EXTREMISM AND EDUCATION - PAKISTAN’S EDUCATION SYSTEM CATERS TO EXTREMISM RATHER THAN DEMOLISHING IT

One often hears the argument that Pakistan needs educational facilities more than the infrastructural projects so dear to the country’s rulers, who see good future only in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It is shocking that this refrain is nowadays opposed by the “rebellious” slogan that extremism arises from Pakistan’s system of education. This is the conclusion some analysts have arrived at after the highly educated killers of Ansarul Sharia were recently dispatched by security agencies in Karachi. Whoever recommends education instead of infrastructure will not hear of looking closely at what kind of education is imparted in Pakistan. Sadly, a few educationists who question it walk in fear of being killed.

The telltale signs have been appearing over decades but no one has cared to think soberly about the extremism lurking in our education: from nuclear scientist Dr. Sultan Bashiruddin Mehmood who boasted he could create electricity from a jinn that he would tame with divine power, to Dr. Abdullah Hashmi of Ansarul Sharia who was killed in the Karachi police encounter. The tragic truth is that, under democracy, they found resonance with the ideology of Pakistan and the curricula of the institutions that pretend to impart education under misinterpreted doctrines. The universities are no longer seats of learning that depend on the spirit of skepticism and inquiry. Individualism in thinking is punished through violence by fellow-students steeped in collective brainwash, as happened in the case of Mashal Khan in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Pakistan had to restrain student unions in educational institutions but couldn’t suppress the rise of radical and violent “student wings” of the religious parties. This was a bargain between the parties who couldn’t win elections and those who did; but over time Islamism has conquered the institutions and produced graduate and postgraduate students who wish to destroy the “pagan” pursuit of democracy by the state. Ironically, it is democracy without the essential bond of tolerance that spawns violence and renders the state unstable. Dictatorial and totalitarian states like Saudi Arabia and Iran can tackle the “educated terrorist” more effectively while Muslims living under democracy fail to grasp the importance of self-doubt and non-judgmental tolerance as a condition of life.

http://newsweekpakistan.com/extremism-and-education/

Pakistan’s election to the UN Human Rights - Poor record, secure seat

By K K Shahid

Pakistan’s election to the UN Human Rights Council raises questions about the country’s record on marginalized sections.

On October 16, Pakistan secured a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council as one of the 15 states that were elected for the 2018-2020 cycle, making it its fourth stint in the 47-member body.

Pakistan won 151 votes from the 193-member Assembly to bag one of the 13 seats dedicated to the Asia Pacific region, with Nepal, Afghanistan and Qatar wining the other three for the term starting in January 2018.

Pakistan was last elected at the Human Rights Council in 2013. The delegation lost the reelection bid in 2015 after the three-year term expired.

Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi underscored the magnitude of the achievement in a series of tweets. “Pakistan’s election gives the lie to those who claim that Pakistan is isolated. Our victory is a manifestation of the international community’s trust in Pakistan,” she said on Twitter.

Announcing its win, the Pakistani delegation reiterated its commitment to “safeguarding and promoting fundamental freedoms for all”, and underscored its fight against terrorism, and its dedication to human rights protection “despite the challenges”.

I.A. Rehman says Pakistan’s election is indeed a diplomatic triumph. “There is no other way to explain it, given how bad our record has been on the human rights front. So either it’s a case of wonderful diplomacy or people have no idea what’s actually happening in Pakistan. Or maybe they elected us as an act of pity.”

Islamabad has pledged to spread human rights awareness and ensure justice to those whose fundamental rights are violated in the country.

The delegation vowed to create more crisis centres for women targeted by violence, and to secure minorities’ rights in the country.

A National Commission for the Rights of Children has been pledged by Pakistan, along with the integration of human rights in the Vision 2025 plan, with reports to be regularly submitted to update the council of Pakistan’s commitment to the vows.

In addition to calling it a diplomatic success, Lodhi also says the election vindicates Pakistan’s performance on the human rights front.

However, human rights activists have taken a strong issue with that claim citing religion, ethnicity and gender-based violations.

Veteran human rights activist and Secretary General of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, I.A. Rehman says Pakistan’s election is indeed a diplomatic triumph. “There is no other way to explain it, given how bad our record has been on the human rights front. So either it’s a case of wonderful diplomacy or people have no idea what’s actually happening in Pakistan. Or maybe they elected us as an act of pity. Our record is so wretched that we don’t even have the right to contest the election.”

Rehman maintains that with the likes of Saudi Arabia on the council, election to the human rights council is no endorsement of performance.

Saleemuddin, the spokesperson for the Ahmadi community in Pakistan, questions how the delegation touts its human rights record at a time when heated debates are going on in the country to ensure that an entire community be barred from voting. “The recent pandemonium over the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat clause, and the hate speech that followed in the National Assembly, was basically designed to uphold the separate voters’ list for Ahmadis — where the Election Commission goes out of its way to single out only one religious community, by asking for discriminatory vows.”

He adds, “Pakistan’s constitution itself denies us our fundamental right to self-identify, and contradicts its own Article 20 by denying us freedom of religion.”

Members of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual) community say Pakistan has actually been at the forefront of discrimination against homosexuality at the UN.

Pakistan voted ‘no’ in the UN’s vote for granting homosexual rights in 2015 when it was last a part of the Human Rights Council. It has always voted ‘no’, including as part of a 57-state group that vied to derail the vote altogether in 2008. As of 2015, the vote stands at 25-14 in favour of ‘yes’.

“This is not even an acceptance of homosexuality, just simply a case of giving LGBT people their rights. So basically Pakistan can’t even accept us as humans,” says a member of the LGBT community.

