Friday, July 19, 2019
وانا جہاں ’ گڈ طالبان ‘ کی تعداد بڑھ رہی ہے
وانا سکاؤٹس قلعے سے دو کلومیٹر دور جنوب کی جانب موسی قلعہ کے نام سے 1100 کنال اراضی پر ’گڈ طالبان‘ کا ایک بہت بڑا کیمپ موجود ہے البتہ مین شاہراہ پر چیک پوسٹ کو ختم کردیا گیا ہے۔
صوبہ خیبر پختونخوا کا قبائلی ضلع جنوبی وزیرستان میرا آبائی علاقہ ہے لیکن طالبان شدت پسندوں کی موجودگی کی وجہ سے ہم اپنا گھر بار چھوڑنے پر مجبور ہوگئے تھے۔
اب حالت قدرے بہتر ہونے کے بعد پانچ سال بعد اپنے آبائی علاقے وانا جانے کا موقع ملا اور عام شہریوں کی طرح پشاور سے ڈیرہ اسماعیل خان، پھر ڈیرہ اسماعیل خان سے براستے گومل زام روڈ وانا روانہ ہوا۔
اب عام پاکستانی بھی ٹانک سے دس کلومیٹر دور جنوبی وزیرستان کی سرحد گردوائی کے مقام پر انٹری کرکے آگے جاسکتا ہے اور گومل زام روڈ دن رات آمد و رفت کے لیے کھول دیا گیا ہے۔
جنوبی وزیرستان کے علاقے گردوائی میں مقامی اور غیر مقامی لوگ چیک پوسٹ پر قومی شناختی کارڈ دکھا کر انٹری کرکے رسید وصول کرنے کے بعد وانا کی طرف بغیر کسی رکاوٹ کے جاسکتے ہیں۔
جنوبی وزیرستان کے داخلی اور خارجی راستوں پر دو سکیورٹی چیک پوسٹیں قائم ہیں۔ جن میں ایک گردوائی اور دوسری تنائی چیک پوسٹ ہے۔ تنائی چیک پوسٹ پر گردوائی کے مقام پر دینے والے رسید کو چیک کرنے کے بعد وانا میں داخلے کی اجازت ملے گی۔
اس سے پہلے وانا کے لیے ٹانک سے براستہ جنڈولہ جانا پڑتا تھا۔
گومل زام روڈ محسود اور وزیر قبائل کے درمیان تنازعے کی وجہ سے بند پڑا تھا۔ لیکن محسود کے علاقے میں راہ راست اپریشن کے بعد سیکورٹی فورسز نے گومل زام روڈ کو عام شہریوں کے لیے کھول دیا۔ جس کے بعد سے وزیر قبائل کی آمد و رفت براستے جنڈولہ کی بجائے گومل زام روڈ کے راستے سے ہونے لگی ہے۔
ایک ایسا وقت تھا کہ ڈیرہ اسماعیل سے وانا تک وزیر قبائل کی مسافر گاڑیوں کو براستہ جنڈولہ صرف رات کے وقت جانے کی اجازت تھی اور دن کے وقت بیٹنی قبائل وزیر قبائل کے گاڑیوں کو اجازت نہیں دیتے تھے اور دوسری طرف گومل زام روڈ محسود وزیر قبائل کے تنازعہ کی وجہ سے بند تھی۔
اب ڈیرہ اسماعیل خان سے وانا جانے والی گاڑیوں کے ڈرائیور نے بتایا کہ وانا جانے والی مسافر گاڑیوں میں اضافہ ہوا ہے اور وہ وقت گزر گیا کہ رات کو وانا کے لیے سفر کرتے تھے اب دن کو بھی وانا کے لیے ہر قسم کی گاڑیوں کی اجازت ہے۔ گومل زام روڈ کھلنے کے بعد سے
روڈ پر بیٹنی قبائل کا قبضہ ختم ہوگیا ہے۔
جنوبی وزیرستان سے تعلق رکھنے والے سماجی کارکن محمد طارق کا کہنا ہے کہ اب چیک پوسٹوں پر اتنی مشکلات نہیں ہیں جتنی پہلے تھیں۔ اب صرف شناختی کارڈ کو دیکھتے ہیں خواہ وہ مقامی ہوں یا غیر مقامی لیکن اگے جانے میں کسی کو کوئی رکاوٹ نہیں رہے گی۔ اب چیک پوسٹوں پر لمبی لمبی قطاریں ہیں اور نہ ہی لوگوں کو کسی قسم کی مشکلات کا سامنا ہے۔
