Outrage after Pakistan’s Imran Khan links rape to how women dress

Khan faces backlash for saying the increase in rapes indicated ‘consequences in any society where vulgarity is on the rise’.

Pakistani women activists and rights campaigners have accused Prime Minister Imran Khan of “baffling ignorance” after the cricketer-turned-politician blamed how women dress for a rise in rape cases.

In a weekend interview on live television, Oxford-educated Khan said an increase in rapes indicated the “consequences in any society where vulgarity is on the rise”.

“The incidents of rape of women … [have] actually very rapidly increased in society,” he said.

He advised women to cover up to prevent temptation.

“This entire concept of purdah is to avoid temptation, not everyone has the willpower to avoid it,” he said, using a term that can refer to modest dress or the segregation of the sexes.

Hundreds have signed a statement circulating online on Wednesday, calling Khan’s comments “factually incorrect, insensitive and dangerous”.

“Fault rests solely with the rapist and the system that enables the rapist, including a culture fostered by statements such as those made by [Khan],” the statement said.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an independent rights watchdog, on Tuesday said it was “appalled” by the comments. “Not only does this betray a baffling ignorance of where, why and how rape occurs, but it also lays the blame on rape survivors, who, as the government must know, can range from young children to victims of honour crimes,” it said.

Pakistan is a deeply conservative country where victims of sexual abuse are often viewed with suspicion and criminal complaints are rarely investigated seriously.

Much of the country lives under an “honour” code where women who bring “shame” on the family can be subjected to violence or murder.

It regularly ranks among the worst places in the world for gender equality.

Nationwide protests erupted last year when a police chief admonished a gang-rape victim for driving at night without a male companion. The Franco-Pakistani mother was assaulted in front of her children on the side of a motorway after her car ran out of fuel.

Last year, Khan was criticised after another television appearance where he failed to challenge a Muslim leader’s insistence that coronavirus had been unleashed because of the wrongdoings of women.The latest controversy comes as the organisers of International Women’s Day marches battle what they have called a coordinated disinformation campaign against them, including doctored images and videos circulated online.

It has led to blasphemy accusations – a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan where allegations have previously led mobs to attack people.

The organisers of the annual rally have called for the prime minister to intervene.

In his weekend TV appearance, Khan also blamed divorce rates in Britain on the “sex, drugs and rock and roll” culture that began in the 1970s, when the twice-divorced Khan was gaining a reputation in London as a “playboy”. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/7/outrage-after-pakistans-imran-khan-links-rape-to-how-women-dress

#Pakistan - #PPP - Rise in extremist attitudes in Sindh will not be tolerated: Bilawal Bhutto

PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari meets a group of Sindh's prominent writers, human rights representatives, intellectuals and academics. Delegation requests PPP chairperson that the cyber crime cell under the federal government be contacted to contain and curb extremist statements on social media.Bilawal assures group that Ministry of Religious Affairs in Sindh will play an active role in "promoting process of healthy dialogue between the Ulema and other intellectuals".

KARACHI: 

PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari says a rise in extremist attitudes in the country, and especially in Sindh, will not be tolerated and no individual or group will be allowed to take the law into their own hands. He was speaking to a delegation of Sindh intellectuals, human rights representatives, journalists, writers, social leaders and academics who called on him and briefed him on the growing extremism in Sindh. Expressing concern over the intolerance and incitement being spread against writer and columnist Amar Jalil, the delegation drew attention to the reaction to an old allegorical fiction of the well-known writer and expressed concern over the threats to him and other issues being faced by progressive writers, poets and intellectuals in Sindh.

 The delegation included Noorul Huda Shah, Jami Chandio, Amar Sindhu, Dr Ayub Sheikh, Dr Irfana Mallah, Rafiq Chandio, Nazir Leghari, Fazil Jamili, Dr Jaffar Ahmed, Anees Haroon, Ahmed Shah, Zakia Ijaz and Imdad Chandio. The meeting was also attended by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Culture Minister Sardar Shah. PPP Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman, Central Secretary Information and MNA Shazia Marri and Political Secretary to PPP Chairperson Jamil Soomro were also present. The delegation requested the PPP chairperson that the cyber crime cell under the federal government be contacted to contain and curb extremist statements on social media. 

They asked the PPP to play its "positive role" in this regard. Bilawal said that the process of dialogue with the administrative bodies of different sects will be promoted and the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Sindh will play an active role in "promoting the process of healthy dialogue between the Ulema and other intellectuals". He said that Sindh is a land of religious tolerance and Sufi traditions as the message of peace from Sindh spreads all over the world. The real identity of Sindh, he said, is the tolerance of society and hence, it should be maintained under all circumstances. 

 https://www.geo.tv/latest/343872-rise-in-extremist-attitudes-in-sindh-will-not-be-tolerated-bilawal-bhutto

Video Report - #NayaDaur #Bhutto #Pakistan ZAB's Nephew Tariq Islam Met Bhutto in Jail| Role Of Global Powers In Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's Hanging

Video Report - #vawda​ #ECP​ فیصل واوڈا شہریت چھوڑنے کی تاریخ بتانے سے پھر انکاری، صحافی پر ذاتی حملے

Pakistan’s Shias Face Double Threat: Extremists and Their Own Government

By Jaffer A. Mirza With their safety at stake, Pakistan’s beleaguered Shia community is seeking justice from the country’s founder.

“We are here to tell the founder of this country that we are being persecuted and discriminated in your country.” That is the message from the families of Shia missing persons, who have been holding a sit-in outside M. A. Jinnah’s Mausoleum in Karachi since April 2. A Shia activist informed The Diplomat that the community has tried to seek assistance from every government and civilian institution, and held sit-ins outside the Chief Minister’s House, the Governor’s House, and all the relevant authorities, but to no avail. The Shia community, the activist said, has come to the realization that these institutions are either apathetic or incapable of addressing their plight. Therefore, a group of Shias resorted to a sit-in outside the final resting place of the country’s founder – more of a public confession of their defenseless and unprotected condition than a protest.

