Sunday, January 31, 2010

Taliban "should be given a second chance": Indian Foreign Minister

India 'could do business' with Taliban: reports
(AFP) – January 30, 2010

NEW DELHI — India may join world powers in engaging with moderate Taliban in Afghanistan, despite worries about repercussions for its own security, reports said Saturday.

India still considers the Taliban to be a terrorist group with close links to Al-Qaeda and other outfits.

But New Delhi would back proposals to reach out to them conditionally, Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna told the Times of India newspaper in an interview published Saturday.

"The international community has come out with a proposition to bring into the political mainstream those willing to function within the Afghan system," he said.

"If the Taliban meet the three conditions put forward -- acceptance of the Afghan constitution, severing connections with Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, and renunciation of violence -- and they are accepted in the mainstream of Afghan politics and society, we could do business," added Krishna.

The Economic Times quoted Krishna as saying the Taliban "should be given a second chance" and that military action was not the only way to counter their activity.

For complete article, click here
Related:
India willing to try out 'good Taliban' - The Times of India
India forced to join West’s ‘woo Taliban’ chorus - Economic Times
Talks with the Taliban - Huma Yusuf, Dawn

Friday, January 29, 2010

Making room for the Taliban?

Making room for the Taliban
By Robert Grenier, Aljazeera, January 28, 2010

On September 20, 2001, just nine days after the devastating attacks by al-Qaeda, George Bush, then US president, stood before both houses of the US congress, with Tony Blair, then British prime minister, to deliver an address to the American people and to the world.

That America would react in some way to the attacks was already clear. It was Bush's task to explain the principles which would guide those actions, and to rally international support for them.

With all that has happened since, it may be difficult to remember the emotional tenor of that moment. In the wake of the attacks, there had been a great international outpouring of support for the US.

It appeared that this was a moment of great international solidarity, and that out of this shock great and new things might be possible.

We remember the essence of what Bush said on that occasion, even if we no longer recall the words he used: that henceforth, there could be no middle ground between the terrorists and those who opposed them; that the US would no longer make any distinction between terrorists and those who sheltered them; and that the latter, if they refused to join with the "civilised" world, would share the fate of the former.

For complete article, click here

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Panacea to solve present problems - Fakhruddin G Ebrahim

Panacea to solve present problems
The News, January 29, 2010
By Fakhruddin G Ebrahim

I am a beneficiary of Pakistan. Whatever I have achieved or acquired is because of Pakistan. Therefore, if I sound ‘Jazbati’ or upbeat, you will please excuse me.

There is a lot of despondency and despair visible in Pakistan and it is not without any basis. Most of the people I meet are deeply concerned and asked me what is happening and what is going to happen. The very fact that such a question is being put makes me unhappy.

Let me start from the beginning to understand the present. Constitution is the ‘ROOH of a nation’ and an independent Judiciary is its heart. It is the Constitution which ensures well being and fundamental basic rights of its people.

In a federation like Pakistan, where one unit is larger than three others combined together it is the Constitution that holds the country together. The vital importance of the Constitution cannot, therefore, be underestimated; we call it the basic law, the fundamental law - the mother of all institutions.

We wasted 26 long years before we gave the country its fundamental law, the basic law - the consensus 1973 Constitution. And prior to that we shot one prime minister who had played principal role in the creation of Pakistan; lost more than half the country without shedding even a silent tear and committed judicial murder of another prime minister ZAB, the author of 1973 Constitution.

For complete article, click here

ANP wins elections in Swat Valley

ANP wins Swat by-election
The News, January 29, 2010

MINGORA: The joint candidate of ruling ANP-PPP alliance Rahmat Ali Khan won the by-election for PF-83 Swat-IV on Thursday and retained the seat that had fallen vacant due to the demise of his brother. According to unofficial results, the ANP candidate Rahmat Ali secured 6,952 votes while his close runner up Jalat Khan of the PML-Q bagged 3,304 votes. Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf’s candidate Sher Khan obtained 3,208 votes and former minister of the NWFP and JI candidate Husain Ahmad Kanju secured 2,820. The constituency had fallen vacant due to the tragic demise of MPA Shamsher Ali Khan in a suicide attack at Kabal Tehsil.

Pakistan's Nuclear Posture: Implications for South Asian Stability By Vipin Narang

"Pakistan's Nuclear Posture: Implications for South Asian Stability"
Policy Brief, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
Vipin Narang, January 2010

BOTTOM LINES

Pakistan's first-use asymmetric escalation nuclear posture has created a vicious circle where extremist organizations based in Pakistan, shielded by Pakistan's aggressive nuclear posture, can target Indian cities with virtual impunity.

Although this posture has seemingly deterred Indian conventional retaliation since 1998, its credibility requirements generate significant risks of theft and unauthorized or accidental nuclear use, particularly during crises with India.

This instability and these risks will amplify to intolerable levels if India moves toward a conventional "Cold Start" posture, which will place the Indian subcontinent on a permanent crisis footing.

PAKISTAN'S ASYMMETRIC ESCALATION POSTURE

Terrorists from Lashkar-e-Taiba—a group historically supported by Pakistan—laid siege to Mumbai in November 2008, crippling the city for three days and taking at least 163 lives. But India's response was restrained; it did not mobilize its military forces to retaliate against either Pakistan or Lashkar camps operating there. A former Indian chief of Army Staff, Gen. Shankar Roychowdhury, bluntly stated that Pakistan's threat of nuclear use deterred India from seriously considering conventional military strikes.

Pakistan's asymmetric escalation nuclear posture aims to credibly threaten the first use of nuclear weapons on Indian ground forces—likely on Pakistani soil—to deter significant Indian conventional action against Pakistan. Even though Pakistan claims to Securitystore its nuclear weapons in demated form, they can be assembled and mated rapidly as a crisis unfolds to credibly threaten early first use. Although both India and Pakistan have been de facto nuclear weapons states since the 1980s, it was only Pakistan's operationalization of an aggressive first-use nuclear posture in 1998 that created significant instability at both lower and higher levels of conflict.

For complete policy brief, click here
Related:
"Posturing for Peace? Pakistan's Nuclear Postures and South Asian Stability" - International Security

Taliban are ready for talks!




From Daily Times, April 2, 2008

Afghanistan between India and Pakistan

Indian role in Afghanistan needs to be spelt out: US
By Anwar Iqbal, Dawn, 28 Jan, 2010

WASHINGTON: The United States urged India on Wednesday to be transparent with Pakistan about their activities in Afghanistan.


At a briefing at the Pentagon, spokesman Geoff Morrell also discounted Indian role in training Afghan security forces.

The Pentagon press secretary said that US Defence Secretary Robert Gates had discussed the Afghan situation with Indian leaders, including the issues that concerned Pakistan, when he visited New Delhi last week.

“We did discuss Afghanistan with the government in Delhi and discussed the need for the Indian government to be as transparent as they can be with the Pakistani government about their activities in Afghanistan,” he said.

Asked if the United States would like India to train Afghan security forces, Mr Morrell said that the international community was not contemplating any such role for India.

“They clearly have contributed much in the monetary sense, financial support to the government in Afghanistan and that is greatly appreciated by us, by the Afghans and, I think, by the international community,” said the Pentagon spokesman.

“But beyond that, I think, you saw him (Secretary Gates) speak to this talk of perhaps the Indians providing training to Afghan forces. And that is not something that we, that I think, anybody is pursuing at this point.”

For complete article, click here
Related:
India being left out of Afghan matrix - Times of India
Reconciliation and Trust Building in Afghanistan - Huffington Post

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Negotiating with Taliban!

US, allies plan $500m fund to woo Taliban
By Anwar Iqbal, Dawn, 27 Jan, 2010

WASHINGTON: The United States and its allies are expected to set up a $500 million integration fund at a conference in London this week to lure Taliban fighters to join the political mainstream.


“We are going to go to London to affirm our international support for it,” said US special envoy Richard Holbrooke. “Money will be forthcoming for it. I can’t say how much. The Japanese are going to take the lead.”

In an interview to MSNBC television on Monday evening, Mr Holbrooke said that the initiative would fill a gap in dealing with the Taliban because “there’s no good programme to invite them back into the fold”.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is hosting the London conference, said the summit would “cover both our military and our political strategies, but concentrate on the political strategy for Afghanistan”.

About 60 countries are expected to attend the conference. The United States is offering $100 million to set up the fund.

In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told journalists that her government would contribute $14 million a year for five years to the proposed fund.

“This is an international accord to set up a fund to allow reintegration in cooperation with the Afghan government,” she said.

For complete article, click here
Related:
The Taliban Would Applaud - Editorial, NYT
UN: Time for Direct Talks with Afghan Taliban Leaders - Huffington Post
U.S. Wrestling With Prospect of Olive Branch for Taliban - New York Times
Bin Laden's son: No "love" among Qaeda-Taliban - Reuters
Karzai Urges West to Buy Off Taliban to Secure Afghanistan - Fox News

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Obama and the World: Afghanistan and Pakistan: WorldFocus PBS



Obama and the World: Afghanistan and Pakistan
Worldfocus PBS, Jabuary 25, 2010

Ahmad Kamal, Pakistan’s former Ambassador to the United Nations, and Hassan Abbas, a former Pakistani government official who is now with the Asia Society, join Edie Magnus for a roundtable on AfPak.

