Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is correct about PTI’s Double Games with Takfiri terrorists

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has called out the PTI Federal Government for the latter’s senior minister’s hobnobbing with Takfiri terrorists and hate mongers. Bilawal is correct.

In the image, PTI’s Interior Minister is hobnobbing with banned sectarian terrorists. The person circled behind him is Ahmed Ludhianvi – leader of ISIS-affiliated terrorist group, ASWJ-LeJ (aka Sipah Sahaba)Whenever such instances are brought to the attention of PTI supporters, they start abusing the messenger. Bilawal raised this issue in the Parliament. PTI leaders and supporters went ballistic and started abusing Bilawal instead of asking hard questions about their leaders.

This is the urban, upper middle class generation which has grown up hating PPP while absolving genocidal military dictators.

For generations of Pakistanis indoctrinated by Jamaat e Islami and it’s various political and ideological affiliates, there are no other villains besides the Bhutto family and the PPP. Of course, if someone leaves PPP, they become angelic again.

For decades, these brainwashed Pakistanis have been defecting Blame. It has now reached a point where this brainwashed lobby is now sitting in the same camp as killers and their apologists.
https://lubpak.net/archives/355962

Pakistan's Shia Genicide: ‘Shia homes empty, graveyards full’

BY ANWER ABBAS , (LAST UPDATED JANUARY 13, 2013)

Denouncing the Quetta bombings and the continuous incidents of Hazara killings, civil society activists, political parties and religious parties assembled outside National Press Club and staged a protest which concluded at the Super Market. Holding placards and pictures of the deceased, they protested against Quetta bombings on Thursday that resulted into killing of around 122 people of the Hazara community.Chanting slogans against the government and religious fanatics, the protestors expressed their complete solidarity with the Hazara community and demanded the government to provide protection to the Shia community. “Hazaras are Pakistanis like us, we all are Hazaras now, kill us all if you are unable to provide us security,” said Ferzana Bari, a human righsts activists.

She said that since the 1980’s, Hazara’s were being killed and no one was questioning the culprits. Bari questioned the army chief that was it not the duty of the armed forces to protect the lives of Pakistani citizens. “If yes, then why isn’t the army fulfilling its duty? How can unarmed citizens clash with the armed terrorists backed by agencies,” he said. Demanding the military to take administrative control of Quetta, MNA Bushra Gohar of the Awami National Party said thousands, including women and children, had refused to bury the bodies of their loved ones but not a single provincial minister visited them. Expressing her sorrow and grief, she expressed complete support to the Hazara community and asked the armed forces to ensure their protection and to end Hazara genocide.The ANP leader also demanded Prime Minister Pervaiz Ashraf to reach Quetta along with his cabinet to negotiate with the thousands of protestors and to meet their demands.

“It’s time for action now,” Gohar added.

He noted that the ANP had initiated efforts to contact all the political parties and to form a single point agenda focused of countering terrorism.Lashing at the federal and provincial government, she said both had failed in meeting their responsibility to protect Pakistani citizens.MNA Akhunzada Chittan termed the Quetta bombings as a great loss for the country. “His party laid many sacrifices fighting against the terrorists and would not tolerate terrorism in any circumstances,” he said. Hasan Nasir of the Awami Workers Party protested over the continuous genocide and demanded to book all those behind the killings. Leaders of the MWM asked the army chief to intervene into the issue take control of Quetta as the homes of Shias were now empty and their graveyards full.

Dr Ambreen Ahmed, Tahira Abdullah and other civil society leaders also criticized the federal and provincial government.

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2013/01/13/shia-homes-empty-graveyards-full/

Facing genocide for decades, Shias want freedom from Pakistan

Faced with the prospects of breaking into several nations, Pakistan rather seems quite complacent when it comes to the systemic state-supported persecution of minorities, Shias included.

The scale of violence against the Shia Muslims that make up for some 20% of the population of the belligerent neighbour is such that it has been called genocide. No wonder, the Shias are up in arms to demand a nation of their own, separate from Pakistan.

The minority Hazara Shias of Baluchistan raised a massive protest rally after a bomb blast ripped through a fruit market in Quetta. In all, 24 people lost their lives in the blast for which the Pakistani Taliban and Sunni terror group Islamic State claimed joint responsibility.

This is not the first attack and perhaps will not be the last attack on the community that has been systematically targeted since 1963, from when the extremist Deobandi Sunni groups started receiving state patronage.

According to an estimate by the website called ‘Let Us Build Pakistan’, between 1963 when the first attack on the community at Therhi Khairpur in Sind was reported in media and December 31, 2018, 23,500 Shia Muslims were killed in Pakistan.

This was apart from the 45,000 Sunni Sufi or Barelvi Muslims and hundreds of Ahmadis, Christians, Hindus and other minority communities.

BBC ran a story titled, ‘The story of Pakistan’s ‘disappeared’ Shias recently, focusing on the instances of forced disappearances of Shia people from cities such as Karachi. While one Naim Haider, 30, was

According to experts, the Shia problem has diplomatic, apart from purely sectarian, angles to it. While Pakistan has Shia Iran as one of its neighbours and the Shia community is concentrated more in the bordering Baluchistan province, Pakistan has chosen to side with the Sunni aggressors supported by the ISI-Saudi nexus as the almost bankrupt economy of Pakistan needs Saudi petrodollars to keep flowing in.

https://www.mynation.com/india-news/pentagon-backs-india-says-asat-debris-expected-burn-up-in-atmosphere-pphk5y

USCIRF Condemns Terrorist Attack on Shi’a Muslims in Pakistan

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today condemned in the strongest possible terms Friday’s terrorist attack in Quetta, Pakistan, which left more than 20 dead and dozens injured. The attack, for which the Islamic State has reportedly claimed responsibility, took place in a neighborhood heavily populated by Hazaras, a mostly Shi’a Muslim ethnic group.

