#RaifBadawi - Fascist Saudi regime tells Quebec to stay out of Raif Badawi case

Saudi Arabia tells Quebec to stay out of Raif Badawi case

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Canada is telling Quebec politicians his government won’t accept meddling in its internal affairs in response to the case of a jailed blogger.

The ambassador sent a letter addressed to the Speaker of the national assembly regarding Raif Badawi, saying his government expresses “its strong surprise and dismay” at what is being said and written about the case.

Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes and fined for criticizing Saudi Arabian clerics.

The first 50 lashes were carried out in early January, but he has not been flogged since.

The March 10 letter was also sent to the federal government and is critical of attacks by media and international agencies on Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.

“(The kingdom) does not accept any form of interference in its internal affairs and rejects the encroachment on its sovereign right or the compromising of its judiciary independence and integrity,” writes Naif Bin Bandir AlSudairy.

Quebec Immigration Minister Kathleen Weil said Wednesday her government will continue to champion Badawi’s cause as well as challenge other human rights abuses around the world.

“We want Raif Badawi to be released from prison and to be able to come here and live with his wife and his children,” Weil said.

Badawi is not a Canadian citizen, although his wife and children fled Saudi Arabia in 2012 and settled in Sherbrooke, Que., in 2013.

International Relations Minister Christine St-Pierre is expected to meet with Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson in the near future to discuss the next steps.

Weil declined to speculate on whether the Saudi reaction might be indicative of something else.

“I think it’s mostly important for us to reiterate our firm opposition to his imprisonment (and) our defence of human rights,” Weil said.

Badawi’s detention and sentence have stirred up worldwide condemnation and Quebec politicians unanimously adopted a motion in February calling for his immediate release.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has also spoken out against Badawi’s treatment, but has said Ottawa’s influence is limited by the fact he is not a Canadian citizen.

Journalist: Saudi-Led Caolition Airstrikes Helping Al-Qaeda in Yemen

A Qatari journalist and writer disclosed that the Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen are helping Al-Qaeda militants escape from prisons throughout the country.

"Our warplanes strike Yemen's prisons to help release the Al-Qaeda prisoners and we are spending billions of dollars for bombing Yemeni children and women," Qatari journalist Ahmad Abdelmalik Hamideddin wrote in an article on Wednesday.

He underlined that all the people killed in the Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen are civilians and no military force has been killed.

"What can we say when the Saudi news agencies confess that the Saudi-led airstrikes have only hit houses?," Hamideddin added.    

Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for seven days now to restore power to fugitive Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi airstrikes have killed at least, 198, mostly women and children, and injured hundreds more.

Hadi stepped down in January and refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by Ansarullah revolutionaries of the Houthi movement.

Despite Riyadh's claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi warplanes are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

Five Persian Gulf States -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait -- and Egypt that are also assisted by Israel and backed by the US declared war on Yemen in a joint statement issued Thursday.

US President Barack Obama authorized the provision of logistical and intelligence support to the military operations, National Security Council Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan said late Wednesday night.

She added that while US forces were not taking direct military action in Yemen, Washington was establishing a Joint Planning Cell with Saudi Arabia to coordinate US military and intelligence support.

THE YEMEN CRISIS ISN’T ABOUT YEMEN. IT’S ABOUT SAUDI ARABIA AND ITS DESIRE FOR REGIONAL POWER

On Thursday, March 26, Saudi Arabia launched a military campaign in Yemen, after fighters and army units allied with the Houthi movement threatened to overrun the southern port of Aden, as reported by The New York Times.

Saudi Arabia insists the Houthis, who adhere to the Zaydi branch of Shia Islam, are proxies of Iran and part of an Iranian plan to destabilize the region. Indeed, since the Arab Spring in 2011, Iran has stepped up its regional role, backing predominantly Shia factions in regional conflicts, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad, and the Iraqi military in its fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Levante (ISIL).

For Saudi Arabia and its allies, Iran’s involvement in regional affairs is unacceptable. They fear the Iranians will ignite Shia revolts across the region and destabilize the Middle East even further.

However, as the Saudi military continues its assault on Yemen, it is becoming increasingly evident that the greatest threat to the region is not coming from Iran, but from Saudi Arabia, which has also been involved in various proxy wars. While these have mostly been aimed at curbing Iranian influence, Saudi Arabia’s approach to the region is single-mindedly driven by a desire to increase its regional hegemony.

The Saudi attack in Yemen is backed by an allied force, including ten mostly Sunni-majority regional states (Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan, Pakistan, and Turkey), and has support from the United States. A few days after airstrikes began, ousted Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia from his refuge in Aden.

