Saturday, August 25, 2018
#SaudiStruggle - Canada criticises Saudi Arabia again over jailed activists
The Canadian foreign ministry has once again criticised Saudi Arabia for its crackdown on rights activists, after reports emerged this week of a female human rights defender facing possible execution in the kingdom.
Diplomatic relations between two countries were ruptured earlier this month after the foreign ministry urged Saudi Arabia in a tweet to “immediately release” women’s rights and human rights activists held in its jails.
Saudi Arabia has since recalled its ambassador, suspended trade and flights to and from Canada, and forced Saudi students and patients to leave, among other measures.
On Wednesday, Canada's foreign ministry reiterated its concern for women’s rights activists, including Israa al-Ghomgham, a Saudi human rights activist sentenced to death early this month.
“Canada is extremely concerned by the arrests of women’s rights activists,” Adam Austen, a spokesperson for the foreign affairs minister, Chrystia Freeland, told Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper.
“These concerns have been raised with the Saudi government. Canada will always stand up for the protection of human rights, including women’s rights and freedom of expression around the world.”
On 6 August, the Saudi public prosecutor recommended a death penalty for Ghomgham and five others, including her husband Moussa al-Hashem, after their first hearing before the Specialised Criminal Court (SCC) in the capital Riyadh.
The six defendants had been in pre-trial detention for nearly three years on charges of organising anti-government protests, incitement to disobedience of the ruler, and providing moral support to participants in anti-government protests in the Shia-majority eastern region of Qatif.
Saudi human rights activists have told Middle East Eye that Ghomgham could possibly face beheading after a final court session scheduled for 28 October. The execution of a female activist would be a dangerous precedent, particularly since all the charges against her are related to her peaceful activism, they said.
Executions, most commonly beheadings, usually take place in Saudi Arabia after the decision is ratified by the king - in this case, King Salman bin Abdulaziz.
'Revenge against the Arab Spring'
Ghomgham, 29, and Hashem were arrested on 8 December 2015 at their house in Qatif. She had been a leading figure in the anti-government protests organised in Qatif since 2011, mainly demanding an end to discrimination against the Shia minority and the release of political prisoners.
“[The sentencing of Ghomgham] is largely a revenge against the Arab Spring, and a punishment for Qatif, which witnessed the largest protests since 2011,” Ali Adubisi, the director of the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR), told MEE earlier this week.
According to ESOHR's latest tally, at least 58 people, most of them Shia, are currently on death row in Saudi Arabia, 31 of whom had their verdicts confirmed by the high court.
Human Rights Watch condemned the death penalty in a statement on Tuesday.
“Any execution is appalling, but seeking the death penalty for activists like Israa al-Ghomgham, who are not even accused of violent behaviour, is monstrous,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Every day, the Saudi monarchy’s unrestrained despotism makes it harder for its public relations teams to spin the fairy tale of ‘reform’ to allies and international business.”
According to Human Rights Watch, at least 13 women’s rights activists have been detained recently in Saudi Arabia. Those currently in jail are Samar Badawi, who has family members in Canada, Loujain al-Hathloul, Aziza al-Yousef, Eman al-Nafjan, Nouf Abdelaziz, Mayaa al-Zahrani, Hatoon al-Fassi, Nassema al-Sadah, and Amal al-Harbi.
MEE has asked the Canadian foreign ministry and the Saudi embassy in London to comment.
#YemenWar - Saudi-led coalition has failed to credibly investigate Yemen strikes: HRW
According to Human Rights Watch, coalition members have evaded accountability thanks to an opaque internal investigation system.
Despite mounting evidence of violations of international law in the ongoing conflict in Yemen, investigations by coalition forces have been “woefully inadequate” and contributed to shielding participating countries from being held accountable, according to a Human Rights Watch report released on Friday.
The report, titled “Hiding Behind the Coalition: Failure to Credibly Investigate and Provide Redress for Unlawful Attacks in Yemen”, details the Saudi-led coalition investigative body’s “failure” to adequately investigate abuses.
Since March 2015, coalition officials have repeatedly made false statements about coalition compliance with the laws of the war- Human Rights Watch
The Saudi-led alliance has intervened since 2015 to back the country’s internationally recognised government after Houthi rebels forced President Abed Rabbuh Mansour Hadi out of the capital, Sanaa.
The coalition’s investigative body - the subject of the report - has a mandate to investigate, collect evidence and issue recommendations on “claims and accidents” during coalition operations in Yemen.
But according to HRW, the Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) has dismissed allegations of coalition violations, or “severely” downplayed their scope. The report also criticises JIAT’s lack of transparency in their methods of investigation.
