Monday, March 12, 2018
اسفندیار: فاټا دې د خیبر پښتونخوا برخه شي
د عوامي نيشنل ګوند مشر اسفنديار ولي خان د اتوار پر ورځ د سيدو شريف په ګراسي ګراونډ کې يوې ولسي غونډې ته په وينا کې يو وارې بيا ټينګار وکړ چې قبايلي سيمې بايد په خيبر پښتونخوا صوبه کې شاملې کړل شي.
نوموړي پر هغو سياسي ګوندونو او مشرانو نيوکې وکړې چې په خیبر پښتونخوا د قبايلو د ورګډولو مخالفت کوي.
د عوامي نيشنل ګوند يو مخکښ او پخواني سينيټر زاهد خان مشال راډيو ته وويل، دوی د فاټا او خيبرپښتونخوا د يو ځای کولو خبره تر هغې وروسته لا هم تېزه کړه کله چې د قبايلو ځوانان راپاڅېدل او د خپلو بشري او اييني حقونه لپاره يې غږ پورته کړ.
((چې کله زموږ قبايل وروڼه راپاڅېدل، په تېره ځوانان، نو موږ ورسره ودرېدو. همدا وجه ده چې اسفنديار خان په سوات کې يو وارې بيا خپله دا غوښتنه تکرار کړه چې قبايل دې په خيبرپښتونخوا صوبې ورګډ کړل شی. د حيرانۍ خبره خو دا ده چې حکومت خپله د دغې کار لپاره کميټي جوړه کړه، او بيا په حکومت کې شامل دوه کسان، چې هغه هم پښتانه دي، يو مذهبي ليډر دی او بل د پښتنو په نوم سياست کوي، هغوی دواړو يې مخالفت وکړ. موږ نه پوهيږو چې دوی ولې داسې وکړل؟ موږ وايو چې په قبايل بايد هرو مرو د خيبرپښتونخوا له پښتنو سره يو ځای کړل شي. د فاټا حالت موږ ته ښه معلوم دی. هلته ميډيا نه شي تلای، پوليټيکل ايجنټ راپاڅي او ټول خاندان بندي کړي. د قبايلو لپاره هسپتال، يونيورسټي، سرک، روزګار، هېڅ نشته. دا خلک به اخر تر کومې همداسې په تيارو کې ساتل کيږي؟))
د فاټا اصلاحاتو په اړه د پښتونخوا ملي عوامي ګوند او جميعت علمای اسلام ف ډلې دريځ دی چې په دغه کار کې بايد د قبايلو رای وپوښتل شي.
د فاټا او خيبرپښتونخوا صوبې د يو ځای کولو پر مساله د قبايلي مشرانو تر منځ هم اختلافات موجود دي.
خو يو شمېر ګوندونه بيا وايي چې په پارليمان کې ناست د قبايلو استازي کولای شي د خپلو ولسونو د راتلونکي په اړه پرېکړې وکړي.
د پاکستان مرکزي حکومت ويلي، فاټا اصلاحات به په تدريجي ډول عملي کوي.
د پاکستان قامي اسمبلۍ قبايلي سيمو ته د هېواد د اعلی عدالتونو د واک غځولو قانوني مسوده منظور کړې، خو لا هم سينيټ په دغه برخه کې اقدام نه دی کړی.
https://www.mashaalradio.com/a/29094291.html
Pakistan under pressure to rein in blasphemy law
One of the most frightening things about Pakistan’s blasphemy law is that the simplest act can spiral into charges that can bring the death penalty. In the case of Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman, it started when she brought water to her fellow women workers on a farm.
On that hot day in 2009, Bibi had a sip from the same container and some of the Muslim women became angry that a Christian had drunk from the same water. They demanded she convert, she refused. Five days later, a mob accused her of blasphemy. She was convicted and sentenced to death. Later this month, the Supreme Court is expected to hear her appeal.
Pakistan is under new international pressure to curb Islamic extremism, and activists at home say one place to start is by changing its blasphemy law.
In January, the U.S. State Department cited the law as one of the reasons it put Pakistan on a watch list of countries accused of “severe violations of religious freedoms.”
The move came as the Trump administration is ratcheting up pressure on Islamabad, freezing security aid until it cracks down on militant networks operating from its soil to carry out attacks in Afghanistan. Moreover, the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental agency that combats money laundering and terror financing, has given Pakistan until June to show how it will tackle radicalism or else be put on a black list, a step that could hurt its international financial ties.
