Friday, July 30, 2010

Most Pakistanis want improved relations with America but want withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan: Pew Survey

Public Opinion in Pakistan: Concern About Extremist Threat Slips

America's Image Remains Poor
Pew Research Centre, July 29, 2010

Overview

Pakistanis remain in a grim mood about the state of their country. Overwhelming majorities are dissatisfied with national conditions, unhappy with the nation's economy, and concerned about political corruption and crime. Only one-in-five express a positive view of President Asif Ali Zardari, down from 64% just two years ago.

As Pakistani forces continue to battle extremist groups within the country, nearly all Pakistanis describe terrorism as a very big problem. However, they have grown markedly less concerned that extremists might take control of the country.
Last year, at a time when the Pakistani military was taking action against Taliban forces in the Swat Valley within 100 miles of the nation's capital, 69% were very or somewhat worried about extremist groups taking control of Pakistan. Today, just 51% express concern about an extremist takeover.

More specifically, Pakistanis also feel less threatened by the Taliban and much less by al Qaeda. Last year, 73% rated the Taliban a serious threat, compared with 54% now. Roughly six-in-ten (61%) considered al Qaeda a serious threat last year; now, just 38% feel this way.

Nonetheless, both the Taliban and al Qaeda remain unpopular among Pakistanis -- 65% give the Taliban an unfavorable rating and 53% feel this way about al Qaeda. Negative views toward these groups have become a little less prevalent over the past year, while positive views have crept up slightly.

Still, opinions are much more negative today than was the case two years ago, when roughly one-third expressed an unfavorable view of both groups, one-quarter gave them a positive rating and four-in-ten offered no opinion.

For complete summary, click here
For complete report, click here
Related:
Pakistan in polling vs. Pakistan in practice - Kalsoom Lakhani, Foreign Policy
Most Pakistanis View U.S. as Enemy, Want War Over, Survey Finds - Business Week

Point of Rupture

Point of rupture

by Nadeem F. Paracha, Dawn, July 30, 2010

If one is to pick a year from where Pakistan’s political and cultural slide towards a curious faith-based neurosis (and ultimately a socio-political nervous breakdown) began, that year is bound to be 1979.

The lead up to this decisive year was 1977’s military coup against the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto government by his own handpicked General (Zia-ul-Haq).

In one of his initial addresses to the nation on PTV, General Zia-ul-Haq suddenly cut away from his written speech, looked up into the camera and claimed that he knew why most people had stopped watching Pakistan Television (PTV): “Mujhey pata hai log ab PTV kyon nahi daikhtay. Chirian jo urr gain” (I know why some people have stopped watching PTV. [It is because] All the birds have flown [from the channel])

While announcing one of his many promises of holding fresh elections, (none of which he would ever fulfill), Zia had persuaded the Jamaat-i-Islami and some conservative anti-Bhutto politicians to join his martial law regime. Jamaat members were given a free run of the ministry of information, and one of the first acts of the ministry was to devise a brand new censor policy for PTV and films.

For complete article, click here

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

US Congressional Hearing: Options for reconciliation in Afghanistan

Options for reconciliation in Afghanistan

By Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), The Hill's Congress Blog, July 27, 2010
This morning, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) chaired a hearing on Afghanistan. This is the Committee’s twelfth oversight hearing on U.S. policy toward Afghanistan in the past year and a half. Below are his opening remarks as delivered:

I would like to make a few opening comments and then we’ll proceed with each of the other witnesses. Let me begin by thanking you for coming today to talk to the Committee. I think you can see from the membership today that this is obviously an important issue to the country and to the Congress. There are a lot of questions, which is entirely appropriate. Today’s hearing is really to try and focus on the issue of reconciliation and see what role that might play in achieving a political solution in the end. And I think we have a very thoughtful panel to consider those issues.

I might just comment that this is the twelfth hearing of the Committee on Afghanistan in the past eighteen months. And it reflects our recognition of the critical role this issue plays, the unbelievable expense of human treasure of our sons and daughters, and the monetary cost, which is also enormous.

I want to say a couple of words about the leaked documents on Afghanistan and Pakistan yesterday. I think it is important to not overhype or get excessively excited about the meaning of those documents. Certainly to those of us that lived through the Pentagon papers and a different period, there is no relationship whatsoever to that event or to those documents. In fact, these documents in many cases reflect a very different pattern of involvement by the U.S. government from that period of time.

For complete article, click here

Pakistan: An Ally of Necessity

An Ally of Necessity
Over the past nine years, more Pakistani than NATO troops have lost their lives fighting the Taliban.
By HUSAIN HAQQANI, Wall Street Journal JULY 27, 2010

The much publicized leaking of several thousand classified documents relating to the war in Afghanistan may have provided the war's American critics an opportunity to press their objections. It does not, however, make the case against military and political cooperation between the governments of the United States and Pakistan, made necessary by the challenge of global terrorism.

Under elected leaders, Pakistan is working with the U.S. to build trust between our militaries and intelligence agencies. In recent months, Pakistan has undertaken a massive military operation in the region bordering Afghanistan, denying space to Taliban extremists who had hoped to create a ministate with the backing of al Qaeda. Pakistan-Afghanistan relations have been enhanced to an unprecedented degree. And exchanges of intelligence between Pakistan and the U.S. have foiled several terrorist plots around the globe. The WikiLeaks controversy and the ensuing speculation about Pakistan's role in the global effort against the terrorists should not disrupt the ongoing efforts of the U.S. and Pakistan to contain and destroy the forces of extremism and fanaticism that threaten the entire world.

Pakistan is crucial for helping Afghanistan attain stability while pursuing the defeat of al Qaeda led terrorist ideologues. For that reason the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department have denounced the leaking of unattributed and unprocessed information implicating Pakistan in supporting or tolerating the Taliban. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, a Democrat, warned Monday against judging Pakistan's role in the Afghan war by "outdated reports," adding that Pakistan had "significantly stepped up its fight against the Taliban." Most Americans and many Pakistanis agree on the need for improvements in Pakistan's efforts, but that is not the same as suspecting lack of cooperation.

The tragedy that has unfolded in South Asia is the product of a long series of policy miscalculations spanning fully 30 years. The U.S., in its zeal to defeat the Soviet Union—a noble goal indeed—selected Afghanistan as a venue. Pakistan became caught up in an ideological battle between communism and a politicized version of our Islamic faith. The most violent and most radical elements of the Mujahedeen resistance were empowered to fight the surrogate war against the Russians. Concerns—such as former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's warning in 1989 while visiting the U.S. that the world had created a Frankenstein monster in Afghanistan that would come back to haunt us—were generally ignored.

For complete article, click here
 
Related:
Pakistan dismisses Afghan war leak as skewed - Xinhua
US lawmaker says leaks paint 'outdated' Pakistan picture - Dawn
Afghan Document Leak: Why America's Allies Are Hedging Their Bets - TIME

Monday, July 26, 2010

Inside the WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks: More US documents coming on Afghan war
By Raphael Satter and Kimberly Dozier, Associated Press Writers – Mon Jul 26, 2010

LONDON – The release of some 91,000 secret U.S. military documents on the Afghanistan war is just the beginning, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange promised Monday, adding that he still has thousands more Afghan files to post online.

The White House, Britain and Pakistan have all condemned the online whistle-blowing group's release Sunday of the classified documents, one of the largest unauthorized disclosures in military history. The Afghan government in Kabul said it was "shocked" at the release but insisted most of the information was not new.
The documents cover some known aspects of the troubled nine-year conflict: U.S. special operations forces have targeted militants without trial, Afghans have been killed by accident, and U.S. officials have been infuriated by alleged Pakistani intelligence cooperation with the very insurgent groups bent on killing Americans.

Still, they also included unreported incidents of Afghan civilian killings and covert operations against Taliban figures.
Assange told reporters in London that what's been reported so far on the leaked documents has "only scratched the surface" and said some 15,000 files on Afghanistan are still being vetted by his organization.

For complete article, click here
Related:
Q&A: What do WikiLeak documents tell us? - CNN
Pakistan Aids Insurgency in Afghanistan, Reports Assert - New York Times
Leaks Add to Pressure on White House Over Strategy - NYT
Hamid Gul Responds to WikiLeaks Allegations - WSJ

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Know thy neighbour: good, bad, and ugly

Know thy neighbour: good, bad, and ugly
Times of India, 24 July, 2010
The July 15 Islamabad Summit was a failure only for the supremely ambitious South Asian, says Mosharraf Zaidi

The anger that produced Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s press conference lambasting the Indian delegation led by SM Krishna, as Krishna was boarding a plane for New Delhi, comes from a very specific place. It is a place that doesn’t exist in the real world anymore, but is still vividly embedded in the minds of some within the Pakistani establishment. In that old place, Pakistan was the nimble and clever fox, and India was the large, clumsy elephant. That place is 1991.


