Pakistan Press on Liaquat Ali Khan, UNHCR and Human Rights: New Age Islam's Selection, 16 October 2020
By New Age Islam Edit
Bureau
16 October
2020
• UNHCR and the Refugee Crisis
By Amir Hussain
• Remembering A Leader: Liaquat Ali Khan
By Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani
• Geopolitics of Nagorno-Karabakh
By Inam Ul Haque
• NAB versus Human Rights
By I.A. Rehman
• One Silver Lining
By Samuel Earle
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UNHCR and the Refugee Crisis
By Amir Hussain
October 16,
2020
According
to the UNHCR, there are some 70.8 million forcibly displaced people across the
world today including 41.3 million internally displaced persons, 25.9 million
refugees and some 3.5 million-asylum seekers.
Fifty-seven
percent of these refugees come from Syria, Afghanistan and South Sudan and 80
percent of refugee influx is hosted by neighbouring countries. The magnitude of
international conflicts and civil strife within states has increased over the
years as wars and insurgencies continue to shape international politics. Forced
displacement and statelessness is a continuing threat to millions of lives
around the world and it is not going away anytime soon. International
organizations like the UNHCR do their best to address the humanitarian crisis
caused by wars and conflicts, but we need to buttress their efforts through
collective actions.
In our
conventional national debates on forced displacement, we usually end up doing
some calculations of net losses in economic and political terms. Forced displacement
of people will of course have spillover economic and political consequences for
neighbouring countries – with visible implications on livelihoods, peace and
social cohesion. That is why it calls for collective planning and concerted
action to minimize political and economic cost and also to address the
humanitarian crisis with empathy rather than with econometrics.
In the
absence of planning, Pakistan has suffered from the political and economic
burden of hosting millions of refugees in the last three decades. Having said
this, it is important to contest the debate regarding the refugee crisis in
Pakistani media which tends to blame Afghan refugees for all social, economic
and security related ills. It is important to understand that Pakistan opted to
go with world powers in reshaping Afghanistan from the days of the cold war
which, inter alia, entailed getting international assistance to host refugees.
It was not out of any altruism or a sense of helping the Afghan brethren; it
was all about money and politics. Those who wanted to carve out a new
Afghanistan in the aftermath of the cold war left this impoverished country to
bleed internally once their political objectives were met.
The
protracted internal strife in Afghanistan is one of the longest unsettled
conflicts in the world without any chances of peace and harmony to prevail in
the foreseeable future. Pakistan, being amongst the top refugee hosting
countries in the world along with Turkey, Germany, Uganda and Sudan, will need
assistance to deal with this humanitarian crisis amicably. That is exactly why
the UNHCR needs to expand its operations in Pakistan to build on its ongoing
good work. In addition to IDPs, refugees and asylum seekers, there are millions
of stateless people with no political entitlement of citizenship and right of
representation as well as no access to basic services like education,
healthcare, employment and freedom of movement.
Some
experts suggest that one must classify stateless people into two categories.
One is the situation of benign statelessness, which involves no right of
representation and citizenship. Under this category one can include people of
Gilgit-Baltistan as an example of benign statelessness in the context of
Pakistan as they do not have the right of representation in the national
politics and hence no citizenship rights.
The other
category is the situation of absolute statelessness which includes all those
who are not entitled to political, social and economic rights. The UNHCR must
come up with two separate strategies to address the plight of the people under
these two categories of statelessness. There are many untold stories of agony,
violence, harassment and torture faced by forcibly displaced people which must
be told to sensitize the world. Forced displacement is not a choice; it is
coercion, up-rootedness, horror, death and loss of human dignity.
Long ago in
November 1995, I joined a campaign run by some community development
institutions to help 30,000 Afghan refugees who were forced out of their
country. Taliban rule was not fully established in Afghanistan then but there
was internal strife for the control of mainland Afghanistan. As a young
volunteer, I had the opportunity to visit refugee camps in the then North-West
Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan and to collect some horrible stories of
miseries and agonies inflicted upon poor Afghans by the warring factions and
proxies of the world powers. The stories I collected were the firsthand account
of the refugees who lost everything including the right to live in their own
homeland but most of them had not lost the hope for a better future.
