Friday, June 30, 2006

‘End of Unquestioning Support?’: At last!

Gulf News, Indian Express , The Nation ( Pakistan ) June 28, 2006
‘End of Unquestioning Support?’
Husain Haqqani

Pakistan ’s military regime might take comfort in the Bush administration’s support for reinstating the 300 million dollars in U.S. aid cut by the American Congress due to Pakistan ’s inadequate efforts for establishing democracy and respecting human rights. But the very fact that the House of Representatives voted to cut aid by a 373-34 vote and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke of the importance of free and fair elections during her recent visit to Pakistan indicates that the phase of unquestioning support for General Pervez Musharraf in Washington is now over.



Foreign aid appropriations are often the major foreign policy lever available to the American government’s legislative branch. Under the U.S. constitution, U.S. Congress is a co-equal branch of government along with the executive, headed by the President, and the judiciary. Unlike Pakistan where almost all power is concentrated in the hands of the country’s Chief Executive, who is a uniformed army chief and unelected president, the U.S. system recognizes multiple power centers. While making foreign policy is the prerogative of the U.S. president, budget-making falls within the purview of the Congress. Quite often, Congress draws attention to what it considers as lapses of judgement by the president and his foreign policy team by using its power of the purse.



During the 1980s, Congress showed disapproval of American policy in Central America by barring covert military support for the Contras fighting the left-wing regime in Nicaragua . The Pressler amendment to the foreign aid bill, which followed the Symington and Glenn amendments, introduced the concerns of Congress about nuclear proliferation into U.S. aid policy. Pakistanis are all too familiar with the consequences of the Pressler amendment coming into effect. But at the time the Pressler amendment was originally approved, Pakistani officials had seen as a reprieve from aid cuts. Then, the Reagan administration had lobbied heavily in Pakistan ’s favour as continuing aid was crucial to ensure Islamabad ’s participation in the ongoing anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan .



This time, too, the Bush administration will cite the importance of General Musharraf’s support for the war against terrorism to ensure that its quid pro quo aid package remains unaffected. The US ambassador to Islamabad , Mr. Ryan Crocker, was quick in reassuring Pakistani officials that there would be no cut to the full amount of aid promised for the five year period ending in 2009 – three billion dollars. “We are a democracy,” Mr. Crocker was cited as saying. “Congress has its views, but I would like to make very clear that this administration is totally committed to providing the full amount,” he explained. But even if the Bush administration ensures the flow of aid, it cannot ignore the issues cited in the bill that cut the aid.



An overwhelming majority of U.S. congressmen, 373 from both parties to be precise, noted “increasing lack of respect for human rights, especially women’s rights, and the lack of progress for improving democratic governance and the rule of law’’ in Pakistan under general Musharraf. Only 34 representatives in the U.S. House appeared to buy the Pakistani government’s claim that it was in the process of establishing “genuine democracy.” Even these 34 cannot be said to approve of Musharraf’s domestic policies and could have voted against the bill only because they did not want to embarrass a current American ally.



No Pakistani can celebrate a proposed reduction in the flow of external resources to their homeland. But given the Musharraf regime’s tendency to cite international, particularly American, support to justify its undemocratic domestic policies, it is natural for Pakistani democrats to take heart from the changing mood in Washington . Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Akbar Khawaja summed up the sentiment when he observed, “We do not welcome a reduction in aid because it is a loss to the country. But if international bodies are noticing that there’s a need for democracy and improving human rights, it is a positive sign.”



Pakistan will probably receive the full amount of aid and the Congressional aid cut will most likely be reversed through the intervention of the Bush administration for now. But the concerns about human rights and democracy expressed by Congress are only likely to continue to grow. The Musharraf regime’s ostensible help in the hunt for international terrorists cannot remain an indefinite excuse for ignoring what is clearly a deteriorating human rights situation.

Under the military’s overall direction, Pakistan has an established authoritarian tradition that has, unfortunately, endured even during periods when civilians have seemed in charge. In recent years, Pakistani authoritarianism has degenerated into greater violence. Some elements in the U.S. national security establishment condone the disappearance and detention without trail of suspected Islamist terrorists. But in Pakistan , the disappearance of opposition figures in no way connected to Al-Qaeda and its associates indicates that Pakistan ’s ubiquitous security agencies are applying the questionable methods of the war against terrorism to the regime’s critics and opponents.

The suspicious disappearance and subsequent brutal murder of journalist Hayatullah Khan in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas highlights a dirty war like those fought against their people in the 1970s and 1980s by Latin American military regimes. Hayatullah had embarrassed the government by revealing, with pictures, the falsehood of an official claim that an Al-Qaeda member had been killed while making a bomb. The terrorist had, in fact, been hit by a U.S. missile. Instead of learning to tell the truth about its actions, and those of its U.S. ally, it seems that someone considered it more convenient to kill Hayatullah. The journalist’s murder also scares other reporters into avoiding the tribal areas just as the brutal killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl scared western reporters away from the troubled city of Karachi .



An opposition figure, Dr Safdar Sarki of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) has been missing for days and one need not agree with his political views to feel the pain of his family. Incidentally, Dr. Sarki is a U.S. citizen and General Musharraf should not have difficulty in figuring out that his disappearance at the hands of Pakistan ’s invisible political enforcers is unlikely to endear the Musharraf regime further with the U.S. Congress.



Increasing human rights violations and the absence of democracy in Pakistan can no longer be explained away under the cover of a relatively free media. The key attributes of a democracy include the right of the people to vote in fair elections, form and run political parties and oust rulers from office in addition to living under the rule of law. Pakistan ’s elections under military rule have never been completely fair. Political parties face constant meddling from the intelligence services. General Musharraf’s alleged plans for democracy have no provision for a change of rulers. And Pakistani citizens, such as the families of journalist Hayatullah, political activist Safdar Sarki and several Baloch politicians have no recourse to the law in dealing with covert operations aimed at silencing them.

(Husain Haqqani is Director of Boston University’s Center for International Relations and Co-Chair of the Hudson Institute’s Project on Islam and Democracy. He is the author of the Carnegie Endowment book ‘Pakistan Between Mosque and Military’)

"Is Pakistan ready for democracy in '07?": Why Not??

Is Pakistan ready for democracy in '07?
Secretary of State Rice's visit put the spotlight on the regime's efforts to reform local government.
By David Montero | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
June 30, 2006
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN

In a visit as short as it was secretive, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice swept through Islamabad this week with a firm reminder for President Gen. Pervez Musharraf: Ensure free and fair elections in 2007.

Pakistan's foreign ministry delivered a blunt response: "On the democratic processes in Pakistan, we do not require advice from the outside," adding that the leadership intends to hold "free and fair elections."

The diplomatic dust-up underscores the growing concerns over General Musharraf's commitment to instilling democracy - and the sensitivity of the issue for Islamabad. Musharraf is quick to point out that he has introduced sweeping democratic reform, an ambitious devolution program that promised to return power from the military-dominated center to the local level. But as elections loom, many analysts argue that those reforms have only expanded the reach of the military regime, giving it more power and influence to manipulate any vote.

"There are representative governments at the local level, but they have been so closely related to the government that they don't have their own character," says Hasan Askari Rizvi, an independent political analyst in Lahore. "[I]t functions as a pillar of the regime."

Nearly two years after seizing power in a bloodless coup, Musharraf implemented a Devolution of Power Plan in 2001, heralding it as a new era of democratic reform. Elected governments at the district and subdistrict level were to provide greater autonomy from the center, greater access to public officials, and empowerment of marginalized groups such as women and the poor. Since its implementation, local governments in 101 districts have been voted into office, each headed by an elected official known as a nazim, or mayor.

Changes enable 30,000 women politicians
A number of positive changes have resulted, reaching beyond the symbolic weight of such newly forged local institutions. For example, the allotment of one-third of all local legislative seats for women has "enabled 30,000 women to enter into formal politics at the local government level," according to a 2004 World Bank study.

But critics argue that patronage and political muscle have ensured that many nazims remain connected to the center. Those not tied to the ruling party find they have a hard time operating, with little money to fund projects and little support. That's because financial power has not devolved - the center still controls the purse strings, the leverage it uses for political ends.

"It all depends on finances. As long as the military has centralized control over resources, local governments are highly dependent on the center," says S. Akbar Zaidi, a social scientist in Karachi and author of a recent report on local government in Pakistan.

Some critics also point out that the system cannot be sustained: Built on patronage, it is bound to dissipate if and when Musharraf steps down, meaning democratic institutions will have to built from scratch again.

"When Musharraf goes, the system goes with him. Because it has no real ownership, no stake holders," says Samina Ahmed, South Asia director of the International Crisis Group.

Strong centralization long been a problem
Proponents of the devolution plan deny these charges, calling it the first substantive model to correct colonial-era laws that allowed a politics of patronage to flourish in the first place.

"What we're intending to do is shift the ownership of [political] institutions to democratically elected leaders," says Daniyal Aziz, chairman of the National Reconstruction Bureau, which oversees the devolution plan. "Every government has an influence over local governments. To say that this is the Achilles' heel of the system is not fair."

In the shorter term, observers like Ms. Ahmed say, the local government system could mean trouble when parliamentary elections roll around in 2007. Musharraf's term also expires then. With nazims dependent on them for cash, the military regime and its supporters have undue leverage over the ballot box. Mr. Aziz, however, denies such influence, arguing that if tampering were to take place, it would not be at the local level.

Despite the flaws, even the most outspoken critics say abandoning the pursuit of democracy altogether is not an option the West or Pakistan should consider. Democratic parties, they contend, are a far better option for rooting out extremism than a military regime. The latter only encourages Islamist politics, they add, by diminishing the political space to such an extent that Islamist groups become the only outspoken voice of political expression. Free and fair elections in 2007 are the best way to contain them. "If you were to have free and fair elections in Pakistan, the victors would be the moderates who support the American war on terror," says Ahmed of ICG.

Ultimately, many observers say, it is Musharraf who will decide just how free and fair those elections will be. Nawaz Sharif, the president whom Musharraf deposed, and Benazir Bhutto, his predecessor and leader of the opposition Pakistan People's Party, are both exiled abroad, but have indicated their intentions of returning to contest the election.

Many doubt Musharraf will ever allow them to set foot on native soil. "There are domestic compulsions on [Musharraf] which make it difficult for him to have free and fair elections," says Rizvi. "If Bhutto and Sharif are allowed to come back and engage in a movement, it will cause problems for the ruling party. [Musharraf] wants to hold on.... They could turn things against him."

