Friday, February 16, 2018
خليلزاد: پاکستان کې د پښتنو غوښتنې قانوني دي
د امريکا پخوانی سفير زلمی خليلزاد وايي چې د پاکستان په پښتني سیمو کې زيات ظلم شوی دی چې له کبله يې د پښتنو مشکلات نور هم زیات شوي دي. له نوموړي سره د امريکا غږ ډيوه راډيو نفيس ټکر مرکه کړې ده. خليلزاد زياتوي، پاکستان کې د پښتنو غوښتنې قانوني دي خو ګوري به چې حکومت دغو غوښتنو ته څه ځواب وایي؟
#Balochistan: Five people abducted in Panjgur and Balgtar, Two released
Pakistani security forces have abducted three people including two teenage boys from different areas of Panjgur Balochistan on Monday and Tuesday.
According to details, Pakistani forces abducted Akran son of Qadeer resident of Gwash from Parome region of Panjgur city on Monday while on Tuesday Pakistani forces abducted 15-year-old Idrees son of a Saddique resident of Jahein in Parome Panjgur.
Akram has been abducted during a raid on his house and Pakistani troops abducted Idrees from his farm in Panjgur.
In another incident, Pakistani forces abducted Nawab son of Ghulam Hussain from Kalkshan area of Parome in Pangur.
Also, on Monday, the police have shot dead a Baloch shopkeeper in Washbood area of Panjgur.
Local sources reported that an unknown caller informed Munir son of Usman Baloch that there was a robbery at his shop. Munir immediately informed the police and he also reached to his shop.
When the police arrived at the shop Munir was already inside who identified himself as the owner of the shop but the police shot him dead despite confirming his identity.
Separately, Pakistani forces abducted two men from Balgtar area of district Kech Balochistan on Tuesday.
The abducted men have been named as Abdul Haq son of Mohammad Hussain and Yasee son of Murad.
Meanwhile, two previously abducted Baloch men from Dasht area of district Kech have been released and reunited with their loved ones.
The released men have been named as Wahag s/o Muhammad and Yaqoob s/o Mullah Sabzal.
http://balochwarna.com/2018/02/14/balochistan-five-people-abducted-in-panjgur-and-balgtar-two-released/
#Pakistani #Christian Disable Girl became Victim of Gang Rape
A widow Rukhsana Kausar who was previously living in Sargodha moved to Gujrat with her family 10 years ago. Her husband died 4 years ago leaving 4 daughters and 3 sons behind him. Rukhsana is a sanitary worker in a hospital. Her three daughters are married while one daughter identified as Saba is deaf and dumb.
When Rukhsana went to the market her daughter Saba was alone at home. Then four Muslim men took advantage of Saba’s disability and targeted her of their sexual abuse at her home. Later on Saba’s identification the police arrested four men known as Arsalan son of Muhammad Bota, Shehbaz son of Muhammad Inayat, Shoiab and Abdul Aziz with the case reference number 17/1101 in Civil Line Gujrat.
According to the victim’s mother her disable daughter was severely tortured and raped by four men in her absence. The investigation officer arrested the four culprits but later released the two of them who bribed him. According to the girl’s mother the third rapist is released on bail too while the forth criminal is still in jail.
The released culprits went to victim’s mother work place and threatened her to sign apology form or they will harm her family and the eye witness of this case whose name is Awais .
The poor widow appeals to the DPO (District Police Officer) of Gujrat and Chief Justice of Pakistan to help her to get justice for her disable daughter.
All daughters either Christian or Muslim are honor of the country. Like Zainab of Kasur who was raped and murdered last month, Saba is also the daughter of Pakistan. Saba’s family appeals to the DPO Gujrat to take immediate notice of the Saba case and arrest the rest of the rapists who got released. They want that all the culprits must be penalized according to the law who raped the poor widow’s disable daughter.
Pakistan: Terror Under Wraps In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – Analysis
By Ajit Kumar Singh
A local Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) leader, Malik Tufail, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in the Mughalkhel area of Bannu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on February 4, 2018.
