The two realities of Pashtuns and Baloch

By:Amir Mateen

People in Balochistan hate it when the self-styled armchair experts sitting in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi generalize about them. Baloch intellectual Dr Janazeb Jamaldini is incensed every time “my Punjabi friends” call him Balochi. “Well, I like to tell them that I am a Baloch and my language is Balochi.” Pashtuns are equally upset when others mix Baloch with Balochistani. “It pains me to explain that I am not a Baloch but a Pashtun who lives in Balochistan,” said former National Assembly Speaker Nawab Wazir Jogezai. Dr Jamaldini asked a group of media persons recently to “please go and tell your tv anchors to stop generalizing us as if we are a monolithic monster.” Balochistan is so huge-44 per cent of Pakistan and the size of Britain-that every area has its own set of unique issues. The issues of Mekran which does not have a strong sardari system and lively political culture are different from, let’s say, Dera Bugti where Nawab Akbar Bugti has left a huge vacuum. Or the issues of Zhob vary from the problems in Sibi or Mastung. But there is one generalization that can be safely attempted: the story of Pashtuns in Balochistan is different from the reality of Baloch. Both live in their own ethnocentric worlds. The Pashtun belt is relatively stable. Their lands are more fertile, endowed with finer flora and fauna. They also have better availability of water which translates into better orchards and agriculture, which remains the biggest employer in the absence of any industry. Pashtuns would like to claim that they are more industrious and hardworking. Their superior work ethics is reflected by their dominance in business, trade and transportation in Balochistan. Pashtuns are definitely better educated-girls more than boys. Loralai girls win most top educational positions in Balochistan. This places Pashtuns at advantage in job market, services and educational quotas wherever merit is concerned. These are, of course, also the bounties of living in a belt that is relatively safer. Pashtuns have their share of problems like the ever growing crime, the spillover of Afghanistan in the shape of talibanisation, drugs and arms smuggling. But the nature of their issues is different from the ones that Baloch face. Insurgency hardly exists in Pashtun areas. Never has. Here it is more kidnappings for ransom than target killings. This goes without saying that they are equally weary of army’s over reach in Balochistan and want more power and resources for the province. But their bigger grouse is now directed against the estranged bedfellows-the Baloch. Pashtuns feel they are being held back and squeezed by Baloch. “We don’t have any insurgency in our areas,” says Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami’s former Senator Raza Mohammad, “why should we suffer; Pashtuns are the biggest ethnic group and they should be adjusted in jobs and quotas accordingly.” Pashtuns, like Hazaras, fume that their students get admission in medical college by securing more than double marks of Baloch. Pashtuns claim they are equal in population if not more. However, they lag behind Baloch in area who are in majority in 20 out of 30 districts. Understandably, Pashtuns would like the distribution of resources on the basis of population and merit. Interestingly, Pashtun nationalists have always opposed Punjab for favouring the population formula but in a twist of irony they now want this to be exercised in Balochistan. It makes sense that Baloch should support the continuation of the affirmative action of sorts through district quotas. This is the only way Baloch can try to match Pashtun dominance such being the nature of their reality. The total collapse of law and order, the rampant targeted killings and bomb explosions in Baloch areas has exacted a huge tall on ordinary people. The abundant natural resources of the Baloch areas cannot be used because of lawlessness. The long coast line, including Gwadar Port, fails to take off under the circumstances. Business is down. Unemployment particularly among the youth is increasing. Movement is restricted because of insurgency. The clock of life stops ticking after sunset. Markets and offices remain frequently closed because of violence and strikes. People in most Baloch towns live without basic amenities like clean drinking water, sewage system or electricity supply. Life in thousands of remote villages that pockmark the rugged plains and barren mountains is even more miserable. The biggest loss is in education. The educational structure in the Baloch belt has crumbled in the face of lawlessness. Schools are either closed or partially functional in the absence of teachers and resources. Examination cheating is rampant. The ones who manage to get degrees are handicapped in skills because of bad schooling. They drop out even when they get admission in higher or professional colleges. Information Technology University in Quetta enrolls 90 per cent students from Balochistan on open merit. Only three students from Gwadar have managed to pass out in seven years out of an annual badge of 1500 students. The rest simply drop out. A whole generation of Baloch is growing up with little or no education. “Our future generations will also pay for the educational lapse,” said BNP’s Munir Baloch, pointing out that the leadership in earlier insurgencies was conscious about this. “The present lot of leaders who have no ideological training do not understand. Or they do not care.” Baloch dominate the executive political power-only one Pashtun became Chief Minister in 42 years. But their ratio in government machinery will continue to shrink because of the relative educational backwardness. Much to the Baloch chagrin, the gap left by the settler teachers is being filled by the better qualified Pashtuns. Almost all replacement of roughly 80 Punjabi teachers in the Balochistan University who left because of tension are Pashtuns. Baloch lag behind Pashtuns in competitive examination, promotions and postings because of their better schooling. As other ethnic groups are scared to work in Balochistan the gap is filled by Pashtuns from other provinces who easily gel with their local tribesmen. This will lead to more Pashtun dominance —hence more Baloch anxiety. The reality of Baloch and Pashtuns, it seems, is going to grow further apart.

Population Day on 11th

APP

World Population Day will be observed on July 11 across the world including Pakistan. It is an annual event, observed on July 11, which seeks to raise awareness of global population issues. The event was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989. It was inspired by the public interest in Five Billion Day on July 11, 1987, approximately the date on which the world’s population reached five billion people. The world population on the 20th anniversary of Five Billion Day, July 11, 2007, was estimated to have been 6,727,551,263. This year’s theme is Universal Access to Reproductive Health Services.

Hurdles to Muslim women's rights

BY IDA LICHTER From:The Australian

AN injured horse last month disqualified equestrian Dalma Malhas from representing Saudi Arabia at the London Olympics. She would have been the first female athlete from the kingdom. Brunei and Qatar have entered several women for the first time, and although most Muslim countries send female athletes to various events, few boast outstanding women contestants. Why are they lagging so far behind the rest of the world and does the Arab Spring herald any change? In May, the Muslim Women's Sport Foundation in London honoured a number of athletes, including Halet Ambel, the first Muslim woman Olympic competitor, who represented Turkey in 1936; African American Ibtihaj Muhammad, who will fence for the US this year wearing the hijab, and Sadaf Rahimi, a 17-year-old boxer from Afghanistan. The Kabul stadium where Rahimi trained for the London Olympics was a former Taliban site for women's executions.Other outstanding sportswomen include Pakistani Naseem Hameed, who won a gold medal in the 100m track event at the South Asian Games in 2010, and Moroccan hurdler Nawal El Moutawakel, who won gold at the 1984 Olympics and later became minister of sports. Since 1993, the Islamic Federation of Women's Sport has held female-only, multi-sport, Women's Islamic Games every four years, adhering to Islamic dress code and hosted by Iran. In ancient Greece, women also held their own games every four years, as women were excluded from the Olympics. International perspectives on Muslim women's sport are invariably influenced by Islamist states such as Saudi Arabia and Iran and their economic clout. Religious opinions vary, and in Saudi Arabia they range from an obligation to keep fit and healthy to accusations of immorality, destruction of virginity and subversive Western corruption. Reformer Halima al-Muzaffar has noted the large number of Saudi women who suffer from obesity or osteoporosis. Exercise would be beneficial, but the government closed many ladies' gyms in 2009 and 2010, claiming they were unlicensed. New applications were refused. The few private women's soccer teams compete clandestinely, and women are barred from sporting events in stadiums. To be fair, King Abdullah has embarked on reform, reducing the power of the mutaween or religious police and promising voting rights for women in the 2015 municipal elections. As in the case of lifting the driving ban, granting women freedom to pursue sports could unravel the sexual segregation, full body cover and male guardianship of women demanded by the religious autocracy that legitimises the monarch's rule. Women might leave the house without their husband's permission or spend time in mixed company. Dress codes have proved contentious in soccer. The International Federation of Association Football banned the hijab in 2007 because of the danger of choking and this led to the exclusion of the Iranian women's soccer team from the London Olympics. The ban was reversed after introduction of a Velcro fastener and was recently ratified. Anita Defrantz, US member of the International Olympic Committee, has denied claims of discrimination against women who wear the hijab, but in order to remain true to its values, the IOC should observe religious neutrality in athletic dress code. They could also suspend Saudi Arabia and Iran for discrimination, sanctions they applied against South Africa between 1964 and 1992, and Afghanistan under the Taliban at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The Arab Spring has borne bitter fruit, as the ascendant Muslim Brotherhood advance an Islamist agenda that may spell oppression for women. Suzanne Mubarak, wife of Egypt's ousted president, organised the Womathon for Peace event to promote women's health and cultural diversity through sport, but her initiative is probably buried in the dustbin of odious association. Muslim sportswomen already have a forum for piety at their own Games, and international sporting organisations should, at least, resist bending their own rules to accommodate Islamist countries that legislate against women's rights. The real hurdles are entrenched, archaic traditions authorised by religion and legislated in state politics. Ida Lichter is the author of Muslim Women Reformers: Inspiring Voices Against Oppression