شدت پسندی اور دہشت گردی سے متاثرہ جنوبی وزیرستان کے صدر مقام وانا میں 2007 میں شدت پسند طالبان اس وقت ’گڈ طالبان‘ میں تبدیل ہوگئے جب ملا نذیر گروپ کے مقامی طالبان نے ازبکوں کے خلاف لڑائی میں سکیورٹی فورسز کا ساتھ دیا۔
مقامی طالبان اور قومی لشکر مسلح ازبکوں کے خلاف فیصلہ کن آپریشن میں فوج کے ساتھ شانہ بشانہ لڑے جس میں دو درجن سے زیادہ غیر ملکی ازبک مارے گئے اور چند ہی دنوں میں سارا علاقہ غیر ملکی ازبکوں سے صاف کردیا گیا۔
اس آپریشن کے بعد وانا میں ’گڈ طالبان‘ کے نام سے چار تنظمیں وجود میں آ گئیں اور وانا سب ڈویژن کو تحصیل وایز کمانڈروں کے حوالے کر دیا اور اس طرح پورے علاقے پر رفتہ رفتہ کنٹرول حاصل کرلیا۔ وانا بازار میں ٹیکس کے پیسے اور لوگوں کے تنازعت کے پیسے ان چاروں گروپوں کے جیبوں میں جانے لگے۔
پشتون تحفظ موومنٹ وجود میں آنے کے بعد گذشتہ سال وانا میں ایک جلسہ عام کے موقع پر فائرنگ کے نتیجہ میں دو افراد کی ہلاکت جبکہ تیس سے زیادہ زخمی ہونے کے بعد عام شہریوں نے ’گڈ طالبان‘ کے خلاف بولنا شروع کر دیا جس پر مقامی انتظامیہ نے ایکشن لیتے ہوئے ’گڈ طالبان‘ کو بازار سے بے دخل کر کے بازار کا کنٹرول لیویز کے سپرد کر دیا تھا۔
طالبان کا وانا بازار سے کنٹرول ختم ہونے کے بعد خاصہ دار اور لیویز فورس نے بازار کا کنٹرول سنھبال لیا مقامی انتظامیہ نے کہا تھا کہ وانا کے کسی بھی علاقے میں ’گڈ طالبان‘ نہیں رہے گے۔
ان دنوں وانا بازار میں ’گڈ طالبان‘ دوکانداروں سے ٹیکس تو نہیں لیتے مگر وہ اب بھی بازار میں مسلح نظر آتے ہیں۔
وانا سکاؤٹس قلعے سے دو کلومیٹر دور جنوب کی جانب موسی قلعے کے نام سے گیارہ سو کنال آرضی پر ’گڈ طالبان‘ کا ایک بہت بڑا کیمپ موجود ہے البتہ مین شاہراہ پر چیک پوسٹ کو ختم کر دیا گیا ہے۔
وانا کے مقامی صحافیوں نے بتایا کہ ’گڈ طالبان‘ کے فنڈ کے لیے اب انتظامیہ نے روزانہ کے حساب سے انگور آڈہ سے وانا بازار تک ہر ایک کمانڈرز کو دو دو ٹرک غیر ملکی سامان کی اجازت ملی ہے جو انگور آڈہ چیک پوسٹ پر امن کمیٹی کے نام سے رسید دیا جاتا ہے۔ صحافیوں کے مطابق وہ ڈرتے ہیں اور اس طرح کی خبریں نہیں چلا سکتے۔
اس کے علاوہ وانا کے مختلف علاقوں میں جگہ جگہ افغان طالبان نظر آرہے تھے جس کی وجہ سے مقامی لوگوں میں ایک تشویش کی لہر دوڑ گئی تھی۔ مقامی لوگوں کے مطابق گذشتہ ایک ماہ سے افغان طالبان کی تعداد میں اضافہ ہوا ہے۔
اس حوالے سے مقامی انتظامیہ نے لاعلمی کا اظہار کیا ہے۔ وانا کی مقامی آبادی کے لوگ اس بات پر خوش تھے کہ وانا میں امن امان لوٹ آیا ہے مگر طالبان کی بدستور موجودگی اور افغان طالبان کی تعداد میں اضافہ پر پریشان اور ناخوش نظر اتے تھے۔
Kashmir NGOs, charities ‘with ties to Pakistan’ on NIA radar in terror-funding case
ANANYA BHARDWAJ
NIA suspects Pakistan pushing terror money into India through a network of charities, claims many running in Kashmir without audits, FCRA clearances.