In 1991, India’s GDP growth was a sorry 1.06 per cent, while Pakistan was chugging along at an impressive 5.06 per cent. This was not an anomaly, but the usual. Before 1991, Pakistan frequently outpaced India’s growth — even though India’s was more even, while Pakistan’s seemed to be on crack, vacillating wildly. Then in 1991, a bunch of retired and on-vacation IMF and World Bank bureaucrats unofficially took over the Pakistani economy to try to tame the beast, and a sage named Manmohan Singh began to run the Indian economy. Since then, India has enjoyed a sustained era of slow, but meaningful and across-the-board reform, while Pakistan has, outside of its telecom, banking and media sectors, achieved zero reform.

Pakistanis that I spoke to who had access to the goingson during the July 15 summit between Qureshi and Krishna complain of India’s monochromatic national narrative —press, government, private sector — all united. They complain that India didn’t come to slow dance, but rather to tease and prod. They complain that India’s attitude was dismissive, while Pakistan’s was earnest. I have no difficulty believing any of these things. But the very act of complaining about these things, rather than having cogent and defensible comebacks, should be a tell-all indicator of how differently positioned India and Pakistan are for the 21st century. Qureshi’s press conference is what weaker parties do when confronted with a conundrum. They wail.

One way to try to understand the growing gulf between India and Pakistan is to examine the now infamous interview of the Indian home secretary G K Pillai — which is rightly identified by many Pakistanis as having possibly contaminating the spirit of the July 15 summit. The truth is however, that the interview hardly scratches the surface of what would constitute titillating revelations. Nobody loves intelligence agencies, certainly not one from an “enemy country”.

What really catches the eye in that interview rather is the boldness of Pillai’s manner, a civil servant working for India’s central government, as he skewers the political and administrative failures of Indian states. A gag order reportedly placed on Pillai may assuage some of the politicians’ egos in Delhi and the various state capitals that he rankles, but the home secretary’s confidence is unlikely to diminish. Maybe civil servants have no place discussing public policy with the press. Maybe not. But Pillai’s self-confidence speaks to a greater issue.

The Indian Administrative Service’s ability to breed such confidence is not a random accident. Good civil servants — like Shiv Shankar Menon and TN Seshan — are cultivated, not discovered. The contemporary history of the IAS in India and its colonial cousin in Pakistan, the District Management Group, is a study in contrasts. India’s system of recruiting, retaining, rotating, and sustaining civil servants to serve the state has produced top-shelf talent consistently, despite being ravaged by challenges like corruption and a rigid system of home state allocation.

Despite enjoying a less complicated federal structure, Pakistan’s civil servants, on the other hand, while individually brilliant, have experienced a consistent and brutal stripping away of their powers and their ability to contribute to national stability and prosperity. The decay began in 1974, when Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto sought to democratise the bureaucracy by making civil servants increasingly accountable to politicians. Those reforms effectively ended up bringing to a close the Raj legacy of administrative efficiency on this side of the Wagah border.

A 2007 study of political cycles in IAS postings by Lakshmi Iyer (Harvard) and Anandi Mani (Warwick) found that the “average probability of a transfer in a given year was 49 per cent… bureaucrats spent an average of 16 months in any given position”. While 16 months falls well short of the global three-year standard (which is also the recommended period in both India and Pakistan), it likely exceeds the average for civil servants in Pakistan. One example of how crazy transfers and postings have become is from the spring of 2009 when the government of Punjab (in Pakistan) saw a number of individual departmental heads experience as many as four postings within a shambolic five-month period (when Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s government was summarily dismissed, and later, reconstituted).

The differences are vast. India’s Pay Commission reports, in epic detail, are available free of cost to anyone (including Pakistanis). Pakistan’s Pay and Pensions Committee reports are state-secrets, not available even to parliamentarians and senior bureaucrats.
The Indian delegation of officials and journalists got to know a small morsel of these kinds of details about Pakistan during the July 15 summit. That, and not Qureshi’s political tamasha, is what should lie at the heart of this conversation between India and Pakistan: a continuum of humanising the other.

I’d be delighted to watch the next Pakistani delegation visit India and receive a frigid welcome by the Indian ministry for external affairs. Delighted that the next summit is used by both sides to reiterate the centrality of Kashmir versus the centrality of terrorism. Delighted if India and Pakistan continue to agree to disagree. As long as the two countries keep talking, we should all be delighted. The long road to a peaceful South Asia begins by getting to know one another, little by little. The July 15 summit achieved that, and then some.

Kayani, a man for many seasons ?


Kayani, a man for many seasons
Shuja Nawaz, Foreign Policy, July 24, 2010
In a timely though perhaps overly dramatic move, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani of Pakistan announced last night on national television the extension of army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani for another three years beyond November this year, when his first term was to end. Timely, since any further delay in announcing it would have led to further speculation and confusion about what was to happen. Dramatic, since the normal manner would have been a press release from the Inter Services Relations Directorate.
But then this is Pakistan and anything to do with the army chief makes headlines. And this announcement further strengthens the view that the army continues to be a key player even as democracy struggles to establish itself in a country that has been ruled for more than half its life by the military.
This is the first time a civilian government has extended an army chief for a full term. In the past, extensions have been either short, given by military rulers to themselves or, in the case of the first military ruler, Ayub Khan, to an ineffectual army chief with no independent power base. Benazir Bhutto sought to break with tradition when she offered an extension to General Abdul Waheed in 1996 but he refused it. Kayani took pains to convey the impression that he would not seek an extension nor negotiate for one. It appears that the government made him an offer he could not refuse.
Kayani is widely regarded as a quiet, professional soldier, who has helped transform the army in his tenure from a largely conventional force to one that is effectively fighting an irregular war inside its own borders. His new tenure gives him a rare opportunity to continue the transformation of the Pakistan into army into a professional body ready to fight insurgencies and conventional enemies equally well. He maintains a low public profile and is seen as a thinking general. Compared with his predecessor, General Pervez Musharraf, who was tempestuous and rarely had time to read, Kayani is deliberate. From the outset, he stated a policy of keeping the army out of politics, a policy that he tried to maintain even while selectively intervening in political squabbles as a referee. In recent months he has played a key role in moving the United States-Pakistan strategic dialogue onto a higher plane in terms of content and action.
For complete article, click here
Related:

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

In New York: Songs of the Saints, With Love, From Pakistan

Songs of the Saints, With Love, From Pakistan
By JON PARELES, New York Times, July 22, 2010

Hands waved overhead. Voices shouted lyrics and whooped with delight. Children were hoisted onto parents’ shoulders. In the tightly packed crowd a few dancers made room to jump. T-shirts were tossed to fans from the stage.

Yet in the songs that Abida Parveen was singing, saints were praised. They were Islamic saints, the poets and philosophers revered by Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam.

It was the first New York Sufi Music Festival, a free three-hour concert on Tuesday in Union Square, and it had music from the four provinces of Pakistan, including traditional faqirs who perform outside temples, Sufi rock and a kind of rapping from Baluchistan.
The concert was presented by a new organization called Pakistani Peace Builders, which was formed after the attempted bombing in Times Square by a Pakistani-American. The group seeks to counteract negative images of Pakistan by presenting a longtime Pakistani Islamic tradition that preaches love, peace and tolerance.
Sufism itself has been a target of Islamic fundamentalists; on July 1 suicide bombers attacked Pakistan’s most important Sufi shrine. Pakistan’s ambassador to the United Nations, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, spoke between sets on Tuesday. “What we’re here to do today,” he said, is “to be at peace with all of America.”

The music’s message was one of joyful devotion and improvisatory freedom. Ms. Parveen, one of Pakistan’s most celebrated musicians, was singing in a Sufi style called kafi. Like the qawwali music popularized worldwide by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, kafi sets classical poems — about the love and intoxication of the divine, about seeking the spirit within — to visceral, handclapping rhythms and vocal lines that swoop and twist with passionate volatility.

Ms. Parveen carried songs from serene, hovering introductions to virtuosic euphoria. Long, sustained notes suddenly broke into phrases that zigzagged up and down an octave or more; repeated refrains took on an insistent rasp and became springboards for elaborate leaps and arabesques; quick syllables turned into percussive exchanges with the band. Each song was a continual revelation, making the old poems fully alive.

