The Pakistan Military Proves its Mettle

Source: Institute of South Asian Studies, an autonomous research institute at the National University of Singapore

By Ishtiaq Ahmed[1]

It is argued in this brief that the recent London conference on the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan was a major success for the Pakistani military in convincing the international community that its cooperation is vital to resolving the crisis in Afghanistan. It was achieved in light of the fact that the Pakistani military effectively combated Taliban terrorism on its own soil. The Pakistani military has also come out against the Taliban domination of Afghanistan in case of an early United States (US) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troop pullout, because it would threaten Pakistani security and national interests.

Wolf is still at the door

Dr. Tahir Rauf

New sexual harassment legislation, an amendment to the Criminal Law was passed in the National Assembly and later signed by the president Asif Ali Zardai this week. The bill provides protection to “working women at workplace” against harassment and intimidation. The offence is punishable with either three years imprisonment, Rs.500, 000 fine or both.

Sexual harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances and the victim(s) may be a woman, or a man or a child. In a civil society, the victim does not have to be the person harassed but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct or associated with the victim or offender.

However, many women rights groups and NGOs have expressed an overwhelming response to the legislation. Without a doubt, this passage of legislation advocates limiting behaviors on the basis of morality and promises new cultural and social values of the daily norms. Laws are made about defending people’s rights from being violated by others. However, the new law’s implementation is an implicated issue considering moral and social behaviors based upon an evaluation of the current circumstances in Pakistani society.

Soviet Lessons from Afghanistan

By MIKHAIL GORBACHEV

Published: February 4, 2010

Cross Post from The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/opinion/05iht-edgorbachev.html?pagewanted=1

Afghanistan is in turmoil, with tensions rising and people dying every day. Many of them — including women, children and the elderly — have nothing in common with terrorists or militants.

The government is losing control of its territory: of the 34 provinces, the Taliban controls a dozen. The production and export of narcotics is growing. There is a real danger of destabilization extending to neighboring countries, including the republics of Central Asia as well as Pakistan.

What began after Sept. 11, 2001, as a seemingly appropriate military response aimed at rooting out terrorism could end in a major strategic failure.

Robert Gates’ Visit to Pakistan

By Bilal Qureshi

During his Pakistan visit, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote an article for an English daily in which he basically stressed the need to work together. On the other hand, while in India, Mr. Gates implied that had India not acted sensibly (I am paraphrasing) after the Mumbai attacked, there was a real chance of war breaking out between Pakistan and India. Now, from my reading, Mr. Gates is giving the impression that terrorists responsible for Mumbai were somehow linked to either Pakistan, or some branches of governments in Pakistan. And second, it is India who is acting maturely; otherwise, India would have been right to attack Pakistan to seek revenge. 

Obviously, everyone in Pakistan strongly disagrees with Mr. Gates.

Drone attacks and US reputation —Farhat Taj

 In terms of the drone attacks, the US must not make any distinction between al Qaeda and the Taliban. They both have internalised a global ideology that is anti-civilisation and anti-human

There is news coming up in the media that al Qaeda in Waziristan may run away to Yemen in the face of growing drone attacks. The people of Waziristan have expressed deep concern at this news. They do not want al Qaeda to run away from Waziristan. They want al Qaeda along with the Taliban burnt to ashes on the soil of Waziristan through relentless drone attacks. The drone attacks, they believe, are the one and only ‘cure’ for these anti-civilisation creatures and the US must robustly administer them the ‘cure’ until their existence is annihilated from the world. The people of Waziristan, including tribal leaders, women and religious people, asked me to convey in categorical terms to the US the following in my column.

Dr Afia needs justice which is seen to be done: Barrister Amjad Malik

Barrister Amjad Malik, Chairman (APL) an Association of Pakistani origin Solicitors, Barristers, Judges and ex pat members has taken a serious note of recent conviction of Dr. Afia Siddiqui of 3 February 2010 by Jury of 12 men at USA and has declared that this may result in a stumbling block between US-Pak people to people contact and relations between states. Dr Afia was kidnapped and kept at Bagram Airfield without the aid of a lawyer, doctor and or consulate access for years and being a Muslim women that has the potential to charge the mood of the public.

