Pakistan: Deep State Driven Democracy – Analysis

By Ajit Kumar Singh

The efforts of the military to steer the elections against PML-N and PPP, the two most popular political formations in Pakistan, and in favour of a possible coalition led by Imran Khan’s PTI and including a range of radical Islamist formations, has enormously destabilised both the political and extremist landscape across the country. Under the prevailing situation, a dramatic rise in violence is not unexpected. — South Asia Intelligence Review, July 16, 2018

…The (secret) agencies of the state of Pakistan need to realise that they have to confine themselves within the limits of the organic law – the Constitution -and the parameters of the law of the land and must stop interfering in the affairs of other institutions (such as the) judiciary, executive, media, and other departments … (who) have nothing to do with the defence and or the security of Pakistan… — Islamabad High Court Judge Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, July 18, 2018

…ISI is fully involved in the manipulation of judicial proceedings. ISI ensures that the bench is made according to their preferences and cases are marked. Today in the High Court, ISI approached the Chief Justice and instructed him to not release Nawaz Sharif and his daughter till the time of elections… — Islamabad High Court Judge Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, July 21, 2018

As expected, Pakistan’s deep state is about to succeed in getting its person of choice ‘elected’ as the Prime Minister of the country. Though the July 25, 2018, General Election results have thrown up a fractured mandate, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan is almost certain to become the new Prime Minister. In the night of July 28, 2018, PTI leader Naeemul Haq asserted that consultations were on to complete the numbers game, adding, “We have done our homework and he [Imran Khan] will take oath as Prime Minister before August 14.”

Earlier the same evening, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) released the final election results according to which PTI emerged as the largest political party in National Assembly with 116 seats, followed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which managed to secure 64 seats; the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), 43 seats; the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), 12 seats; Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), six seats; Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid (PML-Q) and Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), four seats each; Balochistan National Party (BNP), three seats; Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), two seats; Awami National Party (ANP), Awami Muslim League (AML), Jamhoori Wattan Party (JWP), one seat each; and 13 independents.

Elections for 270 National Assembly seats were held on July 25, 2018. Elections for two seats were countermanded. The National Assembly comprises a total of 342 members, of which 272 are directly elected. The remaining 70 reserved seats – 60 for women and 10 for religious minorities – are to be filled by proportional representation among parties with more than five per cent of the votes.

PML-N was in power when the elections were declared in May 2018, having defeated the ruling PPP in 2013. The MMA is an alliance of a number of Islamist religious parties, while MQM is a Karachi-based formation with its roots principally in the mohajir (refugee) community. PML-Q has its base in Punjab, while the Balochistan Awami Party and Balochistan National Party (BNP) locate their strengths in the Balochistan Province. GDA is an alliance of five Sindh-based political parties.

Elections for four Provincial Assemblies – Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan – were also held on July 25, 2018. In the 297-member Punjab Assembly, PML-N won 129 seats, followed by PTI (123), PML-Q (seven), PPP (six), Pakistan Awami Raaj (PAR, one), and Independents (29). In 130-member Sindh Assembly, PPP has won 76 seats, followed by PTI (23), MQM-P (16), GDA (11), Tehreek-e-Labbaikya Rasool Allah Pakistan (TLP, two), MMA (one). In the 99-member Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, PTI won 65 seats, followed by MMA (10), ANP (six), PML-N (five), PPP (four) and Independents (six). In the 51-member Balochistan Assembly, the Balochistan Awami Party won 15 seats; followed by MMA (nine); Balochistan National Party (five); PTI (four); ANP and Balochistan National Party Awamis (BNPA), three each; Hazra Democratic Party (HDP), two; Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMKAP), Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), and PML-N, one each; and Independents (six). While PPP secured a majority in Sindh, PTI is set to form the government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In Punjab and Balochistan, the leading parties are engaged in garnering support to reach the majority mark.

The July 2018 elections were a bloody affair. There were three prominent election-related terrorist incidents among 19 reported from across Pakistan between the announcement of the date of General Elections by the ECP on May 26, 2018, and Election Day, July 25, 2018. At least 221 people (209 civilians, including three candidates, eight Security Force personnel, and four terrorists) were killed in these incidents and another 313 injured. On election day, at least 31 persons, including five Policemen and two minors, were killed, and 30 were injured in a suicide attack near a school area in the Bhosa Mandi area on the Eastern Bypass of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. The attack targeted the convoy of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Abdul Razzaq Cheema, who escaped unhurt, while the Station House Officer (SHO) Bhosa Mandi, Muhammad Hameed, succumbed to his injuries.

Elections in Pakistan have been a bloody affair for some time now. During the 2013 Elections (declared on March 22, 2013, and conducted on May 11, 2013), at least 268 persons (260 civilians, seven Security Force, SF, personnel, one militant) were killed and another 45 injured in 80 election-related terror incidents. The worst election-related terrorist incident during this period was recorded on May 6, 2013, when 23 civilians were killed and more than 70 were injured in a blast targeting an election rally of the Fazal faction of Jamiat Ulema-e Islam (JUI-F) in the Sewak village area of Kurram Agency in the then Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Returning to the current process, on July 29, 2018, Pakistan’s main opposition party PML-N called for a judicial investigation into election rigging. Senior PML-N leader Khawaja Asif stated, “We demand constitution of a judicial commission to probe incidents that took place on July 25. We will issue a white paper on the election rigging and other incidents.” Other political parties have also raised similar demands. Pakistan has a history of rigged polls.