The UN has documented 6,592 civilian deaths and the wounding of 10,470 in Yemen, with air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition causing the majority of the verified civilian casualties. “The limited information available to the public shows a general failing by JIAT - for unclear reasons - to provide credible, impartial, and transparent investigations into alleged coalition laws-of-war violations,” the report said.
The Saudi-led campaign exacerbated the humanitarian impact of the war through intense aerial bombardments, causing mass civilian casualties. Saudi control of ports of entry and exit has hindered the delivery of food and basic necessities, creating what has been deemed the world's largest humanitarian catastrophe.
An injured boy cries as he flees an area where air strikes hit a house in Saada, Yemen on 27 February, 2018 (Reuters)
The report accuses coalition members of seeking to evade their “international legal obligation to investigate alleged laws-of-war violations by their forces by hiding behind the coalition and not providing information about their role in possibly unlawful air strikes.”
Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, states are obligated to use their influence to prevent violations of the laws of war.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has served as the commander of the coalition since March 2015, and he oversaw the first air strike.
According to the report, JIAT has failed to provide information on the various forces involved in specific air strikes, effectively shielding coalition states involved in violations.
Human Rights Watch examined the way in which investigations were carried out by JIAT, asserting that the body “has failed to meet international standards regarding transparency, impartiality, and independence”.
“JIAT appears only to have investigated coalition air strikes, but not other alleged violations of international law by coalition members, such as UAE abuses against people in detention,” the report added.
In six of the attacks discussed in the report, Human Rights Watch identified US-origin munitions used in the attack.
The report also calls for the US to publicly clarify its role in the conflict in Yemen.
A coalition air strike hit a school bus earlier this month in Yemen's northern Saada province, killing scores of people including at least 40 children. An investigation by the Washington Post found that US munition was used in the deadly attack.
Meanwhile, 27 civilians, the majority of them children, were killed by an alleged coalition air strike on Thursday evening as they were trying to flee the embattled city of Hodeidah.
#MiranshahSitIn - میرانشاہ میں دھرنا، ’ذمہ دار افسران کا کورٹ مارشل کیا جائے‘
خیبر پختونخوا میں ضم ہونے والے قبائلی علاقے شمالی وزیرستان میں مقامی افراد نے جمعہ کو مبینہ طور پر فائرنگ کے نتیجے میں دو افراد کی ہلاکت کے خلاف میرانشاہ بازار میں دھرنا دیا ہوا ہے اور مطالبہ کیا ہے کہ ذمہ دار افسران کا کورٹ مارشل کیا جائے۔
شمالی ویرستان سے نومنتخب رکن قومی اسمبلی اور پختون تحفظ موومنٹ کے رہنما محسن داوڑ اس دھرنے میں موجود ہیں۔
انھوں نے ایک ویڈیو پیغام میں کہا ہے کہ ’پرامن احتجاج کرنے والے مقامی افراد پر فائرنگ کی گئی ہے جس کے خلاف یہ دھرنا دیا گیا ہے۔‘
محسن داوڑ کا کہنا تھا کہ ’کہیں بھی اگر کوئی دھماکہ ہو جاتا ہے تو اس علاقے میں آپریشن شروع کر دیا جاتا ہے، لوگوں کو گرفتار کر کے ان پر تشدد کیا جاتا ہے اور لوگوں کی بے عزتی کی جاتی ہے۔ دھرنا اس وقت تک جاری رہے گا جب تک ذمہ دار افسران کا کورٹ مارشل نہیں کیا جاتا۔‘
تاہم مقامی لوگوں نے بتایا کہ مظاہرین نے شام کے وقت ایک 11 رکنی کمیٹی قائم کی ہے جو انتظامیہ اور دیگر حکام سے مذاکرات کر رہے ہیں۔
جمعے کے روز میرانشاہ سے چند کلومیٹر دور مغرب میں ہمزونی گاؤں کے افراد غیر قانونی گرفتاریوں کے خلاف احتجاج کر رہے تھے اور جب مظاہرین سکیورٹی فورسز کی چوکی کے قریب پہنچے تو وہاں فائرنگ کی گئی۔
مقامی لوگوں کا دعویٰ ہے کہ سکیورٹی اہلکاروں نے مظاہرین پر فائرنگ کی ہے جس میں اب تک دو افراد ہلاک اور چھ زخمی ہوئے ہیں۔
یہ دھرنا میرانشاہ بازار ہسپتال کے سامنے دیا گیا ہے جہاں عینی شاہدین کے مطابق بڑی تعداد میں لوگ موجود ہیں۔