A host of NGOs, non-profit organisations (NPOs), human rights and civil society groups based in Jammu and Kashmir and Islamabad, are now on the radar of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for their alleged role in financing terror in the state, ThePrint has learnt.
According to a source in the security agencies, the NIA has charted out a list of these organisations and believes that Pakistan is allegedly parking money in them to fund terror activities in the Valley and across India. Some of them include the Islamabad-based Relief Organisation for Kashmiri Muslims (ROKM), the Millat Trust, based in Faisalabad, Pakistan, with its offshoots in Jammu and Kashmir and a Srinagar-based forum that claims to be a non-profit advocacy organisation.
The organisations, the source said, have followed none of the procedures required to run them, have ties to separatists and have not conducted audits.
“There is a huge network of these NGOs and trusts that are being run in Jammu and Kasmir and all without following rules and procedure,” the source said. “There are no audits of these organisations, no details of where the funding is coming from, where they are spending and no record of their donors. In fact, they have not even been checked for FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) violations.”
A second source said these charities and NGOs may be called in for questioning.
“We have identified these NGOs and will soon be asking them to join the probe,” the source said. “Their role in terror-financing needs to be looked into precisely because of so much money inflow, even through hawala channels, from abroad and no records of where it is being spent.”
The NIA also has on its radar, a few human rights activist and volunteers including a Pune-based activist-cum-journalist and one from Kashmir.
‘All exist on paper’
According to the second source, during the investigation, the agency found that the websites of these NGOs and charities had just a few pages of information about what they did and a few photos of them feeding the poor or distributing blankets, with no details of how they are funded and by whom.
“All they ask for is donations with no details on the kind of work they do or if they are registered or recognised,” the source said.
The same source also said that in some of the instances they found trustees of these NGOs are directly linked to separatist groups.
“They are all interlinked. It has been found that some of these trusts and organisations are directly or indirectly being run by the separatists,” the source said. “Also, when we tracked the source of funding, in many cases it was found that that the money was being routed through hawala channels. Mostly from Pakistan via Dubai.”
According to a Home Ministry official, these NGO’s highlight the “Kashmir cause” in international forums, paints a critical picture of India and toe the Pakistan line.
“These organisations are being controlled by agents in Pakistan are guided on how to go about criticising India on the international forum and some media organisation based in Jammu and Kashmir, propagate to reinforce it,” he said.
Islamabad organisation blacklisted in Canada
While ROKM’s website claims that it was founded to contribute to relief work and to provide aid to affected families in the state of “Azad & Jammu Kashmir and Occupied Kashmir”, Indian investigators believe that the organisation is a “charitable front” of the Jamaat-e-Islami and has been pumping money into India through the J&K NGOs.