A highly
educated Afghan man in his early forties narrated some heart-wrenching stories
of how his family and others managed to escape extermination at the hands of the
Taliban in the southern province of Kandahar in June 1995. His whole family was
kept in a dilapidated house filled with stains of blood, the smell of of
explosives and screams of injured and dying people all around. All women were
asked to leave after two days, the men who resisted were killed or taken to
custody, and most of them were then disappeared. This educated man could escape
by acting dead by the dead bodies in the compound of that decrepit house. In
the darkness of the night when the Taliban left the compound he managed to
escape the death trap.
In the
refugee camp this gentleman organized the people into small groups to teach
them English language, history and basic numeracy. He was optimistic that ‘one
day these refugees will enter Afghanistan as educated people to serve their
country and to help restore peace rather than killing their compatriots under a
tribal instinct of retribution’. Despite living in subhuman conditions in
refugee camps, this educated man and many others like him strived to contribute
for a better future for their compatriots and were optimistic that peace will
return to their country. We must bring forth such emotive stories and we must
acknowledge that being a refugee does not undermine human potential to
contribute to make the world better.
In the
autumn of 1995, the Taliban took over Herat province near the border of Iran
and those who escaped found no refuge until they crossed borders into Iran and
then to Pakistan through Taftan border. There were a dozen families from Herat
amongst refugees whose stories of horror still haunt me and some of them
continue to live under subhuman conditions in a refugee camp near Pishin in
Balochistan. Development workers must visit those refugees and their stories
must be told to the world.
In the year
2000, as students in our university days we created a platform of migration and
refugee studies with the primary objective to organize awareness-raising
programs about the refugee crisis and issues of forced displacement among the
university students. Under this initiative, we organized conferences and
invited the UNHCR and other agencies to share their wisdom on forced
displacement. It worked well for the university students and we were able to
expand the group. The stories we collected as students still influence my work
as a development professional. I hope that the UNHCR and the government of
Pakistan will work closely to address the unresolved issues of Afghan refugees
and stateless people living in Pakistan.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/729945-unhcr-and-the-refugee-crisis
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Remembering a leader: Liaquat Ali Khan
By Dr Ramesh Kumar
Vankwani
October 16,
2020
The day of
16th October reminds us of Pakistan’s first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, a
great personality whose selfless contributions for our beloved country were
ever-lasting. He was a close companion of the founder of Pakistan. He was a
true patriot who was assassinated by anti-state elements, exactly 69 years ago
on October 16, 1951.
It is said
that Quaid-e-Azam moved to London due to the failure of the Round Table
Conference in 1930 and decided to retire from all political activities. Liaquat
Ali Khan made sincere efforts to convince Quaid-e-Azam to return and
re-organize the Muslim League.
Although
Liaquat Ali Khan belonged to a wealthy landlord family of Karnal, he adopted a
simple lifestyle. Being the first prime minister of a newly-established state,
his goal was to transform Pakistan into a prosperous country. After
Quaid-e-Azam, he tried his best to safeguard the national interests. Even
today, Liaquat Ali Khan’s historic sign of a fisted punch has a symbolic
significance to counter Indian aggressive intentions against Pakistan.
Liaquat Ali
Khan also proved himself a visionary leader with a strong grip on international
relations. He preferred to visit the US in order to promote cordial relations
with west. His historic visit resulted in Pakistan becoming an active part of
the US-led Western bloc.
The main
objective of the establishment of Pakistan, according to Quaid-e-Azam, was to
create a role model independent state where all citizens, regardless of
majority or minority affiliations, have the freedom to play their due role for
the development and prosperity of the country. The historical speech of
Quaid-e-Azam to the assembly was the practical evidence of his intentions.
