Sunday, August 22, 2021
Opinion: Yes, the Kabul withdrawal is a disaster. But Biden made the right decision on Afghanistan.
Opinion by Jonathan Capehart
This makes the Bidens part of a very small club. Beau’s service in the reserves made him among the less than 1 percent of adult Americans to serve in active duty in our nation’s all-volunteer military. And the president is the first commander in chief to have watched a child go to combat since Dwight D. Eisenhower. That means an overwhelming majority of the nation has no idea what members of the military and their families endure to serve their country. And this puts Biden’s bracing remarks on his Afghanistan decision into much-needed context.“So I’m left again to ask of those who argue that we should stay,” Biden said in his Aug. 16 remarks. “How many more generations of America’s daughters and sons would you have me send to fight … Afghanistan’s civil war when Afghan troops will not? How many more lives — American lives — is it worth?” After 20 years, more than $2 trillion and the deaths of 2,448 U.S. service members and thousands of Afghan civilians, the president wisely decided “no more.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/22/yes-kabul-withdrawal-is-disaster-biden-made-right-decision-afghanistan/
Restricted, Intimidated Freedom of Press in Pakistan
Dr Qaisar Rashid
Background
On 28 May 2021, telecast on BBC’s Hard Talk, Stephen Sackur conducted an interview of Pakistan’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, who played down reports regarding an increase in attack on independent journalists in Pakistan.
Comment
In the interview, in addition to projecting Pakistan’s misleading picture based on inaccurate figures and fallacious claims, Fawad Chaudhry made a deliberate attempt to tone down the worsening situation of the freedom of press in Pakistan. For instance, in an answer to a question, he said that the situation in Pakistan was not dangerous for journalists only, but it was also dangerous for every citizen because Pakistan was fighting the war on terrorism. By saying so, he tried to sweep under the carpet of the war on terror the restricted and intimidated freedom of press in Pakistan.
The elections of 2018 left Pakistan’s society fractured on the question of manoeuvering elections to benefit one political party against the others. The Pakistanis were expecting a fair deal in the elections, but in vain. The division got accentuated on various occasions, for instance, on the question of legally and publicly disparaging Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who held Pakistan’s top intelligence agency implicated in arranging a sit-in in Faizabad (Rawalpindi) to topple the then government of Nawaz Sharif. Resultantly, Justice Isa was accused of hiding foreign assets of his family members in his wealth statement. A tug of war ensued between vlog journalists who were supporting Justice Isa and those who were maligning him.
Vlog journalists seized attention because the mainstream electronic media have been under severe restrictions since 2018. Hundreds of reporters and dozens of independent minded talk show anchors have been shown the exit door. The idea was to purge the media of dissidents and recusants, especially those who could challenge interference. On 26 April 2021, the Supreme Court exonerated Justice Isa of any blame of misconduct. This was a moment of triumph for vlog journalists such as Asad Ali Toor supporting the cause of Justice Isa. To give Toor a snub, on 25 May 2021, three armed men in civvies forced their entry into his apartment in Islamabad, tortured him brutally damaging his arms and threatened him of dire consequences, if he continued ventilating his views. Woefully, in his interview, Fawad Chaudhry insinuated to the egregious dastardly incident and said that Toor staged a drama to seek attention of foreign countries in an attempt to seek asylum. This was an indecent statement.
Toor’s purported offence was two-pronged: first, he not only supported the cause of Justice Isa, but he also defused the malicious propaganda on social media against the honourable judge; and second, he raised a hue and cry on an attack on Pakistan’s renowned senior journalist, Absar Alam, a man of impeccable character. On 20 April 2021, when Alam was on a promenade outside his house in Islamabad, an armed miscreant targeted him with firing a bullet which pierced through his abdomen. Alam was rushed to a nearby hospital which saved his life. Alam is also supportive of the cause of Justice Isa, besides being a critic to the interference of intelligence agencies in the media.
In both instances of attack, the police got not only CCTV footages, which showed the faces of attackers, but also traces valuable for geo-fencing. The police, however, are still clueless displaying a deliberate ineptitude and incapacity to apprehend the assailants. Interestingly, those journalists have been targeted who are decriers to the incumbent government and the military regime.In his interview, Fawad Chaudhry also made an astounding claim that he did not consider a distinguished senior journalist Talat Husain a journalist at all. This was another unfortunate devious statement. Husain has been known to Pakistani viewers since 1991 when he used to host current affairs programs at the Government-run Pakistan Television, Islamabad. Husain also made his mark as one of the best column writers contributing to Pakistan’s English dailies, besides working for international media organizations.
