وزیر خارجہ چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے قومی اسمبلی میں مقبوضہ جموں و کشمیر کے حوالے سے ایک قرارداد پیش کی جس میں بین الاقوامی برادری سے کہا گیا ہے کہ وہ بھارت کی جانب سے مقبوضہ جموں و کشمیر میں انسانی حقوق کی سنگین خلاف ورزیوں اور جنگی جرائم کا نوٹس لیں اور مقبوضہ کشمیر میں بھارت کے مظالم اور یکطرفہ اور غیرقانونی اقدامات کو روکنے کا کہیں اور بھارت سے یہ بھی کہیں کہ وہ اقوام متحدہ کی سکیورٹی کونسل کی متعلقہ قراردادوں پر عملدرآمد کرے۔ قرارداد میں بھارت کی جانب سے غیرقانونی اور ظالمانہ اقدامات اور کشمیر کی متنازعہ حیثیت کو تبدیل کرنے کے خلاف قرارداد منظور کی گئی۔ قرارداد میں اس بات پر سخت تشویش کا اظہار کیا گیا کہ بھارت کی قابض فوج کی جانب سے غیرقانونی اقدامات لئے گئے ہیں جن سے مقبوضہ کشمیر کی آزادی تناسب بگڑ گیا ہے جو کہ بین الاقوامی قوانین کی خلاف ورزی ہے۔ بھارت کے نام نہاد ڈی لیمیٹیشن کمیشن کو مارچ 2020ءمیں قائم کیا گیا جس سے مقبوضہ جموں و کشمیر کے مسلمانوں کی اکثریت کو مصنوعی طور پر تبدیل کر دیا گیا ہے۔ قرارداد میں کہا گیا ہے کہ پاکستان کشمیری عوام سے مکمل یکجہتی اور حمایت کا اعادہ کرتا ہے۔ پاکستان اور کشمیری عوام کی جانب سے بھارت کے 5اگست 2019ءکے غیرقانونی اقدامات پر تشویش کا اظہار کیا گیا۔ قرارداد میں یہ بھی کہا گیا کہ جموں و کشمیر بین الاقوامی طور پر ایک متنازعہ مسئلہ ہے جو کہ اقوام متحدہ کی سکیورٹی کونسل میںایک طویل عرصہ سے قابل توجہ ہے۔ اب اس جعلی ڈی لیمٹیشن کے بعد جو بھی انتخابات ہوں گے وہ اقوام متحدہ کے تحت غیرجانبدرانہ حق خود ارادیت کا نعمل البدل نہیں ہو سکتے۔ قرارداد میں مطالبہ بھی کیا گیا کہ بھارت بین الاقوامی قوانین، اقوام متحدہ کی سکیورٹی کونسل کی قراردادوں اور جینوا کنونشن پر عمل کرے اور مقبوضہ علاقے میں کسی قسم کی غیرقانونی طور پر آبادی میں تبدیلی کی کوشش سے باز رہے۔ قرارداد میں بھارت سے بھی کہا گیا کہ وہ مقبوضہ جموں و کشمیر میں انسانی حقوق کی خلاف ورزیوں سے باز رہے اور کشمیری عوام کو ان کا حق خود ارادیت کی راہ میں رکاوٹ نہ بنیں۔ قرارداد میں پاکستان اور پاکستانی عوام کی جانب سے کشمیری بھائی بہنوں سے یکجہتی کا اظہار کیا گیا اور کہا گیا کہ پاکستان کشمیریوں کی آزادی کی جدوجہد اور حق خودارادیت کی حمایت کرتا رہے گا۔
Thursday, May 12, 2022
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Enforced disappearances in Pakistan: Baloch Voice Association urges UN body to appoint rapporteur
Representatives of the Baloch Voice Association (BVA) met with the United Nations Working Group over the issue of enforced disappearances in Pakistan and urged the UN body to appoint a special rapporteur.
“I urge this body to appoint a special rapporteur on the issue of enforced disappearances in Balochistan” Senior Baloch Human Rights defender Waja Ali Arjemandi in a statement asked the UN body on Monday.The representatives of BVA also expressed their thanks to the UN for inviting them to United Nations in Geneva.
“I am also thankful to this body and her office holders to be conterminously with us in the search of Ehsan Arjemandi and other victims of enforced disappearances,” Waja Ali Arjemandi said.
In his statement, the Baloch representative said that his brother Ehsan Arjemandi was kidnapped by Pakistani security forces on August 9, 2009 and was released on August 29, 2021.“The situation in Balochistan is alarming. Every day we are getting news about cases of enforced disappearances. The process of registering a case with the UN body for them is very difficult due to many factors,” the representative further said.The representatives of BVA said that there are reports that Pakistani forces have threatened and disappeared family members of the victims for raising voices over enforced disappearances.
UN Working body Vice President said: “We are looking towards Ehsan Arjemandi to help us to trace the other victims of enforced disappearances. The Secretary-General of the body thanked Ehsan Arjemandi for his commitment to fight against enforced disappearances.”
Munir Munir, the President of Baloch Voice Association, said that even in a verdict the Pakistani supreme court has said that the “commission has failed to solve the issue of enforced disappearances”.
Enforced disappearances are used as a tool by Pakistani authorities to terrorize people who question the all-powerful army establishment of the country, or seek individual or social rights. Cases of enforced disappearances have been majorly recorded in the Balochistan and the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces of the country which host active separatist movements.
A recent report unveiled by the US revealed that over 8000 people were missing in the country during 2021 including 1,200 missing in Sindh province in the last six months.
