The Baloch struggle

Quetta: 27 March, 2012 was spent commemorating the 27 March, 1948. That was the day Pakistan Army occupied Balochistan. In the Baloch prism this occupation is termed illegal, inhuman, and unlawful. But for the Pakistani narrative Balochistan’s demand for independence was out of question. At the time of partition states and provinces could either secede to Pakistan or India. The prospect of a third entity ‘Balochistan’ was incomprehensible. Then is it illegal to demand what goes against the laws by which states are governed? Or is it unlawful for the state to use force against a people it views as digressing? Does a state not have monopoly over aggression (if need be)? Can any local leaders or populations unite and make demands for separation? These are questions that need to be understood. What are the laws that govern states as a whole? Can coercion bring these freedom fighters under the state’s thumb? 

Today the Baloch claim that their rights are being neglected/ violated, their natural resources are being exploited by the other three provinces, and Islamabad’s ‘colonial’ mindset on the Baloch table has gotten even more suffocating with the decades. The recent American Congress intervention by the ‘Special Committee on Oversight and Investigations’ could be considered a new type of drone attack on Pakistani sovereignty. The Congress invited in Ali Dayan, a social activist apparently and drafted an entire resolution on ‘Pakistan’s other war: Balochistan’ based on one man’s word. Within two weeks the Congress was told he was exaggerating, and how can a province’s fate be based on one man’s testimony? More importantly the Secretary of State Hilary Clinton assured our flustered political establishment that US respects Pakistan’s sovereignty. Whether it was a genuine apology, or just our media/ Prime Minister hallucinating we can perhaps not know.

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Can anything be done about Pakistan’s economy?

Pakistan is struggling. Struggling to keep afloat in a sea of political, economic and social issues. It suffers internally from inflation, power shortages and fear of losing our jobs, homes and families. Its people are divided along ethnic, racial and religious lines. Injustice and corruption rule the night and the day. All this is being reined by leaders who purport to represent the people but fail to mention who exactly is included in “the people”.

While the county’s political scenario has been interpreted as productive or destructive, depending on which house you belong to, its economic productivity is relatively easy to determine. Measures like the balance of payments, imports and exports, taxes and revenue can give a good picture of where the economy stands. The current picture is, unfortunately, quite miserable.

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Bangladesh won our hearts

Although he is not my first Bangladeshi friend,Rohaan is definitely the first diehard Bangladeshi cricket fan I have ever met. He reminds me of how I used to be about cricket:crazy,emotional,passionate and frustrated. This March,the Bangladesh cricket team went all out to give their millions of fans,including Rohaan, a reason to cheer;something they have been longing for for a very long time.

At the Asia Cup 2012,the Bangladeshi team crossed all sorts of hurdles to make it to their first big final. On the final ball of a nerve bursting over,they were just two runs short of making their heroic performance a historic one. Pakistan,although more due to their luck than experience,was awarded the privilege to lift the cup,but it was Bangladesh who made an impression that day.

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Singh interested in visiting Pakistan provided concrete developments are made

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani met on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul.

Manmohan Singh thanked Gilani for conferring the Most Favoured Nation trading status to India. He also expressed willingness to visit Pakistan but only if 'strong and concrete' developments could be guaranteed.

"I had a good meeting with him. I thanked him for the trade concessions that they have announced," the Prime Minister said on board his special aircraft while returning from a four-day visit to South Korea.

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NATO’s presence in Central Asia

Advocating democracy is neither a “remedy” to Central Asia’s political ills nor a sound “strategic option” for NATO.

London, United Kingdom - Dubbed as the “pivot region” of world politics, the five Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have collectively gained an immense strategic importance over the last two decades, thanks to their geography and vast deposits of natural resources including gold, gas, oil and uranium.

Today, China has its eyes on Central Asia as a source of energy and raw materials for its expanding economy, as well as a “critical frontier” for its trade expansion and ethnic stability. Chinese state-owned enterprises have penetrated deep into the infrastructure and energy sectors across the region, especially in Turkmenistan, while the government has sought to increase its soft power by sponsoring a large network of Confucius Institutes in the region’s capitals.

