Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Editorial - #China - Opening a new realm for socialism with Chinese characteristics
China has achieved remarkable progress in the last five years under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), with great political courage and strong responsibility overcoming difficulties and engaging in innovation and reform. Through the "Five in One" overall plan and the "Four Comprehensives" strategy for developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the last five years, China's economy, science, technology and defense have improved significantly with progress in comprehensive national power, international influence and people's sense of gain.
Socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered into a new stage following great outcomes achieved by the Party since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and especially since the reform and opening up movement. Those historic achievements and reforms mark a new starting point and are of great and deep significance for the development of the Party and the country.
The Party's leadership is the most essential feature and the greatest advantage of socialism with Chinese characteristics. In the last five years, China has achieved historically significant outcomes in reform and opening up as well as socialist modernization thanks to the leadership of the CPC with Xi Jinping at the core. During this period, the Party has continuously enhanced its development and core role, which could be regarded as the most far-reaching achievement and the foundation of progress.
In particular, General Secretary of CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping's speeches and new ideas, thoughts and strategies for state governance and administration have pushed the Party's recognition on governance, socialism construction and social development to a new level and built an integrated scientific theory system. It is also the latest achievement in adapting Marxism to concrete Chinese conditions, opening up a new frontier of Marxism in contemporary China.
Socialism with Chinese characteristics has allowed China to make a historic leap from being independent to being rich and stronger, expanding modernization for developing countries and offering China's wisdom to the world. At the new historic starting point, the CPC should establish a firmer footing on “matters of confidence” to firmly grasp China's development and Chinese people’s aspirations for a better life.
It is hoped that this congress can handle important strategic issues in China's development with a broader version and longer-term view, and make breakthroughs in theory and practice. This congress is expected to strengthen the unity of all ethnicities in China, with a more active status and posture, to make efforts, build important projects, and implement great careers and realize the Chinese dream, and thus promote socialism with Chinese characteristics.
All great achievements are the result of continuous struggles, and all great careers are promoted by inheriting the past and opening the future. We are closer to the target of the great revival of the Chinese nation than at any other time in history, and have more confidence and capability to realize the dream. China is on the path to realizing the first centennial goal and building a well-off society in an all-round way, and is endeavoring to realize the second centennial goal. Our Party bravely holds its responsibility for the country, and leads the Chinese people to realize the Chinese dream of revival.
We wish the congress great success!
61,000 flee Kirkuk as Iraq says Kurdish independence 'a thing of the past’
After the Iraqi army took over Kirkuk, Baghdad has said that Kurdish independence is “a thing of the past” and the controversial referendum should be forgotten, as the UN says 61,000 people have fled the northern city of Kirkuk. “In the past 48 hours, the UN Migration Agency says that some 61,000 people have left Kirkuk and surrounding areas, most of them heading north and east toward the Erbil and Suleimania governorates,” Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, told reporters Tuesday. “We call on all parties to ensure that civilians are protected and [that they] can leave affected areas if they choose.”
Both Iraqi and Kurdish leaders have called for a "peaceful solution" to the current crisis. However, while the Baghdad official announced the controversial referendum should be forgotten, the Kurdish leader assured his nation's efforts for independence were not in vain.
The loud voices you raised for the independence of Kurdistan that you sent to all nations and world countries will not be wasted now or ever," Masoud Barzani said in a statement Tuesday, adding that "the Kurdistan nation... sooner or later, will eventually reach its right and sacred objective."
Barzani also decried the apparent split among the Kurdish ruling forces. The recent Peshmerga withdrawals from the disputed areas, such as the city of Kirkuk and other regions now under control of Iraqi army and Iranian-backed Shiite forces, "was the result of unilateral decisions of some persons within a certain internal political party of Kurdistan," he claimed, without specifying further.
Saying that he and his supporters "are doing our utmost to preserve our achievements," Barzani called for unity within the Kurdish nation and urged for "peaceful solutions."
On Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who belongs to the Shiite majority, also called for a dialogue with the Kurdish leadership "under the constitution."
