Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Boston bombing suspect arrested
Bahrain opposition calls for big protests ahead of F1 race
The main opposition society in Bahrain has called for a major demonstration ahead of Sunday's Formula One Grand Prix race in the Gulf kingdom.
Khalil al Marzooq, a senior Al Wefaq leader, told the BBC that the protest would take place along a major motorway, Budaiya Highway on Friday.
But he said the society will not call for protests on the day of the race.
Activists have demanded the race be cancelled due to the country's poor human rights record.
Mr Marzooq also urged all protests to be peaceful.
"We do not support any violence either from security forces or protesters," he said.
The F1 race is taking place against a backdrop of tension as unrest continues in the island kingdom.
On Tuesday, police fired tear gas and clashed with students in a raid on a secondary school in the capital, Manama.
Officers stormed the Jabreya school for boys after students staged a protest demanding the release of a colleague arrested on Monday, activists say.
Wefaq says more than 100 people have been arrested this month, many from villages close to the site of the race.
And Amnesty International has condemned what it called a "crackdown" on protests ahead of the race.
In a statement on Wednesday, the organisation's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said:
"The authorities are trying to use the Grand Prix as a platform to show progress, with claims that the human rights situation has improved, whilst stepping up repression in order to ensure nothing disturbs their public image."
However Citizens for Bahrain, an organisation that supports the race, rejected criticism from human rights groups.
In a statement sent to journalists it argued that "the race unites people, despite political differences, after a period of unrest and sectarian tension".
But Mr Marzook told the BBC that the tension is ongoing and that a dialogue aimed at finding solutions was "stalemated".
"The government wants the world to believe the situation is normal. Bahrain is not normal. The only thing that is normal is the repression."
The country has been rocked by anti-government protests since early 2011.
On Sunday a car bomb blew up in the heart of the financial district in the capital Manama, though without causing injuries.
An opposition group calling itself the February 14 movement has said it was behind the blast.
While Wefaq and other opposition groups repeat their calls for peaceful protest, angry youths are ignoring them and routinely taking to the streets armed with Molotov cocktails.
They have set up roadblocks with burning tyres and have fought running battles with the police.
There have been almost daily clashes in Bahrain since security forces used birdshot and tear gas to quash a three-day-old peaceful protest at Manama's Pearl Roundabout on 17 February 2011.
As violence escalated 35 people, including five police officers, were killed, and hundreds more were hurt and jailed in February and March 2011.
Since then, opposition and human rights activists say more than 50 people have died, a figure which the government disputes.
Bilour urges interim govt, leaders to find solution to militancy
Less than 24 hours after he escaped a suicide blast on his convoy, senior Awami National Party (ANP) leader Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said that despite severe threats to his life, he will not step back from contesting elections.
At least 20 people were killed and dozens injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near the venue of an ANP meeting in the Yakatot area of Peshawar on Tuesday. Bilour, the former federal minister for railways and the ANP candidate for NA-I constituency, was the chief guest at the meeting.
The blast had injured the senior ANP leader, but was meant for his nephew, son of his slain brother Bashir Bilour.
Bilour, while addressing a press conference in Peshawar, said that an FIR will be lodged against the President of Pakistan, Supreme Court Chief Justice, Chief of Army Staff, Chief Election Commissioner and the leaders of all those political parties who did not condemn terrorists if any member of Bilour’s family or party was targeted henceforth.
Bilour called yesterday’s attack a cowardly act of terrorism and added that if CJSC, COAS, Chairman ECP and President of Pakistan sit together and try, they will arrive at a solution to deal with the threat of terrorism.
“We are fighting a war for the sovereignty and integrity of the country; we do not have personal enmity with anyone,” he said, posing the question, “why ANP activists and leaders are particularly being targeted by the terrorists?”
The former minister further urged the public to come forward and openly denounce terrorist acts in which innocent people have lost their lives. He stated that those cannot be true Muslims killing other Muslims without any cause.
“Ulema should come forward and need to collectively issue a Fatwa against terrorism. Whereas other political parties should also come forward and defend ANP because we are neither non-Muslims nor non-believers; we believe on humanity and have the same faith of Maulana Hussain Ahmed Madani and Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad,” he said.
I do not care for my life, Bilour valiantly declared, while adding that that terrorists attempts to deter ANP political workers from their path are futile and that the party will continue denouncing terrorists and their activities.
Bilour though finds himself in a peculiar quandry after the Taliban apologised to him for the injuries sustained in the attack, claiming they were unaware the senior leader would be at the gathering.
“We apologise to Ghulam Bilour because we announced an amnesty for him,” Taliban spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan had told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location hours after the blast.
“Our target was Haroon Bilour.”
US Offers Aid as Iran Quake Kills 40 in Balochistan
The Baloch HalTroops scrambled in Balochistan Wednesday to aid the remote victims of an earthquake centred in nearby Iran, as the United States offered assistance and a strong aftershock jolted the region. The epicentre of Tuesday’s 7.8 magnitude quake lay in southeast Iran but all 40 deaths reported so far have been in Balochistan, where hundreds of mud-built homes suffered damage. The powerful tremor shook the ground and caused panic as far afield as Kuwait and the Indian capital New Delhi. Thousands of people evacuated towering residential and office buildings in Dubai. A new aftershock early Wednesday frayed nerves on the Iran-Pakistan border. The US Geological Survey measured its magnitude at 5.7. In Pakistan, officials said that regular army and paramilitary forces had deployed to help the relief effort after Tuesday’s quake brought down homes in the Mashkail area of Balochistan. Military helicopters carrying medical teams have been sent to the area while paramilitary troops are supplementing the relief efforts, they said. “The death toll is estimated at more than 40, including women and children,” Major Attiq Minhas of the paramilitary Frontier Corps Baluchistan told AFP at Dalbandin airport, around 250 kilometres from Mashkail. He said 650 personnel were involved in the rescue operation in Mashkail town and that so far medical staff had received 23 wounded people. Abdul Bari, a 32-year-old tailor who broke his leg, told AFP that his wife and children were fine, but feared that dozens of people from his neighbourhood had been killed or wounded. “I was on my way home from my tailoring shop when the earth started shaking and soon found myself on the ground with the wall of a house on me,” he told AFP in Dalbandin, after travelling for five and a half hours by taxi for help. “When I felt the tremors, I saw within seconds houses razed to the ground. It was like doomsday,” he said, while waiting for an army helicopter ambulance. “I saw three small children taken out from the debris of a collapsed wall by local people. Two were slightly injured while one seemed serious,” he added. UN chief Ban Ki-moon also expressed condolences after Tuesday’s disaster and said the “United Nations stands ready to help as necessary if asked to do so”. The quake struck in the afternoon with its epicentre around 80 kilometres east of the city of Khash, in the Iranian province of Sistan Balochistan, the USGS said. A local health official in Iran told the Fars news agency that more than 20 villages were probably “severely damaged”, based on initial reports. At least 27 people were hurt in Iran, according to a local governor speaking to the IRNA news agency, but there was no immediate confirmation of any deaths. The quake came a week after another struck near Iran’s Gulf port city of Bushehr, killing at least 30 people. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported that the latest quake had caused no damage to Iran’s nuclear power plant at Bushehr or any other nuclear facilities. David Rothery, who chairs the volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis course at Britain’s Open University, said the depth of Tuesday’s quake – 82 kilometres underground – would have lessened its impact. But he added that the area “is mountainous, and damage can be expected from landslides as well as because of poorly constructed buildings”.
Boston Marathon bombing suspect reportedly identified
http://rt.com/Law enforcement officials in Boston tell reporters that they may have identified the suspect thought responsible for Monday’s deadly bombing that has so far claimed three lives. Just after 1 p.m. local time on Wednesday, CNN reported that a suspect has apparently been identified, but no other details have been released at this time. It is unknown as to whether or not the suspect has been detained, and his name and identify have not been made public as of this time. According to CNN’s sources, surveillance video from a department store and a local television station are believed to have helped authorities identify the person sought responsible for Monday’s incident, which US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday is being investigated as an act of terror. CNN’s John King reports from Boston that the video footage helped police narrow in on a person being considered a suspect in the attack “to such detail, I’m told, that they believe they have a clear identification, including a facial image of a suspect.”
