Sunday, April 15, 2018
'Double standards: US, UK, France stand by Saudis in Yemen but pose as moral crusaders in Syria'
As Riyadh's campaign in Yemen enters its fourth year, it has been repeatedly accused by rights groups of civilian casualties during the bombardment. However, in Syria's case, reports of a chemical weapon attack in Douma that are yet to be independently corroborated became the trigger for a coordinated military action, Clark pointed out.
"On the one hand, they are rolling out the red carpet for Saudi leaders and they are supporting, either directly or indirectly, the Saudi bombing of Yemen, which is causing a great humanitarian catastrophe – and how many children has that conflict killed?
"On the other hand, they pose as moral paragons, as moral crusaders when they claim children have died in Syria's chemical weapons attack without evidence," he said.
Clark argued that by continuing its weapons sales to Riyadh, the West "has been feeding and supporting that conflict."
Between March 2015 (the start of the Saudi-led campaign) and February 2018, almost 6,000 civilians were killed and 9,500 wounded, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. In its report in March, Amnesty International said it has documented at least 36 coalition airstrikes that appeared to be carried out in violation of international humanitarian law, many of which may constitute a war crime. At least 513 civilians perished in their raids, including 157 children, it said.
"So, on one hand we have got documented evidence of children dying in huge numbers in Yemen through cholera and through bombing. That's true, that's evidence, actually. And the same powers responsible for that are bombing Syria in response to unverified claims of attacks on children in Syria," Clark said. "The double standards are totally, totally off-the-scale."
Just last month, UK Prime Minister Theresa May, US President Donald Trump, and French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Gulf country's defense minister and de-facto ruler who is on a charm offensive in Europe and the US.
As a result, the UK, which has provided a steady supply of arms to the ultraconservative kingdom, signed a huge arms deal with Riyadh that will see it purchasing 48 Typhoon jets from British firm BAE Systems.
In his own meeting with bin Salman in Washington, President Trump boasted about $12.5 billion in finalized sales of American weapons to Saudi Arabia. In May 2017, he chose Saudi Arabia for his first foreign trip as president and signed a record $350-billion arms deal.
France, which according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) was Saudi Arabia's third biggest weapons supplier between 2013 and 2017, might soon also conclude a new series of deals with the kingdom.
Last week, a French defense minister official told Reuters that France had agreed on a new arms export strategy with Saudi Arabia. According to reports in French media, Paris can soon start selling navy patrol boats and Caesar artillery canons to Saudi Arabia, manufactured by CMN and Nexter respectively.
#Pakistan - Targeted attack: Two #Christians killed, three hurt in #Quetta shooting
At least two members of the Christian community were killed and three more were injured, two of them girls, after gunmen opened indiscriminate firing in Isa Nagri, a Christian neighbourhood near the Brewery Road on Sunday evening.
According to Police, four armed men riding two motorbikes entered Isa Nagri and started shooting people sitting outside their homes.
“As a result of intense firing, five members of Quetta’s Christians community were injured and rushed to Bolan Medical Complex Hospital (BMC) for treatment,” Brewery Road SHO Javed Buzdar said. According to him, the attackers managed to escape after the shooting.
Two of the injured – Rashid Khalid and Azhar Iqbal – died on way to the hospital.
Family members of the deceased also accused hospital staff of gross negligence. They said that their relatives were not provided immediate medical care. “At that time, there was no senior doctor in the hospital. The patients were handled by trainees who did not even know how to treat a bullet wound,” said Parvez Masih, a relative of one of the deceased.
The injured were identified as Mehvish, Sunena and Samuel, a prominent figure in Isa Nagri.
Four members of a Christian family among nine killed in Quetta attacks.
BMC Surgeon Dr Mola Buksh said that all of the injured had multiple bullet injuries.
He said that the injured girl, Mehvish, had been shifted to the Civil Hospital’s Trauma Centre for better medical care.
Sunday’s attack was the third attack on Christian Community in the provincial capital in the last four months. At least 15 Christians have been killed in a suicide attack and multiple targeted attacks since last December.
Da’ish claimed responsibilities for a suicide bombing at a church last year and also for the Shahzman road targeted killings earlier this month.
Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti condemned the Isa Nagri attack and promised a swift response.
A heavy contingent of law-enforcement personnel, including police and Frontier Corps (FC), Balochistan, rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area.
The Christian community staged a protest demonstration against the provincial government and called for the immediate arrest of the attackers. They also urged the government to provide protection to all members of the Christian community in Quetta.