In August 2020, Pakistan witnessed a surge in anti-Shia politics. At least six huge anti-Shia rallies were carried out by different Sunni groups in five different cities, including the capital of the country. At least five Shias were killed in different incidents, more than 40 blasphemy cases were registered against Shias, and a place of worship was attacked. The rise in online hate speech was also alarming. Between August and September 2020, the Minority Rights Group reported that a sentiment algorithm documented an increase in negative tweets about Shias, which “collectively reached millions of social media users in Pakistan.” Fully 46 percent of social media mentions of Shias examined during that period were negative. The most frequent word used to refer to the community was the Urdu word for “infidel.”

For Shias, the negative perceptions make them a target not only for extremists but for the security forces. In May 2018, estimates for the number of forcibly “disappeared” Shias ranged from 140 to around 300. In April 2019, the Shia community, led by the Joint-Action Committee for Shia Missing Persons, held a two-week-long sit-in outside the President’s House in Karachi. As a result, some 17 Shias were freed and 16 appeared in court, officially charged with. Currently, there are 34 recorded cases of Shia missing persons from different parts of the country who have been missing for two years or more, some as many as six years.

Pakistan’s track record on enforced disappearances has been an issue of grave concern for the international community. In September 2020, four U.N. Special Rapporteurs demanded the end of enforced disappearances in Pakistan. According to one estimate, more than 700 people are still missing. Yet Pakistan has been ignoring these humanitarian appeals. The government’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, formed in 2011, seems helpless to prevent these disappearances. The International Commission of Jurists shared its disapproval of the commission and stated that it has “enabled and entrenched impunity for enforced disappearances instead of providing redress to victims.”

The practice of enforced disappearances is targeted at particular groups, mostly ethnic minorities such as Balochs, Sindhis, Pashtuns, Seraikis, and Urdu-speaking Muhajirs. Lately the abductions have expanded to include Punjabi dissidents. The state sees their legitimate political demands as a “national security threat” and uses extrajudicial and illegal tactics to silence them. However, with the addition of Shias to the missing person list, it seems the state has expanded its scope and is now aiming to target religious minorities, starting with Shias.

It is not clear why and on what grounds Shias are being “disappeared.” The abductors – presumably the security agencies – claim that the missing persons were involved in the Syrian civil war and sectarian violence in the country. According to an unofficial and unverified estimate, between 700 and 5,000 Pakistan Shias from Karachi, Parachinar, and Gilgit-Baltistan, recruited by Iran, went to Syria to fight against the Islamic State. The security agencies fear that Shias who returned from Syria pose a threat to Pakistan’s stability.

Under this pretext, the security agencies have picked up Shias who returned from Syria. Police and the paramilitary often raid homes and tell the families that their loved ones will be sent back once the investigation is done. But the people are moved to undisclosed locations, with no information given to their families. Family members are left to search at local police stations, hospitals and even morgues for some news of their loved ones.

More concerningly, some of those who have been “disappeared” never went to Syria, Iraq, or Iran. The reason for their abduction is still a mystery for the families. For example, Shamim Haider, a resident of Karachi, who was a puncture repairer on the edge of poverty, has been missing for the last six years, his family presuming him detained by security forces. He had never been to Syria. Nor had Azhar Hussain and Ebad-ul-Hassan, both residents of Karachi, who were picked up by the law enforcement agencies in 2017. Similarly, Ali Mehdi, also from Karachi, has been missing for the last two years. Mehdi, who played for the junior national hockey team, had never been to Syria and did not have any criminal record.

Let us us assume for a moment that the security agencies have undeniable proofs of all the abducted Shias’ involvement in criminal and terror activities. Even if that’s the case, why did they resort to enforced disappearances? Why have the missing Shias not been officially charged with crimes, and their cases handed over to the police and courts? Although the families have their reservations about court cases – some of those who were previously presented in the courts after many years were linked to crimes that had happened while the accused were being illegally detained by the security agencies. Despite the risk of bogus charges, the families demand that their loved ones either be officially brought to court or released.

The increase in illegal detentions is a worrying sign is that there is a section within the state that still views Shias as a security threat – a suspicion that was embraced after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The recent abductions make Shias a doubly persecuted community that is simultaneously facing genocidal violence from the state-backed religious militants and harassment and intimidation from the state. Shias have already been questioning the state’s neutrality vis-à-vis banned anti-Shia outfits roaming free. The ongoing issue of enforced disappearances reaffirms the existence of anti-Shia paranoia among some state actors who are apparently unaccountable and unanswerable to any authority. https://thediplomat.com/2021/04/pakistans-shias-face-double-threat-extremists-and-their-own-government/

'Every year we dig mass graves': the slaughter of Pakistan’s Hazara

Shah Meer Baloch

Decades of persecution has left the Shia minority with little space left in its graveyards but prime minister Imran Khan is in no hurry to listen.

A

hmed Shah had always dreamed of bigger things. Though just 17, the high school pupil had taken a job in the coalmines of Balochistan, Pakistan’s south-western province, one of the harshest, most dangerous working environments in the world. Shah was determined to earn enough to educate himself, so he could escape the tough life of the Hazara Shia community, the most persecuted minority in Pakistan.

But Shah never saw a brighter future. He was among 10 miners who were resting in their mud hut near the mines in the small Balochistan town of Mach when armed militants burst in. A gruesome video from the scene shows the young men blindfolded, with their hands tied behind their backs. A security official said their throats had been slit. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the massacre.

The prime minister, Imran Khan, called it an “inhumane act of terrorism”, but for the Hazara, minority Shia Muslims who have been targeted for three decades in Pakistan by extremists among the majority Sunni Muslims who view them as heretics, this was not enough.

