Thursday, December 5, 2019
#Pakistan - 'Abduction of Baloch women a slap on face of parliamentary parties'
Pro-independence Baloch leader Dr Allah Nazar Baloch on Sunday condemned the abduction of Baloch women during military operations in different parts of Balochistan.
"In this civilized world of the twenty-first century, hardly there would be such an example of atrocities which Pakistan army and intelligence agencies are inflicting upon the Baloch people. Only in Awaran, within twenty-four hours, four women along with a minor were abducted and shifted in torture chambers," Nazar Baloch said.
He added: "In the same fashion, the Pakistani intelligence agencies, with its henchman Sarfaraz Bugti-run death squad members, abducted women and children from Dera Bugti. Such incidents are eye-openers and wake up calls for the world powers and the champions of international human rights organizations. But sad to say that they have failed to do justice with their job."Rebuking the so-called Baloch nationalists who are part of Pakistani parliamentary politics, Nazar Baloch said: "Such incidents should shake the conscience of the so-called nationalists who consider parliament and the federation of Pakistan as the only solution to the problems of the Baloch nation. They are silent spectators while sitting with the government of Pakistan. One day the Baloch nation will hold them accountable."While harshly criticising the dubious role of Sardar Akthar Mengal, the head of Balochistan National Party (Mengal), the Baloch leader said: "Akthar Mengal has created a soft corner for himself in the military establishment and become the part of the government by playing with the emotions of Baloch nation using the name of missing persons; neither the missing persons were recovered nor the army's brutalities ended. On the contrary, the atrocities of the Pakistan army have intensified in Balochistan.""Perhaps, Akthar Mengal has forgotten the fact that his party is neither in the government nor in the opposition. Yet he is riding two horses simultaneously because he has made a deal with the real federal government i.e. the military junta. But everyone should bear in mind, those who manipulated and used the nation as a ladder to ascend to power and get lost in the maze of slavery, the Baloch nation has neither spared them in the past nor will forgive them in the future," he added.
Further, the Baloch leader said: "Pakistan is in the shock and awe by seeing the Baloch national struggle's popularity among the masses and its perseverance. Baloch nation will never give up their national cause with the use of such mean tactics. In fact, such incidents will harden their resolve and sharpen the will to take revenge. It is Baloch's inherent psyche and nature and part of its culture and traditions that assault on a woman will be deemed as an attack on the entire nation and their dignity. In such cases, the Baloch nation remained united in the past and will persist. This is the false perception of Pakistan that it will subjugate the Baloch nation with such cheap tactics."Dr. Allah Nazar Baloch alleged that the Pakistan army abducted Baloch women namely Bibi Nazal and Hameeda Baloch from Pirandar, Sayed Bibi from Maashi and Bibi Sakina from Harooni Dann of district Awaran.
"This is a slap on the face of those Baloch as well as the parliamentarians who always play the fiddle of democracy and engaged in strengthening the rogue state of Pakistan at the expense of Baloch dignity and blood," he said.
He concluded: "Pakistan's army is employing all means to dishonor us. In such a state of affairs, all the so-called nationalists and religious parties have sealed up their lips. Yet they create huge uproar on Kashmir and Palestine. Do they have the spine to tell the truth about what is going in Balochistan? How Pakistan army is treating the people of Balochistan? These so-called custodians of Islam make a lot of clamour for the burning of the Holy Quran in Norway, but they keep silent on the burning of the Holy Quran by the Pakistan army during the military operations in Balochistan. This is the prime example of the hypocrisy of the so-called nationalists, clerics, and federalists. The history and the Baloch nation will never forgive them."
https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/263258357/abduction-of-baloch-women--a-slap-on-face-of-parliamentary-parties
629 Pakistani Girls Were Sold as Brides to Chinese Men
Investigations, however, have largely ceased — allegedly under pressure from officials wary of damaging China-Pakistan relations.
Page after page, the names stack up: 629 girls and women from across Pakistan who were sold as brides to Chinese men and taken to China. The list, obtained by The Associated Press, was compiled by Pakistani investigators determined to break up trafficking networks exploiting the country’s poor and vulnerable.
The list gives the most concrete figure yet for the number of women caught up in the trafficking schemes since 2018.
But since the time it was put together in June, investigators’ aggressive drive against the networks has largely ground to a halt. Officials with knowledge of the investigations say that is because of pressure from government officials fearful of hurting Pakistan’s lucrative ties to Beijing.
