Pakistan - This round of war can and should be won

Pakistan has been trapped in the vortex of terrorism for almost two decades - beginning off in 1987 when Karachi's Bohri Bazaar or Saddar was hit by back-to-back car bombings; and the death toll crossed the 200 mark. But the way we the people and the government have reacted and responded to the Peshawar school massacre, it seems as if this happened in the country for the first time. No doubt this was the ultimate in savagery, too treacherous to go unnoticed even by the most stone-hearted. No wonder it is Pakistan's 9/11, and has triggered a whole range of moves and actions to cleanse the polity of this curse of terrorism once and for all. But the irony is that what is now planned and executed should have been the case much before; the incidence of terrorism has ebbed and flowed over all these years. In the past too, anti-terrorism legislation was done, special anti-terrorism forces were raised and night-long vigils as civil society's expression of solidarity with the victims were held. But the unforgiving reality on the ground did not change - essentially because the so-called follow-up action went missing. Isn't it a fact that the same political party's top leadership had placed a moratorium on hanging whose Senators today want 'civilian ownership' of war against terrorism? This is also a fact that the government, which now wants the Zarb-e-Azb extended to cities and villages was reluctant to launch military operation in North Waziristan when terrorists played football with severed heads of our soldiers. And didn't we hear the wannabe prime minister's convoluted reasoning against military action in tribal areas as his party government lived their time on the container instead of showing up with those who elected them as their rulers. Yes, the Afghan refugees should be repatriated, the KP government should have its FC platoons back in its fold, and cross-border movement through Pak-Afghan border should be controlled. But all of it should have been said much before the blood-hounds attacked the Peshawar Army Public School. 

The bitter truth must be stated; that the country's political leadership across the board has not been able to stand up to the gravity of challenge of threat posed internally by extremists and externally by proxy terrorists. Had the successive heads of state and government desisted wearing their heart on their sleeves or had not chickened out under the threat of a backlash and followed the law by carrying out capital punishment when awarded by the courts we would not have come to such a sorry pass as now. We know the barbarians who carried out the attack on school; we also know from where they got the orders; and as to who got the SIMs the terrorists used and from where they got. We should move on now and bring the criminals to justice, even if it is to be a summary trial. If the world's oldest democracy, the United States, could for the Homeland Security Act to punish the makers of 9/11 why should it be an issue in Pakistan. We do share Chaudhry Nisar Ali's concerns about terrorist outfits being given extensive media coverage, and SIMs being sold without adequate verification. But isn't there enough of law on the statute book to seek help from to deal with these problems. The problem is not the paucity of relevant laws and policies, the problem is with their application. Isn't it disheartening to learn that three anti-terrorism courts of the nation's capital could not convict anybody in 62 cases they received in the last seven years. But don't blame the courts; it is for lack of co-operation among concerned agencies, police and prosecution who failed to follow-up with the cases with due diligence. Yes, we do need to rethink and review our past failures to avert their repetition. We do appreciate the political players' renewed determination to give the final fight to terrorists, but more than that we expect honest, earnest and hermetic application and enforcement of law, helped as it should be by a strong judiciary, committed law-enforcers and very effective prosecution. With a new Afghan government seemingly on the same page with Pakistan - indicated as it by its military action against militants in areas close to our border, which may have possibly taken out TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah - the prospects of Pakistan winning war on terrorism have considerably improved. Let the government and the people of Pakistan stay the course united as a single entity in action and thought. 

The lesson of Peshawar

Praful Bidwai




It’s humanly impossible not to be revolted by the killing of 134 innocent children in Peshawar by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). This barbaric attack galvanised unprecedented solidarity demonstrations by citizens in many Indian cities. It even impelled Narendra Modi to suspend his hard-line policy towards Islamabad – only temporarily, alas – and tell Nawaz Sharif that the attack was directed at “all of humanity”, and offer him all possible assistance. 

Soon, however, New Delhi seemed to be slipping back into the old mould of hostility. It protested against the bail granted to Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) ‘mastermind’ of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Second, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval demanded that the post-Peshawar tough measures being taken against the TTP be extended to LeT. And third, India refused to grant visas to Pakistani delegates invited to a seminar planned by the Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) in Delhi.

Lakhvi was granted bail not by the Pakistan government, but by a court. The government said it would appeal against the order and has detained Lakhvi on other charges. 

A similar legal process prevails in India, under which scores of people charged with or convicted of serious offences have been granted bail, including policemen charged with killing 40 Muslims in Meerut-Maliana in 1987, and more recently, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Amit Shah and Maya Kodnani (sentenced to 28 years), not to speak of the Gujarat policemen named in the ‘encounter’ killings of Ishrat Jahan and Sohrabuddin. The remedy against a bad bail order lies in legal appeal, not political condemnation.

LeT is of course a nasty terrorist group, whose head Hafiz Saeed absurdly blamed India for the Peshawar attack. But it is the TTP that owned responsibility for it. The two groups cannot be equated at this juncture. By making an India-specific demand, Doval shows himself to be insensitive to this context. 

Denial of visas for the December 19-21 PIPFPD seminar on ‘Understanding Pakistan’ was deplorable. PIPFPD has played an excellent role over 20 years in promoting a cross-border citizen-to-citizen dialogue – something that should be unhesitatingly encouraged today. 

The Indian government’s latest actions are a retrogression to the pre-Peshawar policy followed under Modi. Thus India-Pakistan foreign secretary-level talks were called off in August on the ground that Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit didn’t cancel his meeting with Hurriyat Conference leaders. India suddenly took offence at what has become routine over many years. 