While the crowd was there for Ms. Parveen’s first New York City performance in a decade, the rest of the program was strong. The Soung Fakirs, from Sachal Sarmast Shrine in Sindh, danced in bright orange robes to devotional songs with vigorous, incantatory choruses. Akhtar Chanal Zehri, though he was introduced as a rapper, was backed by traditional instruments and seemed more of a folk singer, heartily intoning his rhythmic lyrics on a repeating note or two and, eventually, twirling like a Sufi dervish.
Rafaqat Ali Khan, the heir to his family’s school of classical singing (khayal), was backed only by percussion, pushing his long-breathed phrasing into ever more flamboyant swirls and quavers. The tabla player Tari Khan, who also accompanied Rafaqat Ali Khan, played a kinetic solo set that carried a 4/4 rhythm through variants from the Middle East, Europe, New York City and (joined by two more drummers) Africa. There was also instrumental music from the bansuri (wooden flute) player Ghaus Box Brohi.

On the modernizing side, Zeb and Haniya, two Pakistani women who started their duo as college students at Mount Holyoke and Smith, performed gentler songs in the Dari tradition, a Pakistani style with Central Asian roots, with Haniya adding syncopated electric guitar behind Zeb’s smoky voice. Under wooden flute and classical-style vocals the Mekaal Hasan Band plugged in with reggae, folk-rock and a tricky jazz-rock riff. But the lyrics quoted devotional poetry that was 900 years old, distant from the turmoil of the present.

Protesting the mosque: A post Founding Fathers America

Protesting the mosque: A post Founding Fathers America
Jonathan Hayden, Salon blog, July 21, 2010

Last week protestors poured into the streets of Murfreesboro, TN to voice their displeasure at a proposed new mosque just outside of the city in central Tennessee. Some of the protestors were very clear on why they were opposed to a mosque in their neighborhood. “We’re at war with these people,” said one woman. Local political figures likewise did not mince words. Lou Ann Zelenik, a congressional candidate said Muslims aimed to “fracture the moral and political foundation of Middle Tennessee."
In a television news report, local Channel 5 reported on a small Muslim community in a rural part of the state. The reporter seemed shocked to find the there were no signs of “anti-American activity” or “flag desecration”. Nor, he told us, were there “reports from neighbors complaining of unexplained gunshots or explosions.”

This animosity towards and suspicion of Islam is by no means restricted to Tennessee. Mosques across America are being attacked at a startling rate. In the past few months, mosques in Iowa, Florida, Georgia, New York, have been targeted with physical attack.

Over the last few years, I have visited to over 100 mosques throughout the country for field work research which resulted in the book Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam and a film by the same name by world renowned scholar Akbar Ahmed. We found that these occurrences were far too common. I would estimate that over half of the mosques we visited have been targeted in one way or the other—sometimes with aggressive actions like windows being broken or arson. Sometimes more passive actions are taken like complaints over parking issues, or threatening letters. Some mosques protect themselves by hanging no sign or image indicating that the building is even in use.

For complete article, click here

Meet Rahmatullah Nabeel - Afghanistan's new intel boss

Meet Afghanistan's new intel boss
By Kate Clark, AfPak Channel, Foreign Policy, July 19, 2010
 
The appointment of a new head of Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS, the country's intelligence agency) has come with a lot less fanfare than the departure of the old one, Amrullah Saleh, who resigned after deep disagreements with the president over policy towards the Taliban. The acting director, Engineer Ibrahim Spinzada, has returned to the shadows and his day job as deputy head of the National Security Council (NSC), leaving one of his protƩgƩs, Engineer Rahmatullah Nabeel, in charge of Afghanistan's intelligence apparatus.

Engineer Nabeel is from Wardak and, according to Pajhwok News Agency, was born in 1968. He went to primary school in Kabul, then, after the Soviet invasion, to secondary school in exile in Peshawar. He also studied for a degree in engineering in Peshawar from a private university and then worked as an engineer with NGOs (reportedly in Peshawar and Jalalabad). By the late 1990s, he was working in Kabul for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), while Engineer Ibrahim was with UNHCR in Kandahar.

In late 2002, Nabeel went from being an engineer working on projects around Kabul to security officer at the Presidential Palace. He was one of a number of UNHCR staff who followed Engineer Ibrahim to the Palace (Ibrahim and Karzai know each other from Quetta -- there are family connections). The new recruitment was part of an attempt to create a professional, Afghan security apparatus at the Palace which would be unwaveringly loyal to Karzai.

For complete article, click here
Related:
Intelligence Chief, a brilliant appointment by Karzai! - Pashtunforums

Pakistan's Counter-terrorism coordinator steps down: A Setback

Counter-terrorism coordinator steps down
The Express Tribune, July 21, 2010

ISLAMABAD: The coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta), Tariq Pervez, has resigned over differences with his bosses on the status of the authority. Pervez wanted the prime minister to be the authority’s chairman and the four provincial chief ministers to be its members, a senior official told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity.

The resignation reads: “I tender my resignation due to personal and pressing circumstances,” the official said, adding that the authority was working under the interior ministry.

The official said that Pervez had submitted his proposals to his bosses in black and white – a move which they did “not appreciate”.

“The rejection of the proposals led Pervez to resign,” the official said, claiming that Pervez wanted to enhance his powers.

The authority, established in December last year, was supposed to come up with a feasible strategy to deal with the deteriorating law and order situation. Another source said that during the recent strategic dialogue round with the US, it was agreed that the Nacta and the US-based National Centre for Terrorism Control (NCTC) would work together to wage an effective anti-terrorism battle.

He said that the prime minister would appoint the next coordinator on a priority basis, so that it could work in collaboration with the NCTC.

The European Union had pledged 15 million euros for Nacta, which would serve as a research organisation, for which a legal cover was being framed.

He said the agency was supposed to have three wings – one to counter extremism, to be headed by an educationist or a journalist, another to counter terrorism, headed by a police officer and the third for research and analysis, headed by an eminent academician.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Pakistan’s Elite Pay Few Taxes, Widening Gap: Excellent NYT story

Pakistan’s Elite Pay Few Taxes, Widening Gap
By Sabrina Tavernise, July 18, 2010

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Much of Pakistan’s capital city looks like a rich Los Angeles suburb. Shiny sport utility vehicles purr down gated driveways. Elegant multistory homes are tended by servants. Laundry is never hung out to dry.

But behind the opulence lurks a troubling fact. Very few of these households pay income tax. That is mostly because the politicians who make the rules are also the country’s richest citizens, and are skilled at finding ways to exempt themselves.

That would be a problem in any country. But in Pakistan, the lack of a workable tax system feeds something more menacing: a festering inequality in Pakistani society, where the wealth of its most powerful members is never redistributed or put to use for public good. That is creating conditions that have helped spread an insurgency that is tormenting the country and complicating American policy in the region.
It is also a sorry performance for a country that is among the largest recipients of American aid, payments of billions of dollars that prop up the country’s finances and are meant to help its leaders fight the insurgency.
Though the authorities have tried to expand the net in recent years, taxing profits from the stock market and real estate, entire swaths of the economy, like agriculture, a major moneymaker for the elite, remain untaxed.

“This is a system of the elite, by the elite and for the elite,” said Riyaz Hussain Naqvi, a retired government official who worked in tax collection for 38 years. “It is a skewed system in which the poor man subsidizes the rich man.”

The problem starts at the top. The average worth of Pakistani members of Parliament is $900,000, with its richest member topping $37 million, according to a December study by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency in Islamabad.
While Pakistan’s income from taxes last year was the lowest in the country’s history, according to Zafar ul-Majeed, a senior official in the Federal Board of Revenue, the assets of current members of Parliament nearly doubled from those of members of the previous Parliament, the institute study found.

For complete article, click here

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Harvard University award for Mir Ibrahim Rahman

Harvard University award for Mir Ibrahim Rahman of Jang/Geo Group
The News, July 18, 2010

Mir Ibrahim is first Muslim and second South Asian to get this highest award; he was conferred the Lucius N Littauer award earlier; also worked for the Harvard Appointments Committee; honoured to deliver speech at the graduation ceremony representing all students; teachers, students and their parents paid great tributes to Mir Ibrahim Rahman

WASHINGTON: Mir Ibrahim Rahman has joined the distinguished ranks of alumni awarded the Robert F Kennedy Public Service Award from Harvard University, one of the top centres of learning in the world.

