Baluchistan: Lawyers to challenge Gwadar fencing issue, Baloch senator says ‘safe city project’ unacceptable

 Lawyers in Balochistan have decided to challenge Pakistan’s government’s decision to fence Gwadar in the name of security.

The Quetta Bar Association’s Vice Chairman Muneer Kakad said on Saturday a Balochistan-wide strike will be held and the decision will be challenged in the Balochistan High Court.

Mr Kakar announced this while addressing a joint press conference with the Balochistan Bar Council.

He was quoted as saying, “The Centre thinks it will control Gwadar once it has been fenced but we won’t let that happened. You can’t seal a city for its protection.”

Kakad also added that people in Gwadar don’t have access to clean drinking water yet funds are being spent on fencing the city.

Earlier an opposition senator Mir Kabir Mohammad Shahi has blamed the federal and provincial governments of hatching a conspiracy to “separate Gwadar from Balochistan” by fencing the port town in the name of Gwadar Safe City project.

During a press conference, he said, “A fence is being erected around Gwadar in the name of the Safe City project through which the city will be divided into two parts. Those people who regularly go inside the city will be given a card without which no one could enter the city.”

He said the plan to bring Gwadar under the control of Centre was initiated during Musharraf regime and now the federal government was implementing it.

He maintained that initially an attempt was made to declare the coastal belt of Balochistan the property of the federation through an ordinance and later islands of Balochistan and Sindh were handed over to the federal government through another ordinance.

“The ordinance on the islands of Sindh and Balochistan was not discussed in the Senate,” he said, adding that the “move to hand over Gwadar to the federal government” in the name of security was interference in provincial [Balochistan’s] affairs.

Mr Mohammad Shahi said that Balochistan was not someone’s estate to hand over its resources to the federation through a piece of paper. “We will not allow the looting of Balochistan’s resources through a presidential ordinance.”

He said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor existed due to Gwadar but the development of the port city had been ignored.

“The people of Gwadar are compelled to purchase drinking water at the rate of Rs2, 500 per tanker,” the senator said, adding that there was no permanent arrangement of water supply in the city.

Jam Kamal Khan CM Balochistan, however, dubbed as fencing of Gwarar as ‘additional security’ saying, ‘barbed wire has been laid in some areas to provide additional security.’

https://balochwarna.com/2020/12/13/balochistan-lawyers-to-challenge-gwadar-fencing-issue-baloch-senator-says-safe-city-project-unacceptable/

Imran Khan will have to resign by 31st January, Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that Imran Khan will have to resign by 31 January.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said this while talking to journalists in Lahore on Wednesday afternoon. He said that the PPP has a history of resistance. Our workers struggled against and defeated General Zia and Genral Musharraf so they have the history of resistance. The mobilization of party workers is going very well and Imran Khan will have to resign by 31 January. He said that 16 December reminds us of two tragedies for Pakistan, First is fall of Dacca and that other is the martyrdom of students of Army Public School in Peshawar. He said that the APS tragedy is still fresh in our minds and this selected government has failed to provide justice to the bereaved families. During this puppet, incapable and illegitimate government the main culprit of APS tragedy Ehsanullah Ehsan fled the captivity and the country. This government gives relief to the terrorists and imprisons opposition politicians, journalists and bloggers. This government is doing nothing to give any relief to the people. Price-Hike, unemployment and hunger and poverty are the real issues the people are faced with in this government. Pakistan has the highest inflation and lowest growth rate in the region. Pakistan is economically worse than Afghanistan.

Responding the questions by the journalists Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that he had gone to visit Shahbaz Sharif to condole with him on the death of his mother. He and Shahbaz Sharif talked about the unity of opposition in the country. He said that his party is ready to sacrifice Sindh government in this movement to achieve its goal. He said that opposition will form such a strategy which will not harm the democracy. Opposition will not be damaged by this movement and warning has already been issued to Imran Khan to step down or face the music. There will be pdama dam mast qalandar’. He said that Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto both knew the politics of resistance as well as the politics of reconciliation. We know how to use both tools. He rejected any dialogue with puppet government and puppet prime minister, puppet chief minister and puppet speaker national assembly.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that this is wrong notion that any phone call had ended long march held for judiciary. He said that the PPP leaders had convinced President Zardari to restore the judiciary and afterwards telephone calls were made for face saving of others.

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24166/

بلاول کی زیر صدارت اجلاس، بے نظیر بھٹو کی برسی سے متعلق فیصلے

چیئرمین پیپلز پارٹی بلاول بھٹو بھٹو کی زیر صدارت اجلاس میں بے نظیر بھٹو کی برسی کے انتظامات سے متعلق فیصلوں کو حتمی شکل دے دی گئی۔

چئیرمین پیپلز پارٹی بلاول بھٹو زرداری کی سربراہی میں بے نظیر بھٹو کے یوم شہادت کے حوالے سے اجلاس ہوا، بلاول ہاؤس میں ہونے والے اجلاس میں قائم علی شاہ، شیری رحمان، نثار کھوڑو، وقار مہدی اور سعید غنی، منظور وسان، ناصر شاہ، عاجز دھامرا، مکیش چاولہ اور دیگر نے شرکت کی