Abdus Salam:Pakistan shuns its only Nobel laureate - physicist linked to discovery of 'God particle'

The pioneering work of Abdus Salam

, Pakistan's only Nobel laureate, helped lead to the apparent discovery of the subatomic " God particle" last week. But the late physicist is no hero at home, where his name has been stricken from school textbooks. Praise within Pakistan for Salam, who also guided the early stages of the country's nuclear program, faded decades ago as Muslim fundamentalists gained power. He belonged to the Ahmadi sect, which has been persecuted by the government and targeted by Taliban militants who view its members as heretics.Their plight along with that of Pakistan's other religious minorities, such as Shiite Muslims, Christians and Hindus has deepened in recent years as hardline interpretations of Islam have gained ground and militants have stepped up attacks against groups they oppose. Most Pakistanis are Sunni Muslims. Salam, a child prodigy born in 1926 in what was to become Pakistan after the partition of British-controlled India, won more than a dozen international prizes and honors. In 1979, he was co-winner of the Nobel Prize for his work on the so-called Standard Model of particle physics, which theorizes how fundamental forces govern the overall dynamics of the universe. He died in 1996. Salam and Steven Weinberg, with whom he shared the Nobel Prize, independently predicted the existence of a subatomic particle now called the Higgs boson, named after a British physicist who theorized that it endowed other particles with mass, said Pervez Hoodbhoy, a Pakistani physicist who once worked with Salam. It is also known as the "God particle" because its existence is vitally important toward understanding the early evolution of the universe. Physicists in Switzerland stoked worldwide excitement Wednesday when they announced they have all but proven the particle's existence. This was done using the world's largest atom smasher at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, near Geneva. "This would be a great vindication of Salam's work and the Standard Model as a whole," said Khurshid Hasanain, chairman of the physics department at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Salam wielded significant influence in Pakistan as the chief scientific adviser to the president, helping to set up the country's space agency and institute for nuclear science and technology. Salam also assisted in the early stages of Pakistan's effort to build a nuclear bomb, which it eventually tested in 1998. Salam's life, along with the fate of the 3 million other Ahmadis in Pakistan, drastically changed in 1974 when parliament amended the constitution to declare that members of the sect were not considered Muslims under Pakistani law. Ahmadis believe their spiritual leader, Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who died in 1908, was a prophet of God a position rejected by the government in response to a mass movement led by Pakistan's major Islamic parties. Islam considers Muhammad the last prophet and those who subsequently declared themselves prophets as heretics. All Pakistani passport applicants must sign a section saying the Ahmadi faith's founder was an "impostor" and his followers are "non-Muslims." Ahmadis are prevented by law in Pakistan to "pose" as Muslims, declare their faith publicly, call their places of worship mosques or perform the Muslim call to prayer. They can be punished with prison and even death. Salam resigned from his government post in protest following the 1974 constitutional amendment and eventually moved to Europe to pursue his work. In Italy, he created a center for theoretical physics to help physicists from the developing world.Although Pakistan's then-president, Gen. Zia ul-Haq, presented Salam with Pakistan's highest civilian honor after he won the Nobel Prize, the general response in the country was muted. The physicist was celebrated more enthusiastically by other nations, including Pakistan's archenemy, India. Despite his achievements, Salam's name appears in few textbooks and is rarely mentioned by Pakistani leaders or the media. By contrast, fellow Pakistani physicist A.Q. Khan, who played a key role in developing the country's nuclear bomb and later confessed to spreading nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya, is considered a national hero. Khan is a Muslim. Officials at Quaid-i-Azam University had to cancel plans for Salam to lecture about his Nobel-winning theory when Islamist student activists threatened to break the physicist's legs, said his colleague Hoodbhoy. "The way he has been treated is such a tragedy," said Hoodbhoy. "He went from someone who was revered in Pakistan, a national celebrity, to someone who could not set foot in Pakistan. If he came, he would be insulted and could be hurt or even killed." The president who honored Salam would later go on to intensify persecution of Ahmadis, for whom life in Pakistan has grown even more precarious. Taliban militants attacked two mosques packed with Ahmadis in Lahore in 2010, killing at least 80 people. "Many Ahmadis have received letters from fundamentalists since the 2010 attacks threatening to target them again, and the government isn't doing anything," said Qamar Suleiman, a spokesman for the Ahmadi community. For Salam, not even death saved him from being targeted. Hoodbhoy said his body was returned to Pakistan in 1996 after he died in Oxford, England, and was buried under a gravestone that read "First Muslim Nobel Laureate." A local magistrate ordered that the word "Muslim" be erased.

Alleged Taliban Execution Shatters Image Of 'Taliban-Free' Province

http://www.rferl.org

PARWAN,Afghanistan

Just months ago, it was billed as "Taliban-free." How, then, did Afghanistan's Parwan Province come to be the target of international condemnation over the public execution of a young woman for adultery? The village of Qimchok, located in the province's remote Shinwari district just 100 kilometers from Kabul, today finds itself at the center of a large-scale manhunt. Reports from Parwan on July 9 say foreign troops and members of the Afghan National Army have entered Shinwari in a bid to apprehend militants involved in the killing. Their arrival shatters any notion that Parwan Province's proximity to the Afghan capital translates into greater security. Global attention is now set squarely on the shocking video of the execution and news that the Taliban has established its own shadow government and laid down its own laws in several of the province's northern districts. And whereas officials once spoke about relative tranquility in a province that is home to Bagram Air Base -- the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan -- observers find themselves drawing comparisons to public executions carried out during Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001. Only in February, Parwan Governor Abdul Basir Salangi went so far as to declare the province "the backbone of security" in Afghanistan. Recent Appearance? Pressed on his previous claims regarding Parwan, Salangi on July 9 was quick to insist that the Taliban had only recently entered the province. "The Taliban recently appeared in this area and the government had no other option than to launch a military campaign," Salangi said. "The Taliban would from time to time arrive and disrupt the roads in the Shinwari and Siagird districts. Eventually, the government launched an operation and set up checkpoints." The governor says that operation was carried out "about a month ago," highlighting late May or early June on the calendar as a point of increased Taliban activity. In an interview with RFE/RL, Salangi also shed light on the execution that was described on July 9 by Afghan President Hamid Karzai as a "heinous and unforgivable crime." Contrary to widespread media reports, Salangi said the execution of the young woman took place three weeks ago, not last week. Video of the execution, obtained by the Reuters news agency, shows a burqa-clad woman kneeling by a ditch before a crowd of onlookers. After a sentence is read out against her, a man with an assault rifle shoots her repeatedly at close range. Salangi says he does not know how the video was obtained initially by the government, but that Afghan authorities decided to release it on July 8. According to Salangi, two Taliban commanders involved in the execution were sexually involved with the woman, either through rape or romantically. In order to save face, the two men, Mullah Azatullah and the other known only as "Qader,” held a makeshift trial and hastily executed her within a few hours to settle their dispute. The Taliban has officially denied responsibility for the execution, but Salangi insists the men involved were members of that Islamist group. He believes the Taliban has denied responsibility because the actions of the two commanders contravenes Shari'a law, in which the defendant must always be tried in an Islamic court, or in this case in the presence of other Taliban members. There are unconfirmed rumors that Mullah Azatullah and "Qader" were subsequently killed by Murza Khan, a Taliban commander in the same group. Salangi believes Khan personally intervened after the execution and killed the two commanders for their disobedience. "[The Taliban] is a criminal that is an enemy of Shari'a law," Salangi says. "In one hour they came to a decision and killed [the victim]. That's the reason why they didn't reveal their crimes. They didn't want it to [appear in] the media. Usually, even when a car crashes they take responsibility."

ANP balks at supporting partner

The 22nd amendment bill was placed before the Senate today. One of the primary clause in the introduced legislation is the removal of the bar on dual nationality in Pakistan’s parliament. The government’s coalition partner, the Awami National Party (ANP) has refused to put their weight behind the bill. Pakistan Peoples Party stalwarts, Senator Raza Rabbani and Aitzaz Ahsan are reportedly hesitant in supporting the proposed amendment. Ex-chairman of the Senate, Farroq H. Naek presented the 22nd amendment bill. Naek said that Pakistan had agreements with 16 countries over dual nationality, and therefore citizens of such countries should be allowed to contest elections. The law minister said that Article 63(1)(c) of the constitution was unfair to Pakistanis residing in foreign countries. Members of ANP in the Senate questioned the motives of the proposed legislation, while clearly stating that the party will oppose such an amendment. The bill has been submitted before the relevant standing committee for deliberation. Naek stated that those members opposing the bill would have the opportunity to voice their concerns. While dual nationals have the right to vote in general elections, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has disqualified members of parliament as the court found them to be in direct violation of Article 63.

