#Pakistan: Ethnic Backlash In #Balochistan – Analysis

By Tushar Ranjan Mohanty

Unidentified militants opened indiscriminate fire on labourers working in an agriculture field in the Manjho Shori area of Naseerabad District in Balochistan on May 15, 2019, killing three of them and injuring one. The deceased had come from Tando Adam area of the Nawab Shah District in Sindh, and were daily-wage labourers. The attackers managed to escape. Though no group has so far claimed responsibility for the killing, Baloch insurgent groups have a history of killing non-Baloch labourers.

In the intervening night of April 17 and 18, 2019, unidentified assailants shot dead at least 14 passengers after forcibly offloading them from a bus plying on the Makran Coastal Highway in the Ormara area of Gwadar District. Reports indicate that around 15 to 20 armed assailants wearing Security Forces’ (SF) uniforms stopped five or six buses travelling between Karachi (Sindh) and Gwadar (Balochistan), checked the identity cards of passengers, and offloaded 16 of the passengers from just one bus. Two of the offloaded passengers managed to escape despite sustaining injuries. Balochistan Inspector General of Police Mohsin Hassan Butt described the incident as a “targeted killing”. Baloch Raji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS, Baloch National Freedom Front) claimed responsibility for the killing.

On March 24, 2019, Police recovered three bullet-riddled bodies in the Zadin area under Rakhni tehsil(revenue unit) in Barkhan District. All the three deceased were residents of the Dera Ismail Khan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). No group claimed responsibility for the killings.

According to partial data compiled by South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), a total of 229 ‘outsiders’ have been killed in Balochistan since the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti, leader of the Bugti tribe and President of the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), on August 26, 2006, (data till May 19, 2019). Bugti was killed in a military operation in the Chalgri area of the Bhamboor Hills in Dera Bugti District.

Baloch insurgents have essentially targeted people from other provinces. However, out of the 229 ‘outsiders’ killed, at least 178 were Punjabis alone. Eight Punjabis were killed in 2018; 23 in 2017. There were no such fatalities among Punjabis in 2016. The number of Punjabi fatalities in the Province stood at 22 in 2015; 17 in 2014; 29 in 2013; 26 in 2012; 13 in 2011; 21 in 2010; 18 in 2009; and one in 2008. No such fatalities were recorded in 2007 and 2006. While Punjabis have been the main targets, other non-native persons also fell to the ethnic collateral damage. Out of 51 non-Punjabi ‘outsiders’, 33 were Sindhis, while the ethnic identity of the remaining 18 is unascertained.

A series of attacks on ‘outsiders’ in Balochistan, as well as the destruction of national infrastructure followed the killing of Akbar Bugti. These killings have been orchestrated by Baloch insurgent groups such as the BLA, Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) and the Baloch Republican Army (BRA), among others, who began to voice anti-Punjabi sentiments in their campaigns in the wake of the military action against Bugti. A media report published on June 28, 2011, noted, “Almost all non-Baloch are on their hit-list.” Muhammad Khalid of Balochistan-Punjabi Ittehad stated, “The militants began to target the Punjabi settlers after Nawab Bugti was taken out by the military (in August, 2006). Before that there were occasional incidents in which Punjabis were targeted.”

Significantly, most of the Punjabi settler killings were recorded in South Balochistan, which accounts for 156 killings out of the total of 178, (principally in Bolan, Kech, Gwadar, Panjgur, Khuzdar, Sibi and Lasbela Districts); and 27 in North Balochistan (mostly in Nushki, Quetta and Mustang Districts). The overwhelming concentration of such killings in the South is because of the presence and dominance of Baloch insurgent groups in this region, while the North is dominated by Islamist extremist formations such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), who engage principally in sectarian killings.

Forced disappearances engineered by Pakistani SFs are another reason behind the targeted killings of non-Baloch persons in the region. According to partial data compiled by the SATP, of the 4,317 civilian fatalities recorded in Balochistan since 2004 (data till May 19, 2019), at least 1,378 have been attributable to one or other terrorist/insurgent outfit. Of these, 435 civilian killings (263 in the South and 172 in the North) have been claimed by Baloch separatist formations, while Islamist and sectarian extremist formations – primarily Islamic State, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), TTP and Ahrar-ul-Hind (Liberators of India) – claimed responsibility for another 943 civilian killings, 860 in the North (mostly in and around Quetta) and 83 in the South. The remaining 2,939 civilian fatalities – 1,708 in the South and 1,231 in the North – remain ‘unattributed’. It is widely believed that Security Agencies are busy with “kill and dump” operations, particularly in the Southern region, against local Baloch dissidents, a reality that Pakistan’s Supreme Court has clearly recognized.