The ROKM, according to the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA), is a charitable arm of Jamaat-e-Islami and Hizbul Mujahideen. The CRA had made the observation in 2018 when it suspended the Islamic Society of North America-Canada (ISNA) for funding groups such as the ROKM.
“The charity claims to work for the relief of affected families in the state in collaboration with donors and Islamic charitable societies in the various Muslim countries but the society that was funding it was suspended and fined by the Canadian government,” the home ministry official said.
“ROKM as a front, however, is still functional.”
“The CRA had also said that the Islamic charity acted as a ‘conduit’ for many organisations which supports terrorist activities in other countries including India,” he said. “If this is not terror financing, then what is?”
Aid To Pak To Stay "Suspended", Says US Report Ahead Of Imran Khan Visit
At the direction of US President Donald Trump, the United States had suspended all its security assistance to Pakistan in January 2018. This is first high-level visit by a Pakistani prime minster to the White House during the Trump administration.
Ahead of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to the United States, a Congressional report has said that the security assistance to Pakistan would remain suspended pending "decisive and irreversible" action against terrorist groups.
At the direction of US President Donald Trump, the United States had suspended all its security assistance to Pakistan in January 2018. This is first high-level visit by a Pakistani prime minster to the White House during the Trump administration.
"Pakistan is a haven for numerous Islamist extremist and terrorist groups, and successive Pakistani governments are widely believed to have tolerated and even supported some of these as proxies in Islamabad's historical conflicts with its neighbors," the independent Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in a latest report on Pakistan.
The CRS is an independent and bipartisan research wing of the the US Congress, which prepares periodic reports on issues of interest for lawmakers to make informed decisions. Its reports are prepared by eminent experts of the field and are not considered as an official view of the US Congress.
The latest CRS report told lawmakers that the 2011 revelation that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had enjoyed years-long refuge in Pakistan led to intensive US government scrutiny of the bilateral relationship. It also sparked congressional questioning of the wisdom of providing significant aid to a nation that may not have the intention or capacity to be an effective partner.
The Trump administration has taken a harder line on Pakistan than its predecessors, sharply cutting assistance and suspending security-related aid, said the CRS report dated July 15.
"The United States continues to press for decisive and irreversible action against externally-focused terror groups and UN-designated terrorist organizations operating from its territory," it said. "Pending such action, security assistance will remain suspended."
During a September 2018 visit to Islamabad amidst talk of a "reset" of bilateral ties, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed hope that the US could find common ground with Pakistan's new leadership, but mutual distrust was seen to be pervasive in the relationship and American leverage was much reduced.
In mid-2017, the administration announced that it would "pause" disbursement of USD 255 million in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and announced a broader security aid suspension in January 2018. According to the State Department, about USD 790 million in unobligated FMF dating back to 2001 is affected.
Pakistani politicians and analysts of all stripes decried what they perceived as an effort to scapegoat their country for US policy failures in Afghanistan.The administration's 2020 budget request for assistance to Pakistan totals about USD 70 million, including USD 48 million for economic and development aid.Noting that numerous indigenous terrorist groups operate on or from Pakistani territoryor areas under its occupation, many designated as 'Foreign Terrorist Organisations' under the US law, the CRS said incidents of domestic terrorism decreased since the Pakistan Army launched major operations in 2014.However, some externally-oriented terrorist groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba continue to operate freely, by some accounts even supported by state elements. Al Qaeda and ISIS networks are also present in Pakistan, it said.
According to the report, Pakistan's continued conflict and rivalry with India is unabated, with international fears about the possibility of war between two nuclear-armed powers.The report also notes that the Trump administration had noted Pakistan's growing debt to China and expressed opposition to any bailout that would go to reducing Chinese debt.
Pakistan's Finance Ministry denies that the IMF funds would be used to repay Chinese debt and it is seeking to renegotiate aspects of the so-called "China-Pakistan Economic Corridor" or "CPEC" to reduce long-term debt, the CRS said.