This week, Baghdad has deployed the army to "impose security" in the resource-rich province of Kirkuk. Iraqi troops have seized control over several key Kurdish Peshmerga-held positions in the region. The Kurdish Peshmerga forces proclaimed the takeover "a flagrant declaration of war."
Up to 11 people might have been killed in Monday clashes between Iraqi and Kurdish forces, Reuters reported, citing US military personnel present in Iraq as part of Washington-led anti-terrorist operation in the region.
The White House has previously said it would not be "taking sides" in the battle between the two US allies.
Trump Invokes John Kelly’s Late Son In Continuing To Swipe At Obama
By Willa Frej
An Obama administration official blasts Trump for “inane cruelty.”
President Donald Trump on Tuesday sought to deflect criticism of his widely disputed comments on fallen service members by invoking his chief of staff’s son, who was killed in combat.
Trump claimed on Monday that his predecessors, particularly President Barack Obama, didn’t call the families of fallen troops, as he said he has done. His assertion was immediately debunked. A spokesman for Obama told HuffPost the former president “engaged families of the fallen and wounded warriors throughout his presidency through calls, letters [and] visits,“including to the Walter Reed military hospital in Washington.
When Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade raised the matter Tuesday on his radio show, Trump responded: “You could ask [White House chief of staff] General [John] Kelly, did he get a call from Obama?”
Kelly’s son, Robert, died in 2010 when he stepped on a land mine while serving in Afghanistan. Both father and son were Marines.
“I don’t know what [President George W.] Bush did, I don’t know what Obama did,” Trump then admitted to Kilmeade. “I write letters and I also call. I think I’ve called every family of somebody that’s died. I believe [Obama’s] policy was somewhat different than my policy.”
He chalked up the controversy over his Monday remarks to “fake news,” and made a point of calling CNN “just a bunch of fakers.”
Ned Price, a National Security Council official under Obama, reacted angrily to Trump broaching the death of Kelly’s son to continue taking swipes at Obama.
“Kelly, a man of honor & decency, should stop this inane cruelty. He saw up-close just how ― & how much ― Obama cared for the fallen’s families,” Price tweeted.
Kelly served as head of the U.S. military’s Southern Command during much of Obama’s White House tenure. An unnamed White House official told Fox News’ John Roberts that the former president did not call Kelly after his son was killed. Kelly attended a Gold Star families event held at the White House in 2011, according to White House visitor records.
A spokesman for Obama did not return a request for comment.
Trump’s lie about Obama and fallen soldiers shows how he makes America dumber
By Paul Waldman
Every once in a while, a politician says something so outrageous that it produces not the feigned outrage that has become so familiar, but genuine outrage. That’s what President Trump managed yesterday, when in a news conference he was asked about his public silence on the four American soldiers who were killed in Niger, and claimed that while he calls the families of those killed in action to express his condolences, previous presidents, particularly Barack Obama, hadn’t done so.
This was a particularly despicable lie, because it painted Obama — and other presidents, but let’s be honest, mostly Obama — as cruel and dismissive when it comes to the sacrifice of those in uniform, while portraying Trump as the only one who truly cares.
This morning, Trump actually seemed to double down. In an interview with Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade, he referred to the fact that the son of his chief of staff, John Kelly, was killed in Afghanistan in 2010:
“I mean, you could ask General Kelly did he get a call from Obama. You could ask other people. I don’t know what Obama’s policy was. I write letters, and I also call. … This was, again, fake news CNN. I mean, they’re just a bunch of fakers.”
It would be easy to just add this to the mountain of lies Trump has told, but it’s worth taking a moment to examine it, because it provides an important window not only into his own thinking but also the way that the president is succeeding in making the entire country stupider and more misinformed on an ongoing basis.
Let’s begin with Trump’s words at the news conference. He was asked, “Why haven’t we heard anything from you so far about the soldiers that were killed in Niger?” and he replied that he had written letters to the families, though those letters hadn’t yet been sent, and that he’d be calling them at some point. Then came this:
“So, the traditional way — if you look at President Obama and other Presidents, most of them didn’t make calls, a lot of them didn’t make calls. I like to call when it’s appropriate, when I think I’m able to do it.”
