Why Saudi Arabia decided to bail out bankrupt Pakistan despite its Iranian tilt

Christine Fair While Saudi Arabia has no interest in limiting ties with India at Pakistan’s behest, it does want to limit the temptation for Pakistan to reassert ties with Iran.

On 31 October, Pakistan’s troubled prime minister expressed his gratitude to Saudi Arabia for its recent commitment “to deposit $3 billion and financing $1.2 billion refined petroleum products during the year”, and further opined that the two states enjoy “long-standing and historic fraternal relations, rooted deep in common faith, shared history and mutual support”. Khan further effused that the move “reaffirms the all-weather friendship between the two states”. However, this verbiage is a small fig leaf for the bigger truth: There has long-been trouble in paradise for the two states. Why has Riyadh sought to begin closing the otherwise gaping chasm in relations now? Afghanistan likely explains the move in some measure, but Riyadh's growing economic ties with India will constrain the limits of Saudi-Pakistan ties.

Paradise lost?

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia’s ties predate the latter’s acquisition of massive wealth. In the 1960s, both sides valued each other for reciprocal reasons. Saudi appreciated Pakistan’s willingness to train Saudi armed forces as a countermeasure to Gamal Abdel Nasser’s socialist regime in Egypt. The kingdom sent troops to Pakistan for training and later, following an agreement in the mid-1960s, retired Pakistani military officials went to Saudi Arabia both to help build up the kingdom’s armed forces while enabling Pakistan to forge an international presence in the wake of its defeats to India in 1965 and 1971. Saudi Arabia became even closer to Pakistan after the loss of East Pakistan.

Events in the late 1970s bolstered Saudi’s interest in strengthening its security with the military help from the Land of the Pure, including the dissidents’ 1979 siege of the mosque at Mecca, the Iranian Revolution, the Iran-Iraq War and the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. By 1981, the Pakistan government admitted that “1,500 to 2,000 military men are on duty in Saudi Arabia in what they describe as engineering and training assignments”. In return, Saudi Arabia paid Pakistan perhaps as much as $1 billion. Throughout this period, Western intelligence agencies were aware of Pakistan’s efforts to build a nuclear bomb. Throughout the 1980s, Pakistan became the beneficiary of Saudi largesse while Saudi Arabia benefited from Pakistan’s military assets.

As Pakistan’s economic situation became ever more shambolic, its reliance upon Saudi Arabia deepened. Saudi Arabia was more than happy to oblige: It deferred loan payments for subsidised Pakistani oil imports; helped build large networks of madrassas, dampened impacts of sanctions following Pakistan’s 1998 nuclear tests in exchange for Pakistan military assistance while shoring up its regional interests. Moreover, remittances from Pakistani migrant workers in Saudi Arabia comprise about one-fourth of Pakistan’s overall foreign remittances while providing the kingdom with much-needed human resources.

Given the inordinate financial dependence upon Saudi Arabia and Riyadh’s expectation that Pakistan would be a reliable military partner, Saudi Arabia was miffed when Pakistan demurred from contributing ships, aircraft, and troops to Saudi’s brutal campaign in Yemen to restore President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi in April 2015 after Pakistan’s parliament voted to remain neutral. Despite then prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s close ties with Saudi Arabia, Sharif’s opposition to Pakistan’s military made his government unreliable in the eyes of Riyadh. In an effort to smooth over Riyadh’s ruffled feathers, Pakistan participated in the 2016 “North Thunder” military exercise with Saudi Arabia and its allies as well as joint exercises between the special forces of both countries.

The Sharif government additionally dispatched more than 1,000 troops to the Kingdom, which augmented the 1,600 already deployed to Saudi Arabia to “secure Islamic holy sites and serve in other internal security roles”. In November 2017, Sharif’s government joined the Saudi-led Islamic Military Counter-Terrorism Coalition, which is comprised militaries from 41 Islamic countries ostensibly to fight terrorist groups and their activities throughout the Muslim world. Pakistan’s retired Army chief Raheel Sharif commanded the group.

In August 2018, the Pakistan Army selected Imran Khan as the prime minister, which suggested a greater degree of alignment between Rawalpindi and Islamabad. For a brief period, Prime Minister Khan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman enjoyed bonhomie. As Khan came into office, Pakistan’s military had secured an economic package from Riyadh and the crown prince personally invited Khan to come to the Kingdom to attend a conference on investments. Other high-profile invitees withdrew following the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident Saudi journalist residing in the United States. Within a month of the conference, the first $1 billion of a $3 billion loan was delivered to Pakistan.

Riyadh’s junior partner in the region, Abu Dhabi, followed through with a comparable offering. As if to reward a pliant client, in February 2019, Mohammad bin Salman arrived in Islamabad with an entourage of businessmen with pages in over $20 billion, including an Aramco oil refinery in Gwadar. In March 2019, Pakistan’s willingness to join a Saudi-led coalition against Iran appeared to have patched up any lingering concern about Pakistan’s commitment to the Kindom.

A short-lived respite

In August 2019, India dispensed with Kashmir’s special status. Pakistan was incensed and was discomfited when Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates kept mum on the matter and remained so. In contrast, Turkey and Malaysia lent their outcry to that of Pakistan. The three countries considered forming an alternate Islamic bloc given Arab insouciance about India’s bold move.

Malaysia put a December summit on the books. Malaysia’s prime minister intimated that it would serve as an alternative bloc “to the inert, Saudi-dominated Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.” Ultimately, under vituperative Saudi threats, Pakistan withdrew from the Kuala Lumpur summit, which was attended by Saudi’s regional rivals Qatar, Turkey and Iran.

On the one-year anniversary of India’s decision to strip Kashmir of its special status, and after accumulating frustration with Saudi inaction over the outrage, Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi demanded that Saudi Arabia show leadership on the matter and convene a special meeting of the OIC to inveigh upon the matter. Failing to do so, Qureshi threatened to turn to Malaysia, Turkey and Iran which had vocally sided with Pakistan.

Riyadh was not amused. It demanded that Pakistan immediately repay $1 billion, which was part of the $3 billion lent to Pakistan in November 2018. While China stepped in to bail out Pakistan, but the question lingered: What leverage does aid-dependent Pakistan have over its long-standing benefactor?

The long haul?

So what happened? Economics happened. The fact of the matter is that even Saudi Arabia has seen the long-term writing on the wall. In 2019-20, bilateral trade between India and Saudi Arabia was valued at more than $44 billion while trade with Pakistan was a meager $3.6 billion.

Under Mohammad bin Salman, Saudi Arabia cares about cash not concord across the Muslim world. To underscore this point, Mohammad bin Salman endorsed China’s policies in Xinjiang, which other states have decried as a genocide. China is Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner.

However, Saudi Arabia has been shut out of the most important developments in the region: The Taliban victory in Afghanistan, due to Pakistan’s unstinting military, diplomatic and political support. In 2013, the Taliban opened its first overseas office in Doha. Since then, Doha and China — along with Pakistan, Turkey, and the United States — have shaped the events in Afghanistan without any substantive role for Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia wants to reassert its prominence in the region after being eclipsed by its regional rivals for several years. While Saudi Arabia has no interest in limiting ties with India at Pakistan’s behest, it does want to limit the temptation for Pakistan to reassert ties with Iran. Pakistan’s partnership with Beijing, based nearly entirely on loans, cannot replace the Kingdom’s heft in the Islamic world even if it can influence it with the allure of its economy. While Pakistan won’t get Saudi’s support on Kashmir, it is perfectly happy to cash Riyadh’s check. And that’s enough for both.

https://www.firstpost.com/world/why-saudi-arabia-decided-to-bail-out-bankrupt-pakistan-despite-its-iranian-tilt-10111951.html

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‘RIP minorities of Pakistan’ — politicians junk bill meant to stop forced conversions

RAGHAV BIKHCHANDANI

PTI lawmaker Lal Chand Malhi said that the 'conservative mindset' of some members in his party was an additional roadblock for the bill.

A Pakistani Parliamentary Committee Wednesday rejected the proposed anti-forced religious conversion bill, a move that was met with protests and criticism from lawmakers belonging to the country’s minority communities, as well as from some sections of the media and Twitter.

