Islamabad authorities threaten to forcibly remove Baloch Missing Persons protest camp

 Families of enforced disappearances continue to sit on D-Chowk where the Islamabad administration and police have threatened the families of the disappeared to end the protest or their sit-in-camp will be forcibly removed.

Sami Baloch, daughter of Dr Din Muhammad Baloch who has been missing for 12 years, tweeted they have been threatened by the Assistant Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner Islamabad to end her sit-in protest.

 She wrote on Twitter, “We have (protesters) been threatened DC and AC Islamabad that if we do not end our protest, our camp will be forcibly removed from D-Chowk and we may be arrested.  If the state tries to forcibly end our peaceful sit-in and arrest our elderly women and children, we are all ready for that. But our demands remain unchanged.”

Earlier Nasrullah Baloch, Chairman Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) said that at least 20 youth were arrested by Islamabad police, tortured physically and mentally, and threatened not to visit sit-in-protest for release of Baloch missing persons.

“The police warned them, if they visit the join the protest again, they will be arrested,” Baloch said.

Meanwhile, the Baloch Solidarity Committee has organised a massive protest rally in Quetta to express their support and solidarity to the families of Baloch missing persons in Islamabad.

The BSC also announced more such rallies and demonstration in other cities of Balochistan. They urged Baloch people, human rights groups, civil society and people from all walks of life to come out in support of the aged mothers in Islamabad who have been sitting under the open sky for past nine days.

It may be recalled that different political party members and representatives have visited the protest camp to express their support to the protesters and urged the government to resolve the issue of enforced-disappearances.

#Balochistan - Kapkapar Middle School Awaiting Development

 

Sher Jan P. Shohaz

During Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Turbat on 13 November 2020, hundreds of fake promises were made to console the people of Pakistan’s most impoverished and geographically largest province but later no practical progress from those promises was ever made possible to let Mr. PM’s words fulfilled since he stated, “very few federal governments thought of Balochistan,” adding that his regime would assist Balochistan especially in the field education.

It is no denying fact that the province, be it education or other issues, has experienced no improvement in the socio-economic situations. According to a report published in Dawn on 17 November 2020, approximately 60 to 70 percent of Balochistan’s children are out of school (the figure touches 78 percent for girls) which paints a gloomy picture about the most moneyed, culturally well-endowed, and resource-rich province which has around 12,500 primary schools from which a number is broken. The number of schools estimated without classrooms is nearly 7,000 and the following have an inadequate number of teachers. Nearly 5,000 ghost teachers have reportedly been found most of whom have been hired due to their political connections rather than having been appointed on the basis of merit.

What’s more, the report further reveals that around 2,200 schools are deficient in boundary walls while nearly 5,000 schools have been named, are run by one teacher. This intensive famine of low attention of federal and provincial government has resulted in greater illiteracy in the province that stands at 41per cent.

The education sector in each year owns prototypes in economic statistics via platforms our officials keep slogans of #emergingBalochistan but none of them is brought into play for all practical purposes.

However, rural areas of the province are prone to a greater educational crisis than urban. Under PSDP No 2419 for the financial year 2018-2019, The Executive Engineer 2 Provincial B&R Turbat tendered a work of infrastructural improvement and construction of about 200 middle schools, approved by the Government of Balochistan in which construction of school building for Government Boys Middle School Kapkapar was one the works yet awaits for improvement. Although, each work was directed duration of 12 months with different amount of budgets respectively yet question on implementation of budgets seem to be unheard to every official of the current regimen.

The building of Kapkapar Middle School left incomplete. (Picture courtesy: Balach Qadir(.

Seeming the worst condition of the school mentioned above, social activist and student Balach Qadir, a local of the region, since the beginning of the month started a campaign on social media and in-person to ask for a donation for school construction as a temporary adjustment. The campaign started from social media has received huge accolades while some of the people have donated a little amount in a donation. “I have visited each official of the current government, who owns power, to discuss the great pause in school construction, but was every time disappointed with repeated words of candidness,” said Balach, adding that ” I have personally reached to Finance Minister Zahoor Buledi and MPA Lala Rasheed on the following topic but nothing satisfactory happened. Later, I, too, made my meeting possible with DC on the issue and but no satisfactory initiative ever took place in the response of our all meetings and campaigns. This campaign was the last option left for us to provide a temporary arrangement and provide a roof to these kids.”

The school had been upgraded into middle school in 2013 including the hiring of 5 teachers as making the number of all staff members reach 5 from whom only one is often seen present in school and others are missing.

How possible it sounds to the population living under a caustic plight to make an image of a competitive literacy via public donation? The great inattention of the provincial government demonstrates a strong fragility in interest and healthy deficiency in the jurisdiction to make Balochistan an accompanying province nationwide.

A report – Pakistan Education Statistics 2016-17 – which was launched by the Academy of Educational Planning and Management (AEPAM), draws a bleak picture of out-of-school children in the country where a total of 51.53 million children between the age of five and 16, as many as 22.84mn — 44pc — were out of school. In consonance with the 2015-16 report, 22.63m out-of-school children were estimated.

In accordance with details provided in the report, Balochistan receives the highest proportion of out-of-school children which stands at 75pc. According to the same report, approximately 5.06m children of primary school age are out of school. At the middle, high, and higher secondary level, the number is 6.51m, 4.97m, and 6.29m, respectively.

Another report acknowledges that nearly 80.50 percent of schools in Balochistan are poor in infrastructure some of which are without walls, cracked, and some don’t have roofs and rooms including other fundamental equipment.

Consequently, controlling the rapid growth of illiteracy in the country requires a dire need of a grand plan with which the federal and provincial governments need to conceive and remain with. This too requires the government to make an increase in share in the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) which has inclined in Balochistan to 14 percent in 2018-19, from 23 percent in 2014-15. This current budget in education is never sufficient to come out from educational challenges.