Hadi, who was leading Yemen’s transitional government until being ousted by the Houthis in January, was the only candidate in presidential elections held in February 2012, following the overthrow of former Saudi-backed dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh. During Hadi’s rule, the Houthis repeatedly demanded greater representation in the Yemeni Parliament. The Houthi movement has had other, more long standing grievances with Yemen’s central government, dating back to the early 2000s. Frustrated by the government’s failure to address their demands, the Houthis staged a takeover of Sana’a in September 2014.

Recently, the rebels managed to advance to Aden, where they engaged in several clashes with pro-Hadi factions. Claiming “to protect and defend the legitimate government [of Hadi],” Saudi Arabia sent in warplanes, bombing key-Houthi held positions. A potential Saudi-led ground invasion has also received support from regional states and the United States.

If Saudi Arabia is genuinely concerned about regional stability, though, why has it remained largely inactive over the very real threats from ISIL, and multiple crises in Libya, Syria, and Iraq? These conflicts are arguably more destabilizing to the Middle East than Yemen’s Houthi movement, and could have benefitted from a joint Arab intervention.

In reality, Saudi’s “concerns” over Yemen, as with many other issues in the region, are not actually about Yemen or its stability, but rather about Saudi Arabia’s own hegemonic power and desire to overshadow Iran.

Yemeni political and human rights activist Baraa Shiban emphasized this in an interview with Free Speech Radio News, saying:

“It’s just a ground for a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia… And instead of having that fight in the lands of either Iran or the Saudis, the battlefield is Yemen now. And actually there are many people questioning the benefits of supporting either side because simply they feel that they are fighting a fight that doesn’t belong to us and then results of it will either work for the benefit of the Iranians or the Saudis. Yemen will lose either way.”

Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners are likely to continue bombing Yemen, until Saudi achieves its goal—to circumscribe Iranian influence in the country and assert itself over Yemen.

http://www.yementimes.com/en/1873/opinion/5022/The-Yemen-crisis-isn%E2%80%99t-about-Yemen-It%E2%80%99s-about-Saudi-Arabia-and-its-desire-for-regional-power.htm

Why Pakistan Will Fight Saudi's Wars but Not Its Own

Farheen Rizvi 

Pakistan, which faces the challenge of terrorism at home, seems ready to join the Saudi-led coalition against the Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen. On Monday, a senior Pakistani government official indicated that the country would send troops to the Kingdom. Though Pakistan's defense minister denied the claim that a decision about military support had been made, he arrived in Saudi Tuesday to decide the next steps. And late last week, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office vowed that any threat to Saudi Arabia would "evoke a strong response" from Islamabad. But joining the Saudis in their latest war would polarize Pakistan, which is home to several Muslim sects. Pakistan would also incur the ire of its neighbor, Iran, with whom Pakistan's Shiites --about 20 percent of the population -- maintain close ties.

Although Riyadh and Islamabad have been close allies for decades, part of Pakistan's problem with Islamist radicals stems from Saudi funding for religious schools that teach a fundamentalist Wahhabi doctrine. Pakistan is still paying the price for its initial involvement in the Afghan proxy war between the United States and the former Soviet Union in which Saudi Arabia played a critical role. Support for the Afghan Mujahedeen during the 1980s encouraged extremism, terrorism and sectarianism in Pakistan, changing Pakistani society significantly. Involvement in a new, distant war in Yemen is unlikely to have a different result on Pakistan's internal cohesion.

By the time I moved out of Pakistan in 1997, the country was witnessing a surge of sectarian killings. Extremist Sunnis, inspired by puritan Wahhabi teachings, were targeting educated Shiites, forcing them to emigrate. Extremist groups like Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi targeted Shiite doctors, engineers, lawyers and professors. This was the result of sectarian hatred taught at Saudi-funded madrasas originally set up to recruit and train foot soldiers for the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan. After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, Pakistan's intelligence service had used the madrasas to recruit fighters to fight in Kashmir against India and to support the Taliban in Afghanistan. 

The madrasas were attractive for poor Pakistani families who weren't able to send their children to schools or even to feed them daily. One-third of Pakistan's nearly 200 million people live below the poverty line, subsisting on less than one dollar a day per family. Madrasas provided children free housing, food and clothing alongside religious education. According to the inspector general of Punjab police, hundreds of religious seminaries in Pakistan, especially in Punjab province, are foreign funded.

The curriculum of these madrasas conformed to puritanical Saudi Wahhabi beliefs, disregarding the religious syncretism of the India-Pakistan subcontinent. Many madrasa students imbibed hatred towards sects other than the Wahhabis, which latermanifested itself in sectarian attacks. Saudi Arabia's concern after 1979 about Iranian influence also played a part in encouraging extremist attacks on Pakistani Shiites. The Wahhabis consider Shiites as heretics while the Saudis also tend to see them as allies of Iran.