According to a Dawn report, the proposed law would have criminalised forced religious conversions by awarding a punishment of 5-10 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1-2 lakh. Abettors to forced conversion could be imprisoned for 3-5 years and fined Rs 1 lakh, according to the bill.The Express Tribune reported that the bill was struck down by the Parliamentary Committee to Protect Minorities from Forced Conversions due to opposition from the country’s Ministry of Religious Affairs, with minister Sahibzada Noorul Haq Qadri stating that the current environment was “unfavourable” for such a bill to be passed into law.

Qadri spoke further on the bill Friday in his appearance on Shahzeb Khanzada’s GEO News show, claiming that forced religious conversion was a problem limited to “three districts” of Sindh while remaining a rarity in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Balochistan provinces.

Senator from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and member of the Jamaat-e-Islami Mushtaq Ahmed Khan was also among those who opposed the bill, labelling it “anti-Islam”.

Among the critics of the decision to reject the bill were Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) lawmakers Lal Chand Malhi and Ramesh Kumar Vankwani.

While Malhi said that the rejection would make minorities’ lives in Pakistan a “living hell”, Vankwani alleged that Hindus have been lured into forced religious conversion through monetary bribes and promises of marriage, Dawn reported.

In an interview with The Express Tribune, Malhi added that the “conservative mindset” of some PTI members was an additional roadblock for the bill.

The Tribune also interviewed the parliamentary committee’s chair senator Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar who argued that forced religious conversion arises more often from “financial, social and sexual context, than religious and spiritual.”

“Ninety eight per cent of forced conversion cases take place with underprivileged girls, who run away from their homes. There’s seldom been any case like such for women who are doctors and engineers, or just higher up the social class,” ul-Haq added.Editorials in Pakistani dailies Dawn and The Tribune also criticised the bill’s rejection. While the former lamented the “majoritarian view” prevailing, the latter said the minority lawmakers’ criticisms were “valid”.“Ask the right-wing lobby and they will all largely agree that forced conversions are wrong from a religious point of view. But they refuse to countenance any practical measures that will stop this reprehensible practice,” Dawn said.

“…no one should be disgraced and forced to convert. At the same time, Islam too ensures that religion is by choice of faith after learning it by head and heart. The need is to reevaluate the bill’s fine print, in an attempt to ensure communal harmony in good faith,” The Tribune said. Some users on Twitter also weighed in. “Shahzeb Khanzada grilled Religious affairs minister Peer Noor – ul- Qadri on forced conversion bill. Minister clearly refused to carry the forced conversion bill & told this will bring conflict in country. Rip minorities of Pakistan,” journalist Abdullah Momand said.

“Forced conversion targets young women, in a systematic pattern of abuse, and is a key way in which militarized masculinities operates in Pakistan, because remember these actors have protection. Hate crimes against all genders and minors go up when this is condoned,” user Nosheen Ali claimed.

“This whole narrative around forced Conversion in Pakistan was/is a hoax. You people don’t have a shred of evidence to prove your claim and yet you lie to your teeth day in and day out,” Mohammad Saad said in response to Ali, citing research papers in an attempt to debunk Ali.

“You’re responsible for the forced conversion of little girls, snatching them from their families, & their sexual abuse by pedophiles who kidnap them,” filmmaker and activist Usama Khilji called out the politicians who opposed the bill.

https://theprint.in/go-to-pakistan/rip-minorities-of-pakistan-politicians-junk-bill-meant-to-stop-forced-conversions/751268/

نیا لالی پاپ، پیکیج مذاق کے سوا کچھ بھی نہیں، عمران کا استعفیٰ ہی قوم کیلئے بڑا ریلیف ہوسکتا ہے، اپوزیشن

 اپوزیشن رہنماؤں نے وزیراعظم کے مہنگائی پر ریلیف پیکج کو نیا لالی پاپ قرار دیتے ہوئے کہا ہے کہ وزیراعظم کا پیکج مذاق ہےعمران خان استعفیٰ دیں،قوم کیلئے سب سے بڑا ریلیف پیکیج ہو گا، پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا کہ وزیراعظم عمران خان کا پیکیج مذاق کے سوا کچھ نہیں ہے آٹا، گھی اور دالوں پر 30 فیصد رعایت سے صرف6ماہ کیلئے کچھ خاندانوں کو فائدہ ہوگا، تین سال کے دوران گھی کی قیمت میں108فیصد، آٹے میں 50فیصد اور گیس میں300فیصد اضافہ ہوا۔ تاریخی مہنگائی، غربت اور بیروزگاری کا سامنا کرنے والے 20 کروڑ لوگوں کیلئے 30 فیصد رعایت بہت کم ہے،شیری رحمٰن نے کہا معاشی اعداد و شمار خطے میں سب سے خراب ہوگئے،حکومت معیشت کی صورتحال پر پوری قوم سے معافی مانگے، سراج الحق نے کہا کہ حکومتی کشتی ڈوب رہی ہے، ڈبونے والے ملاح خود ہیں،

 شازیہ مری نے کہا عوام کچھ خریدنے کے قابل نہیں رہے،حمزہ شہباز نے کہا وزیراعظم نے عوام کے زخموں پر نمک چھڑکا ،پوری قوم کو سبسڈی کا مستحق بنادیا،مریم اورنگزیب نے کہا کہ آپ ملک چلانے کی اہل ہی نہیں، جس دن عمران خان گھر جائینگے ملک سے مہنگائی ختم ہو جائیگی، سینیٹر ساجد میر نے کہا چینی اور آٹا چور مافیا کو ریلیف دیدیا گیا، حافظ حسین احمد نے کہا کہ2کروڑ عوام کیلئے سبسڈی باقی20کروڑ کیا کرینگے۔ 

تفصیلات کے مطابق پاکستان پیپلزپارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے لاڑکانہ میں کارکنوں سے خطاب اورٹویٹر پیغام میں کہا کہ پی ٹی آئی والے جھوٹے ہیں، یہ ریلیف کے نام پر تکلیف دیتے ہیں۔ عمران خان آج بھی اپنی ناکامیوں کا ملبہ پچھلی حکومتوں پر ڈال رہے ہیں۔ عوام کو لالی پاپ نہیں بلکہ عمران خان سے حساب چاہیے۔آج کے خطاب کا نتیجہ بھی پچھلے خطاب کی طرح بے فائدہ ہوگا،عمران خان نے آج بھی کسی ریلیف پیکیج کا نہیں بلکہ لولی پاپ پیکیج کا اعلان کیا ہے۔ عمران خان کا پیکیج عوام کیلئے نہیں بلکہ چند خاندانوں کیلئے ہے،عمران خان جھوٹ بولنے اور وعدہ خلافی کرنے والے سلیکٹیڈ وزیراعظم ہیں۔ بلاول بھٹو نے کہا عوام کو عالمی امداد سے ملنے والا فنڈز نہیں ملا، عوام کب تک برداشت کریں گے، گلگت سے کراچی تک عوام کا نعرہ ہے کہ پیٹ پر ڈاکا نامنظور۔ عمران خان جہاں جاتے ہیں، بھیک مانگتے ہیں اور جو پیسہ مسلم اُمہ کے ممالک یا آئی ایم ایف سے آئے، کسی کو نہیں پتا وہ کہاں خرچ ہوتا ہے۔بلاول کا کہنا تھا کہ پی ٹی آئی کو نہ معیشت کا پتہ ہے اور نہ ہی سیاست اور خارجہ معاملات کا کوئی علم ہے۔

