Monday, March 26, 2018
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN - On Refusal to Conversion #Hindu Girl Gang Raped
The protest rally was led by SNT leader Ashraf Noonri, Dr. Uzma Jokhyo,Raja Bheel, Jiwi Kolhi her mother Omi, Kirshan Kolhi, Shahida Yousufzai. The participants were raising slogans for arrest of culprits.
They said Hyderabad police did even not file report of her rape. They said Airport police was trying to mess up the matter by siding with culprits.
Despite fact that the influential persons had torched homes of Jiwi and her parents but police were still unmoved. They told that the influential persons kidnapped Jiwi and forced her to convert to Islam and on her refusal, they gang raped her. They demanded from D.I.G and SSP Hyderabad to arrest rapists immediately otherwise SNT would go for province wide strike.
http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/detail.php?hnewsid=6811
#SHAME @ #PAKISTAN - 20 suspected in 2014 Kot Radha Kishan lynching of Christian couple acquitted by ATC
An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore on Saturday acquitted 20 people suspected of involvement in the lynching and burning alive of a Christian couple who were accused of blasphemy in Kot Radha Kishan in 2014.
Shahzad and Shama were burned alive in a brick kiln by a frenzied lynch mob ─ incited by announcements made from mosques in the area ─ ranging between 400-1,000 people for their alleged role in the desecration of the Holy Quran in Nov 2014. Both husband and wife were brick kiln workers, and the woman, a mother of three, was pregnant at the time. Police had registered a case against 660 villagers after the incident.
The court today acquitted 20 suspects, giving them the benefit of doubt. Among the 20, 15 people were identified as Faryad, Babar Ali, Islamuddin, Zulfiqar Ali, Arshad Ali, Jawed, Abid, Sabir, Muhammad Sharif, Sarfraz, Sultan, Aftab, Muhammad Ashraf, Abid Hasan, Asif and Owais.
The ATC in Nov 2016 sentenced five men to death on two counts for their involvement in the burning alive of Shahzad and Shama. Eight others were also charged with involvement in the lynching and sentenced to two years each in prison. In 2015, the ATC had indicted 106 suspected in the lynching.
Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan, with even unproven allegations often prompting mob violence. Anyone convicted, or even just accused, of insulting Islam, risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of vigilantes.
Pakistan urged to avert disastrous water crisis
Millions are already feeling the effects of water shortages because of what critics say is poor planning and uncontrolled urbanisation.
About 200 million Pakistanis face running out of water within the next 10 years. Government leaders are being urged to build more reservoirs and dams, and improve an extensive network of irrigation canals built more than a 100 years ago.
Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder reports from Sialkot, where farmers say their livelihoods are at risk.
Is Trump Ready to Dump Pakistan?
BY DAN DE LUCE
The White House is talking tough, but previous U.S. presidents never managed to persuade Islamabad to fight Afghan militants.
As U.S. ambassador to Pakistan more than a decade ago, Ryan Crocker spent much of his time trying to convince the government in Islamabad to take action against militants moving freely inside the country and plotting attacks on U.S. forces in neighboring Afghanistan.
In 2007, toward the end of his three-year tenure, Crocker spoke with the head of the Pakistani army, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who explained why Islamabad was not ready to reverse course.
The United States had a short attention span, the general said, according to Crocker. “How long are you staying this time? Because you come and you go,” Kayani told Crocker.
“If you think we are going to turn the Taliban and Haqqanis and others into mortal enemies of ours and watch you walk out the door, you are completely crazy. Are we hedging our bets? You bet we are.”
The two men’s exchange captures the mutual frustration and misunderstanding that have plagued relations between Pakistan and the United States, nominal allies with little strategic common ground. Previous U.S. presidents tried and failed to persuade Pakistan to rein in the Taliban and the Haqqani militants on the Afghan border. Now President Donald Trump faces the same challenge, and officials inside his administration are debating how far to press Pakistan.