اجلاس میں پاکستان ڈیموکریٹک موومنٹ کے رہنماؤں کی میزبانی و دیگر انتظامی معاملات کا جائزہ لیا گیا۔

اجلاس میں بے نظیر بھٹو کے یوم شہادت پر گڑھی خدا بخش میں جلسے کے انتظامات سے متعلق فیصلوں کو حتمی شکل دی گئی۔

https://jang.com.pk/news/859242 

سینیٹ میں کسی کو غیر آئینی ہتھکنڈے دہرانے نہیں دیں گے، بلاول، مریم کا اتفاق

پیپلز پارٹی کے چئیرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری کا پاکستان مسلم لیگ (ن) کی نائب صدر مریم نواز سے ٹیلیفونک رابطہ ہوا ہے۔ دونوں رہنمائوں نے اتفاق کیا کہ سینیٹ میں کسی کو ایسے غیر آٸینی ہتھکنڈے دہرانے نہیں دیں گے کہ وہ 2018 کے الیکشن بن جائیں۔ 

اعلامیہ کے مطابق گفتگو میں دونوں رہنماٶں نے پی ڈی ایم کے کامیاب جلسوں کے بعد بوکھلاہٹ کی شکار حکومت سمیت مجموعی سیاسی صورتحال پر تبادلہ خیال کیا گیا۔

پی ڈی ایم کے سرکردہ رہنماؤں نے سینیٹ کے آئندہ انتخابات کے متعلق حکمت عملی پر بھی تبادلہ خیال کیا۔

اس موقع پر دونوں نے اتفاق کیا کہ سینیٹ میں کسی کو ایسے غیر آٸینی ہتھکنڈے دہرانے نہیں دیں گے کہ وہ 2018 کے الیکشن بن جائیں۔

بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے مریم نواز کو شہید محترمہ بینظیر بھٹو کی برسی کے جلسے میں شرکت کی دعوت بھی دی

https://jang.com.pk/news/859240 

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Barr shielded Trump from Congress, Mueller and the law, but couldn't save him from voters

Paul Rosenzweig 

  Cromwell's devotion to King Henry VIII knew no bounds. Barr had the same blind loyalty to Trump and the principle that presidents are above the law. 

Nearly 500 years ago, King Henry VIII sacked his most loyal courtier, Thomas Cromwell, removing him from office and then beheading him. Today, Attorney General William Barr suffers the same Cromwellian fate, his sycophantic fealty to President Donald Trump rewarded by being tossed onto the pile of discarded Trumpian supporters. Fortunately for Barr we have given up the tradition of beheading, but he was given the modern-day equivalent send off — the opportunity, Trump said, to “spend more time with his family” (as if leaving the job Dec. 23, 28 days before it would end, is necessary to assure his family’s holiday happiness).

Crowell’s tenure was marked by his willingness to do almost anything to satisfy King Henry. He arranged the annulment of Henry’s marriage to Catherine, Queen of Aragon, so that the King could marry Anne Boleyn. As the King’s chief minister, he oversaw the expropriation of Catholic church properties and advanced the doctrine of royal supremacy over the church. His devotion to the king knew no bounds.

Barr’s tenure is marked by the same blind loyalty to a leader and to his conception of power. Throughout his time in office, Barr acted more like the president’s personal advocate than like an attorney general whose job it is to represent the people and government of the United States. That is what Barr will be most remembered for from the past two years.

Barr's legacy of presidential supremacy

► Almost his first act in office was to defend Trump by wildly mischaracterizing Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report. That report credibly collected evidence that the president had obstructed justice and laid out extensive evidence of connections between the Trump campaign and Russian actors. In defending the president against these claims. Barr sank into obfuscation and outright misdescription.

Not content with misstating the law, Barr also took operational control of defending the president’s political image. He personally directed law enforcement and military officials to clear Lafayette Square of protesters last summer so that Trump could walk across the part and have a Bible-holding photo op in front of St. John’s Church.

► Diverging from the long-standing practice of attorney general neutrality, Barr injected himself into the presidential election, warning that if Biden won, the United States would be “irrevocably committed to the socialist path.” 

He interfered in the criminal investigation of Trump confidants Roger Stone and Michael Flynn to protect the interests of the president. In Stone’s case he sought to get Stone a lighter sentence. In Flynn’s he sought to dismiss criminal charges to which Flynn had already pled guilty. In both cases, career prosecutors at the Department of Justice resigned in protest at Barr’s political interference. 

► He likewise politicized the criminal investigation process by continuing a seemingly-unending investigation into the Russian investigators — an inquiry he has now sought to entrench by the appointment of a special counsel in a manner that is clearly intended to limit the discretion of the incoming Biden-appointed attorney general.

DOJ in ruins:Trump and Barr wrecked the Justice Department. Here are 6 ways Joe Biden can fix it.

► He refused to recognize the lawful authority of Congress to conduct oversight of the executive branch. On Barr’s watch, Trump’s Department of Justice has fought every subpoena issued by Congress, sometimes on the fanciful ground that the president is absolutely immune from congressional review. 