Similarly, rural areas of the province ought to be facilitated with different types of incentive and regulatory schemes to figure out what will work against giant challenges in our education.

https://balochistanvoices.com/2021/02/kapkapar-middle-school-awaiting-development/

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Video Report - Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari congratulates people of PS-88, Malir

Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari terms the presidential reference regarding Senate elections as a no-confidence motion against the ruling PTI’s own Assembly members.

 

Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has termed the presidential reference regarding Senate elections as a no-confidence motion against the ruling PTI’s own Assembly members adding that some government members have been contacting the Pakistan People’s Party for tickets in advance because they know that this government will go soon. Addressing the Party workers at the residence of newly-elected Sindh Assembly member Yousuf Murtaza Baloch from PS-88 Malir, the PPP Chairman said that the selected government is upset over the political strategy of PDM as the Imran Khan regime wants to rig the Senate elections. For this, sometimes it attempts to use the shoulders of the Election Commission of Pakistan and sometimes the Supreme Court to fire the gun, he added.

 Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the people of Pakistan would not allow anyone to make the Senate elections controversial, nor would anyone dare to give Niazi a majority through the back door. “We will not allow anyone to rob our strength in parliament,” he stated and question whether anyone had taken notice of Suo Moto when the people’s rights were robbed in 2018 general elections? He said that it would be an attack on democracy if the right of the secret ballot and voluntary voting of the members of the Assembly was taken away by force.
 
The PPP Chairman said that if the rulers have confidence in their members then why they want to come through the back door, they should accept the opposition’s challenge and fight democratically. He further asked as to why the members of the ruling party would vote at the behest of Imran Khan, who saw that whether the by-elections were held in Karachi or Sanghar, the PPP is defeating the PTI everywhere.
 
He said that democracy does not follow the orders of any Pharaoh. What a joke that when we say that elections should be held in accordance with the Constitution and the law, then photoshop videos appear in the media. “All this was a conspiracy against democracy and Senate elections,” he added.
 
The PPP Chairman said that he was fighting against the selected government on all fronts to defeat the opponents. From Karachi to Sanghar, from Sanghar to Pishin, where by-elections have taken place, the selected government has suffered shocking defeats with its candidates getting their securities confiscated.
 Bilawal Bhutto Zardari while paying homage to the late Murtaza Baloch, former MPA of PS-88 Malir and a Provincial Minister, said that his services to the people of his constituency were unforgettable. He said that the people of PS-88 have shown the whole of Pakistan what the real worth of these puppets is. “Ground reality for the PTI is that they will be third in the next election and their securities will be confiscated.
The PPP Chairman congratulated the newly elected MPA Yousuf Murtaza Baloch, PS-88 voters, Party workers and leaders and on the Party’s victory.

 https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24403/

 
 
 

Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari congratulates the former PM Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani on acceptance of his nomination papers for general Senate seat from Islamabad.

 Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has congratulated the former Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani on acceptance of his nomination papers for general Senate seat from Islamabad.

During a telephonic conversation, the PPP Chairman said that selected government was afraid of the candidature of Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani for unknown reasons and it has resorted to conspiracies to flee from the contest between democratic forces and the selected puppets.

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24401/

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عورت کو تعلیم دیں یا جہیز؟

تحریم عظیم 

اصل جہیز وہ ہے جو آج زارا نعیم نے اپنی محنت اور قابلیت سے کمایا ہے، عورت کو اسی جہیز کی ضرورت ہے۔

پاکستان میں کل سے زارا نعیم کی کامیابی کا جشن منایا جا رہا ہے۔ پورا ملک ایک عورت کی تعلیمی کامیابی پر فخر کر رہا ہے۔ یہ وہی ملک ہے جہاں عورت کی تعلیم کو اتنا اہم نہیں سمجھا جاتا تھا۔

عام گھروں میں کہا جاتا تھا کہ لڑکیاں اتنا پڑھ لکھ کرکیا کریں گی، آخر میں انہوں نے چولہا ہی سنبھالنا ہے۔ ملالہ یوسفزئی کی مثال بھی ہمارے سامنے ہے۔ انہیں طالبان نے سکول جانے کی پاداش میں گولی مار کر زخمی کر دیا تھا۔ اگر آج اسی ملک میں ایک عورت کی تعلیمی کامیابی پر جشن منایا جا رہا ہے تو یہ بہت بڑی تبدیلی ہے۔

پچھلے دنوں شادی کے موقعے پر خواتین کو ملنے والے جہیز کی بھی بہت بات چلی۔ ہمیں جہیز سے ہمیشہ کی چڑ رہی ہے۔ ہمارا خیال ہے کہ اصل جہیز وہ ہے جو آج زارا نعیم نے اپنی محنت اور قابلیت سے کمایا ہے۔ عورت کو اسی جہیز کی ضرورت ہے۔ اس سے ہی معاشرے میں اس کے مقام کا تعین کرتا ہے نہ کہ وہ لوہے کی پیٹیاں جو بستر، برتن اور الیکٹرانکس کے سامان سے بھری ہوتی ہیں۔

ہمارے معاشرے میں عورت کی عزت اس کے ساتھ آنے والے جہیز سے کی جاتی ہے۔ جو عورت اپنے ساتھ جتنا زیادہ جہیز لے کر جاتی ہے، اس کے ساتھ سسرال میں اتنا ہی بہتر سلوک ہونے کی امید کی جاتی ہے۔ جن عورتوں کے ساتھ جہیز نہیں ہوتا یا کم ہوتا ہے انہیں سسرال میں جہیز نہ لانے کے طعنے بھی دیے جاتے ہیں، مارا پیٹا بھی جاتا ہے اور کچھ کیسز میں قتل بھی کر دیا جاتا ہے۔

