U.S: Iowa activists provide early perceptions of potential Hillary Clinton presidential bid

By Dan Balz and Philip Rucker

Eleven Iowa Democratic activists had been talking about the state of the country, the politics of 2016 and a prospective presidential campaign by Hillary Rodham Clinton one recent night when they were asked two questions.

The first was who they would invite to a dinner party if they could pick from among four prominent Democrats. Six picked President Obama. Two each named Vice President Biden and former president Bill Clinton. Just one said they would invite Hillary Clinton.

Next they were asked who among that same group they would call first if they faced a family emergency. The response was overwhelming. Seven of the 11 said they would want Hillary Clinton at their side.

The responses crystallized nearly two hours of conversation and captured the range of Democratic sentiment about the politician whose possible candidacy is eagerly anticipated by those in her party. But a separate conversation with a smaller group of Republican activists highlighted the degree to which she remains a polarizing figure.

No state frustrated Clinton more during her 2008 campaign than Iowa, which launched Obama, then an Illinois senator, and dealt her a demoralizing setback with her third-place finish in the nation’s first caucuses.

Today, Iowa activists see her through a new lens. Democrats, including those who backed Obama in 2008, offer strong encouragement.

When Clinton ran the first time, Kay Hale, 62, a school bus driver, worried that Clinton “cannot bring the country together” and backed then-Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.) for president. Now she says of Clinton, “I think we’re ready for her now. . . . I think she’s proved herself. She’s earned it.”

At the same time, these Democratic activists offered cautionary warnings, saying Clinton must run a different kind of campaign and show a warmer side of her personality if she hopes to be successful.

“I think she’s going to have trouble with the middle class,” said Charles Crawley, 60, a technical writer. “She went to Wellesley College, Yale Law School, and from that point on she’s been in the upper class. She may have middle-class parents, but that was a long time ago.”

The observations in this article come from two sessions with Iowa activists. The first included the 11 Democrats from Linn County, around Cedar Rapids. The second was with a group of six mostly establishment Republicans in suburban West Des Moines, part of Dallas County.

Their opinions and observations are their own and are not meant to be representative of the broader electorate or a scientific sample. But because they are among the most politically engaged of Iowans, their views provide an early look at perceptions of Clinton in a state that brought her disappointment in 2008.

Of the 11 Democrats, one supported Clinton in 2008, while six backed Obama. But ask them today for a brief description of Clinton, and the responses are all positive. “Seasoned.” “Capable.” “Smart.” “Strong.” “Competent.” “Amazing.” “Intelligent.” “Experienced.” “Decisive.” “Tested.”

When Clinton ran in 2008, she had two big liabilities in Iowa. One was her 2002 vote authorizing President George W. Bush to go to war in Iraq, a vote she never truly recanted. The vote alienated the state’s liberal activists and put her at odds with Obama.

Among the Linn County Democrats, the Iraq issue has faded in importance. “I think some Democrats in Iowa may have put her in the penalty box eight years ago because of Iraq,” said Nate Willems, 34, a labor lawyer. “We’ve moved past that. . . . Time heals lots of wounds.”

On policy issues, these Democrats offered little to suggest that they fear that Clinton would be too hawkish for their tastes or that her economic ideas would be too centrist. Many expressed deep concerns about the growing divide between rich and poor in the country, but said they believed she would share that concern, even if she did not use the same kind of fiery rhetoric of someone such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

The other problem was a perception that she and her campaign entourage were aloof, distant and lacked a common touch. “Bad manners,” said Libby Slappey, 62, who is a fundraiser. That problem still concerned many of those around the table.

One after another expressed disgruntlement with the way that Clinton and her campaign conducted themselves in 2007 and 2008. “People felt like her campaign thought they had a sense of entitlement because they were the Clintons,” said Gretchen Lawyer, 41, a teacher and Obama volunteer.

Dale Todd, 57, a developer of affordable housing, said, “They just left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouth. The BlackBerry was more important than the contact with [people]. We would be sitting right here and they would be working their BlackBerry and you just felt like you weren’t getting through.”

“They were just going through the motions,” Hale said.

“It was like, we’re here and we can’t wait until we get out of here,” Todd responded.

The consensus among this group was that the Obama campaign outhustled Clinton in Iowa. “She was left in the dust by the organization of the Obama campaign, and I truly believe it emanated from the top,” Slappey said. “I truly believe that Barack Obama said to the next level, this is how I want my campaign to run, and that level said it to the next level. And it was a beautiful Amway kind of thing.”

Mike Robinson, 51, a registered nurse and former Linn County Democratic chair, defended Clinton. “I found her to be very genial. I met her on a few different occasions. I was very depressed, disappointed, when she was portrayed otherwise. She’s very kind.”

These Democrats may eagerly await Clinton’s candidacy, but all had advice for her about how to run a different campaign in 2016 than she ran in 2008.

“Come shake our hands,” said Kathy Robinson, 51, a property manager who was a Clinton supporter in 2008 when she lived in Illinois. “Talk to us. Ask us our feelings and ask our opinions. But come here more than once. Don’t ignore Iowa.”

Lawyer urged Clinton to “get in touch with regular people.” She noted that when Obama started out in Iowa, he and Michelle Obama were still paying off their student loans. “How long has it been since she [Clinton] was a normal person outside of public life?” she said, adding, “When was the last time she drove a car? I see that as a liability she needs to think about.”

Bret Nilles, 55, the current Linn County Democratic chair and a finance manager, said Obama’s campaign was more open. “Hillary’s campaign was more controlled,” said Nilles, who backed Clinton that year. “There was a sense that they were going to win it, so all they had to do was make the rounds.”

Laura Bell, 54, an accounts manager who supported then-Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (Ohio) in 2008, said, “I would want to encourage her to remember that there are people in this party [whose] opinions are closer to Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and do not forget about us.”

Todd said Clinton should “leave the consultants at home.” He recalled her first campaign: “When she would walk in the room and the entourage was larger than the group you’re meeting with, that didn’t go over well. But the reality is, these are the Clintons and it’s going to be tough to do what we are sort of used to.” Roy Porterfield, 63, an automotive service manager, defended Clinton against the perception that she holds herself above others. “She came from perfectly ordinary beginnings,” he said. “She didn’t grow up a Bush or a Rockefeller or whatever. I don’t think she’s lacking a common touch. . . . I see her as a perfectly good, solid, honest, ordinary citizen who just happens to have a brilliant mind and vast, useful political experience.”

The Republicans from Dallas County see Clinton as the inevitable Democratic nominee and as a worthy opponent who has bolstered her résumé since her first campaign for the White House. But when they were asked to offer a word to describe her, their answers reflected a sharply negative view of the former secretary of state, senator and first lady. “Political.” “Politician.” “Schemer.” “Tactical.” “Manipulative.” Only one offered a positive description: “Strong.”

Those in the group questioned Clinton’s honesty and said they did not trust her. They also see her as vulnerable on issues ranging from Benghazi to health care, citing her role in shaping her husband’s failed effort to reform the health-care system when he was president. “She’s tenacious, but she’s manipulative,” said Lisa Schneider, 41, who works at the governor’s residence in Des Moines as a communications and events coordinator. “I don’t think she would do right by the country. She has her own agenda, and she’s going to do whatever she wants to get there.”

Christina Taylor, 43, a physician, said, “I think there’s a trust issue with her. I think it’s a truthfulness or candor issue. We all say she’s very politically astute, politically savvy, she’s tactical. I think people have an undertow of wondering not only with Benghazi but even in her previous past — everything is to get the win and so, can you trust that she is being honest? I think people will continually question, is she telling me the truth? And you won’t know.”

“I think she would be polarizing, as polarizing as Obama has been,” added Charles Schneider, a state senator and Lisa’s husband. But Taylor acknowledged the potency of a Clinton candidacy. “I think women want a strong woman,” she said. “They’re willing to be a Hillary supporter because she’s the only one they’ve got to grab onto. Which is kind of sad, but I think that’s true.” These Republicans applauded House Republicans for their decision to launch another investigation of what happened in Benghazi in September 2012 and said the issue will not recede if Clinton is a candidate. “She was in charge of the State Department, and I think it’s not necessarily politics. I think the American people deserve to know the truth,” said Chad Airhart, 37, the Dallas County recorder.

Among the Democrats, Clinton engendered respect and admiration, but not the kind of excitement that surrounded Obama in his first campaign. When they were asked to name the most exciting person in their party, nine people were mentioned, but no one said Clinton. “I’m borderline enthusiastic already,” Porterfield said. “But do I think she’s exciting? No, not really.”

There was little appetite for a Biden campaign in 2016, though he is well liked in the state. On the question of whether a primary contest would be good for Clinton, there was division.

Todd said he hoped the Democrats could avoid a serious nomination contest in order to be better prepared for what he said would be “nuclear war” in the general election. “You need a powerhouse like a Clinton to be able to stand up to these forces, the Koch brothers, the way politics has changed from 2008.”

But Crawley said that even if Clinton faces no serious competition for the nomination, “she needs to consider herself the underdog. . . . If she comes in prom queen, this is a cakewalk to the presidency, the thing I’m worried about . . . is we’ve got a candidate over here who’s not being tested in some way. I think that can work against her in a general election.”