Pakistani commentators have sought to emphasise that fears of the infiltration of terrorist elements into mainstream politics, though to be imminent, were uncalled for, as none of the ‘terrorist candidates’ won. However, examination of the voting pattern demonstrates that such ‘terrorist elements’ did succeed in demonstrating significant mass support. The Islamist extremist Tehreek-e-Labbaik ya Rasool Allah Pakistan (TLP), which orchestrated mass demonstration against the alleged change in the Khatm-e-Nabuwat [finality of Prophet-hood] clause in Pakistan’s election law, and which recently reiterated its extremist orientation, secured 2,231,697 votes, fifth in the list of political parties in terms of number of votes garnered. Similarly, the Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek, the political front of the Hafeez Muhammad Saeed led Milli Muslim League [MML, the political front of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) – Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD)] terrorist complex, received 171,587 votes, and was 12th on the list of 85 participating political parties. At least 85 political parties were in the list of parties which garnered votes. While PTI got the maximum of 16,851,240 votes, the Peoples Movement of Pakistan (PMP) secured the least, at 67 votes.

The emergence of Imran Khan as the new leader of Pakistan, is a matter of some concern, given his past record, and Pakistan’s own history as an ‘exporter of terror’. Though most Pakistani political parties, as well as past Prime Ministersmaintained strong ties with religious extremist elements and terrorist groups, Imran has been extraordinarily supportive of extremist elements in the country, and PTI’s provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa included startling elements of support to radical Islamist elements and policies, as highlighted in SAIR on numerous occasions in the past.

Continuing apprehensions are fuelled by Khan’s recent rhetoric. During an election rally in Islamabad on July 7, 2018, he declared, “We are standing with Article 295c and will defend it,” referring to the Blasphemy Law that mandates the death penalty for any “imputation, insinuation or innuendo” against the prophet Muhammad. Several people who were allegedly involved in acts of blasphemy have been killed by religious extremist and terrorist groups across Pakistan.

Moreover, during the current elections, Khan’s PTI joined hands with the Islamabad-based religious extremist leader, Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil. Khalil was placed on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) by the US Government on September 30, 2014, for his alleged role in creation of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM). He later founded and still heads Ansar-ul-Ummah, another terrorist formation on the SDGT list.

Khan is also widely seen as little more than a stooge of the Pakistan Army, and will in all likelihood toe the military line, signalling the continuation of the military-mullah-politician nexus in Pakistan. Any attempt by to deviate from such a position would provoke the same consequences that befell his predecessors when they sought to assert any independence, or to constrain the Army to its constitutional mandate.

There is, of course, some commentary that Khan will attempt to contain Pakistan’s state sponsored terrorist enterprise, and to pursue an agenda of peace with Afghanistan and India, even as he restores a measure of ‘liberal’ constitutional values within Pakistan. Such expectations are reinforced by Khan’s post election statement where he declared:

We will not do any kind of political victimising. We will establish supremacy of the law… whoever violates the law, we will act against them… Afghanistan’s people need peace. We want peace there. If there is peace in Afghanistan, there will be peace in Pakistan. We want to have open borders with Afghanistan one day… We will make every effort to achieve peace there… If India’s leadership is ready, we are ready to improve ties with India. If you step forward one step, we will take two steps forward…

Significantly, Khan has maintained a studied silence on the issue of terrorism, both in his pre-election speeches, and in his post-election postures.

It needs no understanding of individual psychology or of Khan’s personal profile and proclivities to assert that these promises will be betrayed. Through history, leaders have never been able to escape the logic of the dynamic that propelled them to power. Pakistan’s founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who harnessed religious polarization and the idea of jihad to engineer India’s Partition, and then sought to transform his fledgling country into one where “religion or caste or creed” would have “nothing to do with the business of the State”, is a glaring example of leaders who become prisoners of the means that bring them to ascendancy. Khan has mortgaged himself to the Army and to religious extremist formations in Pakistan, to pivot himself and his party to power. He will remain their prisoner during his tenure as Prime Minister. ‘Naya Pakistan’ (new Pakistan) will look a lot like the old.

Video - #PPP Leaders addresses Press Conference at Media Cell Bilawal House Karachi

A girl with a book frightens the extremists most, says Malala Yousafzai

Nobel Peace Laureate and educationist activist Malala Yousafzai has demanded that 12 girls schools damaged by militants in Diamir district of Gilgit-Baltistan must be rebuilt immediately.

Responding to the reports of 12 girls schools set on fire by militants in Gilgit-Baltistan, Malala tweeted “We must rebuild these schools immediately, get the students back into their classrooms and show the world that every girl and boy has the right to learn.”

Malala went on to say, “the extremists have shown what frightens them most - a girl with a book.”

AFP reports

Twelve schools were attacked overnight by unknown assailants in Gilgit Baltistan region, officials said Friday.

Officials said no one was hurt in the incidents, in which attackers mainly targeted girls´ schools in a tourist region.

