From Zarb-i-Azb to Radd-ul-Fasaad By Mohammad Jamil: New Age Islam's Selection, 17 June 2017
New
Age Islam Edit Bureau
17 June 2017
• From Zarb-i-Azb to Radd-ul-Fasaad
By Mohammad Jamil
• Misperceptions about Pakistan’s Nuclear Tests
By Anaya Shahid
• “My Other Jinnah Film”
By Akbar Ahmed
• Weak Administrative Writ Provides Breeding Space For Extremism
By Mohammad Ali Babakhel
• Two Nations, One Sub-Nationality
By M Ziauddin
• Seasonal Birds Take Flight
By Muhammad Usman
• Erring On Side Of Caution
By Arhama Siddiqa
• Another Fine Mess
By Irfan Husain
• Missing the Larger Picture
By Tariq Khosa
Compiled By New Age Islam Edit Bureau
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From Zarb-i-Azb to Radd-ul-Fasaad
By Mohammad Jamil
June 17, 2017
IN mid-June 2014, Operation Zarb-i-Azb was launched by Pakistan Armed Forces against TTP, Al-Qaeda, East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETM) and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) in North Waziristan Agency (NWA). The entire nation including political leadership stood behind the Pak Army; and even those who have been opposing the military operation due to one reason or another supported the operation. Some sceptics have been creating doubts about the capability of the armed forces to fight the militants armed with sophisticated weapons supplied by the intelligence agencies of the hostile countries. They opined that in the event of military operation in NWA, militants would retaliate and cause enormous death and destruction. But they were proven wrong, as military decimated the TTP and other militants’ networks, which even 150000 NATO forces and 250000 Afghan forces could not do in Afghanistan.
Some political and religious parties had the penchant to hold dialogue with the militants. Of course, military was able to convince political leadership that militants would not hold meaningful talks with the government, as they had their own agenda. Earlier, militants continued attacking and killing civilians and members of law enforcing agencies even during meetings between the negotiating teams nominated by the TTP and the government. More than 5000 personnel of law enforcing agencies have been martyred and many more wounded since joining the war on terror, and this figure exceeds the number of martyred in wars with India. Elected and military leaderships had realized that in the event militants continued with their vile acts while showing their desire to hold dialogue with the government, it was just to gain time and reorganize; so why not to take them head on. Anyhow, a lot has to be done in implementation of National Action Plan. Civil administration needs to be activated to play their role while Pak Army fights the war. Operation Zar-i-Azb was launched to get rid of terrorists hiding in NWA, and Pakistan Army with help of Tribals has been able to change NWA into a peaceful area. Pak Army always stood by Tribal brothers in hard times, and had established “Army Relief Fund” for IDPs. After military launched a major operation against local and foreign militants in North Waziristan, it sealed off the area and asked the Afghan National Army to plug possible escape routes across the border. But Afghanistan did not listen to the sincere advice. The operation against terrorists was decided after militants stormed the country’s biggest Karachi airport killing 30 people including security officials.
The airport attack had invited public wrath and called for a major ground assault. The country had been all over in the tight grip of a vicious multifaceted terrorism, but it was the north-western tribal area where the battle of Pakistan in reality was fought. The political parties were divided over operation in North Waziristan, and wanted to give dialogue another chance. But the TTP had come up with the conditions no government worth the name would accept. It stood exposed when committee nominated by the government and the committee nominated by the TTP met, and the latter demanded release of the jailed militants, withdrawal of military from FATA and to clear specific area for talks with the government.
Some terror apologists had been raising concerns about the blow-back of the militants if the operation in North Waziristan was launched, creating doubts about the military’s ability to decimate militants and to destroy their hideouts. They did not realize that even during talks, terrorists had continued with their killing spree. But Pakistan army proved the sceptics wrong by giving practical demonstration of its ability, capability and willingness to accept the challenge posed by terrorists. Earlier, military had cleared Swat, Bajaur and other areas within a short span of time. In Pakistan, victims of terror attacks and suicide bombings have invariably been innocent men, women and even children. The families of these victims mourn and raise a question asking for what crime their loved ones were punished in a way that the scattered pieces of their dead bodies were assembled to bury.
Those who tried to justify terrorism and suicide bombings in the name of Islam were undoubtedly misguided people; and they were at a loss to understand as to who they should talk to, as there were many groups operating independently. In Afghanistan, one knew that there was a chain of command in the Afghan Taliban and they all owed their allegiance to Mullah Umer; whereas in Pakistan there was no such chain of command. Anyhow, operation in NWA was successfully completed and the area cleared. However, it is the responsibility of federal and provincial governments to activate intelligence set up – police, special branch and CID – which has not been working efficiently and effectively. In order to clear Pakistan of terrorists, Pakistan Army launched “Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad” across the country in February 2017.
The objective is to indiscriminately eliminate the remnants of terrorists groups and consolidate the gains made in earlier military operations. Pakistan Air Force, Pakistan Navy, Civil Armed Forces (CAF) and other security and law enforcing agencies (LEAs) are actively participating in the operation and support the armed forces’ efforts to eliminate the menace of terrorism from the country. The decision to mount the operation was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa at the corps headquarters in Lahore, which was attended by the head of Punjab Rangers and officials of intelligence agencies. Significantly, the focus of the countrywide offensive is Punjab.