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

History: Liaquat’s resignation letter to Jinnah



Liaquat’s resignation letter to Jinnah
Khaled Ahmed’s A n a l y s i s
June 23-29, 2006 - Vol. XVIII, No. 18: w w w . t h e f r i d a y t i m e s . c o m


Was there ever a quarrel between Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan and Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah? Most writers who have looked into the archives say no; in fact they see the two bound in an ideal relationship within the All-India Muslim League that never soured. Liaquat was always respectful and Jinnah, in his distant way, always trusting. Recent books on the two confirm this. MR Kazimi in his Liaquat Ali Khan: His Life and Work (OUP 2003) and Roger D Long in his Dear Mr Jinnah: Selected Correspondence and Speeches of Liaquat Ali Khan (OUP 2004) have dismissed the idea that there was a Liaquat-Jinnah tension after 1947 that even exploded into mutual enmity.

But the subject keeps cropping up. Since no one can understand why Jinnah died the way he did at a railway level-crossing in Karachi, people keep writing about the ‘perfidy’ of Liaquat Ali Khan. Most authors have however steered clear of the controversy and relied on the archives which say nothing about it. Among those who believe that there was a conflict is former chief secretary Punjab, SK Mehmood, who told daily Pakistan (27 August 2004) that prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan developed problems with governor general Quaid-e-Azam after 1947 on the question of settling the refugees from India. He said there was an over-all policy for settling them agreed at the top, but Liaquat Ali Khan wanted his own constituency carved out in Karachi by giving them special attention. The Constituent Assembly constituencies were mostly located in India. Because of these bad relations the Quaid was not looked after when he travelled from Balochistan to Karachi and died on a road in Karachi.

Writing in monthly magazine Naya Zamana (1 September 2004) Naseer Ali Shah stated that relations between the Quaid and Liaquat Ali Khan were not good. He referred to the biography of Amir Abdullah Khan Rokhri Mein aur mera Pakistan and quoted that Liaquat Ali Khan’s wife Ra’na was very uppity (sar charhi hui thi) and her attitude had put off the Quaid and Miss Fatima Jinnah. Ra’na did not stop short of besmirching the name of the Quaid himself. She got Hector Bolitho to write in his book on Jinnah that the Quaid was attracted to Ra’na, and that Jinnah had put off both Ra’na and her husband Liaquat Ali Khan. The truth was that the Quaid was a cold person who could not have fallen for the charms of Ra’na Liaquat Ali Khan.

Needless to say it is Liaquat who suffers in most accounts, which could be unfair. Speaking to daily Pakistan (10 April 2005) magazine, distinguished lawyer MA Rehman stated that Col Ilahi Baksh was the personal physician of Jinnah when Jinnah was recuperating in Balochistan. A son of Col Baksh, Humayun told Rehman that once when prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan had just come out after talking to the Quaid in his room, Col Ilahi Baksh went in immediately after him. Liaquat was suspicious and asked him later why he had gone in. He replied that time for administering the next dose of medicine to the Quaid was running out, so he had to run in. But Liaquat was too suspicious. He later warned him that if he talked about the incident he would punish him. When Col Ilahi Baksh wrote his book on the Quaid, Liaquat disallowed it, but when Fatima Jinnah went public about the ban, he allowed it with cuts. The ‘uncut’ book has never been found.

How should one approach the controversy? The latest book MA Jinnah: Views & Reviews edited by MR Kazimi (OUP 2005) may have the answer. The answer is provided by Roger D Long Professor of History East Michigan University whose earlier editorial commentary on Liaquat’s letters and speeches is of a very high quality. In his paper Jinnah and his Right Hand, Liaquat Ali Khan he goes to the archives and digs up three documents that throw light on what really happened: Liaquat’s letter of resignation dated 27 December 1947, a memorandum by a British friend of Ra’na Liaquat Ali Khan and an undated memorandum by Ra’na Liaquat Ali Khan herself. Long also writes about the so-called Desai-Liaquat Pact which had reportedly annoyed Jinnah. He dismisses this incident as being too superficial and finds that Liaquat’s talks with the Congress leader Bhulabhai Desai were conducted without any commitment by the former over the head of Jinnah.

The letter of resignation however is of great importance because it is written within months of the creation of Pakistan and tells us about some estrangement between Begum Ra’na and Jinnah. It says: ‘My wife has related to me what you told her last night at your dinner. I am sorry to learn that she has incurred your displeasure for some unknown reason. She could not have possibly done anything to merit such strong criticism and condemnation as for you to say that she was impossible and that she was digging her own grave.’ His resignation was couched in three words - ‘slipping out quietly’ - so that Jinnah as architect of Pakistan could have around him the people he felt good about. He pleaded for his wife: ‘A prime minister’s wife cannot live in a vacuum. She has to take her due place in the life of the nation, and on account of the opinion you seem to have of her it becomes very embarrassing and difficult for both of us to do our duty in the position which as the prime minister’s wife and I as prime minister occupy’.

The letter of resignation becomes clearer when you read an ‘explanatory’ memorandum reproduced by Prof Long. It was penned by a close friend of Begum Ra’na, Kay Miles. The ‘background note’ says: (1)‘Begum Sahiba’s reputation as a social leader & a social service worker was being steadily strengthened and enhanced. As the result of the finesse with which she handled her position as prime minister’s wife and of the tremendous work she was doing for the refugees both personally and through the Woman’s Voluntary Service she had organised for this purpose.

‘(2) This quite unnecessarily made Miss Jinnah resentful, and jealous, although nothing was ever done to detract from her respect and position as the Quaid-e-Azam’s sister. On the contrary, out of respect and personal affectation (sic!) and friendship for Miss Jinnah, and knowing the lady’s temperament and mental and physical disabilities, every possible effort was made to avoid any kind of friction and unpleasantness. This was to no purpose, so far as Miss Jinnah was concerned, for in her growing jealousy and possessive attitude towards her brother, she steadily poisoned the mind of an already tired and sick man, whom she was also trying steadily to shut away from his friends and colleagues.

‘(3) The actual incident which gave rise Mr Jinnah’s remarks to Begum Sahiba was her non-acceptance of a glass of sherry (which she dislikes) when she sat near him at his birthday dinner party. Then he quoted an incident which had taken place just previously at a dinner party at the then Sind Governor’s House where Mr and Miss Jinnah were guests of honour, and which had been brought to his notice by Miss Jinnah with her own rendering of the facts. What had actually happened was that when an ADC had requested Begum Sahiba to sit near Miss Jinnah, she suggested that some other ladies, who did not often get it, be given the opportunity to do so on this occasion.

‘(4) Begum Sahiba naturally resented such remarks (Jinnah’s?), especially as there was so much personal friendship and respect for Mr Jinnah, by both herself and her husband. Liaquat sent in the resignation contained in this draft the following afternoon. Immediately upon receipt of it Mr Jinnah phoned Liaquat, expressed great shock and requested him to come over to the GG House the same night. Mr Jinnah was most upset at the threat to a personal friendship and a political partnership which had weathered so many storms, and had been built on a solid foundation of mutual respect and affection. Mr Jinnah flatly refused to even consider his resignation, but Liaquat was adamant that the matter must be considered in view of the fact that he was not prepared to continue in office under such unjust aspersions on his wife, ands with the lack of stable confidence which this incident revealed. They talked the whole thing out that night, Mr Jinnah insisting that he had merely spoken as a father out of affection for Begum Sahiba, and requesting Liaquat to promise him that neither Begum Sahiba nor Miss Jinnah be allowed to come between them in their friendship.

(5) In her jealousy against Liaquat, Miss Jinnah, by insinuation and statement, tried to make believe that her brother was prepared to get rid of Liaquat – it was not a fact.’

The third piece of written evidence produced by Prof Long is Jinnah’s pen-sketch by Begun Ra’na. It says: ‘He was a man of high principles and there was no bluff in him. He had nothing in common with the masses and yet they acknowledged him as their leader and followed him. Mr Jinnah was reserved and aloof and gave the impression of being haughty and conceited but once you got to know him he was human. He could sit for hours and relate amusing tales of high school and college days. He knew the value of money since he had earned every penny of it. He spent generously on his clothes, carpets, furniture, etc, but refused to subscribe to any funds – a peculiar trait indeed. He was not given to entertaining and was not very social at parties, but whenever we invited him, he let himself go and got into the spirit of the function – he cracked jokes with the guests.

‘All by himself he was human – but that wasn’t very often! His eyes were sharp and searching and only the honest could look him straight in the eye or even attempt to argue with him. He was a dictator to the fingertips - dare anyone disagree with him! He was very secretive and suspicious and hence could not make many friends. He was very English in his manner and way of living. Breakfast meant marmalade! He was very fond of an oriental fruit called guava – he swore that it purified the blood. Whenever he stayed with us I made a point of having guavas in the house. He didn’t know much about food, and often what he termed good I thought was rather poor. He was most dramatic in his speech. And the monocle helped to give him the necessary atmosphere to put it across. The long tapering index finger often pointed to the guilty, the bang on the table, the monocle put on and off, the voice raised and lowered all helped to spice it up. Such was this man who could talk for hours at a public meeting to crowds of people who didn’t know any English, in pin-drop silence.’

Was the quarrel then only with Miss Fatima Jinnah? We know that after Jinnah’s death Miss Jinnah’s address to the nation on radio was selectively ‘switched off’. Was Jinnah ‘unhappy’ with Liaquat? There is also the ‘rumour’ that Jinnah’s first choice for Pakistan’s prime minister was not Liaquat but Nawab of Bhopal Hamidullah Khan. The Nawab’s daughter, in her memoirs Abida Sultaan: Memoirs of a Rebel Princess (OUP) refers to this rumour. Nawab Hamidullah, known to be close to Jinnah, wanted to come to Pakistan but didn’t want to lose the Bhopal purse. He wanted Abida to take over as Begum, get the generous purse and some property the Indian government promised to those who would accede to India, then remit Rs 5 lakh (later Rs 10 lakh) to Hamidullah in Pakistan where he wanted to migrate! She refused to become the Begum and ran away to Pakistan herself, thus preventing her father’s prospect of becoming the prime minister of Pakistan!

Does the law protect those who protect the law?

Daily Times, June 28, 2006
Does the law protect those who protect the law?

By Rana Tanveer Ali

LAHORE: When people think of courts, they usually associate them with law and order or protection. But what do you do if murders, kidnappings and dacoities become a routine occurrence at even these ‘centres’ of justice?

Even lawyers, who seek justice for others, are not safe. The situation is no different when it comes to the Ferozewala Courts, where three members of the Ferozewala Bar Association (FBA) have been murdered, and cars of a judge and a lawyer stolen over the last three years.

