Pakistan: Let there be light!

By Lal Khan

If it were only a matter of praying to Allah for the masses to end their woes and achieve their emancipation, how easy it would be!

The present right-wing regime of the PML-N came to power with a disputed, heavy mandate. This crisis-stricken state was grudgingly accepted by the battered imperialists, giving it the false legitimacy it craved for. The ongoing lull, fatigue and despair within society and the lack of movement and leadership to counteract the onslaught of reaction meant the masses accepted it as a fait accompli.

The defeat of the PPP was due to its utter failure to deliver and provide the basic essentials to the people. Among the excruciating pain that this regime inflicted upon the masses was the electricity load shedding or power outages that intensified further the misery of the ordinary people.

Nawaz Sharif and the other leaders of the PML-N made extravagant promises for ending this scourge in anything from three months to three years. These promises, however, sounded hollow even during the elections, but after coming to power they were very quickly exposed, with their utter incompetence, lack of vision and direction with their chaotic and pathetic attempts to address this issue. Sharif’s first measure was to reward the power cartels that have been holding the country to ransom, by handing over Rs 500 billion of circular debt to erase this torment but without any conditions and assurances from the IPP bosses.

This provided a certain respite to the masses for a brief period but the pain and misery of these punishing power outages have returned with a vengeance to an agonising norm and, coupled with IMF forced price hikes, life has become even more harrowing. Now the chickens have come home to roost. The resultant rage in the womb of society is generating a heat that is destabilising the polity with increasing unrest and the stirrings of internal contradictions in the state. The regime and ruling party’s conflicts are now in the open with ministers daggers-drawn and Sharif having to personally intervene to resolve the impossible task of patching up the unravelling factional clashes within his cabinet and party leaders. This has deeply shaken the regime and there is a roaring turbulence in the government despite Sharif’s deceptive posturing of calm. His cemetery smiles often betray the false confidence he tries to flaunt.

Perhaps the time has come for confessions and the wagging of twitchy fingers within the hierarchy of the PML-N. In a press conference on July 14, 2014, the federal and state ministers confessed their failure and pleaded forgiveness for not even being able to provide electricity during Ramadan.

A Daily Times report (July 15, 2014) said the following: “Federal Minister for Water and Power Khwaja Asif on Monday apologised to the nation over prolonged power load shedding. Addressing a press conference along with state minister for power Abid Sher Ali and Secretary Nargis Sethi, the minister said that there is a shortfall of 7,000 MW of electricity, while the demand has increased to 19,000 MW, which has resulted in massive load shedding. He said that the crisis further intensified in the past three days, as two grid stations of 1,500 MW in Lahore tripped. He appealed to the masses to pray for rain so that the load shedding could be reduced. He said the system could not bear load of more than 15,000 MW of electricity. If the load exceeds 15,000 MW grid stations start tripping. He said it would take three to four years to rectify the entire system. He said that the circular debt is hovering around Rs 280 to Rs 285 billion.

“The power minister cautioned that the power shortfall would witness a further rise if the ongoing spell of heat did not subside. He appealed to the people to conserve electricity so that all areas could be provided with it. He said the government could not give a time frame for ending load shedding, as we do not want to make any more false promises, which would cause us to be embarrassed in front of the nation.”

The report further narrates his pathetic stance, “Allah will rescue (help) us during the next two to three days and the situation will be improved.”

He says it all, does he not? How pathetic! As stated above, if all that is required is to pray to Allah for the masses to end their woes and get their emancipation, why has life not improved? What is the need for scientific research, governments, parties, leaders and democracies so much revered and touted as sacred scriptures by these stooges of capital who are supposedly the leaders of the nation and torchbearers of development and prosperity in society? Poverty, misery, disease, deprivation, crime and other social and economic vices inflicting society are created by this system and not by God. It is these exploitative capitalists and feudals who are fleecing humanity, responsible for these devastations and the agonising life that the vast majority of the people are forced to live. It has become a common practice of our rulers and their pedlars in the media, the clergy and intelligentsia to blame these tragedies as if they were acts of a divine force and to exonerate themselves from these heinous crimes of socioeconomic destruction they are mercilessly carrying out to inflate their profits in a rush to fill their coffers.

Invariably, in natural calamities like floods and earthquakes, it is always the poor and the toiling masses that suffer. The mullahs call these disasters the “wrath of God” due to the sins committed by these innocent but deprived and oppressed people. The notion spread by these prostituting intellectuals and priestly vultures of capital is that these bosses sitting in their palatial mansions in the metropolitan centres and in the countryside are the most pious and commit no sins. In reality, it is in these palaces where the most heinous and criminal political and financial policies are manufactured. The working classes of this and other lands have, most of the time, prayed and prayed for generations, yet their lives have gone from bad to worse. And now, in the second decade of the 21st century, they are being asked by the federal minister for power to pray for rain and electricity? How abhorrent and reactionary!

The stark reality is that this ruling class, in almost seven decades of taking charge, has failed to build a modern infrastructure, the vital part of which is the generation and supply of electricity through modern grids and efficient transmission lines, crucial for human existence today. They have failed to complete any of the tasks of the national democratic revolution, from the creation of a unified nation state to the abolition of feudal remnants and the imperialist stranglehold. Their abject historical and economic failures are tearing apart society and paving the way for the kind of barbarism that threatens to destroy civilisation. Without the overthrow of this reactionary ruling class and its system, society will remain mired in darkness and no light will shine. Let there be light!

Pakistan : PMLN government failed to stop Shia genocide

shiapost.com

Allama Arif Wahidi, secretary general of Pak Shia Ulema Council, has said that the PMLN government failed to stop Shia genocide.

Condemning the targeted murders of innocent Shia youths on the day of Eid, he said, takfiri terrorists were free and continued killings.

“Government must tell us and the nation why no action has so far been taken to eliminate the menace of terrorism by awarding capital punishment to the takfiri terrorists,” he urged.

Shia Ulema Council’s leader also contacted the relatives of 2 martyr Shiites of Quetta and conveyed to them the condolence message of Allama Sajid Naqvi, chief of the SUC.

Listen the screams of poor Pakistani Christians

By Shamim Masih

Christians could count themselves among minorities that made up 15% of the population at pre-partition. Now minorities fall short of roughly around 5% of the country. The Christian community in Pakistan, roughly around 15 million, is the first largest religious minority present here. But the actual figure is never been given; because there is no census after 1998. Yet the minorities are being persecuted, targeted, slaughtered and killed, without mercy – just because our faith is not the same as that our killers’. One would think this horror might be consuming the pulpits and pews of Western churches. The silence has been nearly deafening. In this predominantly Muslim nation, religious extremism and resentment of the West contribute to violence against Pakistani Christians. We feel most of the time we are not equal. Not only equal, but the growing feeling is that we are not even wanted.

Some of the violence against Christians is directly related to the American-let war against Muslims in different countries like war in Afghanistan, Iraq and to some extant Israel war against Philistine, so has an expressly political motive. Months later the US-led coalition attacked Afghanistan in 2001, a grenade attack on a chapel inside a Christian Mission Hospital Taxila city killed four people.

If it is said that Shias are being attacked but the dynamic with that particular enmity is entirely different. Shias in Pakistan are seen as influential and high profile with positions in the ruling class and playing prominent role in the country. They are caught up in what many analysts call a proxy war between Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia. Pakistani Christians evoke public sympathy and are not tools of a larger sectarian and ideological battle.

My concern is; what is the future of Christians in Pakistan? In fact, the right question is, do they have a future here at all?

Majority of the Pakistani Christians are living below poverty line residing in the slum areas across the country and around the seasonal drainage in the federal capital especially. Living with low income, they cannot afford school fees and thus their children remain uneducated. Many Christians suffer from grinding poverty. Education and employment discrimination leave them only the lowliest occupations. Many of them spend their lives in brickyards, within perilous distance of blazing hot kilns. These families are close to being slaves – bonded laborers – never able to work off the outrageous debts laid on them by Muslim landlords. Others find work as janitors or sewer workers. Their employers barely regard their Christian employees as human. Christian sanitation workers are the first ones sent into sewer trench lines, and usually without proper protection. Every year many Christian workers die from exposure to the toxic fumes. And their young girls work as maid and been raped by masters and then were forcefully converted to Islam.

Hundreds of the Christians’ students have not been promoted to next classes for their parents were unable to clear the dues at the schools in the twin city only. There could hundred thousand in the country. Sister Abida, head of the Saint Teresa High School, Rawalpindi has reportedly expelled 17 girls’ students for the school for their parents had not paid their school fee during this semester. This is missionary school, which aim should be to encourage poor Christian’s students to study. It is unfortunate that none of the priest has taken notice to it till I am writing these lines.