On February 2, 2018, at least 11 Army personnel were killed and another 13 injured in a suicide bombing near an Army camp in the Sharifabad area of Kabal tehsil (revenue unit) in Swat District. The suicide bomber targeted the sports area of the military base camp where soldiers were playing volleyball. Claiming responsibility for the attack, Mohammad Khorasani, a spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), said they had sent a young suicide bomber, Siddiqullah, to conduct the attack.
On January 23, 2018, a ‘commander’ of the Haqqani Network, Ehsan alias Khawari, and two of his associates were killed when a US drone targeted a house in the Speen Thall area of Hangu District.
According to partial data compiled by the Institute for Conflict Management (ICM), KP has accounted for at least 19 terrorism-related fatalities (two civilians, 11 Security Force, SF, personnel, and six terrorists) in the 2018, thus far (data till February 11, 2018). During the corresponding period of 2017, the Province had accounted for just two fatalities, both terrorists.
Through 2017, KP recorded a total of 123 fatalities (40 civilians, 26 SF personnel, and 57 terrorists) as against 213 such fatalities (123 civilians, 50 SF personnel, and 40 terrorists) registered in 2016. The trend of decline in overall fatalities thus continued for the fourth consecutive year since 2014.
Other parameters of violence like major incidents (each resulting in three or more fatalities), bomb blasts, and sectarian attacks also registered declines. There were 16 major attacks causing 80 deaths in 2017; as against 17 such attacks resulting in 121 fatalities in 2016. The most prominent attack in 2017 was on December 1, when at least nine persons, including six students, were killed and 37 were injured as TTP terrorists attacked the Agriculture Training Institute (ATI) in Peshawar, the provincial capital. All the four terrorists involved in the attack were also killed. KP accounted for 17 incidents of bomb blast, resulting in 23 fatalities and 110 persons injured, in 2017; as against 32 such incidents, resulting in 70 deaths and over 218 persons injured. Also, as against six incidents of sectarian attack, resulting in eight deaths and three persons injured in 2016, KP recorded only one such incident in 2017, resulting in three fatalities.
However, little has changed on the ground in terms of dealing with the reasons responsible for the growth of terrorism, including mischievous state policies, radicalization and growing fundamentalism, among others. In the most recent example of growing radicalisation, life in KP’s Mardan District came to a halt on February 9, 2018, as thousands of workers and supporters of the Aalmi Majlis Tahaffuz Khatm-e-Nubuwwat (AMTKN, the International Organisation for the Protection of the Finality of Prophethood), joined by locals, participated in protests to pressure the Government into releasing 31 men convicted in the lynching of Mashal Khan, a resident of Swabi and a student at the Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, on April 13, 2017. Holding banners that read “Mashalyon [Mashal supporters], stop us if you can!” the protesters chanted slogans against Mashal and the Government. Qari Ikramul Haq, leader of the AMTKN demanded that the men convicted for the murder be released. Several of the 26 men acquitted by the court in the same case, including Ajmal Mayar, attended the rally and were given a ‘Ghazi (Muslim warrior) welcome’. The people in rally offered a dua (grand prayer) for those acquitted. AMTKN is a Pakistan-based anti-Ahmadi group, closely affiliated with Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP); Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JI) and the Fazl faction of JI (JI-F)
Mashal Khan was lynched to death after being falsely accused of blasphemy. A group of students had shouted religious slogans during the attack and had stripped Mashal naked and about 10 of them assaulted him with planks until his skull caved in, as the others students looked on. An anti-Terrorism Court in Abbotabad awarded the death sentence to one of the accused on February 7, 2018. It also awarded 25-year prison sentences to five others and four-year sentences to another 25 accused. The decision, announced by judge Fazal-e-Subhan Khan at Haripur Central Jail, exonerated 26 of the accused. There were a total of 57 accused in the Mardan lynching case.
Significantly, according to a report published on September 29, 2014, by the Centre for Research and Security Studies, Pakistan, a total of at least 59 persons ‘accused’ of blasphemy have been victims of extra-judicial killings in the country since 1990. Of these, only one case was reported from KP: Ashiq Nabi was shot dead on April 20, 2005, in Nowshera District. Though no further definitive data is available in this regard, according to open media sources, the April 13, 2017, killing of Mashal Khan, is the second such incident reported from the Province.