Senior advocate Muhammad Ali Sayal was murdered 15 feet from the courts in front of the Ferozewala ASP’s office on June 13. Ghulam Nabi Nagi, a member of the FBA, was killed in a shootout between two rival groups. Seth Abdullah, another FBA member, was murdered in his chambers.

Daily Times learnt that advocate Shehbaz Waraich, also a member of the FBA, was kidnapped from the Sheikhupura District Courts last year.

A special judicial magistrate, one judicial magistrate, six civil judges and four additional judges deal with 140 to 150 murder cases a day at the Ferozewala Courts. A court official told Daily Times that the court tried an ‘infinite’ number of robbery and property cases.

Sources said prison vans that took prisoners to courts returned with drugs, which were sold in jails with the prison staff’s help. “Relatives of prisoners that offer bribes can visit their relatives as often as they want to, and such prisoners can attend courts earlier than others,” said a prisoner’s relative.

FBA members told Daily Times senior lawyer Muhammad Ali Sayal’s murder was an act of terrorism. They said that weapons should be prohibited on courts’ premises, and a screening system should be implemented at main entrances to stop armed people from entering courts. Some lawyers demanded a police post on the Ferzoewala Courts premises for security.

Advocate Seth Abdullah’s murderer had still not been caught, they said, adding that intimidation and threats by their clients’ rivals was routine. Lawyers said the government was not paying attention to their complaints on the improvement of Ferozewala Courts.

Ferozewala Courts dealt with cases from Sheikhupura, but they fell in Lahore’s jurisdiction, they said, adding that they had recommended the courts deal with cases from Lahore’s jurisdiction, but nothing had been done.

They said that police arrested nobody even 2 weeks after Sayal’s murder because the accused men had the support of some politically influential people. They demanded Sayal’s murderers be brought to justice, otherwise the legal fraternity would boycott courts in Punjab.

Some lawyers said they were considering shifting their chambers from Ferozewala to some other area. “My parents advised me not to go to Ferozewala Courts after Sayal’s murder,” said an internee.

FBA President Chaudhary Rehmat Ali Dhillon said that Sayal was one of the founders of the FBA and he had been helping people get justice for the last 45 years. He said that there was an Elite Force van in front of the Ferozewala ASP’s office when Sayal was murdered, but the accused fled. This was glaring proof of law-enforcement agencies’ ‘apathy’, he said, adding that FBA members’ murders spoke volumes of the government’s failure when it came to law and order.

Dr Farhan Ali, Sayal’s son, told Daily Times that he had lodged an FIR at the Shahdara Town police station, but the investigation in charge was on leave. He said that the accused had been intimidating witnesses in the FIR.

“A suspect in Sayal’s murder, Tariq, was a constable and had been working at the Shahdara Town police station. Some of his sources told him about the raid”, sources in the police station told Daily Times.

Advocate Rana Muhammad Shabbir, Sayal’s colleague, said Sayal’s murder had deprived FBA of a senior jurist.

Muhammad Shahid Buttar, senior advocate and a member of the Punjab and Ferozewala Bar Associations, said that lawyers had become desperate after their seniors’ murders. He said that justice would suffer if advocates were not in a situation to present their versions freely. Buttar demanded patrol vehicles be provided for the courts.

Malik Asghar Javed, an FBA member, said that people, who lost cases, held advocates responsible for their failure. According to Article 44, exhibition of weapons was prohibited at any place, but weapons were common in court, he said, and pointed out an armed civilian. He said that Article 144 should be implemented because only its promulgation could not do the job.

Musa Khan, Sayal’s brother and a FBA member, said his brother was not killed for a reason, but for being an advocate.

Chaudhry Ghulam Mustafa, an FBA member, said that lawyers were killed in clients’ clashes and lawyers’ families were forced to withdraw cases. Quoting an example, he said that Ghulam Nabi Nagi’s murder case was closed without any compensation to the bereaved family.

Liaquat Ali Cheema, a senior FBA member, said that there were 13 main and sub entrances to the courts and only four of those had gates. He said that any one could enter the court premises at any time, which is a glaring proof of the courts’ insecurity. Muhammad Yaseen, another FBA member, said that the government’s attitude towards the lawyers was very arrogant. He said that the Ferozewala Courts were established in 1963 and till 1970 there were only 10 lawyers there. The number of lawyers went up to 88 by 1993, and stood presently at 400, but there were only 65 chambers.

Hate Materials from "Jihadis" banned: Why not close their well-known publishing houses?



Daily Times, June 28, 2006
Islamabad orders drive against ‘dangerous’ hate material

By Hasan Mansoor

KARACHI: After receiving fresh intelligence reports about the abundant circulation of ‘dangerous’ hate material, especially by jihadi extremists, the top quarters in Islamabad have asked the provincial governments to launch an onslaught against those involved in the ‘dangerous game’, sources said.

Sources in the ministry of interior in Islamabad said it had received reports about the circulation of provocative material being used by banned extremist groups to lure and indoctrinate naĆÆve youth to be involved in the terror game especially in large cities, with particular emphasis on Karachi.

Karachi has seen a number of suicide bombings since May 2002 when the first of the suicide attacks killed 11 French engineers among 14 people and injured over 50 more outside the Sheraton hotel. The latest incidents reported this year were near the US consulate building in March, which killed four and a US diplomat and injured 52 others, and during a congregation in Nishtar Park on April 11, which killed over 60 people and injured more than 100. Many religious parties dispute the government’s claim that the Nishtar Park blast was a suicide bombing but any evidence to assert their counterclaims is still awaited.

Sources in the provincial home department said they had received the instructions from Islamabad to keep a beady eye on the circulation of videocassettes, audiocassettes and DVDs and CDs. “There are reports that some banned groups of extremists are behind this practice to arrange discreet gatherings at remote locations in Karachi and other cities in which they are indoctrinated with published material and visuals,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

Similarly, sources said a large number of audiocassettes were conveniently available in the open market and were being sold at cheap rates. There are many mosques and madressahs across the country where such audiocassettes are kept on sale. Sources said it was difficult for the authorities to locate the expert jihadis involved in the circulation of such stuff.

“What is easier is to locate the audiocassettes available in the market,” said a source.

About two years ago the police had recovered large caches of such material from an absconding jihadi militant. The material also included a guidebook for jihad. Sources said the investigators would also involve the under-trial and convicted militants who they suspect of still having outside links. Police experts who have been working on such cases are being entrusted with the matter, sources said, and added that a formal but ‘covert’ drive would be launched soon.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Rice Pushes Pakistan on 2007 Elections - finally!

Associated Press
Rice Pushes Pakistan on 2007 Elections
By ANNE GEARAN , 06.27.2006

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised two key Muslim allies who are sometimes at odds, calling Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai stalwart fighters in the fight against terrorism.

"Our view is that we have two good friends and two fierce fighters in the war on terror," the top U.S. diplomat said Tuesday following meetings with Musharraf and Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri.

But, Rice added, she expects Pakistan's military leader to fulfill his promise to hold democratic elections next year.

Rice will see Karzai on Wednesday for talks on that country's political progress and the international military campaign to quell terrorism in the south.

She also planned to meet with counterparts from the Group of Eight industrialized nations in Moscow on Thursday, where the topic was expected to be Iran's disputed nuclear program.

Rice's back-to-back visits were meant to temper tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan over responsibility for securing their chaotic border and routing Taliban and al-Qaida terrorists presumed to be hiding there.

Karzai has criticized Pakistan for not doing enough to go after terrorists along the mountainous border between the two nations. A clearly frustrated Karzai last week also criticized the U.S.-assisted coalition anti-terror campaign in his chaotic country, deploring the deaths of hundreds of Afghans and appealing for more help for his government. The coalition has killed hundreds, mostly Taliban militants, since May.

"Which country has a greater stake in peace and stability in Afghanistan?" Kasuri asked during a long and emotional defense of his nation's military and other efforts along the border.

Pakistan wants cross-border oil and gas pipelines, more regional trade and other development that it is not possible without more stability in Afghanistan, he said. He described recent talks with the Afghan foreign minister as productive, but said he asked his counterpart what possible motive Pakistan would have to destabilize its neighbor.

He challenged Afghanistan to prove militants are hiding out in Quetta, as some officials have claimed, or elsewhere in Pakistan. Previous tips from Karzai himself about militant whereabouts were out of date, he added.

"Tell us where they are hiding," he said. "We promise to investigate and take action."

Rice smiled tightly during Kasuri's monologue, adding only that the United States considers both nations to be strong allies and that all sides are trying to coordinate.

Before arriving in Pakistan, Rice said she had spoken several times with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and also with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about defusing the tension in Gaza, where Palestinian militants killed two Israeli soldiers and abducted another.

She urged patience to give diplomacy a chance to win the release of the Israeli soldier.

"There really needs to be an effort now to try and calm the situation, not to let the situation escalate," Rice said during a news conference aboard her plane.

Musharraf became an unlikely ally of the Bush administration following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks when he pledged cooperation against terrorists who passed easily between Pakistan and the lawless Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan.

"Pakistan has come an enormously long way in a period of four years," Rice said aboard her plane. "We are fortunate there too that you have a leadership that is committed to putting Pakistan on a course toward moderation rather than a course toward extremism."

Rice had even stronger praise for Karzai.

"This is an extraordinary leader and we're going to back him and back him fully," Rice said. "When he has problems we're going to sit with him and we're going to find ways to resolve those problems. But any implication that anybody thinks that he is somehow not up to the job or not living up to his responsibilities is simply false."

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Monday, June 26, 2006

Huma Ke Tehre Ajnabi...Understanding Pakistan-Bangladesh Split

Daily Times, June 26, 2006

BD’s 1971 hero buried with state honour after 35 years

DHAKA: Remains of a Bangladeshi war hero were buried in his homeland with state honours on Sunday - 35 years after he was killed during the 1971 war.

M Matiur Rahman’s flag-draped coffin was received by Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and an honour guard at Dhaka’s Zia International Airport on Saturday. The funeral, held on Sunday in the presence of acting President Jamiruddin Sircar, was at a national parade ground in Dhaka, the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs said in a statement. “I am happy to see that he has come back,” Rahman’s emotionally choked widow, Milly, told reporters at the parade ground. “I am fortunate enough seeing this during my life.” A commissioned air force officer, Rahman died on August 20, 1971, in a plane crash as he tried to flee Karachi across India to then-East Pakistan in an air force training craft to join the civil war that led to Bangladesh’s split from Pakistan. Rahman was training a second pilot, Rashid Minhas, who is honoured as a hero in Pakistan for forcing the plane to crash to prevent the defection. AP

Imagine the state of Human Rights in Pakistan!