The biggest case against traffickers has fallen apart. In October, a court in Faisalabad acquitted 31 Chinese nationals charged in connection with trafficking. Several of the women who had initially been interviewed by police refused to testify because they were either threatened or bribed into silence, according to a court official and a police investigator familiar with the case. The two spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution for speaking out.
At the same time, the government has sought to curtail investigations, putting “immense pressure” on officials from the Federal Investigation Agency pursuing trafficking networks, said Saleem Iqbal, a Christian activist who has helped parents rescue several young girls from China and prevented others from being sent there.
Asked about the complaints, Pakistan’s interior and foreign ministries refused to comment.
Several senior officials familiar with the events said investigations into trafficking have slowed, the investigators are frustrated, and Pakistani media have been pushed to curb their reporting on trafficking. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals.
“No one is doing anything to help these girls,” one of the officials said. “The whole racket is continuing, and it is growing. Why? Because they know they can get away with it. The authorities won’t follow through, everyone is being pressured to not investigate. Trafficking is increasing now.”
He said he was speaking out “because I have to live with myself. Where is our humanity?”
China’s Foreign Ministry said it was unaware of the list.
“The two governments of China and Pakistan support the formation of happy families between their people on a voluntary basis in keeping with laws and regulations, while at the same time having zero tolerance for and resolutely fighting against any person engaging in illegal cross-border marriage behavior,” the ministry said in a statement faxed Monday to AP’s Beijing bureau.
An AP investigation earlier this year revealed how Pakistan’s Christian minority has become a new target of brokers who pay impoverished parents to marry off their daughters, some of them teenagers, to Chinese husbands who return with them to their homeland. Many of the brides are then isolated and abused or forced into prostitution in China, often contacting home and pleading to be brought back. The AP spoke to police and court officials and more than a dozen brides — some of whom made it back to Pakistan, others who remained trapped in China — as well as remorseful parents, neighbors, relatives and human rights workers.
Christians are targeted because they are one of the poorest communities in Muslim-majority Pakistan. The trafficking rings are made up of Chinese and Pakistani middlemen and include Christian ministers, mostly from small evangelical churches, who get bribes to urge their flock to sell their daughters. Investigators have also turned up at least one Muslim cleric running a marriage bureau from his madrassa, or religious school.
Investigators put together the list of 629 women from Pakistan’s integrated border management system, which digitally records travel documents at the country’s airports. The information includes the brides’ national identity numbers, their Chinese husbands’ names and the dates of their marriages.
It is not known how many more women and girls were trafficked since the list was put together. But the official said, “the lucrative trade continues.” He spoke to the AP in an interview conducted hundreds of kilometers from his place of work to protect his identity. “The Chinese and Pakistani brokers make between 4 million and 10 million rupees ($25,000 and $65,000) from the groom, but only about 200,000 rupees ($1,500), is given to the family,” he said.
The official, with years of experience studying human trafficking in Pakistan, said many of the women who spoke to investigators told of forced fertility treatments, physical and sexual abuse and, in some cases, forced prostitution. Although no evidence has emerged, at least one investigation report contains allegations of organs being harvested from some of the women sent to China.
In September, Pakistan’s investigation agency sent a report it labeled “fake Chinese marriages cases” to Prime Minister Imran Khan. The report, a copy of which was attained by the AP, provided details of cases registered against 52 Chinese nationals and 20 of their Pakistani associates in two cities in eastern Punjab province — Faisalabad, Lahore — as well as in the capital Islamabad. The Chinese suspects included the 31 later acquitted in court.
The report said police discovered two illegal marriage bureaus in Lahore, including one operated from an Islamic center and madrassa — the first known report of poor Muslims also being targeted by brokers. The Muslim cleric involved fled police.
After the acquittals, there are other cases before the courts involving arrested Pakistani and at least another 21 Chinese suspects, according to the report sent to the prime minister in September. But the Chinese defendants in the cases were all granted bail and left the country, say activists and a court official.
Activists and human rights workers say Pakistan has sought to keep the trafficking of brides quiet so as not to jeopardize Pakistan’s increasingly close economic relationship with China.
China has been a steadfast ally of Pakistan for decades, particularly in its testy relationship with India. China has provided Islamabad with military assistance, including pre-tested nuclear devices and nuclear-capable missiles.
Today, Pakistan is receiving massive aid under China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a global endeavor aimed at reconstituting the Silk Road and linking China to all corners of Asia. Under the $75 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project, Beijing has promised Islamabad a sprawling package of infrastructure development, from road construction and power plants to agriculture.