“We offer our deepest condolences to those affected by this horrific and cowardly attack against a community that already has suffered terribly in recent years at the hands of extremist groups,” said USCIRF Chair Tenzin Dorjee. “We urge Pakistani authorities to hold the perpetrators accountable and to provide adequate protection for Hazara and other Shi’a Muslims who face such grave risks because of their faith.”

Every year since 2002, USCIRF has recommended that the U.S. Department of State designate Pakistan a "country of particular concern" (CPC) for "ongoing, systematic, egregious" violations of religious freedom. In December 2018, the State Department designated Pakistan as a CPC.

https://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/press-releases-statements/uscirf-condemns-terrorist-attack-shi-muslims-in-pakistan

Driven from Pakistan, Ahmadi Muslims find paradise. In the Marshall Islands

Ali Raj  

• In Pakistan, Ahmadis have been subjected to routine violence and discrimination and are not even allowed to call themselves Muslim
• But in a tiny corner of Micronesia they have finally found peace.
• Nestled along a backstreet behind the courthouse in downtown Majuro, capital of the Marshall Islands, is a mosque that looks like any other mosque in the world. A cinder block building, covered with a gabled roof that supports two minarets, its paint combining the cerulean blue of the lagoon and the white of the ocean waves. The Arabic inscription on the entrance proclaims the unity of God and the prophethood of Mohammed. A speaker sounds the call to prayer five times a day.
  Had this mosque existed in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
   in the same shape, it would have run the risk of being attacked and vandalised by religious extremists, or padlocked by the government for violating the ‘copyright’ to practice the world’s second-largest religion.The mosque belongs to the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, an Islamic revivalist movement that has its origins in 19th century South Asia. The community considers its founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, to be the promised messiah and a spiritual successor of the Prophet of Islam, challenging the majority belief in the finality of Mohammed’s prophethood.

Following the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the community moved its headquarters to Rabwah, a city in the province of Punjab. Religious extremists soon began attacking them, and in 1974, after decades of riots, Pakistan declared Ahmadis non-Muslim. Ten years later, it snatched from them the right to practice the religion, or ‘present’ themselves as Muslims by doing Muslim things – the only law of its kind in the world. They cannot say the Islamic greeting, cannot make their places of worship look like mosques. A violation can lead to a fine and a maximum of three years behind bars.

Since then, Ahmadis have been subjected to routine violence and discrimination in the country. In the summer of 2010, an Ahmadi mosque in the Pakistani city of Lahore was attacked. Nearly 100 were massacred and another 120 were injured.In a report submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council just last month, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion Ahmed Shaheed lambasted Pakistan for what he called “systematic persecution” of the Ahmadis by means of “state-sanctioned discrimination.” Pakistan said Shaheed’s findings were “grossly exaggerated”.

According to the community, last year four of their mosques in Pakistan were sealed, another two were set ablaze and two more were torn down. Two Ahmadis were murdered and another nine survived attacks, while 62 were booked and 15 were arrested on faith-based charges. Thankfully though, inside the tiny island-nation some 4,600 miles away in the Pacific Ocean, Ahmadi Muslims have the right to have rights. “Ahmadis of the Marshall Islands are aware of their privilege to practice their religion freely,” says Sajid Iqbal, the Majuro mosque’s prayer leader.

In the largely Christian land facing economic and environmental uncertainty, Ahmadis first arrived in the late 1980s but it wasn’t until 2012 that they erected a mosque – their first and only in Micronesia. Sam Nena, a local convert who now lives in the United States to receive regular dialysis, and his wife donated the 3,300 square feet plot of land, a stone’s throw away from the ocean. The construction wasn’t easy. The Marshallese had previously had little to no interaction with Muslims and from what they saw in the news, they weren’t particularly keen on giving them refuge. Senators thundered against them in the legislature. Opponents pelted eggs and empty beer cans at the building. “People would throw rocks at those praying in the hall,” says Iqbal. A barbed wire fence was erected and the windows were reinforced with grille. The community’s motto, painted on a metal plate hung on the fence, was still discernible: “Love for all, Hatred for none.” Efforts by the community to undo the resentment tell their own story of persecution and show from their actions a different side of Islamy. Humanity First, the movement’s charity arm, began working in the country in February 2011, providing health care, remedial education for children and feeding the needy. It helped dispel misconceptions and the Marshallese gradually began to embrace Ahmadis as fellow citizens.

James Matayoshi, mayor of Rongelap atoll, has been among those politicians who threw weight behind the Ahmadis. “Christians here have been a little biased towards them,” he says. In Pakistan, the common people are forced by the state to participate in the discrimination. To obtain an ID, every citizen has to declare that they consider Ahmad an impostor and his followers outside the fold of Islam. As for the leaders, they tread a thin line when it comes to the community. Voicing support is out of the question. Mostly, they have to think twice before even expressing concern over Ahmadi persecution.