In October, Modi chided Pakistan as “the enemy” which has been taught a “befitting lesson” through firing at the border. Home minister Rajnath Singh reminded Pakistan that “the times have changed” with the BJP having won 282 seats. 

In December, concerts by the highly-acclaimed Sachal Jazz Ensemble in Mumbai and Bangalore were cancelled. So were performances by two Pakistani sufi qawwals at the Press Club of India and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club – under official pressure. A delegation of Pakistani MPs visited Delhi, but didn’t get to meet Modi or even Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. 

What of the recent ceasefire violations? The Modi government deludes itself that it can prevent these through a calibrated military response which can deter Pakistan by threatening it with unaffordable costs. The existing strategic balance simply doesn’t permit such deterrence.

On the ground, both sides routinely violate the 2003 ceasefire agreement – Pakistan probably more frequently, to ‘internationalise’ the Kashmir issue – and then blame each other. They don’t follow the Geneva Conventions, as evidenced by the beheading of each other’s soldiers.

Given this, all solutions to India-Pakistan problems must necessarily be peaceful. These do work. An example is the Indus Waters Accord of 1960, which has held despite recent hiccups. By contrast, when left to military leaders, problems (eg. Siachen or Sir Creek) become intractable.

The shock delivered by Peshawar to Pakistan’s civil society and state has created the ground for what could hopefully become a turning point in Pakistan’s policy towards terrorism, which has permitted jihadi terrorists to work in collusion with the army and its secret agencies and attack not just India, but also Pakistan’s Shias, Ahmadis and Christians. 

Pakistan’s policymakers have learnt no lessons from these attacks. Nor do they ask how Osama bin Laden could find refuge in Pakistan. They continue to shield jihadi groups that kill innocents but pose no immediate threat to the Pakistani state – with disastrous consequences. The government has failed to seek an extension of the detention of Malik Ishaq, the chief of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, involved in anti-Shia pogroms and the 2009 assault on the Sri Lankan cricket team.

Peshawar stands out among terrorist attacks because its victims were primarily children of army personnel, and the attack came in the midst of a strong anti-TTP military campaign. There are hopeful signs that this might strengthen the army’s will to fight the Taliban. 

Islamabad has, for the first time ever, repudiated the distinction between the ‘good Taliban’ and the ‘bad Taliban’. After Peshawar, army chief Raheel Sharif visited Kabul to demand the extradition of TTP’s Mullah Fazlullah. The government has hanged several convicts. But a primarily military, ‘kill-them-all’ response won’t do. Vacillations, as in the Ishaq case, will damage the anti-extremism cause.

There must be a resolute campaign to break the nexus between the Pakistani state and Islamic extremists, which has created a frightening jihadi apparatus in Pakistan. This campaign must be based on an analysis of the root-causes of the culture of extremism, and lead to a radical transformation of public discourse. 

This means acknowledging that the Peshawar killers aren’t ‘outsiders’ or ‘misguided’ people – anymore than the Hindutva goons who want to terrorise and kill non-Hindus in India. Both are equally fanatical and equally dangerous. Like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the Taliban too have a clear agenda – to transform Pakistan into an Islamist state that practises Shariah law, where pluralism and tolerance have no place. This agenda must be opposed without ifs and buts.

India can contribute positively to de-Talibanisation if it resumes the bilateral dialogue with Pakistan and talks to and cultivates its pro-peace constituency, which New Delhi has never done because it equates Pakistani society with the state, and considers both implacably anti-Indian.

India must actively engage with liberal and tolerant voices in Pakistan’s civil society, which uncompromisingly oppose the Islamist ideology and want the nation to evolve into a modern, tolerant, pluralist and democratic state. This entails rejecting the gratuitous advice from some ‘realist’ (read, cynical) quarters that India should directly talk to the Pakistan military, just as the United States does. India’s government is civilian and must deal exclusively with and strengthen Pakistan’s civilian leadership and its peace constituency. 

Peshawar has created a unique moment in Pakistan, when de-Talibanisation can be put on the agenda. India can make this a unique moment for peace in all of South Asia by reaching out to Pakistan with earnest proposals for cooperation – in fighting terrorism, promoting trade, and stabilising Afghanistan.

If the Modi government is not to squander this valuable opportunity, it must stop regarding Pakistan as an enemy to be vanquished, but see it as a potentially friendly neighbour. Above all, it must crack the whip on Hindutva extremists. The time has come to isolate all extremists.

Pakistan - #PeshawarAttack - Echo of a haunting guilt

By Fahd Husain

So by forging a consensus and crafting a plan, are you doing us a favour, huh? You want credit for what you get paid to do? You want us to thank you for waking up from your slumber after the massacre of 132 of our beautiful children? Is that how the logic goes in whatever cuckoo land you live in?

Seriously?

The sickness afflicting our ruling elite cannot be cured by a national plan or any other fancy-named strategy. No sir, this sickness, this disease goes deeper and incapacitates their ability to see what the people feel. And what do we feel? Gut-wrenching pain at what happened in Peshawar — or what was allowed to happen in Peshawar.

Yes, allowed. Feel the weight of this word here: allowed. Now let this word enter your bloodstream like poison. Let it circulate in your veins till it forces involuntary convulsions and inflammation so intense your body bursts into combustion. This is how the pain feels like. To us.