Irked, by such killings the Baloch insurgent groups target non-Baloch people or even some Baloch whom they suspect to be spying for the SFs. At least two labourers (ethnicity not known) were killed when unidentified militants opened fire on a coal mine in the Khosat area of Harnai District on May 9, 2019. After the incident, Frontier Corps (FC) personnel rushed to the spot and a vehicle carrying the FC personnel hit a landmine, resulting in three FC fatalities. BLA claimed responsibility for the attack in an emailed statement from Jeehand Baloch, a BLA spokesperson: “We want to make it clear to the local spies and death squad groups of Pakistan Army that they will not be forgiven for their crimes.”

‘Outsiders’ are also targeted as the Baloch groups believe that they are helping Islamabad push forward its China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. The Project according to Baloch nationalists, brings no benefit to the Baloch, but constitutes just another tool for their exploitation. Not surprisingly, since its inception in Pakistan on April 20, 2015, CPEC has been under attack from Baloch insurgents. According to official figures 44 people had died and over 100 wounded in “attacks targeting CPEC projects mainly road construction in Balochistan, which began in 2014” till September 8, 2016. Since September 9, 2016, according to partial data compiled by SATP, at least another 31 persons have been killed in attacks targeting CPEC-related projects across the Province (data till May 19, 2019), including the most recent attack on May 11, 2019, in which four terrorists stormed the luxury Zaver Pearl-Continental Hotel, in Gwadar in Balochistan. The Hotel had around 70 guests at the time, including 40 Chinese nationals. Nine persons, including four hotel employees, one Pakistan Navy soldier and all four attackers, were killed during the eight-hour long siege.

Amidst all this, overall fatalities in the province are on the rise. Between January 1 and May 19, 2019, a total of 127 fatalities (58 civilians, 39 SF personnel, and 30 terrorists) have been recorded. During the corresponding period of 2018, the number of fatalities stood at 108 (39 civilians, 39 SF personnel, and 30 terrorists). Through 2018, there were a total of 381 fatalities (239 civilians, 79 SF personnel, and 63 terrorists). There were 343 total fatalities in 2017. Fatalities had registered declining trends between 2014 and 2017. 

Baloch insurgents have been fighting continuously against Islamabad’s coercion for more than a decade – and, indeed, intermittently for over seven decades – demanding independence for the ethnic Baloch areas of the country. They argue that the Province has been neglected by the Pakistani state and exploited for its mineral resources, and that the ‘outsiders’ that are being targeted by the insurgents are agents of Islamabad. Islamabad has done little to alleviate conditions in Balochistan, or to address the grievances of its people.

Lights out: ‘Circular debt’ cripples Pakistan’s power sector

By Asad Hashim

Despite more than adequate electricity generating capacity, many Pakistanis still face blackouts.

Ashiq Mahmood sits at his desk in his marble wholesale showroom, feeling the temperature rise, wondering when the blackouts will come.

"Everything comes to a standstill when the load shedding starts," he says, referring to power outages that have plagued Pakistan for years, crippling industries and small businesses such as his.

The power cuts are not, as has been the case in the past, due to a lack of generation capacity. Instead, they're the result of a vicious cycle of unpaid debts of more than $10 billion and breakdowns in critical transmission and other infrastructure. The issue is another headache for the government, which is struggling with a large fiscal deficit and slowing economy.

Mahmood's marble manufacturing and retail business earns him and his family about 1 million Pakistani rupees ($6,600) a month, but as demand for electricity grows in Pakistan's searing summer heat, electricity outages mean he can hardly ever run at full capacity.

"If I'm not able to deliver an order on time [due to outages], then the customers just aren't going to come back, are they?" he says.

Last year, when power cuts lasted more than six hours a day in the main I-9 industrial area of Pakistan's capital Islamabad, Mahmood says sales dropped by at least 50 percent.

Enough power for the people?

Today, Pakistan's 207 million people and its industries need 15,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity generation capacity, according to power ministry data.