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PAKISTAN: Three new polio cases from FATA bring total to 66 this year

The Express Tribune

Three children were diagnosed with poliovirus type 1 in Fata, bringing the total number of cases to 66 this year, Express News reported on Monday.

According to an official press release from Prime Minister’s Polio Monitoring & Coordination Cell, the presence of the virus was confirmed in three children.

Two of the cases were from North Waziristan while the third was reported from South Waziristan. The children afflicted with polio are six-month-old Afsa Bibi and 22-month-old Waqas from North Waziristan as well as 22-month-old Romana from South Waziristan.

In almost all cases reported from North and South Waziristan, the persons have never received an oral dose of polio vaccine, the press release states. No polio campaigns have been conducted in these areas since June 2012. The press release also mentions that 54 of the 66 cases of polio reported in the country have been from Fata. This tally includes 44 cases from North Waziristan, five from South Waziristan, two from Khyber Agency and one from Bannu. Nine of the cases have been from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and five from Sindh.

These cases have been reported at a time when the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended that travel restrictions be placed on Pakistan, Cameroon and Syria for being the only three countries that are currently exporting poliovirus.

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Pakistan Geo TV Charged under Blasphemy and Terrorists Laws

Today Pakistan police has lodged a case against against Geo TV owner, Mir Shakeel-ur Rehman, and Jang media group for showing a programme that allegedly consisted of content which had hurt religious emotions of millions of muslims across the world, an official said. Geo channel celebrated a fake marriage ceremony of scandalous actress Veena Malik with a religious song played in the background. In Punjab province yesterday, regional and sessions judge of Okara ordered that a case be lodged against Geo media group owner Rehman, anchor Shaistan Lodhi, actress Veena, her husband Asad Khatak and others involved in Programme.

Police officer Rana Aziz told Veena, her husband Asad and programme hostess shaista Lodhi were also named in the case filed with Margalla police station in the capital Islamabad.

He said, “They have been charged under Section 295 A, 295 C and 298 A of Pakistan Penal Code, which deal with insulting the religion, and Section 7 of anti-terrorism act.”

Protests Demonstrations have been held in some cities and demonstrators wanted registration of case against them under blasphemy laws, which recommend all-out death sentence.

Geo set has since postponed Lodhi’s programme and Lodhi has apologized to her viewers for hurting their sentiments. Today Geo published an apology on its Urdu paper ‘Jang’.

The channel management has already fired the whole team of the popular morning show, ‘Utho Gago Pakistan’. The Defense Ministry has officially requested Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, which controls media, to prohibit Geo for insulting the safety organizations. Furthermore, Geo TV also faces criticism from Imran Khan, former cricketer, for accusing him to be funded by foreign Government and works against national interests.

- See more at: http://www.christiansinpakistan.com/pakistan-geo-tv-charged-under-blasphemy-and-terrorists-laws/#sthash.Siw60pTL.dpuf

Pakistan: Kalash girls’ miseries continue

http://pakobserver.net/

Another Kalash gala concluded amid prompt and pedantry but the remote region bordering Afghanistan still lack far behind in social uplift in many spheres such as girls education.

The scenic area known for fabulous heed has absolutely no girls school or girls college leaving all the female population illiterate and in highly deplorable condition.

Lack of basic education for the females of the area is not a personal vendetta but a collective responsibility for all who claim providing fundamental rights to all and sundry in every nook and corner. Most of the girls, who want to get education have no other option but to go to boys schools and get their education upto matric in co-education system.

The unique Kalash Valley has exclusive characteristics, marvelous scenery, outstanding location and wonderful people living in peace from the hundreds of years in the outskirts of the city of Chitral in the northern areas of Pakistan yet there is dearth of female education living life of illiteracy and ignorance.

Astonishing to know, there is a no girls’ college; and what to say of a college, there is no high school for girls of this valley which seems a disaster to the half of the population.

One can draw a clear picture from the fact that without basic education to females, how can they actively participate to females, how can they actively participate in uplifting economy of the people of the valley.

A local journalist while highlighting the issues faced by the people of Kalash said that the government should do more to enhance or boost life condition of Kalash people. “Roads leading to Kalash valley are in a dilapidated condition and Kalash people pay more than Rs. 3000 for booking a cab for 22 KM road”, he said.

The conditions of Kalash Valley could be very perfectly analyzed from the fact that there is no college in Kalash valley, no girls’ high school in the valley, no mobile phone service.

The locals say that the health facilities are also equal to none as the only Basic Unit health of the area is also run by an NGO.

The economic dilapidated condition of the area could not improve until and unless, the concerned authorities reserve a quota for the locals in border police, Chitral scouts, Chitral police or in any other government jobs.

Another alarming fact is that the border police collect tax from the local and foreign tourists but on the contrary they do not spend money for the betterment or providing and improving civic facilities in the area.

It is feared that the Kalash culture will diminish if proper and concerted efforts are not made by the authorities as there is a dire need to focus on this area through out the year and not only during the festival days.

Pakistan:Addressing Sectarian Violence

There are two ways to address a political problem. One, you can solve the problem. Two, you can write a report about the problem. The former is hardly convenient. The latter does not require much more than repetition and stating the obvious. Consider the following points of the grand five-point plan the interior ministry has released to combat the spread of sectarian violence. Though conceding that 950 people have lost their lives to sectarian attacks in the last three years, and more than half of them have taken place in Balochistan, the very first point, a real revelation of a solution, says that a close eye will be kept on clandestine activities by employing such institutions as the police, intelligence and other law enforcement agencies. Only, this is the job description of the police, intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Its what they are supposed to do. In short, the first point states that law enforcement will now do its job. In the second point, the government recognises that sectarian violence is an internal national security threat by putting the acknowledgment into print in the National Internal Security Policy. In other words, the interior ministry released a document that said another document proved how serious the government is about sectarian violence being a priority. The third one nudges the pie a little bit. For 120 days at least, sectarian killing will be an offence covered under the Pakistan Protection Ordinance (PPO). In case point 1 fails, and the police is unable to comply with the rules of a proper investigation or prevention of the crime, they have the authority to throw anybody they want into jail and proclaim the case closed. In this way, point 3 will go a long way to reinforce how well point 1 has worked out. In point 4, the government has declared it will ban organisations that preach hate. (A couple of political parties come immediately to mind). Point 5 is not really a separate point but a 4 point plan hardly sounds comprehensive. Therefore, the final point states the distribution of hate literature too will be taken action against. (A couple of political manifestos come immediately to mind.) The report does not propose a single solution that carefully and analytically engages with the sectarian problem. It does not contain a shred of analysis, for example, regarding the killing of specifically Shia Hazaras in Balochistan. It uses words that mean nothing, talks of policies already in place that do nothing, and is basically a huge load of nothing. Not a single organisation has been banned since this government took the reins, and now it seems this report was all the government could come up with to dignify the lives and deaths of 950 Pakistanis. Well, its not enough. Not even close.

PAKISTAN: Ultimatum: Private schools in Panjgur closed indefinitely

The Express Tribune

All private schools and English-language centres in Panjgur district of Balochistan have been closed for an indefinite period following an ultimatum by a militant outfit opposed to co-education and Western-style learning.

Threatening with dire consequences, the armed group, Tanzeem-ul-Islam-ul-Furqan (TIF), had warned all private schools imparting co-education and Western education to immediately shut down. The schools were closed on May 13 for an indefinite period. The little-known TIF has become a source of terror for the people of Panjgur. On May 13, the outfit made a blatant show of power as four of its armed men intercepted the van of Major Hussain Ali, the head of a private school in Panjgur. “They forced the female students to get off the van and set it on fire. They said: ‘You are spreading obscenity by promoting the culture of co-education’,” Major Hussain told The Express Tribune.

“Earlier, we had taken their threats lightly. However, after seeing the confidence of these armed men roaming the road with impunity, I realised they can do anything and even kill me or my daughters,” he said. In Panjgur, there are around 23 private institutions, including schools and English language centres, which had been receiving threats since April 25. In the letters, the outfit cited the names of some of the leading educationists of the area. After frequent attacks on private schools by masked men armed with Kalashnikovs and pistols, the private schools and English-language centres were first closed on April 30.

After remaining closed for three days, the schools were reopened on May 3. However, following the incident of May 13, the heads of all educational institutions decided to shut down for an indefinite period. The heads of private schools also held a meeting with the district police officer, deputy commissioner and local clerics. “The clerics said they never opposed co-education or learning of English language,” said Major Hussain, who attended the meeting. The Panjgur police have lodged an FIR against unknown armed men under the Anti-Terrorism Act after the noisy protest held by teachers, political parties and students in front of the DC Panjgur office. They gave the cell-phone number to the police from which the threatening messages were sent.

According to the Panjgur police, the culprits involved in threatening the teachers will soon be behind bars. “We have reached very close to the group and will soon arrest them,” said Muhammad Murad, SHO Panjgur police station. “The government and law enforcing agencies are doing nothing to arrest the culprits, who stayed an hour on the main intersection and threatened schoolteachers,” Hussain said.

