Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Pakistan's Role in Afghanistan

Pakistan’s Taliban Nightmare Pakistan, key to Afghan security, seeks political agreement that protects its interestsZahid Hussain
YaleGlobal, 23 August 2012
ISLAMABAD: Contrary to the general perception, Pakistan is not pushing for the return of Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Instead, the prospect of the Taliban taking over the war-torn country after the pullout of foreign forces is the biggest nightmare for the Pakistani security establishment.

A major worry is that Taliban control next door would give a huge impetus to Pakistan’s own militants seeking to establish retrogressive rule in the northwestern border regions. This would also make fighting local Taliban more difficult for the Pakistani Army.

Thousands of Pakistani troops are battling the militants for control of lawless border regions in northwestern Pakistan. Despite some successes, government forces have yet to establish their writ over the territory that also provides sanctuaries to Afghan insurgents. “If they [NATO forces] are leaving and giving a notion of success to the Taliban of Afghanistan, this notion of success may have a snowballing effect on the threat matrix of Afghanistan,” General Khalid Rabbani, Pakistani commander of frontline cops fighting the militants, told Reuters in a recent interview.

The concern stems from the fact that it’s ethnic Pashtuns on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border who have taken the lead in the insurgency – around 27 million Pashtuns live in Pakistan and 14 million in Afghanistan. A distinctive Taliban movement known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, has evolved into a formidable insurgent force, presenting a serious threat to Pakistan’s own national security.
For complete article, click here

Related:
Prospects for Indian-Pakistan cooperation in Afghanistan -
By Sadika Hameed, CSIS

This report looks at possible areas of cooperation between Pakistan and India, particularly in Afghanistan. Three observations motivate this research. First, regional security will likely be achieved only if at least some degree of cooperation is attained among the region’s primary state actors. Second, Afghanistan cannot advance economically or improve its security and governance without some cooperation from India and Pakistan. Third, although many observers view the idea of Pakistani and Indian cooperation with skepticism, there are likely significant security, governance, and economic advantages for both countries should they find more common ground.

The India-Iran-Afghanistan Triangle of Influence

The Iran-India-Afghanistan riddle By Vijay Prashad
Asia Times, August 12, 2012

At the sidelines of the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Tehran, Iran, the governments of Afghanistan, India and Iran will hold a small conclave. Commercial issues are at the top of the agenda. Not far down the list, however, are significant political matters. These are of great interest as the Israelis and the United States power up their aircraft for a bombing raid on Iran’s Fordo nuclear bunker, and as the US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) begin their obligatory withdrawal from more than a decade-long occupation in Afghanistan.

Geography is one of the greatest reasons for the trade between these countries. In May, Afghanistan's Commerce and Industries Minister Anwar al-Haq Ahady and Iran's Ambassador to Afghanistan Abolfazl Zohrevand signed an agreement to deepen the trade ties between these countries. The main issue before them was use of the Chabahar port in southeastern Iran. About 50 hectares of land beside the port have been set aside for the construction of a hub for Afghan traders.

Few people paid any attention to this pact, although it has much broader implications than for these Afghan traders. For the past 10 years, the Indian government has been working with the Iranians to upgrade the Chabahar port, with the expectation that eventually Indian ships will dock there and unload cargo destined not only for the Iranian market, but crucially for the Afghan and Central Asian markets.

The Chabahar port would make the land route across Pakistan unnecessary for Indian trade bound for the lucrative Central Asian market. In 2003, Afghanistan, India and Iran signed their first agreement regarding this project. Iran was to build a road from Chabahar to the Afghan border, and India was then to build a road from there to Zarang/Delaram, which is on the Kandahar-Herat highway. In other words, Chabahar would be linked to Kabul and to points north. The roads are now ready, and Chabahar is prepared to be the main transit point for Indian goods.

Chabahar comes from the words char (four) and bahar (Spring), suggesting that the port has four seasons of springtime. It is a major warm water port and will allow goods to travel into Central Asia throughout the year.

