Afghans sell daughters to pay drug lords

The mother of a little Afghan girl cannot even turn to face her daughter. She looks down in shame as she explains why she must hand the girl over to drug lords. The father of the girl has done what many Afghan farmers must do to finance their opium farms: borrow money from drug traffickers. But the Afghan government and international forces’ attempt to halt the opium trade has quashed the father’s poppy business, and with it, his ability to pay back the lenders. The drug lords have taken him hostage to extract a payment. “I have to give my daughter to release my husband,” the mother explains with the girl at her side. She looks no older than six. Ninety percent of the world's opium – the raw source of heroin – comes from Afghanistan. Growing poppy there has been a lucrative industry. The Afghan government has been cracking down and destroying illegal crops, leaving many farmers in the same horrifying situation as the family forced to use their own daughter as collateral for the loan. “They’re way more dangerous and powerful than the Taliban,” one father of two kidnapped children says about the drug lords. He looks at a text messaged picture of his daughter being held in captivity as the captors demand $20,000 from the man over the telephone. These tragic stories are documented in PBS’ award-winning Frontline film, "Opium Brides,” which was made by investigative Afghan reporter Najibullah Quraishi and producer Jamie Doran. Quraishi told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that when the families give up their children, they are often taken to other countries, like Pakistan or Iran, where they are used for transporting drugs or put into sex slavery. The film traces another story of an ill-fated Afghan farmer. “It just seemed too awful to be true,” producer Jamie Doran told Amanpour about that man’s plight. “[He] couldn't pay the traffickers back and refused to give his daughter away. And we actually have the entire film of him being beheaded with a penknife. That's what they do if you refuse to hand over your daughters.” The reporter behind the film says the government is aware that it is destroying families’ lives along with their crops, but policymakers have yet to come up with a solution to safeguard the farmers’ families while trying to end the opium trade. One little girl who was lucky enough to escape her captors recounts just how horrible the conditions were. “They wouldn't allow me to change my clothes. They wouldn't give me soap to wash them. My clothes became worn out on my body. They did every possible cruelty to me. I really fear that those smugglers will take me again.” Even if the girls do escape, they often have nowhere to go while they search for their families. The filmmakers did find one halfway house, but it was only enough for about 30 girls. The filmmakers believe there are many hundreds, if not thousands of girls on the run from the traffickers. “The role of NATO and the United Nations is fascinating in this situation,” Doran said. “The U.N. and NATO ISAF will tell you it's not their responsibility nor do they advocate the destruction – the eradication of the poppy. But they supply the protection for the police to actually do it. So they're saying on one hand, 'we have nothing to do with this.' But the Afghan police couldn't do without NATO support.” But Doran points out that the root of the problem is the opium drug users. “I don't know if there's a solution because the world demands poppy cultivation for its heroin addiction. So you know, maybe the blame shouldn't just be put onto the Afghan government. Maybe we should be looking inside ourselves a little more,” Qaurishi said. The looming fear is that this horrendous situation could worsen when international troops leave Afghanistan in 2014.

Tax avoidance: Legality vs morality

Pakistan generals, we’re still here

BY TAREK FATAH

I am flattered. Pakistan’s infamous military Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has taken exception to my columns in this newspaper and ordered the blocking of the Toronto Sun website in Pakistan. In a recent column, I had written about reports that the Pakistan army was behind a Canadian cleric who threatened to storm the parliament building in Islamabad to pave the way for yet another military takeover. The next day, all access to torontosun.com was shut down across Pakistan. What is the Pakistan Military and the ISI afraid of? I asked a number of prominent Pakistani journalists, parliamentarians and senior officials in Islamabad. Every one of them was scared of the ISI and begged not to be quoted. On condition of anonymity, one gave a blunt reason: “Your criticism and exposure of the Fauji-Jihadi shenanigans. Decision (to shut down Toronto Sun came) from Aabpara.” (Fauji is the Urdu word for Army while Aabpara is the Islamabad neighbourhood housing the ISI headquarters.) What most Canadians don’t know is Canada is home to many “retired” Pakistan military generals, brigadiers and colonels with close ties to the ISI. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has now raised concerns of the links between the Pakistan Army and international Islamic terrorists. HRW has asked Islamabad to “actively investigate allegations of collusion” between Islamic terrorists and the Pakistan military intelligence. These terror groups include the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). The LeT operates not just in India, Myanmar, Thailand and Bangladesh, but right here in Canada. We learned of LeT’s Canadian presence during the trial in Chicago of Pakistani-American David Headley and Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana for their role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack as well as the plot to blow up the Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten. Interestingly, Rana turned out to be a former Pakistan military officer. Then there is the question of my column about Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. Some of Pakistan’s 200 nukes may be directed at India, but that is not who the Islamists wish to target. Rather, it is the West and our allies in NATO who Pakistan’s jihadi generals see as “Islam’s enemies.” Pakistan’s leading nuclear physicist, MIT-educated Prof. Pervez Hoodbhoy has this to say on the subject in his new book Confronting the Bomb: “The fear of loose (nuclear) weapons comes from the fact that Pakistan’s armed forces harbour a hidden enemy within their ranks. Those wearing the cloak of religion freely walk in and out of top security nuclear installations every day.” Hoodbhoy describes the Pakistani army as “a heavily Islamicised rank-and-file brimming with seditious thoughts … It is difficult to find another example where the defence apparatus of a modern state has been rendered so vulnerable by the threat posed by military insiders.” But loose nukes aside, it seems the unpardonable sin I committed in the eyes of the ISI is my column on the taboo subject of Pakistan Army’s atrocities in Balochistan, where thousands of young men have simply disappeared from the face of the earth. HRW has accused Pakistan’s military intelligence agencies of “continued enforced disappearances and killings” of Baloch opposition activists who want an end to Pakistani occupation. In 2012 at least eight journalists were killed in Pakistan. HRW talks of “a climate of fear” that impedes media coverage of the state security forces so journalists rarely report on human rights abuses by the military. And the Pakistani government can block the Toronto Sun all they want, it is not going to deter me from exposing them.

Biden: Sense of urgency over gun control measures

Vice President Joe Biden says there's a real sense of urgency from lawmakers and police about enacting gun control measures. Biden was joined Monday at Girard (juh-RAHRD') College by law enforcement officials, U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole and Democratic members of Pennsylvania's congressional delegation. Biden says ideas like universal background checks for gun purchases have widespread support. The Obama administration is pushing for new gun control measures in the wake of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14. Proposals include a new ban on military-style weapons, a ban on high-capacity magazines carrying more than 10 rounds of ammunition, and background checks for all gun sales. Federal lawmakers joining Biden included Reps. Bob Brady, Chaka Fattah and Allyson Schwartz and Sen. Bob Casey.

John Kerry: "I have big heels to fill"

Obama honors soldier's heroics

Assad says Syria will not submit to plots, pressure

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

says that his country will not submit to pressure or " diversifying plots" against it. "Syria will remain the beating heart of the Arab world and will not give up its principles despite the intensifying pressure and diversifying plots not only targeting Syria, but all Arabs," Assad said at a meeting with a Jordanian delegation in Damascus on Monday. Assad’s remarks come after the leader of the foreign-backed Syrian opposition coalition, Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, pledged allegiance to the Israeli regime if he managed to form a “new regime in Syria.” Khatib also admitted to having received information from US, French and German intelligence agencies on the bases and movements of the Syrian army. Meanwhile on Monday, violent clashes continued between Syrian army forces and militants in the capital, Damascus, and the western city of Homs, where a commander of the al-Qaeda-linked group al-Nusra Front was reportedly killed by army forces. The Syrian forces also killed and wounded a number of militants during clashes in the northwestern port city of Latakia. Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of Army and security personnel, have been killed in the violence. The Syrian government has said that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and that a very large number of the militants operating in the country are foreign nationals.