That number will increase as demand rises in the peak summer months. But the ministry says that demand could easily be met using the country's installed generation capacity of roughly 20,000MW from plants running on coal, oil, gas, hydroelectric and nuclear power.

But users across the country still experience a shortfall of roughly 2,000MW, the ministry says, resulting in outages of up to eight hours a day in some areas.

That is because, while the capacity to generate the required electricity exists, there is no money to pay for it, officials told Al Jazeera.

"As of today, we don't have any issue with availability of supply," said Nadeem Babar, head of the Prime Minister's Task Force on Energy Reforms. "Our issues are transmission and distribution constraints, and the high [revenue] losses in certain areas."

At the heart of the problem is a phenomenon referred to in Pakistan as 'circular debt' – a cascade of unpaid bills and government subsidies, coupled with transmission line losses.

A major component of this debt, according to a 2018 World Bank report, is unpaid subsidies from the government to power distributing companies, compensating them for the below-market tariffs these firms have to charge consumers.

As a result, distributors are often unable to pay power producers, who then find it difficult to pay for fuel and are forced to keep plants idle.

Many users do not pay their bills because they do not get the electricity they need, making it harder for distribution companies to upgrade their ageing transmission lines, leading to even more losses. Pakistan's power regulator says more than a quarter of the power generated never reaches consumers.

Smaller parts of the debt are composed of discrepancies between the government-notified tariff and market rates caused by delays in government adjustments to the tariff and fluctuating international fuel prices.

The end result: hours of load shedding. And as of April 10, Pakistan's circular debt in the power sector stood at roughly $10.6 billion, Babar told Al Jazeera. That number is increasing by $6.4 million every day, he said.

The government is having to deal with the power sector's debts while struggling under the weight of a spiralling fiscal deficit amounting to five percent of the size of the economy, according to central bank data, and slowing growth.

On Monday, the country's central bank raised interest rates by 1.5 percentage points to 12.25 percent, citing underlying inflationary pressures, and elevated fiscal and current account deficits.

Multiple fronts

The government is planning a multi-pronged approach to tackle its power issues.

First, it wants to raise tariffs so that they are closer to market rates.

"We have to change our tariffs to at least recover the costs," said Babar. "It is clear that customers should not be paying for theft of others … or inefficiencies of the system. But it is equally clear that customers should be paying for the cost of delivery of services."

Babar foresees an increase in power tariffs by at least 2 Pakistani rupees ($0.01) per unit (a 100 percent rise for the lowest consumer tariff, and 15 percent of the average tariff) over the next 18 months. But the government is still likely to maintain some subsidies.

The government will also be working on reducing transmission and distribution losses – long cited as a structural obstacle by analysts – in order to stem the financial losses in the sector.

Last fiscal year, losses due to theft or transmission system inefficiency stood at 29 percent of power generated, according to Babar, amounting to roughly 140 billion Pakistani rupees ($990 million) in electricity that was generated but never paid for because it never reached consumers.

The government is targeting these losses through both arrests of those found to be stealing electricity and by attempting to address the infrastructure problems that lead to transmission losses in the first place.

Asad Umar, Pakistan's recently fired finance minister, said the brunt of the immediate push was coming in the form of targeting those who steal electricity.

"This includes filing 21,000 cases [for non-payment of dues], arrests of 13,000 people, and connections being cut," he told Al Jazeera at a media briefing while he was still in office.

In addition, the government is investing in a $100 million pilot project to install 'smart' meters – which would make theft more difficult - in the northern city of Rawalpindi, with a view to expanding the project to cover the entire country. The total cost of the countrywide replacement of meters would stand at roughly $3.5 billion, said Babar.

Transmission line infrastructure overhaul – long a demand of power sector analysts - will be the next step. For an illustration of the extent of the problem on that front, consider this: in June 2018, power ministry data shows that there was a day when the system faced 3,700MW in transmission constraints.

"We had the demand, we had the supply, but we could not move 3,700MW," says Babar.

The government has now identified 19 major transmission constraint issues, and says it will address all of them – including the building of new transmission lines and overhauling old systems and transformers – by January 2020.

Finally, longer term, the government says it will be aiming to reduce the cost of generation of electricity by shifting the fuel mix from the current reliance on imported fuels such as furnace oil, LNG and imported coal towards domestic sources.