Peshawar: Badabare primary school blown up

A primary school located in Badabare in the outskirt here was blown up with explosives on Tuesday, however no loss of life occurred, Geo News reported. Police said that the blast took place in the night between Monday and Tuesday. The miscreants had planted explosives beside the boundary wall of a primary school located at Mashoo Gaggar in the vicinity of police station Budbare, which exploded with a big bang. The school was partially damaged, police said.

Pakistan's false blasphemy pretext:Savagery in the name of religion

Editorial:

The lynching in Bahawalpur of a man accused of desecrating the Holy Quran is symptomatic of a horrific brutalization of this society. The man, said to be mentally ill, was snatched from the custody of police and set alight. The police and the law of the land could not prevent the cruelty. He was murdered in cold blood without getting a chance to prove innocence. Ever since the Zia regime sowed the seeds of extremism in this country there have been several similar dreadful incidents of mob vigilante. In one case in Gujranwala, after the estranged wife of a Hafiz-e-Quran accused him of having desecrated the Holy Book, he too was burned to death by a horde and his body dragged in the city's streets. About three years ago, owner of a factory near Lahore was killed by a mob led by a disgruntled worker, on a false blasphemy pretext. Many others, mostly Christians, have been implicated in false blasphemy cases. These are but just a few of the numerous examples of savagery committed in the name of Islam, which places great emphasis on justice and compassion. As the present ghastly example shows the law enforcers are helpless to provide protection to the accused. And in instances where the law takes its course, lawyers are too afraid to defend the accused. In one such situation a few years ago, the Bishop of Faisalabad felt so frustrated at his helplessness to help a fellow Christian imprisoned on blasphemy charges engage a lawyer that he committed suicide. When cases are brought before the courts, judges are not free to apply their minds in pronouncing judgement. They can deliver justice at their own peril. About 15 years ago, a PPP-appointed judge of the Lahore High Court, Justice Arif Hussain Bhatti, was gunned down in his chamber after he exonerated two Christians in a blasphemy case; one of the men was shot dead while waiting for a bus to go home. It needs to be noted that often the accusers either have a personal score to settle with the accused or a property grab motivation. As a matter of fact, no one is safe on this account. Hence, rights groups have been demanding an amendment to the blasphemy laws, written by the Ziaul Haq regime, to prevent false allegations. Religious parties are fiercely opposed to any such amendment. Unfortunately they also remain silent when incidents such as the present one happen. That encourages people like the killers in Bahawalpur to take the law into their own hands.

Pakistan's Tribal Belt: Integrate FATA

Daily Times

By:Azizullah Khan

All spectrums of tribal society are unanimous on the point that the colonial era system should be replaced by a modern, regular system, which is in place in the other parts of Pakistan FATA is the backwater and black hole of Pakistan. Why would it not be? In the 65-year history of Pakistan, its strategy towards FATA has been ‘how not to heed it’ or, as dictated by the regional strategic environment, ‘how to exploit its battle-friendly environment’. The underlying principle is to apply myopic policy shortcuts and carry on with them. History testifies to this notion. For the first 34 years of its history, Pakistan’s policy for FATA was to feed its dwellers the propaganda that they were the real liberators of Azad Kashmir (as they fought against India in the 1948 war). It was to impress upon them that they were not only a part of Pakistan but also its defenders, although we know that official books of Pakistan know them as ‘bandits’. To cement this manufactured perception of tribals, terms like ‘ghayoor qabail’ (honourable tribes) were concocted and applied. This tactic worked effectively; the tribals felt and seemed content with this title, bragged about it, and forgot to demand provision of health, education and communication facilities. With the Soviet attack on Afghanistan in 1979, the scenario changed completely. A bloody war broke out in the neighbourhood of FATA, reckoned as a most suitable and effective launching pad for the so-called jihad against atheist communism. Pakistan enthusiastically became a frontline ally of the US with two prime objectives in mind. One was to push Pakhtun nationalism in the background, which was at its peak at that time, and the second was to get the US to acquiesce in the nuclear bomb on which Pakistan was working at that time. FATA’s harsh terrain and socio-political milieu was optimally exploited against communism (in other words, in favour of the two objectives) with sheer disregard for the social and political life of the hapless tribals. Now the term ‘mujahideen’ being supplemented by the decades-old ‘ghayoor’ became a tool of choice for the Islamic connection that was needed to be stressed upon. Mujahideen from across the world were gathered and trained in FATA in particular and the whole Pakhtun belt in general. From here, they were launched against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. We know that thousands lost their lives but can the suffering of those mothers and sisters be felt whose beloved sons and brothers lost their lives in the war that is now admitted to be a war of aliens? The brutality continued through the Taliban era into the war on terror era of the 21st century. Now it became transparent that FATA was being seen through a foreign policy prism. Earlier, the Taliban regime was to be installed in Kabul and, after its ouster by the US, to help the now defunct regime have a respectable position in post-US Afghanistan, only to protect our vital interests, which are said to be at stake. Thanks to its geographic location, FATA predictably turned out to be of great help in both the projects. In this process, the exploitation of FATA reached its climax, which laid bare the exploitative nature/character of a political structure of the colonial era and so prompted an assertive demand for its replacement. All spectrums of tribal society are unanimous on the point that the colonial era system should be replaced by a modern, regular system, which is in place in the other parts of Pakistan. They are clamouring for their formal integration with mainland Pakistan. But so what? There are so many ways to dodge them. If one group expresses its demand of merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), you create another group to demand a separate province and so muddy the waters. If they press their demand, and warn that war might break out between these groups, it is better to throw the question on the backburner. The hardships borne by the tribals in the last decade precipitated two beneficial outcomes. First, they realised and acknowledged that their system was outdated and needed to be replaced and second, the Pakistan army has started development projects like constructing dams, building schools and health centres. The tribals are thankful, but that should not divert attention from the real issue, which is the formal integration of FATA. The tribals are divided over the integration issue; one group says that it should be declared a separate province and the other says that it should be merged in KP. Should FATA be merged into KP or declared a separate province? The first thing that needs to be done is to disallow traditional maliks and political agents any role in the process of integration of FATA because they are the beneficiaries of the status quo and would never want to disturb it. Also there is no need for a referendum as the majority of the people of FATA are uneducated, unable to take an informed decision, and hence open to manipulation. In my opinion, a different method should be adopted for settlement of the deadlock. Three two-member committees should be constituted. One should arrange sessions in major cities with bureaucrats from FATA. Another committee should arrange similar sessions with students and university teachers from FATA in the major universities of Pakistan. A third committee should visit every Agency and register the opinion of samples of laymen and influential personalities (other than traditional maliks). Two questions should be asked from every respondent: (1) Whether FATA should be a separate province or merged in KP? (2) Why? (Rationale behind the opinion should be inquired). The answer to the second question should be registered as a small comment, which will help in the further development of FATA. Due importance should be given to the opinions of students, bureaucrats and teachers as they are the people who know the pros and cons of the matter. They know about the system of KP and FATA, therefore they can judge the scenario better. Though this method is cumbersome, its output would be ideal. Besides an internal demand, there is also an external factor that calls for an urgent integration of FATA. Recently, a few articles appeared in the US press that hinted at the US’s intention to create trouble for Pakistan in FATA. The US is already blaming Pakistan for allegedly playing a negative role in the war on terror, so if her diktat is not capitulated to then there is a chance that she will try to create problems for Pakistan. FATA being a rugged territory will attract her negative designs. Lest it happen, we should integrate FATA so that no one can dare to cast doubt on its status. Its integration will end its suitability as a launching pad for extremist movements. The writer is a freelance columnist. He can be contacted at khetranazk@gmail.com

