Thursday, December 23, 2021
#Pakistan - December 16 — a day like no other before - 2014 Peshawar school massacre - 'We kept his pen' - 132 children lose their lives
For Shahana Ajoon, every December brings grief, anger and agony for her family which is still struggling to come to terms with the deadly terror attack on a school in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar, seven years ago.
Ajoon's torture is mirrored among the parents of the 132 school children who were killed in the massacre on December 16, 2014, perpetrated by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, in what remains one of the worst terror attacks in the history of Pakistan.
Last month Imran Khan's government signed a month-long ceasefire agreement with the TTP — a militant group which carried out several attacks on Pakistan's security forces and civilians in the past 15 years.
The group has not extended the ceasefire agreement and stated last week that Islamabad has not honored the truce and failed to release their 102 fighters imprisoned in the Pakistani jails.
There was no immediate comment from Pakistani government officials to a DW request.
Soon after the truce ended, the militant group attacked police officers providing security to the polio vaccination team in the northwestern Tank district. Their gunmen killed one police official and wounded another.
Their spokesperson Mohammad Khurasani, claimed responsibility for the attack in the statement.
December 16 — a day like no other before
Every year, this very day opens old wounds for Ajoon and her family, while thinking of the brutal massacre in their children's school. She still vividly remembers that foggy December morning. As the hours-long horror unfolded, this Tuesday would be a day like no other.
Ajoon and Ajoon Khan lost their son Asfand Khan, an eighth-grade student. They could not gather the courage to look at the bullet wounds on their son.
"It was unbearable for us to see the wounds, we heard he was shot in the head multiple times from a very close distance. Seven years have passed, and it seems it was yesterday," Ajoon told DW, with a shaking voice and tears in her eyes.
Pens, school bags and books
Parents and relatives mourning the death of their children are still reeling from that deadly massacre. They recall their children's conversations with them, their memories and looking at their belongings, including uniforms, pens, school bags and books.
Ajoon Khan told DW: "That day, I was informed by my cousin about the school under attack and everyone was searching for their children. I rushed to the school where ambulance sirens were blaring all around. I was asked to go to hospitals to search for my son, among the dead bodies."
"Hours passed, the sun had set, and it was dark, and I was still searching for my son inside the two main hospitals, Lady Reading hospital and Combined Military Hospital. Hopes of Khan's survival were raised when I could not find the body initially and I was praying all the time," he continued.
"Then I got the desperate message from my cousin, 'We have found Khan's body. He is no more.' I was shaken and broken, and I felt as if it was the end of the world."
Eight gunmen stormed inside the school and started firing indiscriminately with automatic weapons, entering the classrooms and main auditoriums, and setting off heavy explosives.
"I was told that my son's head was opened and later stitched… I could not look at him, it was unbearable for me. We lowered his wooden coffin with his uniform entirely soaked in blood and buried his motorbike keys along with him," Khan said. "The only thing we kept from his pocket was his pen."
'Short-lived' reconciliation process
Ajoon was speaking from her home in Peshawar, a sprawling gritty metropolis in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, bordering Afghanistan and where millions have been affected by the militant violence.
"We used to call Asfand 'Sonu' — his nickname — and he said my recognition is my real name. A week before the incident he said to me, 'Mama one day people will recognize me with my name Asfand' and I now realize he was right," Asfand's mother explained.
Since the Peshawar school attack, analysts believe the country's counterterrorism posture has significantly changed its trajectory to curb militancy through drastic measures and launching all over assaults against TTP in the past few years.
"Now any pardons given to TTP would have undermined those commitments, and the conducted peace talks will impact the overall counterterrorism narrative that the state claims to hold firm. The initiation of the reconciliation process with TTP was bound to be short-lived," Saman Rizwan, an Islamabad-based policy research analyst, told DW.
"Expecting the militant group to surrender its only legitimate tool of violence is an overstretch. The history of violence associated with TTP is enough to acknowledge the underlying motivations of the group," she said.