And to them? To them, this is a moment to show us their political prowess. This is the time to regain their long lost mojo; to clip on the spurs and hop back on the saddle. Good. This is better than being brooding, reluctant and confused at a time when clarity of purpose is a job requirement. Yet this clarity must cut across all boundaries. And so before the rulers start gloating over their new-found resolve — cemented on the bodies of 132 children — they should start by apologising for their crimes against this nation.

Yes all of you who sat across that table in the Prime Minister’s House that day, every single one of you stand up, look the nation in the eye, and say: “I am sorry”. Say it. Say it aloud. Shout it aloud. Scream it till you have no air left in your lungs and no sound in your throat. Then shed tears. Shed them till you have none left because you — all of you — allowed 132 of our beautiful children to be slaughtered by these beasts.

You Mr Prime Minister, you Mr Army Chief, you Mr Imran Khan, you Mr Fazlur Rehman, you Mr Sirajul Haq, you Mr what’s-your-name from the PPP, the MQM, the ANP, etc., you all first apologise for what you or your institution/party has done, and not done, to reduce us to this sorry state. Admit your crime, confess your guilt, and beg forgiveness from the nation.

Yes, this is a changed Pakistan because we the people cannot stomach your duality anymore; because we cannot digest your lies anymore; we cannot swallow the hypocritical policy that you have always peddled; and we certainly cannot accept the crass incompetence you all have displayed again, and again, and again.

So apologise, dear general, for creating the monsters who feed on our children. The past cannot be wished away just like this. You have to face your demons. Say it. Go ahead, mouth those words: “I am sorry we followed a policy that bred these monsters for grand designs. I am sorry those grand designs exploded like grenades in our hands and the monsters we created are now feasting on our little babies.”

Apologise, dear lily-livered politician, for mollycoddling these terrorists by calling them our misdirected brethren. Apologise for insisting on talking to them when you knew the only language they understand is the one that spouts out of a barrel. Yes, you Mr Khan, apologise for your apologistic policy towards these murderers, and you Mr Fazlur Rehman and Mr Sirajul Haq for your continued reluctance to cleanse the filth of terrorism in every sense.

Apologise Mr Sharif for your sheer incompetence in running this country; for not reforming the police and the judiciary; for refusing to treat our rotting education system as the absolute priority; for your audacious short-sightedness for investing in brick and mortar, not in flesh and bone. Say sorry for not admitting the militancy problem in Punjab and doing absolutely nothing about it. Apologise for your laidback style of governance; apologise for your inability to comprehend the absolute necessity of reform, and your lack of capacity to visualise a future for this glorious nation; apologise for your nepotism and cronyism, and for your fabulous failure to give any sense of direction or purpose to your electorate.

Apologise Mr MQM, ANP, PPP for the hell-hole that you have transformed Karachi into; for the bloodletting you have allowed in this metropolis; for the anarchy you have let loose in the guise of political expediency. Say sorry for your continuing disastrous governance and for letting militancy and terror breed in your city; say sorry for your shocking absence of sincerity and equally shocking lack of ability to rule with honesty and ability. Apologise for being unfit to rule this nation.

You — all of you — have the audacity to solicit praise for your plans now? Now? After the brutal murder of thousands of us? Have you looked in the mirror and seen the grotesque reflection that stares back at you?

So before you puff up your chest and proclaim the dawn of a new era, and before you expect a shower of national gratitude to rain upon your mandated being; before any of this, you make a pilgrimage. You — all of you — go to the little graves of our 132 children, and you stand with you head bowed. Then you apologise to these angels for who you are, what you have stood for, and all that you have done to make this country the mess it is. You apologise to these angels for not letting them live the lives they deserved, and you apologise for making them sleep not on their beds, but under the mounds of this earth.

And then, only then, do you talk to us about your resolve, and your determination and your freshly grown spine. Because you — all of you — should know well that a thousand grand national plans cannot wash away the blood of these children from your manicured hands.

Pakistan - #PeshawarAttack - Celebration of murder

According to hardcore jihadists, every able-bodied believer is obligated to engage in jihad. The greatest prize goes to the martyr. Anyone who believes otherwise is a heretic and deserves to be slaughtered

Pakistan is a country permanently roiled by political chaos and militant jihadism. On December 16, 2014, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) attacked the Army Public School in Peshawar, leaving 141 dead, including 132 schoolchildren. Unconfirmed reports indicate that children from military families were separated from their peers and shot in the head. The TTP spokesperson announced that the Peshawar attack was in retaliation to Operation Zarb-e-Azb (sharp and cutting strike), the Pakistani army’s move against militants in North Waziristan. The country seems to be inching closer to civil war and a national catastrophe.

The TTP’s jihadi terrorism springs from rigidity and literalism. A crude interpretation of Islamic texts leads them to conclude that murder should be celebrated. They see their actions as logical, righteous and mandatory. They believe in the premise that jihad is the natural state of Islam. Muslims who follow this thinking believe that they have a divine right to kill anyone who disagrees with their straitened view of what constitutes a Muslim. The narrow definition of Islam ensures that nearly everyone falls outside the ‘sacred’ boundaries. Also, that Muslims must always be in conflict with nonbelievers, resorting to peace only in moments of abject weakness. These arguments demonstrate why Islam is so vulnerable to radicalisation. It is a religion that was born in conflict and in its long history it has developed a pool of opinions and precedents that are supposed to govern the behaviour of Muslims towards their enemies.

