NEWS PULSE: DWS, Sunday 23rd March to Saturday 29th March 2014

For suggestions and comments:

Email: webmaster@dawn.com
Website: http://dawn.com
Fax: +92(21) 35693995

Please send all Editorial submissions and Letters to the Editor to:

letters@dawn.com

National News

Talks deadlocked; TTP rigidity blamed

Ismail Khan

PESHAWAR: Despite a degree of optimism and feel-good impression generated by the militant-handpicked committee, insiders believe the first direct face-to-face interaction with militants has hit a stalemate and unless some quick decisions are taken, it will be difficult to prolong the ceasefire. The ceasefire is to expire on Monday.

According to an insider, the militants have set two conditions for continuation of the peace talks. One, the creation of a demilitarised peace zone in mountainous Shaktoi, South Waziristan, to allow freedom of movement and two, the release of non-combatants.

The insider said the five-member militants’ committee sought written guarantees before they could commit to an extension in the month-long ceasefire. “For nearly seven hours, we talked to them about the destruction wrought by over a decade of violence, the loss of lives and property and displacement of people.

“We said ‘let bygones be bygones, let’s bury the hatchet and make a new beginning’,” the insider said.

“Nothing seemed to appeal to them. I have come back really disappointed. The chances of success and continuation are not terribly bright. This is a non-starter,” he said.

“We couldn’t offer any written guarantees. It was not our mandate, so we came back without winning any commitment either for an extension of ceasefire or the release of non-combatants in their custody,” he said. “The militants have tied the continuation of the peace talks or extension of ceasefire on acceptance of their demands.”

He described the situation as a stalemate, adding it was now for the federal government to reply.

He said that militants had handed them over a list of 250 non-combatants. The list includes names of women, children and the elderly. The military has already denied they have women, children and the elderly in their custody. “We told them we will investigate the matter,” the insider said.

The militants’ committee also handed the committee representing the state a list of some seven hundred combatants for a possible release.

He said the militant leaders’ argument for a demilitarised peace zone was to ensure they could move around freely. “They said it took them two days to get to the venue of the talks at Bilandkhel, crossing streams and walking through mountains.”

The militants insisted the ceasefire was unilateral and accused the government of not respecting the terms of disengagement. “They brought out a list of incidents involving raids by security forces in Mohmand, Bajaur, Karachi and other places.

“They said that our people were being picked up and tortured. We responded by pointing out the execution of 23 militiamen. But the argument didn’t work,” the insider said.

RESCUE ACT: What could salvage the situation, the insider was asked. “The government will have to release some non-combatants as a confidence-building measure. It may consider ‘quietly releasing a few others too’.”

Asked if the militants showed any willingness to release Prof Ajmal Khan, the aged Vice Chancellor of Peshawar University, Shahbaz Taseer, son of the late governor of Punjab, and Ali Haider Gilani, son of the former prime minister, the insider said: “We brought up the matter of their release and asked if they would be willing to release them.

“We said they were also non-combatants and must be released as part of confidence-building measures. Their response was straight.

They could swap Ajmal Khan for three of their fighters arrested in connection with his abduction - a proposition the TTP had made a year ago.

Furthermore, they said, those in captivity belonged to political parties the militants are at war with and therefore, they were not non-combatants.”

Asked how soon the talks could resume, the insider said it depended on how soon the government replied to the demands. This could happen before the expiry of the ceasefire, possibly in Bakkakhel in Frontier Region (FR) Bannu, on the boundary with North Waziristan. The area could be converted into a peace zone, he suggested.

“The first meeting was more about confidence-building measures and we couldn’t make any progress there. What will happen when we talk about more substantive issues,” the insider wondered.

There were some tense moments. When one member of the committee, who represented the state, tried to explain in his opening remarks why the Taliban campaign in this country cannot be called a ‘Jihad’, Qari Shakeel, a key member of the Taliban committee, advised him not to lecture them about “Jihad”. Another member of the government committee had to intervene to cool down the atmosphere.

But amid the serious talk, there were some lighter moments as well, recalled the insider. What he found most amusing was the journey to and from the venue of the negotiations. A paramilitary unit escorted them and turned them over to the militants for onward journey to an unknown place and when the militants escorted them on their way back, they handed them over to the unit for onward journey. “It was simply a handing over, taking over ceremony. They even shook hands with each other. This brought a smile to my lips, ” the insider said.

Pakistan not aware of militants going to Syria

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: The government said on Thursday it was unaware about Al Qaeda fighters relocating from Pakistan to Syria.

ISLAMABAD: The government said on Thursday it was unaware about Al Qaeda fighters relocating from Pakistan to Syria.

“We have no information how Al Qaeda could be travelling from Pakistan to Syria,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said at the weekly media briefing.

She was commenting on a reported statement of CIA director John Brennan before a House of Representatives panel in which he, on the basis of intelligence reports, claimed that Al Qaeda strategists were moving from Pakistan to Syria to lay foundation for future attacks in Europe and the United States by recruiting Western militants fighting the Assad regime alongside the rebels.

The spokesperson said the US had not shared the intelligence with Pakistan.

The US intelligence notwithstanding there have been multiple local reports about militants, including those associated with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, travelling to Syria to bolster the rebel ranks. But the government has been in a denial mode.

Pakistani militants, reports indicate, alone form the largest group of foreign fighters in Syria.

The debate on Saudi donation of $1.5 billion has swerved into denials by the government about Pakistan deploying troops abroad. However, the core issue of militants’ movement to Syria has largely gone unnoticed in the discussions in the policy-making circles.

IRAN: The spokesperson said the body of slain Iranian border guard was not found inside Pakistan.

Jaish al-Adl, the group that claims to have kidnapped five Iranian guards in February had reportedly killed one of them. Iran has said that it holds Pakistan responsible for safety and security of the kidnapped guards. Islamabad has denied that the kidnapped guards are being held in Pakistan.

About the conversation between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on telephone on the issue of kidnapped guards, Ms Aslam said: “The tone of the discussions has been positive and friendly. We are neither apologetic nor we are expected to be aggressive.”

She noted that despite the hostage crisis it was important that both countries had emphasised on “a very strong relationship”. She reiterated the government’s commitment to continue to work with Tehran for further strengthening the relationship.

INDIA: The spokesperson said that Prime Minister Sharif had in The Hague asked “common friends” to convince India to return to peace talks with Pakistan.

Her comments implied that Mr Sharif had not sought foreign mediation for resolving the Kashmir dispute.

“What the prime minister essentially said in The Hague is that if there is reluctance on Indian side to resolve this issue bilaterally, our common friends can help convince India to come to the negotiating table. It’s not an internal affair of India,” she said.

Urging the Indian leadership to make peace with Pakistan, the spokesperson said, “Now the choice we have is to move like other regions towards developing good neighbourly relations, forging economic ties, increasing people-to-people contacts so that people in this region can also benefit from regional trade and economic cooperation and connectivity. People in the region also deserve to reap the benefits of economic cooperation.”

Support for Afghan peace efforts reiterated

Agencies

KABUL: President Mamnoon Hussain on Thursday expressed solidarity with Afghan people in their pursuit for peace and reaffirmed Pakistan’s support for a stable Afghanistan.

KABUL: President Mamnoon Hussain on Thursday expressed solidarity with Afghan people in their pursuit for peace and reaffirmed Pakistan’s support for a stable Afghanistan.

Pakistan continued to support and facilitate efforts for an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process, he said at a quadrilateral summit here, attended also by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

President Hussain said: “We have consistently emphasised the centrality of a political solution and underscored the need for all Afghans to join the peace talks.

“We are convinced that the road to sustainable peace in Afghanistan (passes) only through peaceful dialogue.”

He said countries in the region could facilitate the Afghan reconciliation process by adopting “principles of non-interference and mutual respect for sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity”.

He said that presidents of four regional countries were meeting in Kabul at a critical juncture in the history of Afghanistan. “The security, political and economic transitions under way in Afghanistan are of immense importance,” he remarked.

Pakistan, he said, had developed vision of a peaceful neighbourhood. “As part of this vision, we have reached out to all our neighbours and are seeking to build qualitatively enhanced relations.

“We cannot remain peaceful if our neighbourhood or region is not at peace. We face common challenges of extremism, terrorism, drug trafficking and trans-national organised crime.”

The four countries are already cooperating in different formats and settings to combat and address these challenges. “Our countries are already working together on different energy and infrastructure projects, including CASA-1000, Tapi and Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline,” President Hussain added.

He expressed the hope that in addition to boosting trade and commerce in the region the projects would help reinforce efforts for reconstruction and economic development in Afghanistan.

He said that Pakistan wanted to forge a comprehensive and multi-faceted relationship with Afghanistan, marked by a trade and economic partnership. “Pakistan has enhanced bilateral assistance for reconstruction and rehabilitation in Afghanistan to $500 million.”

Later, President Hussain separately met President Karzai and discussed with him bilateral relations, regional issues and enhanced cooperation among Muslim countries.

The two presidents agreed that terrorism posed a common threat to their countries and that it was important to work together to effectively combat the menace.

The two countries must continue to strengthen mutual cooperation so that their vast potential for progress and prosperity could be realised, they said.

Earlier, speaking at a function held to mark Nauroz, President Hussain said Pakistan would continue to support all endeavours aimed at promoting peace, progress and shared prosperity.

He conveyed greetings to 300 million people who celebrated Nauroz around the world.

He said the function “illustrated the cultural solidarity that our diverse countries — located in West, Central and South Asia — shared with each other”.

Foreign occupation

In his Nauroz address, Iranian President Rouhani pointed out that Afghanistan was occupied twice by foreign countries.

Referring to the occupations by Soviet Union in the 1980s and the US and allied troops who ousted the Taliban government, the Iranian president said these “brought the unfortunate seed of violence in this country, which has damaged the lives of people and this country.

“My country, the Islamic Republic of Iran, has condemned both occupations and has helped the people of Afghanistan in both periods of time,” he said.

Rouhani was in Kabul for his first official visit to Afghanistan as president. His visit came at a crucial time for Afghanistan, with national elections being held in just over a week and most US and allied troops withdrawing by year’s end.—Agencies

Unusual rising of Special Court triggers rumours

Malik Asad

ISLAMABAD: The unexpected and unusual rising of the three-judge Special Court during the hearing about matters relating to the high treason case against former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf led the prosecution and defence teams to wrongly assume that the court might have been dissolved, but the order issued on the day spoke otherwise.

The court again directed Mr Musharraf to appear in person on March 31 to face the treason charges for imposing the 2007 emergency.

Although the court’s registrar, after the rising of the judges at about 10am on Thursday, communicated to the prosecutors that the order would be announced at 3pm, contrary to the earlier practice when media personnel had to wait even after the scheduled time of the announcement, the order was announced at 2pm.

The air of uncertainty defused only after the court clarified that it “rose for the day” only.

After the rising of the court, the prosecutors led by Akram Sheikh assembled in the National Library’s Lincoln Reading Hall to discuss future strategy. Like Mr Musharraf’s lawyers and journalists, they were also under the impression that at least the chief judge of the court had recused himself from the case.

“It will set a bad precedent,” Dr Tariq Hassan, senior prosecutor, said of the unexpected rising of the court. “Will the accused decide about the prosecutors and the judges,” he wondered.

Akram Sheikh, head of the prosecution team who always remains in a witty mood, was also worried about the development. Asked what would happen if the chief judge announced not to proceed with the matter, he said in that case the government would initiate the process of appointment of another judge and it would take about three to four days. But he said he was optimistic that the court would clear the situation in its order.

On the other hand, Musharraf’s lawyers claimed that the court had been dissolved.

“All the proceedings have become null and void,” lead defence counsel Sharifuddin Pirzada said, adding that non-bailable warrants had also become irrelevant.

The court said in its order: “The conduct of Anwar Mansoor Khan (Musharraf’s lawyer) did not demonstrate the level of decency towards the court which is expected from a senior counsel. Disgusted by such an attitude the court rose for the day.”

Earlier the court started the proceedings as usual. It took up an application of Mr Musharraf seeking recalling of the order for issuing non-bailable arrest warrants for him.

The environment of the courtroom became tense when Akram Sheikh rebutted the application and Musharraf’s counsel requested the court to stop him from advancing arguments.

“Now the lawmakers in the National Assembly and Senate have started saying that Advocate Sheikh has been given the agenda of prosecuting Mr Musharraf at all cost,” Mansoor Khan alleged. “Defence lawyers have challenged the appointment of Advocate Sheikh as head of the prosecution team, but he has been allowed to argue despite our reservations,” he regretted.

“It is up to the court to decide the appointment of Advocate Sheikh and mere filing an application does not amount to disqualification of the prosecutor”, observed Justice Faisal Arab, who heads the three-judge court.

“We are not comfortable with such state of affairs,” Mr Khan said.

Justice Arab told him that if he was aggrieved by the orders of this court he had every right to impugn the same before a court of competent jurisdiction.

When the counsel continued to express his no-confidence in the court, Justice Arab said: “If you are still apprehensive that the court is not neutral then we are also not interested in proceeding with this matter.”

The judge said there was no dearth of judges in the country. “I will not proceed with this matter at all.”

The judges then went to the chamber and after a meeting of half an hour they left the court premises.

Later, Abdul Ghani Soomro, registrar of the Special Court, announced the order in the courtroom-6 of the Federal Shariat Court.

Govt holds first direct talks with Taliban

Zulfiqar Ali

PESHAWAR: Government negotiators held on Wednesday first face-to-face talks with Taliban leaders in an area adjacent to North Waziristan.

PESHAWAR: Government negotiators held on Wednesday first face-to-face talks with Taliban leaders in an area adjacent to North Waziristan.

According to official sources, the meeting was held at the residence of retired Subedar of Frontier Corps, identified only as Jamil, in Bilandkhel area of Orakzai Agency near garrison town of Thall.

Members of the government and TTP committees flew from Peshawar to Thall in a military helicopter and later went to Bilandkhel.

According to the sources, the meeting between government negotiators and TTP Shura members was held in two sessions. Maulana Samiul Haq, Professor Ibrahim and Maulana Yousaf Shah, members of the TTP committee, also attended the talks.

The sources said an official of a premier intelligence agency was also present.

The government team comprises federal secretaries Habibullah Khan and Fawad Hassan, additional chief secretary Fata Arbab Mohammad Arif, former ambassador to Afghanistan Rustam Shah Mohmand and ex-ISI officer Mohammad Amir.

The Shura of the outlawed TTP was represented by Qari Shakil, Maulana Azam Tariq, Maulvi Bashir and Maulvi Zakir.

The sources said the issues of extending the ceasefire announced by the TTP and release of prisoners held by the two sides came under discussion.

The government has demanded release of Ajmal Khan, Vice Chancellor of Islamia College University, Peshawar; Ali Haider Gilani, son of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani; and Shahbaz Taseer, son of slain Punjab governor Salman Taseer.

Taliban are yet to confirm that these people are in their custody.

The TTP has demanded release of about 300 non-combatants, including women, children and the elderly who, it claims, are in the custody of security forces. The army has denied the claim.

Addressing a press conference in Peshawar after returning from Thall in the evening, TTP negotiators called the direct contact between the government committee and the Taliban leadership an important development and said the nation would soon hear good news.

Maulana Samiul Haq, head of the TTP committee, said the two sides had agreed to continue talks and take them to logical conclusion. The next round of talks was expected in a couple of days, he added.

He did not divulge details of the demands made by the two sides and major points taken up during the talks, but quoted the Taliban leaders as saying that they now knew who were in favour of peace and who were against it.

The Maulana said the meeting started at 11am and continued till 5pm. Both sides listened to each other’s points of view with patience. “With these direct talks, the process of confidence-building has started which is nothing short of a miracle,” he said.

He expressed the hope that all hurdles would be overcome and both sides would strive to avoid any deadlock in talks.

At the outset of the press conference, Maulana Yousaf Shah said he would not answer any question. But at the insistence of journalists who wanted to know whether the ceasefire would continue, Maulana Sami and Professor Ibrahim only said the nation would soon hear good news.

Prof Ibrahim said there was hope for ending the decade-long conflict. He said the peace mission had been initiated by Maulana Samiul Haq for which the entire nation was grateful to him. He claimed that both the Taliban and the government wanted restoration of peace.

According to AP news agency, Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid cast the meeting in a positive light. “The talks with the government team were held in a cordial atmosphere. The two sides discussed all the issues, including how to exchange each other’s prisoners and continue the ceasefire.”

He said the Taliban treated the government team as “guests”.

But talking to AFP, Shahidullah said he had no news to share. “I am yet to see Shura members who held talks with the government team and I will share the details later once I have a meeting with them.”

Talking to journalists in Islamabad, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said he had nothing to share with the media. He, however, said: “The government team is there for talks with the Taliban, and the peace process is progressing well.”

Govt to oppose handover of BB jewellery

Amir Wasim

ISLAMABAD: A letter written by PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari to the Swiss authorities to seek return of confiscated jewellery of his late wife Benazir Bhutto is set to spark a legal battle in Switzerland because the government has decided to oppose the move.

“We will contest the claim of Mr Zardari and oppose the handover of the jewellery to him,” Federal Law Secretary Barrister Zafarullah Khan told Dawn, confirming that he had received a formal communication from Switzerland.

He said that the Swiss authorities would be requested to hand over the jewellery or any other valuables in their possession to the Pakistan government.

Asked on what grounds the government would make a claim on the jewellery, he said that he could not comment on technical grounds because a case would be prepared by a legal team.

The jewellery, including a necklace worth over $300,000, had reportedly been confiscated by the Swiss court as “case property” in 1997 during the hearing of money laundering cases against the former prime minister and her husband.

A law ministry official said that he had received an email last week from a lawyer belonging to the firm hired by the government to pursue cases in Switzerland, which said that the Swiss authorities had received the request from Mr Zardari.

But he did not disclose whether the request had been made by Mr Zardari himself or by any other person on his behalf.

The official said that the Swiss authorities had sought a reply from the government as it was a party in the cases filed against the PPP leaders in 1990s.

“Switzerland needs Islamabad’s response because the jewellery was confiscated as case property during the investigation. But all charges, including those relating to corruption, were dropped in 2007 under the National Reconciliation Ordinance,” he said.

Mr Zardari’s spokesman Senator Farhatullah Khan Babar said that he was not aware about any letter written by Mr Zardari to the Swiss authorities.

Farooq Naek, former law minister and counsel for Mr Zardari, could not be contacted for comments despite repeated attempts.

The PPP did not issue any contradiction of a report about the letter, which was a regular feature during evening transmission of TV channels.

Court martial won’t affect SC jurisdiction

Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court said on Wednesday that the court martial of two army officers for their alleged involvement in enforced disappearances in Balochistan would not take away its jurisdiction since the final appeal against the military court’s decision would still come to it.

“The Supreme Court still has the jurisdiction because the appeal against the final order will come to it,” Justice Amir Hani Muslim, head of a two-judge bench hearing a case pertaining to breakdown of law and order in Balochistan, said.

“It is just like a trial before an anti-terrorism court where the appeal ultimately reaches the Supreme Court,” he said.

The observation came when the chairman of the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons, Nasrullah Baloch, conveyed apprehensions on behalf of the relatives of the missing persons that a military trial of the two army officers would be inaccessible to them.

The court had been informed on Tuesday that the government wanted two serving military officers who had returned to their units after serving in the Frontier Corps (FC) in Balochistan to be tried under the Pakistan Army Act of 1952 on charges of picking up Baloch people.

Balochistan Advocate General Nazimuddin said the provincial government had yet to formally convey to the federal government its decision regarding court martial of the officers, but it would be done soon.

The decision was to be taken after a meeting between the chief secretary of Balochistan and FC lawyer Irfan Qadir on how to proceed against the army officers.

Advocate Qadir said the meeting was yet to be held because the chief secretary was not available, but he had conveyed to him by phone the willingness of the provincial government for a trial of the officers under the army act.

He said the Balochistan government should expedite the matter of conveying the decision to the federal authorities.

Justice Muslim said that tentatively, all the serving army officers, even if involved in civil matters, should be tried under the army act because a military trial usually did not consume much time.

He said conviction or acquittal by the military court would not take away the right of appeal of the aggrieved parties at the final forum -- the Supreme Court.

The advocate general explained a meeting between the chief secretary and the FC counsel had been scheduled for March 24, but the official had been summoned by the prime minister and then he had to go abroad. He will return by April 1.

The court asked the chief secretary to hold the meeting immediately after returning to the country to find a viable solution to the Baloch missing persons issue.

When the case of missing Zakir Majeed was highlighted by Nasrullah Baloch, the court noted that although he had been dubbed as missing, the Balochistan High Court had declared him an absconder in cases registered in 2008.

MASS GRAVES: About the discovery of mass graves in Khuzdar where 13 decomposed bodies had been found, the Balochistan government told the court that 14 DNA samples from the bodies had been sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency for tests.

The cost of the tests is Rs505,000 and the finalisation of report will take four to five months. Two bodies have been handed over the families of the deceased, while burial of the rest is pending because of the DNA tests.

The court ordered Punjab Advocate General Mustafa Ramday to appear before it and explain why so much time was being consumed. The hearing was adjourned for two weeks.

Iranian guards not being held in Pakistan: FO

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has condemned the killing of one of the five abducted Iranian guards and reiterated its position that they were not being held on its soil.

“Our investigations have neither corroborated nor established the entry into or presence within Pakistani territory of the Iranian border guards,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said in a statement on Wednesday.

Her comments followed remarks by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Marzieh Afkham that her government considered Pakistani government responsible for the safety of the kidnapped guards.

Five Iranian border guards were kidnapped on February 6 from Pak-Iran border by an Iranian militant group Jaish al-Adl which is accused of having sanctuaries in Pakistan’s Balochistan province.

The group has now claimed to have killed one of the guards identified as Jamshid Danaeefar.Iran sharply reacted to reports of the killing of the guard and accused Pakistan of failing to take serious measures for ensuring the safety of the guards. The Iranian foreign ministry called for immediate capture of the terrorists and their extradition to Iran.

“Unfortunately, terrorist groups have utilised Pakistani soil in the past few months to carry out terrorist acts against Iranian citizens and Iran’s national interests,” Ms Afkham said.

Responding to the Iranian comments, the Pakistani FO spokesperson offered condolences.

“Pakistan is deeply saddened over the reported killing of one of the five Iranian border guards, abducted in the Sistan-Baluchestan province of Iran last month. We condemn this terrorist act, and share the grief and agony of the families of the martyr and the other border guards,” she said.

Ms Aslam renewed Pakistan’s offer of taking action on “any credible and actionable intelligence made available to it”.

She recalled that following the last meeting of the Joint Pak-Iran Border Commission in Quetta on February 19-20, a border coordination committee was set up to assist with the recovery efforts.

A BBC-Farsi report earlier quoted Ms Aslam as having said that despite the constitution of the coordination committee Iranian officials never contacted them (in that regard).

She, however, later told Dawn that “there was a joint visit to the site 10km inside Iranian territory from where, they say, their guards were kidnapped. I’m not aware how the committee was coordinating subsequently. Hence, I cannot and did not comment on whether Iranians were attending the meetings or not”.

PAK ENVOY SUMMONED: Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed “grave concern” about the fate of the soldier, reports AFP.

“We did all we could to secure their release,” Mr Zarif told state television after a cabinet meeting.

“But it is disappointing that the Pakistani government has failed to secure its borders, and allows terrorists to operate on its soil.”

Mr Zarif’s remarks came after his ministry summoned Pakistani Ambassador Nour Mohammad Jadmani, demanding “swift and serious action” to secure the release of the soldiers, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli warned – without elaborating – that Iran “reserves the right to utilise all its ability in its border areas”.

Jaish al-Adl said on its website on Sunday that Jamshid Danaeefar had been killed, warning of further executions should Tehran refuse to “release Sunni prisoners”.Iran’s interior ministry says it is awaiting Islamabad’s official position amid media reports that local Pakistani authorities have confirmed the group’s claim.

The rebel group, which took up arms in 2012 to fight for what it says are the rights of Iran’s minority Sunni population, is active in the restive Sistan-Baluchestan province.

In November it claimed responsibility for killing a local prosecutor, a month after its rebels killed 14 Iranian border guards in an ambush.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned in a Tuesday statement the reported killing as an “appalling act” and urged that the perpetrators are brought to justice.

A spokesman for the US State Department, Alan Eyre, called for the “swift release” of the abducted soldiers while expressing hope the reported execution was not true.

Shortly after the abduction, Iranians launched a campaign on Twitter, despite the micro-blogging service being banned in Iran.

Some Iranians have used social media to hit out at the Tehran government for its inability to bring home the young soldiers, who were serving their 24-month mandatory military service.Border guards chief Hossein Zolfaghari has admitted that there was “negligence” in the lead-up to the kidnapping, saying those responsible were suspended, with some facing prosecution.

Rouhani seeks swift action

AFP

TEHRAN: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a telephone call with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif demanded “serious and swift action” by Pakistan to secure the release of the abducted guards.

TEHRAN: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a telephone call with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif demanded “serious and swift action” by Pakistan to secure the release of the abducted guards.

“We expect to hear good news in this regard,” he said, while calling for “joint action by both countries against terrorists”, the official Irna news agency reported.

Mr Sharif said the issue was of “utmost importance” to his government and that he was “prepared to boost action to free the soldiers”.—AFP

$1.5bn ‘gift’ not conditional, Dar tells NA

Raja Asghar

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told the National Assembly on Wednesday that a recent $1.5 billion ‘gift’ received from an unspecified friendly country — but most probably from Saudi Arabia — came through normal banking channels and was without conditions that could involve Pakistan in a proxy war in any Arab country like Syria.

But what he called his categorical statement on behalf of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that Pakistan would not send troops or weapons to the area, his assurance avoided to address fears expressed by critics about the possibility of recruitment of Pakistani citizens as so-called volunteers to help Syrian rebels seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad or to aid the Bahraini ruler quell dissidents.

Initially, Mr Dar explained the arrival of $1.5 billion as a “totally friendly gift” deposited in the State Bank of Pakistan in two in instalments -- $750 million on Feb 19 and the remainder on March 7 – from donors who he said did not want to be identified and its impact on the national economy like an appreciation of the rupee against the US dollar.

But after three opposition parties and a government ally voiced fears about the possibility of hidden strings attached to the amount — which he said carried no interest and was not to be repaid — that the minister, as “a privy to this grant”, offered to make a statement on behalf of the prime minister, now visiting abroad, that there were “no conditions” attached and that neither Pakistani troops nor ammunitions would be sent out.

“At no cost will the PML-N government send Pakistani forces to any other country for cooperation,” Mr Dar claimed, adding: “After this, our colleagues should feel satisfied.”

“It is totally a friendly gift as they had done in 1999,” he said, recalling what he called $2 billion worth of petrol and diesel received by Pakistan under a Saudi oil facility to help Pakistan tide over international sanctions imposed after its May 1998 nuclear tests in retaliation against similar tests conducted by India.

That remark was an implied admission by the finance minister that the new gift also came from Saudi Arabia after he had refused to disclose the source of the amount, saying that whether it was “one or two” donors, it was from the same 26 countries that pledged contributions worth $6.235 billion from the Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FODP) forum formed in 2008 in the early days of the previous PPP-led coalition government but disbursed only $341 million.

“You saw a dream and we completed its ‘ta’beer’ (interpretation),” Mr Dar said, addressing himself to the PPP.

One of whose former finance ministers, Naveed Qamar, insisted the grant came from Saudi Arabia and warned of a “blowback” in Pakistan of any involvement in a proxy war just like the consequences of the Afghan conflict.

The finance minister said no addition to the present ‘gift’ was planned nor the government’s economic affairs division would pursue the unfulfilled pledges made from the Friends of Democratic Pakistan platform, while he assured the house that part of the new grant would be spent on extending the Islamabad-Lahore motorway to Karachi.

Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi had demanded a categorical statement from either the prime minister or Defence Minister Khwaja Mohmmad Asif about any military strings attached to the gift, while Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s parliamentary leader Farooq Sattar said it was “incomprehensible for me” that the $1.5 billion gift could be without strings.

Mahmood Khan Achakzai, chief of the government-allied Pakhtunkhawa Milli Awami Party, said Pakistan should try to persuade Saudi Arabia and Turkey against taking sides in the Syrian civil war rather than itself getting involved and risk bad blood with “another neighbour”.

Leaders call for more steps to prevent N-terror

Agencies

THE HAGUE: World leaders called upon countries on Tuesday to cut their use and stocks of highly enriched nuclear fuel to the minimum to help prevent militants from obtaining material for atomic bombs.

THE HAGUE: World leaders called upon countries on Tuesday to cut their use and stocks of highly enriched nuclear fuel to the minimum to help prevent militants from obtaining material for atomic bombs.

Winding up the third Nuclear Security Summit, 53 countries — including the United States and Russia at a time of high tension between them — agreed much headway had been made in the past four years.

But they also underlined that many challenges remained and stressed the need for increased international cooperation to make sure highly enriched uranium (HEU), plutonium and other radioactive substances did not fall into the wrong hands.

The US and Russia set aside their differences over Crimea to endorse the meeting’s final statement aimed at enhancing nuclear security around the world, together with other big powers including China, France, Germany and Britain.

US President Barack Obama said Ukraine’s decision at the first nuclear security summit in Washington in 2010 to remove all of its HEU was a “vivid reminder that the more of this material we can secure, the safer all of our countries will be”.

“Had that not happened, those dangerous nuclear materials would still be there now,” he told a news conference. “And the difficult situation we are dealing with in Ukraine today would involve yet another level of concern.”

At this year’s summit, Belgium and Italy announced that they had shipped out HEU and plutonium to the US for down-blending into less proliferation-sensitive material or disposal. Japan said it would send hundreds of kilograms of such material to the US.

“We encourage states to minimise their stocks of HEU and to keep their stockpile of separated plutonium to the minimum level,” said the summit communique, which went further in this respect than the previous summit, held in Seoul in 2012.

A fourth meeting will be held in Chicago in 2016, returning to the US where the process was launched by Obama.

“We still have a lot more work to do to fulfil the ambitious goals we set four years ago to fully secure all nuclear and radiological material, civilian and military,” President Obama said.

To drive home the importance of being prepared, the Dutch hosts sprang a surprise by organising a simulation game for the leaders in which they were asked to react to a fictitious nuclear attack or accident in a made-up state, officials said.

Analysts say that radical groups could theoretically build a crude but deadly nuclear bomb if they had the money, technical knowledge and fissile substances needed.

Obtaining weapons-grade nuclear material — HEU or plutonium — poses the biggest challenge for militants, so it must be kept secure both at civilian and military sites, they say.

Around 2,000 tonnes of highly-radioactive materials are spread across hundreds of sites in 25 countries. Most of the material is under military control but a significant quantity is stored in less secured civilian locations, according to the Fissile Materials Working Group (FMWG).

Since 1991, the number of countries with nuclear weapons-usable material has roughly halved from some 50.

However, more than 120 research and isotope production reactors around the world still use HEU for fuel or targets, many of them with “very modest” security measures, a Harvard Kennedy School report said this month.

SHARIF’S SPEECH: Addressing an informal plenary of the summit, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif stressed constant vigilance and preparedness at the national level as well as international cooperation, which were necessary to strengthen the nuclear security.

“Let me clarify that there is no such thing as ‘nuclear security fatigue’. Nuclear security is a continuous national responsibility,” the prime minister said.

He suggested that in the years to come, the states should maintain the political will and high level focus to advance the agenda of nuclear security.

