Sunday, November 10, 2019
As Saudi Arabia grows desperate, this could be the beginning of the end of the war in Yemen
By Ahmed Aboudouh
The Yemen war is about to come to an end. A Saudi official admitted this week that for the first time since 2016, Riyadh is in talks with the Houthi rebels. The talks have surfaced despite the Houthis being in charge of the capital Sanaa and the other most populous parts in Northern Yemen, which indicates that the Saudis are coming to terms with this status quo. The radical approach of effectively flushing the Houthis out of the north has been abandoned. The new approach of accepting the Houthis as part of the new post-war reality in Yemen, on the other hand, is much more sophisticated.
Saudi Arabia seems more open to some kind of coexistence with the Houthis in north Yemen through taking control over them from Iran. After signing the Riyadh power-sharing agreement between the separatist Southern Transitional Council and the UN-recognised government in Aden, Saudi Arabia and the UAE seem to be ready to move on to the next phase of their gouty war in Yemen.
Instead of the endless fighting, Saudi Arabia is trying to convince the Houthis to sever ties with its regional rival, Iran. After all, all the Houthis want is legitimacy of their new strategic posture in Yemen. This, in their view, must be cited in a similar power-sharing agreement that guarantees their share in a federation-like new system that includes president Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s government and separatists in the south.
The Saudis are quite right to adopt this strategic shift in their policy. After almost five years of war, which resulted in more than 100,000 victims, the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, and has damaged the country’s image on the world stage, a change was desperately needed.
But these are not the only catalysts behind this change.
The attack on the Saudi Aramco oil installations in September, which knocked out half of the Kingdom’s production, was a tipping point. This week, Aramco launched an initial public offering (IPO) to be listed on the local stock market, abandoning Mohamed bin Salman’s original plan to list it on overseas markets. The escalation with Iran began to have a direct effect on the Saudi economy.
Moreover, the Yemen war is historic as it exposed Saudi Arabia’s national and geopolitical weaknesses. Besides the big holes in its defence strategy, Saudi Arabia has found itself vulnerable on an unprecedented level. Throughout the last two years (especially after Bashar al-Assad had appeared to be heading towards a decisive victory over his opponents in Syria) Iran has been clenching its fist on Iraq, the Levant and Yemen. This means effectively flanking Saudi Arabia from the north and south.
The overlap of strategic lines in the vast area between the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean Sea in the north and the Gulf of Aden in the south, draws an abstract inverted pyramid. The base sits on Iran’s “strategic corridor” between Tehran and Beirut, and the head stands at the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
Saudi Arabia (and most of the other smaller Gulf nations) have now been taken hostage in this fight. It is quite fair to say that the Saudis and their allies in the UAE have been left completely alone to stand up to Iran’s expanding influence. Officials in the two countries feel extremely exposed due to Trump’s failure to assert any solid security guarantees from the US. The Arab community as a whole seems to be out of sight, and there is no appetite, in countries like Egypt, for example, to throw their weight behind some Arab fraternity against the “Persian hegemony,'' as many in the Gulf like to call it.
The results look grim. The misery of the Arab world, under the hypothetical Saudi leadership, recalls the sick man of Europe doomsdays of the Ottoman Empire. A series of popular uprisings and civil wars exhausted the region and gave Iran a free ticket to take on its Sunni rivals at an unprecedented pace and scope.
But it is only the ongoing second wave of these uprisings that can pave a way out of desperation for Saudi Arabia.
While Iran seems occupied with trying to find a way to quash relentless protests which form a direct threat to its long-maintained clout in both Iraq and Lebanon, its grip on the Houthis is loosening. The crippling US sanctions, which Trump reimposed on Iran last year after pulling the US out of the nuclear deal, leave no room for the Ayatollahs to step in with a plan to prop up their Shia allies in Yemen, Lebanon or Iraq (so long as Iran doesn’t consider a military invasion to crush the uprising in Baghdad and other cities in the south, which is still on the table).
Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, still holds huge economic sway. Through a generous economic package (similar to the economic incentives in the south as part of the Riyadh agreement), the Saudis ought to take a step ahead of the Iranians before holding any talks with Iran through the Pakistani PM Imran Khan or president Emmanuel Macron’s mediation initiatives. After all, holding direct talks with the Houthis has always been the US way forward to stop the war.
Shrewd as this approach may look (highly dependent on whether it will actually pay off) the Saudis are moving alone into uncharted waters in Yemen after the drawdown of the Emirati troops earlier this year.
While reality doesn’t offer Saudi officials much, all they can do for now is to stop bombing the Houthis, accelerate talks with them over future political integration – as well as relinquishing their heavy weapons and border security – while praying for the Iraqi and Lebanese uprisings to keep their momentum.
Saudi students escaping US justice: Oregon’s Wyden passes bill to declassify what FBI knows about kingdom’s suspected role
By Shane Dixon Kavanaugh
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden on Thursday muscled through a bill that could force the Trump administration to publicly disclose what it knows about the Saudi Arabian government’s suspected role in spiriting its citizens out of the United States to escape prosecution for serious crimes.
The Oregon Democrat won approval for his new measure, the Saudi Fugitives Declassification Act, after delivering an impassioned 13-minute speech on the Senate floor. It passed by unanimous consent, a procedural move that can expedite legislation and does not require an up-or-down vote.
The bill would require the director of the FBI, in coordination with the nation’s intelligence director, to declassify all information related to how the Saudi government may have helped accused criminals leave the U.S.Its passage marks a promising opening for Wyden, who has spent months pushing federal agencies and needling administration officials for information about the cases, only to be shut down time and again.
“The American people deserve answers. These are not academic matters, and this is not about a series of victimless crimes,” Wyden said. “This is about manslaughter, rape and more. This is about real people, real families, who have suffered immeasurable pain.”
Wyden’s measure comes nearly a year after an investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive found multiple cases where Saudi students studying around the U.S. vanished while facing serious criminal charges.
Since December, the news organization revealed criminal cases involving at least seven Saudi nationals who disappeared from Oregon before they faced trial or completed their jail sentence on charges ranging from rape to manslaughter, including those who had surrendered their passports to authorities.The investigation also found similar cases in at least seven other states — Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin — and Canada, bringing the total number of known Saudi suspects who have escaped to 25.
Nearly three-quarters of the cases involve charges of rape or sexual assault. Most of the victims have been college-age women.
In April, a story co-published by The Oregonian/OregonLive and ProPublica showed how the FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other agencies have been aware of Saudi officials helping their country’s citizens flee since at least 2008 yet never intervened.
The United States and Saudi Arabia don’t share an extradition treaty. That makes the return of any Saudi suspect who has left the U.S. unlikely, if not impossible, without diplomatic or political pressure.
Despite documented cases around the country, Wyden and fellow U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, have been the only lawmakers in Washington to publicly raise concerns over the Saudi disappearances and demand action from the Trump administration.
The pair earlier this year co-sponsored bills that would have required the federal government to investigate the disappearances and to impose sanctions against any Saudi diplomat or official found to have assisted Saudi fugitives escape prosecution. The measures never advanced in the Senate.
In public and private, Wyden has also repeatedly pressed the heads of federal agencies for answers, including the director of the FBI, the secretary of state and the attorney general. Those agencies and their leaders, Wyden insisted once again Thursday, have not been forthcoming with information, nor do they appear interested in probing the issue further.
“I have written the Department of Justice. I have written the State Department. I have written to Customs and Border Protection. I have written to the U.S. Marshals Service. I have written to the Department of Homeland Security,” Wyden said. “As far as I could tell, I’d have gotten better answers from the Saudi Royal family themselves.”
Wyden also used his floor speech to highlight the case of Fallon Smart, a Portland teen struck and killed along Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard in 2016. The suspect, 21-year-old Portland Community College student Abulrahman Sameer Noorah, vanished weeks before his manslaughter trial and later resurfaced in Saudi Arabia.
Officials with Homeland Security and the Marshals Service told The Oregonian/OregonLive last year they believe Noorah left his Southeast Portland neighborhood in a black SUV and later used an illicit passport and private plane — likely provided by the Saudi government — to flee the country.