They discuss power-sharing with the Taliban, drone strikes along the Afghan border in northwest Pakistan and broader American foreign policy challenges in the region.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Pakistan Hesitates, Again: NYT Editorial

Pakistan Hesitates, Again
New York Times Editorial, January 23, 2010
 
For years, Pakistan’s leaders denied that extremists — in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan — posed a mortal threat to their country. After the Pakistani Taliban got within 60 miles of Islamabad last April they decided that they had no choice but to fight back. They were right. Unfortunately, their understanding of self-interest seems to stop at a border that the Taliban certainly does not respect.

During his visit to Pakistan this week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates pressed Pakistan’s military leaders to open a new front against Afghan militants using Pakistani territory to stage attacks into Afghanistan — and was promptly rebuffed.

Displaying an alarming denial about the nature and urgency of the threat, an Army spokesman said there would be no offensive in the tribal region of North Waziristan — where the Afghan Taliban are based — for at least six months and perhaps as long as 12 months. Given the speed and virulence with which the extremists have spread their hatred and violence in the past year, that’s too long to wait.

To its credit, Pakistan’s Army has mounted big offensives against Pakistani Taliban factions in the Swat Valley and South Waziristan and paid a steep price: losing 2,000 soldiers in battle. It may need some time to solidify these gains and prepare a new assault. But that is almost certainly not the real reason behind the delay.

For complete article, click here
Related:
Gates Sees Fallout From Troubled Ties With Pakistan- New York Times
How Gates, Mullen Are Building US Military's Ties With Pakistan - ABC
Gates Strikes out In Pakistan; Obama's AfPak Policies in Disarray - Juan Cole, Informed Comment

Conscience of the constitution: The Judicial Crisis in Pakistan

Conscience of the constitution
The News, January 22, 2010
By Ayaz Amir

The National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) was a dead duck the moment the National Assembly refused to have anything to do with it. If it still needed another shot in the head, a division bench of the Supreme Court (SC) could have done the needful, no extraordinary issue of constitutional theory being involved in the outcome.

But we have not been that lucky, all 17 of their SC lordships hearing the NRO case whose detailed judgment -- written by My Lord the Chief Justice -- is now out, and about which the shrillest comments are coming from the already committed or the already biased.

This judgment is not for the fainthearted because it doesn't make for easy reading. This is not syntax at the point of a rapier; more a sledgehammer driving home its many obvious points.

Discrimination -- favouring a certain classification of people, to the exclusion of others -- was enough of a touchstone by which to fell the NRO and make short work of it. But in its wisdom -- and I readily confess there may be reasons for doing so not readily accessible to untrained legal minds like mine -- the SC chose to traverse a longer route, to arrive at much the same conclusion.

In so doing the SC has pointed the way, in part, to a quaint realm of thought. It says the Constitution has a conscience which nothing must violate, a point of view likely to sound strange to the many cynics inhabiting the Republic who are convinced that anything by way of both innocence and conscience the 1973 Constitution lost long ago at the hands of such conscience-keepers as Gen Ziaul Haq.

Zia's greatest collaborators were superior judges, as were Pervez Musharraf's when he seized power many years later. It is a sobering thought that all the 17 pillars of wisdom now in the SC took oath under Musharraf's Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) in 2000. The Constitution may have had a conscience even then but it wasn't strong enough to deter baptism in the waters of the PCO.

Nor was this all. Just as earlier coups had been validated by the superior judiciary, Musharraf's coup was validated too in 2000 in the famous Zafar Ali Shah case. Among the luminaries on that bench headed by Chief Justice Irshad Hasan Khan was an up and coming judge by the name of Iftikhar Chaudhry.

By which I do not mean to say that people remain always the same and do not change. They change all the time. Some of us as we grow old become worse, leaving the idealism of youth behind. Some of us grow better, leaving behind the thoughtlessness or follies of our younger days. But the least that should come with the remembrance of past omissions or mistakes is a measure of humility.

How well has Ghalib put it: Mein ne Majnoon pe lark pan mein Asad, Sang uthaya tau sar yaad aya. When I thought of casting a stone at Majnoon, I thought of my own head -- meaning my own follies.

In his note to the detailed judgment written by CJ Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad Khawaja writes as follows: "At the very outset it must be said, without sounding extravagant, that the past three years in the history of Pakistan have been momentous, and can be accorded the same historical significance as the events of 1947 when the country was created and those of 1971 when it was dismembered." He goes on to say: "It is with this sense of the nation's past that we find ourselves called upon to understand and play the role envisaged for the Supreme Court by the Constitution."

Without sounding extravagant? There's a touch of hubris about this declaration which almost amounts to saying that caught as we are in the midst of great events, it is history which calls upon us to make great decisions. A judiciary best fulfils its functions if it is faithful to the letter of the law and if it is honest in interpreting it; and if it doesn't play second fiddle to dictators and doesn't bend the law to suit their purposes. A sense of historical mission, which is what is suggested by Justice Khawaja's observation, is best left to the people and their chosen representatives.

And if it is history we should consider, it must be history in its entirety and not slices of history susceptible to selective interpretation. Nowhere is the judgment's take on recent history more evident, and perhaps more startling, than in its analysis of the meaning of the word 'reconciliation'. It says that the NRO was a deal between two individuals -- Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto -- for their personal objectives.

"We are of the opinion," says the judgment, "that the NRO was not promulgated for 'national reconciliation' but for achieving the objectives which absolutely have no nexus with the (sic) 'national reconciliation' because the nation of Pakistan, as a whole, has not derived any benefit from the same."

In attesting to the subjective nature of the NRO, the judgment quotes this from Benazir Bhutto's book, Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West: "The talks with Musharraf remained erratic. He didn't want us resigning from the assemblies when he sought re-election. There wouldn't be much difference in his winning whether we boycotted or contested, but we used this to press him to retire as army chief. He cited judicial difficulties. It was a harrowing period. After many, many late-night calls, he passed a National Reconciliation Order, rather than lift the ban on a twice-elected prime minister seeking office a third time, which he said he would do later."

Is this an individual talking or a major political leader discussing the when and how of a democratic transition? The keystone, the flagstone, of Musharraf's rule was his position as army chief. And here when Benazir Bhutto is negotiating the removal of Musharraf's uniform -- in which she eventually succeeded -- their lordships are of the opinion that this deal between the two was just confined to their two selves and had no wider significance whatsoever.

This is a selective reading of the past three years which in Justice Khawaja's estimation have been as momentous as anything in our past. There were many things which came together to pave the way for the transition from Musharraf to the present order. Different chapters were written by different authors.

The lawyers' movement wrote one chapter, arguably the most important in weakening the mainstays of the Musharraf dispensation. CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry and the judges who stood with him wrote another chapter when they defied Musharraf. This was a first in Pakistani history. Judges had been collaborators of military strongmen. They had never stood up to them before, at least not in this manner.

There was a third chapter written by Benazir Bhutto and, much as we may dislike the notion, by our American friends when in tandem they prevailed upon Musharraf to shed his uniform. The judiciary and the lawyers' movement had an indirect hand in this in that they had created the climate in which Musharraf had become an enfeebled ruler. But this should not detract from Benazir Bhutto's role who played her cards shrewdly and engaged with Musharraf in a manner which persuaded him to hand over the army baton to a successor.

The fourth chapter was written in Benazir Bhutto's blood when she was assassinated in Liaquat Bagh. The lawyers and the judiciary had weakened Musharraf. They hadn't destroyed him. Benazir Bhutto's death rocked the Musharraf order by bringing the latent anger of the people to the surface. There was nothing that could save Musharraf thereafter, Benazir Bhutto proving more powerful in death than she had been in life.

And it was only with the coming of democracy that the judges detained by Musharraf were freed. And only with the so-called long march led by Nawaz Sharif that, after many travails, they were eventually restored. In other words, it was the political process and the climate of the times which led to their historic restoration. How can their lordships see themselves in isolation from all this history?

The NRO was a bad law and there can be no cavil with this. But it was part of a larger picture of which there is scarce a mention in the entire judgment.
Email: winlust@yahoo.com

Related:
Appointment of judges - The News
EDITORIAL: NRO and conspiracy theories - Daily Times

Friday, January 22, 2010

Gates offers Pakistan U.S. drones

Gates offers Pakistan U.S. drones
Julian E. Barnes, Reporting from Islamabad
Baltimore Sun, January 21, 2010

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has agreed to provide Pakistan with unmanned spy drones, granting a longstanding request as it seeks new ways to persuade a key ally to do more to fight militant groups within its borders.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, on a visit to Pakistan, stopped short Thursday of providing Islamabad with U.S. Predators, the armed drones used to carry out air strikes inside Pakistan that have been denounced by the government, even as it has requested the technology for its own use.

Instead, Defense officials said Washington would provide Pakistan with 12 unarmed Shadow aircraft. While the Shadow drones do not have missile capabilities to strike the targets they observe, they nonetheless represent an advancement in the growing U.S. military relationship with Pakistan.