Pakistan: Hidden forces trying to make grand alliance against PPP-led govt

Daily Times

Some clandestine powerful segments of the establishment and right-wing intelligentsia are in vigorous action to combine all the scattered opposition politico-religious parties on one platform to initiate a crushing movement to oust the PPP-led coalition government from the corridors of power, Daily Times has learnt from well-placed sources. The sources privy to this development confided to this scribe that certain sections of the establishment are engaged in behind-the-curtain activities to bring all big and small political parties to on one platform on the same pattern exercised in the past by making Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI). According to the sources, the first plan is to unite only political parties having strong reservations against the PPP-led coalition government and in the second phase the religious parties would be invited to strengthen the proposed move against the present regime. The toughest task for them is to bring Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on one platform, although PML-N is willing to join hands with PTI even on the ground of settling a formula of give and take in the upcoming elections, but Imran Khan is so pragmatic about the power of his tsunami that he thinks he needs no support from the PML-N for staging an anti-government move. The sources said the hidden hands are convincing them to act on ‘united you stand, divided you fall’. “The problem in uniting them on one platform is that Imran Khan, a sole decision maker of his party, is not convinced by his party’s inner group led by ex-PPP government’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi,” sources said. The sources said that the PML-N central leader is ready to shake hands with PTI on the ground that it could sacrifice some key constituencies for Imran Khan’s party if Khan withdraws his condition of quitting Punjab government. Just for a friendly gesture, the PML-N announced to support Shaukat Bosan, a brother of PTI leader Sikandar Bosan, an independent candidate for by-election in the constituency of Multan NA-151 against Abdul Qadir Gilani, a son of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. The sources said the dream of forming a coalition against the government could not be materialised until Imran Khan renounced his often-repeated saying that a “momin” would not put his finger twice in a hole to be bitten by a snake. PTI leader Mian Mahmood Rasheed without naming any leader of his party confirmed that some leaders are trying and favouring alliance with the PML-N to avoid the PPP’s next government. However, a majority of the leaders is against the move and anticipate that the alliance would cause real damage to the party, he added. PTI Central Information Secretary Shafqat Mahmood, categorically denying any move for electoral alliance with the PML-N, said the party leadership is confident to contest forthcoming elections independently. PML-N Deputy Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal said political coalition was a part of democratic process and emergence of a grand political alliance comprising those parties, which are not part of the present collation government, including the PTI, could not be ruled out. He said an alliance before the general elections was necessary to oust the PPP from power.

Punjab has no electricity because its govt is lazy

The PPP government is working to find a permanent solution to the energy crisis in the country as 22 small dams are in their final phase while work on Bhasha, Neelum Jhelum and other big projects is also in progress. This was stated by Coordinator to the President of Pakistan, Naveed Chaudhry on Sunday. “The government is working not only to overcome the energy shortage but the real issue before it is to produce power at lower rates,” he added. He said the previous PPP government had made Pakistan a power-surplus country in 1996 by introducing independent power producers (IPPs) but inherited the energy crisis when it came to power in 2008. “The government also empowered the provinces to set up power projects up to 50MW but the Punjab government took no action and in a bid to conceal its failure and inefficiency, tried to exploit the energy crisis for publicity and defame the federal government,” he added. “All provinces are being treated equally by the federal government and no province is being granted any special favours in this regard. Punjab is receiving more electricity than any other province in accordance to its population,” he added. He said the Punjab chief minister had diverted funds towards Sasti Roti, Ashiana, laptops and other projects to open floodgates of corruption and did not spend a single rupee for electricity generation. “The Punjab government also failed to implement recommendations of the energy conference, avoided granting two holidays a week and adopted a course of confrontation with the federal government,” he added.

Annan meets Assad in Damascus, heads on to Iran

Kofi Annan said he had constructive talks in Damascus on Monday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who said the U.N. peace envoy's plan to end 16 months of bloodshed was being undermined by U.S. political support for "terrorists". Within hours, Annan was due to head for Iran for talks with Syria's main ally in the region. "I just had a positive and constructive discussion with President Assad," the United Nations special envoy said. "We agreed an approach which I will share with the opposition," he told reporters. Once again, Annan stressed the important of halting violence and promoting political dialogue -- the key points of the plan he put forward in April. Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said in a Twitter message: "In both meetings we reassured Annan of Syria's commitment to implement the 6-points Plan and hoped other side is mutually committed." In a television interview aired on Sunday, Assad accused Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, as well as the United States, of supplying arms and logistical support to the rebels trying to overthrow him. "We know that (Annan) is coming up against countless obstacles but his plan should not be allowed to fail, it is a very good plan," he told Germany's ARD network. "The main obstacle (is) that many countries don't want (it) to succeed. So they offer political support and they still send armaments and send money to terrorists in Syria," Assad said, according to a transcript of the interview, held in English. SECTARIAN LINES Syria, led by members of a sect related to Shi'ite Islam, has alleged that the Sunni-led Gulf monarchies are supporting unrest among its Sunni majority as a way to check rising Shi'ite influence in the region, most notably that of Shi'ite Iran. Anti-Assad activists in Syria reported army shelling and clashes with rebels on Monday in Deir Ezzor, Deraa, Homs, Aleppo and a neighborhood of Damascus. Residents also reported the sound of gunfire in the capital. An activist website said over 100 Syrians had been killed on Sunday, most of them civilians. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that Syrian opposition forces were growing more effective and the sooner the violence ended, the better the chances of sparing Syria's government a "catastrophic assault" by rebel fighters were. While Assad has faced sanctions and international condemnation over his crackdown on dissent, major Western and Arab powers have shied away from direct military action. Turkey has reinforced its border and scrambled fighter aircraft several times since Syria shot down a Turkish reconnaissance jet on June 22 over what Damascus said were Syrian territorial waters in the Mediterranean. Ankara said the incident occurred in international air space. "SAND RUNNING OUT" "The sooner there can be an end to the violence and a beginning of a political transition process, not only will fewer people die, but there is a chance to save the Syrian state from a catastrophic assault that would be very dangerous not only to Syria but to the region," Clinton told a Tokyo news conference. She appeared to be referring to the possibility of Syrian rebels launching such an assault on state institutions rather than to any outside intervention. "There is no doubt that the opposition is getting more effective in their defense of themselves and in going on the offence against the Syrian military and the Syrian government's militias. So, the future ... should be abundantly clear to those who support the Assad regime," Clinton added. "The sand is running out of the hour glass." Syria's navy fired live missiles from ships and helicopters over the weekend, in an exercise aimed at demonstrating its ability to "defend Syria's shores against any possible aggression", state media said. Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said residents of al-Sharifa in the wider Deir Ezzor province on Sunday reported that rebels had captured a working tank for the first time and were using it to attack army positions. The rebels have gained confidence in recent weeks, staging bolder attacks, holding pockets of territory across the country and clashing with troops only a few miles from the presidential palace in Damascus.

Video: Taliban shoot woman 9 times

A shot rings out, but the burqa-clad woman sitting on the rocky ground does not respond. The man pointing a rifle at her from a few feet away lets loose another round, but still there is no reaction. He fires a third shot, and finally the woman slumps backwards. But the man fires another shot. And another. And another.Nine shots in all. Around him, dozens of men on a hillside cheer: "God is great!" Officials in Afghanistan, where the amateur video was filmed, believe the woman was executed because two Taliban commanders had a dispute over her, according to the governor of the province where the killing took place. Both apparently had some kind of relationship with the woman, said Parwan province governor Abdul Basir Salangi. "In order to save face," they accused her of adultery, Salangi said. Then they "faked a court to decide about the fate of this woman and in one hour, they executed the woman," he added. Both Taliban commanders were subsequently killed by a third Taliban commander, Salangi said. "We went there to investigate and we are still looking for people who were involved in this brutal act," he said. It is not clear from the video when it was filmed. The killing took place in the village of Qimchok, not far north of the capital Kabul. Lawmaker Fawzia Koofi called it a huge backward step for women's issues in Afghanistan. "I think we will have to do something serious about this, we will have to do something as women, but also as human beings," she said. "She didn't even say one word to defend herself." Koofi wept on Saturday as she watched the video of the execution. The United States condemned the killing "in the strongest possible terms," calling it a "cold-blooded murder." "The protection of women's rights is critical around the world, but especially in Afghanistan, where such rights were ignored, attacked and eroded under Taliban rule," the American embassy said in a statement on Sunday. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan also condemned the execution. "Let's be clear, this wasn't justice, this was murder, and an atrocity of unspeakable cruelty," ISAF commander Gen. John Allen said in a statement Sunday. "The Taliban's continued brutality toward innocent civilians, particularly women, must be condemned in the strongest terms. There has been too much progress made by too many brave Afghans, especially on the part of women, for this kind of criminal behavior to be tolerated." The public execution is the latest and among the most shocking examples of violence against women in Afghanistan, but it is far from an isolated case. The Taliban also does not have a monopoly on the violence, cautioned Christine Fair, with the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University. "It's really important to not see this exclusively in terms of the Taliban, but this is a set of practices that actually have existed and continue to exist throughout Afghanistan," she said. Nearly nine out of 10 women suffer physical, sexual, or psychological violence or forced marriage at least once in their lifetimes, Human Rights Watch said in its 2012 annual report. The country has 14 shelters for abused women, a number which the campaign group says "does not meet even a small fraction of the need." Hundreds of students and teachers at girls' schools in the country have been hospitalized with suspected poisoning this year alone. Girls were forbidden to go to school when the Taliban ruled the country from 1996 to 2001. Salangi, the provincial governor, spoke to CNN about the killing on Sunday, the same day that representatives of more than 80 nations and organizations met to consider pouring billions more aid dollars into the country. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged delegates including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton not to demand complex reforms in exchange for the money. "Afghan institutions are still in their nascent stages," he said. "The very programs which offer the best hope of sustainability of Afghan institutions should not be held hostage to complex preconditions." Clinton said donors at the conference pledged about $16 billion for Afghanistan over four years. That amount did not include money from the United States because any foreign aid must be approved by Congress. Under a security pact with Afghanistan, nearly all U.S.-led NATO troops will withdraw from the country by the end of 2014. "We can ask the question what will happen when we leave, but let's remember that this is actually happening while we're still there," said Fair, with Georgetown.

