'Saudi Women Revolution' makes a stand for equal rights

As election centers across Saudi Arabia opened on April 23 for voters to register for forthcoming municipal elections, groups of women turned up asking to take part.
As expected, they were turned away -- women will not be able to stand or vote in September's municipal elections -- but just by showing up they had made their point.
This was one of the first public acts of the newly-formed "Saudi Women Revolution," a movement set up to campaign for the end of Saudi Arabia's discriminatory laws.
Their chief aim is ending male guardianship, which means Saudi women often need permission from their husband, father, brother or even son to work, travel, study, marry, or access health care, according to Human Rights Watch.
They also want to be allowed to drive, which is forbidden for women in the Kingdom.The Saudi Women Revolution was started as a Facebook page and a discussion topic, or hash tag, on Twitter in February, by Nuha Al Sulaiman.
Al Sulaiman, 28, said: "I started the Twitter hash tag to allow women to write whatever they are suffering from.
"It wasn't easy to do, particularly using the word 'revolution,' but I reached a point where I just had to do something about our daily suffering.
"In the past I couldn't meet people who have the same ideas as I have, but social media has made that possible."
The Facebook group now has more than 3,000 "likes" and a core of the women have met in person to discuss their campaign.
Al Sulaiman said: "We will do whatever it takes. We will go to the king himself. We will never stop fighting for our rights because it's time for change.
"Women should be able to take responsibility for everything they do themselves. It makes my blood drive high that nothing is changing."
Al Sulaiman said she and 11 other women had tried to register to vote at an election center in Riyadh, while other groups of women went to centers in Jeddah, Dammam and Khobar.
Municipal elections in Saudi Arabia will be held in September for only the second time in more than 40 years. The Saudi electoral commission was reported to have said that women cannot vote because preparations had not been made to keep them separate.Rasha Al Duwaisi, a 30-year-old mother of two who took part in the protest, said: "The elections are a sham and many men are boycotting them. However, we still want the opportunity to be involved.
"The most important thing is we want women to be recognized as adults.
She added: "The first time I was interviewed in the media I was so nervous I was shaking. I'd never done anything like this before and I didn't know if I had antagonized the government.
"People are saying I'm immodest and against religion, but that isn't true."
Those involved are mostly young university-educated women. They said it took some time before they trusted each other enough to give their real names and to arrange to meet in person.
Not all Saudi women want to end male guardianship. In 2009, a group of Saudi women launched a campaign called "My Guardian Knows What's Best for Me," which attracted thousands of supporters.
But for Saudi Women Revolution, it's a matter of ending discrimination. Another member, Khuloud al Fahad, a 33-year-old mother of two and businesswoman, said: "We are trying to do this in a safe and correct way. We don't want problems with the government, we just want to send a message that we will not keep silent about this discrimination anymore.
"Our freedom is very restricted. I can't move without permission, I can't travel without permission, I can't have surgery without permission, I can't rent a flat without permission.
"When my daughter was in hospital, I wasn't even allowed to sign the papers for her to come home. We are not half human beings, we are human beings."
Wajeha al Huwaider, 49, a veteran Saudi women's rights campaigner who has long campaigned for the end of male guardianship, said the protests at the election centers were the right way to get the campaign noticed.
And the campaign has attracted support from outside the country. Mona Kareem, a journalist and blogger in Kuwait, supported Saudi Women Revolution by collating the most common demands from the group's Twitter topic into a statement to be sent to human rights organizations. She published it on her blog translated into seven languages.
Saudi Women Revolution is planning to publish its own formal statement of demands this week and will then be asking women to sign their names to it.
Even signing their names to the statement will take courage.
Al Huwaider said: "Women in this country don't even have control over their own names. Their husbands or fathers are angry with them if they put their name to something, which is why many are not willing to stand up for their rights.
"Women are just like property, owned by the men in their family."

Afghanistan commander considers exit strategy

http://www.surgar.net

Planning is underway for the initial withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and the details are being closely guarded by the officer overseeing the process, Army Gen. David Petraeus.

“The ground-truth is there’s one action officer on this effort,” Petraeus, commander of the International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan, told Military Times during an exclusive interview Friday at his office inside NATO’s headquarters here. “You’re looking at him.”

Petraeus expects his options will be delivered to the White House before the end of June, around the time he is likely to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on his nomination to become the CIA’s next director. He dismissed recent media reports suggesting the initial drawdown would include between 5,000 and 10,000 troops, saying nobody could have that information because he has not shared it with anyone.

Neither Petraeus’ commander’s initiatives group nor his executive staff has participated in the development of options for the president, the general said. The effort has taken place in his office, behind his own desk.

“There may be one or two folks on the staff who think they know something about it; they might be deceiving themselves because there are misdirection plays out there,” Petraeus said. “I want to assure everybody above me that this is not going to leak, that there will be no kinds of atmospherics as a result of leaks.”

Before they’re presented to President Obama, Petraeus’ plans will be shared only with Marine Gen. James Mattis, commander of U.S. Central Command; Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Gates and Mullen, he said, will most likely be the ones who take it to the Oval Office.

Petraeus is likely hoping to avoid a repeat of late 2009, when his recommendation for a troop surge in Afghanistan — a proposal meant only for the president — was leaked to the media, fueling pre-decisional speculation for weeks. Upon announcing the surge of 30,000 U.S. troops, Obama made it clear those forces would begin to leave in July 2011.

“What a commander in my position should do is to provide the chain of command and president with options to implement the policy … at a pace determined by conditions on the ground,” said Petraeus, who then was in charge of CENTCOM.

The recommendations for the president, Petraeus said, are informed by visits to ground commanders across Afghanistan, including the volatile southern provinces where Marines and soldiers continue to battle Taliban fighters in what used to be their exclusive stronghold.

Important considerations also include the purview of Mattis, whose context is the entire theater, not just Afghanistan, and by Gates and Mullen, who must consider broader global context. At the top is Obama, who faces difficult fiscal challenges and an atmosphere in Congress where there is waning support for the war.

Bahrain police open fire at protesters in capital

Bahraini police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters marching toward the landmark Pearl Square in the country's capital Friday, two days after authorities lifted emergency rule.

The downtown square was the focus of weeks of Shiite-led protests against the Gulf nation's Sunni rulers earlier this year. Witnesses in the tiny island kingdom said there were no immediate reports of casualties among the hundreds of opposition supporters who took their grievances to the streets for the first time since martial law was imposed more than two months ago.

The country's security force moved against the protesters shortly before Formula One's governing body deemed the kingdom safe enough to host the Bahrain Grand Prix in October.

The annual F1 race has been Bahrain's most profitable international event since 2004, when the nation became the first Arab country to stage the Grand Prix. Bahrain organizers insisted they are ready to host the race this year despite the deadly crackdown. The season-opening March auto race was postponed because of the political unrest.

Also Friday, thousands of mourners gathered at a cemetery in the capital, Manama, to bury a protester who died in a hospital earlier in the day of injuries from a demonstration in March.

The death of 63-year-old Salman Abu Idris raised to at least 31 the number of people killed since the campaign for greater rights and freedoms began in the Western-allied nation in February.

Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, and the U.S. has called on its leaders to make reforms in an effort to meet at least some of the protest movement's demands.

The government lifted emergency rule Wednesday, pulling back tanks and soldiers from the heart of the capital. But authorities warned they were not easing pressure on anti-government protesters. Opposition groups called supporters to return to the streets, the first such appeal since the military overran the protesters' encampment at Pearl Square after martial law was imposed in mid-March.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the lifting of emergency laws and the king's call for a national dialogue at a meeting in New York late Friday with Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who is also Bahrain's deputy defense chief, and Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa.

"The secretary-general reiterated his call on the government and security forces in Bahrain to uphold international human rights norms and standards and welcomed the commitment and assurances made by the crown prince in this regard," U.N. associate spokeswoman Vannina Maestracci said.

Ban also reiterated the U.N.'s readiness to assist in promoting a national dialogue, she said.

Bahrain's Sunni rulers invited 1,500 troops from a Saudi-led Gulf force to help suppress the unrest when emergency rule was declared. The Saudi intervention infuriated Iran, the major Shiite power in the Gulf. It underscored the fears of Iran among Sunni-dominated Arab countries, particularly among Gulf Arab leaders. They fear gains by Bahrain's Shiites could provide an opening for expanded Iranian influence on the doorstep of rival Saudi Arabia.

Despite tight security across Bahrain and police reinforcements at checkpoints around the capital, hundreds of opposition supporters from the mostly Shiite populated villages around Manama took their grievances to the streets again and set off to reclaim Pearl Square.

"Instead of rights, every family got a political prisoner. Did the government expect people to stay at home?" said Nabeel Rajab, a leading activist and president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. "After almost three months of military rule, the crisis is deeper because every family suffered when the army was sent to solve a political problem."