The wealthy Persian Gulf kingdom had previously retained private defense attorneys to work on Noorah’s case and cut a $100,000 check to provide him bail, according to court records and prosecutors. Authorities placed him on pre-trial supervision and seized his passport.
“I have five children,” Wyden said. “I cannot imagine the grief I would feel if one of them was taken from me and the person responsible somehow managed to evade the justice system. It’s almost impossible to comprehend the anger and frustration and helplessness that any parent would feel in a situation like this.”
Chris Larsen, an attorney for Fallon Smart’s family, thanked the senator for his continued work on the issue.
“We hope the House will follow suit,” Larsen said in a statement. “Those that helped Mr. Noorah and other Saudi nationals flee from justice should be exposed and held accountable.”
The Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to a request for comment for this story. It has previously said that, as a policy, the Saudi government will cover the cost of bail for any citizen jailed in the U.S. who asks for assistance.
The kingdom also has denied playing any role in helping Saudi citizens escape prosecution in the U.S.
HANDING SAUDI ARABIA THE G20 PRESIDENCY DESPITE THE KHASHOGGI MURDER IS LIKE GIVING IT LICENSE TO KILL | OPINION
By HATICE CENGIZ AND CHRISTOPHE DELOIRE
Ever since the UN General Assembly so resolved in 2013, the fight against impunity for crimes of violence against journalists is celebrated on 2 November. Considerable mobilization is needed at the international level because more than 90% of these crimes go unpunished, in both countries at war and at peace. Should it be necessary to demonstrate the overriding need for this fight, there are murders that – because of the circumstances, protagonists or victims – have a special impact.
Jamal Khashoggi's murder inside Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul belongs to a category one might have thought long forgotten, the category of "state crime."Perpetrated by Saudi government thugs and planned at a political level that the trial in Riyadh is taking care not to reveal, it will leave an indelible stain on the regime unless all the consequences have demonstrably been accepted and acted upon. It is not enough for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to belatedly acknowledge "responsibility" because it happened "under my watch." A state crime requires a full public apology, says Agnès Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions. We are waiting for this apology. Just as Khashoggi's loved ones are waiting for his remains, and for justice to be done. The trial taking place behind closed doors does not respect international standards on justice. Rather than regarding a possible death sentence for five of the alleged perpetrators as a harsh punishment, we would regret that Saudi justice had thereby silenced forever men who know some of this affair's secrets. Since this tragedy, Saudi Arabia has continued to persecute its journalists with exceptional violence.
At least 32 professional and non-professional journalists are arbitrarily detained in Saudi prisons. This is twice as many as before MBS took over. Rarely has fear been so palpable, not just in the Arabian Peninsula but everywhere Saudis are to be found in the world. It's against this backdrop that Riyadh is getting ready to hold a conference on the media in early December. Foreign journalists and media experts have been invited to a "Saudi Media Forum" to discuss media freedom and independence. We fear it will be pure fiction ever if we'd like to believe otherwise. Aside from the expressions of international outrage last October, the sanctions adopted by Washington, Ottawa, Paris and Berlin against a handful of individuals suspected of involvement in Jamal Khashoggi's murder have not sufficed to persuade the regime to moderate its repressive policies. Germany was alone in suspending arms sales to Saudi Arabia. US Vice-President Mike Pence suggested that the release of Raif Badawi, a blogger sentenced to ten years in prison and a thousand lashes, would help to restore Saudi Arabia's international reputation. But just a month before that, US President Donald Trump insisted that Mohammed bin Salman stand beside him in the front row for the group photo of the G20's leaders during their meeting in Osaka, Japan.
The sons of Malta's Daphne Caruana Galizia, Gauri Lankesh's sister in India and the families of Javier Valdez and Miroslava Breach in Mexico have already been fighting for two years to learn the truth about their deaths. Three years ago, the colleagues of Jean Bigirimana in Burundi and Pavel Sheremet in Ukraine tried to make up for the failings of the police by carrying out their own investigations in attempt to identify those responsible for Bigirimana's disappearance and the car bomb that killed Sheremet. The list of victims get longer by the day. In Mexico, at least 150 journalists have fallen victim to the drug cartels and the vicious cycle of violence and impunity since 2000.