 پیپلز پارٹی کی نائب صدر سینیٹر شیری رحمن نے قائمہ کمیٹی برائے خزانہ کے اجلاس کے بعد میڈیا سے گفتگو کرتے ہوئے کہا حکومت خود اعتراف کر رہی ہے کہ مہنگائی بڑھے گی۔ انہوںنے کہاکہ بنی گالا کا ہیلی کاپٹر تو عوام کے ٹیکسز سے چلے گا، پاکستان کے معاشی اعداد و شمار خطے میں سب سے خراب ہیں،گور نر اسٹیٹ بینک اپنے بیان کی وضاحت کریں اور معافی مانگیں ،معیشت کی صورت حال پر پوری حکومت کو عوام ست معذرت کرنی چاہئے ،حکومت نے پاکستان کا مستقبل گروی رکھ دیا ہے۔پیپلز پارٹی کی رکن قومی اسمبلی شازیہ عطا مری نے کہا ہے کہ پٹرول کی قیمتیں پہلے ہی خطے کے ممالک کے مقابلے میں بہت زیادہ ہیں،تین سالوں میں لوگوں کی آمدنی خوفناک حدتک اور قوت خرید ختم ہو چکی ہے۔مسلم لیگ (ن) کی ترجمان مریم اورنگزیب نے کہا ہے کہ عوام کیلئے سب سے بڑا ریلیف پیکیج عمران خان کا استعفیٰ ہے۔اسلام آباد میں پریس کانفرنس کرتے ہوئے مریم اورنگزیب نے کہا کہ عمران خان کی پالیسیوں نے ملک کو غریب، عوام کو بھکاری اور نوجوانوں کو بے روزگار کردیا عمران خان نے عوام کو 3سال بیروزگاری، مہنگائی اوربھوک کا پیکیج دیا ، چینی، بجلی اور گیس کی قیمتوں میں اضافہ ہوا، ملک کو مقروض کیا گیا ، مہنگائی، قرض اور پیٹرول کی قیمتوں کا ریکارڈ ٹوٹ رہا ہے، بجلی کی قیمت 11 سے 24 روپے کرنے سے ریلیف نہیں دیا جاتا، ادویات 500 فیصد مہنگی کرنے سے عوام کو ریلیف نہیں دیا جاتا۔ آپ کے وزیر خزانہ خود کہتے ہیں کہ مہنگائی مزید بڑھے گی تو آپ کیسے ریلیف دینگے ؟

مریم اورنگزیب نے وزیر اعظم کو مخاطب کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ آپ سے یہ ملک نہیں چل سکتا، آپ صرف عوام کو لوٹنے اور اپنی اے ٹی ایمز کو فائدہ دینے آئے ہیں، آپ جس دن ریلیف کی بات کرتے ہیں اسی روز چینی، آٹا اور پیٹرولیم مصنوعات سمیت ہر چیز مہنگی کرتے ہیں، آپ کہتے تھے کہ کوئی بھوکا نہیں سوئے گا؟ مگر لنگر خانے کھول کر وہ بھی بند کردیے، آپ کواعلان کرنا ہے تو استعفے کا اعلان کریں، یہ عوام کیلئے حقیقی ریلیف کے لئے سنگ میل ہوگا۔ ترجمان (ن) لیگ کا کہنا تھا کہ ایسا لگتا ہے عمران خان خود شہزاد اکبر بننا چاہتے ہیں، اسی لئے نیب کا نیا آرڈیننس جاری کیا ،ایک سوال پر انہوں نے کہاکہ قومی سلامتی کمیٹی میں شرکت کا فیصلہ پارٹی کریگی۔ دوسری جانب امیر جماعت اسلامی سراج الحق نے کہا کہ حکومتی کشتی ڈوب رہی ہے، ڈبونے والے ملاح خود ہیں، حالات اس نہج پر پہنچ چکے ہیں کہ پی ٹی آئی کو اقتدار میں لانے والے بھی مایوس دکھائی دے رہے ہیں۔ حواس باختہ حکمران صلاحیت سے عاری، سوا تین سال میں محرومیاں اور مایوسیاں بانٹیں۔ پی ٹی آئی کے اپنے سپورٹرز بھی مایوس ہیں اور اس وقت کو کوس رہے ہیں جب حکمران جماعت کا ساتھ دیا۔ کمرتوڑ مہنگائی، طوفان بے روزگاری، شریعت سے متصادم قانون سازی اور سود پر اربوں ڈالر کے تاریخی قرضے اس حکومت کے 22کروڑ عوام کے لیے تحائف ہیں۔

 اپوزیشن لیڈر پنجاب اسمبلی حمزہ شہباز شریف نے اپنے ردعمل میں کہا ہے کہ وزیراعظم کا خطاب عوام کو ریلیف کے اعلان کے بجائے محض زخموں پر نمک پاشی تھاعمران خان آئے سبسڈی کا اعلان کرنے تھے لیکن پیٹرولیم مصنوعات کی قیمتوں اور مہنگائی میں مزید اضافے کی نوید سنا گئے۔انکا خطاب غریب عوام کیلئے ایک اور سبز باغ تھا۔وزیراعظم صاحب 2 کروڑ پاکستانی نہیں بلکہ آپ کی حکومت نے 22 کروڑ پاکستانیوں کو سبسڈی کا مستحق بنا چھوڑا ہے جبکہ اس حکومت کی نااہلی کے سبب پاکستان کے متوسط طبقے کی کمر بھی ٹوٹ چکی ہے۔یہ ریلیف کا پیکج ایک کروڑ نوکریوں کے جھانسے اور پچاس لاکھ گھر کے جھوٹ کی نئی قسط ہے۔ حمزہ شہباز نےسوال کیا کہ کیا اس سبسڈی سے روٹی 10 روپے سے سستی ہو جائے گی کیا عام عوام کے لئے 125 روپے کلو چینی سستی ملے گی کیا دوائیوں میں ہونے والے 500 فیصد اضافے پر بھی حکومت سبسڈی دے گی اور کیا 220 روپے کلو ملنے والی ایل پی جی بھی سستی ملے گی۔ سینیٹر علامہ پروفیسر ساجد میر نے اپنے ردعمل میں کہا ہے کہ یہ تو سب کو معلوم تھا کہ آئندہ پٹرولیم مصنوعات کی قیمتوں میں اضافہ ہونا ہے، اس کیلئے قوم کو بھاشن دینے کی کیا ضرورت تھی۔ ایک پریس ریلیز جاری کردی جاتی، کافی تھی۔

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#MJtv LIVE: تحریک انصاف سے تحریک لبیک تک، معائدہ ہوا ہی نہیں تو خفیہ کیسا؟

تحریک انصاف اور تحریک لبیک ایک پیج پر؟

آصف محمود 

  

اگلے انتخابات میں اگر ق لیگ اور ایم کیو ایم کی طرح کسی نہ کسی شکل میں تحریکِ لبیک کا تحریک انصاف کے ساتھ اشتراک ہو جاتا ہے تو سیاست کا منظر نامہ بدل کر رہ جائے گا۔

قومی سیاسی جماعتوں کا دائرہ کار بہت تیزی سے سکڑ رہا ہے اور اس کی جگہ ایک نیا سیاسی بندوبست آتا دکھائی دے رہا ہے۔ سوال یہ ہے کہ اس نئے حسن انتظام میں کیا تحریک انصاف اور تحریک لبیک ایک پیج پر ہیں؟

تحریک لبیک اور حکومت کے درمیان ایک معاہدہ ہوتا ہے لیکن اس معاہدے کی تفصیلات بتانے سے انکار کر دیا گیا ہے۔ یہ ’مناسب وقت‘ پر بتائی جائیں گی۔ سوال یہ ہے کہ ایک انتظامی معاہدے میں ایسا کیا ہے جسے عوام سے چھپایا جا رہا ہے؟ کہیں ایسا تو نہیں کہ آئندہ کے سیاسی حسنِ انتظام کی بابت بھی کچھ طے کیا گیا ہے اور اسی کو راز کی طرح چھپایا جا رہا ہے؟

مفتی منیب الرحمٰن صاحب فرماتے ہیں کہ تحریک لبیک نے فرانسیسی سفیر کو ملک سے نکالنے کا مطالبہ کیا ہی نہیں تھا۔ سوال یہ ہے کہ پھر تحریک لبیک کا مطلوب و مقصود کیا تھا، کون سا مطالبہ لے کر قافلہ چلا تھا اور کون سی بات منوا کر وہ تھم گیا؟

یہ سوال بھی بہت اہم ہے کہ مفتی صاحب اس مرحلے پر ایک خیر خواہ کے طور پر بروئے کار آئے ہیں اور فرانسیسی سفیر کے معاملے کی وضاحت کرکے وہ تحریک لبیک کی محض ترجمانی کر رہے ہیں یا یہ اس امر کا اشارہ بھی ہے کہ تازہ حسن انتظام میں اگلے مرحلے کے لیے تحریک لبیک کی متبادل یا معاون قیادت بھی تیار کی جا رہی ہے۔

سامنے کی حقیقت یہ ہے کہ پاکستان کے سیاسی منظر نامے کو قومی سیاسی جماعتیں کم ہی راس آئی ہیں۔ قیام پاکستان کے بعد 24 سال تک انتخابات ہی نہ ہوسکے۔ پہلے عام انتخابات 1971 میں جا کر ہوئے اور اس کے نتیجے میں انتخابات جیتنے والی سیاسی جماعت غدار ٹھہری اور انتقال اقتدار کی بجائے سقوط ڈھاکہ ہو گیا۔