The emergency rule gave the military wide powers to suppress the Shiite-led demonstrations against the minority Sunni monarchy that has ruled Bahrain for over 200 years. Hundreds of protesters, political leaders and Shiite professionals like doctors and lawyers have been arrested and tried in a special security court, set up under martial law. Two protesters were sentenced to death.

Just before the emergency rule was lifted, Bahrain's king urged "unity talks" with protest factions beginning in July — a gesture that fell short of opposition demands for a constitutional monarchy with an elected government. King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa's message was in sharp contrast to a Justice Ministry statement calling the demonstrations "criminal acts" and warning that any further challenges will have "consequences."

State of the economy

EDITORIAL:
Daily Times
Not surprisingly, the Economic Survey 2010-11 unveiled by Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh in a news conference on Thursday lists a litany of reasons why all targets were missed and the economy’s growth slowed down. Amongst the negative factors impacting the economy, pride of place belongs to last year’s devastating floods, the energy crisis, the hike in international oil prices and the internal and regional security challenges. The economy grew only 2.4 percent against a target of 4.5 percent. The average growth for the last three years of the PPP-led government pans out at 2.6 percent, the lowest in three decades. During the same period, Asian countries grew by 8.4 percent, with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh recording growth of 7.7, 6.6 and 6 percent respectively.

The finance minister revealed that the floods in 2010 affected 1.6 million families and caused damage of $ 10.5 billion to infrastructure, agriculture and other assets. It must be said that despite the earlier sympathetic noises by the international community, the actual help to flood affectees and the rehabilitation of infrastructure, etc, has fallen far short of expectations or commitments. Even well meaning local philanthropists seem to have run out of steam, leaving millions still living under open skies and without opportunities to rehabilitate their incomes and lives.

The energy crisis includes not only a shortfall of supply versus demand, but a chronic circular debt of some Rs 120 billion, which is exacerbating the shortage of electricity generation. The government’s strategy for meeting the energy crisis, comprising short- medium- and long-term measures, appears to have run aground at the first hurdle, the Rental Power Projects’ scandal-hit effort. Independent Power Projects, representing the medium-term component of the strategy, appear to be crawling along in implementation. The long-term component of dams, prime being the Bhasha Dam, are stuttering because of financial constraints and the difficulties of generating the finance at affordable cost from the international donors. Renewable energy is still an infant that has to grow teeth before it can make any kind of impact.

While Pakistan, dependent as it is on oil imports, can do little about the spike in international prices of POL, what is conspicuous by its absence is any semblance of a strategy or campaign to conserve energy, which logically would seem to suggest itself as a demand dampener. The energy crunch has impacted industry and commerce seriously, with factories closing down or functioning at low capacity, and trade too suffering customers turning away because of inconvenience and the inflationary spiral biting deep into their purchasing power.

The struggle against terrorism and the open declaration of war against Pakistan by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and al Qaeda have led to the worst security climate within memory. Let alone foreign investors, even domestic investors are shy and some have despaired of the interminable security and energy crises to shunt their capital to more salubrious climes abroad. Terrorism is the illegitimate, but inevitable child of the misplaced jihadi enterprise beloved of our military establishment for the last four decades, whose chickens have by now come home to roost with a vengeance. There are growing calls for revisiting this policy, but so far it appears, despite the setbacks in Abbottabad and Karachi, that the military’s point of view is set in stone, despite its own, and the people’s grave losses. Inevitably, Pakistan does not have a hope in hell of attracting any kind of investment, domestic or foreign, unless peace is restored by taking out the terrorists without discrimination or being waylaid by spurious notions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban.

Last but not least, the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP’s) tight monetary policy and maintaining high interest rates, ostensibly to keep inflation in check, is clearly not working to keep a lid on prices. Inflation officially rose to 12 percent, although this figure is disputed by independent analysts as well as empirical evidence. Since core inflation is related to food prices, the impact of the high interest rates has been to dampen private sector borrowing, crowded out as it is further by government’s dipping into the SBP and commercial banks’ coffers.

On the eve of the budget, the government needs to prioritise the elimination of the bottlenecks listed above to the revival of the economy through visionary, creative, out-of-the-box thinking, not the clichéd and failed nostrums of the international lending agencies and the western governments that swear by them.

Pakistan,Budget more a burden than relief

Daily Times
The Pakistan People’s Party-led coalition government in the Centre unveiled its fourth budget with an outlay of Rs 2.767 trillion for the next fiscal year, 2011-12, in parliament on Friday. The budget outlay is some 14.2 percent higher than the last financial year’s budget.

The federal budget contains less relief measures against the additional burden of around Rs 600 billion on the general populace, specially consumers, say independent economists.

They say that the government has slashed the amount of subsidies from Rs 395.801 billion in 2010-11 to Rs 166.448 billion in 2011-12, a decrease of Rs 229.353 billion, which would force a hike in prices of electricity and essential items.

They are of the view that the additional tax revenue to the tune of Rs 365 billion, which would be generated in the next fiscal year, 2011-12, with a total tax collection at Rs 1.952 trillion, would result in inflation as the business community would pass on this tax burden to the consumers.

The federal government has estimated that in case the provinces helped it by saving Rs 125 billion or creating budget surplus then the budget deficit will remain at Rs 850 billion.

But, if grants from foreign donors are not received, then the budget deficit will reach Rs 974 billion in 2011-12.

The deficit would be met through local and external financing.

Federal Minister for Finance Dr Hafeez Sheikh presented the federal budget and outlined its salient features during his speech in the National Assembly.

Gross revenues of the federal government have been estimated at Rs 2.732 trillion, which include Rs 2.074 trillion from tax revenues and Rs 658 billion from non-tax revenues.

After payment of Rs 1.203 trillion to the provinces, revenue share in federal taxes under the 7th National Finance Commission Award, the federal government’s next revenue receipts would come down to Rs 1.529 trillion in 2011-12.

Net capital receipts of the federal government have been estimated at Rs 369 billion, external receipts Rs 414 billion while provinces will create a budget surplus of Rs 125 billion for keeping the budget deficit at 4 percent of the GDP. The federal government would borrow Rs 304 billion from banks to finance the deficit.

Current expenditures of Rs 2.315 trillion of the federal government during 2011-12 would include Rs 791 billion for repayment of interest on domestic and foreign loans and Rs 243 billion on repayment of foreign loans.

Some Rs 96 billion would be spent on payment of pension to retired employees of the federal government. A sum of Rs 495 billion would go to the armed forces. Rs 295 billion would be spent on grants and transfers to the provinces.

Some Rs 166 billion have been earmarked for subsidising the goods and services for the population of the country. Provision for increase in salaries and pension has been made at Rs 25 billion for 2011-12.

Development expenditures of the federal government will be Rs 452 billion which include Rs 300 billion for federal public sector development programmes and Rs 55 billion for development loans while grants to the provinces and other development expenditures have been estimated at Rs 97 billion.

The government has decided to increase its employees’ salaries by 15 percent and pension by 15 to 20 percent.

The government has increased the income tax exemption limit from Rs 300,000 to 350,000 to facilitate low-salaried class. Fifty percent tax exemption on income over and above of basic exempt income of Rs 350,000 for senior citizens have also been announced.

Pakistan: Bad news, again

As expected, Pakistan’s key economic indicators remain depressing. According to the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2010-11, the country’s real Gross Domestic Product growth is estimated at a slim 2.4 percent against the targeted 4.5 percent. Inflation remains in double digits, hovering at around 14.1 percent in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, compared to 11.5 percent during the same period a year ago. Moreover, the fiscal deficit has been estimated at 5.9 percent for the year, while public debt has shown a sharp increase of 13.1 percent in the first nine months of the current fiscal year.

One can continue citing figures, which overwhelmingly paint a grim picture of Pakistan’s economy. But were we expecting any different? In a country shaken to its core by terrorism, continued political instability, inconsistent policies, and an unprecedented energy crisis, the economy often remains the first causality. Last year’s devastating floods only added to the country’s woes. According to government estimates, floods wiped out a staggering two percent from economic growth. The surging oil and food prices also proved mighty blows on the fragile economy, already reeling from internal challenges. All these factors contributed towards making life miserable for the common man. The unemployment rate grew by 5.6 percent, while instances of poverty increased.

However, the blame for dismal economic figures cannot be placed on these internal and external factors alone. The impact of these challenges compounded because the government proved slow to act and kept dragging its feet on crucial reforms - this includes its failure to expand the tax base to that of restructuring public sector enterprises, which alone need an injection of more than 250 billion rupees in subsidies just to remain afloat. The government’s debt management strategy, fiscal austerity, and rationalising the subsidy regime also left a lot to be desired. The only saving grace for this outgoing fiscal year remains the robust external sector thanks to a record surge in remittances by overseas Pakistanis and high exports, which are expected to cross $24 billion by the end of the year. Sadly, no credit can be given for this to the government. Let’s hope that in the 2011-12 fiscal year, the finance minister and his team manage to take those tough and difficult decisions, which are vital to pull the country out of its low growth and high inflation cycle. For this, mobilising internal resources, scrapping subsidies, and taking measures against vested interests remain vital. Whether this team will be able to do so remains a multi-million dollar question.

