KP Govt had been Warned of Peshawar Attack

Official warning to KPK govt (Credit: hindu.com)
Official warning to KPK govt (Credit: hindu.com)
Peshawar, Dec 22: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government departments had been warned of an imminent attack on the Army Public School months before the carnage unfolded in Peshawar.

A copy of the written warning issued on August 28 has been obtained by Geo News.

Alert No. 802 issued by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home Ministry stated that the Taliban Orakzai Commander, Khaksar along with terrorists Bilal and Obaidullah had planned to carry out attacks at educational institutions under the army.

According to information, Bilal and Obaidullah with their accomplices had also conducted reconnaissance of the targets. The warning stated the intention of terrorists was revenge and they wanted to kill as many children of army officers as possible.

The written warning had called for security measures to be made in advance to avoid any untoward incident and copies were sent to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister, Home Minister and law enforcement agencies.

On December 16, terrorists carried out one of the most horrific attacks in the history of Pakistan. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists brutally killed over 140 people mostly children at the Army Public School.

Following the attack government and political parties expressed a renewed resolve to fight terrorism in the country. The prime minister also lifted the moratorium on the death penalty in terrorism cases.

Resuming executions not answer to Peshawar tragedy: Amnesty International

LONDON, Dec 18: The Pakistan government must resist giving in to fear and anger in the wake of the Peshawar school tragedy and maintain its moratorium on executions, Amnesty International has said after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif decided to resume death penalty in terror-related cases.

“Tuesday’s attack was utterly reprehensible, and it is imperative that those responsible for this unimaginable tragedy are brought to justice. However, resorting to the death penalty is not the answer – it is never the answer,”said David Griffiths, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Asia-Pacific.

Sharif’s announcement came the day after at least 148 people – including 132 children – were killed by Taliban militants at an army-run school in the north-western city.

“Pakistan is understandably gripped by fear and anger in the wake of the attacks. However, lifting the moratorium on executions appears to be a knee-jerk reaction which does not get at the heart of the problem – namely the lack of effective protection for civilians in north-west Pakistan,” said Griffiths.

“This is where the government should focus its energies, rather than perpetuating the cycle of violence with the resumption of executions,” he said.

Amnesty International calls for those responsible for indiscriminate attacks and attacks against civilians, including the Peshawar attack, to face investigation and prosecution in proceedings that comply with international fair trial standards, but without resort to the death penalty.

“Capital punishment is not the answer to Pakistan’s law and order situation and would do nothing to tackle crime or militancy in the country,” the London-based rights body said.

Pakistan re-imposed a moratorium on executions in October 2013 and has not executed since the hanging of a soldier in November 2012, while the last civilian hanging was in late 2008.

There are currently dozens of people sentenced to death for terrorism-related offences in the country.

‘Kill and Dump’ in Sindh follows Balochistan pattern

Grieving Sarwech mother (Credit: awamiawaz.com)
Grieving Sarwech mother (Credit: awamiawaz.com)
Sarwech Ali Pirzado’s grave stands out in the ancestral Pirzado graveyard in Balhreji, Larkana district. A red Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM) flag is spread over the grave. Another party flag flutters beside it. Known as ‘little Moscow’, Balhreji has seen many socialist and communist movements, evidence of which is found on the main entrance to the street where the graveyard is located. There is a plaque here in memory of “social reformer Muhib Hussain Pirzado”.

The area has been in the spotlight in recent weeks, as the venue where families from across Sindh receive the tortured bodies of their relatives — activists of Sindh’s nationalist parties who hailed largely from Larkana district.

Sitting on a charpoy in his modest home, Sarwech’s father Lutuf Pirzado wore an expression of resigned acceptance as he mentioned his son’s affiliation with the JSMM’s student wing, the Jeay Sindh Students Federation (JSSF). Himself an active member of the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy in the 1980s, Lutuf received 15 lashes in prison for wall-chalking and demanding the release of communist leader Jam Saqi.

“A month before his abduction, we had a family discussion. Both his mother and I asked him to stay away from some of his friends. Their activities seemed suspicious to us,” he said. The reason behind the discussion was the news of activists disappearing one by one in Karachi. Soon after, an announcement appeared in Daily Subh, a Sindhi-language newspaper, of Sarwech’s resignation from the JSMM and its student organisation.