A few minutes later, another reporter circled back to this question, asking how Trump could claim that Obama didn’t call the families of fallen soldiers. Here’s part of his response:
“I don’t know if he did. No, no, no, I was told that he didn’t often. And a lot of Presidents don’t; they write letters. I do…“President Obama I think probably did sometimes, and maybe sometimes he didn’t. I don’t know. That’s what I was told. All I can do — all I can do is ask my generals. Other Presidents did not call. They’d write letters. And some Presidents didn’t do anything. But I like the combination of — I like, when I can, the combination of a call and also a letter.”
It’s obvious from his responses that Trump had absolutely no idea what presidents before him did or didn’t do in this situation, which he admitted again today (“I don’t know what Obama’s policy was”). But he went ahead and claimed that only he calls the families.
This is quite familiar to anyone who has been watching Trump these past couple of years. He takes his own limited experience and characterizes it as unique, extraordinary and unprecedented. No one has ever done this before, no one has accomplished so much, no one knows more than I do. There’s an element of the salesman’s puffery at work, but it also comes from a place of pure ignorance.
As conservative writer Tim Carney hypothesized last week, when Trump claims that no administration has ever done as much as his, it isn’t so much that he’s intentionally lying but that he’s so ignorant of the presidency and politics in general. He never realized that presidents and their staffs work very hard (“Like how 10-year-old me assumed teachers went into a cocoon at 3 pm,” Carney said), so he assumes he must be the first to have ever done so. The comparison to a 10-year-old is apt, because Trump’s brand of ignorance is so infantile. All of us are ignorant about some things, but only Trump believes that if he doesn’t know something, no one else could know it either (“Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated“).
When a normal person is in a state of ignorance, he or she might exercise some caution and refrain from making a volatile accusation that, for instance, his or her predecessors were callous to Gold Star families. But not Trump. You’ll notice that the first time he says it, he asserts it as simple fact: “If you look at President Obama and other Presidents, most of them didn’t make calls.” When he’s challenged, he equivocates: “I don’t know if he did … President Obama I think probably did sometimes, and maybe sometimes he didn’t. I don’t know. That’s what I was told.”
Now here’s why this matters. Yes, many news outlets pointed out that Trump wasn’t telling the truth. But there are probably three interns at Fox News who are now scouring old news reports to find some family member of a fallen soldier who didn’t get a call from Obama. If they find it, that person’s story will then become the subject of a segment on Sean Hannity’s show, and it will then get retold on a hundred talk radio programs and conservative websites as proof that Obama was a monster and the media are all lying about this. (Trump’s insistence that there was “fake news” at work is another way of telling his supporters not to believe whatever they hear about this subject that comes from sources not explicitly supporting him.) And I promise you that if you took a poll two weeks from now, you’d find that 40 percent of the public (or more) believes that Obama never called the family of any fallen soldier, and only Trump has the sensitivity to do so.
And that’s how Trump takes his own particular combination of ignorance, bluster and malice, and sets it off like a nuclear bomb of misinformation. The fallout spreads throughout the country, and no volume of corrections and fact checks can stop it. It wasn’t even part of a thought-out strategy, just a loathsome impulse that found its way out of the president’s mouth to spread far and wide.
If you’re one of those who marvel at the fact that Trump’s approval ratings aren’t even lower than they are, this is a big reason for that. It’s absolutely necessary to correct Trump’s falsehoods, but we shouldn’t fool ourselves into believing that any poisonous lie he tells won’t find an eager audience. And the whole country gets dumber and dumber.
Biden: Trump 'doesn't understand governance,' engages in 'bizarre behavior'
By Eli Watkins
Former Vice President Joe Biden offered broad criticism of President Donald Trump on Tuesday, saying the sitting President came to the job unprepared -- and is increasing anxiety the world over.
"We have a President who does not understand governance," the former Democratic vice president said. Biden went on to list examples of Trump's public actions since taking office that he viewed as cause for concern, particularly when Trump took to Twitter to dismiss Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's diplomatic efforts on North Korea.