Source: pakobserver.net/zarb-azb-radd-ul-fasaad/
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Misperceptions about Pakistan’s Nuclear Tests
By Anaya Shahid
June 17, 2017
Last month, some highly contentious claims were made by a contributing writer to The Diplomat, an international current affairs magazine of the Asia-Pacific region. Since the article ‘The Fallout from Pakistan’s Nuclear Tests” was written for an international audience, the writer Shah Meer Baloch tried to contort the facts as much as possible and made the erroneous claim that unlike other Pakistanis who celebrate the May 28, 1998 nuclear tests as Youm-e-Takbir or Day of Goodness, the people of Balochistan treat it as a black day. Now where did that come from? How can an international publication carry an article based on little else but fabrication and lies? If truth be known, Balochistan is full of patriots who are proud of their country’s acquisition of nuclear powers some 19 years ago and in that they are no different from any other Pakistani.
The flawed, inaccurate and politically influenced piece starts with an intuitive statement which purports to be part of a popular narrative of a group of the population in Balochistan. No serious attempt was made to substantiate the claim of course. Several other sweeping generalisations were made as well.
For instance, the writer portrays as if the district or the entire provincial population was affected by the release of radiation from the 28th May 1998 Chagai nuclear tests. Had it been so, would Pakistan and China have chosen to build their prized infrastructure project, CPEC, in a radiation-rich region. Certainly not, right?
After reading the article the first thing that comes into one’s mind is that Indian Navy commander Kulbhushan Jadahav and Indian-backed terrorist groups were wearing gas masks while planning and executing their sabotage plots in Balochistan. Factually, there is no radiation exposure in the area; neither in Chagai nor in nearby areas.
Without representing the facts, he claimed that the locals of Balochistan still suffer because of the nuclear explosion that the government set off in the Ras Koh mountains 19 years ago. Ras Koh is an entirely uninhabited area and situated in Chagai district, where Western NGOs are active. Never mind the fact that nobody has ever filed a genuine complaint that local residents are being affected by the radiation fallout of nuclear testing in 1998.
The author also offered a comical account of how Baloch groups resisted the nuclear testing by deliberating the incident of hijacking of a PIA Flight 554 by Indian-backed terrorists on May 24, 1998.
It is very important to discuss here that underground testing is much safer than aboveground testing. With underground testing, it is easy to contain the radiation. In Pakistan’s case, this was not done in haste though these came in response to India’s own 12 May tests. The selection of site, deep digging of the hills, preparations for detonation, etc, had been made long before 1984. Besides, all kind of collateral damage, aftershocks, effects and causes had already been evaluated and calculated.
A team of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) comprising Dr Ishfaq Ahmad, Member (Technical), and Dr Ahsan Mubarak started the operational reconnaissance of some areas in Balochistan in 1976. Over a span of three days, the PAEC scientists made several reconnaissance tours of the area between Turbat, Awaran and Khuzdar in the south and Naukundi-Kharan in the east.
After a painstaking search, they found a mountain which matched their specifications. This was a 185-metre high granite mountain in the Ras Koh Hills in the Chagai division of Balochistan which at their highest point rise to a height of 3,009 metres. Ras Koh Hills are independent of and should not be confused with the Chagai Hills further north on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, in which, to date, no nuclear test activity has taken place.
The PAEC requirement was that the mountain should be “bone dry” and capable of withstanding a 20-kiloton nuclear explosion from the inside. Tests were conducted to measure the water content of the mountains and the surrounding area and to measure the capability of the mountain’s rock to withstand a nuclear test. Once this was confirmed, Dr Ishfaq Ahmed commenced work on a three-dimensional survey of the area. Only after an extensive and hectic survey, the Pakistani government commenced work on the tunnel buildup and rescue plans were prepared in advance.
The rescue plans are said to be still ready but the detonations of 1998 were so sophisticated like that of the highly-upgraded technology Pakistan used that not a single individual of the population was affected. Shah Meer should have taken some radiation readings from a simple device like a Geiger counter before publishing the article. Rather than publishing fake stories, regarding Pakistan’s nuclear testing, The Diplomat must take into account the aggravated fears of the villages in the vicinity of the Pokhran test range, which have long fallen out of the international spotlight.
Source: tribune.com.pk/story/1437443/misperceptions-pakistans-nuclear-tests/
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“My Other Jinnah Film”
By Akbar Ahmed
17-Jun-17
I spent a decade creating and completing the Jinnah Quartet, which featured Jinnah, starring Sir Christopher Lee and the documentary Mr Jinnah: The Making of Pakistan, both of which I executive produced; the academic study Jinnah, Pakistan, and Islamic Identity: The Search for Saladin; and a graphic novel, The Quaid: Jinnah and the Story of Pakistan.
My aim, and that of the family and friends supporting me, was to produce the Quartet for the 50th anniversary of Pakistan in 1997 and create projects which would appeal to diverse audiences. The three projects were launched in 1997 and the feature film was completed in 1998.
