Friday, September 20, 2013
Hapless Nisar betrayed by ‘Koofa-ites’ fights
The News
20 Sept 2013
ISLAMABAD: Embarrassed is the word for what Chaudhry Nisar must have felt when caught off guard about the sorry state of affairs in his party. It was awkward because, as the PML (N) parliamentary leader, he should have known what every pen-pusher in the Press Gallery knew: the party cares two hoots about defending, well, the party.
He almost accused the Speaker chosen by his own party of partiality in letting one opposition speaker after another blast the government. “How can you do this,” a visibly irritated Nisar protested after listening to MQM and PTI speakers rip apart the government, particularly about Karachi. “This is unfair.”
He reminded the Speaker that when “you and I” were in the opposition the rule was to allow two government speakers for one in the opposition. “But I see that you have not given chance to a single member from the treasury,” he almost reprimanded the Speaker.
He was probably quietly told that it was not the Speaker’s fault as nobody from his party had volunteered to defend the government.Many government backbenchers were actually seen backing the opposition members, noticeably from the Saraiki belt, by thumping the desks. This was probably a first for old-timers to see a government losing its gusto in just three months.
Even Nisar seemed surprised and looked back towards his comrades with a scathing ‘what-are-you-guys-up-to’ look. The arrow from the Kameengah, as goes the famous Urdu couplet, came from nobody else but ‘friends.’ At least he was honest enough to apologise and then promised to take up the matter in the Cabinet.
We could tell Nisar a few reasons for this lack of camaraderie in the PML (N) ranks. We were actually surprised that Nisar, a veteran of record eight Assemblies, was surprised. Come on Einstein, it’s not a party. What did he expect from this stable of ‘eligibles’ that the PML (N) gathered only recently? A big chunk of them is from the PPP.
The other half forms that motley crowd of turncoats named as PML (Q) by the dictator who languishes in the seven-star jail in Chak Shehzad. Why do you think Pervaiz Elahi does not come to the National Assembly at all? He would rather enjoy life in Spain or Britain than to have his blood boil seeing the people who got billions from him sitting on the opposite aisle. Old habits die hard for this power-hungry lot.
They want ministries, flag cars, police escorts, arms licences, exemptions, quotas and jobs that they want to sell to recover the huge amounts that they spent on the election - something that the Election Commission overlooked so conveniently.
The federal government gave them some bones in the shape of development funds. The Punjab government too obliged them by letting them have SHOs of their choice to keep ‘order’ - all in the name of ending the so-called ‘thana-katchehri’ culture. This makes sure that the PTI will, Alhamdulillah, remain out of Punjab for decades.
But these “worshippers of the rising sun,” to quote Mahmood Achakzai, want much more and will not defend the government until the PML (N) goes back to its old ways. Remember Nisar and Company invented this style of politics circa 1985.
So the hapless Nisar, betrayed by Koofa-ites, took it upon himself to defend, well, himself. And he did a good job presenting a mixed bag of ‘goods and bads.’ He deserved credit for at least trying to clear the Karachi mess under trying conditions, particularly when there is a different government in Sindh. Yet, he claimed, Rangers had accomplished 400 targeted operations against heinous crimes and the police 1000 against street crimes.
The death toll had come down from between 12 and 15 to two or three people daily. It was a relief to listen that “the criminals are running away from Karachi” as their tentacles were traced as far as Murree and Waziristan.
“Trust me, we have a plan,” he said explaining the phased operation that will culminate in the mopping up of the criminals. He admitted that the dialogue offer to Taliban got jolted by the attack that killed Major General Niazi and others but warned those who were suggesting ceasefire. “We know what we are doing,” he pleaded in earnest. We just hope he was right. At the end of the day it is the executive that has to take the decision and deliver with or without consensus.
It would have been a little comforting if we could have a little glimpse of the government road map. Or just an indication whether government will continue talking or go for the operation at some stage or have a more nuanced mix-and-match approach.After all, the government also needs to share and perhaps take into account the Parliament, the media and - lest we forget - the public.
So far, we are all in the dark as everything got decided behind closed doors, much to our chagrin. It’s time to open the lid and, to quote one and only Munnu Bhai’s famous poem, “make us a witness in our own case.” And soon. Finally, somebody needs to share Nisar’s burden, particularly his best pal from Lahore.
‘Drunk’ PIA pilot charged in UK, suspended by airline
The News 20 September 2013
LONDON: A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) pilot was charged with an alcohol-related aviation offence after being arrested at Leeds Bradford International Airport on suspicion of being drunk while in charge of a plane.
Reports said PIA had suspended the pilot immediately after the news of his arrest in UK broke on Pakistani media.Senior PIA captain Irfan Aziz, who is 54-year-old man, was arrested at Leeds Bradford Airport on Wednesday night. He is due to appear at Leeds Magistrates Court today (Friday) “charged with carrying out an activity ancillary to an aviation function while impaired by drink”.