https://theprint.in/world/enforced-disappearances-in-pakistan-baloch-voice-association-urges-un-body-to-appoint-rapporteur/951289/
یہ پتہ لگ گیا کہ فوج نیوٹرل رہ سکتی ہے: آصف زرداری
پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے شریک چیئرمین اور سابق صدر آصف علی زرداری کا کہنا ہے کہ وہ الیکشن سے ڈرتے نہیں بلکہ الیکشن سے قبل انتخابی اصلاحات کرنا چاہتے ہیں۔
آصف علی زرداری نے بدھ کو کراچی میں ایک پریس کانفرنس سے خطاب میں کہا کہ ’ہم نے کب کہا کہ ہم الیکشن سے ڈرتے ہیں۔‘
انہوں نے کہا کہ ’ہمارے گیم پلان میں الیکٹورل اور نیب ریفارمز ہیں۔ آئندہ انتخابات کا انعقاد ضروری مسائل کے حل اور انتخابی اصلاحات کے فوری بعد کیا جائے گا۔‘
ان کا کہنا تھا کہ ’عمران خان کہتے ہیں الیکشن کروائیں، وہ کیا کر لیں گے الیکشن کروا کے، انہوں نے پہلے چار سال میں کیا کر لیا۔‘
’یہ بات تو ہم کہتے آئے ہیں کہ دھاندلی ہوئی، الیکشن کروائیں، لیکن کبھی کسی نے ہماری بات نہیں سنی۔‘
انہوں نے صحافیوں سے کہا کہ ’میں میاں صاحب سے مشاورت کے بعد ہی آپ سے بات کر رہا ہوں۔‘
آصف علی زرداری نے کہا کہ ’جو یہ لوگ گانا گا رہے ہیں کہ فریش الیکشن کراؤ۔ جو بھی آئے گا اسے ایسے ہی مسائل حل کرنا پڑیں گے، اس لیے ہم کو ہی کرنے دو۔‘
واضح رہے کہ مسلم لیگ ن کا ایک وفد بھی گذشتہ روز سابق وزیر اعظم نواز شریف سے مشاورت کے لیے لندن کے لیے روانہ ہوا۔
مسلم لیگ ن کا یہ وفد جس میں وزیراعظم شہباز شریف بھی شامل ہیں نوازشریف کے بلانے پر لندن گیا ہے۔
اس حوالے سے بعض تجزیہ کاروں کا کہنا ہے کہ مسلم لیگ ن کے وفد کے اس وقت لندن جانے کے بعد ’قبل از وقت انتخابات کے قوی امکانات پیدا ہو گئے ہیں۔‘
دوسری جانب سابق وزیراعظم عمران خان پہلے ہی عوامی رابطے کی مہم کا آغاز کر چکے ہیں اور وہ وزارتِ عظمیٰ کے عہدے سے ہٹائے جانے کے بعد سے مسلسل انتخابات کرائے جانے کا مطالبہ ہی کر رہے ہیں۔
تاہم عمران خان کی ایبٹ آباد جلسے میں تقریر کے بعد انہیں تنقید کا نشانہ بنایا جا رہا ہے اور کہا جا رہا ہے کہ انہوں نے اس تقریر میں پاکستان فوج کو ’نشانہ‘ بنایا ہے۔
اب سابق صدر آصف زراداری کا کہنا ہے کہ ’فوج اگر اے پولیٹیکل ہوتی ہے تو مجھے باجوہ کو سیلوٹ کرنا چاہیے یا اس سے لڑنا چاہیے، کہ تم کیوں اے پولیٹیکل ہوئے ہو۔‘
انہوں نے کہا کہ ’جنرل باجوہ نے کسی سے یہ نہیں کہا کہ جا کر زرداری صاحب کو ووٹ دو یا شہباز صاحب کو ووٹ دو۔ وہ صرف اے پولیٹکل ہوئے کہ ہم مداخلت نہیں کریں گے۔‘
آصف زرداری کا مزید کہنا تھا کہ ’انہوں نے آئین کے مطابق حلف اٹھایا ہے اور وہ حلف پر رہے ہیں۔ حلف پر رہیں تو غلط ہیں اور نہ رہیں تو غلط ہیں۔‘
انہوں نے کہا کہ ’یہ شکر ہے میرے مولا کا کہ اس ساری ایکسرسائز میں ہمیں یہ پتہ لگ گیا کہ وہ (فوج) نیوٹرل رہ سکتے ہیں، وہ اے پولیٹیکل ہو سکتے ہیں اور ہم کوشش کرتے رہیں گے کہ وہ اے پولیٹیکل رہ سکتے ہیں۔
عمران خان کی جانب سے سراج الدولہ کا حوالہ دیے جانے آصف زرداری نے کہا کہ ’وہ کون سا بنگال کے نواب ہیں۔‘
انہوں نے کہا کہ ’اس کا (عمران خان) کیا واسطہ ہے ملک کے سیاسی حالات سے۔ ہماری کوشش ہے کہ دوبارہ کوئی سلیکٹڈ نہ آئے۔‘
https://www.independenturdu.com/node/102091
اصلاحات سے پہلے الیکشن نہیں ہوں گے، آصف زرداری
پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی (پی پی پی) شریک چیئرمین آصف علی زرداری نے کہا ہے کہ تین ماہ لگیں یا چار ماہ، انتخابی اصلاحات سے پہلے عام انتخابات نہیں کرائیں گے۔
آصف زرداری نے خواجہ آصف کا وقت سے پہلے انتخابات کے امکان کو مسترد کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ ن لیگ سے طے ہے کہ پہلے قوانین بہتر بنانے ہیں پھر الیکشن میں جانا ہے، جو بات کر رہا ہوں میاں صاحب کی مشاورت سے کر رہا ہوں۔
کراچی میں پریس کانفرنس کرتے ہوئے سابق حکومت سے متعلق آصف زرداری کا کہنا تھا کہ میری نظر میں پاکستان اگر کوئی چلاسکتا ہے تو ہم چلاسکتے ہیں، یہ نہیں چلا سکتا۔
انہوں نے کہا کہ میں نے پہلے دن کہا تھا کہ یہ نہیں چلاسکیں گے، یہ اپنے زور سے ہیں گریں گے، ان کے اپنے ہی دوستوں نے ان کو چھوڑ دیا۔
سابق صدر کا کہنا تھا کہ ان کے اپنے لوگوں نے انہوں نے چھوڑا کیونکہ انہوں نے اپنے لوگوں کے سیاسی وعدے پورے نہیں کیے۔
آج تک میں کہتا آیا ہوں کہ الیکشن کروائیں، ہم نے حکومت بنالی ہے وہ چاہ رہے ہیں کہ الیکشن کروائیں۔
ان کا کہنا تھا کہ جب کہتا تھا یہ دھاندلی کی حکومت ہے الیکشن کروائیں تو کوئی نہیں سنتا تھا۔
اسٹاک مارکیٹ کے بارے میں بات کرتے ہوئے ان کا کہنا تھا کہ آپ کا اسٹاک ایکسچینج اب کھڑا ہو گیا ہے، پرویز مشرف کے دور کے بعد بھی ہم نے اسٹاک ایکسچینج کو اٹھایا تھا۔
انہوں نے کہا کہ جب تک آئی ایم ایف کا پروگرام نہیں آجاتا ہمیں مشکلات ہوں گی۔
سابق صدر کا کہنا تھا کہ ہم نے کب کہا کہ ہم الیکشن نہیں کروائیں گے، انتخابی اصلاحات کے بعد الیکشن کی طرف جائیں گے۔
انہوں نے کہا کہ سلیکٹڈ کو ہم نے مل کر ہٹایا ہے، مجھے لوگوں کے بند چولہے جلانے ہیں۔
عمران خان کی جانب سے نئے انتخابات کے مطالبے پر آصف علی زرداری نے کہا کہ الیکشن میں جاکر یہ کیا کرے گا؟ اپنے چار سال میں کیا کام کیا؟ الیکشن جلدی کروا کر یہ کیا کر لے گا؟
انہوں نے یہ بھی کہا کہ ابھی نئی حکومت آئی ہے حالات کنٹرول کرنے میں تھوڑا وقت لگتا ہے۔
سابق صدر نے کہا کہ فوج غیر سیاسی ہوتی ہے تو جنرل باجوہ کو سیلوٹ کرنا چاہیے یا لڑنا چاہیے؟ پتہ چل گیا ہے کہ وہ نیوٹرل اور غیر سیاسی رہ سکتے ہیں، ہم کوشش کریں گے کہ وہ غیر سیاسی رہیں۔
انہوں نے کہا کہ میں پاکستان کی آبادی 20 کروڑ نہیں مانتا، میرے نزدیک ملک کی آبادی 30 کروڑ ہے اور انہی کے ساتھ ہمیں پاکستان کو بنانا ہے۔
https://jang.com.pk/news/1084935
Sunday, May 8, 2022
#Pakistan-#US: Bringing Back Diplomacy - Antony Blinken - Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto
After several years of escalating US hostility towards Pakistan, a diplomatic exchange between Pakistani and US representatives has indicated signs of a warming relationship. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and invited him to a food security meeting at the UN headquarters in New York in mid-May—a first personal invitation to a UN event by the US. Both sides also discussed various aspects of the bilateral cooperation and expressed keen interest in re-engaging.