The 22-year-old was working as a sales manager in Karachi when on Sept 11 he went missing, “somewhere in Saddar”, his father added.

The incident went unnoticed for over an hour until an employee of a courier service called his office around 6pm to inquire whether Sarwech would be picking up a letter he was supposed to. Search for Sarwech started soon after, with his father and brother going to Karachi, running from pillar to post to locate him. The police refused to register an FIR, so they went to the Sindh High Court.

While waiting for the hearing, they protested in front of the Karachi Press Club on Sept 23. In the meantime, a ‘well-wisher’ of the family sent a message to them through a relative that the young man had indeed been abducted by the security forces for a plot he was accused of hatching with his friends to target security installations. Sarwech’s brother Inayat Ali recalled, “He also asked us to relax, as the man told my cousin that Sarwech seemed like he belonged to a good family. And they might release him because of that. We continued hoping, waiting for his release.”

It took another few days to convince the authorities to register the FIR. But on Nov 30, they learned of his death. “One of our relatives heard it on TV and called from Karachi to inform us that two bodies had been found in Nooriabad, hands tied with gunshot wounds to the head,” said his mother Mehrunnisa, a lady health worker in Larkana district.

Her face remained emotionless as she narrated how she was the one who informed the police that her son might have been abducted due to his past affiliation with the JSMM. “They looked at me, surprised. Then hushed me up for saying the word ‘agency’ out loud. I just want to know whether by abducting these young men are they trying to finish off the movement or bolstering it?”

Many in Larkana do not consider the JSMM as truly representing the poor. Others say that the recent abductions were a result of the separatist movement, mostly underground, gaining strength in recent years. One of the reasons for the recent surge in the ‘kill-and-dump’ phenomenon, earlier associated only with Balochistan, is said to be the growing proximity between Baloch separatists and their counterparts in Sindh.

In 2011, a picture of Sirai Qurban Khuhawar, senior vice chairperson of the JSMM at the time, Ruplo Choliani, Noor ul Haq Tunio and Nadir Bugti, went viral among nationalist groups on Facebook. Soon after, Khuhawar and Choliani’s car was found torched near Sanghar. It was followed by a picture of Balaach Marri and the present JSMM leader Shafi Burfat on the internet. Locals say the proximity between JSMM and Baloch separatists continued till recently, resulting in enforced disappearances.

Another factor, pointed out by a former political activist of the Jeay Sindh Mahaz, Ustad Khalid Chandio, is that the JSMM is getting stronger even while being banned. “You must have heard people shrug off their cause saying their attacks are limited to ‘cracker blasts’. But has anyone thought how the material for making a ‘cracker bomb’ is available to them? How a mere cracker blows up five to six feet of solid steel railway tracks? At the same time, there’s some truth to reports about India’s interference in our region. We may ignore them but there’s some truth there. This nationalist movement is not all black and white; there are many shades of grey.”

Another factor he mentioned was that over the years, with the absence of governance, awami movements in Sindh were gradually being replaced by azadi movements. “Secularism is being wiped out in this country. Stoking a militant movement in Sindh is ideally a good shut-up call for the nationalists, good for creating conflict and confrontation amongst those seeking provincial autonomy and those seeking independence. All of this, in the end, is useful to justify torture against militant groups,” he added. At present there’s no ongoing strong movement for a ‘Sindhudesh’ in the province, Chandio argued, as was once imagined and explained in detail by G.M. Syed in his book about Sindhudesh.

When the question was put to the senior vice president of JSSF, Shehzad Manglo, whether there was a solution to the ongoing kill-and-dump policy in the province, he politely said “an independent Sindh”.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2014

The ‘Man from Mohenjodaro’ who never left Sindh passes away

Sobho Gianchandani (Credit: dawn.com)
Sobho Gianchandani (Credit: dawn.com)

Sobho Gianchandani, one of Pakistan’s last leaders from its first generation of Marxists, has died at the age of 94.

He suffered a heart attack and was cremated in his native village near the southern city of Larkana on Tuesday.

Gianchandani was a member of the Communist Party of Pakistan and stayed active after it was banned in 1954.

He was one of the last remaining Pakistani students of Rabindranath Tagore, a literary figure and Nobel laureate from West Bengal in India.