The situation becomes more terrible when so called social and religious reformers and Christian politicians living in and outside the country play with them. They receive huge funds from the West but deliver little and rests spend for their own luxury life. None of them has ever planned to bring economic and social revival for this most vulnerable community. Many talented young ones are wasting their lives with low income jobs and have no future. Shahroz Tabassum, son of Akram Masih, student of La Salle High School, Faisalabad was the top scorer securing 1073 marks in his Secondary School Examination this year. Many of the so called social activists like me have posted his picture on their timelines but no one has announced any scholarship to encourage him.

The US, EU and UK government funds seem directed to the Muslim regime to supporting the raise of Islamic militants to power. Even when aid is given to Pakistan, none ever reach the beleaguered Christian community. And sad to say, even the Christian human rights groups working in Pakistan seem to focus to hire Muslim employees. I wonder; what is future of the poor Pakistani Christians? Do they have any a future here? Is there anyone who listen the screams of the poor Pakistani Christians?

Pakistan: 'Silence of ‘good men’: A week on, Gujranwala mob attack victims await justice'

By Rana Tanveer

Last week an elderly woman and her two minor grand daughters were burnt alive in Gujranwala by a charged mob. A week of silence has passed since then.

No suo motu notice of the mob attack was taken, no joint investigation team was formed to investigate the incident, no judicial inquiry was ordered and no political party protested the killings.

Roads were not blocked in protest. There were no arrests.

The victims were members of the Ahmadi community, which means they see a different side of Pakistan’s judicial and political processes than most citizens.

A member of the Ahmadi community from Gujranwala, requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune that most members of his community had anticipated the apathetic reaction from all quarters.

“All politicians and religious groups forget their differences when it comes to Ahmadis,” he said. He said members of his community had lost faith in protesting and making demands.

“We cannot reach out to any institution of the state,” he said. “Every state in the world must protect life and property of all its citizens equally. If the state does not recognise its duty, its people are helpless.” He blamed the government for failing to make proper security arrangements and criticised the law enforcement agencies for failing to control the mob. He said Ahmadis of Gujranwala were living in fear of another such attack and had gone to extreme lengths to ensure what little security they could afford.

He said the law and order situation was poor across the country but the Ahmadis were especially vulnerable to the violence. “The brutality of the mob attack in Gujranwala surpassed our wildest imagination,” he said. He said a mob had been incited through announcements in mosques. He said a large group of people had gathered and set fire to houses of Ahmadis.

“The mob was there for hours,” he said. “But no one was there to stop them.”

He said no politician had condemned the incident and lawyers and civil society organisations had been silent on the issue. “I suppose this shouldn’t be surprising,” he said.

He said the prime minister had condoled the bereaved family after he was criticised for remaining silent on the issue. “Politicians do not talk about our problems because no one wants to lose their vote bank,” he said. He said mob attacks on minorities had become frequent, adding that the government should take concrete steps to protect them as soon as possible,” he said.

Pakistan: Displaced women, children suffer from militant misrule

http://centralasiaonline.com/

By Hasan Khan

Rehabilitating those who lived under the militants' reign of terror will be costly, doctors and authorities say.

Pakistanis continue to learn about life under militant rule as internally displaced persons (IDPs) share their stories of humiliation and suffering.

"We were living in hell," Barakat Sher, an elderly displaced North Waziristan resident, told Central Asia Online.

No good militants existed, he said. "All were equally cruel, beating and torturing ordinary people."

Effect on women

Life for women was especially difficult because it was emotionally draining and actually led to health problems.

Women, especially those who were married or had children, lived in perpetual fear, Mir Ali town resident Ghawar Dawar said. "Every time a bomb went off, they feared that their husband or child would not come back home," he said.

Many women are depressed or suffer from a psychological illness brought on by the militancy, he said, adding that he knows two such women.

"Seeing dead, mutilated and tortured bodies daily has a grave impact on their minds," Dr. Said Alam Mehsud said, adding that the government faces a major challenge in rehabilitating these communities.

"This [rehabilitation] needs huge funding and resources, as complete overhauling is needed here to bring life to normal," he added.

Life for women in highly conservative tribal society was already difficult and the militants made it much worse, Boya resident Zameera Abay said.

"The only time I left my home was to attend funerals," an elderly woman told Central Asia Online. "We visited the homes of those killed by militants or in bombings daily."

Pregnancy-related diseases have also been widely reported.

The health centres in Miranshah and Mir Ali were poorly equipped and received a large number of women, a health worker said.

Stress and acute depression leading to low blood pressure are very common, and for pregnant women, those factors contribute to pre-mature births and to the maternal death rate, he added.

Pre-mature births and mental illness are common afflictions in populations suffering oppression and constant fear, Dr. Said Alam Mehsud said. "Depression causes different diseases in women … for pregnant women, they include stillbirths and pre-mature births," he said.

Shamed by militants

Stories of humiliation are also common among those found in the IDP camps. "They do not need provocation to humiliate or torture you," Meeran Mehmood, a middle-school pupil from Miranshah, said. "I still feel embarrassed when I remember how our elderly teacher was slapped and beaten when he tried to conceal the identity of a boy whom the militants were trying to find."

Youths were the main target of the militants, he said.

"Whenever we came across a group [of militants], they would start abusing and taunting us," he said.

Children and boys were an easy target, and militants used them in many cases to take revenge on families who opposed them.

"Having a young son or a boy is like having an unlicenced weapon at home," Ali Akbar, an elderly IDP, said.

Parents of young sons lived in constant fear that militants would take away or misguide their sons, and though nobody dared to challenge the militants, stories of them taking away the young boys and torturing them at their camps to coerce families into obeying the militants are rampant, Akbar added.

Pakistan: August 14, 2014: D-day of the fall of 'Sharif Empire'

August 14, 2014 will the remembered in the history of Pakistan as the day of the fall of 'Sharif Empire' at the hands of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

An electrified Imran Khan reiterated this clichéd claim while speaking at a party workers convention here on Sunday.

"Pakistan will be delivered from the jaws of Sharif family's monarchical tyranny as PTI's 'Azadi March' will bring them down on August 14, The Independence Day. Our marchers will not pull up stakes from Islamabad until they have changed the system", a roaring Khan told his 'gung ho' workers.

Khan said that Pakistan was not a democracy but a monarchy in the guise of the latter.

"This is a 'Kingdom of Sharif Dynasty', where a powerful family was sitting pretty on the throne. The democracy, the incumbent rulers so proudly brag about, is nothing but a mockery of it", said Khan vowing to 'dethrone' Sharif.

Telling PTI workers about the difference of democracy and monarchy, Khan said merit was the quintessence of the former, while the latter was devoid of it.

"A head of the state is accountable to the people, who elect him to power, but a monarch is not. That's exactly how Mian Nawaz Sharif was running the show. Can Sharifs justify spending taxpayers' Rs400 million a month for keeping their Raiwind estate so heavily guarded? Absolutely not", said the PTI leader.

Secondly, democracy was about merit, which had so wantonly been violated by the Sharif family that it was nowhere to found in Pakistan anyomre, Khan added.

"Let me ask you one thing? Does Maryam Nawaz Sharif deserve to be sitting on a government fund worth Rs100 billion. Is she worthy of the job bestowed on her by her king father? Why Hamza Sharif behaves like a de facto chief minister of Punjab and moves about like a prince? There goes the merit", said Imran Khan.

Khan also threatened the government with dire consequences if it tried to put him under any form of 'house arrest'.

"In case they shut me in PTI will shut the whole Pakistan down", Khan said.

He also warned the police against resorting to armed violence against the marchers.

"If any uniformed servile salve of Sharif family shot and killed even a single protestor, I will myself make sure the murderer is convicted, sentenced, and executed. The whole chain of command behind any such brutality will find no place to hide anywhere. Mark my words", Khan pledged solemnly.

He postulated that a peaceful protest demonstration was any political party's unalienable democratic right.'

PTI's captain also tasked his workers with bringing out at least 100,000 motorbikes to take part in their march to Islamabad.

Pakistan: Imran rejects Nisar proposal to postpone ‘Azadi March’

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar on Monday held telephonic conversation with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan to exchange views on upcoming ‘Azadi March’ on August 14. Meanwhile, Imran Khan told Chauhdry Nisar that he considers him as a friend but he will not discuss Azadi March. Imran said Azadi March will be held in any case from Lahore to Islamabad. The march scheduled for Independence Day (Aug 14) will head towards the federal capital from Lahore to protest what the PTI claims was rigging in the May 2013 general elections.

Pakistan used US anti-terror military aid to fight India: US ex-diplomat

Most of the American military aid to Islamabad for counterinsurgency has gone into buying equipment to fight India, said a former Unites States diplomat, describing Pakistan as a country which is “always on the edge in many ways of being a failed state”.

Testifying before a US Congressional Committee, former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann said the US State Department on Terrorism ranks Pakistan as having the highest level of terrorist incidents of any country in the world.

