Sunday, January 31, 2021
#Pakistan - Daniel Pearl Murder Case: A Prognosis – OpEd
By Nilesh KunwarNow that Pakistan’s highest court has acquitted Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, accused for his involvement in the 2002 abduction and subsequent decapitation of American journalist Daniel Pearl, the question on everybody’s lips is, ‘What next?’ Whereas Sindh Government says it’s filing a review petition against the supreme court’s verdict, while the federal government has pledged its “full support,” but given Islamabad’s characteristic reluctance to act against terrorists, these assurances have done precious little to allay fears of yet another hardcore terrorist going scot-free. Perhaps this is why US acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen has said that “The United States stands ready to take custody of Omar Sheikh to stand trial here.” Sheikh’s case has once again exposed Islamabad’s duplicity in its much hyped ‘zero tolerance’ for terrorism, because his involvement in Pearl’s abduction and murder case wasn’t the first terrorist act, he committed. Eight years before, as a Harkat-ul Ansar [HuA] terrorist, Sheikh had kidnapped four foreign tourists [three Australian and one American national] from New Delhi. To secure their release, a demanded that ten terrorists jailed in J&K should be set free was made alongwith the threat to behead the hostages if the demand wasn’t met. Luckily, the police were able to secure release of the abducted foreigners after a bloody shootout, while Sheikh was apprehended and imprisoned. However, in 1999, Pakistan based terrorists hijacked an Indian Airlines aircraft and managed to secure release of Sheikh alongwith two other convicted terrorists in exchange for passengers of this flight. Even though Sheikh took refuge in Pakistan and made no efforts to conceal his identity or whereabouts, Islamabad didn’t consider it necessary to ensure that this terrorist guilty of abduction is brought to book. The reasons for such an irresponsible behaviour are obvious-firstly, Islamabad’s anti-India mindset makes it believe in the ‘enemy’s enemy being a friend’ philosophy. Secondly, since HuA is one of the many terrorist groups Pakistan army is using to wage proxy war against India, Rawalpindi has ensured that Sheikh remains beyond reach of law. This incident, which exposes Islamabad’s utter lack of seriousness in holistically combatting terrorism cannot be dismissed as mere aberration because it’s not the only instance of Islamabad looking the other way as terrorist masterminds based on its soil were running riot in neighbouring countries. Its long list failures to bring terrorist leaders living in Pakistan to justice includes architects of 2001 Indian Parliament terrorist attack, 2002 Mumbai carnage, 2016 Pathankot airbase attack, 2019 Pulwama car bombing of a bus carrying central police force personnel, and many more such despicable acts of terrorism. Infact, anyone following what Pakistan’s leaders, Generals and government officials have been saying will agree that Islamabad and Rawalpindi always had an extremely selective approach towards terrorism dictated by its self-serving interests. While talking about terrorism during a 2014 TV interview, Adviser to the Pakistani Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, made Islamabad’s stand on terrorism clear by saying, “Why should America’s enemies unnecessarily become our enemies?” Two years later, he not only admitted that Pakistan had been hosting Afghan Taliban for 35 years, but also boasted that “We have some influence over them because their leadership is in Pakistan and they get some medical facilities.” So, former US President Donald Trump wasn’t at all wrong when he tweeted that “The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan…!” By admitting that “we made a mistake by joining someone else’s war…[as] we had nothing to do with 9/11 attacks,” Prime Minister Imran Khan has unwittingly exposed Pakistan’s selective approach in fighting terrorism. However, going by Khan’s view of not “joining someone else’s war,” handing over Sheikh to the Americans so that he can stand trial for the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl appears to be a distinct possibility. After all, since the accused is a British national [albeit of Pakistani descent] and the victim was an American, neither the accused nor the victim have anything to do with Pakistan, so there’s legal issues involved. Moreover, as Islamabad had handed over a Kuwaiti national named Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was an Al Qaida terrorist and main 9/11 plotter to the US in 2003, precedent for turning over terrorists of foreign nationality to America already exists. However, this is not likely to happen, because even though the Daniel Pearl murder may not have anything to