بچ رہنے والے پاکستان میں ذوالفقار علی بھٹو کی شکل میں ایک سیاسی حقیقت موجود تھی۔ ان کے خلاف تحریک نظام مصطفیٰ کھڑی کر دی گئی اور پھر جب ضیاء الحق آ گئے تو گویا حق آ گیا اور اہل مذہب کی تحریک بھی تھم گئی۔

بھٹو صاحب کی پھانسی کے بہت بعد محترمہ بے نظیر بھٹو جلا وطنی ختم کرکے واپس لوٹیں توان کے غیر معمولی استقبال سے معلوم ہوا کہ بھٹو کی عصبیت زندہ ہے۔ چنانچہ اسلام کے نام پر اسلامی جمہوری اتحاد بنایا گیا اور نواز شریف صاحب کو ایک متبادل اور نجات دہندہ کے طور پر پیش کیا گیا کہ یہی وہ رجل رشید ہیں جو ملک میں اسلامی نظام قائم کریں گے۔

بے نظیرصاحبہ نے حکومت بنائی تو قاضی حسین احمد مرحوم نے ایک ایسے دھرنے میں چار کارکنوں کی جان کی قربانی پیش کر دی، جس کی وجہ آج تک معلوم نہیں ہوسکی۔ نتیجہ البتہ معلوم ہے کہ کچھ دنوں بعد بے نظیر حکومت کا خاتمہ ہوگیا۔ اس حکومت کے خاتمے سے جماعت اسلامی کی اعلائے کلمۂ الحق کی جدو جہد کو کتنے کلو گرام فائدہ ہوا، شاید سراج الحق صاحب ہی کچھ رہنمائی فرما سکیں۔

سماج کی طرح سیاست میں بھی ارتقا ہوتا ہے۔ اپنی ساری خامیوں اور خرابیوں کے باوجود معاشرہ اور سیاست دھیرے دھیرے ارتقا کی طرف بڑھتے ہیں۔ یہی معاملہ ن لیگ اور پیپلز پارٹی کے ساتھ ہوا جو نفرت کے کھیل کو میثاق جمہوریت تک لائیں اور چند مشترکات پر جمع ہو گئیں۔

سیاست جب اس ارتقائی موڑ تک پہنچی تو قومی سیاسی جماعتوں کا ’علاج بالغذا‘ کرنے کے لیے تحریک انصاف سامنے آتی ہے جو سیاست کو 90 کی دہائی کی اسی تلخی کی جانب دھکیل دیتی ہے جسے سیاست کے شعور اجتماعی نے ایک سطح پر آ کر رد کر دیا تھا۔ یہ نفرت، غصہ، ہیجان جو سب کو حیرت زدہ کیے ہوئے ہے بلاوجہ نہیں ہے۔ سیاست کی فالٹ لائنز کو نمایاں رکھنا اس کا مطلوب و مقصود ہے۔

قومی سیاسی جماعتوں کو محدود تر کرنے کے لیے ہر دور میں کچھ علاقائی، لسانی اور مذہبی قوتیں موجود رہیں۔ ایم کیو ایم کے ذریعے کسی بھی سیاسی جماعت کی حکومت کی چولیں ہلانا کتنا آسان تھا، اس کا مشاہدہ پوری قوم کر چکی۔ بھٹو، بے نظیر اور نواز شریف کے خلاف جماعت اسلامی صف اول میں رہی۔ نواز شریف کے خلاف 

طاہر القادری بروئے کار آئے۔

عمران خان کی تحریک انصاف کی شکل میں ایک نیا رجحان یا تجربہ سامنے آیا۔ بظاہر یہ ایک مقبول ترین رہنما کی جماعت تھی لیکن اتفاق دیکھیے کہ اس جماعت کا اقتدار کچھ لسانی، علاقائی جماعتوں اور کچھ خاص الیکٹیلبلز کے سہارے قائم ہے۔ یہ سہارے عمران کو گرنے نہیں دیتے تو اٹھنے بھی نہیں دیتے۔ کہنے کو تو تحریک انصاف کی حکومت ہے لیکن عملی طور پر یہ وہ حسن انتظام ہے جس میں بھان متی کا سارا کنبہ شریک اقتدار ہوتا ہے مگر مختاری کی تہمت کسی ایک مجبور کے سر ہوتی ہے۔

سیاست کا یہی رجحان اب اگلے مرحلے میں بروئے کار آ رہا ہے۔ تحریک لبیک ایک ایسی سیاسی حقیقت ہے جسے نظر انداز کرنا ممکن نہیں۔ گذشتہ انتخابات میں اس نے تقریباً 22 لاکھ ووٹ حاصل کیے تھے۔ اگلے انتخابات میں اگر ق لیگ اور ایم کیو ایم کی طرح کسی نہ کسی شکل میں اس کا تحریک انصاف کے ساتھ اشتراک کار ہو جاتا ہے تو سیاست کا منظر نامہ بدل کر رہ جائے گا۔

پہلا اثر یہ ہو گا کہ ن لیگ کا دائرہ کار پنجاب میں سمٹ جائے گا۔ تحریک لبیک بہت سارے حلقوں میں تیسرے نمبر پر رہی تھی اور اس کے ووٹ تحریک انصاف کے ووٹوں سے مل جائیں تو ن لیگ اپنے آدھے جیتے ہوئے حلقے ہار جائے۔

دوسرا اثر یہ ہو گا کہ سیٹ ایڈجسٹمنٹ وغیرہ کے نتیجے میں تحریک انصاف اپنی مزید نشستوں سے دست بردار ہو گی۔ کچھ سیٹیں تحریک انصاف ق لیگ کے لیے چھوڑے گی، کچھ ایسے الیکٹیبل پہلے ہی تحریک انصاف بنا ئے جا چکے ہیں جو ایک گھنٹے کے نوٹس پر تحریک انصاف کو چھوڑنے کی صلاحیت سے بھی مالا مال ہیں۔ کابینہ میں تقریباً 70 فیصد لوگ تحریک انصاف کے نہیں ہیں اور ہیں تو برائے وزن بیت ہیں۔ چنانچہ اس بندوبست کے تحت تحریک انصاف جیت بھی گئی تو اقتدار اسی ’حسن انتظام‘ کے ہاتھوں میں رہے گا۔

المیہ یہ ہے کہ قومی سیاسی جماعتیں اس چیلنج سے بے نیاز ہیں۔ قیادت نے اپنی جماعتوں کو پرائیویٹ لمیٹڈ بنا کر رکھا ہے جہاں قیادت میراث میں آتی ہے۔ ن لیگ نے تو شعوری طور پر تنظیم کو کمزور رکھا ہے۔ چنانچہ سیاست میں علاقائی، لسانی اور مذہبی سیاسی جماعتوں کے لیے زیادہ گنجائش پیدا ہو رہی ہے۔ لسانی، علاقائی اور فقہی حوالوں سے قائم سیاسی جماعتیں جتنی زیادہ ہوں گی، قومی سیاست اتنی ہی بے بس اور کمزور ہو جائے گی۔ اس کے کچھ مظاہر ہم دیکھ چکے، کچھ آنے والے دنوں میں دیکھ لیں گے۔

تحریک انصاف نے حزب اختلاف کو Outwit کر دیا ہے۔ جیسے ہی وزیر اطلاعات نے تحریک لبیک سے عسکریت پسند گروہ کے طور پر نمٹنے کا اعلان کیا، شہبازشریف نے فوری طور پر نیک چلنی کا سرٹیفکیٹ پیش کرتے ہوئے تحریک لبیک سے لاتعلقی کا اعلان کرکے داد طلب کی۔ ابھی وہ داد پانے کے لیے ادھر ادھر دیکھ ہی رہے تھے کہ حکومت نے اسی تحریک لبیک سے معاہدہ کرلیا اور معاہدہ بھی ایسا جس کی تفصیلات مناسب وقت پر بتائی جائیں گی، البتہ اسے اسلام کی فتح ابھی سے قرار دیا جا رہا ہے۔

شہباز شریف کو لوگ قائد حزب اختلاف کی بجائے وفاقی وزیر برائے حزب اختلاف کہتے ہیں تو شاید ٹھیک ہی کہتے ہوں گے۔ زبان خلق تو نقارہ خدا ہوتی ہے۔

https://www.independenturdu.com/node/83516

 

Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari sends Diwali greetings to Hindus across the world

Chairamn Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has extended Diwali greetings to the Hindus all over the world, specially Pakistan’s Hindu community, and wished them his best wishes.