The rationale for Pakistan's involvement in the Saudi-funded Afghan war during the 1980s was similar to the reasoning currently being offered for Pakistani involvement in the conflict in Yemen. The Saudi-Pakistan relationship has been close and rests on mutual dependence of the two countries' elites. Pakistani troops were stationed in the Kingdom during the 1980s to protect the royal family. Prime Minister Sharif and his family lived in Saudi Arabia during their years in exile from 2000-2007.

Despite being armed with nuclear weapons, Pakistan is perennially cash-strapped. The Saudis have traditionally been generous in supporting Pakistan with hard currency. They have also paid for expensive weapons for the Pakistani military from other countries (usually the United States). Over a million Pakistani expatriates work in Saudi Arabia and their remittances are critical for Pakistan's economy. Last year, Riyadh gave a $1.5 billion loan to Pakistan to overcome a hard currency shortage. At the Saudis' request, 2,500 Pakistani retired army and police officials joined Bahrain's anti-riot force in cracking down on the Bahraini Shiite uprising.

The Pakistan military, as well as civilian leaders like Prime Minister Sharif, see partnership with the Saudis as beneficial in economic and military terms. Saudi backing has also been important for advancing Pakistan's strategic objective of maintaining military preparedness against India, a much larger neighbor, andwresting the disputed territory of Kashmir from it through an insurgency.

For their part, the Saudis got a chance to spread their version of Islam through the wars in Afghanistan and Kashmir. Close ties with Pakistan, the world's only Muslim-majority country with nuclear weapons, helps the Saudis stake their claim as leaders of the Islamic world. The Kingdom holds Islam's most sacred sites and sees only Iran as its rival in speaking for the world's Muslims.

The spread of Wahhabism in Pakistan has been detrimental to Iran, because it advanced Saudi interests and exacerbated anti-Shiite sentiment in the region. Relations between Pakistan and Iran have suffered several setbacks beginning with the assassination of Iran's consul-general in Lahore, murdered by SSP terrorists and accentuated by killings of Shiite pilgrims headed to Iran near the Pakistan-Iranian border.

By siding with Saudi Arabia in Yemen, Pakistan is in danger of being sucked into a conflict driven by sectarian factors. Iranian-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen are deployed on the border close to Riyadh and that has created shockwaves throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. But the instability in Yemen poses no direct threat to Pakistan's security or other critical interests.

By getting involved in the Yemen conflict, Pakistan risks sectarian conflict at home in addition to being drawn into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the Middle East. Pakistan has paid a heavy price due to terrorism, losing some 30,000 lives over the last two decades. Pakistan's interests might be better served by working on better diplomatic relations with neighboring countries, especially Afghanistan and India, and focusing on eradicating the growing radicalization within its society. Entering a distant war for Saudi Arabia will do little to help Pakistan's already precarious condition.

Pakistan - Abdul Sattar Edhi - 'They call him an infidel': Pakistan's humble founder of a charity empire

Abdul Sattar Edhi runs a sprawling health charity from a Karachi slum, but that doesn’t stop the religious right condemning him for not saying his prayers.

Even in Pakistan a cheap sofa covered with brown plastic is not most people’s idea of throw-restraint-to-the-wind luxury.

But Abdul Sattar Edhi, a legendary charity worker known for his asceticism, is still getting used to the two-seater that recently replaced the hard bench he sat on for decades in the corner of his office.

“I didn’t ask for it, it was given to me by my daughter,” he says. “I like simplicity, but I didn’t get angry with her.”

The dowdy piece of furniture does nothing to undermine the uncompromising frugality of the office of a man proud to own just two sets of salwar kameez, an everyday outfit in Pakistan.

The tiny room is accessed directly off an alley in a Karachi slum and has space for only a few desks for the handful of people who manage a sprawling, countrywide charity empire of more than 1,200 ambulances, hundreds of medical centres, graveyards and an adoption service for abandoned children.

Established in 1957 when Edhi took it upon himself to set up a tent hospital to look after the victims of a flu outbreak, it went on to become Pakistan’s most impressive social enterprise.

Its minivan ambulances are a common sight across Pakistan, particularly in the aftermath of all-too-frequent terrorist bombings.

Anyone can walk in off the street and pay their respects to one of the country’s most recognisable personalities, the frail old man with a long beard and cap who many Pakistanis argue should have received a Nobel prize years ago for his work.

Emergency callers can end up speaking to Edhi himself if he happens to pick up the phone. He rarely strays far, given that his bed occupies an even more humble back room behind his office.

And yet not everyone likes and respects this saintly figure, who reckons he is about 90 years old.