Despite a suspension of $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid in January, Pakistan has failed to take decisive action to crack down on Afghan militants on its territory, either by arresting known militants or restricting the flow of fighters and weapons across its border with Afghanistan, U.S. officials said. “What I would say is they’ve done the bare minimum to appear responsive to our requests,” a senior administration official told reporters this month.
Amid growing frustration on Capitol Hill, Trump’s deputies are weighing unprecedented political penalties on Islamabad for harboring Afghan militants waging war on the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan. The options under consideration include revoking Pakistan’s status as a major non-NATO ally, permanently cutting off the U.S. military aid that was suspended two months ago, and even imposing visa bans or other sanctions on individuals in the Pakistani government deemed responsible for providing support to the militants.
Yet the Trump White House is now engaged in an internal debate about the tempo and scale of possible punitive steps against Pakistan, echoing arguments under previous U.S. presidents. Some officials and military officers favor a hard line with Pakistan, maintaining that years of aid and accommodation have produced little in return. But other voices in the administration worry about alienating a nuclear-armed country of 200 million people bordering China.
The appointment last week of a fervent hawk as national security advisor, John Bolton, and the nomination of another for secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, could tilt the discussion in favor of tougher measures against Islamabad.
The suspension of military aid in January is not the first time the United States has withheld security funding to Pakistan since the 9/11 attacks. But unlike previous administrations, Trump’s deputies are looking at permanently cutting off the annual flow of military aid this year, which could put a strain on Pakistan’s defense budget and deprive it of coveted U.S. military hardware.
The White House is also weighing even more drastic measures to include visa bans or other punitive measures against individual members of the Pakistani government, military, or ISI intelligence service suspected of allowing the Taliban and Haqqani militants to operate from sanctuaries inside Pakistan, current and former officials told Foreign Policy. “We are prepared to do whatever is necessary to protect U.S. personnel and interests in the region,” the senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters last week.
If carried out, the combined measures would represent a clear rebuke of Pakistan and signal the unraveling of an uneasy military alliance that was born during the Cold War and renewed in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush also pressed Pakistan to take action against the Taliban and their Haqqani comrades but stopped short of a full-blown confrontation. Under previous administrations, officials were reluctant to push too far, fearing Pakistan could sabotage any peace negotiation in Afghanistan, cut off supply lines to U.S.-led forces there, or that American pressure would embolden jihadis seeking to seize control of the country’s nuclear weapons.
Two lethal attacks in Kabul in January claimed by the Taliban, occurring only days after the suspension of U.S. aid was announced and after a tweet by Trump castigating Pakistan, have added urgency to the debate. For critics of Islamabad, the attacks — including a suicide bombing that claimed the lives of 95 people — represented a familiar pattern from years past: Washington threatens to punish Pakistan, and its proxies in Afghanistan retaliate.
The attacks were “ISI-directed retaliation,” one former CIA officer said.
The political climate for Pakistan on Capitol Hill — and in other Western capitals — has also grown increasingly hostile. As recently as 2009, members of Congress were ready to back multiyear, multibillion-dollar commitments for security aid to Pakistan. But those days are over, as both parties have run out of patience with Islamabad.
“Pakistan is at risk of miscalculating the level of frustration both in Washington and other foreign governments,” said a senior State Department official.
“Pakistan is at risk of miscalculating the level of frustration both in Washington and other foreign governments,” said a senior State Department official. “In the past, Pakistan has sought to take the minimum action required to placate U.S. concerns without fundamentally altering their policy and strategy,” said the official, who was not authorized to speak on the record.
In addition to unilateral steps, Washington last month successfully lobbied an international money-laundering watchdog to place Pakistan on a terrorist financing watchlist. The move set off alarm bells in Islamabad, which had counted on China and Saudi Arabia to defeat the measure. Pakistan, however, denied it was giving shelter to militant leaders plotting attacks on U.S. forces and the Afghan government.
“There is today no organized presence of any Afghan Taliban or Haqqanis inside Pakistan,” Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, the Pakistani ambassador to the United States, told FP in an email.