Don’t let reward points die with you

Afghani Pashto Music

Afghan government: Prisoner abuse not systematic

Associated Press

An Afghan government panel acknowledged Monday that detainees face widespread torture but denied there is systematic abuse in government-run prisons. The panel's findings were the result of a two-week fact-finding mission following a U.N. report last month that said Afghan authorities are still torturing prisoners despite promises of reforms. The country's intelligence service earlier had denied any torture in its detention facilities. The complaints have prompted NATO to stop many transfers of detainees to the Afghans as concerns about torture raise questions about the government's commitment to human rights. The U.N. report said more than half of the 635 detainees interviewed had been tortured — about the same ratio found in its first report in 2011. It cited brutal tactics including hanging detainees from the ceiling by their wrists, beating them with cables and administering electric shocks. Many rights activists have expressed concern that such abuses could become more common as international forces draw down and the country's Western allies become less watchful over a government that so far has taken few concrete actions to reform the system. The Afghan panel also denied the allegation in the U.N. report that the government appeared to be trying to hide the mistreatment by hiding detainees in secret locations during inspections by international observers. Commission head Abdul Qadir Adalatkhwa told reporters that torture and beatings occur in the first stages of the arrest "but not while they are in prison." The delegation visited both male and female prisons as well as juvenile detention facilities. Adalatkhwa said 148 of 284 prisoners interviewed in the provinces of Kabul, Kandahar and Herat complained of torture and misbehavior at the time of their arrest and during the interrogation period. Of those 136 cases were confirmed, he said. The panel also interviewed 23 female detainees and found no confirmed allegations of rape and abuses. He also said more than 66 percent of those interviewed also had no access to defense lawyers. The government-appointed commission plans to discuss the findings during a meeting with judicial officials and President Hamid Karzai later this week at the presidential palace, Adalatkhwa said. "There is no systematic torture in Afghan detention centers," he said. In a letter responding to the U.N. report, Gen. John Allen, the then-commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said his staff had written letters to Afghan ministers urging them to investigate more than 80 separate allegations of detainee abuse during the past 18 months. "To date, Afghan officials have acted in only one instance," Allen said in the letter. In that case Afghan authorities did not fire the official in question, but transferred him from Kandahar province to Sar-e-Pul in the north. The letter said the NATO military alliance had responded to the U.N. report by stopping transfers of detainees to seven facilities in Kabul, Laghman, Herat, Khost and Kunduz provinces — most of them the same facilities that were flagged a year ago. The transfers were halted in October, when the U.N. shared its preliminary findings with the military coalition. "We have only stopped transferring some detainees to certain Afghan facilities," Jamie Graybeal, a spokesman for the international military alliance in Kabul. "The Afghan government has stated its commitment to upholding its human rights obligations and we remain committed to working together with the International Community to support them in their efforts to tackle this difficult problem. "

Pakistan: Land of the Pure, Land of Perfidy

Pakistan's collusion with violent Islamist groups has been to the detriment of its security and regional stability. Between 1990 and 2001, while the United States was engaged elsewhere, Pakistan condoned a malignant symbiosis between the Taliban and al Qaeda. Unless those ties are finally cut, the recent gains in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan won't last. The long war in Afghanistan has yielded uneven and ambiguous results for long-term security and stability. And, though al Qaeda is indeed disrupted and diminished, it is not fully dismantled and defeated.This is because Pakistan, which translates to "land of the pure," has actually been more like "land of perfidy." If anything, the country is a paradox. One key reason for this is that the Pakistani army and its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate, under the spurious auspices of "strategic depth," have persistently fomented insurgency and terrorism in Afghanistan. Indeed, the principal ingredient of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), ammonium nitrate, and the detonators for those devices, still mainly flow from Pakistan. These devices are the leading killers and cripplers of friendly troops. In addition, a veritable host of Islamist fanatic movements — notably, the Quetta Shura Taliban, the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar — all likely still associate with, and receive some degree of advice or support from, Pakistan's security organizations. For all their bravado and perfidious use of fanatical proxies, Pakistani strategists in the military and intelligence services fail to understand the most important point about their activities. Their readiness to collude with other violent Islamist groups in the most dangerous places on the planet, Pakistan's tribal areas and Pakistan's heartland, has been to the net detriment of Pakistani security and regional stability. It is the metaphorical equivalent of an arsonist ultimately compelled to act as fireman for his very own house, which he lit on fire. But the reality is even worse than that. The central Pakistani paradox is that, for the six and a half decades of that state's existence, almost every major war or initiative its security elites have undertaken for the ostensible purposes of improving Pakistan's security has, in effect, achieved the opposite outcome, undermining its security and destabilizing the region.Curiously, according to the country's security elites, none of this is the fault of Pakistan. It is simply a consequence of adverse circumstances and conniving by others. As convenient that this self-delusion and mythmaking may be, what it is not is truthful. Consider the four wars Pakistan started with India, including the conflict on the Kargil Heights in the fall of 1999. It endured thrashings in all of them. The only common theme is that defeat was not the generals' fault. And after its particularly humiliating defeat in the 1971 war with India over Eastern Pakistan, Pakistan's leadership made a fateful choice to compensate for its apparent military ineptness. It pressed forward to acquire nuclear weapons. The somber reality is that the international community and the U.S.-led coalition have not re-imagined the means and ways to compel Pakistan to alter its harmful strategic calculations. The United States bears some responsibility in all of this because of its strategic attention deficit problem. The harsh fact is that, since 2001, the United States has been at war in South Asia for just over 11 years. But in fact, it has been partly responsible for the wars there for the last 33 years. For about the first 11 years, beginning just after the Soviet invasion in 1979, it was American policy to fund and support Pakistan's ISI to support Islamist insurgents to defeat the Soviets. This is an example of the apoplexy side of the U.S. strategic attention deficit: all on, damn the long-term strategic consequences. For roughly the next 11 years, from the fall of 1990 to the fall of 2001, the United States generally ignored South Asia. That was the critical period when Pakistan continued to direct various movements of Islamist fanatics, condoning a malignant symbiosis between the Taliban and al Qaeda. Consider this the narcolepsy side of the strategic attention deficit: all off, asleep at the switch.As a consequence, for the most recent 11-plus years, beginning in October 2001, the U.S.-led coalition has been fighting some of those very same Islamist diehards that American policy helped nurture, beginning with the Soviet-Afghan War. Starkly, if the Taliban were to revive an Islamist emirate in Afghanistan, there is every reason to forecast a future with more attacks against the West, planned and orchestrated with increasing scope and intensity from Afghanistan's and Pakistan's tribal areas. The only good news is that, since 2010, the combined Afghan and coalition campaign, resources and leadership fighting against the Taliban inside Afghanistan have been the most effective since this very long Afghan war began. The war has a worthy object, but it will have been in vain unless there is strategic momentum from inside Pakistan to turn off the sources of support to the insurgents. Without support and sanctuary, the Taliban will likely atrophy into insignificance. Reducing the potentially global radiating effects of this sanctuary is a strategic imperative for all. Perhaps there is still the time and the will to offset Pakistan's steady diet of carrots with the addition of some compelling sticks. Among the measures that might compel change are the revocation of Pakistan's status as a Major non-NATO Ally, a resolution on Kashmir that makes permanent the Line of Control, a cessation in funding flows, and an invitation to other South Asian neighbors to participate in military support against the Taliban.

Kaira comes down heavily on Punjab govt

Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira has severely criticized the Punjab government for squandering public money on wayward projects. The information minister also lambasted the so-called metro bus service project saying it will prove a scam in the coming days. Addressing a public rally in the outskirts of his hometown Lalamusa the information minister further said, the Punjab government meted out a step motherly attitude with district Gujrat because this area is a stronghold of PPP. While slamming action against young doctors in Lahore the information minister said, protesting doctors are demanding their rights but the way the Punjab government has tried to quell the peaceful demonstration speaks volumes for the anti-People stand of the sitting Punjab government. He said, a handful of Turkish companies were being accommodated at the cost of public money. He said he will soon unmask corruption committed by the Punjab government in these so-called projects. He said, the Swiss authorities reply that they cannot open cases against President Zardari has vindicated out stand that all cases constituted against PPP leadership were false. He criticized Nawaz Sharif for constituting false and fabricated cases against PPP leadership. He said PML N claims to be a party of entire country but it does not have any base in Sindh. " PML N does not have even a single seat in Sindh while in Balohchistan it will not get any seat this time. In KPK it has some support in Hazara only", he added. Kaira said PML N was playing politics in the issue of new provinces but by the grace of God it will not succeed in its designs. "PML N will not get many seats from Gujrat and other adjoining districts', he added. He said PPP voters will cast their votes in favour of PPP come what may. " Nawaz Sharif should take care of Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri who are going to cause a big dent to it in many parts of Punjab'.