Nighat Dad, founder and CEO of Digital Rights Foundation, says while Pakistan’s election to the UN Human Rights Council is a great step towards the state’s inclusion into international human rights circles, it should not be taken as an indicator of a great human rights record. “In fact, Pakistan’s record in areas such as online freedom of expression and digital rights has considerably worsened. Since the passage of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act in August 2016, Pakistan has experienced a chilling effect on online speech with the targeting of social media activists from different political parties.”

She adds, “Defamation laws are being used to protect state institutions from constructive criticism, which is important for any democracy. Meanwhile, Pakistan hasn’t been able to develop important rights such as the right to privacy to ensure digital rights for its citizens.”

Despite repeated vows, Pakistan hasn’t done much for women’s rights either, says Dad. “While Pakistan has passed several women-specific legislations in the past few years, the indicators in terms of gender continue to stagnate. There has been no correlation between the laws passed and violence against women. This can be seen in the lack of resources allocated to tackling online harassment of women, which is only one example of the malaise.”

However, former Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmad Khan says Pakistan shouldn’t pay much heed to developments at the UN Human Rights Council. “UN was created to serve humanity from the scourge of war. Has it been successful in doing so? Has it accomplished any of its objectives? UN Security Council is no more than a debating club.”

Khan explains, “Human rights issue is a tool in the hands of the West to exploit their enemies in the East. On this pretext they keep these countries under pressure. Pakistan’s unique geopolitical value makes it unalienable for any of the powers. And yet we Pakistanis keep blaming ourselves for everything and putting ourselves down.”

I.A. Rehman believes that as usual Pakistan would struggle to keep its word at the UN. “They are absolutely incapable of following through with the big promises they’ve made. They made the same promises during the last term and the performance is in front of you.”

He reiterates many of Pakistan’s violations are state sanctioned and legalised. “Those laws need to be looked into… But now that we’ve been elected, the least we should do is pay more heed to human rights, improve our record and fulfill at least some of the promises we made to get elected.”

The day I tried to persuade Benazir Bhutto not to return to Pakistan

Desmond de Silva

I was lucky enough to become friends with Benazir Bhutto, or BB as I used to call her, while she lived in London between 2003 and 2007. Twice prime minister of Pakistan, BB was an extraordinary woman who went storming to the top, overturning prejudices as she went. Never before had a Muslim majority country had a female prime minister and never before had the Oxford Union had a female Asian president, but she was both.

It was during her time in exile that we became friends. Having fled accusations of corruption, she had settled in London where she started to reform her father’s political party.

I was working with a UN-sponsored international war crimes tribunal so was often away, but whenever I was in London we would meet up at her flat in South Kensington. I’d climb into the small lift with my daughter Victoria following behind and we’d go rocketing up to the fourth floor where she’d welcome us in. She’d be wearing a colourful salwar kameez with a white dupatta hanging over her black hair and would give us an enormous smile to greet us.

My daughter and her son Bilawal became great friends and while they’d go into the next door room to play, we’d sit on the sofa sipping tea and discussing the politics of Pakistan. Her determination to bring about change in the country never ceased to amaze me. She talked of her father, who she adored and who was executed in 1979, and how he’d unsuccessfully tried to persuade her to leave the country. And she talked about Pakistan and her need to continue the fight for democracy and against Islamist extremism.

It was in October 2007 that she finally told me of her plans to return to Pakistan. A few of her friends had become increasingly worried about her safety and what would happen to her. In the meantime, I was aware of the position of Secretary General of the Commonwealth opening up in 2008. The position had never been held by an Asian, let alone a woman, and I believed Benazir would find the role rewarding and it would provide her with security as she’d work from the safety of Marlborough House.

I felt sure that this would be something she’d be interested in as I made my way to the up to the fourth floor on that day. As we sat down in our usual spots, I began to explain to her the advantages and its appeal.

“BB, you’ll be safe.”

She put her tea down on the table in front of us and turned to look me in the eye. A smile crept across her face and she said: “Desmond, I have never played it safe.”

She returned to Pakistan and two months later she was assassinated at a political rally in Rawalpindi. BB lived in fear, but was not afraid.

Imran disrespects institutions, has no right to be in politics: Khursheed Shah

Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah on Sunday said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan hurls abuses at institutions and then apologises to them, adding that he has no right now to be in politics now.

Addressing a group of people in the Saleh Pit area, Shah said that Imran should clarify whether he believed his criticism of institutions was right or his apology.

Imran had tendered an unconditional apology to the Election Commission of Pakistan for making disrespectful remarks against the institutions early this week. The ECP accepted the apology.

The PTI chairman was accused of issuing contemptuous remarks against the ECP at two separate occasions: in January this year and later in September

Criticising Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif, Shah said he had asked Nawaz to give importance to Parliament time and again, adding that rulers think once they are in power no one can remove them.

“The centre of power is only the masses,” he said.

Afghan Shiites under attack as IS seeks to stir up sectarian violence

Victims of a suicide blast inside the Imam Zaman prayer hall said that despite promises from the government that the Shiite minority would be protected, there were no signs of security ahead of the bombing.

The massacre at a Kabul mosque last week highlighted the vulnerability of the country's Shiite minority, increasingly the target of the Sunni Islamic State group that is trying to stir up sectarian violence.

Victims of last Friday's suicide blast inside the Imam Zaman prayer hall told AFP they saw the bomber but no sign of security checks, despite the government's promise to beef up protection of Shiite mosques.