The demand for foreign brides in China is rooted in that country’s population, where there are roughly 34 million more men than women — a result of the one-child policy that ended in 2015 after 35 years, along with an overwhelming preference for boys that led to abortions of girl children and female infanticide.
A report released this month by Human Rights Watch, documenting trafficking in brides from Myanmar to China, said the practice is spreading. It said Pakistan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea and Vietnam have “all have become source countries for a brutal business.”
“One of the things that is very striking about this issue is how fast the list is growing of countries that are known to be source countries in the bride trafficking business,” Heather Barr, the HRW report’s author, told AP.
Omar Warriach, Amnesty International’s campaigns director for South Asia, said Pakistan “must not let its close relationship with China become a reason to turn a blind eye to human rights abuses against its own citizens” — either in abuses of women sold as brides or separation of Pakistani women from husbands from China’s Muslim Uighur population sent to “re-education camps” to turn them away from Islam.
“It is horrifying that women are being treated this way without any concern being shown by the authorities in either country. And it’s shocking that it’s happening on this scale,” he said.
#Pakistan - Student awakening
WHEN campuses are devoid of student activism it spells the decline of a nation. This observation, attributed to Nelson Mandela, is so true for Pakistan. The legacy of a military dictator, the curbs on student unions has turned campuses into vast intellectual deserts where the space for rational thinking has shrunk.
Imposed some four decades ago, the ‘ban’ has mainly targeted progressive forces. Consequently, we have seen a marked rise in violence and the culture of intolerance in educational institutions. The presence of security agencies makes campuses look more like prisons than centres of learning, demonstrating a sharp regression in the academic atmosphere.
Two incidents — the lynching of Mashal Khan by his fellow students at Mardan University campus in 2017 and now the reports of harassment of girl students allegedly by the administration in the University of Balochistan have shaken the student community across the country and have become a catalyst for action.
Thousands of people including members of civil society, teachers and political workers came out last week in a show of solidarity with students who were demanding the restoration of their fundamental right to form unions and for better education facilities. The demands also included the removal of security agencies from campuses. It was the most significant student protest in recent years, with huge political implications.
The solidarity march staged by students has given a huge impetus to progressive democratic voices.
This awakening of the young generation and the struggle for their rights is indeed a silver lining in an otherwise very depressing political scenario. It has given a huge impetus to progressive democratic voices. Instead of heeding the students’ demands, the administration has reportedly filed sedition cases against those who participated in the solidarity march.
Nothing could be more shortsighted for a rudderless administration than taking action against peaceful protesters. Surely, there is nothing new about such a reaction from ruling establishments afraid of the voices of reason. It may be a long-drawn struggle but the student solidarity march has already made a strong impact, forcing the main political parties to endorse their demands. That in itself is a victory for the movement.
Students have played a vanguard role in the democratic struggle in this country. In fact, progressive student organisations have been in the forefront in resisting authoritarian rules. And that was perhaps the main reason for Gen Zia to ban student unions. The student solidarity march takes me back to the historic 1968 student movement of which I was one of the leaders. The movement brought down Ayub Khan’s rule.
It all started with protests against the celebration of 10 years of military rule declared by the regime as the ‘decade of development’. Gen Ayub Khan who later gave himself the title of field marshal had imposed martial law on Oct 7, 1958. The celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of the military takeover were aimed at projecting the ‘achievements’ of the regime and boosting its faltering political standing.
There was growing unrest among students and industrial workers whose wages had declined in real terms despite impressive economic growth. The National Students Federation, the most powerful leftist student organisation at that time, decided to organise protests against the military regime from Oct 7, 1968, to counter the anniversary celebrations. It started from the institutions where the NSF dominated the unions.
It soon spread to other cities. Many NSF leaders were arrested or forced to go underground. I was then a student at Karachi University and central joint secretary of the NSF. By November 1968, the protests had turned into a popular uprising with trade unions and political parties also joining in.
The year 1968 was also when leftist movements had swept across Western Europe and South America. The anti-Vietnam War campaign and the civil rights movement had gained momentum in the United States and swept across university campuses. The revolutionary movements in several African countries still under the yoke of colonialism had inspired the working-class movements.
The protest of 1968 was a manifestation of the increasing social conflicts across the world. It was an uprising against dictatorships, state repression, and colonisation. Mass socialist movements swept across most European countries. The most spectacular manifestation of this included the May 1968 protests in France, in which students linked up with 10 million workers staging wildcat strikes. Indeed, for a few days the movement seemed capable of overthrowing the government.