This is a different tune from what we have witnessed in the past few years, which included constant passive-aggressive statements, withdrawal of aid, and instigation of financial cases against Pakistani institutions abroad. In fact, this is the first contact between the foreign ministers of the two countries since September 2021; it speaks volumes of the nature of the relationship that there had been radio silence between the representatives for the last seven months.This positive start will no doubt fuel the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)’s allegations of a foreign conspiracy to oust the previous government. Regardless, non-hostile relations with major powers and Pakistan’s material involvement in international affairs that gravely impact us are a necessary cornerstone of good diplomacy. It is important to know how to navigate foreign relations tactfully and deal with disagreements between countries respectfully, and not take any ill-timed inappropriate actions that could unnecessarily make a political statement on the world stage.
In that respect, the new Foreign Minister is on the right path by engaging encouragingly and stressing the importance of partnership. Issues like food security affect developing countries like Pakistan gravely; a global discussion at the UN Security Council level can have material consequences on the world, and any isolation and lack of contact are detrimental to us. The engagement must continue, and we must take this forward positively.
https://nation.com.pk/2022/05/08/bringing-back-diplomacy/
Pakistan-US: 'Engagement with mutual respect', Bilawal tells Blinken
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari sought to strengthen a “mutually beneficial and broad-based” relationship with the United States in a maiden telephone call with his American counterpart Anthony Blinken on Friday.
Using his Twitter handle, Bilawal said he had received the telephone from Secretary Blinken, who felicitated him on his assumption of the Foreign Office.
Saying he was grateful for “warm felicitations”, the foreign minister said he had exchanged views with the US secretary on “strengthening mutually beneficial and broad-based relationship” with the United States.
The two foreign ministers also discussed the promotion of peace, development and security. “Agreed engagement with mutual respect is the way forward,” Bilawal added.
This was the first telephonic conversation between the Pakistani foreign minister and the US Secretary of State in nine months. The last time Blinken spoke to Shah Mehmood Qureshi was in August 2021 when the US-led foreign forces were withdrawing from Afghanistan.
Secretary Blinken’s telephone call to the new foreign minister came amid no let-up in former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s allegations that he was ousted from power through a US-backed conspiracy.
The coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to form an “independent commission” to look into the allegations but Imran has rejected the proposal and sought a judicial commission on the matter.
The controversy revolves around a diplomatic cable the then Pakistani ambassador in Washington sent to the Foreign Office on March 7. The cable was based on Ambassador Asad Majid’s conversation with US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu.
In that cable, according to Imran, the US official "threatened" Pakistan of dire consequences if the vote of no confidence against the PTI leader did not succeed. The former premier claimed that he was ousted from power because he had pursued an independent foreign policy and undertook a visit to Russia despite the US opposition.
The National Security Committee (NSC), the country’s highest forum on such matters, met twice – first on March 31 when Imran was still the premier and second on April 22 when Shehbaz Sharif was the country’s chief executive. In both meetings, the NSC agreed that the language used by the American official was undiplomatic and tantamount to ‘blatant interference’ but found no evidence to suggest that there was a conspiracy against Imran Khan.
The PTI chairman, nevertheless, has kept building this narrative that the NSC has endorsed his claims. The controversy has complicated the already fraught relationship between Pakistan and the US.
The new government, however, has been trying to bring some semblance of certainty with statements underlining the importance of a relationship with the West particularly with the United States.
The US officials have also issued statements in favour of engagement with Pakistan. The latest telephone call, observers believe, suggests the eagerness from both sides to reset their troubled ties.
Despite the US pullout of Afghanistan, Washington still has stakes in the neighbouring country given that any instability would allow terrorist groups to regroup that may not just pose threat to the region but the US interests too.
Pakistan is worried over the recent spike in cross-border terrorist attacks from Afghanistan and considers counter-terrorism cooperation vital to deny the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other groups space in Afghanistan.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2355437/engagement-with-mutual-respect-bilawal-tells-blinken
Saturday, May 7, 2022
#Afghanistan - Taliban Impose Head-to-Toe Coverings for Women
By David Zucchino and Safiullah Padshah
A new decree recommends, but doesn’t require that women wear burqas, and says male relatives of those who don’t cover themselves would be punished.
The Taliban government decreed Saturday that Afghan women must cover themselves from head to toe, expanding a series of onerous restrictions on women that dictate nearly every aspect of public life.
The government’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice suggested the burqa as the preferred garment for covering a woman’s face, hair and body. But it did not mandate wearing the garment as long as women otherwise cover themselves with a hijab.
The full-body burqa, long emblematic of patriarchal control of women’s public attire in Afghanistan, was described by the ministry as “the good and complete hijab” — a garment with various versions that cover a woman’s hair and much or all of her face and body.
Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August, Afghan women have been subjected to a cascade of announcements restricting their employment, education, travel, deportment and other aspects of public life. Many had assumed that the return of a burqa-style body covering was the inevitable next step.
The burqa, which leaves only a woman’s hands and feet visible and includes a stitched facial netting for vision, was required by the Taliban when it ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.The ministry’s definition of “hijab” Saturday described a garment that “should not be too short or too tight,” the ministry announcement said. The intent was to obscure the outlines of a woman’s body, the ministry said.In public announcements regarding women in recent months, the government has often delivered vaguely worded proclamations left open to interpretation. Wary of Western condemnation as the Taliban government seeks diplomatic recognition and humanitarian aid, many announcements have appeared to rely on inference and intimidation.
But the ministry, which is responsible for enforcing the government’s interpretation of Islamic law, was quite specific Saturday about punishments for the male head of family of women who fail to adhere to the latest decree.