Afghanistan: Education under attack
http://www.afghanistantimes.af/Certain reports are doing rounds in media that Nangarhar University hostel has become a tryst for the Taliban and Hizb-e-Islami (HIA) political activits who are becoming a threat to the smooth learning environment of the university. Universities and education centers are supposed to be cradles of change—the change that’s real in essence and everlasting in nature. But unfortunately our universities are becoming political centers instead of imparting modern education. During the past three decades Afghanistan has found itself mired in number of challenges, and the more it tries to get out of these challenges the more it sinks into them. Its education is under attack as hundreds of schools have been blown up by militants, so far. While certain invisible hands have also vitiated the peaceful and conducive learning environments of universities. Moreover, the same reeking mindset of civil war era is gradually creeping into universities where you will hear too much about politics, ethnic prides and identities, but less about the changes taking place globally. Afghanistan’s population is extremely young, with a noted youth bulge, but unfortunately the youth is standing at the crossroad. If they fall prey to the mindset of warlords, the country will face yet another decade of hardships and challenges. Most of the youngsters have not seen the civil war era personally, which is good, but most of the time they hear about it from their elders, who knowingly or unknowingly are doing a bad job to their children, and eventually to the nation. Unfortunately children of the nation receive heavy doses of repugnance-capsules at home by their elders. Since their elders have seen the civil war times, which is why they speak ill about it and usually take sides and blame those who is not from their own ethnic group. Such talks leave indelible imprints on their children’s nascent minds. It also shows that how much we have become morally corrupt as no one has the courage to own it as a national problem as one ethnic group says that it is because of another group and vice versa. In a sense the repercussions of the bloody civil war are still dogging us. Moreover, universities and colleges are the places where students come across different lingual or ethnic groups and instead of transforming a new society—a society where there is no talk about ethnic identities and prides, they unfortunately have fallen victim to a disease of hate-speech, intolerance and ethnic rifts. 2012 was riddled with such tensions in education centers. In Kabul University there was bloodshed and the university remained shut for weeks. Now once again certain reports are afloat in media that Nangarhar University’s hostel has become a preferred place for night-time political gatherings. Its hostel has become a tryst for anti and pro-government students. This is too unfortunate. However, more unfortunate is the silence of the government over it as all it is going under the very nose of the government. Though a few students were arrested by security forces but the issue is still going on. Besides that their political and apolitical activities badly affect the conducive learning environment for those students who come purely for education purposes. It has become evident that most of the students have started campaigns for the Taliban and Hizb-e-Islami of Afghanistan (HIA).And if the issue goes unaddressed by the government the day is not so far that it will become a new serpentine challenge.
Pakistan: Taxes and politicians
The tax returns filed by those intending to contest the 2013 election have once again highlighted the fact that the ruling elite, engaged in conspicuous consumption, nonetheless pays income taxes that are simply not proportionate to their wealth. Much has been said in the media about the appallingly low taxes paid by several prominent senior politicians notably former prime ministers Gilani and Ashraf as well as the heads of various parties including PML (N), the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf, the MQM, the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (F) and Awami National Party.
The general perception supported by recent research does indicate that the majority of Pakistani politicians in both the provincial and national assemblies, hailing mainly from the rich farm sector, exempt from the payment of income tax to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) as the constitution stipulates that farm income tax is a provincial subject, pay a very small percentage to the provincial kitty. The reason is the option allowed by provincial governments to the farm sector: either pay provincial farm income tax which has a tax code similar to the federal tax code or else pay taxes on farm income computed on the basis of acreage under cultivation. The rich farmers in all provinces, almost exclusively, opt to pay tax on the basis of acreage under cultivation which is a much smaller amount relative to the tax on income payable to the provincial kitty. This is supported by the fact that total tax collections under this head for all provinces have been very low.
The provincial governments did achieve enhanced financial autonomy after the agreement on the 7th National Finance Commission award which envisaged 56 percent to be assigned to the provinces in 2010-11 and fifty-seven and a half percent from 2011-12 onwards. In addition, the 18th Constitutional Amendment devolved several ministries notably education and health to the provinces which, it was argued, could be funded from the provincial exchequer with the rise in their financial resources from the divisible pool. Be that as it may, the onus of increasing their own revenues to enable them to implement projects in the devolved social sectors with a view to ensuring access to all in the province now falls on provincial governments, which has led many to argue that provinces must also seek to further supplement their income. That unfortunately has not happened. One way to increase provincial revenue would be for the provincial governments to withdraw the two options available to rich farmers and compel them to pay income tax at the same rate as that levied by the FBR on incomes of the salaried class.
Poor tax collections in Pakistan with an appallingly low tax to Gross Domestic Product ratio has received much attention not only from the local media but several major donor governments have expressed anger against the continued failure of the government to compel the 'elite' to pay taxes. Hillary Clinton as the then Secretary of State consistently and legitimately maintained that the government of Pakistan must not rely on the US taxpayers to provide support for the economy when Pakistani elite were not paying taxes. This view was also expressed by the German Foreign Minister - Germany is one of the top four countries providing assistance to Pakistan - with the most recent such argument presented by a British select committee of parliament. Given the global recession and the need for Western governments to implement politically challenging austerity measures on their own people not only has overall development assistance declined world-wide but the West has also begun to link aid to performance. Pakistan would therefore have to implement reforms in the tax and power sectors before we can hope to access external assistance. Levy of a farm income tax by provincial governments at the same rate as dictated by the FBR would be a positive step in this direction.
Pakistan: Militants force thousands to flee FR Peshawar
Thousands of people fled the semi-tribal Akakhel area and shifted to different localities of Peshawar after receiving threats from banned militant group Lashkar-i-Islam of Khyber Agency.
A number of Akakhel people told Dawn on Tuesday that they had to leave their homes because Lashkar-i-Islam (LI) had warned them to support it or vacate the area.
They said that about 5,000 people had left the area. However, police put the number of displaced Akakhel persons at 2,000.
“We received many warnings in the past but did not pay any head to these, however, the latest warning was given directly by militants, who came on motorcycles and talked to our elders to leave the area or ready to die,” said Mohammadullah Khan, a resident of Akakhel in Frontier Region of Peshawar. He said that at least 5,000 people had reached Koh-i-Daman, a suburban area of Peshawar. He said that the displaced people were residing with their relatives and under the open sky.
“Many of the displaced people have been accommodated by the residents of Matani, Badbher, Mashokhel, Maryamzai, Sherikera, Zangali, Sheikhan and other localities. We are in dire need of food, shelter and other daily use items but the government is yet to take notice of our miseries,” Mr Khan said.
Mr Khan said that media didn’t highlight the miseries of those people, who walked on foot from Akakhel to reach safer places owing to non-availability of transport facility.
“Usually the drivers of Datsun pick-up demand Rs500 to 1,000 from Peshawar to Akakhel but now they demand Rs4,000 for a single trip owing to the alarming law and order situation in the area,” he said.Mr Khan said that they left behind household items to save their lives. He said that most of the displaced Akakhel people belonged to Zawa, Margat and Hassankhel villages.
He said that basic reason of their displacement was establishment of peace committees in the area. “The people of Akakhel supported the anti-Taliban lashkar and blocked entry of militants into Peshawar district. It infuriated militants and they started targeting our people. Many of our people were killed in targeted attacks, bomb blasts and even students of the area were killed in the recent past,” he said.
The law enforcement agencies, he said, also asked people to save themselves as the situation was very alarming and they might face casualties if they remained in their homes.
Mr Khan said that a government primary school in Ajab Talal village and houses of the leaders of some of the peace bodies were also blown up on Monday.
He said that terrorists also attacked Zawa Levies checkpost on Tuesday night. Several persons were injured in the attack, he added.
Haji Gul, another resident of the area, demanded of the government to register Akakhel people as internally displaced persons, provide essential commodities to them and arrange schooling for the students.
He said that local people were offering cooked food to them but it was not a matter of a day or two. It was duty of the government to take steps for supporting them, he said. “We are also in dire need of drinking water,” Mr Gul said.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Rural Circle Shafiullah Khan, when contacted, said that at least 1,500 Akakehl people were staying in Matani and over 200 families in Badbher and adjacent areas. “Security is our main concern and thus we have established checkpoints at different places and deployed police to conduct search of the luggage and bodies of the people entering Peshawar,” he added.
The SP said that influx of Akakhel people started a few days ago when tribal people from Tirah valley were shifting to Peshawar owing to operation there.
Despite repeated efforts officials of Provincial Disaster Management Authority could not be contacted by telephone.
US drone destroys 'Taliban base' in Pakistan
A US drone has fired two missiles into a Taliban training camp in Pakistan, destroying the compound and killing at least five people, local officials have said.
Wednesday's strike took place in the Baber Ghar area of the South Waziristan tribal district on the Afghan border, a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud where the faction runs several camps.
One local security official, however, said the five killed were suspected al-Qaeda fighters.
"The target was a base of Pakistani Taliban. Five militants have been killed and two injured," the official told AFP news agency.
Another official in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, confirmed the attack and told AFP the drone targeted a base of Tehreek-e-Taliban, Pakistan's umbrella Taliban faction.
Pakistan repeatedly denounces US drone strikes, criticising them as a violation of sovereignty that inflame anti-Americanism despite leaked US diplomatic cables that showed leaders allegedly agreed to them in private.
UN special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights envoy Ben Emmerson, who visited Islamabad last month as part of an investigation into civilian casualties caused by drone strikes, said the US drone attacks violated Pakistan's sovereignty.