"The miscreants tried to damage around 12 schools in Diamir district. They tried to set fire to some of them and broke windows and doors of some others," regional home secretary Jawad Akram told AFP.

Akram said the local government had begun searching for the attackers.

Dildar Ahmed Malik, a senior official in Diamir district, said at least 10 of the burnt schools were for girls.

"The incident took place in a far-flung area. We are investigating it, but the inquiry will take time because of the remoteness of the region," he said.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/350166-a-girl-with-a-book-frightens-the-extremists-most-says-malala-yousafzai

Former President Zardari strongly condemns ransacking of girl schools in Diamir/Chilas

Former President of Pakistan and President Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians Asif Ali Zardari has strongly condemned the act of terror in Diamir/Chilas area in which girls schools were torched and ransacked.
 In a statement Former President Zardari demanded immediate arrest of culprits and strict punishment for this shameful and despicable act. He said that such act is unpardonable and stopping girls from education cannot be tolerated and PPP will resist any such act.
 He asked government to keep an eye on such miscreants and they should be apprehended.
https://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/2018/08/03/former-president-zardari-strongly-condemns-ransacking-of-girl-schools-in-diamir-chilas/

Twelve schools bombed, burned in northern Pakistan

Jibran Ahmad

Twelve schools - eight girls and four boys schools - were attacked by bombs and set on fire overnight in a northern Pakistani district where Taliban-linked militants opposed to girls’ education are active, police said on Friday.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Pakistani Taliban and allied Islamist militants, who regard girls education as anti-Islam, have been attacking thousands of schools for young women in northwestern and northern parts of the country.

The attacks in villages of Diamer district in northern Gilgit, an area known for its scenic beauty but which has seen Taliban-linked attacks on foreign tourists and minority Shi’ite Muslims, had been a well planned and coordinated act, police chief Raja Ajmal said. The attackers had also tried to break into an army-run school, but had been stopped by guards, said a local resident, Ghayas Ali. “People heard heavy explosion.”

No casualties were reported.

“You know well who is doing these types of acts and what their motives are,” the officer told Reuters by phone. He said the residents had a history of opposing girl education, but the government recently helped build girls schools there.

In 2012, the Pakistani Taliban shot and critically wounded Nobel prize winner Malala Yousafzai, known for her girls’ education advocacy in northern Swat valley.

Her father Ziauddin Yousafzai condemned the school attacks. “We have to provide the same sanctity to our schools and educational institutions as we do to mosques, temples and churches,” he tweeted on Friday.

Several Pakistani Taliban militants disguised in police uniforms assaulted a high altitude mountaineers’ base camp in the region in 2013 and killed nine foreign climbers and two local guides.

Imran Khan is only a player in the circus run by Pakistan’s military

By Fatima Bhutto

As the nation elects its next leader, it is a tragedy that such hopeful people are offered this glut of shoddy candidates.

In the run-up to Wednesday’s elections in Pakistan, hard-pressed attempts at democracy seem to have given way to a fully-fledged circus. We have powerful, all-knowing ringmasters, caged lions, knife-throwers, trapeze artists flying from perch to perch, even cruelty to animals is included. Ours is a circus which looks to be performing its last show before it shuts down – evidenced most clearly by its last act, the clown. The political record of the former cricket star Imran Khan, who is thought to be near to victory due to the backing of Pakistan’s powerful military establishment, has long been one of opportunism and obeisance.

In 2006, he voted against the women’s protection bill, an amendment to the grotesque Hudood Ordinances, which jail a woman for the crime of pre-marital sex or adultery. As a consequence, allegations of rape are nearly impossible to prove unless the victim can call upon four upstanding men who witnessed the exact moment of rape. Without those witnesses, it was often the victim, not the rapist, who found herself behind bars. The 2006 amendment only did away with the requirement of witnesses; which would have allowed a woman who said she had been raped to be taken at her word and given the right to file a police case and have a rape test administered in a hospital. Khan voted no. He has defended Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, has called for the military’s gargantuan share of the national budget to remain untouched, declared that feminism degrades motherhood, attracted an army of online trolls who send death threats to his critics, and most recently welcomed the support of Fazlur Rehman Khalil, who reportedly founded the militant organisation Harkatul Mujahideen, was reportedly an associate of Osama bin Laden and remains on a US terror watchlist.

Khan’s morally flexible manifesto is sadly not unique. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is billed as an anticorruption party, yet it has welcomed droves of allegedly corrupt people from the Pakistan People’s Party, an Olympic-level bunch of looters and thieves, and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), who have long flatlined the aspirations of their people. The Ahle Sunnat Wa Jammat is a sectarian hate group that calls for the murder of Shia Muslims. Not only have they been openly participating in the elections, they have also endorsed candidates belonging to all the major parties –no one has refused their support.

The few young independents or dynamic voices that exist in this overwhelming arena of the bad and the ugly are continually hounded and menaced for their lonely acts of bravery. It is Pakistan’s supreme tragedy that such a young, hopeful, promising people are offered this glut of shoddy candidates.