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The Enigma of the CIA Chief of Counter terrorism Center

WASHINGTON - For every cloud of smoke that follows a CIA drone strike in Pakistan, dozens of smaller plumes can be traced to a gaunt figure standing in a courtyard near the centre of the agency’s Langley campus in Virginia.

The man with the nicotine habit is in his late 50s, with stubble on his face and the dark-suited wardrobe of an undertaker. As chief of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Centre for the past six years, he has functioned in a funereal capacity for al Qaeda.

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Sunni Tehrik decides to participate in elections

The Pakistan Sunni Tehreek (PST),hitherto a non-political religious party,has announced that it will participate in the upcoming elections.

Addressing some 15,000 supporters here at the ‘Azad Pakistan Conference’ at Minar-i-Pakistan,PST head Sarwat Ijaz Qadri requested the participants to vote for the Tehreek,or at least cooperate with the party. He labelled the Difa-i-Pakistan Council   formed by Ahle Hadith and Deobandi parties the “Fisad-i-Pakistan Council”,and accused it of causing terrorism in the country.

Sahibzada Fazle Karim,the head of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC),was not invited to the conference,though the Sunni Tehreek is an important component of the SIC. A PST official said that Karim had not been invited. “He used to take all the credit for SIC gatherings,even though most of the supporters at these gatherings were PST workers,” he said.

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THE KANDAHAR ATROCITY

Sergeant Bales is under custody in the Fort Leavenworth military prison in the US. This is where the perpetrator of the My Lai (VietNam) massacre was lodged after he had lined up innocent villagers and had them shot in cold blood. The perpetrators of the Haditha Massacre in Iraq walked free. Not much happened to those who tortured abused and humiliated Iraqis in Abu Gharaib prison. The US Marines who urinated on corpses of Afghan Taliban have yet to be punished as are the British soldiers who abused children and those who hunted Afghans for sport as a ‘kill team’ and also those who mutilated Afghan corpses to take away parts as trophies. The Koran burning in Baghram is still under investigation. So there was much to inspire Bales and even before the reality of the Kandahar atrocity sank in there were moves afoot to bail out the criminal Bales.

In a hard hitting article Robert Fisk has effectively trashed the ‘deranged’ soldier defense of Bales. The word being put out was that he was under stress from four tours---three in Iraq before the one in Afghanistan---and that the strain unhinged him. It is also being said that he was an ‘even tempered soldier’, a family man and not the stereo type of a killer. What about the others who have committed atrocities? Were they all deranged by stress? What about the chain of command---is it so malfunctional that it cannot detect deranged characters and prevent them from leaving fully armed securely guarded facilities without detection? General Karimi the Afghan Army Chief has debunked the lone madman theory and has clearly stated that this was a deliberate planned killing and many soldiers were involved. This was also Pakistan’s conclusion when its border post was attacked and 24 soldiers killed. Is there a ‘rogue’ segment in the US military in Afghanistan or are criminals and killers being recruited to do the killing because it is a volunteer force and serving in it would appeal to those who have nowhere else to go. This could explain the muted response to US deaths in wars that should never have been.

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CNIC: Collective National Identity Crisis

Pakistan- the great melting pot of cultures,ideas and gene pools;located smack in the middle of the cross roads leading to almost every great ancient civilization that sent its war lords our way,looting plundering and introducing new strains of genetic material to mix in our own. They were conquerors,robed priests and wandering ascetics who travelled this way to introduce their own brand of God to the sun worshiping natives who embraced them whole heartedly generation after generation. A people born into the beautiful idealism of the Vedas embraced ideology that appealed to their socio-economic circumstances and quest for a higher purpose,we were cast and recast into several forms,we built a nation claiming unity of one form yet today we are left with that gaping question:who are we?

When Dahir’s severed head was presented to Hajjaj,a courtier sang:“we have conquered Sindh after enormous trouble…. Betrayed is Dahir by Mohammed Bin Qasim’s masterly strategy. Rejoice,the evil doers are disgraced. Their wealth has been brought away . . . They are now solitary and brittle as eggs and their women,fair and fragrant as musk-deer,are now asleep in our harems.”

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Pakistani panelists stopped from cross questioning Indian officials

An eight-member panel  who was in India to record statements of the Indian officials who had interviewed Ajmal Kasab and conducted autopsy of the gunmen killed in the terror attack has complained that Indian authorities did not allow them to cross-question.

