Friday, February 21, 2014
President Obama to Award Medal of Honor
http://www.whitehouse.gov/On March 18th, 2014, President Barack Obama will award 24 Army veterans the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry. These veterans will receive the Medal of Honor in recognition of their valor during major combat operations in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Each of these Soldiers’ bravery was previously recognized by award of the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second highest military award; that award will be upgraded to the Medal of Honor in recognition of their gallantry, intrepidity and heroism above and beyond the call of duty. In 2002, Congress, through the Defense Authorization Act, called for a review of Jewish American and Hispanic American veteran war records from WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, to ensure those deserving the Medal of Honor were not denied because of prejudice. During the review, records of several Soldiers of neither Jewish nor Hispanic descent were also found to display criteria worthy of the Medal of Honor. The 2002 Act was amended to allow these Soldiers to be honored with the upgrade - in addition to the Jewish and Hispanic American Soldiers.
Obama, Putin Hold ‘Constructive’ Call on Ukraine Crisis
US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday discussed the implementation of a plan to resolve the bloody conflict in Ukraine, a conversation one senior US official described as “constructive.”
“They exchanged views on the need to implement quickly the political agreement reached today in [Kiev], the importance of stabilizing the economic situation and undertaking necessary reforms, and the need for all sides to refrain from further violence,” the White House said in a statement.
The Kremlin described the conversation as “substantive” in an English-language statement that blamed the violence in Ukraine that has left dozens dead on “the radical opposition,” which it accused of taking the confrontation in the former Soviet state “to a very dangerous point.”
Washington has said that both security forces and protesters in Ukraine must refrain from violence but that it holds the government of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych ultimately responsible for reining in the deadly clashes and stabilizing the situation.
Yanukovych on Friday signed an agreement with opposition leaders aimed at ending the nation’s deadliest violence since it gained independence in 1991, agreeing to an early presidential election and a return to a 2004 constitution designed to limit presidential powers and make the country a parliamentary republic.
In a call with reporters Friday, a senior US State Department official called the Obama-Putin phone call “constructive” and said the two leaders agreed that “the agreement reached today needed to be implemented quickly.”
“It’s clearly an important signal that the president and President Putin were able to talk positively about implementing this agreement,” the official said, the Washington newspaper The Hill reported on its website. “We have to move on from there and ensure that this very, very fragile Ukrainian economy is stabilized.”
The United States and its EU partners have been at odds with Russia over the crisis in Ukraine, with officials in Moscow accusing the West of stoking the violence by backing what they describe as radical elements seeking to carry out a coup against Yanukovych.
US and European officials have said they are merely supporting Ukrainians’ right to protest peacefully after mass demonstrations broke out there in November following Yanukovych’s decision to forego partnership and trade agreements with the EU in favor of closer integration with Russia.
As Obama and Putin were preparing to speak by telephone, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Friday that “it is in Russia’s interest for the violence to end in Ukraine, as it is in the interest of the United States and our European friends.”
“We welcome the cessation of violence, and we welcome the agreements that have been reached,” Carney said.
Obama initiated the call, during which the two leaders also discussed Iran’s nuclear program and the situation in war-torn Syria, the White House and the Kremlin said.
Both sides said in their respective statements that Obama congratulated Putin on the Winter Olympics currently being held in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi.
China expresses "strong indignation, firm opposition" against Obama-Dalai Lama meeting
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui on Friday night summoned Daniel Kritenbrink, charge d'affaires of U.S. embassy in China, to lodge solemn representations for U.S. President Barack Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama regardless of China's strong opposition.
According to Zhang, such a wrong move gravely interfered in China's internal affairs, seriously violated the U.S. commitment of not supporting the "Tibet independence", gravely violated basic norms governing the international relations, and seriously undermined the China-U.S. relations.
"China expresses strong indignation and firm opposition," Zhang said.
Tibet is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory, Zhang said. "The Tibetan issue is the domestic affair of China and the United States bears no right to interfere," he stressed.
The contradictions between the Chinese side and the Dalai Lama is neither an ethnic issue nor religious and human rights issues, but an important issue concerning the principles of maintaining China's unification while opposing secession, he said.
China firmly opposes any foreign country to allow the Dalai Lama's visit and opposes any foreign dignitaries to meet with the Dalai Lama by any form, he stressed.
"Nobody can shake the will and determination of the Chinese government and people to oppose outside interference and to safeguard the national sovereignty and unification," he said.
"The United States, on the one hand, recognizes that Tibet is part of China and has agreed not to support 'Tibet independence', while on the other hand arranged the meeting between its leader and the Dalai Lama," he said, calling the Dalai Lama "chief head of the secessionist group seeking 'Tibet independence.'"
"Such a move will gravely sabotage China-U.S. cooperation and relations, and will definitely undermine its own interests," he said.
"The key to ensure the healthy and steady growth of China-U.S. relations is to respect the other's core interests and major concerns," he said.
He urged the United States to seriously take into consideration of China's solemn stance and observe its commitments of recognizing Tibet as part of China and opposing "Tibet independence."
Moreover, he demanded the United States to immediately take concrete actions to offset negative influence, stop interfering into China's internal affairs by making use of Tibet-related issues, stop conniving and supporting anti-China secessionist activities made by the Dalai Lama and his followers.
"The United States must take concrete actions to regain trust of the Chinese government and people," he said.
On the same day, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said China has time and again expressed its serious concern over the Dalai Lama's visit to the United State for a period of time.
"The Dalai Lama is a political exile who has long engaged in anti-China secessionist activities in the name of religion," he said.
He urged the United States not to connive and support anti-China secessionist forces seeking "Tibet independence," in order to avoid further damage to the China-U.S. relations.
Warning: Saudi mayhem ahead
http://www.atimes.com/By Pepe Escobar Move over, Peter O' Toole. It's Charles of Arabia time. Prince Charles switched to Lawrence mode when he went schmoozing and dancing in Riyadh this past Tuesday with the natives. And just like clockwork, the next day BAE Systems - Europe's number one weapons peddler - announced that the UK and the House of Saud had agreed on "new pricing" for an extremely juicy deal; 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets. The Eurofighter is a direct competitor of the spectacularly unsalable French Rafale and the very expensive American F-35s and F-16s. The Associated Press duly included in its dispatch - reproduced by virtually every newspaper around the world - the Washington-enforced meme "Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries are fortifying their military capabilities to counter a perceived threat from regional rivals, particularly Iran." As if Tehran was going to bomb the House of Saud tomorrow. The Eurofighter, on the other hand, has already been employed against fellow Arabs - as in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's humanitarian bombing of Libya back to failed-state status. It's open to debate whether the House of Saud might be tempted to employ it against the enemy within: aspiring Saudi women drivers. Brandishing the official excuse that near-nonagenarian King Abdullah was not able to receive him, Charles of Arabia declined to discuss with the House of Saud the absolutely appalling women's rights, migrant workers' rights and for that matter the full human rights situation in the kingdom. Of course not; this is only brought up when demonizing Russia, China and/or Iran. Moreover, Charles of Arabia could not possibly ruffle feathers as the French are also positioning themselves as contenders in the Snuggle-Up-with-a-Saudi industrial-military complex game show (worth more than US$70 billion in these past few years). French President Francois Hollande - an abysmal nullity at home but a Great Liberator of Africa and Syria - visited Riyadh in December trying hard to steal significant market share from the Anglo-Americans. The problem is, no sentient being anywhere would even contemplate buying a Rafale. Here's the dough, now gimme a bomb So the House of Saud is stockpiling weapons. Check. Saudi Arabia's Prince Bandar bin Sultan, aka Bandar Bush, remains on the loose, financing/weaponizing his growing army of mercenaries in the Levant. Check. And the House of Saud is up to something with its ally Pakistan. Check. Just one day before Charles of Arabia hit Riyadh, Saudi Defense Minister - and, crucially, Crown Prince - Salam bin Abdul Aziz was in Islamabad. The heart of the matter was - what else - a "defense pact". [1] Crucially, there's also a Pipelineistan reverberation. By mid-2013, Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was all excited over the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline, which should theoretically go online in 2015. Now he's not so sure. One doesn't need to be the perspicacious Charles of Arabia to detect a Saudi hand on all this - actively spoiling the Iran-Pakistan energy partnership. The House of Saud's Iranian paranoia has no equal in the whole solar system, and regime change in Syria is a key plank in the retribution scenario. No matter Washington's non-denial denials of the "we're not involved" kind, Bandar Bush's network will soon be supplying mercenary gangs in the Levant with anti-aircraft weaponry. And guess who's following Charles of Arabia to Riyadh next month: none other than US President Barack Obama. As part of the House of Saud's multi-pronged attack, King Abdullah will practically supplicate from Obama (of Arabia?) a decisive push for regime change in Syria. Meanwhile, the House of Saud is trying to amass as many Pakistani "advisers" as possible to train its paid goons in Syria. The official Pakistani non-denial denial is that they won't be sending their army to Syria. [2] But in a remix of Afghanistan during the 1980s jihad, a bunch of seasoned "advisers" will more than suffice. Then there's the House of Saud nuclear play. Already in 2012, they were advertising the drive to build no fewer than 16 commercial nuclear reactors by 2030 - and on top of it a tech agreement with Beijing was signed. The House of Saud spent a lot of dough in the Pakistani nuclear weapons program. It's not even a matter of "acquiring nuclear technology" against Iran; that would take too long. Depending on the result of the P5+1 talks with Iran along 2014, a hyper-paranoid House of Saud could simply rain a mountain of hard cash on cash-strapped Islamabad and just buy one of its nukes. After all, Riyadh just offered a cool $3 billion to the Lebanese army so that it would buy French weapons - something that over-excited Frenchmen duly interpreted as a Saudi "tactical divorce" from the Barack Obama administration. Every each way one looks at it, expect major House of Saud-provoked mayhem ahead. Even in Tehran, they are worried about Saudi sanity - as the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei knows all there is to know about the cosmic paranoia, aging King Abdullah (89) riding into the sunset, the fierce succession war to follow, and, meanwhile, Bandar Bush's warmongering offensive. Which brings us back to perspicacious Charles of Arabia. He could not have failed to notice there is a direct continuum from medieval Wahhabism and one Osama bin Laden. Until recently, every leadership of every hardcore Islamist gang on the planet shared three traits: they studied in Saudi Arabia; they were financed by Saudi sources (public or private); and they reached their "maturity" in Afghanistan. Now the jihadi landscape is more diversified. So it's up to Bandar Bush to regiment the new jihadi Google generation into "Islamic Fronts". For the House of Saud, though, the agenda always remains the same: demonize Iran; be the dutiful errand boys of the hyperpower and lesser Western "powers"; and buy weapons in droves. No wonder Charles of Arabia happily danced to their tune; after all, these jolly old chaps are "our" gold-medal bastards.