PAKISTAN: Constant violence against women in 2009

An Article by the Asian Human Rights Commission

Physical and sexual violence, honor killings, forced marriages and structural inequalities within the society are constant violations of women’s fundamental rights. The cases in this article were provided by Mister Mohammed Nafees from Karachi, based on news from Daily Dawn.

By Julia Lemétayer

2009 has been another tragic year for women rights in Pakistan. Many cases have been reported, in which women were abducted, assaulted, raped, murdered, forced to marriage or traded to resolve disputes. According to Aurat Foundation, a non-governmental organization working for women empowerment in Pakistan, between January and June last year, a total of 4,514 incidents of violence against women were reported. Victims, if they dare reporting these facts, have to face police obstruction and societal pressure. If some of these facts can be imputed to feudal societies and tribal traditions, the most worrying aspect of women rights violations is that some practices and ideas are simply entrenched in the mindsets.

Former corps commander, 2 ISI officials booked

Daily Times   04 Feb 2010

Case registered in line with orders of Supreme Court over disappearance of Quetta resident Ali Asghar Bangalzai

By Malik Siraj Akbar

QUETTA: Police in the provincial capital registered a case on Wednesday against former corps commander Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch and two senior ISI officials, in line with orders of a Supreme Court bench hearing a case related to the disappearance of a resident of the city, Ali Asghar Bangalzai.

The family of Bangalzai, a tailor master, registered the first information report (FIR) with the Sariab Police Station against the former corps commander, former ISI Quetta chief Brig Siddique and another senior ISI official identified only as Col Bangash.

Even SC can’t take away president’s immunity: Aitzaz

This report from the Daily Times is worth noting – the ‘laptop warriors’ might be disturbed with such clear pronouncements…

LAHORE: The constitution is very clear about a president’s immunity against criminal litigation and even the Supreme Court cannot take it away, former Supreme Court Bar Association president Aitzaz Ahsan said on Tuesday. Talking to reporters at the Lahore High Court, where he had appeared in connection with a case, Aitzaz said he had not changed his position on presidential immunity. “A president does not enjoy any immunity in civil

Poem: The Dance of Solitude

The solitude and its silence
Stands there, the grand empires
Built from dreams of the past
The old chaos of times
From distant corners,
Come they to examine
To see, how this life, spent
Through opium years to its magic
Hear they not, the deafening soul

The rapturous routines
The old peaceful moments
Built for the dreams of future
From distant corners
Come they to examine
Their own past and the colours
Through the years of violence
Hear they not, the drowning heart

The perpetual existence
In time and its space
In this grand scheme of life
From distant corners,
Travel they far, to examine
Themselves and the light
Through years of creation
To the end of time, hear they not
The Dance of Solitude!

Kashkin

Flaws in the judgment

By Asma Jahangir           Dawn, 26 Jan, 2010

  
The Supreme Court (SC) has spoken and the nation must bow its head. The chief justice has asked members of the bar to pray for the judiciary. This too must be respected, as the Almighty alone can rescue those who wish to destroy themselves.

There is open friction between the ruling party and the court. By not restoring the SC judges earlier and letting Justice Dogar run amok with the law, the government lost face.

Is Article 227 indispensable?

 By Naeem Sadiq                The News, January 28, 2010
 
If the Taliban were to come to power in Pakistan (which is what their struggle is all about), what would they do to the Constitution? The answer is: they would retain Article 227 and discard the rest of the Constitution. This single article of the Constitution would be sufficient for them to run the country. Their interpretation of this Article would be: “All laws to be brought in conformity with the injunctions of Islam – as perceived by the Taliban.”

They could arguably use the article to make laws to kill a barber for a haircut, bomb a school if it was attended by females, gouge the eyes of those who watched television, lash people for wearing shorts and cut off hands for theft, and to slaughter those who differed with the Taliban’s brand of religion – all in the name of Islam. Thanks to Article 227, all this would be well within the ambit of law and the constitution. The Taliban could not have conceived a better, simpler and more accurate one-liner constitution.