Still awaiting justice
The families of the children are still awaiting justice and their case has been pending in the Supreme Court.
Dost Muhammad, who lost his 14-year-old son Asad Aziz that December day, told DW: "I saw the news on the television and rushed to the school. Our case against the brutality is pending in the courts and our government is negotiating with them. They could not feel our pain and suffering."
"The tragedy was so terrifying that schools remained closed for nearly a month across the entire Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. People were terrified and parents preferred to keep their children at home and even I was reluctant to send my children to the school," Muhammad recalled.
'He was a shining star - but he left us'
After the school attack, the most comprehensive military operation against the militant group was carried out, which significantly reduced their capacity to launch attacks in Pakistan.
"I miss my Asfand," said Ajoon. "Whenever I saw his cousins, class fellows and friends in the family functions. They are all grown-up men now. He was a shining star and brilliant student but he left us."
Pakistan and China: An unhappy union in Gwadar
Protests against Beijing’s strategic investments in Balochistan are only the latest in a long line of grievances.
A couple of months back, 70-year-old housewife Masi Zainab asked a charismatic local political leader, Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman Baloch, to help mount a protest for the rights of the citizens of Gwadar, a port city in southwestern Pakistan. Within weeks, Masi Zainab was marching with thousands of women on the streets of the city, a first for this conservative society. Responding to the call, Rehman launched a sit-in protest on 15 November.
The protest has gained global media attention because Gwadar represents both the starting point and centre stage of China’s Belt and Road projects in Pakistan, referred to locally as the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). In this city of just 90,000 inhabitants, China has funded the construction of a deep seaport, airport, power plant and highways. Joint promotion of the city’s projects by Pakistan and China touts Gwadar as the Dubai or Singapore of the future.
Meanwhile, “Aunty” Zainab prepares food for the protesters, some of whom camped at the entrance to the Chinese-funded and operated Gwadar port for a month, far from the bustling metropolises of Pakistan. The protests have shaken mainstream media discourse in the country and its leader, Rehman, has become one of the most popular opposition figures in Pakistan.
The protests were based on two primary grievances, each of which have implications beyond the tiny port city of Gwadar. The first is a reduction in fishing opportunities, particularly important for a district where 65 per cent of the population are fishermen. Thousands of deep-sea fishing vessels, including some owned by Chinese companies, are devastating the fish population in the waters off Gwadar. Deep-sea fishing vessels use long fish-catching nets, which also catch eggs and small fish, leaving little for locals.
China’s demand for seafood is seemingly insatiable. According to a study by Stockholm University, China will require up to 18 million tons of additional seafood to satisfy its expected domestic consumption by 2030. In July this year, five Chinese deep-sea vessels were intercepted near Gwadar on suspicion of illegal fishing. The trawlers, subsequently found to be loaded with fish, were taken into custody by the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency. This incursion further aggravated protesters, who are now demanding a complete end to deep-sea fishing in the 12 nautical-mile sea limit off Gwadar.
The second reason for the protests is the plethora of issues experienced by local residents due to the security arrangements of Chinese personnel working on BRI projects. Chinese workers in Gwadar have been under attack by Baloch insurgents who blame China for the exploitation of their resources. As a result, Gwadar has been heavily militarised. Local residents must pass through numerous checkpoints on a daily basis, where they have to prove their identity and at times are refused passage. Recently, locals have resorted to protest against the daily humiliation of justifying their movements and have demanded an end to the security controls.
Despite multiple public demonstrations, the Pakistan government has not fulfilled any of the protesters’ demands, which also include improvements to water supply, electricity and roads. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan announced in a tweet that he has taken notice, but there has been no concrete follow-up action. Now protesters say they will block operations of Chinese-controlled Gwadar port and its allied expressways. They have also announced a long march to the capital Islamabad if demands are not met.