Daily Times, June 26, 2006
ISI initiates inquiry against Law Minister Wasi Zafar

By Sadia Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) has discreetly launched an investigation into reports of misuse of million of rupees meant for victims of human rights abuses by Law Minister Wasi Zafar. An ISI officer reportedly visited the ministry offices on Friday to collect information and documentary evidence.

The ISI investigation has been ordered from the ‘top’ after it was reported that the minister had mistreated a woman bureaucrat who refused to approve funding from the human rights fund for 560 applicants who belonged to Zafar’s constituency of Jaranwala tehsil, Faisalabad.

Sources said the ISI might not have interfered in the affairs had damaging findings of the auditor general of Pakistan not been made public. The AGP has confirmed reports of the misuse of HR funds, along with the fresh disclosure that last year a total of 365 people successfully applied to get funding from the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights, out of which 305 belonged to Jaranwala tehsil.

The funds are meant for victims of rape, torture, extra judicial killings, police torture, and other human rights abuses, and they are supposed to have FIRs and recommendations from the authorities concerned. But the 865 constituents from Jaranwala for whom funding was approved over the last two years only supplied their identity cards.

Top level sources said the ISI officer who visited the ministry on Friday met with the officials concerned in the Human Rights Fund Section. The sources said the ISI official had asked why the sudden row had developed between Zafar and the woman bureaucrat, senior joint secretary Saira Karim.

He was reportedly informed that Karim had refused to approve the release of millions of rupees from the fund after the auditor general reported his objections. However, Karim did approve the funds for 305 people from Jaranwala last year.

Karim had this time asked the personal secretary to Zafar to give her something in writing indicating that the law minister had approved the release of funds, so it was not her who would be hauled over the coals if the Public Accounts Committee got wind of the scandal.

Sources said the ISI man was told that the personal secretary had issued such an approval letter and this angered the minister, who is reported to have torn up files and abused Karim. The minister allegedly accused Karim of trying to “collect documentary evidence” against him.

Karim then got herself transferred from the Law Ministry to the Establishment Division, but Zafar brought her back and ordered an inquiry against her under the Removal from Services Ordinance. He was then reportedly told that only the president had the power to sack someone in BPS 21. Zafar later ordered another inquiry, only this time to be told that only the prime minister was authorised to order such an inquiry against a senior official.

Zafar did not give up and his ministry is still busy in inquiring into allegations that Karim funded bogus NGOs, a charge she denies. A junior officer has been appointed to inquire into the allegations levelled by the minister against Karim.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Oil Business: Pakistan-Turkmenistan Ties




Turkmens can supply Pakistan gas pipeline - adviser
Sat Jun 24, 2006 - Reuters
By Chris Baltimore

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Turkmenistan has told Pakistan officials that it can supply enough natural gas to justify building a pipeline from the gas-rich Central Asian nation to energy-starved Pakistan and India, a Pakistan government adviser said on Friday.

Pakistan is in active talks with Turkmenistan to build a pipeline that would run through war-torn Afghanistan, but it is also pursuing a plan to build a $7.4 billion pipeline from Iran that would also supply India, said Mukhtar Ahmed, energy adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

"We have been assured in writing by the Turkmens that the required amount of gas will be made available notwithstanding these other commitments," Ahmed said at a conference hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Center.

"The credibility of these assurances is something we can talk about indefinitely," he said.

Turkmenistan is also pursuing export deals with Russia, Ukraine, and China, raising questions whether it will have enough supplies for other customers.

Paul Simons, a deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. State Department, said that the Turkmen natural gas pipeline "deserves a close look" but reiterated that the Bush administration opposes any pipeline to Iran.

Western nations including the United States have accused Tehran of attempting to develop nuclear weapons, which Iran denies.

Pakistan energy officials will be in Washington on Monday for meetings with Energy Department, State Department and other U.S. officials, Simons said.

"The government of Pakistan is well aware of the fact that we are not in favor of Pakistan moving ahead with this pipeline to Iran," Simons said.

Instead, Simons said Pakistan should tap domestic natural gas supplies, build transmission lines to import power from neighbors like Kyrgyzstan and ship in liquefied natural gas (LNG) from places like Qatar, Indonesia and Nigeria.

Earlier, Ahmed said he hoped to convince the Bush administration that the Iran project was worth pursuing.

"The rationale for the project is very strong," Ahmed told Reuters in an interview. "We hope that at the end of the day everybody including our friends in the United States will be able to see the wisdom of implementing this project."

Officials from Pakistan, Iran and India will meet in New Delhi next month to negotiate gas pricing before finalizing a deal to pipe Iranian gas to India through Pakistan, Ahmed said.

Future demand would justify both the Iran and Turkmenistan projects being built, he said.

Filling Pakistan's rising demand through LNG "is probably not a realistic assessment," he later said, because major world exporters like Qatar have committed future supplies elsewhere.

Pakistan's need is urgent because its energy demand will quadruple over the next 20 years, he said.

The 150 million cubic meters per day pipeline through Pakistan would link Iran, which holds the globe's second largest gas reserves behind Russia, to India.

Gas supplies from Turkmenistan hinge on its Dauletabad gas field which contains a gigantic 4.5 trillion cubic meters in reserves, according to Turkmen estimates.

Turkmenistan produces just under 60 billion cubic meters of gas a year and exports two-thirds of that, mostly through an ex-Soviet pipeline that runs to Russia and for which it gets below-market prices.

Last year Turkmenistan appointed independent auditors of its oil and gas reserves.

"I have looked at numbers which indicate that there is enough gas in the ground (in Turkmenistan) to support a 30-year project for Pakistan and India," Ahmed said. "The numbers seem to be credible."
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Saudi Arabia's ban on Umra Visa for Pakistanis under age 40



The News, June 24, 2006
Saudi ban on umra visa
Rahimullah Yusufzai

As expected, the government of Saudi Arabia has refused to lift the ban on Pakistanis below the age of 40 years from performing umra. It was futile on the part of federal religious affairs minister Mohammad Ejazul Haq to visit Riyadh to try and make the Saudis change their mind on the issue. The Saudis formulate their policies after much thinking and in line with their national interest and decisions once taken are rarely changed.

Back home, Ejazul Haq sounded defensive when he told reporters that the ban would stay because the Saudi government had complained that over 100,000 Pakistanis had overstayed in Saudi Arabia after reaching there on the pretext of performing umra. Before leaving for Saudi Arabia, he had expressed concern over the Pakistan-specific umra restriction and had promised to take up the matter with the Saudi authorities. One could understand that he was on a weak wicket and could only request the Saudis to reverse or relax the ban on under-40 Pakistani citizens wishing to perform umra. It was up to the Saudi government to grant his request and it chose not to do so.

From all indications, it is clear that the Saudi government imposed the ban without consulting Pakistan. Islamabad has an unequal relationship with Riyadh and the Saudi government has repeatedly come to Pakistan's rescue by offering it oil free or on subsidized rates and providing financial assistance to it in times of need. The change in the umra policy means that it would now be the responsibility of the Pakistan government to enforce the ban at its end and stop its citizens below 40 from travelling to Saudi Arabia for performing umra. Those able to reach Saudi Arabia in violation of the ban will be deported and, in the process, earn a bad name for Pakistan.

It is safe to presume that the Saudis tolerated the arrival of young Pakistanis wanting to perform umra and then overstaying in the hope of finding gainful employment as long as the problem was manageable. There surely is a great demand for cheap manpower in Saudi Arabia and Pakistani workers, along with their South Asian counterparts from India and Bangladesh, continue to form bulk of the labour required to run the oil-rich kingdom's industrial, construction, services, farm and other sectors. The Saudis looked the other way as planeloads of Pakistanis flew to Jeddah for the onward road journey to Makkah to perform the obligatory umra before vanishing and getting absorbed into local labour-intensive workplaces. Saudi employers needed more and more working hands to man their businesses and farms and the ruling royal family was responsive to their needs. One way to appease the Saudi entrepreneurs was to let umra visitors from Pakistan and elsewhere stay back and work for them for comparatively lesser wages.

However, the Saudi government had to act when the problem appeared to be getting out of control. Earlier, half-hearted measures were taken to streamline the procedure for issuing umra visas. Intending immigrants and overseas employment agents found ways to beat the law. It didn't require much intelligence to figure out that young men of humble origin weren't exactly going to Saudi Arabia to perform umra. They simply lacked the resources to pay for the costly return air ticket to Saudi Arabia and arrange for their stay and other expenses in Makkah while performing umra. It was obvious that these young Pakistanis, mostly villagers who had never been on a plane before, were using Umra as a pretext to gain entry into Saudi Arabia hoping to find work with help from friends, relatives and co-villagers already working there.

During a recent visit to Saudi Arabia, one had the chance to talk to some of the young Pakistanis who arrived on umra visas and then stayed back to work illegally in the holy cities of Makkah and Medina. They said there was no problem in finding work even after the Saudi government's announcement that Saudis offering jobs to overstaying Pakistanis would be punished. There was so much work to do that the Saudis, or contractors from other countries, had little recourse than to hire illegal workers to complete projects within the prescribed time. Though they remain fearful of the Saudi "shurta" (cop) because many illegally staying Pakistanis have been arrested from workplaces and homes during regular police raids, the Pakistani workers are hopeful that economic compulsions and pressure from Saudi employers would force the government to continue to tolerate illegal labourers. Having spent a small fortune to reach Saudi Arabia, these hardworking Pakistanis are willing to do any work in extremely hot weather without being adequately compensated. They even take in their stride the abuses that young, spoilt Saudi boys increasingly hurl at them on the street. Returning home empty-handed after investing so much on their Saudi misadventure would put them under the burden of credit and destroy the hopes nurtured by their poor families.

The umra ban on Pakistanis under the age of forty has devastated families that were hoping to pool resources to send their young males to Saudi Arabia to earn a decent livelihood. It was a convenient and, in some cases, affordable way to buy one's entry into Saudi Arabia and find work. The Pakistan government, as usual, has failed to protect the interest of its citizens. There is no doubt that many Pakistanis were misusing the umra facility and working illegally in Saudi Arabia, but they were not a burden on the booming Saudi economy. In fact, they have been contributing to the economy and meeting the need for manpower in important sectors. It was simply a question of demand and supply and was tolerated as long as it suited Saudi needs. Now that the Saudi government has embarked on a process of Saudization of the workforce and is also able to legally get even cheaper manpower from Bangladesh, India, Thailand and some other Asian and African countries, it opted to ban umra visas for Pakistanis below the age of forty.