“In future, while implementing our decisions, we have to strike a balance between confidentiality and openness; and steer away from both alarmism and complacency. Nuclear security must not fade off the leaders’ radar screens,” he said.The prime minister expressed the pleasure that US President Barack Obama would be hosting the next nuclear security summit (NSS) in 2016.

“It is only fitting that this process, which was launched in the United States, is also concluded there. We know we cannot hold the summits in perpetuity,” he said.

He said in the past four years, three summits had made progress; and their next summit would cover fresh ground. “We have to look beyond the present process and the 2016.”

Prime Minister Sharif also stressed the need to broaden participation in this process for widening its ownership to enhance its legitimacy.

It makes perfect sense that beyond 2016 the entire membership of the IAEA owns and upholds the decisions taken by the nuclear security summits, he said.—Agencies

Bad weather defers govt-TTP talks

Bureau Report

PESHAWAR: Talks scheduled for Tuesday between government negotiators and the leadership of outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan were deferred because of bad weather.

PESHAWAR: Talks scheduled for Tuesday between government negotiators and the leadership of outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan were deferred because of bad weather.

Prof Mohammad Ibrahim, a member of the TTP negotiation team, said that a new date for talks would be announced soon. He was talking to newsmen at Jamaat-i-Islami’s provincial headquarters.

He declined to disclose the venue of the talks and said “this is a secret and we can’t disclose it”. He also refused to share the agenda of the meeting.

Prof Ibrahim said that because of inclement weather the helicopter carrying the negotiators, some elderly people among them, could not take off from Islamabad.

He said Maulana Samiul Haq, head of the Taliban committee, would also take part in direct talks.

Qari Shakil, Azam Tariq, Maulvi Zakir and Maulvi Bashir will represent the TTP in the talks with a four-member government committee headed by senior bureaucrat Habibullah Khan.

Prof Ibrahim said he hoped the Taliban would extend the ceasefire declared earlier this month for 30 days. He said the Taliban called for release of 300 non-combatants who, according to them, were in the custody of security forces. But the Inter-Services Public Relations has denied the claim.

The government, he said, had demanded release of Ajmal Khan, Vice Chancellor of Islamia College University, Haider Gilani and Shahbaz Taseer. The TTP committee had already asked the Taliban Shura to set Ajmal Khan free, he said.Jamaat-i-Islami will hold a peace conference in Peshawar on April 3 and has invited Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, Maulana Samiul Haq and Syed Munawar Hasan to attend it.

Minister appeases hardliners on child marriage bill

Raja Asghar

ISLAMABAD: The religious affairs minister on Tuesday seemed appeasing mullahs who failed to stop the introduction of a private bill in the National Assembly that seeks to make child marriage a cognizable offence with higher punishment for violations.

The bill, brought by five lawmakers of the ruling PML-N, invited a retrogressive tirade from Maulana Mohammad Khan Shirani, chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and a member of the government-allied Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F), who, along with another party colleague, called the move contrary to Islam and the Constitution, pressing a stance that recently outraged liberal circles and rights groups.

The Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Sardar Mohammad Yousaf, did little to conceal his apparent tilt towards Maulana Shirani’s ideas, saying the house standing committee asked to vet the bill should take CII opinion on the issue or send the draft to the council if deemed necessary — a course that could put the fate of the bill in great doubt.

Also, there seemed little coordination on Tuesday among opponents of child marriage despite a recent denunciation of Maulana Shirani’s views by a parliamentary women’s caucus as only the lead author of the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, Marvi Memon, stood up to advocate its cause to prevent marriages below the adulthood age of 18 for reasons of health hazards to girls and social problems.

While opposition parties like the PPP and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) refrained from making a common cause with members of the ruling party, none of even Ms Menon’s own party colleagues challenged Maulana Shirani’s claims that the bill violated several articles of the Constitution forbidding legislation contrary to Quran and Sunnah.

“Such laws relating to religious issue should not be brought directly … without reference to the Council of Islamic Ideology,” said Maulana Shirani, who was later vehemently endorsed by his party colleague Maulana Ameer Zaman.

“Nobody differs with what the Maulana said (about CII opinion),” Mr Yousaf said, adding: “The committee will consider those recommendations.”

The bill seeks to amend the British-era Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, to empower family courts established under the Pakistan Family Court Act, 1964, to take cognizance of an offence and to provide for a punishment with up to two years’ rigorous imprisonment, or with a fine of up to Rs100,000 (instead of the presently provided one month’s simple imprisonment of and a fine of Rs1,000) , or with both. A defiance of a court injunction will also be punishable with up to one year’s imprisonment of either description or a fine of Rs100,000, or with both.

Four other private bills were also introduced and referred to the standing committees concerned on the first private members’ day of the present session, which began on Monday, including one from Asiya Nasir of JUI-F and five other lawmakers from non-Muslim minority communities, seeking to amend the Constitution to increase minorities’ seat in the National Assembly to 16 from 10 and raise the strength of the house to 348 from 342.

Another bill introduced by Marvi Memon seeks to prohibit corporal punishment against children. A bill by PML-N’s Tahira Aurangzeb seeks to facilitate provision of jobs to disabled persons in both public and private sectors and another by JUI-F’s Maulana Ameer Zaman seeks to amend the Constitution to provide for the establishment of a high court bench in Loralai town of Balochistan.

Later, the house, before adjourning until 10.30am on Wednesday, unanimously passed a resolution moved by PTI’s Asad Omar demanding that the government “take measures to reduce indirect taxation in the country”, after an animated debate marked by complaints about evasion of taxes by the rich and the brunt of indirect taxation borne by the poor and middle classes.

Rana Mohammad Afzal, parliamentary secretary for finance, informed the house that the government was already working on broadening the tax base and said that those refusing to divulge their incomes, from about 77,000 people to whom notices had been issued, could face cancellation of their computerised national identity cards.

Govt wants 2 military officers tried under army act, SC told

Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was informed on Tuesday that the federal government wanted two serving military officers tried under the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) 1952 for their alleged involvement in enforced disappearances of Baloch people.

“I had a meeting with the Balochistan chief secretary who told me that the federal government had sent a requisition to the provincial government for trial of the two army officers under the PAA,” Advocate Irfan Qadir, representing the Frontier Corps Balochistan, informed a three-judge bench headed by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk which had taken up a case about law and order situation in Balochistan.

The court ordered the chief secretary of Balochistan, Irfan Qadir and the Crime Investigation Department (CID) to hold a meeting and decide how to proceed against the army officers.

The officers had to be produced or their particulars provided to the investigating officer of CID Quetta looking into allegations about enforced disappearances, but the Balochistan government admitted in the apex court on Jan 30 that it was helpless because it had no effective control over the FC which was accused of picking up people.

The court was also informed that of the 33 missing persons the FC had been accused of having picked up 19. Eight of them were with intelligence agencies, mainly the Military Intelligence, and the remaining six either with police or Levies.

At the last hearing on March 7, the court directed the Balochistan government to come up with a clear stance, whether the two military officers would be tried by it under the Criminal Procedure Code or their cases would be referred to the army authorities for trial under the army act.

The directive was issued after former additional attorney general Shah Khawar claimed that the military authorities had expressed their willingness to take over the case and try the officers under the PAA read in conjunction with the Army Regulation (Rules) 373.

The officers accused by the witnesses or complainants of picking up Baloch people are Maj Moheen (Usama) and Maj Saif. They worked in the FC on deputation but later sent back to their parent department, the Military Intelligence. Earlier, retired army officers Khalid Muneer Khan, Gen Muzaffar Afzal and Gen Khalid Zaheer who had served as directors general in the National Logistics Cell on different occasions were reinstated in the army and later tried by the court martial when their cases were referred to the National Accountability Bureau on corruption charges.

“No-one knows what happened to the court martial proceedings and whether they were sentenced or exonerated,” a senior lawyer said on condition of anonymity.

On Tuesday, Irfan Qadir informed the court that the federal government would try the army officers under the army act.

Referring to the mass graves found in Khuzdar, Advocate General of Balochistan Nizamuddin said a one-man tribunal of Justice Mohammad Noor Meskanzai of the Balochistan High Court was yet to complete its investigation and had sought another six months.

But he said he had no idea when asked by the court if DNA samples had been sent to a laboratory.

“Do you come here on a pleasure trip,” the court said and ordered him to inform it about the latest situation on DNA on Wednesday.

US role sought in Pak-India detente

APP

THE HAGUE: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif asked the US on Monday to play its role in normalising ties between Pakistan and India and said issues between the two neighbouring countries should be resolved.

Talking to reporters after a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry, he said India was hesitating to resolve the Kashmir issue bilaterally.

If India is not willing to include a third force in resolving the Kashmir issue then the United States will have to play its role in ensuring a normal situation in the region.

The prime minister said peace in Afghanistan was in the interest of Pakistan and the region.

He said Pakistan wanted to talk to the Afghan Peace Council to maintain peace in the region, adding that improved relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan should not be derailed.

The prime minister praised the US policy of discontinuing drone strikes in Pakistan and said this policy must be carried on.

During the meeting held on the sidelines of the two-day Nuclear Security Summit, Pakistan and the US reaffirmed their desire to continue their strategic dialogue, covering a wide range of areas.

The US secretary said his country had great confidence in Pakistan’s nuclear security and would continue to work with Pakistan in fighting terrorism.

In brief remarks to the media, he said the US would cooperate with Pakistan to help meet its energy needs.

Mr Kerry said the two countries were “deeply engaged” and would focus on the issues of terrorism and global energy, besides Afghanistan and the bilateral relations.

He said he was looking forward to his meeting with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar soon.

Prime Minister Sharif, in his speech at the Nuclear Security Summit, said Pakistan attached the highest importance to nuclear security because it was directly linked to the country’s national security.

He said: “Pakistan is a responsible nuclear weapons state and pursues a policy of nuclear restraint, as well as credible minimum deterrence.”

Leaders from 53 countries, the United Nations, European Union, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Interpol are attending the summit.

“Our region needs peace and stability for economic development that benefits its people. That is why, I strongly advocate nuclear restraint, balance in conventional forces and ways to resolve conflicts,” the prime minister said.

Pakistan’s nuclear security is supported by five pillars -- a strong command and control system led by the National Command Authority, an integrated intelligence system, a rigorous regulatory regime, a comprehensive export control regime and active international cooperation.

Mr Sharif said the country’s security regime covered physical protection, material control and accounting, border controls and radiological emergencies.

He said Pakistan’s nuclear material, facilities and assets were safe and secure and the nuclear security regime was anchored in the principle of multi-layered defence against the entire spectrum of threats — from inside, outside or cyber threat.

He said the country had set up a centre of excellence that conducted intense specialised courses in nuclear security, physical protection and personnel reliability and was ready to share its best practices and training facilities with other interested states in the region and beyond.The prime minister said Pakistan had been running a safe, secure and safeguarded civil nuclear programme for more than 40 years and it had the expertise, manpower and infrastructure to produce civil nuclear energy.

“As prime minister, I feel that energy deficit is one of the most serious crises facing Pakistan. As we revive our economy, we look forward to international cooperation and assistance for nuclear energy under IAEA safeguards,” he said.

He called for Pakistan’s inclusion in all international export control regimes, especially the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

The prime minister said all leaders gathered at the meeting wanted nuclear security which was a national responsibility and a global priority. All countries should continue to take measures to secure all nuclear facilities and material and prevent any perceived nuclear terrorist threat.

“We all need radioactive sources for hospitals, industry and research; but should be vigilant about radiological threats,” he said.

He said Pakistan had deployed radiation detection mechanisms at several exit and entry points to prevent illicit trafficking of radioactive and nuclear material.

The prime minister announced that Pakistan was considering ratification of the 2005 Amendment to the CPPNM and was actively conducting a review to meet its various requirements.—APP

IMF clears $555m for Pakistan

AFP

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund approved on Monday a fresh aid disbursement to Pakistan after the country passed the second review of its ongoing $6.8 billion support programme.

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund approved on Monday a fresh aid disbursement to Pakistan after the country passed the second review of its ongoing $6.8 billion support programme.

The IMF immediately freed $555.6 million for the country, with the money helping the government bridge financing gaps while it undertakes fiscal reforms required under the programme.

It was the third tranche of the three-year programme, approved in September 2013, which required the government to implement strict economic reforms, particularly in its energy sector and tax system.

The review followed the resignation at the end of January of the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Yaseen Anwar, after what were widely reported as policy differences with the government.

In the last fiscal year, Pakistan’s economy grew at 3.6 per cent and inflation fell to single digits. But the central bank has warned inflation could surge this year. Economists say growth needs to be 7pc to absorb the country’s booming population.—AFP

Sharif meets Obama, Xi and Gul

APP

THE HAGUE: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Monday met US President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkish President Abdullah Gul.

THE HAGUE: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Monday met US President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkish President Abdullah Gul.

The informal meetings were held on the sidelines of the two-day Nuclear Security Summit which started here on Monday. Mr Sharif discussed with them matters of bilateral relations and mutual interest.—APP

Furore in NA over US bar on MNA’s overflight

Raja Asghar

ISLAMABAD: In an apparent change of roles, an opposition anti-US outburst in the National Assembly on Monday provoked a government rebuff, which, in turn, led to an uproar before the house admitted for investigation an opposition lawmaker’s breach-of-privilege complaint for being barred from a PIA flight to Canada last week at the behest of an American agency.

The government ignored Leader of Opposition Khursheed Ahmed Shah’s demand that the foreign ministry lodge a protest with the American ambassador in Islamabad, though it agreed to the admission of Awami Muslim League president Sheikh Rashid Ahmed’s privilege motion over the alleged action of the US government’s Transport Security Administration which forced the Pakistan International Airlines to disallow him from boarding its flight to Toronto on Friday though he possessed a valid Canadian visa.

But Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, known for his severe attacks on US policies and actions as opposition leader during five years of the previous PPP-led coalition government, launched a bitter attack against the PPP for its perceived pro-US stance in the past, prompting protest shouts and more fiery exchanges between the two sides until conciliatory remarks by Railways Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique and government-allied Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai calmed tempers.

Speaker Ayaz Sadiq sent to the house committee on privileges Sheikh Rashid’s motion in which he complained his right of travel had breached by the intervention of a foreign agency, which requires its clearance of passengers on flights overflying the United States before the issuance of boarding cards to them.

Mr Shah called the arrangement dishonourable, which he said could deserve a similar requirement from Pakistan and asked the foreign ministry to call the American ambassador to hand a protest note. “Should we consider ourselves an independent country or slaves,” he said as he referred to the national flag-carrier being bound by such instructions from a foreign country while flying to another country.

“It is a matter of self-respect of the whole country if a citizen of Pakistan is barred (from travel) in this way,” Mr Shah said, adding: “Then we should also think why we hold them tight to our chests.”

The interior minister retorted by saying that the agreement binding the PIA to such US conditions was signed “during the government of those people who are now making speeches against America”.

And then, in a reference to the May 2011 US commando attack that killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden at his hideout in Abbottabad, he wondered why the same people did not make similar speeches against the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and hosted US spying agencies.

Chaudhry Nisar’s call to the PPP against what he called hiding its “present-time failures by narrating stories of (Zulfikar Ali) Bhutto’s bravery” proved to be the worst provocation of the day for PPP benches, prompting references from them to ruling PML-N leader and present Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif accepting a Saudi exile under a deal with former military president Pervez Musharraf and what Mr Shah said a letter sent to Gen Musharraf on behalf of another PML-N leader to be spared harsh action.

Mr Achakzai seemed patronising in asking both Chaudhry Nisar and Mr Shah to “behave like good boys”, but found his advice to them to shake each other’s hands as a mark of conciliation ignored by them.

The first sitting of the present session was earlier delayed for more than one and a half hours because of a protest sit-in by Islamabad lawyers outside the Parliament House linked to the March 3 militant attack on the capital’s district courts complex that killed 12 people, including a senior judge.

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, who also holds the charge of the law ministry, told the house that the lawyers had ended their sit-in after he assured them of the government’s acceptance of their demands for providing security to the district courts by Rangers, building new court accommodation and removing discrepancy in the rates of compensation paid to those killed in terrorist attacks.

However, he said the lawyers’ demand for punishing officials responsible for the perceived security lapse on March 3 would wait for the report of a judicial commission investigating the incident.

Polio vaccinator kidnapped, killed

Ali Hazrat Bacha

PESHAWAR: A female polio vaccinator kidnapped from her house in Gulozai village in the suburbs of Peshawar on Sunday night had been killed. Her bullet-riddled and severely tortured body was found in a field on Monday morning.

Salma Farooqui, 30, played an active role in the ‘Sehat Ka Insaf’ anti-polio campaign recently launched by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government despite having been threatened by some callers for doing so.

Salma’s father, Abdul Ghani, told Dawn that about 12 armed men barged the house at about 12.45am on Sunday night. Some of the men first entered the house by scaling the boundary wall and forced a member of the family to hand over keys of the main gate. Their accomplices entered the house and tied hands of all members of the family and covered their eyes. Salma’s husband Mohammad Karim tried to resist but the intruders warned him of killing his five children.

Abdul Ghani said the family was initially under impression that the assailants might be robbers because they collected Rs10,000 cash and some jewellery from the house. But they also took away Salma, he added.

After the kidnappers left the house, he said, one of the children managed to untie his own hands and later of other members of the family. They raised alarm and informed neighbours about the incident.

He said some of the neighbours started looking for the assailants in nearby street, but they had left the area by that time.

Abdul Ghani said that on Monday morning his relatives blocked the motorway in protest against the incident but dispersed on SP Rahim Shah Khan’s assurance that police were trying to find Salma. In the meantime, he said, a caller informed him that the body of his daughter was lying near a place along Shah Alam river.

The body was taken to a hospital where doctors said it bore bullet injuries and marks of torture. The woman had been hit by rifle butts and knives.

Abdul Ghani said his family had no enmity. “We often advised Salma to take care of herself because of threats, but she continued to perform her duty punctually.”

The money taken away by the assailants had been kept by the family for the school admission fee of the children, he added.

Credibility issues hang over NA

Raja Asghar

ISLAMABAD: Both the government and opposition could face embarrassing questions of credibility about their recent conduct during the National Assembly session opening on Monday, a day after even a muted celebration of the country’s second most important national day seemed hijacked by religious parties.

While the government has not indicated plans to bring any new important legislative business in the session, its planned direct peace talks with Taliban rebels are bound to be on most lawmakers’ minds as would be a $1.5 billion gift from Saudi Arabia that has attracted controversy because of its international implications.

The opposition would like to hear from Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan why the “direct talks” with members of the ‘shura’ of the banned Tehirk-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) could not be held so far though he had said in a speech to the National Assembly on March 7 they could begin “next week” and would be carried on a fast track.

The minister has given no new deadline for the start of direct talks, with the head of the Taliban negotiation committee, Maulana Sami-ul-Haq of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-S, telling reporters on Saturday after a joint meeting with a government committee chaired by Chaudhry Nisar that it would take a few more days for that to happen, though he said the two sides had agreed on an unspecified venue.

The main opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has said it will seek a possibly in-camera government briefing on the peace talks as well as on foreign policy vis-à-vis an alleged Islamabad tilt, which has been denied by the government, towards Syrian rebels seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad, and the $1.5 Saudi billion gift which some critics have linked with the Syrian question.

With questions of foreign policy and the Saudi gift likely to engage Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Foreign Affairs and National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, the interior minister could face the brunt of opposition criticism over dealings with the Taliban and a controversial March 7 statement in the house that a senior judge killed during a terrorist assault on Islamabad’s district courts complex on March 3 fell to panic shooting by his bodyguard. That claim was later denied by the guard before a court and lawyers who were on the site at the time of the gun and suicide bomb attack that killed 12 people and injured many others.

It will be a hard task for the minister to wash what the opposition has painted as a slur on his credibility, which Leader of Opposition Khursheed Ahmed Shah of the PPP placed in bitter contention with a statement on the eve of the session on Sunday that “we no longer trust what Chaudhry Nisar says”.

Mr Shah also ridiculed what he called the “big mistake” of not including any political figure in a four-member committee named by the prime minister to talk to Taliban’s decision-making ‘shura’, saying the government seemed to trust only bureaucracy and not politicians, though he said: “For the sake of the country and people, we pray for the success of the talks.”

But Mr Shah’s own credibility suffered badly earlier this month when he led the opposition support to a unanimous passage, on March 7, of a government bill that could have paved the way for the appointment of a former Supreme Court judge and chairman of the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC), Rana Bhagwandas, as a consensus chief election commissioner, but was ditched by leaders of his own party in the Senate and some allied parties on the next day when the legislation was brought to the upper house.

That bill, which seeks to allow a “further employment” of a former FPSC member to a “constitutional office in public interest” by removing an existing bar on FPSC members for “further employment in the service of Pakistan”, was sent to a Senate standing committee for consideration after it was vehemently opposed by some senior members of the PPP, their allies in the Awami National Party and even by the government-allied Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F.

On the eve of the National Assembly session, the observance of the Pakistan Day provided a stark evidence of where the Taliban-led militancy has led the country.

Security concerns have precluded for several years a traditional grand military parade that used to be held on a ground outside the parliament house in Islamabad and smaller ones in provincial capitals to commemorate the March 23, 1940 resolution adopted by the then-All India Muslim League to form the basis for the creation of Pakistan in 1947.

But an intriguing change this time saw a smaller military parade organised behind the four walls of the presidency to be watched by President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Shahrif as well as a small flypast, while several religious parties and groups, some of whom had either opposed the Pakistan Movement or did not exist at the time, marked the day with open rallies in several cities, including one in Islamabad by Jamaat-Ud- Dawah, the creator of the banned Lashkar-i-Taiba group.

CJ takes notice of threat to Karachi temple

Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani took notice on Monday of a potential threat to an old Hindu temple posed by construction of underpasses and flyovers in Karachi’s Clifton area.

Taking cognizance of the matter pointed out by Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Chairperson Zohra Yusuf, the chief justice summoned detailed reports within two weeks from the Sindh chief secretary and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) administrator on environmental assessment studies and the possible threat, if any, to the Shri Ratneshwar Mahadev temple.

In a letter addressed to the chief justice on Friday, the HRCP noted that business interests in complicity with the KMC officials had started the construction of underpasses and flyovers around Clifton seafront without any prior notice.

Such a major venture, according to the commission, would vandalise the very face of a historical part of the city. No environmental impact assessment as mandated by laws was carried out. Ground vibrations from excavation and eventual high-density traffic running so close to the 150-year-old temple could cause the collapse of this irreplaceable place of worship, the HRCP feared.

Meanwhile, a two-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Khilji Arif Hussain on Monday sought the federal government’s stance on increasing the amount of compensation for the victims of the March 3 gun-and-bomb attack on Islamabad’s district courts. An additional district and sessions judge and 11 others, including lawyers, were killed.

The government’s opinion was sought after Supreme Court Bar Association’s President Kamran Murtaza informed the court that the federal government had given Rs500,000 as compensation to the family of each deceased lawyer which, according to him, was a meagre amount.

He recalled that in similar incidents in the past, the government of Sindh had given Rs2 million and that of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rs1.5m to the family of each deceased lawyer. Deputy Attorney General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti assured the court that he would take up the matter with the quarters concerned.

Referring to the shifting of the Islamabad district courts from Sector F-8 to a safe place, Mr Murtaza and Islamabad High Court Bar Association President Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani regretted that no funds had been allocated for the purpose. Besides, they said, security arrangements at the district courts were not satisfactory.

A representative of the interior ministry said the government had proposed five suitable sites for the district courts but these had been rejected by lawyers.

Mr Murtaza said a commission constituted under Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court to investigate the incident was yet to submit its report and requested the bench to adjourn the case till the submission of the report.

Pakistan Day celebrated

APP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Day was celebrated throughout the country on Sunday to commemorate the adoption of the Lahore Resolution in 1940.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Day was celebrated throughout the country on Sunday to commemorate the adoption of the Lahore Resolution in 1940.

The day dawned with a 31-gun salute in Rawalpindi and 21-gun salute in provincial capitals. Special prayers were offered for security and prosperity of the country in different places of worship.

At a ceremony at the President House, President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif hoisted the national flag.

A fleet of 12 fighter jets and nine helicopters of the Pakistan Air Force led by Wing Commander Ronald Afzal performed an eye-catching fly-past over the President House.

Later, at an investiture ceremony, President Hussain conferred awards on prominent personalities from different walks of life. Similar ceremonies were held in provincial capitals.—APP

Success of talks with Taliban to restore peace: PM

Aamir Yasin

RAWALPINDI: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is optimistic about talks with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and says its success will restore peace in the country.

Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Project here on Sunday, he said direct talks with the militants would begin in a couple of days. But he said nothing about the place where the two sides would meet.

“Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan is working day and night on the proposed dialogue between the TTP and the government which will take place in a day or two,” he said.

The prime minister expressed the hope that the dialogue would end militancy and extremism. “After restoring peace we will lead the country to development,” he said.

He lashed out at former military dictators and said militancy and extremism flourished because of their wrong policies and the country was mired today in deep social and economic malaise – militancy, corruption, unemployment, indiscipline and poverty.

Mr Sharif said a lot of precious time was wasted during years of military rule; otherwise Pakistan would have been ahead of developed countries.

He said the country’s economic indicators today were positive. He said that he had advised Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to let the dollar-rupee parity stay at Rs 98-99 because any further appreciation of the rupee would hurt exports.

The prime minister said the government was working on a plan to add 22,000 MW of electricity to the national grid in about four years to end loadshedding.

“In the past only 17,000 MW of electricity was generated which was not enough to meet the demand,” he said.

FBR detects 40 fake firms

Mubarak Zeb Khan

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has identified 40 fictitious companies which got millions in illegal sales tax refund and input adjustment in connivance with officials, according to sources.

The companies were registered by the tax staff without physical verification of the addresses they provided, mostly in areas of Karachi like Lyari and North Nazimabad, the sources said.

On an average each company got Rs30 million in fraudulent claims, official estimates revealed. The firms either issued fake invoices or flying invoices for the purpose.

Many companies which do no business issue fake invoices. They then claim refunds for raw material from sales tax department, without having paid a single penny on the material.

Other companies use flying invoices to claim inflated refunds, by showing excessive use of raw material.

Registration of fake companies is turning out to be the easiest way of making quick money in the major cities of the country, especially Karachi. But the FBR’s favoured response has been limited to blacklisting them or suspending their registration.

Official documents obtained by Dawn have revealed that a bogus ‘physical verification report’ is placed in the file of each fictitious firm, just as it was done in the case of one Rehmat Textile, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Regional Tax Office-1, Karachi.

However, an FBR letter revealed that Rehmat Textile was not a genuine business concern, because it was registered on a fake address and was involved in claiming refunds on fake invoices, thereby causing loss to the national exchequer.

On April 22 last year the sales tax registration of Rehmat Textile was suspended. But neither was an action taken nor an inquiry carried out to recover the money obtained by the company in bogus refund claims. What’s more, no action was taken against the officers responsible for registering the company on a fictitious address.

In March last year, the RTO-II, Karachi, recommended to the FBR that registration of 26 such ‘companies’ be suspended.

According to sources, the Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation, Karachi, also detected several bogus firms registered on fake addresses, such as M/s Meshsol. (No action was taken against this company other than suspension of its registration.)

FBR Spokesman and Member for Inland Revenue Shahid Hussain Asad confirmed that physical verification of a firm was mandatory for registration. But he conceded that certain rules and regulations were not being implemented properly.

Against the backdrop of millions, even billions, which were paid to fictitious companies, a businessman told Dawn that refund claims filed by genuine companies had been withheld for the past many months.

The patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association, Shabbir Ahmad, said the claims by genuine firms ran into billions.

Mr Ahmad said he and other members of his association wanted to meet Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. “But I wonder whether Mr Dar has time for the genuine exporters of the country,” he added.

Altaf urged to stop calling for takeover by undemocratic forces

Amir Wasim

ISLAMABAD: The Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah of the PPP, has said that MQM chief Altaf Hussain should stop inviting undemocratic forces to take over power if his party wants to join the Sindh government.

“The PPP is a democratic party whereas the MQM leadership talks about an army takeover. Therefore, it will be difficult for our leaders to include the MQM in the Sindh government,” he said while talking to Dawn on Sunday.

“If the MQM wants to become a partner in the Sindh government its leadership will have to withdraw its invitation to the army to take over,” he said while referring to last week’s controversial speech of Mr Hussain in which he asked the armed forces to ignore any order of sending troops to Syria.

Mr Shah’s remarks came only two days after Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon was reported as saying that the doors were open for the MQM to join the provincial government and the PPP was ready to accommodate it.

The MQM claimed that it had an open offer from the PPP to become a partner in the provincial government, but was not yet ready to accept it.

“We have the offer from their side but we have not accepted it yet,” MQM’s spokesman Wasay Jalil said, when contacted.

He refused to comment on Mr Shah’s remarks, saying his party had stopped its leaders from commenting on the statement of Mr Hussain since he himself had clarified it.

Terming reports about the possibility of joining the Sindh government as “media hype”, Mr Jalil claimed that the issue was not even discussed at a recent meeting of his party’s office-bearers with former president Asif Ali Zardari in Dubai.

It was Sindh Minister for Minerals and Mines Manzoor Wassan who triggered the debate during a chat with reporters on Friday by predicting that the MQM would be on the treasury benches in a week. He also said that the development would help improve the situation in the province and boost efforts to address people’s grievances.

Mr Shah said that he did not know why the two ministers had issued such statements.

About the PPP-MQM talks held in Dubai, Mr Shah said doors for negotiations among political parties were never closed.

He said his personal opinion was that the MQM would not join the Sindh government and that his party would not accept it due to its “undemocratic” stance.

36 killed in horrific accident near Hub

Imtiaz Ali

KARACHI: At least 36 people burned to death on Saturday when two passenger coaches and a pickup rammed into an overturned truck on RCD Highway near Hub in Balochistan. All the vehicles caught fire after the collision.

At least one coach and the truck were allegedly carrying oil smuggled from Iran, which caused the devastating blaze.

Hub, a town in Lasbela district, is 30km north of Karachi.

All bodies were charred beyond recognition. Some of the victims were said to be employees of the Pakistan Navy.

The two coaches were travelling towards Karachi while the oil tanker was going in the opposite direction.

(According to AFP, the disaster unfolded after one of the coaches collided with the tanker. “The coach and the tanker had a head-on collision and the tanker turned over, but the situation got worse when the coach coming from behind rammed into the first coach as it skidded on the oil spilled on the road,” according to Akbar Haripal, an official of the local administration.)

Local people attributed some of the deaths to delay in rescue efforts and lack of medical facilities in Hub.

“We have received at least 36 bodies at our morgue in Sohrab Goth, Karachi,” Edhi Foundation official Anwar Kazmi told Dawn.

He said all the bodies were beyond recognition and it was difficult even to identify anyone as a man, woman or child.

Hasil Khan of Hub police told Dawn that the truck overturned after its tyre burst on a damaged section of the highway. Two coaches and the pickup smashed into the truck.

Since some vehicles were carrying oil and diesel in drums and tanks on their roofs, it triggered a massive fire due to which the casualties occurred, Hasil Khan said.

He said the cleaner of the truck and the driver of one coach had reportedly survived, but they managed to flee the scene since the police reached the place around half an hour after the accident.

“At least 26 people died on the spot,” the official said.

Witnesses said the truck carrying smuggled oil overturned when its driver applied brakes on the potholed road in Bagar area. Oil and diesel spilled on the road.