Indirectly, Chinese interests in Gwadar have become a target of protesters’ demands. Although the demonstrations are not explicitly anti-Chinese, the demands put forth are in direct opposition to Chinese goals. For instance, Pakistan’s Senate was advised in late November that China would receive 91 per cent of the revenue generated by Gwadar port. Gwadar protesters led by Rehman are now demanding that 98 per cent of the revenue be retained by Gwadar and that only 2 percent goes to China. China has spent billions of dollars in Pakistan with the anticipation of substantial revenue from Gwadar port in the future.
The Gwadar sit-in protest was temporarily called off last week when the government announced it would accept the demands of protestors. The movement’s leader has said that if the government fails to implement the promised changes, they will protest again with more intensity.
Therefore, a complete blockage of the port is anticipated in the next phase. This will not only bring an end to the already limited cargo movement taking place at Gwadar port, but will also damage its reputation. After such upheaval, it will be hard to convince foreign investors that Gwadar is a secure and reliable bet. As a strategic economic investment for China, Gwadar is in jeopardy.
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/pakistan-and-china-unhappy-union-gwadar
#Pakistan - No ‘Merry Christmas’ on cakes, people ask Karachi bakeries: ‘Are Christians lesser Pakistanis?’
Enraged by the incident, some users online accused Delizia of forgetting what the white in the Pakistan flag stands for — minority religion.
The Christmas holiday spirit in Pakistan has been dampened after two bakeries in Karachi — Delizia and Auntie Munaver — were accused of discrimination by allegedly refusing to write “Merry Christmas” on customers’ cakes.
“Are Christians lesser Pakistanis that they cannot be served or are popular bakeries just for Muslims?” asked author Shamila Ghyas.
“Two well known bakeries refusing to write “Merry Christmas” on their cakes in Karachi, a huge majority defending the decision as well,” said Pakistani musician Daniel Panjwaneey.
On 21 December, a woman by the name of Celestia Naseem Khan took to Facebook to narrate how a worker at Delizia in Karachi’s Khayaban-e-Jami area refused to write ‘Merry Christmas’ on a cake as it was an “order (to not write the message) from the kitchen”. The woman further said: “If they’re so against the minorities and their religion then they should not even make money from these occasions.”
A day later, a woman accused staff at Auntie Munaver, located in Clifton’s Bokhari Commercial Area of Karachi, of refusing to write the seasonal message on a cake following “instructions from the management”. While Delizia told Dawn that the incident was an act of an individual and that it would be “taking action” against the staffer, Auntie Munaver is yet to respond to the allegations.
A starkly similar incident took place in 2018 at Delizia’s Badar Commercial branch after which the bakery reportedly dismissed some staff. Some social media users recalled the 2018 case asserting that they weren’t convinced the latest incident was the result of an individual’s act.
Meanwhile, others pledged to never order from Delizia bakery, encouraging others to boycott the chain.
Some users jokingly posted seasonal greetings, saying: “Merry Christmas Delizia and Auntie Munaver. May you lose (at least) some of your biases in 2022. (sic)”
This came as journalist Naila Inayat and others accused Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed of “seasonal rhetoric” following his remarks that Christians are a “peace loving” community. “Pakistani Christians remain one of the most persecuted religious minority groups. Try to undo the discriminatory laws against them, instead of seasonal rhetoric,” said the journalist.
‘See the flag’
Enraged by the incident, some users accused Delizia of forgetting what the white in the Pakistan flag stands for. The Pakistani flag, which shows white star and a crescent on a dark green field, has the colour green to represent Islam, the dominant religion followed in the country, and white to represent minority religions in the country.
Meanwhile, Paris-based Pakistani journalist Taha Siddiqui said while cakes are a “luxury item”, one could only imagine what under-privileged non-Muslim minorities must face in the country.
Some online users defended Delizia by saying negative social media campaigns can hurt the jobs of employees at the bakery.
Responding to those defending Delizia and saying customers can simply write the message on the cake by themselves, one Facebook user wrote: “All the people here saying write it yourself, would you say the same if something like this happened abroad to a Muslim? We have to protect our minorities.”
https://theprint.in/go-to-pakistan/merry-christmas-cakes-karachi-bakeries-christians-pakistanis/786188/