Pakistani troops fight militants from across Afghan border for 3rd day, at least 63 dead

Washington Post
Pakistani helicopters and artillery on Friday forced back militants who crossed over from Afghanistan this week and triggered battles that have killed at least 63 people, an official said. The incursion prompted Islamabad to demand that NATO and Afghan troops do more to control insurgents on their side of the long, porous border.

Up to 400 militants are said to have infiltrated into Pakistan’s Upper Dir region from Afghanistan’s Kunar province on Wednesday. They attacked a security checkpoint, villages and schools, according to the Pakistani government.Regional administrator Ghulam Mohammad Khan said the militants were retreating Friday, and Pakistani troops were still attacking them in Nustrat Darra district.

As of Thursday night, 25 soldiers, 35 militants and three civilians had died in the clashes, Khan said. He had no information about casualties from Friday’s fighting,

The militant attack and Pakistan’s reaction contradicted the usual U.S. narrative about the poorly defined boundary that runs through rough country for about 1,600 miles (2,600 kilometers). Typically, militant cross-border movements originate in Pakistan, leaving the United States and NATO to complain to Islamabad over its failure to stop the infiltration into Afghanistan.

This time the situation was reversed.

The new battles found Pakistan the aggrieved party, lending credence to Pakistani army commanders’ complaints that NATO was failing to crack down on militants sheltering on the Afghan side of the rugged region.

A Pakistani government statement late Thursday said the foreign secretary had “stressed the need for stern action by the Afghan army, U.S. and NATO/ISAF forces in the area against militants and their hideouts in Afghanistan and against organizational support for the militants.”

Beyond emphasizing the difficulties of fighting an enemy that pays no attention to borders, the battle hints at challenges ahead for the U.S. and Pakistan when Washington begins withdrawing troops from Afghanistan later this year. Pakistan maintains that NATO already doesn’t have enough troops along the Afghan side of the border.

In the past, NATO and Pakistani forces have staged coordinated “hammer and anvil” operations against militants on the border, but relations between Washington and Islamabad have hit a particularly rough patch, especially since the unilateral American raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden on May 2.

Even so, NATO officials say that border cooperation has not suffered as a result of the chill in ties.

U.S. aid to Pakistan muddled and lacks leadership, says report

The United States provides Pakistan with $1.5 billion in aid annually, but this ambitious program lacks transparency, has muddled goals and is hampered by conflicting instructions from Washington.
Those are some of the conclusions of a study from the Center for Global Development, a Washington-based group. The report paints a somber and at times alarming picture of the situation in Pakistan.
By 2030, Pakistan will have the fourth-largest population in the world, but the millions of young Pakistanis who enter the workforce every year are poorly prepared to compete. For every 100 students who start school in Karachi, only one graduates from secondary school. Power cuts and water shortages are common.
"The prospects for a positive outcome in Pakistan seem bleak....but there are reasons to believe Pakistan can turn the corner," the report says.
"The overall tone is gloomy about what's happened so far but there is a possibility that it could get better going forward, subject to a lot of serious thinking going on inside the government," says Nancy Birdsall, president of the Center and formerly a senior executive at the World Bank.
"There is potential in Pakistan -- it is a democratically elected government, there is an independent judiciary and a free press, there's a very large sophisticated urban middle class."
But the Center's report says U.S. aid to Pakistan "cannot yet boast a coherent set of focused development priorities," with the main development agency -- the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) -- neither empowered nor equipped to succeed.
"When Pakistan is addressed, security dominates," the report says. "Trade, investment and aid lose out." And trade could play a much greater role if import quotas and duties for Pakistani textiles and other products were reduced. The trouble is U.S. investment in Pakistan has declined sharply as instability there has grown.
But the report also acknowledges that U.S. aid faces another huge obstacle: the rising tide of anti-Americanism in Pakistan.
Despite the stated goal of the multi-year aid program to "demonstrate the true friendship of the American people," anti-American sentiment has only worsened in the past two years. In an opinion piece for CNN.com this week, former Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf argues that "there is an acute deficit of trust and confidence between the United States and Pakistan at all levels of government, the military and intelligence."
Security issues mean that the movements of staff involved with U.S. aid programs are restricted and they are typically stationed in Pakistan for just one year. The report argues that is nowhere long enough to establish meaningful relationships with Pakistani partners.
The Center's report also says there's a disconnect between Washington's expectations and what can be done on the ground.
"Congress and the administration demand local ownership, rigorous oversight and speedy results," it says. But that's not possible in a country where corruption is rife and government institutions weak.
There's also too much emphasis on how much money is being spent, rather than its impact. "For a strategy intended to promote long-term development, this is a terrible metric of success," the report says.
"USAID needs to be liberated from the pressures from Capitol Hill, the White House, the State Department," Birdsall told CNN. "USAID is not responsible for the overall strategy; it's seen as an implementing agency. So where does the strategy come from? We don't know. The strategy seems to be changing over the last year and a half."
Too often, the report says, aid for Pakistan is also seen in terms of a regional approach that includes Afghanistan. But the needs of the two countries are entirely different.
The Center says USAID should be put in charge of planning and delivering a development strategy in Pakistan, with staff that are dedicated to the country for five-year assignments. There should be greater efforts to recruit talented local staff and give them real responsibility, and much more transparency about what's being spent and where. And the U.S. should support and engage with Pakistan's reformers.
But the report also acknowledges that ultimately U.S. aid to Pakistan can play a modest role at best, given prevailing economic and social conditions. Regional changes can make a much greater difference.
"Cross-border Indo-Pakistani trade has more potential to spur economic growth in Pakistan that practically any intervention in the U.S. arsenal," the report says.

A Pakistani journalist is killed and many questions remain unanswered

By Tim Lister

I never met Pakistani journalist Sayed Saleem Shahzad, but we exchanged e-mails about his work for Asia Times Online, and his remarkable scoops in interviewing some of the world's most wanted terrorists.

He was an investigative reporter in the truest sense, disappearing to remote areas of Waziristan for clandestine interviews, working contacts within Pakistan's byzantine security apparatus, delving into a murky world of conspiracies and shifting (often deadly) allegiances.

In the end, it was Shahzad's endless probing that probably killed him. On Sunday night, he was on his way from his home in the Pakistani capital to a TV station to do an interview on the security threats faced by Pakistan.

He never got there. His body was found Tuesday some 250 kilometers (155 miles) away, close to his car. It showed signs of torture, according to Pakistani media reports.

You could pick any number of stories that Shahzad had written as Asia Times' Pakistan bureau chief that would have embarrassed or infuriated someone.

Long-time colleague Zafar Mehmud Sheikh told CNN-IBN after his murder: "He was an extremely critical writer. His writings in Asia Times were not liked by many circles, especially power corridors, and that's why he was always getting threats, direct life threats not from one side, from all sides."

Many Pakistani journalists believe he was killed by elements within the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, because of his frequent reporting about co-operation and contacts between Pakistani security officials and extremist groups. He is known to have received several warnings about his reporting from the ISI. But it is equally possible that his reporting had gone too far for the likes of one of the many militant groups he was in touch with.

Shahzad had recently turned several controversial pieces about the attack by militants on the Pakistani naval base in Karachi.

One of them began in a way that would not have gone done well at ISI headquarters, describing the attack as "the violent beginning of an internal ideological struggle between Islamist elements in the Pakistani armed forces and their secular and liberal top brass."

He also cited (as he often did) unnamed sources in the ISI, Pakistan's military intelligence service, quoting one as saying: "It was shown several months ago that the Pakistan navy is vulnerable to Islamists when a marine commando unit official was arrested.....Now, they (intelligence) realize how the organization (navy) is riddled and vulnerable to the influence of militant organizations."

In a follow-up article on May 27, Shahzad wrote: "Insiders at PNS Mehran (the Karachi naval base) provided maps, pictures of different exit and entry routes taken in daylight and at night, the location of hangers and details of likely reaction from external security forces."

Coming just weeks after the killing of Osama bin Laden a mile from Pakistan's most prestigious military academy, such reporting must have touched plenty of raw nerves within Pakistan's security establishment. It would not have been the first time.

In October 2010, Shahzad was summoned to a meeting at the ISI headquarters in Islamabad.

According to an e-mail of the meeting Shahzad later sent to a friend, the ISI asked him to write a retraction of a story about the release of a Taliban commander. Shahzad refused.