But most fundamentally, Barr served Trump by promoting the principle that the president is above the law. At every turn, Barr has advanced a view that the executive branch is not restrained by our constitutional system of checks and balances and that the president is not subject to criminal review of his actions. Here, perhaps, Barr most closely mirrors Cromwell, whose view of royal supremacy is an almost perfect analog for Barr’s view of presidential supremacy.

Barr is the Cromwell of the Trump era 

In the end, Cromwell lost his head because he could got give Henry the one thing Henry wanted most desperately — a male heir. It simply proved impossible, and for the sin of failing to achieve the impossible, Cromwell was removed and executed.

Barr, likewise, has lost his job because of his failure to do the impossible. Confronted with the hard reality that there was no evidence of significant fraud in this election — indeed that it was, as Trump’s cybersecurity chief put it, “the most secure election in history” (for which apostasy he, too, got fired) — Barr simply could not conjure an alternate reality in which Donald Trump won reelection. 

2020 election watershed:Barr finally met a Trump lie he couldn't swallow

And for that failure Barr, like Cromwell, met the fate of all failed loyalists, discarded on the ash heap of history where his memory will deservedly be that of a faithful subordinate to a failed leader. The best thing that can be said of him — quite literally the very best — is that he refused to join other Republican leaders as they followed Trump like lemmings off the cliff of electoral authoritarianism. His refusal to influence the election by announcing an investigation of Hunter Biden, combined with his refusal to call the election a fraud, show that even for the most devoted adherents there are lines they cannot or will not cross. But after all of Barr’s failures that have gone before, that is modest praise, indeed.

And so, William P. Barr’s legacy is this: He is the Thomas Cromwell of our age.

 https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/12/15/barr-blind-loyalty-not-enough-to-save-trump-from-voters-column/3904158001/

Video - Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s media talk outside Lakhpat jail, Lahore

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Pakistan Army is now an echo chamber — look at what it did to ex-ISI chief Asad Durrani

 

AYESHA SIDDIQA 

The ex-ISI chief was punished not for disclosing any secret, but for analysing the tantalising event of the 2011 American operation in Abbottabad to kill Osama bin Laden.

When Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck returned to India in 1943 as the commander-in-chief of the military, one of his goals was to ‘Indianise’ the force while ensuring high levels of professionalism. Though the demands of performing in the Second World War obfuscated his plans to move away from limiting recruitment to the ‘martial races’, he developed a culture of professionalism that made it imperative for the armed forces to analyse every operation, including failures, for future benefit.

Reading the recently published opinion article by the former head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lt. General (retd) Asad Durrani, it seems that Pakistan’s military has deviated from the culture of questioning its actions and carrying out analysis. General Headquarters of Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi is no longer interested in critical evaluation even if it is from one of its own. The current leadership has reached the new milestone of tightly locking itself up in an echo chamber and not tolerating dissent. A senior retired officer like Durrani fears for his life and has been constrained from traveling to meet family. This is in addition to him being hauled up in front of an inquisition regarding his books, especially Spy Chronicles, which he co-authored with the former chief of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), A.S. Dulat, and his pension being stopped for a while.

Durrani’s punishment

Durrani was punished not for disclosing any secret, but for analysing the tantalising event of the 2011 American operation in Abbottabad to kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The general retired in 1993, which means he wasn’t privy to any secret, but could still analyse based on his knowledge of his institution. Perhaps due to his pride in the military, he could not believe that the Pakistan Army could be caught with its pants down. And so, he claimed in an interview to Al Jazeera that the top generals negotiated the Osama bin Laden operation with the Americans. While the interview was ignored, Durrani repeating this claim in the book angered army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who was totally sidetracked by his political ego. Durrani’s theory about the Abbottabad operation took attention away from what the army chief was trying to do – tell the world that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had hurt national interests by disclosing to the newspaper Dawn that the world was concerned about Pakistan’s involvement with militant groups and extremism.

The jury on how much the army top brass knew about the American operation is still out. In his recently published book The Promised Land, former US President Barack Obama claims that it was a secret kept from Pakistan because some of its intelligence personnel were deeply connected with the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Former army chief General Ashfaq Kayani seems to have only demanded that Washington come clean about the operation after it was all done. None of this means that the generals at the helm of the Pakistan Army did or did not have more details. We will probably have to wait many more years when American records get declassified to get a clearer picture. Durrani, and many other officers like him, might eventually get disappointed as they realise that the military high command continued to sleep during the operation, as they did during the outbreak of the 1965 war with India.

Impact of the Durrani leak

However, Durrani’s article is important due to six factors. First, there is unrest in the larger military fraternity of Pakistan caused by actions of the new generation of generals. Second, there is an indication of a shift in the army’s culture. The institution has strayed away from its tradition of showing respect to the senior command, and even the retired ones. What started under General Pervez Musharraf in the form of criticising Lt. General Ali Quli Khan in his book has come full circle with a senior retired general being mercilessly hounded.

Third, the article says a lot about the military’s socialisation process. Power is maintained not just through distribution of perks and privileges, a system that Durrani criticises as being abused by the top brass, but also by revoking security clearance of officers that are seen as having stepped out of line. While Asad Durrani’s clearance was withdrawn for using his pen instead of the sword, Maj. General (retd) Mahmud Durrani lost his clearance that would enable him to attend functions where the chief would be present probably for his admission that Ajmal Kasab was a Pakistani citizen. There are many more stories waiting to be told about how men may retire from their respective services but can never return to civilian life.