Work on Iran pipeline inside Pakistan to begin in a month

Talks between Islamabad and Tehran on $1.5 billion Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline are starting on Monday to finalise the EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) contract that is to be extended to Tadbir -- the state-owned company of Iran. Despite clear opposition from the US and its sanctions on Iran for Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, the $1.5 billion Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline has been accorded approval by the federal cabinet and the crucial talks between Islamabad and Tehran are starting on Monday. These talks, likely to continue for 3-4 days, will finalise the EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) contract that is to be extended to Tadbir -- the state-owned company of Iran for laying the pipeline in Pakistan’s territory. Once the EPC contract gets finalised, the company will start laying the 781 kilometres pipeline inside Pakistan within a month. Now the question arises whether Pakistan will indeed be able to sustain the US pressure. The Iranian delegation headed by deputy chief of Tadbir company will take part in the talks while Pakistan’s side, to be led by secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Natural resources, will comprise managing director of Inter State Gas Systems (ISGS) Mobin Saulat and senior officials of finance and law ministries. The talks will fine-tune the terms of reference, scope of work and the cost of laying the pipeline per kilometre under the EPC contract. The pipeline, compressors and related equipment will be provided by Iran. It would also be discussed as to how long the pipeline would be constructed under $500 million loan. The pipeline will be laid down from Gabd, a point at Pakistan-Iran border, to Nawabshah. The project that will be completed by December 2014 will first bring 750 million cubic feet gas per day in the 781 kilometres long pipeline with diameter of 42 inches and later on the gas flow will increase up to 1 billion cubic feet per day. The 750mmcfd gas will be injected into the power sector to generate 4,000MW of electricity and when the gas import will reach up to 1bcfd, the electricity generation will increase to 5,000 MW. When this gas will replace the costly furnace oil being used by the power plants, the country will save about $1 billion a year. According to officials concerned, the cost of laying the pipeline in Pakistan’s territory stands at $1.5 billion. Iran will provide 500 million dollars while the remaining amount will be arranged by Pakistan itself. The government has already imposed the gas infrastructure development cess (GIDC) to raise funds for the project. In addition, Pakistan’s public sector entities such as the OGDCL, Sui Southern, and Sui Northern will also play their role in providing finances for the project.

For many children of Balochistan, attending school is not an option

A damning report on the state of education in Balochistan, Pakistan’s most deprived province, has revealed that 34.1% of children aged between six and 16 are not enrolled in schools. Around 77.7% children in the pre-primary school age group are not attending elementary schools in the province. These and other shocking statistics were revealed at the provincial launch of Pakistan’s largest-ever citizen-led household-based Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) Survey 2012 in Quetta. The survey also identified that children of school-going age across the country have an alarmingly poor learning ability in terms of reading Urdu, regional languages, English or doing basic levels of arithmetic. “Almost 92.2% of Class-III students are not able to read Class-II level story in Urdu or regional languages like Sindhi and Pashto, while almost 78% of students cannot read Class-II level sentences,” the ASER report said. ASER’s specifically trained volunteer team surveyed 16,303 households in 825 villages located in 28 rural districts of Balochistan and detailed information of 56,375 children (59% male and 41% female) aged between three and 16 years was collected. The report stated that 34.1% of children falling in the six to 16 age brackets were not attending schools in Balochistan. Girls account for 21% of this figure and boys account for 13%. However, the number of children falls dramatically as the progress is made to higher classes. “The number of children comes down drastically as they progress to higher classes. For every 8 children in Class-1, only 3 children reach up to Class-X.” The learning skills of children aged between five and 16 were assessed through specifically designed language and mathematics tests, which covered languages up to Grade-II level text and arithmetic covering up to Grade-III level textbooks. The depressing results showed that nearly 84.5% of children in Grade-III could not read even a sentence in Urdu or their own language. The lack of emphasis on learning English as a language has been well documented in the country over the years. English reading and comprehension tests reported that 68.1% of Class-V students, 49.5% Class-VI and 40.9% Class-VII students could not read Class-II level English sentences – raising serious questions about their learning abilities. All was not doom and gloom in the ASER survey. It reported that 34% of boys and 19% of girls were able to read at least Urdu, Sindhi and Pashto sentences. Similarly, 35% of males and 20% of females were able to correctly read words and sentences in English, while 38% of the former and 18% of the latter were able to do basic subtraction and division arithmetic problems. “As many as 58.3% of surveyed private high schools and 9.6% government schools had functional computer labs. While 41.6% private high schools and 12.9% government high schools had library books available for students to use in the schools premises,” the ASER report noted. Up to 56% of the private primary schools and 14% government schools surveyed did not have adequate and useable water facilities. Similarly, 78% public and 19% private primary schools do not have functional toilet facilities.

HRCP lashes Punjab gov for beating doctors

The Commission said in a statement on Monday said that “HRCP is alarmed by the beating of doctors by the police on Sunday in Lahore where several doctors were injured and wishes that the long protesting medical professionals could have been dealt with without resorting to the use of force. HRCP believes that peaceful assembly and protest is one of the paramount human rights in any society which must not be curtailed. Although wielding their batons is the standard crowd control procedure for the police, it is exceedingly disappointing that a non-violent way could not be found to tackle the doctors if, and it is a big if, they were posing any threat to public peace. To the utter dismay of the citizenry and civil society the doctors-police standoff in Punjab has become a near monthly affair now and it is the people who have been paying the price, in the form of intermittent suspension of health services by the doctors pressing for their demands and blockage of roads in demonstrations or scuffles between the police and the doctors. HRCP reminds all concerned that this is not a vendetta and must not be treated like one. The authorities must engage the doctors constructively and without further delay and find a way out of this deadlock now. The police beating up the protesting doctors has understandably disgusted the advocates of peaceful pursuit of all legitimate demands and the violence must be probed in an impartial manner. Those sanctioning beating u

Pakistan: ''Case closed''

THE president has immunity against criminal prosecution under the Pakistani constitution — thus has declared the Swiss attorney general, according to the law ministry here. Has the long-running and vexing so-called Swiss letter saga finally come to an end? It would appear so, though never say never in Pakistan. After all, anything is possible, as Prime Minister Ashraf discovered in the rental power case, where the Supreme Court caught the country by surprise and seemingly ordered the arrest of the prime minister as Tahirul Qadri’s thousands were staging a sit-in near parliament last month. But with matters now in the hands of the Swiss authorities, who are presumably less unpredictable than their Pakistani counterparts, it would appear that at least as far as the millions of dollars once upon a time lodged in Swiss accounts and allegedly belonging to President Zardari are concerned, the file can be considered shut. In a better world, there would be hard lessons learned. Article 248(2) of the constitution has always read: “No criminal proceedings whatsoever shall be instituted or continued against the President or a Governor in any court during his term of office.” While an argument could be made that the Swiss letter only sought to reinstate Pakistan’s role as a civilian party laying claim to the allegedly ill-gotten gains lying in Swiss accounts, it was always a stretch that the Swiss legal system would dance to the tune of Pakistani indecision: prosecution under Nawaz Sharif and then Gen Musharraf; then withdrawal of the cases under the latter after political realities at home had changed; and then the attempted reinstatement of the withdrawn cases at the behest of the superior judiciary. Unsurprisingly, the Swiss probably are not very interested in having their legal system used as a pawn in Pakistani political games. Should the court here have known better? Yes. Should it have acted differently? Yes. Will it absorb the right lessons from this episode? We don’t know. As for the PPP, will it learn that there is a different way to approach challenges than always as a zero-sum political game? Farooq Naek was the law minister when the NRO-related matter first erupted and he was the law minister again when the Swiss letter was finally dispatched — how much time and energy could have been saved had calmer, more reasoned counsel been listened to earlier? And for the public at large, a more fundamental challenge: to argue Mr Zardari has immunity and the democratic transition needed to be kept on track is not to deny Pakistan has a serious corruption problem; how does it build pressure to have cleaner representatives without bringing the democratic system itself down?