do with Pakistan, yet Rawalpindi will never accept a member of what it considers to be its ‘strategic asset’ to be handed over to America. It’s already ensured this in the case of Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT] co-founder Hafiz Saeed and so, doing otherwise in Sheik’s case is unlikely. What makes such an eventuality even more improbable is the revelation by 9/11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that Omar Sheikh had sent about USD 100,000 from UEA to 9/11 hijacker Mohamad Atta on instructions from the then ISI chief Lt Gen Mahmud Ahmed! Just two years ago, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, a senior serving judge of Islamabad High Court went on record to say, “Today the judiciary and media have come in the control of ‘Bandookwala’ [army].” Disclosing that the “judiciary is not independent,” he went on to reveal that “In different cases, the ISI forms benches of its choice to get desired results.” Hence, the most likely out come of the Pearl trial case is that the Supreme Court of Pakistan will in all probability reverse Sindh High Court’s acquittal verdict and after rejecting the serious charges, declare Sheikh guilty on minor charges and sentence him to a jail term that would more or less be equivalent to the time he’s already spent in jail. As Section 403 of the Pakistan Code of Criminal Procedure,1898, incorporates the universally accepted ‘nemo debt bis vexari prone et eadem causa’ [no person should be put to peril twice for the same offence] maxim, a jail sentence awarded to Sheikh will ensure that he can’t be tried in this case again. Islamabad has already used this option to ‘technically’ comply with Financial Action Task Force’s observation regarding involvement of LeT co-founder Hafiz Saeed and its present chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in terror financing. By framing feeble charges against both, it has ensured that both have been awarded short jail sentences and as such, there’s no reason why Islamabad won’t follow suit in Sheikh’s case.
https://www.eurasiareview.com/31012021-daniel-pearl-murder-case-a-prognosis-oped/
Accountability mania - #Pakistan has faced a massive challenge of corruption and abuse of authority right from day one
Perhaps nowhere in the developing world has accountability been so much at the heart of national debate than in Pakistan. Ironically, very few countries may have made more of a mess of the job.
If needed, the proof is the most recent ranking of Pakistan on the Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International. According to the 2020 ranking, Pakistan has slipped four points down the transparency ladder compared to 2019.
Historically, accountability in Pakistan has been mostly ill-conceived, rarely well-executed, and blatantly selective in most cases. In almost all accountability drives, politicians on the wrong side of the divide were regarded as fair game. Civil bureaucracy was the second major target of accountability. The security establishment and judiciary were conspicuous by their absence among the targets.
Pakistan faced a massive challenge of corruption and abuse of authority right from day one. Jinnah rightly pointed out corruption as one of the biggest curses that must be put down with an iron hand. Ironically, the way evacuee property, which was abandoned by the departing Hindus and Sikhs during mass migration after Partition, was dispensed with shaped the moral fabric and mostly institutionalised corruption. There are authentic reports of massive corruption by politicians, bureaucrats, local notables and refugee groups who scrambled for evacuee property.
The accountability drive in Pakistan formally started when the then prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, promulgated the Public Representative Offices Disqualification Act (PRODA) in 1949 to check graft and misuse of authority. Corrupt politicians could be disqualified under PRODA for as long as ten years. The political opposition alleged that PRODA was aimed at whistleblowers in the opposite camps who highlighted the ruling Muslim League’s corruption.
In 1954, Liaquat Ali Khan’s PRODA was repealed because of its partiality and incompatibility with democratic norms. In March 1959, Gen Ayub Khan replaced the PRODA with a new law called the Public Offices Disqualification Order (PODO) and had later substituted it with the Elective Bodies Disqualification Order (EBDO). Under this law, around 75 senior politicians were charged. This included Qayyum Khan and Hosein Shaheed Suhrawardy.
They were disqualified from contesting elections till the end of 1966. However, they were never tried and convicted. This lends credence to the presumption that the objective of the PODO and the EBDO was not as much to stem corruption as it was to tame the politicians in the opposition.