Mir is the first Muslim and only the second individual from South Asia to have received this Award. The Award is considered the most prestigious honour for students of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and is presented to those who have not only made a mark in the past for their distinguished public service work but also excelled in this field during their educational career at the university. The committee that selects individuals to be honoured comprises senior professors of the institution.

Mir Ibrahim Rahman had earlier received the Lucius N Littauer award that is given to students who have made an outstanding contribution to the Kennedy School Community. Mir Ibrahim Rahman had represented his class at the Kennedy Student of Government, and during his tenure had organized a number of important seminars. He was a member of the Harvard South Asia Advisory Board Committee and was also one of the few students to get the opportunity to work for the Harvard Appointments Committee, which normally comprises only senior professors.

For complete article, click here
Related:
The great American tradition of questions - Text of Mir Ibrahim's speech

Saturday, July 17, 2010

‘Data Darbar had to be destroyed because...'

‘Data Darbar had to be destroyed because of Ibn Taymiyya'
Sunni-Sunni war was much earlier and it reached a peak in 2006 at Nishtar Park, the year the ISI allowed Sipah-e-Sahaba to stage its show of power in Islamabad

Mazhar Jadoon, Viewpoint, July 16, 2010

The Sunni-Sunni war reached a peak in 2006 at Nishtar Park, the year the ISI allowed Sipah-e-Sahaba to stage its show of power in Islamabad, senior journalist and Editor Khaled Ahmed responds to some questions by Viewpoint on the post-Data Darbar attack scenario in Lahore and the menace of sectarian strife in Pakistan.

Viewpoint: Attack on Data Darbar was bloody, but shrines like Bari Imam and many more in Pakhtunkhwa have been attacked in last few years. We have seen attack on Sunni Tehrik in Karachi besides Deobandi-Barelvi riots in Khyber agency. It seems Shia-Sunni strife is now becoming Sunni vs Sunni clash. What do you say?

Khaled Ahmed: Barri Imam was attacked by backers of Lal Masjid through an anti-Shia personality of Kohat known as al-Qaeda Lawyer who was brought as arbiter by our agencies together with others like Fazlur Rehman Khaleel of Harkatul Mujahideen fighting Pakistan's proxy wars during the Lal Masjid faceoff in July 2009. The Sunni-Sunni war was much earlier and it reached a peak in 2006 at Nishtar Park, the year the ISI allowed Sipah-e-Sahaba to stage its show of power in Islamabad. Why should we start dubbing the old war as new war? And why should we leave the state out of it? It is not ‘now becoming', it is ‘continuing' because the state has not decided that it must stop its protĆ©gĆ©s from killing Pakistanis. Questions should be correctly posed. The Sunni-Sunni strife is old. Ask Mufti Munib and he will put you right and clear your mind of indoctrination. Data Darbar had to be destroyed because of Ibn Taymiyya (1263-1328) who figures now in the al-Qaeda pantheon.

Viewpoint: Zia regime is blamed for sectarian trouble in Pakistan. But we have seen that even PPP and PML-N governments are trying to appease these forces. PPP built election coalition with TNFJ while accommodating an SSP minister in its Punjab cabinet back in 1990s. PML-N's appeasement policy has also been highlighted recently. Your comment.

Khaled Ahmed: The state of Pakistan has deployed its non-state actor terrorists in Punjab. Because of the unclear charter of power of the state agencies linked to the army, parts of Punjab are succumbing to the power of the terrorists. South Punjab is vulnerable to three terrorist organisations. The Punjab government is now paying crores of rupees supporting ‘charities' of one of them that it has ‘nationalised'. A new perspective of the Seraiki Movement is gradually coming to the fore, reflecting the political dominance of Sipah-e-Sahaba and its offshoot, the Jaish. No one from among the backers of the Movement – known traditionally to be secular – is willing to even speak of the presence of the jihadi-terrorist organisations. One reason is that most of them want to lean on them to win the elections; the other may be the simple fact of intimidation and the subliminal acknowledgement of state patronage to the terrorists. A Seraiki Province in the coming days will be exclusively the domain of Sipah-e-Sahaba and its friends. It will be for the first time that terrorists posing as Islamic warriors against India and against the Shias of Pakistan will possess an entire province and its resources under the new constitutional dispensation of real autonomy.

Viewpoint: What about the role of Iran and Saudi Arabia?

Khaled Ahmed: Official Saudi Arabia hates al-Qaeda but Saudi civil society plus the civil society of UAE and Kuwait are spending big money in the region so that Shias and Sunnis should be killed in Pakistan because of the ‘jahiliya' act on the part of Pakistan to be an ally of America. Iran is out of the competition after getting a bloody nose in the shape of mass Ashura slaughters in Pakistan.

Viewpoint: What do you say about the curriculum of hate taught at madrassas stoking sectarian fire?

Khaled Ahmed: Textbooks at the madrassas are OK. The courses are culpable only so far as they take the acolyte away from the world outside the madrassa. The isolation of the acolyte and his total enslavement to the handlers is what should bother us. Everyone who does terrorism has been to the madrassas, starting from Sipah leader Azam Tariq, to Harkatul Mujahideen Fazlur Rehman Khalil, Qari Saifullah Akhtar and Mullah Umar. Banuria has the distinction of getting most of its leaders like Yusuf Ludihanvi and Shamzai killed after they sanctioned violence on targeted communities. The Madrassa network is not only sectarian; it also disagrees with the state of Pakistan as it is. But this is not a strict law. Suicide-bombers are also picked up from mosques. All strictly religious people are vulnerable, as shown by Faisal Shahzad and his helpers.

For complete article, click here

Two insightful articles on the political state of affairs in Pakistan

Owning up to our fake degrees by Mosharraf Zaidi
The News, July 17, 2010

When the nation was aflame with moral outrage last year in November, it was because our collective anger about corruption in Pakistan had seemingly boiled over. The NRO was leading the headlines, and the PPP's lashkar-e-haq, led by the venerable religious and legal scholar, Dr Babar Awan, was producing a steady stream of some of the most creative legal arguments we've ever heard in this, the most creative of Islamic Republic endeavours, ever.
Then, in April this year, Pakistani morality came to know and hate the name Jamshed Dasti. Dasti, an otherwise nothing politician from Southern Punjab, had to resign for having a fake degree, but was still nominated by the PPP, backed by the prime minister, and pulled out another win in the bye-election for NA 178.

The Dasti saga has now generated an entire industry of moral outrage over fake degrees. Pakistan's moral compass is, once again, in full bloom. Fake degrees are the new NRO. Perhaps seeing a smiling Jamshed Dasti's virtual middle finger is not enough for the urban middle class's insatiable appetite for undignified political awakenings. Which is just as well. The PPP-PML-N--PML-Q nexus of incredibly resourceful political operators are just fine with being labelled village idiots by the uber-sophisticated and morally righteous, newspaper-reading city-folk that hate them. If the Dastis of this world are laughing it is for good reason. The three mainstream political parties in this country are not in any way in short supply of Jamshed Dastis. In fact, there are plenty more where he comes from but there are none of where the moral outrage over fake degrees comes from. The joke is on us.

What is the outrage over fake degrees really all about? It is about two dangerous and depressing trends. First, it is about demonising politics and politicians. Second, it is about evading individual and collective political responsibility in Pakistan's urban centres. Both trends threaten to keep Pakistan locked up in the 19th century -- where banning Facebook, destroying the Universal Service Fund, taxing the transactions of the urban middle class, and empowering people like Jamshed Dasti all make eminent economic, political and social sense. Getting our understanding of the fake-degree outrage is essential not because of its moral semantics. It is essential because allowing ourselves to be carried away by our emotions about cheating and corruption is to the detriment of this country's future.

For complete article, click here

Mocking accountability by Babar Sattar

Legal eye
The News, July 17, 2010

What our country is presently witnessing is a gory conflict between a new Pakistan struggling to resuscitate ethics and morality in public life and the old guard insistent on defending and retaining a depraved political ethos as Pakistan's perennial ground reality.
This is a fight between two mindsets. The constructive mindset craves change and understands that we cannot afford to cast our future in the shadow of the past. And in the building of a better future the hope lies in institutions and individuals able to learn from past mistakes and willing to take corrective action. The other mindset invested in preserving the status quo is rational too. The institutions and individuals that owe their power and pre-eminence to a debased ethos, tribal loyalties and corrupt processes wish to stay in charge for as long as possible. This lot is loath to change the way it has been doing business.