Dozens of men, women and children died in the explosion, just the latest in a series of attacks that have killed more than 200 Shiites in the past year.

"There were no body checks that day," Ali Gul told AFP at his home in a Shiite neighbourhood of the Afghan capital, where he is recovering from shrapnel wounds and burns.

"There was tight security during (the holy month of) Muharram but afterwards there was no checking."

Afghanistan has largely escaped the sectarian violence that has ripped apart other Muslim countries such as Iraq and Syria, but IS attacks have been increasing in the past year and experts worry Shiites might retaliate.

Shiites, who number around three million in overwhelmingly Sunni Afghanistan, have for months been calling for more protection for their religious sites in Kabul and across the country, where civilians and security forces are taking huge casualties as authorities struggle to beat back insurgents.

In September, ahead of Muharram -- the mourning period for the seventh-century killing of the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed -- the government announced a plan to arm more than 400 civilians to help defend Shiite mosques.

But the deadly attacks continued.

"It is 100 percent the government's fault for failing to protect us," said Haji Ramazan Ali, who suffered shrapnel wounds to his face and shoulder in last Friday's attack.

Rasoul Haidari, a shopkeeper, said: "To hell with the government, they don't care about us."

Shiite MP Mohammad Akbari said security at mosques may have slackened after the Ashura holy day on October 1, which has become a major target in recent years, and the latest attack should serve as a "wake-up call" for everyone.

- 'Explicitly sectarian' -

The Taliban greatly outnumber the Islamic State in Afghanistan. But despite its relatively small presence, the Sunni extremist group has been able to carry out devastating attacks against Shiites across the country.

Ibrahim, a community elder in the same Shiite neighbourhood as the Imam Zaman mosque, said the militants were trying "to create discord between Sunnis and Shiites but they will not succeed".

"Afghanistan has largely been spared from the sectarian violence that convulsed it in earlier decades but ISIS is trying to tear those sectarian divides back open," said analyst Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center in Washington, using a common abbreviation for the group.

It would be a tragic development in a country that has suffered through Soviet occupation, civil war and now the Taliban's 16-year insurgency. Ordinary Afghans have paid a heavy price in the current conflict, with UN data showing 8,019 civilian casualties in the first nine months of this year, with militants responsible for more than 60 percent of the civilian deaths and injuries.

"I think we are far from that point (of sectarian violence) but that is the game IS is playing. They are trying to differentiate themselves from the Taliban by being far more explicitly sectarian," said Vanda Felbab-Brown, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Repeated deadly attacks on Shiite mosques underscore the impotence of Afghanistan's security forces, demoralised by desertions, killings and corruption, as they try to get the upper hand against the Taliban and IS, and protect civilians. The government's poor intelligence capability exacerbates the problem. "Improvements on that front could go a long way toward bringing a measure of relief to vulnerable Afghan civilians," Kugelman said.

IS has proved resilient despite Afghan and US forces stepping up attacks on their stronghold in the eastern province of Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. In April, the US military dropped the so-called Mother Of All Bombs on IS hideouts in a complex of tunnels and bunkers in province, killing over 90 militants.

Since President Donald Trump's renewed commitment to America's longest war in August, the US has ramped up aerial bombardments on insurgents, dropping 751 bombs and missiles in September, the most since October 2010. But the attacks continue -- though observers such as Kate Clark, a senior analyst at the Afghanistan Analysts Network, believe Afghans will continue to resist IS efforts to spark sectarian violence.

"In Afghanistan most areas have been through really nasty communal violence," Clark told AFP.

"People have got very strong personal memories of just how nasty that gets and how everyone suffers."

WHAT DO YOU GET IF YOU CROSS PAKISTAN’S GAME OF THRONES AND CHINA’S BELT AND ROAD?

BY TOM HUSSAIN

As the US and India join forces, Beijing wants its key South Asian partner to abandon ties with jihadist groups in Afghanistan and disputed Kashmir so that economic corridor plans have a chance of success.

China’s high-stakes Belt and Road project in Pakistan has sucked it into the vortex of a power struggle between Pakistan’s elected government and its military on the one hand and an increasingly bitter geopolitical row on the other as the United States and India join forces.

While pushing the US$62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in a massive vote of confidence in its “all-weather ally”, Chinese officials have quietly encouraged their Pakistani partners to facilitate the success of the project by abandoning its decades-old pursuit of strategic objectives in Afghanistan and Kashmir through the support of non-state jihadis.

These terror outfits have for years been a major bone of contention between Pakistan’s powerful military and its civilian government.

The confrontation began soon after Nawaz Sharif was appointed prime minister in June 2013. He sought to restrict the public activities of Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, chief of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, and pushed for greater trade ties with India as a way to resume peace talks. The military blocked the move.

Much to Sharif’s chagrin, it became apparent in 2014 that the JuD and other anti-India jihadist groups had resumed infiltrations across the de facto border into the Indian-administered part of disputed Kashmir. Sharif’s government again tried to kick-start stalled negotiations with India in December 2015, but that attempt was scuppered by a terrorist attack on an Indian air force base at Pathankot, in the western state of Punjab. New Delhi said the attack was carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-i-Mohammed jihadis.

Tensions between Sharif’s administration and the military over the role of jihadis peaked in October 2016, soon after jihadis killed 17 Indian soldiers in an assault on a military base at Uri in Kashmir. The attack brought an abrupt end to a 2004 ceasefire agreed by India and Pakistan.

THE US’ SOUTH ASIA POLICY HAS BECOME INDIA-CENTRIC IN RETURN FOR INDIA’S ENDORSEMENT OF THE US POLICY OF SEEKING TO CONTAIN CHINA IN THE INDO-PACIFIC.