دوسری طرف جو عورت اپنے ساتھ جہیز لے کر جاتی ہے، اس کے ساتھ سسرال والے کب تک اچھے رہیں گے اور اس کی کب تک عزت کریں گے اس کی کوئی ضمانت نہیں ہوتی۔ سسرال والے چاہیں تو اس کی قدر کر کے اس پر احسان کر دیں ورنہ اس کی لائی چیزوں کی حیثیت صفر کر کے روایتی سسرال بن جائیں۔ شادی عورت کے لیے اتنی ہی مشکل ہوتی ہے۔

ہم اکیسویں صدی میں جی رہے ہیں۔ ہمیں اب ان فرسودہ خیالات کو ترک کر دینا چاہیے۔ عورت کو جہیز سے زیادہ تعلیم اور گھر والے کے اعتماد اور بھروسے کی ضرورت ہوتی ہے۔ اس کے پاس یہ چیزیں ہوں تو وہ خود کو مضبوط تصور کرتی ہے اور اپنے بارے میں بہتر فیصلے کر سکتی ہے۔ جس طرح ہم زارا نعیم کی کامیابی پر خوش ہو رہے ہیں، اسی طرح ہمیں ہر عورت کی کامیابی پر خوش ہونا چاہیے۔ اس سے نہ صرف ان کا اپنے اوپر اعتماد بڑھتا ہے بلکہ ہمارے معاشرے کی اس فرسودہ سوچ پر بھی ضرب پڑتی ہے جو عورت کا محفوظ مستقبل جہیز میں ڈھونڈتی ہے۔

جب جہیز کی بات ہوتی ہے تو وہیں اکثر مردوں کی طرف سے شکوہ کیا جاتا ہے کہ جہیز لینا غلط ہے تو ہم سے سیٹل ہونے کی امید رکھنا بھی تو غلط ہے۔ ہمارے پاس اچھی نوکری ہو، گاڑی ہو، گھر ہو، تب ہی ہمارا رشتہ قبول کیا جاتا ہے ورنہ انکار کر دیا جاتا ہے۔ انہیں یہ بات سمجھنی چاہیے کہ وہ جس رشتے کی بات کر رہے ہیں، اس کی بنیاد پدرشاہی نے ڈالی ہے۔

عورت جب شادی کے رشتے میں بندھتی ہے تو وہ اپنے شوہر اور اس کے گھر والوں کے تابع ہو جاتی ہے۔ آپ اسے اس زنجیر سے آزاد کر دیں، اسے اس رشتے میں اپنی پوری ذات کے ساتھ آنے کی اجازت دے دیں تو اس کی اور اس کے گھر والوں کی طرف سے آپ سے منسوب توقعات بھی آہستہ آہستہ کم ہو جائیں گی۔

آپ عورت کے جسم، سوچ اور روح پر اپنی ملکیت جمانا چھوڑ دیں تو آپ سے بھی ’کتنا کماتے ہو‘ کا سوال نہیں کیا جائے گا۔ آپ چاہتے ہیں آپ سے نہ آپ کی کمائی پوچھی جائے، نہ اس گھر کے بارے میں پوچھا جائے جہاں آپ عورت کو لے کر جانے کا ارادہ رکھتے ہیں، نہ آپ کی گاڑی کا پوچھا جائے جبکہ آپ کو عورت سے ہر سوال کرنے کا حق بھی ہو اور اس کو اپنی مرضی سے چلانے کا اختیار بھی ہو۔

آپ ایک انسان کی زندگی کے مالک بننا چاہتے ہیں اور بدلے میں کوئی ضمانت بھی نہیں دینا چاہتے؟ یہ کہاں کا انصاف ہوا؟

چلیں آپ سے پوچھتے ہیں۔ کیا آپ وہ ڈگری جو آپ نے سالوں کی محنت کے بعد حاصل کی ہے اسے ایک بکسے میں بند کرنے کو تیار ہیں؟ کیا آپ اپنی وہ نوکری جو آپ نے سالوں کے تجربے کے بعد حاصل کی ہے اسے صرف اس لیے چھوڑنے کو تیار ہیں کہ جہاں آپ کی شادی ہو رہی ہے وہاں مردوں کا گھر سے باہر نکل کر کام کرنا پسند نہیں کیا جاتا؟ کیا آپ اپنے پاؤں کے نیچے زمین چھوڑ کر کسی کا ہاتھ پکڑنے کو تیار ہیں؟

نہیں؟ عورتیں یہ سب کرتی ہیں اور اپنے ساتھ لاکھوں روپے مالیت کا جہیز بھی لے کر جاتی ہیں، پھر بھی ہر گھر میں جھگڑے ہیں، نا قدری ہے اور ذلالت ہے۔ اس کا قصور وار کون ہے؟ وہ سوچ جو عورت کی سکیورٹی اس کی تعلیم کو نہیں بلکہ جہیز کو سمجھتی ہے۔

اس لیے آج زارا نعیم کی کامیابی کا جشن منائیں۔ ایک عورت کا اپنے پیروں کے نیچے اپنی زمین خود بنانا ہی اس کی اصل کامیابی ہے۔

https://www.independenturdu.com/node/60116 

Senate panel rejects bill to protect Pakistan's minorities

 Zahid Hussain Khan

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam member says minorities already enjoy unprecedented religious freedom

A Senate panel has rejected a bill seeking protection for Pakistan’s minorities against religiously motivated violence.

In a Feb. 2 meeting, the standing committee on religious affairs and interfaith harmony turned down the Protection of the Rights of Religious Minorities Bill, claiming that minorities enjoy complete religious freedom in the country.

The committee was chaired by Senator Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, a member of religious political party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F)

Existing laws already provide unprecedented religious freedom to minorities, Haideri was quoted by Express Tribune as saying.