According to Britain's Bureau of Investigative Journalism, CIA drone attacks in Pakistan have killed up to 3,587 people since 2004, up to 884 of them civilians.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Pakistan To Remove Border Installations After Afghan Objections
http://www.rferl.org/A senior Afghan military official says Pakistan has promised to remove controversial installations along the disputed border line between the two countries. Afzal Aman, the Afghan National Army's chief of military operations, said Pakistan would remove the structures on April 16. Aman told RFE/RL that the agreement was reached during a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart in Islamabad on April 15. One day earlier, Afghan President Hamid Karzai had reportedly instructed his top security officials to take "immediate action" regarding the removal of a border gate and checkpoint recently installed by Pakistan along the British-drawn Durand Line.An Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman had suggested that "all options" were open in Kabul to ensure the installations were removed. Pakistan and the United States view the Durand Line, created in the 19th century, as an international border. Kabul, however, has consistently refused to recognize the Durand Line, a boundary that cuts through the ethnic Pashtun heartland.
Ghulam Bilour wounded, 9 others killed as ANP rally is targeted Peshawar
Awami National Party leader Ghulam Ahmed Bilour was injured while 9 party supporters were killed in a blast targeting an election rally in the Yakatoot area of Peshawar. According to initial information, Bilour and his nephew Haroon Bilour, the son of the late Bashir Bilour, were leaving the rally venue when a bomb struck near Haroon's vehicle, injuring his uncle Ghulam Bilour. Haroon Bilour escaped the attack. At least 9 supporters of the party are reported dead while 40 others are being treated at the Lady Reading Hospital. - See more at: http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2013/04/16/news/national/ghulam-bilour-wounded-others-killed-as-anp-rally-is-targeted-peshawar/#sthash.0BBlG23T.dpuf
Blast near ANP meeting in Peshawar kills 8, injures 45
At least eight people were killed and 45 were injured in a blast in Peshawar near a Awami National Party (ANP) meeting on Tuesday.
The bomb blast took place in Yakatoot just after the arrival of senior Awami National Party leader Ghulam Ahmed Bilour.
Initial reports suggest that it was a suicide attack targeting ANP leader Ghulam Bilour’s car. The car caught fire after the blast in which the driver burnt to death, while Bilour reportedly sustained injuries.
SHO Kotwali Abid Khan was also killed in the blast.
The injured, including Express News correspondent Ehtisham Khan, were shifted to Lady Reading Hospital.
Nearby shops were also damaged in the blast.
A rescue operation is underway at the site.
Earthquake kills at least 21 in Pakistan
According to US Geological Survey, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck Iran on Tuesday, killing at least 45 people while tremors of the quake were felt in several other countries including Pakistan killing at least 21 people in Mashkeel area of Balochistan.
The epicenter of the quake was area near Pak-Iran-Afghan border at a depth of 73 miles.
According to Director General Met Arif Mahmood, a 7.9-magnitude quake was recorded while its depth was 76 kilometre.
People came out of houses and offices due to the tremors.
The earthquake damaged a part of a six-storey building at Tariq Road in Karachi while windowpanes of several other buildings were also damaged.
Tremors were also felt in other cities of the country, including Lahore, Multan, Quetta and parts of Sindh.
Strong tremors of quake were also felt in North West areas of India and several other countries including UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.
Pakistan: ''' Approaching IMF ''
The fear that Islamabad will eventually approach the International Monetary Fund for yet another bail-out package have finally come true because Pakistan has decided to again approach the world body as the only option to replenish its dwindling foreign exchange reserves and widening budget deficit. A six-member delegation, including the State Bank of Pakistan governor and chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue, will enter into technical talks with the International Monetary Fund for a $5-7.5 billion package. The delegation will, between April 17 and 22, also negotiate with the United States treasury department for the next tranche of Coalition Support Fund. Pakistan has estimated the CSF at $ 2.52 billion and Washington has accounted this to be $1.5 billion. With the US authorities showing willingness to disburse fresh CSF to Pakistan, an agreement between the two figures seems on the card during the Pakistan delegation visit to Washington. The talks will be held on the sidelines of annual spring meeting of the World Bank and IMF. The three-day meeting is scheduled to begin on April 19.
A critical picture of Pakistan's economy was portrayed by the State Bank of Pakistan which reported last week that the country's foreign exchange reserves are rapidly falling and budget deficit gap is also widening. The central bank said that foreign exchange reserves had declined from $8.7bn, at the end of January, to $6.7bn on April 5, mainly due to debt repayments. The balance of payment position continues to be driven by low financial inflows and high debt repayments as net capital inflow of $34m in first eight months were not sufficient to finance external current account deficit of $700m. It said the current account deficit was expected to widen in the remaining two months and the net capital and financial flows were not likely to increase considerably. This pressure on the national economy was hard to be eased out unless fresh income flows were generated. The caretaker government, realizing the economic situation, reluctantly decided to go for another IMF bailout out package, the third since 2007-08, because no other option was apparently available.
What is, however, feared at this stage is that the IMF would impose stricter conditions for the next package than before as the world body has been showing its displeasure on Pakistani authorities failing, owing to political reasons, in enforcing a general sales tax, withdrawal of subsidies in the power and agricultural sectors, structural reforms to put the macroeconomic framework in order over the next few years and many more. As beggars are no choosers, Islamabad might this time assure the IMF to meet its condition in the absence of another alternate. Nevertheless, if GST is placed in action, Pakistan may achieve the long standing objective of documentation of the national economy that would ultimately bring the affluent trading community and the country's elite into the tax net.
Pakistan has since repaid a total $8.3 billion of the remaining IMF loan and is required to pay another $840 million during the current fiscal year. The remaining amount of $5.3bn would have to be repaid over the next two years. The IMF is least satisfied with Pakistan's ability to retire its debt and this may serve as instrumental for the country getting another bailout package. Another factor favouring Pakistan is the increase of remittances from Pakistanis abroad which have been growing since 2006 and have touched a figure of approximately $20 billion. Promising trend has also been witnessed in the country's exports mainly due to the major contribution by the textile sector that swelled by a robust 36 per cent in the first 10 months of the current fiscal. Except for these areas none other external inflows showed up in the federal budget for 2012-13. This poses a serious challenge to the economy.
The main area of shortfalls remains the failure of the Federal Board of Revenue in meeting targets. The FBR is, however, unlikely to achieve the annual revenue collection target of Rs 2.3 trillion revenue collection as is manifest from a robust shortfall that stood at of more than Rs 60 billion in first four months of the year 2012-13. This area has been a permanent worry for the country's economic managers because the FBR is infested with rampant corruption and bureaucratic lethargy. Exactly this is the area of concern for the IMF which wants the country's elite to be taxed. The world body is all likely to enter into a new arrangement with Islamabad but effective measures to boost the tax recovery regime have to be taken but, for all practical purposes, tax collection is a victim of political expediency.
ZARDARI URGES TRIBAL PEOPLE TO ACTIVELY TAKE PART IN POLLS
President Asif Ali Zardari has urged people of tribal areas to enthusiastically participate in the general elections and elect representatives who can bring about a positive change in their lives.Addressing a grand jirga of elders from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) at the President House here on Monday, he said the country was undergoing a democratic transition for the first time in its history.He said security concerns and the fragile law and order situation should not obstruct the electoral process. He said he himself had suffered and rendered sacrifices in the war against militancy and mentioned the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.President Zardari said a nation itself should change its circumstances and should not expect anyone else to do it for them.“You have skilled manpower, highly qualified engineers, doctors and other professionals who can play an active role in bringing about a socio-economic change in their respective areas.”The president said that after an initial resistance in some parts of Fata, the Benazir Income Support Programme had now started receiving attention. A number of features might be added to the programme which could cater to health, education and stipends for tribal people through its social safety net, he added.The president said the PPP-led government from day one had been doing a lot to develop the area and bring it on a par with other parts of the country.He said the appointment of the KP governor from Fata was a step in the right direction and it would go a long way in bringing the area to the national mainstream and acknowledge it as an important part of the country and to recognise sacrifices of its people.The president called the valiant and courageous people of Fata “defenders of the frontiers”. He acknowledged their sacrifices and struggle along with the armed forces to make Pakistan a safe place to live.He said the PPP-led government had taken a number of measures over the past five years for uplift of tribal people and had opened for the first time an opportunity for reforms in Fata which had been denied for over a century.Besides getting a new judicial system, he said people of tribal areas had been allowed for the first time to freely participate in political activities.Mr Zardari said the new judicial system in Fata ensured due process and right to appeal and bail. It was, he added, a leap forward for the people of Fata towards freedom, liberty, human rights and political participation.He said that those considering reforms in Fata as too little too late should realise that the door had finally opened and all should work together to open up further the window of opportunity.But he stressed that the drive for change in Fata must come from within because it could not be imposed from outside. He said changes and reforms must respect tribal customs and traditions without which any reforms would fail.The president stressed the need for devising a monitoring mechanism to oversee implementation of reforms on the ground. He said it was important that reforms were fully implemented, and it must be ensured that people actually benefited from them.He assured that along with the Gomal Zam project, Bara dam would also be constructed to meet water and energy needs of the area.He stressed the need for stepping up efforts for setting up the Fata Information Technology University and Fata Medical College.He mentioned a new model for development wherein tribal people would be partners in projects and industries that would be set up under the concept of Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) in tribal areas.Mr Zardari said the problems being faced by internally displaced persons in Fata would be seriously addressed.He assured construction of schools, colleges and academic institutions in the tribal areas. He said efforts were being made for enhanced access of Pakistani goods to international market which would promote industrial development and create jobs for the youth.Senate Chairman Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Governor Shaukatullah, federal ministers, elders from different agencies of Fata, ACS Fata Dr Tashfeen Khan and senior officials of the Fata secretariat attended the jirga.