He was then told by an ISI official: "We have recently arrested a terrorist and have recovered a lot of data, dairies and other material during the interrogation. The terrorist had a hit list with him. If I find your name in the list, I will certainly let you know."

In comments about the e-mail made to the Associated Press of Pakistan, an ISI official said it had "no veiled or unveiled threats in it," The ISI "makes it a point to notify institutions and individuals alike of any threat warning received about them," he added.

But it is equally possible that Shahzad had become too knowledgeable about the operations of Islamist extremists for their comfort. He certainly had amazing connections within these groups.

Last year he wrote a fascinating piece about how the Pakistani Taliban had freed an Iranian diplomat they had kidnapped in exchange for anti-aircraft guns that might help them combat U.S. drone attacks.

More recently, he spoke with Maulvi Nazir, a Taliban leader who is one of the most powerful men in Pakistan's restive tribal territory of South Waziristan and who has long been on Pakistan's most wanted list. It was the first time Nazir had ever spoken with a journalist; and Shahzad dared to ask him about his record of opposing al Qaeda:

"Nazir's expression turned serious and he seemed a little tense, but in a fraction of a second he calmed down and replied with firmness. 'This is wrong that I am anti-al Qaeda. I am part of al Qaeda.'"

Shahzad could turn a wry sentence, too. At the end of the same article, he wrote: "I was on the point of asking for elaboration when Nazir said, "Why don't you join us for lunch," indicating in the most polite but unmistakable manner that the interview was over. "

The last time we exchanged e-mails it was about his forthcoming book: "Inside al Qaeda and the Taliban." I was planning to review it for CNN.com; he was pleased it would get some international exposure and proud of what he'd written. "It gives the detailed account on the real mastermind of Mumbai attack and how the same person changed the dynamics of Afghanistan war theatre," he wrote to me.

Shahzad was referring to Ilyas Kashmiri, one of the most feared terrorists in the world. His 313 Brigade is by many accounts closely linked to al Qaeda. In October 2009, Shahzad also became the first and only journalist to interview Kashmiri -- traveling for two days into a remote border area. At one point he was confined to a room and told: "The area is full of Taliban, but also of informers whose information on the presence of strangers in a house could lead to a drone attack."

When he finally was introduced to Kashmiri, his first question was a zinger: "So, you have survived a third drone strike ... why is the CIA sniffing around you so much?"

Fellow journalist Mazheer Abbas knew Shahzad for twenty years, and was always worried about his safety. They first met when Shahzad joined the Karachi-based newspaper The Star. "He started as a junior reporter," Abbas told CNN's Kiran Khalid. "Immediately he started coming out with stories on ethnic conflicts, sectarianism."

"I noticed that he started moving around with people who had close contacts with militants and the intelligence agencies. I told him to be very careful because you could be used by somebody."

"He was courageous but not very careful while reporting," Abbas said -- saying Shahzad had a tendency to talk openly about his contacts. "The level of distrust was very much there among intelligence agencies as well as militant groups. He would move forward and come out with the courageous stories despite the dangers."

And Abbas says Shahzad knew his stuff. "There are not many journalists who have so much command on militant groups the way he did," he said.

Shahzad's kidnapping, in the Pakistani capital's most protected area, has shocked Pakistani journalists. His friend Zafar Sheikh said: "A person has to think a hundred times before saying anything, before writing anything, before making a report. Before performing our journalistic duties, we think a hundred times about who will be angered by it, who will be so incensed that he will want to kill you."

Shahzad never let such thoughts stop him reporting.

He leaves a wife and three children.

‘Pakistan risks becoming a polio transmission reservoir’

The continued transmission of polio in Pakistan has itself become a national emergency as the country risks becoming the last remaining reservoir of endemic polio transmission in the world.

This was said by Director, WHO Polio Eradication Initiative for Sindh, Dr. Jamil Youssef while talking to APP here on Wednesday. While appreciating the adoption of Emergency Action Plan to interrupt transmission of polio virus in Pakistan by end of the country, he attributed the situation to the failure to reach all children with sufficient doses of vaccine.

It is in this backdrop that the Government of Pakistan in close coordination with WHO, UNICEF and Rotary International has launched the emergency plan.

The goal is to interrupt transmission of polio virus in Pakistan by end of the current year, said the WHO officials.

Appreciative of the resolve expressed by the top most leadership of the country, Dr. Jamil Youssef said WHO and UNICEF have come together to help Pakistan in achieving the target that has its global implications too.

In reply to a question about Karachi, he said the fact that it hosts significant numbers of migrants and internally displaced persons makes it necessary that no child is deprived of immunisation against polio virus.

Dr. Youssef strongly dispelled the impression that there was any problem with the quality of the Oral Polio Vaccines (OPV) or that any lacunae exists in the maintenance of cold chain mechanism.

“The same vaccine is being administered in all parts of the world and each province of Pakistan. Now in several parts in Pakistan, there are no polio cases at all.”

He said the issue of refusals has to be addressed and for these communication officers, mobilisers and supervisors are being arranged by WHO and UNICEF.

WHO Coordinator for Polio Eradication Initiative -Sindh micro- level plan has been developed with all provision for its implementation with due care for minutest detail.

He sounded extremely hopeful that transmission of polio virus would be curtailed by end of the current through strong political will and coordination among all concerned stake-holders.

Our focus is to ensure highest quality polio vaccination in the high risk districts and populations that suffer from persistent transmission of polio virus or recurrent re-introduction of the virus, he said.

'Pakistan a deadly place for journalists'

Pakistan is a "deadly country for journalists", said a leading daily as it noted that just hours before journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad was abducted, he was warned that his work was ruffling feathers in certain quarters. Shahzad's body, bearing torture marks, was found two days later.

Shahzad, 40, went missing Sunday from outside his residence in Islamabad and he was said to have been picked up by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence . His body was found near a canal Tuesday.

A correspondent of Asia Times Online, Shahzad wrote extensively on Islamist groups. He had authored an article for Asia Times that said that Al Qaeda's operational arm attacked Karachi's Mehran naval base after the navy did not free sailors arrested for suspected Islamist links.

An editorial in the Dawn Thursday said: "If the world labels Pakistan a deadly country for journalists, it is hardly off the mark."

The discovery on Shahzad's body and "the circumstances under which he appears to have been killed, reflects the degree of impunity with which elements seeking to silence journalistic voices can operate".

"Extracts from his recently published book (`Inside Al Qaeda and the Taliban') indicates that he was in possession of facts that could prove unsettling for elements within the security establishment. Given this, there are suspicions that some sections of the latter may have been involved in his murder," the editorial said.

It added that for the journalistic community, Shahzad's brutal killing is "another grim reminder of its helplessness. Journalists are under attack from not just the terrorists, but also potentially (from) sections of the state`s security apparatus".

"Yet never is any such case investigated; no persecutor is brought to book. Pakistan is a deadly place for journalists not just because they are killed - that happens elsewhere too - but because the state refuses to pursue the cases. The message is that journalists can be silenced with impunity."

The editorial went on to say that just hours before his abduction, Shahzad "was reportedly warned by a friend that his work was ruffling feathers in certain quarters `and these people are not benign'."

"Shahzad paid with his life for this lack of accountability; so too may many more until the state stops shielding those who deal in death in the name of opaque security paradigms. The onus is on the security agencies to prove they had no role in his murder."

Journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad: Why is he not alive?

Asia Times
What is truth? According to Merriam-Webster, truth is defined as: fact, the body of real things, an idea that is true or accepted as true, and reality. What then is a journalist? A journalist is a writer who aims at a mass audience through the medium of journalism. Journalism is writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or a description of events without an attempt at interpretation. This means a journalism is a writer who writes truth without personal opinion based upon fact and reality.

Journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad was the Pakistan Bureau Chief of Asia Times Online, covering issues of global security, focusing on al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Shahzad has reported on Islamist movements, taking him to Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, Syria and the United Arab Emirates.

Saleem introduced the world to al-Qaeda and Sheikh Essa. His interviews included: Taliban commanders Sirajuddin Haqqani and


Qari Ziaur Rahman, and Ilyas Kashmiri, who leads 313 Brigade, the operational arm of al-Qaeda.

On May 20, 2011, 11 days before his untimely death, Saleem's new book was released: Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11 through Pluto Press in the UK. On May 4, Shahzad wrote of the death of Osama bin Laden.

In November of 2007, Saleem constructed a brief on Pakistan Security Research Unit (PSRU) entitled: The Gathering Strength of Taliban and Tribal Militants in Pakistan. The brief focused on extremism, terrorism, nuclear weapons, internal stability and cohesion, and was a useful resource for anyone interested in the security of Pakistan.