Fourth, Durrani seems to have exposed the working of General Bajwa’s cabal, the influence of former generals, and the petty-mindedness behind the targeting of a senior retired officer. The former spy chief came out guns blazing about corruption of the military leadership, especially the story of General Beg extracting money from a Karachi banker, Younis Habib, to finance an ISI operation against Benazir Bhutto’s government. I remember my own interview with General Beg for my first book on Pakistan’s arms procurement decision-making at his think tank in Rawalpindi, in which he confessed that this was not the first time that the ISI had got money from private entrepreneurs. Intriguingly, Beg also managed to extract resources from the Germans, who continue to be a significant European source for financing both kosher and dubious think tank activities in Pakistan. The picture that emerges then is of a military with issues at the top.

Fifth, such close-mindedness means that the top-brass lacks capacity to deviate from their traditional behaviour, and are not capable of any strategic policy review. This means they are more likely to get stuck geo-politically and politically in situations from which they will be unable to extricate themselves. Finally, the institution’s capacity to harm people, including its own officers, has multiplied.

The building of an echo-chamber

Durrani published his thoughts in an Indian news blog probably because because he didn’t think it would be printed in Pakistan. He timed it well to further expose the shallowness of the existing top brass that is confronted with mounting political opposition to its hybrid rule formula. His article is a rap on Bajwa’s knuckles, and could become painful if it gets circulated widely in military circles. In his novel Honour Among Spies, Durrani shows the army chief exiting from the office, which is not a probability in real life except in case of a coup by another general. But additional pressures could be consequential for Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed’s future, whose desire to become the next army chief is no secret.

The Durrani leaks tell us about the growing weakness of an institution that has made it a habit not to expose itself to critical examination or alternative views. This particular problem dates back to the Musharraf years, when any discussion of the Kargil operation and shooting down of Pakistan Navy’s Breguet Atlantic maritime patrol aircraft at war colleges was totally forbidden. At that time, any discussion that took place was by the larger security community and in the country’s media. However, over the years, this became a bad habit with the military shifting from not listening to alternative views to gagging voices and planting views that would echo its own. The 14-15 think tanks in Islamabad mostly say what is approved. This creates the problem of an echo chamber that only regurgitates what the military leadership wants to hear.

There is a larger problem at the back of this behaviour: the proclivity of military leadership to generally consider itself like Caesar’s wife — above questioning. It tends to enforce its sensitivity on society as a fact of life. From a command-and-control perspective, such sensitivity is tricky. From the Pakistan Army punishing its own general for reviewing his institution’s performance to the Indian Air Force chief complaining about something minor in a Netflix series, this kind of behaviour implies that military leadership is not open to the idea of evaluation, or even laughter. In the process, it’s a bid to create a special category for the military as an institution that cannot be examined.

Surely, modern militaries are technologically advanced and more complex, which makes control difficult. The myth-building about their service to the nation and how critical they are for ensuring security to the State then puts them at a pedestal where questioning becomes relatively difficult. This is not easy to ignore because it presents a long-term issue for civil-military relations. The sensitivity of the military is negotiated through the society with the legitimacy of politicians, depending upon the respect they show their armed forces.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), was told not to allow any discussion of the 1971 debacle and the military’s performance. He ensured silence, but paid with his own life. The survival of politics makes it vital for societies and polities to engage with the armed forces and treat them as one of the institutions, rather than the only one.

https://theprint.in/opinion/pakistan-army-is-now-an-echo-chamber-look-at-what-it-did-to-ex-isi-chief-asad-durrani/566966/

PDM is united against this selected government - Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

 Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that all the parties in Pakistan Democratic Movement are united against this incapable, fake and illegitimate government of Imran Khan.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said this while talking to media after visiting Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz president and leader of opposition in the national assembly Shahbaz Sharif in prison on Tuesday afternoon in Lahore.
Chairman PPP said that it is our tradition and custom that we sympathize to the bereaved family at the time of grief and sorrow and express solidarity with them. He said that he had gone to meet Shahbaz Sharif to condole with him on his mother’s death who recently passed away. He said that this selected Prime Minister and his government does not have courage to hear the truth. This is probably the only government in the world in which current and former leaders of opposition are languishing in prison without any conviction namely Shahbaz Sharif and Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah respectively. President Zardari was kept in prison for 12 years without any conviction. This is against democracy and human rights. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that this is the reason the democracy has not progressed in this country.
He said that the government is unable to control price-hike and economically Pakistan is continuously suffering. In democracy the government and the opposition both put forward their view points and a way to stabilize the economy is found but unfortunately this selected government refused the democratic way to solve the problems. We had asked Imran Khan to become prime minister of Pakistan but he refused to take this advice and chose to become prime minister of PTI. We want to restore the real democracy in Pakistan as Imran Khan has sent critique of his policies to prison whether politician or media men.