A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: “At about 10pm police were called to Leeds Bradford International Airport where they arrested an airline pilot on suspicion of carrying out an activity ancillary to an aviation function while impaired by drink.
The 54-year-old man, from Pakistan, is currently in custody.”An airport spokeswoman said: “We are aware of the incident, but the matter is being dealt with by West Yorkshire Police.”
A PIA source told The News that Captain Irfan Aziz was arrested shortly before the plane took off. The source said that the police entered the plane only 10 minutes before the take-off as Irfan Aziz was making pre-flight checks in the cockpit of the Airbus 310 aircraft “while almost asleep”.
The source said that when the PIA crew saw the pilot, they became worried because he looked completely “drunk and disoriented”. The police acted quickly and were satisfied that it was right to arrest the captain.
There were 180 passengers on board, but after the arrest of the pilot the passengers were taken to a local hotel where they stayed overnight and were set to fly to Pakistan on Thursday night. Local passengers spent night at their homes and were flown to Pakistan at midday on Thursday. The passengers were taken to Pakistan by the pilot of the PIA flight 775 who had arrived in Bradford Leeds on Wednesday afternoon. He was asked to take minimum rest, as per the aviation laws, before taking the 180 passengers to Pakistan on Thursday.
The PIA has been making headlines in Britain this year. On May 24, two Pakistani men were arrested at the Stansted Airport by the Essex Police on suspicion of endangerment of a PIA aircraft after a Royal Air Force Typhoon jet was scrambled to escort the Lahore-to-Manchester flight.
The PIA pilot had raised the alarm after two men tried to enter the cockpit. This week it was reported that three PIA air-hostesses were arrested from a hotel in Manchester after a complaint was made against them by a British citizen.In August, an Airblue flight bound from Manchester to Islamabad reported a fault and caused as many as 300 passengers a delay of over two days at the Manchester airport.
TTP chief has given list of 50 prisoners: Paracha Taliban deny former PML-N lawmaker’s claim
The News
20 September 2013
KARACHI: The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud has made formal contact with former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Javed Ibrahim Paracha in response to the government’s talks offer.
Paracha, a former MNA from Kohat, confirmed that Hakimullah had telephoned him and given a list of 50 prisoners, demanding their release.Paracha said that the prisoners were associated with the TTP and banned outfits Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ). Paracha had reportedly visited Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail to meet the Taliban prisoners.
Reports claimed that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, along with an officer of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), had also met Javed Ibrahim Paracha.The report regarding the contact comes amid uncertainty and concerns about the prospects of peace talks with the militants, which emerged after the high-profile assassination of Pakistan Army’s Major General Sanaullah Khan Niazi and other soldiers in Upper Dir on Sunday. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the killing of the two-star general. — Agencies
Our Kohat correspondent adds: The TTP has rejected the claim made by Javed Ibrahim Paracha that he spoke with its head Hakimullah Mehsud and discussed the issue of peace talks with the government.
The TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid stressed that Hakimullah hasn’t talked to Javed Ibrahim Paracha. He said Paracha was in touch with the Punjabi Taliban and not with the TTP.Paracha earlier in the day told reporters and a number of TV channels that he spoke with Hakimullah and received instructions about the Taliban prisoners languishing in jails.
Earlier, it was announced through sources claiming to be close to the proscribed TTP that a legal committee comprising Javed Ibrahim Paracha, Tariq Asad, Qazi Anwar and Fida Muhammad Khan had been constituted to pursue the cases of Taliban fighters in the court of law.
Paracha has been in the forefront of organising the legal campaign to seek release of the Taliban prisoners. In the past, he fought a legal battle for the imprisoned Arab prisoners, some of whom had been accused of belonging to al-Qaeda.
The sources claimed that the TTP Shura in a meeting presided by Hakimullah Mehsud had decided to pursue the cases of 100-200 imprisoned Taliban fighters in the courts through the legal committee.
One killed, 16 hurt in grenade attack on Karachi Imambargah
Call for Altaf’s return home angers MQM
First phase about to end, says Nisar Karachi operation
Attacks on imambargah, mosque claim 4 lives in Karachi, Peshawar
Thursday, September 19, 2013
UN hits back at Russian claims of bias US to retain military threat against Syria
The News 19 September 2013
WASHINGTON: The US military will maintain the threat of force against Syria in case the regime fails to abide by an agreement to relinquish control of its chemical weapons, Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Wednesday.
“We should keep that military option exactly where it is. We have assured the president that our assets and force posture remain the same,” Hagel told a press conference.
“We are prepared to exercise any option that he would select.” Hagel’s comments made clear the United States had no plans to withdraw destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean, which had been prepared to launch cruise missile attacks to punish Damascus over its alleged use of chemical weapons.
He said it was clear “the credible threat of US force” helped to persuade Syria to agree to a US-Russia accord that calls for the regime to turn over its chemical arsenal to international control.
US defence officials told AFP four destroyers equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles remained in place in the eastern Mediterranean, ready to launch a possible attack if diplomacy fails.