In October last year eight men barged into the Edhi headquarters and smashed their way into a bank of strongboxes just a few feet away from where Edhi himself was dozing in his hospital-style bed.

One of the robbers kept a gun trained on a social worker, even though the frail man was no threat, as they proceeded to steal valuables held as a service for people unable or unwilling to use a bank account.

The more than £400,000 of cash was swiftly replaced by donations that poured in from a horrified public, although Edhi turned down a large gift from a man he dismissed as a “capitalist” and “big robber”.

The theft was a shocking moment for an organisation that is facing growing competition from Pakistan’s militant, religious right.

In January Hafiz Saeed, a cleric wanted by India for his alleged masterminding of the 2011 terrorist attack on Mumbai, announced his Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) was establishing a bridgehead in Karachi for the first time with a fleet of 15 ambulances.

FIF is the charity wing of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the parent body of the bannedLashkar-e-Taiba, regarded by some experts as one of south Asia’s most dangerous terrorist groups.

Unlike Edhi, Saeed uses the platform of his fast-growing charitable works to call for jihad against India and to create a parallel state that makes a point of being first on the scene when disasters strike.

Edhi says he is not worried, pointing out he has a 60-year head start on Saeed: “If he wants to become Edhi in two years, how is that possible?”

But he is hurt at his treatment by some of the country’s mullahs, who are jealous of his fundraising power and suspicious of his lack of sectarian or ethnic bias in attending to the people who turn to him for help.

“They call him an infidel saying that he does not say his prayers,” says his wife Bilquis, who, with her children, helps run the foundation. “What we are doing should be done by the government and should be appreciated, but instead we are blamed.”

The foundation has lost much of the annual charity it once scooped up during Eidal-Adha, when families would donate the skins of animals sacrificed on the day, which could then be sold for cash.

As well as hardline Islamist groups, the foundation has lost out to the strong-arm tactics of what Edhi calls an “ethnic organisation”, a reference to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the dominant political party in the ethnically divided port city.

“There is more hostility towards us from the religious and political groups,” his wife complains. “Our strong cupboards used to be full – nobody would steal from us.”

But Edhi says he is unfussed by aggressive political parties or the mullahs’ claim that he is an atheist who will not be allowed into heaven.

“I will not go to paradise where these type of people go,” he smiles. “I will go to heaven where the poor and miserable people live.”

Terrorist groups exist in MQM: Aitzaz Ahsan

Senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Aitzaz Ahsan on Wednesday said the last month’s raid conducted by Rangers at the headquarters of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has put a stop on targeted killings in the metropolis.

Speaking in Geo News program, Capital Talk, Mr. Ahsan said "one cannot label the entire MQM as a terrorist organization, however, some terrorist groups do exist in the party".

Aitzaz said he failed to understand the MQM Chief Altaf Hussain, adding that the one who understands him better than even the PPP Co-Chairman Asif Zardari is Rehman Malik.

He said the death row inmate, Saulat Mirza would not be able to become MQM's Masood Mehmood and that in case he is granted a pardon it would nullify the significance of his statement.

Commenting on today’s arrest of MQM leader Muhammad Anwar in London, the senior PPP leader said normally the accused in cases relating to money laundering get released on bail shortly after arrest but his (Anwar's) detention will prove damaging for 'Altaf Bhai'.

"The Saud family had presented a gift of $1.5 billion to Nawaz government in 2013 and, therefore, the Sharif brothers will remain indebted to the former", Aitzaz added.

He suggested the government to summon a joint meeting of parliament to discuss the Yemen-Saudi Arabia conflict.

Pakistan eighth most dangerous country in the world: report

Pakistan has emerged as the world’s eighth most dangerous country, according to IntelCenter’s list of “Top 10 Most Dangerous Countries”.

The Middle East topped the list as of March 2015, with Iraq and Syria ranking No 1 and 2 respectively, given the current political situation in the war-torn countries.

IntelCenter, a Washington-based company working for intelligence agencies, Country Threat Index (CTI) examines the volume of terrorist and rebel alerts, messaging traffic, videos, photos, incidents and the number of people killed and injured in a country over the past month and runs it through an algorithm to assign the country its CTI.

Out of the top 10 most dangerous countries, Pakistan had a CTI of 122 is joined by Afghanistan with a CTI of 186. The neighbouring country ranked fifth on the list. The higher the CTI, the greater is the risk.

“A low CTI does not necessarily reflect the absence of risk as the US in the lead-up to 9/11 would have had a low CTI. It does, however, reflect a lower level of activity over the preceding 30 days (of the analysis), which means high-volume activity is unlikely but one-off events are always a possibility,” IntelCenter said in a statement.

CTI should not be the sole measure of risk in a country but should merely be factored into consideration, the statement said.