Afghan Women Campaign for Peace
http://www.voanews.com/War-weary women in Afghanistan have unleashed an unprecedented campaign to seek an immediate cessation of hostilities and defend the freedom they have gained over the past decade in the mostly conservative and male-dominated Afghan society. The move comes amid intensifying fears the Islamist Taliban would try to regain power after NATO combat troops withdraw from the country in December. Afghanistan’s nearly four-year-long peace effort, made through a High Peace Council of prominent Afghan personalities, has so far failed to persuade the Taliban to end its insurgency and join a political reconciliation process. The lack of progress has prompted the women's wing of the panel to undertake a rare peace initiative of its own, providing a glimmer of hope for traditionally and socially oppressed Afghan women. A Council member, parliamentarian Golalei Nur Safi, is at the forefront of the campaign, called ‘Voice of Afghan Women for Peace and Cease-fire’. She told VOA their mission is to urge the government and Taliban-led opposition groups, as well as international forces, to try to negotiate a peaceful settlement of the conflict as soon as possible. Safi said the campaign was launched early this month and Afghan women are joining it in large numbers every day. She added that despite security concerns, women volunteers are making serious efforts to secure as many signatures as possible from female members of Afghan society on a piece of paper carrying a message of peace. “We go door-to-door also and also [arrange] some meetings between the women. And the group of volunteers they go to the people, to the society, to the schools, to the universities, to the workplaces, and they tell [them] about the message that we want peace and [a] cease-fire. We have hundreds of women, they are working like volunteers to take the signature from the women and until now we have more than 120,000 signatures,” said Safi. Organizers say copies of the signatures will be submitted to President Hamid Karzai, United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon and representatives of the Taliban. Safi said they have also taken their demands to candidates taking part in the upcoming Afghan presidential elections. “We talk to every candidate about this campaign and we tell our message to them that Afghan women they are very tired from the war and we want peace,” said Safi. She said that after more than a decade of political empowerment at different levels, Afghan women are determined not allow anyone violate their rights, be it the government or the Taliban. The lawmaker reiterated that women must be made part of political decision-making process to ensure their rights are protected in the search for a peaceful way out of the crisis facing Afghanistan. “We expect that the rights of women are not violated once again that we have achieved and accomplished in the last ten years in Afghanistan. And we believe that the rights of women will not be jeopardized once again as it was a decade ago and these rights shall be respected and should be promoted despite starting or convening the peace negotiations with the Taliban,” she said. The Afghan civil war of the 1990s that paved the way for the Taliban to seize power and impose their brand of strict Islamic law critically undermined female rights in the war-shattered country. The Taliban banned women from workplaces and prohibited girls’ education during their five year rule. It is estimated that until the U.S.-led military coalition ousted the Taliban from power in 2001, there were fewer than one million Afghan children in school, and all of them were boys. Recent local and foreign studies show that international assistance has since helped the country raise the number of students close to eight million; more than a third of that 8 million are girls. Meanwhile, improvements to health facilities has brought down the maternal mortality rate by 80 percent and Afghan women are now running their own businesses.
Balochistan: The untold story of Pakistan's other war
Pakistan's on-off dialogue with the Taliban has been commanding headlines and the attention of politicians and diplomats. But there has been little interest in a dialogue that could end the longest civil war in Pakistan's history, says guest columnist Ahmed Rashid.
On 17 January, 13 bodies were discovered from a mass grave in the village of Tutak near Khuzdar in Balochistan province. Only two of the mutilated, decomposed bodies have been identified so far - both were men who had disappeared four months earlier.
A heartbreaking account of the mass grave by Saher Baloch, a journalist for Dawn newspaper, ends with the ominous prediction by an official that there are more bodies waiting to be found.
The Frontier Corps, the anti-Shia group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and other groups are all enmeshed in a decade-long campaign of "pick up and dump" in which Baloch nationalists, militants or even innocent bystanders are picked up, disappeared, tortured, mutilated and then killed.
The army, paramilitaries and the government have consistently denied being responsible for violence in Balochistan, pointing instead to the myriad of armed groups operating in the region.
But even though the Supreme Court has taken up some of the cases of the disappeared, the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has failed to engage with the issue.
Untold story
Nobody even knows how many people have have disappeared - the figures are between hundreds and several thousand. Now the families of those disappeared are on a long march through the winter months from Karachi to Islamabad to register their loss and grievances with the government.
Wizened old men and women wrapped in chadors have been dragging children along and braving the cold and the rain. They entered Lahore earlier this month and have already been on the road for nearly four months.
They said they do not even have a dead body to bury and want to know where the men of their families are. But the government has ignored them - it is almost as if they did not exist.
So many journalists have been killed in Balochistan that there are few honest reports from the province in the national print or electronic media because journalists are too scared. The story of this bloody civil war is going untold.
The chief minister of Balochistan Abdul Malik Baloch, who heads the weak provincial government in Quetta, has demanded a dialogue with the nationalist leaders.
He is powerless unless the federal government and the army agree to rein in the violence many believe they are responsible for - something they utterly deny - and the militants agree to a ceasefire.
The fifth Baloch insurgency against the Pakistan state began in 2003, with small guerrilla attacks by autonomy-seeking Baloch groups who over the years have became increasingly militant and separatist in ideology. Their leaders who are mostly in exile abroad now demand independence from Pakistan.
Cycle of violence
Unlike in past Baloch insurgencies when militants only targeted the army, this time the militants have targeted non-Baloch civilians living in Balochistan in an attempt to drive out other nationalities.
Every disappeared Baloch leads to many more youngsters taking up arms. Every attack on the security forces leads to more disappeared. It is an endless cycle of violence that has gone on for 11 years.
The tragedy is that although there is intense division in the country over talking to the Taliban - strong pro- and anti-lobbies hammer it out daily - there is no such dispute about talking to the Baloch nationalists.
All the political parties seem to be in agreement about the need for a dialogue, but it is the army that has to agree to one. "After the opening of negotiations with the Taliban, it is even more absurd to be not offering an opening to talk to the Baloch nationalists," said IA Rehman, secretary-general of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
"The lack of response is causing incalculable harm to Pakistan," he added.