In November 2018, Husain opted for abandoning his talk show Naya Pakistan (New Pakistan) on a private Tv channel instead of compromising his independent thinking and analytical exposition. After forsaking the Tv channel, Husain became a vlogger and has been successfully running his vlogs expressing his sovereign views. At the moment, he is the most popular vlogger in Pakistan and to watch his vlogs thousands of watchers wait patiently daily. Cleverly, Fawad Chaudhry tried to vilipend Husain. One reason could be jealousy, another could be an attempt to gratify those who are miffed at the criticism that Husain unbridles valiantly. Incidentally, Husain has also supported the cause of Justice Isa.
Understandably, Pakistan has been experiencing the China model of Procrustean governance marked by reduced opposition, controlled society and structured consent. The atrocious acts to structure consent have been instilling insecurity and uncertainty in people about the future of Pakistan. If journalists are balked at speaking and revealing the truth, society will be a victim of illusions. Recreant and compromised journalists are the bane of society. Further, to make an opinion, people have a right to have access to both sides of a story. Keeping people nescient and deluded would deprive them of having a correct vision of the future. Neither any intelligence agency nor the military junta is allowed by law to subdue one side of a view and highlight the other.
In short, the interview indicated clearly that Stephen Sackur was ill-prepared for the topic. The BBC team was short of research and Sackur did not confront Fawad Chaudhry with sufficient probing questions. Moreover, harrying journalists to achieve certain objectives is not a sign of a civilized society congruent with the modern age of information. In Pakistan, the freedom of press is both restricted and intimidated. No journalist, writer or vloger knows whose turn to get tortured and humiliated is next. Suffocation is ascendant. Pakistan needs immediate attention of the world.
https://en.humsub.com.pk/3014/restricted-intimidated-freedom-of-press-in-pakistan/
Killings and Mounting Cruelty Burst PR Efforts of an Unrepentant Taliban
@mazdaki
No ordinary civilian, police, or military carries whips. Only a sadist, barbaric group like the Taliban could brandish whips at the drop of a hat.
Antony: And let us presently go sit in council
How covert matters may be best disclosed,
And open perils surest answered.
Octavius: Let us do so. For we are at the stake
And bayed about with many enemies.
And some that smile have in their hearts, I fear,
Millions of mischiefs.
– William Shakespeare, in Julius Caesar
After completing a whirlwind military victory over Afghanistan, the Taliban is back in Kabul.Having captured the land, the Taliban wants to get legitimacy at home and recognition internationally. The jihadist group has used every terrorist tactic and brutality along the way but now wishes to be acknowledged and accepted as an ostensibly new and improved outfit that respects life and liberty.While the Taliban’s sweep across the country consisted of both battlefield victories and negotiated surrenders of the government forces and people’s resistance, obtained through monetary and tribal arrangements, it was also strewn with atrocities against the vanquished. But once inside the capital, the Taliban has spoken and acted with a cautious restraint, as if putting its best foot and face forward. And the maiden press conference by the Taliban’s spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, who had only been heard but never seen in the 20 years prior, made it clear that the group has certainly become much more media-savvy over two decades. Zabiullah Mujahid was speaking at the state media and information centre. He first delivered prepared remarks and then took questions, which he answered in Pashto, Dari, and through an English interpreter. Mujahid chose each word carefully and meticulously laid out the Taliban’s immediate post-conquest agenda, directed clearly at both the domestic and international audiences. He spoke about the end of hostilities and a general amnesty for all pledged national reconciliation and no revenge or retribution, an outreach to former adversaries and a government inclusive of non-Taliban groups, assured of media freedoms and the rights of women within the confines of Shariah laws, and that the Taliban won’t allow the Afghan soil to be used by foreign transnational jihadists. So, if the Taliban is saying nearly all the right things, what is the problem then? Did everyone not want it to change and say that it has changed? Well, the Taliban has a very long history of brutality, treachery, and reneging on its words. It is, therefore, its actions – and not the ones in the remote past, but those leading up to and after seizing Kabul – that one has to look closely at to vet its words. For example, the very chair Zabiullah Mujahid sat in and spoke about reform and respect, which was previously occupied by the media centre’s civilian director, Dawa Khan Menapal. The Taliban assassinated Menapal just days prior to the presser and Mujahid had himself claimed the killing on behalf of the terror group. When asked about the assassination during the press conference, Mujahid deflected by saying that the previous government had started the fighting. He glossed over the fact that Menapal was not a military man but a civilian, whose targeted killing might even constitute a war crime. Mujahid’s reassurance to the journalists also sounded hollow. The Taliban had captured, tortured, and killed the Reuters’ photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, and then mutilated his body during their first major battlefield victory. After taking