In the meantime, a speedy coach of the Azad Dasht company coming from Gwadar hit the truck. Another coach of the Al-Aziz company coming from Quetta and a Mazda pickup also rammed into the vehicles.

Fire engulfed the Azad Dasht coach which too was allegedly carrying smuggled oil.

According to locals, there were three fire tenders in Hub but only one of them was in working condition.

Due to delay in fire-fighting efforts, most of the passengers of the Azad Dasht coach were burnt to death.

Some of the injured passengers were taken to Hub Civil Hospital, which lacked good medical facilities. The area people said the hospital provided only first aid to the injured and referred them to hospitals in Karachi.

Seven of the injured were taken to Karachi’s Civil Hospital where two of them were pronounced dead, Sindh Health Secretary Iqbal Hussain Durrani said.

Three men in their 30s, who have suffered 83 to 100 per cent burn injuries, have been admitted to the burns centre and two wounded, including a nine-year old boy, to the orthopaedic ward.

There are two check-posts of customs and Coast Guards in Korka and Winder areas, but they have failed to curb oil smuggling.

But a police official in Lasbela district told the media that because of a limited number of petrol pumps on the highway, transporters carried fuel on the roofs of their vehicles.

Anwar Kazmi, the Edhi Foundation official, said the victims had died of burn injuries. He said usually accidents occurred on highways in early hours of morning because some drivers fell asleep.

He called for restricting open sale of smuggled oil to curb smuggling and avoid such accidents.

A spokesperson said usually navy employees travelled on the highway at weekends to go to Karachi. Unconfirmed reports said around 10 navy employees were on the Azad Dasht coach.

Some navy officials had visited the Edhi morgue, but since the bodies were not recognisable, they decided to get their DNA test conducted.

NAB officer shot dead in Karachi

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

KARACHI: An investigation officer of the National Accountability Bureau, Sindh, and a boy were gunned down in Sharfabad area on Saturday night, police said.

New Town SHO Inam Husain Junejo said DSP Agha Jamil was having dinner at a restaurant when armed men on a bike opened fire, leaving him and a woman and her 10-year-old son, Faizan, injured.

The NAB officer and the boy both died in hospital.

NAB spokesperson Qudsia Kadri told Dawn that Agha Jamil had come to the bureau from the police department on deputation around one-and-a-half years ago.

Venue for direct talks finalised

Iftikhar A. Khan

ISLAMABAD: The stage is finally set for direct talks between a new government committee and the Shura of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in an attempt to address the twin challenges of terrorism and militancy.

In what many see as a breakthrough, the committees representing the government and the Taliban held their first joint meeting here at the Punjab House on Saturday and agreed on the venue for direct talks. The meeting was presided over by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

Both committees refused to disclose the place chosen, but sources said flexibility shown by the government had made it possible to remove a hitch that had been delaying commencement of the new phase of the peace process. But the sources too stopped short of specifying the venue.

The government had earlier proposed the Bannu airport as venue for talks while the TTP favoured their stronghold of North Waziristan.

Maulana Samiul Haq, the Taliban committee’s chief, Prof Ibrahim and Maulana Yusuf Shah, the two other members, and the government committee’s members Habibullah Khattak, Fawad Hassan Fawad, Rustam Shah Mohmand and Arbab Arif attended the meeting.

The presence of retired Major Amir, who was a member of the first peace committee formed by the government, in Saturday’s meeting led many to wonder about his role in the dialogue.

He had recently said the first committee set up by the government stood dissolved because it was not possible for it to handle sensitive matters.

Maulana Sami told reporters that some key decisions had been taken during the meeting.

He said the two sides had agreed upon a venue for the next phase of negotiations, and that the government committee would soon enter into direct talks with the TTP Shura at that place.

Maulana Yousuf described Saturday’s meeting as a breakthrough. “The nation will soon hear good news.”

The interior minister told a press conference on Friday that direct talks between the government committee and the Taliban would begin in a few days. A sensitive phase of the peace process was about to start and it would bring to an end all misgivings and misconceptions, he said. He also indicated that the month-long ceasefire announced by the TTP would continue beyond March 31.

The minister had warned of action against elements conspiring to sabotage the peace process. He said he was hopeful about a positive development, but at the same time added that it was better for the government to move quietly and avoid media glare.

The government had announced formation of a committee to hold talks with the TTP at the end of January, asking the other side to do the same. The talks finally started in the first week of last month, but got stuck in an impasse after Taliban-linked militants murdered 23 kidnapped FC soldiers. The killings resulted in targeted air strikes by the military against suspected hideouts in the tribal areas.

The government formed the new committee on March 12 to hold direct talks with the TTP.

The step was taken over a week after the Taliban’s ceasefire announcement.

Non-implementation of 18th amendment affects ordinary lives

Amjad Mahmood

LAHORE: Ahmed Yar, an industrial worker from a central Punjab district, applied to the Workers Welfare Board for a marriage grant when he arranged the wedding of his daughter in 2009.

Knowing well that official procedural hiccups consume months, he got a loan from a friend on an understanding that he would pay back the amount after getting Rs70,000 as marriage grant and went ahead with the marriage ceremony.

To his worry, the expected time for issuance of grant extended into years. Even in 2014, by the time his daughter has become the mother of two children, he has yet to get the money.

Ahmed’s friend, the lender, is not ready to accept any excuse and is demanding immediate return of his money.

To repay his loan and save his friendship, Ahmed is repeatedly visiting the WWB offices, only to be told that his application is stuck with federal authorities.

Musharraf Khan, president of Shahtaj sugar mills labour and staff union (Mandi Bahauddin), says this is not the only case pending for years. He claims that at least 82 marriage grant applications only from his district are lying with the Lahore and Islamabad offices concerned since pre-18th constitutional amendment period.

Pakistanis are facing a risk of world travel ban because of belonging to a polio endemic country. On the other hand, local authorities are defaulting on global vaccine procurement commitments. Besides global sanctions, the failure may cost future support of GAVI, an international immunisation financing institution, for costly injectable polio vaccine in routine immunisation.

Dr Rana Muhammad Safdar, the national programme manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation, Ministry of NHSRC, Islamabad, in his recent report submitted to the Lahore High Court blamed the ‘persisting post-health devolution confusion’ and delayed release of finances as the reasons for default in the procurement of pentavalent vaccine (a combination of five vaccines) out of the country’s co-financing share.

The compliance to the GAVI Alliance decision is significant for the country to ensure uninterrupted donation of the larger chunk of life-saving vaccines (costing Rs11.68 billion), the report said.

All four provincial governments had unanimously put “the devolution of EPI functions to provinces, especially procurement of vaccines” as one of the key contributing factors for deaths of 413 children in 2012 measles outbreak.

Currently, 12.9 million children of 5-16 years of age in the country are out of school. Under the millennium development goals (MDGs), Pakistan has to ensure 100 percent enrolment of children by 2015. It will have to face at least embarrassment, if not sanctions, in case the target is not achieved.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, at the onset of his previous stint in power, had promised to declare education emergency in the province. But since November, his government is sitting on the Right to Education draft law prepared under Article 25-A of the Constitution.

For fear of litigation, officials admit, by those deprived of education facilities the law is not being enacted.

Punjab needs Rs132bn to build infrastructure for accommodating at least 3.7 million out-of-school children in the province.

POST-DEVOLUTION CONFUSION: Federal authorities admit that ‘post-devolution confusions’ due to some legal complications have been creating difficulties for the government and employees of the ministries devolved to provinces under the 18th constitutional amendment.

Limited capacity, expertise and lack of mechanism in the federating units and lack of will on the part of federation to devolve resources and funds for handling the devolved subjects at provincial levels are other hurdles in the way of smooth implementation of the 18th amendment.

The implementation commission formed by then PPP government in 2010 under the chairmanship of Senator Raza Rabbani suggested administrative steps to remove obstacles in the enforcement of the amendment.

To tackle the legal lacunas, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif formed a committee comprising federal minister Zahid Hamid, federal law secretary Zafarullah Khan and PM’s adviser Khwaja Zaheer in October last.

The completion of this ‘tricky’ task is not foreseeable in the near future as what the law secretary says the job is not only gigantic but it also requires taking care of consensus (among all stakeholders in the political system).

Terming the amendment a massive change from the past concerning scores of policy matters, Zafarullah Khan says no time-frame can be set for accomplishing the legislative work.

“On certain matters like the child labour, it’s the federation that makes international commitments. But 90 per cent of its implementation and provision of data rests with the provinces under the amendment. And we’ve to tread on a tight rope while taking any decisions on such tricky things,” he says, highlighting the difficulties in the task.

Responding to a query about sensitivities like in the health sector, he says the committee has set priorities to fix sensitive issues at the earliest.

He claims that the body has resolved an issue pertaining to use of certain chemicals by the textile industry although the agriculture department has been devolved to provinces meeting global environmental concerns.

A senior Punjab officer said on the condition of anonymity that with devolution the services of 55,000 employees were put under the control of the province but the federation claimed that the number of just 5,000 and granted resources in accordance with this number.

He said Punjab resisted on this and the Employees Old Age Benefit Institution (EOBI) and Workers Welfare Fund issues when the PPP was in power in the federation but the resistance steamed off when the PML-N took control of Islamabad.

He says only the Council of Common Interests can resolve the issues about devolution of assets and resources amounting to billions of rupees in labour, tourism sectors, etc., and claims that efforts are being made to bring the matter on the CCI agenda.

Footprints: slumming it, above the world

Mehreen Zahra-Malik

Zaheer pushed the wheelchair through the muddy web of ever-tightening alleys until the huts pressed so close together the sunlight could barely find the street beneath his bare feet.

“I picked this up from a garbage dump,” the proud seven-year-old said, revolving the wheelchair around and swatting the hands of envious friends clambering to touch his new toy.

“You’ll get a turn if you push me first,” he sneered.

In the next instant, speeding silhouettes chased after the boys as they pushed Zaheer down the footpath, his hands up in the air as if he were riding a rollercoaster.

They are like kids with toys anywhere in the world, oblivious for the most part to the darker universe they inhabit here in Maskeenabad, a slum pressing on the margins of Islamabad.

Although over 3,000 Afghans were moved out of Maskeenabad between 2005-06 when the government started its drive to register foreigners living in Pakistan, the katchi abadi (informal settlement) is still called Afghan Basti – a name that has become synonymous with the stigma of being an unwanted foreigner and marked Maskeenabad for immediate eviction by authorities struggling to appear serious about purging Islamabad of terrorists. Most residents pull out their national ID cards to prove they are Pakistani citizens.

Officers in the police station across the street say the slum is riddled with crime, drugs and liquor. But they are unable to show a single record of terrorism cases registered against its inhabitants.

Shaista Sohail, the member estate at Capital Development Authority, does not have a resettlement plan. What she has instead is this: the CDA will send trucks to take the residents back to their hometowns in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas — an accidental admission, perhaps, that the slum’s inhabitants aren’t in fact all foreigners?

From the astigmatic lens of the CDA, it’s as simple as, “If you want to live in Islamabad, you have to pay rent. It’s time to clean up this mess.”

The slum is no doubt an eyesore. Thousands of tiny mud huts huddle together, holding families of fifteen people in a single room. The streets stink of sewage. Flies buzz over fruits carts and wandering goats, dogs and people.

Armed with a rainbow palette of buckets and tubs, dozens of families line up in front of a single tap from where water flows for only about two hours a day. There are no gas or electricity connections. After a few days of rain, malaria hangs in the air like bile.

Old women will tell you about the old man with gangrene whose legs ballooned into tree trunks.

Everywhere you look is a reminder of the failure of Pakistan’s leaders to make room in their cities for millions of rural migrants escaping earthquakes, floods, wars or just plain misery back home.

This is Maskeenabad, a cliché of poverty.

But stop a moment and listen: behind the din of omnipresent helplessness, you can overhear people’s resilience and their constant struggles to preserve, to consolidate — and not to become mere victims.

Like most of the slum’s residents, Maqsooda’s husband works in the vegetable and fruit bazaar across the settlement. From six in the morning till nine at night, he loads cartons off trucks and earns Rs300 at the end of the day.

“They don’t install gas and electricity connections here because they think we’ll get fed up and leave,” said Maqsooda, who made Maskeenabad her home nineteen years ago.

“But what they don’t understand is even with three hundred rupees and without power, this is home. We are at peace here.”

Indeed, in Maskeenabad, perhaps as in the mega-slums of Mumbai or Mexico City, people speak of their miseries and dream of better lives matter-of-factly, as if they were a distant relative visiting next week.

“Allah is behind us,” said local community leader Shah Fazal. “Better times are coming.”

But for now, the future only promises rents, demolitions, evictions and the loss of a make-believe security for the residents of Maskeenabad as well as 80,000 other slum dwellers in Islamabad.

But inside the slum, as outside in this unequal city of Islamabad, people soldier on.

Without video games and computers, children play with bottle tops and plastic plates. They splash about in a stream, unfazed by the garbage that is their swimming companion. Women sow together a Pakistani and an American flag rescued from an anti-US protest and hang it in place of a door.

Zaheer and his friends find a new game. They tie colourful plastic bags together with a web-like frame of sticks and the reel of a broken cassette tape. The patchwork kite is a microcosm of Maskeenabad: improvised, imperfect, enough.

The boys climb to the roof of their precarious homes. The kite leaps cheerfully in the sky. This is the delight, I imagine, of being above the world.

Death handed down in blasphemy case

AFP

LAHORE: A court sentenced a Christian man to death for blasphemy on Thursday, his lawyer said, over an incident that triggered a riot here.

LAHORE: A court sentenced a Christian man to death for blasphemy on Thursday, his lawyer said, over an incident that triggered a riot here.

Sawan Masih was convicted of committing blasphemy during the course of a conversation with a Muslim friend in the Joseph Colony neighbourhood in March last year.

More than 3,000 people rampaged through Joseph Colony, torching some 100 Christian homes, after the allegations against Masih emerged.

Naeem Shakir, one of Masih’s lawyers, said: “The judge has announced the death sentence for Sawan Masih. We will appeal the sentence in the Lahore High Court.”

Verdict and sentence were announced inside the jail where Masih was held, Shakir said.

The country has had a de facto moratorium on civilian hangings since 2008. Only one person has been executed since then, a soldier convicted by court martial.

Masih has maintained his innocence and argued the real reason for the blasphemy allegation was a property dispute between him and his friend.

No one was killed in the rampage through Joseph Colony last year but the incident highlighted the sensitivity of blasphemy in Pakistan. —AFP

WHO certifies India, 10 other Asian nations polio-free

AFP

NEW DELHI: The World Health Organisation (WHO) officially certified India and 10 other Asian countries free of polio on Thursday, a milestone lauded as a ‘momentous victory’ over an ancient scourge.

The Southeast Asian region, which includes India but excludes Afghanistan and Pakistan, was certified polio-free by a panel of experts after the countries went three years without reporting a single new case.

The WHO said the certification meant 80 per cent of the world’s population lived in polio-free regions and was an important step towards global eradication of the crippling disease.

“This is a momentous victory for the millions of health workers who have worked with governments, non-governmental organisations, civil society and international partners to eradicate polio from the region,” said WHO Southeast Asia regional director Poonam Khetrapal Singh.

There are only three countries where polio is still endemic — Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. However isolated outbreaks in the Horn of Africa and war-racked Syria emerged as new causes for concern in 2013, and polio vaccination workers in Pakistan are still being killed by the Taliban.

“Until polio is globally eradicated, all countries are at risk and the region’s polio-free status remains fragile,” Singh cautioned.

The certification is particularly significant in India, home to 1.2 billion people, and which until 2009 accounted for half of all cases globally.

The certification confirms one of India’s biggest public health success stories, accomplishing something once thought impossible, thanks to a massive and sustained vaccination programme.

India reported 150,000 cases of paralytic polio in 1985, and 741 new infections that led to paralysis in 2009.

In the following year, the number of new victims fell to double figures before the last case in January 2011.—AFP

Watchdog urges US to review drone policy

Reuters

GENEVA: A UN human rights watchdog called on the Obama administration on Thursday to review its use of drones to kill suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban militants abroad and reveal how it chose its targets.

In its first report on Washington’s rights record since 2006, it also called for the prosecution of anyone who ordered or carried out killings, abductions and torture under a CIA programme at the time of President George W. Bush, and to keep a promise to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.

US officials did not immediately comment on the findings of the UN Human Rights Committee, which is made up of 18 independent experts.

The Obama administration increased the number of drone strikes after taking office in 2009 but attacks have dropped off in the last year. It has been under pressure from affected governments, the United Nations and activists to rein in the strikes and do more to protect civilians.

The United States should give more information on how it decided someone was enough of an “imminent threat” to be targeted in covert operations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia and other countries, the report said.

It should “revisit its position regarding legal justifications for the use of deadly force through drone attacks”, investigate any abuses and compensate victims’ families, the committee added in its conclusions.

The committee also called for more investigations into intelligence operations launched by the administration of president George W. Bush in the wake of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on America.—Reuters

Pakistan, EU to enhance cooperation in energy

APP

BRUSSELS: Pakistan and the European Union have agreed to deepen cooperation in areas such as energy, climate change and higher education.

BRUSSELS: Pakistan and the European Union have agreed to deepen cooperation in areas such as energy, climate change and higher education.

The understanding was reached during second round of the Pakistan-EU Strategic Dialogue held here on Wednesday.

During the talks, the Pakistani side was led by Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and the EU delegation by High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton.

At the meeting, the two sides agreed to enhance cooperation under their Engagement Plan, which would include “a strengthened dialogue” in areas like energy, climate change and higher education.

Both the sides also welcomed the progress made in the EU-Pakistan partnership under the Five-Year Engagement Plan adopted in 2012.

Mr Aziz underlined the importance of assistance in sectors such as poverty alleviation, access to drinking water and irrigation of remote and arid areas. The next meeting of the Joint Commission to be held in June would elaborate on these matters.

Ms Ashton praised Pakistan for a democratic change in government, through general elections of May 2013. She highlighted the positive role played by an EU election observation mission during the voting exercise.

She assured the Pakistani delegation of the EU’s continued support for democratic institutions in Pakistan and rule of law in the country.

Mr Aziz lauded the EU for including Pakistan in its GSP+ scheme. Both sides agreed that Pakistan’s inclusion in the scheme would serve to promote growth and employment in the country and enable it to bring about sustainable development and good governance.

He highlighted what he called the steps taken by the government for the promotion and protection of human rights.

The two sides agreed that cooperation should be enhanced for the effective implementation of the UN conventions regarding the GSP+ scheme.

The Pakistani delegation also discussed the security situation and the newly formulated National Internal Security Policy.

Ms Ashton praised Pakistan’s efforts to promote peace and stability and assured the Pakistani side of the EU’s continued support and cooperation in this regard.

Ms Ashton and Mr Aziz also discussed matters relating to energy, trade and migration and shared their perspectives on regional and global issues, including Afghanistan, India, the Middle East and the situation in Ukraine.

The two sides decided that third round of the Pakistan-EU Strategic Dialogue would be held next year in Islamabad.—APP

Satellite spots 122 objects in search for Malaysian jet

KUALA LUMPUR: A French satellite scanning the Indian Ocean for remnants of a missing jetliner found a possible debris field containing 122 objects, a top Malaysian official said on Wednesday, calling it “the most credible lead that we have”.

Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein expressed exasperation with the anger rising among missing passengers’ relatives in China. About two-thirds of the missing are Chinese, but Hishammuddin pointedly said that Chinese families “must also understand that we in Malaysia also lost our loved ones” as did “so many other nations”.

Nineteen days into the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the latest satellite images were the first to suggest that a debris field from the plane — rather than just a few objects — might be floating in the southern Indian Ocean. Previously, an Australian satellite detected two large objects and a Chinese satellite detected one.

Clouds obscured the latest satellite images, but dozens of objects could be seen in the gaps, ranging in length from one metre to 23 metres. At a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Hishammuddin said some of them “appeared to be bright, possibly indicating solid materials”.

The images were taken on Sunday.—AP

Al Qaeda militants moving from Pakistan to Syria: NYT

Masood Haider

NEW YORK: Dozens of Al Qaeda militants from Pakistan are seeking to establish bases in Syria to plan attacks on Europe and the United States, the New York Times reported on Wednesday citing CIA chief.

NEW YORK: Dozens of Al Qaeda militants from Pakistan are seeking to establish bases in Syria to plan attacks on Europe and the United States, the New York Times reported on Wednesday citing CIA chief.

CIA Director John O. Brennan recently said before a House of Representatives panel that classified intelligence assessments showed that Al Qaeda planners travelled from Pakistan to Syria in order to lay the foundation for future strikes against the US and its European allies.

“We are concerned about the use of Syrian territory by the Al Qaeda organisation to recruit individuals and develop the capability to be able not just to carry out attacks inside of Syria, but also to use Syria as a launching pad,” he said, according to the New York Times report.

US intelligence officials say that the Al Qaeda is seeking “a launching pad” in Syria because they have access to hundreds of American and European militants who have gone there to fight against the Syrian government and also because Syria is far away from US drone strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Quoting intelligence assessments, the report also claimed that the senior Al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan, including chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, was developing a much more organised, long-term plan as opposed to creating specific cells in Syria to identify, recruit and train these westerners.

Citing US intelligence officials, the report also said that Al Qaeda-linked militants were currently focused on attacking Syrian government forces and occasionally rival militant groups.

However, the officials fear that Al Qaeda is also playing a long game by recruiting and training American and European militants in Syria so that the recruits will carry out attacks when they return to their countries.

“Clearly, there is going to be push and pull between local operatives and Al Qaeda central on attack planning. How fast the pendulum will swing towards trying something isn’t clear right now,” an unnamed US intelligence official has been quoted by the New York Times as saying.

“Syria has become a matter of homeland security. DHS, the FBI and the intelligence community will continue to work closely to identify those foreign fighters that represent a threat to the homeland,” he added.

Sanafi al-Nasr, a Saudi-born extremist who is on his country’s list of most wanted terrorists, travelled to Syria from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region late last year and emerged as one of the Nusra Front’s top strategists. Jihadi forums reported that he was killed in fighting last week, but American counter-terrorism officials said those reports could not be confirmed.

“Al Qaeda veterans could have a critical impact on recruitment and training,” said Laith Alkhouri, a senior analyst at Flashpoint Global Partners, a security-consulting firm that tracks militant websites.

“They would be lionised, at least within the ranks, as experienced mujahideen.”

While these senior Al Qaeda envoys have been involved in the immediate fight against Syrian forces, American counter-terrorism officials said they also had broader, longer-term ambitions.

Expert calls for N-deal with Pakistan

AFP

WASHINGTON: Western powers should negotiate a nuclear deal with Pakistan similar to its accord with India as a way to reduce dangers from Islamabad, a prominent expert said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON: Western powers should negotiate a nuclear deal with Pakistan similar to its accord with India as a way to reduce dangers from Islamabad, a prominent expert said on Wednesday.

Mark Fitzpatrick, a longtime US diplomat who is now a scholar at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, voiced alarm about Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal which he said would likely expand until at least 2020.

Fitzpatrick said no solution was ideal, but he called for Western nations to offer Pakistan a deal along the lines of a 2005 accord with India, which allowed normal access to commercial nuclear markets despite its refusal to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty.—AFP

Modi calls minister, AAP leader Pakistani agents

From the Newspaper

VARANASI: Hitting back at Narendra Modi for his ‘AK-49’ and ‘Pakistani agent’ jibe at him, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday such comments did not suit a prime ministerial candidate.

Talking to reporters at Kardhana village here, Kejriwal, who announced his candidature against Modi on Tuesday, said, “He (Modi) should talk about issues and not get into bad mouthing. Such words do not suit a man who is a prime ministerial candidate.”

Kejriwal said Modi did not even meet him when he wanted to talk about development in Gujarat.

Earlier addressing a rally in Jammu, Modi called Defence Minister A.K. Antony and Kejriwal “agents of Pakistan and enemy of India”.

“Three AKs have emerged as unique strength for Pakistan. One is AK-47 which has been used to cause bloodshed in Kashmir. The second is A.K. Antony, who informs parliament that people wearing the dress of Pak army beheaded our soldiers while our army says Pakistanis had come. Who do you want to benefit with your statement...,” he asked.

Addressing a BJP meeting, he also took a dig at Kejriwal, who resigned after 49 days as chief minister in Delhi, as the “Third AK which is AK-49 who has just given birth to a new party”.

“The map on his party’s website has shown Kashmir in Pakistan. A senior member of his party is shouting himself hoarse demanding plebiscite in Kashmir. Pakistan is dancing over their statements. These agents of Pakistan, enemy of India, you are speaking the language of Pakistan,” he remarked.

Invoking the name of Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, Modi accused them of speaking the language of Pakistan while Mookerjee had sacrificed his life for Jammu and Kashmir. More Indian soldiers have sacrificed their lives here than in any war, he said.

He was attacking Antony over his statement made in parliament last year when Pakistani armymen allegedly intruded into Mendhar sector in Jammu and Kashmir and killed two Indian soldiers, beheading one of them.

By arrangement with the Times of India

Court overturns Turkey Twitter ban

AFP

ISTANBUL: A Turkish court on Wednesday overturned a controversial Twitter ban imposed after audio recordings spread via the social media site implicated Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a corruption scandal.

The Ankara administrative court ruled that the ban restricted freedom of expression, after the Turkish Bar Association put up a legal challenge against the government’s move, saying it was without legal grounds and an arbitrary decision.

Twitter said it had challenged the ban through local courts, “joining Turkish journalists and legal experts, Turkish citizens and the international community in formally asking for the ban to be lifted”.

Shutting down Twitter had sparked condemnation at home and abroad and turned into an embarrassment for Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) ahead of key local elections on Sunday, the first polls since the graft scandal broke. The ban has been widely circumvented by tech-savvy users.

Erdogan remained defiant and at a campaign rally accused his rivals of “speaking for companies like Twitter that do not abide by Turkish laws and treat Turkey as a third world country”.—AFP

PAC chief comes under criticism over hasty decisions

Khawar Ghumman

ISLAMABAD: Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly, Syed Khursheed Shah of the PPP, ‘settled’ rather hastily two audit objections on Tuesday about a power project, leading to criticism that he was “going soft on irregularities committed during the 2008-13 tenure of PPP-led government”.

At a PAC meeting, federal auditors came up with an objection which involved financial anomaly of Rs5.17 billion in the tendering process for civil works of the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project.

According to the audit reports for 2010-11, the original discounted tender price for the works was quoted at Rs87.42bn. However, the price was later ‘corrected’ and increased to Rs92.6bn.

The PAC met here in the Parliament House and discussed audit reports for 2010-11 about affairs of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and National Transmission and Dispatch Company.

As per the audit department’s objections put forward by one of its directors-general at the meeting, the price for each component of the civil works was quoted only in figures, not in words, during the bidding process.

Such ‘dichotomy’ in the bidding process involved serious transparency issues which should be looked into, said the official. The difference of over Rs5bn in the prices quoted also made it necessary for the PAC to review the tendering process.

The original bid documents were not furnished to the auditors, the official added.

Water and Power Secretary Saifullah Chattha and Wapda Chairman Syed Raghib Abbas defended the corrected price. Mr Chattha said the amounts were quoted in both figures and words.

However, the director-general insisted that by not providing the required documents to the auditors, the water and power ministry and Wapda had violated clauses 14(c)(2) and (3) of the Auditor General’s Functions (Powers, and Terms and Condition of Services) Ordinance, 2001.

After hearing the arguments of the two sides, Mr Shah refused to delve into the issue deeper and proceeded to “settle the para” immediately.

At this, Sheikh Rohail Asghar of the PML-N couldn’t resist noticing what he said the PAC chairman’s “soft corner” for the Wapda chairman.

In response, Mr Shah said he didn’t want any further delays in the completion of the 969MW hydropower project.

Talking to Dawn on condition of anonymity, an official of the audit department said the serious objection should have been looked into by the PAC.

“The committee should have at least asked the Wapda officials to get the corrected bid documents verified by the audit officials. An outright settlement of the said audit para was really surprising for us,” he added.

The auditors raised another objection about the same project, regarding purchase of 87 “luxury vehicles” such as Toyota Saloon and Toyota Land Cruiser.

Although a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council, during the rule of the PPP-led government, had approved a revised PC-I incorporating the purchase of these vehicles, the audit officials said their purchase should have been part of the original PC-I.

In this case too, Mr Shah settled the para. However, he sought the record of the vehicles.

The original cost of the Neelum-Jhelum project was estimated at Rs84bn in early 2000. At present its cost stands at Rs333bn.

Relatives of Chinese passengers scuffle with guards at Malaysian embassy

AFP

BEIJING: Emotional relatives of Chinese passengers on crashed Flight MH370 scuffled with guards outside Malaysia’s embassy on Tuesday and abused the ambassador, demanding answers about the plane’s mysterious ‘demise’ in the stormy Indian Ocean.

But gale-force winds and huge waves halted the search for wreckage from the Malaysia Airlines plane, deferring relatives’ quest for physical proof of the plane’s destruction and the loss of its 239 passengers and crew.

Malaysian authorities — decried as “murderers” by the Beijing protesters — defended their decision to release new analysis of satellite data that determined the plane had plunged into the southern seas far off western Australia.

Mark Binskin, vice chief of Australia’s Defence Force, underscored the daunting size of the area under scrutiny by air crews flying exhausting sorties out of Perth. “We’re not trying to find a needle in a haystack, we’re still trying to define where the haystack is,” he told reporters.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said better weather was expected on Wednesday, allowing the search to resume. Twelve planes would take part and an Australian warship would return to sweep an area where debris was sighted from the air.

The Boeing 777 went missing on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, dropping off air traffic control screens in what has become one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history. Ever since, relatives in China have accused Malaysia of being deceitful and callous.

Around 200 of them, some in tears, linked arms and shouted slogans denouncing the handling of the slow-burning drama, a day after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced “with deep sadness and regret” that the plane had crashed into the ocean.

Scuffles broke out when uniformed security personnel tried to block some relatives from reaching reporters outside the Malaysian embassy in Beijing.

“Return our relatives,” the family members shouted as uniformed police and plainclothes security personnel protected the embassy gates. Another slogan went: “The Malaysian government are murderers.”

“My son, my son, return my son,” screamed Wen Wancheng, 63, as relatives behind him chanted slogans, raising their fists. Behind him, others bowed their heads and sobbed.

Chinese authorities normally keep a tight rein on any protests in Beijing, but occasionally allow people to vent their feelings, especially against foreign targets such as Japan.

The relatives delivered a written protest to the embassy before leaving.

Malaysia’s ambassador to China Iskandar Sarudin later arrived at the hotel where relatives were staying, to face an angry tirade.

Some shouted at him to kneel before them, while others launched a volley of abuse, calling him a “liar”, “rogue” and “bastard”.

Officials from the State Council, China’s cabinet, met family members afterwards.

Two-thirds of the passengers aboard the doomed flight were Chinese.

China’s government has demanded that Kuala Lumpur hand over the satellite data which was behind Monday’s sombre conclusion, provided by British company Inmarsat and verified by British air safety experts.—AFP

Stamp issued in Britain to honour WWII heroine

From the Newspaper

LONDON: Britain’s Royal Mail has issued postage stamp of Noorunissa Inayat Khan, the World War II heroine who was descendant of Tipu Sultan.

LONDON: Britain’s Royal Mail has issued postage stamp of Noorunissa Inayat Khan, the World War II heroine who was descendant of Tipu Sultan.