The step follows efforts by U.S. military officials last year to give Pakistan a feel for the surveillance capabilities of unmanned drones under American supervision.

Shadows, with a 14 foot wingspan, are smaller than Predators. But they have a longer "loiter" time and greater range than the drones Pakistan currently operates.
The question of providing U.S. drone technology is a delicate one for American officials, involving their most successful new military capability in years. While they have shared drone technology with close allies, they have tightly controlled its spread in volatile parts of the world, and have ruled out the possibility of providing Predators to Pakistan in the past.

For complete article, click here
Related:
Pakistan attacks militant hideout in N.Waziristan - Reuters
Robert Gates brings praise and pressure to Pakistan - Los Angeles Times
Pakistan snubs US over new Taliban offensive - BBC
 
A Blog Recommendation for my CU Class: Circling the Lion's Den - A glance at the conflict in Afghanistan

More bias in US against Muslims than other faiths

More bias in US against Muslims than other faiths
By RACHEL ZOLL (AP), Washington Post
January 20, 2010

NEW YORK -- Americans are more than twice as likely to express prejudice against Muslims than they are against Christians, Jews or Buddhists, a new survey found. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they have little or no knowledge of Islam. Still, a majority dislike the faith.

The analysis, for release Thursday, is from the Gallup World Religion Survey and is part of a project on finding ways to increase understanding between Americans and Muslims.

President Barack Obama and his administration want to improve America's image in the Muslim world. Many analysts who study extremism also say that U.S. Muslims who feel alienated from broader society resist integrating, potentially becoming more vulnerable to radical ideas.

In the poll, just over half of Americans said they felt no prejudice against Muslims. However, 43 percent acknowledged at least "a little" prejudice against Muslims, a significantly higher percentage than for the other four faiths in the survey.

About 18 percent of respondents said they had some level of prejudice against Christians, while the figure was 15 percent toward Jews and 14 percent toward Buddhists.


Asked about knowledge of Islam, 63 percent of Americans say they have "very little" or "none at all." A large majority of respondents believe most Muslims want peace. Yet, 53 percent of Americans say their opinion of the faith is "not too favorable" or "not favorable at all." By comparison, 25 percent of Americans say they have unfavorable views of Judaism, while 7 percent say they have "some" or "a great deal" of prejudice toward Jews.

For complete article, click here

Thursday, January 21, 2010

India-Pakistan: Inching closer to a great reconciliation

Inching closer to a great reconciliation
Amitabh Mattoo, 21 January 2010, The Times of India
 
It is time for people of the Indian sub-continent to face up to an extraordinary reality — the conflict between India and Pakistan is easy to An Indian schoolboy holds a painting with a message of peace for his Pakistani counterparts describe, but painfully difficult to understand.
 
“Enduring rivalry”, “sustained conflict”, “ugly stability”: these terms, often used by scholars of international relations to capsule the relationship, are sadly “occidental” attempts at forcing an Eastern intellectual puzzle into a preconceived Western mould. Unfortunately, the India-Pakistan relationship is and has been about almost everything that matters: history, memory, prejudice, territory, identity, religion, sovereignty, ideology, insecurity, trust, betrayal and much much more, in a very desi way.

At what level does one, therefore, analyse the relationship — at the level of the international system or in inter-state terms, or the inter-society dimension or at the human level? And where does one look for remedies? Let us face it: the only way that this relationship can move forward is by systematically beginning a process of reconciliation at every level. Only though such a “grand” reconciliation will it be possible for India and Pakistan to live comfortably next to each other and for communal relations in the sub-continent to heal. Given the nature of contemporary South Asian polities, reconciliation need not be state-driven any more. Civil societies in India and Pakistan are robust enough to set this process in motion.

The reconciliation, were it to happen, would be grand in its design and vision, and incremental in its process and execution. But will important stakeholders — the civil society, media, big businesses and academia — make full use of this opportunity? And will they — driven by past orthodoxies and present “vested” interests — benignly let this peace process bloom? As an Indian diplomat put it: “The people need peace, the leaders want to make peace, but the establishments are still unwilling to adjust.”

Pakistan evokes passion like few other countries, especially in northern India. Anger and nostalgia, hatred and sympathy, contempt and fear combine to produce an intensity of emotions that can’t be reduced to a well-defined analytical category. Traditionally, the policy community in India has been overwhelmingly in support of aggressively countering Pakistan. We term them the subedars. Only a minority has wanted to ignore and benignly neglect Islamabad: the saudagars. And a microscopic few have wanted New Delhi to be pro-active in promoting peace — even to the extent of making unilateral concessions. These are the sufis. These opinions need to be fleshed out.

The subedars argue that New Delhi has been unable to inject a modicum of civility and stability in bilateral relations. They believe that neither military defeat nor constructive engagement or unilateral gestures, and not even international pressure seem to be able to reduce the pathological hostility that the state bears towards India, which goes much beyond Kashmir. They view the Pakistani army as having an anti-India posture, and consequently argue that only a dramatic reconstruction of the Pakistani state would create the possibility of peace in South Asia.

The saudagars, however, believe that any cost-benefit analysis would suggest that the only way to move forward is through the economic route — building common institutions, opening up trade and strengthening constituencies, particularly in business.

But there has always been a small section in India which believes that New Delhi — more than ever before — has a stake in Pakistan’s future. A few years ago, the-then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee unambiguously stated that Pakistan’s stability was also in India’s national interest and this is echoed by the sufis. They argue that Vajpayee’s statement is not a political slogan, but a harsh reality. True, Pakistan’s failure may finally bury whatever is left of the two-nation theory, but that would be too heavy a price merely to prove that a mistake was made 57 years ago.

But the health of Pakistan is of concern to sufis for other reasons as well. Ethnic turmoil in Pakistan could easily spill over to India and its balkanization could even lead to a refugee problem in India. Similarly, self-styled warlords could expand their narcotics and gunrunning businesses into India. In larger terms, the crumbling of its economy could have a ripple effect on India. South Asia will begin to be viewed as a turmoil zone and lead to erosion in investor confidence.

Most crucially, the collapse of Pakistan will lead to a larger cultural demoralization. South Asia will become an international object of ridicule. The sufis also argue that a policy of confrontation is unlikely to work at any time. Two nuclear states can’t afford repeated acts of brinkmanship. They suggest that even the idea of limited war is rife with dangers: military, diplomatic and political.

It is also clear that Pakistan is changing, and changing fast. Parts of the polity are in deep crisis. This should invite deep introspection in India. Fortunately, there are tendencies within Pakistan that recognize the deep flaws within the polity and the need to make a strategic shift in terms of its relations with India. These currents need to be strengthened by New Delhi, by unilateral gestures if necessary. The subedars, the saudagars and the sufis need to come together and shape a Pakistan policy that has three elements: maintain a security vigil and sustain a deterrent capability; engage Pakistan at all levels to further cooperation in areas where business is possible; and prepare for a change in the policy in core areas, including Kashmir.

A grand reconciliation may seem utopian, but it is only by sticking such a mega-blueprint can one begin — through cooperation — to visualize the vast promise that a new phase in India-Pakistan relations holds for the region.

The writer is a professor of international politics at JNU, Delhi
 
Related:
Look Nearer Home - Kanti Bajpai, The Times of India

Securing South Waziristan

Securing South Waziristan could take a year: army
Dawn, January 21, 2010

ISLAMABAD: Securing and stabilising the Pakistani Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan in the northwest tribal belt will take between six months and a year, the chief military spokesman said Thursday.


Islamabad sent about 30,000 troops backed by fighter jets and helicopter gunships into battle in the lawless region bordering Afghanistan in October, and says they are making progress and militants are fleeing.

Military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told reporters it would take “between six months to a year to completely stabilise” South Waziristan, which was needed before security forces opened up any new fronts.

His comments came as visiting US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he planned to ask Pakistani leaders about plans to broaden their campaign to North Waziristan, which borders South Waziristan.

Abbas dismissed criticism that Pakistan had been slow to move against the Haqqani network said the CIA had failed to provide “actionable intelligence.

For complete article, click here
Related:
Greater intelligence sharing between Pak, US: Kayani - Dawn
Gates urges Pakistan to expand crackdown on 'common enemies' - Washington Post
Government accused of drawing up secret hit list of embassies to close - Guardian

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

What Sirajuddin Haqqani is up to?

New Wave of Warlords Bedevils U.S.
Wall Street Journal, January 18, 2010
By Mathew Rosenberg

In his teen years, Sirajuddin Haqqani was known among friends as a dandy. He cared more about the look of his thick black hair than the battles his father, a mujahideen warlord in the 1980s, was waging with Russia for control of Afghanistan.

The younger Mr. Haqqani is still a stylish sort, say those who know him. But now, approaching middle age and ensconced as the battlefield leader of his father's militant army, he has become ruthless in his own pursuit of an Afghanistan free from foreign influence. This time the enemy is the U.S. and its allies.

From outposts along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, his Haqqani network is waging a campaign that has made the Afghan insurgency deadlier. He has widened the use of suicide attacks, which became a Taliban mainstay only in the past few years. U.S. officials believe his forces carried out the dramatic Monday gun, grenade and suicide-bomb attack in Kabul on Afghan government ministries and a luxury hotel. The assault claimed five victims plus seven attackers.


