Tuesday, March 13, 2018
#PashtunLongMarch2Quetta - Listen to Pakistan’s Marginalized Pashtuns
Saroop Ijaz
Authorities Should End Discrimination, Stereotyping
This week, police in Pakistan’s province of Balochistan registered a criminal case against Pashtun activist Manzoor Pashteen for criticizing the government and state security agencies. Pashteen’s alleged crime is to demand equal citizenship for Pashtuns, the second largest ethnic group in Pakistan, who have been protesting for the past two months, calling for an end to discrimination and ethnic stereotyping.
The protests were sparked by the alleged extrajudicial killing by police of Naqeebullah Mehsud, 27, in Karachi in early January. The peaceful demonstrations have now spread across the country. For instance, last week, a group of Pashtun students held a sit-in outside the office of the vice-chancellor of the Punjab University Lahore, protesting discrimination by the university administration.
Many Pakistani Pashtuns live in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), the embattled area bordering Afghanistan that in recent years has endured attacks by the Taliban armed group, government military offensives, and US drone strikes. FATA is still governed by colonial era regulations that allow “collective punishment” for entire communities, including property destruction, and largely denies people access to courts to enforce their rights. In 2016, when about a million displaced residents returned home following 2014 military operations against the Taliban, they had to produce special identification cards not required of other Pakistanis.
Provincial governments have added to the tensions. In February, the Punjab government issued a notification “asking the population to keep an eye on suspicious individuals who look like Pashtuns or are from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and to report any suspicious activity by them.”
Pakistani officials should recognize the country’s diversity as a strength and not a weakness. All persons are equal before the law. Critically, the government needs to end its longstanding discriminatory laws and practices against Pashtuns and act to end hostile attitudes toward them. This process could start by dropping the criminal cases against Manzoor Pashteen and other protest leaders wrongfully charged, fully investigating and fairly prosecuting those responsible for Naqeebullah Mehsud’s death, and letting Pashtun voices be heard.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/03/13/listen-pakistans-marginalized-pashtuns
#PashtunLongMarch2Quetta #Pakistan - Pashtun resistance
The young Pashtuns are marching again. This time they are in Balochistan. Mainstream media has once again failed them. Whether the media blackout is a result of express advice by the state or a mode of self-censorship or linked to corporate imperatives, it is a matter of grave concern. A generation of young, displaced and war-torn Pashtuns has grown up in contemporary Pakistan, which rightly feels marginalised. The young men and women of federally administered tribal areas are far better informed and networked than their predecessors. They are outraged at the fact that state treats them as second-class citizens. There have been many plans for FATA reform, proposals on mainstreaming and integration and nothing much has happened. Nor is it likely to until Pakistan’s security is viewed through the prism of Afghanistan and by extension the fear of Indian influence on the western borders.
Those in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan are also aware of the everyday insecurity that has affected thousands of families. In fact KP has suffered the most in the war on terror. The internally displaced Pashtuns have had to face the stereotyping, economic hardship and brutal state violence as was demonstrated in the case of Naqeebullah Mehsud – the young man who was killed in a police encounter by an illegally empowered yet rogue police unit in Karachi. Are these not issues of public interest? Are the demands of young Pakistanis not worth the airtime? Inordinate coverage has been given to mainstream power players especially Imran Khan in recent years. The 2014 and 2016 dharnas were brought to people’s living rooms. How is the issue of alleged corruption by Sharifs more important than the embedded corruption in FATA and denial of rights to a sizeable part of country’s population?
The young Pashtuns have taken the path of non-violent and peaceful resistance. It is reflective of democratization that has been underway for the past one decade. This should be acknowledged and appreciated. The colonial constructions of the Pashtun as the ‘warrior’ and ‘violent’ type have been reinforced for decades after independence; and have also been conveniently employed to prop up militias aimed at Afghanistan.Young Pashtuns are demolishing all these stereotypes by exercising their rights under the constitution.
Our colleagues in electronic media, and to some extent the print media, need to revise their policy. The state is likely to be offended for the ethos of Pashtun resistance is a direct challenge to the decades-old security policy that has treated the FATA badlands and KP as instruments of the war theatre in Afghanistan. Pakistanis have a right to ask their state why young men go ‘missing’ in the twenty-first century. And calling for fair and rule-based law enforcement is also not a crime under the law.