Hurting those most in need

This summer, the ministry expects a shortfall of roughly 2,500MW between demand and supply. This will result, Babar says, in load shedding of eight hours in areas where cost recoveries from consumers are below 40 percent.

"Recovery-based load shedding does punish users who are not paying their bills, or those who are outright stealing electricity. But it is also punishing their neighbors who may be paying bills on time and reducing consumption, but are 'stuck' in a high defaulter neighborhood," says Erum Haider, a political scientist at Georgetown University who is studying the sector.Analysts warn that the current system of load shedding disproportionately targets low-income neighbourhoods, and imposes a form of collective punishment, even on those paying their bills.

Haider says that according to data from a survey conducted across Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, individuals are using up to 12 percent of their monthly budget to pay utility bills.

"This seems a relatively high price to keep the lights on so your kids can do their homework, or get a full night's sleep," Haider told Al Jazeera.

For marble seller Mahmood's household, that rings true.

"They shouldn't be doing this injustice with us, when we pay our bills," says Farooq, Mahmood's nephew, who just spent a sleepless night without electricity. "We can't force [others in the neighborhood] to pay their bills, we can only speak to them."

US identifies LeT as one of three main threats to its soldiers in Afghanistan

SNEHESH ALEX PHILIP

The LeT's classification as a threat heralds more trouble for Pakistan, which is courting global scrutiny for failing to check terror financing.

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has identified Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Pakistan-based group responsible for multiple attacks in India, including 26/11, as one of three terrorist organisations that pose the greatest threat to its troops in Afghanistan.

The classification heralds more trouble for Pakistan, which has been courting international scrutiny for failing to check terror financing.

According to the US, the Hafiz Saeed-led LeT has an active strength of around 300 terrorists in the war-torn country.

The DoD identified the Haqqani Network, the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM, of militant Uighur Muslims), and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba [sic] as groups that present the greatest threat to US and allied forces in Afghanistan,” the latest report on Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, the official name for US-led military operations in Afghanistan, said.

The LeT, formed in the 1980s, is one of the largest terror groups currently operating from Pakistani soil, with active support of the state machinery.

Experts tracking terror in the region point out that the US naming the LeT as a threat in Afghanistan is just a formal recognition of something that was always known.

This does put additional pressure on Pakistan to act because the US will press it more,” a source in the Indian security establishment said when asked about the latest development.

Under increasing scrutiny

Apart from its strikes on India, the LeT has also been linked to terror activity in Europe, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, among other countries.

Though the LeT was banned by Pakistan in 2002, it continues to raise funds and recruit cadres openly. Earlier this year, it also banned the LeT’s front organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its “charity” arm Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.

The US Department of the Treasury had earlier classified LeT chief Saeed as a specially-designated global terrorist, and, since 2012, the country has had a $12 million reward for information that may help bring him to book.

In December 2008, he was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267, which entails travel restrictions and an arms embargo. He was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November 2017.

#Pakistan - #PTM’s Gulalai booked over anti-state speech

The police on Wednesday filed a case against Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) Gulalai Ismail for allegedly defaming state institutions, creating unrest and inciting violence.

The First Information Report (FIR) lodged against the PTM leader mentions sections 500 (punishment for defamation), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups, etc) and 124-A (sedition) of the Pakistan Penal Code, as well as sections 6 and 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act, 1997.

According to the FIR, Ismail – addressing a protest demonstration against the brutal rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl named Farishta – had purportedly incited law-abiding citizens to commit treason and violence. The FIR accuses Ismail of delivering hate speech, inciting ethnic sentiments against the state and Pakistan Army, and sparking a sense of fear and terror among the people.

The PTM is a rights-based alliance that, besides calling for the demining of the former tribal areas and greater freedom of movement in the latter, has insisted on an end to the practices of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and unlawful detentions, and for their practitioners to be held to account.

Meanwhile, there were reports that Gulalai Ismail had been named in different FIRs registered against PTM leaders in different parts of the country after videos of her commentary against the state and its security institutes came to the forefront.

Investigations into the case have begun, statements of the affected and local police officers recorded and the medico-legal officer (MLO) of Polyclinic Hospital, who was found guilty of criminal negligence during the postmortem of the young girl’s body, sacked.