While none of Khan’s misogyny, cuddling up to the military and his militant affection is new to anyone who has watched his career, this election campaign has certainly been disturbing for its displays of cruelty. On 17 July, PTI supporters in Karachi tied a donkey to a pole. They punched its face till its jaw broke, ripped open its nostrils, and drove a car into its body, leaving the animal to collapse, having been beaten to within an inch of his life. Before they left, they wrote ‘Nawaz’ (the name of the former prime minister) into its flesh, seemingly inspired by their leader, Imran Khan, who has taunted PML-N workers as ghaddhay or donkeys. The donkey was rescued by the ACF Animal Rescue team, a private organisation, who noted that, even days later, it could not stand up on its own because of the ferocity of its torture. It soon succumbed to its injuries, an innocent creature beaten to death for entertainment.

A day later, another donkey in Karachi was mercilessly attacked, this time the skin on its face was ripped off, the flesh on its forehead torn apart till all that remained between its eyes was a pulpy, bloody hole. The ACF did not say whether the animal was a victim of the same party but, in a landscape of venomous online trolling, people are afraid to say very much these days. In Sarghoda on 20 July, the PTI brought two sloth bears to an election rally and forced them to dance to their turgid campaign songs. The bears were dressed in PTI colours and their handlers stood nearby, controlling them with lathis and rope threaded through their snouts.

Pakistan is a country afflicted by unremitting violence – the poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz called us a “congregation of pain” –and this election alone has seen three devastating suicide blasts targeting candidates. But the PTI supporters’ particular brand of savagery, seemingly incited by thoughtless, debasing rhetoric, strikes many as yet one more troubling sign of what is to come. This political culture of vulgar triumphalism will always require victims to publicly humiliate, the more helpless the better.

Khan would be wise to learn from history and note that his nemesis Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister and head of the PML-N party, jailed in the weeks before the election on corruption charges, was once an army man himself. Sharif began his political career as a protege of the same military dictator who cheered Khan’s cricket victories, General Zia ul Haq. The same institution that once carried Sharif upon its shoulders has hunted him down and locked him up.

Or else Khan might spare a thought for Boris Yeltsin, who played a similarly teetering role. Yeltsin was never the president of Russia, the FSB was, they simply remained tucked away in the shadows. If he wins, one suspects that Pakistan will not be subjected to Khan’s inarticulate cricket euphemisms for long. The military establishment’s backing is notoriously fickle, and it will be them who pull the levers of power. Khan doesn’t have control of the military machine that now carries him on their shoulders, as always, it will be the machine who controls him. If beating animals to death is how a party behaves when they are feeling celebratory, how will the PTI conduct itself if it wins? The basic measure of a people is how they treat those more vulnerable than themselves. In this light, it is clear that Khan only bows before the powerful.

How to Swing an Election, Pakistan Army Style

By KHEMTA H JOSE

Pakistan's largest TV channel, Geo TV, has been in a long-running feud with the Pakistan army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in a way that should make Indian TV channels shrivel up in shame.

Geo put up a spirited fight – but just in time for the 2018 Pakistan general election, the most influential TV channel in Pakistan was neutered.

The election was the country's second-ever democratic transition of power, with all but the last being military coups or transitions from military to civilian governments. So just how democratic was this transition? How legitimate is Imran Khan's victory? How much help did he have from the Army, and what kind?

What Made the 2018 Election Different from 2013?

Mohsin Dawar‏Verified account @mjdawar

Another act of Pre poll rigging in NA 48 North Waziristan. The election Commission of Pakistan has assigned male staff for female polling stations in Razmak. It’s another attempt to discourage the female voters from casting their vote. #Sharamnak

The Quint spoke to Pakistani journalist and anchor Amber Shamsi about the difference between this election and the last one, which resulted in Pakistan's first democratic handover of power. Were there not allegations of rigging the last time around too? What makes this election so alarming that international media has covered it the way it has?

There were two key differences – the allegations [last time] came after the election [...] and opposition parties were not united in their post-election strategy. [...] The environment leading up to the election – it was clear that PMLN was not given, as it said, “a level playing field”.

Amber Shamsi, Pakistani Journalist

Clearing the Way for Khan

In what was widely considered a 'judicial coup', on 13 April, just three months before the election, Pakistan's Supreme Court unanimously disqualified the then PM Nawaz Sharif from ever contesting elections again, declaring him to be "dishonest or not righteous".

The PMLN, Sharif’s party, countered, saying it is not for the court to decide if a politician is righteous, but for the Election Commission. Sharif was also sentenced to 10 years in prison – and his daughter Maryam, who was a political force, to five – in a disproportionate assets case that came to light after the Panama Papers leak. Commentators observed that in a country with endemic and widespread corruption, particularly at the upper echelons, a lifetime ban was more a targeted assassination of Sharif’s political career than crime-fighting.

Other PMLN bigwigs were surgically removed from the running in a similar way.

Prominent PMLN member Hanif Abbasi was sentenced to life in prison on 22 July by a Control of Narcotic Substances (CNS) Court for the misuse of the drug Ephedrine, reported Dawn, while acquitting the other accused.

The conviction of Abbasi in the six-year-case just four days before the general election meant that the PMLN could not field another candidate in time. Importantly, Abbasi had requested the case to be decided earlier to avoid impacting the PMLN's ability to field a candidate, but the request was rejected, according to report in The News. Though the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) granted the N-60 seat a postponement in light of the fact that the PMLN did not have a covering candidate, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) protested, saying the postponement only granted relief to Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as PMLN leaders were going to swing towards the PPP.