To quote Saleem: "The unending Pakistan/NATO/US military operations in the tribal areas, which are seen by Taliban and tribal groups as being fought for a complete victory and without a will for political reconciliation, have radicalized Pakistan's North West Frontier Province."

"After 9/11, a very rustic religious zeal and the Taliban's affinity with Pakistani tribal groups was the reason behind providing shelter to the Arab-Afghan Diaspora in South Waziristan and North Waziristan, but Washington-sponsored Pakistan's half-hearted military operations in 2002-03 united some of the force in a shared war of retribution."

STOP.

What Saleem is presenting is an investigative document based on historical fact and research without imbuing it with his own opinion. What then again is truth? The body of real things. A journalist? A writer who aims at an audience with a direct presentation of fact without adding his own opinion.

On May 31, 2011, Saleem Shahzad was found dead. Syed Saleem Shahzad went missing on Sunday, after he left his home in the capital to take part in a talk show, but never arrived. He disappeared two days after writing an investigative report in Asia Times Online that Al-Qaeda carried out last month's attack on a naval air base to avenge the arrest of naval officials arrested on suspicion of al-Qaeda links (see Al-Qaeda had warned of Pakistan strike, Asia Times Online, May 26).

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Committee to Protect Journalists and Democracy Now have issued public statements regarding the abject horror over one man's death. In 2006, Saleem was captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan, yet he remained alive.

Refer to Saleem's 2007 brief: "As Western-backed military operations continue, Taliban numbers are rising steeply and their confidence is growing. They have even been joined by some Pakistan Army officers who have resigned from the Pakistan Army."

He continued with: "The Taliban are planning to take the war to Pakistan and Afghanistan's major cities and to build an Islamic Emirate. The more the US-backed war is prolonged, the more sophisticated the Taliban will be in their strategic development."

Read the above sentence again.

And again.

That was 2007.

The Associated Press of Pakistan reports: "President Asif Ali Zardari expressed his deep grief and sorrow ... The President expressed his determination to bring the culprits to justice. He said the present government firmly believes in freedom of media and promotion of democratic values."

The constitution of Pakistan states in the preamble: "Therein shall be guaranteed fundamental rights, including equality of status, of opportunity and before law, social, economic and political justice, and freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship and association, subject to law and public morality."

In Part II: Chapter 1: Fundamental Rights: Article 19: "Every citizen shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression, and there shall be freedom of the press, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan or any part thereof, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, commission of, or incitement to an offence."

Read that again.

After Saleem's body was found some six miles (10 kilometers) from his car, an initial exam found signs of torture, but autopsy results were pending.

Article 5: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

Saleem Shahzad was a journalist in the truest sense. He presented fact without his own opinion. Why then is he not alive?

Article 19: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

Saleem Shahzad is survived by his wife Anita and three children. Purchase his book Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11 through Pluto Press to further his work in journalism and assist his family in their time of such unnecessary loss.

Explosions and street fighting grip Yemen capital

Renewed fighting in Yemen's capital between a powerful tribal group and President Ali Abdullah Saleh forces this week has killed at least 19 people and rocked Sanaa with explosions, officials said on Wednesday.

Global powers have been pressing Saleh to sign a Gulf-led deal to end his three-decade rule and stem spreading chaos in unstable Yemen, a haven for al Qaeda militants and neighbor to the world's biggest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia.

Kuwait, a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council that tried unsuccessfully to broker a power transfer deal, said it had evacuated its diplomatic staff from Yemen. Qatar, another GCC member, has also suspended most operations there.

Witnesses said they heard several blasts but were not sure of the cause or the damage near the Hasaba district -- the focal point of fighting last week that killed at least 115 people and pushed the country closer to civil war.

"There are very powerful explosions. Sounds like missiles or mortars. May God protect us," a Hasaba resident said.

This week, there have been three main flashpoints in the country -- the fighting in the capital, government troops gunning down protesters in Taiz in the south and a battle with al Qaeda and Islamic militants in the coastal city of Zinjibar.

Residents also reported overnight fighting near Sanaa airport, which was closed briefly last week during skirmishes between Saleh's forces and opponents within the powerful Hashed tribal confederation, who are led by Sadeq al-Ahmar.

Fourteen soldiers were killed in overnight fighting with the tribesmen, the Defense Ministry website said.

Medical officials told Reuters at least five other people had been killed in the recent fighting, which may have entered a new phase with some troops in armored vehicles joining the opposition, suggesting more military defections from Saleh.

"UNLIKELY TO SURVIVE"

Some military leaders broke away from Saleh in March after his troops fired on protesters calling for an end to his 33-year-old rule. Yemen is on the brink of financial ruin, with about a third of its 23 million people facing chronic hunger.

The political risk consultancy Eurasia Group said in a report the most likely outcome is that Saleh leaves through a political deal he brokers from a position of weakness, or is ousted by force by breakaway military units and tribal leaders.

"Saleh is unlikely to survive 2011 as president of Yemen; however the likelihood of a managed transition is decreasing, and an attempt to forcibly oust Saleh from power is becoming more likely," the report said.

"Saleh leaving power early does not result in a functional Yemeni state that can reassert control over the country in the short term," it added.

The president's close relatives, who control Yemen's most lucrative sources of revenue and state assets, are pressuring him not to give up power, a diplomatic source told Reuters.

Omani authorities were trying to tighten a long and porous border between Yemen and Oman to halt any refugee inflow, an Omani Foreign Ministry official told Reuters.

SALEH EXASPERATES NEIGHBOURS

Yemen is awash with weaponry and corruption and racked by a secessionist movement in the south, a Shi'ite insurrection in the north and a growing al Qaeda presence in the center. About 40 percent of its people live on less than $2 a day.

Saleh has exasperated his rich Gulf Arab neighbors by three times agreeing to step down, only to renege at the last minute.

He drew the ire of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon after his troops fired on protesters in the city of Taiz, about 200 kms (120 miles) south of the capital. The chief U.N. human rights envoy said her office was investigating reports that at least 50 people have been killed there since Sunday.

Analysts are worried that instability in Yemen, sitting on a shipping lane that carries about 3 million barrels of oil a day, could embolden a local al Qaeda wing which has attempted attacks on the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Locals and Yemeni troops have been fighting to recapture the coastal city of Zinjibar, which was taken over by several hundred al Qaeda and Islamist militants at the weekend.

Six soldiers and four gunmen were killed in clashes in two areas near Zinjibar, a local security official said.

Residents said parts of the city were hit by artillery and missiles as troops tried to push out militants.

ISI faces more heat after reporter's killing

Speculation that Pakistan's military spy agency had a hand in the death of a prominent journalist has further discredited the organization already facing one of its worst crises after the killing of Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil.

Saleem Shahzad, who worked for Hong-Kong based Asia Times Online and Italian news agency Adnkronos International, disappeared from Islamabad on Sunday and his body was found in a

canal with what police said were torture marks.

Suspicion immediately fell on the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, bringing more bad publicity after the killing of bin Laden by U.S. special forces near the capital.

The U.S. raid opened the agency up to international suspicion it was complicit in hiding bin Laden, and to domestic criticism for failing to detect or stop the U.S. team.

"The ISI's image had already been tarnished and it is under so much pressure," said a former ISI officer. "It's never been as bad as this before."

Shahzad was investigating suspected links between the military and al Qaeda, a highly sensitive subject at a time when Washington is wondering how bin Laden was able to live for years in a town about a two-hour drive from ISI headquarters.

The military denies any collusion with al Qaeda.

Human Rights Watch said Shahzad, a 40-year-old father of three, had voiced concern about his safety after receiving threatening telephone calls from the ISI and was under surveillance since 2010.

The ISI rejected suggestions of its involvement and criticized the media for jumping to that conclusion.

"Baseless accusations against the country's sensitive agencies for their alleged involvement in Shahzad's murder are totally unfounded," the ISI said in a statement.

"In the absence of any evidence and when an investigation is still pending, such allegations tantamount to unprofessional conduct on the part of the media."

Analysts have not ruled out the possibility that he may have been killed by militants. Shahzad often wrote about al Qaeda and other groups.

"PUSHED TO THE WALL"

He was buried on Wednesday in his hometown of Karachi, where suicide bombings have killed hundreds and security forces face some of their toughest battles against militancy.

Shahzad's wooden coffin was lowered in a graveyard as relatives, journalists and politicians looked on.

"It's cruel. My brother is gone. How will I live without my brother?," asked his sister, Maryam, after prayers were said.

Pakistan has a vibrant press which often attacks the government over everything from corruption to poor services and economic stagnation.

But criticism of the ISI or military is rare.

Reporters say Shahzad's death raises troubling questions about freedoms in Pakistan, which receives billions in aid from ally Washington and describes itself is a democracy.