The Baloch Students Organisation (BSO) also condemned the attacks and said it is an attempt to radicalise the society.

The Balochistan government has also taken notice of the issue and directed the authority concerned to submit a report. “The government is very serious about this issue and has asked senior officials to investigate the incident,” Balochistan government spokesperson Jan Buledi told The Express Tribune.

Pakistan: Displaced dreams: For the Mehsuds, there is no place to call home

The Express Tribune

South Waziristan, the largest of the seven tribal agencies, chronicles the telling symptoms of war. Modest schools that were once part of the rugged landscape have been reduced to dusty debris. Hospitals, roads and simple housing localities are skeletal remains of once inhabited spaces.

For displaced Mehsud tribesmen, who comprise 70% of the local population, South Waziristan is no longer a place they call home, but instead a safe haven for Taliban militants mired in a decade-long battle with security forces.

“Eighty per cent of Mehsud tribesmen have fled to other parts of the country,” Rustam Shah Mohmand, former chief secretary of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) tells The Express Tribune. Of the agency’s estimated three million population, Mohmand reckons nearly 1.6 million now live in camps for ‘internally displaced persons’ (IDPs) – out of which three-fourths are Mehsud tribesmen.

“Many of them moved to earn their livelihood in Sindh – mainly Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur – while a considerable number shifted to different districts of K-P,” says Mohmand, who has also served as ambassador to Afghanistan and is a member of the government committee negotiating peace with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). While the displacement is owed largely to security operations and drone warfare targeting the Taliban’s central leadership and rank and file mostly drawn from the Mehsud tribe, Mohmand says the bloody strife has also destroyed sources of livelihood.

In part, he attributes the mass exodus to the breakdown of the Mehsud’s economic base because border trade with Afghanistan, which collapsed due to the volatile security situation, was the mainstay of local economy. “Militancy and the four major security operations that ensued in the stronghold of the TTP have caused colossal damage to the infrastructure and economy,” he says. With the agency in the grip of militants since 2004, Mohmand says numerous Mehsud businessmen and their families have shifted to Islamabad and Lahore.

Due to the absence of official records, the exact numbers of Fata IDPs is not known. But according to the United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) country profile for 2014, more than one million people have been displaced owing to security operations in Fata and K-P, especially since the Pakistan Army launched the Rah-e-Nijat operation in 2009. The Centre for International and Strategic Analysis (SISA) puts the number of families that fled South Waziristan at an astounding 36,000. According to the Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA), the total number of off-camp IDPs from South Waziristan, Khyber, Orakzai, Kurram and Frontier Region Tank is 704,623, while there is no record of those who migrated to Sindh and Punjab. While Mohmand appreciates FDMA and UNHCR endeavours to provide assistance to the displaced persons, he declares the efforts ‘extremely insufficient’.

Chairman of the Qaumi Watan Party Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao also admits that the Mehsuds are the most unfortunate victims of this war, and describes their living conditions in IDP camps as deplorable. “No one knows how long it will take for their homecoming dream to come true,” he says.

Mohmand also rubbishes the FDMA’s report that hundreds of IDPs from Fata have been returning to their homes during the last two years. “They will never return to South Waziristan as long as the security agencies are there and the Taliban infighting is ongoing,” he says.

According to a 2009 report by the Planning and Development Department of the Fata Secretariat, the tentative infrastructure, social and environmental costs in the aftermath of the security operation run into hundreds of millions of dollars.

For now, struggling Mehsud IDPs are left to make ends meet in temporary homes. In Islamabad, Rawalpindi and adjoining areas, the displaced residents are desperate to return to their homes as early as possible. Recently, a large number of them gathered to protest against the governor of K-P, whom they say has failed to arrange their return to the agency. They say that they have been living in rented houses with little income since 2009 when the security forces launched operation Rah-i-Nijat against the TTP. According to FDMA Director General Arshad Khan, 1,343 tribesmen have been repatriated to Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency from the Kohat camp in May this year. “Over 300,000 people have been displaced due to conflicts in Fata since 2008,” he said, adding that 150,000 are still displaced and reside in various camps.

Aftab Sherpao is sceptical about their repatriation. “I don’t see any likely return of these IDPs to South Waziristan in the near future. A few have returned to their homes but the majority is still waiting for a conducive atmosphere. They want to return due to the sense of insecurity that prevails in the IDP camps. I don’t think the security situation will improve in the coming days,” he says. He also expressed doubt about the success of the peace talks. “All the IDPs were expecting that successful peace talks between the government and the TTP would pave way for their repatriation, but there have been no positive results.”

Pakistan: Chaos, anarchy and madness

If the above title is not self-explanatory, all readers have to do is follow developments in recent days to check its veracity when describing the state of affairs emerging in the country. It all began with the attack on Hamid Mir, a most unfortunate incident, irrespective of one’s view of the man or his journalism. The TV channel he works for went overboard in broadcasting the allegation brought forward by his brother against the ISI and its chief. That lapse in editorial judgement could have perhaps been forgiven and forgotten as a knee jerk reaction in the heat of the moment. However, doubts about the quality of the TV channel’s editorial oversight were compounded beyond comprehension by the broadcast of a morning show that allegedly insulted revered persons in Islam, setting off a storm of protest, calls for and the actual registration of a blasphemy case in Islamabad against the channel, its owner, the anchor and chief guests, while courts were being approached all over the country for similar action.

This latest outburst of seething anger added to the already ‘spontaneous’ rallies and protests against the channel in various parts of the country and in support of the ISI, its chief, and the military in general. As if all this were not enough, the Cable Operators Association and Imran Khan too have joined the fray against the media group. A crescendo of voices is rising to ban the media house in question. Is all this reasonable, is it rational? Who does not know by now that the first casualty in any blasphemy accusation is rationality and civilised behaviour? A blasphemy accused can be considered a dead duck, literally. Even if justified criticism lies against the media group for its ‘adventurism’ against powerful institutions of state and its failure to take account of the circumstances surrounding the reaction to it by venturing into controversial religious terrain, does the punishment being advocated fit the ‘crime’? Another unfortunate fallout of this whole growing controversy is the role played by certain media groups in their shortsighted view of this as an opportunity to do down a rival. What they fail to comprehend is that their campaign against one media group could in future end up rolling back hard won freedom of the media all across the line. The media’s inability to stand together in solidarity against attacks on its freedom, albeit requiring a re-examination of how this freedom needs to be exercised with responsibility, may end up exacting a heavy toll from the media as a whole.

Blasphemy and the laws that govern it in Pakistan have become an increasingly dangerous and controversial terrain. The ease with which anyone holding a different view or reservations about the effect of the laws in nurturing intolerance, false accusation, mob attitudes and vigilante justice (a description it hardly merits), is at risk of losing life and limb. One does not have to travel far down memory lane to recall that Governor Salmaan Taseer, Federal Minister Shahbaz Bhatti and many others have either been killed or suffered irreparable harm to their lives if not very existence by the lack of safeguards against what can by now only be described as a tool of terrorising society at large by vested interests.

The deplorable aspect of the increasingly alarming direction the country is taking is the conspicuous absence (silence) of the government. Our elected representatives, whether in government or in opposition, have signally failed to provide leadership requiring courage and conviction in this rapid descent into chaos, anarchy and madness. Since the powers that be are paralysed by fear in this regard, it is up to the actual and potential victims of the madness overtaking us to band together and resist this rising dark tide of intolerance, giving someone a bad name and hanging them, and the threatened demise of anything resembling a civilised society. Barbarism in any form or in any guise must be resisted by the enlightened, liberal, democratic and progressive forces in society. Unfortunately these forces seem so scattered, weak and cowed down as to cast a dark shadow on the shape of things to come.

Pakistan: Bajaur students go to schools without books

The education department has not provided free textbooks to government schools in Bajaur Agency and the students have been attending schools without books since start of the new academic session in April.

Talking to Dawn on Saturday, students of various schools in the region showed concern over the loss of their precious time and non-seriousness of the education department to provide them free textbooks.

“We are just visiting our schools and sitting there without any purpose in the absence of books,” said Sibgatullah, an 8th class student of government high school Inayat Kallay.

Other students said that they were disappointed at the unavailability of textbooks as the management of their schools had promised to provide free text books by end of April.

“We were assured of provision of free textbooks, but unfortunately we have not received any books from the education department as yet,” said Gul Ahmad, a student of government high school Khar.

Nisar Khan, a senior teacher of government high school Badan Mamond and ex-president of Senior Teachers Association also expressed his concern over the delay in provision of textbooks.

“The undue delay in supply of free textbooks is a matter of serious concern for both students and teachers,” he said.

The tribesmen, parents of the students and social activists of the tribal agency have demanded of the authorities concerned to take the matter seriously and supply textbooks to all schools in the region.

Talking to Dawn, they said that on the one hand the government was claiming steps for the improvement of education in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, on the other it had failed to provide textbooks to the students in the region.

“It seems officials at the Fata Secretariat are not interested in promotion of education in tribal areas,” said Hanifullah Jan, agency coordinator of the Society for Protection of Rights of the Child.