The so-called "CPEC" is a corridor being built to connect Pakistan with China through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir or PoK. The project has been strongly opposed by India as it passes through PoK, which is part of Jammu and Kashmir - India's northernmost state.https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/ahead-of-imran-khans-visit-us-says-aid-to-pakistan-will-remain-suspended-2071900
UK urged to take action on 'shocking' persecution against Pakistan's religious minorities
Lord Alton has challenged the UK Government to put more pressure on Pakistan to stop the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities.
Lords heard how religious minorities in the Muslim-majority country are being "ghettoised into squalid colonies" and subjected to "shocking" levels of persecution.
Lord Alton contrasted this with the vision of Pakistan's founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, of a nation where minorities would be welcome - a vision that the Pakistani government remarkably endorsed even while coming under intense pressure over the treatment of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman freed from death row for blasphemy last year.
"My Lords, Pakistan's illustrious and enlightened founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, crafted a constitution which promised to uphold plurality," he said.
"Tragically, 70 years later, Pakistan's Ahmadis, Christians, Hindus and minorities, such as the last 4,000 remaining Kalash clinging to a precarious existence in three remote valleys, all face shocking persecution and discrimination."
He refuted the Pakistan Foreign Minister's recent claim that individual incidents of persecution were being whipped up by "western interests", saying that the country "fails the Jinnah test" on religious liberty.
"Pakistan fails the Jinnah test, not western interests, when no one is brought to justice for the murder of the Christian Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti," he said.
"It fails the Jinnah test when 1,000 Hindu and Christian girls are forcibly married and converted. It fails when, in Punjab, Sadaf Masih, a 13 year-old girl, is kidnapped, forcibly converted and married and when, in Sindh, the same thing happened to two Hindu girls."
He asked the Government what assessment they had made of the relationship between their aid programmes and human rights, and the treatment of minorities in Pakistan, and in particular the case of Mrs Bibi.
"Over the past decade, £2.6 billion of British aid has poured into Pakistan—on average, that is £383,000 every single day—but failure to differentiate how and where we spend that money leads DfID [the Department for International Development] to say that it has no idea how much of the aid reaches these destitute, desperate minorities," he said, noting a recent report from the National Audit Office, which said that "overall Government is not in a position to be confident that the portfolio in its totality is securing value for money".
He called on DfID ministers to reassess how UK money is spent and "why it does not target beleaguered minorities and why it is not made conditional on the removal of hate material from school textbooks and discriminatory adverts reserving menial jobs for minorities".
"I hope they will insist that the provision of an affirmative action programme, endorsed by the constitution, is implemented," he said.
He urged the Government to make representations to Pakistan about its controversial blasphemy laws, which are often misused against religious minorities and even some Muslims for personal gain or score settling.
He also expressed his desire to see Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge meet with religious minorities and visit the colonies where they live during their visit to Pakistan later this year.
During the debate, the Bishop of Coventry, the Rt Rev Christopher Cocksworth, said there had been a "strong case" for the UK to offer asylum to Mrs Bibi.
The UK came under fire after it failed to offer the Christian mother-of-five asylum. She instead went with her family to Canada.
"I am troubled by how parliamentarians can hold the Government to account in cases such as this when we are told that live cases are not open to discussion," he said.
"That sense of dis-ease is reinforced by the absence of evidence of diplomatic activity in the Asia Bibi case before it became an international news story," he said, adding that he was "not yet persuaded" that the mechanisms were in place in DfID to ensure that UK aid was going to the places it was needed, including Pakistan's minority community.
Responding to the concerns raised during the debate, international development minister Baroness Sugg said that freedom of religious belief was a "high priority" for the Government's work in Pakistan.
"We raise it regularly at the highest levels of government and support grassroots campaigning with our programmes," she said.
She said that the Government was "deeply concerned" by the misuse of blasphemy laws and that its long-term objective was to "overturn" them.
Addressing concerns around DfID spending, she said the Government was working with NGOs to target aid at minorities but admitted it needed to "do more" to ensure they were being reached.
"I reassure [Lords] that our development assistance really targets the poor, regardless of race, religion, social background or nationality," she said.