Opponents of the blasphemy law say it has turned into a force corroding Pakistani society, feeding extremism, implicating the justice system in radicalism and ultimately undermining rule of law. Often the law is used to punish rivals in personal feuds. Just making an accusation is enough to convince neighbors or others in the community that the defendant is guilty and must be punished, whipping up a vengeful anger even if the courts find the accused innocent. Authorities are often too afraid to push back against the public fury. In at least one case, officials have kept a man acquitted of blasphemy in prison, fearing riots if he is freed.
Militant groups have embraced the law, using it to cultivate support and attack those who try to break their power.
“It has become much more dangerous over the last few years. The reason is that they have created a sense of fear,” said Zahid Hussain, a political analyst and the author of two books on militancy in Pakistan. “It has become a ready tool not only against non-Muslims, but also against Muslims who do not agree with their world view.”
According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, 71 countries have blasphemy laws — around a quarter of them are in the Middle East and North Africa and around a fifth are European countries, though enforcement and punishment varies.
Pakistan is one of the most ferocious enforcers.
At least 1,472 people were charged under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws between 1987 and 2016, according to statistics collected by the Center for Social Justice, a Lahore-based advocacy group. Of those, 730 were Muslims, 501 were Ahmedis — a sect that is reviled by mainstream Muslims as heretics — while 205 were Christians and 26 were Hindus. The center said it didn’t know the religion of the final 10 because they were killed by vigilantes before they could get their day in court.
While Pakistan’s law carries the death penalty and offenders have been sentenced to death, so far no one has ever been executed.
A key test will come when Pakistan’s Supreme Court rules on the case of Aasia, whose world was turned upside down after a mob of villagers accused her of insulting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad after the water incident.
Aasia’s case even reached the Vatican, where Pope Francis last month met with her husband, Ashiq Masih, and daughter Eisham, who traveled to Rome to witness the Colosseum being bathed in red light in a sign of solidarity with persecuted Christians around the world.
During the emotional encounter, Eisham gave the pope a kiss that she said her mother asked her to deliver.
“The blasphemy law is misused in Pakistan,” Masih told The Associated Press in a rare interview. “It has nothing to do with the Holy Prophet or Islam, it is just to settle grudges.”
He spoke at a small Christian-run school in Lahore which Eisham and a younger, disabled daughter, attend. The school’s principal and owner, Joseph Nadeem, has become a guardian to Masih and his children.
Masih, who said his wife was innocent, points to his arm where a bullet struck him, fired by a protester outraged with his wife’s alleged crime. He never lives in one location too long, because it is potentially dangerous, he said. Aasia’s lawyer, Saiful Malook fears the Supreme Court will buckle to extremists’ pressure and reject his client’s appeal when it hears it later this month. Her only hope in that case would be a presidential pardon, he said.
Just defending her is dangerous. Malook’s home in Lahore is protected by police. He also is a target because he prosecuted Mumtaz Qadri, the elite police guard who killed Punjab’s provincial governor, Salman Taseer, in 2011, after Taseer defended Aasia Bibi and criticized the misuse of the blasphemy law.
Qadri was hanged for his crime, but he has since become a martyr to millions, who make a pilgrimage to a shrine erected in his name by his family outside the federal capital. Giant posters of Qadri emblazon buildings not far from the school where The AP interviewed Aasia Bibi’s husband. Fear of being connected with a blasphemy case is so strong that Nasreen Abid, a Christian woman, moved out of earshot of others and whispered as she told the AP her family’s story. She spoke outside Lahore’s Mayo Hospital, where she was waiting to learn the condition of her son, Sajjid, who suffered multiple injuries, including two broken legs, after he jumped from a third-story window of a police investigation unit.
She said the police called in Sajjid after his cousin, Patras Masih, was arrested on accusations of sharing a blasphemous picture on Facebook. Police wanted to check Sajjid’s phone but found nothing, said his mother.
Then police stripped Sajjid and his cousin, taunted them and told them to have sex with each other, she said. Instead, her son flung himself out the window. Police say they are investigating the incident. In Jand Wala Saroo, a small village near Pakistan’s border with India, Razia Bibi wonders whether she will ever again see her brother, Muhammad Mansha.
Mansha spent nine years in jail accused of blasphemy until the Supreme Court acquitted him last year, saying the evidence was insufficient. But he remains imprisoned because authorities say his release would start a riot in the village.
“I pray the village will forgive him, but no one wants him back here,” Razia said, sitting on a traditional rope bed surrounded by her many children. “All the villagers are agreed. He shouldn’t come back. Some even said they would kill him.”
Two local men accused Mansha of destroying pages of the Quran at a mosque, though neither witnessed the alleged act. The only purported witness was a child who can neither hear nor speak.Speech
Video/Report - #Pakistan - #SenateChairman - Krishna Kumari takes oath in colourful Thari attire
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Krishna Kumari, the newly elected Senate member, took oath wearing traditional Thari dress on Monday.