The stamp, part of a set of ten stamps in the ‘Remarkable Lives’ series, honours Noor Inayat on her centenary year. Others who have been honoured include actor Sir Alec Guinness and poet Dylan Thomas.

“I am delighted that Royal Mail has commemorated Noor with a stamp,” said Shrabani Basu, the author of ‘Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan’ and chairperson of the Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust. “It will ensure that her sacrifice and bravery will not be forgotten.”

Basu campaigned for a memorial for Noor Inayat which was unveiled in November 2012 by Princess Anne.

Noor Inayat Khan was born in Moscow in January 1914 to an Indian father, Hazrat Inayat Khan, and an American mother, Ora Ray Baker. The couple had met in the Ramkrishna Mission ashram in the US.

Hazrat Inayat Khan was a Sufi preacher and musician who travelled widely.

Noor Inayat was brought up in Paris but her family moved to London when the French capital was occupied by Germans in 1940 during the Second World War.

In London, Noor joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and was later recruited for the Special Operations Executive, a secret organisation set up by prime minister Winston Churchill.

She was the first woman radio operator to be flown undercover to Paris. She worked from there for three months under the code name ‘Madeleine’.

However she was betrayed, arrested and finally executed in Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany. Though she was tortured and interrogated, she revealed nothing, not even her real name.

As they shot her, her last word was: “Liberte”. She was only 30 at the time.

Noor Inayat was posthumously awarded Britain’s highest award, the George Cross. France decorated her with the Croix de Guerre.

In 2006, the-then Indian defence minister, Pranab Mukherjee, paid an official visit to her family residence outside Paris and described her bravery and sacrifice as “inspirational”.

US plans to end NSA phone data collection

AFP

WASHINGTON: The White House outlined plans on Tuesday to end the National Security Agency’s bulk telephone data collection on Americans, aiming to reassure a public outraged by revelations about widespread surveillance.

The plan would keep the data outside of government while allowing access for national security reasons, officials said.

Key US lawmakers welcomed the proposal, and one group put forward reform legislation along the same lines, with bipartisan support.

President Barack Obama — in The Hague for a nuclear security summit — called the White House plan “workable” and said it would protect privacy rights as well as national security.

“I am confident that it allows us to do what is necessary in order to deal with the dangers from a terrorist attack, but does so in a way that addresses some of the concerns that people had raised,” he said.

A senior administration official said earlier that Obama had considered the results of a study he ordered in January into how the NSA could protect national interests without storing citizens’ private data.

The comments came after reports in the New York Times and Washington Post that a major reform of data collection by US intelligence agencies was imminent.

The Times reported that the records would stay in the hands of phone companies, which would not be required to retain the data for any longer than they normally would, and that the NSA would obtain specific records with permission from a judge, using a new kind of court order.

A trove of documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden sparked outrage in the United States and abroad about the vast capabilities of America’s intelligence programmes.

Officials have defended the methods as necessary to thwart terror attacks, but US public opinion was shocked by the extent of the NSA’s activities on home soil.

James Lewis, a senior fellow who follows national security at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the Obama proposal appeared to be “a cosmetic change” to NSA authority.

“This will pacify domestic critics, but we don’t know how it will play overseas,” Lewis said. “If it’s done right, there will be no impact on national security.”

Zeke Johnson at Amnesty International USA meanwhile warned that “the devil is in the detail”. “The key questions are whether dragnet collection ends altogether and whether judicial review is sufficient,” Johnson said in a statement.

In either case, he added, “far more must be done to uphold the privacy rights of non-Americans — the vast majority of the world.”—AFP

529 Morsi supporters sentenced to death

AFP

CAIRO: An Egyptian court sentenced 529 supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi to death on Monday after just two hearings, in the largest mass sentencing in the country’s modern history.

CAIRO: An Egyptian court sentenced 529 supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi to death on Monday after just two hearings, in the largest mass sentencing in the country’s modern history.

The shock verdict, which came amid a sweeping crackdown on Mr Morsi’s supporters since his overthrow by the army last July, is likely to be overturned on appeal, legal experts said.

The defendants in the southern province of Minya are part of a larger group of more than 1,200 alleged Islamists accused of killing policemen and rioting on Aug 14, after police killed hundreds of protesters while dispersing two Cairo protest camps. Of the 529 defendants sentenced to death, only 153 are in custody.

The rest were tried in their absence and have the right to a retrial if they turn themselves in.

Another 17 defendants were acquitted.

The judge referred the death sentences for approval to the mufti, the government’s official interpreter of Islamic law.

The mufti in the past has upheld death sentences.

The judgement can be appealed at the Court of Cassation, which would probably order a new trial or reduce the sentences, legal expert Gamal Eid said.

“This sentencing is a catastrophe and a travesty and a scandal that will affect Egypt for many years,” said Mr Eid, who heads the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information.

Defence counsel Mohamed Tousson said the judge rammed through the sentencing after he was angered by a lawyer who demanded his recusal at the first hearing.

“He didn’t even ascertain the presence of the detained defendants, he only got to the 51st defendant,” Mr Tousson said.

“A lawyer then demanded his recusal. He got very angry, and adjourned the trial for sentencing.

“It’s a huge violation of defendants’ rights. It will be overturned for sure,” he said.

A second group of about 700 defendants, including Mohamed Badie, the supreme guide of Mr Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, are due in the dock on Tuesday.

The Muslim Brotherhood said the verdict was yet “another indication that the corrupt judiciary is being used by the coup commanders to suppress the Egyptian revolution and install a brutal regime.”

At least 1,400 people have been killed in the crackdown on Mr Morsi’s supporters and thousands more arrested, according to human rights group Amnesty International.

The Arab world’s most populous country has been rocked by persistent protests and a wave of attacks by militants that have killed more than 200 soldiers and police.

Mr Morsi is himself currently on trial in three different cases, including one for inciting the killing of protesters outside one of the presidential palaces while he was in office.

The army removed Mr Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, after a single year in office following mass protests demanding his resignation.

‘No evidence’

The ensuing crackdown has also targeted prominent activists of the 2011 uprising against veteran president Hosni Mubarak, as well as journalists.

A group of journalists working for Al-Jazeera television was back in court on Monday for the third hearing in their trial on charges of spreading false news and aiding the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood.

Award-winning Australian reporter Peter Greste told reporters from the caged dock that he and his colleagues were being held on “baseless charges”.

“We haven’t seen any evidence in the court that possibly justify the charges or our imprisonment,” said Mr Greste.—AFP

Footprints: Digging for gold in Karachi

Shazia Hasan

Driving straight on from Do Talwar on Shahrah-i-Iran one is stopped in one’s tracks by a steel traffic barrier bearing the banner ‘Bilawal Chowrangi’. This, quite clearly, is not Bilawal Chowrangi, but the sudden digging up of the road has obviously resulted in unexpected confusion, hence the wrong barrier at the wrong place.

Thereon either take a left or a right, or go ahead and find yourself plunging into a trench. The not-so-bright have to be told by the traffic constable to make the diversion — “Sahab, aage raasta bund hai!” — as the others turn towards either of the two diversions while the less adventurous turn around and go back home.

Welcome to Clifton where heavy-duty diggers dig away. The traffic management project comprising one flyover and a couple of underpasses is expected to take some four months to complete.

“Well, of course it will hurt business,” says a shopkeeper in Park Towers which can only be reached through the back lanes now. “Yes, it is causing difficulty and inconvenience at the moment. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, for once completed, the project will have walkways and a food street while the traffic will go through the underpasses or over the flyover,” says another shopkeeper in the same mall. Given the breadth of his knowledge, he is asked if he has seen the construction plan. He shakes his head. “I’ve just heard,” he smiles sheepishly.

Like the shopkeeper, residents of the area, too, are upbeat about the whole affair. “I’m a heart patient thinking of selling my flat and distributing the money among my children and two wives, but I think I will wait for the project to be completed now before I put my place up on the market,” says a resident of the area.

“Yes, we are hearing about the project being taken up by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation very suddenly and without considering environmental issues or getting no-objection certificates from departments concerned. But there was an ad in the paper with the map a few days ago. Looks good!” says a property consultant in Clifton while pointing out that all this work was in fact being done to deal with the expected traffic congestion due to the Bahria Town Icon Tower.

“Besides, these things take a back seat once you weigh the prospects. This is prime land. There are several housing and commercial projects coming up in the area. A house built on 500 yards here is worth around Rs40 million. It will definitely go up by 10 to 20 million after the completion of the project. Similarly, the apartments in Bahria Town Icon Tower are already worth Rs30 million each. They, too, would go up to Rs50 million at least.

Up ahead on the prime land are located the historical Jehangir Kothari Parade and the Shri Ratneshwar Mahadev temple, and Bagh-i-Ibn-i-Qasim beyond it. The walkway along the Jehangir Kothari Parade is mostly dug up. Politicians woke up to the alarm raised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan earlier about the danger to the more than 150-year-old temple that’s built in a tunnel, and diverted the digging from the area around the temple.

“The temple committee held a meeting here and we have been assured by the government that no harm will come to the temple and the bagh and the digging work will only take place around it,” says one gentleman associated with the temple, requesting anonymity. “What choice do we, the minority, have? This is good enough for us for now.”

The weekend crowd in Clifton got an unexpected shock to see all the work under way. “What’s all this? When did this happen?” a couple with two kids on a motorcycle wonder aloud before turning around in the direction of Shireen Jinnah Colony.“I’m sick and tired of explaining to every passerby what’s going on here. What can I tell them? I don’t know for sure myself. There is obviously some work going on. They’re not digging for gold, obviously!” grumbles another traffic constable on duty on Shahrah-i-Firdousi.

Aren’t they?

Move to downsize peace-keeping operations to affect Pakistan

Baqir Sajjad Syed

ISLAMABAD: With the United Nations set to downsize several peace-keeping operations, Pakistan’s contribution will also be affected.

ISLAMABAD: With the United Nations set to downsize several peace-keeping operations, Pakistan’s contribution will also be affected.

“We are downsizing missions, including where Pakistan is playing a major role,” Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations, told Dawn.

He is on a three-day visit to Pakistan at the head of a three-member delegation, including his Pakistani adviser Lt Gen Maqsood Ahmed.

Pakistan is currently the largest troop contributor to peace-keeping operations with 8,266 personnel deployed. Peace-keepers from Pakistan are currently deployed in Western Sahara, Haiti, Congo, Darfur, Kosovo, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire.

The operations that are being downsized include Haiti, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and Darfur.

However, Mr Ladsous said new opportunities could arise with planned deployment of a new battalion in Sudan.

A statement from the office of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, whom the UN official met, said he had declined to send policemen for peace-keeping postings.

“Right now we are having problems at home and it would not be possible to spare the police personnel for UN assignments but the policy will be revised as soon as situation improves,” Mr Khan was quoted as saying.

The interior ministry said that Mr Ladsous had specifically asked the interior minister for sending more Pakistani women police personnel to the peace-keeping missions.

The UN official also met President Mamnoon Hussain and officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The president during the meeting reiterated Pakistan’s continued commitment towards global and regional peace and security.

Talking to Dawn about his interactions with Pakistani officials, Mr Ladsous said he had “registered a commitment and a continued commitment to UN operations”.

The peace-keeping chief will meet military officials on Tuesday. He will talk to military officials about “improvements in quality of delivery of services, including standards for training and equipment, speed of deployment of units, introduction of modern technology in the missions, particularly the unarmed UAVs, shortage of armoured personnel carriers and helicopters and the working conditions of deployed troops”.

The Foreign Office said its officials in a meeting with the UN official acknowledged the positive role of UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan. “The UN Under-Secretary General highly appreciated Pakistan’s contribution to the UN peace-keeping forces, pivotal role in the preparation of Peace-keeping Manual and adoption of the Security Council resolution 2086 on peace-keeping in Jan 2013 during Pakistan’s presidency of the Security Council,” it said.

‘Kidnapped Iranian guard slain’

Reuters

DUBAI: Militants active in Sistan-Baluchestan have killed one of the five Iranian border guards they have been holding hostage for the past six weeks, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported on Monday.

It identified the victim as Jamshid Danaeefar, shown sitting against a mud wall in an unidentified location with the other four captives in a grainy photo apparently taken by their captors.

Fars, quoting an “informed source”, said the four other hostages were in good health.

The guards were seized while patrolling near the border with Pakistan in early February. Jaishal Adl, an Iranian Sunni rebel group in Sistan-Baluchestan province, later claimed responsibility.

Neither Tehran nor Islamabad could immediately confirm the report. Pakistani authorities said on Monday they were still investigating.—Reuters

Afghan attack allegation rejected

AFP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Monday it was “highly disturbing” to see attempts being made to implicate it in an attack on a Kabul hotel that left nine people dead.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Monday it was “highly disturbing” to see attempts being made to implicate it in an attack on a Kabul hotel that left nine people dead.

Afghanistan said on Sunday that the attack on Hotel Serena was planned “outside the country”.

The National Security Council, which is chaired by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, alleged that a Pakistani diplomat was seen scoping out the corridors of the hotel ahead of the Thursday night raid.

“It is highly disturbing that attempts are being made to somehow implicate Pakistan in this terrorist incident. We reject the insinuation,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said in a statement. “The tendency to immediately blame Pakistan is unhelpful and should be discarded.”

She said Pakistan had already condemned the attack.

“A Pakistani national has also sustained serious injuries and remains under treatment,” she added.—AFP

Missing jet crashed in Indian Ocean, says Malaysia

AFP

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia said on Monday its missing airliner had crashed in the Indian Ocean, extinguishing the hopes of relatives of those on board but shedding no light on why it veered so far off course.

A sombre Prime Minister Najib Razak said a new analysis of satellite data on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370’s path placed its last position in remote waters off Australia’s west coast, “far from any possible landing sites”.

“It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean,” Najib said.

The plane went missing on March 8 with 239 people aboard -- two thirds of them Chinese -- en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The announcement touched off deep despair among relatives in both cities.

“What can I say? I had the belief that my son would return home safely. But what can be done?” said Subramaniam Gurusamy, whose 34-year-old son Puspanathan Gurusamy was on board.

“This is fate. We must accept it,” he said, his voice choking with emotion.

In Beijing, family members who have gathered in a hotel throughout the crisis, repeatedly raging at the airline over the agonising 17-day wait for information, were crushed when the carrier finally broke the news at a meeting in the hotel’s ballroom.Some burst out, sobbing uncontrollably, held by fellow family members while others collapsed and were taken away on stretchers. Others quietly wiped away tears.

“For them, the past few weeks have been heartbreaking; I know this news must be harder still,” Najib said in Kuala Lumpur.

The premier said Monday’s conclusions were reached based on new analysis of satellite data by Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), and the satellite telecommunications firm Inmarsat.

He gave no specifics such as precisely where the plane may have been lost.

Numerous recent sightings of suspected debris, by satellites as well as aircraft criss-crossing the region, had fuelled the belief that the plane crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

But the confirmation brought Malaysian authorities no closer to determining what actually caused the Boeing 777 to veer inexplicably off course and fly for hours and thousands of kilometres in the wrong direction.

Confirmed wreckage -- to say nothing of the black box and its flight data -- are yet to be found.

“Terrorism, pilot suicide and a complex set of mechanical failures never seen before are now the likely possibilities. A simple failure such as a simple fire or structural failure is becoming very unlikely,” said aviation consultant Gerry Soejatman.The airline said the international search in a stormy stretch of the Indian Ocean would continue “as we seek answers to the questions which remain”.

“When Malaysia Airlines receives approval from the investigating authorities, arrangements will be made to bring the families to the recovery area,” it said, without specifying where that would be.

Malaysia believes the plane was deliberately diverted by someone on board.

But the absence of firm evidence has fuelled intense speculation, competing theories, and tormented the families of the missing.

Leading scenarios include a hijacking, pilot sabotage or a sudden mid-air crisis that incapacitated the flight crew and left the plane to fly on auto-pilot until it ran out of fuel.

The last known contact with MH370 was made over the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam. For reasons unknown, it backtracked over the Malaysian peninsula.

The search swung deep into the Indian Ocean last week after initial satellite images depicted large floating objects there, and a flurry of debris sightings continued into Monday.

The Australian naval ship HMAS Success was sent to investigate the latest sighting by crew members of an Australian aircraft about 2,500 kilometres southwest of Perth and to attempt to recover the objects.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he hoped retrieving the suspected debris “will take us a step closer to resolving this tragic mystery”.

The US Navy has ordered a specialised device sent to the region to help find the “black box” of flight and cockpit voice data.

The high-tech device can locate black boxes as deep as 20,000 feet (6,060 metres), the US Seventh Fleet said in a statement. The search area ranges from 3,000-4,000 metres deep.

The 30-day signal from the black box is due to fail in less than two weeks.

US-based aviation consultancy Leeham Co said it was reasonably confident the plane and flight recorders would be found.

It said the digital flight data recorder “should provide a wealth of information”. But the cockpit voice recorder, with a much smaller data capacity, would likely not reveal what happened when the plane changed course hours before it went down.Australia said the search for debris grew to 10 aircraft on Monday, with two Chinese military aircraft joining Australian, US, and Japanese planes.

Chinese, British and Australian naval vessels are also involved.

As part of an investigation into the crash, Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said police have interviewed more than 100 people, including families of both the pilot and co-pilot.—AFP

Turkey says Syrian jet shot down in its airspace

AFP

ANKARA: Turkey said on Sunday it had shot down a Syrian fighter jet for a breach of Turkish airspace, as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned of a ‘heavy’ response to future violations.

ANKARA: Turkey said on Sunday it had shot down a Syrian fighter jet for a breach of Turkish airspace, as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned of a ‘heavy’ response to future violations.

Syria accused its northern neighbour of ‘flagrant aggression’ after Turkish forces shot down the warplane as it bombarded rebels near the border.

A Syrian military source said the warplane was shot down “in a flagrant act of aggression that is evidence of (Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip) Erdogan’s support for terrorist groups”.

The aircraft “was chasing terrorist groups inside Syrian territory at Kasab”, said the source, referring to the disputed border crossing. The pilot was able to eject the aircraft.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the plane downed on Sunday was bombing rebels fighting to seize Kasab when it was hit.

But the Turkish military said two Syrian MIG-23 planes approaching its airspace were warned “four times” to turn away and that it scrambled fighter jets when one refused to do so.

In a statement, the Turkish military said the plane breached its airspace by around one kilometre at 1113 GMT and flew over Turkey for another 1.5 kilometres.

“One of the patrolling F-16 jets fired a missile at the Syrian plane... in line with rules of engagement and the plane fell into the Kasab region on Syrian territory,” it said.

Both Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul congratulated the Turkish armed forces after the incident.

“Our response from now will be heavy if you violate our airspace,” Erdogan warned during an election rally, addressing the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The foreign ministry said Turkey had acted within its rights under international law, and called the Syrian regime’s accusations “baseless”.

Turkey would continue to exercise its right of self-defence in the future, warning Damascus “not to test the determination of the Turkish Armed Forces”, it said in a statement.

Ankara had notified the United Nations and Nato, it said.

Turkey toughened its rules of engagement after the downing of one of its fighter jets by the Syrian air force in June 2012, to say that any military approach of the Turkish border from Syria would be considered a threat.

A staunch opponent of the regime in Damascus, Turkey hosts more than 750,000 refugees from the three-year Syrian conflict, many of them in camps along the border.—AFP

Indian police claim arresting key terror suspect

AFP

NEW DELHI: Indian police said on Sunday they had arrested a key terror suspect of the home-grown militant group the Indian Mujahideen, blamed for a string of deadly attacks across the country.

NEW DELHI: Indian police said on Sunday they had arrested a key terror suspect of the home-grown militant group the Indian Mujahideen, blamed for a string of deadly attacks across the country.

Ziaur Rehman, popularly known by his alias Waqas, was arrested along with three of his aides in the western Indian state of Rajasthan on Saturday, special police commissioner S.N. Srivastava said at a news conference in New Delhi.

“Waqas is a Pakistani national and he was planning to carry out a terror attack with the help of his associates. But a spectacular terrorist strike has been averted with his arrest,” Srivastava said.

Waqas, 24, is accused of conducting a series of bombings across the country, including the 2011 blasts in Mumbai that killed 21 people.

During searches of the hideouts of the arrested men, police said they recovered detonators, electronic circuits, timers and a large quantity of explosives.

Police were able to track Waqas’s movements with the help of clues provided by his aide and Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, who was arrested last August. Bhatkal, lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail, is on trial after being charged with various offences.—AFP

Crew of Morning Glory arrested in Libya

Reuters

ON BOARD THE MORNING GLORY: A commercial oil tanker seized by US forces after it loaded crude at a Libyan port held by anti-government rebels has docked back in the capital Tripoli, a witness said on Sunday.

US special forces boarded the tanker a week ago off Cyprus, days after it left Es Sider port, which is controlled by rebels who demand more autonomy and oil wealth in defiance of the central government.

A reporter was allowed to board the Morning Glory moored near the Tripoli coast, witnessing how Libyan navy forces arrested the 21-strong crew and three rebels who had boarded the ship at Es Sider.

It was a rare victory for Tripoli, which is struggling to end a port blockade by rebels, one of many challenges facing the central government which has failed to secure the North African country three years after the fall of Muammar Qadhafi.

Former anti-Qadhafi rebels and militias refuse to surrender their weapons and often use force or control of oil facilities to make demands on a state whose army is still in training with Western governments.

Tired-looking Pakistani captain Mirza Noman Baig showed navy personnel the damage resulting from a firefight with the Libyan navy before the vessel escaped from Libya. “This is all,” he said, referring to cracks and bullet holes on the tanker’s crew office and an oil tank.

Libyan soldiers removed the crew on a small boat where they huddled in the open in the back on their way to Tripoli port.

“They will be referred to the relevant judicial authorities,” said Lieutenant Colonel Salim ash-Shwirf, standing on the tanker. “The 21 and the Libyans are in good health but there are some damages at the tanker.”

The crew declined to give interviews but the family of the captain said armed Libyan rebels boarded the ship, forced them to load crude and to evade the Libyan navy sent to stop them.

The reporter was shown two rifles, three pistols and bags full of ammunition in the crew’s office. The rifles belonged to the three rebels, who had been handcuffed, a navy officer said.

The tanker carried no flag. The ship, which had been North Korean-flagged until Pyongyang denied knowledge of the vessel, was due to arrive later at Libya’s Zawiya port, where its cargo of crude would be fed into the Zawiya refinery.

“The crew of the oil tanker is now under my authority and is being investigated,” Libya’s state prosecutor Abdelqadir Radwan said.

Eastern federalist leader Ibrahim Jathran, whose fighters seized three ports last summer, is demanding a greater share in Libya’s oil resources and more autonomy for his region where many feel they have been abandoned by Tripoli for years.

The Tripoli government gave Jathran a two-week deadline on March 12 to end his port blockade or face a military assault, though analysts say Libya’s nascent armed forces may struggle to follow through on the ultimatum.

Western governments, which backed Nato’s air strikes to help the 2011 anti-Qadhafi revolt, are training Libya’s armed forces and are pressing the factions to reach a political settlement.

But the powerful rival militias, with bases in the east and west of the country and political allies in the parliament, remain power brokers in a country where weapons from Qadhafi’s era and the Nato-backed rebellion are easily available.—Reuters

Afghanistan alleges Pakistan link to attack

AFP

KABUL: Afghanistan said on Sunday an attack on a Kabul hotel that left nine civilians dead was planned outside the country.

KABUL: Afghanistan said on Sunday an attack on a Kabul hotel that left nine civilians dead was planned outside the country.

The National Security Council (NSC), which is chaired by President Hamid Karzai, also alleged that a Pakistani diplomat was seen scoping out the corridors of the Serena hotel ahead of the Thursday night raid.

The NSC said the attack on the hotel, which was carried out by four teenage gunmen and claimed by the Taliban, was in fact the work of “foreign intelligence services”.

“Witness testimony and preliminary information analysis shows that this terrorist attack was directly executed or carried out by foreign intelligence services outside the country,” the council said in a statement.

“Another information of the NDS (National Directorate of Security) shows that earlier when one Pakistani diplomat entered the Kabul-Serena hotel to use its sport club, he filmed the corridors of the hotel which the hotel staff raised objections to,” it added.

The NDS is Afghanistan’s main intelligence agency.—AFP

Footprints: No justice for Aminas of the country

Nasir Jamal

THE Mir Hazar Khan police aren’t inhospitable, at least not in normal circumstances. But Wednesday wasn’t a routine day at the police station in Muzaffargarh’s Jatoi tehsil. Punjab’s top spy was trying to determine the circumstances that had forced Amina Mai to burn herself to death just outside the police station a week earlier. He was also focusing on the police’s role in the release, without a proper probe, of the man Amina accused of raping her on Jan 5. Another team headed by the top provincial investigator was due to arrive the next morning to probe the rape case on the apex court’s orders.

That wasn’t all. Three of the policemen’s colleagues facing arrest — a DSP, an inspector and a sub-inspector — are fugitives from the law. Another DSP is on temporary bail and ASI Rana Zulfiqar Ali, who was investigating the 18-year-old’s complaint but had evidently freed the suspect without a proper probe, is in jail. Against this backdrop, it was but natural for the police to view a journalist in their midst as an unwanted intrusion. “Not now,” said an uncommunicative sentry, pushing us out of the building and bolting the gate behind us.

Outside the police station — 40km from Muzaffargarh — the spot where the Class XI student had set herself on fire after the release of the key suspect doesn’t bear any sign of her tragic death. Eyewitnesses are hard to find. “I saw the girl sprinkling petrol on her scarf from a can handed by her mother and lighting herself,” Tanveer Ahmed, whose father owns a dhaba a few metres away, told Dawn. He was the only person in the area who claimed to have witnessed the incident.

“A couple of TV cameramen were recording the event and continuously encouraging her to burn her scarf if she wanted justice. She was in flames within a fraction of a minute.” Tanveer wasn’t sure if the cameramen, who apparently rode away on their motorbike(s) once things got uglier, had come there on their own or had accompanied the girl.

Amina had alleged that the rape took place in the jungle when she was walking home from the doctor’s with her younger brother. The place isn’t far from the narrow broken and dusty road that takes you to her village, Lundi Pitafi, in 30-35 minutes through fields, villages and small bazaars on both sides.

Murders are easy in Pakistan to wash away. Rapes are even easier to cover up. Every year, thousands of cases of gang rape and rape are registered and the culprits ‘traced’, but only a few perpetrators are convicted because of the investigators’ prejudice against women, corruption, lack or destruction of evidence, police failure to have the victims medically tested or undergo DNA tests, untrained prosecutors and numerous investigation and legal shortcomings.

In Amina’s case, one or a combination of these factors could have played out in favour of her alleged tormentors. “It’s yet to be determined if the investigation officer mismanaged the case intentionally or was too incompetent to handle it,” a police official said privately.

At her home, her elder brother Ghulam Shabbir said his sister was an honourable woman. “[The main suspect’s] release was too much for her. In the court, my sister was jeered at by him and his brothers. They thrust sweets into her mouth. She couldn’t cope with her humiliation,” he said, pointing in the direction of her alleged tormentor’s house nearby. The house has been locked ever since he was rearrested and his brothers went into hiding.

Inside the house, Amina’s mother repeatedly demanded justice for her dead daughter. “If they don’t give us justice I’ll burn myself like her.” She denies she knew her daughter wanted to set herself ablaze. “She went to the police station to collect her clothes. I went along. When the SHO refused to see her, she asked me to bring back her clothes. I was only halfway inside when I heard her screams and looked back to see the flames burning her,” she recalled. She said she was not aware of the presence of cameramen at the spot.

On our way back, we chanced upon local politician Mohammad Sharif Kamboh. “There’s little doubt in my mind that something had happened between the suspect and the girl [on the day she said she was raped]. It is for the police to investigate the girl’s complaint and determine the nature and extent of the crime.” But the police failed her just as they have failed countless other women.

Some madressahs spread disinformation about security policy, says Nisar

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that with a view to gaining ‘political advantages’ some madressahs are spreading false information about the National Security Policy.

Talking by phone to Muhammad Rafi Usmani, the grand mufti of Pakistan and vice-president of Wifaqul Madaris Al Arabiya, the minister said that such rumours were particularly damaging for the country in the existing atmosphere.

He assured the grand mufti that the government was not planning to launch any operation against madressahs.

“If there is a report about suspicious activities regarding any madressah we will take Wifaqul Madaris into confidence and fulfil all the legal requirements,” he remarked.

He praised the services rendered by ulema and said the government expected them to play a positive role in all important and strategic matters.

The madressahs were imparting religious education even in remote and under-developed parts of the country, he added.

On his part, Mufti Usmani expressed the hope that the ongoing government-Taliban talks would yield positive results. “I pray that may Almighty Allah restore peace in the country as a result of these negotiations,” he said.

Presidential guard kills Iraqi journalist

AFP

BAGHDAD: A presidential guard shot dead a senior Iraqi journalist during an argument in Baghdad on Saturday and then fled, briefly sparking a standoff in which Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki demanded he be handed over.

It was not immediately clear what sparked the altercation outside a heavily guarded presidential complex in the upscale Jadriyah neighbourhood, but it appeared that Mohammed Bidaiwi, the Baghdad bureau chief of Radio Free Iraq, was on his way to work inside the compound when the shooting occurred.

The officer allegedly responsible, a captain in the Kurdish peshmerga forces, fled the scene after the incident. He apparently took refuge in presidential guard offices before eventually being handed over, but only after Maliki himself made a surprise appearance to demand he be taken into custody.

“The peshmerga captain killed him after he stopped him from getting into the compound,” said a journalist at Radio Free Iraq.

An interior ministry official confirmed the account.

The killing sparked outrage among officials, with Maliki’s office and others alleging that the officer was being harboured by the presidential guard, and demanding that he be handed over.

Shortly afterwards, the premier appeared at the compound with a phalanx of guards and called for the officer to be arrested.

The Baghdad joint security command later announced that he had been handed over.

Maliki’s spokesman earlier said that security forces were “laying siege to the presidential offices” and that “if this brigade refuses to hand over the criminal, we have orders to break in and arrest him by force.” —AFP

New Zealand beat England

Reuters

CHITTAGONG: Captain Brendon McCullum played one of the most important six-ball knocks of his career to lead New Zealand to a nine-run win over England via the Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-marred World Twenty20 match on Saturday.

Chasing 173 for victory, McCullum hit two sixes off rival skipper Stuart Broad in the fifth over before the heavens opened up and his team were left on 52 for one after 5.2 overs. No further cricket was possible and because Duckworth-Lewis only comes into play in Twenty20 when five overs are bowled by each team, his innings proved vital. —Reuters

Editorial News

Off-track again

Editorial

NORMALISATION of ties with India, spearheaded by the normalisation of trade, was supposed to be the centrepiece of the PML-N government’s foreign policy. It was a point underlined, reiterated and spelled out time and again by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif before and after the election. If there was anything the government was going to do, the consensus was, it would be forward movement on India by sweeping away the old excuses and constraints. Unhappily, the relationship with India has become yet another area in which the government inexplicably appears to have allowed policy drift and paralysis to settle in. Why has a trade deal with India, so tantalisingly close just last month, stalled? The government is offering a raft of excuses about why it has backtracked on its own initiative, but few of them are credible or particularly believable. The idea that the government’s negotiating team was unaware what the formal start of the Indian general election campaign meant for both the timing and possibility of a trade deal is, quite simply, laughable. In fact, the deadline was the very reason Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir travelled to India earlier this year.