"It is absolutely bizarre," Biden said.
The comments from Biden, who acknowledged a "grace period" of criticism from one administration to the next was typical, came during a scheduled discussion on bridging the partisan divide at a University of Delaware discussion he held with Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich. What began as a jovial session on Tuesday afternoon between the two longtime politicians quickly turned into a stern discussion about a modern erosion of norms along with toxic behavior in Washington, which they diagnosed as a result of disconcerting changes in the economy and the slipping decorum in politics.
Throughout the event, Biden rebuked Trump specifically for behavior he argued is unsettling and destabilizing. He told the audience, "This penchant for self-aggrandizement and this penchant for tweeting, this penchant to focus so specifically and eternally on what he does or doesn't do, even if he was right about everything, is sending a message to all of you and sending a message to your younger siblings that is just totally inappropriate." Biden said holdovers from the Obama administration call him concerned about the state of the federal government, and he tells them: "Please stay."
Biden cited a moment earlier this year where Trump pushed aside the prime minister of Montenegro, which Biden characterized as being followed by Trump thrusting his chest and chin forward as he emerged in front of the European politician. Biden said the moment made him think of "Il Duce," a term for the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. "Not a joke," Biden said. "Not a joke. That's what people are thinking. That's what people are thinking. Violating the norms of personal conduct generates more anxiety and fear than any policy prescription that this President has enunciated."
A broken system
Biden and Kasich both were outspoken critics of Trump during the campaign season from opposite sides of the aisle, and since the election, the two have pushed back against their own parties for what they view as improper moves away from the political center. Without pointing to Trump, Kasich said the political problems of the day manifested from years of misbehavior on both sides and a tendency for each party to play toward its own base. "It's become about base politics," Kasich said. "It's the base politics of Republicans, and it's the base politics of Democrats." Biden concurred, calling the political system "broken" and warning that the growing ideological divide made it more difficult to achieve any agreement.
"The center is shrinking," Biden said. "And that doesn't mean the center, per se, is good. But god, how can you run this country without reaching a consensus?"
Perspective: Pakistani nation brimming with animosity
People, parliament and distraction from one family’s corruption
- “Not just Ahmadis, Ahrar launched a vilification campaign against Muhammad Ali Jinnah and also tried to revive Shi’a-Sunni controversy in 1945”
- “Two features of NAP pertaining to sectarian discord are: measures will be taken to stop religious extremism and to protect minorities; print and electronic media will not be allowed to give any space to terrorists”
The National Assembly last Tuesday echoed with a factually incorrect diatribe of Captain (r) Muhammad Safdar, a PML-N lawmaker and son-in-law of Nawaz Sharif.
Amid applause and indifference, he invited fellow parliamentarians to “earn heaven” by acting against the Ahmadiyya community while also calling Ahmadis a British and Israeli conspiracy.
In 2012, Safdar termed Sir Zafarullah Khan’s election as foreign minister a conspiracy against Pakistan — the man chosen by Jinnah himself — and later endorsed Mumtaz Qadri, who was hanged in Salman Taseer murder case.
His current speech comes amid a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference filed against him and his wife, along with references against his in-laws.
Anti-Ahmadiyya problem goes back to pre-partition Punjab with its roots in ‘Ahrar-Ahmadi controversy’. Prominent Muslims of India, including Ahmadiyya community head Mirza Basheerud Din Ahmad, formed All India Kashmir Committee in 1931 to advocate the rights of oppressed Kashmiri Muslims. This committee included Dr Mohammad Iqbal who would also become its president later. The committee was termed an ‘organised rebellion’ by the pro-Congress press. However, the committee’s appeal was damaged by pro-Congress Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam (hereafter Ahrar) and Congress itself. Subsequently the Conference, rife with internal dissent, dispersed.
Ahrar, during the period, was at odds with Mirza Basheer and his community owing to difference in their religious beliefs; to put in Pakistan’s second chief justice Muhammad Munir’s words: “Ahrar took birth in the hatred of Ahmadis.” And not just Ahmadis, Ahrar launched a vilification campaign against Muhammad Ali Jinnah and also tried to revive Shi’a-Sunni controversy in 1945.