The G20's leaders have a duty to act if they want to comply with the principle of responsibility. Without free, independent, trustworthy and diverse journalism, humankind will not be able to properly address any of the great challenges it is facing. Heads of state and government cannot content themselves with being the passive spectators of the murders of journalists. And yet, Saudi Arabia is poised to take over the G20's presidency for a year.
Treating Saudi Arabia's G20 presidency as a presidency like any other would be to give the Saudis a "licence to kill," to give them permission to suppress the truth and extinguish media pluralism. We call on the G20 not to trample on Jamal Khashoggi's memory. We ask its leaders to obtain clear undertakings from Saudi Arabia to respect press freedom and, as a first step, to release the 32 imprisoned journalists because, as Khashoggi said in his last column, "What the Arab world needs most is freedom of expression." This is also true for the rest of the world.
U.S. Troops To Stay In Afghanistan Several More Years, Says General
In an ABC interview broadcast on November 10, Milley noted that, after the September 11 attacks in 2001, the original reason U.S. forces went into Afghanistan was to make sure that the country never again would be a haven for extremists who would attack the United States.
"That mission is not yet complete," the general said. "In order for that mission to be successful the government of Afghanistan, the Afghan security forces, are going to have to be able to sustain their own internal security to prevent terrorists using their territory to attack other countries, especially the United States."
There are some 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, as well as thousands of European forces participating in the NATO-led Resolute Support mission.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said it is time for the United States to pull back from its role in various conflicts around the globe, including in Syria.
Milley said U.S. troops will remain in the Middle Eastern country "for a significant amount of time because it's in our national interest to be there to help out."
The general said he expected American troop levels in Syria to stabilize at around 500, insisting that pressure must be maintained on fighters of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.
"There will be less than 1,000 [U.S. troops], for sure," Milley told ABC. "Probably in the 500ish frame, maybe six."
There are currently several hundred U.S. troops in Syria.
Trump has recently approved an expanded military mission to secure oil fields in Syria's east, after announcing a complete withdrawal from the country.
https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-troops-afghanistan-several-several-more-years-general-mark-milley/30262907.html
حکومت کے خلاف اپوزیشن متحد ہے، بلاول بھٹو
چیئرمین پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی (پی پی پی) بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا ہے کہ ملک پر کڑا وقت ہے، اپوزیشن حکومت کے خلاف متحد ہے۔
بلاول بھٹو لاہور میں سینئر پارٹی رہنما جہانگیر بدر کی تیسری برسی کے موقع پر ان کی رہائش گاہ پہنچے، ان کی سیاسی خدمات کو خراج عقیدت پیش کیا اور ان کی بلندی درجات کے لیے دعا کی۔
اس موقع پر کارکنوں سے گفتگو میں بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا کہ حکومت نے ملک کو مسائل میں پھنسا کر رکھ دیا ہے، اپوزیشن عوام کے مسائل کے حل کے لیے سڑکوں پر ہے، سب مل کر اس حکومت کو گھر بھیجیں گے۔
انہوں نے کہا کہ پیپلز پارٹی مرحوم جہانگیر بدر کی خدمات کو کبھی فراموش نہیں کرسکتی، وہ پارٹی قیادت کی تین نسلوں سے وفا کی علامت تھے۔
بلاول بھٹو نےکہا کہ پارٹی کارکن متحد رہیں اور عوامی رابطہ مہم تیز کردیں، جب وہ وسطی پنجاب میں آئیں گے تو پیپلز پارٹی کا جھنڈا ہر جگہ لہرائے گا۔
ان کا کہنا تھا کہ مولانا صاحب کا دھرنا چل رہا ہے، وہ بھی عوام کے درمیان ہیں، سب مل کر اس حکومت کو گھر بھیجیں گے۔
اس سے قبل پیپلز پارٹی وسطی پنجاب کے رہنماؤں نے قمر زمان کائرہ کی قیادت میں بلاول بھٹو سے بلاول ہاؤس میں ملاقات کی۔
ملاقات میں سیاسی صورتحال اور تنظیمی امور پر تبادلہ خیال کیا گیا۔
U.S. Troops To Stay In #Afghanistan Several More Years, Says General
U.S. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has predicted that American troops, already in Afghanistan for 18 years, would remain in the country "for several more years."