Some words of Urdu are not amenable to ready translation. How does one translate "badmash," for example? A bully and rogue put together? The status quo mindset of our ruling elites is infested with a syndrome of "badmashi," the ways of the bully and the rogue. This cultivates a sense that they are untouchable--i.e., neither subservient to commands of the law nor constrained by public morality. Over the life of our country's existence the stigma attached to illegal and unethical conduct has been steadily diluting. The mindset responsible for transforming us into a predatory state has been trickling down and is now threatening to convert us into a predatory society. It is manifested in the now rampant general derision of legal authority and public disregard for an ordinary sense of fairness.

For complete article, click here

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Voices of Sindh

WASHINGTON DIARY: Excerpts from SANA - Dr Manzur Ejaz
Daily Times, July 14, 2010

I visited Thar a few years back and have seen Thardeep’s innovative approaches from finding spring water in the middle of the desert to providing electricity using solar energy techniques. If I had to get involved with development work in my area in Punjab, I would adopt many models developed by Thardeep

The Sindhi Association of North America (SANA) maintained its unique distinction of being the only secular organisation of expatriates by inviting the most prominent Sindhi from India, Mr Ram Jethmalani, member of Rajya Sabha and president of the Indian Supreme Court Bar, to its annual convention, held on July 2-5, 2010 in Houston. At 87, Mr Jethmalani, vibrant and kicking, delivered one of the most enticing speeches I have heard in the last few years. In addition to Mr Jethmalani, development star from Thar, Dr Sono Khangharani, nationalist leader Dr Qadir Magsi, notable analysts Mr Zulfiqar Halepota and Jami Chandio made very enlightening presentations in various seminars.

Mr Jethmalani was prophetic when he said, “Democracy without education is hypocrisy without limitations,” and that politicians have a direct conflict with education because they do not want well-informed constituents who can question them. He may have added some spice to his speech if he had seen the circus of the Punjab Assembly passing a resolution against the media for exposing their fake degrees.

Mr Jethmalani, a successful lawyer and partner of A K Brohi before partition in Karachi, had to restart his life from immigrant camps in India. “I never thought of revenge while going through the miseries of partition and I am still the best friend Pakistan has in India,” he asserted. He was very disappointed with the political lot in India as well as in Pakistan. In a light-hearted mood he commented, “Politicians should be changed like diapers and for the same reason.”

Speaking on religion he said, “I am not a religious person because so much blood has been shed in the name of religion that navies of the entire world can easily swim in it. Mohammad (PBUH) was the greatest prophet of all times because he assigned more strength to the ink of a pen as compared to the sword. Consequently, Muslim cities became centres of scholarship and Muslims pulled Europe out from the Dark Ages. However, when Muslims became book burners and destroyers of civilisations they were enslaved.”

In addition to Mr Jethmalani, another Hindu from Thar, Sindh, Dr Sono Khangharani, shared the development ideas he is implementing to provide housing, water, electricity and education. I visited Thar a few years back and have seen their organisation’s — Thardeep — innovative approaches from finding spring water in the middle of the desert to providing electricity using solar energy techniques. If I had to get involved with development work in my area in Punjab, I would adopt many models developed by Thardeep. Dr Khangharani was very modest in presenting his achievements. I wish he had talked more about the innovations he has made in changing conditions in Thar.

For complete article, click here

Monday, July 12, 2010

I just got back from Iran - By Stephen Kinzer

I just got back from Iran
Stephen Kinzer, Huffington Post, July 12, 2010

"I just got back from Iran."

In today's America, that's a conversation-stopper. Those of us able to say it become temporary objects of fascination, like our grandparents would have been if they had visited China or the Soviet Union in the 1950s. Traveling to Iran makes one seem like a bold adventurer on a dangerous foray into enemy territory.

The reality is more prosaic. Although few Americans visit Iran, there is in fact no legal obstacle to doing so. I accompanied a group of American tourists on a thousand-mile, two-week trip through the country. We met no government or opposition leaders, but we were free to talk with ordinary Iranians, and did so at every stop. Because the government has made it difficult for Western journalists to work in Iran, traveling the country this way may now be the best way to gauge its people's mood.

The first thing that strikes Americans who visit Iran is how amazingly pro-American its people are. Nowhere else in the Middle East, nowhere else in the Muslim world, and almost nowhere else on earth do people so unreservedly admire the United States. Opinion surveys confirm this phenomenon, and I remembered it from previous visits. Nonetheless it was disorienting, in the heart of the purported axis of evil, to to be surrounded, as I was at Imam Square in Isfahan, by giddy female college students shrieking "We love America so much!" At a Persian garden in Kashan, I met a solemn elder whose only English phrase is "America very good," and who pronounced it with grave reverence.

Pro-American feeling in Iran is due mainly to Iranians' admiration for what the United States has achieved. Americans have what many Iranians want: democracy, personal freedom, and rule of law. Their desire for these blessings is not abstract or transitory. It is the product of their century of striving toward liberal democracy. Since the Constitutional Revolution of 1906, generations of Iranians have assimilated democratic ideals. Today their society is the opposite of their regime: open, tolerant, and eager to engage with the world. There is more long-term potential for democracy in Iran than almost anywhere else in the Muslim Middle East.

Pro-American sentiment in Iran is a priceless strategic asset for the US. A military attack would liquidate or at least severely weaken this asset. It would probably turn the most pro-American population in the Middle East into anti-Americans, further undermining the US position in the world's most volatile region.

The second thing I learned in Iran is that last year's explosion of anti-government protest is finished, at least for the moment. Governments use repression against protesters for the simple reason that it usually works. It has worked in Iran. Many people are unhappy -- it is impossible to estimate how many -- but no one I met predicted more upheaval soon. Life is reasonably good for most Iranians, and a possibly stolen election is not enough to force them from their homes to face beatings and arrest.

This suggests that if there are to be any negotiations with Iran over the next few years -- the amount of time it may take for the Iranian nuclear program to mature -- they will have to be with the current regime. Postponing a broad negotiating offer in the hope that the regime may fall is unrealistic.

Finally, I was struck -- though not surprised -- by the unanimity with which Iranians, even those who joined last year's protests and fervently support the reform agenda, reject help from the US or any other outside power.

"Many people don't like the regime, but they don't want the Americans to come and rule us," a shopkeeper in the Shiraz bazaar told me. "They would rather live under a regime they don't like than a regime placed in power by foreigners."

This sentiment is widespread and powerful in Iran. The reason is to be found in modern history. For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, Iran was ravaged by foreigners who subjugated its people and looted its resources. Whenever Iran has sought to modernize -- whether by building a steel mill in the 1930s or by nationalizing its oil industry in the 1950s -- outsiders have intervened to block it. This has made Iranians as sensitive to foreign intervention as any people in the world. It leads them to reject political forces that they see as sponsored, supported, or encouraged from abroad.

For complete article, click here

Cricket: "Pakistan’s reputation for producing brilliance from adversity is legend" - Telegraph

Australia take on Pakistan in first neutral Test in England for 98 years

Philanthropy towards Pakistan is not a gesture you would normally expect from cricket’s international community but that is how the first neutral Test in England for 98 years is being promoted by the England and Wales Cricket Board.
 
Derek Pringle, Telegraph, UK July 12, 2010
 
Naturally, Australia, their opponents, see it differently, but it is difficult to reprogramme a team for whom Lord’s motivates on the most primal level.

“Our preparation has been similar to an Ashes Test so the feeling has not been a lot different this time,” Ricky Ponting, Australia’s captain, said. “We haven’t worried too much about the opposition but Lord’s is a great place to play and there’s a lot of excitement around the team.”

If Ponting sounds a mite blasƩ about his opponents he has every right to after Australia won every game against Pakistan last winter. In fact, the Australians have won their last 12 Tests against them, so another victory here would give them a world record number of wins against another team (Sri Lanka also have 12 in a row against Bangladesh).

Logic, especially one that pits a well-drilled team against one beset by problems, not least the worsening security situation at home, suggests a one-sided contest with Ponting’s team, bolstered by the return of pace bowlers Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus, coming out on top. Yet, Pakistan’s reputation for producing brilliance from adversity is legend.

Their bowling, which includes Danish Kaneria, the world’s pre-eminent leg-spinner, is their prime strength. The pace attack of Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer is nicely varied, with Aamer, 18, said to be better than Wasim Akram at the same age.

For complete article, click here

Police swoop on banned outfits in Punjab - Finally

Police swoop on banned outfits
By Abdul Manan, The Express Tribune, July 12, 2010

LAHORE: Police swooped on supected hideouts of outlawed militant groups in four districts across southern Punjab and rounded up more than three dozen people it claimed were front-ranking cadre of these organisations, officials said on Sunday.