After partition, Ahrar’s political career was in jeopardy because of its anti-Muslim League politics. But after a brief hibernation, the party was revived in December 1947 and its first conference reeked of anti-Ahmadiyya sentiments, along with affirmation of their patriotism. So, politically dead Ahrar tried to revive itself at the cost of the country’s harmony and safety.
Ahrar ceased functioning as a political entity in 1949, choosing to follow the Muslim League, while announcing that it would focus on religion only. In the absence of strong political base and narrative, it kept espousing hatred against the Ahmadiyya community, especially Zafarullah Khan. The party held ‘Tableegh Conferences’ across Pakistan and in one of its Rawalpindi meetings, the group demanded the exclusion of Ahmadis from Islam, reiterated on many occasion afterwards. The Ahrar, Jamaat-e-Islami and other religio-political parties’ campaign resulted in Lahore Riots in 1953 which claimed at least “200 to 10,000 lives” according to a book, Pakistan: A Country Study.
The rioters demanded the declaration of Ahmadis as heretics, removal of Ahmadis from key positions, including Foreign Minister Sir Zafarullah Khan. The riots were however quelled when a three-month martial law was imposed in Lahore.
The government refused to declare Ahmadis non-Muslims after these riots; however, in 1974, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto excluded them from the fold of Islam, blatantly ignoring Justice Munir Commission Report that noted if the state adopts the definition of Muslim in compliance with one particular sect then others would automatically be declared kafirs.
In 1984, Ziaul Haq introduced Ordinance XX that penalises Ahmadis if they pronounce themselves as Muslims or adhere to the basic practices of Islam.
CaptainSafdar’s speech, in this context, invokes decades-old hatred against a particular sect. Ahrar was also the precursor of Shi’a-Sunni riots along with anti-Ahmadiyya agitation in the country.
Safdar not only used the platform of parliament but he also undermined the idea of national integration. However, Ernest Renan writes in What is Nation that a nation is not based on dynasty, language and religion, rather “nation is a soul, a spiritual principle. Two things, which in truth are but one, constitute this soul or spiritual principle. One lies in the past, one in the present… desire to live together, the will to perpetuate the value of the heritage.” He further says that a nation is a large-scale solidarity reaffirmed daily.
Moreover, Safdar singled out the minority, saying they don’t believe in the concept of jihad; therefore, they shouldn’t be inducted in the army. Safdar, being an ex-army official, had forgotten that modern armies are built on the concept of comradeship rather than religion. An army is a homogenous group of all the ethnic, religious and linguistic groups but when they don a certain uniform, they enter a bond exceeding all these barriers. The ISPR also claims army as a homogenous institution, but adds that Muslims have to sign a form to affirm their belief in the finality of prophethood before joining the army.
Safdar tried to instil discord within an institution by saying that a particular sect is a threat to its integrity and should not be allowed to join. Ironically, a person whose morality itself is in question is judging a community for its patriotism.
Pakistan is fighting a war on two fronts: a war on terror against global terror outfits and against home-grown militancy. In order to combat terrorism, a comprehensive National Action Plan was constituted in the aftermath of 2014 APS incident. Two features of NAP pertaining to sectarian discord are: measures will be taken to stop religious extremism and to protect minorities; print and electronic media will not be allowed to give any space to terrorists. Despite NAP’s relative success, Pakistan lacks a strong counter-narrative, which should be inclusive irrespective of sect, ethnicity or faith; force alone cannot wipe out the propaganda done by sectarian outfits and their passive support throughout the country — due to ignorance mainly.
Justice Munir report says “death follows hard on the heels of denunciation” but the government remained oblivious to this warning since 1953. No one questioned Safdar for his remarks except modest rebukes from the prime minister and the interior minister. While Punjab Law Minister Sanaullah, apparently scared for his life, says that if Ahmadis want constitutional protection they should accept they are non-Muslims. The silence of government and such actions legitimise the actions of mob—Mashaal Khan, Chitral incident, etc—and faith-based target killings. The state remains impotent to protect its citizens after all these years and now it is sad to see that once again parliament is being used for persecution of people for mere distraction from a family’s corruption.