A special characteristic of the documentary, available on YouTube, is that it relied entirely on people who either knew the Quaid personally or were his contemporaries. In it we have prominent Pakistani, Indian, and British figures and were fortunate to obtain some historic interviews including that of the Quaid’s only child, Dina Wadia.
Now, as the 70th anniversary approaches, it is time to revisit the documentary and remember Jinnah’s vision for Pakistan.
Finally, we hear his stirring words to the Constituent Assembly in 1947 which have appeared and disappeared as different governments attempted to create Jinnah in their own image, “You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the State ...”
The film opens with perhaps the only known footage of Mr Jinnah in colour. Sahabzada Yaqub Khan, Captain of Jinnah’s bodyguard in 1947, is one of the many people we meet:
“He has gone into the Valhalla.... to the pantheon as it were of a transcendental personality who is above reproach.... cast in that extraordinary mould of classical greatness.”
IjlalZaidi, a member of the Muslim Students’ Federation in 1940 and later Establishment Secretary in the Government of Pakistan, then speaks in awe of his hero:
“There was such total faith in his honesty, integrity, intention, and exactly that he meant what he said.”
Supreme Court justice Javed Iqbal tells us,
“The people of course had many hopes in Jinnah, because he was the only leader which the Muslims had produced for a very long time who could deliver the goods. It was only this so-called westernized Muslim who ... gave them a state.”
We also hear from Jinnah’s critics like Rafiq Zakaria, a former member of the Indian National Congress party and the father of Fareed Zakaria, the host of CNN’s GPS. Zakaria laments “the most tragic moment in India’s history” as being the moment when, in 1946, Nehru rejected Jinnah’s proposal to explore safeguards for Muslims within India.
Zakaria is not a fan of Jinnah, but he cannot help admiring him, “Because of his brilliance, because of his cleverness, because of his incorruptible style of functioning, he was highly respected. There’s no denying that.”
Dina Wadia reflects on Jinnah’s family life and remembers her mother with great affection, “She was young and beautiful, very, very intelligent, very bright, loved beautiful things, and she was a humorous, fun person” and comments on the unhappy marriage of her parents:“Well what happened was that he was a very, very busy man. He had all of his cases, he had a living to make, and then he had politics. Maybe he wasn’t able to give her the time that she should have had.”
From Piari Rashid, a friend of Jinnah, we learn that Jinnah encouraged her to become politically active and “to form a Muslim League in Baluchistan.”She also fondly tells us about his love for “baked custard. He could have it twice a day at every meal, if it was possible for him to do so.”
The Quaid’s marvellous sense of integrity comes shining through when Zeenat Rashid, the daughter of Haji Abdullah Haroon, Jinnah’s host in Karachi, tells him she and her female friends, dressed in different burkhas each time, had cast fake votes for him:
“I’m very sorry you did that, because I have no intention of getting Pakistan in that way. I want it to be a fair election. And I’m sorry that you did that. And I would like you to go back and remove those three votes from the voter’s list, because you have no right to do it.”
One of the last interviews is that of Mike Wickson, Jinnah’s navigator, who flew the Quaidin 1948 from Quetta to Karachi on his last journey. He leaves us with an endearing image of the Quaid in the final hours of his life:
“He was helped aboard...And it so happens I was looking directly at Jinnah as he was propped up on his pillows. And he obviously saw the concern on my face, because he gave me the most wonderful smile, a smile I shall never forget. And it was a smile that said, don’t be concerned, all is well and all will be well.”
Dina recalls the mass sorrow at her father’s funeral:
“Massive. I’ve never heard so many crying. The mourning and crying. Thousands and thousands. Flocks of people. Remember Pakistan had only been going for a year or something, so it was very emotional.”
Finally, we hear his stirring words to the Constituent Assembly in 1947 which have appeared and disappeared as different governments attempted to create Jinnah in their own image, “You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the State ...”
It is crucial that we remember the Quaid for who he was, which will help us determine how we understand and interpret his vision for Pakistan. This film can help us do that.
Source: dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/17-Jun-17/my-other-jinnah-film
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Weak Administrative Writ Provides Breeding Space for Extremism
By Mohammad Ali Babakhel
17-Jun-17
Resolve of the army chief to sever nexus between terrorists in remote areas and their facilitators in urban centers needs instant conversion into reality.
Achievement of such goal requires an elaborate action-oriented plan to be vigorously pursued by all components of criminal justice system and civil administration.
Regarding taking action against facilitators, National Action Plan (NAP) does not have any direct reference. NACTA and Police Research Bureau should consult the provinces and diagnose the reasons for facilitation and hurdles being faced while nabbing the facilitators.
Effective action against facilitators also warrants exploring of answers of certain questions. Why people opt for facilitation? What about types of facilitation? If it's the attraction of alluring narrative offered by extremists then what is our counter narrative? Supposedly if there is any counter narrative then why we did not effectively encounter the poisonous radical ideology? Why community is reluctant to share information about facilitators? What are barriers of communication between police and public? In cyber space how to save youth from online recruitment? What are facilitation techniques? After the target killings of hundreds of Maliks and community elders, how to enhance trust between the law enforcement apparatus and community? In a country where police and community are poles apart there in the absence of any legal operational fabric for community policing how community is to be encouraged to be cooperative?