“The government is even constructing temples for minorities. They are also at liberty to establish their religious educational institutions,” Haideri said.

Senator Sirajul Haq, head of Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, termed the bill a part of the agenda of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

There were heated exchanges between the committee members, according to the report.

Senator Javed Abbasi, who authored the bill, said minorities should have opportunities to go to their sacred religious places in a free environment. He pointed to incidents of forced conversion of minority girls in Sindh and other areas. “In many cases, young girls are forcibly converted. The state of Pakistan would not allow such acts. We do not treat minorities in Pakistan as [Indian Prime Minister Narendra] Modi is doing in India,” he said.

Senator Krishna Kumari Kolhi (Kishoo Bai), a Hindu member of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, said minorities were seeking legislation on hate speech and incitement to violence.

Kishoo Bai later walked out of the meeting in protest after the bill failed to pass through the committee.

“You [should] reject it [the bill] to show that you do not want to protect minorities,” Bai said. “I can't sit on such a committee.”

Kapal Dev, a noted minority activist, lamented the rejection of the bill.

“Yes, they want protection of the Muslim minority in India, the West and elsewhere, but not their own minorities here. Why do these religious members create hindrances for protection of minorities?” Dev asked.

https://www.ucanews.com/news/senate-panel-rejects-bill-to-protect-pakistans-minorities/91271#

Pakistan: Terrorized Punjab Minorities – Analysis

 By Tushar Ranjan Mohanty

On January 11, 2021, a four-year-old Christian girl Eshal was abducted, raped and killed in Malkhanwala village in Waras Pura tehsil (revenue unit) of Faisalabad District.

On January 9, 2021, the dead bodies of two Christian girls were found in a sewer near Makhan Colony in the Kahna area of Lahore. They were abducted and killed by Muhammad Mumtaz and Naeem when the girls refused to convert to Islam.

According to partial data compiled by the Institute for Conflict Management (ICM), Punjab has already recorded three incidents of attacks on religious minorities resulting in three deaths in 2021, so far (data till February 14).

During 2020, there was a considerable increase in incidents of the persecution of minorities in comparison to previous year. At least 37 such incidents were recorded, resulting in six deaths and 12 persons injured in Punjab in 2020, as against seven incidents in 2019. No casualty was reported in 2019.

Scores of women from minorities were forcibly converted to Islam. During an online consultation on “Forced conversion complaints and religious freedom” organized on November 28, 2020, by the Center for Social Justice (CSJ), a Pakistan-based organisation, CSJ Director Peter Jacob noted that there had been a rise in incidents of forced conversion of women, and specifically of underage girls from the religious minority communities.

Moreover, minorities are also bearing the brunt of the ‘blasphemy law’. On February 4, 2021, CSJ released data for incidents between 1987 and December 2020, which showed that at least 1,855 people had been charged with offences related to religion, Section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), (blasphemy against the Holy Quran) was introduced in 1982, and Section 295-C, PPC (desecration against Prophet Muhammad) in 1986. Punjab has had the most blasphemy complaints (76 per cent of all complaints), followed by Sindh (19 per cent).  As of December 2020, Punjab’s prisons were holding 337 prisoners for blasphemy, both those convicted and those awaiting trial. The largest number of inmates are in the Lahore district jail (60). Some of the prominent blasphemy-linked incidents in Punjab in 2020 include:

September 8, 2020: A Sessions Court in Lahore, Punjab, sentenced a Christian man, Asif Pervaiz, to death, after convicting him of sending text messages containing “blasphemous content.” The court order issued by Additional Sessions Judge Mansoor Ahmad Qureshi added that Pervaiz would first serve a three-year prison term for “misusing” his phone to send the derogatory text message, and then “he shall be hanged by his neck till his death.” He was also fined PKR 50,000. Asif Pervaiz has been in custody since 2013, fighting blasphemy charges that were levelled against him by the supervisor of the garment factory he once worked at. The supervisor had accused him of sending derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad to him in a text message. Following the sentence, Asif’s lawyer, Siaf-ul-Malook, however, stated, “He [Asif] denied the allegations and said that this man was trying to get him to convert to Islam.”August 23, 2020: Several individuals lodged separate complaints for “blasphemy” against journalist and human rights activist, Marvi Sirmed in different parts of the country, including Lahore (in Police Stations of Ravi Road, Faisal Town and Garden Town) and Jhang (Kotwali Police Station) in Punjab Province; Karachi, in Sindh Province; and Islamabad with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). According to the information received, on August 22, 2020, Sirmed allegedly posted a satirical Tweet from her personal account, referring to the many enforced disappearances of human rights defenders and government critics in Balochistan Province, Pakistan.August 13, 2020: Police filed a case under the blasphemy laws against actor Saba Qamar and singer Bilal Saeed, for shooting a music video inside Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore, Punjab Province. The case was registered at the Akbari Police Station of Lahore on the complaint of advocate Farhat Manzoor. Manzoor filed the complaint following the release of a clip of the video on August 8. Both Qamar and Saeed have published statements apologizing on their respective social media accounts.

Adding more weaponry to the armoury of religious bigots, the Punjab Assembly passed the Punjab Tahaffuz-i-Bunyad-i-Islam Bill 2020 on July 22, 2020. The law makes the publication of objectionable material punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and up to PKR 500,000 fine. In its editorial of July 29, 2020, Dawn noted,

The new law can justifiably be criticised for being superfluous and capable of stoking more religious intolerance, which this country can well do without.

Earlier, on July 24, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in a release asserted that HRCP was

…appalled at recent developments that are set to further whittle down space for freedom of intellectual thought, enquiry and expression… There is also ample reason to expect that Section 3(f) of the new Act will be used to target religious minorities and sects… The Commission urges the Punjab government to heed its concerns and roll back such measures before they backfire.