“Almost all of those incidents are not related to any aspect of Afghanistan. Many of them take place in areas that have nothing to do with the FATA area,” he said.

Neumann said that Pakistan is an economy which faces a crisis because of demographic pressures, adding that Pakistan spends less on education than virtually every country in the world.

“It’s a country where we don’t seem to tie our strategy in Afghanistan. It virtually went unmentioned in the quadrennial defence review. There’s no mention of it in the West Point speech. And we’re cutting aid very seriously,” he said, adding that most of the military aid for counterinsurgency was used by Pakistan to buy equipment to fight India.

He added that on the economic side, in spite of efforts by the US Congress over the last 10 years, the US never had a single report from USAID to explain what the benefits or impact of the economic aid to Pakistan has been.

“It’s not quite clear what the (aid) programme did,” Neumann said

Brookings Institution’s Foreign Policy Program Director of Research Michael O’Hanlan said that an Afghanistan in chaos could provide a sanctuary for groups, specifically Lashkar-e-Taiba, that might threaten the US directly or might want to start an Indo-Pakistan conflict.

Pakistan: Growing extremism and acid attacks in Balochistan

Yousaf Ajab Baloch

These acid attacks on women in Balochistan are quite surprising because such acts differ from the history, traditions and rituals of Baloch society where women are greatly respected and such violence hardly ever happens

The growing extremism and alarming steps being taken by radicalised outfits are a great menace to all people in Balochistan where, once again, Baloch women are confronting acid attacks. The recent three attacks on 12 women within 10 days in Pishin, Quetta and Mastung have proved that extremists in Balochistan not only target kill the Hazaras and Zikri Baloch and forcibly shut down schools, they also burn women with acid to impose their brand of fundamentalism on Baloch society. People in Balochistan were terrified when, on July 21, four women were sprayed with acid in the outskirts of Quetta, followed by a similar attack on two girls in Mastung on July 22. The third brutal attack took place on July 29 in the Tang area of Pishin district when four assailants entered a house and sprayed six women with corrosive acid. The assailants managed to flee the crime scene and, till now, no one has been arrested. The government of Balochistan has taken the easy route: pinning the blame for these attacks on crimes of revenge and passion.

In all these incidents, the perpetrators drove motorcycles and used syringes to throw the acid. Fortunately, these 12 victims have not received serious burns but no doubt they have been hurt psychologically and it is now near impossible for them to lead normal lives in the future. Prior to the Quetta, Mastung and Pishin attacks, on April 13, 2010, two sisters were attacked in Dalbandin city of Balochistan where a religious, underground organisation claimed responsibility. Three young sisters were attacked on April 29, 2010, in Kalat city, some 150 km from the capital of Balochistan. Before the Kalat acid attack, a religious group had already warned women to wear head coverings while the responsible organisation had threatened students in private schools, English language centres and vocational institutions to give up studying and not to come out of their homes without being accompanied by a male family member.

The enforced shutdown of schools in Panjgur and Makran areas and incidents of acid attacks can never be separated because these acts are moves to radicalise Baloch society. There is intimidation by Tanzeem-ul-Islam al Furqan, a religious militant organisation that has closed down all private schools and English language centres in Panjgur district. The said organisation also attacked and burnt one of the school’s vans carrying female students and teachers on May 14 in Panjgur. These acid attacks on women in Balochistan are quite surprising because such acts differ from the history, traditions and rituals of Baloch society where women are greatly respected and such violence hardly ever happens. Gender equality and respect for women have been part of Baloch history and culture. We can find no real record of assaults on women in Baloch and Pashtun society because of tribal or family feuds. Baloch nationalists and intellectuals allege that the patronisation of extremists is meant to weaken Baloch nationalism and the rights movement where, along with the male Baloch, the women are now also playing a leading role. Acid attacks and threats to girls to abandon education are aimed at keeping Baloch women away from the Baloch movement.

The roots of growing extremism are linked to the Afghan jihad that left a number of effects on Balochistan, due to which the province is still suffering. First of all, millions of Afghan refugees rushed to Balochistan. These Afghan ‘brothers and sisters’ from across the border introduced Balochistan to the terrible Kalashnikov and drug culture. Secondly, when the Afghan war ended, the number of fighters who were trained and sent from Balochistan and other parts of Pakistan returned with religious and sectarian passion, and they were accommodated in madrassas (seminaries) where their activism was slowly strengthened against the Shia Hazaras in Balochistan. Now the same elements are allegedly being utilised against Baloch society.

Having observed the ground realities, no doubt the allegations made by Baloch nationalist are enough to make one believe that allowing extremism to grow is one of Islamabad’s policies to appease Islamist extremists while suppressing the genuine demands of the Baloch people. This bloody approach will wreak devastation in already conflict-hit Balochistan. Using religious fundamentalists as proxies in Balochistan will create a new set of problems because acid attacks on women, closure of girls’ schools and the massacre of Zikris in Makran cannot destroy incipient nationalism. Therefore, Islamabad needs to review its policy regarding Balochistan.

Pakistan: PTI’s confusion

In the run up to what is being billed as the ‘big show’ on August 14, contradictory voices are being heard from the ranks of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) that is orchestrating the long march to Islamabad. Reports say PTI chief Imran Khan has asked for the resignations of all his party’s members from the Assemblies. However, the party’s information secretary Shireen Mazari says no such decision has been taken yet and the issue would be discussed in a party leadership meeting on August 14. Whether any such decision has been taken or not, the idea makes no sense. If the PTI elected members resign from the National Assembly, that will not bring down the incumbent government since its simple majority in the house will not be dented. By-elections will then follow within 60 days according to the law. If the PTI elected members participate in these by-elections, they will suffer a huge financial burden in fighting two elections within a little over a year. If they abstain (and participation would negate the whole purpose of resigning), this would mean leaving the field clear for other parties, of whom the ruling PML-N might well turn out to be the main beneficiary, another outcome that would negate the whole PTI campaign against the government. And if the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) PTI members of the provincial Assembly were to resign, that would bring down the party’s government, a result that would be a loss to the party only, with no gain against the PML-N governments in the Centre or Punjab. If Imran Khan thinks that his party members’ resignation en masse would create some sort of constitutional crisis that would cause the government to tumble and magically open the door to his ascent to power, cold water has been poured on that by the ECP. The ECP declared on Sunday that there is no provision in the law for mid-term elections in the wake of the resignation of some members of the opposition. It has reiterated that by-elections would be held on such seats within the mandatory period of 60 days. In addition, any move to resign en masse at this point would lose the PTI a certain number of seats in the upcoming Senate elections. Taken as a whole therefore, any notion of en masse resignations makes little if any sense. The question arises therefore whether the PTI chief is serious in demanding the resignation of his party’s elected members (a move sure to prove unpopular with them) or is merely posturing in the mistaken belief that this would put some kind of political pressure on the government.

Meanwhile federal Information Minister Pervaiz Rasheed is convinced Imran Khan’s demand to revisit the vote in four constituencies is merely a smokescreen for his desire to topple the government. Even if the honourable minister’s view is accepted, he should know that mere agitation and sit-ins are unlikely to unseat the government, short of an insurrection, and the PTI is hardly an insurrectionary party. However, it is interesting to note that many parties are positioning themselves in relation to the looming events of August 14. MQM’s Altaf Hussain advises Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to step down and appoint another prime minister from his party’s ranks in order to “save Pakistan” from political confrontation and chaos, while his deputy Farooq Sattar has suddenly ‘discovered’ some unspecified “demands” the government must concede through talks/negotiations or run the risk of seeing the MQM coming out on the streets. Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq, whose party is a coalition ally of the PTI in KP, sees no reason to dissolve the provincial Assembly or the PTI-JI coalition government in KP. The PPP, for reasons of its own no doubt, now wants to make the transition from a “friendly” opposition (of which it stands accused by critics such as the PTI) to a ‘real’ one. Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Shah, while bemoaning the fact that the government did not find it necessary to convene an in-camera joint session of parliament before invoking Article 245 to deploy the army in Islamabad, now wants the issue discussed nevertheless in a joint session post facto. All these developments point to one irreducible fact: the government has failed to reach out to and carry with it the diverse political forces in the country, an oversight it should still try to correct to avoid unnecessary friction in the polity on real or imagined issues.

Pakistan: Unappreciated and demoralised, how effective is the police?

By Asim Qadeer Rana

Indefinite duty hours, improper and unaffordable accommodation, and lack of medical and transportation facilities result in creating psychological problems and affects the performance of the police force amid existing security challenges posed by terrorism and the rising crime rate.According to a survey, special ‘VIP’ duties for indefinite time duration, no appreciation of work and cancellation of leaves have greatly contributed in increasing depression and anxiety among the police officials. The policemen said that they are provided with no proper facilities and financial assistance to perform their duties well and live a respectable life in society. They said that they have to bear all the expenses of their transport, boarding, lodging, patrolling, and even maintenance the expenditures of their official vehicles etc from their meagre resources. Even the required ammunition is not provided to them to curb the evil activities of the criminals who are equipped with the latest weapons and other equipment.