Following the vision of Quaid-e-Azam, Liaquat Ali Khan also remained active
till his last breath to protect the rights of minorities. He believed that all
citizens should have religious freedom and equal civic rights.
Regrettably,
vulnerable minorities on both sides of the border became targets of oppressive
elements after the partition of the sub-continent. Being prime minister,
Liaquat Ali Khan stepped forward to play his role to control atrocities against
innocent people. He reached Delhi on April 4, 1950 and signed a landmark
agreement with his counterpart Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to protect the minority
communities living in the two countries.
On the
occasion, the leadership of both countries agreed to protect the fundamental
rights of minorities, including freedom of speech and worship. Under the
Liaquat-Nehru Pact, any conversion occurred during a period of communal
disturbance was considered an act of forced conversion. The agreement further
declared that: “Those [oppressive elements] found guilty of converting people
forcibly shall be punished.” Most importantly, it was decided to empower local
minorities by establishing minority commissions in each country.
In my view,
the assassination of the first prime minister of Pakistan during a public
possession is still a mystery but his unconditional love for Pakistan is an
open secret. Even during his last moments, he was praying to God for the
protection of Pakistan. He was rightly honoured with the public title of
Shaheed-e-Millat (Martyr of the Nation) and was buried in the premises of
Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum in Karachi.
For the
last 70 years, October 16 demands that we must find a reliable solution to the
problems of the minorities in our country. In India, the local Muslim minister
is responsible, from day one, for looking after the evacuee trust properties
belonging to minority Muslims. Unfortunately, no Pakistani Hindu citizen has
been considered eligible to supervise the Evacuee Trust Property Board since
the last seven decades.
Today, in
Naya Pakistan, we must keep struggling to fulfil the pledges of the
Shaheed-e-Millat and to rectify the mistakes of past governments.
-----
Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani is a member of the
National Assembly and patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Hindu Council.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/729949-remembering-a-leader
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Geopolitics of Nagorno-Karabakh
By Inam Ul Haque
October 15,
2020
The
international system is reliant on national clout and effect. It will only gear
up if a nation or a group of nations, through its actions, threatens the global
status-quo. Traditionally, the dominant powers dislike threats to the
established order as it may usher in uncertainty. There are crises and disputes
among nations that are brought to the limelight only if parties to the dispute
try and change the regional and/or global status-quo.
Nagorno-Karabakh
or Artsakh — as the Armenians call it — in southwestern Azerbaijan, is one such
legacy dispute. Some analysts see it as a conflict between Muslim Azerbaijan
and Christian Armenia. That view is grounded in the conquests of Turko-Persian
Seljuk Empire (1060-1307 AD), when Christian Armenia was firmly under Seljuk
suzerainty.
The enclave
is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but is populated by ethnic
Armenians, therefore, supported by Armenia. In 1923, the Soviet Union
established it as an Armenian-majority autonomous oblast (province) of the
Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) having a high degree of self-rule.
Now it is a self-declared independent country, not internationally recognised.
The
Karabakh Range separates the enclave from Armenia, then the Armenian SSR. The
enclave, under the USSR, spread over some 4,400 square kilometres, however,
presently it occupies some 7,000 square km after capturing Azerbaijani
territory. The region is generally mountainous, forested and rural with some
light industry and food-processing plants. Xankändi (formerly Stepanakert) is
its capital. It is surrounded on almost all sides by Azerbaijan except a thin
strip of land in the southwest, connecting it to Armenia.
During
1988, Armenians of the enclave demanded transfer of their oblast to the
Armenian jurisdiction against the wishes of both, the Soviet government and the
Azerbaijan SSR. War ensued between the ethnic Armenians and Azeris in the
enclave in 1991, after the USSR’s collapse. Karabakh’s Armenian forces, with
full support of Armenia, occupied much of southwestern Azerbaijan, including
the territory connecting the enclave to Armenia. A ceasefire agreement in 1994
was negotiated by Russia and a committee called the “Minsk Group”, created by
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). However, there
has been no lasting resolution to the conflict.