The Taliban have killed thousands of people in the past five years compared to the Balochistan insurgency where casualties have been far lower.
But without a major initiative from the federal government to bring together the army, parliament, the political parties and other stakeholders in the establishment, it is unlikely there will be any move for opening talks with the Baloch militants.
Pakistan remains fragile, with all the violence that the state faces from the Taliban and mayhem in Karachi. Meanwhile the economy only gets worse.
As long as the government stays silent on Balochistan, the longest civil war in Pakistan's history will only create more casualties and break more records for longevity and heartbreak.
Pakistan: ‘Enemy’ of the state
Pakistan: For Being A Christian, Got Fired From Government Job
Bilawal Bhutto: Nothing Islamic about TTP
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) patron-in-chief, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari tweeted his response to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Shahidullah Shahid’s statement that there was not a single Islamic clause in Pakistan’s constitution.Bilawal Bhutto Zardari tweeted: “Shahidullah Shahid said there is nothing Islamic in Pakistan’s constitution. He clearly can’t read. The truth is there is nothing Islamic in the TTP.” The TTP spokesman had made the statement during a news conference held in North Waziristan. Shahid said the government wanted the Taliban to accept the constitution of Pakistan through dialogue.
Pakistan: Senate to take up shift in policy on Syria
A calling attention notice has been submitted in the senate asking Advisor Foreign Affairs to explain government position on ” shift in policy on the civil war in Syria in the wake of the visit last week of foreign dignitary from a Middle Eastern country and its impact on Pakistan’s national security and relations with other countries in the region” has been submitted in the Senate as it meets on Monday. Through a calling attention notice PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar has asked the Advisor on Foreign Affairs and national Security Sartaj Aziz to take the House into confidence on this ” matter of great public importance” as there seemed a sudden, unexplained and a major departure from the known and stated position of Pakistan on this issue. Farhatullah Babar said that it was significant that after talks between the visiting dignitary and the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the two countries called for ‘the formation of a transitional governing body with full executive powers enabling it to take charge of the affairs of the country’, clearly meaning ‘regime change’ in Syria which will have profound implications for Pakistan’s relations with countries of Middle East particularly Iran. Until now, Islamabad refused to take sides and kept a delicate balance in its ties with Kingdom of Saudi Aarabai and Iran. That balance seems to have been upset, he said. He said this shift in policy may drag Pakistan into uncharted waters without tangible gains that should best be avided. He said that the warning by Iran’s interior minister to send troops into Pakistan to secure the release of kidnapped border guards could be seen as Iran’s discomfort over the shift in our policy. Asking for regime change in far off countries for internal disturbances can potentially land Pakistan, itself beset with myriad internal problems, in serious trouble, he said adding that the government must explain the correct position.http://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/
Pakistan urged to release British man sentenced to death for blasphemy
Letter signed by UK politicians and academics asks for release of Mohammed Asghar so he can receive mental health treatment
A group of politicians and academics have called for the release of a British man sentenced to death in Pakistan for blasphemy, so that he can receive mental health treatment.
In an open letter published in the Independent, the group raised concerns about Mohammed Asghar's wellbeing and asked the president of Pakistan to intervene.
Asghar was arrested in 2010 in Rawalpindi, near Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, for claiming to be the prophet Muhammad.
His family says he suffers from mental illness and was treated for paranoid schizophrenia in Edinburgh before returning to Pakistan in 2010.
He was convicted last month and his family immediately launched a campaign for him to be released from custody in order to receive medical help.
His lawyers said he appeared "pale, dehydrated, shaking and barely lucid" during a recent visit, prompting fears his condition had seriously deteriorated.
Signatories to the open letter include the shadow justice secretary, Sadiq Khan, Scottish human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar, academics from the Muslim Institute, the Islamic Society of Britain and a host of charities.
The letter is addressed to Pakistan's president, Mamnoon Hussain.
It reads: "Like so many British Pakistanis, Mr Asghar was a successful businessman and pillar of the community who lived for many years in the UK where, through a lifetime of hard work, he helped promote the bonds of friendship and understanding between his native and adopted countries.
"We the undersigned are concerned that his recovery from illness is impossible whilst he remains detained at Adiala jail, where his lawyers fear he is in danger of taking his own life.
"We respectfully urge you to consider using your discretionary powers as president to pardon Mr Asghar and to allow him to be released from jail so that he can receive his treatment and be reunited with his loving family."
The blasphemy complaint was brought against Asghar by a tenant with whom he was having a dispute.
His family have appealed to the UK government to do everything it can to make sure he is safe.
In a statement released through Reprieve earlier this month his relatives said: "As a result of a property dispute with one of his tenants, my father was jailed pending a trial.
"The dates kept being moved forward so that by the time the trial concluded he had already been in horrific jail conditions, sharing a cell with several other men for three years.
"Throughout this time he had minimum access to medication that might have helped his mental illness for three years.
"We are really upset and concerned that they will never release him and that he will die in jail."
A petition on change.org, addressed to the prime minister, David Cameron, and Scotland's first minister, Alex Salmond, is calling Mr Asghar's release. It currently has over 28,000 signatures.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it has continuously made representations to the Pakistan government on behalf of Asghar and would continue to do so.
The Scottish government said it was in touch with the Foreign Office about the case.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
India 4th most dangerous country for journalists in 2013
One hundred and thirty-four journalists and media support staff were killed while on reporting assignments last year, with India fourth on the list of countries with the most number of deaths, the London-based International News Safety Institute (INSI) said on Tuesday.
Most of those killed were targeted deliberately.
Of these, 65 died covering armed conflicts - primarily in Syria, where 20 were killed, and Iraq, where the death total was 16 - while 51 were killed in peacetime covering issues like crime and corruption, and 18 died in accidents.
After Syria and Iraq, cited by the Institute as the most dangerous countries for journalists last year, came Philippines with 14 deaths, India with 13 and Pakistan with 9.
The total was down from 152 deaths recorded in 2012, but there was an accompanying rise in assaults, threats and kidnappings directed at journalists which largely go unreported, said the INSI study, "Killing the Messenger."
The institute, funded by major world news organisations including Reuters, has been issuing the report since 1996. Its main work is providing security training for journalists reporting in dangerous situations.
INSI said local journalists were the main victims, with 123 of the dead killed while covering their own country. Of the 20 who died in Syria, 16 were Syrian nationals.
"Most journalists were targeted, and shooting was the most common cause of death," INSI said. The report, compiled for INSI by the Cardiff School of Journalism in Wales, showed 85 of the victims were shot.
Others died in explosions, stabbings and beatings, under torture or by strangulation, or in accidents, according to INSI.
In 2012, 28 reporters died in Syria, 18 in Somalia, 12 in Nigeria, 11 in Mexico and 11 in Pakistan.
The 2013 total for the Philippines, which in past years has seen a mass shooting of reporters as well as individual assassinations, included five who lost their lives in natural disasters.
Not Knowing The Worst Thing For Kin Of Slain Pakistani Soldiers
http://www.rferl.org/Are they dead or alive? That’s the question haunting relatives of a group of Pakistani soldiers who were captured four years ago. When the Pakistani Taliban (Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, or TTP) announced on February 16 that they had executed 23 members of the Frontier Corps, families of the missing soldiers expected answers. Instead, their questions have multiplied. In total, 35 Frontier Corps troops were kidnapped in June 2010 in Pakistan's northwestern Mohmand tribal agency, a district of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas that has been a source of militant activity in recent years. The killings announced this week by the Mohmand branch of the TTP came in response to the extrajudicial killings of militants in recent weeks, and amid efforts by Islamabad to negotiate an end to an insurgency that has left 40,000 dead since 2007. The Taliban has not revealed the identities of the 23 they claim to have killed, however, leaving relatives of the missing in despair. Mustafa, whose brother Anwar Shah was among the troops captured in 2010, said the family wants closure. "Our family is in mourning. Our women and children are crying. If they are really dead, we ask the Taliban to hand over their bodies, even if they have to drop them from a helicopter on the road," Mustafa said. "At least if we get their bodies it will end our mourning." Dawood Khan's nephew, Rahim Khan, was also among the soldiers captured when TTP militants overran their checkpoint in Mohmand tribal agency on June 17, 2010. He says his nephew's kidnappers have twice contacted the family to set up a meeting. On both occasions the family declined. Khan has slammed the government for what he sees as its unwillingness to go after the militants and rescue the missing soldiers. "If a single spent [ammunition] cartridge is lost, the army launches an inquiry," Khan said. "But when 23 soldiers are missing for four years the government doesn't do anything. The government doesn't do anything and doesn't tell us what to do. We don't know where to go." The militants posted a video message in Pashto this week explaining their reasons for the executions, but the recording did not show the bodies of the soldiers. It was not immediately clear whether the faction acted with the approval of the TTP's central command. The Pakistani Taliban, an umbrella organization of over a dozen militant groups, is fiercely divided and local commanders have often acted on their own. Feroz Khan, whose son Zahid Khan was captured during the 2010 operation, says his family is anxiously awaiting news of his fate. "Yesterday we rushed to the army offices and met with the colonel and he told us the army had no information about the killings," Khan said. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has led the effort for a negotiated peace with the TTP since taking office in 2013, called the purported deaths a "heinous" crime and warned they would impact the reconciliation process that began between Islamabad and the militant group last month. Meanwhile, government peace negotiators pulled out of scheduled talks on February 17. Negotiators declared the meeting "purposeless" after the "sad and condemnable" killings. Niamatullah, whose brother Nasim who was among the abducted soldiers, reiterated the feeling of helplessness felt by the families of those missing in action. "If they were killed, we ask that they hand over their bodies," Niamatullah said. "If not, then we will continue our mourning."