اس دھرنے کے لیے مختلف علاقوں جیسے جنوبی وزیرستان، باجوڑ اور خیبر پختونخوا کے مختلف علاقوں سے لوگ پہنچے ہیں۔
مقامی لوگوں نے بتایا کہ جمعہ کو فائرنگ کے واقعے کے بعد لوگ مشتعل ہو گئے تھے اور بھرپور احتجاج کیا اور سنیچر کی صبح سے دھرنا جاری ہے۔
اس بارے میں ضلعی انتظامیہ کے دفتر رابطے کی کوششیں کی گئیں لیکن کسی سے رابطہ نہیں ہو سکا تھا۔
SAFDAR DAWAR
یہ احتجاج علاقے میں دھماکوں کے بعد کی جانے والی گرفتاریوں کے خلاف کیا جا رہا تھا ۔ مقامی لوگوں نے بتایا کہ اس علاقے میں چند روز پہلے ایک دھماکے کے بعد سرچ آپریشن میں سکیورٹی فورسز نے گرفتاریاں کی تھیں۔
اسی علاقے میں کچھ عرصہ پہلے بھی گرفتاریاں کی گئی تھیں جس پر مقامی لوگوں نے احتجاج کیا تھا جب شدت پسندوں کے حملے میں ایک فوجی افسر ہلاک ہو گئے تھے۔
چند روز پہلے میرانشاہ سے چند کلومیٹر دور ڈانڈے کلے میں سکیورٹی فورسز کے بم ڈسپوزل سکواڈ کے قریب دیسی ساختہ بم دھماکہ ہوا تھا جس میں ایک اہلکار ہلاک اور تین زخمی ہو گئے تھے۔
یاد رہے کہ شمالی وزیرستان میں آپریشن ضرب عضب جون سال 2014 میں شروع کیا گیا تھا جس سے کوئی دس لاکھ لوگوں نے نقل مکانی کی تھی۔ گذشتہ سال اکثر متاثرین اپنے علاقوں کو واپس چلے گئے تھے لیکن اب بھی کچھ علاقے ایسے ہیں جہاں متاثرین کی واپسی نہیں ہو سکی۔
#Pakistan - #Ahmedi Muslim's worship place burnt down, 30 injured in #Faisalabad
At least 30 people, including six belonging to Ahmadiyya community, were injured and Ahmedis’ place of worship was set on fire after a petty dispute was blown out of proportion into a violent clash in Faisalabad’s Ghaseetpura area on the second day of Eid.
According to an FIR registered on behalf of the state at police station concerned, the dispute took place at 7:30pm between a group of youth over a chicken belonging to an Ahmedi ran over by a person from another group.
After a heated argument, slogans were raised, shots were fired, stones were pelted, and a nearby Ahmedi place of worship was ransacked and set on fire — all in the presence of police officials, reported a media outlet.
According to a tweet shared by Jamaat Ahmadiyya Spokesperson Saleemuddin, a minor altercation between two individuals was “manipulated by mullahs and miscreants” to attack the worship place. The mob, allegedly armed with weapons, ransacked the worship place and set it on fire, the spokesperson claimed on his twitter handle. “As a result of the firing, at least six people got wounded.”
Talking to Pakistan Today, Balochni Police Station SHO [Station House Officer] Zahid Abbas said that the dispute between the two groups was not religious in nature at first.
“Ahmedis had attacked the houses of the other group first over a minor dispute,” he claimed, adding that following the attack the other group gathered outside the Ahmedis’ place of worship and started pelting stones at it. “The first shot was fired from inside the place of worship,” he further claimed.
“The situation was so tense, if the police hadn’t reached the spot on time, there would have been much more loss of lives and properties,” Zahid claimed.
Responding to a question pertaining to the news doing rounds on social media, saying that the houses of Ahmedis were also burned down, Zahid said that no other place was harmed or attacked except for the place of worship.
However, Mian Amer Mehmood, in charge of the community’s press section, alleged that besides the place of worship, a shop belonging to a community member was also attacked.
Information Minister Fawad Chaudary played down the incident, saying it was a clash that had nothing to do with religion as it was ‘personal clash’ between two individuals.
A case has been registered under sections 324 (attempt to commit qatl-i-amd), 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house, etc.), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees or upwards), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.
On May 24, 2018, a similar incident took place in Sialkot when a mob— allegedly comprising members of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (TRLY) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)— in connivance with the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) and police officials had attacked an Ahmedi place of worship.