Shah’s mother, Amina, was on her rounds as a healthcare worker in the nearby provincial capital of Quetta when she heard about the massacre.

“I wanted to see my son one last time, but I was told that I would not be able to bear that,” says Amina. “The killers were not humans. They killed them so brutally.”

The Hazara community, after decades of injustice and neglect by the state, were driven to act, and in a protest unlike anything seen before in Pakistan, the families of the 10 men brought the dead bodies out on to the streets, and sat beside them, in the freezing cold, to demand protection and justice.

For a full week, they did not move, stating they would not bury the bodies until the prime minister listened to their demands.

In response, Khan accused them of trying to “blackmail” him, and said he would not visit until the bodies were buried.

Ahmed Shah was one of four from his family to die in the Mach massacre. So too did his cousin Sadiq, the sole breadwinner for his wife, children and six sisters.

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Sadiq, a father of two daughters, had had breakfast with his wife before dawn at his home in Quetta before leaving for Mach. One sister, Masooma Yaqoob Ali, saw the news of the Hazara miners on Facebook and stumbled upon the picture of her brother’s blindfolded body.

“These monsters have not only killed 10 people, they have killed 10 families,” she says. “It has been two decades that we are being mercilessly killed but no one has been arrested yet.”

 The Hazara Shia have been targeted over many years by Sunni extremists, such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Sipah-e-Sahaba and now Isis. According to a 2019 report by Pakistan’s National Commission for Human Rights, an independent watchdog, at least 509 Hazara have been murdered for their faith since 2013. The non-profit Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says that from 2009 to 2014, nearly 1,000 Hazaras died in sectarian violence. Thousands have been injured.

 

Our men and young can’t go outside. If they go, they will be killed. Our graveyards are full of young men

Masooma Yaqoob Ali

To curb attacks on the 600,000 Hazaras living in the towns of Mariabad and Hazara Town in Quetta, authorities have built military checkpoints, roadblocks and walls around the areas.

In 2014, the international organisation Human Rights Watch published a 62-page report on the persecution of Hazara Shia in Balochistan entitled We are the walking dead.

“We are living in two prisons. Our men and young can’t go outside. If they go, they will be killed. Our graveyards are full of young men with barely any space left,” says Ali. “We are tired of carrying their coffins. Every year we dig mass graves. Yet prime minister Imran Khan says we are blackmailers. Khan is heartless.”

The majority of Hazara in Quetta originally came from Afghanistan and Iran to seek work in Pakistan, with many ending up in the mines of Balochistan.

For 15 years, Chaman Ali, another of the Mach victims, would travel from Afghanistan to Quetta every winter to work in the coalmines.

“I would be worried for his life when he was here and when he went to Afghanistan. I would think ‘what if he gets into the hands of the Taliban?’ I thought he was safe here, but this is where he got killed,” his sister Zara says.

Chaman Ali is survived by his wife and eight children, the youngest just three months old. Aziz and Nasim, from the Daykundi province of Afghanistan, came with Chaman Ali to work in the mines for the first time. They were also murdered.

Nasim, 22, started work to fund his education and had arrived in Pakistan just a week before he was killed. “Afghanistan is in a very bad situation and we think that something is better than nothing, which is why we come to Pakistan just to make a living,” says Abdul Rahim, Nasim’s father. Along with other members of his family, he could not get to his son’s funeral from Afghanistan, when the security forces closed routes out of the villages across Pakistan’s porous border.

Victims of the Mach massacre were all eventually buried in a mass grave at Hazara Town, on the outskirts of Quetta. The Hazara community is running out of space to bury their dead. The graveyard is full of photographs of Hazara Shia men, women and children, many of them murdered.

Having Mongolian ancestors, many Hazara are identifiable by their distinctive appearance, and it is along the single road that leads to Mari Abad and Hazara Town that thousands have been attacked by extremist groups.

“Our generation has grown up in a cage. We make houses on the mountain and are afraid of going out to see other parts of Quetta,” says Arif Hussain Nasry, 21, founder of the Future is Young campaign. “We are even afraid to gather with Hazara from other nations and communities. We have to live to survive in these two ghettoes.”

But for Naseem Javed, an author and political activist, the attacks on the Hazara are not just about sectarianism. “I don’t think Hazara are being targeted just because of their faith,” he says. “They also are being targeted to divert the attention from the Baloch separatist movement.”

Balochistan, the most impoverished province of Pakistan and wedged between Iran and Afghanistan, has a separatist movement that has been active in the province for the past 20 years. “The region also has become a hub for international proxies, including the Taliban,” Javed adds.

Javed shows the pistol he keeps close to him in his shop, where he sells prayer mats and prayer beads. “We live under shadows of weapons and fear. None of us has a normal life. We are being slaughtered. If the security establishment has no role in this genocide, why have they not arrested any attacker?”

For many Hazara people the solution is simply to leave. Amjad Ali*, 21, has made three attempts to leave Balochistan for a new life in Europe. He was first deported from Turkey and handed over to Iran, from where he was sent back to Pakistan. The second time he was deported from Iran.

During his third attempt to reach Europe, with 25 other Hazara Shia, Ali was caught a few miles from the border by Jaish ul-Adl, another Sunni militant group that operates mainly in south-eastern Iran. Pretending to be Iranian security forces, the jihadist group took Ali and others to a mountain camp in Pakistan, close to the Iranian border.

“They were very well updated and informed. As soon as we reached their camp they shot four Hazaras with Kalashnikovs. Two of them used to work in the Pakistan army. Two, as Jaish ul-Adl claimed, were going to be part of the Zainebiyoun brigade, an Iranian-backed militant force [fighting in Syria],” Ali told the Guardian.

The rest were held and their families sent ransom demands. Ali spent 55 days in the camp before his family members managed to raise thousands of dollars in ransom money for his release.