Hagel and General Martin Dempsey, the military’s top-ranking officer, also said the administration was still considering whether to have the Pentagon take over the arming of Syria’s rebels from the Central Intelligence Agency, which would involve larger scale assistance.
Despite agreeing to the deal on securing Syria’s chemical weapons, Washington and Moscow remain at odds over who carried out the August 21 chemical attack outside Damascus.
Russia says the Syrian regime has handed over new evidence implicating rebel forces in the deadly incident.
But US President Barack Obama has said it was “inconceivable” that anyone other than the Syrian regime could have carried out the attack.
Meanwhile, The United Nations on Wednesday hit back at Russian claims that experts who reported on the use of chemical weapons in Syria were biased.
“The terrible facts speak for themselves,” UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters, insisting that UN leader Ban Ki-moon has the “fullest confidence” in the team which reported this week.
Nesirky said the United Nations was checking with Russia’s UN mission on comments made by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov about the UN inspectors.
“On the face of it these reported remarks are an attempt to call into question the secretary general’s investigation team led by Professor Sellstrom and the credibility of its thoroughly objective report,” Nesirky said.
Muslim beauty pageant challenges Miss World
The News 19 Sept 2013
JAKARTA: Muslim women in headscarves and elaborately embroidered dresses took to the stage Wednesday for the finale of an Islamic beauty pageant in Indonesia, a riposte to the Miss World contest that has sparked hardline anger.
The twenty contestants began the Muslimah World show by elegantly descending a flight of stairs into public view—all covered head to toe wearing shimmering and sparkling materials.
While the women, from six countries, will be assessed on their appearance the judges are also looking at piety and Islamic knowledge and skills, such as recitation of the Koran.
All contestants must wear headscarves in their daily lives. “We’re just trying to show the world that Islam is beautiful,” Obabiyi
Aishah Ajibola, a 21-year-old contestant from Nigeria, told AFP backstage in the capital, Jakarta, before the final got under way.
“We are free and the hijab (Muslim headscarf) is our pride,” she said, adding that the pageant was “nothing like Miss World, where women expose their bodies”.
Organisers say they want to show Muslim women there is an alternative to the idea of beauty put forward by the British-run Miss World pageant, and also want to show that opposition to the event can be expressed non-violently.
Eka Shanti, who founded the pageant three years ago after losing her job as a TV news anchor for refusing to remove her headscarf, bills the contest as “Islam’s answer to Miss World”.
“This year we deliberately held our event just before the Miss World final to show that there are alternative role models for Muslim women,” she told AFP.
“But it’s about more than Miss World. Muslim women are increasingly working in the entertainment industry in a sexually explicit way, and they become role models, which is a concern.”
Hosted by Dewi Sandra, an Indonesian actress and pop star who recently hung up her racy dresses for a headscarf, the pageant began with a choral performance of a song about modesty, one the traits judges will be looking for in the winner.
While the contestants looked glamorous, the venue, the exhibition hall of a shopping mall, was a far cry from the likely lavish setting of the Miss World final on Bali.
And the pageant, which features Indonesian Islamic designer wear and popular bands, is a starkly different way of protesting Miss World than the approach taken by Islamic radicals.
Thousands have taken to the streets in Indonesia in recent weeks to protest Miss World, denouncing the contest as “pornography” and burning effigies of the organisers.
Despite a pledge by organisers to drop the famous bikini round, radical anger was not appeased and the protest movement snowballed.
The government eventually bowed to pressure and ordered the whole three-week pageant be moved to the Hindu-majority island of Bali, where it opened on September 8.
Later rounds and the September 28 final were to be held in and around Jakarta, where there is considerable hardline influence.
More than 500 contestants competed in online rounds to get to the Muslimah World final in Indonesia, one of which involved the contenders comparing stories of how they came to wear the headscarf.
Contestants will retell these stories and answer questions from judges at the final, with the 20 women whittled down before a winner is crowned and awarded 25 million rupiah ($2,179) and trips to Mecca and India.
“What I will be looking for is strength of personality—someone with a vision for the future, who gives back to their community and shows that beauty is not just about bodies,” said Jameyah Sheriff, an education expert from Malaysia who is on the judging panel.
The contest was first held in 2011 under a different name and was only open to Indonesians, Shanti said, but after the media began comparing it to Miss World, it was rebranded as a Muslim alternative to the world-famous pageant.
Because of its popularity, organisers accepted foreign contestants this year, with Iran, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Nigeria and Indonesia represented.
YouTube and the pursuit of happiness
The News 19 September 2013
Pakistan enjoys nothing more than proving the wisdom behind the cliché ‘cutting off your nose to spite your face’. It is entirely appropriate that the phrase can be traced back to a time in Europe when women would mutilate themselves in order to protect their ‘purity’, since all our most self-destructive actions involve misbegotten notions of honour and morality.