Responding to questions by the journalists, Chairman PPP said that all the parties of PDM are on one page and one stage and our target is the same to send this puppet home. The resignations have to be submitted to the party leadership by 31 December and these resignations are our atom bomb which we will use from the platform of PDM. He said that there are puppets in this government from speaker of the assembly to the chief minister Punjab. We cannot have dialogue with the puppets. When the leader of opposition is not allowed to talk on the floor of assembly then what national dialogue the government is talking about, he asked. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the message for Imran Khan is loud and clear that he should resign. We will go to every nook and corner of Punjab and the country to mobilise people against this selected government. The mobilization is increasing by the day.

Today Pakistani economy is worst than Afghanistan and in this situation Imran Khan will have to resign. Imran khan has made institutions disputed and the integrity of institutions is being harmed by Imran Khan. This selected prime minister makes hue and cry about corruption but the entire corrupt are in his cabinet. The thieves of sugar, flour, K-electric, Malam Jabba, BRT etc are with him. Imran Khan is protecting them all. Funds from Israel and India are in the foreign funding case against Imran Khan.

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24162/

Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari - Bloodshed of the innocent children and martyrs of Army Public School, Peshawar will continue to shake the conscience of the entire nation

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that bloodshed of the innocent children and martyrs of Army Public School, Peshawar would continue to shake the conscience of the entire nation until the perpetrators and facilitators of this gory crime against humanity were not exposed and brought to justice.

In his message on the 6th martyrdom anniversary of the APS Peshawar carnage, the PPP Chairman saluted the martyred students and their brave parents, whose immeasurable agony can only be felt by the families of those who also had their loved ones martyred by terrorists. “Being the son of a martyr Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, I, and the PPP, stand in complete solidarity with these parents,” he added.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari paid glowing tributes to the innocent souls whose loss shook the nation, adding that it is the responsibility of the state and the government to prove that terrorists are not more powerful than them, and to provide justice, bringing long deserved solace to grieving families.

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24164/

کراچی: بلاول ہاؤس کے سامنے گاڑی میں نصب بم برآمد

کراچی کے علاقے کلفٹن میں بلاول ہاؤس کے سامنے کھڑی گاڑی میں بم نصب ہونے کی اطلاع پر بم ڈسپوزل اسکواڈ پہنچ گیا جس نے بم برآمد کر کے ناکارہ بنا دیا۔

پولیس کے مطابق چلتی ہوئی گاڑی میں میگنیٹک بم چپکایا گیا تھا، مذکورہ گاڑی میں غیر ملکی سوار تھے، جنہیں محفوظ مقام پر منتقل کر دیا گیا ہے اور ان سے تفتیش کی جا رہی ہے۔

پولیس کو بم کی اطلاع ون فائیو مددگار پر دی گئی تھی جس پر پولیس نے بم ڈسپوزل اسکواڈ کو طلب کر لیا تھا۔

ایس ایس پی ساؤتھ زبیر نذیر نے بتایا کہ بم ڈبل کیبن گاڑی میں نصب کیا گیا تھا، یہ گاڑی بلاول ہاؤس کے سامنے بینک کے سامنے کھڑی تھی۔

ایس ایس پی ساؤتھ نے یہ بھی بتایا کہ بم والی گاڑی کی نشاندہی ہونے کے بعد پولیس نے 200 میٹر کے علاقے کو گھیر لیا تھا جبکہ مذکورہ گاڑی اور علاقے سے لوگوں کو ہٹا دیا گیا تھا۔

https://jang.com.pk/news/858597

 

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#Pakistan - #Covid-19 runs unchecked in overcrowded prisons

A human rights report released Monday criticised Pakistan’s response to the coronavirus threat faced by tens of thousands of inmates stuck in overcrowded and often unsanitary prisons.

Instead of following through on promises to ease prison overcrowding made when the pandemic first hit, the government has actually increased its inmate population by over 6,000 between April and August, from 73,242 to 79,603. Some of the few who were freed were later rearrested. The joint report by London-based Amnesty International and Justice Project Pakistan said inmates face a growing risk of infection, and called for renewed efforts to free certain prisoners, particularly the elderly, women and “prisoners of conscience.”

“As Pakistan braves the second wave of Covid-19, prisoners remain dangerously exposed as the authorities not only failed to reduce overcrowding, they actually worsened it,” said Rimmel Mohydin, South Asia regional campaigner for Amnesty International.

In the first weeks of the outbreak in February, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered the release of pretrial inmates charged with nonviolent crimes as well as those whose bail had previously been denied. In Sindh, 519 prisoners were to be released on bail. But in late March, the Supreme Court suspended all bail orders that were granted because of the virus. “The Supreme Court’s decision checked the countrywide momentum to reduce prison populations and even led to the rearrest of prisoners,” said the report.

Even when the Supreme Court did allow certain prisoners to be freed because of age or time served, they were never released, said Sarah Belal, Justice Project Pakistan’s executive director.

Also still behind bars are the women prisoners whom Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered freed if they met certain criteria, such as those on trial or convicted of minor crimes, Belal said.

There was no immediate comment from the government on the 37-page report.

The country’s prison system was already dangerously overcrowded before the pandemic. Built to accommodate less than 58,000 people, it routinely houses nearly 80,000 inmates, according to the World Prison Brief, delivered by the University of London’s Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research. Punjab stopped reporting positive cases in jails in April when it had registered just 86 cases. However, in response to a Right to Information Request, the report discovered that only 16,534 virus tests had been conducted over seven months in Punjab’s jails, with 1,345 testing positive. The report called for the immediate release of all “prisoners of conscience” but also asked the government to “strongly consider” releasing pretrial detainees.