The tribal elders have urged the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor to take serious notice of the matter and ensure provision of textbooks to students in the agency.

When contacted, a senior official in the education department, Bajaur, said that supply of textbooks from Peshawar had just started and the books would be given to all the government schools in the agency after completion of the checking process. “We have asked the principals, headmasters and head teachers to bring the lists of students in respective schools to the office of agency education officer till Monday so we could start distribution of the books,” he said.

Pakistan: Up to six hours of loadshedding as shortage rises to 2,100MW

Cities and towns and rural areas across the country faced up to six hours of loadshedding, despite closure of public and private businesses on Sunday.

The power shortfall rose to 2,100MW because of suspension of 350MW supply from two 220KV Guddo-Sibbi and Uch-Sibbi towers and transmission lines which were reportedly damaged in a terrorist attack.

But a spokesman for the National Transmission and Dispatch Company said the transmission lines and towers had been damaged by a windstorm, and not by terrorists. It caused disruption in power supply to large areas.

According to him, all power distribution companies (Discos) carried out four to six hours of loadshedding because of 2,100MW shortfall in the system. “On Sunday, the total generation stood at 11,200MW — 4,200MW contributed by hydel, 1,480MW by thermal and 5,460MW by independent power producers (IPPs).

Since the total power demand was 13,300MW, Discos had to carry out four to six hours of loadshedding in urban and rural areas to meet the 2,100MW shortfall, the spokesman explained.

He said repair of the damaged towers and transmission line was under way and they would soon be functional.

People in major cities and towns have been enduring several hours of outages after a short-lived respite between May 10 and 13.

“The zero loadshedding witnessed in those days was not less than a miracle for us since we had it after a long time. We had slept well and remained fresh,” Imdad, a resident of Garden Town in Lahore, told Dawn.

Meanwhile, talking to APP, Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali claimed that the government was proactively executing diverse programmes to overcome the energy crisis.

He said the crisis was because of years of neglect, ill-planning and mismanagement.

After coming to power in June last year, he added, the government had faced multiple problems such as 12 to 18 hours of loadshedding, IPPs and Gencos (generation companies) running under-capacity (50 per cent to 70pc), circular debt of over Rs480 billion, a yawning gap between supply and demand (up to 4,000MW) and a “terribly inefficient” power transmission and distribution system.

The minister said the present government had taken a number of measures to resolve these issues, including successful initiation and implementation of the National Power Policy 2013, clearance of Rs480 billion circular debt, bringing additional 1,700MW to the national grid, improvement in demand and supply side management and development of cheap energy resources to achieve optimum results through short-, mid- and long-term projects.

New governments in Kabul and New Delhi will oppose truce of Pakistan with TTP

BY AGHA IQRAR HAROON

New governments in Kabul and New Delhi will strongly oppose any truce of Pakistan with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and will blame Pakistan for using terrorists’ against them if anything happens inside India or Afghanistan. Forthcoming new President of Afghanistan, Abdullah, will have zero tolerance for the TTP or Taliban inside Afghanistan. Taliban who are 100% Pushtun had allegedly been involved in manslaughter of soldiers of the Northern Alliance and the massacre of people of Hazara, Tajik, and Uzbek communities, and these are ethnic groups Abdullah represents. The old narrative of Pukhhun Bhai (Pushtun brothers) will not work for Pakistan now, and the TTP will have a low acceptance level within Afghanistan from where it is operating right now. These are observations of political experts who are dealing with regional issues.

Pakistan went for general elections in 2013, while its two neighbors - one at its eastern border and the second on its western border - have also gone for elections this year. Pakistan’s foreign policy for the last 3 decades has been Pushtun Jihad centric at its western border and Jihadi centric at its eastern border.

The formation of Lashkars (Islamic Corp of fighters for Islam), importing and exporting Jihadis from and to all over the world and justifying radicalism has not only ruined the entire social fabric of Pakistan and killed around 55,000 people, it has damaged Kashmir’s cause internationally. It is unfortunate to say that protests rallies in favor of the Pakistan army against Geo Television had been organized mostly by banned organizations. It was done by these banned organizations to get support of the Pakistan army or to malign the Pakistan army - nobody understands for sure, because the Pakistan Army is fighting against terrorism and banned organizations and sacrificing its soldiers with every sunrise in tribal areas of Pakistan.

Modi is a popular leader having popular support, so he will act as a custodian of the people and will demand Pakistan to share investigations and proceedings of the Mumbai attack. One cannot compare Manmohan Singh with Modi. They are two different mind-sets and personalities.

On the western borders, if Abdullah Abduallah comes into power, he will demand Pakistan to stop cross-border terrorism. Abduallah is half Pushtun and half Tajik, because his father was a Pushtun, but his mother was Tajik, and he has been fighting against the Taliban and Pushtuns since he joined politics. He is not Hamid Karzai who had a soft corner for Pushtun Afghan leaders. Abduallah is a very clear-minded person having a long affiliation with one party that the international media and Pakistan has been calling the Northern Alliance, but actually there was no Northern Alliance, but rather an alliance that should be called the “Anti-Pustun Alliance.” Pakistan should remember that its Pushtun-centric foreign policy can be harmful for Pakistan. Abdullah Abduallah will continue to have a trust deficit if Pakistan continues to post Pushtuns at important assignments as well as in the Ministry of Foreign affairs, Ministry of Defense, and Ministry of Interior. Non-Pushtun Afghans blame Pakistan that Pakistan always operates inside Afghanistan in internal affairs of Afghanistan through Pushtun operators who have personal, family, and ethnic relations within Afghanistan and work for the cause of Pakistan.

Abdullah Abduallah will strongly object any truce of Pakistan with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and will blame Pakistan using TTP inside Afghanistan if the TTP and the government of Pakistan joins handouts of any deal between them. The Pushtun Taliban in the past were allegedly involved in mass slaughtering of the Northern Alliance soldiers, so the Abdullah government will have a zero level of tolerance for the Taliban of both sides.

PAK-INDIA: Army Jawan Killed in First Ceasefire Violation After Election

An army jawan was killed and two others injured on Sunday when they went to rescue a colleague hurt in a landmine blast, in the first major incident of firing by Pakistani troops at the border after the Narendra Modi-led BJP won the general election. The army said at around 10 am, Havaldar Vinod Kumar, a part of the Engineer Regiment, was injured while planting landmines on the Indian side at the Pallanwalla sector near the Line of Control. When a Maratha Light Infantry patrol team went to rescue him, Pakistani troops opened fire and wounded three soldiers. One of them later died. There have been several infiltration bids this month by Pakistani militants along the Line of Control. On May 10, two militants were killed in the Poonch sector, where infiltrators had tried to enter earlier on May 3. In 2013, 12 jawans were killed and 41 injured in the highest number of ceasefire violations - 149 - and firing by Pakistan troops along the India-Pakistan border. Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has expressed hope for good ties with the new government to be led by Narendra Modi. Mr Sharif has reportedly cited his working relationship with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the last prime minister to lead a BJP government, as a reason for his optimism.