Nahid and the Secretary: Liaison d’Amour

By Pervaiz Munir Alvi

It is London, June 4, 1953. The official delegation of the Dominion of Pakistan, headed by Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Bogra, who also holds the portfolio of Ministry of Defence, is staying at the Claridge’s Hotel. Included in the entourage is the Secretary Ministry of Defence. Only two days earlier the Secretary, as part of the delegation, had attended the pomp and show filled coronation ceremony of Queen Elizabeth II. Today a telegram from the office of Air-Vice Marshal Cannon, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Pakistan Air Force arrives stating that the Secretary has lost his twenty year old son in a tragic plane accident. The Secretary is devastated. Comforting him in this moment of grief are his few close friends and a thirty-nine year old women named Nahid. The Secretary is Colonel Iskander Mirza – future President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The tender tea house

Thanks to our excellent team at PTH, we are being noticed and written about. Above all, without our readers and visitors at PTH, this e-zine would be meaningless (Raza Rumi)

The tender tea house (The National, UAE)
From Partition onward, Nasir Khan writes, a dusty cafe was the centre of Lahore’s literary life.

Pak Tea House sits on Mall Road in Old Anarkali, nestled between tyre suppliers and motorcycle workshops. Before Partition it was the India Tea House, but 1947 and a quick paint job changed that. No one knows why it became – along with several similar shops on the same street – a favourite haunt of so many intellectuals. Maybe it was the cheap but good milky tea, or the extra-sweet biscuits. Perhaps it was the literary sensibility of the first post-Partition owners, two brothers from India. It might have been the radio on the counter that was constantly tuned to Lahore’s call-in request programme. And, for scores of struggling writers and poets, the availability of food on credit certainly had something to do with it.

Farewell Haqqani Saheb – forgive your peers and colleagues

Raza Rumi

A personal favourite, Irshad Ahmad Haqqani is dead. This is a huge loss to Urdu journalism as he was the last of sane voices in the vernacular industry. I often disagreed with his centre-right views but his tone was measured and he remained a staunch supporter of democracy. May God bless his soul.

I stumbled on this post at Cafe Piyala that also talks about Haqqani but the best part of it was what Haqqani’s peers and junior collegaues had to say about him. I think some of the comments were so shameful that I could not even laugh with an easy conscience. I am quoting the last part of that post here that also is quite a treat:

Whatever they might say about him, he did invent the modern Urdu column, which is half analytical drivel, half dinner menus. Only during the last week, for example, Jang columnist Haroon-ur-Rashid (according to his column) demanded and got desi murghi from the Azad Kashmir prime minister, and Hamid Mir (according to his column) discovered new insights into judicial activism over a Kashmiri dish. I forget the name of the dish but according to Jang / Geo’s brightest star, it is made of mooli and shaljam and served with rice. The host was the Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khwaja Sharif.

SMS Dawaa: The Last Hurrah Of Religiosity

I came across this hilarious piece by the great Nadeem Farooq Paracha called the Holy SMS and thought I’d share it with all of you.   The truth is that this SMS trend is indicative of a growing insecurity vis a vis religion.  As society is confronted with modernity and becomes increasingly integrated in the information age,   it creates guilt pangs in people who are otherwise going about their business of living life just like anyone else in the world.   This ladies and gentlemen is the last hurrah of religiosity. -YLH

No priests needed – search of a Pakistani identity

Raza Rumi wonders why we remain in search of a Pakistani identity

Half-truths are what we love to indulge in. One of the countless crimes committed by President Asif Ali Zardari is that he wears a Sindhi cap instead of a Jinnah cap. That by preferring a Sindhi topi and thundering at the occasion of late Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary, he undermined his Pakistani identity, is truly mystifying. After all, what is a Pakistani identity and why is the Jinnah cap being elevated to the level of an article of national faith?

If anything, Mr Jinnah’s patronage of Muslim identity mark was an afterthought. His usual attire was a well-tailored pucca-sahib-like suit. It was only in the nineteen forties and that too close to India’s independence that Mr Jinnah started donning the Muslim nobility’s attire.