The rights groups also want a review of a wide variety of prisoners, such as the elderly who have served most of their sentence, prisoners who are serving sentences for minor crimes and those with health issues, “including those with a weakened immune system, due to the exacerbated risks an infection with Covid-19 would bring to their health and lives.”

“Prison authorities should ensure that the person discharged has a place to go quarantine and the local authorities are notified that the person has been discharged,” Mohydin added.

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/12/14/covid-19-runs-unchecked-in-overcrowded-prisons/

Pakistan's opposition to lead march to capital in bid to oust Imran Khan

The leaders of an anti-government alliance urged tens of thousands of supporters at a rally on Sunday (Dec 13) to join a march to the Pakistani capital next month to demand the ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who they say was installed by the military in a rigged 2018 election.

An alliance of 11 major opposition parties - Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) - has been holding mammoth rallies since its inception in September to seek Khan's ouster and press the military to stop interfering in politics.

"The time to have a dialogue is over. There will be a march now," said opposition leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of the late former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

He ruled out the possibility of any dialogue with Khan or the military unless fresh elections were announced.

Khan, who says the protest campaign is aimed at blackmailing him into dropping corruption cases against its leaders, has criticised the rallies amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The opposition, which has held six mammoth rallies in recent months, says it plans to put pressure on the government to call a fresh election. The next election is due in 2023.

Pakistan has reported 72 coronavirus deaths and 3,369 infections in the last 24 hours, the highest numbers since June.

The protest campaign come as the country's economy struggles with high inflation and negative growth, which the opposition blames on Khan and the military.

"Who else do we blame," asked former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, addressing the rally via a video link from his home in London where he has been living since he left on a medical bail late last year.

Sharif, after he fell out with the generals, was convicted in 2018 on corruption charges.

"Don't use the military's institution for your political ends," Sharif urged the military generals.

Khan and the military deny the accusations.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/pakistan-opposition-rallies-march-against-pm-imran-khan-13765762

کل بھی بھٹو زندہ تھا، آج بھی بھٹو زندہ ھے

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’ڈائیلاگ کا وقت گزرچکا، لانگ مارچ ہوگا، بلاول بھٹو زرداری

پاکستان ڈیمو کریٹک موومنٹ  (پی ڈی ایم) کے تحت ہونے والے  جلسے سے چیئرمین پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی (پی پی پی) بلاول بھٹو زرداری خطاب کررہے ہیں ۔

بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے لانگ مارچ کا اعلان کردیا۔ ڈائیلاگ شائیلاگ کا وقت گذر گیا۔ سلیکٹر فون کرنا بند کرو ہم آرہے ہیں اسلام آباد۔

لاہور میں جلسے سے خطاب کرتے ہوئے بلاول بھٹو نے کہا کہ نالائق نااہل اور ناجائزہ حکمرانوں کو عوام بھگت رہے ہيں ،دھمکی ، گالم گلوچ او جھوٹ کے سوا ان کے دامن میں کچھ نہيں ، ہم تو کشتیاں جلاکر میدان میں اترے ہیں۔

 بلاول بھٹو نے کہا کہ فتح کی صبح جلد ہونے والی ہے ، یہ کٹھ پتلی اور سلیکٹڈ حکمران گھر جانے والا ہے۔

انہوں نے کہا کہ آٹا چینی چوروں کی حکومت میں غریب کا چولہا بند ہے ، دکاندار کا شٹر بند ہے ، آج صنعتوں پر تالا ہے ، ٹرانسپورٹرز کا پہیہ جام ہے۔

بلاول بھٹو نے کہا کہ ان کو عوام کا درد اس لیے محسوس نہيں ہوتا کہ یہ آپ کے ووٹوں کی طاقت سےاقتدار میں نہیں آئے، ان کو امپائر کی انگلی سے اقتدار ملا ہے ، یہ آپ کا فیصلہ نہیں ہے۔ 

پی پی چیئرمی نے کہا کہ پنجاب کے ساتھ کیا مذاق کیاجارہاہے ،پنجاب کی پگ ایک کٹھ پتلی کے سرپر ہے ، ہم نہ کٹھ پتلی کو مانتے ہيں ، نہ کٹھ پتلی کے کٹھ پتلی کو مانتے ہیں۔

انہو ں نے کہا کہ حکمرانوں میں سچ سننے کا حوصلہ نہیں ہے ۔

بلاول بھٹو نے کہا کہ شہباز شریف ، خورشید شاہ کو رہا کیا جائے ، ظلم جبر کی رات ختم ہونے کو ہے ،ہم اس کٹھ پتلی کو للکار رہے ہیں ، اس کے سہولت کاروں کو للکار رہےہيں ۔

https://jang.com.pk/news/857773

آيا آيا بلاول ، چھايا چھايا بلاول

Video - Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari addresses public in Gulberg, Lahore

The New Authoritarian Order Is Determined To Curb Free Speech

Raza Rumi 

@Razarumi

The government has notified a set of rules as a sub legislative framework to implement section 37 (unlawful online content) of the notorious Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016. The ‘Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguards) Rules 2020’, are a newer version of the rules that were issued by the government in February 2020. These rules are draconian to say the least. Now criticism of the government can be deemed as ‘unlawful’. The rules extend to social media companies as well as the internet service providers making it legally mandatory to implement directions by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to censor online content; and provide user data. The powers of blocking, removing or in plain terms censoring online content is at the discretion of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority. Due process seems to have been dispensed with.