According to hardcore jihadists, every able-bodied believer is obligated to engage in jihad. The greatest prize goes to the martyr. Anyone who believes otherwise is a heretic and deserves to be slaughtered. Those who contribute money for jihad will be compensated in heaven, but not as much as the person who acts. Because jihad is, above all, a religious exercise, there are divine rewards to be gained. This line of thinking gives jihadists a warrant to murder all who stand in their way. Jihadist recruits are indoctrinated and transformed from normal believers into intransigence killers, making certain that the candle of individual conscience is extinguished. These ideas about jihad are used to justify violence against women and innocent civilians.

Militant jihadists and their sympathisers among Pakistanis in all walks of life openly declare that religious war, not political reform, is their sole mandate. Those who labour in government, the army, police and the courts are enemies, as is anyone who works for peaceful change. The same punishment awaits those who participate in democratic elections. Secular, nationalist democracy opposes religion and doctrine and, in submitting to it, would leave the Quran behind. Jihadists believe that most Muslim countries are ruled by unbelievers who must be forcibly removed in order to bring about an Islamic state. The way to bring an end to the rulers’ unbelief is armed rebellion. Muslims have a duty to wage jihad against such leaders; those who submit to an infidel ruler are themselves infidels and doomed to damnation.

Weaning Pakistan away from murder and violence towards harmony and coexistence is, on the face of it, an impossible task. The government’s inability or unwillingness to rein in militants has been well known. And the entire history of Pakistan is a sorry record of giving in to religious extremism and changing the country more and more into an intolerant Islamic state. The country’s Islamic schools (madrassas), which have supplanted the crumbling public education system, promote ideas of Islamic militancy and martyrdom. The condition of Pakistan’s universities has been described as “intellectual rubble”. It is also a fact that Punjab, the largest province, is both the epicentre of state power and jihadi terrorism. It is both a training site and a safe haven for many national and transnational groups. It is also an ideological hub for groups engaged in sectarian violence. It is home to some of the most dreaded groups like TTP, Sipah-e-Sahaba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, groups that have often been patronised by state agencies. It has been easy for the state and society to condone, even start, violence but peace will be much more difficult.

Formation of military courts, lifting the moratorium on capital punishment for terrorism-related offences, an anti-terrorism council reporting to the prime minister and formation of a special task force to eliminate terrorism appear to be tactical steps at this critical juncture. Can a country that has developed ‘strategic’ jihad as a weapon against its enemies give up its jihadi option? Can citizens who have lived and battled in a world of jihad and allowed it to control their thinking see the difference between right and wrong? Can we dissuade those who continue to propagate their fantasies of theocracy and a caliphate, which have little chance of ever happening? Can militant Islam ever reconcile with the ‘sins’ of modernity, enlightenment, free thinking, acceptance of levelling change and a tolerance of cultural heterogeneity? These questions and more need to be considered together with a plan to address the actual problems facing Pakistanis: illiteracy, joblessness and the desperation that comes from watching the rest of the world pass them by. A serious national introspection may offer the young, who are eager for fresh thinking, a way to escape the dead end of radical Islam.

Pakistan - ‘Legally, Abdul Aziz is not the khateeb’

Legally speaking, the Lal Masjid has not had a Khateeb since 2004, as the order notifying Maulana Abdul Aziz as the khateeb or imam (prayer leader) of the mosque was withdrawn by the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration in 2004.

“There has been no notified khateeb in Lal Masjid for almost 10 years, except for the brief period of less than a week, when Maulana Ashfaq Ahmed was made the khateeb ,” a senior official of the ICT administration confirmed on condition of anonymity.

But, Maulana Ashfaq, who was posted to Lal Masjid from Bilal Masjid, was thrashed by students of various seminaries as soon as he arrived at the mosque to lead Friday prayers after it was reopened following the army operation in July 2007.

The notification of Abdul Aziz as khateeb of the Lal Masjid was withdrawn by the ICT administration in 2004 after he issued a fatwa against the army and its operation in Waziristan.

This fact was also acknowledged in a report prepared by the Lal Masjid Commission, set up following the army operation against the mosque. The commission was headed by Justice Shahzado Sheikh of the Federal Shariat Court.

The report said: “In 2004, the Lal Masjid clergy issued a fatwa calling on people to join militant resistance against the army in Waziristan. They declared that those fighting Pakistani forces were martyrs and urged people not to give Islamic burials to the soldiers killed fighting the militants.”

However, despite withdrawing the notification of Maulana Abdul Aziz as khateeb of Lal Masjid, neither has the cleric vacated the government-owned mosque, nor have authorities tried to enforce their decision. This situation continued until the events of 2007 started to unfold.

After the government’s bid to appoint Maulana Ashfaq Ahmed as prayer leader of Lal Masjid failed, the mosque was closed again.

“At this point, the students of Jamia Hafsa staged several protests, even in front of the Supreme Court, demanding the reopening of Lal Masjid and establishment of a seminary for girls,” Ehtesham Ahmed, chairman of the Lal Masjid Shuhada Foundation, said. “Eventually, the apex court took suo motu notice and ordered the reopening of the mosque.”

On October 3, 2007 the Supreme Court ordered the Islamabad administration to open Lal Masjid for prayers and Aitekaf purposes.

A two-member bench, consisting of Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi and Justice M. Javed Buttar, conducted the suo motu proceedings.

The court observed that in an Islamic state, a mosque could not be closed for an indefinite period.

Meanwhile, a former ICT administration official said the court directed the administration to act in accordance with the advice of Umme Hasaan, the wife of Maulana Abdul Aziz.