Zardari: ''A refusal foretold''

EDITORIAL: DAILY TIMES

As predicted in this space innumerable times since the issue of writing a letter to the Swiss authorities blew up, the latter have responded to the Pakistan government’s missive by saying categorically that the case against President Asif Ali Zardari cannot be reopened because he enjoys immunity while in office under Pakistani and international law, and that the case has in any case been closed under the statute of limitations under Swiss law since 15 years have elapsed since the case was instituted. It may be instructive to do a brief recap of the whole affair in order to understand the diversionary journey the country has been subjected to over many years. In 2007, when General Musharraf began to lose his grip on events unfolding in the country, he reached out to Benazir Bhutto’s PPP for a political bailout. The deal struck between the two sides after protracted negotiations resulted in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), which withdrew corruption, etc, cases against Benazir Bhutto, Asif Zardari and many others, cases the PPP always held were politically motivated. The Cotecna case involving Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari led to a presumption of guilt in the Swiss magistracy’s investigation, which was overturned on appeal in 2003. Since then, the issue lay relatively dormant, until in 2008, then Attorney General Justice (retd) Malik Mohammad Qayyum wrote to the Swiss authorities withdrawing the request for assistance in the case, i.e. closing it. In 2009, the Supreme Court (SC) struck down the NRO as discriminatory, and ordered the reopening of all closed cases benefiting from it. This led to a three plus years standoff between the PPP government and the SC on the latter’s insistence that the government write to the Swiss authorities to reopen the Cotecna case. The government dragged its feet, arguing that such a step would be tantamount to an insult to the country’s sitting head of state, as well as fruitless since the president enjoyed immunity under our constitution as well as international law. The reluctance and refusal of the government to write the letter seems to have provoked more fury than judicial sense from the SC, which insisted on the implementation of its judgement by writing the letter. Many legal luminaries and analysts were also of the view that the president enjoyed immunity, but the SC insisted immunity was not automatic (despite the fact it is in the constitution) and would have to be applied for. The government was reluctant, given the state of virtual confrontation between it and the SC, fearing the immunity clause may be struck down. This prolonged standoff cost the PPP government a prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, convicted of contempt of court for refusing to write the letter and thereby losing office and being debarred from elected office for five years. His replacement, Raja Pervez Ashraf, after fresh government deliberations, agreed to write the letter. The result is now before us. The valid question to be asked is why the country was subjected to three plus years of time, resources, judiciary-executive confrontational tension and its destabilising effect on the democratic system when the outcome was staring everyone in the face. The only conclusion is that the superior judiciary failed to exercise its mind judiciously on the issue. If the country has lessons to learn from the whole affair, so, it must be said, has the judiciary. Some legal luminaries believe the Swiss response does not preclude the reopening of the case against President Zardari once he leaves office. They are of course entitled to their views and may even have legal precedent on their side, but Pakistan needs to lay the issue to rest for the moment and get back on track to more urgent and weightier questions, chief among them currently being to ensure the elections are held, on time, and in a free, fair and transparent manner. We need no more red herrings to distract us from this supreme national task.

Pakistan test fires nuclear-capable Hatf IX

Pakistan today conducted a successful test fire of short-range surface-to-surface missile Hatf IX (NASR). The test fire was conducted with successive launches of two missiles from a state of the art multi tube launcher. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf have felicitated the scientists and engineers on the successful test of short-range missile Hatf-9 Nasr. NASR‚ with a range of 60 km‚ and in-flight maneuver capability can carry nuclear warheads of appropriate yield‚ with high accuracy. This quick response system‚ which can fire a four missile salvo ensures deterrence against threats in view of evolving scenarios. Additionally‚ NASR has been specially designed to defeat all known anti tactical missile defence systems. The test was witnessed by Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Khalid Shameem Wynne‚ Director General Strategic Plans Division Lieutenant General (Retired) Khalid Ahmed Kidwai‚ Chairman NESCOM Muhammad Irfan Burney‚ Commander Army Strategic Forces Command Lieutenant General Triq Nadeem Gilani‚ senior officers from the armed forces and scientists and engineers of strategic organizations. Addressing the scientists‚ engineers and military officers of strategic organizations‚ Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee congratulated them on displaying a high standard of proficiency in handling and operating the state of the art weapon system. He said Pakistan's armed forces are fully capable of safeguarding Pakistan's security against all kinds of aggression.

Performances biggest part of Grammy night

Tim McGraw & Faith Hill Color-Coordinate At 2013 Grammy

Mr. Kerry’s challenges

EDITORIAL

Mr. John Kerry has been confirmed as the United States secretary of state and has officially taken office. Although his predecessor, Ms. Hillary Clinton, left a big legacy to live up to, the five-term senator from Massachusetts is well suited for the job. Mr. Kerry’s new post caps a distinguished political career thus far and is a chance for redemption after his failed presidential bid. Mr. Kerry is a real Boston Brahmin, a scion of a distinguished family that can trace its roots all the way back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony; one ancestor was the colony’s first governor. He served in Vietnam, for which he won a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. He later became an antiwar activist and famously joined hundreds of other veterans in throwing his medals over a fence at the Capitol Hill steps as a way of demonstrating their opposition to the war. After stints as a prosecutor and Massachusetts lieutenant governor, Mr. Kerry ran for the U.S. Senate in 1984, a race he won even though his Democratic primary opponent had the support of the party establishment. From that perch he built a career as a liberal Democrat — one of the most reliably progressive voices in the Senate — focusing on foreign affairs. In 2004, Mr. Kerry won the Democratic presidential nomination to challenge U.S. President George W. Bush. He lost that race, with Mr. Bush winning 50.7 percent of the popular vote and 286 electoral votes to Mr. Kerry’s 48.2 percent of the vote and 251 electoral votes. Mr. Kerry was touted as a possible secretary of state during President Barack Obama’s first term, a post that instead went to Ms. Clinton. He worked assiduously on foreign affairs in the Senate, rising to the post of chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He sometimes served as the president’s special envoy to such hot spots as Pakistan. When Ms. Clinton announced that she would not be serving a second term, Mr. Kerry was one of the leading contenders to replace her. He got that chance when Ms. Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who many believed was Mr. Obama’s first choice, was undone by Republican opposition to her nomination. Officially, GOP resistance to Ms. Rice reflected critics’ take on her handling of the Benghazi incident, in which four U.S. State Department personnel, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, were killed by terrorists. As her role was merely reading talking points provided by the intelligence community on the Sunday morning talk shows, that explanation falls short. It is more likely that the GOP had political motives in mind: giving Mr. Obama a black eye after his election victory and shooting down his presumed nominee, and forcing him to nominate a Democratic senator, a move that would call an election and give the GOP a chance to reduce the Democratic control of that chamber of Congress. Whatever the explanation, Mr. Kerry was confirmed last week by the entire Senate in a 94-3 vote. Mr. Kerry faces a wide array of challenges, the most pressing of which is managing a sprawling bureaucracy with a $50 billion budget, more than 50,000 employees and nearly 300 embassies, consulates, missions and other posts around the world. He must prepare his department for tough budget cuts despite new and an ever lengthening list of diplomatic concerns. He must maintain morale as staffs shrink and responsibilities grow. His inbox is already full. He will soon be working to galvanize international reaction to a third North Korean nuclear test, a process that will prepare for efforts to build a coalition to push Iran to seriously negotiate the future of its nuclear program. The crisis in Syria continues to grow and the recent events in Mali and Algeria are a reminder that the U.S. must remain ever mindful of the Islamic terrorist threat even as it draws down from Afghanistan. Mr. Kerry will need to get quickly acquainted with his Japanese counterpart, Mr. Fumio Kishida, so that our two countries are ready to tackle the myriad challenges in East Asia, not least of which is a muscular Chinese foreign policy that threatens Japan and other nations of the region. Our two countries will also be working together to combat climate change, promoting nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, and a long list of other shared concerns and priorities. Questions have been raised about the direction and contours of U.S. foreign policy after Ms. Clinton’s departure. Those concerns are misplaced. First, it is the president, not the secretary of state, who sets U.S. foreign policy. Second, while Ms. Clinton will be sorely missed, we should remember that four years ago people were asking whether the former New York State senator (and first lady) knew much about Asia. Ms. Clinton was a diligent student and worked hard to learn about the region, especially after Mr. Obama made it the focus of his foreign policy. We should expect no less from Mr. Kerry. He is just as smart, and will work just as hard to ensure that Mr. Obama’s second term is a success. We wish him well.