However, no action has yet been taken against Gulalai for her comments.

Shortly after the heinous rape and murder incident of Farishta was reported, a video of PTM leader Gulalai Ismail started doing the rounds on the social media in which she could be seen admonishing the state and its institutes, and terming the incident “one among many” that the state and its security agencies had allegedly forced on its ethnicities.

https://dailytimes.com.pk/399848/ptms-gulalai-booked-over-anti-state-speech/

Interview - #Pakistani PM Imran Khan 'responsible for current economic mess'

BY Atif Tauqeer

Pakistan is currently facing one of the worst economic crises in its history. In an exclusive DW interview, former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar accuses the current government of waging "economic terrorism" in Pakistan.

DW: How do you view the Pakistani government's economic policies? Will the IMF's financial bailout package help stabilize the economy?

Ishaq Dar: The incumbent government is incompetent and irresponsible. It actually wasted nine months to conclude its agreement with the IMF.

In 2013, when former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif came to power, we had already worked out our own economic program. The cabinet approved it on July 4, 2013, just days after Sharif took oath. But the current government does not know what to do after assuming power; hence it has wasted time, which has created uncertainty in the market.

I am also not satisfied with the IMF conditions that the government has accepted. This IMF program will contract Pakistan's economic growth, with high inflation and high interest rates. The common people will face the brunt of this.

Food prices have substantially increased in Pakistan in the past few months

But can Prime Minister Imran Khan's government still turn things around?

There are no signs of it. Our government sealed a different kind of agreement with the IMF in 2013, and we successfully completed it in September 2016 — the first time in the country's history. We made sure that the program focused on high growth, and in three years, Pakistan's growth reached close to 6% — the highest in the past 15 years.

At the same time, we brought the inflation level from 12% to 3.6% — the lowest in 40 years. We also managed to lower interest rates. All of these steps activated our economy, which grew from 22,000 billion Pakistan rupees (€129 billion) to 34,000 billion (€200 billion).

On the contrary, our successors have massively devalued the Pakistani rupee in the past nine months. The interest rates have spiked, and inflation has risen from 3.6% to over 9%. At the same time, the prices of essential commodities have increased by 200%.

Did Pakistan really need IMF assistance?

Actually, the current government asked for IMF assistance because its incompetence and a lack of vision caused the economic damage. Just two years ago, Pakistan was praised all over the world for its economic policies. In 2016, PriceWaterhouseCoopers predicted that Pakistan was on its way to join the G20 group of nations in the next few years. So the current economic mess is our own fault, and Khan's government is to blame for that.

But the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government says that it inherited the economic mess from the Sharif administration, and that it will take some time to fix it…

We only need to compare and look at the international reports on Pakistan's economy a few years ago. It takes hard work and a long time to build economy, but it takes just a few incompetent people and a short time to ruin the economy with the wrong policies. I think Khan's government has waged economic terrorism against the people of Pakistan.

How did you deal with the issue of Pakistan's large defense budget? There were reports that the country's powerful generals demanded that Sharif increase their funding, and his relations with the army turned sour after he refused to do so.

It is a fact that Pakistan is situated in a difficult region and cannot be complacent about its security. Our government always placed importance on national security. We spent a large amount of money to combat terrorism, and our efforts yielded results. But we could only meet the demands with what was available to us. I believe in implementing strict fiscal discipline, and I was supported at the time by Sharif. We didn't compromise on that.

But after coming to power, Imran Khan has reportedly increased the military budget, and according to some media reports, at the cost of the development fund.

Only Khan can tell about the increase in the military budget. It is, however, true that the incumbent government has slashed the development budget. Every government must give equal priority to development and security, as both depend on each other.

Pakistan needs to increase its growth and allocate more funds for development. This is the only way that we can pull people out of poverty and create jobs. In the past nine months, since Khan took charge, more than 1 million people have become jobless.

Ishaq Dar is a Pakistani politician, belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party. He is a former minister of industries and investment, minister of commerce and minister of finance. He is currently based in the United Kingdom.

The interview was conducted by Atif Tauqeer.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Condemns Blast In Quetta

Umer Jamshaid

Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday condemned the blast in a mosque in Pashtoonabad area of Quetta.

