By Dr Maleeha Lodhi
President Hamid Karzai’s mercurial behaviour and exit antics have thrown Afghanistan’s looming transitions into confusion even as the presidential election campaign has got underway in his country.
The Afghan leader has refused to sign the bilateral security agreement (BSA) that the US has long sought to allow a residual Nato presence after December 2014. Karzai has said this decision will now be left to his successor. He has directed a barrage of accusations at Western forces, blaming them, most recently, for “terrorist attacks” on civilians.
Karzai and his advisers have also been hurling thinly veiled verbal attacks on Pakistan — this, despite Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s efforts to reach out to Kabul. This is hardly the ingredient for building a supporting environment for the challenging transitions that lie ahead.
One of the conditions that Karzai has imposed for signing the BSA is that the US should help him start peace talks with the Taleban. This is disingenuous coming from a man who thwarted the most promising opportunity to initiate a peace process, which was marked by the opening of a Taleban office in Doha last June.
Karzai’s vehement objection to the symbols used by the Taleban for the office led to its closure and to the Americans abandoning a nascent dialogue aimed at finding a negotiated end to the war. Although the diplomatic fracas was widely ascribed to misunderstandings, Karzai used this to halt the process.
At the time, the Afghan president also suspended negotiations on the BSA, effectively making the peace process a hostage to Washington’s need for the security accord. Later, following protracted talks on the BSA, Karzai convened a Loya Jirga, a traditional council, in November 2013, which approved the accord. But Karzai then refused to sign it.
During the prolonged wrangling on the BSA, the peace process was put in cold storage, even though Taleban representatives in Qatar signalled their interest in resuming talks with US interlocutors. But to mollify Karzai and secure his agreement on the BSA, the US cast Doha aside. By early 2014 this strategy had failed to pay off.
Pakistan repeatedly proposed ‘pre-talks’ to Washington to resolve the misunderstandings (over the flag and symbols) that led to the diplomatic debacle in a bid to revive the stalled process. Washington also showed little inclination to end the deadlock by pressing ahead with its own proposal of a five-for-one prisoner deal — exchanging five Taleban detainees from Guantanamo for Bowe Bergdahl, the sole American prisoner of war in Taleban captivity.
Frustrated by Karzai’s stance on the BSA, some American officials privately concede that they should not have backed off so quickly at Doha, or for that matter, earlier at the time of the Bonn conference in December 2011. These are now acknowledged to be missed opportunities. Bonn II was to lead to the announcement about the opening of a Taleban political office in Qatar, with the conference endorsing reconciliation talks with the Taleban.
President Karzai scuttled this initiative having agreed to it prior to the Bonn conference. A process that could have taken off in December 2011 took almost two years of subsequent diplomatic effort to be put back on track — in June 2013.
Contrary to Karzai’s depiction of the Doha process as a ‘conspiracy’ by the US and Pakistan to cut a deal behind his back, he was kept fully briefed that the process would involve two stages. In stage one, the US and Taleban representatives would discuss issues such as the prisoner exchange. This would then pave the way for talks among Afghans themselves and a full-fledged reconciliation process.
Had this process kicked off, progress in the negotiations would have provided the crucial political foundation for all the transitions Afghanistan has to negotiate this year: Political, security and economic.
But now the Americans have ended up with neither a BSA, as of now, nor a peace process. The current assumption of American officials is that signing the BSA will fall to Karzai’s successor. But when the deal is sealed will be subject to the vagaries of Afghan election politics.
The lack of peace negotiations and uncertainty over the BSA is intensifying doubts about an orderly path to December 2014 and beyond. More important is the stalled peace process, without which no end to the fighting will be in sight. Whether this bleak outlook for Afghanistan’s many transitions is altered by the election of a new president — provided that is fair and credible — is yet to be determined.
Dr Maleeha Lodhi is a former Pakistani ambassador to the
US and UK
Showing posts with label COLUMNS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label COLUMNS. Show all posts
Friday, 14 February 2014
Sunday, 15 December 2013
If NATO gets globalized
By Imran Chouhdary (imransaqib5@gmail.com)
Brusels.
The opportunity to visit the NATO Defense College in Rome was a learning experience in many regards. It was interesting to see how the biggest peace keeping “military” force gets educated and how its goals, methodologies and activities are evolved. I already knew that NATO constitute upon 28 members whereas, other 22 countries are working with NATO on various fronts as partners.