پولیو کے خاتمے میں مدارس اصل رکاوٹ ، اعتزاز

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سینیٹ میں قائد حزب اختلاف اعتزاز احسن نے دینی مدارس کو انسداد پولیو مہم میں بڑی رکاوٹ قرار دیتے ہوئے کہا ہے کہ شکیل آفریدی کی مہم کے باعث پولیو ورکرز پر حملہ جہاد قرار دے دیا گیا، انسداد پولیو مہم میں حصہ لینا اصل جہاد ہے۔ جہادی سوچ اور ذہنیت پاکستان کو پتھر کے دور میں دھکیل رہی ہے، حکومت پولیو کی بیماری سے متعلق شعور اجاگر کرنے کے لیے بھرپور مہم چلائے اور پولیو ورکرز کی یومیہ اجرت میں 10 گنا اضافہ کیا جائے۔ جمعے کو سینیٹ میں ملک سے پولیوکے خاتمے سے متعلق حکومتی اقدامات اور عالمی ادارہ صحت کے فیصلے سے متعلق تحریک التوا پر بحث میں حصہ لیتے ہوئے سینیٹ میں قائد حزب اختلاف اعتزاز احسن نے کہا کہ ایک مخصوص مائنڈ سیٹ پولیو کے خاتمے کی راہ میں رکاوٹ بن چکا ہےٴ اس کو تبدیل کرنے کی ضرورت ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ پولیو ورکرز موجودہ صورتحال میں انتہائی مشکل حالات میںپولیو کے خاتمے کی مہم کو آگے بڑھا رہے ہیں۔ حکومت پولیو ورکرز کو تحفظ فراہم کرنے میں ناکام ہو گئی ہے۔ ملک سے پولیو کا خاتمہ انتہائی ضروری ہےٴ اس کے بغیر ہم عالمی سطح پر اپنے ملک کا تشخص بہتر نہیں بنا سکتے۔ اگر پولیو وائرس پر کنٹرول نہ کیا گیا تو پاکستان پر عالمی پابندیاں لگ جائیں گی۔ اعتراز احسن نے کہا کہ پولیو سے متعلق جو بھی سرٹیفکیٹ جاری ہو جعلی نہ ہو، ہمارے ہاں جعلسازی بہت ہوتی ہے۔ سینیٹر روبینہ خالد نے کہا کہ پولیو کے معاملے پر تشویش ہے یہ بڑا مسئلہ ہے، اس معاملے کو سنجیدگی سے لینا چاہیے۔ جے یو آئی ٟفٞ کے سینیٹر حمد اË نے کہا کہ ہر چیز میں مدارس اور جہاد کو مورد الزام ٹھہرانا درست نہیں۔ آپ ہر بات پر جہاد اور مدارس کا ذکر کر کے کسے خوش کرنا چاہتے ہیں۔ ریمنڈ ڈیوس اور شکیل آفریدی کے حوالے سے کیوں خاموش ہیں۔ وزیر مملکت برائے قومی صحت سائرہ افضل تارڑ نے کہا کہ ولیو کی صورتحال یہ ہے کہ فاٹاٴ شمالی وزیرستانٴ پشاور اور کراچی میں گڈاپ یونین کونسل ہے۔ پولیو ویکسین کا مکمل کنٹرول صوبوں کے پاس ہے۔ پولیو کی سب سے بڑی وجہ روٹین کی ویکسی نیشن کا نہ ہونا ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ آمریت نے جو کانٹے بوئے ہیں وہ ہم کاٹ رہے ہیں۔ تمام صوبوں کو پولیو سرٹیفکیٹ کارڈ جاری کر دیے گئے ہیں تاکہ جعلسازی نہ ہوسکے۔ 27 ہزار افراد روزانہ بیرون ملک جاتے ہیں جن میں سے 17 ہزار افراد ہوائی راستے سے بیرون ملک جاتے ہیں۔ یکم جون کے بعد پولیو ویکسی نیشن کارڈ بیرون ملک جانے کیلیے لازمی ہو جائے گا۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ پاکستان کا 90 فیصد علاقہ پولیو سے پاک ہو چکا ہے۔ تمام سیاسی جماعتوں اور متعلقہ فریقین کو پولیو کے خاتمے کے لیے حکومت سے تعاون کرنا چاہیے۔ دریں اثنا سینیٹ میں اپوزیشن جماعتوں نے پی آئی اے کی نجکاری سے متعلق اطمینان بخش جواب نہ دینے پر شدید احتجاج کرتے ہوئے ایوان سے علامتی واک آئوٹ کیا جبکہ ڈپٹی چیئرمین صابر بلوچ نے پی آئی اے کی نجکاری سے متعلق سوال موخر کر دیا۔

Pakistan in the limelight again for all the wrong reasons: ''Travellers’ check''

Waqar Gillani

Being one of the three polio endemic countries, Pakistan is in the limelight again for all the wrong reasons

The World Health Organization (WHO) has put a restriction on all travellers from Pakistan to carry a polio vaccination certificate. After the initial confusion on whether this was a restriction or recommendation, the government has now announced that this international recommendation will be put into effect on all travellers from the country from June 1, 2014. The WHO restriction came in the wake of evidence that Pakistan has become the largest global source of polio infections. Pakistan is among the three countries that have received this directive — the other two being Syria and Cameroon. Together the three countries are said to have exported the virus recently.

According to reports, the prime minister has taken some administrative measures internally, after meeting with the National Coordinator for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq. He has decided to seek help of the army to regulate the movement of people from Fata to settled districts only after polio drops have been administered to them. At the moment, only three countries in the world — Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria — are polio endemic, putting the rest of the world at risk. The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) travel restriction is the first of its kind because of polio in the three countries. Syria and Cameroon too are facing restrictions for polio outbreak. The current rise of polio in Syria is said to be because of Pakistan, while Nigeria imported that from Cameroon.

Only this year, the number of polio cases in Pakistan has gone up to 62 till mid May, with a majority of them from North Waziristan while the rest belonging to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Karachi. The spread of polio in Pakistan has been a big worry for the past few years. The number of polio cases in 2013 was 93. There has been a gradual rise in polio cases in Pakistan since 2007.

“Pakistan was the first country to face travel restriction because of failure to eradicate polio. Pakistan will have serious social and economic implications because of these restrictions. We will stand isolated in the world,” says Dr Tariq Bhutta, Chairman Pakistan’s National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group and member of two WHO regions on polio eradication certification commission.

The WHO had been warning Pakistan for the past two years but our governments did not take it seriously, he says. “A country like Somalia has controlled polio virus but we have failed.”

The virus strain of polio found in the country has affected many countries over the past two years, becoming a serious threat to the rest of the world. Pakistan is said to have transmitted polio virus to Middle East, Central Asia, and China. According to reports, China had to spend US$45 million to control that virus while the Middle East has spent several million dollars so far.

According to WHO findings, Pakistani polio virus has been found in Tajikistan, China, Palestine, Israel, Syria, Egypt and Iraq. It is turning into an epidemic in Syria and Iraq while it has been controlled in other countries because of high immunisation rate. It is also said to have travelled from Pakistan to Afghanistan because of the porous border, though some Pakistani authorities believe that it is Afghanistan that is exporting it to Pakistan.

The problem was compounded by the killing of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011 followed by the arrest of Dr Shakil Afridi, a Pakistani doctor who allegedly helped CIA through a spy vaccination campaign for Hepatitis. Prior to this incident, the Taliban were only opposing the administering of polio drops to children but since December 2012 they have started killing the polio workers.

As many as 40 polio workers and security officials have been killed during anti-polio campaigns in the past several months. Pakistan’s health ministry and WHO have, in a joint statement, announced that all Pakistani travellers will be required to carry a valid polio vaccination certificate from June 1, 2014.

A template for the required vaccination certificate has been prepared. According to the health ministry, people travelling out of Pakistan can get vaccinated against polio from major public hospitals in cities as well as from District Health Offices, airports, seaports and cross-border checkpoints of neighbouring countries. The polio certificate issued to any one will be valid for one year.

The Minister of State for National Health Services, Saira Afzal Tarar, says the government would try to address the concerns of the WHO so that by the next assessment which is scheduled to be reviewed after three months the condition improves.

“We don’t take such matters of health seriously. Security concern and accessibility are two major reasons for this spread,” Dr Bhutta says. He maintains Taliban added to this crisis barring polio workers in tribal areas in 2012. He says among reasons of failure to eradicate polio, security is one. Pakistan has not provided vaccine to every child despite having sufficient dozes because Taliban have banned the entry of polio workers in many areas.

Rahimullah Yusfzai, a senior journalist based in KP, believes that accessibility due to lack of security is the main reason why tribal areas and parts of KP have become major polio reservoirs. He says vaccinators are under threat and banned from entering areas like North Waziristan. “I don’t think we cannot achieve hundred per cent target in the current situation but we have to do maximum. Such restrictions are aimed at putting more pressure on Pakistan to evolve a comprehensive strategy to eradicate this disease.” For those who travel frequently from Pakistan, it is an embarrassing situation after the allegations of exporting drugs and terrorism.

The Punjab and Sindh governments have prepared plans for setting up special counters for polio drops administration at district level and give free certification, which will be valid for one year.

“We have been put in an awkward situation,” says Tahir Hussain, a Lahore based regular international traveller. He hopes that there would be a transparent procedure for this certification. He fears there can also be a problem if people start getting fake certificates, alarming the embassies to come up with their own system to make sure the procedure is transparent.

According to the reports of Ministry of National Health Services, despite all the efforts, the December 2013 reports claim that more than 47,099 children failed to get polio drops in Pakistan because their parents refused vaccination. The real issue is Pakistan is to access its every child for vaccination. A few years ago, polio vaccination was put under the prime minister’s office for greater oversight but that too did not help.

Dr Bhutta says, “A neighbouring country like Iran’s routine immunisation coverage is above 95 per cent and India has become polio-free. In Pakistan, routine immunisation coverage is 55 per cent, and less in many areas like Balochistan.” Recently, wild polio virus has been found in sewerage in environmental sampling in the heavily populated cities of Lahore and Karachi. “It might take years to improve the situation,” says Dr Bhutta.

Dr Altaf Bosan, national focal person of prime minister’s polio cell tells TNS that all the affected areas in the country are somehow conflict zones including Karachi were an operation is going on. “The new strategy includes negotiations with those refusing or resisting vaccination, effective coordination from national to local level with greater role for the provinces.”

He says strict accountability mechanism would be evolved in districts where the vaccination ratio will be low to make sure a quality campaign. “If we make effective and serious efforts to targeting polio reservoir zones, we can overcome the endemic situation in a year,” Bosan hopes.

China: Xinjiang terrorists have multinational roots

China, as a rising power, today faces an unprecedented threat from terrorism. The terrorist threat in Asia, originating in the anti-Soviet multinational, mainly Afghan, mujahideen campaign (1979-89), has its genesis in the Middle East. The center of gravity of international terrorism shifted from the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon to Pakistan and Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979.

Since then, the single largest concentration of threats has oscillates between the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and Afghanistan and Pakistan countries bordering China. Although the threat is global, the most sustained threat is to Asia.