“If I get a chance now to go to Europe, I will try again,” says Ali. “There is no life for Hazara Shia in Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

* Amjad Ali’s name has been changed to protect his identity.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/apr/05/mass-graves-pakistan-shia-minority-hazara-slaughter-imran-khan 

A delegation of Sindh intellectuals, human rights representatives, journalists, writers, social leaders, and academics meets Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

A delegation of Sindh intellectuals, human rights representatives, journalists, writers, social leaders, and academics called on the Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and briefed him on the growing extremism in Sindh.

Expressing concern over the intolerance and incitement being spread against writer and columnist Amar Jalil, the delegation drew attention to the unnecessary reaction to an old allegorical fiction of the well-known writer and expressed concern over the threats to him and other issues being faced by progressive writers, poets and intellectuals in Sindh.
The delegation included Noorul Huda Shah, Jami Chandio, Amar Sindhu, Dr. Ayub Sheikh, Dr. Irfana Mallah. Rafiq Chandio, Nazir Leghari, Fazil Jamili, Dr. Jaffar Ahmed, Anees Haroon, Ahmed Shah, Zakia Ijaz and Imdad Chandio.
Talking to the delegation, the PPP Chairman said that rise in extremist attitudes in the country and especially in Sindh will not be tolerated and no individual or group will be allowed to take the law into their own hands.
The meeting was also attended by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Culture Minister Sardar Shah.
The delegation of social activists and intellectuals requested the PPP Chairman that the Cyber Crime Cell under the Federal government be contacted for containing and curbing of extremist statements on social media and the PPP should play its positive role in this regard.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the process of dialogue with the administrative bodies of different sects will be promoted and in this regard the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Sindh will play an active role in promoting the process of healthy dialogue between the Ulema and other intellectuals.
He said that Sindh is a land of religious tolerance and Sufi traditions as the message of peace from Sindh spread all over the world, adding that the real identity of Sindh is the tolerance of the society hence it should be maintained in all circumstances.
Vice President PPP Senator Sherry Rehman, Central Secretary Information and MNA Shazia Marri and Political Secretary to PPP Chairman Jamil Soomro were also present.

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24606/

Video - Kal Bhi Bhutto Zinda Tha Aaj Bhi Bhutto Zinda Hai..

Video - #NayaDaur - Sanam Bhutto on father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's 42nd Death Anniversary| On Benazir, Nusrat Bhutto

Video - Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari addressing in Naudero, Larkana

#Pakistan #PPP - Zardari, Bilawal pay glowing tribute to ZA Bhutto

 Former president of Pakistan and President Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) Asif Ali Zardari has said that the philosophy and ideology of the founder of PPP Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZA Bhutto) is guidance for us and the PPP will continue to safeguard the parliamentary system in the country.

“The PPP will never compromise on the principle that people are the source of power,” he said in a statement on Saturday on the martyrdom anniversary of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Asif Ali Zardari said, “Today we reiterate our resolve to continue to defend the country and its Constitution. The PPP gave the 1973 Constitution and restored it in its original form by the 18th Amendment and fulfilled the promise of provincial autonomy made by the Quaid-e-Awam to the people,” he said, adding that PPP will defeat all the conspiracies against 18th Amendment.

He said the Quaid-e-Awam built this nation from the ashes of defeat and gave the downtrodden masses a voice and courage to fight for their rights. “He changed the trend in politics and established the rule of people and showed the world that the true leader of the people accepts death with grace but does not compromise on principles,” he said.

While Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said dictators and their selected unguided missiles imposed on this nation, subsequently destroyed the democratic, societal, and economic fabric, decimating all gains of transferring power to the people by concentrating it back into the hands of a few. “We need to turn back to the teachings and vision of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and course correct the country onto the path of true democracy once again,” he added.

He said that Pakistan would have been a welfare state with a vibrant economy and society, seen as role-model Muslim country in the world, had the prime minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto not been hanged.

Paying glowing tributes to Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the PPP chairman said those who martyred Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in fact murdered the dreams of our founding fathers and laid to rest the future of Pakistani generations.

Bilawal said that Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was an iconic leader who had laid the foundations for equitable economic, political and democratic infrastructure. “Things we take for granted today, such as universal suffrage, constitutional guarantees of equality under the constitution, the right to freedom of movement, religion, political affiliation, and unionisation were codified under the unanimously adopted Constitution of 1973. The passing of the 1973 Constitution remains till today the greatest democratic achievement of this country.” he added.

He said that the policies of Bhutto Shaheed had led to the establishing of huge industrial, economic and commercial ventures that had revolutionized the country by redistributing wealth from the hands of the few to the many.

Bilawal pledged that his party would carry on the mission of its founder Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, continuing the struggle for a strong, democratic, egalitarian and progressive Pakistan.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/814674-zardari-bilawal-pay-glowing-tribute-to-za-bhutto

#Pakistan - Z.A. Bhutto: an icon of resilience

Mustafa Abdullah Baloch

It was the late 60s and this part of the world also witnessed the wave of socialism. It came with the downfall of Ayub and the rise of a new phenomenon in Pakistan’s politics: Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, an icon of resilience and symbol of democracy who faced dictatorship with utmost valour.

One of the students in those days who later on became a close aide of SZAB and a minister in his government was my father Abdullah Baloch whose memoirs about his leader are shared below as a tribute on SZAB’s 42nd death anniversary that falls today.

My father narrates that: “During the late 60s, one named echoed all around: people used to talk about and discuss Bhutto everywhere – from drawing rooms to tea cafes to public forums. As a youngster, I was fascinated by the charisma of Bhutto and during one hot summer day in 1967 I made up my mind and went to 70 Clifton where Mr Khar received me and took me to Bhutto Sahib who was having tea in his drawing room along with Hafeez Pirzada, Hayat Mohammad Sherpao and Meraj Mohammad Khan.

“I introduced myself and expressed my desire to work for his party; he asked me to visit the party office and start working. The first party office of the PPP in Karachi was at SMCHS; the office was rented in the name of Mohammad Khan Ghangro as it was Yahya’s martial law, and nobody was willing to give us space on rent for the party office.