Another PMLN member, Sheikh Waseem, was held in contempt of court for holding an 'anti-judiciary rally' and sentenced to one month in prison on 29 June according to a Geo TV report – conveniently missing the run-up to the 25 July polls. Yet another PMLN leader, Daniyal Aziz, was convicted for contempt and disqualified from Parliament for five years on 28 June, taking him out of the running for the upcoming polls, said the same report. Aziz, according to Geo, had strongly defended Nawaz and his family's involvement in PanamaGate to the media when the scandal broke.

In June 2014, Geo TV was fined Rs 10 million and had its licence suspended for 15 days by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) for reporting that the ISI was behind the shooting of one of its senior journalists, Hamid Mir, reported The Express Tribune. Mir's family too had blamed the spy agency for the shooting that left him injured and needing surgery. The complaint was filed with PEMRA by the defence ministry, which had in April first called for Geo to have its licence suspended.

Two months later when its licence was indeed suspended, Geo fought back – it counter-sued the army for $500 million in damages, alleging its claims of Geo being 'anti-State' amounted to defamation that put the lives of its employees in danger. Geo demanded a public apology from the ISI within 14 days. In a country where the Army and intelligence agency reign supreme, the move was unprecedented. There were consequences.

Cut to 2018 – Geo TV was unofficially forced off the air in Pakistan for its continued sympathetic coverage of the ruling PML(N) that sought to cut the Army down to size, and critical coverage of ISI darling, Imran Khan, The New York Times reported. While PEMRA denied it was behind the move, Geo's CEO, Mir Ibrahim Rehman, in an interview to NYT, said, "We are off the air in 80% of the country."

The unofficial blackout of Geo lasted days, after which the channel struck a bitter deal.

A Reuters report revealed the instructions given by Geo management to its employees after negotiations with the military to end its blackout. Geo would now have to refrain from “negative portrayals of the establishment” and any allegations that the Supreme Court might be interfering in politics. They could also carry no reports on Nawaz Sharif’s corruption trial “that helps build a narrative that he and his children are innocent”.

Next Up: Dawn

Dawn too faced the military's displeasure. On 17 May, Pakistan Today reported that the circulation of the Dawn newspaper – the country's oldest and widest-read English newspaper – had been disrupted in Balochistan following the printing of an interview with Nawaz Sharif in which he obliquely suggested that the Pakistan
Army/ISI was dragging its feet to shield the 2008 Mumbai attackers.

According to Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF), distribution was disrupted in most of Balochistan, in Sindh province, and in all military cantonments, like it was with Geo TV.

The objectionable part of Dawn’s interview was this:

Militant organisations are active. Call them non-State actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can’t we complete the trial?

Nawaz Sharif in Dawn interview

The Press Council of Pakistan had even issued notice to Dawn over its publishing of the interview, saying it had violated the code of ethics by publishing material that could be harmful to Pakistan's sovereignty and integrity as an independent country, reported The Nation.

The Capitulation

After the fate of Geo TV and Dawn, who dared to deviate from the army line, other publications too began to censor themselves for fear of consequences, according to what a senior journalist from a prominent Pakistani publication told Reuters.

Pakistani journalists began publicising this self-censorship, posting on Twitter about how their pieces and articles had been denied in unusual fashion.

Has there, in actual fact, been a marked difference in TV channels’ coverage too? Shamsi said that Geo, which had been known for its critical stance on Imran Khan and PTI, had now softened.

Since the reported deal, PTI leaders (which had boycotted the channel) agreed to appear on its current affairs programmes, and the channel appeared to soften its stance on the party.

Amber Shamsi, Pakistani Journalist

The last dominoes had fallen in time for the election.

Threat and Intimidation

But the systematic muzzling of critical press and heavy-handed use of the law was far from the only thing the parallel Pakistani establishment had up its sleeve. It also resorted to much more traditional methods.

Prominent journalist Taha Siddiqui, who was speaking to RFERL (Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty), said:

The army and intelligence agencies were threatening me and I suspect the people who tried to kidnap me were from the army. [...] They do not like investigative reporting that uncovers the wrongdoings of those institutions.

Another TV anchor, Raza Rumi, was shot at by unidentified gunmen, much like Geo’s Hamid Mir had been. Rumi’s driver was killed in the attack. RFERL quoted him as saying:

I’m scared and do not feel very comfortable [...] The killers of my driver have been detained but not punished yet.

Raza Rumi, Pakistani Journalist

Going That Last Mile

A PMLN senator claimed that for the first time, five parties apart from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Imran Khan's party) had brought allegations of irregularities and rigging at the polling booths before voting had finished.

While allegations of poll rigging are hardly unusual in South Asian elections, the Opposition parties this time are united in their allegations of impropriety. Social media was flooded with claims from ordinary Pakistanis and human rights activists, alleging that there were no female poll officers at the booths to discourage women from voting, that there were long delays to suppress the vote, and there were instances of polling officers themselves intimidating voters and not allowing voters to vote in sensitive areas like Balochistan.