A controversial story by Dawn, Pakistan’s leading English-language newspaper, described how in a meeting with the elected leadership, the chief of the military’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate was cornered over the powerful agency’s support for anti-India and Afghan jihadis. He was reportedly told at the meeting that China had advised the government to change tack, failing which Pakistan would face diplomatic isolation.

The civil-military stand-off grew as a consequence of the ISI’s leading role in a Supreme Court case that led to Sharif’s ousting in late July on corruption charges, and his disqualification for life from holding public office and leading a political party. Sharif has claimed to be the victim of a plot by political rivals to undermine the CPEC.

The Chinese project has been a major success for Sharif as it enabled the government to fulfil its 2013 election campaign promise to end Pakistan’s crippling power shortages. But opposition politicians accused the former prime minister’s family of taking kickbacks in return for granting lucrative contracts for CPEC projects being executed by Chinese state-owned companies.

The Chinese embassy in Islamabad has denied the allegations. It has also angrily countered criticism that large-scale imports of machinery for CPEC projects have damaged Pakistan’s economy by pushing its current account deficit to record levels, and by making its external debt burden unsustainable.

Pakistan’s economy has grown by an average of more than 5 per cent over the two years since the launch of CPEC and is on course to accelerate to 6 per cent. Chinese diplomats, therefore, were dismayed by the criticism of the government’s handling of the economy by the Pakistani military’s chief spokesman, Major General Asif Ghafoor, who added to the negative political narrative of CPEC in a recent interview. Ahsan Iqbal, the minister overseeing the project’s implementation, demanded the army general “refrain from commenting on the economy … [because] irresponsible statements could damage Pakistan’s image globally”.

The Game of Thrones in Islamabad coincides with a crisis in Pakistan’s relations with the US. Since President Donald Trump announced his policy for Afghanistan in August, Pakistan has been under pressure to shut down safe havens on its territory used by the Afghan Taliban and its ally Haqqani Network, an al-Qaeda affiliate.

The US has also launched unauthorised drone surveillance flights into Pakistani airspace in search of the Haqqani Network. Last month, American drones tracked the whereabouts of an American-Canadian couple, Caitlin Coleman and Joshua Boyle, kidnapped in Afghanistan five years ago, to Haqqani hideouts in Pakistan’s tribal areas, eventually leading to their rescue.

According to political analyst Nusrat Javeed, the episode was engineered by the US to embarrass Pakistan and demonstrate that the US would stage military incursions into Pakistan if the authorities there did not comply with its demands. During a brief stopover in Islamabad on Tuesday, on his way from Kabul to New Delhi this week, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson renewed the US’ demands of Pakistan.

“The secretary reiterated President Trump’s message that Pakistan must increase its efforts to eradicate militants and terrorists operating within the country,” said the US embassy.

In pursuit of Trump’s new “regional” policy approach to South Asia, the US is backing India to take a bigger role in Afghanistan, creating a second hostile border for Pakistan. The US has also locked step with India by voicing opposition to the routing of CPEC through the Gilgit-Baltistan region of disputed Kashmir, casting it as an integral part of its Asia-wide strategic competition with China. “The [Belt and Road] also goes through the disputed territory, and I think that in itself shows the vulnerability of trying to establish that sort of a diktat,” US Defence Secretary James Mattis told the Senate armed services committee last month, using another name for China’s initiative. Afghanistan and South Asia expert Barnett Rubin said it was unclear why the US and India had mixed a clear message to Pakistan with a long-term policy shift against China’s growing influence. “I would speculate the announcement of a major policy shift to counter the Belt and Road Initiative with a US-India-Japan partnership may be an effort to up the pressure on China to take care of the world’s Pakistan problem,” he said.

During his tour of the region, Tillerson is understood to have leveraged the Afghan government’s existential reliance on the US to persuade President Ashraf Ghani to withdraw his support for the extension of CPEC into Afghanistan. Pakistan would be denied overland access to Central Asia through Afghanistan unless it allowed trade between Afghanistan and India to flow through CPEC infrastructure, Ghani said, in an address to Vivekananda International Foundation think tank in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The growing opposition to CPEC reflected a “natural strategic partnership” between the US and India, said Akram Zaki, Pakistan’s former chief diplomat and the architect of its modern-day relationship with China.

“The US’ South Asia policy has become India-centric in return for India’s endorsement of the US policy of seeking to contain China in the Indo-Pacific. Their pressure on Pakistan is an attempt to force it to downgrade its relationship with China,” he said. “But it won’t succeed. Despite the power struggle within Pakistan, the civilian and military leadership are in consensus on this, and China is not going to surrender its first-ever point of access to the Indian Ocean.” ■

Pakistan: US Gave List of 75 Afghan Militant Leaders to Islamabad

Washington has given a list of 75 Afghan militants to Islamabad in its bid to increase pressure on Pakistan to act against terror groups operating from that country.

"The Haqqani network is on the top of the list, but none of the militants are Pakistanis," Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif told lawmakers on Wednesday, referring to the list.

The list is part of a series of efforts by Washington to move toward the implementation of its new South Asia strategy, announced by President Donald Trump in August, in which countries were put on notice not to tolerate within their borders militant safe havens, which terror groups use to disrupt regional security.

The list of militants was reportedly handed over to Pakistani civil and military leaders by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who, on a trip to the Middle East and South Asia, visited Islamabad on Tuesday to urge Pakistan to deny safe havens to militant groups.

Tillerson on Pakistan

Tillerson told reporters at a news conference in Geneva, the last stop of his five-day, six-nation trip, that he'd conveyed a very clear message to Pakistan.