Pakistan will suffer adverse consequences of the new Saudi policy on umra visas. Unemployed men unable to find jobs in Saudi Arabia would stay at home and contribute to the growing number of the jobless. The country already has a large number of unemployed and underemployed men and women, though successive governments continue to come up with hilarious official figures showing an unbelievably low unemployment percentage. Workers from other countries, particularly Bangladesh, would take up the new jobs on offer in Saudi Arabia. Pakistan's impressive foreign exchange earnings, which are frequently highlighted by the present government as one of its major achievements, but which we owe to the tireless efforts of our diaspora, would also be affected.

Overseas Pakistanis, spread all over the world, made it to countries in the West, Middle East or Far East entirely on their own without any tangible support from the government. It has been a brave and risky effort and no words would be enough to praise the Pakistanis who succeeded against all odds to find work and prosperity in those faraway and alien lands. Many of them made it to the Gulf countries by boarding rickety motorboats that navigated the high seas; others entered Europe by walking across dangerous borders. Some of them used clever methods to outsmart immigration officials at major entry-points in the West and elsewhere in a bid to gain access to menial jobs shunned by locals. Those who died, got arrested, or lost their life savings while endeavouring to flee poverty and unemployment at home were quickly forgotten and never compensated. Pakistan has always been an uncaring state, unwilling to look after its own. It is time Islamabad gave the overseas Pakistanis their due and made concerted efforts to help them in times of need. Resolving the umra issue is one such occasion that calls for intervention from the highest authority in Pakistan.

The writer is an executive editor of The News International based in Peshawar. Email: bbc@pes.comsats.net.pk

Gagging the press

The News, June 22, 2006
Gagging the press

Being a journalist in Pakistan, especially an independent-minded one who would want to practice the profession as it should be done, has never been easy. Other than the relatively low pay compared with what one gets in many other professions, the problem has always been that there is often a heavy price to pay for investigative journalism. In carrying out their professional duties, journalists in this country face threats not only from the state and its various law-enforcement and intelligence agencies but also from non-government parties such as the land mafia, religious and political organisations and sometimes even commercial entities. The greatest threat, however, comes from the state's extensive and vast intelligence network. Journalists who do stories on, say, issues related to the armed forces, the government's US-led war against terror or those who wish to probe allegations of official corruption at high levels can expect to be warned off. This in the past used to come in the form of an anonymous phone call to a reporter who was thought to be particularly troublesome. Whatever the method, the objective of the warning is always the same: that journalists as a whole (and not just the one warned) need to get into line and need to know that they cannot report on certain things and if they do, then they should be prepared for the consequences.

Of late, however, these warnings have assumed more sinister proportions. The family of late Hayatullah Khan alleges that his murder was perpetrated by an intelligence agency, and the detention incommunicado for over three months of Mukesh Rupeta, a correspondent of this newspaper and Geo TV, severely undermines the claims often made by the president and the prime minister that the press is free. Mr Rupeta had been missing since early March and it was only after his disappearance was disclosed by his employers that he was presented before a court. Till then, the government -- as per what seems to have become the 'standard operating procedure' in such cases -- had been denying any knowledge of his whereabouts. However, the day the national press reported that he had been missing for over three months, and that he might have been taken into custody by the intelligence agencies for filming a military installation, he was produced before a court and the police filed charges against him under the Official Secrets Act.

What was the need to detain him and his camera man incommunicado for over three months? If the government believes that a journalist has violated a certain law and detains him, then surely it should not lie about the matter and deny any knowledge of the detention. It also does not have the moral prerogative to detain him for an indefinite period without notifying his family, presenting him before a court and providing him access to a lawyer. From the number of such cases in the past, it would seem that those doing the detaining surely could not be working without the sanction of their superiors. Tacit or explicit approval of such barbaric methods whose sole objective is to terrorise and intimidate all journalists must stop. A truly free press is an important cog -- in fact a prerequisite -- for a fully functional democracy because of its role of monitor over government policies, decisions and the conduct of public officials. Crude methods aimed at gagging the press and thus preventing it from carrying out its crucial watchdog function should be permanently dispensed with, because they have no place in this day and age and because they thoroughly contradict official claims on press freedom.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Lull before the storm

The News, June 22, 2006
Lull before the storm
Kamila Hyat
The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor

The distance between Lahore and most other parts of the country sometimes seems to span vast oceans of ignorance and indifference. The sense of removal from many national events, some at least with potentially far reaching consequences in terms of the country's future, appears almost surreal -- as though the people of the city, and indeed the wider province of the Punjab, are living on an island across which no winds from other parts of the nation drift. It is astonishing how little is known in centres of urban privilege, including both the Punjab and the federal capital, about the situation in other provinces -- treated, as they are, like a distant realm within some colonial power about which the rulers have little care or concern.

Whereas this is only occasionally reflected in almost accidental snippets of news in the national press, there is at present a state of great turmoil across growing swathes of the NWFP; a simmering condition of conflict rages on in Balochistan, where mysterious explosions hit the capital, Quetta, almost daily and there is a question over the degree of federal authority over some parts of the country.

Over the last many weeks, a bitter war is being fought in Bannu, Tank and other regions of the Frontier between Taliban-backed militants seeking to take control of growing tracts of land. The extent to which they have succeeded is evidenced in the extreme sense of fear that is reported to be prevailing across the NWFP, with citizens terrified of making any comment that could be construed as critical of the extremist militias that have remained on the rampage now for the last many months. Reporters from overseas, hoping to cover the situation, have often found it impossible to enlist local stringers to assist them or even to find people ready to talk openly about the conditions on the ground and the growing control over lives of extremist groups.

The tools these groups use are terror -- with unlicenced FM radio stations, targeted killings and threats to all those seen as opposing militancy forming a part of their formidable arsenal. More ominous still is the fact that as these forces of obscurantism close in around Peshawar valley from both its north and south, the country's authorities remain either unwilling or unable to bring under check the threat they pose, despite the many claims made of a relentless war being fought on terrorism.

Meanwhile, according to some websites managed by extremist organisations, Waziristan has been declared a separate entity, controlled by the forces whose formidable opposition to the Pakistan army has already cost dozens, possibly hundreds, of lives. Whereas this declaration of autonomy is obviously not realistic, it reflects the perception that prevails. Scores of people living in Waziristan have been forced to flee. Others have had homes bombed or destroyed in the fighting that has continued now for well over a year, with no immediate sign of any kind of end in sight.

Yet most of these developments hardly ever figure in the discussions or debates on at the national level. Whereas in the case of Waziristan, this is at least in part a consequence of the deliberate official policy of secrecy, it is uncertain why more attention is not being paid to the increasing extremism sweeping across the NWFP. After all, it hardly augurs well for confidence in any government's ability to enforce its writ across a nation when, in more and more portions making up the whole, a state of anarchy prevails.

The break down in law and order, the license given to individuals to make threats over illegally established radio stations, to order henchmen to mow down opponents or to send off letters warning artists, writers, musicians and others of imminent death is after all proof that this writ of state no longer exists for many citizens. More and more regions, more and more territories, including those making up the mainstream of the country, have in fact drifted out of the control of any authority with assorted militant 'lashkars' locked in battle for control.

The situation is obviously a frightening one to be in. There is a limit to the length of time for which it can prevail without putting the very existence of central control and authority at jeopardy. This is all the more true given that more and more alternative forces of authority are cropping up everywhere. New verdicts delivered by tribal jirgas, across Sindh, Balochistan, the NWFP and the Punjab come in regularly. The judgments appear to hark back to some particularly dark period in medieval history, with the rape of women, the giving away of children to settle feuds or the torture of men all among the 'punishments' awarded by such bodies.

Rather than a reduction over the decades in the number of such extralegal forums, the frequency with which they are conducted has increased.

This in turn is of course a result of the decline in the state-organised system of justice, the corruption of the police and the lack of confidence in the ability of authorities to grant any form of redress from grievance to citizens.

Inevitably, the rule of 'jirgas' and of other similar bodies is most entrenched in areas that seem to have pulled themselves away from central control. In Waziristan, according to some reports that filter through, there have been instances in which individuals have been murdered in cold blood on suspicion of disloyalty to militants, or simply for any display of dissent from the views of those who hold sway there. In areas such as Dir, people have had television sets and cassette players burnt; anyone resisting the destruction of their personal property has faced severe beatings or other violence.

The fact of the matter is that today, vast tracts of the country are in fact outside the control of any central authority. Police lack the power to enforce the law in these parts and the state is unable to perform its central duty of protecting the life and welfare of people.

In many cases, journalists attempting to report on the situation have been warned to stop or abducted and threatened when they have failed to follow orders.

The fact that this state of affairs is barely thought to be worthy of the attention of the rest of the country is still more alarming. Various portions within the federation seem to be drifting off on their own individual paths, amid growing mayhem and chaos. There is no sign of any attempt to bring the situation under control, or to create the kind of firm federal integrity that could perhaps stop the drift -- and this, of course, can only mark still more dangerous times ahead.

Email: Kamilahyat@hotmail.com

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Extra-judicial role of intelligence agencies

Daily Times, June 22, 2006
Extra-judicial role of intelligence agencies protested
* Najam Sethi says HRCP recorded at least 100 ‘disappearances’ last year
Staff Report

LAHORE: Participants of a debate on Wednesday strongly protested the “extra-judicial role” of intelligence agencies.

The debate – The Role of Police and Judiciary in Society – was arranged at the launch of a book by historian Dr Mubarik Ali at the Lahore Press Club on Wednesday afternoon. Participants also called for an independent judiciary in the country, a vibrant political system and urged civil society to stand up against dictatorship.

Dr Mubarak Ali’s book – Main aur mera muqadamma: The story of a decaying society – focuses on a false case against the author. The book criticises the method of investigation of the police and the role of the judiciary, and focuses on the author’s struggle against this system.

Daily Times Editor Najam Sethi presided over the function, while human rights activist Tahira Mazhar Ali Khan and former Lahore High Court Bar Association president Ahmad Awais were chief guests on the occasion. Sethi spoke about the operation of the judiciary, police, media, intelligence agencies and the establishment “working under the guise of national security”. He said that civil society must stand up against the extra-judicial role of the intelligence agencies. He recalled his own victimisation during the tenure of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999, when he was kidnapped by secret agencies and the judiciary had been unable to resolve the issue. “My case, regarding who captured me and under which law the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) functions, is still in the Supreme Court,” he said. “In fact, the then chief justice of the superior courts advised us to withdraw the case. The case remains a question mark six years later.”

Sethi said that rising incidents of ‘disappearances’ of citizens of the country had made “a mockery of the judiciary”. He condemned the recent killing of tribal areas journalist Hayatullah Khan, who disappeared about six months ago and was found dead in Mir Ali on June 16.