A member of the panel, while talking to The Express Tribune confirmed that the panel had completed recording statements of the Indian officials including the Chief investigative officer who had questioned Ajmal Kasab and two doctors who had conducted autopsy on eight of his accomplices.

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Romney’s neo-Imperialism is terrifying to say the least

Mitt Romney’s stance on Iran is nothing new, but his embracement of neo-imperialist foreign policy is worrying.

It would be easy to dismiss Mitt Romney’s Washington Post op-ed of this past week regarding US policy towards Iran as yet more self-serving blather in a political season already rife with it. No doubt, many who read the Republican presidential candidate’s harsh criticism of President Obama’s Iran policy were inclined to think so, and there were many obvious reasons why they should.

First was the former Massachusetts governor’s somewhat imaginative account of the reasons for the Iranians’ release of the US embassy hostages some 30 years ago, on the day of President Reagan’s inauguration. In Romney’s telling, the Iranian government, having toyed with the “feckless” Jimmy Carter for 444 days, was so impressed with the transparently steely resolve of the incoming former state governor and movie actor that it preemptively capitulated, rather than incur his wrath. Precisely how the Iranians were so prescient, given that Reagan had uttered not a word of public criticism of his predecessor’s policy on the hostages, is unexplained.

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Karzai, Afghanis want an answer

Families of victims of a US soldier's shooting spree in Kandahar berate Afghan President Karzai at emotional meeting.

The Afghan president had no answers.

An emotional Hamid Karzai, flanked by his senior officials, listened patiently on Friday, as families of the 16 victims recounted the US soldier's pre-dawn shooting spree in southern Kandahar province.  

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For a separate Sindhu Desh

Jeay Sindh Tehreek’s million march failed in its first attempt to seek independence for Sindh. After large turnouts at the rallies organised by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf,Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam,it was the first such event arranged by a Sindhi nationalist party.

The JST leaders had claimed to gather around a million people for the march which was held to demand an independent Sindh. But hardly 3,000 to 4,000 people attended the rally which emerged from Numaish and culminated at Tibet Centre on Sunday afternoon. They were holding placards with words “Sindhu Desh” written on them.

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What Sarkozy can expect

Chances that the current French president will be re-elected are slim to none.

Amherst, MA - In less than three months, Nicolas Sarkozy will probably become the second president in the 50-year history of the French Fifth Republic to be defeated for re-election. (The first time was in 1981, when incumbent president Valery Giscard d’Estaing lost to Francois Mitterrand.)

Sarkozy’s standing in the polls is at a historic low for a Fifth Republic president. His main rival, Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande, enjoys a commanding lead: 58 per cent compared to Sarkozy’s 42 per cent, according to a Le Monde poll in early March. An imbalance of this magnitude between major candidates this close to the election is unprecedented in the history of the Fifth Republic.

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Breaking Boundaries

For a country that appears frequently in international headlines,most people worldwide have little knowledge about the real Pakistan. Its role in the war on terror is of great interest but few have fully explored what values,beliefs and ambitions of the natives really are. The dominant discourse about Pakistanis is of a traditional,patriarchal,backward and radical minded society that lacks law and order and practices corruption. What can be said about women in such a society when even the common man is suppressed? Contrary to this view,women in Pakistan have inched their way beyond the boundaries of their homes and have even firmly established their presence in many sectors of the society.

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Cornered

Pakistanis have always been wary of the army and its cohorts. Recently they have become the brunt of all misfortunes and conspiracies. Our intelligence agency has been accused of a long list of criminal activities including the memogate scandal,abduction of “missing persons” ,extra judicial killings,links with militants like the Taliban and paying off political parties. Human right activists have blamed the Pakistani army for violating human rights. But the threat of such an institution becomes real when the common man starts fearing for his security from their watchful eyes. One such example was the accusation regarding the military’s alleged participation in Shia killings in Baluchistan,KP and FATA and most recently in Gilgit.