The Imran Khan led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in alliance with JI – which formed the Government in the Province under the Chief Ministership of Parvez Khattak on May 31, 2013, replacing the Awami National Party (ANP) led Government of Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti – came to power on a platform that is deeply sympathetic to the Islamist extremist ideology. The stated position of the present Government on TTP and other Islamist terrorist formations, according to Chief Minister Khattak’s declaration of January 26, 2014, is that military operations against these groups would be opposed. This was only a further reiteration of the position that Imran Khan and other party leaders, both of the PTI and the JI, had defined well before the elections, and that brought them to power. In October 2012, Imran Khan had claimed that the Taliban were fighting a ‘holy war’ justified by Islam in neighbouring Afghanistan: “It is very clear that whoever is fighting for their freedom is fighting a jihad… The people who are fighting in Afghanistan against the foreign occupation are fighting a jihad.”
More recently, on February 4, 2018, Imran Khan defended Afghan Taliban (to which the TTP pays allegiance) against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), claiming that they represent Western “liberals [who] are thirsty for blood.”
In the meantime, the Islamic State (IS, also Daesh) has made some inroads into KP, as in other parts of Pakistan. On June 24, 2017, at least two suspected Daesh terrorists, including its KP ‘chief’ Arif aka Khalil aka Abuzar, were killed and five SF personnel (three Policemen and two Army soldiers) injured in an exchange of fire which lasted for six hours in Shahpur village, Peshawar. A large quantity of explosives, AK 47s and material used in assembling improvised explosive devices was found at their hideout. According to reports, the terrorists had completed their ‘preparations’ for terrorist attacks in the city with the help of videos of their intended target sites.
It is not surprising therefore that terror groups continue to get more ‘dedicated cadres’ for them to work. Indeed, incidents of suicide attack, which are an important indicator of the level of existing threat in a particular region witnessing a protracted conflict, more than doubled. In 2017, KP accounted for seven such incidents resulting in 34 deaths and 80 injuries as against three such incidents recorded in 2016 which had resulted in 21 fatalities and 53 injuries. The current year, 2018, has already witnessed one such incident (February 4, mentioned above).
The surge in violence during the first 40 days of the current year, as compared to the same period last year, indicates that terrorists continue to have a significant presence in the region. Acknowledging the danger on January 10, 2018, the US Government issued a new travel advisory to it citizens cautioning them against travel to KP, Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), and Balochistan. The US State Department statement read:
Reconsider travel to Pakistan due to terrorism. Some areas have increased risk. Do not travel to Balochistan province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, (FATA) and the Azad Kashmir area due to terrorism and armed conflict.
Apart from ‘domestically oriented’ terror groups, the Haqqani Network continues to operate out of the tribal regions of KP and FATA. Significantly, US drone attacks returned to KP in 2017. A US drone strike killed a ‘commander’ of the Haqqani Network and his partner in the Speen Tal area of Hangu District on June 12, 2017. The last such attack had taken place on November 21, 2013, when at least eight suspected terrorists were killed and five were injured in a US drone strike at a seminary in the Tal area of Hangu District. The Haqqani Network’s ‘spiritual leader’, Maulana Ahmad Jan, was among eight persons killed in the attack. More recently, on January 23, 2018, a ‘commander’ of the Haqqani Network, Ehsan aka Khawari and two of his associates were killed when a US drone targeted a house in the Speen Thall area of Hangu District.
Despite recording a continuous decline in terrorism-related fatalities over the past four years, KP remains a troubled region, where terrorism is just under wraps and can flare up again at any moment. All the factors responsible for the rise of terrorism, including its political sponsorship, remain intact, and no honest effort has been made to deal with these issues, as the declared state policy, both at Islamabad and Peshawar, is against taking any hard measures.
#Pakistan- Poor Women Health
There is a direct link between the health statuses of women and women’s low societal standing in Pakistan. This correlation is strengthened with the latest United Nation’s released report on women’s health presents a poor picture of women health in Pakistan. According to the report, 48.1 percent of female population of the country lacks participation in decisions regarding their health care.