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
نواز حکومت نے پاکستان کی خارجہ و سیکورٹی پالیسیوں کو سعودیہ عرب کا تابع کردیا – تجزیہ تعمیر پاکستان
سوموار کی شام پاکستان اور سعودیہ عرب نے علاقائی ایشوز پر مشترکہ موقف اختیار کرنے کا اعلان کیا سعودی وزیر دفاع اور ولی عهد پرنس سلیمان بن عبدالعزیز کے پاکستان کے تین روزہ دورے کے اختتام پر مشترکہ اعلامیہ جاری کیا گیا اس مشترکہ اعلامیے میں جو حیران کن انکشاف ہے وہ پاکستان کا شام کے اندر شامی حکومت اور باغیوں کےدرمیان جاری سول وار پر موقف کی تبدیلی ہے اس اعلامیے میں بشار الاسد کو فوری طور پر عبوری حکومت قائم کرنے کو کہاگیا ہے اور بشارالاسد سے اقتدار چهوڑنے کو کہا گیا ہے جبکہ اس سے قبل پاکستان کی جانب سے یہ اعلان کیا جاتا رہا کہ وہ شام کے ایشو پر غیر جانبدار ہے اور وہ شامی تنازعے کو بشار الاسد و شامی حزب اختلاف کو مل جل کر حل کرنے پر زور دیتا رہا ہے مشترکہ اعلامیے میں شام میں غیر ملکی فوجی اڈوں کو ختم کرنے کا مطالبہ بهی کیا گیا اس مطالبے کا براہ راست اثر روس ایران پر پڑتا ہے روس کا ایک فوجی اڈا شام میں موجود ہے جبکہ پاکستان کا یہ موقف روس چین کی پالیسی کے بهی خلاف ہے شام پر پاکستان کی پالیسی میں بنیادی بدلاؤ آنے سے ظاہر ہورہا ہے کہ پاکستان کی خارجہ اور دفاعی پالیسی کی تشکیل میں سعودیہ عرب کا کردار اہمیت کا حامل ہوتا جارہا مشترکہ اعلامیہ میں دو طرفہ دفاعی تعاون کازکر موجود ہے لیکن اس کی تفصیل نہیں بتائی گئی سعودیہ عرب کے ساته پاکستان کے دفاعی تعاون کی تفصیلات کو پردہ اخفا میں رکهے جانے کی پالیسی بہت پرانی ہے سعودی ولی عہد نے پاکستان کے جوائنٹ چیفس آف سٹاف جنرل راشد محمود ،چیف آرمی سٹاف جنرل راحیل شریف اور ڈی جی آئی ایس آئی سمیت دیگر عسکری عهدے داروں سے طویل ملاقاتیں کیں لیکن ان ملاقاتوں کی تفصیل کو چهپایا جارہاہے پاکستانی مین سٹریم میڈیا میں اردو پرنٹ و الیکٹرانک میڈیا نے پاکستان کے شام تنازعے پرموقف میں تبدیلی جیسی اہم خبر کو سنسر کی نظر کرڈالا جبکہ ڈان نے اس خبر کی اہمیت کے برعکس اعلامیے بارے خبر کو شایع کرتے ہوئے اعلامیے بارے سرخی میں اس کا زکر نہ کیا سعودیہ عرب کے ولی عهد کی آمد پر پاکستانی میڈیا نے سعودی عرب کی جانب سے پاکستانی سرحد کے قریب واقع کنٹر صوبہ افغانستان میں پانچ هزار دیوبندی طالبان کی تربیت پر خرچ کرنے اور بلوچستان میں ایرانی سرحد کے قریب دیوبندی دهشت گردوں کی سرپرستی کی خبروں کا بهی بلیک آوٹ کیا پاکستان کی موجوده حکومت سعودیہ عرب کی گرتی ساکه کو بدلتے عالمی تناظر میں سنبهالنے کی کوشش کررہی ہے پاکستان میں ریاست ،حکومت اور مین سٹریم میڈیا کی کوشش یہ ہے کہ سعودیہ عرب اور پاکستان کی موجودہ سٹریٹجک شراکت داری کی فرقہ وارانہ جہت کو نمایاں ہونے سے روکا جائے اور پاکستان اور سعودیہ عرب کے درمیان علاقائی ایشوز پر جو ہم آہنگی بڑھ رہی ہے اس میں چھپے ہوئے خدشات کو سامنے آنے سے روکا جائے اردو اخبارات اور ٹی وی چینلز میں آنے والے فیچرز،کالم ،تجزئے اور خبروں کا اگر اس حوالے سے جائزہ لیا جائے تو صاف نظر آتا ہے کہ پاکستان اور سعودیہ عرب کی سٹریٹجک پارٹنر شپ کی فرقہ وارانہ جہت اور اس حوالے سے خطے میں دیوبندی خارجی تکفیری دھشت گردی کے پھیلاؤ کا جو خدشہ ظاہر کیا جارہا ہے اسے مغربی پروپیگنڈا اور بیرونی دشمن کی سازش قرار دیکر بے اثر کرنے کی کوشش کی جارہی ہے جبکہ حقیقت یہ ہے کہ پاکستان کی موجودہ حکومت اور عسکری قیادت مڈل ایسٹ اور جنوبی ایشیا میں سعودیہ عرب کی خارجہ پالیسی کی پیروی کرنے اور سعودیہ عرب کو اس حوالے سے درکار لاجسٹک سپورٹ دینے پر رضامندی ظاہر کرچکی ہے سعودیہ عرب کی مرضی اور منشاء کو پاکستان کی خارجہ و دفاعی پالیسی میں مرکزی حثیت حاصل ہونے کا مطلب یہ ہے کہ پاکستان مڈل ایسٹ میں خاص طور پر اور جنوبی ایشیا میں عمومی طور پر سعودیہ عرب کے سٹریٹجک مفادات کے حصول میں ہرممکن مدد فراہم کرے گا سعودیہ عرب کی پہلی ترجیح یہ ہے کہ ایران کے گرد گھیرا تنگ کیا جائے اور اس کے لیے مڈل ایسٹ اور جنوبی ایشیا میں وہ سلفی اور دیوبندی تکفیری خارجی دھشت گردوں کو ایک مضبوط پراکسی کے طور پر استعمال کرنے کو پہلا آپشن قرار دیتا ہے پاکستان ایسے سلفی اور دیوبندی دھشت گردوں کی گوریلا تربیت میں سعودیہ عرب کا ہاتھ بٹاسکتا ہے سعودیہ عرب نے زرداری حکومت کو بھی کہا تھا کہ وہ شام میں مداخلت کے لیے اسے سریع الحرکت باغی گوریلا فوج کی تربیت کے لیے فوجی انسٹرکٹر فراہم کرے لیکن زرداری حکومت نے ایسا کرنے سے معذرت کرلی تھی لیکن مسلم لیگ نواز کی حکومت ایسا کرنے پر رضامند نظر آتی ہے دیوبندی طالبان ،لشکر جھنگوی اور دیگر پاکستانی بیسڈ گوریلے سعودی عرب کے لیے ایران کے خلاف ایک مضبوط گوریلا فورس ثابت ہوسکتے ہیں اگر پاکستان سعودیہ عرب کا ساتھ دینے پر تیار ہو جبکہ ان میں سے بعض گروپوں کے سعودیہ عرب سے پہلے سے تعلقات کا شبہ ظاہر کیا جارہا ہے سعودیہ عرب اور پاکستان کی موجودہ سٹریٹجک شراکت داری پاکستان ،انڈیا،بنگلہ دیش ،ایران ،افغانستان میں بسنے والی شعیہ،بریلوی،احمدی ،ہندؤ ،عیسائی مذھبی برادریوں کے لیے سخت خطرناک ثابت ہوسکتی ہے کیونکہ اس کے نتیجے میں ان مذھبی برادریوں کے خلاف کام کرنے والے تکفیری و خارجی سلفی و دیوبندی گروپس مزید طاقت پکڑ کر ان مذھبی برادریوں کی نسل کشی کی مہم مزید پھیلا سکتے ہیں یاد رہے کہ سعودیہ عرب پاکستان کے اندر ایسے دیوبندی و سلفی مدارس کی مالیاتی اور لاجسٹک مدد کررہا ہے جو پاکستان میں بسنے والی غیر سلفی و دیوبندی مذھبی برادریوں کے خلاف انتہا پسندانہ اور ان کے خلاف تشدد کو فروغ دینے والے خیالات کو پھیلانے میں مصروف ہیں تحریک طالبان پاکستان ،سپاہ صحابہ پاکستان ،لشکر جھنگوی ،جیش محمد جیسی دھشت گرد تنظیموں کو ںطریاتی اور فکری رہنمائی فراہم کرنے والا دیوبندی مدرسہ جامعہ بنوریہ کے مولویوں بشمول مفتی نعیم کا سعودیہ عرب کے ساتھ بہت گہرا تعلق اور رشتہ ہے اور یہ مدرسہ مرکز ہے تحریک طالبان پاکستان ،لشکر جھنگوی جیسے دھشت گردوں کی ساکھ بنانے کا اسی طرح سے سعودیہ عرب جماعت اہلحدیث ،جماعۃ الدعوۃ جیسی سلفی وہابی تنظیموں کو بھی مدد دے رہا ہے پاکستان میں تکفیری اور خارجی آئیڈیالوجی کو فروغ دینے میں سعودی عرب کی امداد سے قائم ہونے والے مدارس و مساجد کا بہت بڑا