At a three-hour news conference dominated by pronouncements promoting the religious virtues of the burqa, ministry officials and Islamic religious figures dictated a series of escalating punishments — including jail time for male family heads who repeatedly disregarded warnings from government officials regarding women’s attire.If a woman failed to wear the prescribed hijab in public, ministry officials would visit her home and advise the male head of the family to require her to comply, the ministry announcement said. Failure to comply would result in a summons to the ministry, the officials said. If the man still failed to follow the guidelines, he would be jailed for three days. If the jail sentence did not compel adherence, the man would be compelled to appear before a religious court for further punishment, ministry officials said. Male government employees whose wives or daughters fail to cover themselves in public would be subject to suspension or dismissal, the announcement said. And the relatively few women still permitted to hold jobs — such as nurses, doctors and teachers — could be fired if they did not comply with the regulations. “We want our sisters to live with dignity and safety,” said Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the acting vice and virtue minister. Shir Mohammad, a vice and virtue official, said in a statement that “all dignified Afghan women” should cover themselves from head to toe. “Those women who are not too old or too young must cover their face, except the eyes,” he added. Since the Taliban takeover in August, more women in Kabul appear to have begun wearing burqas. But the majority of women on the streets of the capital have continued to wear less encompassing versions of hijabs, with many covering only their hair and leaving most or all of their faces still visible.Even under the previous, Western-backed government, many women — especially in rural areas and small towns — continued to wear burqas. The history of the garment dates back generations in Afghanistan, and is a product of conservative Afghan culture that long preceded the emergence of the Taliban in the 1990s.At Saturday’s news conference, religious speakers delivered dissertations on the Islamic history of the hijab and its benefits according to Islamic law and practice. The ministry instructed officials across Afghanistan to put up posters in bazaars and other public locations with instructions and images of approved garments for women. In recent months, small posters have appeared in Kabul depicting head-to-toe hijabs, including burqas, as proper public attire for women. On Saturday, ministry officials said the “ruling, importance and benefits of the hijab” should be discussed in mosques and distributed through the news media.In September, the Taliban converted the previous government’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs to the office for the Vice and Virtue ministry. Under the Taliban government of the 1990s, women who failed to wear a burqa in public were often beaten by vice and virtue religious police, who also delivered warnings to male relatives. Also Saturday, a spokesman for an Afghan opposition group that has mounted an insurgency against the Taliban government repeated earlier claims that it had “liberated” three districts in the northern province of Panjshir. Asked whether the National Resistance Front, as the movement calls itself, had seized government district centers, the spokesman replied by text message, “They were besieged in the district offices,” referring to Taliban officials. The Taliban government spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said on Twitter that “no military incident has taken place” in Panjshir or any other nearby areas. National Resistance Front claims “were not true, no one should be worried,” Mr. Mujahid wrote. He added that thousands of Islamic Emirate fighters were in Panjshir and preventing any military advances by the front. The National Resistance Front, or N.R.F., was formed by several leaders or supporters of Afghanistan’s Western-backed government before it collapsed last summer. It is part of a resistance that consists of a smattering of armed fighters spread across the mountains of northern Afghanistan, according to interviews with more than a dozen resistance fighters and leaders. The N.R.F. has an estimated several hundred fighters, many of them low-ranking officers in the former government’s security forces. It is led by Ahmad Massoud, the son of the deceased Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. Mr. Massoud left Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power and has directed the N.R.F. from abroad.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/07/world/asia/taliban-afghanistan-burqa.html
Anti-Americanism in Pakistan
By Uzair SattarImran Khan’s narrative of conspiracy and regime change is a symptom, not a cause, of anti-American sentiments in Pakistan. The most challenging problem the United States faces in executing its foreign policy goals in Pakistan is anti-Americanism. The ouster of former Prime Minister Imran Khan following a note of no confidence reinvigorates this perennial challenge.Khan is rallying his supporters over a new slogan, “Imported Government Na Manzoor” (translation: rejected), after alleging that the United States spearheaded a conspiracy to remove him from office. His accusation of regime change has been refuted by Pakistan’s National Security Committee (NSC), the country’s highest bipartisan civil-military forum. The NSC stated that a U.S. official’s “undiplomatic language” at a lunch amounted to “blatant interference” but concluded that “there has been no conspiracy.” Yet, in an era where alternative facts are as good as true, this does not matter to Imran Khan or his supporters. His narrative is merely a symptom and not a cause of anti-Americanism in Pakistan. There may be a temptation to dismiss conspiracy claims as resurgences of repeated tropes in Pakistani politics. However, this avoids confronting why Khan can effortlessly tap into anti-American sentiments and dynamics that in turn impact Pakistani politics and its foreign policy. Anti-Americanism sells in Pakistan. A Gallup poll revealed that “only” one-third of Pakistanis (36 percent) believed the foreign conspiracy claim. The same poll, however, showed that more than two-thirds of Pakistanis (72 percent) thought the United States was an enemy rather than a friend of Pakistan. This figure has remained relatively consistent over the past two decades. Two-thirds of Pakistanis today are under 30 and have lived through the strongest waves of anti-Americanism in Pakistan since 1990. The United States and Pakistan have well-known laundry lists of foreign policy grievances. When Pakistan airs these grievances, Washington’s establishment often dismisses them as “familiar tropes.” Whether or not Washington wants to believe these grievances are legitimate, its passivity increases anti-American sentiment in Pakistan. This, in turn, makes it difficult to achieve U.S. foreign policy objectives. While the relationship has been historically predicated on security asks, moving toward non-traditional security collaboration may be the only structural approach to mitigate anti-Americanism in Pakistan. Anti-Americanism in Pakistan Anti-Americanism is not exclusive to Pakistan but takes a unique form in the country. Radical anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and poor people-to-people relations are not the major factors. Radical anti-Americanism has erupted in minuscule pockets in Pakistan but remains an anomaly in the 75-year relationship. There is also no mainstream fiscal ideological debate in Pakistan, which keeps Islamabad tied to the Washington Consensus. While new leftist parties have added invaluable dimensions to socioeconomic debate, they still have a long way to go before uprooting centrist groupthink and historic economic alignments.Instead, liberal and sovereign-nationalist critiques remain salient because of the United States’ securitized engagement with Pakistan and its foreign policy goals. Liberal anti-Americanism critiques relate to Washington upholding values for domestic audiences but dismissing them abroad. Sovereign-nationalist critiques concern the impingement of sovereignty – both directly, such as military intervention, and indirectly, through coercive diplomacy. Imran Khan is the latest in a long line of politicians to exploit anti-Americanism for political survival. WikiLeaks revealed that Pakistan’s civilian leadership (some of whom are now back in office) privately supported U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan (2008-2018) but lied about their stance publicly. This created an impression that the United States was playing a double game in Pakistan. In addition to fueling the fire, Khan has added another dimension to the phenomenon. During the initial no-confidence vote, the deputy speaker of Parliament, a Khan loyalist, justified dismissing the vote by declaring all opposition members disloyal under Article 6 of the constitution for allegedly working with the United States. The term “traitor” has provided unending currency in Pakistan. While military officials seem to remain immune, when applied to critical politicians, journalists, and civilians, the “diagnosis” is a cue to begin “self-treatment” through self-censorship. Not doing so can have severe consequences. Today, advocates for maintaining or improving Pakistan-U.S. relations represent a collective group at risk of being sent to “Traitorville,” whose proverbial boundaries expand as Khan’s false narrative gathers steam. This is hampering a meaningful debate in Pakistan about its relationship with all superpowers. Washington’s relative non-engagement with Pakistan’s civilian government and society has not helped either. A Military-Centric Relationship Pakistan and the United States have a state-to-state relationship predicated on two primary issues: war and terrorism. In that context, the United States has directly engaged with the military and not civilian governments to achieve its security objectives. This has undermined Pakistan’s post-colonial democratic institutionalization and represents a structural faultline in the relationship. The United States has taken advantage of indigenous military coups by perpetuating dictatorships that have lasted almost half of Pakistan’s political life. None of the four U.S.