The
self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh declared its independence in early
1992, held elections thereafter and approved a new constitution in a 2006
referendum. Azerbaijan considers all these actions illegal under international
law. A 2008 landmark agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan pledged movement
towards a resolution; however, episodic clashes have occurred throughout the
2010s. A breakdown in diplomacy led to clashes in July and late September this
year, hence the recent escalation.
On October
10, both Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a limited ceasefire brokered by
Russia, including prisoners exchange and removal of dead from the battlefield.
During the
earlier war in the 1990s, Azerbaijan had put an economic blockade of
land-locked Armenia as the war spread beyond Nagorno-Karabakh to the southern
part of Armenia-Azerbaijan border. That may happen again if the situation
escalates. Then, most of Armenia’s logistics were brought through traditional
rail and road network from the Caspian Sea port of Baku, capital of Azerbaijan.
Georgia was of limited help, Armenia had no relations with Turkey and roads
across Armenia’s short frontier with Iran, to the south, were inadequate for
heavy truck traffic. The United States provided 33,000 tons of American grain
to Nagorno-Karabakh through Armenia after bread shortages. It airlifted
critical items like baby food and medical supplies. That situation has
marginally changed.
In the
1990s, 75% of the enclave’s population of 162,000 constituted ethnic Armenians
after more than 600,000 Azeris and 200,000 Armenians were displaced. Armenians
were outnumbered two to one by Azeris, prompting the US State Department to
warn the largely isolated Armenia of a “national catastrophe” in December 1992.
Today some 9.9 million Azeris face up to 2.9 million Armenians.
During
recent build-up, Armenia killed an Azeri general and other officers in a
missile strike on an Azerbaijan Army base in July this year. In the ensuing
clashes, the enclave’s capital city, Xankändi, has been hit with missiles and
suicide drones. Azerbaijan’s second largest city Ganja, and a hydroelectric
station were struck in powerful rocket attacks causing losses. And Azerbaijani
drones flew within 20 miles of Yerevan, Armenia’s capital. Ground operations
have caused territorial losses to the Armenians.
The next
targets could be oil and gas facilities on either side, affecting oil and gas
supply to Europe. Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of firing rockets using its
territory; ostensibly to invite Azeri retaliation, triggering Armenia’s defense
pact with Russia. Turkey is solidly behind Azerbaijan. Any escalation beyond
the enclave would draw in Turkey and Russia as Russia has a military base in
Armenia and is treaty-bound to protect Armenia.
Russia and
France support Armenia’s claim that Turkey deployed Syrian militants to
Nagorno-Karabakh, besides using F-16s, thanks to the Armenian diaspora in the
US, France and Russia.
Azerbaijan,
frustrated by international inaction, seems resolved to fight until it has full
control of Nagorno-Karabakh as the Minsk Group has not made any material
advancement towards a lasting peace settlement. Its meeting in Geneva on
October 8, 2020, with France and Russia — the other co-chairs — was convened
nearly two weeks after the conflict. The US seems preoccupied with the
pandemic, a popular uprising in Belarus and Trump catching corona.
Russia has
been able to at least negotiate a tenuous ceasefire on October 10, as both
countries were erstwhile socialist republics. Both use large-calibre,
Russian-made Smerch (tornado) rockets and Russia has been supplying the same
weapons to both sides for decades.
Azerbaijan
rightfully seeks to control all the territory within its UN-recognised borders
besides restitution for some 600,000 people displaced by the war in the 1990s.
Armenians in the enclave fear Azerbaijani rule. While the Azerbaijan government
suspects that the enclave’s Armenians will ultimately opt to join Armenia, it
is prepared to allow them “cultural autonomy.”