He said that the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) had counted the disappearance of about 100 people in parts of Sindh and Balochistan in the last year, which was “quite worrying”. He urged the media to highlight such issues “to stop this anarchy”.

“The people and media must protest against this extra judicial role of the agencies,” he said. “We must not forget such incidents, or else we will be next.” He said that the civil society and media should think about the extent of suffering that the common man went through, “if a person as renowned as Dr Mubarak Ali can be so wronged”.

Tahira Mazhar Ali Khan said that Dr Ali had been persecuted because “he writes about the people’s history”. She urged political parties to make the demand for an independent judiciary part of their manifestoes.

Ahmad Awais condemned the “extra-constitutional role of the army” in the country. “According to the constitution, the army is bound to stay out of politics,” he said. He called for efforts to establish the “rule of law instead of the rule of authority”.

Aslam Gordaspuri, Azar Latif, Naseerurddin Butt and Toseefur Rehman also addressed the gathering.

Watch: The Story of Jinnah - The Founder of Pakistan

A movie worth watching despite its weaknesses and the controversies surrounding it.


click

Part 2



Note: Info about the movie thanks to Adil Najam's blog: pakistaniat.wordpress.com

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

AQ Khan Nuclear Trafficking

Daily Times, June 21, 2006
AQ Khan-esque N-trafficking continues: Jane’s
By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: Despite the break-up of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan’s nuclear smuggling operation, there have been several indications in the past two years that trafficking activities along similar lines continue, according to Jane’s.

In a news report circulated on June 16, the generally authoritative British publication said that portions of the AQ Khan network appear to be intact. Several officials involved in investigating the network’s activities said it now appears that parts of the organisation are yet to be uncovered and includes individuals who are more senior in the Khan network than previously believed. The officials were part of dozens of interviews that Jane’s has conducted during the past year with people who have first hand knowledge of the issue - officials on four continents who are investigating the network, as well as some of Khan’s associates who have been prosecuted or are under investigation and their attorneys.

The report said, “The argument that some senior people in the network are still at large runs counter to the officially stated position of the US and other important players, and remains highly controversial. Yet several officials have said that this dissenting view is gaining support and is given credibility by the fact that the Khan network was run as more of a decentralised white-collar criminal group than a top-down organisation solely under the direction of one person. Such a decentralised structure could well have allowed participants in the network to remain undiscovered and to continue operating. Recent clues that have been uncovered by law enforcement officials, international nuclear inspectors and intelligence operatives support the contention. One major piece of evidence - that Iranian agents and to a lesser degree Pakistani ones have attempted numerous illicit nuclear-related purchases since 2003 - suggests that such a reconfiguration of suppliers is occurring and that atomic goods continue to be available for those with the means and desire to buy them. While these new suppliers cannot provide the one-stop-shopping that Khan offered, and are insufficient by themselves for moving a nuclear weapons programme very far forward, they point to the likelihood that some tentacles of the network have yet to be discovered.”

Jane’s said that Germany recently halted or investigated a number of deals involving basic nuclear-related materials and dual-use goods, although these did not involve complete centrifuge designs, machines, or drawings as Khan had supplied. These activities, driven by the continued demand and the active procurement efforts of at least Iran and Pakistan, include some people and companies that once supplied Khan’s enterprise. But they also include new or different nuclear technology brokers, many of whom use the same or similar methods as Khan’s middlemen to evade international export controls intended to stop the flow of nuclear-related and dual-use goods. The ability to track the trade in this type of technology has long been one of the key tools to discovering who is doing what in regard to nuclear proliferation. In Vienna, some diplomatic officials argue that the explanation that the Khan network easily shuffled closely guarded nuclear goods to Libya, Iran and North Korea using only a small group of individuals acting on their own is not a believable one. Such a view runs counter to the official explanation that Khan and his close associates were able to offer one-stop-shopping for a nuclear weapons programme without additional backing. However, proponents of the alternate theory say they believe more powerful forces were at work behind the scenes than has previously been publicly stated.”

Janes’s quoted German, EU and US officials as saying that Iran has built an equivalent, if not larger, network than Khan’s to supply prohibited goods for its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Tehran has principally been seeking material from European and Russian firms and has included some of the Khan middlemen in the process. In doing so, Iran’s new network is exploiting many of the same weaknesses and loopholes of the system that Khan’s associates used.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Child Trafficking in Sindh province

PAKISTAN: Domestic child trafficking pervasive – report
Reuters, 19 Jun 2006
Source: IRIN

ISLAMABAD, 16 June (IRIN) - A new study on child trafficking has revealed that levels of domestic child trafficking in Pakistan's southern Sindh province are much higher than those for international trafficking in the country.

The report entitled, 'Fading light: A Study on Child Trafficking', released earlier this week, coinciding with the marking of International Day Against Child Labour, also highlighted the lack of recognition of complexities involving domestic child kidnapping, smuggling and trafficking in the country's existing laws.

The report focused on both trafficking of children within Sindh province and across the border. The province has recorded a high occurrence of human trafficking compared with other provinces, according to child rights activists.

"[The] primary objective of this research was to explore the links between child labour and child trafficking and also the magnitude of child trafficking in Sindh province where child labour is highly pervasive," Fazila Gulrez, a child rights activist working with the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), told IRIN on Thursday in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

The study done by SPARC also attempted to assess the scope of child trafficking while correlating the problem with level of education of children and their families, employment patterns within families, migration, as well as cultural practices, Gulrez added. Domestic child trafficking occurs often from rural to urban areas mainly for economic reasons.

According to SPARC, an estimated 8 million children are currently working in Pakistan, with almost two-thirds employed full-time. While in Sindh, children make up a quarter of the unskilled workforce and can be found in virtually every factory, workshop, field, informal sector and domestic service.

In Pakistan, the traffickers use different networks and routes that vary according to the purpose of trafficking. However, the extended southern coastline between the south port cities of Karachi and Gwadar are often used for international human trafficking to Gulf states.

The South Asian state serves as a source, transit and destination country of women and for children trafficked for sexual exploitation and bonded labour. While there are no exact figures on the number of people trafficked, the issue remains a source of concern for both governmental and nongovernmental bodies.

The Pakistani government has taken some legislative and administrative measures to deal with the problem. In 2002, the federal government introduced the Human Trafficking Law, proposing imprisonment for human traffickers and compensation to victims.

However, children's rights' activists say that the law addresses only international trafficking and neglects domestic trafficking.

The new SPARC study, conducted in the rural areas of seven districts of Sindh, found that Karachi remained the most popular destination for child traffickers where the children end up in forced child labour in harsh working conditions.

The study also found that within the borders of Pakistan, children are trafficked more for forced labour than for sexual exploitation.

The report calls for a national study on child trafficking to measure the magnitude of the problem and develop strategies to discourage and eventually eliminate it.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Pakistan beats India in ‘gift diplomacy’!



Daily Times, June 20, 2006
Pakistan beats India in ‘gift diplomacy’

WASHINGTON: The one-upmanship between India and Pakistan may have become a no contest now with New Delhi’s economic and strategic leap forward, but there is one area where Islamabad is still a clear winner. Its munificent leaders are by far the most generous visitors to Washington, lavishing expensive gifts on American government officials from President George W Bush down to unnamed Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers.

A list of gifts accepted by US officials from foreign government sources in 2004 published in the Federal Register last week shows that Pakistan outdid most countries in the world, gifting US officials carpets, rugs, shawls, jewellery and antique pieces.

Pakistan’s ‘gifting’ diplomacy starts right at the top with President Pervez Musharraf presenting Bush with a dark wood table inlaid with bone valued at $1,400, an antique muzzleloader from the 1800s, a cream wool Pakistani coat and a hat, during his December 2004 visit to Washington, DC.

Sehba Musharraf gave First Lady Laura Bush a gold light and dark pink garnet and pink tourmaline chandelier earrings, and a 17” light and dark pink garnet and pink tourmaline beaded necklace.

In contrast, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Bush in September 2004, he gave him a round marble tabletop worth $550.

While it is normal for visiting leaders to present gifts to top US leaders, Pakistan really laid it thick, with gifts to Secretary of State Colin Powell, then Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, lower level officials, senators and even a couple of CIA employees. sana

India's influence soars



India's influence soars
The 'un-China' could be world's next economic superpower
Sunday, June 18, 2006 CNN

(Time.com) You may not be aware of it, living in the United States, but your world is increasingly being shaped by India.

Even if you've never been to India, eaten its food or watched its movies, there is a good chance you interact with it every day of your life.

It might be the place on the other end of that call you call you make if your luggage is lost on a connecting flight, or the guys to whom your company has outsourced its data processing. Every night, young radiologists in Bangalore read CT scans e-mailed to them by emergency-room doctors in the U.S.

Few Americans are surprised today to learn that their dentist or lawyer is of Indian origin, and the centrality of Indian brainpower to California's high-tech industry has long been documented.

In ways big and small, Indians are changing the world, and may become even more influential in the decades ahead.

That's because India -- the second most populous nation in the world, and projected to be by 2015 the most populous -- is itself being transformed. In the tradition of writers citing Asia's "tiger" economies and the Chinese "dragon," now comes the elephant.

India's economy is growing more than 8 percent a year, and the country is modernizing so fast that old friends are bewildered by the changes that occur between visits.

The economic boom is taking place at a time when the U.S. and India are forging new ties.

During the Cold War, relations were frosty at best, as India cozied up to the Soviet Union while successive U.S. administrations armed and supported India's regional rival, Pakistan.

But in its wake, relations grew steadily closer and in 2004, the Bush administration declared India a strategic partner and proposed a bilateral deal (presently stalled in Congress) to share nuclear know-how. After decades when it hardly registered in the political or public consciousness, India looms large on Washington's world map.

Among U.S. policymakers, the new approach can be explained simply: India is the un-China. One Asian giant is run by a Communist Party that increasingly appeals to nationalism as a way of legitimating its power. The other is the world's largest democracy.

The U.S. will always have to deal with China, but it has learned that doing so is never easy with a country bristling with old resentments at the hands of the West.

India is no pushover either, but democrats are easier to talk to than communist apparatchiks. Making friends with India is a good way for the U.S. to hedge its Asia bet.

Democracy aside, there is a second way in which India is the un-China -- and it's not to India's credit. In most measures of modernization, China is way ahead.

Last year per capita income in India was $3,300; in China it was $6,800. Prosperity and progress haven't touched many of the nearly 650,000 villages where more than two-thirds of India's population lives.