-supported dictators would have survived for as long as they did without the United States’ backing. Washington’s modus operandi has not changed following Pakistan’s transition to procedural democracy in 2008. The Pakistan Army’s top brass has been the primary benefactor in this equation, receiving military hardware, technology, and economic support in return for counterterrorism operations and helping fight two wars in Afghanistan. These were wars which the Pakistani people had nothing to do with. Recognizing this nuance is critical for Washington to achieve its foreign policy goals in Pakistan, even if the will to do so remains elusive.Over 220 million Pakistanis, of whom two-thirds are under 30, have lived through the most vociferous waves of anti-Americanism, sparked by the Pressler sanctions (1990-2001) and the War on Terror (2001-?). Pakistanis have had to reconcile Washington’s military-centric engagement with their changed lives. It is unfortunate that Pakistan’s ongoing sacrifices in the War on Terror – 80,000 killed on the street, at weddings, in their houses, in school, at checkpoints, on their way to work, and in places of worship, not to mention economic losses – fall on deaf ears in Washington. By choosing to fixate on the United States’ engagement with the military’s top brass, Washington overlooks the consequences of its approach to Pakistanis’ lived experience. This active choice increases anti-Americanism in Pakistan.I grew up during the War on Terror. Like many Pakistanis, I heard Washington’s calls for Pakistan to “do more” to fight terrorism. This was puzzling to me as a student since most Pakistanis I know were directly or indirectly impacted by terrorism. In just one of many examples, after the school massacre in Peshawar in 2014 – when the Pakistani Taliban killed 132 students and 17 staff members – the government permanently increased security measures across educational institutions, which inadvertently made kindergartens, schools, and colleges a vessel for policing and fear. My schoolmates and I were rigorously searched as we entered our newly erected, prison-length school walls topped with layers of barbed wire. Instead of going to class, we rendezvoused at the school ground for daily morning terror prevention drills. Watching four government-mandated snipers slowly patrolling roof corners as we completed the drill, I thought I had a clear idea of who the enemy was – as I imagine the snipers did too. But when told we weren’t doing enough against terrorism, I began questioning who the enemy might be. Washington’s “do more” ask may have been geared toward Rawalpindi and not even related to the Pakistani Taliban. Still, the public drumming at every seeming opportunity felt like a ploy to humiliate Pakistanis for something they had no control over – and indeed suffered from daily. I felt that empathy was lacking. Tackling Anti-Americanism in Pakistan Imran Khan taps into some of these dynamics as he galvanizes his supporters on trumped-up charges of regime change. On the one hand, he functionalizes simmering sentiments stemming from a lack of historical reckoning. On the other hand, his narrative successfully distracts voters from domestic structural fault lines and veils the factor of his questionable decision-making as a cause for his ousting. Pakistani anti-Americanism structurally stems from a military-first, people-second engagement approach. However, this prism remains less relevant for the future. The United States has placed India’s strategic interests above Pakistan’s because of a newfound common adversary. Washington ignored Pakistan’s decade-long cautionary advice on Afghanistan, which is now home to the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. There is a real chance that the United States will see Pakistan through red-tinted glasses as it gears up for great power competition with China. Instead of fighting these changing dynamics and Pakistan’s changed geostrategic alignments, the Pakistan-U.S. relationship should move away from military-centrism and instead focus on new opportunities to tackle non-traditional security threats, such as climate change and geoeconomics. The COVID-19 pandemic may have also provided a litmus test for this thesis. As of April 28, 2022, the United States had donated the most vaccines to Pakistan through its global distribution program. It is bemusing how few Pakistanis know about this. There is no replacement for on-ground engagement in civil society and public diplomacy. Other countries have demonstrated the benefits of direct engagement after stepping outside embassy walls or hushed military conference rooms. Moving from traditional security to non-traditional security collaboration will also make it more conducive for the United States to meaningfully work with democratic governments instead of direct engagement with the military. It would reflect at least a surface-level appearance that the United States still considers democracy in Pakistan as something worth enabling rather than undermining. Doing so will create space for civilian leaders—who have mics and pulpits that military officials do not—to debate Pakistan’s relationship with all superpowers. Upholding the business-as-normal approach will not only perpetuate anti-Americanism but could give rise to different forms of the phenomenon not substantively seen in Pakistan to date, with dangerous downstream consequences. Engaging with Pakistan’s democratic institutions, changing prisms of cooperation, and reckoning with Pakistanis’ fundamentally altered lived experience after the War on Terror represent perhaps the only opportunities to mitigate anti-Americanism in Pakistan.
https://thediplomat.com/2022/05/anti-americanism-in-pakistan/
EDITORIAL - #Pakistan: ''Playing with Fire in Punjab''
One can only hope that the PTI understands that it has now pushed matters so far in Punjab that what first appeared to be a ridiculous circus is now turning into a very dangerous game where it is practically playing with fire. Disregarding judicial rulings is dangerous enough, especially when you drag it to the point of threatening to file a judicial reference against the judge that called you out for making a mockery of the constitution. But when you appeal to the army chief to intervene where you’re clearly disagreeing with a court decision, you’re pushing the military to override the judiciary, which completely changes the complexion of the whole narrative.
In this way, PTI is itself guilty of strengthening chatter that it’s been looking to provoke the military into stepping in since its dying days in power – just so it can play the proper martyr even if it means throwing the entire country into utter chaos. And, for all intents and purposes, Punjab Governor Cheema, and even President Alvi for that matter, are just carrying out their master’s orders in sheer disregard of the constitutionally mandated neutrality of their offices.
This is exactly the kind of thing they used to attack other parties for in years gone by; though nobody trampled on the constitution quite like this in those days.
That the country’s politics need a dose of sanity is obvious. It’s true that a lot of people don’t like what they see when a father-son duo with considerable political and legal baggage gets ready to preside over cabinets of politically opportunistic electables, most of whom are suspected of serious corruption. But the way PTI’s been making its case, especially after throwing a fit and even fiddling with the constitution just because it was de-seated through a perfectly legal process, is also quite shameful.
It’s best if all parties take the time till the election to regroup and revise their strategies, and leave the public space free of any more unwarranted unpleasantness. With the reputation of serious state institutions also being dragged onto the streets and ridiculed, the situation is quite ready to explode as it is.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/930444/playing-with-fire-in-punjab/
#Pakistan - US Secretary of State Blinken invites Bilawal to attend the ‘Global Food Security’ meeting in US
https://dailytimes.com.pk/930769/us-secretary-of-state-blinken-invites-bilawal-to-attend-the-global-food-security-meeting-in-us/
Friday, May 6, 2022
Imran Khan’s Conspiracy Myth: A Debacle – OpEd
By Asad Ali
An excellent critic of human psychology, Shakespeare, has aptly said, “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” John Milton further explains it as “The mind is its own place and, in itself can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven.” –
The rising polarization in our society due to political differences is dividing people in such a way that each party proclaims to be righteous in its narrative shunning away the stance of the rivals. The flood of information available on social media these days is unhelpful in educating rather confusing the youth by aggravating the divide and this is an alarming situation for a under developing country like Pakistan. The dilemma is that unlike any healthy debate or academic discussion the verbal circumlocution is turning violent endangering the very norms and ethics of a society. In my humble opinion, we have reached this state of affairs due to reason that human development has never been the priority of the stalwarts of the country. As per internationally set standards a sane nation spends almost five percent of its annual budget on education and five percent on health for the better upbringing and grooming of its citizens whereas in the case of Pakistan both education and health budget never exceeded to 2.5 percent which is indeed a criminal negligence. The mental approach of our people is still below the belt and instead of taking the responsibility for correcting any mess they want some messiah to come and put everything in order.