Afghan Youth Orchestra Goes From the Streets of Kabul to Broadway

ZARDARI : PPP will win big in Punjab

The Express Tribune

President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday reaffirmed the government’s resolve to conduct elections on time, adding that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) would record a resounding victory in Punjab. He said this while discussing several issues, including the present political situation, with Law Minister Farooq H Naek at Bilawal House, Lahore. The president also discussed the removal of governor’s rule in Balochistan, the Swiss authorities response to the government’s letter and other important cases before the Supreme Court, including Minhajul Quran International chief Tahirul Qadri’s petition for dissolving the election commission. Naek congratulated President Zardari on the Swiss authorities’ decision against reinstating graft cases against him and maintained that this endorsed the ruling party’s stance in this regard. He termed it a victory for PPP. They also discussed the proposed candidates for the caretaker prime minister. The law minister also briefed the president about his meetings with the leaders of the coalition partners. He informed him about efforts to end governor’s rule in Balochistan. Interior Minister Rehman Malik also called on President Zardari on Sunday, informing him on the overall law and order situation in the country. Punjab Governor Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood and PPP’s Punjab chapter president Manzoor Wattoo held meetings with the president as well, discussing a range of issues. Later, President Zardari and his son, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, attended a dinner arranged by the party’s Lahore chapter president, federal minister Samina Khalid Ghurki at her residence. Speaking at the dinner, Bilawal too reiterated the party’s resolve to not let anyone disrupt the elections. He claimed the present government had achieved more with a simple majority than most others did with the ‘heavy mandate’ of a two-thirds majority. Bilawal added that the Constitution had been purified of the ‘nonsense’ of dictators as well. At dinner, the proposal of fielding Khalid Ghurki’s son Sufyan from Lahore was considered. Party officials also briefed Bilawal on the political and organizational situation in Lahore. Meanwhile, Samina Ghurki assured that PPP would win at least six seats for the National Assembly from Lahore. The PPP chairman is scheduled to meet party representatives and parliamentarians for Faisalabad today. According to Sana News, Bilawal has decided that as PPP chairman, he will handle all party issues himself and keep President Zardari away from them.

Zardari was tried as beneficiary, not as accused

The Pakistan People’s Party believes that after the Swiss authorities’ refusal to open a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari there is no case pending against its co-chairman in any court. “There is no case pending against the president in the country,” Law Minister Farooq Naek told Dawn on Sunday. He said three cases involving President Zardari were being tried in the country and in all of them he was not the main accused, but one of the beneficiaries. “The main accused in these cases was Ilyas Siddiqui and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was cited as a beneficiary but Mr Siddiqui was acquitted of the charges and after the death of Ms Bhutto cases involving her became redundant,” he said. He cited a judgment of Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench and said: “In a case I was pursuing for a former chairman of the Capital Development Authority, Shafi Sehwani, the court had issued a judgment that if the main accused in the case had been acquitted than there was no question of trying the beneficiaries.” The minister said that on the basis of evidence presented in the courts, President Zardari was cited as one of the beneficiaries in money-laundering cases tried simultaneously in a Swiss court and local courts. Secondly, he said, Section 248 of the Constitution provided immunity to the incumbent president. If the claim of the minister is accepted by the courts which are trying the cases, President Zardari will face no problem even after leaving the office of president. However, an official of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said he believed cases against the president could be reopened after he left the office because he enjoyed immunity under the Constitution only till he was in office and not after that. It may be mentioned that the government and lawyers of President Zardari had never pleaded in the Supreme Court that there was no case pending against him as a beneficiary of money laundering. They always referred to Section 248 which concerned his immunity. Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who was removed by the Supreme Court for not writing a letter to the Swiss authorities for reopening cases against President Zardari, had also referred to presidential immunity. Replying to a question, the NAB official said the record of the Swiss cases, reportedly in 12 boxes, was under the bureau’s secure custody and could be used if the cases were reopened after the end of the president’s tenure. But the law minister said the record had become redundant. “Actually, it was not any precious record but photocopies of court orders that were already available with NAB,” he said

Russia: France Fighting in Mali Rebels It Armed in Libya

Agence France Presse

The rebels France is battling in northern Mali are some of the very same fighters it helped arm in Libya, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Sunday. "In Mali, France is fighting against those it armed in Libya against (Moammar) Gadhafi's regime in violation of the U.N. Security Council (arms) embargo," Lavrov said in extracts of a television interview published by Russian news agencies. Lavrov has previously criticized French arms drops to rebels fighting Gadhafi's regime, denouncing France's interpretations of a U.N. resolution allowing the use of force to protect the civilian population. He also claimed that other veterans of the Libyan civil war are now fighting in Syria against the regime of President Bashar Assad. "I'm baffled by our partners' inability" to see the bigger picture, he added. Russia, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, abstained from a March 2011 vote allowing international strikes against Gadhafi's forces, leading to the fall of his regime. Moscow has frequently said the NATO response in Libya exceeded the resolution. France last month intervened in Mali at the request of Bamako authorities after Islamists rebels began advancing southward towards the capital. The rebels had taken over the north of the country following a March 2012 coup in Bamako and the region had become a haven for Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

What do tall women think about shorter men?

Punishment promised in horse meat scandal

Britain and France warn of sanctions as UK unit of food retailer says it believes contamination of beef was deliberate. The French and British governments have promised to punish those found responsible for selling horse meat in beef products at the heart of a growing scandal that started in Britain but is quickly spreading to France. Benoit Hamon, French consumer affairs minister, said on Saturday that an investigation had found that the horse meat had originated in Romania, although there were links with French, Dutch and Cypriot firms and a factory in Luxembourg. Owen Paterson, UK environment minister, said more cases of contaminated food could emerge as British retailers conducted tests for horse meat on processed beef products. The scandal threatens to affect consumer confidence in Europe's giant food industry, with pressure rising for greater checks. The British unit of frozen foods group Findus began a recall this week of its beef lasagne from retailers on advice from its French supplier, Comigel, over concerns that some packs contained high levels of horse meat. Findus France said it too had recalled lasagne and two other products after discovering that they included horse meat from Romania rather than beef from France as it had thought. Sanctions warning Hamon said an EU-wide alert had been sent out and that it was not yet clear whether there had been an intentional fraud or the meat had been sold as beef by accident. "I can assure you that, whether it's a question of negligence or direct responsibility, there will be sanctions," Hamon said on iTele television. Separately, Matthieu Lambeaux, Findus France's director-general, said in a statement the company would file a legal complaint on Monday. "We thought we had certified French beef in our products. But in reality, we were supplied with Romanian horsemeat. We have been deceived," Lambeaux said. Hamon said a Luxembourg factory had been supplied by the French firm Poujol, which had bought the meat frozen from a Cypriot trader, who in turn sub-contracted the order to a Dutch trader supplied by a Romanian abattoir. However, Findus's supplier Comigel, a frozen foods producer based in eastern France, told a newspaper it had bought the meat from another French company, supplied from a Romanian abattoir. In Britain Findus said it believed the contamination was deliberate. "The early results from Findus UK's internal investigation strongly suggests that the horsemeat contamination in beef lasagne was not accidental," it said. London meeting Findus's product recall was followed in Britain by supermarket chain Aldi, which withdrew two frozen beef products supplied by Comigel after they tested positive for horse meat. Paterson summoned Britain's leading food retailers and representatives of food processors to an emergency meeting at his office in London on Saturday to discuss the crisis. He said participants were determined to get to the bottom of a scandal which he said was either caused by "gross incompetence or what I suspect is an international criminal conspiracy". Britain's government is under pressure to appear on top of the scandal, which comes less than a month after supermarket chain Tesco and fast food outlet Burger King found horse meat in beef burgers from an Irish supplier. Britons generally do not eat horse meat, regarding its consumption as a quirk of French appetites. However, the meat has also fallen out of favour with consumers in France.