In a statement, he expressed his deep grief and sorrow over the loss of innocent lives and demanded from the authorities concerned to ensure better treatment facilities to those injured in the blast.

https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakistan/bilawal-bhutto-zardari-condemns-blast-in-quet-629878.html

#Quetta - Two dead, several injured in blast inside mosque in Quetta

At least two people were killed and several injured in an explosion in a mosque in Quetta’s Pashtoon Abad area on Friday.

Rescue sources said, 15 people were injured in the blast with three said to be in critical condition at Quetta's Civil hospital. 

Police said the blast occurred inside Masjid Rahmania during Friday's prayers. 

Speaking to Geo News, the mosque administration said the blast occurred at 1:15pm and that there were approximately 30 to 40 people in the mosque for Friday prayers.

According to initial reports, the explosion shattered windowpanes of the houses nearby. The nature of the blast is yet to be determined. 

Police have cordoned the area and launched an investigation to ascertain the cause of the explosion.

Earlier this month, four policemen were martyred and 11 others were injured in a blast near a police van in Mini Market area of the provincial capital.

On April 14, at least 20 people were killed and dozens injured in a blast believed to be targeting the Hazara community in Quetta's Hazarganji sabzi mandi. 

Eight Hazara, an FC official and two children were among the dead. At least 48 others, including three security personnel, were injured in the blast.

https://www.geo.tv/latest/238244-two-dead-several-injured-in-blast-inside-mosque-in-quetta

Video - #ChairmanNAB #BesharamNabBehayaChairman - Chairman NAB Leaked Audio Call - Javed Iqbal Leak Video With A Lady || Jumbo TV

Pakistani legislator kicked out of assembly for bringing her son

By Shereena Qazi

Mahjabeen Sheran, a member of the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan in Pakistan, who was asked to leave for bringing her unwell infant to the house, has vowed to campaign for establishing daycare centres in assemblies and government departments.

On April 29, Sheran was criticised by staff and fellow members of the assembly for bringing her seven-month-old son, who was sick and could not be left at home, to the chamber for a session. She was asked to leave the session.

"I was torn between attending the session and staying home taking care of my son," Sheran told Al Jazeera.

"So, I decided to bring my son because I didn't want to miss the session."

"We must respect those women who work and also take care of their household. It is not easy and we face challenges on daily basis."

MAHJABEEN SHERAN, A MEMBER OF THE PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLY OF BALOCHISTAN

Sheran is from Balochistan's Kech district and became a member of the assembly in 2018 on a reserved seat for women. She said it was the "worst" situation for her when she had to decide between taking care of her son and attending work.

"I felt embarrassed because some men in the session were making jokes and smirking about me bringing my son. At that point, I looked for someone to stand up for me and support me, but no one did," she said.

Several times in the past, Sheran had requested the assembly's secretary for a spare room to turn it into a daycare facility. Her request was denied repeatedly.

The legislator is now seeking support from political leaders and activists to establish daycare facilities in government offices and assemblies.

She said she will also propose a bill to allow mothers to bring babies to the assemblies and "to share the experiences of working mothers with men".

'Respect women'

A daycare centre was inaugurated in Parliament House in Pakistan's capital city Islamabad two years ago.

"How can a country succeed when the most important part of the society [women] are treated this way? Such incidents discourage women of this country from succeeding and being independent," Mumtaz Mughal, the regional director of Aurat Foundation, a non-profit organisation that works on women's rights and gender equality, told Al Jazeera.

"The fact that Mahjabeen Sheran was asked to leave for merely bringing her son to the session tells us that the patriarchal mindset exists heavily in our society and we have a lot of work to do in order to change that."

Sheran said she has seen women lawyers, activists and politicians taking their children to work if they have to. She said she was disappointed to know that bringing children to the assembly in Pakistan was against the law.

In a similar case as Sheran's, a Japanese politician, Yuka Ogata - a member of the Kumamoto City Assembly, was criticised by fellow members for trying to bring her baby to a council session. She said in her statement that she wanted to show the difficulties when women juggle with careers and raising children.

How can a country succeed when the most important part of the society [women] are treated this way?

MUMTAZ MUGHAL, REGIONAL DIRECTOR OF NON-PROFIT ORGANISATION AURAT FOUNDATION

Mette Abildgaard, a Danish MP, was asked to leave parliament after she brought her baby to the chamber in March this year.

In 2018, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made history by attending the United Nations General Assembly accompanied by her newly-born baby.