So, what happened? Perhaps the government here realised that a visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was not going to materialise and so, miffed by the diplomatic rebuff, decided to wait until after the election. If that is in fact the real reason, it would suggest a naivety and ingenuousness in policymaking that would be shocking for a third-term prime minister. Surely, the answer must lie somewhere else — and, in the Pakistani context, it is never very difficult to guess where that somewhere else lies. Did the army leadership indicate an inability to endorse the government’s big initiative with India, thereby scuttling a trade deal, for now or perhaps even the foreseeable future? Despite denials by both sides about the army leadership exercising its veto, there is a plausible scenario where Prime Minister Sharif decided that his other main initiative — dialogue with the TTP — needed army facilitation and so decided not to press too hard on the India front as a tacit quid pro quo. If so, it would be a sad capitulation by a political government at a time that the transition to democracy is supposed to be moving forward stronger than ever.

Yet, it was the vast, coordinated and unprecedented show of force by the LeT/JuD in Punjab on March 23 that was more shocking still. Even if the PML-N does not have the will to push through its own agenda on trade with India in the face of the army opposition, how and why does it allow the group to so brazenly promote its anti-India agenda on Pakistan Day? The already evident policy paralysis of the PML-N is drifting alarmingly towards total disarray.

Prisoners’ swap

Editorial

THE first direct government-TTP contact on Wednesday had more of an exploratory character, with both sides sounding each other out. But among the few concrete issues reportedly discussed were the extension of a ceasefire declared by the militants earlier this month, and a possible prisoner swap between the state and the outlawed TTP. While most TTP demands made recently, including withdrawal of the army from parts of Fata and the imposition of the group’s brand of Sharia in Pakistan, are clearly unacceptable, the militants’ call for the release of ‘non-combatants’ allegedly being held by the state could be looked into. The militants say around 300 women, children and elderly men are being held by security forces and a list of names has reportedly been forwarded to the government. On the government’s part, the negotiators have called upon the insurgents to release high-profile hostages believed to be held by them. These include a son of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and a son of assassinated Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer as well as the vice-chancellor of a Peshawar varsity.

It is not known how credible the TTP’s claim of the state detaining non-combatants is. For example, it has been noted that there are hardly any women or children from Fata or KP in the lists of missing persons, while the courts have also not been approached for the retrieval of any such prisoners. The military has denied it is keeping women and children in captivity. But, it can be said with near certainty that Ali Haider Gilani, Shahbaz Taseer and vice-chancellor Ajmal Khan are being held by the TTP or one of their affiliates as bargaining chips, even though the militants have not confirmed the hostages are in their custody. To prove their intentions, the militants need to set these detainees free. And if the security forces are indeed keeping women and children in detention centres or elsewhere, they must also be released. As to the demand made by the militants for the release of their comrades-in-arms, while human rights principles dictate that non-combatants be released, hardened militants in state captivity must face the law and not be set free under any amnesty.

Israel’s disastrous plan

Editorial

ON Wednesday, the Arab summit in Kuwait lent its categorical support to the Palestinian Authority by refusing to accept Israel as a Jewish state because doing so in its eyes would be tantamount to reducing Palestine’s sons of the soil to the status of serfs on their own land. That Israel should be a Jewish state was inherent in the Balfour Declaration issued by Britain in 1917, and all Israeli governments have followed this policy by encouraging Jews from all over the world to settle in the country and squeezing the Arabs out of Israel proper and the occupied territories. The hardline government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu has officially adopted this policy and has been pressing the PA to accept it. More pernicious has been the plan to repudiate the 1967 border and draw up a scheme for territorial ‘adjustments’ and ‘transfer’ — nothing less than a euphemism for expulsion — of Palestinians from their ancestral lands. As reported in the Western media, this plan is being studied from the point of view of international law. If Israel succeeds in this scheme, gobbles up more territory and manages to evict a majority of Palestinians from their ancestral land, it would only exacerbate tensions.

Even if Israel was envisaged as a homeland for the Jewish people, does that mean that the state should consider draconian steps to ensure that those who have equal right to the land but are not of the Jewish faith should be forced to leave, losing forever the ‘right of return’? Onwards from the 1990s, after that historic handshake on the grounds of the White House that saw the Israelis and Palestinians seal a deal to implement a two-state formula, the peace process is headed in anything but the right direction, with Israel, and the US policy of going along with the latter’s intransigence, primarily responsible for this faulty trajectory. In an already burning Middle East, Israel’s plan if implemented would be nothing short of a catastrophic blow to the region.

Child marriage bill

Editorial

IT is not often enough that we see a move in parliament to counter the ultra-conservative lobby, something that is particularly true of events in recent months when the right-wing has been in full cry. However, the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill introduced in the National Assembly on Tuesday attempts to do exactly that by pushing back against the Council of Islamic Ideology’s recent declaration that laws barring child marriage in Pakistan are un-Islamic. The bill seeks to amend the British-era Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, by making underage marriage — below 16 for girls and 18 for boys according to the law — a cognisable offence and empowering family courts to take notice of the law’s violation. Those contracting marriages with children or solemnising such unions will both be held liable. The bill also stipulates punishment of up to two years’ rigorous imprisonment or a fine of up to Rs100,000, or both, thereby enhancing it from the present one-month simple imprisonment or a fine of Rs1,000.

Although the CII functions in an ‘advisory’ capacity, the reactionary environment in Pakistan at present offers fertile ground for the body’s appallingly regressive recommendations to influence public debate in a direction that would leave women and children far worse off than they already are. There is no better forum to check this than the country’s primary representative body, and the introduction of the bill in the National Assembly by five PML-N parliamentarians is a timely and much-needed assertion of its legislative role that it must employ for the protection of the most vulnerable segments of society. However, the timorousness of legislators in the face of right-wing onslaught was once again evident with the religious affairs minister suggesting that, if needed, the CII’s input should be considered while the bill is deliberated upon, which would surely consign the proposed legislation to oblivion. Instead, this is as good a time as any to definitively sideline the CII and reinforce the supremacy of parliament.

Another silver lining in this unexpected dredging up of an issue that should have long been settled, is the opportunity it affords to craft effective legislation to check a crime that can have devastating consequences for a child’s mental and physical health. For instance, it is well-known that maternal mortality in Pakistan, which already fares poorly in the region on this score, is highest among girls below 16, whose bodies are not mature enough for the rigours of child-bearing. The existing law against child marriage is a toothless one that is often flouted with impunity in the name of ‘culture’. An amendment in the law is thus a very welcome move, and legislators must stand firm against resistance from those attempting to advance medieval traditions that have no place in modern society.

Warning signs ignored

Editorial

WHEN terrible events or a devastating episode occurs, there is a tendency here to regard them as utterly unexpected. But, more often than not, the warning signs have been there all along — ignored at our own peril. The New York Times has reported that the US government believes that several Al Qaeda veterans have left the Pak-Afghan border area to go and join the rebels fighting the Assad regime in Syria. In and of itself, the claim is not new or surprising, though many of the details are. One of those details in particular ought to alarm policymakers here, not least because the NYT has referred to it in a matter-of-fact manner. The phrase in question: “Al Qaeda’s senior leadership in Pakistan, including Ayman al-Zawahiri”. Once upon a time, Pakistan used to scoff at and dismiss US claims that Osama bin Laden was hiding inside Pakistan. Then, to Pakistan’s lasting humiliation, bin Laden was indeed found to have been living comfortably inside this country for many years.

The problem is, no lessons appear to have been learned from that debacle. If al-Zawahiri is in Pakistan, what are the authorities here doing to help track him down before the Americans do? For who can, in the wake of the OBL raid, believe that the Americans would hesitate to launch another unilateral raid to take out al-Zawahiri if they track down his exact location and are unsure of whether he is being given protection by elements within the state or not? And what of the aftermath of such an incident? The benefit of doubt seemingly given to Pakistan in 2011 may not be so easily extended in 2014 with the drawdown of foreign forces in Afghanistan a certainty. Inside Pakistan too the rising tide of anti-Americanism may be harder to contain, given the space ceded to militancy of all stripes over the last year in particular. Al Qaeda never has been an ally or friend or even a tolerated non-state actor of Pakistan. It is in Pakistan’s own interest to eliminate the group, especially its leadership, from Pakistani soil. Incompetence or complicity, as was suspected after the OBL episode, is simply not an option anymore — at least if Pakistan wants to be considered a responsible state internationally.

Flagging foolishness

Editorial

THIS is what good neighbours are there for. Just when some Pakistanis are suffering from guilt pangs born of our ever-running love affair with jingoism, we have someone else on the subcontinent intervening to lighten our conscience. Recently, when the weak-hearted here cowered under the impact of the media’s effort to turn the Asia Cup games into a war between the Shaheens and the rest, some crazy mind in India came to the fore. Some students, who called Kashmir their home, were booked on charges of sedition and it was as if the whole of Pakistan with its suspicions of India had been vindicated. The media routine of projecting cricket games as full-fledged wars of supremacy has continued during the current T-20 tournament also being held in Bangladesh.

Mercifully for Pakistanis looking for vindication of their charged sentiment, the tradition has continued of foolhardy officials blowing the whistle when the only ones indulging in foul play are they themselves. The Bangladesh Cricket Board has come up with an idea to be placed in a future museum of patriotism. It has banned Bangladeshi fans from bringing to the games’ venue flags of any country other than their own. Already, Pakistanis are linking the BCB order to all kinds of conspiracies and ultimately to the hidden dictates of those who control the game. Pakistanis have ‘evidence’ that their players are popular in Bangladesh, which is currently in the process of trying Islamists with old Pakistani links and is therefore extra mindful of any show of support for Pakistan. Our information minister has expressed his disappointment over the ban and the ICC and independent commentators have strongly questioned it. There is little more that can be added to this wave of disapproval. There has been a genuine failure to use the sport to offset serious political matters. Instead, sport has been made into a vehicle to invoke the darkest emotions. But as examples go, the BCB ban will rank among the ugliest manifestations of a lack of sportsman spirit.

Nuclear record

Editorial

THE third Nuclear Security Summit held at The Hague saw Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif repeat the long-standing Pakistani demand that the country be included in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the 48-member nuclear export club focused on non-proliferation. Membership of the club bestows many advantages, but perhaps the biggest attraction it holds for Pakistan is the legitimacy participation bestows on a country as a responsible member of the global nuclear community. Within the NSG, Pakistan would likely position itself as both a buyer and seller — a buyer a la the Indo-US nuclear deal of 2006 and a seller because of the advance nuclear fuel cycle capabilities that Pakistan has developed. But all of that remains a distant dream, undone by a record of nuclear proliferation centring around the A.Q. Khan saga that Pakistan would like the world to move on from, but that the outside world is less keen on doing.

In truth, Pakistan meets the criteria for entry to the NSG, but entry is also decided on political grounds. With India, whose entry to the NSG the US sought in 2010 but that has yet to be formally granted, trade and investment opportunities and a growing diplomatic closeness helped smooth the way to de facto nuclear power status. Pakistan, wracked as it is by violence and often on the wrong side of global terrorism and proliferation concerns, has no such benefits. And there the matter appears to rest, despite Pakistan having taken great strides towards tightening its non-proliferation regime and ensuring the safety and security of its nuclear programme and assets. Yet, distant though the achieving of the goal may be, the country’s leadership is right to keep reiterating its credentials and qualifications for NSG membership at every available opportunity. In this way, when the moment does arrive for membership to be considered, Pakistan will have a long and verifiable record of abiding by the principles of the nuclear club that sets the international rules for trade in civilian nuclear technology.

In the meantime, however, there are civilian nuclear projects where the Pakistani government ought to consider involving international expertise to help mitigate domestic concerns and perhaps even regional and international ones. As the PML-N government prepares to implement massive new nuclear energy projects in the country, there have been questions asked in some quarters about the location and design of the new projects. If even the safety-obsessed Japanese could suffer a Fukushima-type disaster, surely the Pakistani government must go to whatever lengths it can to ensure the public in a potentially affected zone and the international community that it is not putting pride and prestige ahead of safety and environmental concerns.

Sham trials in Egypt

Editorial

THE world’s silence on barbarism in Egypt under legal cover is shocking. On Monday, a court sentenced no less than 529 Muslim Brotherhood members to death after a sham trial with two hearings in which the judge became angry when the defence lawyer demanded his recusal. Over 1,200 more people are to be tried as part of what appears to be the relentless persecution of the Brotherhood since the army overthrew Egypt’s first truly elected government, headed by Mohammed Morsi, in July last. Over 1,000 people were killed in August last when the army cracked down on two Brotherhood camps; thousands of people, including Mr Morsi, are in jail and those to be tried for murder and rioting include the Brotherhood’s supreme guide, Mohammed Badie. Monday’s verdict is subject to two appeals, and reports say the Grand Mufti may overturn the judgement. But that reversal cannot hide from the world the reality of abject military dictatorship in which Egypt has landed. Army chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi now has no shame in announcing plans to contest presidential elections — which are bound to be a big hoax designed to perpetuate the army’s chokehold and thus undo the gains of the Arab Spring.

The truth is the army-backed government has been emboldened by lack of regional and international opposition to its murder of democracy. The West, for instance, only mildly rebuked the generals for overthrowing Mr Morsi’s government, but the Gulf monarchies welcomed the July 3 coup, and the US made clear that aid to Cairo will continue. Mr Morsi’s behaviour could, of course, be criticised for the haste with which he made the controversial changes in the constitution. But the ouster of an elected government and the unabashed persecution of the party and politicians out of power are not the solution. Apparently, the dynasties ensconced in their oil affluence shudder at the very thought of their own people catching a whiff of the Arab Spring. What they and the West forget is that by persecuting and banishing dissent, they are forcing democratic movements to go underground and become violent. This will have disastrous consequences for the region and for the kingdoms themselves, unleash forces that could destabilise the region and create many more Syrias.

Horrendous crime

Editorial

THE latest attack on a polio vaccinator is barbaric even by the most brutal standards. Salma Farooqui, a wife and mother of five and an active participant in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Sehat ka Insaf anti-polio initiative, was kidnapped from her village in suburban Peshawar on Sunday night and tortured and killed. The victim’s bullet-riddled body was found in a field on Monday. It boggles the mind to think how those who justify or at least tolerate attacks on polio workers will defend this horrific crime. As reported, the victim’s body seemed to have received blows from rifle butts and cuts from knives. There were no claims of responsibility till the time of writing and police said the motive for the murder was unclear. However, Ms Farooqui’s family are convinced she was targeted due to her polio work as she had been receiving threatening calls. Even though the banned TTP may have in recent days ‘distanced’ itself from attacks on polio teams, some militant leaders have also admitted there are ‘hard-liners’ within their ranks who still regard vaccinators and those who protect them as kosher targets. At least a dozen security men escorting vaccinators were killed in Jamrud, Khyber Agency, earlier this month while polio workers were kidnapped from Frontier Region Tank in February. At least three health workers were gunned down in Karachi in January. Overall, one estimate suggests around 60 people related to the anti-polio campaign have been killed since December 2012.

Salma Farooqui soldiered on in her brave mission despite mortal threats; but on Sunday night the monsters who insist on crippling Pakistan’s children and murdering those who wish to vaccinate them against disease registered another ‘success’. For the countless other Salma Farooquis in this country working to save Pakistan’s children from permanent disability and even death, the state must bring the criminals responsible for her killing to justice and strike at the root of the problem. In the meantime, we will wait for the TTP and its political supporters to openly condemn this outrage.

A dark message

Editorial

IT is meant to be a day when Pakistanis celebrate Pakistan and the idea of one nation, but March 23 took on a surreal and disturbing meaning this year. Across the country, rallies were held by the religious and political right, and even militant organisations, all trying to reinvent the meaning of Pakistan and propagate an ideology rooted in a narrow and intolerant version of Islam. The show of force by the far right can be explained by several factors. One, with the TTP-government talks dominating the national conversation in recent weeks, other players in the militancy and right-wing spectrum perhaps felt the need to remind the country of their existence and relevance — and also to establish that the TTP alone will not set the agenda of the far right and militant club.

Two, the state has surrendered the narrative space to the far right by progressively withdrawing from the symbolic parades and events that traditionally used to be held on March 23. True, this year the presidency did try and revive in a small way the pomp and ceremony that used to be identified with March 23, but security concerns still hang heavy and no one in either the civilian or political leadership seems inclined to run the risk of holding a big public event anymore. Three, the state continues to show an extraordinary acceptance of certain stripes of militancy. Among the many groups holding public events in Pakistan on Sunday, some still continue to be perceived as being close to the army-led security establishment. And the PML-N, as per its habit of old, seems to have once again offered extraordinary concessions to some extremist organisations regarding their visibility and pervasiveness in Punjab and even nationally in a Faustian bargain that can at best be described as misguided and naive.

The problem is that neither the government of the day nor the permanent state/security establishment has ever seemed to understand that short-term concessions have long-term impacts. Allowing extremist groups to appropriate March 23, to become the loudest and most vocal of lobbies when it comes to articulating a vision and identity for Pakistan, to package hate and intolerance as piety and faith, all of that will help nudge this country further to the right and towards a future where fear and hate will dominate. What should March 23 stand for? For liberty, for self-determination, for democracy and the rights of all, for freedom from coercion and violence, for the economic and social progress of a citizenry of 200 million, for equality of all before the law and in the eyes of the state. Those are the values that the country should be celebrating on March 23. Instead, too many had to shut their ears to the dark message that dominated on Sunday.

Devolution hiccups

Editorial

NEARLY four years after the passage of the 18th Amendment, the process of devolution is continuing at a mixed pace in Pakistan. While some provinces are proceeding smoothly towards absorbing the powers formerly held by the centre, others have miles to go. As highlighted in this paper on Sunday, non-implementation of the legislation due to “post-18th Amendment confusion” is affecting service delivery in key sectors such as health and education. Punjab is faring better where devolution of powers is concerned, while the process in KP is also going relatively well. But Sindh and Balochistan are far behind. For example, in Sindh there have been reported hiccups concerning transfer of powers of some departments, while in Balochistan the lack of trained human resource is an issue. There are also reports that funds meant for certain projects in the province have been held up. Overall, the provinces, especially Sindh and Balochistan, need to vastly improve their capacity-building abilities, and display a greater sense of urgency to fully accept the responsibility the landmark 18th Amendment brings so that the fruits of devolution can reach the people. The task of transferring powers is indeed complex, especially in a set-up where centralism has long been favoured by the state; nevertheless, Islamabad and the provinces need to display greater resolve to implement the 18th Amendment in spirit.

It is also the view of a number of experts that there are legal loopholes standing in the way of smoother devolution. The provinces need to amend some laws and introduce new ones to give legal cover to the process. In Balochistan’s case, the focus should be on training local manpower to run the province’s departments, while any blockages affecting the transfer of funds must be cleared. The PPP, which was at the forefront of the drive for devolution, needs to address the lacunae in Sindh, which it rules, in order to fix the problems in service delivery. And while the transfer of powers is a lengthy process, some sort of time line is needed as the procedure should not be open-ended. The provinces particularly need to address the structural deficiencies as lack of capacity should not be used as an excuse to support talk of a ‘roll-back’ of powers.

Erdogan’s Twitter ban

Editorial

THE Twitter issue has taken Turkey by storm, widened the fissures in the ruling party and perhaps made Recep Tayyip Erdogan realise that the ban on the social media site in no way helps him in the issue involved —– corruption. The extent of the Turkish prime minister’s overreaction to charges of corruption in his government is astonishing. He alleges that the social media site is being misused, says he will prove how strong the Turkish state is and promises to “wipe out” Twitter. None of this fits with a third-time democratically elected chief executive of a country keen to join the European Union. The ban on Twitter — violated by his own president — isn’t the only display of anger on his part. It comes in the wake of several other repressive measures: the excessive use of force against the Taksim Square protesters, the closure of schools run by his one-time mentor and now critic Fetullah Gulen, a law that tightens the executive’s grip on the judiciary, a bill now in parliament for giving more powers to the intelligence agency for eavesdropping, and the restrictions on the internet and YouTube. All this comes at a time when Turkey has the dubious distinction of having the highest number of journalists in prison. As statistics show, of the 211 journalists in prison worldwide at the end of last year, Turkey tops the list with 40 mediapersons imprisoned.

That President Abdullah Gul and the deputy prime minister should violate the Twitter ban shows not only the unpopularity of the move but also a rift within the AKP — which otherwise has many achievements to its credit, including a booming economy. By not drawing strength from these achievements, Mr Erdogan is showing a surprising degree of impetuosity, thus adding to his problems. Instead of flaunting the ‘deep state’, Mr Erdogan should take back some of these measures, punish the corrupt and thus present himself and his party in a better light for the March 30 municipal polls.

The secrecy factor

Editorial

A MEETING was held, decisions were taken, but no one seems inclined to tell Pakistan what was even talked about. All the country has been told is that a secret meeting place has been decided upon, among other decisions taken. Worryingly, the TTP-government dialogue has become a secretive process in which anything apparently can be decided – and the public is just supposed to accept those decisions, made in their name, as a fait accompli. To be sure, no negotiation process can progress much when there are constant leaks and both sides are rushing to make all their grievances and complaints public. But this is no ordinary negotiation process: the elected government of Pakistan is negotiating with a violent insurgent group with the explicit agenda of overthrowing the state and all the known demands of the outlawed TTP are in conflict with a constitutional, democratic polity where fundamental rights and the rule of law are meant to be paramount.

What the TTP leadership will demand when face to face with the government’s negotiating team can be guessed at. The release of prisoners and the acceptance of its domination over sections of North Waziristan will surely be at the top of that list. At the moment, it appears that the government wants to stretch out the dialogue process as long as possible to stave off the hard decisions while the TTP is amenable to an elongated talks process if it means a full-scale military operation is delayed. But that is not really a sustainable approach, at least for the government. Hard decisions will have to eventually be taken. And after shrouding the dialogue process in secrecy and mystery, the government may be tempted to make concessions that really ought to be unacceptable within the existing structure of state and society here. While the Taliban must necessarily be viewed with suspicion, neither should the government’s motives and intentions be automatically accepted as above the board.

There are two things the government ought to do before going behind closed doors for direct talks with the TTP leadership. First, the government must publicly and forthrightly reiterate that whatever is agreed upon – if an agreement is inched towards – will take place within the confines of the Constitution and the structure of the state as it presently exists. Second, the government must take the parliamentary leadership of the opposition parties into confidence too, and keep them abreast of any developments or breakthroughs in the talks process. Those steps would help ensure that the rulers are not secretly making unacceptable concessions and also keep the government in check.

State’s responsibility

Editorial

OF late there has been a flurry of legislation in Pakistan that has drawn censure for its seemingly heavy-handed approach to fighting terrorism. The KP government, however, appears to be taking a different tack in some respects by placing the onus for security on the citizens themselves. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sensitive and Vulnerable Establishments and Places (Security) Ordinance, 2014, which was promulgated by the governor in February, and has now been referred to a provincial assembly select committee, designates as vulnerable almost every public place, including shops, bazaars, petrol stations, commercial streets and shopping arcades and makes citizens responsible for putting in place security arrangements to protect themselves. These arrangements include those of both the physical and technical variety, including CCTV cameras, biometric systems, walkthrough gates, security alarms and modern gadgetry.

The ordinance was raked over the coals in the KP Assembly recently, and with good reason. The province, given its proximity to the tribal areas where most of the militant sanctuaries are located, is directly in the line of fire. Acts of terrorism are an ever-present threat for its people. Attacks on cinemas, bazaars and places of worship have engendered a siege mentality. The state as the overarching authority must send the message that it is determined to stand firm in the face of militancy instead of abdicating its responsibility at this critical juncture. Citizens can and should play a role in bolstering security by keeping their eyes and ears open for suspicious activity, and the proposal to hold property owners responsible if their tenants are found to have terrorist links is based on this. But it’s the state’s duty to provide security to the citizens and maintain law and order through its instruments of law-enforcement. By contemplating legislation along the lines of the above ordinance, the KP government is conveying to the citizenry that it has given up the battle against forces inimical to the state, which will result in demoralisation; the message will also serve to embolden those bent on violence. Moreover, legislation of this nature will set a dangerous precedent in which the state looks for expedient ways in which to absolve itself of consequences that result from its own shortcomings and lack of clarity.

Indefensible delay

Editorial

ANYONE who has flown into or out of Islamabad’s present airport will agree that the facility is highly inadequate for the travelling public. Yet work on the capital’s new airport — being built at Fatehjung — has proceeded at a glacial pace and has been marred by apparent mismanagement. Launched during the Musharraf government in 2007, the new airport was supposed to be ready in 30 months. But while nearly seven years have passed since the project’s groundbreaking, it is still not ready for operation. In the meantime, the cost has ballooned from Rs37bn to Rs95bn. Not only is the project — like so many others in Pakistan — a textbook case for bad planning and management, it is also a glaring example of criminal neglect, considering that billions of rupees of scarce public funds have been wasted on it and with possibly some of it embezzled. Hence the prime minister’s decision to launch a probe into the indefensible delay in completion is welcome. Visiting the project site recently, Nawaz Sharif said he wanted the airport completed by March 2015, rejecting the Civil Aviation Authority’s plea for two more years. The prime minister also ordered the FIA to look into the alleged mismanagement of the project.

It is unfortunate that prime ministerial intervention was necessary to investigate delays in the key project. We hope the new deadline is realistic. We also hope that all funds are accounted for and if any proof of financial misappropriation of public funds emerges the guilty are brought to book. However, Mr Sharif’s wish to have an airport “better” than Dubai or Doha needs a reality check. What Islamabad needs is a new airport that is safe, secure, accessible and user-friendly for the modern traveller. We can ill-afford to imitate Gulf cities and splurge on the project, especially when the construction has already gobbled up billions of rupees. Practicality and utility should be the main features of the new airport, not the razzle-dazzle of facilities that we see in deep-pocketed sheikhdoms.

Protection of journalists

Editorial

THE safety of journalists and the media in Pakistan received some much-needed and necessary high-profile coverage this week again, following a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and a senior delegation of the international Committee to Protect Journalists. It is rarely a good thing when the media itself becomes a story, but these are extraordinary times and there are extraordinary dangers present. The picture is both simple and complex. Simple in the sense that the outlawed TTP continues to directly and menacingly threaten the media. Complex in the sense that countering the Taliban threat is difficult, as is continuing to report on and cover that most critical of policy initiatives of the government ie achieving peace through dialogue with the TTP.

Now that the prime minister himself has announced, in the meeting with the CPJ delegation, that a government-media commission will be formed to both pursue the investigations into attacks already committed against the media as well as to make recommendations for improving the safety and security of journalists and media personnel, the onus should be on the government to make the security of the media a non-negotiable part of the dialogue with the TTP. For, in having opened the door to making the TTP a legitimate stakeholder in the national political process, the government has a responsibility to ensure that the existing stakeholders are protected from the violence of the new entrants. In this regard, the controversial fatwas that the militant group has issued against the media must specifically be withdrawn while more generally the TTP must be asked to publicly acknowledge and accept the existing norms of media coverage and criticisms.

For some, given that the TTP has threatened huge sections of the Pakistani state and society, there may perhaps be questions about why the media deserves special protections and why it should be the focus of particular state interventions. The answer is relatively straightforward: when physical violence is threatened and perpetrated against the media, the coverage of the groups responsible for that violence necessarily becomes less informative, truthful or critical. Which means the public that the media is ostensibly informing becomes less aware of the true nature and agenda of the forces that exist among it. In the here and now, given the critical importance of the talks process between the Taliban and the government, a climate of fear when it comes to reporting or commenting on the TTP is a monumental disservice to the Pakistani public and its right to a full and complete picture of what is being done, or signed away, in their name. Prime Minister Sharif has said the right things about the media. Now, like with so much else, it remains to be seen if his government will deliver on the promises made.

What about the big fish?

Editorial

BIZARRE it may be because of the way in which the executive has gone about obeying the judiciary, but at least the Supreme Court’s persistence has paid off. On Thursday, on the directives of the defence minister, an FIR was registered by the Malakand police against some low-level military men in connection with 35 persons who had gone ‘missing’ — a euphemism for alleged kidnapping by the state. The FIR, a copy of which was submitted to the court on Friday by the KP advocate general, named a naib subedar — a junior commissioned officer — and others for removing 35 internees from the Malakand internment centre. Where they were taken to nobody knows. However, what is absurd is that the defence minister should have chosen junior military officers to be named in the FIR. Surely, officers at that level could hardly be expected to act on their own in a matter that involved the alleged removal of 35 detainees from an internment centre and taking them to an unknown destination. Rather, common sense suggests they could not have acted without orders from officers higher up in the military echelon. No wonder, the lawyer who has been representing the intelligence agencies for long remarked that the lodging of the FIR by the defence minister against the army officers was “an unprecedented development”.

Deadly roads

Editorial

Some important questions need to be answered, such as why a passenger bus was illegally carrying fuel. We also need to ask if our rescue facilities countrywide — especially on busy highways used by heavy vehicles — can adequately respond to emergencies. Overall, there are a few key areas where the state must direct its energies in order to make our roads safer. Firstly, the driving licence regime in Pakistan is defective. That is why individuals with no road sense can either drive with bogus documents and get away with it, or they can secure licences without passing the requisite tests through bribery. Traffic experts point out that computerised licences linked to a national database can help uncover phoney documents. Also, our motor vehicle inspection regime is flawed. For a few thousand rupees, vehicle inspectors can be bribed into allowing death traps on wheels to take to the roads. Moreover, badly constructed roads with improper signage add to the number of accidents. Unless errant drivers are held to account and adequately punished and the state makes road safety a priority, such tragedies will only be repeated.

Columns and Articles

Dominant narrative

Faisal Bari

WHY do people take pride in jumping the queue in Pakistan? Why do they want to distinguish themselves by showing others they can jump the queue? People could be in line to pay bills, cars could be in line to get a parking spot, or people might be waiting for the delivery of their car from the auto manufacturer. We love to say we did it faster than others, that we had connections or we knew someone.

A lot of people talk of making the narrative on Pakistan better, especially to address the international image of Pakistan and to remove ‘misperceptions’ about the country in the eyes of outsiders.

Obviously Pakistan is not only about terrorism and the ‘war on terror’. How can 200 million people be only about that? But terror is what makes the news. So, the quest for a better narrative, though a difficult battle, is understandable.

But what will that narrative be? The only realistic alternative is a narrative based on power. Think of power as the ability either to make another person do what you want them to do or to thwart them from doing what they wanted to do. And power is not a zero-one variable. Power is comparative: in a relevant situation, is one party more powerful than the other? That is all that matters, or seems to, in Pakistan. Most things in Pakistan, currently at least, can be explained through narratives about power.

We are bending over backwards to negotiate with the Taliban. Some of the ministers have said that the majority of them are ‘patriots’. All this despite the fact that they have killed 50,000 odd Pakistanis. The families of the Baloch missing persons walked from Quetta to Islamabad and no minister came to see them, no opposition leader went to their camp, the prime minister did not go. Instead, security agencies tried their best to block access to their camp and tried convincing anchors of television channels to air programmes against them. If the disenfranchised Baloch behave like the Taliban, will the state negotiate with them? Are we not telling people that only the powerful will be heard?

The Supreme Court has made the life of many, in government or outside, uncomfortable. Some of the time rightly so. But whenever it has come up against a more powerful institution or organisation, they have been powerless.