Last summer, the populist politico Imran Khan became prime minister with the promise of change. His government formed a council of experts to advise it on curing the country’s ailing economy. Among the 18 specialists was Atif Mian, a prominent Princeton economist and a devout Ahmadi. Religious extremists threatened to agitate against the appointment and the government cowered. It asked Mian to step down and vociferously denied having a soft corner for the community. Global condemnation followed. Nearly 300 economists, including eight Nobel Prize winners, put out a statement in Mian’s support. Khan later admitted that this wasn’t the hill he was willing to die on. HOPES AND PRAYERS Iqbal, 28, is a bespectacled young man with a cropped beard and a gentle demeanour. He was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, where his parents had migrated from Pakistan to flee persecution. He trained in Islamic theology at the community seminary for seven years and arrived in the Marshall Islands in 2017 to head the mosque.

Every day, Iqbal and his wife Maria wake up at around 5am to prepare for the morning prayer congregation, attended by both men and women in their respective halls. Iqbal’s quarters are on the second floor. On the ground floor is the library and a community kitchen, where three meals are served daily and everyone is invited. Breakfast is usually attended by the local schoolchildren. For lunch and dinner, food is prepared for up to 80 people. Marshallese delicacies made with local fresh catch, coconut and rice are popular. The community has started a garden nearby to supply vegetables to the kitchen. It has recently been planted with spinach, tomatoes, cabbage, okra and pumpkin. The Marshallese, themselves victims of centuries of colonisation and radiation from American nuclear testing, understand what victimhood feels like and are willing to give space to the religious group. But the fears are still there. “For us, it is still a little difficult. They are scared of us sometimes,” says Iqbal. A threatening message on Facebook may arrive every now and then but the vandalism has stopped. Iqbal has been looking to hire the services of a translator. A friend referred someone who agreed to help out but wouldn’t come to the mosque. He doesn’t want to be seen as being associated with the Muslims.

#Pakistan - #PTI - Scared of criticism? - Unfortunately, PTI allows dissenting voices to be suppressed

By Arifa Noor

IT has been a disturbing week for those who believe in freedom of expression. International events aside (such as the arrest of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange), Pakistan seems to be facing its own set of challenges. Journalist Shahzeb Jillani has been named in an FIR for pointing fingers in a direction deemed unacceptable by the complainant while reporting on enforced disappearances, it seems.

On the other hand, Ishaq Dar is apparently not acceptable on television. A recent interview of his was pulled off air shortly after it began. Earlier, a couple of his interviews had been broadcast; perhaps it was due to the element of surprise. Those who caught on late to this trend of ratings were punished for their tardiness and the programme pulled off the air.

Our freedom of expression is now limited by a growing number of no-go areas. And it is now routine for the ugly ‘C’ word to be bandied about. So much so that it is now a truth universally acknowledged and universally discussed in Pakistan. Every seminar, literature festival and tweet, as well as story in the foreign press, makes mention of it. It is countered by arguing that the ability to say this publicly illustrates the absence of censorship. If one can publicly lament the absence of freedom, how is it absent? (This is how a federal minister recently countered the complaints at a seminar in Islamabad.)

Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Undoubtedly, it is after a long time that the Pakistani press has seen pressures of the kind that it has. And it is not used to them. But changed times and the availability of new platforms mean that curbs are more openly discussed than ever before.

It is unfortunate that the PTI is now allowing opposition and dissenting voices to be suppressed.

This also means that the forms of resistance have changed — for various reasons, there are few efforts by trade unions to take to the streets and hold demonstrations to protest the curbs. Perhaps that was the only way to highlight the issue in the old days. These days, individual voices on social media platforms create awareness. It is also where dissent is being voiced and registered, one tweet at a time. And as a result, the clampdown is not hidden from anyone.

Indeed, no one can say that the curbs on the freedom of expression are not publicised simply because there are no organised protests in the open.

The absence of unions is perhaps worrying for another reason. It points to the absence of unity among the journalists. This means that we have failed to resist the more worrying trend of criminalising journalism. Be it FIRs against journalists or JITs formed to probe their stories, out there is one group of working journalists who supports this outrageous step. And this has meant that it is no longer out of the ordinary to hear of ‘incorrect’ or ‘unfair’ reporting or commenting being seen as a crime.

This is perhaps the most serious fallout of the absence of unity.

Linked to this is journalists’ crisis of credibility (however great the pressures on journalism, journalists as a community should never stop paying attention to their own need for reform), as far as the public is concerned. Many are no longer seen as neutral by readers and viewers.

An incident comes to mind. In the run-up to the 2018 election, trying to gauge the mood of the voting public in Islamabad, I entered a shop along with a fellow journalist. The shop owner was well known in the market for his support for the N-League. Once our intentions were made clear, he said that he didn’t mind being interviewed as long as we weren’t from ARY or 92. A friend of his sitting in the shop smirked and asked: “But what about Geo?” (The friend was a supporter of PTI.)

It is of concern that journalists, or the organisations they work for, are seen as openly aligned with political parties. This does not and will never justify the pressures, but one must be aware that such biases will prevent journalists’ work from being recognised as in the public interest. And as a result, the public will simply ignore the outcries against curbs and censorship.

But now for the state, which is responsible to an extent for these pressures (partly because commercial interests have always weighed heavily on freedom of expression but are rarely discussed in Pakistan).