Australian Senator Larissa Water became the first politician to breastfeed her two-month-old daughter during a vote in the country's parliament in 2017.

An Argentinian politician, Victoria Donda Perez, was praised for breastfeeding her infant daughter during a parliamentary session in 2015.

Back in Pakistan, Sheran's case went viral on social media, receiving support from people from across the country.

"People from all over the country were contacting me expressing their support for me and my campaign," she said.

"We must respect those women who work and also take care of their household. It is not easy and we face challenges on daily basis."

How the dangerous evolution of Pakistan’s national security state threatens domestic stability

By Robert G. Patman, Dr Arshad Ali

In February, a terrorist attack by Jaysh e-Mohammad (JeM) killed more than 40 Indian military personnel in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. It triggered the worst escalation of India–Pakistan tensions for nearly two decades.The flare-up was a stark reminder that the Kashmir conflict appears to be intractable, with especially dangerous consequences for the weaker party, Pakistan.

At great economic cost, Pakistan has constructed a nuclear-armed national security state over many decades to counter the Indian “threat”. This somewhat ossified approach has done little to improve security in South Asia.

It is also generating dangerous new threats to stability inside the country.

The militarization of Pakistan during the Cold War

Kashmir has been in a geopolitical limbo, with a disputed border, ever since partition in 1947. The conflicting Indian and Pakistani claims to sovereignty over Kashmir have helped generate the emergence of a Pakistani national security state in which the military became a dominant political actor.

The Pakistan military has received the lion’s share of national resources and began acquiring nuclear weapons during the 1970s. But it has also played a key role in framing Islamabad’s national security policy.Because Pakistan was struggling to compete with India, which is much larger in terms of territory, population, economy and military power, it needed external support. The Cold War provided an opportunity for Pakistan to make an alliance with the US, which was looking to contain the Soviet Union in South Asia. In February 1954, the Eisenhower administration announced it was providing military assistance to Pakistan.American assistance significantly strengthened the role of the military and enabled it to become the key actor in Pakistan’s foreign and security policy. The civilian bureaucracy cooperated with the Pakistani military in a pragmatic fashion to help it exercise political control during the Cold War.The Pakistani judiciary provided legal justifications for military rule when required. Consequently, the Pakistani military ruled the country directly for 24 years from 1947 to 1988. During this period the parliamentary system was undermined and a “controlled democracy” became the norm.

Growing post-Cold War threats

The Pakistani military also used its political and administrative autonomy to establish its own commercial ventures. This included road building, real estate, cement factories and private banks. By establishing its own version of a military industrial complex, the Pakistani military assumed a dominant position in the country’s national security policies.The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) emerged during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s as a second key player. Civilian political parties or leaders in Pakistan were effectively constrained in national security decision-making by a military-led coalition that encompassed intelligence agencies, the civil bureaucracy and the judiciary.The end of the Cold War did little to diminish Pakistan’s fixation with the Kashmir conflict. Its intense rivalry with India continued in South Asia, including in war-torn Afghanistan. But the post-Cold War era changed the strategic equation.First, India embarked on a successful process of economic liberalisation in the early 1990s. This significantly widened the wealth gap between a rising India and a desperately poor Pakistan.Second, the US no longer needed Pakistan after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in the late 1980s and drastically reduced its military support for Islamabad.

But the Pakistani national security state showed little willingness to adapt to the realities of a transformed strategic environment. Islamabad persisted with its involvement in proxy wars in Kashmir. It supported militant Islamist forces opposing the Indian presence and, in Afghanistan, it supported Taliban militants in a bid to counter Indian influence in that country.

In the post-Cold War context, Pakistan’s stance on national security has largely failed to balance India’s preponderance and generated significant new internal security threats from factions of Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) and other militant groups.

The war on terror and Pakistan’s dangerous double game

The 9/11 attacks helped restore Pakistan’s position as a key strategic partner of America in Washington’s war on terror. But the country’s national security state continued to pursue its anti-Indian agenda in Kashmir and Afghanistan, while ostensibly cooperating with US administrations in hunting down al-Qaeda terrorists in South Asia.

Osama bin Laden was eventually killed at a hideout inside Pakistan in May 2011, not far from a major Pakistani army base. This double game not only frustrated Washington, it also led to dangerous blowback at home.