The same is true of the various other state organs. The same applies to individuals in Pakistan.

Power is not the same thing as wealth. There are many who might be wealthy, but who are not powerful. There are some people from the Ahmadi community, Christian community or other minorities who have wealth, but hardly anyone would consider them to have power.

There are people who are not wealthy but do have a lot of power. This is true of the policeman who stands on the road or even an army major or captain: they have power by virtue of the institution they represent. In the patronage system, the ‘enforcers’ of the patron have little wealth but a lot of power. Many of our institutions, even our political parties, have developed on those lines.

There has been some debate on why the discourse on the right to education, granted through the 18th Amendment, has not been more successful. Why, despite the promise of free and compulsory education for all children from five to 16 years and the efforts of civil society groups, are we still far from the goal, and why do millions of children, 20 million-plus by some estimates, remain out of school?

People have talked about the lack of money, the number of schools, the number of teachers, lack of ‘political will’, etc as the main reasons for this. But the real issue is power. Those who have the power (or wealth) are able to access decent quality education through the private sector or select well-known public-funded institutions. Those who do not have power send their children to low-quality private or public institutions or do not send them at all.

The correlation between money and access to good education is high, but since power is not the same thing as wealth, the correlation is not perfect. The army has made schools for its own (cadet colleges and public schools) that are relatively cheap, but allow a lot of army parents access to decent education for their children.

A tragic but pertinent example of power dynamics comes from the study of compensation payments for civilian victims of bomb blasts and other mass terror incidents. Powerful groups and lobbies, able to put pressure on the state, get more money per person and get it far more quickly than the others. The variations in the amount of money and the time taken for disbursements are large and depend on the discretion of the chief minister. Clearly humans are not equal even in death.

The discourse on democracy, rule of law, basic rights and accountability will not gain traction till the direct connection between power and the state is not broken. If the state cannot mediate between citizens or even between citizens and other organs of the state on the basis of the rule of law, the dominant narrative will remain about power and all other narratives will remain subservient to it.

The writer is senior adviser, Pakistan, at Open Society Foundations, associate professor of economics, LUMS, and a visiting fellow at IDEAS, Lahore.

The first question

Asha’ar Rehman

FIGURES put out by experts do defy our own realities. Walking around in Lahore late morning, among all young faces that peep out of houses and shops, you don’t realise that only about 11pc of the youngsters who should be in school are not enrolled.

You don’t really believe your ears when a survey tells you only 11pc of the public sector primary schools are without toilets, or that some 70pc of the students in Class V in a government school are able to understand the contents of an Urdu story taught to children in Class II. Or that two-thirds of the Class V students can read sentences in English or that one-third of them can successfully attempt two-digit divisions. Some 78pc public-sector primary schools in Lahore have their own playgrounds! Which schools? Which playgrounds? That must be some Lahore.

The news report which quoted from a survey of schools in Lahore last week didn’t give the size of the sample or the breakup of the areas that were focused on. This leaves space for discussion.

The first question would be whether to treat the matter of the 11pc missing school students as the basis for criticism of the Punjab government which is always taken to task for its bias for Lahore, or to rise above the standard scepticism and congratulate the government for achieving 89pc enrolment. This is well above Pakistan’s national average, and could be compared with other parts of the country falling in other governments’ jurisdiction, to put these lesser others to some additional shame.

Credit must be given where it is due, but the number of school-age souls you run into on an ordinary day would suggest a lot many more than just 11 in 100 are unable to attend school here.

For one, the age-old practice of employing youngsters in menial jobs at businesses and offices and more technical jobs at this and that workshop has shown no sign of ebbing.

It might well be that a large number of these young, deft, obedient hands are new to Lahore, as they have shifted to the city in the last few years. It could be that they have not fully registered their presence in the city’s log book and are still unrecognised. Or perhaps they are more concentrated in localities which were not surveyed. In any case, the current findings demand a deeper investigation to help us arrive at a larger picture.

The undesirable picture is all the more needed due to the sad pointers the survey provides about the quality of education being imparted. Given the percentages, and notwithstanding our penchant for setting the record rather than setting it straight, it seems those enrolled are doing only slightly better than the outright unfortunate ones who do not attend school.

Those who go to school might have been more likely to get their sentences right away from a classroom in an office and their sums right at a shop. Instead they are in a place where they can be frequently found complaining of oppression, if hammering of concepts and information is something they have not yet learnt, will never learn, to be wary of.

At the launch of the study last Saturday, a speaker urged the community to come forward to address the crisis of education. While the usual rhetoric raised by the well-meaning would continue unabated, this call to the community could be best heeded by parents who can exert pressure and force change.

It is no use parents limiting themselves to the self-satisfying ritual of waking their children in the morning and sending them off to school as if in a dream. The pursuance of the big dream would require them to be a bit more proactive.

The study makes no revelation when it says the private-sector schools are doing, literally, a better job of it. Private schools are under some pressure from paying parents to deliver. The argument is that since the parents of the young students admitted to public-sector schools are only paying a nominal fee they feel they do not have sound enough reason to question the quality of education being imparted to their children.

This point is not valid. Someone is paying for education at state schools: the tax-payer or the donor. If there are noises, the donor will take up the issue. There are ways through which these parents can express their dissatisfaction with the standards of education. They must start making noises and there is capacity in the society and there are agents who can help them organise their drive for some well-deserved change.

It is amazing just how many of us are seen effectively demonstrating against non-provision of basic amenities at various squares of Lahore on any given day. People protest the absence of electricity, gas, water, justice, angrily. Yet there are no protests when children are not given their due inside a classroom. The die is cast so firmly that those who are denied good education at an early age are seldom able to raise questions about what they are imparted even later on in life.

The parents have a role in making better teachers and education officials out of the available lot. These government employees need a nudge towards improvement, and failing that a push through the exit door.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

Realpolitik reigns

Aasim Sajjad Akhtar

AS the confrontation between the ‘West’ and Russia hots up following the annexation of Crimea, a number of commentators and political personalities have raised alarm bells about the real possibility that Europe could go to war for the first time in seven decades.

Admirable as they are, the apparently pacifist sensibilities of those crying out for caution betrays the fact that war and suffering are ever present in the contemporary world, even if Europe has remained relatively peaceful for three generations.

Of course, the escalation in tensions between Russia and Western countries is not good. I wish only to point out that all the rhetoric about Russia’s transgression of democratic norms and international law currently doing the rounds in Western capitals and on corporate media channels rings hollow when one considers the reality of the international system.

After the Second World War, Western Europe, alongside North America and a handful of states in East Asia aligned with Washington, entered what the conservative American economic historian W. W. Rostow called the era of ‘high mass consumption’. Then followed the fantastical proposition that peace and prosperity were guaranteed to all societies that emulated the ‘West’ by adopting the ‘non-communist’ path of development.

What Rostow and the other high intellects of capitalist imperialism neglected to disclose was that incessant wars remained a constant on the peripheries of the world system throughout this golden age of capitalism. Brutal conflicts claimed millions of lives and destroyed the social fabric of innumerable countries in Africa, Indo-China, and Central/South America. In short, colonies seeking freedom were subjected to the wrath of a new brand of imperialism.

Rhetoric about democracy and freedom abounded then just as it does today, even though Western countries sponsored some of the most retrogressive death squads against legitimate freedom fighters. The Contras in Nicaragua and Unita in Angola come to mind. The truth is that wars and death squads on the peripheries and high mass consumption in the core regions of the world system are, and have always been, two sides of the same coin.

We have been told that, following the end of the Cold War, a new era of peace and prosperity has dawned. Yes there are inconvenient bumps in the form of terrorism etc, but the ‘international community’ is united like never before and continues to face up heroically to transgressors like Saddam Hussein, Muammar Qadhafi, and, recently, Vladimir Putin.

Is Putin an autocratic demagogue who has transformed Russia from a relatively egalitarian society into one of the most unequal, unjust countries in the world? Absolutely. Do his nationalist rants and adventures endanger the world and the Russian people? Without a doubt.

But if one were to start moralising about recent and not-so-recent leaders of Western countries, an indictment just as damning as that of Putin’s would be forthcoming. The capitalist world system did not come into existence due to a moral imperative. It was in its genesis as ruthless as it is today.

In this endless game the people of Ukraine and countless other countries in whose name ‘good wars’ have been waged in the post-Cold War world are meaningless instruments. It is worth remembering that Ukraine is only one of many ex-Soviet republics over which Western countries and Russia have been engaged in a ‘Cold War’ for the best part of the last two decades. A major front of this war is so-called civil society; it was in the aftermath of the USSR’s dissolution that civil society started to be heralded by Western country donors as the new frontier of democratisation.

Whatever the popular nomenclature, genuinely democratic principles and practices are conspicuous by their absence today. At least in Eastern Europe there are no 21st-century death squads to match those that existed at the height of the Cold War. These days that privilege is reserved for Muslim-majority countries where rebel armies propped up by the US and its allies in the name of fighting terrorism use means as deplorable as the despotic regimes they are charged with deposing.

And if the world we live in was not cynical enough, consider this: in the past week Russian and US astronauts launched a joint expedition to the International Space Station with a Nasa administrator sending them into orbit with the promise that the US-Russia “partnership in space remains intact and normal”. Of course the sanctions that have been imposed upon Russia are hardly crushing; it remains to be seen whether or not either side will actually take definitive steps to sever economic ties. Whatever does happen, realpolitik will continue to reign supreme.

The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

Child marriage

Khalid Zaheer

A RECENT recommendation by the Council of Islamic Ideology to allow child marriage in Pakistan has invited a new debate on whether Islam allows marriage of minors.

A RECENT recommendation by the Council of Islamic Ideology to allow child marriage in Pakistan has invited a new debate on whether Islam allows marriage of minors.

At the very heart of the CII’s recommendation is the understanding of our traditional religious scholars that since the Prophet (PBUH), according to interpretations of some ahadith, married Hazrat Ayesha when she was six years old and nine years old at the time of consummation of marriage, no law that ignores this historical reality can be deemed to be valid from an Islamic point of view. If the Prophet can marry a minor girl, so goes the argument, how can doing so be declared unacceptable for Muslims?

The important question that must be asked is this: is everything mentioned about the Prophet in history a part of Islam?

The fact is that there are two categories of Islamic information that are available to us: one that is completely authentic and the other that is not. The former type of information is fully reliable because God made it so. The other category is not fully reliable because it is based on human efforts, beset with a number of threats to its authenticity.

The Almighty states most emphatically in the Quran about the first category of information: “Indeed We have revealed this reminder and indeed We are going to ensure its preservation” (15:9). This emphasis itself implies that other categories of information do not enjoy a similar divine confirmation of authenticity.

It is not simply a matter of our faith alone that the Quran and the authentically transmitted religious rituals such as prayers (Sunnah) are deemed fully reliable. They satisfy two universally accepted criteria of reliability: unanimity among all (ijma’ of Muslim ummah) and uninterrupted continuity (tawatur) in the process of transmittal.

A piece of information that has been agreed upon by all Muslims from the very first generation and has been available during the entire Muslim history cannot be faulted. This foolproof reliability has been arranged by God. The information that has been thus preserved is the core content of Islam. Every other religious information must be consistent with this core content in order for it to be considered acceptable to Islam.

Unless the authentic sources of the Quran and Sunnah endorse it, it cannot be claimed to be definitive Islamic information. Many Muslims are thus guilty of presenting in the name of Islam what God Himself has not arranged to make a core part of His religion.

The information regarding the age of Hazrat Ayesha at the time of her marriage is derived from books of hadith which convey recorded information from individuals. That is why this category of information is called khabre ahad (information transmitted by individuals) and is not always consistent.

Credible sources give us good reason to believe that Hazrat Ayesha’s age was 18 at the time of her nikah and 19 at the time when she joined the household of the Prophet.

It is mentioned in Ibn Kathir’s Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah that Hazrat Ayesha was 10 years younger than her sister, Hazrat Asma, and that Hazrat Asma died in 72 Hijra at the age of 100. In other words, she was 28 at the time of the Hijra when her younger sister was 18.

We know that one of the conditions of a valid nikah in Islam is that both the bride and the bridegroom must agree to it voluntarily. We also know that a six-year-old child is not mentally mature enough to take rational decisions of far-reaching consequences. How could an arrangement which does not satisfy an important condition then have been promoted in religion?

In generalised terms, it takes a few years for boys and girls to reach a certain level of maturity, physically and mentally, after reaching puberty, to understand the meaning of the bond of marriage and responsibilities this lifelong partnership brings to the pair.

In Islam, marriage is an institution and both the mother and father bear the burden of bringing up their children to be not only responsible citizens of the state but responsible and pious believers. Can children understand the import of such responsibilities and can a small girl be a good and healthy mother, herself still a child?

In view of the above-stated arguments, it is neither prudent to promote the view that the Prophet of Islam married a six-year-old girl, nor is it a good idea to introduce a piece of legislation based on such information.

The writer is a religious scholar.

kzuiuk@gmail.com

No end to wadera justice?

I.A. Rehman

SEVERAL new incidents of horrible atrocities against women have again highlighted the urgency of a properly planned drive to halt wadera/tribal interference in the system of justice.

SEVERAL new incidents of horrible atrocities against women have again highlighted the urgency of a properly planned drive to halt wadera/tribal interference in the system of justice.

About a week ago, the Supreme Court took suo motu notice of the murder of two women of the Mahar tribe in Shikarpur district. They were reported to have been killed for having secret relations with men of the Jagirani tribe. A jirga presided over by a powerful Mahar chief (also an MNA) fined the Jagiranis but condoned the killing of the women involved.

Around the same time, a jirga in Naushahro Feroze ordered that a 17-year-old girl be given in marriage to a man whose sister had chosen to marry her brother. The police intervened and arrested the nikah registrar and three jirga participants, and a magistrate sent the two girls to a Darul Aman.

The madness is not confined to Sindh; quite a few cases have been reported from Punjab. From a Rajanpur village came reports of a jirga decision that a woman declared ‘kali’ (the Punjab version of ‘kari’) was to be killed on March 20. The Lahore High Court (Multan Bench) had her recovered and sent to a Darul Aman. Her crime: she had filed a suit for dissolution of her marriage to which she had not consented.

The same week the media reported the horrendous ordeal of a woman from a Chiniot village, Faisalabad district. Her brother had married a woman without her family’s permission. As revenge this woman was declared to be vani and forced into marriage with the brother of her brother’s wife. When she resisted, she was declared to have been divorced and handed over to a group to be gang-raped. Finally, she was tied to a tree till the villagers won her respite.

A few weeks earlier the Supreme Court had taken notice of a case in a Muzaffargarh village in which a 40-year-old widow had been gang-raped on a panchayat’s orders to avenge something her brother-in-law had done.

The judiciary’s interventions have not been without effect. The police and prosecution authorities have in many cases been forced to do their duty. But the judiciary does not have the answers to all the social, cultural and psychological factors that create the environment in which practices like vani, jirga edicts and rape under panchayat orders can continue to occur.

Crimes against women are infinitely more serious than what is indicated by the cases cited in this article but the sample is adequate for arriving at two conclusions. First, sex-related violence against women remains as widespread as ever, and is more common in wadera/landlord-ruled territories than elsewhere. Secondly, the jirga/panchayat system has survived all judicial strictures and calls for its abolition. It is clearly the government’s responsibility to find ways to meet the challenge it has been avoiding for a long time.

As regards the causes of violence against women, especially rape/gang rape, much has been written — without effect — on the evils of the feudal culture and the tendency to justify the feudal oppression of women by claiming religious sanction for it.

Perhaps it is necessary to consider three relatively new factors: first, reliance on force, instead of reason, law and morality to justify the actions of the state and individuals; second, the brutalising effect of the war imposed on the people by the extremists; and third, ceaseless use of the pulpit to denounce women who move around, do jobs, and even dare to make laws for men. Research by qualified experts is needed to establish the precise contribution of these factors to the increase in attacks on women’s person and dignity.

The issue of wadera/tribal justice is quite complicated as the institution of jirga/panchayat is sustained by a pre-democracy socio-economic order. The wadera/tribal chief wants the world to believe that he resolves disputes in order to ensure peace but in effect he uses the club of elders to protect his political power base, quite often to make money from his followers’ misery.

The jirga/panchayat mystique suggests that people turn to this institution because they have lost faith in the state’s judicial system, because it guarantees quick settlement of matters and because an accused is tried by his own people. All three arguments have been rebutted time and again.

The first argument, loss of faith in the formal justice system, is born of despair. Reason cannot support adoption of a weaker model of justice in place of a sound but malfunctioning system.

The second argument is only partially valid. A jirga may be quick in deciding matters but speed is achieved at the cost of due process, and justice must inevitably be impaired.

Finally, a person appearing before a jirga is not judged by his peers; he is much farther removed from the wadera/chieftain than he can ever be from a magistrate even if he does not know him. The only difference can be the level of corruption but distinctions on that basis between a court and a jirga are fast disappearing.

The government has to realise that the strength of wadera justice lies in the social order that has been in place since the colonial era and progressively, further corrupted. No law alone can remove or reform this order. It will survive until the feudal culture is erased through a social process. Finally, there must be some sign of the government’s will to see the question of wadera justice in its correct perspective.

Mysteries & narratives

Khurram Husain

NOT all mysteries are destined to remain unsolved. Pakistan’s story contains many mysteries that we have perhaps given up searching for answers to, but at least one is about to wrap itself around us tighter and tighter in the years to come.

We’ll never really know what brought Gen Zia’s C-130 down that fateful day in August 1988. Even the 30-odd page report, pulled from the larger investigative report whose whereabouts appear to be unknown now, remained inconclusive between mechanical failure and sabotage. Forget about ever finding out who might have been responsible.

Likewise we’ll never really know who ordered the hit on Benazir Bhutto. When a newspaper ran a poorly sourced story claiming that the whole plot was rehearsed at the home of a serving army officer, the reporter found his job cut short. When the UN sent a mission to Pakistan to investigate at the request of the newly elected government, the team members found nobody wanted to meet them.

But not all high-profile killings in Pakistan will remain forever buried. At least one is about to become a very large topic of international discussion once Carlotta Gall’s book comes out, in which she claims that Osama bin Laden found refuge in Abbottabad with the blessings of the highest authorities of the land.

As part of the launch of the book, she will be making numerous appearances and giving many talks in many locations, fielding questions and presenting her thesis before large audiences. One such appearance will be at the Woodrow Wilson Centre, but many others are undoubtedly also scheduled.

Then will come the television appearances. Given the explosive nature of the claims contained in the book, expect to see her in a television blitz that will ensure millions of people hear her argument, even if they never buy her book. Then the launch of the book itself.

Last year Husain Haqqani’s Magnificent Delusions, which argued that every period of alliance between America and Pakistan has ended in tears for both parties, was discussed on a platform as large as the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

This year it’ll be Carlotta Gall telling the world that the world’s most wanted terrorist and hatemonger lived as a guest of the authorities in Pakistan all through the ‘war on terror’. Some voices are already questioning the narrative she’s putting out, most significantly that of Peter Bergen, himself the author of more than four books on OBL and the ‘war on terror’.

But voices like that of Bergen are more likely to be superseded once Gall’s book hits the shelves. In a nutshell, Bergen claims that all top officials from the US government with access to the best intelligence on OBL have told him that Pakistani officialdom did not know about his presence in Abbottabad. That may be true, but here’s why his narrative is likely to be superseded: people want to believe Gall.

Never mind that in key places her telling of the tale suffers from important weaknesses. There was little sense in reproducing Ziauddin Butt’s claim that Musharraf arranged refuge for OBL in Abbottabad, even if in the same sentence she qualifies his words. Butt was hardly in a position to know who knew what, and had every reason to make trouble for Musharraf.

Never mind that many other sources are limited to “a former Pakistani official”, who in one case told her that the ISI chief “knew of Osama’s whereabouts”, in another case that the terrorist mastermind “was moving around” and not confined to his residence.

Thus far, no sources are given for claims that he was in contact with other Pakistani militant leaders whose links to the establishment are more widely known. Even details of a meeting between Osama and Qari Saifullah are given, in which snippets from the conversation the two men had are quoted, but no source on where this information came from.

Many questions raised by the magazine preview published by the New York Times will be addressed when the book becomes available. Many will not. But the narrative will sink in, and the denials will ring ever hollow.

With the passage of time, others will step forward to fill in the gaps that are pointed out in Gall’s book. Higher level figures in the US government will break their silence, scintillating tidbits of intelligence will begin to leak out, and the story will acquire more and more detail, growing ever more convincing with each telling.

The implications should not be underestimated. Whether or not the story as told is true — and yes I’m still counting myself amongst the agnostics on this question until I’ve read the book itself — the narrative is now set to tighten like a noose around Pakistan. For decades we’ve been brushing assassinations and other high-profile deaths and murders under the carpet, comfortable in the assurance that there is no cleanser more effective than time.

Ziaul Haq, Murtaza Bhutto and Benazir are only the tip of the iceberg. Chaudhry Zulfiqar, Raad Iqbal and so many more are all buried in the same grave. But this is one death that time will not cleanse. Bulldozing that house in Abbottabad evokes the tragic futility of Lady Macbeth scrubbing a stubborn bloodstain that won’t go away.

The writer is a business journalist and 2013-2014 Pakistan Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Centre, Washington D.C.

khurram.husain@gmail.com Twitter: @khurramhusain

Kings and pawns

Syed Saadat

GOOD governance in Pakistan is like MH370, the unfortunate missing Malaysian airliner — always in the news but never to be found.

GOOD governance in Pakistan is like MH370, the unfortunate missing Malaysian airliner — always in the news but never to be found.

Who is to be blamed for poor governance in Pakistan? Such questions are rarely addressed directly in this country while the individuals at the helm of affairs are usually absolved.

A classic case of banking on rhetoric rather than taking up the gauntlet was on display when Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal recently remarked: “Most of the senior-most civil servants are so incompetent that the private sector would not hire them even for the lowly job of clerks.”

Advice to talented young civil servants in the wake of the minister’s statement would be to find a good position in the private sector before it’s too late.

The current promotion policy that is focused on ‘years in service’ rather than ‘years of service’ takes a toll on talent — after all, rusting is a phenomenon not limited to iron alone.

A piece of advice to the honourable minister would be to evolve a mechanism to point out these dim-witted bureaucrats and take all necessary steps to remove them from service as soon as possible.

It seems we have a plan for 2025 but none for 2015. It is like having a plan to fly abroad but no plan to reach the airport. What impedes the government from reforming the civil service, reform that has been promised for so many years?

There have been many reports, full of recommendations on the reforms needed in the civil service, most recently those made by a committee led by Dr Ishrat Husain.

There is no need to reproduce the recommendations because by now even Haji Ahmed, my domestic help, knows what ails the civil service. The question now is what are we waiting for?

There is great need for reform in the civil service but greater is the need to change the mindset of politicians; that is akin to threading a needle in the dark. Reforming the civil service would mean empowering civil servants and that, in turn, would mean strengthening institutions and not individuals, irrespective of whether they are politicians or their cronies.

Consider the case of a victim of alleged rape in Muzaffargarh who committed suicide as a result of the callousness of the police.

The incident was highlighted and the Punjab chief minister visited the victim’s family and ordered the suspension of officials responsible for showing insensitivity.

This may earn the politician some brownie points and lessen criticism of him. But it will not stop such crimes from taking place because there is no system — short of direct intervention of the incumbent of the highest office of the provincial government — to punish those found guilty of dereliction of duty. Unless a rape victim sets herself ablaze, the media picks up the issue and a politician then steps in, there is no hope for change.

The need to establish the state’s writ through institutions like the police for a more sustainable solution would be lost in this claptrap. True the servant of the state is nameless and faceless, but mindful of his job.

Similarly people may not even have water to drink in Thar or Cholistan, but who cares? Instead of addressing their primary needs, multibillion-dollar luxury projects in urban centres get the go-ahead because political mileage beats all public interest in this country. Plaques adorned with their names rather than the well-being of the people are on the priority list of politicians.

In fact, the Motorway project was rolled out by the prime minister of Pakistan and not Nawaz Sharif; laptops are distributed by the Punjab chief minister and not Shahbaz Sharif, and the income support programme was the initiative of a prime minister, not Benazir Bhutto. It is not the money from their personal pockets that the politicians spend on these projects; it is the money of the Pakistani people.

Ideally all inauguration plaques should state ‘built for the people of Pakistan by the people of Pakistan’. But who said it is about the people of Pakistan? It is about kings and pawns, isn’t it?

This brings me to a brilliant idea to kick-start the non-existent reform in the civil service.

In order to motivate the king-like democratic rulers we have always had, a monument should be erected in any of the cities that matter (read Lahore, Karachi or Islamabad) with a plaque bearing the following statement: ‘In memory of the much-needed reforms introduced in the civil service of Pakistan by his highness Mr X to whom all posterity stays indebted. All hail the king!’

The writer is a civil servant.

syedsaadatwrites@gmail.com

Ninety-nine — not out

F.S.Aijazuddin

TO get a measure of Khushwant Singh’s life (he died on March 20, 2014 at the age of 99), one needs to remember that when he was born in 1915, the First World War had just begun. If one goes back another 99 years, to 1816, Maharaja Ranjit Singh was still on the throne of Lahore. Khushwant Singh managed to telescope through his writings that 200-year gap into one seamless narrative of Punjabiat.

Throughout his life he regarded his birth village of Hadali (now part of Pakistan’s Punjab) with inordinate affection. He felt it qualified him to be a Pakistani. When we last met on March 4, a fortnight before he died, he said: “You know that I am a Pakistani by birth and at heart.” I replied: “You are a better Pakistani than most of us.” He laughed: “I have told them I want to be buried in Hadali.”

I had gone to see him, as I tried to do whenever I was in New Delhi, in his ground-floor flat in Sujan Singh Park, near Lodhi Gardens. This time, it was to present him with a copy of my latest book The Resourceful Fakirs: Three Muslim brothers at the Sikh Court of Lahore. His attendant Bahadur told me Khushwant was resting but if I was to leave my telephone number, he would call me and let me know if Khushwant could receive me.

The next day, rather than waiting for his call, I went to the flat of his daughter Mala Dayal (she lives in one opposite) and had coffee with her. Just after midday, Bahadur rang. Mala led me across the hallway into Khushwant’s flat, through the dining room into the rear verandah. Khushwant sat in a wicker chair, his legs outstretched in the sun, the rest of his body in the shade. He wore a grey track suit and had a black woollen cap on his head. I noticed some biscuit crumbs caught in his beard.

Mala reminded him who I was. He recognised me within a second. I gave him my book. “Inscribe it for me,” he said, adding after I had done so: “Now write it in Urdu.”

He demonstrated (as if I could ever forget) his mastery of Urdu and Persian by reciting a couplet of Iqbal’s. “You know that I am 99 years old.” I replied: “May my years be added to yours.” He looked up at me with the softest expression, and said: “No, but may you live as long as I have.”

I held his hand, the hand that had spent a lifetime writing books and inimitable articles, and kissed it. He brushed his cheek with mine. Both of us knew that it was a farewell. I left and stood on the gravel outside, recalling our first meeting on Aug 21, 1978.

I had gone to show him my first book — Pahari Paintings and Sikh Portraits in the Lahore Museum — which had just been published, and to discuss my second Sikh Portraits by European Artists, still in the press. Khushwant Singh gave me his study on The Fall of the Kingdom of the Punjab which covered the same period. He inscribed it “with much affection”. That affection remained undiluted and undiminished throughout the ensuing 35 years of our association.

For me as a student of Sikh history, Khushwant Singh’s academic achievements stand like some Uluru/Ayers Rock in the landscape of his life. His more popular works — his articles, short stories, novels, compendia of jokes — gained him more fame, hopefully fortune, certainly notoriety, but none yielded him the stature that I believe he deserved as a serious writer.

The opening lines of arguably his most famous novel — Train to Pakistan — reveal Khushwant’s Singh’s formidable powers of description and at another level the intensity of his feeling for rural roots. This bonding revealed itself in many ways, often unexpectedly.

On one occasion, he stunned his Pakistani audience during a Manzur Qadir Memorial lecture at Lahore in 1989 by declaring that before Mohammad Ali Jinnah became the Father of Pakistan, he was the Son of India. No one but Khushwant Singh would have shown such provocative mischievousness, and no one else would have been able to calm and then conciliate his audience with the fire-extinguishing speech that followed.

After my last meeting with Khushwant Singh, Mala called to say that he wanted to write on my book in his next column. That explains why many mourners noticed the copy I had given him lying by his bedside.

He has been cremated in New Delhi. His family has agreed that some of his ashes may be brought to Pakistan, for burial as he wished in his birth village Hadali. The son of Punjab will be returned to its soil.

The writer is an author and art historian.

www.fsaijazuddin.pk

Resurgence of Jihad Inc

Zahid Hussain

OUR resurgent jihad factory seems to be working overtime, supplying well-trained and highly motivated fighters for the Syrian and Afghan war theatres. There’s no dearth of radicalised volunteers to take part both on the internal and external front. Though theoretically still proscribed, the militant groups are back in business exploring new frontiers for jihad.

Pakistanis form one of the largest contingents of foreign combatants in Syria and their number is likely to rise with the growing Saudi influence in this country. Meanwhile, the Afghan front is also heating up with the approach of the 2014 deadline for withdrawal of the US-led foreign forces, attracting a greater number of militants for what is described as the most critical phase of the battle for Afghanistan.

A peace deal on their terms may give the Pakistani Taliban the crucial space to recoup and focus more on their activities across the Durand Line. Radical seminaries have long been the source of an uninterrupted supply of volunteers for the Afghan Taliban fighting the occupation forces.

There’s a long history of Pakistani holy warriors fighting foreign wars from Afghanistan to Kashmir, Chechnya, Bosnia, even getting involved in Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed region in Azerbaijan. But the avenue for external jihad shrank after 9/11, with Pakistan pulling back from its policy of using militancy as a tool of regional policy.

Outraged by this change of tack, militant groups turned to internal jihad by declaring war on the Pakistani state. The ban on Pakistani militant groups, however, could never be fully enforced. Afghanistan remained a major battleground for jihadists. Now even that pretence seems to have been completely blown away with the state closing its eyes to the resurgence of militant and sectarian outfits.

Militant fighters from Pakistan started joining the rebel forces fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime as Syria became the new centre for global jihad. Beginning as a movement for democracy the Syrian civil war has turned into a wider Shia-Sunni conflict drawing surrounding countries into the bloody power game.

The Syrian civil war also heralded the resurgence of Al Qaeda-affiliated groups as a major force in the war-ravaged region. These groups now control a large part of Syria as well as the Sunni heartland in Iraq. The development has given the jitters to the West and to those Arab countries that have been actively backing the Syrian rebellion. To offset Al Qaeda’s rising power, these countries are trying to build a so-called moderate Sunni coalition.

But the attempt seems to have failed, as those moderates depend on the support of groups like Jabhat al-Nusra, the official Al Qaeda affiliate. Fearing Al Qaeda’s growing influence, the Saudi government has asked its nationals to return home. A major fear is that more radicalised warriors may turn their weapons on the Saudi rulers. But this has not stopped the Saudis from funding and arming the rebels and fighters from other countries.

There are two categories of militants from Pakistan in Syria: those belonging to Sunni sectarian groups like Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) and others from militant outfits including the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The presence of Pakistani fighters in Syria first made headlines last year after the detection of poliovirus which was traced back to Pakistan.