Pakistan ranks third worst country in the world if numbers of maternal deaths are taken into account. There are many factors responsible for such problems. However, more important is the lack of resources even for those who wish to seek treatment.
The dogmatic and extremely narrow approach to women’s rights and indifference towards women’s health is the main reason why women are not able to get the proper medical attention. Women are at times not even allowed by other women to undergo medical treatment or visit a doctor. The tribal and rural concept of home deliveries is another reason why patients remain undiagnosed of medical complications and later on suffer for the remainder of their lives.
Besides other factors that serve as hurdles in improving women’s health include low investment in the health sector, rapid population growth. The state needs to take revolutionary steps to enhance the status of health in general and women health in particular. Investment in health has a long-term beneficial effect. It improves health outcomes, reduces poverty and contributes to promoting economic growth. At the backdrop of this perspective, the federal, as well as provincial governments are spending sufficient amount on health and education to bring the social sector into the main stream of development.
Social dogmas further limit the rights and access of women to reproductive health services. Domestic violence remains a chief cause of complications related to pregnancy including unwanted pregnancies, lack of access to family planning services, unsafe abortions or injuries due to abortion, complications due to frequent and high-risk pregnancies, lack of follow-up care, sexually transmitted infections, and other psychological problems.
There is widespread and chronic malnutrition among women and young children, especially girl children, against whom there is cultural and social discrimination in the distribution of household resources. Women lack the power within their families to decide on the number of children they want. Patriarchal values system and gender biases affect women’s choices and health and consequently their work, economic productivity and sense of wellbeing.
Pakistan is a signatory to a number of international commitments to improve the status of women health . To achieve the targets of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Islamabad needs to carry more efforts to improve the health of women .
#Pakistan - Sending troops to Saudi Arabia
The American demands for Pakistan to do more and more created a honeymoon period of sorts for the civil-military relationship; whereby both sides were united in the face of what they saw as Washington’s unfairness. That chapter may now be closed.
For while our lawmakers have seemingly turned on each other and denounced US moves to have this country put on the FATF watch list as evidence of government failure — the men in khaki have snuck out from behind the wings and announced as a done deal the deployment of Pakistani troops to Saudi Arabia; in addition to the 1,000 or so already stationed there. Thus Senator Farhatullah Babar was right to slam this as “tantamount to bypassing the Parliament”. For such unilateral manoeuvrings do not bode well for the country’s long-term democratic health. That this has happened so close to elections sends a reminder of just who calls the shots.
The military establishment issued a press release earlier this week informing of the deployment. It said that the contingent will adopt a training and advisory role under the umbrella of Pak-Saudi bilateral security cooperation and that no soldiers will be deployed outside of the Kingdom. Though it was less forth coming about the number involved. Parliament therefore has legitimate grounds to demand answers. For the fear has long been that Riyadh wants to draw this country into its regional conflicts such as the all-out military aggression directed at Yemen, one of the world’s poorest nations. As well as its ongoing proxy war with Iran. Despite our lawmakers voting for the principled stand of neutrality on both these fronts.
This may or may not be the price of the double-edged sword of nuclear capability: everyone wants a piece of the atomic pie; or at least the threat of it. Back home, we suffer from a non-transparency epidemic. For while much has been made of how the Turkish and Iranian governments were taken into quiet confidence — the citizenry is always the last to know. In this case, Parliament too.
Thus we want to be apprised of the terms and conditions of the ‘deal’. Will the Saudis, for example, let our troops get their hands on advanced US weaponry to try the latter out for size? Or will Riyadh be the one to explain to a belligerent Washington that at a time when it has suspended all military assistance to this country on the grounds of our unwillingness to go after militant safe-havens — we have chosen to help out another nation? We would also like someone to tell us if our boys will somehow be involved in the Islamic Military Alliance that many believe has Tehran in its sights? And, lastly, someone somewhere has to come clean on what the future holds. Is Pakistan turning into a Saudi satellite Republic?