Meanwhile, terrorism-linked fatalities continued to decline in Punjab, as in the rest of the country. Fatalities fell from 28 (12 civilians, nine Security Force, SF, personnel and seven terrorists) in 2019 to 16 in 2020 (three civilians and 13 terrorists). At peak, there 392 overall fatalities in Punjab in 2009.  A high of 296 civilian fatalities was recorded in 2010.

However, the growing presence of religious extremists/fundamentalists and the state’s encouragement of such elements, is worrisome. These elements have the potential to provide a breeding ground for more violent and terrorist formations.

Moreover, there are no signs of genuine efforts to tighten the grip against terrorist groups such as the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the front organisation of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) – the ‘foreign oriented’ terrorist groupings that have strong bases in the Province. The leadership elements of these outfits continue to comfortable enjoy state hospitality, despite being convicted in several terrorism-related cases – the convictions primarily forced by international and particularly Financial Action Task Force (FATF) pressure. JuD chief Hafiz Saeed who was officially arrested in July 2019, and should have been servicing his sentence in jail, continues to live at his Johar Town house in Lahore, from where he continues to freely run his terrorist organisation. Most recently, on December 25, 2020, an Anti-Terrorism Court sentenced Hafiz Saeed to 15 years and six months imprisonment, without significant impact on his living conditions. Similarly, JeM chief Masood Azhar, who is facing several cases of terrorist funding, lives in a “safe place” in his native town – Bahawalpur. All proof enough to further establish that the arrests and sentences are superficial and only intended to bring Pakistan out of Financial Action Task Force’s ‘grey list’. 

Meanwhile, the global terrorist Islamic State (Daesh) remains a challenge. On May 17, 2020, Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) personnel killed four Daesh terrorists, while another three managed to escape during a security operation carried out near Azam Chowk in Bahawalpur city (Bahawalpur District). The CTD spokesperson confirmed that the terrorists were planning to carry out an attack at a religious minority’s place of worship.

Former Minister of Interior, Senator Rehman Malik, in his column in The Nation on September 24, 2020, wrote,

I have been watching the fast growth of Daesh in the region and I was the first one who pointed out the presence of ISIS [Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Islamic State], but successive governments have been refusing to accept its presence just as a policy. In fact, I have always been advocating that Daesh is very much in Pakistan. The Daesh handlers recruited over 80 thousand Pakistanis mostly from south Punjab.

Despite Prime Minister Imran Khan’s false claim of a safe Pakistan for all minorities in ‘Naya Pakistan’, persecution of religious minorities continues in Punjab and across Pakistan. The growing radicalization which is encouraged by the Government has undermined the achievements reflected in declining terrorism-linked fatalities and incidents. Rising extremism, moreover, threatens future the security in the province and the country. 

https://www.eurasiareview.com/16022021-pakistan-terrorized-punjab-minorities-analysis/

Is a US-Pakistan reset possible?

BY APARNA PANDE

As the Biden administration starts shaping its foreign policy, it has to deal with some complicated relationships. Few U.S. relationships are as complicated as the one with onetime ally and occasional frenemy, Pakistan, which is now closely aligned with China and is widely blamed for undermining the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan.

Voices sympathetic to Pakistan in Washington are advocating a reset of U.S.-Pakistan relations, setting aside the bitterness of the past. Their essential argument is that as a nuclear weapons power with a large army, which has been a friend of the United States in the past, Pakistan simply cannot be ignored.

The U.S. should, of course, not ignore Pakistan. But Americans should be wary of plans that draw the U.S. back into embracing Pakistan or depending on it. Pakistan is now China’s closest ally and its overtures to the U.S. are designed only to evade the consequences of its anti-American conduct.

The idea that there should be a new basis for U.S.-Pakistan relations is not new, but the latest calls for a ‘reset’ are based on that notion that it can somehow be achieved without a turnaround in Pakistan.Hudson Institute’s Husain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador, had first called for abandoning the idea of a U.S.-Pakistan alliance, and a bilateral relationship based on “greater humility” and an awareness of for each side of “what it can and cannot get” in a 2013 Foreign Affairs article titled “Breaking up is not hard to do.”The recent proposals for revisiting relations with Pakistan have come from three former officials who served during the Obama administration at a time when the United States poured billions of dollars into Pakistan in an attempt to wean it off its own strategic priorities. That effort ended only after Americans located Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town and killed him without first informing the Pakistanis out of fear that they might tip off the arch-terrorist.

This time, Richard Olson (who served as U.S. Ambassador from 2012 to 2015 and as Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2015 to 2016), advocates a “right-sized” relationship with Pakistan in a paper published by the United States Institute for Peace. Mr. Olson proposes moving away from emphasis on “military and intelligence aspects of cooperation” and a focus on “genuinely overlapping interests, especially economic and cultural ones.” He recognizes that “It is hard to imagine an Islamabad increasingly aligned with Beijing and still being close to Washington.”

The idea that the U.S. needs a new policy towards Pakistan has been repeated in an Atlantic Council paper co-authored by Shamila Chaudhary, former director for Pakistan and Afghanistan at the Obama National Security Council and S. Vali Nasr, former Senior Advisor to U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke (2009-2011).

Ms. Chaudhary and Mr. Nasr also emphasize economic and people-to-people relations, without acknowledging that these cannot be created by a U.S. administration. Businesses in Pakistan would have to buy more from the U.S. while finding enough American buyers for Pakistani products for trade volumes to expand.

The cultural and economic overlap between Pakistan and the United States is very limited. The right-sized U.S. relationship with Pakistan, shorn of military and intelligence ties, would be a rather minimalist one.