Kabul, the Taliban has raided the homes of several journalists and activists and killed a relative of a Deutsche Welle journalist. This forced others to go into hiding and erase their digital and cyber presence. The Taliban spokesman’s pledge to let women have the right to education and work was also contradicted by the fact his men had turned away a female broadcaster Khadija Amin when she showed up for work that day at the same building. The next day the Taliban fired Shabnam Dawran, another female presenter at the state-owned television. Outside the swamped Kabul airport, the Taliban whipped women and children trying to get in. That an armed insurgent untrained in policing can use harsh tactics could potentially be rationalised but why were they carrying medieval short snake whips begs the question of whether they planned to become moderate only after entering Kabul. No ordinary civilian, police, or military carries whips. Only a sadist, barbaric group like the Taliban could brandish whips at the drop of a hat. The Taliban’s claim of a general amnesty, including for the government forces, couldn’t be farther from the truth. The terrorist group is hunting for the members of the Afghan military and intelligence service, as well as for their relatives. The Taliban operatives are reportedly sifting through government databases to compile lists of servicemen and others, especially those who worked with the US and coalition forces.Fearing reprisals, scores of Afghan servicemen fled to the neighbouring countries, after the government’s collapse in Kabul, but the Taliban threatens to arrest or kill their relatives if they don’t turn themselves in. But that’s not it. The Taliban shot and killed common citizens who had come out to protest the militant group’s act of removing the tricolour Afghan national flag from the border crossings and the presidential palace and planting its emirate banner, as an anti-Afghan action. In cities across Afghanistan, including Kabul, men and women, who carried and planted the Afghan republic’s standard, had demonstrated against the Taliban and were beaten up or shot at and killed. The Taliban has assured religious freedom to the minorities, including the country’s sizeable Shia population. The group sent a delegation to Kabul’s Hazara Shia community, which attended a Muharram commemoration and subsequently provided security for the subdued Ashura processions. But in the Hazara heartland, the Bamiyan province, the Taliban blew up a statue of Abdul-Ali Mazari, a Hazara Shia leader who had led the resistance against its emirate in the 1990s. Mazari had been captured, killed, and possibly thrown out from a helicopter by the Taliban when he came to negotiate peace with them. But more importantly, Amnesty International has confirmed that the Taliban brutally tortured and massacred nine Hazara Shia men, after capturing the Ghazni province. A Human Rights Watch investigation had found that the Taliban had executed 44 detainees including civilians, after running over Kandahar. But Zabiullah Mujahid had blatantly lied and vehemently denied such a thing when the massacres were reported earlier. Like Zabiullah Mujahid’s every other claim, his assertion that the Taliban would not allow foreign fighters to operate from Afghan soil, is also a pack of lies. The slick, repackaged Taliban managed to assuage the west by executing Abu Omar Khorasani the leader of the Islamic State in Khorasan (ISIK), after taking him out of Kabul prison. While the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and most of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) remain joined at the hip, they view and treat ISIS, especially the ISIK, as ideological and battlefield rivals. It was a no-brainer for an ascendant Taliban to eliminate a fierce competitor. But it’s another story when it comes to its affiliates. Reports had already emerged of foreign fighters pouring into Kabul and manning checkpoints under the aegis of the Taliban’s lethal terrorist wing, the Haqqani Network (HQN). Now, the Taliban has put the HQN in charge of security in Kabul as well as one of its primary negotiators with the former Afghan officials and leaders. As a UN report had also noted recently, the head of the HQN, Sirajuddin Haqqani is not only a deputy emir of the Taliban but also a member of al-Qaeda’s wider leadership. The Taliban has also freed thousands of al-Qaeda fighters from the Afghan government’s prisons it captured. The group has also sprung from prison Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, the deputy leader of its TTP cohort. Jubilant TTP cadres took out a cavalcade in Afghanistan, to celebrate his release, and both Faqir Muhammad and their emir Noor Wali Mehsud renewed their pledge of allegiance to the Taliban emir, Mullah Haibatullah Akhunzada. The Taliban’s actions clearly belie its claims of change, moderation, and tolerance. But why is it engaging in talks with the Afghan political, ethno-national, and religious leadership, when it has prevailed militarily? The answers are complex, but it seems that primarily, the Taliban and its chief patron, Pakistan, do not wish to repeat the experiences of 1992 and 1996 when war preceded any arrangement to govern and consolidate power. When the Mujahideen, backed by Pakistan, the US, and Saudi Arabia, toppled the communist government of Dr. Mohammad Najibullah in April 1992, they lunged at each other with a vengeance – a situation that Pakistan found impossible to manage. While Pakistan and Saudi Arabia managed to induce the Mujahideen into a coalition government then, the turf battles morphed into a fully-fledged civil war in which no side could prevail. Smarting from the mayhem, Pakistan subsequently sired and enabled the Taliban to get rid of