"Here's what we need for Pakistan to do. We are asking you to do this; we are not demanding anything. You are a sovereign country. You'll decide what you want to do, but understand this is what we think is necessary," Tillerson said. "And if you don't want to do that, don't feel you can do it, we'll adjust our tactics and our strategies to achieve the same objective a different way." Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, however, said many of the Taliban leaders whose names were on the list were now operating as "shadow governors" in neighboring Afghanistan, or were no longer alive.

Kabul and Washington have not yet commented on Asif's remarks. U.S. and Afghan officials have in the past indicated that Afghan Taliban members were enjoying safe havens in Pakistan.

The Haqqani network, a U.S.-designated terrorist group that has been blamed for numerous deadly attacks inside Afghanistan against the U.S.-led NATO forces and the Afghan government, is reportedly based in Miram Shah, a town in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in northern Pakistan.

Concrete steps

While Tillerson's recent move was significant — it was one of the first concrete indications that the Trump administration is taking a tougher line on Pakistan to get it to crack down more robustly on terror — the real significance will depend on how Pakistan complies, analysts said. "There is good reason to believe that Pakistan will act on this request to an extent. It will want to convince Washington that it is ready to cooperate," Michael Kugelman, a Pakistan analyst at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, told VOA.

"That said, there is also good reason to believe that this list contains some terrorists that Pakistan won't want to go after, particularly high-value Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network leaders that serve as useful assets to the Pakistani security establishment," Kugelman added.

The significance of Tillerson's gesture also depends on how the U.S. will respond if Pakistan does not deliver, he said.

"Would the U.S. try to go after these terrorists with drone strikes? Or might it even send commandos into Pakistan to apprehend them?" Kugelman said.

Tillerson, however, said the U.S. cares more about Pakistan's actions than the country's rhetoric.

"We put our expectations forward in no uncertain terms. We're going to chart our course consistent with what Pakistan not just says they do, but what they actually do," Tillerson said, adding that he had "frank and candid" discussions with leaders in Pakistan.

Peace talks

Following his meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and other senior Afghan government officials at Bagram Air Base, close to Kabul, Tillerson said the U.S. would be in Afghanistan for as long as it took and that the Taliban would not achieve a military victory.

"And there are, we believe, moderate voices among the Taliban, voices that do not want to continue to fight forever," Tillerson said in Afghanistan. "There's a place for them in the government if they are ready to come, renouncing terrorism, renouncing violence and being committed to a stable, prosperous Afghanistan."

Pakistan is viewed by many as an influential facilitator in the Afghan peace process. Following Tillerson's departure from Pakistan, the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad issued a statement highlighting U.S. expectations from Pakistan to help end the violence in Afghanistan.

"The secretary reiterated President Trump's message that Pakistan must increase its efforts to eradicate militants and terrorists operating within the country," the statement read. "To address those concerns, the secretary outlined the United States' new South Asia Strategy and the vital role that Pakistan can play in working with the United States and others to facilitate a peace process in Afghanistan." Pakistan's Asif, however, said his country's influence on the Afghan Taliban had lately diminished and that the group had found "new sponsors" in the region, a suggestion that the insurgent group has established ties to Iran and Russia.

Murad terms PTI claims of denied entry to Qalandar shrine as ‘drama’

Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday termed recent claims by PTI leaders of being denied entry to the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar as a "drama".

Shah asked if the doors of the shrine were closed, how was it possible that senior PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi entered the premises.

He further said he had respect for Qureshi before but has lost respect for him following the shrine accusations. 

The chief minister also alleged that supporters for the recently held PTI rally in Sehwan were brought from other areas. He also termed Imran Khan an unfortunate individual for failing to gain entry into the shrine. 

"The people of Sindh only favour PPP," said Shah. 

Earlier, the PTI chief regretted being denied entry to the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Sehwan. He said the administration made scores of "lame excuses" and said they claimed PTI leaders had armed guards. "Footage shows that that is not true." 

Pakistan Peoples Party Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari also took notice of reports regarding PTI Chairperson Imran Khan being barred from entering the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan.

According to a statement issued from Bilawal House, the party chairperson has said the shrines of Sufi saints should not be used for political point scoring.

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Netizen Report: Voices of Yemen’s “Forgotten War” Speak Out, Despite Legal Barriers

The Netizen Report offers an international snapshot of challenges, victories, and emerging trends in internet rights around the world. It originally appears each week on Global Voices Advocacy. Afef Abrougui, Ellery Roberts Biddle, Sadaf Khan, Leila Nachawati, and Sarah Myers West contributed to this report.

Yemeni blogger Afrah Nasser was awarded this year’s International Free Press Award for her work covering the conflict in Yemen despite the many obstacles faced by journalists in the country. But Nasser, who also holds Swedish citizenship, was nearly unable to attend the awards ceremony in New York in person because of the U.S. travel ban on Yemeni nationals.

After three applications and many letters in support of her application, Nasser finally obtained her visa from the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, where she resides.

On Twitter, she remarked, “I never really had faith in the power of media & public opinion as I have today. Makes me think of people who don’t enjoy my high media profile. This is why, we need to get the tragedy in Yemen as well-known as hell so we can all help pushing an end for it!”

While Nasser has done much of reporting from her home in Sweden, Yemeni journalists working on the ground face much graver obstacles. Among them is political commentator and writer Hisham Al-Omeisy, who was detained by Houthi rebels without explanation in August. This week, it was reported that Al-Omeisy was arrested on charges related to his correspondence with U.S.-based organizations.