It is unlikely that — based on economics alone — Pakistan would deserve more attention from the U.S. than is given to, say, Morocco or Bangladesh. Even as an ally and major aid recipient, U.S. trade with Pakistan in goods and services never exceeded the current figure of $6.6 billion in a year. This level of bilateral trade is comparable to U.S.-Morocco trade in goods and services in 2020 and is hardly a trickle in the annual U.S. trade volume of $5 trillion.

Moreover, Morocco’s population is just 36 million compared to Pakistan’s population of 210 million. Bangladesh, which was once part of Pakistan, trades with the United States to the tune of $9 billion annually.

If the future Pakistan-relationship is to be determined by economic factors, Pakistan would have to up its game in being able to trade with the U.S. at levels much higher than what it has managed for 72 odd-years. As for cultural relations, the Pakistani diaspora in the United States is smaller than many other diaspora communities and would have to find its own place in America’s melting pot. The State Department cannot advance Pakistani-Americans’ role within the U.S. nor can it create a market for Pakistan’s cultural products — movies, television shows, music, or books. It is unlikely that most Americans will easily ignore Pakistan’s sponsorship of terrorism, without so much as an acknowledgement or apology from Islamabad of complicity in supporting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and a slew of attacks in India. Some of these Pakistan-backed acts of terror, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks resulted in the death of Americans.

The realization that Pakistan is no longer a U.S. ally seems now to be accepted wisdom in Washington. But those advocating a “reset” in relations under President Biden seem to be suggesting that a reset is possible without dealing with Pakistan’s own dysfunction — or consequences for past Pakistani conduct.

That suggestion might be good for policy papers, but it will not make for good policy.

Instead, the U.S. needs to figure out how to deal with a nuclear-armed Pakistan closely aligned with China, providing safe haven to myriad Islamist terrorist groups, and bent on causing mischief for U.S. allies Afghanistan and India.

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/539175-is-a-us-pakistan-reset-possible

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#SenateVote​ #SecretBallot​ - آئینی عہدیدارالیکشن کمشنر سپریم کورٹ کٹہرے میں، وکیل کو دلائل سے روک دیا

Former Federal Minister and PPP MNA Syed Naveed Qamar called on the Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at Bilawal House today.

 Former Federal Minister and PPP MNA Syed Naveed Qamar called on the Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at Bilawal House today.

The meeting discussed about the Party’s performance in the legislation process as well as the Parliamentary proceedings. Syed Naveed Qamar said that PPP legislators have played a pivotal role in upholding the supremacy of the Parliament and the PPP Parliamentary Party stood like rock against the attempts by the PTI government to bulldoze the rules of procedure to pass undemocratic legislations.
Overall political and worst economic conditions in the country were discussed in the meeting as unemployment, inflation and poverty have gone out of control during the illegitimate, incompetent and incapable selected government.
The meeting expressed concern that the National Assembly could not be able to complete the compulsory sessions for current Parliamentary year as the selected Prime Minister and his government were shying away from facing the Parliament on the key national issues and trying to erode the House through churning out unconstitutional ordinances.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that being the architect of the 1973 Constitution, the PPP would always play a responsible role for strengthening democracy and democratic values despite facing all odds and victimization at the hands of selected government.

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24392/

پیپلز پارٹی کی کامیابی عوام کی کامیابی ہے، بلاول

چیئرمین پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا ہے کہ سانگھڑ اور ملیر کراچی سے پیپلز پارٹی کی کامیابی عوام کی کامیابی ہے۔

بلاول بھٹو زرداری کا کہنا تھا کہ سندھ میں ضمنی انتخابات کے نتائج سلیکٹڈ حکومت کے خلاف ریفرنڈم ہے۔

انہوں نے کہا کہ ضمنی انتخاب کی طرح سینیٹ الیکشن میں بھی شکست سلیکٹڈ وزیر اعظم کی منتظر ہے۔

پی ایس 88 ملیر کے تمام 108 پولنگ اسٹیشن کے غیر سرکاری و غیر حتمی نتائج کے مطابق پیپلز پارٹی کے امیدوار یوسف بلوچ 24 ہزار 251 ووٹ لیکر کامیاب ہو گئے جبکہ تحریک لبیک کے کاشف شاہ 6090 ووٹ لیکر دوسرے نمبر پر رہے۔

ادھر پی ایس 43 سانگھڑ کے ضمنی انتخاب کے مکمل غیرسرکاری و غیر حتمی نتائج آ گئے، جس کے مطابق پیپلز پارٹی کے جام شبیر 49571 ووٹ لے کر کامیاب ہو گئے۔ جبکہ تحریک انصاف کے مشتاق جونیجو نے 6931 ووٹ لیے۔

https://jang.com.pk/news/886592 

#Pakistan - PTI Humiliated In By-Polls | Maryam's Warning To SC | Foreign Funding Case

#PPP wins both seats against #PTI in Sindh by-polls: unofficial results

 In Balochistan, JUI-F candidate defeats ruling BAP and secures PB-20 Pishin seat

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has secured a landslide victory in by-poll held in district Sanghar’s provincial assembly seat.

As per the unofficial results, PPP's Jam Shabbir Ali got 48,028 votes in Sanghar’s PS-43 constituency.

Mushtaq Junejo, candidate of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), came second with 6,925 votes.

A total of seven candidates were contesting the polls, with a rigorous competition held between the PPP and the PTI.

The Sindh Assembly's constituency, based on Jam Nawaz Ali taluka of Sanghar district, fell vacant after the demise of PPP MPA Jam Madad Ali Khan on November 13 last year.

 PPP's Nawabzada Jam Shabbir Ali Khan, son of the deceased Khan, defended his father's seat against PTI's Juenjo, a new entrant in constituency politics and had the backing of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA).