So when Imran Khan takes oath as the democratically elected leader of Pakistan, it'll have been with the Pakistan Army's thumb heavy on the scales.

PPP expresses serious concerns on recent reports in the media disputing the failure of Result Transmission System

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has expressed serious concerns on recent reports in the media disputing the failure of Result Transmission System (RTS), as claimed by the ECP. These reports corroborate and reinforce what the PPP and other opposition parties have been saying since election night, said Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, spokesman to Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

He said that the PPP Election Cell had received complaints from its contesting candidates all over Pakistan that not only were their polling agents not allowed inside the polling stations by presiding officers on the pretext that a glitch had occurred in the RTS but that they were also denied copies of Form 45, as required by law.

Similar trend had been witnessed in the constituencies of Lyari, Larkana and Malakand where Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto was contesting from. ECP provided Form 45’s after a delay of eight days for Lyari, for Larkana after three days and is yet to handover missing Form 45 for Malakand. Form 47 for Larkana was issued after party workers had staged a protest outside DRO’s office on July 26th.

“Other political parties have complained of similar things. We feel that it is the ECP’s responsibility to address genuine grievances raised by political parties and satisfy them on free and fair conduct of elections. We will not sit quietly unless and until the ECP comes up with substantive evidence instead of giving half-baked statements,” said Senator Khokhar.

He added: “We believe in democracy and the continuation of the democratic process but this does not mean that we will sit idly when our votes are being stolen right under the ECP’s watch.”

https://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/2018/08/02/ppp-expresses-serious-concerns-on-recent-reports-in-the-media-disputing-the-failure-of-result-transmission-system/

PPP fared better than 2013 election: Bilawal

While claiming that his party always struggled for strengthening democracy and parliament, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said the PPP will use the parliamentary forum to advance its ideology and ideals.

Bilawal, who will be beginning his parliamentary career, was addressing a luncheon held at Bilawal House for the newly-elected PPP parliamentarians from across the country on Tuesday.

The PPP stalwarts like Raja Pervez Ashraf, Faryal Talpur, Sherry Rehman, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Khursheed Shah, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Senator Raza Rabbani and Murad Ali Shah were present on the occasion.

Bilawal said despite difficulties and pre-poll pressures on candidates and workers, the PPP fared better in the 2018 general elections than 2013.

“Some opposition parties were considering boycotting the new parliament but the PPP convinced them to join the parliament and fight for democracy, which is a victory for democrats though we had also reservations over the election process,” he added.

He said the PPP has to focus on delivery in Sindh, where the party has once again secured majority.

“We are entering a new era where good governance and better performance should be the hallmark of the new provincial government.

“We cannot let down the people who sent us to assemblies as we are facing great challenges on international and economic fronts while other political parties are taking extreme positions on key issues,” he added.

125th birthday of Fatima Jinnah

Bilawal extended greetings to the entire nation on the 125th birthday of Māder-e-Millat Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah that was observed on Tuesday. In his message, he said sister of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah challenged dictatorship and valiantly led the nation’s struggle for democracy.

He said that Mohatarma Fatima Jinnah struggled shoulder to shoulder with her brother during the freedom movement for an independent Pakistan. “The nation is indebted to Mader-e-Millat Fatima Jinnah for her struggle to uphold the democratic ideals of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.”

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1770614/1-ppp-fared-better-2013-election-bilawal/

Music - Mehdi Hassan - Ranjish Hi Sahi

HUNGAMA Ghazal - HAI KYUN BARPA SUNG BY GHULAM ALI ALBUM GOLDEN COLLECTION VOL 1 BY IFTIKHAR SULTAN

Pakistan and Iran Keep Fueling Taliban Terror Tactics

By Sabera Azizi

Riyadh and Tehran are destabilizing actors in Afghanistan and play a large role in supporting the country's ongoing conflict.

The Saudi-Iranian rivalry is a source of tension in the Middle East.

In Yemen, Saudi-backed government forces and Iranian-backed rebel forces are hostile to each other. In Syria, the Iranian-backed Bashar Al-Assad regime and the Saudi-backed opposition forces are at odds. In Iraq, Tehran seeks to consolidate its influence over Baghdad whereas Riyadh seeks to gain influence. In Lebanon, Riyadh seeks to gain greater influence where Tehran traditionally has greater influence.

Simply put: Tehran and Riyadh are archrivals.

Riyadh and Tehran have conflicting geopolitical interests as both states are attempting to expand their spheres of influence to further advance their respective foreign-policy goals. However, Afghanistan is a rare instance of converging policies for both of these archrivals. In Afghanistan, both Riyadh and Tehran support the same group, the Taliban.

Fareed Zakaria, a renowned journalist, noted that the Saudis have “created a monster in the world of Islam.” In Afghanistan, that monster is the Taliban.

In the 1980s, as the Soviet Union flattened villages in Afghanistan, millions of Afghans fled to refugee camps in Pakistan. In these refugee camps, Riyadh sponsored madrassas sympathetic to the values of Deobandism and Wahhabism, sects of Islam highly aligned with the ideologies of the political elite establishments in Riyadh and Islamabad.