This
festering conflict is far from being settled and would most likely continue
till the time the enclave is fully absorbed by Azerbaijan that enjoys all the
legal, moral and administrative authority to do so. Azerbaijan has been boldly
supporting our Kashmir cause and there are reasons to believe they have
Pakistan’s moral and material support in their hour of need, in a just war.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2268372/geopolitics-of-nagorno-karabakh
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NAB Versus Human Rights
By I.A. Rehman
15 Oct 2020
THAT the
National Accountability Bureau has little respect for human rights is widely
known. The extent to which human rights are violated by NAB can only be
established by documentation, a process in which this institution is obviously
not interested. Surprisingly, NAB victims too have not attempted a record-based
assessment of this important institution’s performance. In this situation a
fact sheet prepared by former senator Sehar Kamran can only be welcomed. The
first shocking fact presented in this report is that NAB is allegedly
responsible for causing 12 deaths.
— Aslam
Masood was extradited to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia in February 2019. It is
said that grilling by NAB caused him to suffer cardiac arrest and he died in
NAB custody.
— Aijaz
Memon suffered a heart attack in Sukkur jail and died in a hospital nearly
three months after being taken into custody by NAB for embezzlement.
— Advocate
Zafar Iqbal Mughal was arrested on Oct 11, 2019. His health deteriorated over
86 days in NAB detention. He was transferred to a hospital where he died four
days later.
The number
of people who have died in NAB custody is frightening.
— Raja Asim
remained in NAB custody for five years during which time his trial had not
concluded. Delay in providing treatment for pneumonia is said to have caused
his death in NAB custody. His death, it is alleged, was announced after a delay
of five days.
— Retired
Brig Asad Munir committed suicide to escape humiliation by NAB. In his suicide
note he requested the country’s chief justice to take notice of NAB
authorities’ conduct “so that other government officials are not convicted for
the crimes they had not committed”.
— Muhammad Nasir
Sheikh of KDA was arrested in November 2015. Held without prosecution for more
than three years, he died of cardiac arrest while in NAB custody.
— Prof Dr
Tahir Amin of BZ University, Multan, failed in his bid to commit suicide and
later on died in NAB custody.
— Qaiser
Abbas was arrested in August 2018. On complaining of pain in his heart he was
rushed to a hospital on Oct 1, 2019. He died the same day while still in NAB
custody.
— Chaudhry
Arshad of Rawalpindi suffered a heart attack during interrogation by NAB and
died in its custody.
— Muhammad
Saleem of the Lahore Development Authority was arrested in September 2017 and
sent to jail on judicial remand. When his health deteriorated he was shifted to
a hospital where he died while still in NAB custody.
— Prof
Javed Ahmad was arrested by NAB and sent to Lahore camp jail on judicial
remand. He died in the jail. Post-death photographs showed his body still
wearing chains.
— Abdul
Qavi of KDA was arrested in November 2015. He died in Karachi Central Jail two
years later while in NAB custody.
This is a
frightening account of NAB victims’ mortality rate and one wonders whether it
is matched by any accountability institution in the world. This by itself calls
for a judicial probe to determine the legitimacy of NAB procedures and their
admissibility in any system of civilised justice. In most cases NAB’s claims on
its victims fall in the category of civil liability for which special and
humane procedures were devised by the colonial rulers. The defaulters were kept
in detention for periods not exceeding 14 days at a time at special detention
centres outside the prison system.
One of the
most fundamental objections to the NAB procedures is the use of detention to
gather evidence against the detainees. The bail plea of Mir Shakilur Rahman was
opposed during the early phase of his detention on the ground that evidence
against him was still being collected. There are similar stories of numerous
other victims of NAB’s arbitrary procedures. The common factor is the use of
detention and torture to gather evidence.
NAB has
been able to get away with blue murder on the strength of the myth that all
means adopted to fight corruption are fair and that the ends justify the means.
These myths are used by vindictive minds to justify torture to obtain evidence
and secure convictions. While cases of successful prosecution are publicised
nothing is said about the sharks that are left untouched. If such practices are
continued for long, the corruption of the anti-corruption brigade will dwarf
the corruption of the people chosen through a highly selective process.