Will more money solve Afghanistan's problems?

http://www.aljazeera.com

Donors at a conference on Afghanistan have pledged to give it $16bn in civilian aid over four years, in an attempt to safeguard its future after foreign forces leave in 2014.The pledge came as Afghanistan agreed to new conditions to deal with endemic corruption. The Afghan economy relies heavily on international development and military assistance, becoming particularly dependent on foreign donations since the US invasion in 2001. It is one of the world's 10 poorest countries and has received nearly $60bn in civilian aid since 2002. According to the World Bank, foreign aid makes up to 97 per cent of the country's gross domestic product. And 90 per cent of the Afghan government's funding comes from foreign sources - which as the World Bank has warned - makes it particularly vulnerable to economic collapse if international donors pull funding too fast. According to the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the US is by far the largest donor with official development assistance reaching nearly $3bn between 2009 and 2010. Japan, the second-largest donor, gave over half a billion dollars to Afghanistan during the same period, and is expected to provide up to $3bn by 2016. Germany and Britain come next as major donors - they said they will maintain aid funding levels to Afghanistan. Its neighbouring countries are also among the 70 countries and organisations attending the donors' conference. It is hard to verify figures but Iran said, in 2010, it provided $500m for reconstruction projects such as religious schools. And Pakistan announced in May this year that it gave $20m to help the country 'build itself and fight against the militants', this money was used to support Afghan security forces. As for India, it recently pledged $500m in aid - a move likely to raise Pakistani fears about Indian influence in Afghanistan. So, why does the world continue to be so generous with Afghanistan despite past blunders? Inside Story, with presenter Sohail Rahman, discusses with guests: Janan Mosazai, the spokesman for the Afghan foreign ministry; Waheed Omer, a political commentator and former spokesman for the Afghan president Hamid Karzai; and Omar Samad, from the the think tank, US Institute of Peace, also a former spokesman for the Afghan foreign ministry and a former Afghan ambassador to Canada and France. "Just as we met in Chicago three months ago to safeguard Afghanistan's security future, today we have chartered a way forward for Afghanistan's economic requirements. I believe we have made a good committment to putting Afghanistan on a path to economic self-sufficiency. As Afghanistan's capacity and revenues increase, our contributions can decline."Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state.

$16 Billion in Civilian Aid Pledged to Afghanistan, With Conditions

By JANE PERLEZ

An international donor’s conference on Sunday pledged $16 billion for the economic development of Afghanistan in the next four years, but for the first time made it a condition that the Afghan government reduce corruption before receiving all of the money. The agreement, called the Tokyo Framework of Mutual Accountability, says that foreign governments will assure Afghanistan a steady stream of financing in exchange for stronger anticorruption measures and the establishment of the rule of law. Up to 20 percent of the money would depend on the government meeting governance standards, according to the document, which was released here on Sunday. The money pledge, along with the plans for the Afghan security forces laid out at a NATO summit meeting in May in Chicago, represent a diplomatic success for American officials, who have lobbied for long-term international support for Afghanistan. There had been concerns that the economic crunch in the West and donor fatigue would leave President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and his American backers scrambling to come up with the money needed to run and secure Afghanistan, where the government’s expenses far outstrip its revenues. Addressing the conference here in Tokyo, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the lives of all Afghan civilians needed to improve after a decade of war. To accomplish that goal, a number of steps were needed, she said. “That must include fighting corruption, improving governance, strengthening the rule of law, increasing access to economic opportunity for all Afghans, especially for women,” she said. Mr. Karzai, who is under increasing pressure from international donors to fight corruption, including within his extended family, acknowledged in his own speech to the conference that corruption had undermined the legitimacy of his government. But Afghans were not the only ones responsible for corruption, he said: “We will fight corruption with strong resolve where it occurs and ask the same of our international partners.” Representatives of more than 70 countries attended the conference. Mrs. Clinton did not specify how much the United States would contribute to the $16 billion, saying that Washington would maintain its level of financing. The Obama administration request to Congress for Afghan civilian assistance for 2013 was $2.5 billion, slightly more than the $2.2 billion that lawmakers approved for 2012. Congress, given budget constraints and public weariness with the war in Afghanistan, would almost certainly appropriate less than the $2.5 billion requested, American analysts said. The United States is the biggest donor to Afghanistan’s economic development programs. Japan, the host of the conference, announced a pledge of $5 billion over five years. Germany, another large contributor, would give an estimated $550 million for the next four years, said Dirk Niebel, the minister for economic cooperation and development. Diplomats at the conference said they were pleased with the pledge of $16 billion. The Japanese government said international donors had spent $35 billion on economic development in Afghanistan in the past decade, about twice that committed on Sunday for the next four years. With recession in Europe and war fatigue in the United States, the possibility of cutbacks in aid for infrastructure projects, schools and health clinics seemed real, several diplomats said. Before the Tokyo conference, the Afghan government trimmed estimates of what it said it needed in order to fit the outcome on Sunday. The governor of the Afghan Central Bank said several weeks ago that up to $7 billion annually would be needed to accelerate economic development. Last week, Mr. Karzai said $4 billion would be sufficient, and the World Bank estimated that Afghanistan needed $3.9 billion a year through 2024 to boost development. Money for the Afghan Army and police forces is separate from that raised in Tokyo. Financing for the Afghan security forces after 2014 is expected to total about $4.1 billion a year. Beyond the $16 billion, other financing that has been pumped into the Afghan economy through the decade of war would be reduced as countries withdraw military and diplomatic personnel in the next few years, said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow for national security at the Center for American Progress in Washington. “With many countries heading for the exits and drawing down both military and diplomatic personnel in the next few years, the Afghan government is going to see a reduction in the amount of money it gets from the international community in any case,” Mr. Katulis said. If the Afghan authorities fail to do a better job curbing corruption, “then the whole framework for international support could collapse,” he said. After addressing the conference Mrs. Clinton met with the Pakistani foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, for a one-on-one discussion, their first meeting since Pakistan, seven months ago, closed down the route that the United States military uses to transport supplies to Afghanistan. Last week, the route was reopened after Mrs. Clinton issued a statement saying that the United States was “sorry” for the deaths of two dozen Pakistani soldiers in American airstrikes last November. The route’s closing forced Washington to redirect supplies at a cost of more than $1 billion, and threatened to hurt the United States’ counterterrorism efforts. In the meeting with Ms. Khar, and at a later session with Ms. Khar and the Afghan foreign minister, Zalmai Rassoul, Mrs. Clinton emphasized again the need for Pakistan to shut down the Haqqani terrorist network that has mounted attacks in Afghanistan against American and NATO targets, a senior State Department official said.

Saudi's 'Barbie' princess makes shock UK asylum bid

A Saudi princess, the granddaughter of the nation's founder, is seeking asylum in Britain over fears she could be persecuted by members of her family at home, the Sunday Telegraph reported. Princess Sara bint Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, also known as the "Barbie" princess due to her pampered upbringing, said she had also applied to Britain's Home Office for political asylum for her four daughters, according to the report. The ministry said it would not comment on individual cases. "With deep regret, and as I have been left with no other choice, I have written to the UK Home Office to indicate that I, and my children, wish to be granted political asylum," she said in a statement. "My reputation has been besmirched in the media by a baseless and malicious smear campaign. "For years I have endured all this in silence, while trying to resolve my situation with dignity through the normal channels, without fanfare or publicity." The divorced princess currently lives in London after moving to Britain in 2007 following a falling-out with her 80-year-old father prince Talal bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud. It is the first time such a claim has been made by a senior member of the ruling family. Sara, 38, believes senior Saudi officials plotted to have her kidnapped and brought back to Riyadh and claims they subjected her to a "well orchestrated and malicious campaign of persecution". "I've been physically abused," she told the newspaper. "They've accused me of being in opposition (to them) with Iran. I am very scared right now." Her passport expired two years after arriving in Britain, and she is now facing deportation as her visa has also run out. Britain has to decide if her claims are valid and risk sparking a diplomatic spat by accepting her request. Tensions are currently high within the Saudi royal family due to the illness of King Abdullah and the recent death of Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud. The deceased prince supported Sara as he was also opposed to her father, and it was reported that his recent death may have sparked the asylum request. A Saudi embassy diplomat confirmed the embassy had been involved in visa negotiations. "This matter is of a personal nature so there is only so much the government can do," the diplomat told the paper. "It's not a political matter."