Al-Omeisy has been actively tweeting about the humanitarian crisis and violations committed by both warring parties in the ongoing conflict in Yemen. He also has analyzed and spoken about the conflict to international media, including the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, and NPR.

For more than two years, a coalition of Houthi rebels and forces loyal to former authoritarian president Ali Abdullah Saleh (who was removed from power following street protests in 2011) have been fighting to seize power from the internationally recognized government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. Hadi’s government is also supported by a Saudi-led airstrike campaign.

Journalists and media covering the conflict face risks from all warring parties, making it difficult for Yemenis and the outside work to get information on what’s already been described as a “forgotten war.” Placing restrictions on key voices like those of Nasser and Al-Omeisy only exacerbates the situation. #Istanbul10 human rights defenders released pending trial

The Turkish court in Istanbul conditionally released eight of the 10 human rights defenders on trial who were accused of “membership of a terrorist organization” while attending an information management workshop. Among the defendants was Idil Eser, the director of Amnesty International’s Turkey chapter. In their court testimony, multiple defendants explained that they had never even heard of the terror organizations that Turkish public prosecutors accused them of supporting.

In the days leading up to the trial, netizens tweeted in support of the #istanbul10 using the hashtag #FreeRightsDefenders. The group is expected to reappear before the court on Nov. 22.

Pakistani political workers arrested under Electronic Crimes Act

Two political party workers were arrested by the Pakistani Federal Investigation Agency, for allegedly writing posts critical of government and state institutions. The workers, who are affiliated with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League—Nawaz party, have been charged under the penal code along with multiple sections of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, which carry a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

Ironically, the PML–N party was responsible for pushing through the controversial PECA law, despite opposition from digital rights advocates. The PML-N has been engaged in a rift with Pakistan’s powerful military establishment since August 2017, when the Supreme Court disqualified former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif following a corruption inquiry into his family’s offshore wealth, sparked by the 2016 release of the Panama Papers. The Ministry of Information Technology, which was instrumental in pushing the electronic crimes law through, now admits that it has no oversight mechanism in place and the law is being misused.

Other political workers and journalists have previously been interrogated and arrested under different sections of the law as well, an indication that authorities may be using it as a silencing tool.

A Palestinian construction worker was arrested by Israeli police after posting a picture of himself with a bulldozer and inserting the caption, in Arabic, “good morning.” The post was erroneously translated (into Hebrew) by Facebook as “attack them.” The man has since been released, and Facebook said it is investigating the issue.

Kuwait’s DNA law was struck down by the Constitutional Court in a decision that is being lauded as a positive step for the protection of citizens’ privacy. The law—which required all Kuwaiti citizens, residents, and visitors to provide DNA samples to authorities for storage in a database operated by the Interior Ministry—was passed following a 2015 suicide bombing that killed 27 people. Anyone who refused to comply with the law faced one year in prison, a fine, and sanctions that could include canceling their passports. The emir requested the law be revised to “safeguard people’s privacy.” It is likely that Parliament will amend it so that only suspected criminals are asked to give their DNA.

Apps designed by the Chinese Communist Party hit China’s Apple and Android app stores surrounding the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party. Estimates of the number of CCP apps range from dozens to up to 400, with many app developers building party apps for local party branches and party organizations. Among the apps is Smart Red Cloud, which “aims to use artificial intelligence to educate and evaluate party members” through ideology tutorials, chat functions, and party-related activity notifications.

The apps disseminate information and enable the CCP to monitor and evaluate party members’ political orientation. At least one state-owned company, the China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group, ranks party members on a monthly and weekly basis in response to scores on tests of party knowledge, penalizing users who perform poorly and rewarding those who perform well.

Chelsea Manning was turned away at the Canadian border while trying to vacation in Montreal and Vancouver. The former U.S. service member and leaker of documents was detained overnight and told she was inadmissible “on grounds of serious criminality.” A Canadian lawyer representing Manning has submitted a formal request asking the government to reconsider its decision. More than 40 human rights organizations and academics sent letters to the Canadian government in support of the human rights activist.

Saving Yemen: EU Urged to Ban Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia

Four political groups in the European Parliament are urging Federica Mogherini, head of EU foreign policy, to ban arms sales to Saudi Arabia over its bombing campaign in Yemen. The ongoing conflict in the impoverished Gulf country has brought about the most serious humanitarian crisis in the world, leaving 20 million people in need of aid. MEPs accuse the EU of breaching its own rules by selling arms to Saudi Arabia in defiance to the 2008 common code on military exports.

Ms. Mogherini can propose an embargo but she would need the support of EU member states, including the UK, one of the biggest arms exporters to the Gulf region. Bodil Valero, Swedish Green party MEP, urged the EU not to continue selling arms to Saudi Arabia when faced with “the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world”. To that end, he stressed that “we have our common European values, we have a common position [on arms sales], we shouldn’t sell arms to a country that doesn’t respect humanitarian law or human rights.”

The EU’s code on arms exports lists eight reasons for turning down an arms export license. EU member states are moreover obliged to pay particular attention to countries where serious violations of human rights have been established by the United Nations. The UN sent war crimes investigators to the devastated country to examine alleged human rights violations committed by both sides of the 2.5-year conflict. Saudi Arabia launched bombing in March 2015 since when at least 10,000 people have been killed. Moreover, more than 2,000 are believed to have succumbed to cholera following a collapse of water supplies and sanitation.

http://www.eubulletin.com/7735-saving-yemen-eu-urged-to-ban-arms-sales-to-saudi-arabia.html

Yemen: UN downplays Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s crimes against children

Every time the United Nations makes concessions that allow perpetrators of crimes under international law to evade criticism or justice, it emboldens others to commit violations that cause immense misery to people around the world

Sherine Tadros, Head of UN office for Amnesty International in New York

The international community has caved in to political pressure again, underplaying the suffering of hundreds of Yemeni children, by watering down criticism of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s grave violations of international law in the UN Secretary General’s annual Children and armed conflict report (CAAC), said Amnesty International.