“SZAB had impeccable style when it came to his clothes. Even his ministers were given a particular dress code – white for the day and black for the evening with different collar strips for the president, prime minister, senators, ministers, MNAs and MPAs, quite similar to the attire in China; this was later on replaced in Zia’s regime by the sherwani. SZAB was so charismatic that many of the party leaders including me used to follow his dress sense.

“He was a great admirer of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar and as an Auqaf minister he assigned me to install the golden gate gifted by the Shah of Iran; as a mark of respect, he always used to salute it on entering the dargah.

“The late 60s was the peak of socialism; the red book was a proud possession of every leftist in those days. During the Hala convention the leftist group of the party led by Meraj Khan were of the view that the party should not contest elections, but SZAB said “Don’t give me examples from the red book; you have read it, but I have done dialogue with them. We cannot serve the people unless we contest elections and come in power.”

“In 1970, he formed a parliamentary board for general elections and nominated me as its member. He emerged as a challenger for Ayub, such that the feudals of those times used to avoid any encounter with Bhutto to avoid Ayub’s wrath. And believe me those were the tough days – when Ayub’s government was struggling before the might of the rising leader, Bhutto. In 1972, when I was an MPA my house was burnt in the Karachi riots. SZAB called me to 70 Clifton, consoled me and tapped my shoulder to which I said this is a very small sacrifice for the party and the cause. This resulted in a smile on his face and he responded: “I expected the same from you”.

“SZAB was very encouraging. Seeing my passion, he appointed me in charge of the party secretariat. He used to encourage competition within his party to extract the best amongst all. The classic example of this was to keep extreme leftist Meraj and Hafeez, both poles apart, together in the Karachi chapter. He inculcated trust and confidence in the youth by inducting a young person like me in the cabinet as I was just 28 years old at that time; he also appointed me general secretary Karachi with Kamal Azfar as president, again poles apart. “In 1976, during the super flood despite being an MPA from Karachi I was appointed minister for flood relief by SZAB. I tried my best and saved Sehwan and Dadu from being inundated by the floods with his guidance. Later he appreciated me for my efforts in his historic speech. He called labour conferences yearly where I used to participate as labour minister of Sindh and saw firsthand that he always wanted to have a grip on the pulse of the proletariat class.

“Once I went to see off SZAB at the Karachi Airport. He asked me: ‘where will you head from here?’ I replied home, as I was not feeling well. He immediately took out some tablets from his pocket and told me: ‘even though I am not well but still travelling; now you should also go back to work.’ He worked tirelessly and inspired all of us.

“Every passing year, April 4 reminds me what an enormous loss his death has been for the country. Shaheed Bhutto was a mentor and leader for me. I will always cherish the time spent with him, the lessons learnt from him and the pearls of wisdom he shared with me. His words still echo in my ears. Such leaders are born in centuries.”

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/814300-bhutto-an-icon-of-resilience

Video Report - Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto addressing a press conference in Khairpur

#NayaDaur #PPP - Wajid Shamsul Hasan Remembers His Time With Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, And General Zia

#PPP demands apology from PML-N

Rizwan Shehzad

It is no crime that PPP elected its opposition leader as the majority party in Senate, says PPP leader.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) sought on Saturday an apology from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for electing unopposed senators in Punjab and for helping a candidate of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) win over the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)’s unanimous candidate Farhatullah Babar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A day after five opposition parties announced to form a new opposition bloc in the Senate and decided that a “show-cause” notice be issued to PPP and Awami National Party (ANP) for “deviating” from an earlier formula of seat distribution in the Senate, PPP lambasted PML-N for supporting PTI in Punjab and criticized a “secret meeting” of PDM parties after which they made the new bloc of 27 senators.

PPP leadership also believes that a conspiracy was hatched against PDM’s long march by suddenly linking it with en-mass resignations from the assemblies, saying it was an attempt to save the PTI government.

“PML-N should apologise to PPP for defeating PDM’s unanimous candidate Farhatullah Babar and helping a PTI senator win,” PPP Central Secretary Information Shazia Marri said, “Rana Sanaullah should apologise to PPP for electing unopposed senators in Punjab with the help of PTI instead of seeking an apology from PPP.”

The opposition is in disarray and the rifts over the office of the Senate’s leader of the opposition deepened on April 2 when five opposition parties – PML-N, JUI-F, PkMAP and BNP-Mengal and PkMap – agreed to form a separate bloc of 27 opposition senators in the upper house of parliament.

Serious differences emerged between the parties – both part of the anti-government alliance PDM – after PPP appointed its stalwart Yusuf Raza Gilani as Senate’s opposition leader, apparently in violation of what had earlier been agreed upon in a PDM meeting.In the statement, PPP MNA Shazia Marri said that “if PML-N brings a charge sheet against PPP then we also have a charge sheet against PML-N.” MNA Marri has said that “PPP will ask at whose behest a conspiracy was hatched against the long march to save the PTI government by suddenly insisting on resignations.”On last night’s meeting of the PDM parties, the PPP leader said that PPP and ANP will ask in the PDM meeting “why a secret meeting of certain parties of the opposition alliance was called.”

She said that PDM is the name of the alliance against the government and “PML-N will have to explain its use against the opposition parties”.

Marri added that PPP will ask the PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman why the opposition alliance is being used against the opposition parties. On the issue of resigning from the assemblies, Marri asked if resignations were so necessary then why is the PML-N still sitting in the assemblies.

“On one hand, there is talk of running an opposition alliance without the PPP and on the other hand, the PML-N is not ready to resign without the PPP,” she said. Replying to PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz’s criticism on PPP for accepting votes from the senators of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), 'which follows the commands of its Baap (godfather),' Marri said that if PPP had the godfather’s hand on their shoulder, then there would have been no talk of opening cases against former president Asif Ali Zardari.