“The CTI is based solely on terrorist and rebel related activity. It does not evaluate other risk factors such as crime and political instability,” it further said.

The countries completing the top 10 include Nigeria (3rd), Somalia (4th), Libya (6th), Yemen (7th), Ukraine (9th) and Egypt (10th).

The Global CTI serves as an overall indicator of global terrorist and rebel activity and is calculated by adding up each individual country’s CTI, the statement said.

Pakistan - ANP chief says NWA ‘social agreement’ an insult to FATA

The ‘social agreement’ between the North Waziristan political administration and tribesmen is an insult to Fata’s residents, asserted Awami National Party Central President Asfandyar Wali Khan on Tuesday.

Terming the agreement an injustice while speaking at Bilour House in the city, he said tribespeople left their homes and rendered tremendous sacrifices for the sake of the country. He believed the loyalty of the tribes was being questioned through the eight-page document. “It is an insult and such actions create mistrust,” he underlined.

The ANP chief demanded that local bodies’ polls should also be held in Fata and said tribespeople had been left at the mercy of the political administration. He expressed concern over some clauses of the LG Act 2013 and alleged the government was preparing to rig elections.

Asfandyar said that village councils’ outcomes will be announced 10 days after elections, while National Assembly results are declared in a matter of hours. He believed such an announcement clearly indicated that the government was intent on poll rigging. He also slammed the government for authorising the chief minister to sack the district nazim.

He said PTI Chairperson Imran Khan has joined the ranks of military dictators Ayub Khan and Ziaul Haq by announcing LG polls on a non-party basis. He said on one hand, the courts had ordered that LG elections be held on party basis, but the PTI government was doing the opposite in the province.

Asfandyar said ANP has already challenged this in court and hoped the judiciary would uphold its stance on the matter.

‘No militant wing’

The ANP chief said his party had no militant wing and those with any such links would not remain party members.

Asfandyar said Saulat Mirza’s allegations against senior politicians had no legal standing as they were not recorded before a magistrate. However, he said the allegations were of a serious nature and suggested a high-level joint investigation to probe the matter. “An independent investigation of these allegations would be in the interest of all stakeholders, including MQM,” he said. The ANP central president claimed the Karachi operation was launched after taking all parties on board.

ANP chief termed the thaw in Pak-Afghan ties as a positive development and said the friendly relations needed to continue for the sake of both countries.

‘Stay out of Yemen’

Asfandyar voiced his concerns over Pakistan’s participation in the Yemen conflict. He believed such actions could prove disastrous for the country and asked the government to convene an All Parties Conference to discuss the thorny subject.

Talking to reporters after the party’s provincial general council meeting at Bilour House, the ANP chief said his party was vehemently opposed to Pakistan taking part in the wars of other countries. He said the federal government should immediately call an APC so that all political parties could agree on a single point. He reiterated that his party would oppose Pakistan’s military intervention in Yemen during such a meeting.

He said Pukhtuns were still bearing the brunt of Pakistan’s participation in the Afghan war and Balochistan would have to pay similar consequences if the country became part of the tussle between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Asfandyar said it was unfortunate that the Pakistani leadership had failed to learn from its past mistakes.

Pakistan - We should stay away from Yemen

By Rasul Bakhsh Rais

Today, the Middle East is divided; it is in turmoil and is engulfed in multiple conflicts. Long before the Arab spring, the fault lines of the state formation process had become visible. The glue of Arab nationalism that tied many diverse tribal, religious and sectarian communities together had become dry, empty of promise and a failed strategy mainly because of the way political dynasties, personalised rule of dictators and tyranny replaced the dream of a common state for all. The regimes in Syria, Egypt, Yemen and many other states that started as reformist and revivalist, lost legitimacy and popular support, and the strategy of relying on use the of force to hang on to power for decades was emploed. The template of power structure they created was primarily designed to let them rule in arbitrary fashion than govern with the people’s consent. The will of the strongmen, donning the uniforms, replaced the ideal of democracy and peoples’ right, and made for the ideal of Arab nationalism.

In the absence of the normal politics of democracy — freedoms, political parties, genuine elections, activists — tribal, sectarian and religious identities were used to mobilise resistance against these governments. It is natural in closed systems for resistance leaders to stay in the safe zones of narrow communities because of a fear of persecution and state violence. The dictatorial regimes have been fascist to the core and used some of the most cruel means to silence their opposition. This has produced widespread resistance which has taken many forms, leading to a collapse of state authority and the capturing of many parts of states by militias. The only exception is Egypt where the armed forces stepped in and recaptured the state in the name of stability and order.