“Every time the United Nations makes concessions that allow perpetrators of crimes under international law to evade criticism or justice, it emboldens others to commit violations that cause immense misery to people around the world,” said Sherine Tadros, Head of UN office in New York for Amnesty International.

“While we welcome the overdue listing of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in the CAAC report, it is a shame that the UN caved in to pressure and included it in a new category specifically designed to limit condemnation of the coalition.”

As a result of diplomatic pressure from Saudi Arabia, the report - which covers the year 2016 - contains a new category that acknowledges the efforts of the coalition to “put in place measures during the reporting period to improve the protection of children”.

Amnesty International has seen no evidence of such measures. In recent weeks, Amnesty International confirmed the use of a US-manufactured bomb by the Saudi-Arabia led coalition in an August attack that killed seven children.

According to the CAAC report, 683 children were killed or injured by the Saudi-Arabia led coalition in 2016.

“World powers should do everything possible to keep the pressure on states that blatantly disregard children’s lives. The USA and other states that supply arms for use by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen must stop doing so and the United Nations Security Council should impose an arms embargo to bring an end to such horrific abuses,” said Sherine Tadros.

Background:

In 2015, Saudi Arabia was included in the CAAC report but was later removed by then secretary general Ban Ki-moon following intense diplomatic pressure.

According to UNICEF’s latest Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) figures, between 26 March 2015 and 31 March 2017, at least 1,595 children were killed and 2,542 others injured in Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition is responsible for the majority of these child casualties.

US lawmaker calls to halt military support for Saudi Arabia

US Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna said he hoped a resolution could be passed that puts an end to US military support for Saudi forces in their war against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“We have to work to provide food and medicine to the Yemeni people, to end the Saudi siege and to invite other countries to provide assistance in providing these materials and medical staff,” Khanna said during an interview to be aired on Al Jazeera.

“Yemen suffers from the biggest humanitarian crisis at present where about one million people suffer from cholera and seven million are on the verge of famine,” the Congressman said, adding that the second priority for the United States is to stop providing any assistance to Saudi Arabia in its campaign against Houthi rebels including not supplying it with fuel for its warplanes, and not helping it set targets for its bombing campaigns.

Read: US’ Rex Tillerson lands in Riyadh at start of Gulf, South Asia toury

“We have to make it clear to the Yemenis that we have no role in bombing their country or helping the Saudis in their quest to oust the Houthis,” Khanna said.

He also criticised Riyadh for blaming the Houthis alone for the civilian deaths and the spread of famine and cholera in Yemen, explaining that while the Houthis are not innocent and have committed crimes, the main cause of the emergence of cholera is the Saudis who prevent the access of food and medicine to the affected areas.

Music Video - Noor Jehan Sanu Nehar Waley Pul Te Bulake

Pakistan - Child marriage Listen

The issue of child marriage continues to haunt Pakistan, with any progress having been extremely slow. Each step forward seems to be followed by two steps back. The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) made its controversial views known last year against the proposal to increase the age of marriage to 18 years of age. The outcry from human rights activists was justified in a country where the UN estimates 21 percent of girls are married before the age of 18. Three percent of them are married off before the age of 15. This is not only an issue of their autonomy, but also one of child welfare and health. Moreover, the ability of these girls to be caregivers in the households chosen for them remains severely compromised. The fear of suffering domestic abuse at such a young age is also greater. Religion is brought into the issue unnecessarily and, while this narrow interpretation might be expected from the CII, it was worse to see a Senate panel reject the amendment to the Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2017 last week. This week, thankfully, the same bill has been approved after much public outcry. Even then the decision was three-to-two, with the ruling PML-N voting against the amendment.

Having chosen to backtrack after passing a law against domestic abuse last year, the PML-N seems like it is trying to appease its perceived religious constituency. The CII representative embarrassed himself before the standing committee when asked to state his source when claiming that a girl reaches maturity at the age of nine. The committee chair noted that the Organization of Islamic Countries has already passed a resolution to increase the age of marriage to 18, which seems to suggest that Pakistan would be acting as a special case that disagrees with the entire Muslim community. Regressive cultural norms should not be defended under the guise of religion. It is logical that if a girl cannot vote or buy property at the age of 16, she cannot be considered mature enough for marriage. The state’s role should be to ensure that girls are provided education, health and a safe environment. That is Pakistan’s role as signatory to the Child Rights Convention. The bill has only passed the first hurdle. One would hope that this time the legislature stands up for what is right, instead of bowing to extra-parliamentary pressure.

Pakistan - Lahore — a city of slums and shanties

By Salman Ali & Abdullah Khan

Under the Sustainable Development Goals, Pakistan is required to ensure safe and affordable housing for its citizens by 2030. 

Lahore, the second largest city of Pakistan, is without a doubt, the economic hub of Punjab.

According to the recent census, the city’s population is around 11 million. An overwhelming majority of these are likely to be found in slum settlements, where they don’t have proper food, health, sanitation, living and education facilities and this happens to be the biggest dilemma for our society as well as alarming and thought provoking for our elected representatives. Slums are not just found in Pakistan. Large parts of India, Indonesia, Kenya, and Hong Kong etc are also covered by such localities.