It is unfortunate that the PTI, which attributes its rise and success to the media, is now allowing opposition and dissenting voices to be suppressed. For who else would have reason to object to Dar spluttering away on television? Surely those who were discerning enough to vote for the PTI are also intelligent enough to understand what Dar did to this economy and how irrelevant his commentary is at the moment. The silencing of his voice achieves little but to hurt the government. It paints the picture of a government scared of criticism, even if it will deny its hand in the ‘disappearance’ of that interview.

But more importantly, those in power should not forget the importance of a credible and free press.

The recent Pakistan-India crisis is a case in point. If Pakistan had a message, it was able to pass this on partly thanks to the media in the country. Within days of the attack by India, journalists in the country were the first to report on the Balakot strike that was not. Remember an anchor reporting that the only casualty of the Indian strike was a crow?

But if this message is to remain credible, then it is up to the state to ensure that when that anchor or anyone is speaking, their voice is seen to be free and independent. For only then will they be believed.

These voices do not just criticise a government or more. Sometimes these voices are necessary for reporting other truths also, but for that, the environs in which they speak also have to be credible.

US advises citizens against travel to Pakistan following Balochistan terror attacks

LALIT K JHA

The US state department asked its citizens to reconsider travel plans to Pakistan stating that terror groups continue plotting possible attacks.

The US has advised its citizens to reconsider their travel to Pakistan due to terrorism and asked them not to travel to restive Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), identified as the most dangerous areas due to terror attacks.

While Pakistan in general has been placed in “Level Three” category in the latest travel advisory issued by the US on Monday, several parts of the country, including Balochistan, KPK province, PoK and India-Pakistan border, have been placed in the most dangerous “Level Four” category, in which US citizens are asked not to travel due to high risk areas.

“Due to risks to civil aviation operating within or near Pakistan, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) and/or a Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR), the State Department said in the travel advisory.

Asserting that terror groups continue plotting possible attacks in Pakistan, the State Department said that terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting transportation hubs, markets, shopping malls, military installations, airports, universities, tourist locations, schools, hospitals, places of worship and government facilities.

“Terrorists have targeted US diplomats and diplomatic facilities in the past, and information suggests they continue to do so, it said.

Terrorist attacks continue to happen across Pakistan, with most occurring in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Large-scale terrorist attacks have resulted in hundreds of casualties, it said.

Do not travel to Balochistan province, the State Department said, adding that active terrorist groups, an active separatist movement, sectarian conflicts and deadly terrorist attacks against civilians, government offices and security forces destabilise the province.

Similarly, in the PoK, it warned that militant groups are known to operate in the area and the threat of armed conflict between India and Pakistan remains. “Indian and Pakistani military forces periodically exchange gun and artillery fire across the Line of Control (LoC), it said.

Noting that India and Pakistan maintain a strong military presence on both sides of the border, the travel advisory said the only official Pakistan-India border crossing point for persons who are not citizens of India or Pakistan is in the province of Punjab between Wagah and Attari.

Do not travel to KPK province, which includes the former FATA, the advisory said.

Active terrorist and insurgent groups routinely conduct attacks against civilians, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), government offices, and security forces. These groups historically have not discriminated between government officials and civilians. Assassination and kidnapping attempts are common, including the targeting of polio eradication teams, it .

https://theprint.in/world/israeli-researchers-print-first-ever-heart-using-cells-from-the-patient/222142/

’انتہا پسندی کے خلاف کوئی اکیلا نہیں لڑسکتا‘ - بلاول بھٹو زرداری

چیئرمین پیپلز پارٹی بلاول بھٹو زرداری کا کہنا ہے کہ ظلم کا مقابلہ کرنے کا فیصلہ ہم سب کو کرنا پڑے گا، اس سوچ اور انتہا پسندی کے خلاف کوئی اکیلا نہیں لڑسکتا۔

کوئٹہ میں ہزارہ برادری سے تعزیت کے بعد میڈیا سے گفتگو میں پیپلز پارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہاکہ کب تک ہم دہشت گردی برداشت کرتے رہیں گے، ظلم کا مقابلہ کرنے کا فیصلہ ہم سب کو کرنا پڑے گا، اس سوچ اور انتہا پسندی کے خلاف کوئی اکیلا نہیں لڑسکتا۔

بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا کہ میرے خاندان نے بھی ہزارہ برادری کی طرح دکھ اور مشکلات دیکھی ہیں، اتنی لاشیں گرنے کے باوجود بھی حکومت کوئی فیصلہ نہیں کرسکی، حکومت کو فیصلہ کرنا ہوگا قاتلوں کے ساتھ ہے یا مظلوم کے ساتھ، ملک میں کب تک یہ دوغلی پالیسی چلتی رہےگی؟

بلاول بھٹو نے کہا ہے کہ میرے خاندان نے بھی ہزارہ برادری کی طرح دکھ اور مشکلات دیکھی ہیں، اتنی لاشیں گرنے کے باوجود ریاست یہ فیصلہ نہیں کرسکی کہ وہ قاتل کے ساتھ ہے یا مقتول کے ساتھ، آپ دونوں کے ساتھ نہیں بیٹھ سکتے، فیصلہ کرنا پڑے گا کہ آپ شہیدوں کے ساتھ ہیں یا قاتلوں کے ساتھ، کب تک یہ دوغلی پالیسی چلتی رہے گی۔