Therefore, decision makers in Islamabad and Rawalpindi cannot term the Pashtun movement as anti-state. It is all about constitutionalism and enforcement of fundamental rights. Our state has to come to terms with a changed Pakistan with a youth bulge, new media and information revolution. Unlike the past, information and ideas cannot be controlled with the rise of digital media. The same holds true for the corporate mainstream media that are only undermining their credibility by ignoring the young and angry Pashtuns.
Saudi Arabia: Scant Justice For Pakistanis, Says HRW
The Saudi criminal justice system tramples the rights of Pakistani defendants to due process and fair trials, Human Rights Watch and Justice Project Pakistan said in a report. The glaring defects in the criminal justice system are especially acute for Pakistanis, who face substantial difficulties finding legal assistance, navigating Saudi court procedures, and getting consular services from Pakistani embassy officials.
The 29-page report, “‘Caught in a Web’: Treatment of Pakistanis in the Saudi Criminal Justice System,” documents the Saudi criminal justice system and Saudi courts’ rampant due process violations in criminal cases involving Pakistanis. The violations include long periods of detention without charge or trial, lack of access to legal assistance, pressure on detainees to sign confessions and accept predetermined prison sentences to avoid prolonged arbitrary detention, and ineffective translation services. Some defendants reported ill-treatment and poor prison conditions.
“Despite years of promising reforms, Saudi authorities blatantly disregard the rights of both Saudis and non-Saudis in criminal cases,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Its treatment of Pakistani defendants shows just how far Saudi Arabia has to go to improve the rule of law.”
Saudi Arabia hosts 12 million foreigners, over one-third of the country’s total population. About 1.6 million Pakistanis, most of them foreign migrant workers, make up the second-largest migrant community in Saudi Arabia.
Human Rights Watch and Justice Project Pakistan interviewed 12 Pakistani citizens detained and put on trial in Saudi Arabia in recent years, as well as seven family members of nine other defendants. They were involved in 19 criminal cases, ranging from petty theft and document forgery to murder and drug smuggling, which are often capital offenses in Saudi Arabia.
Due process violations were most consequential for defendants involved in the most serious cases. Since the beginning of 2014, Saudi Arabia has executed 73 Pakistanis, more than any other foreign nationality, nearly all for heroin smuggling. Three of the drug-related cases reviewed resulted in the death penalty, four in prison sentences from 15 to 20 years, one in a prison sentence of four years, and three remained on trial.
Family members said that four of the defendants had been forced by drug traffickers to serve as “drug mules.” But they said that Saudi courts were not interested in the circumstances and did not attempt to investigate or appear to take coercion claims into account during sentencing.
In all the non-death penalty cases, judges did not give defendants an adequate opportunity to mount a defense. They said that at their first court hearings, judges issued predetermined convictions and sentences based solely on police reports and asked defendants to accept them. They were allowed to challenge the decision in writing, but judges presented the same rulings at subsequent hearings, leaving the impression that not accepting sentences would mean indefinite detention.
“The judge had our case files in front of him,” one person said. “He passed our sentences without listening to our stories.”
Nine defendants said that court officials pressured them to agree to rulings without the opportunity to read, review, or fully understand them. One said he was sentenced to 10 days and 80 lashes for alcohol and fighting, and was later shocked to discover that the sentence also ordered his deportation.
Only one of those interviewed had a defense lawyer largely because the others did not have the resources to locate or pay a lawyer while in prison. Four said that court-appointed translators did not provide adequate services, sometimes intentionally misrepresenting detainees’ statements or failing to accurately describe the contents of Arabic-language court documents.
Some of the detainees and family members described poor prison conditions, including overcrowding, unsanitary facilities, lack of beds and sheets, and poor medical care. Two former detainees and one current detainee said that Saudi prison authorities had subjected them to ill-treatment, including slapping, beating with a belt, and shocking with an electrical device during interrogations. The family member of another detainee said that authorities had beaten her husband with “sticks.”
Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which Saudi Arabia ratified in 1988, Saudi Arabia has an obligation to inform Pakistani consular officials when they arrest a Pakistani citizen. In the cases reviewed, however, it did not appear that Saudi officials informed Pakistani consular officials about the arrests. Justice Project Pakistan wrote to Pakistani Foreign Affairs Ministry officials about all of the Pakistani detainees but received no response. Family members interviewed generally did not know which government agency to contact when their relatives were arrested in Saudi Arabia.