According to 2017 annual report released by Ahmedi community, at least “77 Ahmedis were booked under discriminatory religious laws in 2017, with nine still in prison “on faith-related allegations”, and four Ahmedis were murdered in hate crimes in Pakistan”. While another report on Pakistani media listed 3,936 news items and 532 editorial pieces from Pakistan’s Urdu-language media that contained “hate propaganda” against the Ahmedi community.
#Pakistan - #SHIA MUSLIMS PROTEST ON EIDUL AZHA AGAINST TARGETED KILLINGS
Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM), Asgharia Organisation and their student wing observed a day of protest against the targeted killings of Shia Muslims in Dera Ismail Khan and tragic death of Allama Hassan Javadi who was subjected to enforced death and torture that triggered his death.
MWM Sindh chapter secretary general Allama Maqsood Ali Domki addressed the main congregation of the protesters where he condemned the takfiri terrorists of banned outfits for killings innocent Shia Muslims in Dera Ismail Khan.
He also denounced the rogue elements who picked up Allama Hassan Javadi son of Allama Haider Ali Javadi from his house at midnight and subjected him to enforced disappearance for four months in which he suffered fatal kidney disease and died within days after release from captivity.
The supporters of MWM, AO and other sympathizers wore black armbands as a token of protest against the targeted murders of Shia Muslims in Dera Ismail Khan.
“Religious scholar Hassan Javadi was taken into illegal custody four months ago and was detained illegally and subjected to torture during detention,” he said, adding that he died of kidney failure within days after release while he was admitted at SIUT for treatment.
Allama Domki said a peaceful and law-abiding patriot religious scholar Hassan Javadi, son of renowned senior Shia scholar Allama Haider Ali Javadi was picked up like criminals without any formal charge against him and he was subjected to unjustifiable torture. He demanded action against those responsible for his death and capital punishment to those who are killing Shia Muslims.
http://www.shiitenews.org/index.php/pakistan/item/35383-shia-muslims-protest-on-eidul-azha-against-targeted-killings
#AhmedFaraz - Death Anniversary of Ahmed Faraz being observed today
The real name of Ahmed Faraz was Syed Ahmad Shah and he was born in Kohat on 12th January in 1931. He was awarded with numerous awards including Adam Jee Literary Award, Sitara-e-Imtiaz and Hilal-e-Imtiaz.
Ahmed Faraz did his Masters in Urdu, Persian, and English literature and began his practical life from Radio Pakistan. Later he joined Peshawar University as lecturer.
His works include Tanha Tanha, Dard-e-Ashub, Nayaft, Shab Khoon, Meray Khwab Reza Reza, Janan Janan, Beawaz Gali Kochon Mein, Nabina Shehr, Sub Awazein Meri Hein, Pasandaz Mausam. Bodlik, Ghazal Bahana Karun, and Aye Ishq-e-Junoon.
Ahmed Faraz died in Islamabad on August 25, 2008 and was laid to rest at main graveyard of Islamabad.
https://nation.com.pk/25-Aug-2018/death-anniversary-of-ahmed-faraz-being-observed-today
#Pakistani-origin mathematicians in the world, zero: A Pakistani Hawking?
By Pervez Hoodbhoy
One earnest student — staggered by the depth of questions that Hawking had attempted to answer — wistfully asked me: Sir, when do you think there will be a Pakistani Stephen Hawking? Don’t we have the resources?
It seems like a fair question. Pakistan has produced good cricketers, squash players, fighter pilots, soldiers, musicians, artists, poets, writers, and doctors. Pakistani-origin entrepreneurs have hit it big in Silicon Valley and Pakistani-origin doctors in America are fabulously rich. Searching the faculty list of American and European universities you will also find some Pakistani-origin faculty — mostly historians, political scientists, economists, and even a few biologists and medical researchers.
And yet, totally absent are mathematicians. My web search for Pakistani-origin mathematicians in the world’s 20 top math departments yielded exactly zero; the only South Asian names are Indian (and there are plenty of them). I saw some Iranian names as well. And, of course, the Chinese are always present.
Pakistan has produced many good cricketers and businessmen but not a single mathematician.
Next, I looked at second-tier overseas universities. Again, this drew a blank. You simply do not find Pakistani names on the faculty of math departments. Physicists are only slightly more plentiful. A web search, together with estimates from six overseas colleagues who I contacted before writing this article, suggests there are only 15-20 Pakistani-origin physicists (all fields, not just theoretical) who hold faculty positions in the entire Western world.
What explains this damning intellectual poverty? Money is not the issue. The theoretical sciences demand no expensive equipment or elaborate laboratories. All that’s needed is good school education that forms nimble minds adept at problem solving, followed by higher education with professors who actually know their math-physics.