Musharraf barred from Pakistan elections
Former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who returned to his homeland from exile just weeks ago pledging to become its next prime minister, was barred from the race Tuesday by election judges.
An appellate panel in Peshawar disqualified Musharraf from running for a parliamentary seat in a northwestern district where he had earlier been approved and stood a chance of winning. Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan for nine years but left in 2008 under threat of certain impeachment, also has been barred from running for three other parliamentary seats in other districts.
Musharraf’s campaign blamed the disqualifications on biased electoral officials, noting that they are drawn from the judiciary, which in 2007 launched a movement to unseat Musharraf.
“We were anticipating this from the very beginning,” said Aasia Ishaq, spokeswoman for Musharraf’s campaign.
Ishaq said Musharraf’s party would appeal the election panel’s ruling to the Supreme Court and continue with its plans to field candidates. The party, she said, has already picked 125 candidates to run for seats in the historic May 11 election, which would bring the first transition of elected governments in Pakistan’s history.
The chances of Musharraf resuming his campaign seem as slim as his prospects for victory. He has found little public support since his return last month from Dubai— his home in exile along with London— although some Pakistanis say they believe he managed the economy better and made the country more secure.
But the retired general is widely criticized for his autocratic efforts to stay in office — including suspending the constitution and sacking the Supreme Court. Today the court is headed by the same chief justice that Musharraf fired and is hearing a case by lawyers who want Musharraf tried for treason.
Musharraf can seek a stay of the election judges’ ruling, but the process would probably drag on beyond the election, said lawyer and constitutional expert S.M. Zafar. “Legally, he can go to higher courts, but practically, he seems to be out of the race and he holds no chance to contest the polls,” Zafar said.
On Monday, Musharraf unveiled the platform of his party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, and reiterated why he had returned to the country at the risk of jail and death at the hands of militants who have say they have created a special squad to kill him.
“The only thing in my heart was to save Pakistan,” he told reporters. “And now [that] I am here I have the same commitment, that I will save Pakistan.”
Obama Vows Justice for Those Responsible for Boston Attacks
VOA.COMPresident Barack Obama has vowed to bring to justice to whoever was responsible for the explosions in Boston Monday that killed at least two people and wounded many others. President Obama says he has directed the full resources of the federal government to help state and local authorities protect Americans, as an investigation continues into the Boston explosions. "We still do not know who did this or why, and people should not jump to conclusions before we have all the facts," said Obama. "But make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this and we will find who did this and we will find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice." Obama did not specifically describe the explosions in Boston as a terrorist attack. But a White House official said "any event with multiple explosive devices, as this appears to be, is clearly an act of terror, and will be approached as an act of terror. The official said a thorough investigation will have to determine whether the Boston attack was planned and carried out by a terrorist group, foreign or domestic. Obama said he has spoken with U.S. congressional leaders. On Capitol Hill, House Speaker John Boehner led the chamber in observing a moment of silence. The president was notified of the explosions minutes after they occurred and briefed by his new Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco and other members of the White House senior staff. Obama telephoned Boston Mayor Tom Menino and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to offer support. The president also received a briefing from Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. In addition to the two explosions near the Boston Marathon finish line, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis also reported an incendiary device and fire at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library. Davis said it was not certain it was related to the earlier blasts near the Boston Marathon finishing line, but officials were working on the assumption that it was. President Obama paid tribute to the people of Boston, saying he is confident they will support each other in this difficult time. "Boston is a tough and resilient town," he said. "So are its people. I am supremely confident that Bostonians will pull together, take care of each other and move forward as one proud city, and as they do, the American people will be with them every single step of the way." In Washington, police cordoned off Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House for precautionary reasons. In New York, a Police Department spokesman said the city increased security in the city's subway system, and around major landmarks in Manhattan, including near prominent hotels.
Terror at Boston Marathon: 3 dead, 144 wounded
It was a gruesome end to what should have been a celebration of triumph.
One man's legs were instantly blown off, yet he kept trying to stand up.
Exhausted marathoners had to muscle the energy to flee the bloody scene.
And more than 140 people remain hospitalized, some in critical condition.
As authorities try to figure out who triggered the deadly bombings Monday at the Boston Marathon, which killed an 8-year-old boy and two others, many are at a loss to explain why anyone would target the annual event that celebrates thousands of runners from around the world.Both blasts happened in quick succession, near the row of international flags that led up to the finish line. The impact was so powerful, it whipped the limp flags straight out as if they were caught in a hurricane.
It also knocked 78-year-old runner Bill Iffrig to the ground."I was just approaching the last straightaway to the finish line, and I had a good day and was feeling really good, and I got down to within about 15 feet of the finishing apron and just tremendous explosion, sounded like a bomb went off right next to me," Iffrig said.
"The shock waves just hit my whole body and my legs just started jittering around. I knew I was going down," he said.
Iffrig was not seriously injured. But trails of blood, severed arms and legs and other body parts littered the scene nearby.
At least 144 people were hospitalized, with at least 17 in critical condition and 25 in serious condition, officials said. At least eight of the patients are children.
A terrorism expert briefed on the investigation said doctors are "pulling ball bearings out of people in the emergency room," suggesting the bombs were designed to propel shrapnel.
But Dr. Ron Walls of Brigham and Women's Hospital, which received 31 patients, said the debris found in some patients' wounds did not appear to be from ball bearings.
"Everything we saw was sort of ordinary ambient material that could have been propelled by the blast but was not added to the device," Walls said. "It was not the kind of things that would be added to a device to make it more injurious than it otherwise would be."At Massachusetts General Hospital, several patients suffered from injuries to lower limbs that will require "serial operations" in the coming days, trauma surgeon Peter Fagenholz said Monday night.
He said the most serious wounds "have been combined, complex lower injuries that involve blood vessels, bone and tissue."
Numerous patients had to have limbs amputated, Fagenholz said.
"Just like" going back to Iraq
Nurses Stephen Segatore and Jim Asaiante were stationed near the finish line, expecting to treat the usual ailments from runners -- cramps and dehydration.
Suddenly, they found themselves in a battlefield, with blood and debris everywhere.
"For me, it was just like going back to being in Iraq in 2006-2007," said Asaiante, an Army captain who served an 18-month tour.
"I heard the first IED, and I know there's never one. The bad guys always set up two or three" improvised explosive devices, he said.
From celebration to carnage
The plumes of smoke and images of bloodied victims running down streets also triggered haunting memories of the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Tami Hughes had just crossed the finish line and was looking for her husband when she heard a deafening explosion.
"I didn't know if it was a small aircraft going into the building," Hughes said. "I turned around and immediately saw the whitish-brownish smoke billowing up four or five stories and I couldn't believe that, you know, could it be a bomb?
"And I stared at it and about five or seven seconds later, when the second one went off, I knew immediately that it was something coordinated or organized, because I had been ... down in the financial center, 9/11. So you immediately go back to those moments where OK, where is the third one going to be?"
The hunt for clues
Investigators don't know who was behind the attack, or whether it was spawned domestically or from afar. But federal authorities are classifying it as an act of terrorism.
A federal law enforcement official said both bombs were small, and initial tests showed no C-4 or other high-grade explosive material, suggesting that the packages used in the attack were crude explosive devices.
The explosions went off near the finish line at about 4 hours and 9 minutes into the race, within a 10-minute window of the average finish time for the marathon.
But the fact that the blasts took place near the end of the race "seems to indicate this was not geared toward maximum damage," said a former federal law enforcement official who now works in the intelligence community.
"It may speak volumes about the (level of) planning that went into this," the source said. "It raises questions ... why didn't the bombs go off when the crowd was packed in like sardines when the winners were crossing the finish line? It could mean the people behind it couldn't get access to the area when they originally intended."
Officials have no suspect in custody, but many people are being questioned, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said.
Investigators warned police to be on the lookout for a "darker-skinned or black male" with a possible foreign accent in connection with the attack, according to a law enforcement advisory obtained by CNN. The man was seen with a black backpack and sweatshirt and was trying to get into a restricted area about five minutes before the first explosion, the lookout notice states.
Davis said authorities found at least one other explosive device that they were dismantling.
But Rep. Bill Keating, D-Massachusetts, said two undetonated devices were found.
One was discovered at a hotel on Boylston Street near the bomb site, and another was found at an undisclosed location, said Keating, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee. He called the bombing a "sophisticated, coordinated, planned attack."
The unexploded devices could provide a treasure trove of information such as fingerprints and indications of the bomb maker's design, said the former federal law enforcement official.
Late Monday night, authorities said they were still getting reports about suspicious packages, but some may be abandoned belongings left by fleeing spectators.