Gianchandani’s death closes the chapter on a generation of leftist politicians who organised peasants and industrial workers during 1940s, 50s and 60s.

Analysts say it was this work that led to the 1970 election victory of the overtly socialist Pakistan Peoples Party in an otherwise conservative and religious country.

Gianchandani’s family said he had died in his chair after being served morning tea on Monday.

He had been suffering from cardiac problems complicated by a severe chest infection and had been in hospital twice in recent weeks.

Communist and Hindu

Gianchandani was born on 3 May 1920 to a Hindu family in Bundi village near the famous archaeological site of Mohenjo-Daro in Larkana district, Sindh province.

He went to school in Larkana and Karachi.

Later he studied fine arts at a university set up by Rabindranath Tagore at Shantiniketan, his native village in West Bengal.

In a subsequent interview, Gianchandani said he had espoused communism during his time at this university.

He said Tagore, who was then in his late 70s, used to call him “the man from Mohenjo-Daro”.

In 1942, Gianchandani participated in the Congress-led anti-British Quit India movement, and was arrested for the first time.

He was repeatedly jailed for his views and politics during a political career that lasted until the mid-1960s.

But he continued as an ideologue, intellectual and writer of several books.

In an interview in 2009, recalling the active period of his political life, he said he had become a “three-headed monster” for the Pakistani establishment.

“I am a communist, I am Hindu and I am Sindhi,” he said, light-heartedly referring to his minority identity within Pakistan

 

Disappearance & killing of Sindhi nationalists creating space for militants

Torture Victim Sarwech Pirzado (Credit: iaojwordpress.com)
Torture Victim Sarwech Pirzado (Credit: iaojwordpress.com)
PAKISTAN, Dec 3 : Disappearances and extra judicial killings of Sindhi nationalists continues unabated; in many cases disappearances have occurred following arrest by the police and at times by plain clothed persons, presumably from intelligence agencies; thereafter being taken into custody, most often tortured and ultimately their bodies are found dumped on the streets.

In the Sindh Province, the security forces have made secular and nationalist forces and activists their main target, in order to keep them in illegal detention centres, torture them and thereafter are extra judicially executed in an effort to eliminate any evidence of the disappearances. During the year 2014, more than 100 activists from nationalist groups particularly from the group ‘Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz’ (JSMM), a banned organisation, have been arrested and are missing. On the other hand all the banned Muslim militant groups have made the Sindh Province their safe haven and hiding place.

Accusations are levelled by the nationalist groups that security forces are targeting nationalist forces to provide a space for religious militant groups and the Taliban, similar to what took place in the Baluchistan Province – where today as a result, the sectarian and militant groups are operating freely and every year they are involved in killing more than 1,000 persons in such sectarian violence.

In Sindh, the Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM) is the worst victim of the intelligence agencies in this regard. Although the members of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM), one of the major Sindhi nationalist parties, Jeay Sindh Tehrik (JST) and other parties have been facing no different situation, it’s worse for JSMM because they, unlike the other parties, openly support an armed movement for the freedom of Sindh.

On 15th August 2014, Mr. Asif Panhwar was arrested in a police raid at his friend’s house in Nasim Nagar, Hyderabad, in the Sindh Province and since then he has been missing. After 100 days of his disappearance his bullet riddled and torture marked body was found on the 25th of November this year. Asif Panhwar was a local leader of a banned secular nationalist organisation, the ‘Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz’ (JSMM). Following his arrest and disappearance his brother filed a petition in the Sindh High Court for his recovery. As is the usual practice, the Sindh High Court did nothing, despite the appeals by his brother that Asif Panhwar might be killed in detention by the security agencies.

In another such incident on 15th October 2014, Paryal Shah, an activist of the JSMM was abducted by the Pakistan security agencies and since then he has been missing. His mutilated body was later found on 7th November 2014 with clearly visible marks of torture. His body was dumped near the city of Rahim Yar Khan in the Punjab Province where military is operating torture cells in their Cantonment area. Shah hosted the Baloch long march last year for the recovery of Baloch missing persons. Victim’s brother, Zamin Shah was also killed by the armed forces in fake encounter.

The bullet ridden body of Mr. Abdul Waheed Lashari, 37 years old, was found after his disappearance after 15 days after being arrested in the first week of November 2014 while he was travelling in a passenger bus. Mr. Lashari was affiliated with the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) Arisar group.