National Survey Reports 3000 HIV AIDS Patients in Balochistan
HIV AIDS is spreading in Balochistan at alarming rates as the number of patients has exceeded 3000 causing embarrassment among the citizens.
According to the details Survey Aids Control Program has accomplished national survey on HIV AIDS in collaboration with UN and the survey has revealed that HIV AIDS patients all over the country have increased by 39000.
Dr Noor Mohammad of Provincial Aids Programme shared with media few months ago that from March 2016 to March 2017, over 355 cases of Aids had been reported in the Province. He said in 2015 AIDS patients were 396 meaning that the disease is spreading at rapidly. He also disclosed that 26 AIDS patients are in Gdani jail alone.
Though Balochistan health department has also established two Aids control centres in Quetta and Turbat in order to provide treatment to patients suffering from the disease, However, serous measures need to be taken to control HIV AIDS in the province.
http://thebalochistanpoint.com/national-survey-reports-3000-hiv-aids-patients-in-balochistan/
Pakistan’s abysmal ranking on the Global Hunger Index - Pangs of hunger
The annual Global Hunger Index, conducted by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute, finds the problem in Pakistan is as bad as ever. The country was ranked 106th out of 119 developing countries, with only Afghanistan the only Asian country placed below us. This is virtually unchanged from Pakistan’s ranking last year, when we stood at 107 out of 118 countries. The index measures four indices – the proportion of undernourished people in the general population, the prevalence of child morality, child stunting and child wasting. By all these measures, Pakistan is facing a serious crisis and seemingly doing little to tackle it.
The World Food Programme has estimated that 43 percent of the country is food insecure while one-fifth of the population faces severe shortages of food. The problem is only likely to become worse in the near future. Already we are facing the consequences of global climate change. Extreme weather events like drought and flooding have become more frequent and the state has no strategy for dealing with it. The Global Hunger Index found that Tharparkar has the highest levels of poverty and malnourishment. This should not come as a surprise to anyone who has witnessed the regular famines in the area over the past five years, where the ravages of regular droughts are compounded by minimal relief efforts
World Food Day, which fell yesterday, should have prompted the state to rethink its approach to combating hunger. The focus of successive governments has been on a growth-centric economic strategy which emphasises large-scale infrastructure projects like power plants and motorways. Important though they may be, they should not be prioritised over ensuring there is enough food for the population. The government needs to do a better job of ensuring that fertilisers and pesticides are not adulterated. The agricultural sector, which has suffered greatly because of the over-valued rupee, needs to be revived and there should be diversification of the crops we grow. Our problem is not food production, in which we are sufficient, but the uneven distribution of food. Poverty and lack of nutritional literacy bar people from access to the food they need. As always happens in such situations, it is women and children who are disproportionately affected. Social welfare programmes, such as the Benazir Income Support Programme, should be expanded to subsidise food and special care needs to be taken of internally-displaced people. Pakistan’s abysmal ranking on the Global Hunger Index should be taken as a warning to act before it is too late.
#KhyberPakhtunkhwa - د خیبر پښتونخوا ١٥ لکه ماشومان د مورپلار بې غورۍ او غربت د سکول نه بهر ساتلي
د مور او پلار د توجه د نشت والي، غربت، سماجي رویو او نژدې د سکول د نشت والي له امله د خیبر پښتونخوا ١٥ لکه ماشومان سکولونو ته نه ځي، دا خبرې د خیبر پښتونخوا د حکومت د بنیادي او ثانوي تعلیم په تازه سروی یا نظر پوښتنه کې شوي دي.
د صوبې د تعلیم وزیر عاطف خان وي او ای ډیوه ته ویلي په صوبه کې د سکول نه بهر د ١٥ لکه ماشومانو دا شمیره هڅې اندازه نه ده بلکې کور په کور د معلوماتو په بنیاد مخې ته راغلي ده.