“Why are we coming under attack? Terrorists are freely attacking us but security forces and the provincial government are playing the role of silent spectator,” said Amjad Faryad, an uncle of slain Rashid Khalid.
Protesters blocked Brewery and Sabzal roads and set tyres on fire.
OP-ED The state should engage with PTM. Dubbing it ‘engineered’ will not work
By Raza Rumi
The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement has gained immense momentum in recent weeks. The well-attended rally in Peshawar (held on April 8) indicated that PTM and its cause resonate with a large number people within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. More surprising was the solidarity expressed by other parts of Pakistan. Since the PTM has been blacked-out by mainstream media, the conversations have shifted to social media or else the one-sided attempts by some TV channels to discredit the movement.
The opposition to PTM comes from the military itself and the Army chief confirmed the ‘official’ view when he termed the protests as ‘engineered’. Prior to this clear denunciation, the COAS also visited the home of Naqeebullah Mehsud, the young man who was killed by an infamous police officer in Karachi and what in fact became the immediate catalyst for political mobilisation.
The Army as an institution is angry about the PTM narrative for a number of reasons. First, the sloganeering at the rallies has been critical. Yeh jo dehshatgardi hay/ Iske peechay vardi hay (literally: terrorism is backed by uniform). Second, PTM’s main leader Manzur Pashteen referred to the intelligence outfits by name in his Peshawar rally. There are other reasons why the movement has been dubbed ‘anti-Army’ but the key reason is more complex. The young men and women of FATA and KP are challenging the strategic worldview of the military led security policy that has on different occasions patronised and on others, targeted the militants. That some of these militants are Pashtun themselves makes this even more complicated. Hence the refrain that militants found sanctuaries in FATA and were ‘abetted’ by the protestors.
One cannot endorse language that undermines national institutions and derails the fundamental issues here. The Pakistani Taliban and their affiliates have attacked thousands of military personnel; and many of those who lost their lives were officers. In fact the younger officers corps and soldiers have a reason to be alarmed when their ‘sacrifices’ are not recognised by political conversations. The fact that ethnic identity is galvanising the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement does not mean that this is a separatist movement. It is time for the strategic minds to move beyond dated rhetoric The misgivings about PTM have resulted in the standard formula response. The latter is being projected as a foreign-sponsored movement. The support expressed by high officials in Afghanistan is seen as evidence of engineering. But Pashtuns live on both sides of the Durand Line. A point we consider kosher when we want to support the Afghan Taliban but one that suddenly becomes treasonous when an anti-war movement finds traction on the other side of the border. Another trope employed, especially on social media, is that of the Pashtunistan bogey. The quest for a greater land for the Pashtuns is over. Since the 1980s, this group has been economically as well politically integrated into the mainstream. Far more than the Baloch for instance. But that’s a separate story. None of the speeches or demands made by PTM has mentioned this point. The fact that ethnic identity is playing a major role in mobilisation does not imply that this is a separatist movement. It is time for the strategic minds to move beyond dated rhetoric.
Time and again, Pashteen and his followers have said that their movement is within the ambit of the Pakistani constitution. In fact the mobilisation that asks for due process, recovery of missing persons, ending extra-judicial killings and abolishing apartheid in FATA are all essentially constitutional demands. A movement that asks for the enforcement of fundamental rights cannot be anti-state unless the state thinks that it can dispense with the Constitution as and when required. Given how this has been trampled on and abused by both civvies and khakis — the PTM narrative strengthens the hope for a pluralist, democratic Pakistan.
Manzur Pashteen was an 8-year-old child when 9/11 took place. He is being asked about the past as if he were in charge of FATA affairs. In fact, questions are always posed by those who wield power and in our case it is the military that has been directly in control of the tribal areas, which have been a war zone and remain so. Pashteen represents the displaced and war-torn people of FATA who deserve compassion, understanding and due process like other citizens of Pakistan. Calling him and other PTM leaders traitors is a huge disservice to the course correction and rehabilitation that must follow after the area has been cleared of militants.