For an entire year now we have had to make do without one of modern civilisation’s most comforting creations – YouTube – just because some loser who is now languishing in jail put up a trailer for a movie that was never even made. We ended up punishing the estimated seven million Pakistanis who use YouTube just to ‘protect’ them from something they either would never have heard about or shown no interest in perusing. And we have continued doing so for 365 days! At this point our nose is so disfigured only rhinoplasty will restore it.
Nothing is more annoying than the smug self-satisfactory ignorance of those who support the ban. There are many, who obviously understand nothing of how YouTube, or indeed the internet, works who have gleefully explained how the ban in Pakistan is costing Google so much lost revenue. Such inconvenient facts, like YouTube not making any money from the country because it doesn’t have a country-specific site here or that it loses nearly half a billion dollars a year, do not matter to a mind that closes itself off to reason.
A recent online poll conducted about YouTube in Pakistan found that over 60 percent of people claim to use the video-sharing site for educational purposes. In an equally unscientific assertion, I would venture that more than 50 percent of those people were lying, unless education is defined as learning about the art of reverse swing from old clips of Wasim and Waqar. Those who want YouTube unblocked are already ceding a lot of ground when they try to defend the site as a tool for learning rather than what it really is: lots and lots of fun.
The one thing this country could use is people who stand up for having a good time. There are a lot of things that can’t be defended on the grounds of utility but still provide much joy to the world. Failing to acknowledge the pleasure principle is what has led to all those fun things still being illegal which were outlawed more than three decades ago in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s last-gasp attempt to save his rule.
Since ZAB’s time there has unfortunately been a surge in the kind of people who HL Mencken described as harbouring the “haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy.” Fighting back against that mindset on all fronts is mandatory if we don’t want censorship and a loss of liberty to continue for another three decades.
The YouTube ban, powerful though it is as a symbol of censorship since it most affects the wealthy who are only used to the freedoms of others being taken away, is only one example of the killjoys encroaching on our right to seek what the US Declaration of Independence called the “pursuit of happiness.”
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the MMA government became notorious for defacing and tearing down billboards and giving a good go at destroying Pakhtun cinema. Self-righteous thugs and charlatans have attacked theatres, enacted the harassment of innocent teen couples for the enjoyment of the moral police watching along on their TV screens and cast judgement on anyone who does not live their life the exact way they want them to. And all of us have been too scared to speak out for fear of being cast as irreligious or, horror of horrors, secular.
Pakistan has become a country where we are no longer to pursue what makes us happy, even if isn’t hurting anyone else. The professional scolds in society are no longer content to mind their own business despite being under no compunction to alter their lifestyle from the evil secularists. This is why those who denounce extremists on both sides are being so disingenuous. There is only one side that is giving the other marching orders and shoving their virtues down our throats. The other side would just like to be left alone and for everyone to be free to choose which lifestyle they prefer.
The debate – to the small extent that it exists – has been framed as one between virtue and sin rather than freedom and censorship. This is why nothing remotely positive will be written about anything that has been denounced by a small but extremely vocal minority. Everyone is simply too cowered by them, and the threat of violence implicit in their moral denunciations, to mount a challenge. The ban on YouTube was meant to stave off any potential violence that may have been caused by the offending trailer. Yet, we still had violence just a few days after the site was blocked. Now a year later the ban has become the norm and, in an inversion of the way things should be, we have to argue that the ban is illogical rather than forcing proponents of the ban to explain why it still continues.
Freedom in this country is nothing but a poetic truth trotted out around election time so that we can be proud of being a democracy. For true freedom to prevail – the kind where preening moralists and fearful governments cannot simply snatch away anything they don’t want us to enjoy – the ballot box is only the first rest stop in a long journey.
The writer is a journalist based in Karachi. Email: nadir.hassan@gmail.com
Taliban close doors on talks with govt
The News
19 September 2013
KARACHI: With the announcement by the Tehreek-e-Taliban that they will continue targeting the Pakistan Army, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has virtually closed the door on the option of talks with the government of Pakistan, said Kamran Khan in his programme ‘Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Sath’ on Tuesday.
It seems that the TTP has given an unambiguous message to the people of Pakistan that the Taliban are not prepared for meaningful talks with Pakistan.Kamran Khan said that now the political and military leaderships of the country have to decide the future course of action. He said that it seems that things are moving in the direction of war.
Kamran Khan said that the nation still wants to see a peaceful solution though the situation is very complex. He said that the political leadership has not yet said that it does not want talks or that war is the only option. The political leadership is saying that war is the last option.
Commenting on Karachi operation, Kamran Khan said the operation has taken a disturbing turn. It has been officially admitted that the former MPA of MQM, Nadeem Hashmi, was arrested on a fake FIR about terrorism and murder, and that he is innocent and therefore he has been released. Kamran Khan said that this is a disturbing fact that the area SHO has maneuvered a fake case, but it is yet to be ascertained why the SHO has done so.