After the federal cabinet’s meeting on Thursday, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry had announced that the Broadsheet Commission has found the original record of the Swiss Bank Accounts and handed it over to the government, adding that legal teams were examining the record and Swiss account cases against Zardari could be reopened.

Marri further said that all the senators who voted for Gilani were elected independently and “it is a childish attitude of the PML-N to prove that independent senators belonged to BAP party. BAP is considered to be a brainchild of the security establishment and the PDM blames it for the current political morass.

Moreover, she said that if PML-N wanted an opposition leader in the Senate, they should have asked PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for the post once, “he would have gladly given it”. The PML-N leadership also made a similar claim that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif would have gladly given the office of the opposition leader had PPP asked for it instead of taking support from BAP.

“PPP approached the PML-N leadership to agree on the name of Yousuf Raza Gilani, which was admitted by Ishaq Dar,” she said while referring to a statement of Dar wherein he admitted that Zardari had approached him to get support for Gilani but he had turned down the request on grounds that the decision was already made in a PDM meeting and no new message should now be given to Sharif from Zardari.

“It is no crime that PPP elected its opposition leader as the majority party in Senate,” she concluded.

#Pakistan - Remembering Z A Bhutto

 Bashir Riaz

This year marks 42 years since the judicial killing of the founder of the Pakistan People’s Party, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto – a truly charismatic and popular leader whose legacy of politics for the common people of Pakistan continues to inspire even today. He might be polarizing for some because of his strong stance on matters but he was never tainted by allegations of corruption.

The Lahore High Court announced the ruling of death penalty for Bhutto on March 18, 1978. Not only heads of various countries but even the secretary general of the United Nations made appeals for clemency to General Zia. It was an open secret that bias and personal grudge was evident in the conduct of the then CJ of the Lahore High Court, Molvi Mushtaq Hussain.

On April 4, 1979, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged. Ziaul Haq killed his most daunting rival in a false murder case. This news generated a strong protest from around the world. World leaders condemned this act and international newspapers deemed it as a political murder. The common consensus: ‘Bhutto was denied justice’.

Pakistanis residing abroad, especially in London and Europe, registered their protest in large demonstrations. Mir Murtaza Bhutto launched a global protest movement from Birmingham. The Pakistani and Kashmiri community came together in an exemplary chain of unity. A large number of people attended his funeral in Hyde Park. This was followed by a demonstration where the streets of London resounded with ‘Jiye Bhutto!’

Everyone across the world who believed in democracy was devastated on the eve of April 4, 1979, as they mourned the death of the strongest voice for the people of Pakistan. A voice that brought together the Muslim World. A voice that spoke against the callousness of the world on the plight of the Kashmiri people. This voice was silenced. It was a great loss and a severe setback to the dream of an independent, democratic Pakistan ruled by the common people.

There is no doubt that Bhutto was a master of the table and of dialogue. His successes in foreign policy are innumerable. He was a bridge between the third world countries and the rich and mighty, without compromising dignity. He promoted friendly relations with China and our country is still reaping the benefits of that. His determination in setting up an atomic reprocessing plant meant that Pakistan could become a nuclear power.

Bhutto chose to be a voice for the downtrodden, and highlighted the issue of Kashmir in the UN. He took politics from the drawing rooms to the common people. In true spirit, he worked towards empowering the people and brought them to the parliament. One of his many noteworthy achievements include the 1973 constitution that provided the framework for relations between the federal and provincial levels.

The military dictator, Ziaul Haq, could not accept a popular leader who had such a stronghold on the hearts of the common people and so he devised a way to sever this connection. In a special interview to Masawat Weekly London, Begum Nusrat Bhutto said, “This was not a murder case against the prime minister but a murder of justice. We want justice for an innocent person who was the elected representative of the people. His people demand justice.”

Justice was not easy to come – but the people won, and Bhutto’s legacy was carried forward by his children and his grandchildren. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s contributions have been recorded forever in the annals of history and his memory is etched in the hearts and minds of people of all generations of this nation.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/813886-remembering-z-a-bhutto

پارٹی کے بانی قائد عوام ذوالفقار علی بھٹو شہید کا فلسفہ اور افکار ہمارے لیئے مشعل راہ ہیں، صدر آصف علی زرداری

سابق صدر مملکت اور صدر پاکستان پیپلزپارٹی پارلیمنٹیرینز آصف علی زرداری نے کہا ہے پارٹی کے بانی قائد عوام ذوالفقار علی بھٹو شہید کا فلسفہ اور افکار ہمارے لیئے مشعل راہ ہے ملک میں پارلیمانی نظام کی حفاظت کرتے رہیں گے ، طاقت کا سرچشمہ عوام ہیں کے اصول پر کوئی سمجھوتہ نہیں کرینگے ۔ پاکستان پیپلزپارٹی کے بانی چیئرمین قائد عوام ذوالفقار علی بھٹو شہید کے یوم شہادت کے موقع
پر اپنے پیغام میں آصف علی زرداری نے کہا قائد عوام ذوالفقار علی بھٹو شہید نے اس ملک کی تعمیر کی، قوم کو سوچنے کیلئے شعور ، بولنے کیلئے زبان اور فخر سے سر اٹھاکر جینے کا ڈھنگ سکھایا ،آصف زرداری نے کہا دنیا کی سیاسی تاریخ گواہی دے رہی ہے کہ قائد عوام نے سیاست
کے انداز تبدیل کیئے اور عوام کی حکمرانی قائم کی ۔ آصف علی زرداری نے کہا قائد عوام ذوالفقار علی بھٹو شہید نے تختہ دار پر چڑھ کر دنیا کو بتادیا کہ عوام کا لیڈر موت کو بھی شان سے قبول کرتا ہے
مگر اصولوں پر سمجھوتہ نہیں کرتا ، آصف زرداری نے کہا کہ آج کے
ہم اپنے اس عہد کی تجدید کرتے ہیں کہ ملک اور آئین کی حفاظت کرتے رہیں گے ۔ آصف علی زرداری نے کہا کہ پاکستان پیپلزپارٹی کی حکومت نے 18 ویں آئینی ترمیم کے ذریعے صوبوں کو خود مختاری دیکر