A civil-military coalition, NATO is expanding its goals and multiplying its activities with a well devised strategy inclined more towards the international disputes than that of defense and protection. Currently it is involved in around 200 border disputes worldwide.
Not surprisingly, the Middle East or Islamic countries are an important focus especially in the research work. A lot of work is being done in the recently established Middle East faculty (2009). NATO seems to have ambitions of solving the issues of the regions as well.
The NATO Defense College is currently working on three fronts; Education, Research and Outreach. For education, it invited leading educationists, academics and scholars from all across the world and a very well-established and well-equipped Think-Tank does the research work under highly qualified and able minds. And it possesses specialized trainers for the Specialized Outreach Program.
The delegates from across 67 countries of the world take various courses while attending more than 200 lectures in total while the field study institutions have been established in France, Germany and Britain. The NDC (Rome) does planning and the specific research on the under consideration decisions.
The officers scheduled for specific operations get training from the school in a German city 'Oberammergau'. People from different sections (including military personals, educators, thinkers, scholars, journalists, public representatives and NGO activists) get trainings.
After our visit to the NDC in Rome, we went to the town of Sisily known as 'Siracusa' where institute of higher studies in Criminal Science (ISISC) is situated. Here the course on criminal justice is being taught for the judges and lawyers of various countries including Europe. According to the administration they have taught and trained almost 27000 persons during 40 years, which includes judges from Iraq, Afghanistan and other Islamic countries. Duration for courses varies from one week to six months and it cost only 250 Euros per week. The course about Sharia Law and Islamic Justice System was highly informative.
NATO came into the existence by the end of the World War II when the United Forces of Japan and Germany had terrified Europe and rendered it hopeless despite of perpetual moral, financial and armed support of United States of America (USA). Meanwhile, in 1945, Americans did 'Trinity Test’; the first nuclear experiment and within next months, on 6th and 9th of August 1945, they carried out two nuclear attacks on the twin cities of Japan (Hiroshima & Nagasaki). After this, the rival super power USSR also started trying attaining the nuclear weapons and succeeded in doing so on 29th of August 1949.
Thus on 4th of April 1949, America signed with 11 European countries an agreement called as North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also known as NATO. The main purpose was to contain the power and influence of USSR and communism. However, in 1955, the 'Warsaw' pact united the countries of Eastern Europe and divided the Great Europe on the ideological basis thus again terrifying the remaining Europe.
So, NATO was actually to save the “world” from nuclear war but with the end of the Cold War, NATO also changed its objectives while shifting its focus towards the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Africa, and Afghanistan. Its expenditures are largely being sponsored by America. The Germany is second biggest donor.
Naturally, both the countries influence major decisions as well. Principally, all the member countries should be taken in confidence before any major decision but practically USA, and few other major powers, take decisions and sometimes, the Americas singlehandedly takes the decision and starts moving. The rest of the NATO has to move with it. For example, Germany, France and Belgium did not agree with the decision to attack Iraq but the America carried the strikes. In the same manner, France announced its attack on Libya without any agreement with other members.
Another important issue is the moral credibility of NATO that always finds a hostile population of the country where it does its operation. It is especially true with Islamic countries where populations always turn against NATO and demand its expulsion from the country. The NATO think tanks should carry out analysis of the reasons. Does NATO troop support groups disliked by the general masses or does it protects oppressors? Why the neutrality of NATO is always doubtful? Why it is seen with hidden agendas?
It is evident that the sentiments against America exist in Muslim world, which sees Europe as comparatively a softer power. The expectations and perceptions of Muslim world is one of the important dangers for the idea of the NATO expansion and truly globalised force. The NATO strategist should keep major resources for the rebuilding and development of the areas that come under its attack. It will pave the way in gaining the support of the local population. Moreover it will help then having a way for their respectful return and the achievements of global motives.
Brusels.
The opportunity to visit the NATO Defense College in Rome was a learning experience in many regards. It was interesting to see how the biggest peace keeping “military” force gets educated and how its goals, methodologies and activities are evolved. I already knew that NATO constitute upon 28 members whereas, other 22 countries are working with NATO on various fronts as partners.
A civil-military coalition, NATO is expanding its goals and multiplying its activities with a well devised strategy inclined more towards the international disputes than that of defense and protection. Currently it is involved in around 200 border disputes worldwide.