For complete article, click here

Related:
Iran Transit By C Raja Mohan - The Indian Express
Persian puzzle for Manmohan Singh at NAM - Reuters
India-Iran Cooperation In Afghanistan: Potential And Problems – Analysis - Eurasia Review
Iran to ask India for spurring tri-nation pipeline - Zee News

Monday, August 27, 2012

Introducing Sindhi Studies Group - An Informative and Educational Blog

Blog: Sindhi Studies Group:Society, Culture and Territory in India and Pakistan

The aim of this scholarly blog is to develop a platform bringing together social scientists interested in Sindh, a region located in southern Pakistan, and its diaspora, mainly in India. The goal of our study group is to share and disseminate a wide range of information on the evolution of Sindhi society while exploring the interrelated dynamics in the religious, political and cultural arenas.

VISIT: http://sindh.hypotheses.org/
From the Blog:
Book launch in Karachi,
November 7, 2011 By Rémy Delage

The book by Michel Boivin, Artefacts of Devotion. A Sufi Repertoire of the Qalandariyya in Sehwan Sharif, Sindh, Pakistan, was launched on 28th of October 2011 at the Alliance Française de Karachi (AFK). Read the book description from the official website of OUP in Karachi:

“Sindh, the land and the river which gave its name to the subcontinent, is a region rich in history with a distinctive cultural heritage. It is the first base of Islam in the subcontinent but can be defined in religious terms as independent and more flexible. As a result, Sufi Islam took root here and spread across the Indus region attracting Muslim and non-Muslim devotees alike.

In this book, Michel Boivin, who has devoted much of his time to the study of Sindh, takes his readers to Sehwan Sharif’s shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, one of the Sufi icons of Sindh. Shahbaz Qalandar, of Persian Asian descent, is described as one of the unconventional qalandars who was accepted as ‘one of the sons of Sindh’; his ‘kalam’ made him ‘a symbol of daring authenticity during times of stifling conformity’ to quote the author. Boivin has produced a volume that explores and explains ‘the Sufi repertoire’ as he terms the monuments and artefacts of devotion, particularly in the Qalandariyya context, and is enriched by painstakingly researched and striking images. Through the four main chapters and the Excursus, the reader is introduced to the description, history and significance of each aspect of the artefacts and of the shrines in the Indus region, mainly Sindh. The book is supported by a comprehensive glossary, a list of illustrations, bibliography and an index.”

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Understanding the Legacy of General Zia in Pakistan

In Praise of Zia
The Quaid-e-Azam and Ziaul Haq were two leader­s who knew what Muslim­s wanted and gave it to them.
By Aakar Patel, Express Tribune, August 18, 2012

The writer is a columnist. He is also a former editor of the Mumbai-based English newspaper Mid Day and the Gujarati paper Divya Bhaskar aakar.patel@tribune.com.pk

This past week marked two anniversaries, that of Pakistan’s birth and that of President Ziaul Haq’s death.

Zia is a strange figure. Reading about him in Pakistan’s English press one would think that he is hated by most Pakistanis. Daily Times, in its editorial of August 15 said: “So-called Islamisation, starting from Zia’s era, has reduced the state and society to being entrapped by religious intolerance and lack of direction.”

This is typical and Zia tends to pick up the blame for conditions in Pakistan’s society.
But the fact is that the Hudood laws remain on the books. Pakistan Studies and Islamiat also remain in textbooks.

Why? The answer is that Ziaul Haq gave Pakistan what it wanted.

Liaquat Ali Khan and the Muslim League gifted Pakistan the Objectives Resolution, committing to align law with Sharia. Ayub Khan wrote the law restricting non-Muslims from becoming president. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto stopped non-Muslims from becoming prime minister. His law on Ahmadis need not be referred to other than to remind readers that it was both democratic and unanimous. All elected and unelected Pakistani leaders have generally moved in the direction that Zia also did. But he did it less hypocritically than others.

After his death, a hagiography (“Shaheed-ul-Islam Muhammad Ziaul Haq”) was published by Zia’s friends. The contribution from Nawaz Sharif, which I suspect was written by Husain Haqqani, praises Zia for being like Allama Iqbal. Zia believed in the reconstruction of religious thought, writes Sharif, though I think that’s doubtful. In the same book, Zahid Malik writes that though seen as a nuclear hawk, Zia was willing to sign the non-proliferation treaty (NPT). His conditions were: 1) South Asia be declared a nuclear-free zone, 2) India and Pakistan sign simultaneously, 3) The two also sign a bilateral non-proliferation treaty, 4) The two allow international inspectors to check each facility and 5) The two renounce the use of nuclear weapons.