In 1976, then prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto enacted the Holders of Representative Offices Act and the Parliament and Provincial Assemblies (Disqualification for Membership) Act. Still, no case were registered under these laws. However, around 1,100 government officers were sacked without trial. Due process of law that was ignored in the summary dismissal of civil servants. This became the hallmark of subsequent accountability drives as well.
Gen Ziaul Haq repealed the earlier anti-corruption laws and issued two presidential orders, commonly known as PPO No 16 and 17 in 1977. Critics still argue that the Zia regime institutionalised corruption. It introduced ideas, such as development funds for MNAs and MPAs and wrote off bank loans of the military ruler’s supporters and loyalists. Ironically, only this week Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced a grant of Rs 500 million for each member of National Assembly and provincial assemblies for development schemes in their constituencies. It is not yet clear if party affiliation will be a factor in the release of development funds to parliamentarians. If so, further exegete will be needed on how such allocation of public money based on party affiliation can be made.
In 1990, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was ousted from power on corruption charges by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan. President Khan was instrumental in filing about 20 corruption cases against Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, during 1990-92.
The emergence of Broadsheet scandal also sheds light on the direction of accountability in Pakistan. The NAB signed a highly controversial agreement with the assets recovery firm.
After the 1993 elections, Benazir Bhutto became PM for the second time. She vehemently accused the Sharifs of receiving kickbacks in the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway and Yellow Cab Scheme and obtaining huge loans from nationalised banks. A total of 150 cases of corruption and irregularities were instituted against Nawaz and his family members.
In a strange twist of turns, President Farooq Leghari sent Benazir Bhutto packing in November 1996 over similar charges of corruption. President Leghari also promulgated the Ehtesab (Accountability) Ordinance.
Nawaz Sharif came to power for the second time in 1997 and amended the Ehtesab (Accountability) Ordinance. The amended law shifted the investigation from the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner to an Ehtesab Cell located at the PM‘s Secretariat and headed by Sharif‘s close confidant, Senator Saifur Rehman. Soon, the Cell earned notoriety for targeting political opponents and intimidating dissenting elements in the press. It focused largely on former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, her family and close associates. She was incriminated on charges of misuse of power and possession of assets beyond known means of income. Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, was detained on five charges of corruption and one of smuggling narcotics case.
The US State Department, in its annual Human Rights Report for the year 1997 highlighted the allegation of Asif Zardari that he had been tortured and his tongue lacerated in the custody of the Crime Investigation Agency. This was seen as an attempt to force a confessional statement incriminating him and his wife. The police called it a suicide attempt. Recently, Nadeem Afzal Chan, a spokesperson for PM Imran Khan has said that Rana Maqbool, then IGP, had cut Zardari’s tongue and was rewarded for it with several favours including a Senate ticket. Asif Zardari, arrested by the caretaker government after the PPP government’s dismissal in November 1996, spent eight years in prison.
In October 1999, Gen Pervez Musharraf assumed power and replaced the Ehtesab Act of 1997 with the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance. The NAB was given sweeping powers. It could arrest anyone for 90 days without producing the arrested person in any court of law. The accused could not apply for bail.
Gen Musharraf also promulgated the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) in October 2007. It granted amnesty to politicians, political workers and bureaucrats who were accused of corruption, money laundering, murder and terrorism, etc between January 1, 1986, and October 12, 1999, the time between two Martial Law stints in Pakistan. The NRO was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in December 2009.
In 2007, the cases against PPP leaders were also closed. However, the Supreme Court declared the NRO void in 2009. This resulted in reopening of these cases. However, by then, Asif Zardari had been elected president and thereby enjoyed constitutional immunity. After his term ended in 2013, he faced references in several cases.
In May 2013, Nawaz Sharif bagged the popular vote to rule the country for the third time. However, the PTI alleged serious rigging of elections. Later, the allegations of corruption against PML-N leaders rose to a deafening crescendo.
The names of 436 Pakistanis were identified in Panama Papers and 135 in Paradise Papers revelations. Only Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from premiership in this context even though his name did not directly appear in Panama Papers. No effective investigations were carried out against others named in Panama Papers.