Kamran Khan said that an MQM MPA, Khawaja Izharul Hassan, had said recently that a formula had been worked out according to which the sector and unit in charges of the MQM would be arrested whenever some criminal activity happens anywhere in Karachi. Kamran Khan said that the disclosure had not been taken seriously then but now it is the need of the hour that it is taken seriously. It is now incumbent on the Chief Minister of Sindh, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, to find out if the police have indeed been given any such instructions or not. Moreover, it is essential that the people are told what action is to be taken against the policeman who had fashioned a false case.
In a different segment of the programme, Kamran Khan said that in an important development, an accused in Lyari Gang War, Amin Buledi, has been arrested in Lahore. According to information, another person who was said to be associated with the Sindh Assembly had also been arrested, but she was later released.
Moving on to the hot topic of cricket and the ignominious defeat our cricket team have suffered at the hands of Zimbabwe, Kamran Khan said that the defeat has agitated cricket fans across the country. It appears that cricket administration is in topsy-turvy. The chairman of PCB, Najam Sethi, says that the cause of confusion and chaos in cricket in the country is the court verdict. Sethi says that an Islamabad High Court judgment has restricted his functioning as the PCB chief.
In a yet different segment of the programme, Kamran Khan said that though it is premature to give a verdict on the performance of the government in its first 100 days in office, yet an assessment in this connection does show the direction the government is heading to. The overall impression in the country at Nawaz government’s completing first 100 days in office is quite positive. However, there have been incidents in those hundred days which were painful. It is safe to say that the report on the first hundred days of the government is a mixed one. On the negative side in those hundred days are the incidents of terrorism and the falling value of the rupee whereas on the positive side is the fact that the government has succeeded in creating harmony over national issues and it also managed to launch a decisive operation in Karachi.
The chairman of PCB, Najam Sethi, said in the programme that court judgments have rendered him without much power or authority so much so that he does not even have the power to form the selection committee. Sethi said that they have challenged the court judgment, but no hearing has been held on their appeal so far. On an optimistic note, however, Sethi said that they are doing their homework so that they can dash ahead as soon as their authority is restored.
Former ambassador Rustam Shah Mohmand said in the programme that the announcement by the Taliban that they will continue attacking the Pakistan Army has been quite shocking. He said that it is now abundantly clear that the Taliban are not interested in talks anymore.
Masses laud 100-day performance
The News
19 September 2013
Hundred days’ yardstick can never be sufficient to evaluate the performance of a sitting government nevertheless the Nawaz regime has embarked on a fast track with commitment to alleviate the people’s sufferings with proper prioritization and scientific-cum-economic planning. With this well-calculated prioritization and speed with foremost attention being given to eradication of loadshedding and terrorism, the government has thus qualified for its performance evaluation even on very short-timed yardsticks say that of 100 days.
In fact, Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif had already completed their homework with farsightedness before coming into power that enabled them to start work on projects from day one for bringing massive reduction in loadshedding and taking on terrorism with discretion and consensus. That is why it did not take the government many days to clear the Rs480 billion circular debt of the power sector besides reviving the badly stalemated Nandipur Hydel Project and accelerating the Neelum Jhelum hydro power project. Both will generate 1300 plus megawatts of electricity. In the latter project, the prime minister personally intervened and passed instructions for immediate initiation of work on the transmission or distribution system that would have otherwise taken additional two, three years after commissioning of the project.
Even in the case of the APC, it was preceded by lot of spadework and consensus-building endeavours not only among the political parties but also between the civilian rulers and armed services’ top brass.
All these efforts might not be clearly visible to some myopic people but the fact is that all the good developments experienced in the last few weeks in the form of APC and power sector reforms, were the outcome of incessant, intelligent work done by PML-N leadership and its team of ministers, experts and other functionaries.
However, the masses as a whole do possess the ability to judge their leaders given their (of the public) much enhanced prudence that was exercised by the general public at the time of election of their representatives. It was this public prudence that brought PML-N into power and it is the same public wisdom that has now adjudged Nawaz Sharif government in the Centre and Shahbaz Sharif government in Punjab as gaining popularity and recognition among their people.
Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) has drawn a candid picture of political leaders’ popularity among the masses with credible public opinion polls in its Public Verdict (Survey) on Performance of Governance and Democracy in First 100 Days of Federal and Provincial Governments.
Of course, this credibility factor is very important because a number of opinion polls conducted by some other setups have not proved credible in the past but for PILDAT surveys. As a matter of fact, PILDAT surveys are scientific and logical in approach and are conducted in a transparent manner besides being focused on most current and relevant issues about which common people are most of the times concerned.
As for the instant survey, it has been brought to the fore by PILDAT on the International Day of Democracy that is observed every year on September 15.
According to the survey, 62% people have given positive rating to governance by the Federal Government led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Likewise, according to the public opinion given in the survey, the Punjab government got the best rating out of the four provincial governments while the Sindh government was given the poorest rating. In this survey, citizens from all the provinces voted irrespective of their province of residence. The resultant findings show that 59% voted in favour of Shahbaz Sharif as the best performing Chief Minister, followed by Syed Qaim Ali Shah at 18%, Pervez Khattak at 9% and Dr Abdul Malik at 4%.