The Senate Chairman was right to summon the Defence minister to appear before the House on Monday. Though, as we all know, it should not have come to this. The national interest has to extend beyond that of the military. If, that is, Pakistan is to continue with the charade of calling itself a democracy. *
Pakistan could face economic pain from return to terrorist financing 'gray list'
The prospect of Pakistan being placed back on a global terrorist financing watchlist could endanger its handful of remaining banking links to the outside world, causing real financial pain to the economy just as a general election looms.
Washington and its European allies have co-sponsored a motion calling for the nuclear-armed nation to be placed on a “gray list” of countries deemed to be doing too little to comply with anti-terrorist financing and anti-money laundering regulations, with a decision expected next week when member states of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meet in Paris.
The move is part of a broader U.S. strategy to pressure Pakistan to cut its alleged links to Islamist militants waging chaos in Afghanistan.
Pakistan, which denies such links, last month shrugged off a U.S. aid suspension worth $2 billion. But inclusion on the FATF watchlist could inflict real damage, bankers and government officials say.
Islamabad has sought to head off the motion by amending its anti-terrorism laws and by taking over organizations controlled by Hafiz Saeed, a Pakistan-based Islamist whom Washington blames for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.
But there are concerns Pakistan’s nearly $300 billion economy, expanding at its fastest rate in a decade at above 5 percent, could lose steam if it ends up on the FATF watchlist, from which it was removed in 2015 after three years.
“We don’t think the consequences are going to be drastic but it’s definitely not good,” said one senior finance ministry official.
Military successes against militants and massive Chinese infrastructure investments have restored some vim to an economy hobbled by a long-running Islamist insurgency and wrecked by the 2008/09 global financial crisis.
Officials are aiming for economic expansion to hit 6 percent this fiscal year (July-June) and Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s ruling party will want to avert a slowdown in the lead up to a general election due in about six months.
Being placed on the FATF watchlist carries no direct legal implications, but brings extra scrutiny from regulators and financial institutions that can chill trade and investment and increase transaction costs, according to experts. Mike Casey, a partner at law firm Kirkland & Ellis in London, said being put back on the gray list would heighten Pakistan’s risk profile and some financial institutions would be wary of transacting with Pakistani banks and counterparties.
“Others might elect to avoid Pakistan altogether, viewing the legal risks associated with doing business there to outweigh any economic benefits,” he said.
CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICIT
A decline in foreign transactions and a drop in foreign currency inflows could further widen Pakistan’s large current account deficit, the Achilles heel of an economy that required an IMF bailout in 2013 following a balance of payments crisis. Another major worry is that the likes of Standard Chartered, the largest international bank in Pakistan with 116 branches, or Citibank and Deutsche Bank, who mostly deal with corporate clients, would pull out.
Banks have been retreating from high-risk countries in recent years amid intense pressure from global regulators to guard against money laundering and terrorist financing.
“The level of due diligence is already high in countries like Pakistan, but if this goes ahead then the banks will really have to reassess the risk-reward scenario,” said a senior executive with a large foreign bank, which has business interests in Pakistan.
In September, Pakistan’s biggest lender, Habib Bank, was fined $225 million and effectively forced to shut its U.S. operations by the New York regulator due to compliance failures over money laundering and terrorist financing.
U.S. watchdogs have dished out more than $16 billion in fines for anti-money laundering (AML) compliance failings since the end of 2009, according to data compiled by Hong Kong consultancy Quinlan & Associates.
“No one wants to be get caught in a situation where for a few million dollars of business the bank will have to pay billions in fines,” added the foreign bank executive.
There is no immediate indication the handful of international banks that remain are considering leaving Pakistan, and banking sources point out that these banks are well-versed with the risks of operating in the country.
Citibank, in a statement, said: “Citi complies with all applicable U.S. and international anti-money laundering requirements and economic sanctions.”
Standard Chartered said it was “closely monitoring the situation and as a matter of policy, we do not comment on market speculation”. Deutsche declined to comment.
RAISING MONEY
The FATF threat has begun to weigh on Pakistan’s stock market, although local businessmen say the country’s companies are accustomed to operating in tough conditions.