Meat industry under scrutiny as horsemeat scandal spreads

Kerry urges Iran to offer "real substance" about nuclear program

HRW urges Qatar to protect migrant workers’ rights

http://www.gulf-times.com

Qatar should set out a timetable “as soon as practically possible to abolish the sponsorship system and militate against the serious threat of trafficking and forced labour,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged. “We understand change cannot be brought forth overnight in a country with over a million migrant workers,” Jan Egeland, deputy executive director, told Gulf Times yesterday after announcing the key observations from HRW’s World Report 2013. HRW, one of the world’s leading independent organisations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights, has urged Qatari authorities to impose sanctions on violators of laws designed to protect migrant workers’ rights. HRW has called upon the Qatari authorities “to ensure migrant workers have not paid illegal recruitment fees, and prohibit companies from doing business with recruitment agencies and subcontractors, in Qatar and abroad, that impose illegal charges on workers.” “The 2022 World Cup presents Qatar with an unprecedented opportunity to take the lead on migrant workers’ rights in the Gulf region, and to leave a positive and lasting legacy,” Egeland stated. “We are calling for a great games and not a boycott. It is a great thing that the World Cup is coming to the Arab world,” he said. Nicholas McGeehan, a Middle East researcher with HRW, was of the view that “Qatar cannot afford to run a 21st century World Cup with a 19th century labour system.” “We have had discussions with the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee and are impressed by their commitment. But there is a lack of reforms in key areas,” he said. HRW, which also spoke to Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hopes to work together in partnership, according to McGeehan. Egeland believes that Qatar has plans for positive change. “We will monitor this each and every year until 2022,” he declared. McGeehan urged that “Qatar ought to enforce the good laws, repeal the bad laws and sanction the violators.” “We have seen the beginnings of some political will, but it has to go forward further,” he said. The HRW officials recounted that migrant workers reported “‘extensive violations of labour law in Qatar.” “Common complaints included late or unpaid wages. Some lived in overcrowded and unsanitary labour camps, with no access to potable water, were not properly ventilated, and not furnished with functioning air-condition units.” McGeehan asserted that the “findings of our report are representative of the situation in Qatar.” “Qatar’s increasing prominence on the international stage should not divert attention from its domestic rights record,” Egeland said.

New complaints raised against Morsi

Port Said Lawyers’ Syndicate head Safwat Abdel Hameid filed on Saturday a complaint against President Mohamed Morsi and leading figures in the Ministry of Interior, accusing them of killing protesters of Port Said. Abdel Hameid and lawyer Ashraf El-Ezaby filed complaints to Port Said’s prosecution authority against Morsi, Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim, and Head of Port Said’s Security Directorate Mohsen Rady, in addition to other officials at the Central Security Forces (CSF) department. El-Ezaby filed a complaint against ministry officials on behalf of Mohamed Mahmoud Abu Gabal, Sherif Abdel Aziz, and others who were injured during the clashes that took place in front of Port Said prison. Abdel Hameid filed a complaint on behalf of the father of Mohamed Fawzy, who was killed during the same clashes. The complaints accused Morsi and ministry officials of attempted murder and demanded mandating a judge to hold investigations. Abdel Hameid, who is also a prominent board member in the Al-Wafd party, said Sha’aban El-Maghraby, director of Al-Arab prosecution office in Port Said, has already started investigating the complaint. Meanwhile, work was resumed in Port Said’s courts after being suspended following the deadly clashes that took place in the city. In January, Port Said witnessed deadly violent clashes following a court verdict that sentenced 21 of its resident to death for their involvement in the Port Said massacre. The clashes left tens dead and hundreds injured in Port Said. More casualties occurred during the funeral held for those who died during the clashes. Clashes also took place in Suez, Cairo and several other governorates, marking the day following the second anniversary of the 25 January Revolution. The clashes left more deaths and injuries.

Saudi forces nab women, children

Saudi Arabian security forces have arrested dozens of women and at least five children as the regime has intensified the crackdown on opposition demonstrations in the country.

According to human rights activists, women and children were captured on Saturday after anti-government demonstrations were held in two Saudi cities, Riyadh and Buraida, CNN reported on Sunday. The women and children were calling on the authorities to free their relatives, who have been held for years without access to lawyers or a trial, the activists said. Mohammed Al-Qahtani, a prominent Saudi rights activist, said the protesters are "relatives of political prisoners." "They are asking the authorities to either take these prisoners to court," said Al-Qahtani, "or set them free." Activists say there are over 30,000 political prisoners in Saudi Arabia. In October 2012, Amnesty International called on the Saudi authorities to stop using excessive force against pro-democracy protestors. “The Saudi authorities must end their repeated moves to stifle people’s attempts to protest against the widespread use of arbitrary detention in the country,” Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s director for the Middle East and North Africa, said on October 16. “The right of people to peaceful protest must be respected and the security forces must refrain from detaining or using excessive force against people who exercise it,” he added. There have been numerous demonstrations in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province since February 2011, with protestors calling for political reform. Anti-government protests have intensified since November 2011, when security forces opened fire on protestors in Qatif, killing five people and leaving scores more injured.

More than 100 protest in Saudi Arabia

http://gulfnews.com/

Protesters call on authorities to release prisoners who haven’t been charged,Residents of the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh say more than 100 people have demonstrated to call for the release of people detained without charge. Saudi security officials say they arrested at least five people. They spoke anonymously in line with police regulations. Dozens of security vehicles blocked the intersections of two streets on Saturday where the demonstrations were taking place. North of Riyadh in the city of Buraydah, around 30 people — mostly women related to the prisoners — held a similar rally.In past years, a small number of Saudis have demonstrated in Riyadh to demand the release of thousands of people detained without charge or trial on suspicion of involvement in militant activity. Some have been held for up to 15 years. Protests are rare in the conservative kingdom.

Obama's State of the Union speech to focus on jobs

http://www.usatoday.com

President Obama has spent this year talking about debt reduction, gun control, climate change, and immigration, but Tuesday's State of the Union address is expected to focus on the issues that brought him to power: Jobs and the economy. "I'm going to be talking about making sure that we're focused on job creation here in the United States of America," Obama told House Democrats last week. Obama and aides say he will also discuss upcoming budget disputes, including the March 1 deadline for automatic defense and domestic cuts totaling $85 billion, known as "the sequester." The president, elected in 2008 in the midst of an economic crisis, said he will again call for a debt reduction agreement that includes targeted budget cuts as well as new tax revenues to be garnered by ending certain loopholes and deductions. The nation not only needs to reduce its $16 trillion-plus debt, Obama has said, but it needs money to invest in things that can create jobs and build the middle class, including education, infrastructure and clean energy programs. The president's annual State of Union address to a joint session of Congress is on Tuesday night. The event comes less than two weeks after the Labor Department announced that the unemployment rate had ticked back up to 7.9%. Obama will also likely use the speech to put political pressure on Republicans over the budget. In his Saturday radio address, Obama said current GOP plans to avoid the sequester focus on cuts that affect mainly "seniors and middle-class families. They would rather ask more from the vast majority of Americans and put our recovery at risk than close even a single tax loophole that benefits the wealthy." Republicans said Obama got higher taxes -- in the form of higher income tax rates -- as part of the "fiscal cliff" deal in early January; now the emphasis should be on spending cuts. "The president accepted no spending cuts back in the fiscal cliff deal 45 days ago," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., speaking on ABC's This Week. "So you get no spending cuts back then, then you're going to get no revenue now." In his State of the Union address, Obama also plans to discuss the aforementioned topic of gun control, climate change and immigration, and talk about how many of those items can help rebuild the economy and promote jobs. Investment in the clean energy industry, for example, will help address climate change, Obama and aides have said. A legislative package to address gun violence is designed to protect young people, Obama told last week's House Democratic retreat. While regional differences on gun control should be respected, Obama said "the majority of responsible gun owners recognize we cannot have a situation in which 20 more of our children, or a 100 more of our children, or a 1,000 more of our children are shot and killed in a senseless fashion, and that there are some common-sense steps that we can take and build a consensus around." Revamping the immigration system -- including a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants -- will also help the economy, Obama said. "Obviously economic growth is a priority," he said. "But making sure that we're opening up opportunity for everybody is also important. And that's why immigration reform is so critical."