"It means we are being pushed to the wall and losing space to tyranny if the ISI carried this out," said Umar Cheema, a journalist who knows all about the risks of investigating Pakistan's security establishment.

Last year, he was picked up by suspected intelligence agents, driven to an unknown location, stripped naked and whipped with leather and a wooden rod, he said.

"Pakistan is my beloved country but nobody is safe in Pakistan. I live in what I call self-imposed house arrest because I am scared to go out," said Cheema.

Shahzad was killed after he wrote a story that claimed al Qaeda attacked a naval base in Karachi last month after negotiations with the military to release two naval officials accused of militant links broke down.

That assault further humiliated the Pakistani military.

Some believe that with its loss of credibility after the bin Laden fiasco, and the naval base siege, the ISI may come under more public scrutiny for its apparent failure to tackle militancy and ease suicide bombings.

"Fewer people believe that the ISI is this powerful agency. People will start asking tougher questions," said Rifaat Hussain, head of the Department of Defense and Strategic Studies at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad.

"They may be more willing to ask why the ISI is tapping the telephones of the opposition when it should be providing more security for the country."

But equally likely is that journalists will think twice about writing hard-hitting stories after Shahzad's death.

Others have died in similar circumstances in Pakistan, the world's most dangerous country for journalists, according to Reporters Without Borders.

"It is a death. The death of expression," said Matiullah Jan, a correspondent with Dawn News television.

"There is an apprehension in certain quarters that it's meant to send a shut-up message."

Pakistani journalists defiant at reporter's burial

A Pakistani reporter who investigated terrorism and was found slain after telling a rights activist he'd been threatened by intelligence agents was buried Wednesday. Fellow journalists vowed his killing would not silence them.

Syed Saleem Shahzad wrote for the Asia Times Online and other publications. He delved into topics that were often sensitive in Pakistan, where journalists face threats from insurgents as well as a security establishment that operates largely outside the law.

"We will not shut our voices down," said Azhar Abbas, a prominent Pakistani journalist. "The journalist community is united on this. We will not stop "

Pakistan was the deadliest country for journalists in 2010, with at least eight killed in the line of duty, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Six died in suicide attacks, the group said in a report late last year.

Despite the dangers, the media establishment in Pakistan has expanded rapidly over the past decade, and reporters here operate with tremendous freedom compared with many other developing countries.

In recent weeks, the media have carried unusually scathing coverage about the security establishment after it was caught unawares by the May 2 U.S. raid that killed al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in a garrison city in Pakistan's northwest.

Shahzad's death could heighten the criticism, though commentators are being careful about how they discuss the alleged link to spy agencies.

After disappearing Sunday from Islamabad, Shahzad's body was found dozens of miles outside the capital on Tuesday, bearing signs of torture, police said. His death drew numerous condemnations, including from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The 40-year-old was buried in his hometown, Karachi, as hundreds of friends, relatives, political figures and fellow journalists mourned.

Sindh province Information Minister Sharjeel Memon called the killing a "cowardly act" and promised that those responsible would be brought to justice. But it's unclear how much the weak civilian government can do if, as some suspect, Pakistani security agencies played a role.

A spokesman for Pakistan's premier spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, called the allegations "absurd." He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media on the record.

However, Ali Dayan Hasan, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, said Shahzad had told him that he feared Pakistani intelligence agents were after him.

The agencies pressured him to reveal his sources in October after he wrote a story about Pakistan allegedly freeing a detained Afghan Taliban commander, according to an email Shahzad sent Hasan. Hasan said Shahzad was still worried in recent weeks, but kept up his reporting.

Just last week, Shahzad wrote a story about alleged al-Qaida infiltration of the navy. The report came after a 17-hour insurgent siege of a naval base in Pakistan's south added to the recent humiliations suffered by security agencies.

Within days, Shahzad vanished, and his wife contacted Hasan as her husband had instructed in case he disappeared.

In a statement, Clinton said Shahzad's reporting "brought to light the troubles extremism poses to Pakistan's stability," and said the U.S. supports the "Pakistani government's investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death."

Frequent bombings in Peshawar

THE NEWS

The terror incidents, especially bombings, are fast becoming a routine and causing many children to believe that they are fated to it.

A powerful suicide car bombing at the Criminal Investigation Department police station on the Jamrud Road rocked the provincial capital at almost 4:40 a.m. on Wednesday last when most of the population was asleep. Seven police commandoes and a Pakistan Army soldier were killed and 46 others injured in the terror act. This was not the first time when the people of this terror-stricken city were awakened by the thunder; they have become used to such practices.

Most of the parents told The News that while they remained worried about the state of affairs prevailing in the provincial metropolis due to rising incidence of terror, it was strange and matter of concern for them that their children had started taking such terrorist activities as a routine.

“It seems my children have taking these bombings and blasts as their fate,” said Ali Nasir, a banker who lived in Gulberg area of the Peshawar Cantt where the sound of the devastating car bombing at the CID Police Station was heard far and wide.

Four to five-year-old children got up with the wake up bell, said a mother while referring to the sound of the blast. “Unlike in the past, this time I was astonished to see the reaction of my children as most of them did not show any fearful expression,” said Mrs Samina Ali, while narrating that despite being asleep the children behaved fairly normal and their inert behaviour makes me worried.

Paghunda Khan, 13, a student of grade 8, told The News: “It has now become a routine for us. We go to bed hearing about bombings and wake up with the same news. We have got used to with it but the only factor that upsets me is missing my classes, as it becomes a load for the next day. I asked my daughter not to go to school and she started crying.”

She added that she was to make a presentation which she missed. Mother of Behram Khan, 10, a grade 3 student, said: “My son is very much attached with me and he didn’t even go to sleep until I tender him but this morning his strange behaviour and words surprised me as I turned on the television he insisted to switch it off.”

Behram in a lisping tone said, “Mama, you already know what the news would say now, so and so dead, that many injured and then condemnation from some minister,” his mother said. And what was most surprising to the mother when he did not even insist to have leave from school today.

The concerned parent said the frequent terrorist activities taking place throughout the country had not only made us restless but also alarmed us about the behaviour of our children. Mudassar Ali, an employee of a non-governmental organisation, said: “We grew up seeing Kashmiri people embracing martyrdom, blood shed in Palestine by Israeli troops and Iraq-Kuwait conflict, but all the conflicts and violence had a solid background. But how will we justify this ongoing state of conflict in the name of ‘war against terror’ to our coming generation?”

Clinton condemns killing of Pakistani journalist

US today strongly condemned the abduction and killing of investigative Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shehzad as international media labelled his death as "payback not from militants but country's fearsome spy agency". Supporting Pakistan Government's investigations into the circumstances surrounding his death, the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "His work reporting on terrorism and intelligence issues in Pakistan brought to light the troubles extremism poses to Pakistan's stability". "We support the Pakistani government's investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death," she said in a statement. "We remain committed to helping the government and people of Pakistan as they work to bring peace and stability to the country," Clinton said. "Syed Saleem Shahzad's killing was payback, other journalists and human rights activists said they believed not from militants, but from Pakistan's fearsome spy agencies", 'The New York Times' and 'Washington Post' reported as the papers gave prominence to his killing. According to the Post, Shahzad's killing also renewed attention on the alleged crossover between militants and Pakistan's security forces, some of which he outlined in his recent article for the Hong Kong-based 'Asia Times Online', for which he was the Pakistan bureau chief.

Saleem Shahzad: the price of truth

EDITORIAL:

The body of Syed Saleem Shahzad, one of Pakistan’s best investigative journalists, was found yesterday from Mandi Bahauddin. Mr Shahzad was Pakistan bureau chief of Asia Times Online. He went missing on May 29, 2011 from Islamabad when he was on his way to a local television channel to participate in a talk show but he never made it. Reports suggest that he disappeared between 5:30-6:00 pm from a high security area in Islamabad. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), Mr Shahzad had voiced his concerns that a sensitive intelligence agency could harm him. In an interview with TIME magazine, HRW’s Ali Dayan Hasan said: “To date, no intelligence personnel have been held accountable for frequently perpetrated abuses against journalists. Tolerance for these practices has to end, now.” Saleem Shahzad’s last story for Asia Times Online revealed how al Qaeda had penetrated the Pakistan Navy. The attack on PNS Mehran took place “after talks failed between the Navy and al Qaeda over the release of naval officials arrested on suspicion of al Qaeda links,” wrote Mr Shahzad in his report on May 27. This was the first part of his report but he was abducted before the second part could be published.

It is a sad day, nay black day, for journalism in Pakistan that a journalist was picked up from the capital and his tortured body dumped in another town while the perpetrators of this gory crime roam free. This is not the first time that a journalist has lost his life for honest reporting. In the past we have been witness to the deaths of many brave journalists in Pakistan, especially in Balochistan, FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is not without reason that Pakistan has been dubbed as the most dangerous place for journalists by Reporters without Borders. Journalists in Pakistan are between a rock and a hard place: they face threats both from the militants and our intelligence agencies. When journalists write or speak against terrorists, they receive threats. When they expose our military’s links with terrorists, they are harassed. Threats, harassment, abduction and even murder is what journalists in Pakistan are victims of all too frequently.