Some keen observers opine that Shahbaz Sharif is most popular in Balochistan although it is usual with the provinces that the most popular heads of governments in their respective areas are their own elected CMs. And in other two provinces, namely Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, chief minister Punjab is a close second choice of public.
Most encouraging aspect of this survey is that the people of Pakistan have demonstrated considerable maturity and understanding of issues including inter-institutional harmony and foreign policy that they think have been excellently handled by PM Nawaz Sharif.
The PILDAT survey says: “The prime minister’s policy of seeking harmony with the armed forces and opposition parties and also with the provincial governments led by the parties that are in opposition at the federal level, has received the highest rate of approval”. The survey adds: “With the change of government on June 5, after the May 11 elections, more people (44%) are optimistic about federal government’s ability to address the current issues.”
In the area of terrorism too, Nawaz government got good performance rating as 46 per cent surveyed people gave fully appreciated its plans and efforts in dealing with the issue of terrorism. And in the electricity sector, 52 per cent gave it positive rating for coping with the electricity shortage.
As for its performance on key foreign policy issues, including relations with the United States, China and India, the government was given 57 per cent positive rating.
The positive performance rating achieved by the Federal Government on the inter-provincial harmony was 59 per cent. It also got 59 per cent positive rating on harmonious relations with the opposition parties in parliament.
For creating harmony with the armed forces, the government achieved 58 percent positive rating. Likewise, 54 percent people gave positive performance rating to the Federal Government in dealing with the problem of corruption.
In all, the people of Pakistan have once again reposed their confidence in the competence and prudent planning and working of Nawaz government in the Centre and Shahbaz government in Punjab. One can only wish that this momentum is maintained in the days to come not only for a limited period of 100 days but throughout the mandated term of the elected government.
Witness protection laws move at a swift speed in NA, Sindh PA
The News 19 September 2013
ISLAMABAD: Before the federal government introduced sweeping changes in the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), as recommended by a committee, the Sindh Assembly passed an extraordinary but direly needed legislation to protect witnesses in cases of heinous crimes.
The law was specifically enacted to deal with those arrested in Karachi during the ongoing targeted operation on the charge of collecting extortion money, kidnapping for ransom and target killing.
While Karachi has been experiencing a bloodbath for years, perpetrators have hardly ever been arrested, and the common terms that are always used to describe them are “unidentified” and “unknown”.Police and other law enforcement agencies have mostly felt that their job finishes after dubbing them so.
Even if the criminals are at times apprehended, they are freed by courts for want of evidence because witnesses do not come forward to depose for fear of being killed, and for deeply flawed prosecution.
Investigation is not carried out by police the way it should be conducted. Finally, the cases become too weak to stand thescrutiny of law in courts. The present law will provide suitable protection and safety to the witnesses and their families so that they are not hit by the criminals and their patrons after they will depose against them in courts.
The law allows witnesses to conceal their identities by wearing masks, changing their voice and appearance as well as any other form of exclusion during investigation or trial. Video conferencing will also be permissible to record statements. In some cases, they may be relocated to keep them safe and accommodation will be provided to them.
Another positive aspect of the legislation is that it has been passed unanimously. The opposition parties including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) supported it. This means that they all want conviction of the target killers, kidnappers for ransom, extortionists and members of mafias like the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and PML-N wish.
This also shows that all the political parties, which are major stakeholders in Karachi, have no dispute about the ongoing targeted operation. The MQM, which violently protested the arrest of its former member of the Sindh Assembly Nadim Hashmi on the charge of killing two policemen, was quite softened after he was released on Tuesday following the assertion of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that no indictable evidence had been found against him.
This increased confidence among the public circles about the authenticity and genuineness of the targeted campaign, and gave a lie to the accusation that it was aimed at any specific group or individuals. It showed that the state agencies do not feel reluctance in freeing an arrested person if no concrete and substantial evidence is found against him. However, some quarters described Hashmi’s release as a “compromise” to pacify the MQM.
Somewhat similar provisions are also being incorporated in the ATA by the federal government. However, the recommendations made by the three-member committee comprising Federal Minister Zahid Hamid, Sindh Advocate General Khalid Javed Khan and MQM Senator Dr Farough Naseem are more comprehensive. The two laws will complement each other to award due punishment to the criminals.
The passage of the witness protection law in the Sindh Assembly is the second major step taken by the PPP’s provincial government, which demonstrates its will to take the criminals head-on.
Before that, it made a massive reshuffle in the top hierarchy of Sindh police including the nomination of a new Karachi police chief.It pointed to its seriousness to purge the mega city of criminals.
The amendments proposed in the ATA will be cleared by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on his return from abroad. Subsequently, these are likely to be promulgated through a presidential ordinance and would be tabled in either House of Parliament.It is widely believed that these changes will earn parliamentary approval even from the Senate where the ruling party is in minority without much hassle as all parties support them.