Backbreaking, empty-stomach poverty, which China has been tackling successfully for decades, is still all too common in India. Education for women -- the key driver of China's rise to become the workshop of the world -- lags terribly in India.

The nation has more people with HIV/AIDS than any other in the world, but until recently the Indian government was in a disgraceful state of denial about the epidemic. Transportation networks and electrical grids, which are crucial to industrial development and job creation, are so dilapidated that it will take many years to modernize them.

Yet the litany of India's comparative shortcomings omits a fundamental truth: China started first. China's key economic reforms took shape in the late 1970s, India's not until the early 1990s.

But India is younger and freer than China. Many of its companies are already innovative world beaters. India is playing catch-up, for sure, but it has the skills, the people and the sort of hustle and dynamism that Americans respect, to do so. It deserves the new notice it has got in the U.S.

We're all about to discover: that elephant can dance.

"One woman's journey to the home of the 7/7 bombers"

Young, British and Muslim: one woman's journey to the home of the 7/7 bombers
Next month is the anniversary of the attacks on London. Three of the terrorists came from Leeds, two from the suburb of Beeston. Here, writer Urmee Khan reveals her remarkable experience living with the community which was home to the men who killed in the name of religion.

Urmee Khan
Sunday June 18, 2006 Observer

'I would rather die than support Leeds United. I would never support Leeds; they're a bunch of racist scumbags. Did you hear the rumours at the end of last season when Leeds played Cardiff at Elland Road? There's was stuff on Leeds fan sites about teaming up with the Cardiff fans to come here to Beeston and beat the shit out of Paki terrorists. They are racist fuckers.'
Meet Imran, 28, a Beeston boy, who would later boast of his friendship with one of the London bombers and his love of fish suppers. His paranoia about living in Beeston is not unique or surprising.

To get under the skin of a community is hard. When it is scarred as badly as Beeston - home to two of the 7 July terrorists, with a third from nearby - it becomes almost impossible. This area of Leeds, in the LS11 postcode with about 5,000 people, has had the world's press gawp and shudder at the place which 'produced the monsters' that killed 52 people and injured hundreds more.

For months afterwards, TV cameras zoomed in on the terrace houses as correspondents announced: 'I'm standing in front of where the youngest suicide bomber lived. As you can see this is an area of deprivation and...' Their grave tones cemented an image of an area full of angry people, people who would give succour to terrorists. Despite such intensive exposure there has never been a real insight into a place often accused of being 'closed'. We have never heard the voices and aspirations of people such as Imran.

The 7 July attacks provoked a collective trauma that affected all of us individually, and I'm no exception. I'm from Reigate in Surrey, in London's commuter belt. I am also a Muslim. Not a very public one, in that I don't wear the hijab or go to the mosque every day. But my parents, who came to England from Bangladesh 30 years ago, have a faith which I think is important. It is my faith.

One year after the bombings I wanted to test what it is like to be a Muslim in Britain. I didn't say I was a journalist, but that I was undertaking research into the issue. Say you're a journalist and people freeze, or show off, or refuse to speak - particularly if they are women.

I wanted to get to the truth so I moved to Leeds and lived there for a month. I recorded the experiences and testimonies of wives, mothers, boy racers, youths, shopkeepers, ex-heroin addicts, religious leaders and everyone else I could find to speak to. These are the stories of Beeston and of Muslim Britain.

Week one

Beeston Hill has a parade of shops including one that sells everything at a pound, several Islamic butchers, a post office, a Chinese restaurant called Chop Suey, with halal meat dishes, and a pharmacy with a needle exchange for addicts. Nearby is a park where Shehzad Tanweer, the bomber who blew up himself and eight innocent people at Aldgate, played cricket the day before the attacks.

My first impressions of Beeston are of surprise. First, I can't believe how close together it all is - Tempest Road, Lodge Lane, Stratford Street, the primary school where another bomber, Mohammad Sidique Khan, was a teaching assistant - all immortalised in the press. Khan, 30, and Tanweer, 22, lived and worshipped in Beeston. Hasib Mir Hussain, 18, lived in the adjoining Holbeck area.

The housing was grim looking but far more normal than the menacing streets I expected. Maybe I had envisaged eerie gothic pathways with shuffling clerics spreading words of hate. No, it was all drab but very normal.

The area is deprived: 47 per cent of households have people on some form of state benefit, more than double the average for Leeds as a whole. Ninety-three per cent of the homes are in the poorest council tax band.

Premises that used to house the area's only dedicated youth club were boarded up after it was reported that the bombers used to hang out there. Now the only place which seems to be any sort of youth club is the Hamara Centre (raided by the police after 7 July), a cheerful set of community offices. One local resident said of the people involved: 'There's more than a whiff of do-gooder about them.'

Wearing a headscarf was daunting at first. The last time I had covered myself was more than 10 years ago. However, in Leeds city centre you realise that shop assistants look at you acceptingly if your head is covered. But after the first week, I was at ease with the whole female modesty thing. And it certainly got me respect from the boy racers in Beeston.

I made my way to the centre expecting it to be run-down and shabby. Instead I found a vibrant and colourful building in what used to be a church. Notice boards advertise Pilates classes, Muslim women-only gym work-outs, police drop-in sessions and a sign advertising cut-price car window tinting. It was slightly surreal - this could have been any community centre in Britain, yet this was Beeston.

I smell cooking and see plates of chicken curry and dal for £2, dished out by two women. I chat with one of them in Bengali: 'I have a daughter at university. Why don't you move into our house? Your mother will be worried that you are not eating enough,' she says. I was sent away with a container of second helpings.

Next day I go back for more. I am approached by a young headscarfed woman with betel nut-stained teeth. She asks if I'm from Bangladesh. There are two types of people who ask me 'where I'm from' - people from the Home Counties and in Beeston. Once we establish that my family's from Bangladesh, she tells me her name is Amina, she's 25, and she's late for her 1pm sewing class.

Amina's home is a terrace house with a green door. We step into her kitchen. There are a couple of chairs up against a wall with peeling wallpaper and a table with saucepans. It is a very basic, slightly ramshackle and poor household. Amina's elderly mother sits on a stool with a frown, chewing nuts with ferocity. She doesn't say anything apart from offering me tea. Amina's elderly father, wearing little glasses and with a white beard, comes in carrying a metal pipe - the boiler in the bathroom is broken.

'I've lived in Beeston for about 20 years and I have four brothers and four sisters,' Amina says. She is unemployed and gets her classes at the centre for free but she's looking for a job. 'I've applied to Morrisons and McDonald's, but they didn't reply. Maybe they want more people with job experience and I haven't got that.'

As I leave in the early evening, a group of Asian lads are hanging around outside the chip shop on Tempest Road by the shops. They must be between 15 and 17. They wear a standard outfit in different colours: tracksuit, Nike cap, Reebok trainers. They are laughing and hitting each other around the head. A friend cycles up. They chat. I overhear the words 'match', 'prick' and 'chips'.

Next morning I buy chocolate in a grocery shop and am served by Imran. He asks if I'm a social worker. I say no, a student. Above the counter are St George's flags on sale at £2. Imran is friendly. I go back later to buy a drink and ask if he has 10 minutes to talk about urban regeneration for my research.

I meet him after work and we chat in his BMW. Imran asks: 'Have you always worn that headscarf?' 'Yes,' I lie. 'Smoke?' I shake my head 'You're a good Muslim Bengali girl, not like apna [our Pakistani] girls. They're no good - the slags.'

For someone like Imran the bombers were more than neighbours - they were his mates. As we drive around, he lowers his voice and says: 'Don't look back now, but that lad carrying the blue carrier bag was taken to Paddington Green [police station in London] because they thought he had something to do with the bombings.' As I turn around I see a youth wearing a cap disappear into a house.

Imran is about 6ft and quite heavy-looking. He is unshaven and has a big square diamond stud in his ear. He looks much older than his 28 years. 'I was on heroin and I used to deal but I've been clean for the past five years,' he says. 'My mates helped me. I was taken to another mosque, and while the others prayed my teeth were clattering as I went cold [turkey].'

The boys who helped him get off the drug included 'Kaka [baby] Shehzad Tanweer. The Aldgate bomber was a good friend of mine,' Imran says.

He goes a bit quiet and says: 'Kasme [promise] you're not secret service?' I promise and he continues: 'He wasn't a bad lad, you know.' Both Tanweer and Khan were part of the 'Mullah Crew' who helped local boys to get off drugs and embrace Islam again.

Imran looks in his rear-view mirror. 'These gora [white people] exaggerate stuff and we're all suddenly baddies.' It's been especially bad for his mother. He looks sad. 'She's frazzled. She just can't believe it. Those fucking journalists have made it hard to live around here.'

Anti-media feeling runs quite deep in this part of LS11, and I grow used to hearing about the intrusion. It is mostly hate, but a small part is incredulity. 'It's like flipping celebrities everywhere - we had Trevor MacDonald with security guards! That bloke from Iraq, what's his name... John Simpson, and even Jon Snowdon [sic] came!' Imran said. 'People here couldn't believe people like that wanted to come to shitty Beeston.'

There were cases of revenge, however. Local boys made one Jewish journalist from Dallas cry by telling her the bombings were Israel's fault. 'I felt sorry for her. Those lads had a field day.' Other youths sold made-up stories to journalists.

Imran's chat seems honest. 'Boys here get married to keep their mums happy. Most of them tell their blonde girlfriends, "It's all right, I don't really love her. It's to keep my ma off my back. These mangees ["imported" partners from South Asia] are a nightmare, you know.'

I realise that many of the young men here are no more religiously observant than an equivalent group of white men. For example, attendance at a nearby massage parlour is apparently widespread. 'The lads all use it. It's full of prostitutes from all over the world. It's been raided so many times I can't believe it's still going. Most of the girls are trafficked. That's why the Old Bill hangs around.'

He turns to me: 'Can you cook fish? My family have another grocery shop where they sell fish and vegetables to the Bengalis. If I bring you a fish and some coriander, you can cook for me,' he roars with laughter.

I came here expecting lots of angry young men. When the press came here last July, we were all told about 'disillusioned, young thugs'. And to a certain extent, there were lads milling about looking, well, pretty disillusioned. A large number get sucked into the boy racer scene, or use hard drugs. But anger was not something I experienced: there was not one Free Palestine flag in sight.

Real life is far more neutral. One lad told me teenage boys often get drunk on vodka in the park. But their talk tends to be about girls and football, not international jihad. Like Imran, they are pacified by the mundanities of day-to-day living. Angry marches in central London don't speak for them.