In an ABC interview broadcast on November 10, Milley noted that, after the September 11 attacks in 2001, the original reason U.S. forces went into Afghanistan was to make sure that the country never again would be a haven for extremists who would attack the United States.
"That mission is not yet complete," the general said. "In order for that mission to be successful the government of Afghanistan, the Afghan security forces, are going to have to be able to sustain their own internal security to prevent terrorists using their territory to attack other countries, especially the United States."
There are some 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, as well as thousands of European forces participating in the NATO-led Resolute Support mission.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said it is time for the United States to pull back from its role in various conflicts around the globe, including in Syria.
Milley said U.S. troops will remain in the Middle Eastern country "for a significant amount of time because it's in our national interest to be there to help out."
The general said he expected American troop levels in Syria to stabilize at around 500, insisting that pressure must be maintained on fighters of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.
"There will be less than 1,000 [U.S. troops], for sure," Milley told ABC. "Probably in the 500ish frame, maybe six."
There are currently several hundred U.S. troops in Syria.
Trump has recently approved an expanded military mission to secure oil fields in Syria's east, after announcing a complete withdrawal from the country.
https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-troops-afghanistan-several-several-more-years-general-mark-milley/30262907.html
In an ABC interview broadcast on November 10, Milley noted that, after the September 11 attacks in 2001, the original reason U.S. forces went into Afghanistan was to make sure that the country never again would be a haven for extremists who would attack the United States.
"That mission is not yet complete," the general said. "In order for that mission to be successful the government of Afghanistan, the Afghan security forces, are going to have to be able to sustain their own internal security to prevent terrorists using their territory to attack other countries, especially the United States."
There are some 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, as well as thousands of European forces participating in the NATO-led Resolute Support mission.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said it is time for the United States to pull back from its role in various conflicts around the globe, including in Syria.
Milley said U.S. troops will remain in the Middle Eastern country "for a significant amount of time because it's in our national interest to be there to help out."
The general said he expected American troop levels in Syria to stabilize at around 500, insisting that pressure must be maintained on fighters of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.
"There will be less than 1,000 [U.S. troops], for sure," Milley told ABC. "Probably in the 500ish frame, maybe six."
There are currently several hundred U.S. troops in Syria.
Trump has recently approved an expanded military mission to secure oil fields in Syria's east, after announcing a complete withdrawal from the country.
https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-troops-afghanistan-several-several-more-years-general-mark-milley/30262907.html
Editorial: #Pakistan - #HIV- #AIDS in #Balochistan
The 30th anniversary of World AIDS Day is being marked on today on December 1, 2018. World AIDS Day originated at the 1988 World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS Prevention. Since then, it is organized every year by United Nations agencies, governments, and civil society.
Since 1988, remarkable progress can be witnessed that today millions of people living with HIV are leading healthy and productive lives, however, there is much more to be done, as the latest UNAIDS report proves that the great challenge is having no knowledge of HIV status. because UNAIDS estimates that more than 9.4 million people living with HIV still do not know their status.
Alarmingly, the number of AIDS patients has also increased in Balochistan. According to General Director Health Department Balochistan Dr. Shakir Baloch, the number of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) patients has been greater from 3500 to 5000 in Balochistan, despite 1334 patients were registered with AIDS control program.
Addressing a Press conference at Quetta Press Club Dr. Shakir Baloch said that 1033 registered patients in which 911 patients of HIV-AIDS are being treated in Quetta under AIDS Programme while 301 patients were under treatment in Turbat.
Dr Shakir Baloch shared that HIV-AIDS patients were also reported in respective areas of Balochistan including Qila Saifullah, Zhob, Sherani, Gwadar, Loralai, Lasbella, Noshki, Qilla Abdullah, and Pishin. Among 4404 tested prisoners in Balochistan, while 71 of them have been found the suffering of HIV-AIDS”, adding, that about 6200 people died of HIV-AIDS in Pakistan while 231 men had lost their lives from the same disease in Balochistan.