Mr. Haqqani also aided the Dec. 30 attack by an al Qaeda operative that killed seven Central Intelligence Agency agents and contractors at a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan, say militant commanders. And he orchestrated last year's assault on a United Nations guesthouse that killed five U.N. staffers, along with other attacks in the capital.

In a rare interview with The Wall Street Journal conducted by email and telephone last month, Mr. Haqqani declared, "We have managed to besiege the Afghan government. We sustain very few causalities; we can inflict heavy casualties to the enemy's side."

That message is problematic for a key plank of the U.S. military's Afghan "surge" which is based on a strategy of applying sufficient pressure on some Taliban leaders that they will negotiate for terms acceptable to Washington. On Tuesday, the Obama administration lent cautious support to the Afghan government's new outreach effort to the Taliban—a show of optimism that lower-level militants would reconcile with Kabul even if senior leaders continued fighting.

The rise of Mr. Haqqani, who is in his late 30s or early 40s, is part of a broader changing of the guard in the Afghan militant movement. A younger generation of commanders have helped transform the Taliban from a peasant army that harbored al Qaeda and was routed by the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 into a formidable guerrilla force that killed a record 520 Western troops last year.

For complete article, click here
Related:
Taliban commander speaks out - Aljazeera
Defining ‘strategic depth’ - Kamran Shafi, Dawn

Monday, January 18, 2010

Interview with Muhammad Umar Memon - A must read for those with interest in Urdu literature

Muhammad Umar Memon
Interview with Muhammad Umar Memon By Anjum Dawood Alden
Madison, Wisconsin
http://www.pakusonline.com/, January 14, 2009

Learning a new language is not just a matter of learning the semantics and linguistic structure of a new dialect, but it is also a discovery of the culture that surrounds that language. In some cases, it can even be a rediscovery of a culture. I grew up in Karachi, Pakistan and went to a school that taught Urdu as a second language. Our daily classes were primarily conducted in English. Urdu was often taught to us in a completely different way than English. Teachers relied heavily on verbal drills, memorization and uninspiring reading opportunities. I never mastered my own mother tongue in Pakistan because I found it boring and tiresome to study. Also, it was never encouraged as such. At home nearly all my school friends and I spoke English with our families. English was always considered superior on many levels. We were all very comfortable, in school, performing from English Plays such as “The Importance of Being Earnest” and “Macbeth” but never did much in Urdu on that level. Ironically, it was not until I left Pakistan to study Linguistics in Madison, Wisconsin and met Professor Memon that I truly started to appreciate Urdu and discover the wealth of my culture and history.

Professor Memon is an Urdu scholar who had also studied both Persian and Arabic, two of the languages Urdu is primarily derived from. He could explain the root of any Urdu word, he could explain idiom and diction and most importantly, he could articulate to us how Urdu was a very oral language and didn’t always make “sense” in the way we would expect from more Western languages.

It was a life changing experience for me and the students studying with me. Many of my colleagues were Pakistani Americans who had lived in the United States all their lives and had never formally studied Urdu. We all learnt to appreciate the richness and diversity of the Urdu language with Professor Memon. And in so doing, we learnt a lot about our culture. We were shocked to discover how the literature was so liberal and expressive, tackling such topics as socialism, existentialism, feminism and even homosexuality, in a very thought provoking and, at times, very graphic way. We were especially surprised to see how many other students with no direct links to Pakistan found Urdu to be a fascinating language and often put us to shame by speaking it a lot more fluently than we ever could! It made us appreciate our roots and our heritage with a pride we had never felt before.

Professor Memon has spent the 38 years of his teaching career in Madison, Wisconsin greatly impacting the lives of his students with his passion and enthusiasm for Urdu. He has tirelessly worked with other Urdu scholars from around the world to create an academic blueprint for Urdu discussions and research through his brilliant journal, “Annual of Urdu Studies.” He has translated numerous Urdu fiction works into English, thereby opening up the world of Urdu by making its fiction accessible to a much wider audience. He has also taught many courses on Islam and Sufism that were just as enriching and instructive in their own right. Professor Memon is now retired from his teaching in Madison. He spends his retirement working on numerous translations and on his “Annual of Urdu Studies” journal. I was honored to sit with him, recently, and ask him some questions about his career and passions.

Excerpts:

Q. Tell me a little about your background and how you came to where you are today.

A. The answer to the first part of your question is probably easier. If I knew “where I am today” I might find that easier to answer too. But where am I? I sometimes feel that I’m one of those people who’s always on the way but never arrives anywhere. Life is a work-in-progress. One doesn’t arrive but merely plods along through a continuum, its terminal points on either side forever obscured in the blue haze of the distance. It is both a weighty and an ambiguous question. Does a person really know where he has come, if he has come anywhere at all? Then again, arrival spells the end, death, at least figuratively.
.....
I was born at Aligarh in 1939 to the only Memon family in town. My father was professor of Arabic at the university there. Nothing in my childhood or boyhood is compelling enough to merit revisiting. It was an average life of an ordinary boy with ordinary classmates. Following my father’s retirement in 1954, we moved to Karachi, where I did my B.A. Honors and M.A. and taught first at Sachal Sarmast College and later at Sind University, both in Hyderabad. By then I had been writing short stories in Urdu and had had some modest success as a writer. In 1964 I received a Fulbright scholarship to study at Harvard University. I finished my M.A. there a year later and then proceeded to do a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies at UCLA, simultaneously teaching Urdu. I met my wife Nakako in Cambridge where she too had come on a Fulbright from Tokyo University to continue her studies in Chinese history.
......
Q: Have you been happy with the responses to your translations? Have the Urdu writers you’ve translated, at least those who are still alive, appreciated the increased exposure you’ve given them?


A. Actually, “happy” doesn’t come into the picture. Serious reviews are the only way to know how one’s efforts have been received. My anthologies or translations of individual authors have been reviewed in the U.S., but not extensively. A few reviews of one book, Naiyer Masud’s Essence of Camphor (The New Press, New York), did appear here. They were generally positive, especially the ones in the Boston Globe and Kirkus Reviews. For some reason, in the U.S. there seems to be a conspicuous lack of interest in world literature, especially non-Western literature. The situation is better in Europe. For instance, compared to the U.S., the percentage of translations from non-Western languages is much higher, say, in France and Italy. I was quite surprised when Essence of Camphor was translated into Finnish and French.

Most of the readership for my translations is in India, not Pakistan, even though the greater part of my translation work showcases work by Pakistani Urdu writers. Last August Penguin published Do You Suppose It’s The East Wind? Stories from Pakistan, which is a selection of Urdu stories I translated. Chandrahas Choudhury reviewed it in The Middle Stage and Satyanarayana in Tehelka. They are very positive reviews, but what struck me the most was the absence of any tentativeness or dismissal or hubris or superior air in the reviewer’s attitude, the kind one frequently sees in reviews and columns in Pakistani newspapers. Instead, there was a healthy curiosity and welcoming spirit in which the reviewer approached the body of fictional literature emanating from the other side of the border. So it can be said that my efforts have received a degree of appreciation.

Do Urdu writers I translate appreciate my work? I don’t know. They don’t tell me. A few have thanked me though. That said, I know that today Intizar Husain and Naiyer Masud are not totally obscure names among those in U.S. academia with an interest in South Asian Studies. Maybe this is due to my translations. One time an Australian professor, whose scholarly focus is mainly on South India, was in Lahore and saw my translation of Intizar Husain’s collection of stories An Unwritten Epic in some bookstore. These stories impressed him enough to write an excellent article on Intizar Husain and later publish it in a highly acclaimed professional journal.

Likewise Alok Bhalla once came to Madison to see me and told me that he had discovered Intizar Husain through my translations. He was so impressed by Husain’s work that he translated, with the help of a collaborator who knew Urdu, a series of Husain stories that are modeled after the stories of Mahatma Buddha’s rebirths (jatakas) but with a contemporary twist.
....
Q. What do you think about the future of the Urdu language? Some say it is a dying language. Do you agree? If so, what, in your opinion, needs to be done to make it a more dynamic language?


A. I don’t dabble in clairvoyance. Who can say anything about the future? Still I don’t think that Urdu will die in Pakistan. But let us first deal with its current situation in India.

You must have often heard that Urdu is a Muslim language. This is a mistaken and largely politically motivated notion. There is absolutely no inextricable link between language and religion. A person would do well to disabuse themselves of this notion. It is an Indian language and did not carry a Muslim identity tag until the British somehow foisted a Muslim identity on it to create discord between the Hindus and Muslims, all in an effort to perpetuate their stranglehold on India. Shamsur Rahman Faruqi has cogently and forcefully argued for its Indian origins in his highly acclaimed work Early Urdu Literary Culture and History (Oxford). Until 1947, when the Indian subcontinent was partitioned, India never suffered from a dearth of Hindu and Sikh writers of Urdu. In the first half of the twentieth-century, among the three most celebrated fiction writers in Urdu, one was a Kashmiri Hindu (Krishan Chander), one a Sikh (Rajindar Singh Bedi), and one a Muslim (Saadat Hasan Manto). Earlier, Munshi Premchand wrote in an Urdu few Pakistanis could match today. Among the poets I can cite several, but Chakbast and Firaq Gorakhpuri should suffice.