The recent emergence of Broadsheet scandal has shed new light on the direction of accountability in Pakistan. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) signed a highly controversial agreement with the assets recovery firm. Justice Azmat Saeed, a former Supreme Court of Pakistan judge, who has been nominated by the federal government to head the inquiry committee to probe the Broadsheet affair, was then a deputy prosecutor general of the Bureau.
Justice Saeed was appointed a special NAB prosecutor in 2001 to pursue cases before the accountability courts at Attock Fort and Rawalpindi. Later, as a judge of the Supreme Court, he was a member of the bench that handed down the judgment in the Panama Papers case against Nawaz Sharif that disqualified him. Justice Saeed is currently an honorary member of the board of governors of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Trust.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/782453-accountability-mania
#COVID19Vaccine - #Pakistan battles tsunami of Covid-19 patients with few vaccines in sight
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/30/asia/coronavirus-vaccine-divide-pakistan-dst-intl-hnk/index.html
رقص زنجیر پہن کر بھی کیا جاتا ہے، نیلو بیگم کا فلمی سفر
ہفتے کی شب نیلو بیگم کے بیٹے شان شاہد نے اپنے ٹویٹر اکاؤنٹ سے ٹویٹ کر کے اپنی والدہ کے انتقال کی اطلاع دی کہ ان کی والدہ اپنے خالق حقیقی سے جا ملی ہیں۔
پاکستانی سلور سکرین کی معروف اداکارہ نیلو بیگم طویل علالت کے بعد ہفتہ کی شام انتقال کر گئیں۔ اداکارہ نیلو بیگم معروف اداکار و ہدایت کار شان شاہد کی والدہ اور اپنے زمانے کے معروف ہدایتکار ریاض شاہد کی اہلیہ تھیں۔
ہفتے کی شب نیلو بیگم کے بیٹے شان شاہد نے اپنے ٹویٹر اکاؤنٹ سے ٹویٹ کر کے اپنی والدہ کے انتقال کی اطلاع دی کہ ان کی والدہ اپنے خالق حقیقی سے جا ملی ہیں۔
شان شاہد نے اپنی والدہ کے انتقال کے کچھ گھنٹوں بعد ایک اور ٹویٹ بھی کی جس میں انہوں نے لکھا ’میں نہیں جانتا کہ میں کیا لکھوں کیونکہ میرے الفاظ خالی پڑ گئے ہیں بالکل اسی طرح جیسے میری دنیا میری والدہ کے بغیر بے معنی ہو گئی ہے۔ میری کامیابی و ناکامی دونوں کو ان کی ضرورت ہے۔ اب صرف ایک امید ہے کہ وہ زندہ ہیں اور ان سے ایک روز اگلے جہان میں ملاقات ہو گی۔ میں آپ سے ہمیشہ پیار کرتا رہوں گا، اللہ آپ کے ساتھ ہو۔‘
نیلو 1940 میں سرگودھا کی تحصیل بھیرا میں پیدا ہوئیں۔ زخمی کانپوری کی برصغیر پاک وہندکی خوبصور ہیروئینوں پر لکھی کتاب ’پری چہرے‘ کے مطابق نیلو بیگم کا تعلق ایک مسیحی گھرانے سے تھا اور ان کا اصل نام پروین الیگزینڈر تھا۔ انہیں فلمی دنیا میں نیلو بیگم کے نام سے جانا جاتا تھا۔ 16 سال کی عمرمیں لاہور میں فلمائی جانے والی ہالی وڈ فلم ’بھوانی جنکشن‘ سے انہوں نے فلمی سفر کا آغازکیا مگر انہیں شہرت پاکستانی فلموں میں کام کرنے سے ملی۔