چیئرمین پیپلز پارٹی نے کہا کہ جب تک دوغلی پالیسی چلتی رہے گی انصاف نہیں ملے گا، ایک وزیرکہتا ہےقاتلوں کےخلاف کارروائی نہیں کرسکتے، دہشت گردوں کےخلاف کارروائی کی بات کریں تو غدار قرار دیتے ہیں۔

انہوں نے کہا کہ میں چین سے نہیں بیٹھوں گا، میری جدوجہد کا محور ملک سے انتہا پسندی کا خاتمہ ہے، نفرت اور انتہا پسندی نے ہمیں بہت سے دکھ دیئے ہیں، ہم سب نے ملکر ملک کو انتہا پسندی سے پاک کرنا ہے، نیشنل ایکشن پلان پر آج تک عملدر آمد نہیں ہوا۔

Video - #Quetta: Bilawal Bhutto holds press conference after offering condolences to families

#Afghanistan’s Ambassador Extraordinaire to Pakistan, Shukrullah Atif Mashal calls on Bilawal Bhutto

Pakistan watchdog decries forced conversions, curbs on media

Munir Ahmed

An independent rights watchdog on Monday raised concerns about incidents in Pakistan of forced conversions and marriages of girls from the country’s minority Hindu and Christian community to Muslim men.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in its annual report said lawmakers need to pass effective legislation to end the practice - the extent of which remains unclear. It said around 1,000 cases of forced conversion of Hindu and Christian girls were reported just in the southern Sindh province last year. In some cases, it said the girls were recovered on court orders, but the situation in general remained appalling.

“Unfortunately, no authentic data is available on forced conversions” and marriages in Pakistan, the report said.

Ghazi Salahuddin, a senior member of the watchdog group, said Pakistani media have also faced “unprecedented curbs” in the previous year. However, he did not answer a direct question when asked whether the army was behind imposing such curbs on the press.

The 335-page “State of Human Rights in 2018,” released in the capital, Islamabad, is considered a report card of sorts on Pakistan, where Hindus, Christians and Sikhs and Ahmadis are tiny minorities.

The rights overview came out less than a week after a Pakistani court allowed two sisters from the Hindu community to live with their Muslim husbands, rejecting allegations from their parents saying their daughters were abducted and forcibly married.

The case of the sisters from the southern Sindh province drew the attention of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who ordered a government probe.

The investigations concluded the girls were 18 and 19 and that they were not forced to change their religion.

Joseph Francis, a senior member of the watchdog group, said the abduction of Hindu and Christian girls for conversion and marriages was now a common thing in the southern Sindh and eastern Punjab provinces.

The report said minorities “continued to face harassment, arrest or even death for simply living their lives in accordance with their beliefs in Pakistan in 2018.”

The report also expressed concern over what it says was the misuse of blasphemy laws in Pakistan, where around 70 people have been lynched since 1990 on charges of insulting Islam.

It said 40 people were currently on death row or serving a life sentence after being convicted on charges of blasphemy.

The report touched on last year’s release of Asia Bibi, a 54-year-old Christian woman who was freed by the Supreme Court after eight years on death row for blasphemy. For her safety, she has been living in an undisclosed location under tight security. She had initially hoped to join her daughters in Canada, where they have been granted asylum.

Bibi’s case has brought international attention to Pakistan’s blasphemy law, which carries a death sentence.

There have been widespread complaints that the law is used to settle scores and intimidate religious minorities, including Shiite Muslims.

https://cruxnow.com/church-in-asia/2019/04/15/pakistan-watchdog-decries-forced-conversions-curbs-on-media/

Pakistan Rights Body Raises Concern Over Forced Conversions Of Girls

In its annual report, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said the government has done little in the past to stop such forced marriages and asked the lawmakers to pass effective legislation to end the practice.

Pakistan's independent human rights watchdog on Monday raised concerns about incidents of forced conversions and marriages of Hindu and Christian girls, saying around 1,000 such cases were reported just in the southern Sindh province alone last year. In its annual report, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said the government has done little in the past to stop such forced marriages and asked the lawmakers to pass effective legislation to end the practice.

"Around one thousand cases of Hindu and Christian girls were estimated in the province of Sindh alone in 2018. The cities where such cases occurred frequently included Umerkot, Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas, Badin, Karachi, Tando Allahyar, Kashmore and Ghotki," said the 335-page report titled ''State of Human Rights in 2018''.

Stating that no authentic data is available on forced conversions and forced marriages in Pakistan, the report said that the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013 has not been enforced effectively and the state's response to forced marriages has been mixed.

"If not accomplices, police are insensitive and indifferent at best in most cases," the report said.

It said that the "minorities continued to face harassment, arrest or even death for simply living their lives in accordance with their beliefs in Pakistan in 2018."

The report came less than a week after the Islamabad High Court declared that the two Hindu teenage sisters - Raveena, 13, and Reena, 15, - were not forcibly converted from Hinduism to Islam, and permitted them to live with their spouses.The two Hindu girls were allegedly kidnapped by a group of "influential" men from their home in Ghotki district in Sindh on the eve of Holi. Soon after the kidnapping, a video went viral in which a cleric was purportedly shown soleminising the marriage of the two girls, triggering a nationwide outrage.The Hindu community members took out massive demonstrations seeking strict action against those responsible for forced conversion and marriages of Hindu girls.