The growing number of AIDs patients and deaths in Balochistan is quite vexing and alarming for people in Balochistan. Balochistan is already having a battle with a number of diseases and humanitarian issues, the AIDs is another challenge to be confronted by the people. In order to know the status, the people with minor symptoms must visit doctors and prevention must be applied. Here the stakeholders in society have to play their due role to create awareness among people against HIV-AIDS to save human lives from such diseases through religious teachings.
Baloch Martyrs Day: Free Balochistan Movement to organise Remembrance Day events
The Free Balochistan Movement (FBM) in a statement has announced to organise programs in Austria, Germany and Canada to pay tributes of Baloch martyrs of freedom struggle on 13 November 2019. The FBM statement to media further read that, like other nations of the world, the Baloch people have chosen a National Remembrance Day to pay tributes to their fallen heroes of the national liberation struggle. The Baloch nation celebrates 13 November as the ‘Baloch Martyrs Day (National Remembrance Day) every year.
The Baloch nation is well aware of its historical significance on 13 November, on this day, in 1839; when the occupation and expansionist army of British imperialism besieged the Kalat state with the intention to occupy Balochistan. The Baloch ruler at the time along with his companions revolted against the British army in defence of their motherland.
The ruler of Balochistan at the time, Mir Khan Mehrab Khan, along with his comrades, fought until the last breath to defend the Baloch national dignity and the Baloch land, knowing the fact the British invading army was superior to his men in numbers but their resolve and determination was greater than that of their enemy. The Baloch fighters recorded history by not surrendering before the enemy and embraced martyrdom on 13 November 1839 to prove that they love for Balochistan’s freedom and sovereignty is greater than the love of their lives.
The Free Balochistan Movement in its statement said that Baloch martyrs have nourished the Baloch freedom struggle with their precious lives against occupiers and strengthen the ongoing Baloch struggle for freedom.
On the same day, different programs will be organised from Party’s platform in the Austrian cities of Salzburg, Canada’s Vancouver city and in different cities of Germany to inform the world about Baloch resistance and liberation struggle against the occupation of Balochistan. The message of Baloch freedom struggle for a prosperous, peaceful and independent Baloch country will be spread around the world.
The FBM also said in its statement that there will be an online campaign on Social Media using hashtag #13NovBalochMartyrsDay to highlight the importance of 13 November and sacrifices of Baloch martyrs of freedom struggle.
FBM has requested all pro-freedom Baloch activists, national and international supporters of Baloch freedom struggle, social media activists, Human Rights activists and all freeborn peoples around the world to join the online campaign to express their support for Baloch freedom movement. The online campaign will continue from the morning of 13 November till the end of the day.
Emphasising on the importance of, November 13, 1839, the Free Balochistan Movement said that when the British army invaded Balochistan, the ruler of the Baloch state Mir Mehrab Khan, instead of surrendering before the enemy, chose the path of resistance and embraced martyrdom while defending motherland.
Hence, all Baloch should unite and jointly pay tributes for the martyrs of liberation struggle on this day and pledge that we [Baloch nation] will continue for the struggle for an independent Balochistan where all citizen will be treated equally, laws of the land will be prioritised. And we pledge that our struggle for national freedom will continue until we free ourselves from the yoke of Pakistani and Iranian occupation forces and regain our independence and sovereignty.
Calls for a free #Kashmir are becoming louder on both sides of the divided region
Calls for a free Kashmir are becoming louder on both sides of the divided region. Can the German reunification model be applied to the India- and Pakistan-ruled Kashmirs? And what can Kashmiris learn from it?Kashmir: Independence activists draw inspiration from German reunification
On August 5, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi abrogated Jammu & Kashmir's semi-autonomous status and imposed a curfew in the volatile parts of the region. The move was slammed by Pakistan, which urged the United Nations to force India to reverse its Kashmir actions.