Well, the British succeeded. Both Hindus and Muslims bought into their fiction. Now a single language came in two different packages, one for Hindus (Hindi) and another for Muslims (Urdu). So, from a purely nationalistic point of view, Urdu has no place in India. It is recognized in the Indian Constitution but is slowly atrophying due to politics and neglect—neglect largely on the part of the Indian Muslim community. You may blame the Indian government for the sorry state of Urdu in India all you want, but really the Muslim community is largely responsible for shirking its responsibility. If you claim to own it, you must preserve it. It is as simple as that. Why always ask the government to do everything? Why not do what little you can? Very little evidence is forthcoming of any organized effort to keep Urdu alive and develop it further. By this I do not mean any government-sponsored activity, but any initiative coming from the Urdu community itself. On the contrary, Indian Muslims would rather have their children taught English and Hindi because of the greater opportunities for economic betterment that such learning promises. In the U.S. I personally know two Indian Muslims coming from highly cultured Urdu families who can write Urdu only in roman or Hindi script

For cmplete article, click here

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Minhaj-ul-Quran to issue Fatwa against terrorists in London today

Minhaj-ul-Quran to issue Fatwa against terrorists in London today
The News, January 18, 2010
News Desk

LONDON: The 600-page document, drawn up by Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri, declares that attacks on innocent citizens are “absolutely against the teachings of Islam”.

The Minhaj-ul-Qur’aan, a Sufi organisation based in East London, which advises the British government on how to combat radicalisation of the Muslim youth, will launch the 600-page Fatwa against suicide bombings and terrorism, declaring them un-Islamic, tomorrow.

It condemns the perpetrators of terrorist explosions and suicide bombings. The document, written by Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri, declares the suicide bombings and terrorism as “totally un-Islamic”. It is one of the most detailed and comprehensive documents of its kind to be published in Britain.

The Fatwa, which was released in Pakistan last month, uses texts from the Holy Qur’aan and other Islamic writings to argue that attacks against innocent citizens are “absolutely against the teachings of Islam and that Islam does not permit such acts on any excuse, reason or pretext.” Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said: “All these acts are grave violations of human rights and constitute Kufr, disbelief, under the Islamic law.”

Radical Islamists will dismiss the Fatwa, but it will be welcomed by many Muslims from the large community of South Asian heritage in Britain, among whom confusion about religious teaching is exploited by extremists seeking to recruit suicide bombers. “Extremist groups start brainwashing the young students from British universities and eventually convince them to oppose integration in the British society,” said Shahid Mursaleen, a spokesman for the Minhaj-ul-Qur’aan.

The Fatwa would help fight extremist recruitment of young Muslims and was “one of the most comprehensive verdicts on this topic in the history of Islam”, he added. Inayat Bunglawala, the former spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain and founder of the new group Muslims4UK, set up to counter the radical message of the newly-banned Islam4UK and other extremist groups, welcomed the Fatwa.

Related:
Suicide attacks are ‘un-Islamic’ Fatwa by Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri - Allvoices.com
Minhaj-ul-Quran Website
Muslim group Minhaj-ul-Quran issues fatwa against terrorists - Times Online

The Zardari-Kayani Tussle?

General Pasha assigned to bring Presidency, GHQ closer
The News, January 18, 2010
By Rauf Klasra

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani is said to have quietly asked DG ISI Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha to play a role in bringing the military establishment and the Presidency on one table and remove their widening differences, which are now even threatening the whole system, particularly after a new potential row with the judiciary, which erupted last week over the appointments of judges to the Supreme Court.

The sources said PM Gilani had decided to involve the DG ISI to bring the otherwise volatile political situation under control, particularly after the government decided to move the Supreme Court to review its verdict on the NRO as President Asif Zardari gave a clear indication that he would not make the latest appointments on the recommendation of CJ Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. But one official source claimed that all this was just a coincidence and the role of DG ISI had nothing to do with the NRO or appointments to the SC.

The sources said Pasha was asked to play his role in defusing the tension in the relationship between the Presidency and the military establishment during a last week meeting at the PM House.

A top-level source said that a couple of important federal ministers might also be involved in this new firefighting exercise as General Pasha, who enjoyed great respect at the PM House, would start his efforts from Monday onward.

For complete article, click here
Related - For Background:
Gilani, Mukhtar to mediate between Zardari, Kayani - The News
An Embattled Zardari Hits Back - New York Times
President’s Dec 27 speech stirs new debate  - Dawn
Editorial: Zardari’s revelation - Daily Times
No plot against Zardari: Nawaz Sharif - The News
PPP-PML-N rift may jeopardize democracy: Aitzaz - Geo Tv

Rallying the diaspora — Dr Mohammad Taqi

VIEW: Rallying the diaspora —Dr Mohammad Taqi
Daily Times, January 17, 2010

Painting the current war as just the Pashtuns’ war might become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It compartmentalises and isolates the Pashtuns even from their direct neighbours in Peshawar, Kohat and DI Khan. It is our war — of the Pashtuns, Hindko and Farsi speakers of Peshawar, Hazara-wals, Chitralis, the Shiite of Kurram and Barelvis of Swat. It is as much a Punjabi, Baloch or a Sindhi war

One freezing night in January 1948, a woman landed in New York on a campaign to raise funds for the state of Israel and its armed forces. She had no winter clothing on, carried only a handbag and a single ten-dollar bill in her pocket. When asked by the customs official how she planned to manage here in the US, she replied: “I have family here!”

When Golda Meir left the US, she had collected $ 50 million — twice her original target, ten times the demand of their resistance officials and three times the Saudi oil revenues for 1947. The diaspora had delivered — but only when rallied by a determined leadership.

The overseas Pakistanis have pumped in about $ 40 billion over the last nine years into the Pakistani economy — three times more per annum than what the Kerry Lugar Law will ever deliver.

Unlike the Kerry Lugar Law, however, no strings are attached to these remittances because the intended beneficiaries are families, friends and communities back home or, as the Americans would say, our loved ones.

The Pakistani expatriates have also remained attuned to the natural and man-made disasters in Pakistan. Whether it was the 2005 earthquake, the 2007 Balochistan floods or the displaced persons of Malakand, the overseas Pakistanis have opened their hearts and wallets upon the motherland’s call. Many came in physically to assist and others contributed financially and materially.

From immediate relief and rescue missions in Balakot to rebuilding and supporting the war-ravished Khpal Kor Foundation orphanage in Mingora, Swat, the overseas Pakistanis have always risen to the occasion.

Individuals have contributed privately and through various charitable organisations. Established groups such as the Association of Pakistani-descent Physicians of North America (APPNA) and Khyber Medical College Alumni Association of North America (KMCAANA) partnered with the Khyber Medical College, Peshawar, in running medical camps for the Malakand IDPs in Swabi, Mardan and Charsadda. APPNA and its affiliates and the KMCAANA are in the process of donating advance trauma life-support equipped ambulances to the NWFP as we speak.
The overseas Pakistanis have been trying to raise awareness in the US and Western capitals about the war in Pak-Afghan region and especially the Pashtun lands. Seminars, lobbying, op-ed writing and blogging have been deployed to flay naked the hideous face of the Taliban monster. When the Swat Shariah deal was being imposed on the Pashtuns under the guise of a triumph of diplomacy and jirga, these Pakistani voices unmasked it as the state’s capitulation to the Taliban fascism and helped build consensus for the army action there.

The question then is whether all of this is sufficient? And the answer is a resounding no! No metrics are yet available to measure how much contribution to Pakistan is enough contribution.

This brings me to an article ‘Pakhtun diaspora: irresponsible and insensitive’ (Daily Times, January 9, 2010) by Ms Farhat Taj, my colleague at the Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy (AIRRA), in which she has shown her irritation with the expatriate Pakistanis for their indifference to the plight of the Pashtuns.

While I must first take a bow to Ms Taj for the brave and stellar work she has been doing, I differ with the observations in her article. The agreements first, though.

AIRRA is indeed doing a wonderful job of raising awareness within and outside Pakistan about the existential threat to the region. It deserves all we can do to keep it afloat. I join Ms Taj in calling upon all who care to donate generously to AIRRA.
The Baacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation (BKTEF) is another entity that was mentioned as worthy of support, in the said article. This entity came to fore around 2007 as a grantee of the Open Society Institute (OSI), run by the billionaire George Soros (Soros Foundations Network Report 2007, page 152) and has previously solicited donations in the US under the OSI’s US tax identification number. The officials at the OSI confirmed the 2007 grantee status but were unable to provide a statement on the current status of the collaboration and funding.

Like all non-profit organisations in the US, if BKTFE were to present its case in an open and transparent manner and list its achievements of the last several years, the Pakistani-Americans would certainly help. Greg Mortenson of the Central Asia Institute is a frequent visitor to the Pakistani-American community events and his great work has earned loyal supporters for his schools in Pakistan.
Ms Taj has taken an exception to the comments and views expressed by the overseas Pakistanis — the Pashtun diaspora in her words — about the conduct of war in Pakistan.