Prime Minister Imran Khan also ordered probe to ascertain if the two girls were abducted and forcibly converted and married.

A five-member commission probed the matter and concluded that it was not a forced conversion.

The counsel for the girls' parents, however, asserted that the case pertained to forced conversion.

A Hindu lawmaker from Prime Minister Khan's party last month moved two bills in Parliament seeking enhancement of punishment for those involved in forced conversion and for making child marriage a cognisable offence.

The bills were accompanied by a resolution with the support of minority lawmakers from all major political parties condemning such incidents.

The five-point resolution called for immediate passage of the bill against forced conversions, which had been unanimously passed by the Sindh Assembly in 2016 and then reverted due to pressure of extremist elements, from all the legislatures.

Hindus form the biggest minority community in Pakistan.

According to official estimates, 75 lakh Hindus live in Pakistan. Majority of Pakistan's Hindu population is settled in Sindh province.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/pakistan-rights-body-raises-concern-over-forced-conversions-of-hindu-christian-girls-2023522

Bilawal’s tweet seeks removal of 3 Pak. Ministers

By Mehmal Sarfraz

His speech last week, calling for strong action against all terror outfits, had resulted in a war of words.

“The government has responded to my demand to sack Ministers associated with banned outfits by declaring me anti-state, issuing death threats & NAB notices. None of this deters us from our principle[d] stand; form joint NSC parliamentary committee & act against banned outfits,” tweeted Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), on Tuesday.

Last week, Mr. Bhutto-Zardari had demanded the removal of three federal Ministers for their links with proscribed organisations. He had not named the three Ministers but everyone had guessed their names — Finance Minister Asad Umar, Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi and Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad. In a series of tweets on Monday, Mr. Bhutto-Zardari confirmed these names by tweeting out news stories of these three Ministers hobnobbing with leaders of banned outfits.

On March 16, Mr. Rasheed tweeted: Log kehte hain Bilawal bacha hai, Bilawal agar bach kar khelay toh acha hai warna siyaasat mein maara jaayega (People say that Bilawal is a child. If he plays cautiously, it will be good, otherwise he can die in politics — or die politically.) The PPP construed this tweet as a serious death threat as it believed that Mr. Rasheed has links with banned outfits.

A united front

There has been a war of words ever since the PPP chairman delivered a hard-hitting speech in the National Assembly on March 6. He appreciated the Opposition for showing a united front to the world after the Indian aggression post-Pulwama. He said: “There was no petty politicking… none of the Opposition members dared to declare Imran Khan a security risk for trying to make peace overtures to India.” Mr. Bhutto-Zardari also poked fun at the resolution to nominate Mr. Khan for the Nobel Peace Prize.

After that, he spoke resolutely about terrorism. “We don’t need to fight terrorism, extremism, banned organisations because the world wants us to, because we are under international pressure, because we are under India’s pressure. As the Pakistan Peoples Party has been saying from the outset when most members of this House were in denial about the threats of extremism and terrorism, we have to combat this mindset for the future of our coming generation.”

He questioned the state about the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP). “What happened to ‘no more good or bad Taliban’? What happened to action against Punjab’s Taliban? What happened to action against banned organisations? What happened to judicial reform? What happened to combating terrorist financing and terror-related money laundering? And what the hell is mainstreaming? How is it possible that this House takes a unanimous decision and the state implements a diametrically contradictory policy of capitulation, appeasement and so-called mainstreaming? This is not the policy of the Parliament of Pakistan and this should not be the policy of Pakistan!”

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi answered some of the Mr. Bhutto-Zardari’s questions but Finance Minister Umar made sexist remarks in his speech, mocking Mr. Bhutto-Zardari for using ‘Bhutto’ in his name, instead of just ‘Zardari’. Two days later, Mr. Khan also used the same kind of remarks against Mr. Bhutto-Zardari.

Some experts believe that the harsh — but factual — criticism of the state’s policies has irked the government.

“If this is how the PTI government wants to respond to facts, then how will it prove to the international community that it is serious in taking substantive action against banned organisations?,” asked PPP spokesperson Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar. He added that Prime Minister Khan himself has said on several occasions that he will not allow militant organisations to operate from Pakistani soil. Why, then, was his government being so defensive when the links of his Cabinet Ministers are pointed out, he asked? “We lost our leader Benazir Bhutto to terrorism. The PPP leadership is still taking a hard stand on terrorists despite security risks. The government must also show how sincere and serious they are when it comes to fighting terrorism and taking action against militant outfits,” he said.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/bilawals-tweet-calls-for-removal-of-3-pak-ministers/article26583631.ece

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#AlaaSalah - 'I was raised to love our home': Sudan's singing protester speaks out

Zeinab Mohammed Salih

 Alaa Salah, 22, talks to the Guardian about having her image seen around the world.

The young woman in a photo that has come to symbolise the protest movement in Sudan has been identified as Alaa Salah, a 22-year-old architecture student in Khartoum.

Salah told the Guardian she was happy that the image, taken on Monday evening at a demonstration in the Sudanese capital, had been viewed so widely.

“I’m very glad that my photo let people around the world know about the revolution in Sudan … Since the beginning of the uprising I have been going out every day and participating in the demonstrations because my parents raised me to love our home,” Salah said.