After every incident of terrorism, both media and investigators almost work on same priorities hence often it becomes very difficult to establish distinction between the findings of media and investigators. Often both focuses on ordinary questions like nature of incident, was that a suicide attack or a consequence of an improvised explosive devise? What was the quantity and type of explosive? With a big bang, the bomber converts his body into hundreds of pieces thus there is no possibility to penalise the perpetrator but those who may have facilitated are alive. Ideally after an incident the investigators shall instantly trace the linkages with facilitators and financiers. Luckily, after APS attack there is growing realisation to detect, deter and detain the facilitators however there is dire need to build the capacity of investigators to nab the facilitators and financiers.
We have to think, what are the minimum requirements for suicide terrorism? From recent practices it transpires that even if one condition is missing the suicide mission cannot be completed. In the presence of these prerequisites, the likelihood of suicide bombing cannot be averted. However with strong intelligence network facilitators can be monitored and arrested.
Facilitation may be logistical, financial and technological. Regarding logistical facilitation the facilitators may help the attacker to have access to weapons, explosives, suicide jackets and access to the targets. Logistical facilitation also includes provision of boarding and transportation.
Technological facilitation includes making of an IED and tailoring of a suicide vest. Production of video clips and attracting innocent youth in encrypted chat groups are other important forms of facilitation.
Weak administrative writ also provides breeding space for extremism. Prior to military operations in FATA, weak administrative writ proved instrumental in the growth of extremism hence offered space for training and concentration of militants. Since military successfully destroyed the sanctuaries of militants in FATA therefore spotting and arresting of facilitators in settled areas require deep ingress of police in the society. However that is not possible without proactive role of police stations and special branch.
If nabbing of facilitators is the job of LEAs, spotting the facilitators is collective obligation of intelligence agencies, police and the community.
Institutional weaknesses and malpractices also facilitate the extremists. Issuance of fake CNICs to Afghan nationals and presence of thousands of non-custom-paid vehicles in Malakand division, FATA and Baluchistan are indirectly facilitating the cause of extremists. Availability of Afghan SIMs in market and malpractices in the sale of SIMs in market makes the job of terrorists easy.
To discourage facilitation of acts of terrorism in 2001 UN Security Council passed resolution 1373.Paragraph 2 (d) states: "All States shall prevent those who finance, plan, facilitate or commit terrorist act from using their respective territories for those purposes against other States or their citizens".
To convert the resolve of UN resolution in action and effective deterrence of facilitation requires legislative and administrative interventions. To curb terrorism facilitation KP assembly enacted Restriction of Rented Buildings (Security) Act, Hotels Restriction (Security) Act and Sensitive and Vulnerable Establishments and Places (Security) Act, 2015.As per essence of these enactments it's imperative upon the community to help police. However without regulating the business of property dealers and motor bargains it seems a gigantic task. In 2000 Australian Queensland state enacted Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act. Our provinces and district governments shall also focus on regulation of such businesses.
Pakistan has signed extradition treaties with 30 countries as of 2009. Extradition treaty with Afghanistan will help fight terrorism. If nabbing of facilitators is the job of law enforcement agencies, spotting of facilitators is undoubtedly collective obligation of intelligence agencies, police and community. Effective deterrence requires legal empowerment and access of investigators to the travel history, telephonic call data, credit cards, hotels and financial institutions.
Facilitators are enemies living within .Reluctance or failure on the part of public to identify facilitators is tantamount to collective suicide. Law enforcement agencies need to launch media campaign and train the public on how to sniff such tendencies and report.
Source: dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/17-Jun-17/the--enemy-within
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Two Nations, One Sub-Nationality
By M Ziauddin
June 17, 2017
Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has termed the Federally Administered Tribal Areas’ mainstreaming essential for durable peace in the region. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations, Gen Qamar while on a visit the other day to the Peshawar Corps headquarters had said that the army’s focus now was on transforming its operational achievements in Fata into enduring peace and stability — a goal that requires early mainstreaming of Fata through reforms.
This renders as false the suggestion voiced by some quarters that it was the army that was behind the government’s decision to defer at the last minute the tabling of the Fata reforms bill in the National Assembly.
It was ostensibly on the insistence of the political bosses of the JUI-F and and the PkMAP that the government deferred the move. Perhaps the two parties’ leaders had floated the rumour that the army was opposed to the mainstreaming of Fata.
Now that the army has publicly cleared its position on the issue, the government would need to follow up at the earliest as there is a lot of merit in these reforms. Perhaps by launching these reforms along with the merger of the region with the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province the people of Fata would acquire a semblance of human dignity, gain access to the law of the land as well as educational and health facilities.
It is clear that the mainstreaming of the Fata region would be able to help in settling the long-standing dispute over the Durand Line. Pashtuns make up the majority of the population that live in the immediate vicinity on the two sides of the Durand Line. Islam is the religion of almost 100 per cent of this ethnic Pashtun population. Culturally, too, the two are identical. But ironically that is the main reason why the Afghans find it impossible to recognise the line dividing supposedly one people. This is not unique to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Many countries are afflicted by this kind of dispute across their borders.