Wearing traditional Thari clothes with white bangles up to her shoulders, she said, “My journey from Thar to Senate, has been tough and I’m feeling very proud.”
“By wearing the traditional attire, I am trying to bring my community to the forefront,” she added.
Kumari is a member of Sindh’s Hindu community, based in Thar. She hails from the family of valiant freedom fighter Rooplo Kolhi. She got married at 16. Her husband supported her to continue her studies. At 38 now, she holds a Master’s degree in sociology from Sindh University.
Her parents also accompanied her to the Senate, dressed in the traditional outfit. Different senators hailing from her party shared her photographs on social media as she took the oath of the Senate membership.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/03/12/krishna-kumari-takes-oath-in-colourful-thari-attire/
Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf govt in Khyber spent Rs 1.63 billion on media campaigns, says official
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has spent around Rs 1.63 billion on media campaigns in the last five years to highlight its performance, a senior official informed the Supreme Court on Monday.
KP Information Secretary Qaisar Alam told this to a three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar, during the hearing of a suo motu case of against alleged spending of hefty amount on advertisements by provincial governments of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh to highlight their achievements ahead of elections schedule later this year.
During the hearing, the Chief Justice asked how many advertisements were issued to print and electronic media organisations by the KP government and how many of them carried the photo of PTI chairman Imran Khan and Chief Minister Pervez Khattak.
To which, Alam then informed the bench that the provincial government has spent Rs 1.63 billion on advertisements during the last five years, while Rs 204.7 million were spent for the purpose during the last three months, Dawn News reported.
The chief justice then directed the secretary to submit details of KP government's advertisement expenditure of the last year, and bring with him copies of ads which carried photos of Khan and Khattak.
The CJP also asked whether Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif had deposited Rs 5.5 million to the national exchequer that the apex court had directed him to pay last week for spending on a media campaign.
The additional advocate general Punjab then submitted a copy of the cheque of Rs 5.5 million that was paid by Sharif.
The amount was reimbursed from "party funds", the advocate told the court.
Stressing that the funds spent on political advertisement campaigns belonged to the treasury, Justice Nisar said "We have nothing against the advertisements, but they should not be for personal publicity".
He also said that the photographs of late PPP leader Benazir Bhutto, Sindh chief minister Murad Ali Shah and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also should not appear in government advertisements.
The money spent on government advertisements belonged to the people of Pakistan, the CJP said, adding that the court wants to end the wastage of public funds.
Justice Nisar stressed that the court was not ending the flow of advertisements to newspapers, but only halting "a category of advertisements", and adjourned the hearing till tomorrow.
Little-known Pakistani politician appointed Senate chairman
Sadiq Sanjrani, a senator from a remote part of the southwestern Baluchistan province, was a compromise candidate backed by opposition parties in a rare show of unity.
PML-N officials, who allege elements of the military are trying to weaken their party, accuse Sanjrani of being a “pro-establishment” candidate. Sanjrani denies being a military stooge and the army has rejected claims of meddling.
Sanjrani won 57 votes in the 104-seat chamber to beat PML-N candidate Raja Zafarul’s 46, according to presiding officer Sardar Yaqoob Nasir.
“The face of this house is blackened today,” said Mir Hasil Bizenjo, a government minister and ally of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif who was ousted by a Supreme Court ruling last July that his party suggested was influenced by the powerful military.
The military, which has ruled Pakistan for nearly half of the time since independence from British colonial rule in 1947, denies interfering in the judicial process.
“I appeal to the institutions, I appeal to the political parties that for God’s sake let this country take its right course. Let this country take its democratic path,” Bizenjo told the Senate. PML-N displaced the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) as the single biggest one in the upper house in elections on March 3. [nL4N1QL074] But the secret ballot of members of the four provincial assemblies and the federal parliament was marred by allegations of horse trading and seat buying.
The PPP has a long history of battling military dictatorships under the leadership of Zardari’s slain wife Benazir Bhutto and her late father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and it has denied cutting a deal with the military.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party which joined the PPP in backing the new Senate chief, has also rejected claims of military involvement, with party leader Imran Khan tweeting that Sanjrani’s election would “strengthen the federation”. “We are happy for the people of Balochistan & for the federation of Pakistan,” Khan tweeted. In a lighter moment, all senators clapped and banged tables in appreciation when a new member, from a marginalized Hindu caste, entered the chamber.
Krishna Kumari’s election was seen as a breakthrough for her Dalit community, who are the lowest rung on the caste ladder and are often referred to as the “Untouchables”.
Pakistanis due to hold a general election in mid-2018.