The attempts to control social media and the internet at large follow the taming of electronic media, the weaponizing of advertising revenues, a widespread campaign to malign media outlets and silence critical journalists through online harassment, termination and in some cases abductions too.

Authoritarianism has returned with a bang, albeit in new bottles. Parliament has been reduced to an irrelevance and the political parties view media freedoms through the prism of whether their leaders and rallies are getting adequate ‘coverage’. The judiciary, with some exceptions, thus far has played along and has in effect contributed to the emergence of the current authoritarian order. Senior media persons have celebrated the emergence of a ‘hybrid regime’ and the intelligentsia is divided, unorganized with some influential members even complicit in the reproduction of the old model of authoritarianism. In a few cases, journalists and activists went missing but the more insidious path has been registration of cases invoking PECA and sometimes the favourite charge of sedition that the British gifted to the Indian subcontinent.

Pakistan is not an exception to the global trends. Tyranny comes in various shapes: from the neo-fascist leaders to surveillance systems and the neoliberal order that patently undermine citizen rights. Media freedoms around the world have declined including Pakistan. But the issue with Pakistan is that censorship and denial of rights is a recurrent theme in the country’s history.

The Four attempts to silence Nayadaur

I founded this platform with the idea that the space for digital media was expanding and that one could find ways to circumvent the odious corporate model that has ruined journalism everywhere. But in the few years of this platform’s existence, this illusion is wearing off. The daily conversation with my colleagues – who effectively run this outlet – is ALL about the red lines. Essentially, all the big stories are out of bounds. Covering human rights abuses injures nationalism, mentioning enforced disappearances endangers national security, and asking for amendments to blasphemy law is a Western conspiracy. The ultimate bogey is that since I spend long stretches of time ‘abroad’, I am propagating a ‘foreign agenda’. Comments on social media from the youthful trolls to ostensibly ‘serious’ persons incessantly fuel this suspicion.

Within the narrowly designated space by the state and society, we still manage to produce numerous multimedia stories that are often critical of those in power. Some draw the ire of the ruling party as its avid supporters view Naya Daur as an ‘anti-PTI’ platform. Their recent induction into notional democracy has yet to teach them that it is they, the government, who have to be held accountable, and we cannot be adherents of a cult. Since the judiciary, the army, and the foreign policy are largely no-go areas, we have tried to focus on education, sexual harassment and other issues thinking that we have some leeway here.

But that too has proved to be a struggle.

In the past few months, Naya Daur has been harassed by four legal notices for its stories. Mind you, this is still a toddler in the mediascape, learning to crawl at best. I shall begin with the most recent.

My colleague Ailia Zehra who selects the news for this website, and is not amenable to paternalistic advice, has been following up on the Ali Zafar story. I have been admirer of Ali Zafar’s music and his other contributions. But harassment charges are serious and given the culture of victim-blaming and misogyny, we have to go an extra mile in Pakistan. Furthermore, I have relied on the editorial judgment of my women colleagues.

At Daily Times, I let my deputy write a strong editorial and refused to take ‘advice’ from the management. Ailia’s recent oped and a few other reports have drawn his ire and now we have to deal with the potential legal proceedings which are expensive, time consuming and stressful.

Prior to this, NayaDaur received a notice from DAWN for publishing an interview of filmmaker Jami not conducted by NDM but by a freelance contributor. Since we exist in digital spaces, we strive to respond and engage with our audiences. While I have all the professional respect for Mr. Hameed Haroon and would be the last person to become part of any sordid campaign against him, Jami’s voice simply cannot be cancelled.

This notice was followed by another legal notice by Omair Rana because our multimedia editor, Ali Warsi produced a video after the Lahore Grammar School’s students came out with charges of sexual harassment against teachers and administration. Yes, we diligently covered it for days and continue to post updates.

The fourth legal notice came from the US citizen Cynthia Ritchie – working as a consultant for Pakistan military’s public relations wing (ISPR) and the KP government – who after questioning my patriotism (and accusing me of working to defame Pakistan) held me personally responsible for an article written by a contributor in January 2019 and a typographical error (rectified promptly) about her statement in the court.

That notice was also posted on Twitter with all the troll farms supporting her. I had to block dozens including Ms. Ritchie.

On Twitter, our senior editor, Murtaza Solangi was heckled by a minister for sharing a story that was based on what the minister has said on Twitter itself. Irony died that very day.

NayaDaur have already been at the receiving end of PTA

PECA and its rules – notified or otherwise – are not new to us. We received a notice from PTA earlier this year which found our articles as violative of the law. Most of these stories were either translations of reports from the international media or news items that other outlets carried too. NDM had to remove them mainly to survive.

Online abuse is taxing and stressful. And these notices make the team’s work even more stressful. Not to mention that they are plain encroachments on free speech.