The policemen said that they are responsible for the maintenance of law and order in the country but it is ridiculous that have to take lift to reach at their duties due to lack of transport facility from the department and their low income which hurts their ego and also distorts their image among the masses. The police are responsible to maintain the law and order in the country and ensure justice and protection for the public but they are suffering through the worse conditions.

Allegedly, due to the unruly and unprofessional pressure exerted by an incumbent police chief on his subordinates in the Islamabad police, one of his immediate staff members recently suffered from brain haemorrhage and is hospitalised in a critical condition.

Ironically, the top cop’s pressure is restricted to the low-rank police officials only, while the senior career officers enjoy all the limelight at the cost of their juniors. Cases have been reported in the Islamabad police whereby the senior police officials made scapegoat of their juniors, in attempt to hide their follies, failures, and blunders.Moreover, the senior police officials are also alleged to be involved in serious crimes like extortion and kidnappings. An SP of the Islamabad police has been accused of patronising kidnappings for ransom and has been probed by the Interior Ministry.

Even the senior police officials are transferred and suspended on trivial charges, which have created a sense of insecurity among the police officials. All of these conditions provoke resentment and reactive attitude among the policemen.

The survey findings also indicated that all of these conditions develop psychological problems among the policemen, including senior officials and a sense of deprivation among the police officials. This situation of the police department is prevailing throughout the country while the capital police is facing the worst conditions and they have to fulfil their living needs in the expensive city without any special allowances. The situations needs immediate attention of the authorities concerned if they are interested in providing safety and security to the public and maintain law and order in the city.

Pakistan: Govt should’ve invoked 245 for Peshawar

Opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah says the invocation of Article 245 is required in Peshawar or Bannu rather than Islamabad which is a city of not more than 1.5 million souls.

Talking to reporters at the PPP office in Lalamusa on Sunday, he said it seemed that the government had employed the ‘tactic’ to tackle the PTI’s march.

He said PPP would never become part of any march aiming at derailment of democracy.

Mr Shah said: “It is a basic right of every citizen and political party to lodge a peaceful protest by remaining within the constitutional domain. My party is neither interested in the Tsunami march nor in the so-called revolutionary march despite the fact that PPP have some serious reservations over the results of the 2013 general election.”

He criticised the Nawaz government for the Gaza issue as the prime minister seemed to be interested in securing his government during his recent visit to the Saudi kingdom.

“PPP has been the sole opposition party in the country that always strives for strengthening of democracy as this fact has been proven on many occasions in the political history of Pakistan. Even now the party will stand for democracy but the government should also realise its own responsibilities and old mistakes must not be repeated,” he said.

Pakistan: PPP seeks joint session of parliament over govt move

http://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/

Former president Asif Ali Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party has called for summoning a joint session of parliament to discuss the Nawaz Sharif government’s decision to seek the army’s assistance in Islamabad under Article 245 for security in the city.

When contacted, PPP Senator Raza Rabbani said that the government should place before parliament the intelligence reports that forced it to invoke Article 245.

“If the government thinks sensitive information is involved, it can convene an in camera session.” Rabbani said invocation of Article 245 could have serious political repercussions because it would suspend the high court’s jurisdiction during the army’s stay in Islamabad and people would be unable to approach the court against violation of their fundamental rights.

The senator expressed the fear that a parallel judicial system could be put in place, recalling that military courts had been established in the past. He said the government should explain why sections of the Pakistan Penal Code were not invoked instead of Article 245.

Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly and PPP member Khurshid Shah termed invocation of Article 245 a blunder by the prime minister.

He said that neither parliament nor political parties were consulted before taking such a critical decision. Lack of consultation with political forces on important issues would lead to chaos, he added.

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Commentary: Japan's naming farce can't change China's sovereignty over Diaoyu Islands

Zhu Chao, Liu Xiuling

In a move that certainly angered China, Japan announced Friday that it gave names to 158 remote islets, including five islets belonging to China's Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.

It is not the first time that Japan attempted to justify its grab of China's Diaoyu Islands by telling the world that "it is naming the islands," even though they were already named.

In March 2012, then Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's cabinet arbitrarily decided to name 39 uninhabited islets, including seven in the Diaoyu Islands.

Beijing was quick to respond. Just one day later, the Chinese government announced on the official website of the State Oceanic Administration that it had named 71 islands, reiterating that the Diaoyu Islands have been part of China since old times.

Japan may believe that giving names to those islets is a show of its sovereignty, but it has to be reminded that those islets have already got a Chinese name.

The earliest record of the names of the Diaoyu Islands can be found in the book of Voyage with a Tail Wind (Shun Feng Xiang Song) published in 1403, the first year of the reign of Emperor Yongle of China's Ming Dynasty.

It shows that China had already discovered and named the Diaoyu Islands by the 14th and 15th centuries. Based on the historical facts, China should be the undisputable owner of them.

"Japan's unilateral measure is illegal and invalid and cannot change the fact that the Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islands are part of China's territory," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement hours after Japan's provocative move.

China-Japan relations have soured since the Japanese government's "purchase" of the Diaoyu Islands in September 2012. Regarding this issue, China never closes the door of negotiation and sincerely hopes to remove the political obstacles that hinder the development of bilateral ties.

However, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, on the one hand says he wants to improve relations strained by territorial and security issues, while on the other hand continuously undermines bilateral ties. Visiting the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine, reviewing the "Kono Statement", lifting the self-imposed ban on collective self-defense right as well as naming the islands belonging to China, all such moves by Japan have angered and caused deep concerns from its neighboring countries.

If Japan really wants to mend its ties with China and South Korea, the Abe administration should stop its double-dealing tactics and take real steps to win back trust from neighboring countries.

Moscow Casts Doubt on Kiev’s MH17 Crash Satellite Images

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that satellite imagery of the Malaysian Boeing crash site that Kiev used to demonstrate the absence of its air defense systems in the area of the disaster "are absolutely implausible." In the detailed analysis of Russian and Ukrainian satellite imagery, the ministry showed that Kiev’s images were made later than Moscow’s.

“Based on the data provided by Russian space surveillance one can deduce that Ukraine does not own the revealing information,” the ministry said, adding that the “quality [of the images], as well as the SBU’s arguments allegedly proving Russia’s involvement are absolutely implausible.”

According to the Russian space surveillance system, Ukraine’s Sich-1 and Sich-2 satellites were in another location at the time when the images were allegedly made.

“At the time specified in the images the American electro-optical reconnaissance satellite of the Key Hole series was flying over the crash site area, so the source of the images of the Ukrainian Security Service is obvious,” the statement reads. “Apparently, the reason the true owners of these images have not put their names to these publications is to make sure the myth of their mighty space intelligence not disrupted,” the ministry said.

On July 30, head of the Ukrainian Security Service Vitaly Naida claimed that Russia had falsified images of the MH17 crash site.

According to Naida, the images provided by Russia were made by Russian spy satellites long before the accident took place. As evidence, the Ukrainian official compared the images supposedly taken by the country’s security service and the images allegedly forged by Russia.

The Malaysia Airlines aircraft flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17. All 298 people on board died in the accident.

According to Ukrainian authorities, the plane was shot down by independence supporters, while the latter deny the allegations, saying they do not have the means to hit a target flying so high. Both Kiev and the West insist that the missile system used to shoot down the plane was delivered to independence supporters from Russia.

Russia has repeatedly denied the weapon transfers to Ukraine’s eastern regions.

Saudi Arabia Seeks Help from Pakistan, Egypt to Secure Border from ISIS

By Johnlee Varghese/blockquote> With the ISIS militant forces inching closer to Baghdad, Saudi Arabia has urged allies Pakistan and Egypt to send in troops to secure its border near Iraq.

Saudi Arabia shares a 500 mile-long border with Iraq and Syria.

"The kingdom is calling in favors from Egypt and Pakistan," an adviser to the Saudi government told The Times. "No one is certain what ISIS has planned, but it's clear a group like this will target Mecca if it can. We expect them to run out of steam, but no one is taking any chances."

The ISIS has a strong control on Iraq's western borders near Syria and Jordan.

And with the militants taking one town after the other in Iraq, the Southern border with Saudi Arabia could be the next possible target.

The Saudi Arabia border near Iraq frontier is vulnerable as it lies near the Anbar province, which is largely held either by ISIS forces or by tribes which have sworn loyalty to the Caliphate under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Last month, The Telegraph had reported that the Saudi government sent in an additional troop of over 30,000 soldiers to the desert border to stop any advance from the ISIS.