Pakistan’s internet censors seek help from Canadian company
The News
19 September 2013
ISLAMABAD: In a nondescript, creeper-draped building in the capital of Islamabad, a small team of men is purging Pakistan’s Internet.
Shadowy government officials are blocking thousands of pages deemed undesirable. But they are not fast enough. So the government is now testing Canadian software that can block millions of sites a second.
The censorship helps shape the views of 180 million Pakistanis on militancy, democracy and religion. Online debates dissect attacks by US drone aircraft, the uneasy alliance with the United States and prospects for peace with arch rival India.
But activists say liberal voices are increasingly silenced, while militants speak freely. They worry customised filters will only deepen that divide.“Secular, progressive and liberal voices are being increasingly targeted,” said Shahzad Ahmad, the founder of Bytes For All, which campaigns for internet freedoms from a small, crowded office.
“Anything can be banned without debate.”An internet provider who declined to be identified said the number of banned pages doubled in five years, partly a reaction to cartoons or films offensive to Muslims.
Citizen Lab, a research centre at the University of Toronto, published a report in June, showing the Pakistani government was testing filtering software supplied by Canadian firm Netsweeper.The Pakistani government and Netsweeper declined to comment.
In 2012, the government circulated a five-page document seeking filtering software. “Pakistani ISPs and backbone providers have expressed their inability to block millions of undesirable websites using current manual blocking systems,” the government said in the paper, a copy of which was seen by Reuters. It said it needed a system “able to handle a block list of up to 50 million URLs”.
Activists from Bolo Bhi, an internet freedom group whose name means “Speak Up”, said Pakistan wanted the strict online censorship practiced in its ally China.About 42 million Pakistanis can get online, the government says, and the Internet is one of the few places where they can speak freely, said Bolo Bhi director Farieha Aziz. Twitter helps voters reach leaders directly.
“Now Pakistanis can get direct access to politicians. Previously they were just on television, telling you stuff,” Aziz said.Bolo Bhi asked technology companies to refuse the bid and said US-based Websense, Cisco, Verizon, OpenDNS, and Canada’s Sandvine all agreed.
“Any company whose products are currently being used for government-imposed censorship should remove their technology so that it is not used in this way by oppressive governments,” Websense said in an open letter seen by Reuters.
Instead, Netsweeper took the contract, Citizen Lab said. Netsweeper has categorised five billion URLs and offers customised blocking and blocking by keyword, it says on its website.Activists say tests run to install the filtering system led to the temporary blocking of sites like Twitter, Facebook and Tumbler. State lawyers have referred to the tests in a court case in which the government is being sued by free-speech activists.
Many sites on human rights, news and religion are already permanently blocked.“The internet Pakistan is seeing is not the same as the rest of the world is seeing,” said Ronald Deibert of Citizen Lab.Pakistani officials decline to discuss Netsweeper, even with their own legislators.
“They told us they’d shelved it,” said legislator Bushra Gohar, who raised the matter in the National Assembly. “There are violent groups operating openly in this country and they want to ban objectionable content?”
Officially, only sites that are blasphemous, pornographic or threaten national security are banned.But pages banned in recent months include a Facebook group wanting to end the death penalty for blasphemy, a band whose song mocked the military, a site tracking sectarian murders, and pages a cleric who has spoken against sectarian violence, according to an official list seen by Reuters.
Hate speech denouncing religious minorities like Shias, who make up about 20 percent of Pakistan’s population, is freely available online. So are pages maintained by militant groups the Pakistani government has banned.
Lawyer Yasser Latif Hamdani, who is suing the government on behalf of internet freedom activists, said while some of the hundreds of web pages he had found blocked were pornographic, most were secular or sites belonging to religious minorities.
“I can’t think of any religious extremist group that has been blocked,” he said.“They are not blocking the guys who are going to come on the road and start burning things, they are not blocking the people who are inciting violence against religious minorities.”
Last year, at least 325 Shias were killed, including children shot on their way to school. About 200 more were killed in twin bombings this year.
The government does not release statistics, but the Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan said about 4,500 URLs were banned, including some websites like YouTube.
The Google-owned, video-sharing channel was blocked a year ago after clerics organised violent protests against an anti-Islam film posted on the site. Thousands of protesters armed with sticks and stones battled riot police in major cities.
Officials have said they hope the filters will help Pakistan to re-open YouTube, by blocking links to specific material and allowing the rest.
In the meantime, censorship is theoretically decided by the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC), a secretive body comprising members of the security forces, religious leaders and chaired by a secretary from the Ministry of Information Technology.
The secretary declined requests for an interview.But the committee only meets a couple of times a year, and the authorities are directing hundreds of pages to be banned each month, an industry official said.
Sometimes the IMC retroactively approved bans from the Ministry of IT- headquartered on the fourth floor of the nondescript brick building, said a government official who was not authorised to speak to the media. He could not say who added sites to the blocked list in the first place.