د حکومت نظر پوښتنه ښايي د سکول نه بهر په ماشومانو کې اکثریت د جینکو دی، یعنې د پنځه کاله عمر نه واخلې تر د ١٦ کلونو عم پورې ١٠ لکه جینکۍ سکولونو ته نه ځي.
د سروی رپورټ ترمخه د ١٥ لکه نیمايي ماشومان د غربت او یا د مور او پلار د بې غورۍ له کبله سکول کې نه دي داخل شوي.
ماهرین وايي ترهگرۍ او تندورۍ د خیبرپښتونخوا او فاټا د تعلیم نظام ته انتهايي زیات نقصان رسولی دی، سکولونه په بمونو تباه کړی شوي دي، سکولونو او استازانو ته دړکې ورکړی شوي او یا پرې لکه د نوبل امن انعام گټونکي ملاله یوسفزۍ او یا د پیښور د ارمي پبلک سکول په رنگ طالبانو حملې کړي دي.
د خیبرپښتونخوا د تعلیم د صورتحال په اړه نور تفصیل پیښور نه د وي او ای ډیوه خبریال حمیدالله په رپورټ کې دلته اوریدی شئ
https://www.voadeewaradio.com/a/kp-education-out-of-school-kids/4043236.html
#KhyberPakhtunkhwa - #PTI MNA holds party govt responsible for drinking water crisis
Rehmat Mehsud
A Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) parliamentarian blamed his party’s provincial government for failing to resolve the chronic potable water issue in Tank, an impoverished district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), fearing waterborne disease could spread because a vast population was forced to drink contaminated water.
A number of residents of the ill-fated constituency of PK-69 Tank complain they were forced to drink unhygienic water and fetch drinking water from far away ponds.
“The water issue of this ill-fated constituency is pending solution for over 50 years now. People and animals drink from the same pond in villages in the district’s peripheries,” Gul Nawaz, who owns a cloth store, said.
Dawar Khan Kundi, member of the National Assembly (MNA) from PTI, said the provincial government had never bothered to resolve issues of southern districts, primarily those of his Tank constituency.
“I personally took up the drinking water issue of my constituency with Imran Khan and told him that I wanted a resolution of this… chronic issue,” Kundi recalled.
The PTI-led provincial government made promises several times to ensure provision of clean potable water to districts of the province.
A number of residents of the district held a protest rally in Peshawar last week and threatened to stage a sit-in in front of the CM’s House if the water problem was not solved within two days.
When contacted, Mahmood Ahmad Khan, member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), who represents Tank district, said that he had already got installed two tube-wells to ensure provision of clean drinking water supply to the city.
But Kundi said that he was sure the PTI-led government and the JUI-F were jointly creating hurdles in the resolution of issues of the district.
Nabi Jan, another resident of the district, said that clean drinking water was a distant dream; rather people did not find water inside mosques for ablution.
The district witnessed record surge in population following influx of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from adjacent South Waziristan tribal region in the backdrop of military operations against insurgents.
Tank is home to Saraiki- and Pashtu-speaking people, and both are supposed to be the permanent residents of Tank, which has now turned into a congested city. Tank district has a strategic importance and the gateway to South Waziristan tribal region.
Tank is surrounded by districts of Lakki Marwat to the northeast, DI Khan to the east and southeast, and South Waziristan tribal region to the southwest, west, and northwest.
“Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has no interest in development work in Tank district. The provincial government is solely responsible for this issue,” Kundi remarked.
Zahid Khan, a senior member of the Awami National Party (ANP), said he wondered how the PTI planed to build a new Pakistan at a time when they (PTI) couldn’t manage to keep old things in order.
“How will the PTI build a new Pakistan when they couldn’t even ensure supply of drinking water to the district, which is a longstanding demand of the people of Tank City?” Khan remarked.
Ikramullah, a college student, said that he pays Rs 1,500 for a single water tanker to get drinking water for his extended family members. He said that officials of the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) and public health engineering department didn’t pay any heed to tackle this issue.
“I categorically condemn the provincial government… it is solely responsibility for providing drinking water to the residents. I don’t think the PTI will resolve this water issue in its tenure,” he concluded.