Interestingly, the ISIS has often been seen as a group that flourished under the patronage of the Saudis. There have been allegations in the international community that Saudi Arabia covertly supplied weapons to the ISIS to fight Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"ISIS has been a Saudi project," The Atlantic had quoted a senior Qatari official back in June.

However, Saudi Arabia has rubbished all such accusations. An ISIS invasion of Saudi Arabia is still a far-fetched idea, however, the Saudi government faces the threat inside the country.

As per a report in Al Monitor, the Saudi home ministry had discovered an ISIS splinter cell in the country back in May. The government had arrested 62 men, most of whom were Saudi nationals.

Saudi Arabia’s Regional Dual-Strategy

http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/

By Shahed Ghoreishi

Last week, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hosted an event titled “Iraq at a Crossroads: Options for U.S. Policy,” where it heard varying perspectives on how to deal with the situation in Iraq in the light of the recent advancement of the violent militant group, ISIS, in its territory.

In one striking moment, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq and Iran, Brett McGurk, said Saudi Arabia “very generously” gave a $500 million donation towards UN relief agencies responding to the worsening humanitarian situation in Iraq. This would appear like a very ordinary statement, as Iraq is in dire need of such assistance and it dwarfs the United States’ relatively meager $18 million donation. However, what makes such a statement striking is that it perfectly exemplifies Saudi Arabia ‘s dual strategy of maintaining good relations with a multitude of contrasting actors –whether it be Sunni extremists in Syria or the United States.

What is at the core of this Strategy?

Since the post-World War II era, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have held a relationship based on qui pro quo. Saudi Arabia would provide the U.S., and the world for that matter, a secure and consistent flow of oil while the U.S. would assist on the security front. Internal stability was critical for the royal family’s ability to hold power and their lavish lifestyle. Any group that threatened their rule would have to be dealt with. The first were the Arab nationalists led by Egypt’s Gamel Abdel Nasser, who promoted a united Arab front under the banner of socialism. Any such union, like the one Syria and Egypt held for a short period, and socialism are not quite conducive with an authoritarian monarchy.

This led Saudi Arabia to embrace the idea that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” when it harbored Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, an internal thorn for Nasser and his secular nationalism. However, Saudi Arabia’s support for an Islamist counter to Arab nationalism took a turn post-1967 when an Egypt-led invasion of Israel failed in the Six-Day War. In shock, much of the Arab world turned away from nationalism and embraced religion with a new vigor –perhaps God turned away from them during the invasion because they had been prioritizing nationalism over Islam (the same way the Suez crisis of 1956 boosted Arab nationalism, the Six Day War killed it). This played into the hands of religious groups, like the Muslim Brotherhood, who had been largely in the political shadows.

This became a problem for Saudi Arabia, as the failed invasion empowered Islamic fundamentalists, namely the Wahhabists, at home. As a domestic group, they were arguably a stronger threat to the Saudi royal family than the nationalists ever were. They had strong social ties among the Saudi population and historic influence over the Saudi royal family. There was no use in fighting them. Instead, they decided to support the movement abroad to avoid problems at home. Or as Vali Nasr described it in his book, The Rise of Islamic Capitalism.

Saudi Arabia “began lavishly bankrolling the proselytization of Wahhabism around the world…By diverting their Wahhabi subjects’ energies and attention toward the export of their piety, the kingdom’s rulers bought themselves a new lease on stability within the kingdom…In time, money would also support wars, not only in Bosnia, but in Afghanistan, the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya, and the disputed province of Kashmir between India and Pakistan.”

Today’s Impact

Saudi Arabia’s strategy today remains largely the same, albeit with a stronger focus on countering Iran’s regional prowess as well. Riyadh has heavily supported rebels fighting Syria’s disgraced President Bashar al-Assad, in disregard of the extremist element present in most of them. By doing so, it can avoid the ire of Islamic fundamentalists at home. The result? The strengthening of groups like ISIS that are uncontrollable and create instability throughout the Middle East –to Saudi Arabia’s own detriment. If the Persian Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia, hadn’t supported the rebels so indiscriminately it is unclear ISIS would have had the success that it has had. Yet, you only hear of Saudi Arabia acting “very generously.”

This is what makes Saudi Arabia’s dual strategy so interesting. It appears to be hypocritical at the core, but it (so far) has done well to support the royal family’s status quo. As it supports extremist groups throughout the Middle East, it can turn to the United States and say “hey, we just gave $500 million to the refugee crisis in Iraq” as it provides the world with energy stability. This allows others to turn a blind eye to the impact of the Kingdom’s problematic strategy in maintaining internal stability.

As Saudi Arabia continues with its dual-strategy, it will be important for the U.S. to take note as it attempts to reassess its own strategy in the Middle East.

Libya’s Destruction a Warning to Egypt, Syria, & Ukraine

Tony Cartalucci

RT’s article, “90% of aircraft destroyed at Tripoli airport, Libya may seek international assistance,” reported that: Libya is considering a deployment of international force to re-establish security amid a flare-up of violence in Tripoli which saw dozens of rockets destroy most of the civilian aircraft fleet at its international airport. “The government is looking into the possibility of making an appeal for international forces on the ground to re-establish security and help the government impose its authority,” a government spokesman, Ahmed Lamine said in a statement.

The “democratic tomorrow” promised by NATO in 2011 has been realized – that is – in the form of predictably fraudulent elections accepted by no one, leaving a power vacuum apparently to be settled through increasingly violent armed conflict. Perhaps most ironic of all is that these conflicts are being waged between NATO’s various armed proxies it used to carry out the ground war while it bombarded Libya from the air over the majority of 2011.

NATO’s Proxies Cannibalize Each Other

In May 2014, fighting in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi has left scores dead, many more injured, and residents fleeing for their lives as what the Western media called a “renegade general,” waged war on “Islamist militants” within the city. Reuters in its article, “Families evacuate Benghazi as renegade general vows more attacks,” claimed:

The self-declared Libyan National Army led by a renegade general told civilians on Saturday to leave parts of Benghazi before it launched a fresh attack on Islamist militants, a day after dozens were killed in the worst clashes in the city for months.

The renegade general is Khalifa Haftar (sometimes spelled Hifter), who lived in the United States – outside of Langley Virginia – for years allegedly being groomed by the CIA until his eventual return to Libya in 2011 to lead ground forces in NATO’s proxy invasion. The Business Insider would report in its 2011 article, “Is General Khalifa Hifter The CIA’s Man In Libya?,” that:

Since coming to the United States in the early 1990s, Hifter lived in suburban Virginia outside Washington, D.C. Badr said he was unsure exactly what Hifter did to support himself, and that Hifter primarily focused on helping his large family.

So a former Qaddafi general who switches sides is admitted to the United States, puts down roots in Virginia outside Washington, D.C. and then somehow supports his family in a manner that mystifies a fellow who has known Hifter his whole life. Hmm.

The likelihood that Hifter was brought in to be some kind of asset is pretty high. Just as figures like Ahmed Chalabi were cultivated for a post-Saddam Iraq, Hifter may have played a similar role as American intelligence prepared for a chance in Libya.

The irony is that many of the sectarian militants Hafter was fighting in Benghazi were the same militants Muammar Qaddafi was fighting for decades as leader of Libya, and the same militants that NATO armed and abetted alongside Hafter in the overthrow of Qaddafi in 2011.

Regarding his campaign in Benghazi, Hafter claimed that it would continue until “Benghazi is purged of terrorists,” and that, “we’ve started this battle and will continue it until we have reached our goals. The street and the Libyan people are with us.” Hafter’s sentiments echo those of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, only then, the Western media denied the existence of terrorists that had been based in Benghazi for decades and portrayed Tripoli’s operations there as a “massacre” of “peaceful pro-democracy protesters.”

The very atrocities cited by NATO to begin their “humanitarian intervention” in Libya in the first place, immediately began unfolding in reality at the hands of NATO and its proxy forces themselves. Entire cities were encircled, starved out, and bombarded by air until they capitulated. In other towns, entire populations were either exterminated, evicted and eventually driven beyond Libya’s borders. The city of Tawarga, home to some 10,000 Libyans, was so utterly uprooted, it was referred to by the London Telegraph as a “ghost town.”

Since the fall of Tripoli, Sirte, and other Libyan cities that resisted NATO’s proxy invasion, little in the way of basic stability, let alone the “democratic revolution” promised by NATO and its collaborators, has returned to Libya. The government in Tripoli remains in chaos, its security forces divided amongst themselves, and now a “rogue” CIA asset is conducting a full-scale military operation against Benghazi, including the use military aircraft, apparently without Tripoli’s approval.