Davis said while no new devices had been found so far, he is "not prepared to say we're at ease at this point in time."
Monday, April 15, 2013
In Afghan peace, the Pakistan factor
The HinduIn Pakistan these days, a strange kind of schizophrenia is afoot, as the excitement over completing five, fulsome years of democratic rule competes with a growing tension with Afghanistan. Over the past couple of weeks, Pakistani officials and Afghan leaders have accused each other of fomenting terrorism, disturbingly raising the pitch and dropping all pretence of good neighbourly relations. According to the Afghans, the Pakistani military in late March indulged in unprovoked shelling and illegal construction along the Durand Line in the eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan — which Pakistan denies — which has so angered Kabul that it has cancelled its offer to train some of its military personnel in Pakistan. War of words An accompanying war of words has since claimed the air between the two neighbours. An unnamed Pakistani official told Reuters that the “biggest impediment to the (Afghan) peace process is Karzai. In trying to look like a saviour, he is taking Afghanistan straight to hell.” The Afghan Foreign Ministry made its anger known through a statement. “This demonstrates the interfering but delusional tendency of some in Pakistan who choose to ignore Afghanistan’s sovereignty...and continue to want to...re-exert control in Afghanistan through armed proxies,” it said. About the same time, Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), told its Supreme Court that the Afghan government was providing “strong support” to several anti-Pakistan terrorist groups, including the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. Clearly, as the clock moves inexorably towards the drawdown by the U.S. and international troops in April 2014, exactly a year from now, questions about the kind of role Pakistan can — and should play — in the region, lie at the heart of the escalating tension between the Afghan and Pakistan leadership. The Afghans argue that the Pakistanis have done little since the 9/11 incidents to eliminate terrorist havens and safe spaces inside their country, which the Taliban brazenly uses as sanctuary to mount attacks inside Afghanistan and then return home to Pakistan. But Pakistan continues to demand a position of primacy in the Pakistan-Afghan relationship, citing its front line state status as well as deep ethnic, civilisational and religious links between Pashtuns on both sides of the Durand Line. For years after September 11, as Afghanistan and the international community sought to rebuild that country, Afghanistan’s leaders held their tongue about what they really felt the Pakistani “deep state” was up to. Karzai, in fact, even moved out his former outspoken intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh because he realised that Saleh had gone too far in his public criticism about the Pakistani army and ISI using the Haqqani network of terrorists and other Taliban to foment trouble in Afghanistan. And that his comments were beginning to impact the relationship between Kabul’s chief sponsor, the U.S., and Pakistan. But Pakistan refused to back off. So when Karzai’s new intelligence chief Asadullah Khalid barely survived a suicide attempt in early December, a furious Karzai announced that “this man, who came in the name of a guest, came from Pakistan.” What really infuriates the Afghans is that Pakistan continues to treat their country as a weak-willed state with a ragtag security and police force that is totally corrupted from within. Even if serious trouble breaks out between the various Afghan ethnic groups after the Americans leave, a Karzai adviser said on the condition of anonymity, it will be a totally different situation from the time the Soviets left in 1989. “Afghanistan is a new country today, but the only one who doesn’t seem to have recognised it is Pakistan,” he said. “When the Taliban took over in the mid-1990s, the Pakistanis were only one in three countries in the world who supported them. They believe that when the Americans leave in 2014, they will return to being the most influential in Afghanistan through their control of the Taliban and the Haqqani network. The reality is totally different,” he added. Karzai’s supporters say he remains deeply upset by Pakistan’s refusal, in the decade since September 11, to act against hardline Afghan Taliban leaders living in Pakistan, in Quetta or Miramshah or elsewhere. Instead, the Pakistanis instigated the Americans to open direct talks with the Taliban, while the Americans, never very fond of Karzai, kept telling him to settle with Pakistan. Both initiatives sought to undermine him, Karzai felt. The last straw came in February during the London peace talks when the Pakistani side pushed Karzai to sign a Strategic Partnership Agreement, on the lines that Kabul had signed with Delhi in 2011. The document, in fact, had been given to the Afghan Foreign Minister, Zalmai Rassoul, during a visit to Islamabad in November 2012 by his charming counterpart, Hina Rabbani Khar, throwing the suave Afghan off-balance. It had not been on the agenda of their talks, but Rassoul took the paper back home with him. For constructive role It turned out that the Pakistanis wanted a special relationship to be institutionalised with Afghanistan, code language for prioritising Pakistan in its affairs. They demanded the sidelining of India (“not even a Muslim country,” the Pakistani Ambassador to Afghanistan, Mohammed Sadiq, had dismissively told former Taliban leader, Musa Hotak, during Ramzan celebrations last year) and discussed the offer to train some Afghan army personnel in Pakistan. Both sides promised to get their clerics to hold a conference in which suicide bombings would be condemned as un-Islamic. Within weeks, a top Pakistani cleric was justifying the actions of the suicide bomber and refusing to attend such a conference. “We want Pakistan to play a similar constructive role and secure the hearts and minds of the Afghan people, just as India has done. We don’t want a relationship that breeds violence and hatred. Afghanistan will protect its partnership with India at any cost,” Shaida Abdali, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to India, told this reporter. “As for Pakistan’s remarks that President Karzai has become an obstacle to a peace settlement...Yes, he is an obstacle to a foreign-owned and foreign-led peace settlement, not to an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led one,” Abdali added. An Afghan-watcher in Islamabad pointed out that Zardari is fully aware that his own “establishment” continues to use terrorists to promote its interests in Afghanistan, but cannot do much about it. He agreed that Zardari’s influence, even at the end of five years in power, hardly extended to security and the foreign policy towards India, leave alone Afghanistan. Meanwhile, as U.S. troops begin to draw down from Afghanistan, all eyes are focused on what the region will do to keep a civil warlike situation at bay. Karzai is said to be extremely keen that India supply military equipment to Afghanistan as well as substantially increase the numbers of security forces being trained by New Delhi, in line with the SPA signed with Kabul in 2011. But the truth is that India remains extremely hesitant. Some talk has also begun of a realignment of forces between Russia, Iran and India to both train and fund the equipping of the nascent Afghan security forces. The Americans have begun secret parleys with Iran in the hope that it will support the new Afghanistan’s interests. Moscow remains deeply worried. Only the Chinese still want to deal on their own. “We will not allow anyone to undermine the Afghan state, not the Taliban, the Pakistanis, the Americans or anyone other foreigner. In fact, we have decided to talk to the Taliban, in Bagram prison or outside, those who are willing to join the political process...There are many, including those in the Quetta shura willing to reconcile. We are tired of war. And we are determined to create a new country,” Abdali said.
Karzai Orders Removal Of Pakistani Border Gate
http://www.rferl.org/Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi has accused Pakistan of violating “international norms” by installing a border gate and checkpoint along a disputed border line between the two countries. Azimi told reporters on April 15 that Kabul will consider "all options" to remove the installations. In a national security council meeting on April 15, Karzai instructed his ministries of Defense, Interior, and Foreign Affairs to take "immediate action" to see the removal of the installations along the British-drawn Durand Line. Karzai also sought clarification from the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan on whether it assisted Pakistan in the building of the installations. Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi said of the new border gate that it was erected without coordination with Kabul. "Establishing a gate or any other construction must be in conformity of both sides," Azimi said. "Without conformity, establishing a gate on the Durand Line and inside Afghanistan is against all international norms and it's against all the roles and relations of both sides." He added: "We have all options at hand to remove this [Durand Line] gate and protect Afghanistan's sovereignty." Pakistan views the Durand Line -- established by British India and the Kingdom of Afghanistan in 1893 -- as an international border. Kabul, however, has consistently refused to recognize the Durand Line, a boundary that cuts through the ethnic Pashtun heartland. The United States also considers the Durand Line the modern-day border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The arrival of the British in northern India in the 19th century posed a major challenge to the Afghan and Turkic powers that had dominated the subcontinent for centuries. After losing a major war to the Afghans in 1842, the British eventually captured parts of Afghanistan and formally annexed them through an arbitrary treaty in 1879. Their forces occupied Kabul at the time. The contentious 1893 treaty between Afghan King Amir Abdur Rahman and Mortimer Durand, the foreign secretary of British India, formalized the areas under the control of the two governments.
Polio vaccination campaign restarts in Balochistan
The three-day anti-polio vaccination campaign resumed across Balochistan on Monday amidst tight security.
The campaign had been suspended due to a poor law and order situation across the province.
During the polio immunisation drive held between April 15 to April 17, health workers and volunteers would administer polio vaccine drops to children under five in 30 districts of Balochistan.
Talking to repoters, Dr Anwar said that at least 1.5 million children would be vaccinated against the crippling disease of poliomyelitis during the campaign.
He said that vaccine had already been provided to the concerned authorities in 30 districts of the province.
Pakistan: PM directs for addressing security concerns of Asfandyar Wali Khan
Radio PakistanPrime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso has directed Interior Minister and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to address security concerns of ANP Chief Asfandyar Wali Khan. He gave these directives on media reports that ANP Chief has approached the Election Commission for beefing up his security. The Prime Minister said that the caretaker government will provide adequate security to political parties enabling the contesting candidates to participate in general elections. He said that the government is constantly monitoring the situation and is in touch with the relevant authorities to ensure peace in the run up to the general elections.