The arrests were made following raids in Sahiwal, Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan on the night between Saturday and Sunday. Officials told The Express Tribune that the crackdown was launched silently and without much fanfare.

According to a breakdown, eight suspects were arrested from Sahiwal, 12 from Bahawalpur, around half a dozen from Multan and the rest from Dera Ghazi Khan.

There are however indications that obsolete information was used to carry out clandestine raids on several madrassas and mosques as well as homes of suspected militants. Some police officials confirmed that law enforcement personnel had relied heavily on “outdated lists of sectarian people” – which had been prepared by the home department in 1990 – before mounting the operation.

They also said that their colleagues chose to fall back on the old method of detaining the suspects under section 16 of Mainte-nance of Public Order (MPO) which would guarantee them freedom in a matter of a week or a month.

According to sources, the raids on some homes brought embarrassment because the suspects who once resided there were no longer alive.

Their names were still present on the consolidated list of the home department though.

Insiders claimed that the police had spared Jaish-e-Muhammad from the operation it had carried out in Bahawalpur range.

Two decades ago, the home department prepared a consolidated list of around 800 persons who were involved in various acts of sectarian violence or other related crimes. It also circulated the names of sectarian outfits and identified them as approved persons who might be a threat to the law and order of the concerned district.

Sources added that the home department had been issuing this obsolete list of sectarian outfits even in 2010.

For complete article, click here
Related:
53 held during crackdown on banned outfits in Punjab - Daily Times
VIEW: Banning the banned organisations - Muhammad Amir Rana, DT
22 Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan offices sealed, over 170 activists held - The News

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Staving Off Pakistan's Collapse, One Step At A Time

Staving Off Pakistan's Collapse, One Step At A Time
By Steve Hynd, Newshoggers, July 10, 2010

My friend Josh Mull, the Afghanistan Blogging Fellow for The Seminal and Brave New Foundation, has a couple of excellent posts on what he sees as the coming Pakistani meltdown, here and here. I urge you to read both, they're fairly long but will repay close reading because Josh knows Pakistan and it's people at first hand and has the brights to be able to translate that experience into analysis without succumbing to cliche. For my mind, these two posts should be required reading for anyone thinking about Af/Pak and the wider ripples of geopolitics the war in Afghanistan creates.

Josh paints a bleak picture of the future:

Pakistan’s national security policy of supporting terrorist groups and militias as proxies against India, known as "strategic depth," is accelerating out of control, and they are either deliberately or inadvertently engineering a globalized religious war, a Clash of Civilizations. Both terrorist and insurgent elements are evolving, with the Taliban co-opting Al-Qa’eda’s idea of religious war to legitimize its fight against the Pakistani state, and Al-Qa’eda in turn co-opting the Taliban’s objective of confronting India to legitimize the sub-continent as the premier theater of global jihad. Hawkish India, for one, will not take these developments lightly.

If pressure on congress is not increased, if the US remains on the slow, ambiguous timetable it is on now, it will be caught right in the middle of this clash. The bloodbath of Iraq in 2006 was only a preview of what will happen if there is a civil war in Pakistan, or a (nuclear?) war between Pakistan and India. Or both. If the US does not expedite its withdrawal, as well as dramatically reform its policies toward the region as a whole, we will very quickly be sucked into that conflagration.

And writes that this increasingly likely possibility has been arrived at by many little steps.

Every ISAF soldier, every night raid, every civilian casualty, every fresh Taliban recruit, every drone strike, every Blackwater mercenary, every stolen election we overlook, every elected representative we sideline and marginalize, every "strategic summit" with tyrants like General Kayani and Musharraf before him, every unaccountable dollar we funnel to the corrupt criminals in Kabul, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi, every single, tiny action is a pin prick to the stability of the region, an almost unnoticeable chipping away at the integrity of Pakistan, as well as its neighbor Afghanistan.

Pakistan is equally liable, with their long history of supporting terrorists and militants, their capitulation to the worst extremist and de-stabilizing elements in their society, their willingness to betray democracy in favor of dictatorship, their negating long-term national goals for short-term gains from unhelpful foreign alliances, their hideous victimization of their own citizens (first in East Pakistan, now in Balochistan), and of course the inexplicably obsessive apatite, the fetish, Pakistan’s elite has for war with India.

These individual policies in turn feed our mistaken perceptions. We see them as isolated, not in their complete context. Sure the civilian casualties recruit militants, we say, but we’re fighting a war. Sure the war in Afghanistan is bad, but we’re pushing the extremists across the border. Sure the extremists in Pakistan are bad, but we support the western-educated Army. Sure the Army is unelected, but the civilian government is corrupt. And on and on it goes until there’s simply nothing left. Afghanistan destroyed, Pakistan inflamed, and our own country politically and economically ripping apart at the seams. It all adds up, whether we’re awake to it or not.

For complete article, click here

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Pakistan tries new counterinsurgency strategy in Baluchistan

Pakistan tries new counterinsurgency strategy
Dawn, 10 Jul, 2010
 
CHAMALANG, Pakistan: With every bag of coal Madad Khan dumps into trucks at this mine reopened with the army's help, Pakistan hopes it is moving closer to quelling a 60-year-old nationalist insurgency in this restive southwest province where Afghan Taliban leaders are rumoured to hide.

Echoing US counterinsurgency strategy in neighbouring Afghanistan, the army has peppered Balochistan with dozens of development projects to win hearts and minds, an effort officials say has accelerated in recent months alongside a push by the federal government to address local grievances.

Pakistan hopes to replicate this counterinsurgency strategy in other areas along the Afghan border where the army is battling a separate rebellion led by the Pakistani Taliban. But like the US effort in Afghanistan, many observers are skeptical Pakistan's recent push in Balochistan will succeed given the deep distrust of the state and security forces.

''They are unable to pacify the people because the political and economic alienation of the local population is huge,'' said Riffat Hussain, professor of defence studies at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad.

Balochistan remains Pakistan's poorest province despite the presence of vast natural resources that residents complain are mainly exploited to fill the central government's coffers. They also chafe under what they view as effective military rule.

For complete article, click here

In India, Castes, Honor and Killings Intertwine

In India, Castes, Honor and Killings Intertwine
By JIM YARDLEY, New York Times, July 9, 2010

KODERMA, India — When Nirupama Pathak left this remote mining region for graduate school in New Delhi, she seemed to be leaving the old India for the new. Her parents paid her tuition and did not resist when she wanted to choose her own career. But choosing a husband was another matter.

Her family was Brahmin, the highest Hindu caste, and when Ms. Pathak, 22, announced she was secretly engaged to a young man from a caste lower than hers, her family began pressing her to change her mind. They warned of social ostracism and accused her of defiling their religion.

Days after Ms. Pathak returned home in late April, she was found dead in her bedroom. The police have arrested her mother, Sudha Pathak, on suspicion of murder, while the family contends that the death was a suicide.

The postmortem report revealed another unexpected element to the case: Ms. Pathak was pregnant.

“One thing is absolutely clear,” said Prashant Bhushan, a social activist and lawyer now advising Ms. Pathak’s fiancĆ©. “Her family was trying their level best to prevent her from marrying that boy. The pressure was such that either she was driven to suicide or she was killed.”

In India, where the tension between traditional and modern mores reverberates throughout society, Ms. Pathak’s death comes amid an apparent resurgence of so-called honor killings against couples who breach Hindu marriage traditions.

For complete article, click here
Untouchable - National Geographic
“So, you want to marry my daughter?”: The Caste System: An Overview - Lecture of Prof. M Narasimhachary

Thursday, July 08, 2010

FATA will be merged into Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Province - Decision Finalized?

Govt to merge FATA with KP: Haqqani
* Envoy to US says tribal people should not be kept separate because it has already deprived them of basic facilities
By Iqbal Khattak, Daily Times, July 9, 2010

PESHAWAR: The federal government will gradually merge FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistani Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani said on Thursday.
The ambassador made these remarks during a radio interview. The proposed merger of the Tribal Areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is supported by the Awami National Party (ANP) but opposed by the tribal elders. “The government’s declared policy is the gradual inclusion of the Tribal Areas into what is now known as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and the idea is that the people of the Tribal Areas should not be kept separate because that separateness has deprived them of schooling, infrastructure and economic opportunities,” he told Radio Mashaal in Prague. It is for the first time that a senior government official has publicly announced a major policy statement about the Tribal Areas where al Qaeda and the Taliban have established strong footprints after the US ousted the Taliban in 2001.