Saudi Princess Seeks UK Asylum

http://www.therightperspective.org

Saudi Arabia’s Princess Sara bint Talal bin Abdulaziz is seeking asylum in the UK for herself and her children over fears they will not be safe back home. In applying for asylum, the divorced mother-of-four says she faces persecution by members of her family and also some of Saudi Arabia’s authorities. “My reputation has been besmirched in the media by a baseless and malicious smear campaign,” the princess said in press statement. “For years I have endured all this in silence, while trying to resolve my situation with dignity through the normal channels, without fanfare or publicity. But my pleas to the Saudi authorities in the Kingdom have been obstructed and denied, and the Saudi embassy in London has turned its back on me.”Princess Sara went on to say that she has “nothing but respect for my uncle King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and the people of Saudi Arabia”. “All I have ever sought is my legitimate rights, so that my children and I can resume our lives with dignity and I can resume my civil society and development work.” According to the Sunday Telegraph, a Saudi embassy diplomat said: “The embassy has been involved in settling her visa issue and residency issue in the UK. We have tried to settle this issue. “This matter is of a personal nature so there is only so much the government can do. It’s not a political matter.”

Saudi regime forces kill two demonstrators

Security forces in Saudi Arabia have killed two demonstrators in the country’s Eastern Province, which has been a major scene of anti-regime protests over the past months. The Riyadh regime forces opened fire on a demonstration in the Qatif region of the province on Sunday. The victims were identified as Akbar Hassan Shakhouri and Mohammedredha Felfel, who were among the protesters demonstrating against the detention of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nemr al-Nemr, who was attacked in his car upon arrest earlier in the day. Several other protesters were also injured in the deadly incident. Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in Saudi Arabia, mainly in Qatif and the town of Awamiyah in the Eastern Province, calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination. However, the demonstrations have turned into protests against the Al Saud regime, especially since November 2011, when Saudi security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the Eastern Province. Similar demonstrations have also been held in the capital, Riyadh, and the holy city of Medina over the past few weeks. The Saudi Interior Ministry issued a statement on March 5, 2011, prohibiting “all forms of demonstrations, marches or protests, and calls for them.” According to the Human Rights Watch, the Saudi regime “routinely represses expression critical of the government.”

‘Jihadists’ recruit and raise funds openly in Rawalpindi

The Express Tribune

Militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir and US-led foreign forces in Afghanistan are brazenly raising funds and recruiting potential fighters in cities and towns of Pakistan. Al-Badr Mujahideen, a breakaway faction of Hizbul Mujahideen group, organised a two-day ‘Shuada Conference’ in the Swan Adda area of Rawalpindi on Sunday to seek recruits and raise funds. The group’s chief Bakht Zameen Khan told 1,000-plus supporters at the conference that his commanders have sought resources to keep the ‘jihad’ going in Kashmir and Afghanistan. “Our commanders in Kashmir and Afghanistan say they will carry out big attacks if they are provided with resources. They have the spirit but they are facing a shortage of supplies.” The group’s supporters from Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir attended the conference where Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) and Al Badar Mujahideen had set up stalls to sell propaganda CDs and ‘jihadi’ literature. Entry for journalists was restricted. Mid-level leaders from Hizbul Mujhiadeen, HIA, Jamaatud Dawa and other militant groups spoke at the conference. Bakht Zameen condemned the reopening of Nato transit routes. “We were very happy when the routes were closed. But the rulers gave in to the US pressure,” he claimed. “The government should not side with infidels because it will create anarchy in the country,” he added. He quashed the impression that ‘jihadi outfits’ were doing the bidding of Pakistan’s security establishment. “We should quell such propaganda. Our financiers have withdrawn their support following harassment. But still we have sympathisers,” he added. The terrorist label Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin told the conference that Pakistan has been encircled by the United States and its Nato allies. “Pakistan is the target of the US-Israeli nexus. Our fighters are defending Pakistan at a time when its geographical boundaries, its security and Islamic identity are at risk,” he said. Salahuddin condemned the killing of innocent civilians in terrorist attacks. “We are fighting in Kashmir. It doesn’t matter to us if we are labelled terrorists. We are proud to be called terrorists for fighting the US and its allies in Afghanistan,” he added.

Pakistan's Chief Justice's ''‘New’ political theory''

EDITORIAL: DAILY TIMES

The Supreme Court (SC) in its detailed judgement on Yousaf Raza Gilani’s contempt of court case has enunciated a ‘new’ political theory that the constitution is supreme, even over parliament. This theory has been reiterated by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry while addressing a ceremony in Karachi. The theory rests on the notion that the concept of parliament’s supremacy is ‘outdated’. The CJP has gone so far as to claim that even the highest court in the UK has declared that the idea of parliament’s supremacy is not in consonance with the times. Perhaps, but has that view led to the abandonment of parliament’s supremacy in the UK? The British constitution is unwritten, its polity relying on conventions that are so deeply ingrained that anyone trying to violate them suffers adverse consequences at the hands of the people. In the UK, the aphorism is often quoted that parliament can declare a woman a man and it cannot be challenged. That light hearted explanation of the unfettered supremacy of parliament stands unchallenged in the oldest democracy in the world, as well as all other later democracies. The constitution is framed by the elected representatives of the people (parliament) and its author is empowered to amend it. Such amendments usually flow from new developments and evolution based on the experience of democratic societies. Can the author, and the institution with the inherent power to amend it, be subject or inferior to its own creation? This is standing logic on its head. The ‘will of the people’, which the SC and the CJP are fond of quoting as something that only the superior judiciary, in its undeniable wisdom, is qualified to define, is reflected in the representatives the people send to the assemblies. There can be no two interpretations of this fact, especially not a ‘mythical’ will of the people that only the superior judiciary is privy to, and may be contradictory to the people’s political expression through democratic elections. It must not be forgotten that despite its position as the final interpreter of the constitution, the judiciary is not an elected institution. If it were to be conceded that the constitution is supreme, over and above even parliament, and given that the judiciary is the sole interpreter of that constitution, this would open the door to judicial dictation. As to the constitution as it stands, there is considerable room for dissatisfaction with many of its features. For example, Article 63, which the SC relied on to convict Gilani, is one of the remaining hangovers of General Ziaul Haq’s amendments, which arguably distorted its character from what the original framers of the basic law intended or put down. So-called ‘Islamic’ provisions, including Articles 62 and 63 that lay down moral (religious?) criteria for the qualification and disqualification of members of parliament respectively, have led, amongst other factors, to an intolerant society relying on narrow interpretations of religious injunctions. Even the 18th Amendment was unable to do away with these Zia-added provisions because those of a mindset close to the late dictator refused to go along. A close examination of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnh’s ideas shows that the constitution as it stands, with its religious connotations, bares little resemblance to the tolerant and inclusive vision he had. The ideas expressed in the detailed judgement of the SC in Gilani’s contempt case and the reiteration of these views by the CJP may be well intentioned, an underlining of the need to adhere to the provisions of the constitution as it stands, but they run the risk of setting up the creation over and above the creator, and opening the door to the judiciary being actually superior to all other institutions as the final arbiter of the basic law of the land. That way lies judicial tyranny, a scary prospect at any time, but especially worrying in the present context, when the restored judiciary has been criticised for being ‘overactive’ and stepping onto the turf of the executive and parliament, two institutions of state that enjoy their own purview under the doctrine of the separation of powers in a democratic polity. The worst part is that these newfound doctrines of the superior judiciary may have less to do with high constitutional principles and more to do with the immediate state of confrontation between the government and the judiciary. Such expedient conceptualisation must be avoided in favour of solid precedent and established principles that have guided democratic polities since they emerged in human history.