The conflict in Yemen has been simmering for almost a decade, and has now gathered combustible elements in it: tribal, sectarian, religious and power factions. The most dangerous development is that all civil conflicts have morphed into regional conflicts with there being rivalry and a power struggle between two resourceful states: Iran and Saudi Arabia. Their interventions and counter-interventions have led to the development of two rival regional alliances around them. At the moment, the Saudi-led regional coalition, with strong backing from the United States and some European powers, appears to be aggressively inclined towards reshaping the Middle East according to its imperatives of stability, order and security.

There is yet another dangerous dimension to the evolving Middle East conflict, and that is the rise of the Islamic State (IS) in parts of Iraq and Syria as well as the emergence of other similar groups. These are mostly organised along sectarian and religious lines — showing allegiance to the IS. There is fierce struggle throughout the region to recruit fighters for the rival religious militias. Pakistan, with a large number of unemployed and unemployable youth, might be fertile ground, as it has been for decades for many militant organisations.

Pakistan has, over the decades, drifted closer to the Middle East power blocs, as it has stayed close to the pro-West security architecture. Our relationship with monarchies have remained strong in defence matters, trade and in the export of manpower. With the departure of the Shah regime in Iran, it has been difficult to maintain a balance in our relationship between the two regional rivals. There is much greater need today to stay away from the Middle East conflicts than ever before. There is a danger that Pakistan —  because of the personal connections of PML-N leaders with the Saudi monarchy and traditional security ties with monarchies in the region — may get involved in the Yemen conflict. That will be internally divisive and will not serve our national interests.

Pakistan - Yemen - Hard Choices

Over the past week, Pakistani intelligentsia and large portions of civil society have unanimously made it clear that the people of Pakistan do not want to be part of another war. There is a consensus that such a war will severely damage our effectiveness against local militants and exacerbate sectarian conflict. The government has been told: Pakistan must choose neutrality. The high-powered government delegation that left for Riyadh to negotiate Pakistan’s role in the Yemen crisis is certainly empowered to make that choice; the Defence Minister, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security, several senior officials from the Foreign Office and three representatives of the armed forces take part. But has the choice already been made for them?
While the state still maintains that it is undecided on the matter of intervention in Yemen, objectively it seems the state, especially Nawaz’s government will find it impossible to ignore the Kingdom’s request. Along with historically close ties between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Nawaz Sharif’s government has often relied on the Saudis for support and they would expect the same from him. How the premier will convince the rest of the government, including the military, remains to be seen?
Will he take the parliament’s consent before making the decision?

Will the military go along?

Even if the government chooses to join the Arab Coalition – which unfortunately seems like the most probable result – it must keep its involvement to the barest minimum. Providing the Kingdom logistical support, akin to what the United States is doing, and giving assurance that Saudi Arabia’s territorial borders will be protected would be reasonable compromise. Perhaps such an indirect method of support would not be seen as a divisive factor in the local sectarian tussle. Iran, whose foreign ministry contacted Pakistan’s ambassador in Tehran to propose talks with the government over rumours that it is set to join the coalition – and to convey warnings crouched in diplomatic talk, might also see such limited support as grudgingly acceptable. This would allow the government to maintain its relationship with Iran and prevent sectarian violence from escalating. Anything more, from air strikes to sending ground troops to physically enter Yemen, would be the wrong move, which would inevitably suck Pakistan into a war that is not its own.

Video Song - kitne maqbool hain Bhutto

Video - Z.A.Bhutto historic speech in UN security Council

Pakistan - PM should take opposition in confidence on Yemen: Asif Ali Zardari

https://ppppunjab.wordpress.com

Former President and Co-Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Asif Ali Zardari said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should take all opposition parties in confidence on the Yemen’s issue before reaching a decision in this regard.

The former president had convened a meeting at Bilawal House in Karachi to discuss the Yemen conflict and review Pakistan’s options. Speaking on the occasion, Zardari said that protection of Harmain and Sharifain is the duty of Muslim Ummah adding that Saudi Arabia has always helped Pakistan in difficult times. However, he maintained that the government should take steps after reaching a consensus in this regard by keeping all political parties in the loop.

The meeting expressed the firm belief that the centrality of Saudi Arabia was pivotal to the Muslim world and Pakistan’s response should reflect this belief.

Participants at the meeting called for an All Party Conference to discuss the issue further and reach a unanimous decision in view of the national interests. The political leaders decided to review the issue on the Parliament’s floor as well.

The opposition leaders stressed that Pakistan should play a role of mediator to resolve Yemen’s conflict.

The meeting was called in the wake of Saudi Arabia’s formal invitation to Pakistan to support the former’s offensive in Yemen against Huthi rebels.

Representatives of all major political parties including Awami National Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement attended the meeting.

Later, presenting the details of the meeting at a joint communique, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Sherry Rehman said that all opposition leaders have unanimously called upon the government to review the Yemen issue and “propose a way forward.”