the unruly Mujahideen, some of whom by then were being backed by India, Iran, and Central Asian Republics, and frustrating its desire to have a pliant Islamist regime in Kabul that toed its diktat. But the Taliban emirate faced continued armed resistance, from what became known in common parlance as the Northern Alliance, even after a bloody takeover of and planting its dreary banner in Kabul. International recognition, and therefore support, too remained elusive. Simply put, the plan this time around is for the Taliban to avoid a large-scale armed confrontation with the remnants of the republic and other ethno-national forces able or willing to resist, gain international recognition along with monetary and material support, and consolidate its rule. In essence, it is a continuation of the Taliban strategy vis-à-vis the US to continue preparing for war, while talking peace. The Taliban and its backers in the Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, Pakistan wish for the emirate to be eased in rather than appear to have been thrust upon Kabul. That the war-weary, defeated and demoralised Afghan people and leaders, have no appetite for another round of armed conflict, makes the Taliban’s job easier. The Taliban’s co-founder and deputy leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, and the HQN’s Khalil Haqqani and Anas Haqqani are in talks with the former president Hamid Karzai, Chairman of the now-defunct High Council for National Reconciliation Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, leader of the Hizb-e-Islami, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and former parliamentarians. With Joe Biden telling them “drop dead”, the Afghan state and army collapsed, and the Taliban fully in control militarily, there’s not much leverage that any of these interlocutors carry. Another group of Afghans, largely from the northern provinces, held talks with Pakistani officials in Islamabad and conceded that “peace in the region does not seem possible without an alliance with Pakistan.” For Afghans, there are bad options and worse options, it seems. The Taliban, for its part, is likely to keep the Afghan rivals engaged but not compromise on its core tenets, including establishing an emirate. The so-called Shura or consultative democracy is the most it would allow while keeping tight control over who gets to be part of it. Chances are slim to none that it would agree to any form of representative democracy. The scenes at the Kabul airport show that when the Taliban is an “option”, the Afghan people vote with their feet. The Taliban’s talk of inclusive government is essentially a ruse to keep its enemies closer, till it consolidates a ruthless control over the country. It also needs to keep up the façade to get its leadership off the sanctions lists, get international recognition, and have the Afghan state’s assets unfrozen and released along with other aid. In an extremely unlikely event – and in the face of all the evidence to the contrary – that the Taliban leaders actually mean what they say, they will have an internal crisis at their hand. They could not run an armed terrorist insurgency for two decades in the name of an extreme version of Shariah, only to tell the cadres that after prevailing they are supposed to act moderately.Even if seen to be lenient, the Taliban would have an internal rebellion from the hardliners, at its hands and risk defections and disarray. The Taliban cannot and will not risk alienating its own cadres and constituents who do expect the austere emirate that they have been promised, to take effect now.On the other hand, the overwhelming Afghan population, not just the urban centres and Kabul, have become accustomed to civil liberties over the last two decades. Most Afghans have experienced the freedoms of expression, organising, protesting, and voting even if in flawed elections. Girls going to school and women to the workplace have been the norm for post-2001 Afghanistan. A vibrant media with dozens of television outlets, including entertainment channels, have been part of Afghan life. Above all, Afghanistan is a very young and new country compared to the one at the height of the Taliban’s previous emirate. As the founder of the country’s largest media group, Saad Mohseni said, “Sixty-five percent of the population is under the age of 20, the median age is 18 … the younger generation of Afghans have never lived under the Taliban rule and that they’re used to media, they’re used to being able to freely express themselves. They’re used to social media.” The Taliban, its ruse notwithstanding, will have to contend with the new realities of the country it seeks to control and rule. The Taliban is in essence an anti-Afghan enterprise set in motion by its Pakistan army patrons, to deface and obliterate the Afghan national identity. It remains incompatible with the Afghan people and society and is bound to see resistance to its rule, as the Afghans recover from the shock and trauma of betrayal, surrender, and defeat. Whether the small pocket of armed opposition launched by the former Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who has declared himself the president and Ahmad Massoud, a son of the legendary anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban commander, Ahmad Shah Massoud, gains traction or makes peace, remains to be seen. The potential transitional or ostensibly inclusive permanent Taliban government would delay a more formidable challenge to the jihadist rule but not eliminate it permanently. The Taliban has a million mischiefs in its heart, no matter what face it puts on. But the pretence won’t last long and would inevitably entail confrontation and resistance. Afghanistan has a long and perilous road ahead.