Fashion show in Kabul aims to break barriers

Afghan models paraded down a candle-lined catwalk Friday as men and women watched from the audience in a restaurant off a muddy street in Kabul. The rare fashion show in this war-weary capital was a small production but a big idea – part of an Afghan group’s efforts to empower women by breaking down barriers in this highly conservative Muslim society. “The situation always gets tougher and tougher every day by day, but we should not back down. We are here to move on and move forward, so I think if women step up and they show up in this field, I think they will do a good job,” said Shahar Banoo Zeerak, the designer whose clothes were featured in the show. The idea of women on display remains mostly taboo in Afghanistan more than a decade after the 2001 U.S. assault that ousted the Taliban from power after a five-year reign of terror by the fundamentalist movement. Some women still don’t go outside without wearing blue burqas that cover them from head to toe. Violence against women is still common in Afghanistan, and there are reports of women being stoned, executed in public or imprisoned for having affairs with men. Women have even set themselves on fire to escape domestic violence. Friday’s fashion show was organized by Young Women for Change, an independent, nonprofit Afghan organization committed to empowering Afghan women and improving their lives. Most of the 10 models, which included three young men, who showed off 33 designs including colorful short-sleeved dresses, jeans, tunics and more traditional outfits, were Afghan women who volunteer for the group. One of them, 17-year-old Farkhonda Taheri, had never even seen a fashion show before. She said her father and other family members were supportive of her decision to participate, but her grandmother was not happy. “The biggest challenge for us that we cannot do these things in Afghanistan because people do not like it,” she said afterward. “I was excited because I felt I am going to bring a change.” She said it was important for Afghan youths to take risks to bring change as the country struggles to achieve a semblance of normalcy, with international combat forces preparing to withdraw by the end of 2014. “Who will bring the peace? We are going to bring it. Afghans. The new generation,” Taheri said. There have been a few other fashion shows in Afghanistan, but most were geared toward an international audience and seldom featured Afghan women or a mixed Afghan audience. Reflecting the obstacles, the organizers did not permit local Afghan media to film the event to protect the women, who on occasion appeared without headscarves and in short skirts. “It may not be perfect and professional but it’s a beginning,” said Salma Gul, the 26-year-old tailor who made the clothes.

Afghanistan: Don’t Prosecute Sexually Assaulted Children

http://www.hrw.org

The Afghan government should take urgent steps to ensure that rape and sexual abuse of children leads to prosecution of the abusers – not of victims, Human Rights Watch said today. In Afghanistan’s western Herat province, in an October 2012 case that only recently came to light, a court convicted a 13-year-old boy on moral crimes charges, and sentenced him to one year in juvenile detention after he was accused of having sex with two adult men in a public park. Afghan law prohibits “pederasty,” commonly understood to mean sex between a man and a boy, and makes it a crime punishable by 5 to 15 years in prison. “Moral crimes” charges, which under Afghan law include not only pederasty but also all sexual relations between people who are not married to each other, have frequently been used to punish the victim of a criminal offense. “When a man has sex with a 13-year-old child, the child is a victim of rape, not a criminal offender,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “The Afghan government should never have victimized this boy a second time, but instead should have released him immediately with urgent protection and assistance.” A prosecutor involved in the case told Human Rights Watch that the boy was prosecuted because he said he had consented to engaging in sexual relations with several adult men. The decision in the case is under appeal. The authorities also arrested the men and charged them with moral crimes, but the outcome of their case is unknown. There is no age of consent for sex under Afghan law. Children under age 19 convicted of crimes are entitled to reduced sentences under the 2005 Juvenile Code. United Nations bodies responsible for protecting the rights of children have said that countries should have an age of consent sufficiently high to protect children. In spite of Afghanistan’s strict prohibitions on sex outside of marriage, the United Nations and other organizations have documented numerous instances of sexual abuse of boys through a practice known as “bacha bazi.” The phrase, which translates as “boy play,” refers to boys who work as dancers, performing at parties attended by men, and typically living under the protection of a military commander or other patron. Afghan culture typically prohibits women or girls from dancing for a male audience. While their role as entertainers can be innocent, in many instances these boys are also the victims of sexual assault and abuse. “The Afghan government needs to take urgent steps to protect children from sexual assault, including boys who are abused through the practice of bacha bazi,” Adams said. “Treating boys who have been raped as criminals undermines all government efforts to protect children from abuse.” In 2009, Afghanistan enacted the Law on Elimination of Violence Against Women, which for the first time introduced the term “rape” as a criminal offense under Afghan law. The law imposed sentences similar to the 5-to-15-year sentences for pederasty and sex between people who are not married to each other. Although some alleged rapists have been prosecuted under this law, in 2012, Human Rights Watch documented repeated incidents in which prosecutors pursued criminal charges against alleged rape victims for engaging in extramarital sex. Prosecutors told Human Rights Watch that they had pursued criminal charges in such cases because they did not believe victims who said they had been raped, or they believed the victims were of “bad character.” Since the law’s passage, specialized units responsible for prosecuting crimes against women and children have been established in several Afghan provinces with support from international donors. The UN in 2012 documented numerous cases of sexual assault of boys and girls, including sexual assault of boys by armed men and in detention centers. A major limitation of the 2009 law is that it refers only to the rape of women or girls. There is no comparable specific prohibition on rape of men and boys. A wide-ranging revision of Afghanistan's penal code has been planned for several years, but there has been little progress in drafting a new law. “Afghan lawmakers should move forward promptly in revising the Penal Code to provide better protection for both victims and criminal suspects,”Adams said. “The revision should ensure that rape is seen as a serious crime, whether committed against men and boys or women and girls, and that victims are not treated as criminals.”

NATO begins Afghanistan withdrawal

The first phase of NATO's withdrawal from Afghanistan began Sunday with 25 containers containing military equipment entering Pakistan, media reports said. Dawn News said the convoy of 25 containers was provided with routine security for its journey from Torkham to Karachi. According to Xinhua, the containers were heading to the port city of Karachi for shipment. Fawad Khan, who works for private company Bilal Associates responsible for shipment of US cargo from Afghanistan, said his company cleared the US defence equipment at the Torkham border point. 'The convoy left for Karachi after customs clearance,' he was quoted as saying. The US, which currently has more than 60,000 troops in Afghanistan, plans to withdraw several thousands of troops this year. The NATO has set 2014 for a complete withdrawal. It has around 150,000 troops.

Guns N' Roses - November Rain

New US commander takes the helm in Afghanistan

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford took over Sunday as the new and probably last commander of all U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan. The American-led NATO coalition is entering the final stretch of its participation in a war that will have lasted more than 13 years when most foreign combat troops pull out at the end of 2014. Dunford took over leadership of the International Security Assistance Force, and a smaller but separate detachment of American troops, from Marine Gen. John Allen, who had led them for the past 19 months. "Today is not about change, it's about continuity," Dunford told a gathering of coalition military leaders and Afghan officials. "What's not changed is the growing capability of our Afghan partners, the Afghan national security forces. What's not changed is our commitment, more importantly, what's not changed is the inevitability of our success." He takes charge at a critical time for President Barack Obama and the military. NATO decided at its 2010 summit in Lisbon to withdraw major combat units, but to continue training and funding Afghan troops and leave a residual force to hunt down al-Qaida and other terrorist groups. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "much work lies ahead" for Dunford as he tries to meet those objectives while at the same time withdrawing about 100,000 foreign troops, including 66,000 from the United States. Dunford, from Boston, Massachusetts, will face serious challenges as he tries to accommodate an accelerated timetable for handing over the lead for security responsibility to Afghan forces this spring — instead of late summer as originally planned. "I told him our victory here will never be marked by a parade or a point in time on a calendar when victory is declared. This insurgency will be defeated over time by the legitimate and well-trained Afghan forces that are emerging today and who are taking the field in full force this spring," Allen said. He added that success would be described as an "Afghan force defending Afghan people, and enabling an Afghan government to serve its citizens. This is victory; this is what winning looks like." Although the Afghan security forces are almost at their full strength of 352,000, it is unclear if they are yet ready to take on the fight by themselves. Before departing, Allen admitted that the Afghans still need much work to become an effective and self-sufficient fighting machine, but he said a vast improvement in their abilities was behind a decision to accelerate the timetable for putting them in the lead nationwide this spring when the traditional fighting season begins. Obama said last month that the Afghans would take over this spring instead of late summer — a decision that could allow the speedier withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan. It is also unclear when the remaining 66,000 U.S. troops would return home, or how many American soldiers will remain after the end of 2014. Obama may use his State of the Union address on Tuesday to announce the next steps for concluding the war and a timetable for withdrawal along with plans for a residual force post-2014. Much of that depends on the U.S. negotiating a bilateral security agreement with the government that includes the contentious issue of immunity from Afghan prosecution for any U.S. forces that would remain here after 2014. President Hamid Karzai has said he will put any such decision in the hands of a council of Afghan elders, known as a Loya Jirga. Although Dempsey said earlier in the week that the United States had plans to leave a residual force, a failure to strike a deal on immunity would torpedo any security agreement and lead to a complete pullout of U.S. forces after 2014 — as it did in post-war Iraq. It is widely believed that no NATO-member nation would allow its troops to remain after 2014 to train, or engage in counterterrorism activities, without a similar deal. The head of NATO joint command in Europe, German Gen. Hans-Lothar Domrose, said the alliance was already making plans for a post-2014 presence, plans he said that were "all well advanced." Allen, 59, of Warrenton, Virginia, was the longest serving ISAF commander so far. Nearly two dozen generals have commanded troops from the United States and ISAF since the American invasion in late 2001 — with six U.S. generals including Dunford running both commands in the past five years alone. Also attending the ceremony were U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis, Commander, U.S. Central Command, and Gen. James Amos, head of the Marine Corps. Karzai did not attend.