Not surprisingly, the Middle East or Islamic countries are an important focus especially in the research work. A lot of work is being done in the recently established Middle East faculty (2009). NATO seems to have ambitions of solving the issues of the regions as well.
The NATO Defense College is currently working on three fronts; Education, Research and Outreach. For education, it invited leading educationists, academics and scholars from all across the world and a very well-established and well-equipped Think-Tank does the research work under highly qualified and able minds. And it possesses specialized trainers for the Specialized Outreach Program.
The delegates from across 67 countries of the world take various courses while attending more than 200 lectures in total while the field study institutions have been established in France, Germany and Britain. The NDC (Rome) does planning and the specific research on the under consideration decisions.
The officers scheduled for specific operations get training from the school in a German city 'Oberammergau'. People from different sections (including military personals, educators, thinkers, scholars, journalists, public representatives and NGO activists) get trainings.
After our visit to the NDC in Rome, we went to the town of Sisily known as 'Siracusa' where institute of higher studies in Criminal Science (ISISC) is situated. Here the course on criminal justice is being taught for the judges and lawyers of various countries including Europe. According to the administration they have taught and trained almost 27000 persons during 40 years, which includes judges from Iraq, Afghanistan and other Islamic countries. Duration for courses varies from one week to six months and it cost only 250 Euros per week. The course about Sharia Law and Islamic Justice System was highly informative.
NATO came into the existence by the end of the World War II when the United Forces of Japan and Germany had terrified Europe and rendered it hopeless despite of perpetual moral, financial and armed support of United States of America (USA). Meanwhile, in 1945, Americans did 'Trinity Test’; the first nuclear experiment and within next months, on 6th and 9th of August 1945, they carried out two nuclear attacks on the twin cities of Japan (Hiroshima & Nagasaki). After this, the rival super power USSR also started trying attaining the nuclear weapons and succeeded in doing so on 29th of August 1949.
Thus on 4th of April 1949, America signed with 11 European countries an agreement called as North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also known as NATO. The main purpose was to contain the power and influence of USSR and communism. However, in 1955, the 'Warsaw' pact united the countries of Eastern Europe and divided the Great Europe on the ideological basis thus again terrifying the remaining Europe.
So, NATO was actually to save the “world” from nuclear war but with the end of the Cold War, NATO also changed its objectives while shifting its focus towards the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Africa, and Afghanistan. Its expenditures are largely being sponsored by America. The Germany is second biggest donor.
Naturally, both the countries influence major decisions as well. Principally, all the member countries should be taken in confidence before any major decision but practically USA, and few other major powers, take decisions and sometimes, the Americas singlehandedly takes the decision and starts moving. The rest of the NATO has to move with it. For example, Germany, France and Belgium did not agree with the decision to attack Iraq but the America carried the strikes. In the same manner, France announced its attack on Libya without any agreement with other members.
Another important issue is the moral credibility of NATO that always finds a hostile population of the country where it does its operation. It is especially true with Islamic countries where populations always turn against NATO and demand its expulsion from the country. The NATO think tanks should carry out analysis of the reasons. Does NATO troop support groups disliked by the general masses or does it protects oppressors? Why the neutrality of NATO is always doubtful? Why it is seen with hidden agendas?
It is evident that the sentiments against America exist in Muslim world, which sees Europe as comparatively a softer power. The expectations and perceptions of Muslim world is one of the important dangers for the idea of the NATO expansion and truly globalised force. The NATO strategist should keep major resources for the rebuilding and development of the areas that come under its attack. It will pave the way in gaining the support of the local population. Moreover it will help then having a way for their respectful return and the achievements of global motives.
Monday, 18 November 2013
Politicians and journalists should stop issuing charged statements
By Muhammad Wasim Chaudhry
Baroness Warsi is Senior Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office & the UK’s first Minister
for Faith. Perhaps it is her first and the last chance of becoming a minister as she has gone beyond limits criticising the so-called deplorable conditions regarding religious harmony and peace. She is getting sentimental and losing control on her tongue. Baroness Warsi’s statements are unworthy of her office and portfolio she is enjoying. She is unthinkingly pushing the world further into chaos and disorder.