On 25th November 2014, a third-year student of Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, in the Sindh Province went missing from the Sindh University Housing Society, Jamshoro. Mr. Kamlesh Kumar was standing at a photocopy shop when two police mobile vans and a car approached them and dragged him in a police van. His only alleged crime was that he belongs to the Hindu community and he was participating in the protests against the persecution of religious minority groups. He was not affiliated with any political group. The family searched for Kamlesh at the police stations in Jamshoro and Hyderabad and to no avail.

Many such activists who stand up against the kidnapping of Hindu victims often go missing in the Sindh Province. The Chairman of Sindh Human Rights Organization (SHRO), Fayaz Shaikh was abducted from the city of Karachi. He has been organizing demonstrations on behalf of several Hindu girls who have been kidnapped in Pakistan. He has been abducted by unknown persons on 24th November 2014. His disappearance came on the eve of yet another demonstration he was supposed to organize under the auspices of the Sindh Human Rights Organization on behalf of the nine Hindu girls kidnapped by the Islamic seminaries in the Sindh Province. This is ironic since he was a leading voice who began a campaign to approach the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, to take notice of the enforced disappearances of young Sindh activists and to call for an end to all such kidnappings and abductions of minorities and human rights activists there.

Another activist Mr. Rohel Laghari, 22 years old also belonging to the JSMM was abducted on the 1st April 2014 from Hyderabad and his whereabouts too are todate unknown.

Mr. Sarvech Pirzado who was yet another activist belonging to the group JSMM and an employee of a private medical company was abducted from the impress market in Karachi on 12th September 2014 by plain clothed persons and was later hurled into a four wheel type jeep. His family has filed a petition before the Sindh High Court for his recovery but as in all the other instances, to date no decision has been taken by the Court.

On October 11, the bullet riddled body of an activist of JSMM, Mr. Shakeel Konhari, was found dumped near the Malir Military Cantonment, Karachi. He was arrested from his house by the unknown persons.

The Asian Human Rights Commission urges the Government of Pakistan to stop the persecution of the Sindhi nationalists and halt once and for all these illegal and unconstitutional methods of enforced disappearances and extra judicial killings in Pakistan. If the law enforcement agencies have the evidences against the suspects and if there are criminal charges against them the government must bring them before the civil courts of law and tried.

The AHRC also urges the government to immediately ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and implement its provisions in law, policy and practice, and in particular include a new and separate crime of enforced disappearances in the penal code, as the government has already pledged before the United Nations visiting team, the working group of enforced and involuntary disappearances in 2012.

Imran’s Plan C: Paralyse major cities, paralyse Pakistan

IK at Nov 30 rally (Credit: dawn.com)
IK at Nov 30 rally (Credit: dawn.com)
ISLAMABAD, Nov 30: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan threw down yet another gauntlet for the PML-N led government on Sunday, announcing the party’s plan to paralyse major cities – and eventually “shut down” the entire country by December 16.
Addressing a crowd of thousands assembled at D-Chowk, Imran unveiled “Plan C”:

“On Thursday (December 4), I will go to Lahore and shut it down. On December 8 I will shut down Faisalabad; on December 12 I will go to Karachi and shut it down. By December 16 I will close down all of Pakistan.”

The PTI rally and the announcement of “Plan C” was a critical next-step for the party, which had lost political mileage and steam since the massive anti-government movement launched in August.

Reiterating demands for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s resignation and a fair probe into alleged rigging of the 2013 elections, the PTI Chairman appeared confident that his new push for street agitation would succeed.

“I know the people of Lahore are ready… I know all of Faisalabad is ready… and Karachi, I know they are waiting for me,” he said.

Lambasting the ruling PML-N, Imran said a further “Plan D” would be revealed on Thursday.

“The ball is in your court, Nawaz Sharif — do your talks, do your investigations and solve the issue. We will close Pakistan down when December 16 comes, and what I do after that you will not be able to bear it…It has been 109 days and Naya Pakistan is waking up every day. We can all see it,” Imran said.

Maintaining an aggressive tone while addressing his opponents, the PTI Chairman reiterated claims that the PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) colluded to rig the 2013 elections.