We also need to learn that the democratic political process requires a natural process and pick and chose formula on the basis of personal liking and disliking can be very hazardous for the whole political process. The political engineering is the refutation of the very philosophy of democratic process and even more contemptuous than dictatorship. This is unfortunate that most of our top brass political leadership has landed on parachute without any significance training at grass root level politics. They have no plan, no understanding of core issues, and no vision to reform and above all they have no art of team selection on merit but personal loyalty. Another factor we often ignore is we need to promote normal professionals instead of elevating celebrities, feudal and business tycoons in our politics because the experience has proven them narcissists who can compromise even the national security for their petty political gains.
Imran Khan, has turned out to be a cultist-populist, or a messiah kind of a figure – someone who people follow without demanding too much evidence. Khan has proven himself to be the most selfish politician instead of displaying the spirit of a statesman which needed in these critical times and he has ended up being a charisma that people believed in because they were taught that everything else was sham.
Although the PTI conspiracy narrative of foreign intrusion is nothing but a hoax articulated by intelligentsia as sham yet it is selling. Paradoxically now even Imran himself has deviated to use this narrative and has started targeting the election commission but the majority of his party workers still believe involvement of a foreign hand in removing him from the power.
The National Security Committee which is the highest security forum of the country has repeatedly stated that there was no foreign involvement in dislodging Imran khan from PM House. It has become clear that this narrative was concocted to serve the nefarious political pursuits and to win the sympathy of the public.Khan did not stop but for his political interests he has engineered many controversies to put the whole parliamentary system, the judiciary, the security establishment and other state institutions on fire. He has leveled serious charges on the loyalty of his political rivals with the country in the name of keeping Pakistan’s foreign policy independent from interference.The incompetency and his party’s less-than-stellar performance is being covered under cheap slogans and narratives that entirely nothing to do with reality. The anti-corruption narrative of PTI has also not worked because there are many serious allegations on the corruption of PTI’s ministers and associates. One need only question why the PTI is frequently switching its narrative between ‘conspiracies’, ‘interference’ and ‘establishment’s mistake’ to understand that it is a smoke screen. Its real purpose is to stay in power by hook or by crook and for this they want early elections. Here again our PTI friends are mistaken that they can get majority in the assembly in result of these elections.
In all this, the previously serving ambassador of Pakistan to America stand vindicated rather it was use of undiplomatic language for which due protest was registered to the US incharge of diplomatic mission in Islamabad. If one gives a read to the autobiography of Richard Nixon, the ex-president of America titled as “The Leaders” one can understand that use of undiplomatic and even derogatory language in diplomatic discussions is not an exception. Further, Pakistan is part of the capitalism which sets the prevailing economic, social and political order so when we have tied our knot with an international order the question of conspiracy loses its worth. To conclude, Khan’s conspiracy myth is nothing but a mirage and a debacle portraying a very bad impression of Pakistan as a state.
https://www.eurasiareview.com/06052022-imran-khans-conspiracy-myth-a-debacle-oped/
Rising Violence by Separatists Adds to Pakistan’s Lethal Instability
By Zia ur-Rehman
Shari Baluch was a 30-year-old mother of two children and a schoolteacher. Late last month, on a university campus in Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city, she detonated a suicide bomb, killing herself and four others, including three Chinese teachers.Releasing a photo of her wearing fatigues and flashing a victory sign, the Baluchistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility, extending a recent wave of deadly attacks by Baluch separatists.
Baluch separatism is just one of the forces threatening the nation’s already tenuous unity and stability, including violent insurgencies by the Islamic State affiliate known as ISIS-K and the resurgent Pakistani Taliban.
An ethnically fragmented nation of more than 200 million people, Pakistan has long suffered from lack of economic development, corruption and volatile politics. The nuclear-armed military and its feared intelligence service exert significant influence over governments, and in the past have overthrown them.
Baluchistan is a large, arid province in southwestern Pakistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan. It has rich mineral resources and a long coastline, but only about 12 million people across an area roughly the size of Germany. Since Pakistan’s founding in 1947, it has faced five insurgencies in the region, the most recent and persistent one underway since 2003.
Insurgent groups have fought repeatedly against political centralization and resource exploitation, in return facing heavy state repression and human rights abuses.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative is developing a Chinese-operated deepwater port in Gwadar, Baluchistan, and a transportation network linking Gwadar to China. Pakistan’s government views such foreign investment as vital, and is eager to strengthen ties with China as a counterweight to Pakistan’s archrival, India.
But to the separatists, the development projects put Beijing squarely on the side of the exploiters and oppressors, so in recent years, many targets of insurgent violence have been Chinese.In 2018, B.L.A. militants killed four people in an attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi, and in 2020 the group mounted an assault on the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi, which is 40 percent owned by Chinese investors, killing three people. In both cases, the assailants were also killed. Last August, a B.L.A. suicide bomber killed two children in an attack on Chinese nationals in Gwadar.