Security of Dr AQ Khan tripled as Abbottabad-type raid is feared
The News
19 Sept 2013
ISLAMABAD: As foolproof security arrangements of nuclear installations are already in place, the Defence Ministry has tripled the security of the father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan amid fears of a repeat of the Abbottabad raid which killed Osama bin Laden.
Other than extraordinary security deployment at his residence, Dr AQ Khan is now accorded protocol almost equal to that of prime minister when he travels.
Dr AQ Khan confirmed increase in the security personnel. Although, he was told that deployment had been carried out keeping in view the country’s situation, sources privy to the decision confided to The News that it was intended to avert any Abbottabad-type raid as he has been on the US radar due to his alleged involvement in nuclear proliferation. He is in demand for questioning. “A repeat of Abbottabad-like incident would be a national shame for us,” said an official source explaining the reason behind the reinforcement.
There were around 40 personnel and two colonel-rank officers assigned on the security duty of Dr AQ Khan in the past that now has been increased to 120 personnel and four officers. Besides, a convoy of 10 vehicles escorts Dr Khan’s bulletproof jeep during his movement within Islamabad.
Likewise, no European and American is allowed to live in the surroundings of Dr Khan’s residence, however, Arab nationals can rent an accommodation in the vicinity but after securing security clearance from the Interior Ministry, said an official source.
Other than police, Kahuta Research Laboratory’s rapid response force as well as elite force has also been deployed to safeguard Dr Khan in addition to intelligence officials.
As Dr Khan moves within Islamabad, a police vehicle leads the convoy followed by two jeeps of rapid response force and one vehicle of elite force. One vehicle of rapid response force runs parallel on the left side of Dr Khan’s jeep, two such vehicles with jammers installed on the rear side followed by yet another rapid response force vehicle, two double-cabins of police and one vehicle carrying intelligence staff at the tail end of the convoy.
Before Dr Khan reaches a destination, intelligence staff conducts a check and then it is taken over by the police deployed for his security. Security staff is also equipped with 40-45 AK rifles when he is out to visit a place. Given the increase in security staff, a neighbouring house has been rented out to accommodate the staff in addition to a couple of containers parked there in order to use them for residential purpose of the staff.
As The News contacted Dr Khan for his version, he confirmed the extra deployment. “It is like death that comes uninvited,” he said commenting on the increase in security personnel, arguing that there had been no demand from his side. Asked about the reason described to him for this reinforcement, Dr Khan said he was told that the measures were taken keeping in view the overall security situation as the TTP had been attacking noted figures. He said he did not care about threats. However, officials aware of the reasons behind the decision said the deployment was carried out to pre-empt any Abbottabad-type raid.
Ignoring US sanctions, Russia offers to build Pak-Iran gas pipeline
No gas for CNG users, industries in winter
Iran 'never' to seek nuclear weapon: Rowhani
The News September 19, 2013 - Updated 110 PKT
The News
WASHINGTON: Iran will never seek nuclear weapons, newly elected President Hassan Rowhani vowed Wednesday, as he reached out to longtime enemy the United States.
In a US television interview days before he travels to New York for the UN General Assembly, Rowhani praised US President Barack Obama for taking a "positive" approach toward Tehran in a letter.
"Under no circumstances would we seek any weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, nor will we ever," Rowhani told NBC News.
"We have never pursued or sought a nuclear bomb, and we are not going to do so," he said, according to the US network.
Rowhani repeated Iran's position that the clerical state -- suffering from US-led sanctions following sensitive uranium work -- was solely "looking for peaceful nuclear technology."
Rowhani, considered more moderate than his rivals, swept to power in June on promises to help repair Iran's economy and to ease tensions with the West.
His stance has been met alternately with cautious optimism and skepticism in Washington, where experts note that supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ultimately controls foreign policy.
Rowhani told NBC News: "In its nuclear program, this government enters with full power and has complete authority."
"The problem won't be from our side," he was quoted as saying. "We have sufficient political latitude to solve this problem."
Asked about Rowhani's interview, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he was "glad" to hear his remarks and that Obama had always been "willing to talk."
"But I think the next step here is let's see how Iran's actions match their words," Hagel told the "PBS Newshour" on public television. (AFP)
Bomb hits bus in Syria, kills 19
The News
September 19, 2013 - Updated 1432 PKT
DAMASCUS: A Syrian official says a roadside bomb has targeted a bus in the country's central province, killing 19 people.
The official at the governor's office in Homs province says Thursday's explosion in the village of Jbourin also wounded four people on the bus. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
It was not immediately clear why the bus was targeted.
Syria's civil war, which has left more than 100,000 dead since the crisis erupted in March 2011, has taken increasingly sectarian overtones. Most of the rebels trying to overthrow Assad. (AP)
Man beheaded, woman beaten to death in India 'honour killing'
Pervez Musharraf attack accused Rana Faqir acquitted
Peoples Amn Committee leader Zafar Baloch laid to rest
Sugar called 'most dangerous drug' of our time ABC News
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Dua Twasul
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