So what is this fuss all about? Constructing Pakistan’s ideology based on theological interpretation of a universal religion like Islam has been a carefully executed project of the Pakistani establishment and its shadows in the non-state domains. Such cliques have grown bigger, mushroomed and are now essential to our lived reality. Therefore lambasting of Zardari on not sporting a Jinnah cap finds public resonance and broad acceptability within the populous Punjab province where the Urdu press flourishes and finds readers and writers aplenty.The opening up of the electronic media has been a liberating experience but it also means that the deep-seated and embedded distortions, cultivated by the state, biased education system and militarisation, have now captured a wider public space. This includes audiences and listeners who are outside the ambit of the ‘literate’. Given the inherent dangers of such a phenomenal change, many independent observers have called for arresting and regulating further corporatization of the media. Advanced countries such as the USA have already experienced the pernicious trend of ‘dumbing down’ and mainstreaming unaccountable political and security agenda[s]. The case of the war on terror is a pertinent example of this unfortunate reality. If we are aware of it should we not undertake pro-active course correction?

Moving Towards a Global Afghan Taliban Settlement

Stratfor Analysis

January 25, 2010 will be remembered as the day when much of the planet buzzed about diplomatic talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban movement. The chatter comes in the context of a number of conferences that will be held over the course of the next week that focus on dealing with Afghanistan’s jihadist insurgency. The countries being represented at the meetings — including the United States, the Central Asian states, Europe, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, India and China — have a stake in what happens in Afghanistan.

A Win for the Women of Pakistan

by Dr. Fouzia Saeed

I would like to congratulate all the women in Pakistan on the passage of two significant pieces of legislation. The issue of sexual harassment had pained us for just too long. I learnt from my mother and other elders, and I am sure all the other Pakistani women learnt it from their mothers that, Ghar se bahir niklo gi to aiesa to ho ga” (If you will go out of the home you are bound to face it). Sexual harassment, every time we went out anywhere, was taken as a given phenomenon, a constant in our lives.  The burden was always on us to devise ways to handle it. Of course, these ways only restricted our own lives. No one in my life ever said that it was wrong and should not happen. The focus was how I can dress properly, not go out alone, not go out in the dark, take my brother along or even better not go out at all. Thus, the bottom line being that this teasing, intimidation and humiliation is there to stay. It was not until later in my life that I started to wonder if there could be a possibility that men could be prevented from harassing me. I am sure many other women have thought about this and, at least on some occasions, have challenged this humiliation.

The Human Journey

The mystery of Universe and the journeys taken by humans has had an immense impact upon different civilizations of the time. How humans have traversed from one civilization to another; how languages were developed and their attributes transferred to others. How architecture, culture, and everything that defines the very “fabric of civilization” created the need to survive, to transfer the knowledge and wisdom through the feathers of time. The modern times and era owes everything to the past – the struggles and its determination of those people and the times they lived in. In the course of time, some civilizations were to leave lasting impressions and some momentarily but their intrinsic nature remained to create something through the intellect and the learning endowed upon by them by nature. How history has captured those pages of time and its passages for its very need to determine how we have all evolved as humans in our ways and cultures. In various fields of science and in fields of arts and new technologies owes portion of their success to all that is left behind- some have been preserved by those who realized that very need to remain intact  and some lie there in the wilderness for all of us to learn what mankind achieved and lost.

In the end, each fleeting moment becomes part of history and the times we live in. The search still continues by the mankind- the very search and quest for who we are the very purpose of our existence and life. It is these questions – the very fuel and catalyst that drives us forward and it is that process of living we become part of those different cultures and languages. There may be many civilizations pertinent to different times but human civilization and its journey remains one in search for truth and purpose. The ways we attain those answers may be different and diverse; but the purpose remains the same. It is this journey of mankind through not the landscapes of time and buildings and architecture but through the human need to strive and struggle to find the purpose of life and its meaning.