“I am a Pakistani who can see my country going down, you [Nawaz] and Zardari both in the 2013 election fixed the match. Zardari says there was rigging in Punjab; Nawaz says [there was] rigging in Sindh, Fazlur Rehman also says there was rigging… Balochistan parties say there was rigging,” he said.

“I want to ask all lawyers and educated people — if all parties are saying there was rigging then why is only PTI and Imran Khan asking for an investigation this rigging?”
“Mian sahib, if a country progresses just based on new roads, then make Malik Riaz the prime minister — a country progresses when money is spent on the citizens for their betterment,” he said, referring to the prime minister’s announcement earlier this week of the government’s plans for improved infrastructure and roads across the country.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi speaks
Addressing the gathering, PTI Vice-President Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the time for speeches was over.

“Today we will not make decisions – you will make all the decisions. Do you have the courage to implement Imran Khan’s next big plan?” he asked.

“Should we quietly go home? If you don’t want to go back make a decision – are you ready for the next step?”

A police official estimated that nearly 100,000 people gathered at Parade Avenue.
Supporters had poured into the capital from all over the country to attend the rally, making it one of the largest turn-outs in Islamabad since the start of the sit-in in August.
Participants at the rally said Parade Avenue was full of PTI workers sitting atop containers set up by the government. Nearly 80 per cent of the crowd was reported to be 18 to 40 year olds.

Sheikh Rasheed breathes fire

Chief of Awami Muslim league Sheikh Rasheed on Sunday spoke ahead of the PTI Chairman, and reiterated the anti-government protesters’ demand that the government must go.

“When the time comes, Nawaz falls to his knees… when the time is up, he goes to Havelian,” Rasheed says, referring to the premier’s recent visit to Abbottabad where he lambasted the PTI.

“Imran Khan will finish the governance of tyranny,” Rasheed said, adding that if cases can be registered against a former army chief and prime minister, then there is basis to register a case against Nawaz Sharif for “changing the votes of the people.”

“I wanted to make a long speech but I am aware that every household is awaiting Imran’s speech,” Rasheed said.

Rasheed condemned the killing JUI-F leader Khalid Soomro, however, he added that JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s attitude has ruined his party’s politics.

Capital, rally kept secure

Radio Pakistan reported that the government deployed thousands of security personnel for the PTI rally.
The report said the government deployed 15,000 security personnel to ensure security of the PTI rally, and the Red Zone in Islamabad. Special security arrangements were also made for public and private buildings in the area.

According to an Interior Ministry spokesperson, security forces including FC, Rangers and police, were placed in four cordons. The spokesman said containers had not been placed in the city, except the venue of the public meeting.

Human Development Declines Further in Pakistan – UNDP Report

The UNDP has released its flagship document Human Development Report 2014 entitled “sustaining human progress: reducing vulnerabilities and building resilience”. The annual report provides status of all countries against vital indicators of human development.

Pakistan, ranked at 146 out of 185 countries, has been bracketed among low human development countries. Pakistan barely maintained last year’s ranking when it shared 146th position with Bangladesh. However, Bangladesh this year moved four rungs up and stood at 142nd position. With such an ignominious ranking, a nuclear power, flaunting atom bomb has been outshined by all other SAARC countries except the war-ravaged Afghanistan. Even Afghanistan has improved its position from 175th in 2012 to 169th this year.

Interestingly, all SAARC countries have improved their ranking compared to the previous year except India and Pakistan who just maintained their ranking. Sri Lanka is the only SAARC country that has been grouped among high human development fraternity. It has taken enviable stride from 92nd number in 2012 to 73rd position this year.

A cursory glance at Pakistan’s ranking on various indicators narrates a sorry state of human development in the country. Except Afghanistan, all other countries have humbled Pakistan on most of the indicators. Pakistan has the second highest maternal mortality ratio in the region. 260 mothers die during 100,000 live births in the country. This ratio for Maldives is only 60 and just 35 in Sri Lanka.

Similarly, the country has second highest infant mortality rate (IMR) after Afghanistan. 60 children out of 1000 live births die before the age of one year. Comparatively, the infant mortality rate in India is 44, in Bangladesh 33 and in Nepal 34. Even African countries Rwanda, Cameroon and Sudan have lesser IMR i.e. 39, 61 and 49 respectively.