Losing Pakistan: An Insider's Look at How the US Deals With Its Ally
TIME.COMOne evening in June 2009, Richard Holbrooke paid a visit to Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari at the presidential palace in Islamabad. It was one of his first visits to the region as the Obama Administration’s special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan. In that role, Holbrooke — who died in December 2010 — wanted to broaden and deepen engagement with the country many had come to see as the most dangerous place in the world. And Zardari had his own ideas about how Washington could help. “Pakistan is like AIG,” Zardari told Holbrooke, comparing his country to the U.S. insurance giant that was bailed out in 2008. “Too big to fail.” Washington, Zardari keenly recalled, had given AIG “$100 billion. You should give Pakistan the same,” Zardari said. Holbrooke smiled throughout the meeting.Sitting with Holbrooke was Vali Nasr, then his senior adviser. Nasr recalls the episode in his new book, The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat, a searing critique of how the Obama Administration has been too timid to transform American foreign policy. Holbrooke, writes Nasr, was troubled by Zardari’s display of dependence on the U.S. and the sense of entitlement that went with it. “Holbrooke didn’t like the image of Pakistan holding a gun to its own head as it shook down America for aid,” writes Nasr, now dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Holbrooke did agree, however, with Zardari that Pakistan was important and the U.S. had a long-term interest in its stability. For the next year and a half, Holbrooke and his team pursued a policy of diplomatic engagement with Pakistan. It went beyond the traditional approach narrowly based on security concerns. The idea was to try and address Pakistan’s strategic calculus — an ambitious target that may have underestimated how far Pakistan was willing to go without changing its ways. “What Holbrooke wanted,” Nasr tells TIME in an interview, “was to engage big and try and change the course of this country and its relationship with Washington once and for all.” But from the very start, President Barack Obama and the White House never really bought into the idea. “The White House tolerated Holbrooke’s approach for a while,” Nasr writes in the book, “but in the end decided that a policy of coercion and confrontation would better achieve our goals in Pakistan.” Washington was less interested in working with Pakistan, Nasr says, than pressuring it into compliance. That strategy, he says, has failed. And now, he warns, the U.S. risks pivoting away from the region at the cost of abandoning vital interests that remain there. “When you look at Pakistan today,” says Nasr, “it is nuclear-armed, in near conflict with India, has a dangerous civil war with its own extremists, is now subject to one of the most brutal terrorism campaigns against its population, that is now coming apart along sectarian lines.” If the U.S. does not maintain influence in Pakistan, he says, it won’t be able to have a positive impact on the direction of the country. “Looking at it from an American perspective,” Nasr says, “we’re just going to be basically saying, ‘We’re going to sit on the sideline and look at this roller coaster go off this rail.’”Holbrooke’s approach was ambitious. A strategic dialogue was established between the two countries. Nonmilitary aid was tripled. Washington began to reach out to civilian centers in Pakistan for the first time. “There was a discussion on energy and electricity and water and women,” says Nasr. “These were ways of laying out for Pakistan a longer road map with the U.S., and alternately trying to put on the table for Pakistan interests that would gradually wean it away from its strategic outlook and bring it in a new direction.” There would be no quick fix. It was a longer strategy aimed at slowly undoing decades of alienation and mistrust. In the first two years, Nasr insists that there were rewards. The U.S. got more intelligence cooperation, he details in the book. “More agents, more listening posts, and even visas for the deep-cover CIA operatives who found [Osama] bin Laden.” Long-strained relations between Islamabad and Kabul improved enough for it to help U.S. counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan. The Pakistanis also finally moved against the Pakistani Taliban in the Swat Valley and South Waziristan, in military offensives that helped the war across the border. “The Pakistanis didn’t cooperate 100%,” says Nasr. “But they did cooperate 50%.” But the Obama Administration didn’t have the patience to stick with it. As Nasr acknowledges, there was a rival school of thought that said, “It was too difficult, too time-consuming and wouldn’t work anyway.” When Holbrooke died, their view won out. Nasr resigned from the State Department soon after. In 2011, three major incidents brought the relationship crashing to its lowest-point ever: a CIA contractor, Raymond Davis, allegedly killed two people in Lahore; U.S. Navy Seals carried out a raid to get Osama bin Laden without informing the Pakistanis; and toward the end of the year, 26 Pakistani troops were killed in a cross-border incident. The security relationship, Nasr says, worked better when there were other efforts alongside it. “The Pakistanis said, ‘O.K., you have security interests. We have economic interests and we have civilian interests,’” recalls Nasr. “We always got much further with the Pakistanis in those first two years when the conversation was not just about drones and terrorists, but it was also about energy and water.” The CIA and the Pentagon saw the benefits of the cooperation, Nasr notes in his book. But at the same time, he writes, they applied constant pressure that “threatened to break up the relationship.” At one point, Holbrooke turned to him, shaking his head, and said: “Watch them [the CIA] ruin this relationship. And when it is ruined, they are going to say, ‘We told you, You can’t work with Pakistan!’ We never learn.”
Sunday, April 14, 2013
New tribunal formed to hear appeals against Sharifs
The Election Commission of Pakistan has changed the tribunal for hearing the appeals against Nawaz Sharif, president of his own faction of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), and his brother Shahbaz Sharif.
According to a notification on Sunday, the appeals filed against them have been transferred to the new tribunal, comprising of Justice Nasir Saeed Shaikh and Justice Shahid Wahid.
Four appeals were filed against acceptance of nomination papers of Nawaz from NA-120 Lahore. Similarly, 4 appeals were filed against acceptance of candidature of Shahbaz from PP-161.
Earlier‚ the election tribunal of Lahore had declined to hear the appeals against both PML-N leaders on personal grounds.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Protests held in Bahrain ahead of Formula One
ALJAZEERAThousands of Bahrainis have demonstrated near the capital, Manama, urging democratic reforms, part of a series of protests planned by the political opposition ahead of next week's Formula One Grand Prix. Under the banner "Democracy is our right," the crowds marched in the Shia area of Aali south of the capital, waving Bahraini flags and chanting anti-monarchy slogans on Friday. Police stayed away from Friday's demonstration as protesters denounced king Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa and Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, his uncle. "You have no legitimacy," they chanted. Bahrain's mainly-Shia opposition bloc, Al-Wefaq, organised the protest as part of demonstrations due to take place from April 12-22 to coincide with the April 19-22 Grand Prix. Sheikh Ali Salman, head of the Al-Wefaq who was at the protest, said the action was intended to support "demands for democratic transition". "We do not want to hold up the race, but we are trying to benefit from the increased media presence," he said. Salman called on his supporters to attend a demonstration planned for April 19, as the event kicks off on the Sakhir circuit south of the capital. A second opposition group, the February 14 Movement, organised another protest on Thursday night in the village of Khamis that was broken up by police. Thursday night's demonstration came as a report by Human Rights Watch said that police have been rounding up pro-democracy activists in bid to head off protests. 'Your race is a crime' "Your race is a crime," the protesters chanted, referring to motor racing bosses who have insisted on keeping the Bahrain Grand Prix on the Formula One calendar, witnesses said. "Down with Hamad," they shouted in reference to the king, who heads a Sunni minority regime in the Shia-majority island state. "The people want the fall of the regime," the demonstrators chanted, echoing the rallying cry of the Arab Spring revolts in 2011. Clashes erupted when anti-riot police intervened to disperse the crowd and demonstrators responded with Molotov cocktails, witnesses said. Bahrain, where the US Navy's Fifth Fleet is based, was rocked by month-long pro-democracy protests led by the kingdom's Shia majority in early 2011 that were crushed with the help of Saudi-led GCC troops. Human rights groups say a total of 80 people have been killed since February 2011. Last year's Formula One event went ahead against an ugly backdrop as police responded to protesters who were throwing petrol bombs by using tear gas, sound bombs and birdshot. Meanwhile, former world champion Damon Hill has called on International Motoring Federation (FIA) president Jean Todt to take an ethical stance on the controversial event. "I think Jean's approach is say nothing because otherwise you are being political," said Hill, who won the world title in 1996. "I think that is a mistake because actually he is being political because he's being used, or the sport is perceived as being used, by its engagement in the economy and the reputation of the country."
U.S. says agrees with China on peaceful North Korea solution
Reuters
The United States said on Saturday that China had agreed to help rid North Korea of its nuclear capability by peaceful means, but Beijing made no specific commitment in public to pressure its long-time ally to change its ways.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met China's top leaders in a bid to persuade them to push reclusive North Korea, whose main diplomatic supporter is Beijing, to scale back its belligerence and, eventually, return to nuclear talks.
Visiting Beijing for the first time as secretary of state, Kerry has made no secret of his desire to see China take a more active stance towards North Korea, which in recent weeks has threatened nuclear war against the United States and South Korea.