Various incidents and events have been presented as evidence of army’s involvement in the latest incident. It was said that the terrorists were dressed in military uniform,the most visual proof of some connection to the army. However,uniforms can be purchased from any costume shop. The uniform was used to give the insurgents legitimacy to stop the bus. If the army was involved in sectarian killings why would it in right sense of mind,make such a blatant error? It would be better to appear as inconspicuous as possible. Secondly,the killings took place in an area with high military presence. The escape of these terrorists does appear dubious. But then,perhaps the uniforms were also meant to fool the real army personnel.  Worst of all,the army has merely offered to probe into the matter. Their silence is ironically incriminating them even more. But in sensitive matters,the army and intelligence operations are not supposed to disclose information. The silence of the army could also be to protect its people and not add more fuel to the current controversies.

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US, Pakistan and pipeline politics

 

My word, are we showcasing some guts in the Iran-Pakistan pipeline episode! Hina Rabbani Khar’s riposte to Hillary Clinton’s ‘threats’ over the IP project was not only valiant she even made it sound realistic. Last week the US hierarchy – in a class ROFL moment – labeled the IP pipeline as a “bad idea”. And this week they are touting Iran as an “unreliable partner”…the sheer irony is painfully amusing. The US lecturing about the reliability of partners is like Lucas Papademos giving a tutorial on controlling debt crises or Veena Malik giving instructions on wearing hijaabs.

So what is your idea of a reliable partner Mrs Clinton? Someone who doesn’t give a rabbit about your energy shortage? One who can’t stop meddling in your internal affairs and wants you to align yourself dutifully to its policies even if it’s bound to be detrimental for your own self? Or someone who kills innocent soldiers and civilians and then doesn’t bother to do as much as apologise, for courtesy’s sake? Of the intriguing (read comical) verbiage served up by the US Secretary of State one particular statement stood out. “As we are ratcheting up pressure on Iran, it seems somewhat inexplicable that Pakistan would be trying to negotiate a pipeline,” Hillary Clinton said. With Pakistan finding itself in a deep hole as far as the energy predicament is concerned, fulfilling half of its energy needs via gas and running out of channels to quench the need of the aforementioned gas, is it really that ‘inexplicable’ Mrs Clinton that Pakistan would want to negotiate a pipeline with a neighbouring country that it has friendly terms with? Plus, the alternative that you’ve been giving us, the TAPI (Turkmenistan Afghanistan Pakistan India) pipeline has taken a nosedive into oblivion, primarily because a certain country has ensured that the A in TAPI borders on a war-torn fragile zone and definitely no way near the periphery of safety. 

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Will China step in the Iran crisis?

Beijing may be reluctant to intervene in the Iran crisis. But if an Israeli strike seems imminent, there are several things it can do to pressure Tehran.

This coming week, U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a crucial meeting on how to confront the Iranian nuclear problem. It’s doubtful that the United States and Israel will see eye-to-eye on the potential use of force, but any friction between the two could have an upside: fearing an Israeli airstrike, China may be more willing to use its own influence to pressure Tehran.

The argument Netanyahu is likely to make is that, as Iran draws closer to a nuclear weapons capability, Israel’s window of opportunity to conduct a successful strike is closing. As a result, Israel will agree not to attack only if it obtains a firm guarantee that Washington will act militarily down the road, assuming that sanctions continue to prove ineffective. If the U.S. can’t supply such a pledge, “Israeli leaders may well choose to act while they still can.”

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Apologetic about Balochistan?

Balochistan these days is making headlines and all patriotic elements are feeling deeply perturbed over the worsening security situation in Balochistan owing to excessive interference by several foreign powers. The print and electronic media instead of playing a positive role and highlighting the true facts is reinforcing misperceptions and portraying Balochistan as a lost case. Runaway dissident Baloch leaders spewing venom against Pakistan are given lot of space by our print and electronic media, particularly Geo channel. They are allowed to spit poison on Pakistan and to preach independence of Balochistan and no pointed questions are asked. This is exactly what the adversaries of Pakistan wish for and is in harmony with propaganda of western media. While our print and electronic media is feverishly engaged in tarnishing the image of Army and ISI on the basis of human rights violations, foreign media blames the two premier organizations on charges of abetting cross border terrorism in Afghanistan, India and Occupied Kashmir and their linkage with Afghan Taliban.