The current wave of protests against the 30-year rule of Omar al-Bashir started in December but intensified at the weekend when huge crowds gathered at a crossroads in front of a heavily guarded military complex in the centre of Khartoum.

Salah said she does not come from a political background, and took to the streets to fight for a better Sudan. “Our country is above any political parties and any sectarian divisions,” she said.

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 Alaa Salah stands on a vehicle as she sings to the crowd. Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images

“The day they took the photo, I went to 10 different gatherings and read a revolutionary poem. It makes people very enthusiastic. In the beginning I found a group of about six women and I started singing, and they started singing with me, then the gathering became really big.

A line in the poem she read - “The bullet doesn’t kill. What kills is the silence of people” – is popular with protesters, and was chanted by demonstrators in January 2018 and during unrest in September 2013.“I have practiced presenting at the university; I don’t have an issue with speaking in front of people and at big gatherings.”

Salah’s mother is a fashion designer working with the traditional Sudanese toub – the dress she was wearing in the photographs – and her father owns a construction company.

The garment has become a symbol of the female protesters, and Salah said she had narrowly escaped arrest when she wore the toub at an earlier demonstration.

“The toub has a kind of power and it reminds us of the Kandakas,” Salah said.

Kandakas were queens of the Nubian kingdom of Kush, which ruled much of what is now modern-day Sudan more than 3,000 years ago.

Some commentators have raised concerns that the reference represents only one of Sudan’s many ethnic and tribal communities and that while the history of the Nubians is particularly popular with the Sudanese diaspora it excludes many of the country’s communities.

Salah said she now has to rest her voice as her throat has become sore from all the chanting this week.

tps://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/apr/10/alaa-salah-sudanese-woman-talks-about-protest-photo-that-went-viral

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Student body vows to fight religious extremism on Mashal’s death anniversary

The Progressive Students Federation

Karachi (PRSF) and various civil society groups on Saturday commemorated the second death anniversary of Mashal Khan, a 23-year-old student who was lynched in Mardan by his fellow students for not conforming to their ideas, by holding a march and announcing a campaign against growing religious fundamentalism among students and academia.

The participants of Mashal March walked from the Arts Council of Pakistan to the Karachi Press Club. They chanted slogans against extremism and expressed sorrow for the slain Khalid Hameed, an associate professor who was killed by his student at Sadiq Egerton College in southern Punjab.

The PRSF and civil society speakers said Mashal Khan was just 23 years old when he was lynched on April 13, 2017 by a violent group of students and outsiders because of his unconventional opinions. It was the darkest day in the history of academia in Pakistan, they said, adding that it was the day when a young, bright and progressive student was tortured to death by his very own class fellows.

The speakers said with the Mashal March, they were starting a campaign to voice concerns over the growing extremism in students and collectively say no to the hateful curricula and fundamentalism being taught and propagated in the academic places of the country.

The PRSF presented some demands and resolved to continue their struggle until their fulfilment. It was demanded that the brutal murder of Mashal and Hameed be termed a national tragedy. The student organisation also demanded that the authorities lift the ban on student unions in order to put the students’ politics on the right path.

The speakers were of the view that the freedom of expression and speech on campus should be encouraged. The state institutions should not have the right to intervene in the varsities’ curricula or dictate what should or should not be discussed, they said.

Calling the militarisation of students unacceptable, they demanded complete elimination of extremism and hatred-inciting themes in the curricula. They called for upgrading the curricula according to global standards and putting a stop to the propagation of hate speech, religious extremism and physical violence.

Those who propagate hatred and religious extremism on campus should be given the maximum punishment allowed in the varsities’ rules, they said.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/457482-student-body-vows-to-fight-religious-extremism-on-mashal-s-death-anniversary

اسلام اباد کې د مشال خان تلین په مناسبت لاریون #MashalKhan

د اپرېل پر ۱۳مه په اسلام اباد کې د مردان عبدالولي خان پوهنتون زده کوونکي مشال خان دویم تلین په مناسبت لاریون شوی چې ورته لسګونه زده کوونکي ورغلي ول. په ۲۰۱۷ز کال کې پارېدلو کسانو نوموړی د مذهب سپکاوي په تور وژلی وو خو وروسته پلټنو وښوده چې پر مشال خان لګېدلی تور ناسم وو. عدالت د هغه د وژنې په تور ځېنو کسانو ته سزاګانې هم اورولې دي. ویډیويي رپورټ.

An overview of the media landscape in the ‘Naya’ Pakistan - Media muzzled

By Mazhar Abbas

Journalists face inquiries and cases by way of myriad laws, strong-arm tactics as well as other hidden means. An overview of the media landscape in the ‘Naya’ Pakistan.

Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (PECA) is just an addition to the already existing laws that are often used against the media and journalists; laws that allow the government of the day and the state to resort to newer tactics of censorship without having to use muscle power.

To this day, no one knows about the dozens of plainclothes people who stormed the house of Jang correspondent, Matloob Hussain Moosvi, on March 30. IGP Sindh, Kaleem Imam claims he has no clue about it except that the journalist was missing and the family had lodged a complaint.

Among the existing laws, there is Press, Newspaper, News Agencies and Books Registration Ordinance, 2002 which is likely to come into effect with more restrictions as reflected in the new drafts pending at the Centre and in Sindh (both drafts had been withheld owing to timely protests).