What does a slum mean? Slums are human settlements, mostly in urban peripheries, where the poor, the labouring class and marginalised communities live. In Urdu, these slum areas are called “Kachchi Abaadis”. Just to highlight for my readers that Orangi Town in Karachi is currently the largest slum area in Asia.

Just highlighting Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), as Pakistan is the signatory, particularly Goal 11, which states that “making cities and human settlements, inclusive safe, resilient and sustainable”. The first specific target for this global goal is, “By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate safe and affordable housing and basic service and upgrade slums.” As a citizen of Pakistan, we personally hope that these commitments that Pakistan has signed will break the shackles and the government will deliver.

Lahore, which is labelled by the authorities as the Paris of Pakistan, has massive infrastructure projects but there is an ugly side of this massive development i.e. increasing slums in these same neighbourhoods.

Due to the lack of affordable housing, many people are driven to settle in slums in areas across the city. Slums are found in Shahdara, along Ferozpur Road as well as in the newly developed areas like Johar Town. These settlements are generally located near open sewage channels or along the hazardous banks of River Ravi etc.

The majority of people living within these areas are street hawkers and daytime labourers; they earn very little and are not able to afford medical care or even hygienic food. These slums are formed by low-income communities that do not have the means to live in proper housing in the city, and they are a by-product of over population, economic, political and social inequalities as well as of government intervention. Most importantly, within these areas, social problems such as crime, drug addiction, alcohol, high rates of mental illness and suicide are seen. These people move from rural areas of Pakistan towards Lahore, Karachi or other big cities in hopes of attaining a better life. The reality, however, reveals that many who move into the city have a difficult time securing employment, and eventually settle in the slum communities as a result.

Lahore has seen various mega-infrastructure projects in the past few years. The other side of these developments is the increase in the number of slum settlements. Because of a lack of availability of affordable housing, a large part of the city’s population is left with no option but to settle in slums where they lack basic utilities needed for a dignified life

Recently, while crossing River Ravi, I had a chance to explore and capture some moments of these residents of the slum areas. At the bank of River Ravi, we found young kids from the nearest slum areas enjoying and playing sports. It’s a traversty that citizens have been left to be in such miserable condition, marked by poor sanitary conditions, broken roads, polluted and unkempt environment and resultantly drastic health conditions. Approximately, one million people drink contaminated water in Lahore, says the 2014 annual report on drinking water released by Lahore’s Water & Sanitation Agency.

While talking with slum dwellers, we learnt that they were paying the rent of their slums to some powerful groups. However, the government never takes care of their rights and they consider themselves as toys being played by the hands of the government during the election season. Afterwards, no government official shows interest in taking them out from this dirty area or giving them ownership rights.

I remember during former chief minister Parvez Ilahi’s tenure, this issue made it to front-page news but like always it ended up ignored and neglected. In 2013, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz took this initiative for solving the problems of these people but nothing surfaced except unkept promises and false commitments. In the past, international organisations like the UN Habitat and the World Bank worked and raised slogans of “cities without slums” but these campaigns didn’t last long. I think that NGOs instead of taking donations should work and raise awareness among the communities about health and safety issues, mobilise and capacitate them, and the government should provide proper sanitation, health, food and educational facilities to the destitute and also build cemented houses for them so that they can live properly.

Pakistan's youthful population creates education challenges

Saad Sayeed

Pakistani private schools, charitable institutions, and religious seminaries are stepping in to supplement government-run schools to help deal with the education needs of a fast-growing nation with an estimated 50 million school-age children.

Despite 220,000 schools nationwide, Pakistan has over 20 million out-of-school children, according to a 2016 government report.

The government has pumped money into schooling, with the education budget swelling by 15 percent every year since 2010, according to education consultancy Alif Ailaan. The United Nations puts the current budget at 2.65 percent of GDP, roughly $8 billion, or around $150 per student. But experts say the government can’t meet all the education needs and part of the problem lies in quality of teaching rather than just dearth of money.

“It’s not the number of schools, it’s the quality, the attitude,” said Zeba Hussain, founder of the Mashal Schools which educate children displaced by war in the country’s north.

Situated on the outskirts of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, the charitable schools began when Hussain met a group of refugee children while visiting the hills encircling the city.

Many private institutions criticize what they describe as a deeply flawed government education system.

“Students are labeled ‘smart’ or ‘stupid’ right from the start,” said Shaista Kazmi from Vision 21, a privately-funded NGO that runs speed literacy programs for out-of-school children that compress five years of reading proficiency into one.

Federal education director Tariq Masood strongly disagreed with critiques of teachers, adding that population growth and funding were the biggest challenges faced by government schools.

“No one who is underqualified can enter the government system, there are fewer checks in the private system,” Masood said.

Masood said government schools adhered to a nationwide curriculum that was being constantly reworked and innovated.

The country’s poorest often send their children to one of the thousands of religious madrassas (the Arabic word for school) where students are boarded, fed, and given an Islamic education. Most operate without government oversight.

Pakistan’s madrassas have become synonmous with creating militant fighters through hardline teachings of Islam and many have been linked to organizations such as the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

But many provide shelter, three full meals, and a good education to young people whose families are unable to make ends meet.

“In certain cases people send their kids because they can’t even afford to feed them,” said Irfan Sher from the Al-Nadwa Madrassa, where all subjects are prioritized and students are capable of analyzing what they are taught.

Sher insists that the country’s future hinges on what its youth are taught.

“The overall policy should be changed ... they should understand that if they want to change the country the only way is to spread quality education,” he said.