In addition to India, Pakistan and Afghanistan that suffer a large number of fatalities and injuries from insurgency and terrorism, China faces an increasing threat from the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP), an Al Qaeda-associated group.

Operating from North Waziristan from tribal Pakistan, TIP directs and instigates attacks in Xinjiang and beyond. A car crash in Tiananmen Square on October 28, 2013, killed the three occupants of the vehicle and two bystanders, and injured 38 others.

Similarly, knife-wielding assailants killed 33 civilians and injured at least 140 at the Kunming railway station in Southwest China's Yunnan Province on March 1, 2014.

And on the last day of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Xinjiang, two suicide bombers and knife wielding assassins attacked a train station in China's western city of Urumqi, killing three and injuring 79 on April 30.

TIP claimed responsibility for a series of attacks. Calling the Urumqi attack an expensive offer to the Chinese government, an online Uyghur-language video by TIP's Islam Awazi Media Center requested China reconsider its "cruel" policies.

Xi remarked late April that "The Kashi region is the front line in anti-terrorism and maintaining social stability" when he visited Xinjiang. Although belatedly, China has recognized the threat from Afghanistan and Pakistan, but after Uyghur militants had established a presence in tribal Pakistan and spread its influence. With the deepening influence of Al Qaeda on TIP, the Uyghur militancy transformed from an ethnopolitical to a politico-religious movement where they recruit irrespective of ethnicity. TIP's Sheikh Abu Dhar 'Azzam praised in a released video the acts of foreign fighters and calls upon Muslims to support them.

Reflecting collaboration with other Turkic groups, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement changed its name by dropping the "East." Working with other groups, TIP has mounted operations in the Afghanistan-Pakistan theater and also adopted Al Qaeda-style suicide attacks.

The idea of attacking iconic targets as well as the strategy of attacking the center was reflected when TIP hit Beijing and other targets outside Xinjiang. In addition to establishing Awazi Media Center, a copycat of Al Qaeda's multi-media unit, TIP demonstrated the growing influence of Al Qaeda on the group when TIP leaders appeared on video just as Al Qaeda leaders have done.

The looming threat to China with the drawdown of US-led coalition forces from Afghanistan is apparent. The threat of insurgency and terrorism is likely to peak in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a theater that borders China. With a failed global strategy to stabilize Afghanistan, with the NATO drawdown from Afghanistan starting 2014, terrorism is likely to take a new dimension.

To stabilize Afghanistan and Pakistan, China should strengthen cooperation with the US, as well as its allies and friends. Superpower and regional geopolitics imperatives affect genuine cooperation, whether through the military or law enforcement, to fight the threat of terrorism and insurgency.

China: Terrorist behind Xinjiang railway station attack

Terrorist group the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) was behind the attack that killed three people and injured 79 others at a train station in Urumqi, capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, last month, authorities said on Sunday.

According to the region's publicity department, the attack was planned by ETIM member Ismail Yusup outside China. On April 22, he ordered 10 partners in Xinjiang to prepare to strike.

The 10 set off explosives and slashed people with knives at the exit of the South Railway Station of Urumqi at around 7:10 pm on April 30. Two members of the mob, Saderdin Sawut and Memetabudula Ete, were killed by the explosion, and the eight others were caught by police.

Investigation shows that the main members of the gang started to preach Islamic extremism in 2005. Ismail Yusup fled abroad after becoming wanted by police for making explosives, and joined the ETIM in 2013.

Police are hunting Ismail Yusup in cooperation with the International Criminal Police Organization.

Turkey: Failed democracy and the Soma tragedy

NURAY MERT

The politically correct term of “developing countries” has long turned out to be a euphemism, as the post-Cold War eulogy about the global rise of liberal democracies has ended up a sham. The bitter truth is that the so-called “developing countries” enforced economic growth policies not only at expense of more social-economic inequality and worsening working conditions, but also at the expense of a deficit in democracy. Some of the most shining examples of post-Cold War “economic miracles” are also examples of “social misery” and “political malady,” from major China to minor Singapore. The most recent election victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India is another bad omen for the global retreat from democracy, another promise for an economic miracle at the expense of social misery.

The story of Turkey is neither “peculiar” nor “surprising,” as many claim. Turkey is another “banal” case of rising “illiberal democracies.” In the case of Turkey, it is the combination of conservative political authoritarianism, economic liberalism and a “temporary” alliance with Western political interests. Besides, Turkey has proven to be one of the most compelling cases to review the delusion about a “Muslim democracy” - a peculiar democracy model for Muslim countries. In fact, it was the idea of “non-Western modernities” that paved the way for “rethinking democracy” in terms of different cultures. The rising economies of Southeast Asia were presented as a success story of the combination of liberal economics with “Asian values” in the 1990s, before the talk of combining Muslim culture and liberal economics started to be presented as the best solution for Islamic countries. The politics of multiculturalism empowers the experience of democracy only as long as it enforces more cultural freedoms; otherwise it turns to be an intellectual excuse for curbing individual rights and hindering political criticism. This is the case for countries like ours.

It is only after the cruel suppression of the Gezi protests, the suppression of judicial inquires into graft investigations, and now the tragedy in the Soma mines, that the standards of democracy, political freedoms, judicial independence and working conditions in Turkey are starting to be questioned by the Western world. The most disturbing aspect of this awakening is the pretense of “surprise.” Not only Western observers of Turkish politics, but also some in Turkey seem to be wondering, “Why has it turned out to be so disastrous?” “Why has the process of democratization regressed?” and “What happened to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan?” One must look back to find answers; it is easy to observe the footprints of rising authoritarian politics, especially after the 2011 election.

I am not one of those who was ever not skeptical about the democratic credentials of the conservatives and Erdoğan, or the prospects of democracy in Turkey. Besides, I have no intention of putting all of the blame of the democratic retreat in Turkey on the conservative government or on Erdoğan’s personality. In fact, the basic reason for the deficit of democracy in Turkey is deeper; and it should be debated at length elsewhere. In short, in the end Turkey has not been able to adjust itself to the post-Cold War times and, as a result, has slid first toward political instability and then toward a new authoritarian politics, like in many other countries since the 1990s. It seemed that there was a chance for Turkey to transform, but it failed, and the fatal blow came with the delusion of democratization at the hands of conservatives, who were already drifting away from democratic politics. The final excuse for many is to turn a blind eye to this naked truth has been the Kurdish peace process led by Erdoğan. Indeed, this could have been justified, if only it was possible to consider “peace” and “democracy” to be totally separate issues.

After all, not only the Kurdish peace process, but such issues as the working conditions in mines or elsewhere cannot be separated from the major issue of the retreat of democracy in Turkey. The bitter truth should not have to be reminded by tragedies such as the losing of more than 300 lives in Soma. At this point, we should also think about the dangers of falling into the trap of the government’s politics of separating the Kurdish peace process from democracy, as this may cost many more lives.

Searching for answers as the bury the dead in Turkey

Residents of Soma demand answers as a funeral ceremony is held for one of the 301 people killed in Turkey's worst industrial disaster

President Obama to visit Baseball Hall of Fame to stress how tourism leads to jobs

http://www.nydailynews.com/

Obama announced in his weekly radio address that he will be at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. on Thursday.

President Obama says he’s heading to the Baseball Hall of Fame to stress how tourism can lead to good-paying jobs.

In his weekly radio address, Obama says he will be in Cooperstown, N.Y., on Thursday.

“Because believe it or not, tourism is an export. And if we make it easier for more foreign visitors to visit and spend money at America’s attractions and unparalleled national parks, that helps local businesses and grows the economy for everyone,” Obama said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/obama-visit-baseball-hall-fame-stress-tourism-leads-jobs-article-1.1796677#ixzz327wblc9Z

Historic Rout in India Comes With Opposition's Victory

India’s opposition party has won a resounding mandate in the country’s general election, capturing a majority, on its own, of more than 280 of the 543 seats in the lower house of parliament. The outcome after a six-week election marks a historic loss for India’s original political party. The world’s largest democracy will have a new prime minister for the first time in a decade, able to form a government without relying on regional coalition partners. VOA's Steve Herman reports from New Delhi.

Russia ask for anti-narcotic HQ to combat in Afghanistan

By: Mirwais Jalalzai

Afghan anti- heroin combat needs a new phase of regional and international cooperation.

Various programs aimed at resolving the problem of massive production of heroin in Afghanistan should be merged into an internationally-supervised office, suggests Russia’s chief drug officer.

“We suggest the creation of an international headquarter or an office for combating the planetary center of drug production in Afghanistan. The goal of the HQ would be to consolidate the currently separate anti-narcotic programs in Afghanistan and to create an effective, internationally-supervised mechanism to eradicated drug production,” Viktor Ivanov, the head of Russian Federal Drug Control Service, told on Sunday.

He added that such a global effort should include not only direct attack on opium poppy field and drug trafficking, but also a large investment program for Afghanistan.

A latest study by a US investigation body says,America’s war on drugs is failing in Afghanistan, with opium production at record levels, despite spending $7.5 billion to tackle the problem. Over 200 thousand hectares is used to grow opium, an increase of 36 percent, according to a US report.