Kashkin

Attention Madam Speaker Of The National Assembly Of Pakistan

I received this email and an appended letter to the honorable Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan,  Dr. Fahmida Mirza.   This is not being posted here for sectarian debate or any other kind of debate but for right of information- any attempts at introducing a theological debate on the issue shall be subject to automatic deletion.   Surely the geniuses who believe that the second amendment to the constitution was justified should not have any problem bringing to light the fascinating debate on the issue.   And it is appropriate that the PPP government should be in power as it was the party in power then as well. -YLH  

Dear Mr. Hamdani sahib, Hello Sir!

 My name is Bashir Khan and I am a recent graduate of the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Law which is located on the east coast of Canada (bordering Maine). At the moment I am working for a firm specialising in human rights and refugee law. I am a Pakistani-Canadian and have been living in Canada from the age of 11.  I am myself an Ahmadi Muslim. I wanted to mention this so that I could express to you that I am a strong believer in Mr. Jinnah’s secular Pakistan where all citizens regardless of cast, creed and religion are equal citizens of the state.

Pakistani Fashion Keeps The Flag Flying High

Lahore to display its style streak

Young designers will display a total of 62 unique creations based on specific themes * Workshops for young fashion designers to train them for the upcoming KFW By Ali Usman LAHORE: ‘Step Fashion Montage’, a one of a kind fashion show, being organised by the Step Institute of Professional Development is all ready to set the ramp on fire. The event will begin on Monday at the heart of the Mall Of Lahore.

Music vs. Militancy

Cross Post from Dawn Blogs

By Salman Siddiqui on January 21, 2010

Even though Pakistan is bleeding from terrorism and suicide bombings, no mainstream , pop music artist has come close to condemning or questioning the spread of militancy through music and lyrics. A recent video from The New York Times highlighted this issue, showing how pop acts such as Ali Azmat and Noori were keeping quiet on the subjects of terror, religious extremism, and the Taliban, while railing against America through their songs. In this context, 25-year-old Daniyal Noorani‘s debut effort ‘Finding Heaven,’ which was released on YouTube a few days ago, is encouraging. The daring single takes the Taliban and religious extremists head on, creating quite a buzz online. Dawn.com speaks with Noorani to find out what prompted him to fill the ideological vacuum in our music scene.

 

Pakistan: Military Undermines Government on Human Rights

Battling Taliban No Excuse for Complicity in Abusive Counter-terrorism Practices

(New York, January 21, 2010) – Pakistan’s military actively undermined the civilian government’s human rights agenda in 2009, Human Rights Watch said today in its new World Report 2010.

The 612-page report, the organization’s 20th annual review of human rights practices around the globe, summarizes major human rights trends in more than 90 nations and territories worldwide.

The report says that Pakistan’s military publicly and privately resisted the government’s reconciliation efforts in the troubled province of Balochistan and attempts to locate people “disappeared” there during General Pervez Musharraf’s military rule. The military also opposed the international community’s attempts to end military intervention in the political and judicial processes through aid conditions.

“The Pakistani military continues to subvert the political and judicial systems in Pakistan,” said Ali Dayan Hasan, senior South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “After eight years of disastrous military rule and in spite of the election of a civilian government, the army appears determined to continue calling the shots in order to ensure that it can continue to perpetrate abuses with impunity.”

Shahrukh You Rock !

IPL fiasco threatened to further worsen Pakistan-India ties.  Now the great King of Bollywood has stepped up to the plate and spoken on the issue. -YLH

The team owners of the India Premier League (IPL) have so far stood together on the issue of not bidding for any Pakistani players in the third edition of the event. They had come out in the media denying any foul play. But now a prominent voice among them has stood up and voiced his opposition to the issue. It is none other than the Baadshah of Bollywood, Shahrukh Khan who owns the Kolkata Knight Riders. Buzz up!In an interview to a leading news channel Shahrukh Khan said “They are the champions, they are wonderful but somewhere down the line there is an issue and we can’t deny it. We are known to invite everyone. We should have. If there were any issues, they should have been put on board earlier. Everything can happen respectfully,” It may be recalled that Shahrukh Khan who had taken active part in the bidding of the players in the first season had shown keen interest in Pakistani players. He had roped in Umar Gul and maverick Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar in the first season. Shahrukh’s statement is bound to add to the controversy especially after fellow Bollywood celebrities Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty having gone out in full support of the fairness of the bidding process.