The Anti-Terror Law, Sect. 11(W) takes into account “printing, publishing, or disseminating any objectionable material to incite hatred or giving projection to any person convicted for a terrorist act or any proscribed organisation placed under observation or anyone concerned in terrorism”. At least, nine newspapers in Quetta have been facing cases for publishing the statements of outlawed groups for the last few years. The editors pleaded in the court that they were facing threats from these proscribed organisations if they refused to publish their statements. If found guilty under this law, the punishment is five years in jail.

The MPO, Sec. 6 is considered necessary to prevent or combat activity prejudicial to public order. This includes power to control publications, prohibit printing or publications.

PEMRA, supposed to be an independent body under the law, in reality, always acts in accordance with the wishes of the state and government of the day. There are at least six such clauses in the Pemra Act which are liable to be misused and meant to curb the electronic media.

Besides, the hidden powers can always use their influence and muscle power on the cable operators to pull any channels off air or shuffle their numbers in a bid to keep their transmission from easy surfing.

A recent notification by Pemra asked television channels to get prior approval from the ISPR in case they wanted to discuss security matters, or invite a defence analyst. Secondly, “if they invite retired officers to speak on political topics, they should address them as political analysts.” It is now learnt that the notification was withdrawn after sections of retired officers raised objections.

There are other laws as well which could be used against the media for ‘offences’ that fall under ‘obscenity’ Sections 292, 293 and 294 of CrPC. Interestingly, while the term obscenity is not defined.

In the last seven months, over 1,000 journalists and media workers have lost their jobs. Some media outlets closed down different operations and converted their main offices into bureaus.

I belong to a school of thought that believes in journalism with responsibility, strong professional editors for print and director news for television. Keeping in view how the said laws could be misinterpreted and misused, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), in 2008, proposed a ‘Media Complaints Commission’, an independent forum to be headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge.

PFUJ has always been in favour of strong and effective defamation laws, instead of letting the state use its muscle against the media. Unfortunately, this is an era of corporate and social media in which the government and state have enhanced their control over the media. The voices of dissent are silenced on social media through laws like PECA and ‘undeclared’ censorship.

In the coming months we may see a new wave of terror against the media and journalists in different forms. The power to resist has weakened among journalists. There is division in their rank and file. There are ‘economic sanctions’ too, like reduction of salaries, change in the mode of employment from regular to contractual.

In the last seven months, over 1,000 journalists and media workers have lost their jobs. Some media outlets closed down different operations and converted their main offices into bureaus. The ‘newsrooms’ of many newspapers and TV channels have also shrunk. Post-2001 media saw tremendous growth, which in the last 18 years is said to have uplifted the economic conditions of some 30 percent journalists. All romance and glamour associated with the media is gone now.

Many journalists have switched to digital media, relying on their own individual voices. These are one-person institutions, which in some cases are exposed to risks and dangers. The media houses that once used to act like a ‘family’ where the editor would take ownership and responsibility of whatever was printed, have been replaced by corporate leaders who attach more importance to market returns rather than ethics, and need actors rather than journalists.

The government defends the changing trends in the media, and believes that almost 60 percent market has been captured by the digital media. No wonder the Federal Information Minister is keen on opening a digital media university. Yet, no one wants a ‘free’ or autonomous state-run national television and radio.

The laws to curb media and journalists exist despite the general growth and rise of media in Pakistan. Like good and bad terrorists, there are good and bad journalists in the eyes of the government. Those who fall in the ‘bad’ category are not invited to official briefings, particularly those related to sensitive security matters.

It is in this backdrop that six journalists, who in their individual capacity had replaced their profile photos on social media with Jamal Khashoggi during the visit of Saudi Crown Prince, are now facing an FIA inquiry on an official complaint from the Ministry of Interior. The prime minister holds the portfolio of Interior. When contacted, Director General FIA, Bashir Memon, confirmed that an inquiry is underway as they have received an official letter from the Ministry of Interior. “We are holding an inquiry under PECA,” he said. “Journalists will be asked to record their statement as the letter contains the text of their views on social media in this particular case.”

Jamal Khashoggi, a Middle East Eye and Washington Post correspondent, was murdered in Istanbul, in October, last year. Pakistan government had distanced itself from the whole episode while the PFUJ, affiliated with International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), had joined in the global protest.

The FIA has not officially summoned the journalists so far, or issued any further order but sources claim its cyber wing is monitoring their social media accounts. In other words, they are under ‘surveillance’. No less sinister is the FIR lodged against Shahzeb Jillani, senior journalist and executive producer of a news show on Dunya.

Ironically, PECA was passed a few years back with consensus but certain political parties that favoured the law are today protesting over the misuse of power by the Interior Ministry and FIA, especially against journalists and social media activists. 

The Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry is keen to bring the print, electronic, and digital media under control of one body called Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority, PMRA. If approved by the parliament, all forms of media will be controlled by the state although Chaudhry claims it will be an independent body whose members will be picked by the government.

When Musharraf imposed his ‘Emergency Plus’ on Nov 3, 2007, he also banned the electronic media against which PFUJ launched an 88-day movement. Not many people know that during that period the government even used the Ministry of Commerce to restrict the import of equipment used for reception, broadcast, and distribution of satellite signals pertaining to the field of electronic media. The purpose was to prohibit the viewers from using dish antennas during the ban on TV channels. An Import Policy Order was amended just to check the media under which prior NOC was required from PEMRA.