In the Karachi’s Malir constituency, PPP's Yousuf Baloch has defeated PTI’s Jan Sher Junejo and Muttahida Qaumi Movement's (MQM) Sajid Ahmed, according to unofficial results.

The by-poll held for PS-88 constituency where Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh was also detained by police earlier in the day.

In Balochistan, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) candidate, Syed Azizullah Agha has won the by-election on PB-20 Pishin seat.

He defeated his rival Asmatullah Tareen of the ruling Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) with huge margin.

According to unofficial and incomplete results, the JUI-F candidate Syed Azizullah Agha has obtained 24,965 votes against his rival who could only get 7,123 votes.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2284474/ppp-wins-both-seats-against-pti-in-sindh-by-polls-unofficial-results

تین حلقوں میں ضمنی الیکشن: پیپلز پارٹی اور جے یو آئی کامیاب، تحریک انصاف ہر جگہ سے فارغ

سندھ اور بلوچستان اسمبلی کی 3 نشستوں پر ضمنی انتخاب میں سانگھڑ اور کراچی میں پیپلز پارٹی اور پشین میں جے یو آئی کے امیدوار کو سبقت حاصل ہے. اب تک کی معلومات کے مطابق تحریک انصاف ہر حلقے سے شکست  کھاتی نظر آرہی ہے۔سندھ اسمبلی کی  2 نشستوں پی ایس 43 سانگھڑ اور  پی ایس 88 ملیر 2 جبکہ بلوچستان کے ضلع پشین کی نشست پی بی 20 پر ضمنی انتخاب ہوا۔

تفصیلات کے مطابق کراچی میں سندھ اسمبلی کے حلقہ پی ایس 88 ملیر 2  میں رجسٹرڈ ووٹرز کی تعداد ایک لاکھ 45 ہزار 627 ہے، یہ نشست پیپلز پارٹی کے غلام مرتضیٰ بلوچ کےانتقال پرخالی ہوئی ۔ اس نشست پر پیپلز پارٹی کے یوسف بلوچ، پی ٹی آئی کے جان شیر جونیجو اور ایم کیو ایم کے ساجد احمد سمیت دیگر آزاد امیدوار میدان میں ہیں ۔ اطلاعات کے مطابق حلقے میں پیپلز پارٹی کے امیدوار زیادہ ووٹ لے کر آگے ہیں جب کہ پی ٹی آئی کے امیدوار دوسرے نمبر پر ہیں۔

سندھ اسمبلی کے حلقہ پی ایس 43 میں ووٹرز کی کل تعداد ایک لاکھ 57 ہزار 210 ہے۔  حلقے میں پیپلز پارٹی کے امیدوار جام شبیر زیادہ ووٹ لے کر پہلے اور تحریک انصاف کے امیدوار مشتاق جونیجو دوسرے نمبر پر ہیں۔ اور 117 پولنگ سٹیشنز کے نتائج کے مطابق پیپلز پارٹی کے 42245 ووٹوں کے مقابلے میں پی ٹی آئی  کے 5154 ووٹ ہیں اور تحریک انصاف کی شکست یقینی ہے۔

2018ء کے عام انتخابات میں بلوچستان اسمبلی کے حلقہ پی بی 20 پشین 3 سے جے یو آئی (ف) کے سید فضل آغا منتخب ہوئے تھے تاہم ان کے انتقال کے باعث یہ نشست خالی ہوئی تھی۔ اطلاعات کے مطابق جے یو آئی کے امیدوار زیادہ ووٹ لے کر پہلے اور بی اے پی کے امیدوار عصمت اللہ دوسرے نمبر پر ہیں، عزیز اللہ کو عصمت ترین پر 8 ہزار ووٹوں کی سبقت حاصل ہے۔

یاد رہے کہ امیدواروں کی جانب سے کئی پولنگ اسٹیشنز پر ووٹنگ کا عمل سست ہونے کے الزام لگائے گئے تاہم  مجموعی طور پر کوئی بڑا ناخوشگوار واقعہ پیش نہیں آیا۔

https://urdu.nayadaur.tv/55830/

ملیر اور سانگھڑ کے ضمنی انتخاب میں پی پی کامیاب

کراچی ملیر اور سانگھڑ میں سندھ اسمبلی کے ضمنی انتخاب میں پیپلز پارٹی نے میدان مار لیا۔

پی ایس 88 ملیر کے تمام 108 پولنگ اسٹیشن کے غیر سرکاری و غیر حتمی نتائج آگئے ہیں۔ جس کے مطابق پیپلز پارٹی کے امیدوار یوسف بلوچ 24 ہزار 251 ووٹ لیکر کامیاب ہو گئے جبکہ تحریک لبیک کے کاشف شاہ 6090 ووٹ لیکر دوسرے نمبر پر رہے۔

تحریک انصاف کے امیدوار جان شیر کو 4 ہزار 870 ووٹ ملے اور متحدہ قومی موومنٹ کے ساجد احمد نے2635 ووٹ حاصل کئے۔

پی ایس 88 ملیر کی نشست پیپلز پارٹی کے رکن اسمبلی غلام مرتضیٰ بلوچ کے انتقال پر خالی ہوئی تھی۔

ادھر پی ایس 43 سانگھڑ کے ضمنی انتخاب کے مکمل غیرسرکاری و غیر حتمی نتائج آ گئے ہیں، جس کے مطابق پیپلز پارٹی کے جام شبیر 49571 ووٹ لے کر کامیاب ہو گئے۔ جبکہ تحریک انصاف کے مشتاق جونیجو نے 6931 ووٹ لیے۔

پی ایس 43 کے ضمنی انتخاب میں کامیاب امیدوار جام شبیر علی نے جیو نیوز سے گفتگو کرتے ہوئے کہا کی ہر حال میں عوام کے اعتماد پر پورا اترنے کی کوشش کروں گا۔