Kerry and China's top diplomat, State Councillor Yang Jiechi, said both countries supported the goal of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula.
"We are able, the United States and China, to underscore our joint commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner," Kerry told reporters, sitting next to Yang at a state guesthouse in western Beijing.
But North Korea has repeatedly said it will not abandon nuclear weapons which it described on Friday as its "treasured" guarantor of security.
Yang said China's stance on maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula was clear and consistent, repeating phrasing used by the Foreign Ministry since the crisis began.
"We maintain that the issue should be handled and resolved peacefully through dialogue and consultation. To properly address the Korea nuclear issue serves the common interests of all parties. It is also the shared responsibility of all parties," he said, speaking through an interpreter.
"China will work with other relevant parties, including the United States, to play a constructive role in promoting the six-party talks and balanced implementation of the goals set out in the September 19 joint statement of 2005."
The United States and its allies believe the North violated the 2005 aid-for-denuclearization deal by conducting a nuclear test in 2006 and pursuing a uranium enrichment program that would give it a second path to a nuclear weapon in addition to its plutonium-based program.
Six-party aid-for-disarmament talks, involving the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China, collapsed in 2008 when the North walked away from the deal.
Kerry declined to comment on what specifically China may do to push for a peaceful solution on North Korea, saying only that they had discussed all possibilities.
At a news conference in Seoul on Friday and in a U.S.-South Korean joint statement issued on Saturday, Kerry signaled the U.S. preference for diplomacy, but stressed North Korea must take "meaningful" steps on denuclearization.
"We don't want to get into a threat for threat or ... some kind of confrontational language here. There's been enough of that," Kerry said in Beijing.
If North Korea got rid of its nuclear capabilities, then the United States would have no reason to maintain recently deployed defensive capabilities - such as a missile defense system sent to Guam - he said.
"Now, obviously, if the threat disappears, i.e. North Korea denuclearizes, the same imperative does not exist at that point in time for us to have to have that kind of robust, forward leaning posture of defense."
The Pentagon has in recent weeks responded to the North Korean threats by announcing plans to position two Aegis guided-missile destroyers in the western Pacific and a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system to Guam.
'CONSTRUCTIVE' TALKS
As the North's main trading partner, financial backer and the closest thing it has to a diplomatic ally, China had a unique ability to use its leverage against the impoverished, isolated state, Kerry said in Seoul before leaving for Beijing.
China, which sided with North Korea in the 1950-53 civil war against the U.S.-backed South, has always been reluctant to apply pressure on Pyongyang, fearing instability if the North were to implode and send floods of refugees into China.
It has also looked askance at U.S. military drills in South Korea.
China's Xinhua news agency said in a commentary that Washington had itself been "fanning the flames" on the Korean peninsula with its shows of force.
"It keeps sending more fighters, bombers and missile-defense ships to the waters of East Asia and carrying out massive military drills with Asian allies in a dramatic display of preemptive power," it said.
Chinese state television quoted Premier Li Keqiang as telling Kerry that rising tensions on the Korean peninsula were in nobody's interests, in apparent reference to both Washington and Pyongyang to dial down the war of words.
"All sides must bear responsibility for maintaining regional peace and stability and be responsible for the consequences," the television report paraphrased Li as saying.
"Disturbances and provocation on the peninsula and regionally will harm the interests of all sides, which is like lifting a rock only to drop it on one's feet."
Still, U.S. officials believe China's rhetoric on North Korea has begun to shift, pointing to a recent speech by China's Xi in which - without referring explicitly to Pyongyang - he said no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain".
Kerry's Asia trip, which includes a stop in Tokyo on Sunday before flying home on Monday, takes place after weeks of shrill North Korean threats of war since the imposition of new U.N. sanctions in response to its third nuclear test in February.
North Korean television made no mention of Kerry's visit and devoted most of its reports to preparations for celebrations on Monday marking the birth date of state founder Kim Il-Sung.
But Rodong Sinmun, the ruling Workers' Party's newspaper, issued a fresh denunciation of joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, saying: "If the enemies dare provoke (North Korea) while going reckless, it will immediately blow them up with an annihilating strike with the use of powerful nuclear means."
South Korea's Yonhap news agency, quoting a government source, said North Korea had not moved any of its mobile missile launchers for the past two days after media reports that as many as five missiles had been moved into place on the country's east coast. It said this suggested no launches were imminent.
The Ghosts of Afghanistan’s Past
By WILLIAM DALRYMPLE
ON March 10, Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai, shocked Western leaders by declaring that recent attacks proved that the Taliban “are at the service of America.” The implication was clear: terrorists were colluding with the United States to sow chaos before America’s planned withdrawal in 2014. American and European leaders, mindful of the blood and treasure they’ve expended to defend Mr. Karzai’s government, were baffled and offended.
But to students of Afghan history, Mr. Karzai’s motivation for publicly spurning foreign powers was quite obvious. A Taliban news release on March 18, which received little notice in the Western press, declared: “Everyone knows how Karzai was brought to Kabul and how he was seated on the defenseless throne of Shah Shuja,” referring to the exiled Afghan ruler restored to the throne by the British in 1839. “So it is not astonishing that the American soldiers are making fun of him and slapping him on the face because it is the philosophy of invaders that they scorn their stooge at the end ... and in this way punish him for his slavery!”
The Taliban inadvertently put their finger on a key factor in understanding Mr. Karzai’s psychology. After all, as an elder of the Popalzai tribe, Mr. Karzai is the direct tribal descendant of Shah Shuja ul-Mulk, Britain’s handpicked ruler during the first Western attempt at regime change in Afghanistan in the mid-19th century.
And although few in the West are aware of it, as the United States prepares to withdraw from Afghanistan, history is repeating itself. We may have forgotten the details of the colonial history that did so much to mold Afghans’ hatred of foreign rule, but the Afghans have not.
Today, Shah Shuja is widely reviled in Afghanistan as a puppet of the West. The man who defeated the British in 1842, Wazir Akbar Khan, and his father, Dost Mohammed, are widely regarded as national heroes. Mr. Karzai has lived with that knowledge all his life, making him a difficult ally — always keen to stress the differences between himself and his backers, making him appear to be continually biting the hand that feeds him.
In 2001, top Taliban officials asked their young fighters, “Do you want to be remembered as a son of Shah Shuja or as a son of Dost Mohammed?” As he rose to power, the Taliban leader Mullah Omar deliberately modeled himself on Dost Mohammed, and, as he did, removed the Holy Cloak of the Prophet Muhammad from its shrine in Kandahar and wrapped himself in it to declare jihad, a deliberate historical re-enactment, the resonance of which all Afghans immediately understood.
The parallels between the current war and that of the 1840s are striking. The same tribal rivalries exist and the same battles are being fought in the same places under the guise of new flags, new ideologies and new political puppeteers. The same cities are being garrisoned by foreign troops speaking the same languages, and they are being attacked from the same hills and high passes.
Not only was Shah Shuja from the same Popalzai sub-tribe as Mr. Karzai, his principal opponents were Ghilzais, who today make up the bulk of the Taliban’s foot soldiers. Mullah Omar is a Ghilzai, as was Mohammad Shah Khan, the resistance fighter who supervised the slaughter of the British Army in 1841.
The same moral issues that are chewed over in editorial columns today were discussed in the correspondence of British officials during the First Afghan War. Should foreign troops try to “promote the interests of humanity” and champion social reform by banning traditions like the stoning of adulterous women? Should they try to reform blasphemy laws and introduce Western political ideas? Or should they just concentrate on ruling the country without rocking the boat?
As the great British spymaster Sir Claude Wade warned on the eve of the 1839 invasion, “There is nothing more to be dreaded or guarded against, I think, than the overweening confidence with which we are too often accustomed to regard the excellence of our own institutions, and the anxiety that we display to introduce them in new and untried soils.” In this early critique of democracy promotion, he concluded, “Such interference will always lead to acrimonious disputes, if not to a violent reaction.”
Just as Britain’s inability to cope with the Afghan uprising of 1841-2 stemmed from leadership failures and the breakdown of ties between the British envoy and Shah Shuja, the strained and uneasy relationship of NATO leaders with Mr. Karzai has been a crucial factor in America’s failures in the latest imbroglio.
Afghanistan is so poor that the occupation can’t be financed through natural resource wealth or taxation. Today, America is spending more than a $100 billion a year in Afghanistan: it costs more to keep Marine battalions in two districts of Helmand than America is providing to the entire nation of Egypt in military and development assistance. And then, as now, the decision to withdraw troops has turned on factors with little relevance to Afghanistan, namely the state of the occupier’s troubled economy and the vagaries of politics back home.
History never repeats itself exactly, and there are some important differences between what is taking place in Afghanistan today and what took place during the 1840s. There is no unifying figure at the center of the resistance, recognized by all Afghans as a symbol of legitimacy and justice: Mullah Omar is no Dost Mohammed or Wazir Akbar Khan, and the tribes have not united behind a single leader as they did in the 1840s.