This condition is not fulfilled. Pakistan’s university math departments are 90 per cent junk, staffed mostly by third-raters who neither know nor care for their subject. Although they release floods of so-called research papers, nobody reads them because they are not worth reading. Were these professors confronted with the kind of questions that sophomore (2nd year BSc) students need to solve for passing their exams at a good US university, 90pc would flunk.
Institutional dysfunction makes nurturing talent in Pakistan dauntingly difficult. Still, one had hoped that the Lahore University of Management Sciences would harbour a nucleus of exceptional minds that, although nowhere close to Hawking and Cambridge, could eventually move math-physics forward. But when jealous colleagues recently succeeded in ousting Pakistan’s finest mathematician from there — probably the single one who can land a math-physics professorship at Harvard or MIT today — the hope dimmed.
At the post-Hawking events, not everyone was impressed by what this extraordinary paraplegic had achieved. One student had read on the internet that Hawking had been hyped up. He asked: Hawking didn’t invent any new machine or device, and his black holes are useless because you can’t see them anyway. So why so much noise?
Implicit in his question was disparagement of pure science, a common attitude. The work of this mathematically minded genius is largely about the universe’s origin and the intricate properties of space and time. It takes years of intense effort to understand such complexities. But what after that? No money-making, life-saving invention — or even a bigger bomb — can ever come from such discoveries. Pure math-science cheerfully admits to being useless; it is strictly driven by human curiosity and the insatiable urge to know what’s up there. The famous English mathematician G.H. Hardy (1877-1947) took enormous pride in the lack of application of his theorems to anything in the real world. (He would be flabbergasted to know of their wide use today!)
Nonetheless, human progress owes solidly to foundational works in pure math-physics and other sciences. Without them you and I would be herding goats or growing wheat and corn, travelling on camels and horses, and most of us would be dead or dying before reaching the age of 40. Science — and math-physics in particular — has given us the world we know today, but in an incredibly devious way.
A nation of farmers, shopkeepers, property dealers, businessmen and soldiers can neither know this nor care. The duffers of American society — those of the Bible Belt and the Trump-supporting cowboy mid-Westerners — have no patience for such nonsense. Even less do they want to hear of climate science or evolutionary biology. Still, at least for now, large parts of America and Europe are protected by the enlightened part of their population. There, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking achieved fame that will long outlive the transients enjoyed by sports stars and rock musicians. Educated people know that math-physics is the highest point of human intellectual evolution and that we are separated from lower species in a key respect: humans alone can think mathematically and follow long chains of closely reasoned statements. Knowing this helps propel the best and brightest young minds towards ‘useless’ math-physics. Hawking was the product of a society that understands science and appreciates it for what it is — the most exciting of all human ventures.
There are lots of smart Pakistani kids around; a precocious 10-year old I just met in Karachi left me gasping — and envious. He had already mastered the multi-variable calculus that I had learned at age 18. And yet he, like countless others, will probably end up in something mundane like banking or insurance. Ultimately, social values determine outcome.
Pakistan will get its Hawking when its brightest and best kids yearn to become scientists rather than doctors, lawyers, preachers, or army officers. But, like the rest of the world, it will first have to disentangle science from religion, encourage curiosity in its schools, create strict meritocracy in its universities, and elevate brain over brawn. That’s not happening soon, so don’t hold your breath.
The dollar going up could make it harder for Pakistan to repay its debts, warns Moody’s
Assessing frontier and emerging markets based on their balance of payment situation and foreign exchange reserves, the New York-based investors’ service said Pakistan is facing even higher external pressures. This is because of a high domestic demand and heavy investment in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that resulted in higher imports and widened the trade gap to $18 billion as imports exceed exports.
This trade deficit is likely to touch 4.8% of the GDP this year, Moody’s warned.
Pakistan’s gross borrowing requirements are among the highest on Moody’s list, around 27 to 30% of its GDP, because of the government’s heavy reliance on short-term borrowing. Around one-third of the government debt, which stands at around Rs27 trillion, has to be paid in dollars.
Any sharp and sustained increase in the dollar would significantly weaken Pakistan’s debt affordability, meaning its ability to pay back its debts.
Foreign reserve coverage of external debt repayments is $10.23 billion, barely enough to pay for a month-and-a-half worth of imports. Improving dollar reserves is essential, which could be achieved through and in combination with an IMF programme, it said.
The sovereign ratings agency also warned that a weak rupee could lead to higher inflation and prompt the central bank to increase interest rates, which could weaken the government’s already fragile fiscal position.
https://www.samaa.tv/news/2018/08/the-dollar-going-up-could-make-it-harder-for-pakistan-to-repay-its-debts-warns-moodys/
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