Years after the “revolution’s” conclusion, Libya remains a hobbled nation sliding backwards. The many achievements of Muammar Qaddafi’s government have long since been undone, and it is unlikely they will be restored let alone surpassed in the foreseeable future. NATO has effectively upturned and destroyed an entire nation, leaving it to not only burn while Western corporations pillage its resources, but to use as a template for future extraterritorial adventures in Syria, Egypt, Ukraine, and now Iraq.

The Libyan Model: Egypt, Syria, Ukraine Beware

Just as in Libya, “revolutions” have tried to take root in Egypt, Syria, and Ukraine. The same narratives, verbatim, crafted by Western policy think tanks and media spin doctors for Libya are now being reused in Egypt, Syria, and Ukraine. The very same non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are being used to fund, equip, and otherwise support opposition groups in each respective country. Terms such as “democracy,” “progress,” “freedom,” and fighting against “dictatorship” are familiar themes. The protests were and are each accompanied by heavily armed militants also fully backed by the West.

In Syria, the pretense of protests has been dropped as has the notion of “freedom fighters.” The Western media now spends much of its time spinning and justifying why NATO and its regional partners are funding and arming sectarian militants, including Al Qaeda, in the overthrow of the Syrian government.

In Egypt, there is still some ambiguity, as there was in 2011 regarding Syria, as to who the protesters really are, what they really want, and on which side of the increasingly violent conflict playing out there the West falls. Careful analysis reveals that just as the Muslim Brotherhood was used in Syria to set the stage for the now devastating war raging there, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is doing likewise against Cairo.

Finally, in Ukraine, the “pro-democracy” “pro-European Union” “Euromaidan” protesters have been revealed as Neo-Nazis, ultra-right, and nationalists who regularly resort to violence and political intimidation. Just as in Syria in 2011, and in Egypt now, low intensity armed clashes are increasing in frequency and intensity toward what may end up as a proxy war between NATO and Russia in Eastern Europe.

But for these three nations, and the participants on all sides, Libya’s current state must be examined. These “revolutions” have but one logical and predictable conclusion – the plundering, division, and destruction of each respective nation, before it is folded into Wall Street and London’s growing supranational order to be exploited indefinitely as much of the US, UK, and EU already are today. For those wondering what will become of Egypt, Syria, or Ukraine, should NATO succeed, one needs only to look at Libya. And for those that supported the “revolution” in Libya, they must ask themselves if they are they satisfied with its final outcome. Do they wish this outcome upon Egypt, Syria, and Ukraine as well? Do they imagine that NATO’s plans for each of these countries will end any differently? Why?

Why Americans See Israel the Way They Do

Roger Cohen

TO cross the Atlantic to America, as I did recently from London, is to move from one moral universe to its opposite in relation to Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza. Fury over Palestinian civilian casualties has risen to a fever pitch in Europe, moving beyond anti-Zionism into anti-Semitism (often a flimsy distinction). Attacks on Jews and synagogues are the work of a rabid fringe, but anger toward an Israel portrayed as indiscriminate in its brutality is widespread. For a growing number of Europeans, not having a negative opinion of Israel is tantamount to not having a conscience. The deaths of hundreds of children in any war, as one editorial in The Guardian put it, is “a special kind of obscenity.”

In the United States, by contrast, support for Israel remains strong (although less so among the young, who are most exposed to the warring hashtags of social media). That support is overwhelming in political circles. Palestinian suffering remains near taboo in Congress. It is not only among American Jews, better organized and more outspoken than their whispering European counterparts, that the story of a nation of immigrants escaping persecution and rising from nowhere in the Holy Land resonates. The Israeli saga — of courage and will — echoes in American mythology, far beyond religious identification, be it Jewish or evangelical Christian.

America tends toward a preference for unambiguous right and wrong — no European leader would pronounce the phrase “axis of evil” — and this third Gaza eruption in six years fits neatly enough into a Manichaean framework: A democratic Jewish state, hit by rockets, responds to Islamic terrorists. The obscenity, for most Americans, has a name. That name is Hamas.

James Lasdun, a Jewish author and poet who moved to the United States from England, has written that, “There is something uncannily adaptive about anti-Semitism: the way it can hide, unsuspected, in the most progressive minds.” Certainly, European anti-Semitism has adapted. It used to be mainly of the nationalist right. It now finds expression among large Muslim communities. But the war has also suggested how the virulent anti-Israel sentiment now evident among the bien-pensant European left can create a climate that makes violent hatred of Jews permissible once again.

In Germany, of all places, there have been a series of demonstrations since the Gaza conflict broke out with refrains like “Israel: Nazi murderer” and “Jew, Jew, you cowardly pig, come out and fight alone” (it rhymes in German). Three men hurled a Molotov cocktail at a synagogue in Wuppertal. Hitler’s name has been chanted, gassing of Jews invoked. Violent demonstrations have erupted in France. The foreign ministers of France, Italy and Germany were moved to issue a statement saying “anti-Semitic rhetoric and hostility against Jews” have “no place in our societies.” Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, went further. What Germany had witnessed, he wrote, makes the “blood freeze in anybody’s veins.”

Yes, it does. Germany, Israel’s closest ally apart from the United States, had been constrained since 1945. The moral shackles have loosened. Europe’s malevolent ghosts have not been entirely dispelled. The continent on which Jews went meekly to the slaughter reproaches the descendants of those who survived for absorbing the lesson that military might is inextricable from survival and that no attack must go unanswered, especially one from an organization bent on the annihilation of Israel.

A strange transference sometimes seems to be at work, as if casting Israelis as murderers, shorn of any historical context, somehow expiates the crime. In any case it is certain that for a quasi-pacifist Europe, the Palestinian victim plays well; the regional superpower, Israel, a militarized society through necessity, much less so.

Anger at Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is also “a unifying element among disparate Islamic communities in Europe,” said Jonathan Eyal, a foreign policy analyst in London. Moroccans in the Netherlands, Pakistanis in Britain and Algerians in France find common cause in denouncing Israel. “Their anger is also a low-cost expression of frustration and alienation,” Eyal said.

Views of the war in the United States can feel similarly skewed, resistant to the whole picture, slanted through cultural inclination and political diktat. It is still hard to say that the killing of hundreds of Palestinian children represents a Jewish failure, whatever else it may be. It is not easy to convey the point that the open-air prison of Gaza in which Hamas has thrived exists in part because Israel has shown a strong preference for the status quo, failing to reach out to Palestinian moderates and extending settlements in the West Bank, fatally tempted by the idea of keeping all the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.

Oppressed people will respond. Millions of Palestinians are oppressed. They are routinely humiliated and live under Israeli dominion. When Jon Stewart is lionized (and slammed in some circles) for “revealing” Palestinian suffering to Americans, it suggests how hidden that suffering is. The way members of Congress have been falling over one another to demonstrate more vociferous support for Israel is a measure of a political climate not conducive to nuance. This hardly serves America’s interests, which lie in a now infinitely distant peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and will require balanced American mediation.

Something may be shifting. Powerful images of Palestinian suffering on Facebook and Twitter have hit younger Americans. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that among Americans age 65 or older, 53 percent blame Hamas for the violence and 15 percent Israel. For those ages 18 to 29, Israel is blamed by 29 percent of those questioned, Hamas by just 21 percent. My son-in-law, a doctor in Atlanta, said that for his social group, mainly professionals in their 30s with young children, it was “impossible to see infants being killed by what sometimes seems like an extension of the U.S. Army without being affected.”

I find myself dreaming of some island in the middle of the Atlantic where the blinding excesses on either side of the water are overcome and a fundamental truth is absorbed: that neither side is going away, that both have made grievous mistakes, and that the fate of Jewish and Palestinian children — united in their innocence — depends on placing the future above the past. That island will no doubt remain as illusory as peace. Meanwhile, on balance, I am pleased to have become a naturalized American.

Beyonce - Flawless ft. Nicki Minaj 2014 HQ (PITCHED) - Jay Z Diss

U.S. spy plane evades Russian jet

Professor Victoria Patrick – A Pakistani Christian Legend

A Pakistani Christian legend, Professor Victoria Patrick has been acknowledged as a writer, teacher, translator, poetess, songwriter, educator and educationalist nationwide and internationally. This brilliant educationalist has 37 years of teaching experience under her belt with 32 years of teaching at the Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore and 5 years at Foreman Christian College (C.U.) Lahore.

Professor Vistoria has produced extensive publications including

“Rehmat” (poems on women’s issues) with cassette,

“Ao karobar karen” (sponsored by UNICEF),

“Deep deep ujala” (educational poems and songs),

“Pankharian” (32 poems for children published by Nirali Kitabein as a textbook),

“Rahein” (booklet on problem-solving for neo-literates sponsored by UNESCO).