Ms. Baluch blew herself up last week near a van transporting Chinese language teachers for the Confucius Institute, a worldwide network of cultural centers financed by the Chinese government. The B.L.A. called the institute a “symbol of Chinese economic, cultural and political expansionism.” Chinese development work must stop, it threatened, “otherwise our future attacks will be even harsher.”Pakistan has long complained that Baluch separatists operated out of hide-outs in Afghanistan, while the former Afghan government often accused the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI, of aiding the Taliban. After the Chinese consulate attack in 2018, a suicide bomber killed the B.L.A. commander and several associates — not in Pakistan, but in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Afghan officials blamed the ISI for that bombing.By 2020, the Baluch insurgency had been greatly weakened by years of counterinsurgency operations, rifts among separatist groups, fatigue and government incentives for the militants to lay down their weapons.Pakistani officials hoped that the Taliban takeover last year would end Afghanistan’s use as a haven for Baluch insurgents. After the Gwadar attack, the Taliban detained and expelled a large number of families of separatists, according to Baluch insurgent groups. But the intensity and frequency of attacks started rising sharply last year, demonstrating the militants’ growing sophistication and aggressiveness. The number of terrorist attacks in Baluchistan nearly doubled in 2021 compared to 2020, according to the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank, and the pace has kept rising this year. Insurgents have started resorting to suicide attacks, and the April 26 bombing in Karachi showed a new willingness to use women as assailants.In February, B.L.A. militants staged twin assaults on two military posts in Baluchistan. Pakistan’s military said that 20 attackers and nine military personnel were killed. Days earlier, an attack on another military post by a different group, the Baluch Liberation Front, killed 10 soldiers. The major separatist groups’ leadership has shifted in recent years from traditional tribal chieftains living in self-exile in Europe to more militant former student leaders. The groups have also formed an operational alliance to pool resources — one major reason the insurgency has intensified, security experts and officials said. They also link the insurgency’s upswing to its recruitment of youth, mainly students. The heads of two separatist groups formerly led a banned student group, the Baluch Students Organization-Azad, which operates clandestinely and, according to law enforcement officials, is a major source of insurgents. As a student, Ms. Baluch, the suicide bomber, was associated with the group, according to her family. “Exposure of Baluch students studying in the country’s prestigious universities, rising literacy and participation in ethnic politics are some major factors that have deepened awareness of socio-economic and political grievances among the youth,” said Muhammad Amir Rana, director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies. In the town of Turbat, where Ms. Baluch taught science, a student claimed to have known at least five others who had joined the insurgency during the past two years. “They are mentally prepared to kill themselves for the cause,” said the student, who insisted on anonymity out of fear for his safety. Pakistan’s security agencies have cracked down on educated Baluch youth, forcibly “disappearing” suspected militants, sometimes for years, without trial, according to news reports, student advocates and human rights groups.“These days, law enforcement agencies consider every university student from Baluchistan a potential militant,” said Faisal Nawaz, a student from Panjgur, in Baluchistan, who is studying at the University of Karachi.Separatist attacks have been concentrated in the sparsely populated Makran region of Baluchistan, where residents depend on illegal cross-border trade with Iran in fuel and other commodities. In a desert area that has few job opportunities, smuggling can be a matter of survival. But the official border crossings were closed in March 2021, making the trade harder and worsening the misery of the local population.“If the government set up industries for us, the youth would not be involved in dangerous business,” said Sakhi Dad, 28, who said he took up smuggling after graduating from a university and failing to find other work. In November, a protest movement led by a Gwadar-based cleric, Maulana Hidayatur Rehman, mobilized thousands of people, calling on the government to address the plight of people in Makran. They demanded relaxation of border trade, easing of security checkpoints created to protect Chinese workers at the Gwadar port, and an end to illegal trawling that is devastating the livelihood of local fishermen. The government has responded with vows to improve conditions. On April 23, the new prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, in a visit to Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, cited neglect of the region as a cause of violence, and promised to “raise the issue of forced disappearances with powerful quarters.” Pakistan’s military leadership has broadened its public interactions in Baluchistan, trying to present a friendlier face, particularly in Makran. After the February attacks, the army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, and other military leaders visited Baluchistan to meet political leaders and university students, and asked the local administration to open the border to trade. He also encouraged the youth to join law enforcement agencies. “For the first time, local leaders expressed their grievances and anger openly to the military’s leadership,” said a local political leader who attended the meeting with General Bajwa in Turbat in March. He requested anonymity to speak freely. “But without a political solution to bring an end to the long-running conflict, the insurgency will remain a challenge for Islamabad.” Less than two months after General Bajwa’s visit, Ms. Baluch carried out her suicide attack.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/04/world/asia/pakistan-baluchistan-violence.html
#Pakistan #PPP - Telephone Call between the Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto and the U.S. Secretary of State
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari received a telephone call today from the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
During the phone call, Secretary Blinken congratulated Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on the assumption of his Office and expressed the desire to continue strengthening the mutually beneficial Pakistan-U.S. bilateral relationship.
Exchanging views on various aspects of Pakistan-U.S. relations, the Foreign Minister underscored that Pakistan and the United States have a longstanding broad-based relationship. He added that constructive and sustained engagement between the two countries on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interest was vital to promote peace, development, and security in the region and beyond. The Foreign Minister emphasized that Pakistan’s vision was focused on human development, regional connectivity, and a peaceful neighborhood.
Building on the Pakistan-U.S. cooperation in dealing with the Covid pandemic during the last two years, Secretary Blinken invited Pakistan to the Second Global Covid Summit to be held virtually later this month. An invitation was also extended by the Secretary of State for Pakistan’s participation in the Ministerial meeting on Global Food Security to be held in New York on 18 May 2022.
The Foreign Minister and the Secretary of State agreed to remain in contact and enhance engagement on regional and global issues of mutual interest.
https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/26960/
آرمی چیف کو گورنر کے خط پر رضا ربانی کا ردعمل
سینیٹر رضا ربانی نے کہا ہے کہ آئینی بحران پر گورنر پنجاب کا آرمی چیف کو مبینہ خط پی ٹی آئی کا دُہرا معیار بے نقاب کرتا ہے۔
پاکستان پیپلزپارٹی (پی پی پی) کے سینیٹر رضا ربانی کا کہنا ہے کہ اگر ادارے آئین کے ساتھ کھڑے ہوں تو انہیں تضحیک کا نشانہ بنایا جاتا ہے، خط پی ٹی آئی کے عہدے داروں کے ذریعے آئین کی خلاف ورزی کی دانستہ کڑی کو ظاہر کرتا ہے۔
انہوں نے کہا کہ سپریم کورٹ اور لاہور ہائی کورٹ آئینی ذمے داری ادا کرتے ہوئے آئین کی خلاف ورزی کو روک رہی تھیں، سپریم کورٹ اور لاہور ہائی کورٹ کے خلاف مہم چلائی گئی۔
رضا ربانی کا کہنا تھا کہ سیاسی لڑائی کو قواعد، قانون اور آئین کے دائرے میں رہ کر طے کیا جائے۔
واضح رہے کہ 4 مئی کو گورنر پنجاب عمر سرفراز چیمہ نے آرمی چیف جنرل قمر جاوید باجوہ کو خط لکھ کر پنجاب کی موجودہ صورتحال میں کردار ادا کرنے کی اپیل کی تھی۔
خط میں آرمی چیف سے پنجاب میں آئینی فریم ورک پر عمل درآمد، وفاقی اور صوبائی حکومتوں پر عوامی اعتماد بحال کرنے کے لیے کردار ادا کرنے کی بھی اپیل کی گئی ہے۔
https://jang.com.pk/news/1082939
Saturday, April 30, 2022
Address human rights violations seriously: Hina Jilani to Pak Government
Amid rising cases of forced disappearances in the country, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) chairperson Hina Jilani on Friday asked the Shehbaz Sharif’s government not to take the issues of human rights violations lightly.
The report said the PTI government failed to get the long-awaited bill passed to criminalise enforced disappearance as a separate autonomous offence despite making commitments since 2018, Dawn reported.
It further explained that the highest number of enforced disappearances (1,108) reported by the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance in 2021 was in Balochistan while the highest number of pending cases – 1,417 – were reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In February, a large group of protesters held a week-long sit-in in Islamabad against enforced disappearances in Balochistan.Ms Jilani and HRCP Secretary General Harris Khalique, along with members of the commission, launched the report.Highlighting the issue of freedom of expression, the report pointed out that at least in nine cases, journalists were intimidated or silenced.
“Although the Prime Minister met a three-member delegation from the sit-in, no progress was made towards recovering their family members,” read the report, adding two students from the University of Balochistan allegedly disappeared in November, stated Dawn.