India and Pakistan each rule part of the disputed Himalayan territory but claim it in full. Both oppose the demand for an independent, undivided Kashmir ruled by the Kashmiri people.
Since New Delhi's decision to scrap Kashmir's special status, a "free Kashmir" movement has resurfaced on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC), which divides the India- and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir regions. Kashmiris have been demanding a sovereign state for decades, but their voices have mostly been ignored by both India and Pakistan.
Lately, there have been increasing reports about large demonstrations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir — officially called Azad Kashmir in Pakistan. Last month, clashes broke out between protesters and police in Muzaffarabad, the region's capital. The police were trying to disperse a protest rally organized by the People National Alliance (PNA), a group that seeks an independent Kashmir.
Inspirational factor
Kashmiri activists that seek independence from both India and Pakistan told DW they are hugely inspired by the movement that brought down the Berlin Wall and rejoined East and West Germany to form one German state.
Germany was officially reunited on October 3, 1990, under the guidance of then-Chancellor Helmut Kohl, after more than four decades of Cold War division. The historic event came less than a year after the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989.
"We believe that the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent reunification of Germany are an inspiration not only to us but to all freedom movements in the world. Like the pre-reunification Germany, Jammu and Kashmir has also been split into two territories, and a wall (LoC) was erected to divide the same people," Toqeer Gilani, the president of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, told DW. He added that "if Germany can be reunited, so can Kashmir."
"The post-World War II Germany was also forcefully divided by global powers. It was propagated that the division was necessary due to the 'ideological differences' between East and West Germany. We also experienced this in Kashmir," Gilani said.
Some experts say that although the German and Kashmiri dynamics are not totally similar, the "independent Kashmir" movement can still take inspiration from the German reunification success.
"As we approach the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we should rejoice that people can overcome adversity and divisions. The people of Kashmir will take inspiration from what happened in Germany 30 years ago. A group of people has been kept apart by force," Shaffaq Mohammed, a British-Kashmiri MEP (Member of European Parliament), told DW.Ali Raza Syed, the chairman of the Kashmir Council, a Brussels-based non-governmental organization, says that just as in pre-reunification Germany, families are divided in India- and Pakistan-controlled Kashmirs. "They have the same culture, the same language. I think the German reunification inspirations can be applied to Kashmir," Syed told DW.
"You can threaten people, you can torture them, but you cannot govern a country out of fear," Mohammed said, referring both to the India-imposed lockdown in Kashmir and the oppression in the former German Democratic Republic, or GDR.
"If Kashmiris want to be independent of both India and Pakistan, it is their right," the Liberal Democrat MEP added.
https://www.dw.com/en/kashmir-independence-activists-draw-inspiration-from-german-reunification/a-51091943
#Pakistan #PPP - We will all unite to send this government home: Bilawal
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, on Sunday, said that the entire opposition was united and would send the incumbent government packing.
Bilawal paid a visit to the house of late PPP leader Jahangir Badar on the occasion of his third death anniversary, said that the opposition had taken to the streets to oust this government.
Speaking to workers of the party, Bilawal said that the government had increased problems of the people. He said that everyone would join forces to send these rulers home.
"I urge my workers to stand firm and stay united--increase your contact with the people. When we enter Central Punjab, PPP's flags will be seen everywhere," he said.
He paid tribute to Jahangir Badar, saying that the party could not forget his sacrifices.
"His loyalty to the PPP spanned three generations," he said.
Earlier, a PPP delegation comprising leaders from Central Punjab met Bilawal under the leadership of Qamar Zaman Kaira. Organisational structure and the political situation of the country came under discussion during the meeting.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Imran had earlier said that if the opposition did not budge from its demand for his resignation, then there was no need to negotiate with them.
Thousands of protesters have converged on the federal capital under the banner of the Azadi March, seeking to send packing Prime Minister Imran Khan packing.
The ‘Azadi’ March caravan, which set off from Sindh, left Punjab’s city Lahore on Wednesday and culminated its journey Thursday night in Islamabad.
Opposition leaders delivered fiery speeches against the PTI government on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, giving the prime minister a 48-hour ultimatum to resign.