شہید ذوالفقارعلی بھٹو کے وعدے کی تکمیل کی ، کچھ عناصر 18 ویں آئینی ترمیم کے خلاف سازشیں کر رہے ہم ان سازشوں کو ناکام بنائیں گے ،

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24573/

Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari addressing a press conference at Jakhrani House Jacobabad

Pakistan’s sweet deal with India could’ve helped consumers. But domestic politics came in way

MANVENDRA SINGH

Pakistan deferring sugar and cotton imports from India should be seen as parking the car by the side of the road rather than a full U-turn.

The test flight of a trade kite lasted a mere day before jingoism pulled it down. The common refrain has been that enhancing trade between India and Pakistan will help handle the more difficult challenges that bedevil relations, but this time, ironically, trade followed the more contentious issues. Pakistan announcing the import of sugar and cotton — its two most important cash crops and India’s most politically influential crops — following a two-year gap came after the Line of Control ceasefire. 

The late February LoC ceasefire came out of the blue, and was obviously the result of some sophisticated back-channel communication and diplomacy between India and Pakistan. Not to mention the recent letters exchanged between PM Imran Khan and PM Narendra Modi that exuded uncharacteristically warm language. 

 

The positive announcement of sugar and cotton imports could have paved the way for further enhancement of India-Pakistan trade relations. Given that the initial ice-breaking covers possibly the most politically important crops in both countries, any success in handling the fallout is likely to help bring in other items into the trade basket.

But India-Pakistan relations are always fraught with many imponderables, since they constitute essentially domestic rather than foreign policy issues.

Not surprisingly, the Pakistan cabinet has now decided to defer the decision on importing from India less than 24 hours after the ECC had recommended easing of trade. What it was easing was, in fact, the plight of the Pakistani consumer, but that is, of course, of lesser importance than the atmospherics of holding India responsible for all ills. Consumption is slated to go up during the month of Ramadan, but with high prices, the burden on the consumer isn’t about to get lighter. The deferment should be taken more as parking the car by the side of the road rather than a full U-turn. The India-Pakistan forward motion of the recent past has, of course, slowed.

Why sugar and cotton matter

Pakistan’s newly appointed finance minister, Hammad Azhar, began his tenure with a politically significant proclamation of importing sugar and cotton yarn from India.

Pakistan’s Economic Coordination Council (ECC), as part of a slew of announcements, recommended the import of these two vital crops from India. Rising retail prices of sugar and shortfall in the cotton crop were the stated reasons for allowing the import from India. The initial announcement to reopen trade in ‘influential’ crops followed a series of bilateral announcements that have eased tensions between the two endlessly squabbling neighbours.

Pakistan would have imported 500,000 tonnes of white sugar from India to ease the extraordinarily high retail prices in the market. Consumers have been paying upwards of Pakistani Rs 110 for a kilo of sugar, a sharp jump from 2019-20 when it averaged a little less than Pakistani Rs 80. And with an annual average per capita consumption of about 25 kgs, Pakistan was staring at a sugar crisis. The import of cotton yarn was slated to begin at the end of June, by when the stocks of the previous crop would pretty much have been consumed. And were likely to last until the new crop is available by end of the kharif season.

While the import of sugar would have somewhat eased the situation for the consumer, the stated purpose of buying cotton from India was to help the small and medium exporters handle the shortfall in Pakistan’s cotton crop. Indian cotton mill owners, who have stocks of cotton yarn, would have expected a windfall as their six-month-old investment was likely to pay dividends from the end of June when the Pakistan import window opens. Textile exports are critical to Pakistan’s economy, so, coincidentally, trade in cotton can benefit merchants of both countries.

The fasting month of Ramadan begins in a matter of weeks, and with food inflation being an issue of deep concern, a positive move on critical consumer items would make eminent sense, economically and politically.

A two-front situation for both

Before the sugar and cotton imports were green-lighted, for a short while, Pakistan PM Imran Khan and his Chief of Army Staff Qamar Javed Bajwa had spoken positively about turning a new leaf in relations between the two countries.

Gen. Bajwa, as the key player in Pakistan, especially when it comes to relations with India, in the recent Islamabad Security Dialogue declared: “A nation at peace and a region in harmony are thus essential prerequisites for attainment of national security in the true spirit…I also firmly believe that no single nation in isolation, can perceive and further its quest for security…And finally, it is time that we in South Asia create synergy through connectivity, peaceful co-existence and resource sharing to fight hunger, illiteracy and disease instead of fighting each other.”

It is easy to dismiss the statement from Gen. Bajwa with a yawn and ‘heard it all before’ attitude. But that would not just belittle him, but also Indian interests. Since China began its Ladakh incursions in April 2020, India has looked at the very real spectre of a two-front situation involving neighbours to the east and west. Since the 1960s, it has haunted Indian security planners but 2020 was the closest it ever came to a two-front conflict. A very live, and bloody, daily exchange on the LoC coupled with China’s brutish behaviour in Ladakh was evidence if it was ever needed. So, getting out of a two-front situation is always in India’s interests, and coupled with a quiet LoC, it sets the stage for a normalised relationship with Pakistan. Islamabad/Rawalpindi too cannot accept its own two-front situation, with both India and Afghanistan sniping at it. Since there is no knowing which way Kabul will blow with its peace process, a sugary deal with India is always a good beginning to a hot summer.

https://theprint.in/opinion/pakistans-sweet-deal-with-india-couldve-helped-consumers-but-domestic-politics-came-in-way/632679/

Balochistan: Pakistani forces abduct five Baloch youth from Surab

 The Pakistan forces have abducted five Baloch youth including two nephews of the Vice-Chairman of Voice for Baloch Missing Persons from Surab region of Balochistan on Wednesday.