ہاتھ ہے اس تکفیری و خارجی آئیڈیالوجی کے دیوبندی مکتبہ فکر میں دخول اور غلبے میں سعودی عرب کا بہت بڑا ہاتھ ہے پاکستان کی فوجی اسٹبلشمنٹ ،سول بیوروکریسی اور سیاسی اشرافیہ میں سعودی عرب کا اثرورسوخ اس قدر زیادہ ہوگیا ہے کہ سعودی عرب کے سفیر کا کردار بعض تجزیہ نگاروں کے سعودی عرب کے وائسرائے کا نظر آنے لگا ہے جبکہ پاکستان سعودیہ عرب کی ایک کالونی نظرآتا ہے سعودیہ عرب نے پاکستان سے سعودیہ جانے والی ورکنگ فورس کے ساتھ جو سلوک روا رکھا ہوا ہے اور وہاں پر آزادانہ کام کرنے کی آزادی سے جو محروم رکھا گیا ہے اس پر پاکستان کی ریاست اور حکومت نے کبھی سوال نہیں اٹھایا سعودی ولی عہد کی پاکستان آمد پر پاکستانی ریاست نے کسی ایک موقعہ پر بھی سعودیہ عرب میں قید ہزاروں پاکستانیوں کی رہائی کا ایشو نہیں اٹھایا اور سعودی سفارت خانے نے پاکستان کی اہم فوجی ،حکومتی ،سیاسی شخصیات کے اعزاز میں جو عیشائیہ رکھا اس میں بھی کسی سیاسی جماعت کے نمائندے نے سعودیہ عرب میں قید پاکستانی شہریوں کی حراست اور ان کی ملک بدری کے خدشے بارے کوئی سوال نہیں اٹھایا گیا ادھر یہ اطلاعات بھی ہیں کہ پاکستانی حکومت ایک لاکھ ایکٹر زرعی رقبہ سعودیہ عرب کے حوالے کرنے کا منصوبہ بناچکی ہے اور سعودیہ عرب پاکستان میں خاص طور پر سرائیکی بیلٹ ،بلوچستان اور سندھ میں زرعی رقبہ حاصل کرکے ایک بہت بڑا فوڈ زون بنانا چاہتا ہے جہاں یہ سعودیہ عرب کی غذائی ضروریات پوری کرنے کا منصوبہ عمل میں لاسکے سعودیہ عرب اور پاکستان کی مجوزہ سٹریٹجک پارٹنرشپ اور اس کے مضمرات بارے پاکستان کی بائیں بازو کی سیاسی جماعتوں جیسے سنٹر لیفٹ پارٹی پی پی پی،اے این پی اور سنٹر رائٹ پارٹی ایم کیو ایم ،سیکولر قوم پرست جماعتوں کی جانب سے کوئی مخالفت سامنے دیکھنے کو نہیں ملی حیران کن طور پر تکفیری خارجی دھشت گردی کا شکار بریلوی ،شیعہ کی مذھبی سیاسی جماعتوں کی لیڈرشپ نے بھی اس مسئلے پر چپ تان رکھی ہے جس سے پاک-سعودی سٹریٹجک شراکت داری کے ممکنہ متاثرین میں شدید بے چینی پھیلی ہوئی ہے کہ ان کی آواز بننے والا کوئی ںظر نہیں آتا - See more at: http://lubpak.com/archives/305449#sthash.SuIvzukj.dpuf
Pakistan govt says Islamabad 'extremely dangerous'
The Interior Ministry report will be presented before the standing committee of National Assembly. The capital was recently put on high alert for nearly a week after a suicide bomb blast in Rawalpindi last month. Heavy security checks were introduced while alerts were sent out to all Embassies and High Commissions here. The Embassies had warned its citizens here to avoid a number of places in the capital. Diplomatic sources had said such kind of an alert was issued after many years. Over the past six months, the Islamabad police claim to have busted a number of sleeper cells here besides seizure of large amount of explosives and arms. Nasiruddin Haqqani, the chief financier of the Haqqani militant network - one of the most feared groups fighting US-led forces in Afghanistan was shot dead in the Pakistani capital in November last year. He was believed to have been based in the federal capital for long.
Christian Sisters in Shadows After Failed Attempts Of Islamists
Pakistan: Murder most foul
Disturbing news has come out of the tribal village of Manzkai in Balochistan where, it appears, medieval practices are in full swing. It is being reported that on the orders of a local cleric, a couple has been stoned to death for the ‘crime’ of adultery. Eyewitness accounts relate that after the stoning the man and woman were shot to make sure that there were no chances of survival. So far, eight people have been arrested in connection with this atrocious crime, including the cleric who issued the fatwa (religious edict) to have the couple killed via stoning. We in Pakistan are unfortunately used to hearing about this kind of monstrous behaviour emanating from the tribal areas and villages where verdicts passed by jirgas (tribal or village councils) are taken as law. These verdicts usually sentence women to all sorts of cruel treatment and honour killings of both women and the men they are accused of being associated with are common. However, we do not normally hear of fatwas leading to killings. Also, the gruesome punishment of stoning is also very rare. To stone a person to death requires a particularly cold-blooded and jaahil (barbaric) disposition and, unfortunately, there seem to be many takers for this in Pakistan. The cleric in this instance took the law into his own hands much like the members of jirgas will do to practice a particularly cruel and draconian interpretation of Islam. We have a system of law and, while achingly slow and creaky, the judicial system of the country in no way condones these practices. What has happened in Balochistan was illegal and nothing less than murder most foul. A man and a woman have been heinously murdered and all those who participated in this slaughter must be brought before the courts where exemplary punishments should be meted out.
We do not live in the Dark Ages and we must do everything possible to establish this truth. The judiciary in Pakistan must get its act together and understand that it is because of our grindingly slow and inefficient legal system that traditional communities choose the alternative recourse for ‘justice’ through these jirgas and now, it seems, mullahs who will stop at nothing to impose their orthodoxy on us. It is imperative that a loud and clear message be sent out regarding this savage murder and how we will not tolerate the law being taken into anyone’s own hands.