The very headline which quotes her statement: ‘Extremists are driving Christians out of their homelands. We must act.’ Is full of the traditionally derailed rhetoric UK government has for some time per suing. Fighting for a just cause is something really worth-fighting; but propaganda for fighting for political gains, economic gains has have remained British policy as did Tony Blair regarding attack first on Iraq then on Libya were but preaching ‘we must act, based on personal point of view the most derogatory act.
Baroness Warsi has not forgotten using a specifically repeated term in the scenario of ‘war against terror’ for the particular segment of the world population, world’s second largest religious community called the Muslims as ‘the Extremists’. World over in the name of war against terror has been launched by the US and UK in co-alliance under the umbrella of the UN, against the Muslims for many decades. Whether it is in Kashmir, Afghanistan, or Iraq, Bosnia Herzegovina, Palestine, Libya or Burma the Muslim are being killed. Many a problems lie pending on the table of UN and no bold decision is ever taken to stop the Muslim genocide. But as soon as case of Christian victimization was heard in Indonesia, immediately UN was activated and resolutions were passed and Christians were protected.
When a priest himself in US desecrated the Quran, the Christian world protected him; when the cursed cartoonists in Sweden and Norway tried to caricature the Holy Prophet Muhammad (May Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him)the cursed cartoonists were supported by the Christian world; when a Muslim Dr. Afia Siddiqui helped his brothers in religion against the American forces, she was made worst example of torture on a female; whenever a cursed renegade like Salman Rushdi (Iran)or Tehmina (Bangladesh)talked against Islam he was protected by the Christian world.
Muslim tradition of ‘veil-wearing’ is criticized vocally and restrictions like that of prohibitions of wearing a veil like in France or screening the Muslims are imposed as in US. After large scale genocide in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Palestine and Libya the Muslim states like Iran and Syria are being threatened. Muslims are being martyred in day light in bomb blasts in many countries for being sympathetic towards the non-Muslims. Muslims have become the worst victim of terror, violence and victimization throughout the world yet they are labelled as the Extremists’ and terrorists. The world without Muslims would not have been a liveable place.
Even now the Muslims don’t cry: ‘we must act’. Islam is truly the religion of peace. In the absence of Islamic principles A number of Islamic countries are supporting the UN in peace missions as well as military operations yet their role is never appreciated the world would have seen the worst type of cannibalism and torture. The roots of Islamic teachings are far deeper in the Islamic societies and the majority of the Muslims reflect those teachings of peace, justice, religious harmony, tolerance, sacrifice and perseverance. Their love and respect for the Prophets of all religions and particularly that of the Prophet of Islam are part of their faith. By trespassing those limits of ethics and morality and faith means stepping out of the Islam. The world criticism and animosity cannot let them skip their fundamental principles for fear of losing their faith, their only wealth they wish to possess. Their faith makes them large hearted otherwise just see how strong can the Muslims be--- Dr Afia did not seek pardon, Saddam didn’t appealed for life.
Societies must be built on the foundations of equality, justice, mutual tolerance. This type of coexistence is the only key to peace if the world ever needs it. Baroness Warsi has not perhaps seen Pakistan for quite some time except in the media. Racial discrimination in the UK against the Muslims by some communities is more severe than religious discrimination in Pakistan. People belonging to all religions coexist there. Even the Qadianis, who have been declared constitutionally as the non-Muslims are never targeted until unless they are found involved in some anti-social unlawful or criminal activities. There are hundreds of thousand Christian schools n localities in various provinces of Pakistan where Muslim and non-Muslim teachers co-work with mostly Muslim students. Hindus, Sikhs, Parses and Buddhists etc. are never looked down upon neither are they deprived of their businesses or properties. It is only because having secrecy leaks or harbouring ill-will against any other person is also an un-Islamic activity. Muslim countries are far better societies to live in rather than so-called civilized rich societies of the west. In Islamic countries life of the smaller communities/ minorities is almost ideal-type. They remain part n parcel of national life and enjoy full religious freedom because Islamic code of conduct rejects going against minorities.
If Baroness Warsi had witnessed killings of Muslims by the Croatians, of Palestinians by the Jews of Israel, of Kashmiris by the Indian paramilitary forces, or Iraqis by the Americans she would have had a more reasonable stance. In each case millions of Muslims have lost their lives.