She stressed that the gravity of the situation demands a unified national policy not a decision made by few individuals.

Speaking on the occasion, MQM’s central leader Farooq Sattar said that the government should consult all political parties to devise a national policy on Yemen’s issue.

Ex-president Zardari said that PPP has always preferred dialogue on national issues. He said that Pakistan should make a very careful move on Yemen’s conflict. He added that Saudi Arabia hosts 1.5 million Pakistani manpower and around 300,000 works in other Gulf countries.
Source: Daily Capital

Music Video - 4MINUTE - '미쳐 (CRAZY)' Dance Practice HYUNA 현아 MV

Video - Desperate civilians in Yemen not getting vital aid - Red Cross

Video - US-Cuba Relations: Stage Set for Historic Meeting Between Obama and Castro

Turkey's misguided Yemen move

Fehim Taştekin

As soon as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lent support to the Saudi-led military operation against the Houthis in Yemen, some in Turkey were quick to jump on a puzzling argument that Yemen still belonged to the Ottomans. This, however, was hardly a surprise, for we are already familiar with the “New Ottoman” mindset, which imagines that people are looking to Turkey in each and every corner of the Muslim world.

Erdogan saluted that mindset in an interview with the France 24 TV channel. “We support Saudi Arabia's intervention. Turkey may consider providing logistical support based on the evolution of the situation,” he said. Taking an open stance against Iran, Erdogan said that “Iran and the terrorist groups must withdraw” from Yemen. “Iran is trying to chase Daesh from the region only to take its place,” he charged, using the Arabic term for the Islamic State (IS) and implying that Iran should withdraw from Syria and Iraq as well.

Confrontation building up with Iran

By dragging Turkey into a sectarian war as a backup to King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud Salman’s drive for a “Sunni camp” in the region, Erdogan steps into a sharp confrontation with Iran, unprecedented even in the era of Turkey’s secularist-Kemalist governments.

In this Saudi-led coalition, no one has been as explicit as Erdogan in voicing the hostile sentiments against Iran. The Saudi king seems to be leading the actual war, and Erdogan the war of words. It is an attitude aimed at strengthening bonds with Gulf states at the expense of burning the bridges with Iran, the country with which Turkey has had its most stable relationship. 

Iran was quick to react, sending out messages that Erdogan, scheduled to visit Tehran in April, was unwelcome. The head of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, slammed Turkey’s policies in Iraq and Syria, while his deputy Mansour Haghighatpour was even harsher, saying “Erdogan’s visit to Tehran will be of no use. It should be postponed.”

Turkish-Iranian ties have seen diplomats being proclaimed persona non grata, but it never came to the point of tampering with high-level visits.

No lesson learned from Yemen Song

While many saw Erdogan’s verbal offensive as superfluous, the Turkish media’s psychological war apparatus spoke of Ottoman sacrifices for Yemen and the country’s strategic value. The notion of Yemen belonging to the Ottomans lives on in the historical memory of conservatives and nationalists in Turkey. Yet, the Saudis are not waging a war on behalf of Turkey, and associating this war with the Ottomans is truly mind-blowing. Journalist Murat Bardak, for instance, wrote, “The Houthi rebellion is the continuation of the struggle that had inspired the Yemen Song [popular Turkish folk tune].”

The Zaydis, to which the Houthis belong, revolted many times against Ottoman rule in Yemen, which lasted about four centuries. Those who look at today’s developments from the said historical perspective ignore Yemen’s own internal dynamics and processes. Yemen may have left a bitter taste for Turks in history, but the Ottomans, too, left bitter memories for Yemenis. The Yemen Song is a requiem for the Ottoman soldiers who never came back from Yemen. Yet, Yemen was not only a destination of no return for soldiers, but also a land of exile for erring pashas. The Ottoman governors there were not only the builders of today’s historical monuments, but also Yemen’s ruthless guardians.

Professor Ihsan Sureyya Sirma, a historian close to the government, recounted in a recent interview how the Zaydi Imam Yahya, opposed to the British in the post-Ottoman era, offered his allegiance to the young Turkish republic, a gesture that was rejected. Those who interpret this episode as evidence that “Yemen still belongs to the Ottomans” conveniently turn a blind eye to the other side the historian presents.

One striking story goes like this: A newly appointed Ottoman governor in Sanaa calls his aide and orders “a few heads.” His Armenian doctor reacts, “Pasha, are you ordering coffee or what!” Yet, several people are killed randomly in the streets and their heads brought to the governor, who says, “Now hang those on a rope at the balcony. Let the Yemenis see what disobedience means.”