It is apparent that the main motivation behind Sunni sectarian groups like the LJ is to fight the Shia-dominated Assad regime. Most of these fighters are believed to have been recruited from Balochistan, which has become the main sectarian battleground. Others belong to Punjab and Karachi. According to a top provincial police official, many from Balochistan were recruited through Saudi-funded groups, and the administration conveniently closed its eyes to this.

Some reports quoting TTP commanders said the group has also set up a base in Syria. It is also an anti-Shia ideology that has driven the TTP to join the Syrian conflict. The Taliban have close ties with the LJ and other radical Sunni groups.

A Pakistani Taliban fighter in Syria was quoted by a foreign news agency as saying that there was a higher reward from God for fighting evil at home as well as outside. All these groups have close ideological links with Al Qaeda and are most likely to be fighting along groups like Al Nusra.

The most dangerous scenario presents itself once these fighters return to Pakistan. The involvement of Pakistani jihadis in Syria will have serious repercussions and fuel sectarian violence. The widening of the sectarian conflict in the Middle East and its spill-over effect inside Pakistan raises fears of radical Shia recruitment to join the war on the Syrian government’s side. That may also lead to an escalation in the proxy war in Pakistan.

With the extremist narrative dominating the national scene and the state in denial there could not be a better environment for a thriving jihad industry. The so-called peace talks with the TTP have already taken off whatever pressure there was on the militants, giving them licence to venture into other jihadi arenas.

A highly volatile situation in the Middle East calls for a more prudent policy approach by the government and for maintaining strict neutrality on the widening sectarian war. Instead, the prime minister has decided to take sides, with extremely grave consequences for the country. That gives a huge boost to the jihadis. The resurgence of Jihad Inc and the increasing involvement of Pakistani militants in foreign conflicts presents a grave challenge to the country’s stability and security.

The writer is an author and journalist.

zhussain100@yahoo.com

Twitter: @hidhussain

Coverage of Taliban

Rafia Zakaria

RECENTLY, on the eve of Nauroze, the Persian new year, a day opposed by many religious extremists as ‘heresy’, four Afghan Taliban militants entered through metal detectors installed to protect Kabul’s Serena Hotel. They sat down with the other diners in the hotel’s brightly lit dining room.

Around them were families and children, celebrating, eating and laughing. It was supposed to be a joyous occasion, until of course it wasn’t anymore. There are differing accounts of how events unfolded but at the end, many lay dead. They included Sardar Ahmed, a journalist for Agence France Presse, his wife and two daughters. His toddler son was left fighting for his life.

For Afghan journalists, the death of Sardar Ahmed was one of many cruel and abrupt endings brought on by the ire of a group that is known not to shy from killing its enemies and anyone else who may happen to be in the way.

A group of journalists gathered at a Kabul hospital, where the injured and dead from the Serena Hotel had been taken. In a statement issued from the hospital, the journalists declared that despite their assiduous efforts to remain neutral in the conflict between the Afghan Taliban and the government, the former had never shied away from killing them.

With yet another colleague gone, they announced that they had collectively decided to boycott “coverage of news related to the Taliban for a period of 15 days, refraining from broadcasting any information that could further the Taliban’s claimed purpose of terror”. They also asked that the Taliban provide an explanation of “how they justify the shooting of children at close range”.

The journalist boycott of the Taliban is, in the words of one media person supportive of it, “like spitting in the wind”. As journalists in both Pakistan and Afghanistan can testify, the bloody wrath of the militants in the region, the readiness with which they are willing to massacre at large, to intimidate and to target, appears boundless.

The casualty counts, the obituaries, the protests have all been unable to draw attention to the particular plight of those who cover militancy. This is not simply the condition of journalists. Aid workers, health workers, doctors, professors and students who have fallen to the militants have all found themselves helpless before those who use killing as their one and only tactic.

The Afghan news boycott of the Taliban can, however, be instructive for journalists on the Pakistani side of the border. Since the beginning of the ‘talks’ with the Pakistani Taliban, the public here has been subjected to the endless barrage of ‘breaking news’ related to the Taliban. Whether it is the formulations of committees, the statements of various constituents, or counter-statements of the Taliban themselves, every twist and turn is documented and broadcast lewd and loud into the ears of pliant Pakistanis.

Add to this the news of the attacks conducted by the Taliban, the murder of professors, doctors and intellectuals, the bomb blasts in old bazaars on street corners and major highways, and you have a 24-hour relentless news cycle dominated by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

While many would argue that coverage of Taliban activities, especially at a time when negotiations are under way, is needed — both to keep the public in the loop, and in the name of transparency — what is not understandable is why their extremist supporters and the Taliban themselves should be given so much airtime to propound their ideology of intolerance and hate. This becomes doubly dangerous when there is no coherent counter-narrative. Then there is the issue of the Taliban’s particular manipulation of the media coverage. Often in broadcasting or printing their statements or viewpoints, there is a fine line between reportage and how a picture of the militants actually emerges. For instance, there is a difference between publishing a militant group’s claim or responsibility for an attack and presenting it in a way that may justify, even lionise, its actions.

In their latest incarnation as partners in negotiation, the TTP has become dependent on how news about it is spun on television and in newspapers. Evidence of this can be seen in the many statements (often disseminated via email) to television anchors and journalists. In some, they offer clarifications, in others divergences.

Journalists cannot stop the wild and unabashed killing spree of the Taliban (in Pakistan or Afghanistan). Indeed, the governments of both countries seem increasingly at a loss when it comes to preventing militant incursions into ever new areas.

A journalistic boycott such as the one going on in Afghanistan may not defeat the Taliban, it may not even prevent them from killing more people, journalists or anyone else. It may, however, deny them a way of getting their propaganda and perspective out there, to the ears and eyes of millions of people.

However, in both the case of Afghanistan and Pakistan, what would be a far better tool to counter the discourse presented by the militants is a powerful counter-narrative; one that does not succumb to the pressure exerted by the Taliban and their ilk and whose principles, rooted in democratic, liberal values, present a direct contrast to the obscurant ideology propounded by a manipulative enemy.

The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.

rafia.zakaria@gmail.com

Crimea and punishment

Mahir Ali

NATO’S warning last Sunday that Russian troops were massing on Ukraine’s eastern border was followed by Kiev’s announcement of impending conflict, even as it ordered the withdrawal of its forces from freshly annexed Crimea. The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) meanwhile gathered in The Hague to thrash out a response.

The summit’s nomenclature offers a clue that something’s amiss. G7 is a throwback to the days before Russia was deemed worthy of a seat at the table. Then it became G7+1 before evolving into G8. Now it’s effectively G8-1, and the minus one happens to hold the group’s rotating presidency, but the summit it expected to host in Sochi in June has now been called off.

It would probably be an understatement to say that uncertainty clouds the future of this and other international processes involving Moscow. Some commentators are suggesting that the post-Cold War era effectively ground to a halt this month.

That may well turn out to be the case, although alternative scenarios should not be ruled out. A great deal hinges on Russian and Western behaviour in the days and weeks ahead.

Vladimir Putin has categorically denied the intention of Russian military intervention in any other part of Ukraine. Like most politicians, he doesn’t always stick to his word. But in this instance he would be well-advised to strictly abide by that promise.

The West, reeling from criticism of its initially weak response — economic sanctions against individuals — may be tempted to flex its muscles. Depending on the specifics, that too could backfire.

The noise factor has been high in some European Union capitals as well as on Capitol Hill, but the urge to make Putin repent and retreat has been tempered by the knowledge that any economic pain inflicted on Russia as a whole would bounce back and hurt Europe.

Thankfully, not even the most virulent Russophobes are clamouring for any sort of direct military action. It would be judicious, however, for Nato to maintain a relatively low profile, given that from Moscow’s vantage point it is clearly part of the problem.

Although Putin deems Russia’s annexation of Crimea to have been based entirely on legal procedures, it has not explicitly been endorsed even by his closest allies in the region. There can be little doubt, though, that it has proved overwhelmingly popular within Russia.

A reasonably strong case could conceivably have been made for Crimea reverting to Russian control 60 years after Nikita Khrushchev made a gift of it to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic — but, ideally, on the basis of a consensual rather than a unilateral process.

Doubts have inevitably been expressed about the referendum, even though objective observers are generally willing to concede that the idea of a reunion with Russia enjoyed majority support in Crimea.

There’s nonetheless something terribly disconcerting about the notion of Putin being able to reclaim territory on a whim, given that there are ethnic Russian enclaves across most former constituent republics of the Soviet Union — and even the odd territory actually eager for some sort of linkage, such as Transnistria, which broke away from Moldova in 1992.

Putin’s remark some years ago that the dissolution of the Soviet Union was the 20th century’s biggest geo-political catastrophe is often cited as evidence of his longing to revive a comparable structure, but there is little evidence that he views this as a realistic proposition. Nor is his nostalgia for the USSR an aberration — a Gallup poll last December across 11 former Soviet republics found 51pc of respondents thought the break-up of the union was more harmful than beneficial to their country.

But while there is little risk of the Soviet Union’s resurrection, there can be little question that poor handling by almost everyone concerned has exacerbated the Ukrainian crisis. The far-right components of the westward-leaning interim government in Kiev ought to have given the EU pause for thought, even if Moscow’s dismissal of it as a neo-Nazi construct is neither entirely accurate nor particularly helpful, given the clamour it has catalysed among eastern Ukrainians who rely on Russian TV for their information (and propaganda).

It is, unfortunately, not too hard to envisage an escalation, with dangerously unpredictable consequences. Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail, further provocations will be avoided, Ukraine as it now stands will remain intact, the tendency to ignore or underplay Russia’s geopolitical interests will be abandoned.

The alternatives are too awful to contemplate — not least in light of the fact that 100 years ago a series of unfortunate, but relatively minor, events resulted in Europe sleepwalking into a catastrophic frenzy of self-destruction.

mahir.dawn@gmail.com

The human touch

Zubeida Mustafa

A SPARK has been lit in a 3,500-strong community living in the backwaters of Larkana district. Known as Khairo Dero, the place was the antithesis of what its name implies: it was one of the most depressed goths in the area. A turning point came in 2004. A young female journalist touring rural Sindh was deeply moved by the neglect and apathy she witnessed, especially in Khairo Dero, her ancestral village.

That was Naween Mangi, today the Pakistan bureau chief of Bloomberg, a premier American business and financial news channel. It took her four years to internalise the despondency of her people and think of a strategy to breathe new life into their existence. Thus she hoped to bring about the ‘silent revolution’ she had begun to dream of.

Mangi was convinced “it had to be community-led”. She was spot on, even though she modestly added she had no expertise in development and was learning on the job.

Once the strategy took shape in her mind it was not difficult to translate it into reality. Since the project had to be low-cost and indigenous to become a ‘people’s’ project it could run on a shoestring budget. A family trust, the AHMMT, was founded in 2008 to honour the memory of Naween’s grandfather, Ali Hasan Mangi. His profound love for his people (something Naween has inherited in abundance) had made him a popular figure in the area. Rising from humble beginnings he went on to enter politics to represent his people in parliament.

Before I visited Khairo Dero a week ago, I had no idea what to expect. What greeted me was a paradox. This was not a modern village of the stuff our so-called development experts like to project as their ideal, which in essence is based on unsustainable models artificially created. They collapse as soon as the sponsor pulls out. The residents of Khairo Dero still have poverty writ large on their faces. Sanitation is not perfect. The drains are not fully covered while sewage spills out into the open at places. Three government schools I visited were as good as dysfunctional.

Yet poverty is no longer the face of despair in Khairo Dero. It is what Mangi described as the transformation she is now beginning to see in the people. “Utter and total despair, coupled with urgent and desperate efforts to emigrate, have changed to hope and positive energy. There are several cases of people returning home,” she observed.

That is what is needed. Structures are important to uplift the quality of life. So they are being erected at a steady pace. There is a sewerage system in place with a treatment plant. A TCF primary school runs two shifts while a government middle school has been adopted and made functional. A housing programme helps people build two-room houses and micro-credit helps women set up small handicraft businesses.

The pride of the place is the newly built community centre which runs classes for small children, has a clinic, a library and recreational facilities.

All members of the community — young and old, male and female — are welcome and the centre pulsates with life the whole day and also provides jobs to 16 workers. Eight volunteers, basically students who come after school hours to extend a helping hand, find self-fulfilment here.

The AHMMT was launched six years ago and the physical infrastructure work is beginning to produce modest results. What is more visible is the positive spirit in the people that is now beginning to emerge. The smile on the faces of women, their confidence and their enthusiasm to be involved are heartwarming. In that respect, the mission of the trust is on its way to being achieved.

At the heart of all activity is Mangi’s motto, “each person matters” and that is why every beneficiary — whether a patient, student, home owner, housewife — is followed and nurtured in every possible way to create a community of love and compassion.

There are numerous striking examples of how human bonds are created. The Baloch women receive home tuitions for adult literacy because their men don’t like their going out. Literacy has given them a sense of empowerment.

Integrating the Bheels in the community has instilled confidence and self-esteem in them. But still to be brought into the fold are the men I saw — many of them drug addicts loitering and gambling in the streets.

But there is hope when you look at Raashid. A boy of 11 affected by cerebral palsy and previously shunned, is a changed child today. Love and care have drawn him back into the village family. He symbolises the synergy that the human touch has brought to Khairo Dero.

www.zubeidamustafa.com

An avoidable crisis

Faisal Siddiqi

CONTRADICTIONS and conflict between the military on the one hand and the political government and judiciary on the other are unavoidable in this transition to a fully democratic constitutional state. This is because both the military and these civilian institutions have differing notions regarding this transition. So, even though they are necessary and unavoidable, the manner in which these contradictions and conflicts are handled and resolved will determine the fate of the transition.

Recently, such a conflict between the military and civilian institutions took a dangerous turn. For the first time in Pakistan’s history, the defence minister, under his own signature, has registered an FIR against a member of the armed forces and unknown others for engaging in the practice of ‘enforced disappearances’. The Supreme Court in the Muhabbat Shah case has labelled this a crime against humanity under international law. In other words, the defence minister has become a complainant against his own ministry of defence.

Facts: The human rights case was initiated by Muhabbat Shah for the recovery of his missing brother Yaseen Shah. The case took a dramatic turn when the superintendent of the judicial lockup, Malakand, informed the SC last year that in the now infamous case, ‘35 missing persons’, including Yaseen Shah, were illegally taken away by the army authorities from his internment custody in 2011.

This was a categorical admission by a civilian state official and it was confirmed when the military produced some of these missing persons before the SC. In the presence of this admission and the known facts, the SC, through its judgement of Dec 10, 2013, declared that the military had engaged in the practice of enforced disappearances. But the court also showed a way out of this crisis.

Firstly, the production of these persons was made the responsibility of the prime minister and the KP governor.

Secondly, the court said that the persons responsible for the illegal detention “should be dealt with strictly in accordance with the law”. Let me re-emphasise here that the SC left it to the federal government to select its legal path of holding people responsible. More importantly, there is no subsequent order directing either the defence ministry or the defence minister to become complainants themselves in such an FIR.

Thirdly, the court instructed the government to initiate a law to stop enforced disappearances.

The civilian view: With around 721 missing persons cases pending in the superior courts, the non-compliance with the SC’s repeated orders and its inability to provide even basic relief to ensure the release of the detainees, the frustration of the top judiciary is understandable.

The frustration of the civilian government is also understandable. The reasoning goes: ‘We didn’t create this missing persons problem but are blamed for not solving it. We neither have the custody of such missing persons nor do we know their whereabouts, but we are expected to produce them.’

It is this frustration building up for many years, and a genuine desire for an early solution which has led to this present conflict with the military.

The military view: The basic frustration of the military is simple: ‘No one understands the difficult circumstances in which we work, nor is anyone willing to listen to our viewpoint on the missing persons issue.’ The military’s frustration is also understandable because the initial steps towards solving any problem are to understand its causes and to see whether the key actors have a desire to resolve it.

The missing persons’ issue, in relation to Islamist militants, has two basic causes. Firstly, the Musharraf government initiated and encouraged such practices with no checks. Secondly, as the military perceives it, there was no legal system of long-term detention laws in Pakistan (as in the Guantanamo Bay system) fulfilling the requirements of the military. There was also a lack of convictions of suspected terrorists by the criminal courts.

Moreover, the military has shown that it is now also part of the solution — by facilitating the recovery of many missing persons, a dramatic reduction in the number of the latter in the last couple of years and the military’s willingness to have a law on enforced disappearances, based on the recommendations of the Federal Task Force on Missing Persons.

On March 18, 2014, facing a scenario in which the SC could issue notices to the prime minister and KP governor for contempt in the 35 missing persons case, the federation’s legal team panicked. Someone wrongly advised the defence minister that he had to be a complainant in the FIR. This is wrong, because FIRs in missing persons cases are initiated by the relatives of the ‘disappeared’.

Secondly, the federal government has itself formed a judicial commission to look into this issue and filed a review in the Muhabbat Shah case. But by registering the FIR, it has damaged the defence of the defence ministry before the SC. In short, the FIR could, and should, have been registered by the relatives of the missing persons.

Bad legal advice resulting from panic has led to this crisis. It needs to be corrected. Also there is an immediate need to enact a completely new legal framework on enforced disappearances and not merely (ineffective) amendments such as the Protection of Pakistan (Amendment) Ordinance, 2004. Perceptions are important and the perception of a defence ministry registering an FIR against itself can seriously damage this fragile transition to constitutional democracy.

The writer is a former member of the Federal Task Force on Missing Persons.

Dalit view of Pakistan

Jawed Naqvi

IT may not be a mere irony that two leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who have faced the maximum humiliation with the rise of Narendra Modi’s dictatorship are men who admired Mohammad Ali Jinnah as a secular leader.

Jaswant Singh who wrote an objective book on Jinnah has been denied the election ticket, period. Lal Kishan Advani who visited Jinnah’s mausoleum in Karachi where he expressed his soft corner for the Quaid’s innate secular worldview was humiliated by his party, being offered a battleground not of his choice.

As the intellectual and academic focus shifts to the Dalit worldview in India with Arundhati Roy’s fresh evaluation of Dalit mascot B. R. Ambedkar, who like Jinnah was also Mahatma Gandhi’s bête noir, fresh perspectives are expected to be unearthed from that largely masked historiography.

For all his sharp and often sympathetic assertions on Pakistan, and despite the fact that Ambedkar and Jinnah shared the laurels at the Round Table Conference and together won short-lived victories for their communities, the Dalit view of the freedom movement has been largely airbrushed at every stage of academia in both countries.

The deletion of Jaswant Singh’s and Advani’s perspectives on Jinnah is of a piece with the fate assigned to Ambedkar’s kindred bonding with Jinnah. But why has he been shunned in Pakistan? There will be hopefully a renewal of interest in the great Dalit intellectual not the least because of the interest shown in him by Ms Roy, whose word counts for something even among the most India-phobic Pakistanis.

Ambedkar’s appreciation of the Muslim quandary flowed from his view of the Congress as an upper caste Hindu party, not willing to do away with the horrors of the caste system in a free India.

“At the Round Table Conference, the Muslims presented their list of safeguards, which were formulated in the well-known 14 points. The Hindu representatives at the Round Table Conference would not consent to them,” notes Ambedkar dispassionately in his work Pakistan, or the Partition of India, which he wrote in 1940.

“There was an impasse. The British government intervened and gave what is known as “the Communal decision”.

By that decision, the Muslims got all their 14 points. There was much bitterness amongst the Hindus against the Communal Award. But, the Congress did not take part in the hostility that was displayed by the Hindus generally towards it, although it did retain the right to describe it as anti-national and to get it changed with the consent of the Muslims.

“So careful was the Congress not to wound the feelings of the Muslims that when the Resolution was moved in the Central Assembly condemning the Communal Award, the Congress, though it did not bless it, remained neutral, neither opposing nor supporting it. The Mahomedans were well justified in looking upon this Congress attitude as a friendly gesture.” Ambedkar’s observations were unbiased, neutral.

He then notes characteristically without fear or favour: “The victory of the Congress at the polls in the provinces, where the Hindus are in a majority, did not disturb the tranquillity of the Musalmans. They felt they had nothing to fear from the Congress and the prospects were that the Congress and the Muslim League would work the constitution in partnership.

“But, two years and three months of the Congress government in the Hindu provinces have completely disillusioned them and have made them the bitterest enemies of the Congress. The Deliverance Day celebration held on the 22nd December 1939 shows the depth of their resentment. What is worse, their bitterness is not confined to the Congress. The Musalmans, who at the Round Table Conference joined in the demand for Swaraj, are today the most ruthless opponents of Swaraj.”

What has the Congress done to annoy the Muslims so much?

Ambedkar answers his own question: “The Muslim League has asserted that under the Congress regime the Muslims were actually tyrannised and oppressed. Two committees appointed by the League are said to have investigated and reported on the matter. But apart from these matters which require to be examined by an impartial tribunal, there are undoubtedly two things which have produced the clash: (1) the refusal by the Congress to recognise the Muslim League as the only representative body of the Muslims, (2) the refusal by the Congress to form coalition ministries in the Congress provinces.”

There aren’t too many historians and other academics in India or Pakistan who could critique, even berate Gandhi and Jinnah in equal breath.

Ambedkar’s epilogue is titled bluntly: “We need better statesmanship than Mr Gandhi and Mr Jinnah have shown.”

On the Gandhi-Jinnah stalemate he suggests a way out: “It seems to me that arbitration by an international board is the best way out. The disputed points in the minorities problem, including that of Pakistan, should be remitted to such a board. The board should be constituted of persons drawn from countries outside the British Empire. Each statutory minority in India — Muslims, Scheduled Castes, Sikhs, Indian Christians — should be asked to select its nominee to this board of arbitration. These minorities, as also the Hindus, should appear before the board in support of their demands, and should agree to abide by the decision given by the board.”

Like him or reject him, at least let’s start to read Ambedkar. The Annihilation of Caste, with an introductory essay by Arundhati Roy, could be a beginning.

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.

jawednaqvi@gmail.com

Journalists’ safety

Mohammad Ali Babakhel

THE enactment of the Journalists Welfare Endowment Fund Act 2014 by the KP Assembly is a positive measure to extend the state’s welfare umbrella. The fund has been established with an initial capital of Rs50 million. Rs1m shall be paid to the family of a journalist who is killed in an act of terrorism.

Conflict and other forms of hazardous reporting are not new in this part of the world, and journalists here have been exposed to the perils of the profession since long. It is unfortunate that media organisations have not given due importance to the sensitivities associated with such reporting.

With extremists often suspecting journalists of having links with their enemy, and because of the dynamics of the job itself, including the blind competition for breaking news, media personnel are easy targets. For instance, in the race to be the first to cover a blast, journalists expose themselves to a second blast at the site. In Quetta last year, three media workers lost their lives in twin blasts. Unfortunately, that critical balance between the right to know and the right to life is often disturbed because of media rivalries.

When a journalist is killed or a media house attacked, the media focuses on the story, thus multiplying its effects, which is what the militants want in order to capture world attention.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) since 1992 in Pakistan, 72 journalists have been killed. The motive behind 54 of these killings has been ascertained; however, the motive behind the rest remains shrouded in mystery. Of the journalists killed, about 39pc were covering conflict, 15pc corruption and 13pc human rights issues. Some 56pc of the dead journalists were associated with the print media and 4pc were foreign journalists.

Since 1992, Sindh has registered 18, Balochistan 17, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 16, Fata 10, Punjab seven and the federal capital three cases. Attacks on press clubs have also claimed lives as the one on the Peshawar and Khuzdar press clubs some years ago.

Conflict reporting requires special skills and experience, and only the trained and experienced should be allowed to do it, that too with the paraphernalia needed for war zones including bullet-proof jackets and helmets. Moreover, it is critical to arrange insurance covering disability and death.

International humanitarian organisations like the Red Cross offer hotline facilities to the families of reporters who may have disappeared in conflict areas. This international involvement helps maintain transparency where local law enforcement is concerned. A threat assessment needs to be carried out by the police and security alerts should be communicated to the potential targets. Therefore more coordination between the police and media is needed.

To ensure the safety and welfare of journalists, the government intends to constitute a commission comprising journalists, public figures and government representatives. The commission will make suggestions on how to monitor the prosecution of crimes against journalists. According to the CPJ, in nine out of 10 cases in which journalists are killed, the perpetrators go free. But the recent conviction in the Wali Babar case has increased confidence in the criminal justice system.

Life insurance for journalists and compensation to the heirs of those killed in Fata and the federal capital is also under consideration by the federal government. To enhance security levels, in consultation with media representatives there is a move to work out a security plan to secure press clubs and media houses.

There is a growing demand that the cases of killings of journalists should be handled by special prosecutors and tried by anti-terrorism courts.

To ensure a safe working environment for journalists, in 2006 the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1738. Last November, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the safety of journalists and also proclaimed Nov 2 as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. Earlier, in 2012 a UN plan on the safety of journalists was adopted. For the purposes of this plan, five countries viz South Sudan, Iraq, Pakistan, Nepal and Mexico were selected.

The UN plan expects that the selected countries will ensure the need for legislation to protect freedom of expression through improved investigation and prosecution of crimes against journalists. The plan also envisages a safety fund for journalists working in conflict areas. In Pakistan, to augment such measures, uniform compensation needs to be worked out by all provinces, and conflict reporting taught as a subject at the university level.

Meanwhile, reporters must respect the ‘yellow police tape’ at the scene of a crime. This will not only protect lives but also keep circumstantial evidence intact. To draft and enforce a code of ethics it is imperative to have a professional institutional relationship between the police and media groups.

The writer is a deputy inspector general of the police.

alibabakhel@hotmail.com

Health for all

Arif Azad

ARTICLE 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has a right to medical care and security in the event of sickness and disability. This right also figures in the constitution of the World Health Organisation.

This idea has informed debate on universal health coverage (UHC) which means that all people should enjoy equal access to a range of health services — palliative, rehabilitative, preventive and treatment — without incurring financial ruin in the process of accessing and paying for them.

Though this conception of universal health coverage has been termed as too narrow by some researchers, the UHC is nonetheless a good starting point to initiate discussion on the aspiration, and mechanisms of achieving health coverage by all members of society.

The need for it has arisen because of the realisation that health coverage is increasingly becoming restricted thanks to the declining commitment of governments across the world to publicly funded health provision for all and the corresponding increase in private, often expensive, health facilities.

These developments have produced unequal health access and outcomes. Like the rest of the developing world this is true of Pakistan as well where the health system runs on a dual track. There’s a publicly funded system and a private health sector, with the latter assuming an ever-larger share with each passing year.

According to one estimate about 120 million people fund medical care through out-of-pocket payments of one sort or another in Pakistan. This is quite a huge number and highlights the enormity of the challenge in meeting the goal of UHC in the country.

Over the years, the public provision of health has come under great stress due to low budgetary allocations and increasing demands placed on it by a growing population. As a result, public health facilities are deteriorating. These facilities are further degraded by the exit of the middle class which is increasingly using private healthcare systems. The result is that public health facilities are being used by the poor as a measure of last resort.

In cases where the poor access the private health sector the cost of treatment is so high that it often tips families towards medical impoverishment. Consequently, a large majority of the population stays away from accessing healthcare as long as they can for fear of incurring financial ruin. In addition, between the rich and the poor, formal-sector employees are afforded considerable health coverage — the armed forces personnel are the best covered, in this regard, from the beginning of service to the grave, with the bureaucracy coming in a close second.

There is also a network of social security hospitals to provide cover to those registered. Yet a large section of the population, employed in the informal sector falls outside this protective health cover. This unplanned and ad hoc health setting with varying levels of health coverage poses huge challenges if Pakistan is to conform to the standards of UHC.

A start can be made by setting up a high-level committee to examine the current system of healthcare provision and to examine how it can be improved and pressed into the service of meeting the goal of UHC. (The Indian example can provide a good template in this regard). Towards this end, high-level political commitment is a must. This commitment should cut across party lines so that UHC is made a top priority with enhanced budgetary outlays.

So far there has been no well-thought-out collective thinking on universal health provision among political parties. Political parties have not advanced beyond making promises to expand health budgets.

Most crucially, the private sector needs to be robustly regulated and made part of the government agenda on universal health coverage. This should involve private hospitals taking on non-lucrative patients as part of the UHC healthcare package.

With the health budget unlikely to rise in the foreseeable future in the face of the ever-galloping military budget, and the lack of political spine to redirect priorities, a national health insurance scheme can also help. This scheme should be run on a non-profit basis. Currently, there are some micro-credit schemes which offer a level of health insurance. But these schemes are profit-oriented and may not help greatly in the realisation of UHC.

In some parts of the world cash transfer programmes have been made conditional on children of the poor attending health clinics. A similar move can help expand health access to the poor.

Above all, ensuring better access to social determinants of health such as education, housing and sanitation is an essential underlying requirement. Not addressing the social determinants of health can dilute the gains achieved through the policy tools mentioned.

The writer is an Islamabad-based development consultant and policy analyst.

drarifazad@gmail.com

Strictures as justice

Babar Sattar

OUR transformation from a predatory state to a predatory society is complete. We have reconciled with the reality that there’s no middle way: you are either a predator or prey; and better former than the latter. The predators are the elite clubs. Mandatory qualities for entry into these clubs are not excellence, integrity or perseverance, but pedigree, unconditional submission to authority and unequivocal commitment to not ruffle feathers and play by established rules.

This generalisation is not meant to undermine efforts of the few exceptions that have gatecrashed elite clubs. But by and large the straitjacket fits. Within a club, hierarchy, docility and sycophancy is key. If you play by these rules, you keep rising within the ranks and stay protected against competing clubs and commoners. You try and change club rules on the grounds of principle or question the lack of integrity by fellow members and you are an instant pariah.

To state the obvious, we are talking about the political elite, the military, the judiciary and the bureaucracy that forge the vital link between state and society. There might be a tug of war between competing clubs as an institutional matter. But in dealing with personal interests of elites within elite clubs, even a competing club is expected to exhibit ‘regard’. Sounds cynical? How many politicians, judges or generals have been treated like outcasts by our state or society?

If you’re an aspiring or junior member of an elite club the advice of old hands is to fit in and not stand out, to project an image of mediocrity and not distinction, to appear flexible in application of rules and principles and not rigidly incorruptible. This is meant to be earnest advice in view of the moral compass of our society. And if you think flattery pays dividends in family-led political parties alone, wait till you see it being practised in the form of buffoonery by aspiring judges and generals.

While elite clubs appreciate the application of a different code to their members and have the resolve not to allow their sense of entitlement and preferential treatment to be diluted by lofty principles such as equality and fairness, they also recognise that the apartheid between elites and commoners is inherently wrong and can’t be publicly acknowledged. In an attempt to reconcile this contradiction, what has emerged is a new model of justice, accountability and discharge of responsibility through the passage of strictures alone.

Look at the military’s institutional response post the OBL imbroglio. There was admission of intelligence and security failure by the DG ISI. He offered his resignation to the army chief and parliament, which was rejected. The general censure was deemed accountability enough. The abominable Arsalan Iftikhar-Malik Riaz scandal that inflicted serious harm on the integrity of the apex court and the office of the chief justice was brushed aside, not by the former chief justice alone, but by the judiciary as an institution.

Amina burnt herself to death not when she was raped by humans, but when she realised she was going to be raped all over again by our criminal justice system. The Punjab chief minister showed up, bent the ears of police officers in public, ordered a couple to be handcuffed, threw some money at the victim’s family and moved on. This cathartic model, focused not on remedying entrenched societal and institutional ailments but on dousing public rage, is inherently flawed for it presents passage of strictures as justice and accountability.