Most of the Pakistanis did not seek consular services from the Pakistani embassy in Riyadh or consulate in Jeddah because they did not believe Pakistani officials would offer any assistance. One person had met with a consular official, but others who contacted embassy officials received help only with deportation procedures. They said that Pakistani officials rarely if ever visited Saudi prisons, unlike representatives of other countries.
“There is no excuse for Saudi Arabia’s treatment of Pakistani citizens, but Pakistani authorities should dramatically improve consular services for those in detention or on trial,” said Whitson. “Improved services will give Pakistani citizens more of a fighting chance to survive Saudi Arabia’s arbitrary and unfair justice system.”
#Pakistan - Pro-Wahabi Ruling Party supports Terrorists - '' The ‘Prescribed’ ASWJ ''
What is problematic here is the political berth awarded to such proscribed outfits whose activities have continued without any significant pressure or checks from the government. Despite being connected to sectarian violence, ASWJ remains openly engaged in politics and openly campaigns to sway state institutions and major political parties through rallies and gatherings. Such organisations are sponsored to hold audience at universities and colleges, mainstreaming their ideologies despite being flagged as radical; such an audacious endeavor without tacit state sanctioning is not possible. While the National Action Plan (NAP) decries that such outfits should not be allowed to get an inch of space in Pakistan, the proscribed party has been allowed to operate on its soil with minimum checks, is granted public limelight, legitimising its political clout, inciting negative sentiments against Muslim minority communities in the country, and mainstreaming its opposition to reforms of the blasphemy laws.
Where most of the party leaders had been declared ‘proscribed persons’ under the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), the toothless law or the much touted NAP doesn’t restrict such persons from contesting elections. Such organisations’ successful campaign further sustains itself with alliances and support of various major and small political parties under seat adjustment agreements and pandering. Such kowtowing and to militant outfits by local political parties for illicit electoral gains is the main reason why there is not a more forceful clampdown on their activity.
Where the ECP should categorically deny such parties registration, they have freely registered under different names and obscure stand-in party heads; a gaping hole in our electoral system. The proposed amalgamation of proscribed outfits under the noses of the establishment speaks volumes of the states attitude towards militant groups and their ilk. It points to the very crevices of our state matrix where religious ideologies get peddled and demarcated in the bartering of political patronage and favors. PML-N had long prescribed to unwritten agreements with the ASWJ , an alliance that might have favored the flailing party previously in the short term, but now stands to be another thorn its side. With Allama Khadim Rizvi and his devotees stand with shoes unsheathed at a flailing PML-N, the ruling party has turned to currying favor with the less antagonistic Pirs and various Barelvi factions. Such political maneuverings by political parties have exhibited deep ramifications for our socio-political fabric at a time when we should be actively breaking away from the tincture of terrorism.
Zia’s opener defeated: Bilawal Bhutto
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal BhuttoZardari on Monday said that the opening batsman of Zia has been defeated in the elections for Senate top slots.
Bilawal in his tweet said, “Zia’s opening batsman defeated. Balochistan wins. Federalism wins.” He dubbed the win of opposition alliance a win of Balochistan and federalism. Later, after taking charge as Senate Chairman, Sadiq Sanjrani held meeting with Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at Zardari House. Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Qudus Bizanjo was also present in the meeting.
While in a reaction to criticism of the PML-N ministers on the PPP and former president Asif Ali Zardari, PPP Secretary General Syed Nayyer Hussain Bokhari said the that Asif Ali Zardari has become a symbol of fear for anti-PPP elements and bad mouthing Asif Ali Zardari by the PML-N ministers shows that PML-N is a bad loser. “It is about time that PML-N leaders themselves realise that every heavy mandate Nawaz Sharif was awarded was wrong and false. Asif Ali Zardari has strengthened federation by getting elected Senate chairman from Balochistan,” he said.
Nayyar Bukhari said that Nawaz Sharif has always conspired against democracy and he was the one who wanted to become Ameer-ul-Momineen. “Nawaz Sharif will never change and he will always be a byproduct of dictator Ziaul Haq,” he said.
He congratulated Mir Sadiq Sanjrani and Saleem Mandviwala on being elected as chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate.
http://www.thesindhtimes.com/blog/2018/03/13/zias-opener-defeated-bilawal-bhutto/