But the fact of the matter is the Pashtun population that lives on our side of line is made up of Pakistanis, different in national terms from those who live across on the other side and call themselves Afghans. While the two belong to the same sub-nationality, they are divided by the line on the basis of their respective nationalities.
However, the ambiguity has continued to exist because successive governments in Pakistan have miserably failed to bring the Pashtun population which lives in the immediate vicinity of our side of the line into our national mainstream.
In fact, our tribal Pashtuns have been denied and deprived all these 70 years since independence of what is called the Pakistani persona that would have set them socially and politically apart from the Pashtun population on the other side. And once the mainstreaming of the people of Fata is completed and the tribal people become Pakistani nationals in letter and in spirit, Pakistan could agree to accept the irrelevancy of the Durand Line while Afghanistan, in return, agrees to accept its internationally recognised status.
The next step to clinch a border deal would be for our defence and Foreign Office mandarins to make the Americans realise that they would neither be able to win the war in Afghanistan nor would they be able to reduce the financial burden of the war on its treasury until they actually implement the original anvil and hammer strategy to bottle up the militants by moving the joint US-Afghan troops to the Durand Line immediately across the border check posts that had been established by the Pakistan Army.
This can be followed up by establishing what are called Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) facilitating joint Pakistan-Afghanistan manufacturing units in the private sector for producing goods for the US markets as is being done between Jordan and Israel as well as between Egypt and Israel to establish lasting peace and improve the socio-economic well- being of the people straddling these borders.
Source: tribune.com.pk/story/1437425/two-nations-one-sub-nationality/
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Seasonal Birds Take Flight
By Muhammad Usman
June 17, 2017
ON October 30, 2011, Imran Khan summoned over one lakh people at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore. Crowd was not kind of one flock. It was rainbow of all sections of society. They all came at their own will and bill to challenge status quo. They profusely wanted a change. Politically it was a water shed. PTI rocketed sky high instantly. People saw hope. Over next few days, PTI grappled with dilemma of its ideological existence. In droves, there were calculating politicians and opportunists on its doors.
Haunted by charm of their electability and own political and organizational inadequacies, PTI gave in to political expediency. They came into PTI, not only with ease but also raced to its top hierarchy with equal haste and ease. Shah Mehmood Qureshi who calculated countlessly before joining PTI, becomes its Vice Chairman. Jahangir Tareen is its General Secretary. Punjab is largely in hands of Aleem Khan and Khakwani. Pervaiz Khattak is Chief Minister KP. Ironically ideologists like Arif Alvi, Hamid Khan, Shirin Mazari and Fauzia Kasuri are mostly at second tiers or outlier rim. These are few examples. Factually List is long. It left deep scars on ideological depth and face of the party however, so far PTI is lucky to escape real backlash. Pendulum of luck could tumble, if PTI continues to flirt with its ideological rank and file.
With political obituary of PPP in Punjab/KP and forthcoming general elections, seasonal birds are in wings to find another political nest and greener pasture. For host of reasons, they see an avenue in PTI. PTI is also avid to take their services. Both have logic of their own. Recently PTI has gleefully accepted Firdous Awan, Noor Alam and Nazar Gondal; PPP bigwigs/beneficiaries of its misdeeds. News about other stalwarts is also in air. PTI says that it could not shut its doors on anyone desirous of joining their party. Big name is no disqualification. Only good repute is the consideration. New entrant comes into PTI on their ideology after abandoning his past. It also tries to underplay their alleged corruption on plea that it would be decided by courts of law.
Recent big case in point is of Gondal who is widely alleged for committing corruption as federal minister. He is also accused of getting his brother appointed as Chairman EOBI who is under investigation for causing loss of Rs 44 Billion to national exchequer. These people also try to justify their change of hearts on grounds that they were sidelined within their party because of their loyal opposition. Finding no way out, they had to switch paths. Point of both looks to be devoid of political creed. It is a marriage of convenience and mutual accommodation. Recent episodes have once again raised serious questions about PTI’s ideological credentials and its impacts on their political pursuits.
Probably PTI is taking these lotas as known in common parlance to counter electoral manoeuvring/jugglery of their main rival PML (N) which has excelled in the art. PML (N) does not fight elections merely on this artful strength. They also harness strength of external and internal stakeholders and managers in their support before taking the field. It makes them a formidable foe. PTI is unlikely to match them on this pitch despite taking these people on their orbit. In 2013 elections, PTI bagged about 79 lakhs votes, not because of traditional voters. It was due to new voters. Instead of sitting at home as previously, they came out in large numbers to vote for change. Imran Khan was the symbol. It was second time in history of Pakistan when people went to polling booths, riding on a popular wave. First time it was in 1970 when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto swept the elections.