“Pakistan remains committed to working with the United States to bring peace to Afghanistan. We do believe, however, that blaming allies does not serve our shared objectives of achieving lasting regional peace and stability,” Chaudhry said.
Western intelligence agencies, however, insist that Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, has long served as a vital lifeline to the Afghan Taliban and their partners in the Haqqani network. With arms, cash, and advice, the ISI helped the Taliban come to power during Afghanistan’s civil war in the 1990s. And after the Taliban regime was toppled with the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, it maintained support for the militants’ insurgency against the internationally recognized government in Kabul.
With a singular focus on archfoe India, Pakistan sees a friendly partner in Afghanistan as a way of countering Indian influence in its backyard and providing “strategic depth” in the event of an all-out war. While Islamabad denies that it lends any assistance to the militants, privately Pakistani intelligence and military officers have acknowledged their links to the Taliban as a hedge against the perceived threat posed by India, former U.S. officials said.
Andrew Liepman, who worked for 30 years at the CIA and served as the deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said Pakistan provided invaluable help in hunting down al Qaeda leaders but was also behind the resurgence of insurgents attacking U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
“The substantial progress we made in dismantling the al Qaeda network could not have been accomplished without help from ISI,” said Liepman, now a senior analyst at Rand Corp. “At the same time, bad things happened. Haqqani grew and became the most effective and lethal force against us in Afghanistan, with the direct assistance of the Pakistan government.”
In discussions with his Pakistani counterparts, there was a “huge cloud in the air,” he said. “There was an undercurrent — both sides distrusted the other pretty deeply.”
Some former diplomats worry that piling pressure on Pakistan — through sanctions or even unilateral drone strikes against militants — could have unintended consequences. Given its history with the Taliban, Pakistan could effectively wreck any prospect of peace talks. And with the country’s strategic location and nuclear arsenal, a confrontation could risk a backlash by extremists and even a nightmare scenario where jihadis get hold of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.
However, resentment of Pakistan tends to runs deep among U.S. military and intelligence officers who have deployed to Afghanistan, including Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.
Lisa Curtis, a senior U.S. official on the National Security Council helping to shape policy on Pakistan, has long argued for a more hawkish line on the country. Before she took the job, Curtis co-authored a policy paper calling for stepping up political pressure on Pakistan, including suspending military aid. Her paper also proposed retaining the option of unilateral military action and drone strikes against militant leaders operating from safe havens inside the country.
A little over a year ago, the Trump administration resumed CIA drone strikes on Afghan Taliban and Haqqani extremists in Pakistan after a 10-month lull. The first raid struck a motorcycle near the Afghan border, reportedly killing an Afghan Taliban leader. But the tempo has been sporadic, with 12 bombing raids since Trump took office, according to a tally by the Long War Journal.
Under Obama, the drone strikes in Pakistan, which targeted mainly al Qaeda leaders, reached a peak in 2010 with an estimated 117 bombing raids. As al Qaeda’s core leadership was weakened and dispersed, and as a large U.S. force began to draw down in Afghanistan, the strikes — which were carried out with Pakistan’s quiet cooperation — dwindled and then tapered off completely in his final months as president.
It remains unclear if Trump will opt for more drone raids if Pakistan fails to clamp down on the militant sanctuaries. For the moment, the White House is ready to see if political measures alter Pakistan’s calculus, though there is no clear timetable. The administration official who spoke to reporters earlier this month did not specify how and when the United States would respond to Pakistan’s inaction.
As distrust between Washington and Islamabad grows, America’s ties with Pakistan’s rival, India, continue to warm. The United States sees India as a country increasingly aligned with Washington’s goals and that shares its concerns about China’s military buildup. The two countries — once at odds during the Cold War — have stepped up defense cooperation, and their militaries now hold numerous joint exercises.
An outspoken critic of Pakistan’s military, Husain Haqqani, who served as the country’s ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2011, portrays the U.S.-Pakistani relationship as a dysfunctional and unsustainable marriage in his book Magnificent Delusions. The two countries have never really shared the same interests, Haqqani argues, and it’s time to face that harsh reality.