There is
great weight in Sehar Kamran’s argument that NAB’s actions violate a number of
constitutional guarantees of human rights. These are contained in: Article 8
that holds laws inconsistent with fundamental rights to be void; Article 9 that
guarantees security of person; Article 10 that offers safeguards against
arbitrary arrest and detention; Article 12 that bars retrospective punishment;
Article 14 that affirms inviolability of dignity of person; and all the
articles that protect the basic freedoms. Above all, NAB tactics fall foul of
Article 14 (2) that bars torture to extract evidence as most of the evidence
used by NAB is allegedly extracted through torture.
Quite a few
extremely harsh strictures have been passed on NAB by the National Commission
on Human Rights, the Supreme Court and almost all the high courts. That these
admonitions have had no effect on NAB suggests the state’s complicity. Thus the
state becomes answerable for all the human rights violations committed by NAB.
It is a responsibility any civilised government will be loath to accept.
Tailpiece:
Many voices were raised last week for the release of Baba Jan, the hero of not
only Gilgit-Baltistan but the whole of Pakistan, but not as loud as his status
as a prisoner of conscience and the scale of injustice done to him demand. His
continued imprisonment as a result of conviction for a concocted offence is a stigma
Pakistan cannot live with. The state must redeem its prestige by withdrawing
all cases against him.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1585155/nab-versus-human-rights
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One Silver Lining
By Samuel Earle
October 16,
2020
Fear-mongering
is understandably in fashion this year, with prophets of doom having no
shortage of new material to draw upon. But amid the endlessly bleak portents of
our collective future – birds falling out of the sky in the United States,
hundreds of whales washing up on Australia’s shores, a succession of
‘worst-ever’ natural disasters, set against a ‘worst-ever’ US presidential
election and a once-in-a-generation pandemic – there is at least one silver
lining: the urgency of tackling climate change seems, finally, to be sinking
in.
Joe Biden,
a stalwart of the status quo and favourite to win in November, is campaigning
on the most ambitious climate change package in history. Totalling $2 trillion,
and injecting some much-needed vitality into his veteran candidacy, the plan
promises a complete transition to clean electricity by 2035 and net zero
emissions by 2050.
China,
currently the world’s biggest emitter, has announced it will phase out fossil
fuels by 2060. Much of Europe is on the same path. Boris Johnson, who has spent
much of his career ridiculing wind energy, has now re-branded himself as a
champion of the cause. The leaders who still refuse to follow suit – blindly
clinging to the fantasy that free-market capitalism will correct itself – now
sound less like the custodians of economic orthodoxy they could once claim to
be, and more like the heirs of Homer Simpson: “Stupidity got us into this mess,
and stupidity will get us out.”
Admittedly,
the gap between rhetoric and reality is always hard to identify when it comes
to climate change action, and so any optimism should come with caution.
Leaders and
CEOs love to pronounce their deepest commitment to the planet in public, only
to subvert climate change policy in private. The boom in ‘environmentally
friendly’ consumption has offered citizen-consumers a pastiche of political
transformation, robbing the cause of its radical urgency, and proving far more
effective at reducing the number of guilty consciences in the world than levels
of carbon dioxide. According to a 2018 study, 70 percent of people in the UK
and US believe that protecting the environment is primarily down to individual
consumers – when just 100 companies are responsible for more than 70 percent of
global emissions since 1988. As French sociologist, Guy Debord once warned: “capitalism
could appropriate even the most radical ideas and return them safely in the
form of harmless ideologies.”
Yet there
are signs that the ground is shifting. As governments across the world advocate
the timed closure of the fossil fuel industry, a fundamental tenet of the
neoliberal era loses its ascendancy: the belief that if markets are left
unregulated society’s problems will solve themselves.
Excerpted from: ‘The left’s belated, and
bittersweet, victory on climate change’
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/729946-one-silver-lining
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