There has been endless social media commentary on how the ‘treasonous’ (or khooni liberals, to use an Imranism) supported bloodshed by asking the Army to clear FATA of insurgents; and now under the ‘orders’ of Pakistan’s foreign enemies they are backing the PTM. Trolls have also attacked me relentlessly. It is certainly pointless to engage with biased and paid vehicles of disinformation, though it would worthwhile to set the record straight. Many of us supported (and still do) the Army’s clean up against the Pakistani Taliban and their affiliates. However, we also caution that human rights must not be violated; displacements of the population should not be arbitrary and if they take place must be corrected through appropriate state interventions. More importantly, we have also asked for clarity in how the state views militants — assets, rogue assets or enemies of Pakistan’s future. While things have improved since Gen Raheel Sharif, there is still much ambiguity and reluctance to completely dismantle the militant infrastructure. Are the ‘good’ ones still central to our Afghanistan and India policies?
Pashteen challenges that and perhaps this is why he is more of a threat than the handful khooni liberals who write for the English press and get an occasional few minutes on electronic media. Political parties, by and large — given the treatment meted out to Nawaz Sharif — acquiesced when it comes to dissenting on Afghan and India policies.
The rise of PTM as a growing social movement is a testament of dynamic factors that define contemporary Pakistan: assertion of youth voice, urbanisation and new media, among others. It is an opportunity for the state to show that it cares and is willing to engage with a segment of population that feels neglected, angry and mistreated. A few slogans cannot be used to overlook the ruptured state-citizen relationship across the country.
Bilawal Bhutto strongly condemns firing on the residence of Supreme Court judge Justice Ijazul Ahsan in Lahore
Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has strongly condemned firing on the residence of Supreme Court judge Justice Ijazul Ahsan in Lahore and demanded an independent inquiry into the incident.
In a statement, the PPP Chairman said that intimidation of judges was an unpardonable act and those involved directly and indirectly in the firing incidents on the residence of Justice Ijazul Ahsan should not go scot-free and deserved exemplary punishment.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that PPP stands for protection and respect of judges despite the fact that it has been a victim as its founder Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was made target of judicial murder but not a single stone was thrown against anyone from judiciary.
https://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/2018/04/15/bilawal-bhutto-zardari-strongly-condemns-firing-on-the-residence-of-supreme-court-judge-justice-ijazul-ahsan-in-lahore/
#Pakistan - Shots fired at Supreme Court Justice Ijazul Ahsan's Lahore residence
Two separate firing incidents were reported at the residence of Supreme Court Justice Ijazul Ahsan on Sunday.
A statement by the apex court revealed that the judge's Model Town residence was struck by bullets first late last night and then again early morning today.
The judge's house is located very close to the residence of the Punjab chief minister and his son MNA Hamza Shehbaz, where there is visible police presence throughout the day.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar arrived at the residence of his fellow judge after the incident and is overseeing the situation, the statement by the apex court added.
Chief Justice Nisar, after reaching the residence, summoned the Punjab police chief and ordered an investigation.
Similarly, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken notice of the incident and directed the Punjab inspector general to bring the culprits to book.
Rangers personnel also reached the site after the incident as did Special Branch officials while a police investigation is under way.
According to police officials, the judge's private security guard, Din Mohammad, discovered a 9mm bullet casing inside the residence at 6am today after which the police were called in.
Police officials said the shell has been sent for forensic analysis, adding that they are also reviewing footage of CCTV cameras in the area.
Another bullet was recovered from the garage of the house.
Neighbours of the judge informed Geo News that they do not recall hearing gunshots in the night.
Police believe the shots were fired from roofs of surrounding houses and not the street in front of the house.
Later in the day, a Supreme Court spokesperson said that the chief minister's personal staff officer was not allowed to meet Justice Ahsan when he arrived at his residence.
'Sicilian mafia tactics'
Following the incident, reports of condemnations poured in with the legal community announcing to wear black armbands in protest tomorrow.
Moreover, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan said on Twitter that these "Sicilian-mafia-like tactics to pressurise senior judiciary are unacceptable in any democracy".
He added that the PTI stands firmly behind the judiciary and rule of law.
Similarly, former president and Pakistan Peoples Party leader Asif Zardari called for a high-level judicial probe into the incident.
Later on, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi released a condemnation message and directed for the early arrest of those responsible.
In her condemnation, State Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said such anacrhists should be unveiled as soon as possible.
High-profile judge
Justice Ahsan often spends the weekend in Lahore, his hometown, where he, along with the chief justice, presides over several cases related to public welfare issues and other matters at the Lahore registry.
Justice Ahsan is also the monitoring judge of the ongoing corruption cases against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. He was part of the bench which disqualified Nawaz in the Panama Papers case last year.
He has also remained as the chief justice of the Lahore High Court.