In 1977 elections, surprisingly he changed the mode. Instead of masses, he placed greater reliance on so called influential figures and cut short his appeal. It would be damaging blunder of PTI if it pins hope excessively on these phony personalities. It has yet to go a long way in its fight against status quo. Key in fight is their ideologists and youth, not rent seekers who only fare in fair weather. Youth is quick to hope but equally prone to disillusion. PTI to take utmost care to avoid such pitfall. Its track record on this score is dismal. Consequently, its street power has declined regardless of its claim to the contrary. It is an essential when battle comes at Knock out stage.
Notwithstanding wishful thinking within PTI, it has few jobs to do before next elections. One, taking ongoing legal battle against Sharif family to its logical end. Legal recourse is a soft option. Historically it is the hard ball which dislodges so old and strong forces of status quo. Two, a belief among its real supporters/sympathizers that next elections would be fair and transparent. In its absence, they may choose to sit at home on polling day. Third, an ability to undo rigged elections if so. Fourth, strengthening of its organizational structure and preparations for final showdown which looks nearly inevitable. These are uphill tasks and could only be undertaken by those who are committed to its ideology. Lotas have no history of such chemistry. PTI needs to keep ascendency of its ideological cadre within as it is the rule for an ideological party. Name of Imran Khan alone may not suffice. Contrarily, it would be on its own pearl.
Source: pakobserver.net/seasonal-birds-take-flight/
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Erring On Side of Caution
By Arhama Siddiqa
June 17, 2017
THE sectarian cauldron is hot. The geopolitics of the Middle East is intensifying the sectarian identities and ideologies of particular groups of Sunnis and Shias all over the world. This is not a good omen for Pakistan. The attacks on Barelvis claimed by the Islamic Sate (IS) and its allies, such as the attack on the shrine of Shah Noorani in Balochistan in November 2016 and Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sindh in February 2017 is evidence of the growing influence of IS and its message of declaring all those who do not subscribe to its message as heretics.
On April 25, 2017, a deadly attack carried out by a pro-Islamic State (IS) terrorist group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) targeting the Shia Muslims in Pakistan’s Kurram tribal region killed 14 people. JuA, which splintered from the Pakistani Taliban in 2014, accompanies a poisonous anti-Shia ideology and has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State Khurasan (ISK) in 2014. In the last two years, JuA has synergised with the IS to target Shiites across Pakistan. The emergence of IS in Pakistan and IS-linked attacks in league with anti-Shia militants, such as JuA, Jundullah and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami (LeJ-A), are sinister developments, especially where Sunni-Shia sectarian relations are concerned.
At the heart of these troubling formations is the Syrian conflict. Syria is home to a number of holy sites endeared by Shiites, including the shrine of Zaynab, the granddaughter of Prophet Muhammad. This, among other factors, makes Syria an important country for Shia Islam; and an attack on Syria is considered a direct threat to the Shia sect itself. In light of this, the April 25 incident cannot be divorced from the December 2015 attack by LeJ-A in Parachinar, a warning to local Shiites to stop supporting the crimes against Syrian Muslims by the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Iranian government. Added to this is the Saudi-Iran rivalry- something which has sectarian undertones and is partly responsible for the continuing Syrian civil war. Pakistan finds itself caught in a tug of war between its oil-rich ally, Saudi Arabia, and its neighbour, Iran.While Shia extremist groups associate with the larger Shia community in particular Iran. Likewise, the Sunni extremists and Islamist groups in Pakistan identify themselves with Saudi Arabia, underscoring the divide of Muslims in the country. This puts Pakistan in a paradox where any sign of closeness towards Saudi Arabia or Iran serves to only exacerbate the sectarian fault lines within its borders.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have traditionally maintained strong ties based on reciprocity, whereby the Saudis’ oil and their deep pockets have helped Pakistan in times of need, while Pakistan has provided its military capabilities to help the custodians of the two Holy Mosques achieve their military objectives. Much to the surprise of the Saudis and their subordinates in Pakistan, this changed when the Pakistan government chose to remain on the sidelines instead of joining the Saudi-led coalition against Yemen in 2015 –a decision nettled the Saudis and their Arab allies. However, with the appointment of Pakistan’s ex-army chief Raheel Shareef to head the 41-nation Islamic military alliance against terrorism there were signs that Pakistan might join the fight in Yemen after all. But the exclusion of Iran and other Shia majority Muslim states from the Islamic Military Alliance gives it a distinctive Sunni character, and lends itself to being interpreted as an effort by the Sunni states to gather against Shia Iran and its allies in the Middle East.
Raheel’s attempt to assuage Shia concerns by setting conditions on his appointment, which included making Iran a member state in the alliance failed. The Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman, has been more bellicose in his tone towards Iran than before effectively ruling out any chance of peace with Iran. The ongoing Qatar-Gulf rift is also evidence of the deep rooted rivalry.
On the other hand, Iran is Pakistan’s neighbour. Granted the two countries have a complicated history of bilateral relations. Nonetheless, it is important for Pakistan not to antagonise its neighbour, especially when, as over the past year, ties with Afghanistan and India have deteriorated and as they say you can change friends but not neighbours. Hence, Pakistan needs to exercise prudent.