“The court observed that Abdul Aziz was the khateeb of Lal Masjid and as long as he was in prison, a way out should be sought in consultation with Umme Hasaan,” the official said.

The ICT officials, Ehtesham Ahmed and even the incumbent Naib Khateeb of Lal Masjid, Aamir Siddique, corroborated this account.

“When the authorities approached Umme Hasaan, she suggested that Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar, the administrator of Jamia Fareedia, be made the temporary khateeb of Lal Masjid while I be appointed the Naib Khateeb,” said Aamir Siddique, who is also a nephew of Maulana Abdul Aziz.

Prior to his appointment as Naib Khateeb in 2007, Aamir Siddique was a grade 15 khateeb at the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation in Islamabad.

“But then, there was a technical issue; there was no post of Naib Khateeb in Islamabad, the only two posts available were of Khateeb in grade 11 and a muezzin,” said an official of the ICT Auqaf Department, adding that “the interior ministry created a special post of naib khateeb specially for Lal Masjid in 2007 and appointed Aamir Siddique to the post.”

Since it was decided that Maulana Abdul Ghaffar would be the temporary khateeb for Lal Masjid, he handed over the reins of the mosque to Maulana Abdul Aziz on April 16, 2009, after the latter was released on the Supreme Court’s orders.

In his first sermon following his release after almost 21 months, Maulana Abdul Aziz had said that it was due to the sacrifices of Lal Masjid that Sharia had been enforced in Swat and the tribal areas.

On September 24, 2013, Maulana Abdul Aziz was acquitted in all cases pending against him.

Meanwhile, Ehtesham Ahmed, the chairman of Shuhada Foundation, filed a contempt case in the Supreme Court, seeking appointment of Maulana Abdul Aziz as khateeb of Lal Masjid.

“We filed an application in 2012, in which we pleaded that the directives of the apex court acknowledging Maulana Abdul Aziz as khateeb Lal Masjid were not being fulfilled,” Ehtesham Ahmed.

However, the ICT administration is still reluctant to take up the issue of appointing Maulana Abdul Aziz as the khateeb, claiming that the decision would not be in the interest of the city.

“However what is worrisome is that the interior ministry was not fighting the case against the directive of the Supreme Court,” the ICT administration official added.

Pakistan - Emergency Operation Centre for polio — old wine in new bottle

An Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for Polio has been established; however it is in violation of the recommendations made by the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB).

No new appointments have been made for the EOC and an official of the ministry of NHS has been made the head of the new body.

The IMB works on behalf of international donor agencies and issues reports regarding the performance of countries in combating the poliovirus after every six months.

On June 2, 2014, the IMB shared its recommendations for Pakistan in combating the poliovirus. It declared the Prime Minister’s Polio Cell a ‘shadow boxing entity’ and recommended that a new ‘Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for Polio’ be established before July 1, 2014. It was recommended that both the president and prime minister of Pakistan oversee this new entity.

However, as the EOC could not be established in time, in October 2014 the IMB took back this recommendation and instead recommended that the entire polio programme be handed over to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Contrary to recommendations made by IMB, no new appointments have been made for the new body

An official of the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS), on condition of anonymity, said the ministry advertised 21 posts for the EOC on November 7 but notified the EOC on November 24.

“On November 30, Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio MNA Ayesha Raza Farooq notified the EOC without making any appointments,” he said.

He said an officer of the NHS ministry has been made the head of the EOC which is a government entity. He explained that the ministry had advertised the posts assuming that the World Health Organisation (WHO) would be funding the hiring; however upon learning that the WHO would not be providing funds, the idea was dropped.

According to the notification, available with Dawn, the technical unit will have the national consultant of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), representatives of WHO and Unicef. The high risk unit will have representative officers of the Pakistan Army and the United Arab Emirates Pakistan Assistance Programme (UAE-PAP).

The officer said no such officer has so far been appointed.

“The IMB has already expressed concerns over the lack of leadership and the will required for the success of Pakistan’s polio programme. The recent notifications prove that there is nothing new about the EOC. It is old wine in a new bottle,” he said.

The officer expressed fears that the number of polio cases in Pakistan would cross the 300 mark.

“The same people who failed to control polio in Pakistan have been given responsibilities again,” he said.

PM Focal Person for Polio Ayesha Raza Farooq, while talking to Dawn, confirmed that the idea for new appointments for EOC had been dropped.

She said that although EOC was a government entity, it was decided to nominate Dr Altaf Bosan, representative of BMGF, as technical head of EOC because of his experience.

“Mr Bosan has a lot of experience in dealing with poliovirus; later we may bring a government servant for the post. The head of the Communication Unit is Mazhar Nisar and we are looking for a head for the high risk unit,” she said.

“As far as representation of the army is concerned, it will be taken on board for polio campaigns in Fata and other sensitive areas. I am sure the EOC would produce good results and there will be improvement,” she said.

Pakistan - #SalamBenazir: #SMBB fondly remembered in Punjab

http://ppppunjab.wordpress.com/

LAHORE: The Pakistan People’s Party observed the seventh death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto by holding a vigil and seminars, donating blood and offering Quran Khwani in Punjab on Thursday.

In Lahore, the PPP held two functions. The PPP leadership had asked the workers in Punjab to observe the anniversary at the district level. Earlier, special trains and buses would take the workers from Punjab to Garhi Khuda Bakhsh to take part in the anniversary.

Speaking at a function at the PPP Secretariat in Model Town, party’s Punjab chapter president Manzoor Wattoo said extremism and terrorism had to be defeated because other options would prove an exercise in futility.