Firstly, painting the current war as just the Pashtuns’ war might become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It compartmentalises and isolates the Pashtuns even from their direct neighbours in Peshawar, Kohat and DI Khan. It is our war — of the Pashtuns, Hindko and Farsi speakers of Peshawar, Hazara-wals, Chitralis, the Shiite of Kurram and Barelvis of Swat. It is as much a Punjabi, Baloch or a Sindhi war.

It is indeed not for the diaspora to decide how the native Pakistanis conduct the current war. As Golda Meir said to an American audience, “It is not to you, to decide whether we shall continue our struggle or not. We shall fight and never hang out a white flag before the Mufti of Jerusalem. But you can decide one thing — whether the victory will be ours or the Mufti’s.” And it is perhaps the latter aspect that Ms Taj has pitched to the overseas Pakistanis — to help arm the tribal militias (lashkars). Her contention being that if the petro-dollars from Arabs can oil the Taliban fighting machine, why the Pashtun diaspora cannot do the same in response.

Asking the diaspora as a whole to become part of this is a slippery slope. It is a political decision and must come from the political leadership, not individuals.

The history of Pak-Afghan region tells us that outsourcing war to irregulars is a dangerous proposition that has contributed to the warlordism rampant in the region. The factions and militias created by the local, regional and global powers have been a recipe for the fragmentation of Afghanistan.

The experiment of relying on tribal militias was conducted by the PDPA in Afghanistan and unfortunately it was at the hand of one such militia that one of the bravest souls in modern Pashtun history, Dr Najibullah, was arrested, leading ultimately to his martyrdom.

For complete article, click here

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Headley attended Lashkar training camps in Pakistan: The Hindu

Headley attended Lashkar training camps in Pakistan
Special Correspondent , The Hindu, January 15, 2010

Conducted extensive surveillance of targets in Mumbai for more than two years
Headley made five extended trips to Mumbai

Before each trip he was instructed on specific locations

NEW DELHI: The federal grand jury indictment in Chicago says that in 2002 and 2003, Headley attended terrorism training camps in Pakistan maintained by the Lashkar, and conspired with its members and others, including Rana, Kashmiri and Abdur Rehman, in planning and executing the attacks in Denmark and India. He allegedly conducted extensive surveillance of targets in Mumbai for more than two years preceding the November 2008 attacks that killed 164 people and left hundreds injured.

According to the charges, unnamed Lashkar member ‘A’, who served as a “handler” for Headley and another person associated with the Lashkar, advised Headley in late 2005 that he would be travelling to India to perform surveillance of potential targets for the Lashkar. Headley changed his given name of Daood Gilani on February 15, 2006, in Philadelphia, enabling him to present himself in India as an American who was neither Muslim nor Pakistani. In the spring of 2006, Lashkar member ‘A’ and a Lashkar associate discussed with Headley the idea that he could open an immigration office in Mumbai.

In June 2006, Headley allegedly travelled to Chicago, advised Rana of his assignment to scout potential targets in India, and obtained approval from Rana, who owned First World Immigration Services in Chicago and elsewhere, to open a First World office in Mumbai as cover for his activities. Rana allegedly directed an individual associated with First World to prepare documents supporting Headley’s cover story of opening a First World office in Mumbai, and advised Headley how to obtain a visa for travel to India. Headley misrepresented his birth name, his father’s true name and the purpose of his travel in his visa application, the indictment said.

For complete article, click here
Related:
Chicago terror suspects: Indictment details 2 men's alleged role in 2008 Mumbai assault - Chicago Tribune

Military and Politics in Pakistan: Arif Nizami

The military and politics
The News, January 16, 2010
Arif Nizami

Civilian control over the armed forces is a sacrosanct principle of democracy but has never been practiced in Pakistan. Even When Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto took over in the aftermath of the military debacle in East Pakistan he could not rein in the army. He first succumbed to its demand that a film showing the surrender of Pakistani forces to India be withdrawn from PTV. Later, keeping the sensitivities of the army in mind, he decided to put the Hamoodur Rehman Commission report in cold storage. Ultimately he was ousted and hanged on trumped up charges by his handpicked army chief, Gen Zia-ul-Haq.

Much later, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, heady with a heavy mandate, tried to emasculate all institutions, one after another. He got away with sacking Gen Jehangir Karmat just a few months before his term was to expire as army chief. But when Nawaz tried to sack Gen Karamat's successor, Gen Musharraf, he had to pay the price by being ousted by the army. Had his American and Arab mentors not pleaded with Musharraf to send him into permanent exile, he would have met the same fate as Mr Bhutto.

Under the Constitution Nawaz Sharif was perfectly within his rights as prime minister to sack Gen Musharraf. He made Gen Karmat resign for issuing a statement critical of his "insecurity ridden policies." But this time the army was well prepared against the prospect of another army chief facing this kind of humiliation. It is indeed ironical, coming from Mian Shahbaz Sharif now, that the nation is fortunate to have a pro-democracy army chief in the form of Gen Kayani, after Gen Jehangir Karamat.

In the past few months a perception has developed that the present military setup is bent upon getting rid of President Zardari. Despite protestations to the contrary by the military high command that it has no such intentions, rumours about Mr Zardari's imminent departure refuse to die down. In fact, after the Supreme Court's unanimous verdict declaring the NRO ultra vires of the Constitution, they have gained further currency. Some circles insist that the army and its intelligence apparatus are trying to undermine Mr Zardari and force him to quit the presidency.

For complete article, click here

Friday, January 15, 2010

Pakistani author, teacher inspires Korbel audience with hopes for Pakistan's future: Denver University



Pakistani author, teacher inspires Korbel audience with hopes for country's future
By Shane Eric-Eugene Hensinger, Master's Candidate in International Security & Nirvana Bhatia, Master's Candidate in Human Rights
Joseph Korbel School of International Studies, Denver University, January 15, 2010

Acclaimed Pakistani author and educator Hassan Abbas told a packed Josef Korbel School of International Studies lecture audience that, despite increasing terrorist violence, his country's people embrace democracy and seek to put books, not guns, in the hands of their children.

In the well-attended lecture on the future of Pakistan, Abbas focused on current challenges and possible solutions rather than historical events.

"Too often, when people say they want to talk about the future, all they do is look to the past," Abbas said.

About 150 Josef Korbel School students gathered to hear Abbas, a Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the New York-based Asia Society and author of the acclaimed Pakistan's Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army and America's War on Terror.

Abbas saluted the resilience of the Pakistani people and the vibrancy of Pakistani civil society – specifically the Lawyers Movement, which successfully challenged the 2007 removal of the country's chief justice by former military leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

"The Lawyers Movement emphasized the rule of law in Pakistan" Abbas said, adding that the uprising demonstrated that, despite the country's tumultuous history of military rule, a strong desire for democracy endures.

Evidence of that desire for democracy can be seen in the fact that in the country's 2008 elections, candidates advocating religious fundamentalism received less than 4 percent of the national vote, Abbas said.

Josef Korbel School Professor Tahira Khan praised Abbas and said his book has made a difference for her students.

"I have lived his book, choosing it for my courses to read for the past four years, and he was not repetitive at all," Khan said. "It really makes a difference to have him add the latest information; it is very inspiring."

Professor Hassan Abbas is a Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the Asia Society and holds Quaid-i-Azam Chair at Columbia University in New York.

For complete article, click here

For Pakistan, no turning back from reform: President Zardari

For Pakistan, no turning back from reform
By Asif Ali Zardari
Washington Post, January 15, 2010; A23

When I was elected president more than a year ago, Pakistan was in grave condition, strained by terrorism and a ravaged economy. Countering the effects of a decade of dictatorship requires bold actions, some of which are unpopular. I am working with Parliament to run a country, not a political campaign. The goal of our democratic government is to implement policies that will dramatically improve the lives of Pakistanis. In time, good policies will become good politics.

Our economic crisis demanded unprecedented response. On taxes, education, agriculture and energy, we have shown that we must adapt, reform and become self-sufficient. Terrorists do not want Pakistan to succeed. They want to distract us from preparing for a stable and prosperous future. After a suicide bomber killed 75 people in northwestern Pakistan this month, U.S. media reports noted that "the militants' objective is to sow terror among the general population in hopes of putting more political pressure on President Asif Ali Zardari's government to back down." But militants underestimate us. Just as our people refuse to be terrorized, our government refuses to be derailed from its course of fiscal responsibility, social accountability and financial transparency.

For complete article, click here

Lashkar-i-Jhangvi carried out Karachi Ashura Blast

Malik blames LJ for Karachi Ashura blast
By Amir Wasim

Dawn, Friday, 15 Jan, 2010

ISLAMABAD: The government disclosed in the National Assembly on Thursday that the banned outfit Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) had carried out the bomb blast in Karachi’s Ashura procession that killed 45 people and injured 46 others.

Speaking at the start of a debate on an opposition-moved adjournment motion on the Karachi violence, Interior Minister Rehman Malik claimed the government had sufficient evidence that showed the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Jaish-i-Muhammad and Al Qaeda had formed a network which was behind terrorist activities.