Bilawal Bhutto to visit Lahore next month
The Express TribunePakistan Peoples Party chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will visit Lahore early next month to meet party leaders and workers, Pakistan People’s Party Punjab President Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo told office bearers of Narowal and Hafizabad organisations on Tuesday. Wattoo said party leaders and workers were anxiously waiting for the forthcoming visit. He emphasised the importance of mobilisation at the grass roots level. He said the PPP would continue its struggle to build a democratic and pluralistic Pakistan according to the vision of its founding fathers. He said the government had made false promises during its election campaign. The delegation from Narowal, led by former federal minister Tariq Anees, called on Wattoo with with other office bearers. They informed him of the PPP’s position in the district. They also presented suggestions to organize the party. The delegation from Hafizabad reviewed the election results of the May 2013 elections with a view to restructure the party so that it could emerge as a political force again. They emphasized the importance of holding public meetings. Punjab Secretary General Tanvir Ashraf Kaira was also present in the meeting.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Malala Yousafzai: Obama Should Visit Syrian Border to See ‘Suffering’ Up Close
When Malala Yousafzai met with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office last October, she boldly told him that drone strikes are “fueling terrorism” in her home country of Pakistan. Today, during a live appearance via satellite from the Jordanian-Syrian border on CNN, the 16-year-old activist had another message for the president: Come here and see the Syrian refugees’ “suffering” for yourself.
“I would request that the president go to the Jordinian-Syrian border, or go to the border of Lebanon and Syria, and see how these people are suffering,” Yousafzai said when Wolf Blitzer asked her what more she thinks Obama should do about the civil war in Syria. “When he will look at it, he will feel it. And then he will understand what it happening here.”
Yousafzai advocated for peace in Syria, not only when it comes to the Syrian government but also from the various opposition groups fighting against them. “Put your guns down, talk through peace,” she said, adding that she believes it’s always better to choose peace over war.
Pakistan: Taliban talks pointless now
Representatives of the Pakistani government have suspended peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban in the wake of recent attacks by the group, the Pakistani Prime Minister's office said Tuesday.A four-member government panel had been in peace talks with the group, also known as Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan, for 13 days. But during that time, the group has carried out several deadly attacks, the office of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said.
The committee unanimously decided that continuing talks was pointless until the violence stops, the office's statement reads.
The Pakistani Taliban has long been conducting an insurgency against the Pakistani government and has claimed a number of violent attacks in its history.
Pakistan’s policy vis-à-vis Syria: An ill-conceived departure
Pakistan’s policy vis-à-vis Syria has been non-interfering and neutral. Neither any solution to the dispute was offered nor did Pakistan side with any of the players in contention in that civil war-racked country. So far it was a benign, conciliatory and noncontroversial approach by any standards. As a result, our relations with Iran, China and Russia — major contenders in the Syrian war on one side — remained unaffected. All this is going to change now. Our relationship with Saudi Arabia, with a new veneer of collaboration, has affected our policy on Syria. Reflecting the Geneva I and II conferences’ declarations, Pakistan would also now seek a transitional government excluding Bashar al-Assad so that the country pulls out of the civil war it has been drenched in for three years. So far, taking their cue from the Libyan crisis where the US and NATO intervened in the name of protecting the people but instead engineered regime change, stoking the conflict into an unending war, countries like China and Russia did not allow a UN Security Council resolution to fool the world again and allow the US-led west another opportunity to remove the Syrian thorn from their plans for a Middle East re-ordered to suit their interests. The expanding imperial designs hidden behind the ‘right to protect’ slogan, which has exhausted its shelf life, has saved Syria from becoming another plaything of the western agenda. Russia, with its political and strategic alliance with the Syrian government, had made the excuse of intervention because of Syria’s chemical weapons null and void, avoiding thereby another western military intervention. The Syrian civil war, with its existing sectarian and ethnic overtones, is also the result of the Saudi and Qatari intervention through proxies to destabilise Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The overblown presence of al Qaeda and a rush of rebels with new weaponry have been made possible because of the US-Saudi-Qatari nexus. The regional power play wherein Iran and Saudi Arabia are trying to extend their influence in the Middle East through warfare laced in religious tones has neither served the regional cause nor would it do any good to Pakistan if it gets too close to the Saudis in this regard merely for the expedient goal of garnering more Saudi aid.
Pakistan’s present suffering, emanating from jihadi terrorism, is a product in part of our Saudi relationship. The manpower used in the Soviet-Afghan war was raised, trained and nurtured in the Saudi-funded madrassas across Pakistan. Having become a virtual industry, the madrassas are now churning out terrorists not only in Pakistan, but exporting them to the entire world. Converted into a weapon, ‘jihad’ is used to pressurise the other side, as the Saudis tried to do by threatening Russia on the Syrian issue with unleashing the Chechen jihadis on Russia if it refuses to toe the Saudi line. Already, Wahabi and Salafi theology is playing havoc in Syria and other parts of the world. The Taliban’s moral policing and their assault on the Pakistani state smacks of the outcome of Saudi Arabia’s design to spread its brand of Islam. The Shia-Sunni divide is the by-product of the same strategy that separates Wahabis from the rest of the Muslim world.
Why do we want to put our fingers into a seething cauldron that would only create more enemies and conceivably alienate our friends? Are we not already in the throes of enough problems that we should invite more through an ill-conceived departure from our hitherto wise policy of non-intervention? On the one hand the government of Nawaz Sharif had wanted to enhance Pakistan’s economic position through regional cooperation, on the other it wants to toe Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy prescriptions. Such diplomatic posturing would only expose our weak internal disposition on foreign affairs by exposing our opportunistic hankering for financial benefits from our allies at the cost of all principles.
Former President Asif Ali Zardari condemns killing of Army Officer
Former President Asif Ali Zardari has strongly condemned cowardly attack by militants on a military vehicle resulting in the martyrdom of Major Jahanzeb.
Former President in a message paid tributes to valiant forces for fighting militants “the savage and barbarians who want to impose their distorted ideology by force on the people”. He said the people of Pakistan will never succumb before these militants and fight them to the finish.
Former President Prayed to Almighty Allah for grant of eternal peace to the soul of Major Jahanzeb and courage and strength to members of bereaved family to bear this irreparable loss with equanimity. Our martyrs like Major Jahanzeb are heroes and the nation is indebted to them, he said.
Pakistan:Army major killed in militant attack near Peshawar
Dawn.comA senior army officer was killed on Tuesday in an exchange of fire with militants, the military said, after peace negotiations between the government and Pakistani Taliban insurgents broke down a day earlier. “(The) exchange of fire continues,” the ISPR said in a statement, adding the attack took place near Frontier Region Peshawar close to the Afghan border. Major Jahanzaib suffered bullet injuries and succumbed to his wounds, the military's media wing said, adding that three militants were also killed in the exchange of fire. According to news agency Reuters, a Pakistani Taliban militant from Peshawar confirmed the attack. However, there was no word from the main spokesman of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “Militants attacked the convoy of a security official in Peshawar and killed one army major,” he said. “The official announcement will come shortly.” This is the second attack on security forces personnel in the last 24 hours. An attack on a security forces checkpost in Ladha area of tribal South Wazirstan agency killed one soldier late Monday night. The recent violence is likely to further hamper prospects of meaningful peace negotiations between the government and Pakistani Taliban militants. An attempt by representatives of both sides to meet and talk peace collapsed on Monday after insurgents said they executed 23 soldiers in revenge for army operations in the volatile tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Targeting Of Religious Minorities: Forgetting Pakistan’s Constitution
Targeting of religious minorities in Pakistan is still a painful point. Since Pew Research Center report named Pakistan, which is 96 percent Muslim, is one of the most unsympathetic states for religious minorities. Pakistan is one of the top five overall for margins on religion, for most commonly due to its blasphemy laws. Pakistani judiciary habitually use blasphemy laws to give fatality or life in prison penalties to minorities charged of offending Islam.All religious minorities in Pakistan – and not just Christians, faces biased regulations, enforced conversions of religious faiths, bombs and shootings meant at minority sections of Muslims, such as Shiites and Ahmadis. Pakistan began a 10-year process of “Islamization” under general Zia-ul-Haq in 1978. He forced to renovate material laws into religious ones, establishin Sharia judiciary. School textbooks in Pakistan frequently demonize minorities and highlight the nation’s Islamic roots over assistances from inhabitants of other faiths. Religious minorities are time and again stuck on the inferior stage of the market, often working as servants, sweepers and day laborers. Even they are considered eligible for just such jobs. Regardless of this miserable presentation, there are accounts of minority assent. A host of interfaith activist movements is rising, approaching for multi-faith edification and less hostility. Minority leaders are now vocalizing worldwide in the media and throughout religious and human rights associations. They work for a more liberal Pakistan with less tolerance for terrorists. Among 183 million Pakistanis, religious minorities total just nine million. The biggest faiths among are Christians and Hindus, each of which accounts for less than two percent of the total population. Other faiths include Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Baha’is, Jews and Ahmadi Muslims. Shiite Muslims formulate up to about a quarter of Pakistanis, but they, too, find themselves gradually more victimized by leading Sunni Muslims. Despite the fact that Pakistan’s constitution gives assurance for freedom of religion. Reports of enforced conversions to Islam, abducting of non-Muslims, job inequity, and blasphemy imprisonments and demolishing of minority worship places have become every day’s news. - See more at: http://www.christiansinpakistan.com/targeting-of-religious-minorities-forgetting-pakistans-constitution/#sthash.4ffCmtZS.dpuf
Government of Pakistan Is Not providing Security for Witnesses In Shahbaz Bhatti Assassination Case
http://www.christiansinpakistan.com/President of Pakistan Christian Congress PCC, Dr. Nazir S. Bhatti, articulated severe distress on not endowing enough safety to protect Akmal Bhatti, Sikander Bhatti and other key witnesses in Shahbaz Bhatti assassination case who got life threatening letters from forbidden outfits and similar arrived to office of Interior Minister of Government of Pakistan Choudhry Nisar Ali arguing for security to make sure justice is prevailed.