Mercifully, at least we are only dealing with notices here. In January 2020, this website was taken down for nearly a week without notice and ultimately restored after many a pleading with the officialdom. But that was not the first time. In April 2018, the website was banned as well perhaps due to publishing of articles on-a-movement-that-I-will-not-name!

The myth of ‘free’ digital spaces should be laid to rest.But should we give up? No. We are not going to accept the way those with power and clout want us to act. There is no point in publishing  if not done to advance public accountability, social justice and to uphold the public interest.This is why an odious law such as PECA needs to called as such, and curbs on free speech cannot be called anything else.

If the Parliament and the judiciary don’t intervene to safeguard citizen freedoms and if the media remains divided and ready to cannibalise itself, we may have already entered another long spell of authoritarianism.

https://nayadaur.tv/2020/11/the-new-authoritarian-order-is-determined-to-curb-free-speech/

Pakistan’s New Interior Minister Is An Open Supporter Of Extremists

By Hassan Zaman

In yet another cabinet reshuffle, Sheikh Rasheed who was serving as Federal Minister for Railways has been appointed Interior Minister. Rasheed replaced Minister Ijaz Shah who had recently made headlines as interior minister when he issued a veiled terror threat to opposition leaders. Ijaz Shah’s appointment as Interior Minister had raised eyebrows with people criticising his alleged links with terror outfits. But Sheikh Rasheed’s appointment is even more controversial for the following reasons.

The Awami League politician holds extremist views which he has openly expressed time and again. He had openly supported the 2016 Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) sit-in against the then government of PMLN over a ‘clerical error’ that had removed Khatm-e-Nabuwwat oath from the draft Election Law.

Further, when then PM Nawaz Sharif had a shoe thrown at him during his visit to Jamia Naeemia in Lahore, Rasheed had justified the act saying that the PMLN government should mend its ways because a person who can throw a shoe can also fire gun shots, suggesting that if PMLN leaders are attacked by religious extremists, the action would be a justified reaction to the government’s policies. A few weeks later, then interior minister Ahsan Iqbal was shot by a TLP supporter. The minister remained in hospital for several days after receiving injuries.

Earlier in the same year, Sheikh Rasheed had glorified Mumtaz Qadri, the killer of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer during a talk show. Rasheed had termed Mumtaz Qadri’s supporters a ‘political force’ which will influence election results in his constituency in Rawalpindi. He had gone on to say that Mumtaz Qadri’s supporters will vote for his party in the 2018 elections. Sheikh Rasheed is also known to be close to leaders of banned extremist outfits. He had been an active member of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council, an alliance of religious parties including banned outfits such as Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ)’s sister organisation Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ). Founded in 2011, the Difa-e-Pakistan Council aimed at enforcing conservative policies in the country and ‘protecting’ Pakistan from foreign enemies. However, the Council has mysteriously gone missing in action after the PTI assumed power.

Meanwhile, media reports say Rasheed has been given the new assignment as part of the government’s clampdown on opposition. The timing of the appointment, which comes just two days before the PDM rally in Lahore, has given rise to the impression that Rasheed has been launched to counter the opposition.

https://nayadaur.tv/2020/12/pakistans-new-interior-minister-is-an-open-supporter-of-extremists/

جنوری میں لانگ مارچ شروع ہونے سے قبل وزیراعظم بھاگ جائے گا- بلاول بھٹو

پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی (پی پی پی) کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے اپوزیشن کے جنوری کے لانگ مارچ سے قبل وزیراعظم عمران خان کے بھاگ جانے کا دعویٰ کردیا ہے۔

لاہور کے علاقے گلبرگ میں تقریب کے دوران کارکنوں سے خطاب میں بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا کہ جنوری میں لانگ مارچ شروع ہونے سے قبل وزیراعظم بھاگ جائے گا۔

انہوں نے کہا کہ جمہوریت ہی وہ واحد راستہ ہے، جس پر چل کر عوام کے تمام مسائل حل ہوں گے۔

پی پی چیئرمین نے مزید کہا کہ جنوری میں جب ہم اپنا لانگ مارچ شروع کریں گے تو یہ وزیراعظم بھاگ جائے گا۔

ان کا کہنا تھا کہ کل کا مینار پاکستان لاہور کا جلسہ تاریخی ہوگا، آپ نے پیپلز پارٹی کا پرچم تھام کر مینار پاکستان پہنچنا ہے۔

بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے یہ بھی کہا کہ طاقت کا سرچشمہ عوام ہیں، آپ کی جدوجہد سے ہم اس سلیکٹڈ کو بھگائیں گے اور سلیکٹڈ حکومت گرائیں گے۔

انہوں نے کہا کہ لاہور کے جیالوں کا جمہوریت کی تحریک میں خون اور پسینہ شامل ہے، پیپلز پارٹی کےکارکن جانتے ہیں جب لانگ مارچ ہوتا ہے تو کیسے ہوتا ہے۔

پی پی چیئرمین کا کہنا تھا کہ پی ڈی ایم کے پلیٹ فارم سے فیصلہ کن جمہوری جدوجہد کر رہے ہیں، اس جدوجہد کے بعد ہم حقیقی جمہوریت بحال کریں گے۔

 

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