In many countries, including Pakistan, these movements turned into popular rebellions against military regimes. It was the most powerful mass movement the country had witnessed. Students and the working class were in the vanguard, but other sections of society also became part of it. From protests for students’ rights it turned into a pro-democracy movement.
The main objective of the NSF movement was to mobilise public opinion against the authoritarian regime and for democratic change. But no one expected it to turn into a nationwide uprising. The country imploded, bringing out various contradictions. Ten years of military-led rule had generated an unprecedented backlash.
Although the protests started from Karachi, a firing incident in which a student was killed ignited widespread agitation in Rawalpindi and other major towns of Punjab. While Karachi has traditionally been in the vanguard of democratic and progressive movements, Punjab for the first time witnessed powerful anti-authoritarian mass protests.
Meanwhile, student protests spread to former East Pakistan where the political situation was already volatile. Trade unions that were under the control of leftist groups also joined the protests. Initially, the movement was entirely led by the left, but soon, Bengali nationalists got into the lead. The military regime had underestimated the intensity of the movement. The situation was soon out of control. In February 1969, more than 25,000 rail workers carrying red flags marched along the main streets in Lahore.
For the first time in Pakistan’s history, socialism became the rallying cry for workers and students. Ayub’s hold over the military had weakened, with senior commanders seeing him as a liability. What started off as student protests turned into a mass uprising that brought down a powerful military dictator.
#Pakistan - #PPP - Bilawal visits Dawn offices, condemns besieging of staffers
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday visited Dawn offices in Islamabad to express solidarity with its staffers who remained “under siege” of a mob on Monday.
A few dozen unidentified people staged a protest outside the Dawn offices over the publication of a news report regarding the ethnicity of the London Bridge attacker who stabbed two persons to death last week.
On Tuesday, a similar protest was organized by Tehreek Tahaffuz-i-Pakistan Movement outside Karachi Press Club in which the participants chanted slogans against the newspaper.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who was accompanied by party leaders Farhatullah Babar, Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, and Faisal Karim Kundi, met Dawn’s Resident Editor Fahd Husain and DawnNews Bureau Chief Iftikhar Sherazi.
He condemned besieging of the Dawn offices and said it was an attempt to pressuring media.
“Media organisations are being threatened but we will not allow anyone to curb freedom of press,” said Mr Zardari, who is also National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights chairman.
Expressing solidarity with Dawn and the journalist community, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said media environment was becoming hostile and PPP stood with Dawn at this time and wants to work in tackling this environment.
“There are various journalistic standards all over the world, but it’s the responsibility of governments to ensure freedom of press,” he said.
“It is a black day in the history of the country that Dawn offices have been attacked in the capital in such a manner,” he added.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists-Afzal Butt Group (PFUJ) Secretary General Nasir Zaidi along with other union members visited the offices of the newspaper.
“We will not allow any attempt to sabotage press freedom. We have decided to gather outside Dawn building in Islamabad on Thursday to give a message that the journalist community is united,” he said.
In a joint statement, the newly-elected office-bearers of PFUJ, including its president Shehzada Zulfiqar and the secretary general, condemned the “aggression and hooliganism” against Dawn on the second consecutive day.“We strongly condemn uncalled for pressuring tactics, anti-media behaviour and harassment of Dawn and its employees,” it stated.Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE) President Arif Nizami also expressed concern over the incident.In a statement, Mr Nizami said under the incumbent government attacks on journalism had increased manifold which pointed to its hostility towards the so-called fourth pillar of the state.He also condemned statements made by sitting ministers that preceded the besieging of Dawn offices, saying the remarks were a source of concerns for the journalist community. He questioned the silence of the government officials on the incident, saying the policies employed by the government against media were hurting journalists.
The CPNE chief said journalists must be free to report independently without any fear or pressure.
All-Pakistan Newspapers Employees Confederation (Apnec) Chairman Ikram Bukhari also condemned the besieging of the Dawn offices.
Media Workers Organisation President Kaleem Shamim and Secretary General Raja Javed termed the incident an attempt to curb media freedom. In Battagram, journalists at a meeting chaired by former president of the local press club Abdur Rehman Khan said besieging of Dawn offices in Islamabad was highly condemnable and an open threat to freedom of expression.
Protest in Karachi
Dozens of people also staged a protest demonstration outside Karachi Press Club against Dawn.
The participants were carrying placards and banners, some of which mentioned Tehreek Tahaffuz-i-Pakistan Movement, as the organiser of the protest.
They also threatened to besiege the offices of the media group if “prompt action was not taken against the management and outlets of the organisation for publishing false news.”