According to a statement issued by Media Cell Bilawal House, Chairman PPP has said in his message that Diwali’s festival is a symbol of victory of good over evil. He said that we need to understand the message of Diwali, which teaches us that no matter how powerful evil is, its defeat at the hands of unwavering determination and constant struggle is inevitable. “The philosophy of Pakistan Peoples Party is also to fight against darkness, injustices and inequality in the country”, he added.

Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that PPP has always supported to the minorities to observe their religious rites and celebrate festivals with complete freedom as the Constitution doesn’t allow even an iota of discrimination on the basis of caste, color, race or religion in the country. He pointed out that Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had ensured the constitutional guarantee of equal rights for minorities in the 1973 constitution; Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, during her tenure as Prime Minister, established the Ministry of Minority Affairs for the welfare and progress of minorities as well as protection of their rights; and, President Asif Ali Zardari, by declaring the August 11 as a National Day of Minorities, has protected forever the equal rights for minorities promised by the Father of the Nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, from being stolen. He further said that the PPP government in Sindh stands firm with unwavering commitment towards the rights of minorities.

Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari reiterated that after the next general elections, the PPP would come into power and its government would take further steps for the development of minorities, protection of their rights, and promotion of inter-faith harmony in the country.

Chairman PPP said that extremism is a darkness for humanity, let’s work together to eradicate this darkness from the world and light the lamps of tolerance and brotherhood in our respective societies.

Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has appealed to the Hindu community of the country to pray for the security, prosperity and glory of Pakistan on the occasion of Diwali.

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/25734/

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#Pakistan - Editorial: The govt has a lot to answer for regarding its deal with the TLP - Why the secrecy?

THE Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan appears to have had its day yet again. After many days of a protest march from Lahore to Islamabad punctuated with sporadic violence, it has extracted an agreement from the PTI government that, for some strange reason, remains hidden from view.

In a somber press conference, the government’s negotiator Mufti Muneebur Rehman and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi announced that an agreement had been signed and the situation would return to normal. Since that announcement, TLP workers camped near Wazirabad have begun to pack up but are yet to disperse. There is much in here that should elicit serious concern.

It is inexplicable why the government would want to keep the agreement secret, unless of course it realises whatever it has agreed upon is at its own expense. But there is more at stake here than just the government’s credibility. The citizens have a right to know what concessions have been given in their name to an organisation that has severely damaged the writ of the state and in the process has become responsible for the death of a number of policemen. Every time the TLP has undertaken such a protest march, it has tortured and killed policemen without being held accountable for these crimes. This time too it appears that it will get away with murder — literally.

It may not be wrong to assume that the TLP has brought the PTI government to its knees, just as it had done with the previous PML-N government. Prime Minister Imran Khan may want to contemplate how his own government has made a mockery of his resolve not to allow a militant group to challenge the writ of the state. His cabinet should also feel chastened after witnessing how the TLP has forced ministers to go through a revolving door during various phases of negotiations. The government’s mishandling of the crisis has once again brought into sharp focus the wide gap between what this government says and what it ends up doing at the end.

The TLP issue cannot be brushed under the carpet anymore. The marchers may pack up and go home but they do so by extracting a steep cost from the government. They also do so at the expense of the strength and credibility of the state. Unless the state realises the gravity of the problem and begins to take steps to tackle it, the TLP will keep growing from strength to strength on the basis of its ability to challenge the state, browbeat it and emerge victorious. At this stage, it is imperative that the government make public the agreement it has inked with the TLP and then justify it. The nation has a right to know what has been bartered away in return for the violent crowd to disperse. The government has a lot to answer for.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1655449/why-the-secrecy

Pakistan’s TLP Emerges Stronger From Protests

 By Umair Jamal

The government of Pakistan has signed yet another agreement with the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) after a two- week-long protest by the group, which killed scores of policemen and caused massive economic losses.

It has refused to divulge details of the deal done with the proscribed group. One of the reasons for the government not making public the agreement it signed with the TLP is criticism and pressure it could draw internationally.

Apparently, the government has accepted the TLP’s demand that it be allowed to operate as a regular political party.

An agreement with the TLP does not come as a surprise. When the protest started, it was anticipated that the government would have to make some sort of deal with the TLP to end the demonstrations.However, the government was not expected to surrender to the group in such a way that it would virtually hand over the state’s writ to the TLP in order to keep it off the streets.

Here is what we have learned from the TLP’s latest protest.

The Imran Khan government has just concluded a deal with a group that, similar to outfits like al-Qaida and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was banned under Pakistan’s anti-terrorism laws. The TLP was banned in April this year when it staged violent protests after its leader was arrested.

Last week, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said that the government had “taken a clear policy decision that the banned TLP will now be considered a militant organization.” Within days of that statement, the government thanked the TLP for coming to an agreement with it and described the deal as a win for Islam and Pakistan.

The TLP had fairly successfully conveyed a narrative that an elected government was responsible for not honoring an agreement made with the group, and hence should be held responsible for the chaos that occurred during the protests. Mufti Muneebur Rehman, a cleric who facilitated the government-TLP talks said on Monday that some of the government’s ministers had misled the nation to believe that the TLP wanted the expulsion of the French ambassador and the closure of the French embassy in Pakistan. “So how can trust be established when government officials speak lies publicly?” he asked. Last week, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the government had solved all issues with the TLP, except the issue of the French ambassador’s expulsion from Pakistan. During the final phase of the talks, TLP not only managed to get Rashid removed from the government’s negotiating committee but virtually brought the civilian government to its knees.

The negotiations progressed and emerged successful only after the military leadership’s intervention.

On Sunday, prominent clerics, including Mufti Muneeb and Bashir Ahmad Farooqi, met military chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to discuss the issue. One of the clerics who met Bajwa attributed the success of the negotiations to the general’s mediation. For many, this was another reminder that the writ of the state in Pakistan is always negotiated between the security elite and clerics, with the elected government playing the role of mere bystanders.

The TLP has transformed the Barelvi sect into a group that has the wherewithal, support, and will to take on the state at moment’s notice. Its rise in the political arena has been meteoric. In 2018, the TLP finished third in terms of votes in elections to the Punjab Assembly, surpassing the Pakistan People’s Party. Its votes have only multiplied after every protest and sit-in, and it is possible that the group may perform even better in the next election.

For the TLP, the latest protest is another effort aimed at multiplying votes across Pakistan. It is eyeing the upcoming local government elections and eventually the general election. In the coming months, we may see political leaders from Punjab and Sindh joining the TLP to win over the group’s diehard religious vote, which is rising exponentially.

The TLP has a violent narrative but perhaps that underlies its rise in Pakistan’s political landscape. Its rise is an outcome of Pakistani ruling elite never taking seriously the widely discussed warnings of a militant culture in Pakistan as a security threat.

A culture of militancy is thriving in Pakistan and there is no will or plan to tackle it anytime soon.

https://thediplomat.com/2021/11/pakistans-tlp-emerges-stronger-from-protests/

Pakistan’s meek surrender to Tehreek-e-Labbaik was inevitable

By C. Raja Mohan

C Raja Mohan writes: It long deployed religious extremism as a policy tool. But giving too much space to religious and other extra-constitutional forces only weakens the state.

“The writ of the state must run” has been the refrain that radiated out of Islamabad last week as Prime Minister Imran Khan confronted the radical Islamic movement called Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan that was marching towards Islamabad with an impossible set of demands, including the expulsion of the French Ambassador. After much wringing of hands, the Pakistan government threatened to use force against the TLP and ordered the deployment of the paramilitary forces to prevent the march into Islamabad. It also hurled that ultimate charge that can be levelled against any political opponent in Pakistan — accusing the TLP of working for the Indian intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing.

Pakistan’s national security adviser, Moeed Yusuf, thundered in a tweet that no force in Pakistan can challenge the power of the state. Yusuf insisted that the “TLP has crossed the red line and exhausted the state’s patience. They have martyred policemen, destroyed public property, and continue to cause massive public disruption”. He added that the “law will take its course for each one of them and terrorists will be treated like terrorists with no leniency.”