انہوں نے ایک کے بعد ایک کامیاب فلم دی اور پھر ان کا وجود پاکستانی فلموں کے لیے ناگزیر ہو گیا۔ نیلو بیگم پر کئی مشہور گانے فلمائے گئے جن میں فلم سات لاکھ کا گانا ’آئے موسم رنگیلے سہانے‘ بھی شامل ہے۔ یہ گانا آج کل کی نسل میں بھی مقبول ہے۔
'کچھ بھی نہ کہا اور کہہ بھی گئے۔' فلم ڈائریکٹر و پروڈیوسر اور ایورنیو سٹوڈیو کے مالک جی اے گل کے بیٹے آغا سجاد گل نے انڈپینڈنٹ اردو سے بات کرتے ہوئے اس گانے کا ذکر کیا اور کہا ’ایورنیو پکچرز کی فلم عذرا کا یہ گانا نیلو بیگم پر فلمایا گیا۔ نیلو بیگم نے 60 کی دہائی میں ایورنیو پکچرز کے تحت بننے والی سب سے زیادہ ہٹ فلموں میں کام کیا اور مجھے اب تک ان فلموں کی عکس بندی یاد ہے کیونکہ میں تب بہت چھوٹا تھا اور فلموں کی شوٹنگ دیکھنے سٹوڈیو آیا کرتا تھا۔ نیلو بیگم کا دنیا سے چلے جانا یقیناً انتہائی دکھ کی بات ہے مگر نیلو بیگم ہمیشہ دل کی دھڑکنوں میں زندہ رہیں گی اور انہیں ہمیشہ 60 کی دہائی کی پاکستانی فلموں کی مرکزی اور بے باک اداکارہ کے طور پر یاد رکھا جائے گا۔‘
اداکارہ نیلو نے ہدایتکار ریاض شاہد سے شادی کے وقت اسلام قبول کیا اور ان کا نام پروین سے تبدیل کر کے عابدہ
رکھا گیا۔
ساٹھ کی دہائی میں جب نیلو بیگم شہرت کی بلندیوں پر تھیں تو مغربی پاکستان میں اس وقت کے گورنر نے ایک غیر ملکی سربراہ (شاہ ایران) کے دورہ پاکستان کے دوران نیلو بیگم کو ان کے سامنے رقص کرنے کے لیے مجبور کیا لیکن نیلو بیگم نے انکار کر دیا۔ جس کے نتیجے میں انہیں ہراساں کیا گیا اور انہوں نے خود کشی کی کوشش کی۔
اس واقعے کے بعد ریاض شاہد نے نیلو سے شادی کر لی تھی جب کہ معروف شاعر حبیب جالب نے نیلو کے عنوان سے ایک نظم لکھی ’تو کہ ناواقف آداب شہنشاہی تھی، رقص زنجیر پہن کر بھی کیا جاتا ہے۔‘ اس نظم کو بعد میں فلم زرقا میں نیلو بیگم پرفلمایا گیا۔ چونکہ یہ فلم فلسطین کے موضوع پر بنائی گئی تھی اس لیے جالب کی اس نظم کے مصرعوں کو تبدیل کر کے ’تو کہ ناواقف آداب غلامی ہے مگر رقص زنجیر پہن کر بھی کیا جاتا ہے‘ کر دیا گیا۔ یہ فلم سو ہفتے چلی اور اس فلم کو پاکستان کی پہلی ایسی فلم کا اعزاز ملا جس نے ڈائمنڈجوبلی کی۔
نیلوبیگم نے سینکڑوں فلموں میں کام کیا جن میں دوشیزہ، ناگن، ڈاچی، عذرا، جی دار، شیر دی بچی، آخری نشان، چنگیز خان، کوئل، سہرا ، بلندی کے علاوہ ان کے اپنے بیٹے شان کی ہدایت میں بننے والی فلم وار بھی شامل ہے۔ نیلو بیگم کو 1959، 1963، 1969، اور 1999 میں بہترین اداکارہ کے علاوہ دیگر کیٹگریز میں نگار ایوارڈ سے بھی نوازا گیا۔
نیلو بیگم کو اتوار کی دوپہر لاہور کے علاقے گلبرگ میں میں سپرد خاک کردیا گیا۔ ان کے جنازے میں اداکار معمر رانا، ریمبو، غلام محی الدین، شفقت چیمہ، سید نور، نغمہ بیگم، صائمہ، وارث بیگ سمیت دیگر شوبز کی شخصیات شامل ہوئیں۔
https://www.independenturdu.com/node/58791