CJ’s remarks

EDITORIAL

CHIEF Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on Saturday fired the latest salvo in the perceived escalating fight between the superior judiciary and the PPP-led federal government. The Supreme Court, according to Justice Chaudhry, can strike down any legislation that is incompatible with the fundamental rights guaranteed under the constitution. While this is a well-established principle, the timing of Justice Chaudhry’s comments is impossible to ignore: the chief justice’s dilation on the ins and outs of the constitution came in a week that the government proposed legislation to protect its constitutional office-holders from suffering the same fate as former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani suffered recently. Unfortunate as it is that the past judicial practice of justices speaking only from the bench and through their judgments has been discarded in recent years, the comments by the chief justice come very close to pre-empting the legislative process. Astonishingly, however, the chief justice did not just stop there: he indicated that the supremacy of parliament was ‘out of place in the modern era’, the constitution itself enjoying pre-eminence over the will of parliament. This is explosive, particularly given the backdrop of the judiciary-government battles. Start with the claim that the constitution, not parliament, is supreme, add the corollary that the SC is the final and unquestioned interpreter of what the constitution does or does not permit — and suddenly Pakistan is in the realm of a supreme judiciary, an unelected institution dictating the contract by which state and society interact. This would be a fundamental shift in the way Pakistan’s constitutional arrangement is imagined and it is quite extraordinary that a serving chief justice would see fit to make such a pronouncement outside a judicial forum. In the SC, the chief justice is the administrative head but his vote is equal to that wielded by any other justice in any given case. Surely, then, at the very least, this is a matter to be decided before a full court, if and when the matter comes before the court. But returning to the issue of fundamental rights guaranteed in the constitution, why is it that the court keeps invoking fundamental rights when it comes to engaging with the government instead of concentrating on securing the fundamental rights of the people? Why not focus on the broken judicial system in which the average complainant has virtually no hope of ever getting justice, and none of getting it on time? Why not focus on the abysmally low rate of successful prosecution that allows criminals to walk free? Must the court be so obviously selective?

22 Balochistan journalists killed in four years

A workshop on ‘Media and Civil Society in Balochistan’ was informed on Sunday that the media in Balochistan was not free and journalists on professional duty often faced harassment at the hands of influential elements and different pressure groups active in the province. According to figures presented at the workshop, at least 22 journalists have been killed in the province during the past four years. The Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) had organised the workshop in collaboration with the Association for Integrated Development. CRSS executive director Imtiaz Gul said journalists faced challenges and difficulties in reporting and it was the duty of the state and non-state forces to spare the media from their rivalries and not to subject them to intimidation. He praised the media for working in difficult circumstances and paid homage to media people who lost their lives while performing their duty. Addressing the workshop, Quetta Press Club general secretary Abdul Khaliq Rind said the entire province had become a battleground. “You cannot look at media’s work in isolation. You cannot write about any group. It is very difficult for all of us,” he said. He said that decades of discrimination had resulted in intellectual and economic backwardness of the province. Khalil Ahmed of DawnNews said: “We don’t have access to information. We cannot even report corruption cases.”Journalists, he said, had been sandwiched between corrupt officials and extremist groups because they faced threats from both if they reported about their wrongdoings. He said that because of the geographical importance of the region international and regional powers were active in Balochistan to protect their interests. Irfan Rana of the Express Group said: “Whenever journalists report something, pressure groups ask them to amend it and warn them of dire consequences if their ‘orders’ are not obeyed.” Irshad Mastoi of Online news agency said: “All resistance movements approach us for coverage and political parties and some institutions consider the media as a resistance group.” He accused political leaders of forcing reporters to cover their ‘press releases’. Shahid Rind of ARY TV said the media faced pressures from powerful institutions, political leaders, militants and criminals. “We get diktat from all stakeholders, so we cannot follow journalistic rules and face threats and censure,” he said, adding “there are red lines and we cannot dare to be objective in reporting”. Abdullah Baloch of WASH TV said objective reporting was the biggest challenge as all forces put pressure and journalists could not report objectively. Even NGOs and trade unions put pressure on journalists to file reports in accordance with their instructions, he said, adding that no journalist was secure in Balochistan. Akbar Sheikh said if jobs were given to thousands of unemployed graduates in Balochistan it would help make society tolerant. Dr Ishaq Baloch of the National Party, senior journalist Shehzada Zulfiqar, Liaquat Ali, Aslam Baloch, Arshad Jan and Hammad Sanjrani also spoke.

Pakistan’s New Prime Minister Faces Widespread Scorn

Poor Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.

Anywhere else, the prime minister would have been praised for resolving months of deadlock with an ally as important as the United States. But last week, Ashraf was met with nothing but scorn when Pakistan agreed to reopen key supply routes to Afghanistan following a U.S. apology for a NATO airstrike last November that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.The announcement couldn’t have come at a worse time for the 61-year-old newly elected prime minister. According to recent polls, some 74 percent of Pakistanis now view the U.S. as an enemy, while some 40 percent say American aid has had a “mostly negative” impact on their country. Capitalizing on this sentiment, several opposition parties have already criticized the government’s decision to make amends with America. And Ashraf, an amiable two-term member of Parliament, has become the convenient recipient of this wrath—despite widespread speculation that no decision on reopening the supply routes could have been made without the Army’s permission. This is hardly the first time that Ashraf has served as a scapegoat for Pakistan’s problems. Although he is widely supported by the government’s ruling coalition, Ashraf is Pakistan’s former federal water and power minister, and has long been hated by average Pakistanis for his inability to curb the country’s crippling power outages. These chronic, nationwide blackouts have resulted in mass protests and serve as daily reminders of the government’s failure to deliver on its most basic commitments. The reaction to Ashraf can be so virulent at times that many believe his Pakistan Peoples Party may be forced to call early elections and subsequently lose influence. What ultimately may doom Ashraf, however, is an intensifying quarrel between the government and Pakistan’s Supreme Court. As it stands, members of the court seem to dislike him. In March they declared that all power projects implemented on his watch were illegal. And because of Ashraf’s perceived loyalty to President Asif Ali Zardari, his election last month—he won 70 percent of the vote in the National Assembly—was seen by the court as a provocation, according to analysts.The court has long wanted the government to request that Swiss authorities reopen money-laundering charges against Zardari. Last month, the justices sacked Ashraf’s predecessor, Yousaf Raza Gilani, for allegedly refusing to take such action. The court has never charged Ashraf with any crimes, but that could change on July 12 when he must formally inform the judiciary whether he intends to let the Swiss investigate the president. Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court has asked Zardari to either relinquish his post as president or give up his party’s leadership to maintain the neutrality of his office. No matter what he decides, Ashraf, the country’s 25th prime minister, could become a casualty in the process. And the government may soon be looking for prime minister No. 26.

Elahi slams Punjab govt over poor law, order situation

Deputy PM Parvez Elahi said Shahbaz has no right to rule when crime is on rise in the province. Addressing a gathering in Gujrat on Sunday, Parvez Ilahi said that Shahbaz Sharif has no right to rule when hundreds of robberey incidents are occurring in every district of the province on daily basis. He claimed that during all tenures of Shahbaz Sharif not even a single project pertaining to the common masses interest had ever started. Adding he said the fate of the people could not be changed for better merely through talking. Parvez Elahi said that Punjab is suffering from worst administrative and economic crisis; efficiency of all the departments is deteriorating due to one-man show. He said that the doctors were protesting, people are dying in the hospitals, even medicines were not available but the Punjab Govt. was not serious resolving any issue due to its false ego. Parvez Elahi maintained that during our tenure scores of people’s welfare oriented works were done which were not even done in the past ever. He said the present Punjab Govt. believes in destruction rather than in education and it had capped our best IT projects and destroyed all of them and obstructions were being created in the completion of the Cardiology Institute in Wazirabad. The deputy PM claimed that the rulers who had launched Tandoors schemes thrown our schemes aimed at welfare of the massed in the tandoors.

Extreme heat persists in U.S. but relief arriving Monday

Another day of scorching temperatures blanketed the United States from Iowa to the East Coast on Saturday, but forecasters said some of the areas hit hardest by the prolonged heat wave would soon get relief. More than two dozen people have died, including a four-month old Indiana girl who police say was left in a car outside her home in Greenfield, about 25 miles east of Indianapolis, for an extended period of time when temperatures were above 100 Fahrenheit. The National Weather Service issued excessive heat warnings for cities including Washington, where temperatures reached 103 Fahrenheit (39 Celsius) by 1 p.m., New York and Philadelphia, where temperatures hovered near or at triple digits. "It's hotter than hell," said John Ghio, a tourist from St. Louis after visiting the White House. "We're going to get a cold drink, catch the subway and go back to our hotel to cool down." Nearby, a family from China posed for photos in front of the U.S. Treasury. They were debating whether to go on to the Washington Monument or wait until the sun went down. "Too hot," said Xiao Duan, 30, of Beijing. "My father says it's like we're being burned by flames." A cold front from Canada was expected to move south and break the record-setting heat and drop temperatures to below average levels over much of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states by Monday, the weather service said. Severe weather, including thunderstorms and damaging winds, was likely to accompany the cooler temperatures, forecasters said. COOLER TEMPS ON THE WAY? Areas around Midwestern cities Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis will start to experience less-extreme heat this weekend, said Alex Sosnowski, senior meteorologist for AccuWeather.com. But Sosnowski said Saturday would likely be the worst day of the heat for people in the East and the central Appalachians. "As the cooler air from the northwest begins to make its move, the air will get compressed in the region," he said on AccuWeather.com. "When air is compressed, it heats up." The weather service's excessive heat warning stretched from Iowa to Pennsylvania, and from New York state down to southern Virginia, capping a week during which more than 3,500 daily temperature records fell across the country. The number of deaths attributed to the extreme heat and violent storms during the past week continued to rise. Three people died this week from heat-related illnesses in Ohio, where a late-June storm knocked out power to more than 600,000 people. Authorities discovered the bodies of two women, one in her late 60s and the other in her mid-80s, and a man in his 70s, in homes without electricity, said Dr. Jeff Lee, deputy coroner in Licking County, Ohio. "They were all found inside homes that were closed up and not ventilated," Lee said on Saturday. "The extra heat along with the cardiovascular and pulmonary problems (they suffered from) caused their deaths." Approximately 62,000 AEP Ohio customers remained without power on Saturday morning in that state, where the temperature was expected to pass the 100-degree mark. In West Virginia, where some people have been without power since violent storms hit a week ago, Appalachian Power said nearly 80,000 customers still had no electricity. MonPower reported about 42,000 outages in the state as of Saturday evening.