Similarly, 86 out of 1000 children die before their fifth birth anniversary in Pakistan. Barring Afghanistan with 99 such deaths, all other countries have much lesser child mortality rate. Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bhutan registered only 11, 10 and 45 deaths under five year age. Even war-torn Sudan performed better with 73 deaths of under-five infants.

Likewise, Pakistan has third highest child malnutrition only better than Afghanistan and India. Alarmingly, 43.7 per cent children below five-year age are stunted in Pakistan. Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka have 33.5, 18.9 and 17 per cent of stunted children respectively. Sudan has lesser percentage i.e. 35 of stunted children.

Education is another area of inglorious performance of the country. Pakistan’s adult literacy rate 54.9 per cent is second lowest in the region after Bhutan. Maldives has an impressive adult literacy of 98.4 per cent followed by Sri Lanka with 91.2 per cent. African countries Cameroon (71.3) and Rwanda (71.3) have better adult literacy than Pakistan. Similarly, Pakistan has the lowest youth literacy rate. With 70.7 per cent youth literacy, the country is trailed behind by Bangladesh with 78.7 percent and India with 81 per cent.
Pakistan has also the lowest gross enrollment ratio (GER) of primary and secondary education. Afghanistan’s GER in primary education is 97 per cent compared to 93 per cent of Pakistan. Bhutan’s GER in secondary education is 74 per cent.

The UNDP report is in consonance with Pakistan’s status on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The government’s own report on status of MDGs in 2013 admits that out of 33 targets, Pakistan could achieve only 3 and the progress on 23 targets is off-track.

Being a chronic security state, the country drains much of its resources on traditional security measures. Contemporary concepts of human security are alien to the policy makers. Paranoia of internal and external threats has fettered human development since inception. Even war-torn countries are earmarking better resources on human development.

For instance, Pakistan spends only 0.6 per cent of GDP on health which is dwarfed by even highly unstable Afghanistan with 3.9 per cent. Pakistan spends only 2.4 per cent of GDP on education which is significantly lower than 5.8 per cent of Bhutan and 4.7 per cent of Nepal. Even Congo spends 6.2 per cent on this account.

Ignoring human security has devastating implications for society. In 2010, a UNICEF report made startling revelations by comparing the state of nutrition in Sindh with Chad and Niger. The report sends a wave of chill through spine by claiming that hundreds of thousands of children are at risk due to alarming malnutrition prevalent in the province. The malnutrition rate was reported as 23.1 per cent in north Sindh and 21.2 per cent in the South.

This scale of malnutrition has surpassed 15 per cent, the emergency threshold of World Health Organization and far exceeds the global average of 13.9 per cent in flood hit areas. The report also reveals that 11.2 per cent pregnant and lactating women were suffering from malnutrition in north Sindh and 10.2 per cent in the South.

The security mania has eclipsed the basic needs of citizens. It is an implausible idea to secure borders without securing basic human needs of citizens. According to a report of Social Policy and Development Centre “Social Impact of the Security Crisis”, allocation for health and nutrition in federal government’s public sector development program registered a marginal average annual increase of 0.4 per cent over the last five years. Whereas the security related expenditure during last ten years registered an average growth of 20.6 per cent. The figures speak volumes for our misplaced priorities.

Security across the world is biting human development needs and countries like Pakistan are a laboratory to gauge its social and political ramifications. In a country where “haves” and “have-nots” are multiplying exponentially, remiss of state to lifeline necessities of its subjects can culminate in a catastrophic socio-political vortex.

The ubiquitously prevalent felony has its roots in decades-long socioeconomic inequalities that kept diverging with every passing day. Emaciated social sector had not only been starving for resources, it was also pulverised by frequent natural disasters and multitude of conflicts. Elite political fabric coupled by over-centralised and unjust resource distribution has decimated weaker segments of society.

On external front, a trigger-happy foreign policy has been a causative factor to perpetuate border acrimonies. The security monster gobbled up the scant resources meant for development of millions of impoverished masses. Unremitting wars have created a black hole that continues to gulp down hard earned revenues.

It is an ignominious irony that we funnel our hard-earned resources in wars but ask tax payers of developed world to dole out coins to resuscitate our derelict education and health sectors. Basic social services are primary responsibility of the state, which has abdicated its role and tossed citizens at the mercy of a rudderless market. Boasting power to trounce every enemy, the state has kneeled before polio virus.