He said the nation was united to eliminate terrorists from its soil as the extremists could not be allowed to impose “toxic ideology” at gunpoint.

“The present rulers had good contacts with extremists and their patrons and won the elections with their support,” Wattoo said.

He said the Peshawar tragedy was the most heinous crime of the same mindset that assassinated Benazir Bhutto. He said some leaders had been doing politics while sitting in foreign countries but BB did the politics for the poor.

He recalled that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto gave the Constitution that empowered the people with the right to vote. The PPP government had restored the 1973 Constitution through the 18th Amendment, which was mutilated by the successive dictators just to perpetuate their rule.

PPP Secretary-General Latif Khosa said the PPP was the victim of “delayed law” because the presidential reference of ZA Bhutto and the case of Benazir had not been taken up by courts despite a lapse of many years.

Azizur Rehman Chan said the assassination of Benazir and the Peshawar tragedy were the crimes committed by the same mindset.

The PPP leaders and workers also held a candlelit vigil as an expression of respect for Benazir and the victims of Peshawar tragedy. They also held Quran Khwani for the departed souls.

At another function at Aiwan-i-Iqbal, Senator Aitzaz Ahsan said the PPP was the worst victim of terrorism. He said there had been no parallel of the sacrifices made by ZAB and Benazir.

Dr Khalid Jan presented his poem ‘Main Baghi Haun’. PPP Lahore President Samina Ghurki also paid a tribute to Benazir.

PAKISTAN’S ‘OTHER’ INSURGENTS FACE ISLAMIC STATE

By Karlos Zurutuza

The media tend to portray Balochistan as “troubled”, or “restive”, but it would be more accurate to say that there´s actually a war going on in this part of the world.

Balochistan is the land of the Baloch, who today see their land divided by the borders of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is a vast swathe of land the size of France which boasts enormous deposits of gas, gold and copper, untapped sources of oil and uranium, as well as a thousand-kilometre coastline near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.

In August 1947, the Baloch from Pakistan declared independence, but nine months later the Pakistani army marched into Balochistan and annexed it, sparking an insurgency that has lasted, intermittently, to this day.

Now senior Baloch rebel commanders say that Islamabad is training Islamic State (IS) fighters in Pakistan´s southern province of Balochistan.

IPS met Baloch fighters at an undisclosed location in the Sarlat Mountains, a rocky massif, right on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and equidistant from two Taliban strongholds: Kandahar in south-eastern Afghanistan and Quetta in southwest Pakistan.

The fighters claimed to have marched for twelve hours from their camp to meet this IPS reporter.

They are four: Baloch Khan, commander of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), and Mama, Hayder and Mohamed, his three escorts, who do not want to disclose their full names.

“This is an area of ​​high Taliban presence but they use their own routes and we stick to ours so we hardly ever come across them,” explains commander Khan, adding that he wants to make it clear from the beginning that the Baloch liberation movement is “at the antipodes of fundamentalism”.

“Today we speak of seven Baloch armed movements fighting for freedom but all share a common goal: independence for Balochistan,” says Khan. At 41, he has spent half of his life as a guerrilla fighter. “I joined as a student,” he recalls.

The senior commander refuses to disclose the number of fighters in the BLA’s ranks but he does say that they are deployed in 25 camps throughout “East Balochistan [under the control of Pakistan]”.

Khan admits parallelisms between his group and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), also a “secular group fighting for their national rights,” as he puts it

“We feel very close to the Kurds. One could say they are our cousins, and their land is also stolen by their neighbours,” says the commander, referring to the common origin of Baloch and Kurds, and the division of the latter into four states: Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

Historically a nomadic people, the Baloch have had a moderate vision of Islam. However, Khan accuses Islamabad of pushing the conflict into a sectarian one.

“Until 2000 not a single Shia was killed in Balochistan. Today Pakistan is funnelling all sorts of fundamentalist groups, many of them linked to the Taliban, into Balochistan, to quell the Baloch liberation movement,” claims the guerrilla fighter, adding that target killings and enforced disappearances are a common currency in his homeland.

The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, a group advocating peaceful protest founded by some of the families of the disappeared, puts the number of people from Balochistan since 2000 at more than 19,000, although exact figures are impossible to verify because no independent investigation has yet been conducted.

However, in August this year, the International Commission of Jurists, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called on Pakistan’s government “to stop the deplorable practice of state agencies abducting hundreds of people throughout the country without providing information about their fate or whereabouts.”

Baloch insurgent groups, however, have also been accused of murdering civilians. In August 2013, the BLA took responsibility for the killing of 13 people after the two buses they were travelling in were stopped by fighters in Mach area, about 50km (31 miles) south-east of the provincial capital, Quetta.

Pakistani officials said they were civilians returning home to Punjab to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Commander Khan shares another version:

“There were 40 people in two buses. We arrested and investigated 25 of them and we finally executed 13, all of whom belonged to the Pakistani Security Forces,” assures Khan, lamenting that a majority of the foreign media “relies solely on Pakistani government official sources.”

Could an independence referendum like the one held in Scotland possibly help to unlock the Baloch conflict? Khan looks sceptical:

“Before such a step, we´d need to settle down both the national and geographic borders as many parts of our land lie in Sindh and Punjab – the neighbouring provinces. Besides, there´s a growing number of settlers and the army is in full control of the country, election processes included,” the commander claims bluntly.

Instead of a consultation, the rebel fighter openly asks for a full intervention, “not just moral support but also a military and economic intervention.”