As the Soviet presence in Afghanistan dwindled, the students in these madrassas became a political and military force, the Taliban. By 1998, the Taliban made significant inroads into Afghanistan with the aid of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan . In fact, the inception of the Taliban movement was engineered by Riyadh and Islamabad. The Taliban movement was covertly financed by Saudi Arabia as the Taliban fighters were trained by Pakistan’s intelligence agency , Inter-Intelligence Service (ISI). To illustrate: Ahmed Rashid, an expert on Afghanistan, noted in his book, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, Fundamentalism in Central Asia, that in preparation for the offensive to capture Herat, a strategic province in Afghanistan, “The Taliban had spent the summer rebuilding their forces with arms, ammunition, and vehicles provided by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and a new command structure was created with the help of ISI advisers.”

Bottom line: The Taliban was a proxy group designed to serve the geostrategic interests of Riyadh and Islamabad. For Pakistan, the Taliban is a proxy group designed to advance Islamabad’s geopolitical in Afghanistan. For Riyadh, the Taliban was an anti-Shia proxy group dedicated to countering Iranian influence in Afghanistan. However, 9/11 shifted the political landscape in Afghanistan. In 2001, the Taliban’s regime was toppled . Not only was the Taliban weak military but also politically. As members of the Taliban retreated to Pakistan to rebuilt their movement, in order to survive as a militant group, the Taliban became more accommodating of regional powers’ interests, including Tehran.

The Taliban shifted from being a proxy group serving the strategic interests of Islamabad and Riyadh to becoming a proxy group dedicated to serving the interest of regional powers. After 2001, the Taliban no longer was an anti-Shia group seeking confrontation with Iran. Although the Taliban is no longer an anti-Shia group, Riyadh still supports them. Why? The answer is: Pakistan. Riyadh’s support for the Taliban is rooted in its special relationship with Pakistan. Pakistan is a key ally and strategic partner of Riyadh in the region. Ghazanfar Ali Khan, a writer for Arab News, defines the relationship between Riyadh and Islamabad as “a vast and dynamic web of cooperative linkages, age-old bonds of friendship and undertakings, dating from well before the establishment of diplomatic relations and growing continuously year-on-year.” Similarly, Bruce Riedel, an expert on South Asia, notes that “The Saudi kingdom has a longstanding and intimate relationship with Pakistan . . . They have had a deep strategic military relationship for decades.” Both Riyadh and Islamabad are key actors in advancing each others’ core foreign policy goals. To demonstrate : In February, Pakistan committed nearly one thousand troops to Saudi Arabia as Riyadh blocked Washington's efforts to list Pakistan on an international terror-financing watch list.

After 9/11, Pakistan’s policy didn’t change. Islamabad still utilizes the Taliban as a strategic asset to further its interests in Afghanistan. According to Peter Tomsen , former American Special Envoy to Afghanistan, Pakistan’s current “strategy exactly mirrored the ISI strategy from 1994 to 1998, when the ISI organized, armed, and sent thousands of Taliban, Pakistani, and other extremists into Afghanistan to overthrow the Mujahidin government in Kabul.” The New York Times notes that as a “longtime ally of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia has backed Islamabad’s promotion of the Taliban.” That continues to be the case today especially, as Saudi Arabia seeks to strengthen its partnership with Islamabad to increase its militaristic capabilities and to strengthen the Islamic Counter-Terrorism Coalition. Riyadh seeks Islamabad’s support in the Islamic Counter-Terrorism Coalition while Islamabad seeks Riyadh’s support in advancing its strategic foreign policy goals in the region via the Taliban.

The Saudi’s support for the Taliban remains an open secret. Saudi officials turn a blind eye when the Taliban are collecting funds under their watch. In 2009, American officials complained that the Taliban were raising millions of dollars during Hajj to support its group’s militant activities. Like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia’s policy on Afghanistan is dual-track. Officially, both governments support the Afghan government while covertly and privately channeling funds to the Taliban.

Moreover, last year, Mishari al-Harbi, a senior Saudi diplomat stated that “Qatar has harbored leaders of a number of terrorist groups and it is backing terrorist groups in Afghanistan.” Riyadh’s condemnation of Doha’s support for the Taliban doesn’t signal a change in Riyadh’s policy of supporting the Taliban. Rather, it is a convenient strategy to undermine Doha’s credibility as a responsible state. Riyadh’s tough stance on Qatar is due to its competition with Doha as both states seek to exert greater influence in the Middle East and North Africa.

To depict an even more complicated picture, last May, Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, said that, “Iran, too, must end support for the Taliban and other terrorists in Afghanistan.”

Iran fuels instability in Afghanistan when its relationship with Washington deteriorates. Tehran uses Afghanistan as a leverage to exert pressure on the United States. Specifically, Iran does this by arming and training the Taliban to carry out attacks, raising the costs of war for Washington. Nearly a week after President Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, the Taliban with the help of Tehran led a major offensive, attacking the Afghan city of Farah. As Tehran calculated, the Taliban was pushed back from Farah only when American special forces entered the combat zone.

Furthermore, Iran’s support for the Taliban is tied to Iran’s water security. Afghanistan desires to manage the flow of its water via dams. However, the presence of dams in Afghanistan pose a threat to Iran’s national interest. Last year, Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s President, threatened to retaliate as he said “We cannot remain indifferent to the issue [water dams] which is apparently damaging our environment.” The eastern provinces of Iran, neighboring Afghanistan, have been inflicted with severe drought in the recent years. Therefore, Iran is keen on maximizing the flow of water from Afghanistan to the eastern provinces of Iran.