BALOCHISTAN: “I Have Lost My Health, Not My Courage”
Pakistan needs to be wary of Saudi intentions
After differences with the US over Syria, Egypt and Iran and an expected decline in petroleum profits, Saudi Arabia is looking towards east. After visiting Pakistan the Saudi Crown Prince is expected to visit India and Japan. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have signed a number of MoUs. The significance of some is clear while that of others will manifest itself in days to come. There are issues over which the interests of Pakistan coincide with those of Riyadh. There are others where the interests conflict. Pakistan must jealously guard its national interests and agree to nothing, openly or secretly, that has the potential to harm Pakistan’s national interests. With US developing its shale oil reserves and a number of other countries following suit, they would depend less on petroleum inflows from the Kingdom, thus decreasing the Saudi ability to dictate the OPEC oil prices. Saudi Arabia can thus no more depend on entirely oil revenues. It is therefore looking for more sources of revenue including investments abroad. The country has already made investments in Near East and is trying to discover possible avenues of investment in countries like Pakistan, India and Japan. Here the interests of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia converge. There is however little possibility of any large scale private sector investment from the Kingdom as long as terrorist activities continue and power and gas remain scarce. What remains to be seen is if Saudi government will agree to make big investments in Pakistan. Currently whatever trade Pakistan has with Saudi Arabia is skewed in favour of the later. Will the two countries devise ways to reduce the imbalance? There is a perception that if the Kingdom transfers only a fraction of its funds invested in the western banks, the country would be rid of some of its forex headaches. Saudi Arabia is keen to reach an understanding with Pakistan on regional security. This is a tricky subject. It must have come up during COAS Raheel Sharif’s Saudi visit. On Monday the Crown Prince had yet another meeting with Gen Sharif and CJCSC Gen Mahmud. While Riyadh is free to hold whatever views it likes about Turkey and Iran, no regional security arrangement at the cost of Turkey or Iran will be in Pakistan’s interest which has good relations with both. Similarly Pakistan must in no way be a part of meddling in Arab conflicts and decline to offer any support in suppressing the dissent in the Arab lands. Pakistan may sell weapons to any country but has to refrain from becoming a party in any conflict in the region under whatsoever slogan. Pakistan and Saudia are sovereign countries. It is facetious to maintain, as Defence Minister Khwaja Asif has done, that the defence of Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the same thing.Casting around for allies
Pakistan: Former President Asif Ali Zardari condemns killing of 23 FC personnel
Former President Asif Ali Zardari has denounced the assassination of over 20 kidnapped troops by a group of Taliban as “most barbaric, coward and inhuman”. “The admission by a faction of the militants has exposed once again the real intentions of the savage people”, he said in a statement today. The TTP Mohmand Agency last night formally admitted to killing nearly two dozen soldiers of Frontier Corps in June 2010. It is hoped that in the fullness of time perpetrators of such heinous crimes will be brought to justice and they will have no place to escape, he said. The former President also expressed sympathies with the bereaved families and prayed for those martyred. Those who were assassinated by the militants in cold blood are our martyrs and the heroes of the nation, he said adding their sacrifices will not go in vain.
Pakistan: Two Karachi TV channels come under grenade attacks
Offices of two private TV channels located near Guru Mandir and Mazar-e-Quaid came under grenade attacks on Monday evening, however, no casualties resulted in the separate incidents.
According to sources, unknown assailants lobbed a hand grenade at the office of Aaj TV, which damaged its entrance without causing any casualties. Ball bearings were also recovered from the site of the blast.
In a similar incident, a cracker was hurled at the office of Waqt News near Mazar-e-Quaid which failed to go off. Police rushed to the spot and collected the evidence.
The attacks on the offices of media outlets drew strong condemnation from various political parties, journalists’ organizations and others.
Iran 'may send forces to Pakistan' after capture of guards
Iran's interior minister has warned it may send forces into Pakistan if it does not act to free five Iranian border guards seized 10 days ago.
The men are thought to have been taken into Pakistan after being captured in Iran's Sistan Baluchistan region.
Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli demanded that Islamabad treat the case "strongly and seriously" and "take the necessary measures" to secure their release.
The Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl has said it was behind their capture.
The group has posted what it said were photographs of the guards, bound and being held in an unknown location.
A video broadcast by al-Arabiya TV on Friday purportedly showed one of the men, Sgt Jamshyd Danaifard, saying they were "safe and sound".
He added that Jaish al-Adl wanted the Iranian authorities to exchange 300 Sunni prisoners in Iran and its close ally Syria for the guards.
'New security sphere'
The day after the capture of the guards on 8 February, the Iranian foreign ministry reportedly summoned Pakistan's charge d'affaires to demand that Islamabad "act firmly against the leaders and members of the terrorist group who have fled into Pakistan".
On Monday, Mr Rahmani-Fazli told state TV that Iran had "asked Pakistan to deal with the issue strongly and seriously".
Otherwise, he said, Pakistan must "allow Iran to maintain the security of the region deep on Afghanistan and Pakistan soil".
"We are expecting a proper and precise answer. Otherwise we do consider it our own right to intervene and create a new security sphere for our safety."
The Isna news agency reported separately that an Iranian delegation had travelled to Pakistan on Monday to try to secure the guards' release.
The deputy chief-of-staff of Iran's armed forces meanwhile told the Fars news agency that "political and military measures are under way to set them free".
Sistan Baluchistan, which borders both Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been the scene of frequent clashes in recent years between Iranian security forces and drug smugglers and Sunni rebel groups.
In October, Jaish al-Adl said it was behind the killing of 14 Iranian border guards and the capture of three others in Sistan Baluchistan.
The authorities in the provincial capital, Zahedan, responded by hanging 16 people they claimed were "linked to groups hostile to the regime".
In November, Jaish al-Adl shot dead a local prosecutor and his driver. The next month, a bomb blast killed three Revolutionary Guards.