PPP-backed Sadiq Sanjrani elected Senate Chairman
Sadiq Sanjrani the opposition-backed candidate from Balochistan was appointed Senate chairman on Monday. Sanjrani who secured 57 out of a possible 103 votes was administered oath by presiding officer Sardar Yaqub Khan.
Sanjrani an independent had been backed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P). According to reports, Sanjrani also had the support of independent senators elected from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)
He was contesting for the post against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) candidate Raja Zafarul Haq who was backed by the National Party (NP), Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), PML-Functional and Awami National Party.
The election for deputy chairman is now taking place between government-backed Usman Khan Kakar from PkMAP and PPPs Saleem Mandviwalla.
Despite backing Sanjrani, the MQM-P had announced that it would not vote for Mandviwalla.
Earlier on Monday, 51 newly-elected Senators took oath by presiding officer Senator Sardar Yaqub Khan when the Senate session began a little after 10am. Ishaq Dar could not take oath as he is in London on medical grounds.
Who is Sadiq Sanjrani?
Sanjrani was born on April 14, 1978 in Balochistan’s Nok Kundi town in Chagai district.
Sanjrani was born on April 14, 1978 in Balochistan’s Nok Kundi town in Chagai district.
The senator received his primary education from Nok Kundi and later attended the Balochistan University from where he obtained his Master’s degree in Arts.
Sanjrani’s father, Khan Mohammad Asif Sanjrani, is a tribal leader and a member of Chagai’s District Council.
The senator is the eldest of five brothers.
His brother Aijaz Sanjrani was the adviser to the revenue department in this government in the tenure of Sanaullah Zehri as chief minister. He continued to serve on the position after the incumbent chief minister took office.
Another brother of the senator, Muhammad Razik Sanjrani, has served as the managing director of the Saindak Copper Gold Project.
In 1998, Sanjrani was appointed as the then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s coordinator.
Yousaf Raza Gilani, after taking over as prime minister in 2008, appointed the senator as the head of the newly-formed Prime Minister’s Complaint Cell at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. He served as the head of the complaint cell for five years.
Sanjrani contested and won the Senate elections held earlier this month, on March 3, as an independent candidate.
نواز شریف کے ساتھ پیش آنے والا واقعہ جمہوری رویوں کے خلاف سازش ہے، آصف علی زرداری
https://jang.com.pk/news/461664
Benazir Bhutto had vision to transform Pakistan into modern nation state: CM Sindh
The Chief Minister (CM) of Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah said that he was delighted to be there that evening amidst the distinguished academics to distribute well-earned and well-deserved degrees among the University Scholars. The underlying desire in accepting the invitation was to avail the opportunity of visit to the oldest University of the country, which with its refreshing surroundings and serene beauty provides a pleasant departure from the mundane, day to day exigencies of my responsibilities.
Congratulating the all the recipients of degrees and medals and their proud parents, he said that Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had a vision and a commitment to transform Pakistan into a modern nation state; a dream and desire which she believed could not materialize without quality higher education and youth empowerment. This was one reason why she wanted each district in Sindh to have an independent University. This mission of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was carried forward by Honorable Asif Ali Zardari, Co-Chairman, Pakistan Peoples’ Party, as he issued Sindh University directives to establish its campuses at rural districts of Sindh. I may partake that our worthy Chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his learned sisters Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari and Aseefa Bhutto Zardari also cherish the dream of giving people of Sindh best higher education institutions. Bakhtawar Cadet College for Girls at Shaheed Benazirabad established in 2016 is just an example of this dream.
Eulogizing the efforts made by SU Vice-Chancellor Dr. Burfat, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah added that an educated populace was vital in the present world, with the convergent impacts of globalization, the increasing importance of knowledge as a main driver of growth and the information and communication revolution had gained greater significance. Besides, knowledge transfer, generation, application and integration had also become major factors in economic development and remained increasingly at the core of any country’s competitive advantage in the global economy. “I give you the good news the shortly the construction of overhead bridge at Jamshoro Phattak would come to its completion, thereby facilitating faculty, students and staff at all the three major universities there,” the CM said.
CM Shah further said that he had noted with keen interest some problems faced by Sindh University and highlighted by VC-SU Dr. Burfat. “I leave this hall with the assurance that as provincial chief executive, I will contemplate these problems with a seriousness they deserves and will take them with the concerned departments with a view to resolve them as early as possible”, he stressed. Felicitating the degree and medal recipients one more time, the Chief Minister said that God never wasted anybody’s rightful efforts. “I urge upon you to go forth and serve humanity with the best of ability, intention and effort and you will soon get to know how high Allah Almighty elevates your stature”, he said addressing the graduates.
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