who is leading the group of volunteers. He says that he spent a full day there to help the locals in removing debris, and to facilitate the reconstruction of temporary shelters.
The volunteers worked all throughout the day and restored water channels and roads, he adds.
"The entire village has been affected," says local Aasim Sheraz, adding that 150 houses have been damaged, forcing inhabitants to spend nights outside.
"Over 20 houses have been completely destroyed in the Moghlan Deh area of Owir and we need urgent help. We cannot build houses on our own; it is the responsibility of the government to reconstruct houses before the cold becomes unbearable," he pleas.
“We are forced to spend nights under the open sky. We need immediate relief and the government should launch a project to provide temporary weather proof shelter to the survivors.”
The quake also caused damage in Molkhow, Torkhow and Lashpur valleys of Upper Chitral.
According to the local community, more than 100 houses were completely destroyed in towns in Lashpur —including 38 in Harcahn, 70 in Solashpur, 58 in Balim and 28 in Brok. The Shandur road leading to the valley has also been blocked due to landslides.
With the onset of winter, survivors are in also in dire need of tents, blankets and quilts.
"A few days ago, a local tehsildar paid a visit to the area, and assured the survivors that relief activities would be launched soon," says a local resident Noorul Huda Yaftali.
“We are forced to spend nights under the open sky. “Children and women are at risk as temperature drops each passing day. We need immediate relief and the government should launch a project to provide temporary weather proof shelter to the survivors.”
Pakistan - Loss of seat at the UN human rights body result of government neglect of both foreign policy and degradation of human rights
Taking part in the discussion on the adjournment motion on the loss of its seat at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Senator Farhatullah Babar said it was a grim reminder of the fast degradation of the state of human rights in the country on the one hand and of lack luster and performance of the foreign office on the other.
When the first task of the government on assuming office was to abolish the human rights ministry and the foreign policy mandarins seek to convince the Supreme Court that giving licenses to Arab shaikhs for houbarba hunting was a corner stone of our foreign policy then we were fated to lose the seat on the Human Rights Council he said.
He said that there was no regular full time foreign minister, the incumbent Advisor wearing two hats had to lose the hat of national security to a retired general, federal ministers vied with one another to issue far reaching foreign policy statements, the ambassador in Geneva was retired just two weeks before the elections to the UN body, the newly set up National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) in the county had been rendered dysfunctional by denying it funds and office accommodation and the government failed to adopt the anti torture legislation passed unanimously by the Senate the writing on the wall should have been clear.
Farhatullah Babar also asked whether the debacle was related to the Arab countries voting against Pakistan as a reaction to our policy to not send troops to Yemen and asked that the FO should come out clean and also to take appropriate damage control measures.
https://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/2015/11/04/loss-of-seat-at-the-un-human-rights-body-result-of-government-neglect-of-both-foreign-policy-and-degradation-of-human-rights/
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