Pakistanis are the only creature required to show polio vaccination evidence at immigration desk for overseas travel. This year Pakistan has ashamed its own past record of polio cases by breaking psychological barrier of 200 cases in a year. Two other countries of the polio club Nigeria and Afghanistan have shown remarkable improvement to rein in polio, whereas we are on a polio proliferation spree. The world is watching us with trepidation to become the only polio sanctuary on earth.
We have a distinction of hosting more than 80 per cent polio cases in the world. More scandalous is the fact that polio virus with Pakistani provenance is now sneaking into polio-free countries prompting disconcerting travel embargoes. Dengue and malaria mosquitos deride our hubris of being a nuclear power. Terrorism, bad governance, corruption and failure on human development are some of the factors impinging on image of Pakistan.

Characterised as a security state, the country has developed an image of a problem child in the region. Enigmatically, the decision-makers are hardly sensitive to the faltering image of the country. Their unremitting obduracy and addiction to a confrontational approach is ostracising Pakistan in the world community.

Who’s Afraid of Nilofer?

Cyclone Nilofer in Karachi (Credit: thenewstribe.com)
Cyclone Nilofer in Karachi
(Credit: thenewstribe.com)

KARACHI, Oct 30: The Sindh government has announced a holiday on Friday, declared emergency in the metropolis and four other districts and made arrangements for the board and lodging of coastal area residents being shifted to safe places in view of the cyclone that is heading towards the coast at a speed of 14 kilometres per hour.

Nilofar — the cyclone heading towards Sindh and Indian Gujarat — may slam the coastal areas here on Thursday afternoon with the possibility of heavy rains in the lower parts of Sindh over the next two days, a weather report indicated.

The Sindh government declared emergency in all the six districts of Karachi, besides Thatta, Badin, Sujawal and Tharparker, while it announced that all government offices and educational institutions would remain closed on Friday, said Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon while briefing media persons in his office in Clifton after attending the cabinet meeting held on Wednesday at the CM House.

The meeting, which was presided over by Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and attended by ministers, bureaucrats and army and navy officers, discussed a cyclone, the drought in Tharparker and security situation in context of Muharram.

The minister said emergency centres had been set up in all the coastal areas, while appeals were being made to residents of the areas to shift for a few days to safe places within their district. He said Rs10 million was released to the district governments concerned to make proper arrangements to look after them.

He said the Sindh government had also made arrangements for the transportation of fishermen and others from all the coastal areas to safe places, where arrangements had been made for their free board and lodging.

He added that people had been asked to restrict their movement to escape accidents from gusty winds and heavy rains during the next two days.

In order to avoid loss of life, the government started removing large hoardings and also directed the owners to remove their billboards otherwise in case of losses they would be held responsible and action would be initiated against them, he added.

People have been advised not to come out from their homes, unless unavoidable, from Thursday noon until the cyclone threat was over, according to the minister.

However, he added, these measures were not aimed at creating fear and harassment among people but to take all precautionary measures.

In reply to a question, he said 80 per cent fishermen had already returned while remaining were also sent radio messages through coast guards, navy and maritime agencies and hoped that they would also return before the cyclone hit the coastal areas.

In reply to another question, Mr Memon said the Met Office had forecast 30 to 50-millimetre rainfall in Karachi while the coastal areas would receive over 100mm of rainfall and above.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2014

Prayer leaders booked to prevent sectarian clashes

Moharram measures (Credit: dawn.com)
Moharram measures
(Credit: dawn.com)

ISLAMABAD, Oct 24: Prayer leaders (Khateebs) of 73 worship places in the city were booked for violating the ban on the use of loudspeaker during the Friday prayers.

A police officer said the use of amplifier for any speech except Azan was banned in the capital city. After a bloody clash between two religious groups in Rawalpindi on Ashura last year, the capital police have decided to implement the ban strictly.

He said the clash outside a worship place located on the Ashura route in Raja Bazaar last year was caused by the misuse of the loudspeaker.

“Last Friday, police officials met the Khateebs of all mosques and imambargahs in the capital city and asked them not to violate the ban,” he said. The Khateebs were further directed that their voice should remain confined to the premises of the worship places.