https://thewire.in/south-asia/afghanistan-taliban-haqqani-network-cruelty
Pakistan - Women under attack - On Independence Day…
By Ahsan Zia
This August 14 proved to be a horrific reminder of the fact that women aren’t safe in our society, especially in public spaces. On the very Independence Day itself, Lahore’s Greater Iqbal Park, formerly Minto Park, the historical venue where the Pakistan Resolution was passed, stood witness to an incident that shook the entire nation and put all official declarations and celebrations of freedom to shame. In broad daylight, a lady was mobbed, harassed and molested by hundreds of men, apparently random visitors out on a holiday. The highly condemnable incident came to light after a video went viral on social media, showing yet again that violence against women is rampant in the society. Reportedly, the victim was in the park with four friends. They were engaged in making fun videos for TikTok when a group of unruly men jumped a security fence and attacked her. She lost consciousness, but the mob kept molesting her for almost three hours. Shockingly, neither the police nor anyone from among the large crowd tried to intervene. In fact, some people were spotted videoing the incident. Later, the victim informed the police that she had come to Minar-i-Pakistan dressed in a shalwar kamees in the colours of the national flag, to celebrate the Jashn-i-Azadi. She said she was groped, her dress was torn off and she was tossed in the air. She was also robbed of Rs 15,000 that she was carrying. Besides, her cell phone was snatched, and her gold ring and studs taken away. She said that her friends had tried to call 15, but got no help. Eventually, the park’s security guard came to her rescue and managed to get her out. The Lorry Adda police have registered a case against the 400 unidentified assailants, under Sections 354-A, 382, 147, and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The ugly episode belies tall claims by the city police regarding the efficiency of their quick-response (emergency) services. Had the police responded in time, the incident could have been averted. Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Usman Buzdar have taken notice of the incident and ordered the law enforcement agencies to catch the culprits in the shortest possible time. The PM has personally had a word with the Punjab Police inspector general and urged him to take all measures necessary to apprehend the molesters.CCPO Ghulam Mahmood Dogar says the suspects are being identified using videos of the incident that went viral on social media. A number of photos and videos have already been sent to the NADRA to determine the identities of the people.Where the Operations Wing of the police failed to respond in time, the Investigations Wing is trying to make up for it. Four of the suspects have already been arrested. Talking to TNS, SSP Mansoor Aman, who is heading the probe, said a “breakthrough has been made. We’ve apprehended four of the culprits. They were identified from the footage circulating on social media and recorded by the Safe City Authority cameras installed at the park.” According to Aman, two of the apprehended men are residents of Lahore. The other two belong to other parts of the Punjab. He speaks of a dozen other suspects who have been rounded up by the police. “The accused are being investigated and we hope that others involved [in the incident] will also be nabbed shortly.” Aman says that during the geo-fencing of the crime scene, the police had collected the record of cellular phone connections of more than 28,000 people. “Sifting through this record to identify the 400 culprits is a time-consuming job,” he says. “It requires time, energy and resources. Besides, the validity and efficacy of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA)’s data in this regard is not up to the mark. We’re doing our best!” CCPO Ghulam Mahmood Dogar seconds Aman, saying that the suspects are being identified using videos of the incident that went viral on social media. Besides, a number of photos and videos have been sent to the NADRA to determine their identities. Assad Abbas Butt, a lawyer, says the culprits are unlikely to get easy bail. He says that Section 354-A of the PPC provides that whoever assaults or uses criminal force against a woman and strips her of her clothes, and in that condition, exposes her to public, shall be sentenced to death or imprisoned for life, and shall be liable to heavy fine. TNS has learnt that the IGP Inam Ghani has taken serious notice of the irresponsibility and slackness shown by the police in the Greater Iqbal Park incident. On Friday evening, he transferred the Operations SSP, Syed Nadeem Abbas, and the Additional SP in charge of City, Hassan Jahangir, and ordered them to report to the Central Police Office. The Badami Bagh SDPO, Umair Haider, and Lorry Adda SHO, Muhammad Jamil, have been suspended from service. Besides, DIG operations Sajid Kiani has been removed from his post. https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/881136-on-independence-dayAs the police nab some of the culprits in the highly condemnable Greater Iqbal Park incident, a lot remains to be done for the safety of women in our society.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)