The interior minister said a final report on the Karachi bombing would be presented in the house in 10 days.

He said that so far 30 people had been arrested on charges of involvement in looting and burning shops in Boulton Market soon after the Ashura blast on Dec 28.

These people, he said, were identified through CCVT footages collected by security officials. They belonged to various groups and weapons stolen from two arms shops had been recovered from them, he added.

For complete article, click here

Thursday, January 14, 2010

"Prospects for Pakistan": An Interesting Report

From CFR website
Prospects for Pakistan
Legatum Institute, January 12, 2010

Legatum Institute's Jonathan Paris analyses the prospects for Pakistan over a one to three year time horizon. It looks at economic, political, security, and bilateral issues.

There are three possible scenarios for Pakistan over this relatively short time horizon; Pakistan probably will avoid becoming a "failed state" and is unlikely to find a "pathway to success" but, as Pakistan confronts a myriad of vexing challenges, the most likely scenario is that it will "muddle through".

1. Economy

Looking at the economy optimistically, in just over 20 years, Pakistan will surpass Indonesia and become the fifth most populous country and the one with the most Muslims. Its youth bulge provides it with a baby boom which, if educated and employed, could provide its economy with a demographic dividend long after the equivalent bulges in China and India have aged and retired. Pakistan has an opportunity to leverage its domestic consumer market to attract multinationals and build up competitive economies of scale in industries like food, electronics, autos and engineering for the export market. Peace with India would turn Pakistan into an energy transit point and geographic hub for a possible South Asian boom.

Looking at the economy pessimistically, one sees a persistent leadership and public management deficit, loss of credibility in the international markets due to political instability and the extraordinarily long period of sustained growth required for Pakistan to make a dent in its poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment. The lack of investment in education makes it difficult for Pakistan to emulate India in becoming a high-tech hub, and the growing violence does not make tourism a viable option in the short term. In meeting the developmental challenges ahead, it does not help that the population is growing at a high 2.7% and that the youth bulge in its demographic profile shows few signs of abating any time soon. This author finds the pessimistic economic view somewhat more likely, especially in the next one to three years.

For complete report (pdf), click here

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Myths about Yemen

Al Qaeda’s Shadowland
By EDMUND J. HULL, New York Times, January 12, 2009

Washington
AMERICANS are scrambling to understand Yemen, where Al Qaeda has recently surged and the Christmas Day plot against Northwest Flight 253 was hatched. It’s not easy. Yemen has 5,000 years of history, complicated politics and daunting economic challenges. But we’ve made it more difficult to understand by allowing several myths to cloud our vision. Challenging these misconceptions is a first step toward comprehending and overcoming significant threats to American, Yemeni and international security.

Myth 1: The Yemeni government’s control does not extend much beyond the capital, Sana.

It’s true that the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh faces several security problems. Al Qaeda has operated there since the early 1990s, with its strength waxing and waning depending on the effectiveness of the government’s counterterrorism efforts. Since 2004, the government has faced an insurrection in the north from a group called the Houthis, who would restore a religious ruler. There has also been growing separatist feeling in the southern regions that tried to secede in 1994. And many of the tribes in the north are well armed and operate largely outside the government structure.

None of this, however, means that the government is confined to ruling a city-state centered on Sana. The Yemeni Army and national police exert significant day-to-day control over most of the country, and almost everywhere else on an ad hoc basis. Yemen is much like the United States in the latter half of the 19th century, when the government faced a rebellious South and a Wild West, but was hardly powerless outside the East Coast.

Myth 2: Yemen is a Qaeda haven because it is the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, who is supported by tribes in Hadhramaut Province.

Osama bin Laden’s father, Muhammad, was one of many Yemenis who achieved great success outside his native country. But the bin Ladens are not part of any politically significant tribe or clan, nor has the family sought to convert its wealth into power in Yemen. Osama bin Laden has some popularity, but no more so than elsewhere in the Islamic world. The Qaeda virus — which has been present in Yemen since 1992, when Qaeda members bombed a hotel in Aden where American troops had been staying on their way to Somalia — is the problem for Yemen, not Mr. bin Laden’s ancestral ties.

Myth 3: Yemen is torn by Sunni-Shiite divisions, much like Iraq.

The Houthi rebellion is often described as Shiite resistance against a Sunni establishment. In fact, both the Houthis and President Saleh are followers of the Zaidi sect of Shiite Islam. Generally, there is no clear divide between Sunnis and Shiites in Yemen, although the Shiites tend to live in the north and northwest while the Sunnis, mostly members of the moderate Shafii school, predominate in the south and southeast. In any case, one’s sect matters far less in Yemen than in countries like Lebanon or Iraq, and it’s not unknown for Yemenis to convert from Sunni to Shiite as a matter of convenience.

For complete article, click here
Related:
Yemeni Radicalization Dynamics - Blog: Shadow Forest of World Politics

Pakistan suffers record number of deaths due to militant violence: Declan Walsh

Pakistan suffers record number of deaths due to militant violence
3,021 people killed in terrorist attacks in 2009 – a 48% rise, according to Islamabad thinktank

Declan Walsh in Islamabad guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 January 2010
 
A record number of Pakistani civilians and security forces died in militant violence last year as the country reeled from an onslaught of Taliban suicide bombings that propelled it into the ranks of the world's most perilous places.

Pakistan saw 3,021 deaths in terrorist attacks in in 2009, up 48% on the year before, according to a new report by the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), an Islamabad-based defence thinktank. Researchers counted a total of 12,600 violent deaths across the country in 2009, 14 times more than in 2006.

At least half of the dead were militants who were killed in US drone strikes or, mostly, sweeping army offensives against their mountain strongholds of Swat and South Waziristan along the Afghan border. Another 2,000 or so Pakistanis died in bloodshed unrelated to militancy: political clashes, tribal feuds and border skirmishes.

In comparison just over 2,000 civilians were killed in war-torn Afghanistan during the first ten months of 2009, according to the UN. In Iraq 4,500 civilians were killed during the year, said Iraq Body Count, an independent monitoring organisation.

For complete article, click here

Sunday, January 10, 2010

‘Why not have a joint Kashmir?’

‘Why not have a joint Kashmir?’

* PDP president calls for having ‘dual currency’ to encourage trade
* Says LoC should be made ‘irrelevant’
Daily Times, January 11, 2009

NEW DELHI: The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Indian-held Kashmir has called for unifying both Kashmirs and having a “dual currency” to encourage trade.

Speaking at an Indo-Pak conference on Sunday, PDP President Mehbooba Mufti said, “Can’t there be any joint mechanism between the two Kashmirs? Why can’t we have a joint council consisting of representatives from both sides?”
LoC: She said the Line of Control (LoC) dividing Kashmir should be made “irrelevant”. She said the recent militancy-related incidents in IHK should not influence New Delhi’s decision to withdraw troops from the disputed territory. “We know that the aim of any terror attack is to sabotage the dialogue process. The Lal Chowk attack should not influence the intention of the Indian government to withdraw forces [from IHK],” she said. The PDP leader said wars between India and Pakistan had only resulted in accumulation of security forces in IHK. Mehbooba said the peace process should be de-linked from terror incidents, adding that resumption of composite dialogue between India and Pakistan was the need of the hour.

The situation in IHK “has improved over the period of time and the people are turning to peaceful means to raise their grievances”, she said. Mehbooba said India and Pakistan should engage themselves in a result-oriented dialogue, adding that Hurriyat leader Abdul Gani Lone was killed because “he wanted dialogue”. The PDP president urged the two countries to make a policy shift on Kashmir by reaching out to the people and practicing peaceful and democratic ways to build a new South Asia.

Mufti said that Kashmir would be the “first and the worst victim” if something happens to Pakistan. iftikhar gilani

Saturday, January 09, 2010

Afghania: Renaming NWFP through Consensus - By Dr. Mohammad Taqi

Afghania: Renaming NWFP through Consensus - By Dr. Mohammad Taqi
Politact.com; January 8, 2010

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

At this time in the constitutional history of Pakistan, there apparently is a lot in a name; a name for the NWFP, that is.

Two major political parties of Pakistan viz. Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) have nominated a five member committee each, to meet and hopefully agree upon rechristening the NWFP.

In and of itself this may not be a major development for rest of the Pakistan, but on its resolution apparently hinges the forward movement in repealing the 17th Amendment to the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is likely to bless the consensus developed by the ANP and PML-N.

The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) was so named, when in November 1901 the Viceroy of British India, Lord George Nathaniel Curzon, the First Marquess of Kedleston, carved out the Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Kohat and Hazara districts from the Punjab province and consolidated them into one administrative entity and appointed Sir Harold Deane as its first Chief Commissioner.

The chief commissionerate was abolished in 1932 and the NWFP became a Governor's Province with the then Chief Commissioner Sir Ralph Griffith continuing as the first Governor. Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum became the province's first minister. The first general elections under the Government of Indian Act 1935 were held in 1937 and Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum was elected the first chief minister of the province.