Haqqani’s statement comes at a time when the government has delayed the implementation of the FATA reforms, which President Zardari had announced on August 14, 2009. The issue of merging the Tribal Areas was not discussed in the 18th Amendment and according to some political analysts, the merger might require a constituional amendment. “The government and the international community has allocated vast resources now and as soon as peace is restored in the Tribal Areas, one of the first things that will be done is to start building new infrastructure, bringing clean water, roads and schools,” Haqqani said. The merger of FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is supported by the ANP and its secular allies, but different tribal areas have strong reservations on the issue. “We will never support FATA’s merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Tribal Areas President Malik Waris Khan said. “We need a separate province,” he told Daily Times. “Our leader Benazir Bhutto had told the party’s tribal leaders that autonomy status like Gilgit-Baltistan will be given to FATA. The issue of a merger should be decided by the tribal people, not outsiders,” Waris said.

The ANP has been demanding FATA’s merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “The merger will largely help the tribal people and we welcome it,” ANP Vice President Senator Haji Muhammad Adeel said. Haqqani said the government had “consistently maintained” that “we consider all the Taliban a threat to our own security as well as to the security of our region and the world”.

For Background, see:
Bring FATA within NWFP-Asfandyar - Khyber.org
Agenda for FATA Reform - By Khalid Aziz
President Obama's Policy Options in FATA - By Hassan Abbas, ISPU

When Data sahib turned malamati - By Dr Mohammad Taqi

COMMENT: When Data sahib turned malamati — Dr Mohammad Taqi

Like in Iraq, the al Qaeda-Taliban strategy in Pakistan appears to focus on the existing divisions between the major Islamic sects. The jihadists are attempting to play on the historical religious fault-lines in Pakistani society and trigger internal violence and mayhem

Daily Times, July 8, 2010

“The path of blame has been trodden by some of the sufi sheikhs. Blame has great effect in making the love (for God) sincere. The followers of the Truth (ahle haq) are distinguished by their being the object of vulgar blame (malamat)” — Data Ganj Bakhsh in Kashful Mehjoob.

Professor Reynold Nicholson, in his 1911 translation of the above quoted work, had called the 14th chapter of Kashful Mehjoob (Revelation of the Mystery or Unveiling the Veiled) as the most remarkable one. This is the section where the author Syed Abul Hasan Ali bin Usman bin Ali al-Ghaznavi al-Jullabi al-Hajvery, popularly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh or simply Data sahib, discusses the various sufi (mystic) orders. Incidentally, the sufi order Malamatiyyah (the reviled ones) and their practices are described first.
Data sahib acknowledged the practice of drawing upon oneself the blame and insult of worldly men (duniya) to achieve closeness to the Almighty, only within the confines of God’s prescribed ways. He, thus, discouraged the sufi to purposely draw upon himself blame and contempt, as that too may be pretentious. He wrote that “to seek blame is ostentation and ostentation is mere hypocrisy”. However, Data sahib narrates an episode from his travels where he became the target of hate and ridicule of some, and concludes, “The more they scoffed at me the more glad became my heart, so that the endurance of this burden was the means of delivering me of that difficulty which I had mentioned (earlier).”

For complete article, click here

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

CIA and Pakistan locked in aggressive spy battles

CIA and Pakistan locked in aggressive spy battles
The News, July 07, 2010

WASHINGTON: Publicly, the US credits Pakistan with helping kill and capture many al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders. Privately, the relationship is often marked by mistrust and double-dealing as Pakistan runs double agents against the CIA and the agency tries to penetrate Pakistan’s closely guarded nuclear programme.

Spying among friends is old news in the intelligence business, but the US-Pakistan relationship is at the heart of Washington’s counterterrorism efforts. Any behind-the-scenes trickery could undermine those efforts as well as the long-standing hunt for Osama bin Laden.
One recent incident underscores the schizophrenic relationship between the two countries. Last year, a Pakistani man approached CIA officers in Islamabad, offering to give up secrets of the country’s nuclear programme. To prove he was a trustworthy source, the man claimed he had spent nuclear fuel rods. But suspicious CIA officers quickly concluded that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was trying to run a double agent against them.

CIA officers alerted their Pakistani counterparts. Pakistan promised to look into the matter and, with neither side acknowledging the man was a double agent, the affair came to a polite, quiet end.

Bumping up against the ISI is a way of life for the CIA in Pakistan, the agency’s command centre for recruiting spies in Fata. Officers there also coordinate Predator drone airstrikes, the CIA’s most successful and lethal counterterrorism programme. The armed, unmanned planes take off from a base inside Balochistan known as “Rhine.” “Pakistan would be exceptionally uncomfortable and even hostile to American efforts to muck about in their home turf,” said Graham Fuller, an expert on Islamic fundamentalism who spent 25 years with the CIA, including a stint as Kabul station chief.

For complete article, click here
Related:
CIA and Pakistan locked in aggressive spy battles - Wahsington Post
Dirty ISI Stalks Poor CIA, Again - International Analyst Network

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

War On Terror Should Include Plan To Fight Radicalization

War On Terror Should Include Plan To Fight Radicalization
Times Square bomber warned U.S. to military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq
Susan Campbell, Hartford Courant, July 4, 2010

The large conference room was filled, and some of the gathered wanted to share stories of indignities suffered at the hands of airport security personnel.

You can't blame them. To be the target of racial profiling is demeaning and worse, but Adil Najam, a Boston University professor with an interest in global public policy, eventually asked for a halt to the litany. There are as many tales of woe as there are people who go to airports, he said, to scattered laughter.

Besides, time was short, and the topic important. "I left Europe to come to this conference and I am heading back to Logan to leave straight from the conference," he said. "To be honest, it makes sense to screen me."

In May, Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad, of Shelton, tried to set off a bomb in Times Square. He was arrested, and last month pleaded guilty "100 times over," he told a judge. He also said that others will carryout similar attacks until the United States removes its military from Afghanistan and Iraq, stops drone attacks on Somalia, Yemen, and Pakistan — stops, in short, its aggression toward Muslims and Muslim nations.

Should we listen to a terrorist?

Possibly.

Within three frantic weeks of Shahzad's arrest, Pakistani-American organizations assembled an impressive roster of international bold-face names from a variety of disciplines to come to East Hartford to discuss how best to counter radicalization. The conference, held on a June Saturday, stretched late into the night. The active participation of a some FBI agents, said one attendee, was a sign of the importance of using every tool against extremism — though at one point, a satchel was found, someone called out that it belonged to an FBI agent, and the speaker holding the satchel out for identification dropped it like a hot rock. That got another laugh from the crowd — including people sitting at the FBI table.

Radicalization is, "what goes on before the bomb goes off," said Hassan Abbas, a Columbia University professor, former Pakistani government official, and author of "Pakistan's Drift Into Extremism: Allah, the Army and America's War on Terror." When radicalization involves religion, Abbas said the process includes deciding, sayd Abbas, "'I want to go into this heaven, but I want to take you to the same heaven by hook or by crook'" — by violence, if necessary.

For complete article, click here

Insights on the U.S. Development Strategy in Pakistan

Newsletter of Centre of Global Development
U.S. Development Strategy in Pakistan July 2010

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Center for Global Development's newsletter on U.S. development strategy in Pakistan. Each month, we highlight the latest developments in Washington and in Pakistan, drawing on the work of CGD's Study Group on U.S. Development Strategy in Pakistan. In this month's edition: basic principles for effective development aid in Pakistan, development investments in the FATA region, Senators Kerry and Lugar weigh in on the design of the U.S. aid program, and policymakers in Washington and Islamabad seek a solution to Pakistan's energy crisis.

If you find this newsletter useful, we encourage you to forward it to any others who might be interested in receiving future editions. We welcome your comments and feedback. You can reach project director Molly Kinder at mkinder@cgdev.org or (202) 416-0757.

To visit the website, click here

Police struggle to battle militants in Pakistan

Police struggle to battle militants in Pakistan
By SEBASTIAN ABBOT (AP) – July 5, 2010

LAHORE, Pakistan — In Pakistan's heartland of Punjab, the front line force against the surge in Islamic militant attacks is a poorly equipped, incompetent and corrupt police.

And that's only part of the problem.

Police complain powerful Pakistani intelligence agencies fail to share crucial information, while the province's government remains reluctant to act against influential militant groups.

Taliban fighters along the Afghan border orchestrate attacks in Punjab by teaming up with local militants who were once supported by the Pakistani government to fight in Kashmir and Afghanistan. They have turned against their former masters because of the country's close alliance with the U.S.