“The civilised world should support us, not Pakistan. Why help a country that is struggling to feed fundamentalist groups across the world?” asks the guerrilla commander before he and his men resume the long way back to their base.

Balochistan and beyond

The meeting with the BLA leader was only possible via Afghanistan, because Pakistan’s south-western province remains a “no go” area due to a veto enforced by Islamabad.

“The province has the worst record in Pakistan for journalists being killed so local journalists usually censor themselves to avoid being harassed, jailed or worse. Meanwhile, foreigner journalists are deported if they try to access the area,” Ahmed Rashid, a best-selling Pakistani writer and renowned Central Asia commentator, who was an activist on behalf of Balochistan in his youth, told IPS.

The visa ban over this reporter after working undercover in the region was no hurdle to get the viewpoint of Allah Nazar, commander in chief of the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF).

Through a satellite phone, this former medical doctor from Quetta corroborates commander Khan´s statements on a “common goal for the entire Baloch insurgency movement”. He also endorses the BLA commander´s analysis of Islamabad’s alleged backing of fundamentalist groups.

“Pakistan is breeding fundamentalists to counter the Baloch nationalist movement but it has entirely failed. Now they are trying to use the instrument of religion in order to distract attention from the Baloch freedom movement,” Nazar explains from an unspecified location in Makran – southern Balochistan province – where the BLF has its strongholds.

According to the movement´s leader, such threat could well transcend the boundaries of this inhospitable region. Commander Nazar gave the coordinates of “at least four training camps” where members of the Islamic State would reportedly be receiving instruction before being transferred to the Middle East:

“There´s one is in Makran, and another one in Wadh, 990 and 315 km south of Quetta respectively,” says the guerrilla fighter. “A third one is in the Mishk area of Zehri – 200 km south of Quetta – and there are more than 100 armed men there: Arabs, Pashtuns, Punjabis and others who are based there with the help of Sardar Sanaullah Zehri [a local tribal leader]. The fourth camp is near Chiltan, in Quetta.”

Nazar adds that Pakistan’s ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) is “both activating and patronising the Islamic State.”

“The Islamic State is overwhelmingly present among us. They even throw pamphlets in our streets to advocate their view of Islam and get new recruits,” denounces Nazar.

In October 2014, six key Pakistani Taliban commanders, including the spokesman of Tehrik-e-Taliban – a Pakistan conglomerate of several Pakistani insurgent groups – announced their allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

“IS is simply an upgraded version of the Talibans and finds sympathy with the ruling establishment in Pakistan,” human rights activist Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur told IPS.

Talpur, who has been challenged and attacked repeatedly for writing about such uncomfortable issues for Islamabad, claims that creating the Taliban is “the core of state policy which has not yet given up on this megalomaniacal scheme of Islam ruling the world.”

Despite repeated calls and e-mails, Pakistani officials refused to talk to IPS. However, the issue is seemingly a well-known secret after the Minister of Interior himself, Nisar Ali Khan, recently told Parliament that even in the naval base in Karachi –Pakistan´s main port and commercial city – there is support for the activities of radical religious groups.

Santa Claus doesn’t visit Pakistan?

By Shamim Masih


December 25th is a public holiday, but it is in the memory of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of the country, not for the celebrations of Christmas. Pakistan has a population over 180 million people and there are around 20 millions Christians. Although there is no census in the country for many years but this is estimated figure given by different Christian organization and churches around. Most of Christians live in are quite poor. At Christian festivals, like Christmas and Easter, a big procession takes place like in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi. Before and during Advent, spiritual seminars take place to help people to prepare for Christmas. In many Christian areas, carol singing is performed by various groups. They go from house to house singing carols and in return the family offers something to the choir. Mostly the money collected from such carols is used for charity works or is given to the church. But this trend is gradually fading now due to the wave of terrorism in the country for the last decade. 

Christmas is not being celebrated in Pakistan like, in EU or other Christian countries. Especially, when there is Pakistan Muslim League PML-N (a political party) come in power. Most of the Pakistani Christians believe that PML-N mind set is pro-Taliban and they hardly bear Pakistani Christians. And this year they proved it, government didn’t announced any public holiday for Christians. There remained gas and electricity load shedding schedule in its routine. It means Christian of the country enjoyed Christmas with gas and electricity. On the other hand, special announcement is being made by the government and special packages on Eid ul Fiter and Eid ul Uzha (Muslim’s festivals) announced usually. The authorities gave another indication of being second class citizen and showed their discriminatory attitude towards Christians of the country. 

Anyway, in the big Christians areas, each house is decorated and has a star on the roof. Christians also sometimes exchange Christmas cakes. Churches are packed for midnight or vigil mass services. After the vigil-mass, in some places there are fireworks which start Christmas celebrations. People wear their best and colorful clothes. Some people dance, exchange gifts and enjoy the special night. But this Christmas is embraced in certain parts of Pakistani society, especially among the wealthy and educated. Paradoxically, the country is also seeing an uptick in violence against Christians as some use the country’s controversial “Blasphemy law” to marginalize and oppress their non-Muslim countrymen.

Not everyone is deprived of an opulent holiday feast when it comes to Christmas dinner in Pakistan. The menu reads as if an especially corpulent Santa had providing dinner. Brie and cranberry parcels, roast turkey, gravy, beef, stuffing and mushroom roulade. Spiced pumpkin cheesecake and “Christmas Pie Sundae” complete with orange, almond and whisky sauce cap off dinner for well connected diplomats and privileged society.