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Pakistan to continue projects with Iran despite US pressure

Pakistan’s top leadership on Thursday underlined the country’s commitment to pursue energy projects with Iran, including a multi-billion dollar gas pipeline, despite growing pressure from the US to abandon such ventures.

“We have bilateral relations with Iran and we are a sovereign country. We will do whatever is in the interests of our country. There is no perception of a threat,” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said.

He made the remarks while responding to a question about US threats to energy projects with Iran, including the pipeline and ventures to import electricity, on “Prime Minister Online”, a monthly TV show in which he interacts with the public.

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Manufacturing disasters in Pakistan’s industries

Pakistan manufacturing industry has been to hell and back. With most of the industries allocated to India, Pakistan started its industry from scratch and gradually built it way to the top. Established in 1952, the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) was set up to invest in industries that required heavy capital injections, long gestation periods and advanced skills and knowledge. Our industry expanded from small scale industries like flour mills and rice husking industries to heavy industries like cement, jute, steel and fertilizer industry. 

However, the growth in the 60’s was offset by the nationalization process introduced by Bhutto in 1972. It was aimed at distributing the wealth of the 22 rich families amongst the rest of the people. The management of these industries was handed over to bureaucrats instead of professionals. The ensuing corruption and mismanagement ate away the successes of the industry.

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Google new privacy policy receives criticism

Google rolled out its new privacy policy yesterday allowing the firm to track users across various services to develop targeted advertising,despite sharp criticism from US and European consumer advocacy groups. Google contends the move simplifies and unifies its policies across its various services such as Gmail,YouTube,Android mobile systems,social networks and Internet search. “The new policy doesn’t change any existing privacy settings or how any personal information is shared outside of Google,”Google privacy chief Alma Whitten said on the Google Blog today.

But critics including European privacy agencies and US consumer watchdogs argued the new policy,which offers no ability to opt out aside from refraining from signing into Google services,gives the Internet giant unprecedented ability to monitor its users. “Calling this a ‘privacy policy’is Orwellian doublespeak,”said John Simpson of the US advocacy group Consumer Watchdog. “Google isn’t telling you about protecting your privacy. Google is telling you how they will gather information about you on all its services,combine it in new ways and use the fat new digital dossiers to sell more ads. They’re telling you how they plan to spy on you. It’s a spy policy.”

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Cabinet approves lifting trade barriers with India

Pakistan announced a goal of normalizing trade with India by the end of the year, a gesture that is part of tentative attempts to improve relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

In a statement Wednesday, the office of Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the government planned to phase out major restrictions on Indian imports by Jan. 1, 2013.

Pakistan recently scrapped a system of allowing imports of fewer than 2,000 items from India. It moved instead to a "negative list," which bans around 600 items from India but allows trade in all other goods.

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Why are Pakistanis hating on Misbah?

First of all,let me apologize for the misleading headline. This is not a hate article about Misbahul Haq,nor is it one which supports him. When Pakistan lost to England,almost all of us decided to blame him for the defeat. Like all of our country’s misfortunes and losses,we decided to make our captain the scapegoat.

Let us recall the events that culminated in Pakistan’s defeat. We had an opener (Hafeez) who didn’t score a single run,Afridi who got run out for three and didn’t take any wickets,Umar Gul who got hit around by Pietersen,a pitch as dead as a Pakistani politician’s honesty and Cheema who bowled a lollypop of a full toss in the last over.

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Who will be the next DG ISI?

It’s appointment time at the Fortress on 7th Avenue. Pakistan’s premier intelligence arm, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence, is transitioning through a change of the guard. After an unprecedented two extensions at the helm of the ISI, infantryman (or as he prefers it, Piffer) Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha is getting ready for golfing. Or is he?

The deadline for the switchover is March 18th, the day Pasha says goodbye to his Aabpara staff of at least six sub-directorates (‘Analysis’, ‘Counter’, ‘Internal’, ‘Media’, ‘Special’ & ‘Technical’) and goes packing. Assuming he will either not be offered an extension (which has to officially come from the office of the prime ninister), nor accept an extension if it is offered (which may be likely as it will make him look good and the PM/government seem thankful and happy), the DG-I (preferred again, for only civilians call him DG-ISI) will be replaced by a man who will have to be battle-ready without the luxury of any ‘settling in’ period.

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