Pakistan: Swiss authorities decision supported government stance

Law Minister Farooq H Naek called on President Asif Ali Zardari at the Bilawal House here on Sunday. During the meeting, the law minister informed the president that the decision by Swiss authorities supported the stance of the government taken before the court. On Saturday, Swiss authorities said they could not open graft cases against President Zardari in response to a letter written by the Pakistani government following the Supreme Court’s order in the NRO implementation case.

Swiss Decline To Reopen Zardari Corruption Probe

http://www.rferl.org

The Swiss government has formally decided not to reopen corruption investigations against Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari. According to the media reports, Swiss prosecutors notified the Pakistani government of the decision in a letter received on February 10. Senior Law Ministry official Yasmin Abbasey confirmed the reports in an interview with AFP. The letter came in response to a request in November by Pakistan's government seeking a renewal of a probe into persistent allegations that Zardari stole millions of dollars in state funds and deposited them in Swiss bank accounts controlled by his wife. Swiss authorities reportedly responded that the statute of limitations in the affair has expired. The case against Zardari was opened in the 1990s but was halted as a result of a 2007 amnesty. In 2009, the Pakistani Supreme Court ordered the government to reopen the investigation, sparking a domestic political crisis.

In the war on polio, tribesmen lose on all fronts

The Express Tribune

Tribesmen in North and South Waziristan have become collateral damage in the war on polio. While Taliban commanders have banned immunisation drives in both agencies, the political administration has refused to give residents government documents, including national identity cards (CNIC) and passports, if any child in their family is found unvaccinated. Criticising the new policy, chief of the Uthmanzai tribe in North Waziristan, Malik Qadar Khan, said that despite the fact that polio workers were killed in Karachi and Peshawar, the government did not impose such restrictions there. “We are Pakistanis too, so why has the government resorted to this?” Qadir said, adding that they have held jirgas with political officials to look into their concerns, but no progress has been made so far. South Waziristan Political Agent (PA) Shahidullah Khan, however, insisted that documents will only be issued after a person shows an authentication paper signed by a doctor verifying that his children have been administered polio drops. “The restriction is only for those people who intend to apply for fresh domiciles, CNIC and passports,” he added. All efforts to persuade people to administer polio drops to their children have failed, he said, adding that polio cases are rising in the tribal areas. On June 15 last year, Taliban commander in North Waziristan, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, banned anti-polio drives in the agency “unless drone strikes ended.” He also said that anyone who disobeyed these orders would be “held responsible for their actions.” Following this decision, the Mullah Nazir group in South Waziristan also banned anti-polio vaccination in its agency on June 25. After several unsuccessful negotiations with tribal elders, the political administration on directions of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) Secretariat on December 17, 2012 banned issuance of official documents to Wazir and Dawar tribes across the agencies. Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has said it will set up a protest in Islamabad if a ban on issuing official documents by the North and South Waziristan administrations is not lifted. PTI Chief Organiser Dr Bashir Ahmad Khan said the party will hold a hunger strike camp outside the Supreme Court of Pakistan and also hold rallies against the decision of linking the provision of obtaining CNICs and passports with polio vaccination. The issue has been taken up with the Election Commission of Pakistan, which has requested the Fata additional chief secretary to explain the matter, Bashir said. No response has been given as yet, however. “If the issue remains unresolved, our only option is to approach the Supreme Court against this injustice,” he said, adding “If the tribesmen are unable to get CNICs, how are they supposed to cast their vote?”

Suspected militants with ANA, Pak Army uniforms and explosives arrested in KP

Security forces conducted different raids in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday arresting four suspects, including two key commanders, besides seizing uniforms of Pakistani and Afghan National Army along with a huge quantity of arms and explosives. Security sources told Dawn.Com that the law enforcement agencies conducted a raid in Samar Bagh area of Lower Dir district and seized uniforms of Pakistan Army and the Afghan National Army (ANA) and arrested two suspects, who were shifted for further investigations. The sources further claimed that seven hand grenades, six detonators, three kilograms of explosives, nine mines, 7 mm gun, one Kalashnikov and several Chinese made guns were recovered from the suspects. The officials added that five uniforms of Pakistan Army and Afghan National Army each and the suspects were planning to conduct an attack disguised as ANA or Pakistani army personnel. In another raid in Nowshera district’s Jaroba area in Pabbi tehsil, law enforcement agencies arrested two suspected key commanders affiliated to a militant group. The arrested men were suspected to be the militant’s main source of weapons supply in Tirah Valley. The official sources added that the suspected militants were shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation.

Pakistan:The ECP relents, only a little

EDITORIAL:DAILY TIMES

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) continues to remain in the news. As demands from certain quarters for its reconstitution continue, it is business as usual for the institution that is in charge of ensuring that all election mechanisms are in order and loopholes covered. From the authenticity of voters’ lists, to proper submission of nomination papers, to verification of data provided by potential candidates, to strategising the elimination of pre- and during polls rigging, the ECP has a body of work that is not just time consuming but also requires a great amount of transparency of action. One important step taken by the ECP was the ban it imposed on any new recruitments/hiring of personnel for any government departments that could be seen as an attempt to curry favour with the voters before the elections. The ECP directive of January 22, 2013, ordered a complete ban on new jobs before the elections. It also said that foreign donor funds could not be diverted from the projects for which they were originally intended. After the review of the directive requested by the federal law and justice ministry, the ECP in a revised decree has retained the ban on any fresh recruitment excluding those announced before August 31, 2012. The prohibition against diverting foreign donor funds has also been retained, with the concession that any such request would be looked at on a case-by-case basis. The ban on jobs excludes certain constitutional institutions such as the superior judiciary as well as recruitment through the public service commissions, federal and provincial. This decision is the ECP’s answer to the government’s contention that it has a mandate to govern until the assemblies are dissolved, and the complete ban on recruitments would disrupt the work of many ministries and departments. The ECP’s reviewed decision should be taken as a positive since it ensures that no undeserved favour is bestowed on anyone that may be classified as an incentive to tilt the vote in the upcoming elections in anyone’s favour. The government’s incumbency factor, combined with its power to authorise any position to be filled in any ministry, division, department and institution, puts it in the questionable position where it could be tacitly or otherwise using the official paraphernalia to promote its agenda for the purpose of gain in the elections. The ECP, within the parameters of its power, has presented a framework that would limit, if not eliminate, the misuse of power by the federal or any provincial government. The directive vis-à-vis diversion of funds is another positive step that would minimise any attempt at the abuse of donor funds for partisan political advantage. Any foreign donor’s request will be given due consideration, but no parliamentarian or high governmental official will be authorised to take large amounts of money that may be utilised to undertake a project in a particular area, where the rival group/s may not be in a position to do the same. This would be another step in establishing the incumbent government’s promise to ensure an unbiased environment where the populace would cast its vote as per its discretion, evaluating each candidate’s performance record, and not as a token of gratitude for a favour. The 2013 general elections will be a watershed moment in the troubled history of Pakistan, where the democratic system of governance has never been given a chance to establish a foothold. The ECP’s decisions provide a chance to divest the system of some of the anomalies that have been the trademark characteristics of the pre-election modus operandi of parties in power. Let the ECP, the institution in charge of overseeing the elections, fulfil its responsibilities in a fair and transparent manner. That would be a very important step in solidifying the democratic system of governance in Pakistan.