"We know that those affected by discrimination are likely to be among the poorest. We know, and our NGO partners have confirmed, that our focus on the poorest and most marginalised ensures that we benefit minority groups."
Pakistan’s religious minorities continue to suffer
By SUNIL KUKREJAThe statesman, writer and second president of the United States John Adams is noted to have said, “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” Pakistan’s foreign minister would indeed be well served to come to terms with what John Adams said. Recent, albeit modest, international attention focused on the persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan was apparently noteworthy enough to compel the foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, to comment on the issue publicly during a recent visit to Brussels. Quite predictably, the foreign minister summarily dismissed claims that the persecution of Christians was in any way systematic or reflective of a wider trend. Indeed, according to him, at best any such reports of persecution were nothing more than “individual incidents.” The persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan was brought to the fore due to the international profile given to the case of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who was convicted of blasphemy in 2010 and who languished on death row for eight years before her conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court.Blasphemy laws in Pakistan have been the source of unwelcome attention for the government, as these laws have been seen as widely exploited and invoked against people of various religious minorities to settle scores in what almost invariably amounts to personal disputes. Asia Bibi’s saga was apparently one such example.Not long following her release from prison, Asia Bibi left Pakistan to resettle in Canada. As tragic and traumatic as her case was, she remains fortunate for having survived her ordeal. Many of those persecuted for religious reasons have not been so fortunate.Qureshi is either curiously ill-informed or he conveniently chooses to ignore the fact that over the last 30 years, some 1,500 individuals – Christians, Hindus and people from Muslim religious minorities – have been charged under blasphemy laws. Yet it is not just blasphemy laws that are repressive for Pakistan’s religious minorities. As leading journalist and former member of the National Assembly Farahnaz Ispahani has noted, “cleansing Pakistan of minorities” has been evident – and ongoing – since the partition from India and the creation of Pakistan. This process of targeting especially the Hindus (who still make up the largest religious minority in Pakistan), Christians, and other minority Muslims such as the Ahmadis, has directly correlated with the increased influence of hard-line Islam and the “Talibanization” of the country; something if not fully abated, then tacitly tolerated by each successive government. It is worth quoting Farahnaz Ispahani at length: “At the time of partition in 1947, almost 23% of Pakistan’s population was [composed] of non-Muslim citizens. Today, the proportion of non-Muslims has declined to approximately 3%. The distinctions among Muslim denominations have also become far more accentuated over the years. Muslim groups such as the Shias who account for approximately 20-25% of Pakistan’s Muslim population, Ahmadis who have been declared non-Muslim by the writ of the state, and non-Muslim minorities such as Christians, Hindus and Sikhs have been the targets of suicide bomb attacks on their neighborhoods, had community members converted to Islam against their will, and had their houses of worship attacked and bombed even while they were inhabited by worshipers.” https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/07/opinion/pakistans-religious-minorities-continue-to-suffer/
U.S. President Trump meets freed Pakistani Ahmadi
U.S. President Trump on Wednesday met with a Pakistani Ahmadi man who spent three years in prison for his Ahmadiyya beliefs.
Pakistanis Abdul Shukoor and Shaan Taseer were two of the 27 participants in the Oval Office meeting with President Trump. During the brief interaction 83 year old Abdul Shukoor prayed for President Trump and said:
“I pray that may Allah reward you, protect you and give you a long life”“I can call myself a Muslim in the United States but not in Pakistan, otherwise I will be punished”“We (Ahmadis) were declared non-Muslim in 1974, our shops and houses were looted and many houses were burnt down, I then relocated to Rabwah along with kids, where I had a shop selling books, and was given a 5 year sentence and a 600,000 PKR fine, now I have been released after three years”
Responding to Shukoor’s comments President Trump said:
“So you see the world is a tough place, and we are making strides and we are making some good strides”
The American administration under U.S. President Donald Trump has made religious freedom a centerpiece of its foreign policy.