This privileged society simply forget their Christian brothers, where is no decorations, no best and colorful clothes. The stench from overflowing half-frozen sewers permeates the small neighborhood. As a nation, we wear our emotions on our sleeve, given to sudden declarations that fizzle out like the ocean surf. Our tragedies forgotten before the wounds have sealed, we continue desensitized

HOW LONG PAKISTANIS HAVE TO SUFFER FROM RULERS’ ANTI-TERRORISM DEMAGOGUERY?

http://www.shiitenews.org/

Mamnoon Hussain, the President of Pakistan, has said that terrorists have no link to Islam but they are misled people. In a speech in Balochistan province, he said the government and the army were determined to eliminate terrorism from the country.

From Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Friday that God forbid Pakistan would not survive if terrorists were not eliminated from the country.

If you peruse the statements of clerics, even the pro-takfiri Deobandis say, terrorists are not human beings, not to mention the word Muslim to be used for them. That means they should have been called infidels but the statement that they are not human beings excluded them from any such category. So, it was also an advertent attempt to save them from any Islamic edict because as far as I know Islamic courts have never tried animals and hang them. Neither wild animal had ever been accepted as repentant or as approvers.

So, these statements should have been interpreted in the right perspective. And if these are true statements, sorry to say, action plan has never been made on the basis of these statements because the ruling and opposition politicians have a soft corner for the takfiris. No doubt a few of the politicians are scared of the takfiris.

The founding father of present takfiri fanaticism was model dictator military ruler General Zia ul Haq. He too had said that Pakistan would not survive martial law but he imposed martial law and ousted democratically elected legitimate government of PPP’s founding chairman Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Pakistan survived despite his all out plots aimed at destruction of Pakistan.

During their previous government PMLN’s Sharif Brothers were more clear and practical against the mother of all takfiri terrorists. Many takfiri terrorists of Sipah-e-Sahaba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (now called ASWJ) were killed in shootouts with Punjab police during former government of Shahbaz Sharif as Chief Minister. But, this time, takfiris of the same group, were hugged from the day one. Rana Sanaullah, Rana Mashood, and many other PMLN’s high-profile close-aides of ruling Sharif Brothers publicly backed them. Since coming to power in 2013, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif patronized them. Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan met Ahmed Ludhianvi and developed friendly ties with them.

Despite colossal economic losses and massacre of around 70,000 Pakistanis by the takfiri terrorists in all over Pakistan, these pro-takfiri politicians pursued the policy of appeasement through continued “talks” with takfiri Taliban, the darling “children” of known Deobandi clerics of Pakistan. They never pondered upon military action seriously to eliminate the terrorists. They gave terrorism a chance after another chance in the self-deceptive slogan: Give peace a chance.

Takfiri fanatics had never experienced a hardened stance from the State and Governments of Pakistan despite their attacks on Pakistan Army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) in Islamabad. Instead, Ludhianvi and Malik Ishaq of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (ASWJ or Sipah-e-Sahaba) were called in to mediate between takfiri deserter of the army Aqeel alias Dr Usman and the army commandos. That was a surprising but shocking message to patriot citizens of Pakistan.

President Mamnoon should have clarified his position about Ramzan Mengal group of takfiri ASWJ terrorists. Pakistani nation is eager now what sort of action has been decided to be taken against him. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should tell nation would Malik Ishaq, Ahmed Ludhianvi, Khadim Dhillu, Masood ur Rehman Usmani, who are the godfathers of Punjabi Taliban will be hanged? If not, please desist from demagoguery. Your credibility was already at stake and these unreliable empty statements can never brighten the tarnished image of Pakistan around the world. Substantial actions should match your empty words.

Ahmadi Muslims Genocide in Pakistan - Man from Ahmadi religious minority killed in Pakistan after Muslim leader calls them "enemy"

Gunmen in eastern Pakistan shot dead a member of the Ahmadi religious minority on Saturday, an Ahmadi spokesman said, five days after a Muslim leader denounced Ahmadis on a popular Pakistani television talk show.

Luqman Ahad Shehzad was shot in the back of the head near Bhiri Shah Rehman village, a small community of Ahmadis in the Gujranwala district, said Saleem ud Din, the spokesman.

He is the eleventh person killed for being Ahmadi in Pakistan this year. Ahmadis consider themselves Muslim but believe that a prophet came after the Prophet Mohammed, who in Islam is revered as the last of God's messengers.

In 1984, a Pakistani law declared them non-Muslims and made it possible to jail Ahmadis for "posing as a Muslim" or "offending a Muslim's feelings".

They are often denounced by Muslim leaders and targeted by violent extremists. Some clerics promise that killing Ahmadis earns the killer a place in heaven and distribute leaflets listing their home addresses.

On Monday, Muslim leader Syed Arif Shah Owaisi appeared on a popular morning television show hosted by Pakistani host Aamir Liaquat Hussain.

"This enemy is a common enemy and is an enemy of all of Pakistan. And this enemy is the sect of Qadiyani," Owaisi said, using a derogatory term for Ahmadis. "They are the ones blaspheming against the holy prophet. All us Muslims should recognise that enemy."

Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan. Scores of people have been lynched after being accused of blasphemy.

Saturday's killing was the second time Hussain's show has hosted religious leaders denouncing Ahmadis. In 2008, he hosted scholars who called for the Ahmadis to be killed. Within a day, two prominent Ahmadis had been shot dead.

Hussain was not immediately available for comment.