Abdullah Nangial, a social worker in Tank district, blamed religious parties like the JUI-F for the poor infrastructure, saying that they ruled the district for 14 long years but did not pay heed to the problems of the area.
Almost every year, the PTI government allocates a budget in its Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the repair of damaged water supply and sanitation lines, but opposition lawmakers and locals complain that the issue still persists.
“The clean drinking water issue is still a serious one. The voters should reject the PTI and the JUI-F and elect a person with prior commitment to settle the issue,” Nangial noted.
#SHAME #PAKISTAN - ''Must Please Erdogan''
The family of the former principal of the Pak-Turk Schools Mesut Kacmez, whose abduction report came out, last week, have apparently been deported back to Turkey. This is despite the fact that they were living under an asylum seeker certificate issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). What this means is that deporting them back to Turkey, where their life can be in danger, is against a dozen national, international and even moral laws.
Last week it was portrayed as if they had gone missing, and the government was meekly asking the security agencies to locate the family immediately. Now we know all those statements to be deceptions – as only the government could have handed over the family to Turkish officials.
The news of their deportation would not have come out if the daughters of Kacmez had not been in touch with the daughter of the former director of Pak-Turk Orhan Agyun. Turkish officers apparently flew out to Pakistan to discreetly take the family back. The girls at the moment are living with their grandparents but there is no update about the parents. And according to the girls, the officers tortured them on the plane.
Pakistani government, aware of the laws at play and the threat to the lives of these people, easily handed them over.
Their case was in court and the court had ordered the government to put the family’s name in the Exit Control List (ECL) to prevent their movement unless the matter was solved.
The federal government again surpassed orders of the court and took action of their own accord.
They need to be held accountable for this matter.
In a democratic state, as we claim ourselves to be, this cannot happen.
We have pledged to protect the right of individuals and our policies need to reflect that. The incident only points in one direction and that is that the government staged the abduction of the family just to please Erdogan and help him deport the family back.
It is not only illegal but a poor policy choice as well. We claim to be the champions of the Kashmir cause and highlight state terrorism that is prevalent in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), but this act of ours is no less than that.
They have deceived the populace that voted them into power.
This is an insult to the promise of democracy. Whoever is involved in the process, the government needs to answer. It cannot hide behind false claims of innocence.
It is a shame that we need to reiterate the flawed policy being pursued to please Erdogan’s anti-Gulen paranoia.
Death toll from US drone strike in Pakistan rises to 26: officials
The death toll from a US drone attack on a compound used by the Taliban-allied Haqqani network has risen to 26, officials said Tuesday, less than a week after a US-Canadian family held captive by the militants was rescued.
The barrage on Monday targeted a meeting of Haqqani fighters in Pakistan’s remote tribal Kurram district along the Afghan border in the deadliest attack on the group this year.
“First drone strike killed five fighters from Haqqani network and minutes apart a second drone then fired two more missiles after militants arrived to retrieve dead bodies from the rubble,” a senior government official in Kurram told AFP Tuesday.
“So far 26 dead bodies have been retrieved and drones are still flying in the sky,” the official said.
The US has increased pressure on Pakistan in recent months to crack down on the outfit.
A second government official in Kurram confirmed the drone strikes and the new death toll.
Both officials said the strikes took place on the border with Afghanistan, with part of the compound sited in Afghan territory.
The Haqqanis are one of the strongest factions in the Afghan Taliban insurgency and have earned a fearsome reputation for their vicious attacks on NATO troops and Afghan installations over the years.
The group has long been suspected of having ties to Pakistan’s shadowy security establishment, souring relations with Washington.
Islamabad has repeatedly denied the accusations of turning a blind eye to militancy, lambasting the United States for ignoring the thousands who have been killed on its soil and the billions spent fighting extremists.
Canadian hostage Joshua Boyle and his American wife and three children were freed on October 11 in Pakistan after five years of captivity at the hands of the Haqqani network.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/126666/death-toll-us-drone-strike-pakistan-rises-26-officials/
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