This dilemma has become even more complicated in light of the recent Trump-led Arab Islamic American Summit in May. Not only did Trump sign a $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia but he also slandered Iran by calling it a nation that “fuelled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror”. Trump’s visit is important because it shows that the United States has picked a side in this rivalry for regional supremacy. But the side effects are dangerous. By appealing to the Sunni states, Trump has implicitly disregarded Shia Islam and added more fuel to sectarian violence.
The stalemate in Syria does not help Pakistan. Nor does the inflammatory politics between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Persian-Arab conflict goes far back in history. However it is equally a battle for regional influence. The Saudi-Qatar conflict is evidence of a power struggle, not a sectarian divide. It is important that Pakistan’s Government must not commit itself to either side of the Muslim world’s bloody Shia-Sunni sectarian divide and instead mediate between the two regional powers to abate the parlous situation.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was not given the opportunity to speak at the Arab-Islamic-American Summit. Many deemed it embarrassing- some called it downright insulting. Be that as it may, it does provide Pakistan with an opportunity to separate itself from what is perceived to be an anti-Shia coalition and instead undertake a carefully balanced foreign policy towards the Middle East and by doing so help smother the flames of sectarianism.
Source; pakobserver.net/erring-side-caution/
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Another Fine Mess
By Irfan Husain
June 17th, 2017
THE tagline in the old Laurel and Hardy movies was “another fine mess”, and was uttered whenever things went wrong for the comic duo, as they often did.
I can imagine some judges in the Supreme Court muttering this to Imran Khan as the joint investigation team charade continues to unfold. Earlier, I had predicted that the apex court would not want to get its hands dirty by taking on the Panamagate case as it was not an investigative body, and would not wish to appear to take sides in such a deeply divisive and politicised matter.
I was wrong. As Imran Khan’s PTI mounted pressure by threatening to storm the capital, the Supreme Court decided to put its misgivings behind it, and hear the case. This just goes to show that the threat of violence does pay off in Pakistani politics. We were reminded yet again about the impotence of the state in defending its key institutions from the challenge posed by irresponsible politicians.
The JIT finds itself between a rock and a hard place.
Now, as the JIT becomes tarnished and engulfed by accusations of carrying out an inquisition, should we surprised by the venom being spewed by and at the team set up by the bench? From WhatsApp directives allegedly conveyed by the court’s registrar to the heads of bodies nominated to the JIT to propose specific members, to allegations of tampering, this is truly “another fine mess”.
My purpose here is not to criticise the JIT, but to point out that by the nature of the inquiry, and the tight time limit of two months imposed by the Supreme Court, it finds itself between a rock and a hard place. Placed in a pressure cooker, it is passing on this stress to those it interrogates.
Accused by Nawaz Sharif supporters of bullying witnesses, and releasing Hussain Nawaz’s photograph, the JIT has hit back with charges of its own. In a blistering report to the Supreme Court, it has alleged that government departments were altering records, a charge denied by the finance minister.
In a way, you have to feel sorry for the civilian members of the JIT. Wajid Zia, the team leader, is said to be in line for promotion from grade 21 to grade 22, the pinnacle of a civil service career. If Nawaz Sharif gets off with little more than a slap on the wrist, Zia can say goodbye to his promotion.
And while the two retired brigadiers on the team don’t have any skin in the game, and will therefore get off unscathed no matter which way the cookie crumbles, their civilian colleagues are not as fortunately placed.
With all this mud-slinging going on, it is inevitable that some of it should stick to the Supreme Court. This is a danger I had feared: after all, you can’t hire an investigator and then remain with clean hands when he is accused of strong-arm methods. This is specially so when the civilian members of the JIT were handpicked by the court.
So where do we go from here? Already, the JIT has said it will be unable to complete its inquiry within the stipulated two months.
Even after it does, it is likely to be patchy, given the problems inherent in seeking information in different jurisdictions. And, as Nawaz Sharif stated after his appearance before the JIT, he has submitted records relating to a period before his birth.
Sifting through documents pertaining to the financial transactions of three generations of the Sharif clan would occupy a forensic team for months, if not years. Even studying the JIT report — whenever it is submitted — will take the honourable bench weeks before they can reach a conclusion. We will then be very close to the 2018 election.
Unseating an elected prime minister at this juncture will be seen as a political act, embroiling the Supreme Court in yet more controversy. All this was avoidable; but here are the chat show addicts, utterly absorbed by the minutiae of the unfolding drama.
Speaking personally, I am bored stiff by the Panama-related events I read about and watch, just to stay in the loop. After all, you’d have to be either very gullible, or a Nawaz Sharif fan, to think he is innocent of any of the charges levelled against him. We have known about his London Knightsbridge flats for over two decades, so no surprises there. We also have a pretty good idea about how the House of Sharif flourished after Nawaz Sharif was appointed Punjab’s finance minister under Zia.
So the only question now is how creatively the prime minister has covered his tracks, and whether the bench will find the documents presented to it sufficiently compelling to rule against the Sharif family. Whatever the outcome, this is “another fine mess”.