In another key point, Sirma underlines that the last Ottoman campaign in Yemen in the 19th century was driven by the cash-strapped palace’s desire to replenish its coffers as Yemen was rich of spices, coffee and salt.

"Hot money"

If the current Houthi rebellion is just the second curtain in an ongoing play, as some Turkish media claim, then is Turkey’s reaction the reflection of an Ottomanist impulse? Frankly speaking, neither the Houthis “are seeking to revive the Zaydi imamate,” as the state-run Anatolia news agency says in the background lines of all its Yemen stories, nor is Erdogan’s maneuver directly related to Yemen. The question here is: Why does Turkey feel the urge to take sides in Yemen, though no one really awaits the Turks there and, contrary to the Turkish proverb, “a cup of coffee” has not fostered “40 years of friendship”?

Two major factors could explain Turkey’s stand:

• The psychological aspect: Erdogan, who blames Iran for the failure of his plans in Syria and Iraq, approaches the issue in anger and frustration. The remarks he made March 27 reflect his conundrum vis-a-vis Iran. “Iran is virtually trying to dominate the region. They are working to that effect. Could this be allowed? This has begun to annoy many countries — us as well as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. This is not really tolerable. … It [Iran] has to withdraw any forces or whatever it has in Yemen as well as Syria and Iraq,” he said.
• Practical aspect: Erdogan is drawn to the “Sunni camp” also by the Gulf’s “hot money.” Score-settling with Iran is something he cannot resist, but there is another question to be asked here: With the Turkish economy sounding alarm and the June elections looming, what is the extent of Turkey’s need for Gulf money? How much impact do the Gulf’s “hot money” or short-term investments have on Turkish policy in Yemen and other regional issues?

Al-Monitor posed the question to academic Sabahattin Sen from Istanbul’s Maltepe University. He said: “The Istanbul Industry Chamber’s data on the 500 largest companies show that the companies’ debt-equity ratio has climbed to 132.4%, its highest level in a decade. In developed countries, this ratio stands at around 70%. Companies spent 19 billion Turkish lira of their 36.5 billion Turkish lira profits for financing. The economy has seen serious financial fluctuations since the second half of 2013. The debt stock of the 500 largest companies has increased, climbing to 238 billion Turkish lira in 2013, up 25% from 190 billion Turkish lira in 2012. In 2015, the private sector’s total debt stock reached about $280 billion, which poses a grave risk to the economy given the recent adverse developments in foreign exchange rates. Turkey’s external financing need has reached $220 billion, but with the Fed expected to hike interest rates, the global financing taps are being turned off for emerging economies such as Turkey. In this environment, the Saudi and Gulf capital is becoming more and more important in meeting [Turkey’s] external financing need and maintaining fiscal stability.”

Hoping for Brotherhood reconciliation and Syria intervention

Another academic, Fulya Atacan from Istanbul’s Yildiz Technical University who specializes on Egypt, told Al-Monitor that the Arab uprisings, which Saudi Arabia has scrambled to contain from the very outset, have increased the fragility of the kingdom’s own system and the kingdom is now trying to shift the process ideologically, to a sectarian basis. According to Atacan, Erdogan’s outburst on the Yemeni crisis could be explained with the following motives:

• Erdogan hopes that the Saudi king will change the kingdom’s policy vis-a-vis the Muslim Brotherhood.
• He expects economic favors from the Gulf states.
• By joining the camp that the United States is trying to create via Saudi Arabia, he is trying to make up for the troubled relations, if not the lack of relations, between the United States and the Justice and Development Party. The phone call between Erdogan and US President Barack Obama on March 26 after a long break was no coincidence.
• In the wake of those efforts, Erdogan could again argue for an intervention in Syria.

“Tragically, joining this camp will make Erdogan one of the leaders containing the very Arab uprisings he had supported from the outset,” Atacan said.

By joining the anti-Houthi camp, driven by anger for Iran and financial expectations from the Gulf states, Erdogan crosses paths with Israel and Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Yemen, but does not seem to mind it.

I’ll leave the floor here to Mazlumder, the human rights group run by Turkey’s Islamists. In a March 25 statement, the association condemned the Houthi campaign as an “Iranian-backed coup” before slamming also the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen. “The attack on Yemen is likely to trigger indiscriminate violence on the basis of sectarian hatred across the Muslim world, especially in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The Saudis, while not even mentioning the Tiran and Senafir islands at the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba, which they lost to Israel in the 1967 war, have embarked on a massacre to discipline and disable Yemen so that the Bab al-Mandeb Strait remains a safe outlet for Israel to the Indian Ocean. This is nothing but a proxy war on behalf of Israel,” it said.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/03/turkey-yemen-move-seeks-to-avenge-iran-gulf-money.html#ixzz3W1DADNw4