I think this was a wise proposal, even if Zia was saying this to escape the United States’ pressure on signing the NPT. If India had accepted, we would have a less unstable subcontinent today.

For complete article, click here

Related:
Why Ziaul Haq should not be forgotten - Saroop Ejaz, Express Tribune, 2012
Zia’s Long Shadow - Abbas Nasir, Dawn, 2012
Pakistan living with the legacy of Ziaul Haq - Khalid Hasan, Daily Times, 2004
Public Policy Dilemmas and Pakistan's Nationality Problem: The Legacy of Zia ul-Haq -
Lawrence Ziring, Asian Survey, Vol. 28, No. 8 (Aug., 1988), pp. 795-812

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Principles of Good Governance in Islam

Good Governance Early Muslim Style
By Patricia Lee Sharpe, Whirled View,  06 September 2010

This piece, which I posted to counter anti-Muslim hysteria during the Bush administration, is probably even more relevant today, when political convenience and ignorance are combining to create a toxic environment for Muslims in America.

Ali bin Abi Talib, the fourth Caliph and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed, wrote a long letter of guidance after appointing Maalik al-Ashtar to be Governor of Egypt. He advises the new governor that his administration will succeed only if he governs with concern for justice, equity, probity and the prosperity of all.

The passages excerpted below illustrate the timeless applicability of Hazrat/Imam* Ali’s admonitions. The letter itself is contained in the Nahjal Balaagha, which is a collection of the letters and speeches of the fourth Caliph.

Manifest religious tolerance: Amongst your subjects there are two kinds of people: those who have the same religion as you [and] are brothers to you, and those who have religions other than yours, [who] are human beings like you. Men of either category suffer from the same weaknesses and disabilities that human beings are inclined to; they commit sins, indulge in vices either intentionally or foolishly and unintentionally without realizing the enormity of their deeds. Let your mercy and compassion come to their rescue and help in the same way and to the same extent that you expect Allah to show mercy and forgiveness to you.

Equity is best: A policy which is based on equity will be largely appreciated. Remember that the displeasure of common men, the have-nots and the depressed persons overbalances the approval of important persons, while the displeasure of a few big people will be excused...if the general public and the masses of your subjects are happy with you.

The rich always want more: They are the people who will be the worst drag upon you during your moments of peace and happiness, and the least useful to you during your hours of need and adversity. They hate justice the most. They will keep demanding more and more out of State resources and will seldom be satisfied with what they receive and will never be obliged for the favor shown to them if their demands are justifiably refused.

For complete article, click here

Thursday, August 09, 2012

Neo-Sectarianism in the Muslim World

Neo-Sectarianism and an Intra- Muslim Cold War?
Ibrahim Kalin, Today's Zaman, August 8, 2012

The Muslim world has had its share of sectarianism in the past but its modern incarnations pose a different set of challenges. Neo-sectarianism is different from the medley of traditional theological and juridical differences among Muslims. It is primarily an ideological and geo-political phenomenon. Neo-sectarianism among Sunnis and Shias is increasingly becoming part of the new proxy wars in the Middle East, running the risk of an intra-Muslim cold war.
The good news is that the vast majority of Sunni and Shia Muslims do not see themselves as soldiers of a sectarian war. The bad news is that historical grievances and theological differences are manipulated to raise tensions. Neo-sectarianism is thoroughly political and driven by a mixture of what Ibn Khaldun called ‘asabiyyah, which means group solidarity, identity politics and power struggle. When misused, ‘asabiyyah can lead to division and fighting rather than unity and creativity as Ibn Khaldun hoped the Muslim communities of his time would do.

Today, group identities are much more complex and sophisticated, intertwined with a wide range of social, economic and political factors, which shape identities across the Muslim world. Recognizing this complexity is vital for managing and overcoming sectarian tensions. Pitting Sunni ‘asabiyyah against Shia ‘asabiyyah does not solve the problem.

Attempts at Sunni-Shiite rapprochement in the modern period have not been in vain. In 1959, Mahmud Shaltut, the Shaykh of al-Azhar University, issued a fatwa authorizing the teaching of Shia jurisprudence as part of al-Azhar’s curriculum. This was reciprocated by Ayatullah Burujardi, one of the most influential Shia scholars of his time. Shaltut and Burujardi opened the door for a serious dialogue between Sunnis and Shias.

For complete article, click here