Source: dawn.com/news/1340085/another-fine-mess
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Missing the Larger Picture
By Tariq Khosa
June 17th, 2017
AFTER escaping mass casualty attacks for 12 years, the United Kingdom suffered three in quick succession in 72 days, suggesting the authorities are not able to stop low-tech, improvised assaults carried out by individuals or small groups. These pose a difficult choice for the so-called ‘free societies’: do more to contain the resurgent jihadist violence or risk political backlash by putting ‘draconian’ limits on civil rights and liberties. The answers are not easy to find and knee-jerk, reactive approaches are simply not working, whether in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Kashmir, Yemen, Turkey or Pakistan.
In two out of three recent attacks in the UK, the perpetrators were known to the intelligence agencies but not thought to be dangerous enough to warrant a close watch. This points to the difficulty of the intelligence apparatus in determining whom to monitor.
The attacks also pose a policy conundrum for governments that uphold the values of liberty and free expression: how should they take the fight to an “amorphous battlefield”? Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, MI5, has monitored 20,000 extremists in the recent past. Keeping tabs on so many people is a struggle even for the most sophisticated security agencies anywhere.
Following these attacks, there have been fervent calls for international regulators to stop extremists from using cyberspace to win supporters. “We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed; yet that is precisely what the internet and the big companies that provide internet-based services provide,” lamented British Prime Minister Theresa May. The question is whether more curbs on the web would be able to stop the spread of radicalism.
An ‘intense mix of envy and sense of humiliation and powerlessness’ seem to be driving extremism.
Ms May has called for a “battle of ideas” against the radical version of Islam — in other words, “to live our lives not in a series of separated, segregated communities, but as one truly United Kingdom”. This would involve “difficult and often embarrassing conversations” with the Muslim community. This is where she as a politician, thinking of an electoral outcome in a tense post-Brexit era, is treading a path of outlining a new counterterrorism strategy that puts ideology and integration at the forefront.
I fear that if the attacks continue, so will political pressure for measures such as large-scale preventive detentions, intrusive police surveillance and a panic-driven reactive counterterrorism strategy that would amount to following the failed militaristic approach of dealing with violent extremism as enunciated by Pankaj Mishra in his latest book Age of Anger.
The militant Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the recent bloodbath in the UK which also shows why governments must target the threat at its root and identify the causes that churn out militants, terrorists and insurgents in this age of rage. Mishra believes the West-versus-the-rest thinking since 9/11 explains “why our age of anger has provoked some absurdly extreme fear and bewilderment” that has produced intellectual robots who “cannot ever develop sufficient knowledge, rigour, imagination, and humility to grasp the phenomenon of [IS]”.
One must analyse the mindset of the educated young men and some women who are rushing to fight for soul-stirring but poorly understood causes, and often cutting their lives short. Mishra calls them “wandering outlaws of their own dark minds wanting to surrender completely to elusive dreams of eternal bliss after death”.
IS seems to pose even more perplexing questions than Al Qaeda did. Mishra wonders “why, for instance, has Tunisia, the originator of the Arab Spring and the most Westernised among Muslim societies, sent the largest contingent among 90 countries of foreign jihadis to Iraq and Syria? Why have dozens of British women, including high-achieving schoolgirls, joined up, despite the fact that men from [IS] have enslaved and raped girls as young as 10 years old?”
In Notes from Underground, referred to by Mishra, Dostoyevsky’s Underground Man says: “I’m convinced that man will never renounce real suffering, that is, destruction and chaos.” Mishra claims: “Dreaming constantly of revenge against his social superiors, this creature of the netherworld luxuriates in his feeling of impotence, and projects blame for his plight outward.” Even Nietzsche derived his understanding of ‘resentment’ and its malign potential as a “particularly noxious form of aggression by the weak against an aloof and inaccessible elite”.
My worry is that we are not seeing the big picture and seem to be, as the theologian Niebuhr would say, “suspended in a hell of global insecurity”. There is an overlap of religion and politics in this era of violent extremism. It is easy to blame an ideology without understanding the complexities of the chain of causality in acts of terrorism. There are social, cultural, economic and political factors that are stoking conflicts and radicalising vast sections of marginalised and disaffected strata of society. The result is, as political theorist Arendt feared, a “tremendous increase in mutual hatred and a somewhat universal irritability of everybody against everybody else”, and according to Mishra an existential resentment “caused by an intense mix of envy and sense of humiliation and powerlessness”.
Mishra concludes that “the old West-dominated world order is giving way to an apparent global disorder. Anglo-America no longer confidently produces, as it did for two centuries, the surplus of global history; and the people it once dominated now chafe against the norms and valuations produced by that history”.
Meanwhile, we in Pakistan, like the blind men in the fable who try to describe an elephant by feeling different parts of its body, cannot make out the challenges of extremism in all their dimensions, leaving it to the ‘barrel vision’ of an enormous regulatory or deep state, a government within the government, that calls the shots. Nations become strong on the legacy of trust — the kind that depends on institutions that foster collective decisions in response to existential threats. Lasting nationhood is based on a social contract between the state and individual in which each is accountable to the other.
We need to address this trust deficit.
Source; dawn.com/news/1340082/missing-the-larger-picture
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/pakistan-press/from-zarb-i-azb-radd/d/111572