All that bravado, however, lasted barely 48 hours. On Sunday, Islamabad apparently bought peace with the TLP. As in its frequent mobilisations over the last few years, the TLP has once again forced the Pakistani state onto the backfoot and enhanced its own political clout.

A relatively new phenomenon, the TLP, was founded in 2015 by Khadim Hussain Rizvi, a firebrand cleric who died in November 2020. It now has a strong following among Pakistan’s Barelvi sect. At the heart of TLP’s ideology is the protection of the Prophet’s honour and a vigorous defence of Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws. In Pakistan, anyone deemed to have insulted Islam or the Prophet Muhammad can face the death penalty under blasphemy laws.

The fierce ideology of the TLP was mobilised by the establishment for political purposes to weaken the Nawaz Sharif government in 2017. Imran Khan, then in opposition, actively supported the TLP’s protests against Sharif. Some in Pakistan suspect that the TLP has been mobilised again to bring Imran Khan down a peg or two.

The TLP won enough votes in the 2018 general election, especially in Punjab, to prevent Sharif’s Muslim League from winning its traditional stronghold. Having ousted Sharif, the deep state stitched together a majority for Imran Khan in both the Punjab province as well as the National Assembly.The TLP had no desire to spare the Imran Khan government either. It continued its repeated onslaughts against the government, mounting massive protests in April against the arrest of its leader Saad Hussain Rizvi, who succeeded his father as the head of the TLP. The TLP then set a deadline of April 20 for the expulsion of the French ambassador over its outrage about an incident of blasphemy in France.

In October 2020, Samuel Paty, a French school teacher who had shown cartoons of Prophet Muhammad in a class was beheaded by a young Islamic zealot. French President Emmanuel Macron criticised the Islamists and defended the traditional French principles of secularism. PM Imran Khan denounced Macron’s comments while the TLP organised massive countrywide protests.

The Imran government, caught in a cleft stick, could neither say no to the TLP nor accept its demands. After all, France was a major aid donor to Pakistan, Europe’s leading power, and a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Imran Khan’s government found a way to fudge the issue, and kick the ball into the court of the National Assembly. As the TLP returned to the streets last month, Imran Khan found himself in a pickle again.

Even as it signalled great resolve to put the TLP in its place, the Pakistani government over the weekend quickly turned to the more familiar strategy of accommodation. Saad Rizvi and other leaders of the TLP were brought out of prison to safe houses in Islamabad and the government turned to senior Barelvi clerics to negotiate with them.

The terms of the agreement between Islamabad and TLP have not been revealed to the public. Media reports suggest that the government has agreed to release Saad Rizvi and other leaders, withdraw all cases against the TLP cadre, and unfreeze their bank accounts. It is not clear if the TLP has agreed to give up the demand to expel the French ambassador.

After decades of promoting and pandering to religious groups of one kind or another, the Pakistani state now finds that its room for manoeuvre has dramatically shrunk in relation to Islamist groups. But while the state has repeatedly bowed to the pressure from right-wing religious groups, it has acted ruthlessly against a secular movement called Pashtun Tahafuz Movement.

While the TLP has been a violent force, the PTM, demanding self-respect for Pashtuns, has been utterly peaceful. If Saad Rizvi, who has been convicted of violence by the courts is treated with political deference, Ali Wazir, leader of the PTM and a member of the National Assembly has been jailed just for a speech.

Instrumentalising religious groups for political ends at home and abroad has long been a convenient strategy for the Pakistani state. At home, it has used Islam to marginalise the moderate and secular political forces. Abroad, it has nurtured and deployed militant Islamic forces to destabilise its neighbours, especially Afghanistan and India. But today, Pakistan finds the religious took-kit difficult to control. The religious forces have acquired the power to challenge their creator — the Pakistani state.

Although Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of the state, visualised a secular future for Pakistan, his successors steadily moved towards leveraging religion for political ends. An occasional call for the “modernisation of Islam” by General Ayub Khan or “enlightened moderation” by Pervez Musharraf has not been able to stop the diminution of the state in relation to religious forces.

Pakistan’s meek surrender yet again to the TLP underlines how hard it is for a state to regain the authority that it has ceded to religious forces. Given the power of religion, most states find a way to live with it. But giving too much space to religious or other extra-constitutional forces inevitably weakens the state.

For one, there is no end to accommodating such forces. Each concession compels the next. The power of religious groups undermines the much needed social and economic modernisation that most developing societies badly need. It also complicates the state’s pursuit of its national interests on the global stage. Pakistan’s support to the Taliban in Afghanistan and various jihadi groups in Kashmir have long been viewed as successful use of religion for foreign policy ends. Yet the permissive environment Islamabad has created for terror has also spawned violent religious groups that want to fight the Pakistani state.

On top of it all, these groups have begun to weaken Pakistan’s ties to long-standing partners in the West — such as the US and Europe — and its neighbours. The deployment of religious extremism as a policy tool has also invited international sanctions and financial constraints. Islamabad’s trajectory is a self-defeating one that is best not taken by others. Sacrificing the state is too high a price for any political formation that wants to rule a nation.

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/imran-khan-confronts-tehreek-e-labbaik-pakistan-7603189/

آج ملک میں عام آدمی پریشان اور مایوس ہے، چیئرمین پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی بلاول بھٹو زرداری

  پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا ہے کہ آج ملک میں عام آدمی پریشان اور غریب مایوس ہے، جو تاریخی مہنگائی اور تاریخی بے روزگاری کا سامنا کر رہے ہیں۔ پی پی پی چیئرمین نے ان خیالات کا اظہار لاڑکانہ کی یو سی 11 اور 12 میں معززین، پارٹی عہدیداران و کارکنان کے اجلاسوں کو خطاب کرتے ہوئے کیا۔

 چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری کا کہنا تھا کہ موجودہ حالات میں صرف جیالے ہی عوام کی آواز بن سکتے ہیں۔ کارکنان کو پورے ملک میں باہر نکلنا پڑے گا۔ کارکنان باہر نکلیں اور ملک کے مزدوروں، کسانوں، نوجوانوں، خواتین، اور طلاب علموں کی آواز بنیں۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ وہ اہلیانِ لاڑکانہ سے وہی رشتہ قائم رکھیں گے، جو قائدِ عوام شہید ذوالفقار علی بھٹو اور شہید محترمہ بینظیر بھٹو کا تھا۔ چیئرمین پی پی پی بلاول بھٹو زرداری یونین کاوئنسل-11 دودائی روڈ گجن پور میں جیالے منیر عباسی کی رہائش گاہ پہنچے۔ یوسی صدر اصغر عباسی اور جنرل سیکریٹری قدیر ڈومکی بھی پارٹی چیئرمین کے ہمراہ تھے۔ چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے دودائی روڈ گجن پور میں جیالوں کے اجلاس کی سربراہی کی، اپنے انتخابی حلقے کی سیاسی صورت حال، مسائل اور ان کے حل پر گفتگو کی۔ دریں اثناء، چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے عبدالمجید گاد سے ان کے والد جبکہ، میر عزیز چنہ سے ان کے چاچا کے انتقال پر تعزیت کی۔

 پی پی پی چیئرمین نے علی ڈومکی سے ان کے بھائی، رشید عباسی سے ان کے والد، جبکہ تہمینہ تنیو سے بھی ان کے والد کے انتقال پر اظہار افسوس کیا۔ بعدازاں، چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری یونین کاوَنسل 12 محلہ غلام بھٹو میں پی پی پی لاڑکانہ کے نائب صدر آفتاب بھٹو اور سیکریٹری اطلاعات وقار بھٹو کی رہائش گاہ پہنچے۔ چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے یوسی 12 کے صدر غلام نبی بھٹو اور جنرل سیکریٹری عابد حسین بھٹو کی میزبانی میں ہونے والے کارکنان و عہدیداران کے اجلاس کی سربراہی کی۔ دریں اثناء، چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے راجہ بھٹو سے ان کے والد یاسین بھٹو اور اشرف بھٹو سے ان کے والد حاجی الہی بخش بھٹو کے انتقال پر تعزیت کی۔

 چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری کا فدا حسین سانگی اور فوجی گل محمد سانگی سے الگ الگ ان کی والدہ کے انتقال پر اظہار افسوس کیا۔ اس موقعے پر پی پی پی سندھ کے صدر نثار کھوڑو اور سینٹرل ایگزیکٹو کمیٹی کے رکن جمیل سومرو پارٹی چیئرمین کے ہمراہ تھے۔ خورشید احمد جونیجو، ناصر حسین شاہ، سردار شاہ، ضیا عباس شاہ، سہیل انور سیال، نواب وسان، گھنور اسران، لیاقت آسکانی، فرحت سیمی سومرو، خیر محمد شیخ، اعجاز لغاری، سردار صفدر علی مٹھانی، شفقت سومرو، انور لہر، عمران جتوئی، وقار بھٹو، سرفراز کھوکھر، آفتاب بھٹو، کامران احمد اوڈھانو، شیر محمد لغاری، ماجد بروہی عبدالفتاح بھٹو، سردار محمد نواز شیخ، اصغر علی کچھی، عبدالباری عباسی، علی گوہر سانگی، مٹھل سومرو، آمنہ جمالی، شبیرا جوکھیو، ڈاکٹر سکینہ گاد، سفیہ شاہ جیلانی، بینظیر شاہ، شازیہ سومرو، زینیت بھٹو، علی گل ڈومکی، عبدالستار سومرو، حاجی قربان علی کورائی، آغا غلام علی ڈومکی، عاشق علی بروہی، عبدالغفار ملانو، زوار ریاض حسین شیخ، منصف علی بھٹو، مظہر علی بھٹو، رسول بخش سومرو، راحب جتوئی، آفتاب نیک بھٹو، گل محمد میرانی، غلام نبی بھٹو، حافظ محمد نواز بھٹو، اظہر علی بھٹو، اشرف بھٹو و دیگر بھی اس موقعے پر موجود تھے۔

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/25730/

 

Video Report - National Statement by PM Modi at COP26 Summit in Glasgow

Video Report - Will world leaders act enough against catastrophic climate change?

Video Report - #G20RomeSummit #ClimateChange #Coronavirus G20 leaders back minimum corporate tax, still out on climate & COVID |

Video Report - President Biden addresses delegates at COP26 climate summit— 11/1/2021

Joe Biden Apologizes For Donald Trump In UN Climate Change Speech

 

By Ryan Grenoble

The president told world leaders, “I shouldn’t apologize, but I do apologize" for one of Donald Trump's more memorable anti-science acts.

Sometimes the path back to relevance starts with acknowledging your mistakes ― even if those mistakes were intentional and committed entirely by your predecessor.

President Joe Biden is in Glasgow, Scotland, for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference this week, where he’s looking to reposition the United States as a dependable leader in the fight against climate change.

His first order of business? Apologize for the last guy, who went out of his way to ignore science and make climate change worse.

“I shouldn’t apologize, but I do apologize for the fact the United States, the last administration, pulled out of the Paris accords and put us sort of behind the eight ball a little bit,” Biden told world leaders on Monday.

“Behind the eight ball” is a severe understatement.

As president, Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, a landmark deal the U.S. took a lead in brokering. The deal seeks to cut planet-heating emissions and includes virtually every nation as a signatory. Even the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, a massive global oil company, thought leaving the deal was a dumb move.Back home, Trump repeatedly targeted the Clean Air Act, sought to roll back decades of Clean Water Act protections, and actively tried to bury climate science reports that didn’t fit his narrative. He also lied constantly about all of that, often claiming to be doing the opposite.Science was never Trump’s strong suit. He had virtually no science advisers on staff, dismissed “Global Waming [sic]” as a “Chinese hoax” because it was cold in the Midwest once, infamously doctored a hurricane forecast with a Sharpie in an attempt to save face, and, in the face of a deadly global pandemic, repeatedly doled out harmful and counterproductive advice even as he privately knew better, leading to hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-trump-paris-climate-agreement_n_61801497e4b010d93320f4ff

Video Report - Govt Surrenders Before Labbaikis |Gen Bajwa Helped Reach Agreement| Big Blow To Hybrid System

#Pakistan - #Lahore ranks second among top five most polluted cities in world: report

 Lahore, the city of gardens, is ranked second in a list of top five cities in the world with dirty air, reports said.

The city recorded a Particulate Matter rating of 188, placing it under the “unhealthy” category of air quality.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency regards air quality as satisfactory if the Air Quality Index is under 50.

The environmental experts have blamed the transportation sector and industries, besides the burning of crops, for the pollution.

A resident tweeted: “Air quality in Lahore is the worst. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to be healthy in this pollution. All those planning to settle in Lahore should rethink their decision and settle elsewhere.”

“We should also consider to change Lahore as a capital city. It’s too populated.”

More than half of Pakistan cities are still plagued by dirty air, new data shows, despite a reduction in traffic emissions and other pollutants during last year’s lockdowns.

The three cleanest cities were Umeå in Sweden, Tampere in Finland and Funchal in Portugal.

Cities in eastern Europe, where coal is still a major source of energy, fared worst of all, with Nowy Sącz in Poland having the most polluted air, followed by Cremona in Italy where industry and geography tend to concentrate air pollution and Slavonski Brod in Croatia.

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/11/01/lahore-second-most-polluted-city-in-world-report/

Checkmate - Pakistan's Niazi Regime surrenders to Terrorists of TLP

 Umair Javed 

@umairjav

By the time this column goes to print, the TLP will either still be wreaking havoc on N-5 or some settlement would’ve been struck. Either way, considerable damage to life, property, and the mental peace of residents of at least three districts in Punjab is already done.

TLP activists coming out on the streets is, by now, a familiar phenomenon. There have been at least three previous instances of the same, with each exacting a heavy toll. And yet authorities appear no closer to finding a way to prevent it.

There are several reasons as to why the state remains handicapped; most of these reasons, however, are grounded in the specific nature of the TLP movement and the politics that surrounds it. It is this configuration that makes it a particularly difficult political question to resolve.

Let’s start with the first act. The state recognises the right to peaceful protest. This right is selectively extended, but it exists and that allows TLP cadres to come out on the streets in the first instance. Because ‘more acceptable’ political parties, such as the one currently in government, have also used and taken advantage of this right, banning all such activity is not an option. Even if it were selectively allowed, the exceptions provide both a legal and a moral case for the first act of mobilization.

What makes the TLP different is both its geography and its ideology.

Once on the street, the mobilization takes on a life of its own. It makes outrageous demands, charts its own route, blockades main roads to generate attention and displays its strength through the congregation and movement of numbers. It becomes a power show. Authorities face two options — allow it to continue in the hope that it will peter out; or try to regulate its mobility through force.

The first may have been a workable strategy a decade ago, when Barelvi activists and acolytes were getting a feel for street power, but it no longer has any dampening effect. People once out, rarely go back, and strength in numbers attracts even more.

 The second strategy — use of force — has its own constraints. Policing personnel are under-resourced and untrained in modern riot control techniques. The use of batons and tear gas appear to be the only tools in their arsenal, but ones that often lead to an escalating cycle of violence. The use of indiscriminate force (lethal or non-lethal) even in retaliation is obviously not an option both from a legal perspective — on paper the state has to abide by its own norms and laws — and from a political one: victimisation gives further fuel to a movement that sees itself as victims of global and local conspiracies anyway.

Protests can’t be banned, and even if they are, the bans will be flouted. Activists clearly don’t tire of coming on the streets and staying there. The backing of a vast network of mosques and local Barelvi organisations can’t be switched off like a tap. The capacity for tactical riot control doesn’t exist, and the use of indiscriminate force has both moral and legal implications and should be shunned. All that leaves authorities with is partial use of force and negotiations from a position of weakness.

On the face of it, these are hard constraints and ones that limit the extent of what authorities can do. However, even if there were some magical alternative solution, the persistence of these constraints is tied to deeper political and social realities that make them even more permanent.

Consider this — the state has no problem enforcing curfews in borderland and peripheral geographies. Ask the people of the newly merged districts and Balochistan. It also has no issues using lethal coercion in the name of policing in the same territories. It calls protesting doctors, nurses, teachers, and citizens asking for respite from terrorism, blackmailers and brings out water cannons and tear gas on a whim.