Moreover, the goals of the conservative, defensive tribal uprising that brought colonial rule to an end were very different from those of today’s Taliban, who wish to reimpose an imported Wahhabi ideology on Afghanistan’s diverse religious cultures. And most important, Mr. Karzai has tried to establish a broad-based, democratic government, which, for all its many flaws and prodigious corruption, is still much more representative and popular than the regime of Shah Shuja ever was.
Mr. Karzai is keen to learn the lessons of his forebears’ failures. When my book came out in India in January, he got hold of a copy and read it. “Our so-called current allies behave to us just as the British did to Shah Shuja,” he told me. “They have squandered the opportunity given to them by the Afghan people.”
Mr. Karzai believes that Shah Shuja didn’t stress his independence enough, and he made clear that in his own last year in office he is going to act in such a way that he will never be remembered as anyone’s puppet.
William Dalrymple is the author, most recently, of “Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42.”
American Think-tank Report Suggests a “Permanent U.N. Observation Mission” in Balochistan
The Baloch HalA report on Balochistan published and issued on Thursday by a leading American think-tank has recommended the formation of a permanent United Nations observation mission in Balochistan “to monitor the human rights situation” in the province. The report Balochistan: The State Versus the Nation has been written by Dr. Frederic Grare, Director and Senior Associate of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Dr. Grare, a French scholar, had previously written the widely quoted Pakistan: the Resurgence of Baluch nationalism.The report says the setting up of a permanent U.N. observation mission would create greater transparency, promote accountability, and build confidence should the security establishment decide to change its policies in the province. On their part, the Baloch nationalists, the report has suggested, “should participate in provincial elections in May. Only their participation in Balochistan’s administration can confer sufficient legitimacy on the provincial government. A legitimate and credible Baloch government can reestablish local control over the province, help reduce violence, and advocate for Balochistan on the federal level.” The report has asked the Pakistani security establishment should “show greater respect for human rights in Balochistan by disbanding death squads, stopping extrajudicial executions, and ending forced disappearances. Serious negotiations and political solutions are impossible as long as these violations persist.”
US May Unwittingly Fund Terrorism in Afghanistan: Report
The U.S. government may accidentally be funneling millions of dollars to the very terrorists and insurgents it's fighting in Afghanistan through sloppy contracting regulations, according to a new government report.
The report, called "Contracting With the Enemy" and published Thursday by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), examined the system designed to make sure that the U.S. reconstruction is not providing business for any individuals or groups associated with terrorist or insurgent organizations.
SIGAR said that due to "several weaknesses" in the long and complicated process, "millions of contracting dollars could be diverted to forces seeking to harm U.S. military and civilian personnel in Afghanistan and derail the multi-billion dollar reconstruction effort."The report centered on what's known as Section 841, part of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that describes how the U.S. government is supposed to identify individuals or companies with suspected ties to insurgents, confirm that information, pass it along to the head of the contracting activity, then to the primary contractor and finally to the targeted subcontractors whose business deals would then be voided or restricted based on guidance from higher up.
SIGAR said Section 841 was part of a "variety of efforts" undertaken by the government to keep American contracting money out of terrorists' hands in the wake of incidents like the $2.16 billion Host Nation Trucking contract. In that instance, SIGAR said, the U.S. government paid several companies to ship more than 70 percent of food and materiel to American troops in Afghanistan, only to realize that some of those funds were "widely believed to have been funneled to insurgents."Section 841 is still full of holes, SIGAR said, from the military not telling the head of contracting activity about potentially shady actors to the head of the contracting activity not telling their prime contractors.
The SIGAR report also notes that Section 841 only applies to contracts worth more than $100,000, even though it said approximately 80 percent of contracts awarded in Afghanistan are worth less than that.
SIGAR made seven recommendations to rectify the reporting loopholes, most to "improve visibility over active contracts" and one to ditch the $100,000 threshold on Section 841. The SIGAR report said the military in general agreed with those recommendations but plans to issue a formal response to the new report later.
Blast in Peshawar market kills eight
At least eight people were killed when an explosion ripped through a passenger coach in a busy marketplace on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
According to initial reports by the police, the blast hit a passenger coach parked in the crowded Matni Bazar area.
Hospital officials confirmed that at least eight bodies have been brought to the Lady Reading Hospital.
The nature of the blast could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report.
ECP directs withdrawal of Sharif brothers’ ‘extraordinary’ security
The Express TribuneElection authorities have asked the interim Punjab government to withdraw the ‘extraordinary’ security provided to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief and his brother Shahbaz Sharif, and provide them instead with the level of security they were entitled to as former prime minister and chief minister respectively. According to sources in the Election Commission of Pakistan, a letter in this regard was being sent to the provincial government following complaints that the PML-N leadership enjoyed an unprecedented protocol and had around 760 security personnel from various law enforcement agencies deputed for their security. “Some political parties had objected to the official protocol and security being provided to them (the Sharif brothers). They are entitled to (a certain level of) security as former prime minister and chief minister, like many other leaders of this country,” an ECP official told The Express Tribune. Security agencies, in their intelligence reports, had cautioned that many key political leaders in the country may be targeted by terrorists in an attempt to sabotage the elections.
ATC summons Musharraf on April 23 in Benazir murder case
During Saturday’s proceedings of the Benazir Bhutto murder case, the Rawalpindi Anti Terrorism Court judge summoned all accused, including former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, for its upcoming hearing.
The case was heard by ATC judge Chaudhry Habibur Rehman.
Although, Musharraf has already been summoned in the case twice, he still failed to appear for today’s hearing after which the judge issued summons for him and the other accused.
The hearing of the case was subsequently adjourned to April 23.
The ATC had indicted Musharraf in the case in February 2011, and in August the same year he was declared a proclaimed offender and his property was attached because of his absence.
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a gun-and-bomb attack outside Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh on December 27, 2007. She was killed after addressing an election campaign rally in the city.
Everyone fights for a chair
A two-member bench of Supreme Court of Pakistan has removed the Chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Ghulam Muhammad as his appointment is not found in accordance with the SECP Act 1997. A day earlier, SECP came out with a wishy-washy press release defending the Chairman instead of categorically naming the brokers as well as the media-house pressurising SECP to back off from investigating wrongdoings - which is the prime responsibility of the apex regulator. Both SECP and SBP are empowered by law with intrusive powers to insulate the savings of citizens against manipulation.
Therefore, nobody and we mean nobody should be able to prevent a regulator from doing its job. If regulatory bodies who perform a quasi-judicial function succumb to this kind of pressure, then the next causality will be the courts. Societies can survive dictatorship but not injustice.
Government has three main functions namely (i) Policymaking; (ii) Regulatory function to monitor the markets; and (iii) providing essential services which the private sector cannot. Since Pakistan has a dearth of capital, the government has also invested in capital intensive businesses and since 1971 has also taken over other business (where private sector can do a better job). Ministries being the repository of policymaking - present laws to the Parliament for implementation of these policies. Regulatory bodies make regulations under these laws and maintain an arms length relationship with both the government as well as with regulated stakeholders to create an even playing field. Regulators can only exercise this role effectively if they are provided with full financial and operational autonomy. PSE's are governed through their Board of Directors with ownership representation of line ministries. Rules to do so are framed by the Government under the laws promulgated by the Parliament.
Pakistan needs to have a proper search committee to pre-select head and members of Regulatory Bodies, Chairman and Chief Executives as well as outside directors on PSE's Board of Directors. This committee needs to interview and short-list candidates to the Government. So far we seem to make appointments on fancy and whim of the president or prime minister or a minister. They may choose the best person for the job but this could be subjected to objections; increasingly highlighted in media as well as challenged in courts.
Merely saying that this is done as per past practice. Prime Minister can appoint heads of Regulatory Bodies as well as Chairman and Chief Executives in PSE's is no more enough. Even civil servants need to go through a transparent process based upon their qualification and experience in a competing fashion to obtain better results. The Executive branch of the government does feel overwhelmed at the intrusive role being played by the courts. The courts can and do differ time to time as they interpret the constitution, laws, regulations and rules. The final word is of the Supreme Court. Accusing the highest court of some kind of discrimination may sound valid to some. However, there is very little option but to accept the verdict for sake of harmony in the society. Trichotomy of powers are provided in the constitution. What they are - only the Supreme Court can interpret. It does not matter if someone feels peeved or hurt. One just has to lump it and accept it gracefully and pray to Allah for mercy. If a proper laid down process is not usually followed - blaming the courts or an overactive media will no more suffice. We need to conceptualize the selection process with clarity from a panel otherwise the game of musical chairs which we are now witnessing would continue. We know some people feel that the courts are biased and are only doing all this to PPP appointees and the game of musical chairs would end if a PML (N)-led government is in place. We hope this is not true and courts will maintain their posture but with a sense of balance.
Peshawar: Blast near Budh Bair police station
THE FRONTIER POSTA blast occurred near Budh Bair police station in Peshawar Saturday morning and several persons have been injured, FP News desk reported. According to police, a blast targeted the police station in Budh Bair area of Peshawar that has injured many people. Police and rescue teams are on their way to while further details are yet to be ascertained.
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