The report also threw light on the lynching of a Sri Lankan factory manager in Sialkot by a mob on allegations of blasphemy and the savage murder of human rights defender Nazim Jokhio allegedly by PPP lawmakers.The HRCP asked the government to take steps for protecting the freedom of expression and rights of vulnerable and excluded groups.“With 5,279 rape cases and 478 honour killings and the macabre murder of Noor Mukhaddam in Islamabad, women’s rights activists rightly spoke of a ‘femicide emergency’ in Pakistan in 2021,” the report said.
It further pointed out delays in court cases and said by year-end there were over 2.14 million cases pending in the judiciary against the 2.15 million in 2020, a slight fall in the backlog of cases.
The HRCP report said a total of 172 laws were enacted by parliament and provincial assemblies: 58 federal and 114 provincial laws.
The report said UN human rights experts called on Pakistan to halt evictions of residents from Gujjar nullah and Orangi nullah in Karachi, and separately appealed for the release of Stephen Masih, a Pakistani Christian from Sialkot detained for two years on blasphemy charges.
Death plenty was awarded to at least 125 convicts in 2021, including three women, a fall from at least 177 people in 2020, it added.
According to Dawn, the transgender community continues to be marginalised both socially and economically. In Karachi alone, more than 200 threatening video and audio messages sent to transgender persons were reported, creating a sense of fear and insecurity among the community.
Children between the ages of six and 15 years, both boys and girls, remained as susceptible to abuse and violence as other marginalised groups, the report quoted, citing sources.Moreover, in January, Islamic State militants kidnapped and killed 11 coal miners from the Shia Hazara community, which led to a multiple-day protest against the incident by the community in Quetta, demanding that the then Prime Minister Imran Khan visit their camp. However, Mr Khan termed their demand ‘blackmailing’ and refused to visit them.In August, the Prime Minister officially launched the much-disputed Single National Curriculum (SNC) for primary schools and seminaries, claiming that this initiative would reduce educational disparities.
However, the SNC drew strong criticism from education experts and human rights defenders for its lack of inclusivity, over-emphasis on Islamic religious content at the expense of religious minorities and poor pedagogy, read the report.
Islamabad’s state terror and crimes against humanity are most unconscionable. In fact, violence against women and girls, including rape, murder, acid attacks, domestic violence, and forced marriage, is quite endemic throughout Pakistan.
https://theprint.in/world/address-human-rights-violations-seriously-hina-jilani-to-pak-government/937845/
EDITORIAL: #Pakistan - Shame -
On International #LabourDay, #PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari links sustainable development to change in toiling workers’ conditions
Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the dream of sustainable development in the country will remain unfulfilled unless the conditions of the toiling workers change.
Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the ideology and manifesto of PPP is based on the welfare and progress of the workers. He said that the 1973 constitution piloted by Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto guarantees fair wages to the workers, protection of their lives, and equal relationships with the employers, adding that the first-ever Labour Policy introduced by Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in the country is a paradigm for the rights of the workers in Pakistan. “The Benazir Employees Stock Option Scheme (BESOS), the first provincial tripartite labor policy introduced by the Sindh government during 2013-18 tenure, and the provision of land for landless farmers are just a few of the countless other steps taken by the people’s governments”, he pointed out.
PPP Chairman praised the current unity government for raising the minimum wage to Rs 25,000 per month. He said that the failed economic policies of the previously selected regime had severely damaged the national economy, making it difficult for the poor to survive, adding that despite such a difficult situation, the PPP stands in the field to protect the interests of the workers and bring them relief.
Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has assured all the workers and trade unions of the country that his party, following the ideology of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the philosophy of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, will continue to play the role of advocate and protector of Pakistani workers’ rights.
https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/26940/
Friday, April 29, 2022
#Pakistan - No conspiracy, but what now?
It’s been clear for quite a while – to anybody but PTI and its supporters, that is – that there’s nothing substantial at all in former PM Imran Khan’s much-trumpeted claim about a US-backed and financed conspiracy to remove him from the top job.
And once again the National Security Committee (NSC) has come to the same conclusion about the controversial cable forwarded by the previous Pakistani ambassador to the US, especially since the latter was made to appear in person and answer questions this time, but that is hardly going to be the end of the matter because the ball is, once again, in PTI’s court; at least as far as the public sphere is concerned.
So, what now? Is Imran Khan going to reject this as well and brand everybody in the NSC a traitor to Pakistan for not blindly swallowing everything that is thrown to them? This is a very sensitive moment because the NSC involves all services chiefs and treating its verdicts with such contempt means crossing all the wrong red lines; which in turn means that he and his followers must be prepared for the legal and political fallout that is bound to come.
It’s a shame that he’s wound the pro-PTI crowd up so tightly about a threat that apparently does not even exist and, for all intents and purposes, was only hatched to avoid the embarrassment of seeing Imran Khan become the first Pakistani PM to be thrown out through a legal, constitutional vote of no confidence. But since that still happened, it’s not immediately clear why he’s hanging on to a narrative that is clearly not going to stand up to the scrutiny of any legal process.
Or does he intend to make the courts even more controversial than he already has? He’s been asking for an open judicial probe, but what’s that going to see that the NSC didn’t? And since the most likely result will be the same, and Imran’s most likely response will also be the same, when does the legal process step in to restore sanity? Also, shouldn’t the overarching national narrative also now touch upon the likely fate of individuals and crowds that take the law into their own hands and itch for a confrontation with central and powerful state institutions just because their fallen hero said so?
These are very worrying times. And the least the political elite can do is respect the law of the land and the pivotal institution that deliver and implement it. So far, PTI has shown little respect for the law. It should change its ways or take responsibility for the confrontation that is going to define this society for a while to come.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/924624/no-conspiracy-but-what-now/
Turkey tightens visa policy for Pakistan nationals
Days after some Pakistanis were found to be involved in the abduction of four Nepal citizens in Istanbul, Turkey has decided to tighten its visa policy for nationals from Pakistan, local media reported on Thursday.
This comes after four Nepal citizens were kidnapped “at gunpoint” from Taksim Square by a group of six Pakistan nationals. As per the reports, the Nepalis were also subjected to torture by these Pakistanis after being abducted.“The Turkish government has tightened the visa policy for Pakistanis after crimes reportedly involving Pakistanis,” reported Arab News quoting Pakistani media outlet, Aaj News.
“The government has also stopped issuing temporary residence permit for Pakistanis,” it added.
As per the media reports, the abductors also demanded a ransom of 10,000 euros. Later on, the police conducted a raid against the kidnappers and they were successfully nabbed and arrested.
In another incident earlier, some Pakistani nationals were also detained by the Turkish authorities for protesting the ouster of Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan from power. However, after the intervention from Pakistani diplomats the arrested protesters were released.
Notably, a significant number of Pakistanis live and work in Istanbul, Ankara and other major cities across Turkey. In addition, every month hundreds of Pakistani citizens visit the transcontinental country, reported Arab News.
https://theprint.in/world/turkey-tightens-visa-policy-for-pakistan-nationals/936153/
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