Dictator Zia’s Pakistan
By Kahar Zalmay Bhutto was a symbol of modernity; Zia represented darkness and made Pakistan an entity of hatred where only Muslims of a certain school of thought could live, and where the more illogical one is, the more acceptance and appreciation one receives.Seeing young Bilawal Bhutto Zardari spearheading the two-weeks long Sindh Festival is refreshing but is this effort enough to revive a Sindhi culture that historically has promoted peace, harmony and diversity among the residents of Sindh, irrespective of differences in faith? In his promotional video speech, Bilawal Bhutto said that the culture was in danger and expeditious acts were needed to protect it. “The Sindh Festival will make us aware of our existence. The heritage was under threat and the festival is an effort to protect it,” he said. However, it is not just Sindhi culture that is in danger; Pashtun, Baloch and Punjabi cultures are in danger too after Zia’s tyrannical 11-year-rule. There is little doubt that after the demise of General Zia, Pakistan remains clearly divided between two distinct blocks, one associating itself with Bhutto, the other linked with Zia. The block representing Zia is gradually taking hold of Pakistan while the space for Bhutto’s mindset is shrinking. The recent threat from the Taliban to the peaceful Kalash community in Chitral to convert to Islam or prepare for elimination, or their stopping students in Peshawar University from celebrating Valentine’s Day instead of haya (modesty) day, are manifestations of that disturbing reality. The incessant attacks on Shias, Hindus and Ahmedis in Pakistan indicate that people belonging to Zia’s block hold the strings of our lives in their hands and that the militancy and religious extremism nurtured by Zia are making it impossible for people of other faiths or free thinkers (like me) to live in Pakistan. It seems that the sunlight is receding and the shadows are increasing in this God forsaken country. The words ‘liberal’ and ‘secular’ have become gaalis (insults) in Pakistan. A good example of the dominance of Zia’s followers is the weakness of Bhutto’s own party on the small matter of unblocking access to the popular video sharing website YouTube, where it could not take on the radical elements belonging to Zia’s block. Who could foresee in the time of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto that one day his own liberal party, after forming the government, would feel so weak and powerless against the forces of darkness that it would dither in its decision to unblock the website? The PPP also failed to stand up for Salmaan Taseer when he was singled out by the media and religious forces for defending a woman accused of blasphemy. The constant media coverage awarded to Maulana Abdul Aziz, the man responsible for the killing of dozens of innocent people in the Red Mosque incident, is another reminder that Zia’s forces are dominating the mainstream discourse. Bhutto was a symbol of modernity; Zia represented darkness and made Pakistan an entity of hatred where only Muslims of a certain school of thought could live, and where the more illogical one is, the more acceptance and appreciation they receive. He turned Pakistan into a laboratory of Islam, the kind that religious forces dreamed of: a laboratory that is under the control of militant groups and their sympathisers, who silence any voice remotely connected with modernity and liberalism. What crime did hundreds of Hazara Shias commit that they were killed by the scores in Quetta? What crime did Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti and others commit that they were killed? Meanwhile, Salmaan Taseer’s killer was garlanded with flowers, not by people in the tribal belt, but by people in Rawalpindi, in the heart of Pakistan. The armed groups — the Sipahs and Lashkars — are so numerous that at times it feels like we have outsourced security matters to them. When I see campaigns and banners demanding Jinnah’s Pakistan, I ask myself: is today’s Pakistan not, in fact, Jinnah’s Pakistan, despite the confusion and disorientation of the founding leadership? The leadership lacked a clear vision of what kind of Pakistan it wanted: a theocratic state or a liberal democratic state, of the kind Jinnah advocated in his speech just before the birth of Pakistan. Unfortunately, his decision to declare Urdu the national language gave the oppressors a tool that set the ground for alienation and separation. The language was later used by the Punjabi dominated ruling elite — led by Pakistan’s military — against the smaller ethnicities like the Pashtuns and Baloch. What could be more ironic than the fact that the millions who were uprooted from their villages, cities, their hearths and homes, their friends and dreams, the people who actually steered the Pakistan movement, are, to this day, called Mohajir and more derogatively Biharis? Because of the poor vision and shortsightedness of our founding fathers, in our first constitutional document, the Objectives Resolution set the foundations of a state that would later embrace a particular group of oppressors like Zia who left no stone unturned in their quest to shrink the space for people belonging to other sects and religions, and free thinkers. Bhutto can never be more relevant than today. When I say Bhutto I do not refer to the person of Bhutto or his party but the philosophy of modernity, liberalism and secular beliefs that existed in pre-Zia Pakistan. With the arrival of Zia, shadows descended on Pakistan. If change is the only constant in nature, then the time for change has come. What the shrinking majority of Pakistan wants is the Pakistan of Bhutto, clear in its direction and outlook, a modern, democratic and secular Pakistan that is, unfortunately, losing its ground to the onslaught of Zia’s followers and sympathisers.
Bilawal Bhutto condemns killing of 23 FC personnel
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Patron in Chief, Pakistan Peoples Party has strongly condemned the reported brutal killings of 23 soldiers of Frontier Constabulary in Mohmand Agency by TTP terrorists and termed it an open challenge to the entire nation and its security forces. In a press statement issued here, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said a handful of individuals and Taliban apologists are trying to push our country into terrorist hands and such massacres of nation’s brave soldiers are an eye-opener for all those who love this land and its people. “It is time to react instead of regret,” as Pakistan, its people and security forces are under attack from the disguised enemy and our very sovereignty for which our past generations sacrificed is at stake. PPP Patron in Chief said some people are out to misguide the nation by appeasing terrorists and rubbing salt on the wounds of the victims of terror. He said Pakistan, Pakistanis and all their institutions have to become one and up against the terrorists and their patrons before everything is wiped out. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari sympathized with the families of victim soldiers adding that being himself son of terror victim he feels their pain in complete solidarity.
PPP Human Rights Cell demands Government’s response to Taliban threat to minorities
The PPP Human Rights Cell has urged the Government to respond forcefully to the threats given to the Kalash and the Ismaili community in Chitral by the TTP and to take every step to protect the valley from the Taliban incursions. This was stated by Dr Nafisa Shah, Central Coordinator of the PPP Human Rights Cell. “This threat of attack must be deemed a threat to Pakistan, and core values in Pakistan’s constitution which ensures protection of its citizens particularly the religious minorities. It is the government’s responsibility to protect life and property of citizens – the threat on an entire community which is already vulnerable is a grave matter” she stated. Dr Nafisa Shah further added that it was also surprising that despite repeated bloody attacks in all the major urban centres by the Taliban and their proxies, the government was continuing talks as if it was business as usual. It seems that in the eyes of the ruling elite the blood of the citizens is cheap and that the government has no counterterrorism strategy to protect the 180million people of Pakistan, the Human Rights Cell Coordinator added. The PPP Human Rights cell also criticized the electronic media for glamourising Taliban apologists and those representing their viewpoint and for providing them with space to rationalize their evil war against the country and its citizens stating that this was an insult to the thousands of our people who had lost their lives to terrorism.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Bilawal Bhutto’s courage
Bilawal Bhutto Speech at Sindh Festival by abbtakktv That message was further driven home by Bilawal’s speech at the closing ceremony of the Festival in Thatta. The speech threw down the gauntlet to the Taliban, the threat to Bilawal and his family notwithstanding. No one can deny, whatever their other differences with the PPP, that the party, and in particular the Bhutto family, have played a big role in the resistance to the reactionary forces in our society. In that endeavour, the party’s cadres, and first and foremost the Bhutto family, have rendered tremendous sacrifices of life and security for the sacred cause of preventing the forces of darkness sweeping all that is good and healthy in our society into a cesspool of extremism, narrowness, theological dictatorship of the Taliban, and, as Bilawal put it, drag the country back into the Stone Age by misusing the name of Islam. Bilawal made a passionate appeal to the country to rise against the Taliban plan to impose their narrow ideology by force. Bilawal ‘advised’ the Taliban not to cross the limits, try to teach Islam to the sons and daughters of Babul (gateway of) Islam and understand that they would have to follow the constitution. Dialogue, he said, was always an option, but from a position of strength, not weakness. Since the Taliban are fighting us, we will have to beat them on the battlefield, he argued. Their attacks, he pointed out, were not confined to North Waziristan, they were attacking us as far afield as Karachi. Bilawal pledged that he would like to eliminate the Taliban from Pakistan. Everybody in the country should just admit that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is an enemy driven by the lust for blood and they have no interest in peace, despite the show of participating indirectly in the peace talks. Despite this obvious truth, Bilawal expressed surprise at some parties’ continuing insistence on holding talks with such deadly enemies. “Every drop of blood being sacrificed by the public and the nation’s brave armed forces is creating unity and consensus that beasts can never be lured through roses and they need to be responded to in the same language,” he added. Showing sympathy for and solidarity with the bereaved families of terrorism’s victims, he said he shared their pain since he too had lost his mother in the nation’s war for survival. Rounding off his address, Bilawal once again reiterated that the solution lay not in a dialogue with the terrorists but military operations to root them out. Since the start of 2014, 130 people have been killed. This has brought pressure to bear on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his government for the lack of a strong response to rising acts of terrorism. The government, despite paying lip service to the ‘other’ option, so far has put all its eggs in the basket of negotiations. In its own interest, it must tread carefully that this so far one-sided approach does not end up leaving all that egg on its face if the talks do not succeed in restoring peace and the government is found wanting for not having a strategy to fall back on. En route home from Turkey, the prime minister said the government was sincere, but violence must stop to allow the peace talks a chance. He also dispelled the speculation that the military was not one with the government on its talks strategy. While Bilawal clearly spelt out his view and that of the enlightened amongst us in Thatta, the maulvis (clerics) were at their obfuscatory best once again in the ulema convention in Islamabad. The path ahead has been lit by Bilawal. It is for us to take up that banner and march forward.`
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)