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman gave Prime Minister Imran two days to step down, failing which the protesters threatened to march to the PM House, 'force' the prime minister to step down, and 'arrest' him.
The government announced on Saturday that they would approach the courts over Fazlur Rehman's statements, accusing him of "instigating the people" and rallying them for 'mutiny'.
While the ultimatum has run out, Fazl continues to push the demand for the prime minister to resign and go home.
https://www.geo.tv/latest/255713-we-will-all-unite-to-send-this-government-home-bilawal
https://www.geo.tv/latest/255713-we-will-all-unite-to-send-this-government-home-bilawal
Media freedom in Pakistan is seeing dark times, says panel
Atika Rehman
The talk titled ‘Reign of censorship: Pakistan, Kashmir and India’ featured journalist Talat Hussain, writer and academic Farzana Sheikh, British journalist Christina Lamb and former Dawn columnist Cyril Almeida.The two-hour discussion focused largely on the history of censorship in Pakistan, and the gradual sophistication of tools used to silence journalists.
Prof Sheikh recalled a question put to Prime Minister Imran Khan about media freedom in Pakistan during his recent trip to Washington, which he dismissed as a joke and added that the Pakistani media is freer than that of the UK.
“In doing so, Mr Khan was speaking on behalf of many of his peers at the helm of increasingly authoritarian governments in South Asia. Yet for all his bombast, much of the evidence contradicts Khan’s claims,” she said, citing a 2019 Reporters Without Borders report which notes that censorship in Pakistan today is comparable to the Zia era.
Prof Sheikh spoke of the more recent disruption of artist Adeela Suleman’s display depicting extrajudicial killings at the Karachi biennale, and used it as an example of how even artistic expression is being stifled.
She also shared that blasphemy accusations are increasingly being used to silence dissent. Ms Lamb, who also co-authored ‘I Am Malala’, drew attention to the troubling and growing trend of censorship in India, where the government recently removed the citizenship of journalist Aatish Taseer after he criticised the Modi regime in a Time article.
“One of the things that shocked me is that of the journalists killed globally, the number coming from India is disturbing. I had not expected this because I still had that image that India was a place with robust media,” said Ms Lamb.
She also cited how shutting down the internet in occupied Kashmir is again a demonstration of how the Indian state is actively quashing freedom of expression.
Turning to Pakistan, Ms Lamb said that she was recently in the country when she witnessed a broadcast journalist say she was asked not to air a speech made by Maulana Fazlur Rehman ahead of the dharna. “I’m not sure what Imran Khan means when he says Pakistan’s media is freer because these kind of things don’t happen here [in the UK].”
She also said that blacklisting Stephen Butler of the Committee to Protect Journalists from entering Pakistan to participate in the Asma Jehanhir conference was evidence of blatant censorship.
“If you are trying to show that you have media freedom, that is not a very good way to go about it.” Mr Almeida started his talk by giving credit to what he said are “the brave journalists out there who are bringing us information on Kashmir”. About Pakistan, he painted a grim future. “Censorship is not going to get better in Pakistan. The two questions now are: how much worse will it get and how quickly that will happen.”
He unpacked a popular belief in Pakistan about retired Gen Pervez Musharraf’s liberal approach to the media, and said that Musharraf’s incentive to allow private media to flourish came from the Indian government’s propaganda through its private channels during Kargil and the attack on the Indian parliament. “If you look at these episodes in India, you see the newly risen private media who was able to rally national sentiment in a way that Indian state channels would not have been able to do. On our side, they saw how India mobilised their population effectively. So they hoped to do the same. It was not altruism that led Musharraf to do this.”
Mr Hussain highlighted the less talked about issue of self-censorship within media organisations.
“Nobody talks about what owners do to direct censorship at journalists. It has nothing to do with state’s censorship of journalism. It has to do with who they [media owners] like, who funds them and who their favourites are. More than the state of Pakistan, Malik Riaz is the one who controls 9/10th of media coverage. His ability to influence coverage is huge.”
https://www.dawn.com/news/1515916/media-freedom-in-pakistan-is-seeing-dark-times-says-panel