Yet some are unnerved.
One Pakistani money manager launching an alternative investment fund said he fears his new venture could now struggle to attract U.S and European investment.
“It’s already tough to raise money in Pakistan and anything to do with a ‘terror financing’ watchlist will just scare people,” said the fund manager. “There will be more scrutiny and some foreign funds will back away.”
A Pakistani finance ministry source said the government also fears a downgrade by the credit ratings agencies, making it harder or more expensive for Pakistan to raise debt on the international markets.
“It reduces our credibility in the world, which is unfair,” added Pakistan’s State Minister for Finance, Rana Afzal.
Some Pakistani officials say there is growing confidence in the country that recent efforts against Saeed, who was the focus of the FATF motion, will be enough to stave off further action.
“We’ve taken the wind out of their sails,” said one senior Pakistani government official. “If we now get punished, it would be a political move and vengeful.”
#Pakistan - Crime against women not to be tolerated: Bilawal Bhutto
In a statement, the PPP chairman said that he deeply felt the pain reading the media reports about the rape of Tayaba Rahimoon and Rozina Mallah in two different incidents in Karachi and Tando Mohammad Khan. “Such ugly incidents won’t be tolerated and the culprits have to be caught and punished as per the law of the land,” he added.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari further said that protection of women and girls was collective responsibility of the society and the government. However, the government and its police should take such incidents in utmost seriousness and ensure that the criminals involved in heinous crimes including the rapists of Tayaba Rahimoon and Rozina Mallah.
#Pakistan - Thousands visit Thar science festival during two days
Hanif Samoon
More than 15,000 students from over 100 government and private schools and science enthusiasts visited the two-day first ever ‘Thar Science Festival’ that concluded at the Shaheed Benazir Cultural Complex here on Thursday.
The festival was jointly organised by Thar Education Alliance (TEA), Alif Ailaan and Thar education department’s office of chief monitoring officer (CMO).
TEA’s Partab Shivani and CMO Samiullah Sanjrani told journalists that the largest science festival held for the first time ever in Thar was a shining example for all district administrations across the country to replicate it in their areas.
“Such events are especially important to familiarise school administrations, teachers and students with unique ways to teach and understand basic science concepts in an interesting and engaging manner,” they said.
They said that it was a pleasant shock for them to see unprecedented response from students of the area, considered to be one of the most backward regions of the country.
Students from all over Thar set up over 100 stalls to showcase their creative works on different themes and aspects of science, they said.
The students expressed their joy and gratitude for getting an opportunity to display their innovative products.
Some of the popular exhibits included planetarium by Pakistan Science Foundation, a fruit piano created by Learn-o-Bots and a mental arithmetic exercise conducted by Robotech.
The girl students from Bright Future School and Lata Shah from Government Primary School, North Colony Mithi, surprised the visitors with their knowledge about hydraulics and water filters, respectively. Abdul Rehman of class four was the star of the festival, attracting large audiences, for explaining Pythagoras Theorem in an interesting manner.
Several renowned personalities including Dr Beekha Ram, vice chancellor of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, visited the stalls and praised the festival organisers and students.
At a session for career counselling Dr Beekha Ram spoke about medical science, noted activist from Islamabad Meena Gabina talked about women education and the challenges Thari women were faced with and the first barrister from Thar lectured on law and urged participants to study law.
The organisers gave away awards including eight laptops, 31 tablets, mobile phones and cash awards to 160 students, who had clinched top three positions in a mathematics test held on Jan 20.
Army Public School, Mithi, grabbed the first position for setting up the most beautiful stall, while a local trader, Partab Lakhwani, gave a gold medal to the student who had decorated the stall.
The other students, who won top positions included Eshwar Lal, Asadullah, Guriya, Pirachi, Imtiaz Ali Rajar, Uzma, Naqqash, Rabia, Ajmal, Moomal, Anusha and Mohen Lal.
Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari also praised the festival in his tweet, saying: “The festival is a wonderful initiative that allows the children of Thar to learn and engage with science in a practical way.
“My heartfelt gratitude and congratulations go to everyone who has made it possible.”
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