Chinese top leaders call for innovation in science, technology

China's top leaders have called for the country to become more innovative in science and technology, and for these systems to be reformed in a bid to build scientific power. While attending the national conference on science and technology innovation held Friday and Saturday, President Hu Jintao stressed a strategy of invigorating the country with science and technology, as well as human resources. Hu also urged China to enhance its capacity for innovation in these fields, and to integrate science and technology with social and economic development. "We must focus on promoting innovation in science and technology if we want to push forward reform and opening up policy, the modernization of socialism, and achieve the overall target for building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, improve the people's living standard, as well as achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," said Hu at the conference. Hu added that although China has established a relatively complete academic system with abundant talented people, it is still not strong in self-innovation capacity, and the science and technology system can not meet the demands of the economic and social development, as well as the international competition. Hu urged the country to grasp the opportunity of scientific and technologic revolution, and deepen the systemic reform so as to greatly improve the country's capacity in innovation in a short time. According to Hu, the targets for the development of science and technology in 2020 include building a national innovation system that conforms with the socialist market economy, significantly enhanced capacity in original innovation, improved environment for innovation. The president proposed six suggestions for accelerating the construction of a country of innovation, including promoting innovation-driven development, improving self-innovation capacity and system for the cultivation of talented people, deepening reform of scientific and technologic system, optimizing environment for innovation, and expand international cooperation. Hu also urged authorities at all levels to expand investment in science and technology so that spending in research and development of the whole society will account for more than 2.5 percent of GDP in 2020. Premier Wen Jiabao said at the conference that the most important work of the reform of science and technology system is to address the integration of science and technology with economy, as well as strengthen enterprises' capacity in innovation, which are of strategic importance to the long-term development of the country. For this purpose, Wen urged the government to support enterprises to build high-level research and development centers, integrate manufacturing with studies and research, build a sharing system for scientific and technologic resources, and create a fair and open market environment for enterprises. Wen also called for coordination of related policies and regulations to promote innovation. Other leaders including Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, He Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang also attended the conference.

Clinton looks for better US-Pakistani cooperation

ASSOCIATED PRESS

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed hope Sunday that Pakistan's recent reopening of NATO supply lines into Afghanistan might lead to a broader rapprochement in U.S.-Pakistani relations after a difficult period for the reluctant allies.

After attending a 70-nation Afghan aid conference in Tokyo, Clinton met privately with Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to discuss reviving the U.S.-Pakistani relationship, which has suffered a series of debilitating crises over the last year-and-a-half but is still seen as critical for the stability of South Asia. It was their first meeting since Clinton's apology last week for the November killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers by NATO, a move that led to the end of Pakistan's seven-month blockade of the supply routes. "We are both encouraged that we've been able to put the recent difficulties behind us so we can focus on the many challenges ahead of us," Clinton told reporters. "We want to use the positive momentum generated by our recent agreement to take tangible steps on our many shared, core interests." The most important of these, Clinton said, was fighting the militant groups who've used Pakistan as a rear base to attack American troops and jeopardize the future of Afghanistan. She and Khar "focused on the necessity of defeating the terror networks that threat the stability of both Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as the interests of the United States," Clinton said. Last week's accord helped repair ties that have been torn over everything from a CIA contractor who killed two Pakistanis to the unilateral U.S. raid on Osama bin Laden's Pakistan compound. The November incident was the deadliest among the allies in the decade-long fight against al-Qaida and other extremist groups along the Afghan-Pakistani frontier. Pakistan's reaction in closing the border cost the U.S. at least $700 million, as it rerouted supplies across more expensive northern routes. The final bill may have been significantly greater. Clinton, who joined the Pakistani minister and Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul for a three-way meeting later Sunday, said her discussions with Khar covered stalled Afghan reconciliation efforts. The U.S. is counting on Pakistan to help convince the Taliban and other groups fighting the Afghan government to halt violence and enter into a political dialogue. They spoke as well about enhancing U.S.-Pakistani economic ties to make it a relationship defined more by trade than aid. Still, Clinton acknowledged the lingering difficulties hindering U.S.-Pakistani cooperation, without getting into details. Washington has been perpetually bothered by its perception of Islamabad's half-hearted commitment to snuffing out the support given by its intelligence services to the Taliban and the Haqqani network— assistance that Washington sees as a threat to the Afghan war effort. Meanwhile, Pakistan's government has to contend with rampant anti-American sentiment and the unpopularity of U.S. drone strikes against militant targets within its borders. Clinton called it a "challenging but essential relationship." "I have no reason to believe that it will not continue to raise hard questions for us both," she said. "But it is something that is in the interests of the United States as well as the interests of Pakistan."

Balochistan : Stop Terrorism Not The Bus Service

Editorial:The Baloch Hal

The decision of District Administration in Quetta to shut down bus service for Shia pilgrims going to Iran is outrageous. Such a decision curtails people’s right to religious freedom and it also emboldens extremist Sunni groups. The government justifies this decision referring to recent attacks in Quetta and its outskirts on Shia Muslims (most of whom belonged to Hazara ethnic community). The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni militant group, has claimed responsibility for all attacks on Balochistan’s Shia Muslims. Since many of the pilgrims travel via Pakistan-Iran border town of Taftan on bus, the extremist groups find it very easy ambush the passenger buses in the outskirts of Quetta. Except for suicide bombings, no other form of attack on the Shia, Hazara community has proved as deadly as attacks on the buses. Besides the attack on a university bus on June 18, the dead toll in every other assault has exceeded double-digit figure. Regular protests and meeting by Shia, Hazara leaders with senior government officials in Balochistan have not helped in ending the killing of innocent citizens. There has also been uproar at the international level, mainly from human rights organizations, against the senseless killings. Yet, the situation has not received ample attention from foreign governments and the United Nations to force Pakistan to act swiftly to protect people who do not share the religious and political views of the majority in Pakistan. The State should take ownership for guarding every citizen’s freedom to religious and political views. Prior to suspending bus services, the government has to provide accountability for the June 29 statement issued by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (H.R.C.P), the country’s most respected human rights watchdog, which blamed elements inside the security institutions for the killing of the Shia, Hazaras. While the H.R.C.P. admits not possessing enough evidence to substantiate its allegations, we still see some weight and truth in this statement. The Shai, Hazara community has repeatedly blamed the security establishment for patronizing and protecting the Sunni extremists. If elements inside the security agencies are responsible for attacks on the Shias then there is no way mere suspension of bus service to Iran can stop this gruesome cycle of sectarian killings. If the State can successfully and safely transport hundreds of thousands of Sunni pilgrims to Saudi Arabai every year then there is no excuse for failing to provide similar protection to a few hundred Shias travelling to Iran via Balochistan. The government of Balochistan had previously decided to offer security escort to the buses that carry Shia pilgrims to Iran. The terrorists still struck despite official protection. Security failures are highly deplorable but that does not rationalize complete suspension of the existing security arrangement. The government must overhaul the current security mechanism besides probing the suspected elements inside the police who are blamed for collusion with terrorists. At this point, the government’s top-most priority should be to give the Shias and Hazaras a sense of protection and participation. They should not be left in isolation. The suspension of the bus service or stopping them from going for pilgrimage will make them feel maltreated and excluded from everyday experiences. To restrict the Shias, Hazaras inside their homes and towns is what the Sunni militant groups desire. We urge the government of Balochistan to immediately withdraw the suspension of the bus service and tighten security arrangements required to protect the Shias, Hazara in Balochistan.