“In this regard, undertakings were also taken from them with the warning that legal action would be taken against them if the ban was violated.”


Violations were detected by police officials during Friday prayers


The officer added: “Today, a vigilance was mounted around all the worship places – 584 msoques and 30 imambargahs – in the city with the deployment of policemen in plain clothes to listen to the sermons of the Khateebs.

During the surveillance, the police officials found violations of the ban in the 73 worship places.

He said the khateebs of worship places belonging to the Deoband, Ahle Hadis, Barelvi and Shia sects found involved in the violation of the ban were booked under the amplifier act.

Nine cases were registered by the Sabzi Mandi police, six by Industrial Area, five each by the Aabpara, Bhara Kahu, Golra, Loi Bher, Nilor, Shahzad Town and Tarnol police. Four cases each were lodged with the Koral and Banigala police, two with the Secretariat and one case with the Ramna police.

There was no complaint about the violation of the ban in any worship place located in the jurisdiction of the Kohsar police.

However, the officer said the police deliberately delayed the arrest of the Khateebs. In the first step, the cases were registered against the violators for their refusal to follow the law.

There are over 600 worship places in the city and majority of them followed the law and did not commit any violation.

The police officer said arrests would be made if the Khateebs again violated the ban. Besides, their amplifier system would also be confiscated.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Asmatullah Junejo directed all the subdivisional police officers and the SHOs to ensure the implementation of the ban to maintain sectarian harmony and peace in the city.

Published in Dawn, October 25th , 2014

Balochistan Grows Poorer Sitting on Mounds of Gold

Reko Diq (Credit: thenewstribe.com)
Reko Diq
(Credit: thenewstribe.com)

QUETTA, Oct 25: The Balochistan government is under pressure to accept a negotiated settlement in a dispute with a company – Tethyan Copper Company (TCC), which was engaged in mining at Reko Diq Copper and Gold Project and which now seeks monetary compensation for federal and Balochistan governments’ ‘breaches of contract and treaty rights’ at an international court. 

During the recent two-week long hearing of the case, after which International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Paris reserved its judgment, the Pakistani legal team was also joined by political leadership – apparently for an out-of court settlement.

“Two committees were formed at federal and provincial level which went to Paris with a sole agenda—to have a negotiated deal with the TCC and out of court settlement,” an insider said on the condition of anonymity.

“The government committees had a separate briefing with the TCC and its parent companies – Antofagasta and Barrick Gold on Reko Diq project,” he said.

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He said much before the hearing, the Attorney General of Pakistan had sent a letter to the Balochistan government, saying the case of Pakistan and Balochistan was weak and the latter was likely to lose out. “The AGP said the government would have to pay a fine of billions of dollars. So it was better to make an out-of-court settlement,” he said.

He said the Balochistan government was trapped now as it was trying to negotiate and also protect the interests of its people so that they would not be equally blamed for putting the invaluable resources on sale at throwaway prices.

Upon his return from Paris, Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch had said he would protect the interest of his people. He had not revealed anything about the possible deal but said he would take a decision in the best interest of Balochistan.

A government official said that Balochistan government is also trying to resolve the issue with the TCC before International court gives verdict.  The TCC has invested over 220 million US dollars in the project since 2006. “The company now claims around 12 billion US dollars in monetary damages,” a source told The Express Tribune.

Another government official said the TCC was not willing to work in Pakistan now. “Government is trying to resolve the issue because if the government is found guilty, then we have to pay billions of dollars in fine,” he said.

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He said that since Balochistan did not have resources to pay such a huge amount, the federal government would pay the money from Balochistan government’s funds. Citing previous examples of federal government’s discriminatory policies, he said: “The federal government will pay the money from Balochistan’s National Finance Commission (NFC) Award or Federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP),” he added.

Sources in the provincial government said federal government did not care whether the contract was finalised with the TCC or a Chinese company and it only wanted to start the project to get maximum amount.

“Not a single person in Balochistan will agree to have a contract with Chinese mining companies,” an official said, adding that the companies involved in Saindak project at Chagai and Lead and Zinc Project in Dudar, Lesbela did nothing for the local communities or provincial economy ‘but ruthlessly exploited the resources.’

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25th, 2014.