Mastered by former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, the strictures-as-justice business has caught on. The present chief justice has also grown fond of suo motus. But to what end? In 2005 the SC took suo motu notice of the Mukhtaran Mai case. The alleged rapists remained locked up and no inferior court would accept their bail. Six years later the SC declared all, except one, innocent. While strictures abound, there is no noteworthy effort to kick-start institutional reform or even a solemn recognition of such need.

Another manifestation of strictures-as-justice is an unprecedented review matter decided by the SC wherein a sitting high court judge sought expungement of the SC’s observation that the judge had granted bail in a manner that was a “colourable” exercise of authority. In rejecting the review the apex court further clarified that the judge was censured not because he applied the law incorrectly but because he exercised his powers on the basis of extraneous considerations i.e. not on merits of the case but to accommodate a lawyer.

Who can fault the court’s emphasis on the principle of consistency in deciding cases or need for unimpeachable judicial integrity? But here the apex court has applied these principles in a manner that has further undermined public faith in judicial probity. The definitive SC verdict has blemished the reputation of the high court judge without affording him due process in Article 209 proceedings. The consequence is that despite his integrity blemished by the SC itself, the judge has been left alone to distribute life and death amongst people while hearing murder references.

Strictures-as-justice won’t work for long. What we need is comprehensive institutional reform. But that won’t happen till our elite clubs decide to change the way they do business. If they don’t, change for angry commoners will mean replacement of the system and not its reform. That opportunity will be ceased by a new category of bigoted and vicious predators already knocking at the gates.

The writer is a lawyer.

sattar@post.harvard.edu

Twitter: @babar_sattar

Cultural diplomacy

Bina Shah

IN my capacity as a working writer, I’ve chiefly engaged with writing as an art and a means for communication. But over the last several years I’ve come to know writing on a different level: as an arm of cultural diplomacy. And it’s exciting to learn that the arts can serve not just to enlighten and illuminate our lives, but to build bridges between countries, cultures, and peoples as a deliberate way of enhancing the more traditional ways and means of foreign policy.

Typically, nations pursue their foreign policy objectives through political, economic, and military means. But in the 21st century, when the use of force is limited, conventional warfare is unwanted, and the US suffers an image problem particularly in the Muslim world because of its adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan, public diplomacy, or the art of ‘winning hearts and minds’, has taken on more importance in foreign policy.

It uses soft power to ‘attract and persuade’ other nations to a path of friendly cooperation by highlighting values that America holds in common with them — family, faith, the desire for education, for example.

Cultural diplomacy, which branches out from public diplomacy, makes use of the arts — theatre, art, music, literature — in order to achieve understanding between the people, as opposed to the governments, of respective nations.

Christopher Merrill, director of the University of Iowa’s International Writers Programme, describes how cultural diplomacy “attempts to create dialogue on the playing fields of culture in which people from disparate cultures and countries listen to each other, explore creativity together, and emerge with a deeper understanding of the world and of each other”.

The US government actively pursues cultural diplomacy, bringing artists, writers, musicians and poets to America in order to perform their art for American audiences and to collaborate with American counterparts on artistic endeavours. And they send American artists to other countries for the same activities, in the hopes that art will appeal to those nations in deeper, long-lasting and more meaningful ways than the traditional methods of diplomatic outreach.

The International Writers Programme, which I attended in 2011, is one of the most robust of those programmes, though budgeting US taxpayers’ money for cultural diplomacy programmes is always under dispute, much to the dismay of the proponents of cultural diplomacy in the State Department.

My experience with cultural diplomacy makes me wonder, could we in Pakistan do something similar — project our values and our strengths through an active diplomatic programme of cultural activity, administered by the Foreign Office and spearheaded by our missions abroad? Instead of projecting hard power, could we project soft power, and would that soften our image abroad, and make other nations more eager to do business with us?

The Pakistani embassy in Italy had just that idea when they hosted a Pakistani Literature Day in Rome last year and invited me and the Pakistani writer Musharraf Ali Farooqi to participate. A seminar was organised in Rome’s beautiful Capitolino Museum: we discussed Pakistani literature, two Italian writers discussed the book they’d written about Abdul Sattar Edhi; a Pakistan literature professor paid tribute to a recently deceased Italian expert on Allama Iqbal. The next day, Musharraf and I gave readings at the Casa Della Letturatura. Both events were well-attended by Italian journalists, editors, and publishers, and academics with an interest in Pakistani literature, and everyone walked out of the events with an entirely new perspective on Pakistan.

The event was a success only because of the vision of Ambassador Tehmina Janjua and her hardworking team who put it all together without any help, financial or otherwise, from the Foreign Office. It was on her initiative that the first Pakistani Literature Day was held six months earlier, focusing on Urdu literature, similarly well-received but similarly unsupported by anyone outside of the Pakistani embassy.

Now imagine what strides we could take in cultural diplomacy if Pakistan had a dedicated department in the Foreign Office, envisioning and planning international cultural exchanges and events like these all over the world. If we sent Pakistani artists abroad and arranged for artists from other nations to come and visit Pakistan in order to see this nation for themselves, to practise the arts together with local counterparts, to visit universities and schools and speak to students and members of civil society.

Or if Pakistan had a clearinghouse like the British Council, independent of the government, but dedicated to the promotion of Urdu and other national languages with centres in all the world’s major cities.

Remember that cultural diplomacy is not the same as propaganda: its practitioners don’t spread ideology or proselytise about the greatness of their own nation or culture. Instead, they humble themselves and listen to the people they visit or invite, in order that they may learn from one another, and the learning process and artistic collaboration is what builds the bridges that will outlast political upheaval and the changing of governments.

The benefits of such a programme of cultural diplomacy for Pakistan would be huge. The potential for outreach to valuable members of civil society in foreign nations is even bigger. Trust-building, which is what Pakistan sorely needs right now, would be natural and organic.

By practising cultural diplomacy, Pakistan could very possibly achieve the ultimate goal of diplomacy, which is as Christopher Merrill writes, “the cultivation… of better relations between one people and another, in spite of their political differences”.

The writer is an author.

Twitter: @binashah

Noise sense

Zarrar Khuhro

LATELY there was much amusement when a local English daily printed a story on strained relations between Gulf states. It was standard fare, dwelling on the KSA-Qatar rift that every now and then surfaces out into the open.

What was exceptional, however, was that it quoted a news story claiming that Harrod’s, which is owned by Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, had banned the entry of Saudis and Kuwaitis. Clearly, this was evidence of a diplomatic spat going to the next level, and jibed well with whatever other research the author had done.

And it would have been perfectly fine had the source of the ‘news’, the Pan-Arabia Enquirer, not been a satire news site. I understand that it may have been difficult to tell from the story itself. After all, there may well be a Middle East analyst by the name of Bella Cockpit. Certainly, the ‘Qatar Consultative Assembly’ may have considered denying these countries a ‘luxury retail experience’.

Even the other stories posted on the site, such as ‘Al Jazeera to become shopping channel’ aren’t completely implausible, if one stretches suspension of disbelief to the point where it snaps into several pieces.

It’s not the first (and certainly not the last) time mainstream media has been fooled by spoof news. Back in 1934, almost every major American newspaper carried a story about a German pilot who had invented a flying machine powered by his own lungs. It later emerged that it was an elaborate hoax by a German magazine as an April Fool joke which had been picked by an international wire service.

Eighty years later, while it is much easier to check the veracity of a news item, it is also much easier for people to get fooled by such news. But forget about the incredulous Facebook crowds who’ll share without even reading (let alone critically analysing) the news in question, and take a look at mainstream news organisations that have also been fooled by their satirical second cousins. Why does this happen?

For one thing, the manufacturers of spoof news make it a point to have the stories sound as much like real news items as possible. The Onion, for example, is really good at this and regularly manages to fool people as was the case with a story titled: ‘Congress to leave D.C. until new capitol is built’. This was duly picked by China’s state-run Beijing Evening News which even attacked the LA Times when it reported on how the paper had been fooled.

But here’s the thing; with Congress shutting down the US government after a partisan hissy-fit, the story was just believable enough to run, at least for Beijing. Of course, the same cannot be said of the Chinese People’s Daily taking the Onion’s ‘Kim Jong-un voted sexiest man alive’, story seriously. Perhaps, as one wit remarked, the Chinese didn’t understand the “mysterious Western art of satire”.

Of course, Western media also gets taken for a ride fairly often, especially that bastion of fair and balanced coverage that is Fox News. The list of spoof stories they’ve taken seriously is a long one, including (again) the Onion’s ‘Frustrated Obama sends nation a rambling 75,000 word email’ that was picked up and run by its subsidiary, Fox Nation.

Closer to home, our very own Pakistani spoof news site Roznama Jawani’s story was also picked up by Fox Nation. This story claimed that the Council of Islamic Ideology had protested the use of padded undergarments, calling them the “devil’s cushions”. The story was quickly removed once the truth came out, but not before much smirking and sarcasm at Fox’s expense.

Roznama Jawani is now seemingly defunct, which is perhaps inevitable in a country where the reality is beyond the fevered imagination of the most skilled satirist. After all, how on earth would you parody the CII’s proclamations on DNA testing and child marriage? How would you spoof calls for a Taliban office or a safe zone? Or, for that matter the idiocy of calling on the terrorists-in-chief to investigate attacks carried out by an alleged splinter group?

So how does one avoid falling victim to this phenomenon? Well the first step is to use some sense, common or otherwise. If the story about a 250-million-year-old dinosaur egg hatching isn’t being carried on every major news site, odds are it is satire. If it shows a former ISI agent dressed in a Spiderman costume, you’re likely looking at a spoof. Oh, and if the tagline of the news site is “spreading the hummus of satire on the flatbread of news”, then by all means have a hearty chuckle, but just don’t cite it.

The writer is a member of staff.

zarrar.khuhro@gmail.com

Twitter: @ZarrarKhuhro

Islamabad’s ‘stain’

Hashim bin Rashid

THE decision by Islamabad’s Capital Development Authority (CDA) to demolish at least a dozen informal settlements in the capital area starting the last week of March has been met with protest outside its offices.

Islamabad’s bulging informal settlements have been long considered a stain on the ‘planned’ city’s master plan. When Islamabad was conceived by Greek architect Constantinos Doxiadis in 1960, it was conceived as a city without the poor. The city’s elite planned to keep it that way.

Nonetheless, the mushrooming of informal settlements was their own doing. The country’s top bureaucrats could not do without household servants and so the first wave of informal settlements built up in Islamabad’s vast empty lots were inhabited by Christian workers, who formed the bulk of the city’s garbage disposal and household labour.

No city can exist without housing for its working underclass: from construction workers to shopkeepers to beauticians to street vendors to its drug dealers and commercial sex workers. Doxiadis could be forgiven for conceiving a city without residence for the working class poor. The architect expected the new capital to be inhabited by technocrats who could do their menial tasks themselves.

If he knew the cultural context of Pakistan, he would’ve known that the elite can’t survive without an underclass. Doxiadis’s planning failure still haunts Islamabad’s elite.

This has meant that 150,000 of Islamabad’s population of 500,000 live in informal settlements. Of the 31 katchi abadis in the city, the CDA has refused to regularise at least 20, playing up the Afghan refugee card. This is the same elite that backs Pakistan’s Afghan policy, that brought the two waves of an estimated 1.8 million Afghan migrants in the 1980s and 2000s.

After 30 years of mostly peaceful coexistence with these migrants, who integrated themselves into the Pakistani economy without asking for much from the state, they are suddenly being called ‘terrorists’.

In this context, the interior ministry’s claims that 98,000 people are ‘unregistered’ and therefore ‘suspect’ appear ludicrous. That Afghan migrants are unregistered after three decades of migrations is not their fault, it is the interior ministry’s fault. And being ‘unregistered’ doesn’t make one a ‘terrorist’.

The Islamabad High Court ordered NADRA not to issue CNICS to anyone without a title or lease document. If the problem was being ‘unregistered’, why aren’t they being allowed to register in the first place?

The real reasons are to do with Islamabad’s burgeoning real estate market. Islamabad in its first three decades had a bare minimum real estate market. Most land was allotted to civil and military officials. In the 1990s, they could be allotted extra plots for as little as Rs600,000 per kanal. Now those prices have swelled to between Rs10-20 million per kanal and MNCs are looking to build hotels and shopping plazas. The CDA is looking to displace the city’s poor to make way for high-end housing and commercial projects.

This is why it must contradict the guidelines of the 2001 National Housing Policy, which protected informal settlers against displacement until appropriate resettlement plans were formulated and advocated the development of low-income housing schemes. With both conditions not fulfilled in Islamabad, it is in contradiction of federal policies.

Similarly, the PML-N government is in contradiction of the policy measures it implemented when it announced the Regularisation of Katchi Abadis Scheme 2012, which were said to “recognise all katchi abadis in the province”.

The claim that katchi abadis are ‘illegal’ is legal fiction. It is a discourse maintained by elected and non-elected officials in public that goes against the laws and policy guidelines developed by the state over the last three decades that legalise informal settlements.

Moreover, we must ask the larger question: what is the purpose of state land? Why do we not consider ‘state land’ as a trust granted by the people of Pakistan so it can make the best use for citizens? Following that logic, one would think that if the state is not able to guarantee its citizens affordable housing, is it not fair that we reclaim land that was being held in our trust. When officials tell katchi abadi dwellers that “it is state land, should they not respond, “No, it is the people’s land.”

This raises an interesting question of rights: if the state fails to fulfil its duties to facilitate people in the land that has been granted to it, do we have a right to take it back? Should people not be constantly monitoring the state’s land use policies and determining whether they are in ‘public interest’ or not? This should be the real question of Islamabad’s katchi bastis.

The writer is a member of the Awami Workers Party, and the All Pakistan Alliance for Katchi Abadis.

A narrow vision

Muhammad Amir Rana

THE recent announcement of the internal security policy is an important development. It is perhaps for the first time that a political government has announced its vision of Pakistan’s security. The policy has three major elements: dialogue with all stakeholders; isolating terrorists from their support bases; and enhancing deterrence through capacity-building to enable the security apparatus to neutralise threats to internal security.

This three-fold approach appears to be built on two threat scenarios. First, internal threats are weakening national political, economic and psycho-social power and potential. Second, protracted internal conflict and weakening national power are shaping the environment for external aggression.

The policy framework to implement this approach is based on two components — soft and hard. The former entails research and understanding, and winning hearts and minds — a familiar phrase that has extensively been used in Western counter-violent extremism strategies. The hard component will consist of a composite deterrence plan. The policy draft describes the soft approach at length but the CPD in brief.

The burden of crafting and implementing the CDP will lie on Nacta’s shoulders. Some major initiatives under the CDP would establish a composite arms control regime, regulate the movement of Afghan refugees (the draft describes Afghan refugees as a major factor in terrorism inside Pakistan) and create a directorate of internal security, a joint intelligence directorate and a rapid response force. The focus would also include cyber security, terrorism financing, capacity building and the reorganisation of counterterrorism departments in the provincial police set-up.

Nacta will be answerable directly to the prime minister. This could help remove dichotomies, especially where these concern legal obstacles in the way of coordination between ministries and agencies. Even then, there’s no guarantee that the relevant agencies will be bound to share intelligence with the authority.

The policy document reflects a defensive approach. It is largely silent on the threats persisting in Fata and Balochistan and focuses primarily on securing urban centres. Though the government is talking to the Taliban, its written ‘dialogue policy’ is silent on the peace initiative.

The dialogue component of the document, apparently conceived in a broader perspective, is too general. It talks about dialogue with all stakeholders for madressah reforms, militants’ rehabilitation and de-radicalisation etc.

It is clear that the government’s internal security vision is based on an approach that engages militants in talks and builds shields to guard major urban centres. The initial steps taken thus far, or the ones the government is serious about taking, relate to countering urban terrorism. These measures include the establishment of a rapid response force and joint intelligence directorate.

Interestingly, the primary features of the policy announced by the interior minister last December included a ‘secret’ part, which has been replaced with the decision to isolate the terrorists. The concept of a terrorist is not clear in the policy document. Does it mean the Taliban to whom the government is talking? Does it mean that the government wants to detach the Taliban from their support bases through peace talks?

As the policy has been conceived in an urban terrorism perspective, its features are not different from Western policy frameworks. The interior ministry has not consulted the provinces. Even the government has not discussed the policy in parliament. The interior ministry’s think tanks may have consulted Western practitioners. If not, then many experts would regard it as a copied piece of work.

Such doubts are strengthened by factual errors and vague terminology used in the draft. For example, Ahmad Raza Khan Barelvi, founder of the Barelvi school of thought, has been mentioned as head of a banned sectarian Deobandi outfit.

The policy draft also sheds light on international liaisons for which Nacta will be responsible. It notes that the UK and US governments are keen to develop dedicated counterterrorism bodies in countries with higher radical tendencies.

Many countries have taken similar steps. But it might create functional overlaps and coordination issues further weakening the traditional security mechanism. Another troubling aspect is that when foreign assistance and collaboration stops, overlapping institutional functions will become a huge burden for the governments. There are many other issues that need to be reviewed in the policy, especially on the legislative front. The government is introducing and amending laws in a very narrow security perspective, which will have huge political and social implications. It seems as if Pakistan has joined the club of nations which are in the process of reversing all the civil liberties achieved between the Second World War and Sept 11, 2001.

The writer is a security analyst.

Crisis state

Cyril Almeida

AFTER a while, the details become meaningless. Nisar did this. The TTP said that. Nawaz insisted on blah. Army said X, but meant Y.

AFTER a while, the details become meaningless. Nisar did this. The TTP said that. Nawaz insisted on blah. Army said X, but meant Y.

Who cares? The dogs of war and the peace brigade will work out something between themselves. Violence will go down. Pakistan will become a scarier, uglier, more miserable place to live in.

Then, a mini, temporary reckoning. Things will stabilise, for a while. Then, instability again and the cycle being repeated, in slow motion or fast forward.

But why blame Nisar? In a parallel universe, Dar is reinventing the laws of finance and economics and national accounting — and for what?

A few months, folk say, before the inevitable slide of the rupee. So that’s the challenge then, for Dar to prove the naysayers wrong and stretch a few months into a year or two or maybe more.

It’s been done before, the last years of the Musharraf era full of rumours of an artificially propped up rupee via dodgy remittances and quiet State Bank interventions.

But, really? That’s the great boast of the country’s latest finance czar? That he propped up the rupee?

Forget Nisar and Dar though. They are what they are and they’ll do what they must. Zoom out.

What is it with these civilians?

They must rule. They must be the ones in-charge. The system must not be tampered with again.

But once we agree that the civilians are the ones who should be calling the shots, that still leaves the issue of figuring out why they aren’t making the right calls.

And, honestly, it’s a helluva mystery.

Take the big two: Zardari and Nawaz.

Other than conspiratorial whispers about how his plans for re-election were dashed by the powers-that-be, Zardari has been pretty accurate about what went wrong in his five years and why.

He figured out that the election was a referendum on electricity. He got that he shouldn’t have given Kayani another full three years. He recognised the economy was mishandled and that BISP-style handouts can only get you so far.

And Nawaz. He said absolutely everything right for five years. He didn’t put a foot wrong. Then he won, and won big. And since then, he’s crumbled before our eyes — reduced again to either a pitiful or malign figure, depending on your political orientation.

How? Why do they seem to get it when not in power, but are so powerless to do anything about it when in power?

The obvious answer: they don’t really have power.

Except, that’s simply not true.

Yes, the boys can push back. Yes, when their core interests are threatened, they can roll out a DPC or Qadri, or awfulness in Afghanistan.

But that’s not the same thing as being in charge.

If they want, the civilians can assert themselves. If they want, the civilians can direct policy. If they want, the civilians can find a reasonably cooperative partner. On many things.

And yet, nothing. Nothing good, anyway.

With Zardari, five years ago, you could say that he didn’t give a monkey’s wrench about the party, that the PPP was just a vehicle to power, that power meant money, and that he was obsessed with property and his eye-watering deals.

He had delivered on what even BB couldn’t — a full term. By 2018, the party would be Bilawal’s. He could count his millions if he liked or be the wise old man who doled out favours to a few close friends.

So, step back, let the party revive itself, and give Bilawal a truly meaningful inheritance: a new Sindh to use as a springboard to national power in 2023. Do the right thing.

But again, nothing. Or just a vicious hammering over Thar and the MQM back in the fold, anyway.

What’s stopping Zardari in Sindh? Other than Zardari himself?

But what about Nawaz? This awfulness of talks with TTP or fixation with propping up the rupee — you get your one year or two years, sure. So what? Then what?

Get through the next three-six months, three or four quarters at most. But that was exactly what the third-term PM had vowed he wouldn’t do after two tumultuous stints in power and a decade in exile.

And yet, here he is, presiding over precisely that again.

Money? He’s got enough of it, as does everyone on his team. Enough in the sense that they can comfortably make more without having to obsess over it.

Party? Nawaz is the party. Punjab voted for Nawaz, not for a party.

Fear? He’s got a hand-picked chief, a reasonable chief justice, a friendly opposition — and an Imran who just last May he destroyed in a straight fight in Punjab.

What’s stopping Nawaz in Islamabad? Other than Nawaz himself?

Once upon a time, the problem was the system. But as the system settles down, the next problem has emerged: leadership.

The country has none.

The writer is a member of staff.

cyril.a@gmail.com

Twitter: @cyalm

Ambiguous discourse

Khadim Hussain

In the domain of political economy, it is not only the construction of the discourse that produces ‘control’, ‘authority’ and ‘influence’ to subjugate a community but also making the existing discourse ambiguous. This process is manifested in several complicated socio-political processes. We can see it in extremist violence that has granted a previously unimaginable share of power to the religious right, observed especially in cultural, political, economic and legal frameworks.

After the construction of the discourse using the concepts of ‘khilafat’ sans frontiers, ‘jihad’ and ‘shahadat’, the religious right, in connivance with the militant network, has used all communication modes and sources at its disposal to create contradictions in the logic of the discourse. It has been able to accomplish the task through its consistent effort to create ambiguities in the mind of mainstream Pakistan, consisting primarily of Punjab’s middle-class, educated youth. One can describe various phases of such obfuscation in a fairly precise manner.

The Afghan Taliban were glorified as freedom fighters and later depicted as the upholders of Pakhtun nationalism. The colonial model of Pakhtuns as ‘valiant’ ‘ungovernable’ and ‘independent’ was reconstructed and allowed to permeate mainstream Pakistan.

The ‘good’ Taliban were then identified with the code of Pakhtunwali. This part of the discourse achieves significance as one observes that much of the destruction was, in fact, inflicted on the Pakhtuns’ culture, society and polity. Pakhtun singers and artists were either killed or forced to flee. Their heritage was destroyed. Their social institutions were smashed. Their language and history were badly affected.

Despite all that was perpetrated on the Pakhtuns by militant networks in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, the media continued to harp on the narrative of a Pakhtun backlash in the guise of extremist violence.

When terrorist activities increased and the terror network went on a rampage, the ‘foreign hand’ theory was cooked up. Anchorpersons, analysts and researchers assured the public that Muslims could not be cruel enough to inflict this kind of destruction. Religio-political parties blamed Blackwater, a foreign, private security agency, and refused to accept the existence of militant networks, especially the TTP.

Though responsibility for these attacks was taken by the militant network, the ‘foreign hand’ theme continued to resound in the mainstream media. Strangely, no such ‘foreign hand’ has so far been caught and brought before the Pakistani public and international media.

Meanwhile, academia and civil society groups remained engaged in making education, poverty and culture responsible for such kind of barbarism. The most intriguing aspect is the culture specificity regarding the terrorist network. All other ethnic outfits including the Arabs, Chechens, Chinese, Punjabis, Sindhis, Brahvis and others were ignored and the Pakhtun genetic make-up held responsible for terrorism.

The third phase in the discourse of ambiguity began when the militant network started contacting media persons. Spokespersons and the leadership of the militant network gave interviews, issued and disseminated videos and got themselves snapped by various media outlets. This time the discourse of ambiguity manifested itself in the ‘theory of revenge’.

Rightists in the shape of the PTI and the Jamaat-i-Islami started claiming that militant groups avenge drone strikes and the presence of Nato troops in Afghanistan through the bombing of Pakistani markets, the killing of Pakistani security personnel, the murder of political workers and the targeted killing of teachers and maliks.

We now see the fourth phase of the discourse of ambiguity. It is apparent in the mantra of denying responsibility and of the latter being claimed by hitherto unknown groups. The latest in the series is Ahrarul Hind. It is interesting to note that tactically its attacks resemble those owned by others in the militant network. All three attacks were owned on the basis of ‘jihad’. All three attacks achieved the same results — perpetuation of fear and retreat of state — as had all along been intended by the militant network.

The writer is a political analyst based in Peshawar.

khadimhussain565@gmail.com

Twitter: @khadimhussain4

The last laugh

M.J. Akbar

THE committees which cobbled together the BJP’s advertising campaign got one fundamental proposition right: anger is a formidable weapon, but rage is counterproductive. There is a fine but defining line between raising your voice and losing your balance. And sometimes satire works better than a scream.

This is the first time that a national party’s campaign has stepped into that erogenous zone of politics called wit. Two advertisements are based on a frightened man and woman, embodying corruption and rising prices, getting ready to leave India in a hurry because Narendra Modi is on his way to Delhi. Neat.

Humour is infectious as any troll through internet or mobile messages proves. In the pre-mobile era Marxists used to do wall-scale cartoons quite well. But then the Election Commission cleaned up campaigns (literally) and the red cartoon whimpered out of existence.

Laughter is therapeutic, for it adds some calm to the prescriptive remedy. A joke is crisp, and distils the essence of a message far more effectively than any sermon. Homilies send voters into snore-land.

Modi’s advantage is that his message is uncluttered: atrocious governance by UPA has made change a national necessity, and he is the change. Any ally who wants to join the growing queue behind him has to sign on this dotted line. His competitors are either weak, like Rahul Gandhi; isolated, like Nitish Kumar; or tentative, like the three regional satraps Mamata Banerjee, Jayalalitha and Mayawati.

Congress is spending at least Rs750 crores to project Rahul Gandhi, but is afraid of clarity because it is uncertain about its leader’s credentials for the toughest job in public life. Mamata Banerjee, Jayalalitha and Mayawati are not even ready to contest this election to the Lok Sabha personally.

This does not technically rule them out from the egg-and-teaspoon race for prime minister. You can always become an MP within six months of being sworn in. P.V. Narasimha Rao was not in parliament when he became destiny’s favourite in 1991. But the three ladies are also realists when outside camera range. Modi, in contrast, is contesting from Varanasi in addition to Gujarat because he wants to maximise electoral enthusiasm along the critical Ganga-Jamuna war zone.

All warfare has one unmentionable dimension: the casualty list from friendly fire. Such self-inflicted injuries are heaviest during ticket distribution, when the scramble for command positions is most intense. Wounds generate headlines. Elections are a complicated contest at every level, and no armour has been devised which can fully protect an ego.

But friendly fire should not be confused with the departure of generals who bristle with medals during every parade, but lose their nerve on the eve of battle, as in the case of P. Chidambaram. He is hardly the only Congress heavyweight reluctant to face the electorate. But once conflict begins in earnest, these episodes will drift out of sight, and out of mind.

In 2009, Laloo Yadav thought that he had lost from Saran after polling day, and rushed to Pataliputra to buy insurance. As it turned out, he won Saran and lost Pataliputra.

Something unusual is happening below surface shenanigans when the BJP vote is climbing to Congress levels in a state like Tamil Nadu, and has not peaked. Irrespective of who wins how many seats, one fact is crystal clear across the country: the Modi vote is rising, while Congress is suffering from deflation.

The AAP was promoted as the final spoiler against Modi, but is becoming reminiscent of Dr Frankenstein’s machine, which turned upon its maker. If Muslims turn towards the AAP, the Congress crumble will become a rout. Congress candidates are already finding out that they cannot take Muslim support for granted.

Some of the AAP’s credibility has been consumed by the rage of Arvind Kejriwal. But the problem is a little more nuanced. There is no party other than Congress which can be an alternative magnet for a non-BJP coalition.

The AAP cannot become Congress overnight; and Kejriwal’s mercurial tactics smell of the one thing that voters do not want in 2014, instability. The best thing about laughter at election time is that the voter always has the last laugh.

The writer is an author and editorial director of The Sunday Guardian, published from Delhi.

DAWN Media Group, Haroon House, Karachi 74200, Pakistan

PoliticusUSA

Cricket - Sports

Saturday, March 29, 2014

DWS, Sunday 23rd March to Saturday 29th March 2014

DAWN

WIRE SERVICE

National News

Talks deadlocked; TTP rigidity blamed

Pakistan not aware of militants going to Syria

Support for Afghan peace efforts reiterated

Unusual rising of Special Court triggers rumours

Govt holds first direct talks with Taliban

Govt to oppose handover of BB jewellery

Court martial won’t affect SC jurisdiction

Iranian guards not being held in Pakistan: FO

Rouhani seeks swift action

$1.5bn ‘gift’ not conditional, Dar tells NA

Leaders call for more steps to prevent N-terror

Bad weather defers govt-TTP talks

Minister appeases hardliners on child marriage bill

Govt wants 2 military officers tried under army act, SC told

US role sought in Pak-India detente

IMF clears $555m for Pakistan

Sharif meets Obama, Xi and Gul

Furore in NA over US bar on MNA’s overflight

Polio vaccinator kidnapped, killed

Credibility issues hang over NA

CJ takes notice of threat to Karachi temple

Pakistan Day celebrated

Success of talks with Taliban to restore peace: PM

FBR detects 40 fake firms

Altaf urged to stop calling for takeover by undemocratic forces

36 killed in horrific accident near Hub

NAB officer shot dead in Karachi

Venue for direct talks finalised

Non-implementation of 18th amendment affects ordinary lives

Footprints: slumming it, above the world

Death handed down in blasphemy case

WHO certifies India, 10 other Asian nations polio-free

Watchdog urges US to review drone policy

Pakistan, EU to enhance cooperation in energy

Satellite spots 122 objects in search for Malaysian jet

Al Qaeda militants moving from Pakistan to Syria: NYT

Expert calls for N-deal with Pakistan

Modi calls minister, AAP leader Pakistani agents

Court overturns Turkey Twitter ban

PAC chief comes under criticism over hasty decisions

Relatives of Chinese passengers scuffle with guards at Malaysian embassy

Stamp issued in Britain to honour WWII heroine

US plans to end NSA phone data collection

529 Morsi supporters sentenced to death

Footprints: Digging for gold in Karachi

Move to downsize peace-keeping operations to affect Pakistan

‘Kidnapped Iranian guard slain’

Afghan attack allegation rejected

Missing jet crashed in Indian Ocean, says Malaysia

Turkey says Syrian jet shot down in its airspace

Indian police claim arresting key terror suspect

Crew of Morning Glory arrested in Libya

Afghanistan alleges Pakistan link to attack

Footprints: No justice for Aminas of the country

Some madressahs spread disinformation about security policy, says Nisar

Presidential guard kills Iraqi journalist

New Zealand beat England

Editorial News

Off-track again

Prisoners’ swap

Israel’s disastrous plan

Child marriage bill

Warning signs ignored

Flagging foolishness

Nuclear record

Sham trials in Egypt

Horrendous crime

A dark message

Devolution hiccups

Erdogan’s Twitter ban

The secrecy factor

State’s responsibility

Indefensible delay