Ali Ahmad, an Afghan police officer guarding the construction of a dam in the Nimruz province of Afghanistan, told the Guardian that, “When work on the dam begins, of course security will worsen.” This is so because Tehran seeks to delay the development of these dams to maximize the flow of water to Iran. In an effort to halt the construction of the dams, Iran trains, funds and arms the Taliban . In return, the Taliban attack the construction sites of the dams located in the Afghan provinces neighboring Iran.

Regional economic projects like the Chabahar Port do not shift Tehran’s policy of supporting the Taliban. Rather, Chabahar Port and its similitude depict Tehran’s dual-track policy of engaging with the Taliban while also maintain official ties with Kabul. Like Riyadh, this dual-track policy enables Tehran to pursue its national interests through covert and official channels. While both Riyadh and Tehran accuse each other as being a destabilizing actor in the Middle East, in Afghanistan both states are part of the conflict. In fact, both archrivals are on the same side of the conflict, the Taliban.

As the peace talks pick up steam in Afghanistan’s political theatre, addressing Tehran’s and Riyadh’s role in supporting the Taliban is essential to bringing the conflict to an end.

#IStandWithAsfandyarWali - #ANP - Asfandyar Wali Khan Full Speech about Rigging in elections 2018 at Charsada Protest ANP

#IStandWithAsfandyarWali - #ANP rejects ‘tainted’ election, calls for re-polling

As the outcry by various political parties against alleged rigging in the July 25 polls gains momentum, the Awami National Party (ANP) has taken to the streets to register its protest and call for a re-election in the country.

The religious party, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), too, has announced a protest rally on Aug 6.

Rejecting the recently held polls for being “tainted” because they were conducted under the supervision of the army, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the caretaker government, ANP workers took out rallies on Monday across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, tribal areas and Karachi on a call for protests by party president Asfandyar Wali Khan.

Party workers and supporters held demonstrations in Karachi, Peshawar, Charsadda, Mardan, Swabi, Swat, Buner, Malakand, Peshawar, Nowshera, Dera Ismail Khan, Karak, Bannu, Dir Lower and other cities and towns. ANP workers in the tribal districts of Bajaur and Mohmand also organised demonstrations in their areas.

Asfandyar says descendants of Bacha Khan would fight political battles for their rights In Peshawar, the party workers held a demonstration at Jinnah Park, led by ANP’s Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, while several roads in the city remained blocked to traffic.

Speaking at the rally in Charsadda, Mr Wali Khan said: “We had requested the ECP not to involve the army inside polling stations during the election process and no other party raised any objection. We knew if the army was involved in the election, it would become controversial.”

The ANP central president was joined by the party’s former general secretary Afrasiab Khattak. Mr Khan said the descendants of Bacha Khan would sacrifice anything for this land and fight political battles for their rights. If anyone thought that the country would be on a path of stability, they were probably living in a fool’s paradise, he said, adding that most political parties were mulling over various strategies to continue their protest against the massively rigged elections. Mr Khattak said: “Our leaders helped us get freedom from the British and made sure we rule our own land but after 100 years, we are again being deprived of our right by the army.”

Addressing the party workers amid shouts of slogans about stealing ballot-boxes and the ANP’s mandate, the ANP central president said their protests would continue and the multiparty conference (called by Maulana Fazlur Rehman) were in talks about their future line of action. However, other parties had allowed their elected candidates to take oath as members of the national and provincial assemblies. He said the ANP had also allowed three of its members to join Akhtar Mengal’s party and become part of the new Balochistan government.

The protest in Nowshera was led by ANP general secretary Mian Iftikhar, who stressed that the people’s mandate had been ‘stolen’ with the help of state institutions.

Addressing a protest gathering at Nowshera’s Shobra Chowk, he said: “We are not ready to accept the results of the July 25 election.” He alleged that the judiciary, the ECP and the army had all played a role in the election.

Gathered in front of the Karachi Press Club, the ANP workers held up banners and placards stating that they rejected the results of the July 25 polls and demanded re-elections.

“A single party is gaining all favours of the powers that be. It is being imposed on the country with the stolen mandate it has been handed,” Shahi Syed, president of ANP Sindh, said while addressing the protesters.

He said the country could not progress unless it was governed by leaders who the people actually reposed faith in. “We are living in an age in which those who abused parliament have been allowed to decide the fate of this country,” he added.

He said the ANP had always accepted defeat when it had lost in the past, but the level of rigging in this election was unprecedented. “Pakistan was not created for the powerful establishment to crush people’s mandate under its feet.”

He said the chief justice of Pakistan should take cognisance of what transpired in the elections and order an investigation into “why the election commission’s heads allowed the armed forces to take part in the counting of ballots”.

He said his party had suffered a lot in the past when its cadres and leaders were killed by the Taliban or on ethnic grounds yet, he appreciated his workers who controlled their emotions despite ‘unacceptable’ results. “You should fear the time when we will not be able to control emotions of our youth,” he warned.