I used to be a student in Leeds and at the end of the second week I go out with some old university friends in Headingley, the student area. The lifestyle is alcohol-fuelled decadence, and I realise that my time in Beeston is affecting me more than I'd anticipated; it's as if my Muslim identity is reacting with the people I meet in Beeston so I look at white student life through slightly different eyes.

I see students on the Otley run, a pub crawl from the top of Leeds right down to the bottom of the city, at least 20 pubs long. There are people dressed as the 118 118 runners in the TV adverts, as bumblebees and in army uniforms.

I leave shortly after seeing a blonde woman eating a chilli burger, a red kidney bean sliding down her cleavage. I wonder if the students would be shocked to know that many of the cabbies here live in Beeston and are Muslims. I see two communities separated by a few miles and a whole mindset.

Week two

The Asha Centre sits on Stratford Street, about three doors from the vaguely marked Stratford Street mosque. The only thing distinguishing it from a similar terrace house nearby is a bright yellow bit of canvas pinned above the door which says: 'Asha Centre 20 Years'.

This street was a particular focus of newspaper attention following 7/7. The mosque was reported to be radical . But both the Stratford Street and Hardy Street mosques had banned the bombers from worshipping, and worked closely with the police.

The centre is managed by a woman called Niznin. 'I've been here since 1986, I'm second generation,' she says. 'I'm lucky my father really wanted us to be educated. And I went to university. We have to encourage education, to get to college and get degrees. As for going back to Bangladesh, I'm not going back.'

Niznin is exposed to the problems of local first- and second-generation Asians and, more specifically, Muslims. She tells me about a girl of 16 who has run away with a married man. 'It is very sad because the girl is now pregnant, and her mother is so upset and wants to know why her daughter didn't even ask her [about the problem]. If my daughter wanted to run away I would say, tell me, and you're welcome to go.'

Asked about the poverty of the area she says: 'These houses have been here 100 blooming years and are falling down and schools are closing.'

The centre provides classes and projects for women. With only 25 per cent of people in the area achieving grades A-C at GCSE (compared with 44 per cent in Leeds as a whole), these are invaluable.

Niznin explains the compromises that have to be negotiated by some of them. 'If it's an English class the family starts to get a bit worried they will get too much freedom. But if they say it's for clothing technology the families encourage it.' She invites me to be an interpreter for a class the next week. I say I will.

Week three

Dawn stands out among the 10 headscarfed women in the sewing room. She is exasperated. 'How many times have I said you should put the plastic wallets the right way in the folders otherwise your work will fall out.' She holds up the ringbinder, and the women look sheepish.

At 9.30am the chat is focused on French hems, seams, folds, and buttonholes. Out of my depth, I listen to the group of 12 women, half Bangladeshi and half Pakistani. Some are new brides and all are aged between 20 and 30. Sofia whips out her mobile phone and shows me a picture of her husband. 'He works in a bank, we've been married for a year - he's young and attractive, isn't he?'

At lunchtime the women pick up their children at the centre's creche and I sit in the staff room. It's the normality which is striking. Topics of discussion include Big Brother - 'Ooh, Sezer is fit,' pipes up one of the white women workers. Copies of Heat magazine are strewn over the table. We pore over it and laugh and point at who's too skinny, or too fat. All the women, including those wearing headscarves and saris, are reading celebrity gossip enthusiastically. Niznin wants to know if I'm married, and asks if I'm interested in marrying her son. I know she's deadly serious when she asks: 'Where do your parents live in Bangladesh? You know, it's very hard to find educated girls from Sylhet [province] these days.'

I make friends in the class, including a girl called Maryam. She tells me she had to cook prawn curry and samosas and clean the entire house before she was able to leave. She is in her early 20s and came to Britain from Pakistan after marrying a local man. Later she invites me to her mother-in-law's house for dinner, but I have to pretend to be a distant relative back home from Bangladesh, such is her unwillingness to reveal she'd been making friends independently.

The women in Beeston seem to be divided into two types. There are those like Farida who wants to be hairdressers, and are dressed straight out of Bollywood, with dyed hair and tight-fitting Asian clothing. The others are like the women I work with at the centre who have recently arrived from Bangladesh or Pakistan and are much shyer. I suppose these families hope they will achieve a balanced lifestyle, with their kids having a bit of both Western culture and a sense of identity from their homeland. Maybe, however, it just leads to confusion.

This is something I relate to. Both my parents came to this country in the Seventies and I was born here, feeling pulled in both directions. As children, we never spoke to my parents in English, and I was put in remedial classes on the premise that I was 'foreign'. My siblings and I only ever spoke in English together, which riled my parents. Yes, we were confused, and I am not surprised at all that the kids of Beeston feel the same.

It is the week of the Forest Gate raid, where two Muslim men are detained as police storm a house in east London. There are lurid tales in the papers that a chemical attack has been foiled. One of the brothers is shot in the shoulder.

I ask people in Beeston what they think as the headlines again use imagery of Muslim people as an enemy within, terrorists. 'Oh the stuff going on in east London, it's happening again,' one woman says. 'Obviously they got it wrong, like they got it wrong in Iraq, like they killed that boy in London, I don't trust these people - MFI, FBI, IE, EF whatever their funny organisations are. They need to work to reassure the Muslim communities they are not unfairly under fire.'

Another woman says: 'They have so much dodgy information, but they have to act on it to protect us. Maybe it's the price we have to pay for living in these times.' The first woman looked unconvinced, bit into her sandwich and said: 'We'll see'. These debates are happening in kitchens all over the country, including here. The men were later released without charge. There was no chemical plot.

On Friday evening I stand and watch as the men leave the mosque. They are all dressed in traditional salwar kameez and the obligatory religious hat. Across town, students are putting on hired Burton tuxedos for the Leeds University summer ball.

The contrast of prayer to God versus the homage to hedonism by thousands of students gyrating to Rachel Stevens in a field drinking chardonnay is stark. It is one all young Muslims in Britain face, including those in Beeston.

On Saturday, England play Jamaica in a friendly ahead of the World Cup finals. In Beeston, England flags flutter sporadically on the streets. The TVs in most houses are tuned into the match. There's suddenly a round of cheers. England have scored again and a young Asian man shouts out of the window to a young woman in a sari. 'Meena, you've got to come and see this, Crouchie's stupid dance - a right goal fest!'

Week four

I am invited to a public meeting at the Al Hikmah Centre in Batley, about seven miles away. Organised by the Crown Prosecution Service, this 'listening, reassurance and information seminar' is called Engaging the Muslim Community. It is an opportunity for Muslims from all over Yorkshire to listen to CPS officials including its head of counter-terrorism.

There are about 70 people there, mostly elderly religious men. Some of the talk on race hate legislation and confidence in the criminal justice system feels like a law lecture. But interesting questions arise afterward such as: 'Why does Abu Hamza get put away when Nick Griffin [of the BNP] is not prosecuted?' The older men make long speeches about civil liberties, Iraq and Ireland.

'I remember when all that [the suspicion of Catholics in Britain during the Seventies] was going on. I know what it feels like for minority communities to be persecuted - and we are being persecuted,' says one elderly man.

'Muslims around the world are discriminated against,' says another man. 'It is just like in Iraq and Afghanistan - how can you say that foreign policy doesn't affect boys here?' A third Muslim man says of the new 'watered down' Religious Hatred Bill: 'Sikhs and Jews are protected by legislation. Why is it so hard to protect the Muslims in Britain?'

For the Reverend Bob Shaw, of the Holy Spirit Church in Beeston, the changing face of the area is an advantage as well as part of its problem. 'There are a fair number of refugees and asylum seekers from all over. I don't have a big congregation, but in it I have people from Cameroon, Lebanon, south India, Ghana, Nigeria, Congo, South Africa and Malawi, and we're just a small congregation.

'The people here have really pulled together. That's what this community is all about. It is the most important thing, and it has saved us.'

Last Saturday was Beeston Mela, an Asian fair in Cross Flatts Park. It is an important day. The organising committee worked until about 11pm the night before to mark out the stands. It's the first mela since the bombings. It's also the day of England's first World Cup game.

I have been asked to help on the Asha stall, giving out leaflets and doing henna painting for 50p a go. I look around and see people of what seems like every race and nationality - black, Asian, white, Indonesian, you name it. Many are wearing England shirts. There was an Asian dad telling off his three boys. All four of them have on identical football outfits.

I admit I was surprised to see little Muslim girls running around with their faces sporting a red and white St George's flag, as they eat pakoras [an Indian dish] and bright blue ice lollies. It was everything a fair should be.

During the afternoon, the boys disappear to watch the football, and I remember the pride with which a friend of Imran's had told me: 'We've bought air horns for the England games!'

The field is taken over by swarms of young mothers in their best clothes with their dolled-up young kids. Niznin, who is here, knows most of them. 'You see Sultana - she was with us in the creche as toddler. Oh and hello, Nasreen.' She waves. 'When she first came to us she was too shy to come through the front door and would always come through the back. Now she speaks English fluently and she even drives!'

A group of boys skulk up to the stall in black hoodies and nod with respect as Niznin passes. She laughs as the boys run away, and says that 'shatan' and 'shatan's bai' - trouble and trouble's brother - are part of the Asha school link which supports underachieving Asian boys.

At the end of my month in Beeston, I come to some conclusions about being a Muslim in a place that entered the public consciousness for all the wrong reasons, like Dunblane or Lockerbie. Famous because it had some link to tragic events.

This impoverished community has warmth, hospitality and a decency that is never reported. I went to Beeston looking for signs of trauma. They are there, of course - but I came to see it as a neighbourhood, not as the vehicle for events that happened 200 miles to the south.

As I painted henna tattoos at the mela - including such names as Courtney and Connor - I had to remind myself that this park was the place where Tanweer had played cricket, a place that had sent a shudder through me on my first visit. Beeston is in fact much bigger than those four individuals, and so is Islam.

This journey has been hard for a British Muslim from the edge of London. The events of 7 July left me sick in the stomach, shocked and angry at the ideological rubbish which had allowed four so-called Muslim men to unleash carnage in the name of religion. Our religion.

In Beeston I found kind, decent people: young mums, bored kids, community cohesion, an interfaith set-up which was the pride of northern England. I came looking for mullahs bent on destruction. All I found was mothers. I came looking for answers to explain 7/7 and ended up realising that, just as in every community, there are complexities here that cannot be explained simply. Yes, some people are angry. But most are just trying to get on with their lives.

The first anniversary of the July bombings falls in just over a fortnight's time, and hard, blank faces will greet the inevitable new media intrusions. We'll get yet more descriptions of a 'closed community', full of danger and an 'it could happen again' mentality. Such descriptions, however, would be wrong.

· Some names have been changed