For complete article, click here

Friday, January 08, 2010

Reforming khakis - By Babar Sattar

Legal eye: Reforming khakis
The News, January 09, 2010
Babar Sattar
The writer is a lawyer based in Islamabad.

The end of Musharraf's rule, return of leaders of our mainstream political parties, restoration of the representative electoral process, restitution of independent-minded judiciary, recent rulings in the PCO judges case and the NRO, together with the role of our diligent media and civil society all mark the advent of an age of constitutionalism, rule of law and democracy. This journey might be slow and perilous, but rule of law and constitutionalism are the only mechanisms available to resurrect a peaceful, strong and stable Pakistan wherein equality and justice thrive along with hope and economic well-being.

We are rightly becoming more cognizant of the need to hold the feet of our corrupt and inept politicos to fire, in order to transform dilapidated structures of representative politics into an effective, sustainable and beneficial democracy. However, the province of khakis, with all its frills, prerogatives and privileges, remains largely outside the scope of rule of law, out of sync with the imperatives of constitutionalism and democracy, and is probably the most ignored area in need of urgent reform.

Any sensible definition of an effective and functional democracy requires effective civilian control of the military. But the military in Pakistan has traditionally been more powerful than all civilian institutions put together. This civil-military imbalance remains a fundamental fault line that imperils both democracy and rule of law.

The omnipotence of the military in Pakistan -- the cause and the consequence of recurring martial rule -- has resulted in the evolution of political and social ethos, promulgation of statutory instruments, and partial judicial pronouncements (coupled with judicial inaction) that have the effect of placing the interests, acts and omissions of the military beyond the scope of political, judicial and social scrutiny. The history of khaki rule together with effective manifestation of its overarching power and influence, every time its institutional interests come under threat, has led to the creation of a khaki mindset that equally afflicts the military and the civilians.

The khaki mindset has multiple facets. The first is an undaunted sense of righteousness. This indoctrinates the military with the belief that its vision and definition of national security and national interest is the perennial manifestation of wisdom and truth. Any involvement of civilians with matters deemed to fall within the domain of national security is seen as unwarranted interference with exclusively military matters and an affront to its interests. This protective sense encourages the military to guard its proclaimed territory as a fief.

The second facet of the khaki mindset is the military's saviour instinct. Despite being a non-representative institution, the military has assigned to itself the role of deciphering aspirations of Pakistanis and protecting them when they are perceived to be threatened by a corrupt civilian government or an activist judiciary. This provides a justification to intervene in the domain of civilian institutions that are seen by the military as malfunctioning. And the most insidious facet of this mindset is the unstated sense of being above the law that binds ordinary citizens.

For complete article, click

Afghanistan: What Could Work - Rory Stewart

Afghanistan: What Could Work
By Rory Stewart
New York Review of Books, Volume 57, Number 1 · January 14, 2010

Cool poker-players, we are tempted to believe, only raise or fold: they only increase their bet or leave the game. Calling, making the minimum bet to stay, suggests that you can't calculate the odds or face losing the pot, and that the other players are intimidating you. Calling is for children. Real men and women don't want to call in Afghanistan: they want to dramatically increase troops and expenditure, defeat the Taliban, and leave. Or they just want to leave. Both sides—the disciples of the surge and the apostles of withdrawal—therefore found some satisfaction in one passage in President Obama's speech at West Point on December 1.

I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan. After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home.

But the rest left them uneasy. This was not, as they might have imagined, because he was lurching between two contradictory doctrines of increase and withdrawal, but because the rest of his speech argued for a radically different strategy—a call strategy—which is about neither surge nor exit but about a much-reduced and longer-term presence in the country. The President did not make this explicit. But this will almost certainly be the long-term strategy of the US and its allies. And he has with remarkable courage and scrupulousness articulated the premises that lead to this conclusion. First, however, it is necessary to summarize the history of our involvement and the conventional policies that have long favored surge and exit.

For complete article, click here

Security Developments in Pakistan

Six killed in blast in Pakistan's Karachi: police
(AFP) – January 8, 2010

KARACHI — Six people were killed Friday when an explosion flattened a house being used by militants in Pakistan's economic hub Karachi, police said, adding that the blast appeared to have been accidental.

Gun, grenades and suicide vests were recovered from the house in a western Karachi neighbourhood, and police said they were working to determine the exact cause of the blast and the circumstances surrounding it.

"There was a blast in a house in Baldia Town in which six people were killed. The house collapsed," said senior police official Abdul Majeed Dasti.

He said hand grenades, a Kalashnikov rifle and suicide vests were also found at the scene, while city police chief Waseem Ahmad told AFP that the explosives appeared to have been detonated unintentionally.

"It seems that explosives which were stored in the house caused the explosion in which six people were killed," he said.

"It seems that the house was being used by terrorists. We are taking utmost care in removing the rubble. Bomb disposal officials have arrived at the scene to determine the exact nature of the explosion."

For complete article, click here
Related:
Pakistan Criticizes U.S. Drone Attacks After Raids Kill 17 - Khalid Qayyum, Bloomberg
TTP leader held in Islamabad, stolen military vehicle seized - Daily Times
U.S. senators laud use of drones against suspected militants - CNN
U.S. Security Interests At Stake In Afghanistan-Pakistan Region: Holbrooke - RTT News
U.S. Insists Pakistan Ease Limits On Staffers - WSJ

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Kashmir: Toeing the line

Toeing the line By Luv Puri
Dawn, 06 Jan, 2010

On February 28, 2007, Barkat Bi, 70, living in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir was united with her husband, Niaz Mohammad, 72, after a gap of 42 years. Her husband had crossed over to Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir during 1965 Indo-Pak war and could never return. The couple could not meet until Niaz Mohammad got permission to cross the Line of Control (LoC) three years ago.

Jammu and Kashmir remains the root of India-Pakistan tensions in South Asia. Notwithstanding the constraints that bind the policy making elite in New Delhi and Islamabad, there had been tangible progress as the two countries facilitated interactions between the two sides of the LoC: points were opened along the LoC and a process initiated to end the pain of divided families living on both sides. Last year, trade began between the two sides creating an economic stake for peace process.

The mistrust which developed between the two countries after the Mumbai attacks in 2008 reversed some of these gains. On December 21 last year, the number of passengers traveling through the Poonch LoC point hit its lowest since it was thrown open for civilians in November 2005. Only 26 civilians from both sides crossed the LoC to meet relatives on either side. The trade between the two parts of the state has also been hit due to on-going protests by traders demanding flexible rules of engagement and calling for an end to the barter system and restrictions imposed on certain trade items.
Despite these setbacks, there are some recent significant political developments on both sides of the LoC, which if understood and facilitated can go a long way in evolving an amicable solution. A working group appointed by the Indian prime minister and headed by former Supreme Court Justice Saghir Ahmed recently issued a report recommending the restoration of autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir. The report also called for doing away with the constitutional provision of appointment of governor by the federal government and invoking Article 356 to dismiss popular government in the state.

The working group was one of five appointed by the prime minister to deal with various aspects of Jammu and Kashmir. The report of the fifth group – addressing political dimensions of the issue – was delayed owing to major differences within the group. The group stated that it should be left to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to decide the fate of Article 370, which guarantees special status to the state.

The report is short on specifics, but has re-opened an old debate. The idea of federal autonomy is cited as one of the political solutions to the problem of Jammu and Kashmir. The debate revolves around the pre-1953 status of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.

The July 24, 1952, Delhi agreement between Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah laid the foundation of a constitutional relationship between New Delhi and the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The pre-1953 status to the state means "the matters in the Union List not connected with the three subjects of Defence, External Affairs and Communications and/or Ancillary thereto but made applicable should be excluded from their application to the State."
This is not the first time that autonomy would be discussed with a Congress-led dispensation at the federal level. Kashmir desk handlers would just have to re-open the old records to understand the complexity of the issue. In 1974-75, talks between Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Abdullah reached a dead-end as the two sides had divergent views on the pre-1953 status of the State.

Ultimately, a mediator saved the situation by suggesting a via media - that is, the two sides "agree to disagree" – paving the way for Abdullah to assume power in the state. The differences over the issue have not been ironed out since. After coming to power, Abdullah appointed a committee to look into the issue, but little progress was achieved as members developed differences between themselves.

A political idea’s worth lies in its feasibility, and no resolution of the Kashmir problem is possible unless political consensus is evolved within the state. In the past, opposition to the idea of federal autonomy proposal has come from within the state, as it is felt it would lead to further centralisation of powers with a section of the political elite. Therefore, the feasibility of the idea of federal autonomy depends on how far the state is able to satisfy diverse political, regional, ethnic and religious groups within Jammu and Kashmir.

The working group’s report does not take the state’s political complexities into account. Still, it has created a space for debate and initiated a process to institutionally resolve the differences within the state and carry forward the principle of federalism and grassroots decentralisation.

There are already enough feasible proposals from within the state to give a practical shape to the idea. The idea of regional autonomy is one, which seeks to give political powers to the three regions with legislative and executive powers and grant political reservation to scheduled tribes such as the Bakerwals. Further decentralisation of power at district and village levels is also possible. The idea can be stretched by incorporating Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir into this formulation.

For complete article, click here