Syed Saleem Shahzad’s brutal murder seems like a warning to Pakistan’s journalist community that if they continue to report honestly, they can be killed. If the people of Pakistan, especially the media community, does not wake up and speak out against such brutalities, every sane voice in the country will die a silent death. If we remain quiet, this will be our own self-inflicted Holocaust. Prime Minister Gilani has ordered an inquiry into Mr Shahzad’s murder. The question is, will this be like any other inquiry that takes place here, with no results? We must urge the government to probe into this matter and make the results of the investigation public.

This should also serve as an eye-opener for those who have been apologising for the military and the Taliban alike. How many more innocents have to die before we realise that our country is a war zone where no one is safe from either our so-called saviours or the terrorists. Mr Shahzad and many others like him paid the price for reporting the truth. We must stop blaming external forces for what we are facing right now. In a country where terrorists, murderers, rapists and criminals roam free, deaths of innocents are all but inevitable. How many more people will have to sacrifice their lives before we finally call a spade a spade? Pakistan is in a deep mess right now and it is all our own doing. Let’s wake up to this reality before our soil turns completely red (if it has not already) with the blood of our citizens. RIP Saleem Shahzad; we cannot condemn or mourn your death adequately in words. Our only salvation now lies in bringing Mr Shahzad’s murderers to book. *

Missing Pakistan journalist Saleem Shahzad found dead near Islamabad

Shahzad's body was discovered less than two days after he was allegedly abducted by ISI, Pakistan's intelligence service
The journalist Saleem Shahzad was found dead with torture marks on his face and a gunshot wound to his stomach, according to Pakistani media. Photograph: Cristiano Camera/AFP/Getty Images

A prominent Pakistani journalist has been found dead on the roadside outside Islamabad, less than two days after he was allegedly abducted by the country's powerful military intelligence service.

Saleem Shahzad disappeared on his way to a television interview on Sunday evening. Human Rights Watch said it learned he been abducted by the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI).

Shahzad's body was found six miles from his car in a small hamlet on the edge of Islamabad. Local media reported that he had torture marks on his face and a gunshot wound to the stomach.

"This killing bears all the hallmarks of previous killings perpetrated by Pakistani intelligence agencies," said Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch, noting that Shahzad had previously warned that his life was in danger from the ISI.

Hasan called for a "transparent investigation and court proceedings". Other journalists reacted angrily, directly accusing the ISI of responsibility.

"Any journalist here who doesn't believe that it's our intelligence agencies?" tweeted Mohammed Hanif, a bestselling author and BBC correspondent.

Shahzad, the Pakistan correspondent for the Hong Kong-based news service Asia Times Online, vanished two days after publishing a story alleging negotiations between Pakistan military officials and al-Qaida.

The story claimed that al-Qaida attacked the Mehran naval base in Karachi on 22 May in retaliation for the arrest of two naval officials with militant links. Al-Qaida had been secretly pressing the military to release the men, Shahzad said.

Pakistani security forces battled for 17 hours to contain the assault, during which at least four heavily armed men slipped into the base, blew up two American-built surveillance planes and killed 10 soldiers.

On Tuesday Pakistani media reported that military intelligence had picked up a retired navy commando and his brother in Lahore in connection with the raid. The detained men, who allegedly have militant links, were previously questioned in connection to an earlier militant assault.

Shahzad was abducted from central Islamabad on Sunday evening as he travelled to the studios of Dunya television to discuss his report on the naval base attack. The following day, after being alerted by Shahzad's wife, Hasan said he had been informed through "reliable interlocutors" that Shahzad was being held by the ISI.

Last October Shahzad sent Human Rights Watch an email saying he was afraid he would be killed by the ISI, Hasan claimed. In the email, intended to be released in the event of his death, Shahzad said he had been summoned to ISI headquarters in Islamabad to discuss an article about Mullah Brader, a Taliban commander captured in Pakistan with American help months earlier.

The two ISI officials Shahzad said were present at the meeting, Rear Admiral Adnan Nawaz and Commodore Khalid Pervaiz, were both naval officers. Last week Pervaiz was made commander of the Karachi naval base that was attacked.

"We believed [Shahzad's] claim that he was being threatened by the ISI is credible, and any investigation into his murder has to factor this in," Hasan said.

Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan called for a government inquiry into the "heinous crime", but avoided mention of the ISI, focusing blame on the "servile policies [of] a corrupt and inept government".

As a reporter, Shahzad was known for delving deep into the murky underworld of Islamist militancy. He had interviewed some of the most notorious leaders including Sirajuddin Haqqani, a major player in the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, and Ilyas Kashmiri, a Pakistani militant who works for al-Qaida.

His new book, Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11, had just been published.

Pakistan is the world's most dangerous country for journalists, according to Reporters without Borders, which says that 16 journalists have been killed in the past 14 months.

Last September Umar Cheema, another investigative reporter, was abducted from Islamabad for six hours and tortured before being released. He said he suspected that his kidnappers belonged to the ISI.

Al-Qaeda had warned of Pakistan strike

By Syed Saleem Shahzad

Al-Qaeda carried out the brazen attack on PNS Mehran naval air station in Karachi on May 22 after talks failed between the navy and al-Qaeda over the release of naval officials arrested on suspicion of al-Qaeda links, an Asia Times Online investigation reveals.

Pakistani security forces battled for 15 hours to clear the naval base after it had been stormed by a handful of well-armed militants.

At least 10 people were killed and two United States-made P3-C Orion surveillance and anti-submarine aircraft worth US$36 million each were destroyed before some of the attackers escaped through a cordon of thousands of armed forces.

An official statement placed the number of militants at six, with four killed and two escaping. Unofficial sources, though, claim there were 10 militants with six getting free. Asia Times Online contacts confirm that the attackers were from Ilyas Kashmiri's 313 Brigade, the operational arm of al-Qaeda.

Three attacks on navy buses in which at least nine people were killed last month were warning shots for navy officials to accept al-Qaeda's demands over the detained suspects.

The May 2 killing in Pakistan of Osama bin Laden spurred al-Qaeda groups into developing a consensus for the attack in Karachi, in part as revenge for the death of their leader and also to deal a blow to Pakistan's surveillance capacity against the Indian navy.

The deeper underlying motive, though, was a reaction to massive internal crackdowns on al-Qaeda affiliates within the navy.

Volcano of militancy
Several weeks ago, naval intelligence traced an al-Qaeda cell operating inside several navy bases in Karachi, the country's largest city and key port.

"Islamic sentiments are common in the armed forces," a senior navy official told Asia Times Online on the condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

"We never felt threatened by that. All armed forces around the world, whether American, British or Indian, take some inspiration from religion to motivate their cadre against the enemy. Pakistan came into existence on the two-nation theory that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations and therefore no one can separate Islam and Islamic sentiment from the armed forces of Pakistan," the official said.

"Nonetheless, we observed an uneasy grouping on different naval bases in Karachi. While nobody can obstruct armed forces personnel for rendering religious rituals or studying Islam, the grouping [we observed] was against the discipline of the armed forces. That was the beginning of an intelligence operation in the navy to check for unscrupulous activities."

The official explained the grouping was against the leadership of the armed forces and opposed to its nexus with the United States against Islamic militancy. When some messages were intercepted hinting at attacks on visiting American officials, intelligence had good reason to take action and after careful evaluation at least 10 people - mostly from the lower cadre - were arrested in a series of operations.

"That was the beginning of huge trouble," the official said.

Those arrested were held in a naval intelligence office behind the chief minister's residence in Karachi, but before proper interrogation could begin, the in-charge of the investigation received direct threats from militants who made it clear they knew where the men were being detained.

The detainees were promptly moved to a safer location, but the threats continued. Officials involved in the case believe the militants feared interrogation would lead to the arrest of more of their loyalists in the navy. The militants therefore made it clear that if those detained were not released, naval installations would be attacked.

It was clear the militants were receiving good inside information as they always knew where the suspects were being detained, indicating sizeable al-Qaeda infiltration within the navy's ranks. A senior-level naval conference was called at which an intelligence official insisted that the matter be handled with great care, otherwise the consequences could be disastrous. Everybody present agreed, and it was decided to open a line of communication with al-Qaeda.

Abdul Samad Mansoori, a former student union activist and now part of 313 brigade, who originally hailed from Karachi but now lives in the North Waziristan tribal area was approached and talks begun. Al-Qaeda demanded the immediate release of the officials without further interrogation. This was rejected.