Lahore, the provincial capital and Pakistan's second largest city, is increasingly targeted. Just two years ago it was rarely blighted by bombings. In the last month alone, attacks have killed at least 135 people, including 42 who died last week when two suicide bombers detonated their explosives among thousands visiting the famous shrine of an 11th century Sufi saint.

The strength of the police is critical for combating that violence because the government cannot rely on the military to battle militants as it has done in the rugged, northwestern tribal areas.

While police have sometimes been commended for extreme bravery in the face of suicide attacks, their reputation is generally poor. Police often extract bribes from citizens, and Transparency International says they are the most corrupt public sector agency in Pakistan.

In addition, they are often poorly trained in carrying out investigations and regularly use torture to elicit confessions, Hassan Abbas, a Columbia University professor who previously worked with the Pakistani police, said in a recent report.

Even the Punjab police chief admits the force is struggling.

"It was a strain to handle traditional crime like theft, murder and property disputes," Tariq Salim Dogar told The Associated Press.

"The present dimension is totally new for all members of the police and other branches, with car bombs, suicide attacks and militants targeting law enforcement agencies," he said.

The issue has raised concerns in Washington, prompting the U.S. to budget millions of dollars in aid for the first time to boost police capabilities in Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province and the key to stability or chaos in this nuclear-armed nation.

Thursday's shrine bombing also drew attention to a lack of coordination between security agencies, with police complaining they lack actionable intelligence to prevent attacks. That was echoed by the party that governs Punjab — which is in opposition to the national government and often bickers with it over who is to blame for failing to stop militant violence.

"We are not getting good intelligence from the intelligence agencies, especially the Intelligence Bureau and others under the Interior Ministry, which I think is important if we have to fight terrorism," said former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the country's main opposition leader, whose brother is the chief elected official for Punjab.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik denied any problems with intelligence sharing and said that his ministry warned the Punjab government a few days before the latest attack that a mosque or shrine might be targeted.

Local Punjab officials dismissed the intelligence they receive as too vague and pointed to the country's most powerful spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, as the group that most needs to cooperate. ISI, which is controlled by the military, has the closest historical links to the banned militant groups whose members are believed to be carrying out attacks in Punjab.

"As far as intelligence sharing is concerned, it is an old and unpleasant experience that valuable intelligence is not shared by any agency with any other they consider rivals," said Dogar, the Punjab police chief.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, who controls the provincial police, said ISI is the only group that has the capability to track militants through their cell phone calls, e-mail and other communications.

Sanaullah said they often ask ISI for help in tracking cell phone calls, but either don't receive assistance or get the information days after it is useful. He has pleaded with the federal government unsuccessfully to transfer this capability to the province.

"Our law enforcement agencies don't have the resources they need to fight terrorism," said Sanaullah. "Without this, our forces can offer their lives to the terrorists, but they can't defend effectively."

ISI did not respond to AP's attempts to get their comment.

The Punjab police budget more than doubled in the past five years to roughly $500 million, largely from salary increases. But officers are still short of many basic resources, including communications equipment and armored personnel carriers, said Sanaullah. There are only 5,000 bullet proof vests for a force numbering 170,000, he said.

When gunmen and suicide bombers attacked two mosques of the minority Ahmadi sect in Lahore about a month ago, killing 93 people, one policeman told a witness that he couldn't fight back because he only had four bullets in his gun.

At least 30 police stations in Punjab don't even have buildings, forcing the officers to operate out of tents that are highly vulnerable to militant attacks, said a senior police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

After the Sufi shrine attack, the interior minister acknowledged that Punjab police lack sufficient capacity and promised to ask the prime minister to transfer additional funds.

The U.S. has also begun to focus on the problem, budgeting $15 million for civilian law enforcement in Punjab that it hopes to allocate in the coming months, said U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire. Past assistance has been focused on bolstering elite police in the northwest near Afghanistan, he said.

Abbas, the Columbia University professor, said additional funds would be welcomed but would not solve the most fundamental problem hobbling the police in Punjab and elsewhere in Pakistan: political interference in the appointment of officers.

"You have people sitting in the hierarchy who are only there because they have political connections, which is a recipe for disaster," said Abbas.

Several senior police officials echoed this complaint, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Political interference prevents the appointment of officers based on merit and also deters police from pursuing cases that might upset their political masters, said Abbas.

The latter problem is particularly important in Punjab because analysts say the provincial government is reluctant to go after banned militant groups that can deliver key votes during elections. Sanaullah, the law minister, even campaigned alongside members of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba group in March.

"If we are going to win this battle against militancy, the police is the primary institution that can do it," said Abbas. "But the kind of urgency and revolutionary zeal for reform that is needed is missing."

Associated Press writers Asif Shahzad and Babar Dogar contributed to this report.

Friday, July 02, 2010

Ghazi Force: Vengeful new militant group emerges in Pakistan

Vengeful new militant group emerges in Pakistan
Dawn, July 1, 2010

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities now believe a dangerous new militant group, out to avenge a deadly army assault on a mosque in Islamabad three years ago, has carried out several major bombings in the capital previously blamed on the Taliban.

The emergence of the Ghazi Force was part of the outrage among many deeply religious Pakistani Muslims over the July 2007 attack by security forces against the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, a stronghold of militants.
The fierce attack, in which scores of young, heavily armed students died, inspired a new generation of militants.

These Pakistanis have turned against a government they felt has betrayed them and, to their dismay, backed the US role in neighboring Afghanistan.

The brief but bloody history of the Ghazi Force illustrates the unintended results of Pakistan's policy of promoting extremists to fight India in the disputed area of Kashmir.

That policy— which Pakistan denies it pursues —now threatens regional stability as the US and Pakistan's other Western partners pour billions of dollars into the country to stop the rise of militancy.

The new group is made up of relatives of students who died in the Red Mosque assault.

For complete article, click here

Data's Shrine in Lahore Attacked by Suicide Bombers


Darbar attack shakes Lahore
Dawn, 02 Jul, 2010

LAHORE, July 1: Fear gripped the city on Thursday night after two blasts in the space of a few minutes at Data Darbar left 36 people dead and more than 175 injured. The Lahorites were dazed by the attack at the shrine of a saint who is revered as the true custodian of the city.
The attack came on a Thursday, considered as a holy day by the faithful. On Thursday nights and early hours of Friday, Data Darbar usually bustles with people: men, women and children, from near and far.
The bomb attacks took place despite the fact that tight security arrangements were in place in the metropolis, which on the other hand led to the uneasy feeling that the law enforcers had some intelligence about the possibility of a terror strike in Lahore.
In the days preceding the suicide explosions, the Lahore police had conducted house-to-house searches in many city localities, rounding up scores of people for questioning. The area around Data Saheb was also combed thoroughly in recent days.

According to details available with Dawn only one of the many gates to the shrine was open and everyone who entered was frisked. Yet the terrorists wearing heavy suicide jackets managed to sneak in. The caretakers and other witnesses said one of the two suicide bombers blew himself close to the area where the visitors perform ablutions (wazoo) while a second bomber exploded the device tied to his person in a courtyard inside the shrine complex.

A caretaker told media that given the law and order in the country, there was this constant threat posed to the darbar and those who visited it to seek the Data Saheb’s blessings. He said the incident happened despite the fact that security around the shrine had been beefed up.

To the people in the street, the horrifying terror hit at the darbar, exposed the futility of the security apparatus against terrorists who are determined to kill and destruct at any cost. “The issue of internal unrest is tied to political instability,” commented Azhar Khan, a businessman who was extremely disturbed by the news of the blasts. “You can’t have security without political stability.”

And it appeared that the terrorists are determined to kill anywhere, the blasts at the shrine removing the (false) sense of security that desparate people are wont to use as a shield in times dangerous. Until now the feeling had somehow survived that the terrorists had some specific target -- the enemy -- in mind. If somehow the theory is still valid after the Thursday night’s indiscriminate aiming at hundreds of faithful gathered at the shrine, it will have to be said that few will be able to claim with any confidence that they are safe from the terrorists’ onslaught.

The government did attempt to restore public confidence with statements issued in the wake of the attack, but of greater significance on Thursday was the rescue work the government workers undertook along with volunteers. A large number of the injured were taken to Mayo Hospital. Mayo Medical Superintendent Dr Zahid Pervez said many of the wounded were in serious condition. Some of the injured were rushed to other government-run hospitals in the city.

Related:
Lahore's Data Darbar shrine - BBC
Suicide Bombers Strike Sufi Shrine in Pakistan - NYT
Data Darbar Attacked: Suicide Bombers Murder 40+ in their War Against Pakistan - Adil Najm