The report also said, opium poppy cultivation increasing by over a third, while the country now has about 1.3 million heroin users. This is a ten-fold increase compared to 2005, when around 130,000 people were using the drug.

Russia is badly affected by Afghan heroine which make its way through central Asian countries.

“Russia believes that the international community should organize a comprehensive development program for Afghanistan to be implemented between 2015 and 2025. It would be based on alternative development of the new generation and include forceful industrialization effort and basic infrastructure development,” Ivanof said.

“We see Afghanistan a strong a prosperous nation in the near future. We have to bet on development for it,” Ivanov said. Heroine production was on the decline in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, but skyrocketed since the US-led coalition invaded the country. Over 200,000 hectares in Afghanistan are currently used to grow opium poppies, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

“In 14 years since the start of the Enduring Freedom operation, over a million people in Eurasia have died from Afghan heroin, with at least half of them being Russian citizens,” Ivanov said. “The intensive transit of drug products from Afghanistan, which is estimated at over 100 billion dollars annually, provides the basis for the spreading of paramilitary drug gangs, the rise of violence and involvement of millions of people in the region in the transit of the high-priced drug products, which has deformed the political landscape of the states in Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Middle East.”

But the impact of the Afghan heroin goes much further, affecting Europe, the US, African countries. The situation is aggravated by political turmoil, like the one underway in Ukraine, where the decline of law enforcement had resulted in increased heroin traffic lately.

Russia on its part is working with the Afghan authorities to help them tackle the problem, Ivanov said. A joint raid on Wednesday resulted in five drug laboratories destroyed in Afghan province of Badakhshan, which produced more than 250 kg of heroin daily. Since September 2010 the Russian-Afghan operations against drug gangs saw 24 laboratories dismantled, he added. Moscow has repeatedly pushed for the eradication of poppy fields in Afghanistan as the simplest solution. NATO, however, seems to have no intention of doing so.

Afghanistan is responsible for about three-quarters of the world’s heroin production, with much of it being cultivated in the Helmand and Kandahar provinces in the south of the country. However, the US has concentrated most of its efforts in the east of Afghanistan, which has relatively little poppy production, as it is safer than working in the south. In 2013, the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics reported that just 7,300 hectares of poppy fields had been destroyed, which was only three percent of the total opium fields in the country. The US has spent $7.5 billion since 2002 trying to combat the problem of opium production. However, despite these vast sums very little impact has been made on the amount of heroin appearing on the world market.

Pakistan: Blasphemy Accused Muslims are Forgiven while Christians Face Death Sentence

Dr. Nazir S Bhatti, President of Pakistan Christian Congress (PCC) expressed apprehensions, on May 16, 2014, on double standards of implementation of Blasphemy law on citizens of Pakistan and demanded immediate release of blasphemy accused Christians.

Dr. Nazir S Bhatti, President of Pakistan Christian Congress (PCC) expressed apprehensions, on May 16, 2014, on double standards of implementation of Blasphemy law on citizens of Pakistan because when any Muslim commits blasphemy on electronic media watched by millions then he is pardoned on an simple apology note but when a Christian or Ahmadiyyia community member is allegedly accused of blasphemy by one Muslim spectator then he faces death sentence no matter how repeatedly he sworn that he has not defiled name of Holy Prophet of Muslims.

He further said, “All Christian victims of blasphemy laws after arrests have publically denied committing blasphemy but not any court or complainant have pardoned them but when a Muslim cleric or any Muslim very openly defiles name of Prophet Mohammad then uproar of Islamic decrees appear to Pardon these Muslims.”

Nazir Bhatti showed grief while commenting on a morning show of GEO TV in which a lady host committed blasphemy along with many other Muslim participants which was seen by millions of viewers but no FIR was lodged. Furthermore, Muslim clerics issued decree that registration of case under blasphemy law is not necessary after apology of show host.

On the contrary, when a Christian woman Asia Bibi, mother of five children, was blamed for blasphemy by her Muslim co-workers, she was tortured and arrested despite her repeating statement that “She has not uttered any word to defile Prophet Mohammad but no one comes forward to Pardon her.

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It is on record that all Christian victim of blasphemy were arrested on alleged complains of only one Muslim on any personal disagreement or quarrels.

Nazir Bhatti said, “Christian colonies were set on fire, Christians were burnt alive, Christian were brutally murdered in court compounds, Christians were gunned downed and Christian worship places were attacked by Muslim mob on pretext to blasphemy while none of Muslim blasphemer was ever arrested in Pakistan”

PCC Chief demanded immediate release of Asia Bibi, Sawan Masih, Shagufta Kasur and Shafqat Emmanuel who had been sentenced to death under allegations of blasphemy and dozens of other Christians and Ahmadiyyia victims of blasphemy who are in jails waiting for trials and forgiveness.

In addition, Nazir Bhatti urged Muslim clerics to issue decree that if blasphemy accused Christians might also be pardoned and released on a written apology note.

- See more at: http://www.christiansinpakistan.com/blasphemy-accused-muslims-are-forgiven-while-christians-face-death-sentence/#sthash.qRl9RTKZ.dpuf

Pakistan: Woman killed, 6 Levies officials injured in Bajaur blast

The Express Tribune

A woman was killed while six Levies officials were injured in a bomb explosion in Khaar, Bajaur Agency, Express News reported on Sunday. According to initial details, a Levies vehicle was the target of the attack. The remote controlled bomb went off when the vehicle passed by, injuring the officials and killing a woman who was going to work in the fields nearby. There is no information as to how intense the explosion was.

Sindh cabinet decides establishment of Counter Terrorism Dept

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The Sindh cabinet has decided that a separate Counter Terrorism Department will be established and legislation will be made to purge police of black sheep besides providing advanced training to the personnel of Rapid Response Force.

The Sindh cabinet in a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah at the CM House here on Saturday also acceded the decisions of the meeting chaired by the Prime Minister in Karachi on May 14 to expedite the ongoing targeted operation and maintain law and order situation in the city.

The cabinet recommended the federal government for providing a financial package of up to Rs. 27 billion for the up gradation of police stations, strengthening and equipping the Sindh police, enabling it to take the targeted operation to its success.

The cabinet meeting was attended by all the provincial ministers advisers and special assistants chief secretary Sindh, home secretary, all secretaries of other departments and Senior Member of Revenue.

The cabinet discussed the matters relating to law and order issues of illegal immigrants, drafts on first power policy of the provincial government and eradication of polio, measles and rubella virus in detail and made decisions with consensus.

The cabinet expressed satisfaction over the performance of law enforcement agencies in implementing targeted operation in Karachi against terrorists, extortionists and kidnappers without any discrimination.

Declaring 26 police stations of Karachi and three prisons (Karachi, Hyderabad and Larkana Central prisons) sensitive, the cabinet approved the decision of the provincial government for increasing salaries of police force deployed at the sensitive police stations and strengthening security with structures and more force at the sensitive central jails. The cabinet directed the IGP Sindh for providing foolproof security to all mosques, Imam barghas and temples minorities specially in the interior Sindh.

Pakistan: Blasphemy, blasphemy everywhere

The media circus in Pakistan has truly turned grotesque. Sensationalism and grabs for the highest ratings have reached new heights with sensibilities being offended and all decorum being chucked out the window. A certain media house has recently been in the crosshairs for everything from being accused of collaborating with the US and Israel to the biggest crime in the land: blasphemy.

The blasphemy charge really does seem to take the cake, proving that, when it comes to ‘insulting’ the religion, even things that are done in bad taste can be bracketed under the umbrella of blasphemy. An uproar is being caused by overly sensitive citizens, other media houses, ulema (clerics) and even cable operators calling for a shutdown of the private television channel run by the organisation. That is because a morning show aired by that channel is being accused of insulting the religious sentiments of the masses by showing the wedding ceremony of a local film starlet to the tune of a religious qawaali (song). One must cite here that the show and the theme were tacky, in bad taste and, yes, insensitive, but one would hesitate to call the shenanigans blasphemy.

What is happening to Pakistan? We seem to be spiralling out of control, where anyone whose name resembles that of a religious persona can allege that blasphemy has occurred if he is insulted, e.g. the police officer in Jhang, Umar, who claims lawyers protesting against him and his abuse of power were insulting his namesake! One thinks twice before saying anything now as murderers roam free, killing off blasphemy accused with impunity. To illustrate this horrifying reality, on Friday a teenager just walked into a police station in Sheikhupura and shot dead an Ahmedi man accused of blasphemy. How could this happen? Where was the police? Where was security for the accused? One finds it hard to swallow that the police were not in collusion with the killer. A full judicial investigation must be conducted as the police department cannot be trusted here.

It is against this volatile backdrop that our independent media takes on the role of judge, jury and executioner. In a race for ratings, other media channels have chastised the media house and its morning show, going all out and accusing it of blasphemy. Do these anchors not know how dangerous it is for all the employees of that channel, for the hundreds who are part of the media group under attack? In this media race, are these anchormen and women really ready to live with the consequences of playing the blasphemy card and, in effect, signing the death warrants of many? Media freedom is all well and good but where on earth is media responsibility? It is time for the blithering media to take stock and understand that we are living in dangerous times; adding fuel to the fire will only end up in all getting burned.