This highly intellectual woman had also translated more than 70 books from English into Urdu her prominent works in this field include,”The upper room” for 10 years and prepared 5 cycles of “Daily Bread” for Scripture Union Pakistan. She has also worked with the Pakistan Bible Society , Masihi Ishayat Khana, the Director of Social Welfare Government of Punjab, Good News Ministry, Jesus Christ Television (regular translator of 700 club and In-touch Ministries) and N.C.C.P. (National Council of Churches in Pakistan).

Her Urdu articles have been published in many reputable Pakistani and international magazines and newspapers including: Nawa-e waqt, Caritas, Naqeeb, Nai Dyniya, Qasid-e Jadeed, Shadab, Sawan, Humsukhan, and Tadeeb. Between 1959 and 1961 her short stories appeared in “Hilal”, a Pakistan Army weekly.

Professor Victoria has been highly honoured and has received more than 60 awards including Best Poetess Award (Masihi Bazm-e Danish 1982), Sitara-e Pakistan (Girl Guide Association 1984), Best Poetess Award (Caritas Pakistan 1986-1988), Adbi Wirsa Award for Poetry (1998), I. D. Shahabaz Award (Christian Writers’ Guild 2003), Lyricist Award (Waves Studio 2002), Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal in recognition of educational and literary services (12th Governor of Punjab 2004), Silver Jubilee Cerebration Award (LRI 2008), LCC Church (2009), B.M. Yad Award (2010).

She has been widely acknowledged as a lyricts in Pkaistani Music industry as some of the most leading singers sung songs written by her. Her well-known work includes,

Maan di chunni chavway, (sung by Usatand Nurat Fateh Alli Khan)

Jey maan Mrryam (Noor Jehan)

Ao ahl-e jehan hum chraghan karain (A. Nayyar and Mehnaz)

Ehd karien and Aman ka panchi (Benjamin sisters)

Nai zamin ho niya asman (A. Nayyar)

Rabba putran de phutt (Saira Khanam)

Mann Mariyam banai khuda ney (Surrya Khanam)

Her song Roshni roshni sara alam huwa is included in the Sialkot Convention song book. Moreover, Professor Victoria used to read a radio column for the women’s programme Hamari Duniya and co-ordinated Christmas and Easter programmes for T.V, radio and various institutions and organizations. - See more at: http://www.christiansinpakistan.com/professor-victoria-pattrick-a-pakistani-christian-legend/#sthash.hg9AHvRh.dpuf

PPP Patron-in-Chief Bilawal Bhutto congratulates Pakistani boxer Waseem

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Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Patron-In-Chief, Pakistan Peoples Party has congratulated Pakistani boxer Mohammad Waseem on winning Silver Medal in Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow.

In his message, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said it is matter of pleasure that Pakistani boxers are regaining their position in the world boxing ring and hoped victory of Mohammad Waseem will be a source of encouragement for boxing in the country.

PPP Patron-In-Chief said governments in the center and provinces need to redouble their efforts to promote sports as there is huge talent available in our youths, which may be trained for international sports events and competitions.

Pakistan: Shahbaz Sharif involved in Model Town tragedy

Pakistan Awami Tahreek (PAT) Chief, Dr. Tahirul Qadri Sunday said that Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif was involved in the Model town carnage, which was evident from the available recording of phone calls to be made public when time comes, Geo News reported.

Addressing a press conference at Minhajul Quran Secretariat, Dr. Tahirul Qadri said that no one was accepting the responsibility of the Model Town tragedy, how could they accept the responsibility of the murders of democracy and the constitution.

Dr. Tahirul Qadri said that the rulers have let the accused police officers run away from the country. He said we followed the path of constitution and the law and submitted a petition for the registration of FIR against the nominated accused persons.

Dr. Qadri said that for peace and upholding the principle of no-violence his party refrained from any step that could have smashed the Jati Umra palace in Raiwind and would not have buried the coffins of martyrs until the end of the Punjab government.

PAT Chief said that there was nothing like constitution and law in Pakistan in reality. He enquired from the western countries had not the government resigned, if Lahore-like tragic incident occurred in any of their countries.

Pakistan: Sindh PPP's protest

Fourteen months after the PML-N government came to power, promising to ease power shortages, has actually increased loadshedding hours. Grumblings not only in opposition camps but also within the PML-N constituents about the failure to reduce loadshedding hours have escalated to violent street protests. Lahore and Multan, considered PML-N's strongholds, recently witnessed much public anger against what is being widely perceived as the party's inability to deliver on pre-election promises - promises that varied from one PML-N leader to another with Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif even committing to resolving the crisis within six months and his party leader Nawaz Sharif claiming that power projects take time to be constructed but nonetheless promised an easing of the power outages in the short run if elected to power through improved governance.

Circular debt has once again reached alarming proportion with Water and Power Ministry continuing to rely on periodic handouts from the Ministry of Finance to enable Pakistan State Oil (PSO) to import fuel. While Finance Minister Ishaq Dar recently warned the Water and Power Ministry not to expect any more handouts yet it is unlikely that Dar would be able to resist a directive from the Prime Minister to release the amount required if street protests gather further momentum - protests that may be effectively harnessed to challenge the government's governance capacity by rival political parties particularly the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf that has already announced its million march on 14th August. In this milieu the Pakistan People's Party, so far the most supportive party for the PML-N, launched a protest campaign in various parts of Sindh calling for ending unannounced loadshedding and water shortages and warned of countrywide protests until the situation improves within a fortnight - a strategy reminiscent of Shahbaz Sharif's constant harangues during the PPP-led coalition government for failing to provide Punjab with electricity. The proverbial foot, as the axiom rightly maintains, is on the other foot.

The PML-N maintains that it has begun investing in power projects that would be completed within four to five years and hence the public must be patient. What has irked power sector experts is that the claims made by the government are simply inaccurate on three major counts. First and foremost, the newly-elected PML-N government decided to eliminate the bulk of the circular debt on 29th June, 2013 arguing that this would release 1700MW into the system. Independent research shows that the actual increase was 700 to 800 MW and that the bulk of this was diverted to three Punjab cities namely Lahore, Faisalabad and Gujranwala. The rise in generation did not take account of the annual increase in demand, which is around 800 MW and that accounts for the rising number of hours of loadshedding. Additionally the government has not succeeded in reducing receivables, which has implied that the circular debt has simply resurfaced and today it is almost as high as it was on 29th June, 2013.

Second, the rise in generation from Nandipur and Guddu did not materialise in spite of much fanfare with the Prime Minister inaugurating these two power plants as the former continues to await the arrival of a furnace oil treatment plant, which would then be followed by extensive test runs and certification process by the manufacturers and regulators and only then can a commercial operational dispatch be issued, while Guddu power plant is also not operational as one of its turbines is non-functional. Third, the short-term measures that could have improved power supply related to power sector reforms focused on reducing transmission and distribution losses. While transmission and distribution losses have decreased marginally it may be recalled that recently Secretary of Water and Power revealed that the system could only withstand supply of 15000 MW - any more would simply lead to tripping leading many to question the advisability of focusing on enhancing generation without improving the network.

To maintain that the government is doing all it can is therefore challenged by power sector experts as the government, like its predecessor, is raising tariffs to cover its own failures to reduce transmission and distribution losses as well as manipulating demand (it is not able to manipulate supply) thereby showing a shrinking gap, which is simply not backed by reduced hours of actual (as opposed to scheduled) loadshedding.

Three sources of extremism in Pakistan

BY AZIZ-UD-DIN AHMAD

The military operation is important, but extremism runs deep in the national psyche, and will take more than bombs and bullets to counter

While the army is hunting the terrorists in North Waziristan, nurseries for their propagation remain intact all over the country. Three factors provide fresh recruits to militant networks. One, the text books taught in schools and colleges. Two, brainwashing inmadressas or seminaries, which inculcate extremist thinking, Three, an unhindered flow of hate material through videos, audios and the continuous misuse of loudspeakers in mosques.

The PMLN government remained unwilling to launch a military operation till the attack on Karachi airport, combined with mounting pressure by the army, forced it to agree to Operation Zarb e Azb. The insistence on continuing the talks was partly on account of the PML-N sharing some of the views with Taliban and partly due to fear of militant backlash.

A number of studies have been conducted to underline the way text books have been used to inculcate an extremist outlook among the students in mainstream educational institutions. The pioneering work was done by KK Aziz in ‘The Murder of History’, which is a detailed critique of history textbooks used in Pakistan. History, as he puts it, has been turned into “national mythology” while social studies and Pakistan studies have become vehicles of political indoctrination.

After a painstaking scrutiny of 66 textbooks read by the students of classes 1-14, Aziz concludes that our children don’t learn history. They are instead ordered to read a carefully selected collection of falsehoods, fairy tales and plain lies. The text books among other things, support military rule, glorify wars, and spread hatred against India.

KK Aziz wrote the book in 1993. With more of the same added to text books, they have created a generation which believes that the entire world is conspiring against Islam and Pakistan. These books also inculcate the view that religious minorities and smaller sects are enemy agents.