“The alliance with Pakistan no longer makes sense for the United States because it undercuts U.S. policy in Afghanistan as well as its effort to build a strategic relationship with India against China,” Haqqani told FP. “It doesn’t make sense for Pakistan either.”
#Pakistan - Bilawal seeks drastic changes in curricula to end extremism
“Extremism is the root cause of terrorism, which can be rooted out by promoting social justice and tolerance in the society coupled with economic stability and drastic changes in curricula,” he said, addressing a big public gathering at Sports Complex in Bannu.
The PPP had arranged the mammoth meeting to show its power in the southern district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which is considered the stronghold of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F. PPP Central Executive Committee member Anwar Saifullah Khan, provincial president Humayun Khan and former provincial minister Sher Azam Wazir also spoke on this occasion.
“We believe the menace of terrorism cannot be eliminated only with the use of power. Extremism is like an epidemic which flourished during dictatorial regimes and caused the spread of terrorism and militancy in the country,” Bilawal said.
He acknowledged the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been bravely facing terrorism during the last four decades. “The valley of fragrance and Gandhara civilisation is in a state of war which has destroyed our generations,” he said.
Bilawal said: “Coward terrorists are attacking our children, women and elders, but we cannot leave our future generations at their mercy anymore.” He termed the implementation of the rule of law, stopping violation of human rights, enforced disappearances and target killings a prerequisite to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country.
The PPP chairman said the country needed the courts which could deliver speedy justice and police and institutions that could be trusted by the people. He appreciated the police for fighting terrorism bravely and said the police force had played a frontline role in the war on terror and there was a need to further strengthen it.
“After 2008 elections, terrorists occupied Swat and Malakand regions, but the PPP government launched a military operation and regained the areas with the support of the nation. Our government restored peace and rehabilitated internally displaced families in Swat and Malakand within three months,” he said.
The PPP chief said around 82,000 families were displaced as a result of the operation Zarb-e-Azb launched after the army public school attack, but the PML-N and PTI governments left them helpless and did nothing for their rehabilitation.
He termed PTI chief Imran Khan the brother of Taliban and a big liar, saying Khan was deceiving the people of other provinces through false slogans of restoring peace, ending corruption, enrolling all children in schools and giving people access to free healthcare in KP. “Imran Khan has only taken U-turns and lied to the nation during his political career. If a competition of liars takes place, Imran will get the biggest crown for lying,” he said.
He asked the people to tell him what the PTI government had done for their betterment and for making a new KP. “Tell me if you have seen any change or end to corruption, one billion trees, poverty alleviation and reforms in the police system during the last five years,” he asked, saying those who could not set up a new university or hospital in Bannu cannot make a new Pakistan.
“The PTI-led government could not set up a new university or a hospital during its five-year tenure; rather it provided Rs 570 million from its education budget to a religious seminary,” he said and took the credit of establishing new colleges and universities and inaugurating five hospitals equipped with modern healthcare facilities in Sindh during the last eight months. “Had the people, especially youth, been given jobs and access to health and education in KP, they would not have gone to Karachi and other parts of the country for these facilities,” he contended.
The PPP leader said his party’s government had initiated a programme in Sindh to give interest-free loans to the youth at union-council level, enabling them to do their own business. “Around six million families are beneficiaries of the programme which aim to alleviate poverty and it will be extended to KP and the rest of the country if PPP is voted to power in the upcoming elections,” he said.
He alleged the PML-N government wanted to limit political and financial autonomy of provinces by amending the historic 18th Amendment and through the National Finance Commission Award. He said the PPP government laid the foundation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to uplift terrorism-hit parts of the country. “But, the PML-N government ignored Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in the CPEC and shifted the benefits of the project to Lahore,” he claimed. He said the people had seen the real faces of PTI and PML-N leaders and they would take avenge with their vote in the upcoming elections.