The detainees were allowed to speak to their families and were well treated, but officials were desperate to interrogate them fully to get an idea of the strength of al-Qaeda's penetration. The militants were told that once interrogation was completed, the men would be discharged from the service and freed.

Al-Qaeda rejected these terms and expressed its displeasure with the attacks on the navy buses in April.

These incidents pointed to more than the one al-Qaeda cell intelligence had tracked in the navy. The fear now was that if the problem was not addressed, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) supply lines could face a new threat. NATO convoys are routinely attacked once they begin the journey from Karachi to Afghanistan; now they could be at risk in Karachi port. Americans who often visit naval facilities in the city would also be in danger.

Therefore, another crackdown was conducted and more people were arrested. Those seized had different ethnic backgrounds. One naval commando came from South Waziristan's Mehsud tribe and was believed to have received direct instructions from Hakeemullah Mehsud, the chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistan Taliban). Others were from Punjab province and Karachi, the capital of Sindh province.

After Bin Laden was killed by American Navy Seals in Abbottabad, 60 kilometers north of Islamabad, militants decided the time was ripe for major action.

Within a week, insiders at PNS Mehran provided maps, pictures of different exit and entry routes taken in daylight and at night, the location of hangers and details of likely reaction from external security forces.

As a result, the militants were able to enter the heavily guarded facility where one group targeted the aircraft, a second group took on the first strike force and a third finally escaped with the others providing covering fire. Those who stayed behind were killed.

Asia Times Online journalist feared dead

Syed Saleem Shahzad, the Pakistan Bureau Chief for Asia Times Online who went missing on Sunday evening, has been killed, according to police.

Shahzad, who has been writing for Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online for nearly 10 years, failed to show up for a scheduled appearance on a television talk show in the capital Islamabad.

Police reported that his body was found in a canal in Mandi Bahauddin in Punjab province about 150 kilometers southeast of Islamabad and about 10 kilometers from where his car was found. They said that his body bore marks of torture.

Earlier, the International Federation of Journalists released a statement saying it "urgently appeals to the Government of Pakistan to order its security and police agencies to respond immediately to find a senior journalist who disappeared in Islamabad on May 29".
Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani expressed his "deep grief and sorrow" over Shahzad's death and ordered an immediate inquiry into his kidnapping and murder, according to Associated Press of Pakistan.

Shahzad, 40, had on several occasions been warned by officials of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) over articles they deemed to be detrimental to Pakistan's national interests or image. He leaves a wife, two sons aged 14 and seven, and a daughter aged 12.

Human Rights Watch researcher Ali Dayan Hasan earlier said he suspected ISI officials abducted Shahzad, possibly because of a recent story he wrote on al-Qaeda infiltration in the Pakistani navy. Authorities haven't commented. (Al-Qaeda had warned of Pakistan strike.)

Tony Allison, the Editor of Asia Times Online, expressed his deep concern for one of the most fearless journalists with whom he had ever worked. "We will bring the utmost pressure to bear on the authorities over this case. We at Asia Times Online express our deepest sympathies for Saleem's family."

Asia Times Online journalist missing

International organizations including the International Federation of Journalists, Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch have called on Pakistani authorities to immediately release any information they have on Syed Saleem Shahzad, the Pakistan Bureau Chief for Asia Times Online, who went missing on Sunday evening.

Shahzad, who has been writing for Asia Times Online for nearly 10 years, failed to show up for a scheduled appearance on a television talk show in the capital Islamabad.

The International Federation of Journalists released a statement saying it "urgently appeals to the Government of Pakistan to order its security and police agencies to respond immediately to find a Asia Times Online journalist missing.

journalist in ISI custody; ISI , a major human rights abuser in Pakistan

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has, through credible sources, learnt that journalist Saleem Shahzad is in custody of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), HRW’s Pakistan representative Ali Dayan Hasan told Daily Times on Monday.

Dayan remarked that the ISI remained a major human rights abuser in Pakistan and it frequently kept abusing and torturing those journalists it disagreed with. He further said the HRW had previously documented similar cases of abduction and torture on journalists by security agencies.

People close to Shahzad told Daily Times that he was picked up by officers of an intelligence agency who have promised through anonymous calls to release him soon. Shahzad, who was working as bureau chief of the Asia Times Online in Islamabad, was whisked away by unidentified people on Sunday evening when he left his F-8 Sector residence to participate in a television talk show. His mobile phone remained switched off and his car could not be traced.

People close to Shahzad stated that he had received numerous warnings from security agencies for his reporting in the past, adding that his recent reporting on the issue of terrorist attack on PNS Mehran might have become the reason of his abduction.

Meanwhile, a case has been registered against the unidentified kidnappers in the F-8 Sector Police Station.

Pakistani jets attack Taliban hideouts

Pakistani warplanes attacked Taliban positions in the northwestern Orakzai region on Tuesday, killing 17 militants, a senior regional government official said.
Orakzai is one of seven ethnic Pashtun tribal areas where the Pakistani army has tried to root out militants with offensives against their strongholds.
The strike came a day after a local newspaper reported that Pakistan will launch an offensive in North Waziristan, a known sanctuary for al Qaeda and Taliban militants also located in Pakistan's tribal belt.
Pakistan's performance in fighting militancy has come under close scrutiny again after it was discovered that al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden had been living in the country.
Army operations in areas like Orakzai have failed to break the back of militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban, who have stepped up suicide bombings since U.S. special forces killed bin Laden near Islamabad on May 2.
"We had information that militants gathered there and were planning attacks so we launched the attack," a local senior government official told Reuters. He said 17 militants were killed and six wounded in the Orakzai operation.
U.S. PRESSURE
Residents in the town of Mamoozai, where the air strike took place, said several helicopter gunships were hovering overhead hours after the attack.
After the bin Laden raid, the United States told Pakistan it needs to step up the fight against militants, and government officials said Mamoozai has become a hub for militants who fled military operations elsewhere in the tribal belt, a strategy that has enabled them to survive army assaults.
The Pakistani Taliban, which has strong ties to al Qaeda, has attacked army recruits, a naval base, and trucks carrying fuel to U.S.-led NATO troops in Afghanistan to avenge the death of bin Laden.
On Tuesday, gunmen on a motorcycle attacked and torched two NATO trucks in southwestern Baluchistan province, a provincial government official said.

Shahbaz Sharif should be replaced

Demanding replacement of Shahbaz Sharif as the Chief Minister with some other suitable person from the PML-N, Punjab Opposition Leader Raja Riaz on Monday alleged Shahbaz was not releasing the report of the judicial commission on illegal breaches of dykes made during last year’s floods on behest of PML-N leaders.
While addressing a news conference at Lahore Press Club, Raja said that report of the said commission was gathering dust in CM Secretariat for the last over three months, but Punjab CM was not making it public to save the skin of his blue-eyed bureaucrats and PML-N leaders who have been held responsible for the crime. The PPP leader said that judicial commission in its inquiry report has held Secretary Irrigation, Malik Rabnawaz responsible for the illegal breaches which caused massive devastation. He further said that secretary irrigation had already stated that he was acting on the advice of chief minister’s Principal Secretary, Dr. Tauqeer Shah who enjoyed backing of his boss.
He said Punjab CM had himself ordered constitution of a judicial commission on controversial breaches, and now when the report has been submitted to him, it was not being made public for the said reason.

Afghan president warns NATO against airstrikes that kill civilians

Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned Tuesday that any future NATO airstrikes that kill civilians will be considered attacks against the Afghan people.
The statement came three days after an airstrike killed 14 civilians in southern Afghanistan, according to Afghan officials.
"This is my last warning to the NATO forces: No more attacks on the homes of Afghans will be allowed," Karzai told reporters.
"If they continue such operations to kill civilians, international forces will change to a force who is not fighting against terrorists but fighting against Afghan people."
Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander of NATO-led troops in Afghanistan, joined two other generals in offering "sincere apologies" Monday for the airstrike that killed nine civilians in Helmand province. There was no immediate explanation for the disparity between this figure and Karzai's account of 14 killed: 10 children, two women and two men.
Maj. Gen. John Toolan, head of NATO's International Security Assistance Force command in southwest Afghanistan, pleaded with Afghans to not only forgive, but to also work with coalition forces in hopes of bolstering their security.
"I offer our heartfelt apologies to the families and friends of those killed," Toolan said in a statement. "I ask that the Afghan people continue to trust and assist their security forces, so that together we can stop the senseless killing brought upon us by an enemy who wants to exploit the Afghan people through fear and violence."
Karzai said Tuesday that the international community has turned the war against terrorism into political objectives.
"They seek their own interest and played politics," Karzai said. "... If they were fighting against terrorism as the Afghans were honestly advising them, if they were focusing (on) the terrorism sanctuaries ... this war would have been more successful."