 What makes the TLP different is both its geography and its ideology. It is a movement that is more rooted in urban and peri-urban Punjab than any previous religio-political one. It has managed to weld together support from large swathes of the Punjabi lumpenclass with sections of the trader/merchant petty bourgeoisie through an embedded religious leadership that commands a large mosque network. In other words, it is tied to the same supposed heartland that provides the greatest numbers and legitimacy to the state. Turning on it is not an option like it is in areas far removed from the state’s largesse and imagination.

Ideologically, the movement’s rhetoric places a significant straitjacket on the state itself. It speaks for love of the Prophet (PBUH). Its followers call themselves ashiq-i-rasool. It seeks to defend the honour of the Prophet and the finality of prophethood from international conspirators and their local compradors. How can a state ostensibly created in the name of religion oppose any of this? How can a federal government that has spent the better part of the last few years trying to establish its own religious credentials disallow others from expressing theirs? How can a provincial administration that is creating more space for religious authorities in everything from nikah documents to curriculum oversight and management stop any section of the religious elite from staking their claim?

The fact of the matter is that the state and its mainstream political class has no coherent ideological response to the TLP that does not operate on the latter’s turf. Years of using the same rhetoric, paying fealty to the same goals, and exploiting the same anti-minority fault lines will produce an outcome where a movement can stand up and assert itself as the true representative of this cause.

Checkmate

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/6906155786122195046/7611994799443698949

The Pakistani government must make the agreement with a terrorist group, TLP, public.

 The government must immediately make the agreement signed with the banned TLP public, demanded Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar.

“The government should inform the parliament and the nation about the agreement signed in the dark of the night. The citizens of this country have a right to know what has been agreed with a banned organisation that had paralysed the country, disrupted everyday life and business for 12 days. The protesters martyred innocent policemen.”

Senator Khokhar asked if the sacrifices of Punjab Police personnel were in vain or if the culprits would be caught and punished.

Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar added, “When the Hazara community was not burying their dead, Imran Khan said he would not be blackmailed, but here the entire state has surrendered.

This is not even how grocery stores are run, let alone a state!

“History is witness that Pakistan has suffered a great deal whenever the state has surrendered before such elements,” added Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar.

پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے مرکزی راہنما و سینیٹر مصطفی نواز کھوکھر نے حکومت و کالعدم تنظیم کے درمیان ہونے والے معاہدے پر کہا کہ حکومت معاہدے کو فوری منظر عام پر لاۓ اور پارلیمان اور قوم کو رات کی تاریکی میں کیے گئے معاہدے کے بارے میں آگاہ کرۓ ،انہوں نے کہا کہ اس ملک کے شہری یہ جاننے کا حق رکھتے ہیں کہ ہفتوں نظام زندگی معطل رکھنے ،جان و مال کا نقصان کرنے والی کالعدم تنظیم کے ساتھ کیا طے پایا ہے سینیٹر مصطفی نواز کھوکھر نے کہا کہ بتایا جاۓ کہ کیا پنجاب پولیس کے اہلکاروں کی شہادتیں بغیر کسی وجہ کی تھیں اور کیا ان ملزموں کو کیفر کردار تک پہنچایا جاۓ گا بھی یا نہیں ؟ان کا مزید کہنا تھا کہ جب ہزارہ برادری لاشوں کے ساتھ دھرنادیے ہوئی تھی تو عمران خان نے کہا کہ میں بلیک میل نہیں ہوں گا پر یہاں تو پوری ریاست فوری ڈھیر ہوگئی ہے انہوں نے کہا کہ اس طرح تو کریانے کی دکان نہیں چلتی جس طرح اب ریاست پاکستان کو چلایا جا رہا ہے پی پی پی راہنما نے کہا کہ ماضی گواہ ہے کہ جب ریاست نے اس طرح کے عوامل کے سامنے گھٹنے ٹیکے اس کاہمیشہ نقصان ہوا ہے

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/25724/

Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari vows to continue mass movement against PTI regime and its unprecedented price-hike, inflation

 Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has reiterated his firm resolve to continue with the ongoing wave of mass protests against the imposed federal government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) against unprecedented inflation in the country that has deprived the masses of basic essentials. The PPP is fully determined to send this PTI-led government back home.

The PPP is going to take the masses on board soon for a final knockout blow to the oppressive and tyrant government of PTI that has done nothing for the people but given them blows of skyrocketing prices of basic commodities. He expressed these views while addressing separate meetings of dignitaries and Jialas (PPP activists) of Union Council-9, Mohalla Riyali and Union Council-10, Lehar Colony, Larkana.

Chairman PPP arrived at the residence of Haji Ali Nawaz Lehar in UC-10 in Lehar Colony and party general secretary Anwar Lehar, where he presided over the meeting hosted by UC President Haleem Rahojo and General Secretary Yasir Lahar.
Chairman PPP discussed the problems and issues of that area and their solutions.
He told the audience that people across the country are being sandwiched between inflation and poverty which the incumbent PTI-led federal government has imposed. This incapable government destroyed the economy of the country and its policies wreaked havoc on both the country and the people. The foolishness of this incumbent government has jeopardised the future of the nation.

Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that there is unrest today from house to house due to inflation, and the common man is very worried about the economy. The people want a government that builds houses, while the inefficient government of PTI is taking measures to finish the already ruined economy.

Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that there is no comparison of PPP’s economic policies as PPP always comes forward with unique and people-friendly programmes.
The U-Turn specialist Prime Minister Imran Khan has deceived the youth of the country with false promises of 10 million jobs while the fact is that the youth had been rendered jobless. PPP is the only party in the country that always creates jobs and boosts employment when it has its government in the country. And PPP will keep this glowing tradition alive, Chairman PPP stated.

Earlier, Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visited the residence of Union Record Event Secretary Abdul Bari Abbasi at Union Council-09 at Mohalla Riyli Bagh, hosted by UC-09 President Abdul Waris Bhutto and General Secretary Ali Hassan Lashari.
He chaired a meeting of party Jialas and inquired them about the situation in their constituencies. Party Jialas informed him about the problems and issues.

Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also appreciated party officials and workers holding historic and gigantic countrywide protests on Friday, Oct 29 in condemnation of the unprecedented price hike.
Chairman PPP with a heavy heart said that the overall situation has compelled parents to take their children out of schools because they can’t afford the schooling expenses.

Pakistan is in hot waters due to the inefficient puppet government of PTI.
“It is the PPP alone that has the guts and capacity to pull the country out of this devastating situation”, he asserted.
Meanwhile, Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari offered condolences to Ikhtiar Lashari on the sad demise of his uncle Muhammad Nawaz Lashari and Fida Hussain Lark to his father Muhammad Bux Lark.
Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also expressed his condolences to Hameer Imdad and Naeem Imdad on the death of his father Ashiq Memon and Hezbullah Khan Pathan on the sad demise of his father Sharbat Khan.
PPP Sindh President Nisar Khorro, Party Central Executive Committee members Jamil Soomro, Khurshid Ahmed Junejo, Nasir Hussain Shah, Sardar Shah, Zia Abbas Shah, Liaquat Askani, Sohail Anwar Sial, Farhat Seemi Soomro, Khair Mohammad and other had flanked the Chaiman.
Shaikh Ejaz Leghari, Shafqat Soomro, Anwar Lehar, Imran Jatoi, Waqar Bhutto, Sarfraz Khokhar, Aftab Bhutto, Kamran Ahmed Odhano, Sher Muhammad Leghari, Majid Brohi, Muslim Bughio, Sardar Muhammad Nawaz Shaikh, Asghar Ali Kachhi, Abdul Bari Abbasi, Ali Gohar Sangi, Mitthal Soomro, Sarfraz Khokhar, Amin Shaikh, Abdul Fateh Bhutto, Azhar Bhutto, Imam Ali Dahri, Banish Navid Abbasi, Mehran Khaskheli, Abdul Ghaffar Malano, Asif Dahani, Amna Jamali, Shabbira Jokhio, Dr Sakina Gad, Shella Bhatti, Saifullah Lehar, Amanullah Lehar, Munawwar Dahani, Mumtaz Leghari, Zahid Lehar, Hussain Bux Jatoi, Inam Dahani, Shafiq Chandio, Ali Gohar Bhatti, Mushtaq Abbasi, Abdul Basit Abbasi, Khadim Hussain Tunio, Arif Hussain Chandio, Ikhtiar Ali Lashari, Khalid Nohani, Danish Samuel Masih, Sohail Masih, Anthony Sohotra and others were also present.