جام شبیر علی کا کہنا تھا کہ ثابت ہوا پیپلز پارٹی کو آج بھی عوام کا اعتماد حاصل ہے۔

پیپلزپارٹی کی رہنما شازیہ مری نے جیو نیوز سے گفتگو کرتے ہوئے کہا ضمنی الیکشن نے ثابت کیا سلیکٹڈ کو جانا پڑے گا۔

شازیہ مری کا مزید کہنا تھا کہ حلیم عادل شیخ کراچی ضمنی الیکشن میں اسلحہ لہراتا پھر رہا تھا، حلیم عادل کی وہی سزا ہونی چاہئے جو بدمعاش کی ہوتی ہے۔

https://jang.com.pk/news/886591
 

سلیکٹڈ حکومت میں بیروزگاری، مہنگائی اور غربت شتر بے مہار ہوگئی، بلاول

پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا کہ ناجائز، نااہل اور نالائق سلیکٹڈ حکومت میں بیروزگاری، منہگاٸی اور غربت شتر بے مہار ہوگئی ہے۔

بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے ان خیالات کا اظہار پارٹی کے سینئر رہنما نوید قمر سے ملاقات کے دوران کیا۔

پی پی چیئرمین نے کہا کہ سلیکٹڈ وزیراعظم اور حکومت اہم قومی معاملات پر پارلیمنٹ کا سامنا کرنے سے شرماتی ہے۔

بلاول کا کہنا تھا کہ قومی اسمبلی رواں پارلیمانی سال میں مطلوبہ اجلاس کی تعداد پورے نہیں کرسکےگی۔

ان کا کہنا تھا کہ پیپلز پارٹی جمہوریت اور جمہوری اقدار مستحکم کرنے کے لئے ہمیشہ ذمہ دارانہ کردار نبھائے گی۔

https://jang.com.pk/news/886591 

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Pakistan - Adoring Turkish dramas, avoiding the realism

Elf Habib

Pakistan’s media and drama domains, for quite some time, have been buzzing with government-sponsored dubbing, discussion and the display of a Turkish drama based on the life and deeds of Ertugrul. He is believed to be the father of Osman, after whom the much-adored Osmania Caliphate (1299-1923) was named. Pakistan’s passion for the initial tribal feuds, fights, expeditions and the exploits that led to the founding of this Muslim dynasty can be ascribed to its overtly ostentatious fervour for Islam and a special warmth, affiliation and interaction with Turkey. Nawaz Sharif, after his trip to Turkey, was also so fascinated by its traffic system that a contract for installing the computerised Turkish traffic signals at 190 crossings in Lahore was almost instantly awarded to a Turkish firm. Even General Musharraf, despite being a dictator, declared his adoration for Ata Turk—the founder of the modern democratic Turkey that soon surpassed its epithet of a sick man vying for acceptance and inclusion into the European Union.

Now once again, our government is parading its passion for a Turkish drama that depicts thirteenth century clan culture, clashes and intrigues to secure and stabilise a chieftain’s enclave so that he may prosper. The fervour for Turkey, as evidenced by the excessive outburst of the Khilafat Movement, was rooted amongst the Muslims of the subcontinent even before its partition. Yet, the most baffling aspect of this affiliation is that the Muslims in the subcontinent never moved to embrace Turkish traditions, spirit and the mindset to accept the realities, pragmatic paths and policies.

Turkey’s realisation about the receding role of religion as an instrument for state policies and international affairs manifested in its alliance with Germany during the First World War. Its caliphate had collaborated with various Christian countries in many earlier conflicts as well. Such alliances of a supreme Muslim Caliphate now may seem quite heretic to most fundamentalist segments. The second great realisation came from rising Arab nationalism and revolt against the Turkish rule that battered the basis and bonds of the Caliphate. The Muslims in India, on the contrary, protested for its continuation. Some of them are still obsessed with the idea of obliterating democracy and nationalism to recreate a Caliphate through sheer coercion, force and violence.

Ataturk and his companions similarly grasped the colossus human and material sacrifices endured to retrieve Turkey from the Allied war machine. They elicited a marvellous prescience to accept the reality about the unprecedented western strides in science, technology, manufacturing and maritime marvels and their inevitable impacts on human thought and behaviour. They understood the perils and predicaments of pursuing futile idealistic phantoms and preferred to transform Turkey into a modern constitutional republic riveted to secularism and sworn to all terrestrial human needs.

These steps evidently sparked reaction and resistance by the supporters of the conservative interpretation of Islamic thought and practice. The dominant army control also fuelled further alienation amongst the segments striving for civil supremacy over these sectors. This led to the emergence of Islamic minded forces and the AJK party eventually swept the polls in 2002. It was feared that their religious leaning would rewind or impede the path of secularism and integration with the European Union but Turkey, once again, demonstrated remarkable rationality and resolve to retain the path of secularism and collaboration with the west.

The Islamic party even more resolutely strove for integration, amended the constitution and aligned the civil and criminal codes mostly to European standards. The country has undertaken eight reform packages and revised 218 articles, spanning 53 different laws and even abolished capital punishment. Internationally espoused provisions for freedom of thought and expression were instituted instead. Females also have equal rights in inheritance and matrimonial partnerships. Decisions of the European Court of Justice, as per some prescribed rules, take precedence over the national courts.

This trend of absorbing some egalitarian western values is indeed quite instructive for religious parties in other Muslim countries, including Pakistan. There is a lot to be learnt from the Turkish trek to reality and replacement of its morbid dreams and delusions for a greater glory and grandeur despite the mounting spiral of debt, dependency, dole outs, derelict economy, utilities and the worsening of living conditions and sufferings of its masses.

https://nation.com.pk/15-Feb-2021/adoring-turkish-dramas-avoiding-the-realism