Since the US-led war on terror, Pakistan’s internal security has been increasingly threatened by the activities of Taliban militants and the influx of al-Qaeda operatives into the country from neighbouring Afghanistan.

Over the past decade, Pakistan has experienced a gradual shift to more democratic processes. Nevertheless, the military has continued to play a dominant role in the making of foreign and security policy.

Today, Pakistan is a country in desperate need of peace and stability. But unless Pakistan’s national security state is reformed and brought under full civilian control, it is difficult to see how the country can reverse an ominous pattern of domestic instability and economic decline.

http://theconversation.com/how-the-dangerous-evolution-of-pakistans-national-security-state-threatens-domestic-stability-116886

Rape Allegations Against Pakistan’s Police

Saroop Ijaz

Prosecute Officers Implicated, Enact Wider Reforms.

 A 22-year-old woman in Rawalpindi district in Pakistan’s Punjab province reported to police that four men had abducted her at gunpoint and raped her. Most disturbingly, she alleged that three of the four assailants were police officers.

The authorities have since arrested all four suspects and suspended three police officers as criminal investigations proceed.

This is one of several recent incidents in which Pakistani police – the very people who should be tackling rape and protecting the public – have been accused of committing sexual violence. In April 2019, an assistant sub-inspector of police was charged with raping a woman in Bahawalpur district, Punjab. The woman had earlier gone to the police station to report that she had been gang raped, but says that the official later called her back to the station claiming he needed to record her statement, and then raped her. In September 2018, another police official was charged with raping a 6-year-old girl in Dera Ghazi Khan district, Punjab.

These cases highlight the difficulty Pakistan’s sexual violence survivors have getting recourse. Sexual assault victims often fear pressing charges because they and their families may become subject to harassment and intimidation by the police, due to harmful gender attitudes and pressure from perpetrators. Without proper witness protection, survivors can easily be intimidated into silence. These barriers reflect deeply entrenched gender inequality within Pakistani society, including in state institutions such as the police and judiciary.

The prompt police response in the Rawalpindi case reflected in large measure the willingness of the victim to speak up and the impact of media coverage. Now it’s up to local authorities to fully and fairly prosecute those responsible, whatever their affiliation.

Pakistan faces grave security challenges that require a rights-respecting, accountable police force able to protect the entire population. When police become perpetrators of sexual violence, the credibility of all police are damaged and victims are even less likely to seek their help. Pakistani authorities need to act decisively. They should ensure that police officers responsible for crimes are appropriately held to account; undertake long overdue reforms to increase the recruitment, retention, and promotion of female police officers; and make sure that female police officers are deployed so that all survivors of sexual violence get the assistance they need.

Bilawal Bhutto warns federal govt over taking administrative control of three Sindh hospitals

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has strongly condemned the taking over of three key hospitals of Sindh by the Federal government and termed it as an attack on provincial autonomy.

In a statement, the PPP Chairman said “the people of Sindh have invested billions of rupees on revolutionary improvements in Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC). National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) and National Health of Child Health (NICH) after these hospitals were handed over to the province under the 18th amendment.”

Expansion of NICVD hospitals to several cities of the province has excelled the performance of Sindh government, which paid for expensive cardiac treatments of patients from all over Pakistan, he added.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that taking over these main health infrastructures without waiting for the final verdict of the Supreme Court on a review petition filed by Sindh government has displayed the arrogance of the Federal Government and a challenging contempt of the supreme judiciary by PTI government.

“An admission by NAB Chairman that he is holding back inquiries of corruption against government ministers to stop its imminent fall and the PTI government’s contempt of court action have exposed the constitutional crisis that the country is currently facing,” the PPP Chairman said.

He pointed out that PPP’s Sindh government was spending Rs12.5 billion on NICVD and Rs4 billion to JPMC annually to ensure quality free of cost treatments to patients from all over Pakistan. Sindh government has been providing state of the art health facilities to people from every corner of the country without any charges.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari made it clear that his Party and the people of Sindh wouldn’t allow anyone to usurp the hard-earned assets of health facilities and categorically said that resistance will be mounted at every available forum, warning the Federal government to withdraw the said notification before the public outrage mounted.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/475302-bilawal-bhutto-warns-federal-govt-over-taking-administrative-control-of-three-sindh-hospitals