According to details, Pakistan FC and plain-clothed intelligence officials conducted an offensive raid in the main Bazaar of Surab and abducted the five youth from a shop.

The abductees include two nephews of Mama Qadir (Abdul Qadir Baloch) who is currently the Vice-Chairman of Voice for Baloch Missing persons.

The victims have been named Muhammad Asif Reiki and Allah Din Reiki son of Shabbir Ahmed Reiki, Mohammad Irfan son of Mohammad Hakeem Reiki, Zulqarnain son of Haji Farid Reiki resident of Dumb Sorab. The identity of the fifth youth could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report.

Eyewitnesses reported that the Pakistani forces have beaten up the youth on spot, covered their heads, dragged them to their vehicles and took them away.

The whereabouts of all five youth remained unknown at the time of filing this news report. The relatives of the abducted Baloch youths have lodged an FIR with the local police regarding their enforced disappearance.

It may be recalled that Mama Qadir’s son Shaheed Jalil Reiki was forcibly disappeared by the Pakistani from Quetta Sariab Road on February 13, 2009. Mr Reiki’s dead body was found along with the dead body of Mohammad Younis Baloch in the November of 2011 Mand area of district Kech Balochistan.

The bodies of both men bore marks of gruesome torture and bullets wounded and it’s believed that they were torture in custody and executed in cold blood.

https://balochwarna.com/2021/04/02/balochistan-pakistani-forces-abduct-five-baloch-youth-from-surab/

Covid 19: Pakistan among new countries added to England's travel ban list

Travel from the Philippines, Pakistan, Kenya and Bangladesh is to be banned from next week, the government says.

They are being added to England's "red list" amid concerns about the spread of new Covid-19 variants.

From 04:00 on 9 April, international visitors who have travelled from or through those countries in the previous 10 days will be refused entry. An exception is made for British or Irish passport holders, or people with UK residence rights.

But they must first pay to quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days.

During their stay, passengers will have to take two coronavirus tests - but a negative test result does not mean they can shorten their time in quarantine.

Neither will they be able to end it early through the Test to Release scheme, where travellers from non-red list countries can leave home isolation after a negative test on day five.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said information about exemptions for nurses arriving from the Philippines "who are critical to supporting the NHS during Covid and the recovery" would be set out before Friday.

Travel bans are intended to reduce the risk from new coronavirus variants like the South Africa strain, the Department for Transport (DfT) said. They are based on advice from the Joint Biosecurity Centre. Data has shown that most cases of the South Africa coronavirus variant found in the UK so far have been linked to international travel, with very few having come from Europe, said the DfT.

Which countries are on the red list?

Nearly 40 countries are currently on the UK government's red list of countries from which travel is banned:

• Middle East: Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates (UAE)
• Africa: Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Ethopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe
• Asia: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines
• South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela

No direct flight bans from the four countries will be put in place, but passengers are advised to check their travel plans before departing for England.

Simon Calder, travel editor at The Independent, said the government has "plenty of evidence that there's a risk from new variants of concern coming in from these countries" and is alarmed about numbers.

But he said the changes could cause a "great deal of problems" for many in the UK whose family live in the four affected countries as they now have less than a week to get home if they are overseas.

He said "bookings are soaring" ahead of next Friday.

Under the current rules, foreign travel from the UK is banned apart from for exceptional reasons.

The earliest date people from England will be able to travel abroad for a holiday is 17 May, when the government hopes to move to step three of its lockdown exit plan. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-56614950#:~:text=Travel%20from%20the%20Philippines%2C%20Pakistan,of%20new%20Covid%2D19%20variants.

اتحادیوں نے لاڑکانہ میں اسٹیبلشمنٹ سے مل کر پی پی کی مخالفت کی، بلاول بھٹو زرداری

پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری  نے کہا ہے کہ ان کے اتحادی نے لاڑکانہ میں گھس کر اسٹیبلشمنٹ سے مل کر پیپلز پارٹی کی مخالفت کی لیکن انہوں نے برداشت کیا۔

بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا کہ اس کے باوجود پیپلز پارٹی آزادی مارچ کا ساتھ دیتی ہے اور جے یو آئی کو پی ڈی ایم کا سربراہ مانتی ہے۔

پی پی چیئرمین نے کہا کہ وہ ن لیگ جے یو آئی ف اور پی ڈی ایم کو تجویز دیں گے کہ آرام سے سوچ سمجھ کر فیصلے کريں۔

انہوں نے کہا کہ مریم شریف صاحبہ کے ساتھ ہمارے اچھے تعلقات رہے ہیں، ہم نہیں چاہتے کہ سوالات کی وجہ سے کوئی ایشو پیدا ہو۔

بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے براڈشیٹ کمیشن کی رپورٹ بھی مسترد کردی۔

انہوں نے  کہا کہ تیس سال سے سوئس کیسز کا سنتے آرہے  ہیں، آخر کتنی بار یہ لوگ ایک کیس کو ہارنا چاہتے ہیں، آصف زرداری سوئس کیس میں بری ہوچکے ہیں۔

بلاول بھٹو  نے یہ بھی کہا کہ عمران خان کوئی ذمہ داری لینے کو تیار نہیں، جب کوئی مسئلہ ہوتا ہے وہ کسی نہ کسی کو قربانی کا بکرا بنادیتے ہیں۔

پی پی چیئرمین نے کہا کہ دنیا کے قانون کے مطابق نیب پکڑا گیا ہے، نیب کو سزا ملی ہے 60 ملین ڈالر کا براڈ شیٹ کیس میں نقصان ہوا، حساب کون دے گا۔

https://jang.com.pk/news/906392