Two years back an NGO by the name of National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), launched a content analysis report of the books published by Punjab and Sindh textbook boards. It maintained that hate content had increased manifold with the passage of time.

Two years back an NGO by the name of National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), launched a content analysis report of the books published by Punjab and Sindh textbook boards. It maintained that hate content had increased manifold with the passage of time. Many textbooks that had no hate material in their earlier versions, now carry such material.

Hundreds of thousand university graduates have been brainwashed during the last three decades. Those who adopted an extremist outlook can therefore be found among the business class, legal community, civil servants, media persons and politicians.

There is a dire need to purge the text books of hate material and falsehoods. The PML-N government is as reluctant to undertake the exercise as it was to initiate the military operation. The extremist thinking has helped the terrorists set up sleeper cells in hostels. Thus it came as no surprise when al Qaeda and TTP operatives were arrested from some of the hostels in Lahore.

Madressas are the second fountainhead of extremist thinking. They have produced almost the entire leadership of the TTP. Some of the top Afghan Taliban are the alumni of Pakistani seminaries. Many Madressas are funded by Gulf countries having rivalry with Iran. These seminaries are required in create anti Shi’a sentiment in Pakistan .

Hundreds of new madressas were set up during Ziaul Haq’s eleven year rule with foreign assistance.

“There were 570 madressas in the country in 1979,” according to Amir Rana, an expert on religious militancy. “Ten years later, by the time the Geneva Accords were signed, there were more than 7,000” As more funds came, Salafi madressas proliferated. Unlike the old locally funded seminaris, the new ones focused on political Islam.

The government underrates the problems some of these religious schools pose. The interior ministry seems to be clueless about their exact number or the source of funding. Replying to a query at a Senate Committee meeting in April, Minister of State for Interior Balighur Rehman admitted that he possessed information only about 15 madressas receiving foreign financial support during the year.

The danger some of the seminaries pose can be gauged from a number of media reports which appeared in April and May. Quoting military and civil intelligence sources Dawn reported on May 1 that some of the seminaries which operate inside the capital are assisting the TTP with the collection of extortion and ransom money.

The danger some the seminaries pose can be gauged from a number of media reports which appeared in April and May. Quoting military and civil intelligence sources Dawn reported on May 1 that some of the seminaries which operate inside the capital are assisting the TTP with the collection of extortion and ransom money. These seminaries also sometimes arranged deals between militants and their victims. The seminaries also provide courier service to the TTP by arranging for the money to be transported to pre-determined locations easily accessible to the militants. The report named a retired Lt Gen who became a victim. The report also named the seminaries involved.

Another report, prepared jointly by the special branches of Islamabad and Rawalpindi police suggested that TTP got support from some of the religious seminaries and worship places of the Deobandi school of thought. The report identified 20 seminaries, all located in Rawalpindi, which were used by Taliban for terrorist attacks in the city. No action was taken by the Interior Ministry on the reports.

The third source of extremism is the freely available audio and video material fanning sectarian hatred. Some prayer leaders who were educated in seminaries known for spreading hatred continue the mission. Itching to lynch or kill minority members and burn their homes, they use the slightest and unconfirmed reports of blasphemy to create mayhem. Often the target is not only the supposed blasphemer but his entire family and even other members of the minority community who come handy.

Pogroms were initiated after a call from the mosque loudspeaker in Gujranwala last month. The mob killed four Ahmadis and burned five houses over an alleged ‘blasphemous material’ posted on a Facebook page by a single individual.

Police knows that the attacks started after the announcements were made in mosques against the Ahmadis. There are regulations regarding the use of the mosque loudspeaker. These are however not being enforced as the government does not want to stir the hornets’ nest. The mischief thus continues unabated.

Pakistan: The Taliban within

BY Muhammad Mutahir Ali

The Taliban within

As the nation takes on terrorists, religious extremism is still on the rise

Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero’

A hundred years after Khalil Gibran wrote these words, we fit the profile of the doomed nation that he mourned. As if showering rose petals on killers was not enough, in a recent episode of depravity, a handful of ‘devout’ Muslims displayed their piousness like never before. They set on fire an Ahmedi family’s house in Gujranwala; killing three people including two minors on the allegations of blasphemy. Other than taking life of an eight month old, the incident also resulted in a miscarriage of a seven month old unborn child. To further boast their bravery, the crowd later gathered to celebrate their act with their hands up in the air accompanied by jubilant roars. We have become a nation that glorifies assassins and celebrates murders. Pity on us, indeed.

Today, Pakistan is marred by religious extremism, intolerance, bigotry and hate. To compound the irony, all these menaces, which are far from the true values any religion, are perpetuated in the name of Islam in our society. But how did we get here? Ofcourse, it did not happen overnight; our trajectory of moral decadence was steadily shaped both by the political elite and religious leadership. But one name specifically rings a bell. The name is Zia.

Zia-ul-Haq’s dictatorship, in addition to derailing the natural democratic political process of the country, also proved to be an opening of the floodgates for a lot of problems that we are dealing with today. With the people having a strong emotional attachment with religion, Zia ul Haq blatantly used Islam to legitimise his rule.

Zia ul Haq’s dictatorship, in addition to derailing the natural democratic political process of the country, also proved to be an opening of the floodgates for a lot of problems that we are dealing with today. With the people having a strong emotional attachment with religion, Zia ul Haq blatantly used Islam to legitimise his rule. Extremist policies were adopted under the banner of Islam. School curriculum was revised, media was ‘reformed’, dancing and music was prohibited and shari’a courts were set up. While a bigoted class of superior religious leaders was created to concur with the government’s Islamist agenda, the state apparatus also actively undertook the task of Islamising the society, rewarding those who were ‘good Muslims’ and punishing the bad ones. Then began the rat race of becoming better believers, in which many assumed the role of judging others’ faith, finally turning it into a ‘national ostracisation project’ under which group after group was declared to be out of the circle of Islam.

“Mid ‘80s was, in many ways, the beginning of the sectarian conflict in Pakistan,” said Hassan Askari Rizvi, a seasoned political analyst.

Zia tended to implement a strict Sunni version of shari’a on Pakistan, which largely alienated the minority Shi’a population. As the resentment of the minority population grew, the sectarian conflict escalated. Meanwhile, Zia decided to bring home the Afghan jihad, turning the sectarian conflict into a virtual proxy war. While Iran readily supported the Shi’a organisations after the 1979 revolution, CIA dollars and Saudi riyals were poured in to fund the Sunni militant groups. Hence, the decade of 80’s saw extremely radical and violent sectarian clashes where many members, including prominent leaders, of both sects were targeted. However, Ahmedis have always borne a very significant brunt of religious intolerance as well and the latest incidents are only the continuation of their systematic targeting by extremists who do not only consider them non-Muslim, but also conspirators against Islam.

As the military operation in North Waziristan is underway to get rid of Taliban, the extremists within us who continue to kill in the name of Islam will still remain active. In a society where religious extremism and intolerance has been so systematically ingrained, a military operation might not be enough to uproot the problem.

As the military operation in North Waziristan is underway to get rid of Taliban, the extremists within us who continue to kill in the name of Islam will still remain active. In a society where religious extremism and intolerance has been so systematically ingrained, a military operation might not be enough to uproot the problem.

“It is evident from history that whenever religion is used for political purposes, it only breeds violence,” said Mehdi Hassan, veteran journalist and analyst. He said Pakistan’s political parties have regularly used Islam for political mileage, which has resulted in increasing intolerance.

“Military operation will not be able to curb this extremism, for that the government will have to throw out the shackles and adopt brave policies”.

For any kind of an effective approach to instill the values of tolerance and harmony, the government will have to extensively involve the state apparatus. An apt place to take the initiative can be our schools as our education system is far below accepted modern day standards. The widespread and unregulated madressa system, for one, provides easiest opportunities for extremist factions to further their ideologies. In addition to that, the decades-old, obsolete curriculum of government schools in incapable of instilling the values of respect and harmony.

A military operation can eliminate an enemy but cannot change mindsets. While our troops might be able to secure victory in North Waziristan, it will remain futile if we fail to curb the increasingly extremist mindset, which is perpetuated and appreciated by a major part of our society.

“We should at least start telling our children that non-Muslims are also a part of this country; they are not even aware of that,” added Hassan Askari Rizvi.

A military operation can eliminate an enemy but cannot change mindsets. While our troops might be able to secure victory in North Waziristan, it will remain futile if we fail to curb the increasingly extremist mindset, which is perpetuated and appreciated by a major part of our society. The Gujranwala episode where the self-righteous Muslims cheered the murder of those they considered infidels were no less inhumane than the acts of Taliban. A military operation cannot prevent such acts, only a thorough change of hearts and minds can. The Taliban without will die the day we kill the Taliban within.