Should Pakistan Welcome Modi’s Election in India?

By Zachary Keck

Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory may ultimately work out in Pakistan’s favor.

As others have reported today, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a landslide victory in India’s parliamentary elections this month. It’s the first time that a single party has won a clear majority in an Indian election in three decades.

The BJP’s victory will bring Narendra Modi to power as India’s next prime minister. As Ankit and I talk about on the podcast today, Modi and the BJP’s victory are in many ways a nightmare for Pakistan. The BJP is a Hindu nationalist party, and both Modi and the BJP have been perceived as being especially hardline when it comes to Pakistan.

Ankit, for instance, pointed out that Modi has suggested that India might conduct covert cross-border raids targeting specific Pakistan-based anti-India terrorists. Another harrowing possibility is that Pakistan-based terrorists, at least assumed to be working in cohort with Pakistani terrorists, will carry out another major terrorist attack in India in the mold of the 2001 bombing of the Indian Parliament building or the siege of Mumbai in 2008. A BJP government under Modi is unlikely to act with the same restraint that the outgoing UPA government has shown in these incidents.

Even if incidents as dramatic as these don’t materialize, Modi and the BJP’s victory could put the brakes on the nascent Indo-Pakistani détente. As The Diplomat has reported, since Nawaz Sharif’s assumption of power in Pakistan in 2013, India and Pakistan have made small but notable progress in expanding trade and people-to-people ties. It’s possible that Modi will reverse course on this front, which is probably one reason Sharif has been so quick to reach out to Modi and congratulate him on his victory.

Although none of these possibilities should be dismissed, it’s possible that Modi will actually become an asset for Pakistan on a couple of fronts.

First, the BJP in general and Modi in particular have been widely criticized as being anti-Muslim. Most notably, many believe Modi either acquiesced in or actively encouraged the anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat back in 2002. At the very least, Muslims in India are extremely wary of Modi and the BJP at present. If actions and rhetoric in the ensuing months and years confirm their current suspicions, Indian Muslims and other non-Hindu Indians are likely to become extremely dissatisfied.

Moreover, if the Indian government enacts egregious anti-Muslim policies, or condones anti-Muslim actions (especially something like the Gujarat riots in 2002), this will hurt India’s image in the international community, particularly among Western nations like the U.S. and Muslim nations in the Middle East. Pakistan will have opportunities to exploit this dissatisfaction among Indian Muslims, although it will have to tread carefully so as not to provoke Delhi into a kinetic conflict. At the same time, it will benefit from India’s image suffering in the court of international opinion.

Second, Modi’s premiership might push China even closer to Pakistan. As Ankit discussed on the podcast today, it’s not clear that Modi will take a hard line against China, especially given the importance he places on economic growth. Still, if history is any guide a BJP prime minister is likely to see China with greater alarm than a Congress Party leader. And if India adopts more hardline policies towards China, Pakistan becomes a bigger asset in the eyes of Beijing. This would be extremely beneficial to Islamabad, given its desperate need for Chinese assistance and aid in numerous areas, especially as the U.S. is likely to reduce its own aid to Pakistan as it withdraws from Afghanistan.

Thus, while on the surface Modi’s electoral victory is unsettling to Pakistan, it may ultimately work out in its favor.

They'll go to Mars but won't come back

If your romantic partner pointed you to an application for a one-way trip to Mars, would you be upset -- or thrilled? When Dr. Leila Zucker's husband sent her such an e-mail last spring, he said that he didn't want her to go but that he'd be a lousy husband if he didn't tell her about it.

Fast-forward to today: Zucker has made it past the first round of cuts for Mars One, a nonprofit organization that aims to send four people to the Red Planet in 2024 and subsequent groups in later years. "Most of us want to explore, want to go new places, and then it's just a question of: How much are you willing to give up to do it?" she said.

Zucker is one of 705 candidates selected from a pool of 200,000 applicants for the mission. The select group has been narrowed from 1,058 people as some prospective astronauts dropped out for personal or medical reasons, Mars One said recently. All of the remaining candidates will be interviewed by the Mars One selection committee. Eventually, only four will be picked for the first trip. Apparently, none of them is scared off by the idea that, because of technological and financial limitations, Mars One astronauts would probably never come home.

It might not actually happen

Despite growing excitement surrounding this effort, it is not clear that sufficient money will be raised to follow through. Mars One CEO Bas Lansdorp has said the company is looking at "a range of funding scenarios." A reality TV concept is one way Mars One may make good on its $6 billion budget for getting the first four humans to Mars. Lansdorp hopes the unprecedented video opportunities will attract sponsors, partners and media coverage.

But since no one has ever been to Mars, the technology to fly people there and keep them alive has not been tested there, either. Lansdorp said last year that "no new inventions are needed to land humans on Mars," and the website says the "plan is built upon existing technologies available from proven suppliers." But the company will need to show that key systems involved in transportation and life support will work in untraversed territories.

Mars One announced in March that it will soon begin constructing the first of its "simulation outposts" to train selected astronauts and teams, giving them experience in an environment made to feel like a Martian home. Zucker, 46, an emergency medicine physician in Washington, is doubtful that Mars One will deliver on the trip at all. But if it does happen, she is on board. "There's no question."

Settling away from your spouse

You might think that trying to emigrate from our planet might put some pressure on Earth-based relationships. Zucker and her husband have been married for 21 years and have no children. If she goes to Mars, she said, she will probably offer her husband a divorce but will wear her wedding ring regardless. He doesn't want her to go, she said, but supports her following her dreams.

"Both of us are space enthusiasts," she said. "Humanity needs to expand off Earth if we expect the human race to succeed in any way beyond just basic survival."

Dan Carey, 52, another candidate, also believes humans should be spreading to other planets -- but his wife is not happy about Carey taking part in the mission. The couple, married 28 years, has two college-age children.

"She's concerned that she's going to have to watch me die on television," Carey said of his wife.

It's hard for Carey to think about leaving his wife and kids behind forever and never meeting future grandchildren. Still, he likes the idea of making history and seeing things that no one has seen directly before. Sachin Desai and his wife, Ankita Ritwik, are getting around the marital tension issue by applying together. Desai says he could not go to Mars without her. Sure, Mars might challenge their marriage, but enough marriages are strained on Earth already, he said.

"One thing we do really well together is travel, and this would be a trip lasting the rest of our lives. I think we also are very good at helping each other out when we are stressed; I would be a far worse space cadet without her." A 'social experiment'

When you live far from people you've known for a long time, you manage to make friends in your immediate area, and that's what Marina Santiago thinks will happen on Mars. The Harvard University Ph.D. student says Mars One crew members may take the place of friends, family and significant others.

Even if Mars One doesn't land people on Mars in 2025, it serves as a "social experiment" to get people talking and thinking about a Mars mission, she said.

"What I learned in grad school is that you never really know what problems you're going to come across until you actually try and do something. And the fact that they're actually trying to plan it, means that they'll come across the problems," she said. "I believe that there are no problems humanity can't solve."

Some candidates draw analogies to the early waves of European settlers in North America. Immigrants didn't have a rover on Plymouth Rock telling them about local conditions before they arrived, says Gregory Sachs. "You even couldn't necessarily send a letter back to your family," Zucker said. "You were leaving everything for good. We at least will have the ability to use e-mail."

Still, it's a hard sell for friends of Brian Robles', a Mars One candidate who studies public health at Rutgers University. "Usually, every time I tell somebody about the trip, they say it's a 'suicide mission' and 'you're going to die on Mars,' " Robles said. "Well, we're going to die here, too. So might as well live your whole life to the fullest."

Funny he should mention that: The United Arab Emirates' religious watchdog, the General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments, recently issued a fatwa to warn Muslims against the mission because "the chances of dying are higher than living."

Mars One responded in a statement, asking the authority to cancel the fatwa. "The Fatwa prohibits Muslims from going to Mars, but not from applying to Mars One's mission or training for the mission. In the next ten years, Mars One is open to working with the GAIAE to assess the risk of the mission as the unmanned settlement is under construction," Mars One said.

Sachs is hopeful that his trip wouldn't actually be one-way. He believes it would be in the best interest of the mission to send the astronauts back: "Imagine only the cost and tax on resources to care with someone elderly on a Mars One colony," he said.

But the way that the mission is currently set up -- with no return plan -- he's still interested.

Making happy Martian meals

Spending the rest of your life on another planet might make a person miss certain Earthly conveniences like favorite foods. Carey said he'd lose weight just to be able to take more chocolate with him, since there would be a limit of how much weight each person could contribute to the mission. Michael McDonnell, another applicant, said he wants to make the first pizza on Mars. Zucker would miss hamburgers but has high hopes for being able to grow them herself, perhaps from cow stem cells using a technique demonstrated last year.

How test-tube meat could be the future of food

"The first hardest thing to give up would obviously be my husband," Zucker said. "The second hardest thing would be meat." But for this opportunity, she would kiss them both goodbye.