Only for the purpose of strengthening her own argument she admits that Hazara shias of Pakistan, Bha’is of Iraq, Rohingya Muslims in Burama have been singled out and hounded out. She is talking of smaller communities rather sectarian incidents of riots from here and there when it turns out to be the case of the Muslims. In these cases the sum total of affected people is not over a thousand. Christianity is the largest religious world community about whom Baroness is talking of extinction. The Muslims have been wiped out completely from by the Christians from Spain. Never ever in history a Muslim monarch or a ruler sought extinction of a religious community. Do the Christian have a good history?
There can be so many causes of migration and change of habitation. There can be political, economic, family, war-fear, unfriendly and hostile surroundings, national and internally changing scenario etc. If the Christians in many countries are going to UK, America or in the western countries they may not necessarily be terrorised; they may be going there because of better opportunities offered over there. The other communities are also per suing for the same thing. Afghanistanis and the Parkton are also shifting and migrating from their native places to find a safe haven in various cities of Pakistan and other countries. They are not all fighters. Christians are accepted early for jobs and immigration than the Muslims. Fear of War and talks of war on Syria for so long may be the cause of shift of Syrian Christians. Local conditions might have been aggravated due to American threats and Christian riots.
Baroness Wasti has constantly harped on one theme: ‘Life of Christians is in danger’. Sombre and serious Politicians must talk of something better for the world. World needs peaceful,tolerant people to reduce misery. The very phrase ‘we must act’ is reactionary; reactions create disturbance and disturbance turmoil. Turmoil ends up peace and efforts for peace. Politicians should stop issuing charged statements like ‘we must act’. Somewhere else I found a typically charged statement ‘Christian flee Syria village that speak the language of the Jesus’. The statement gives special reference as if the speakers of the language of Jesus are penalised for being Christians to invoke the aid of the other Christian world. It is the common in the language of public reactionary elements. If the leaders and opinion makers do so then who will teach and harness them.
Baroness Warsi is Senior Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office & the UK’s first Minister
for Faith. Perhaps it is her first and the last chance of becoming a minister as she has gone beyond limits criticising the so-called deplorable conditions regarding religious harmony and peace. She is getting sentimental and losing control on her tongue. Baroness Warsi’s statements are unworthy of her office and portfolio she is enjoying. She is unthinkingly pushing the world further into chaos and disorder.The very headline which quotes her statement: ‘Extremists are driving Christians out of their homelands. We must act.’ Is full of the traditionally derailed rhetoric UK government has for some time per suing. Fighting for a just cause is something really worth-fighting; but propaganda for fighting for political gains, economic gains has have remained British policy as did Tony Blair regarding attack first on Iraq then on Libya were but preaching ‘we must act, based on personal point of view the most derogatory act.
Baroness Warsi has not forgotten using a specifically repeated term in the scenario of ‘war against terror’ for the particular segment of the world population, world’s second largest religious community called the Muslims as ‘the Extremists’. World over in the name of war against terror has been launched by the US and UK in co-alliance under the umbrella of the UN, against the Muslims for many decades. Whether it is in Kashmir, Afghanistan, or Iraq, Bosnia Herzegovina, Palestine, Libya or Burma the Muslim are being killed. Many a problems lie pending on the table of UN and no bold decision is ever taken to stop the Muslim genocide. But as soon as case of Christian victimization was heard in Indonesia, immediately UN was activated and resolutions were passed and Christians were protected.
When a priest himself in US desecrated the Quran, the Christian world protected him; when the cursed cartoonists in Sweden and Norway tried to caricature the Holy Prophet Muhammad (May Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him)the cursed cartoonists were supported by the Christian world; when a Muslim Dr. Afia Siddiqui helped his brothers in religion against the American forces, she was made worst example of torture on a female; whenever a cursed renegade like Salman Rushdi (Iran)or Tehmina (Bangladesh)talked against Islam he was protected by the Christian world.
Muslim tradition of ‘veil-wearing’ is criticized vocally and restrictions like that of prohibitions of wearing a veil like in France or screening the Muslims are imposed as in US. After large scale genocide in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Palestine and Libya the Muslim states like Iran and Syria are being threatened. Muslims are being martyred in day light in bomb blasts in many countries for being sympathetic towards the non-Muslims. Muslims have become the worst victim of terror, violence and victimization throughout the world yet they are labelled as the Extremists’ and terrorists. The world without Muslims would not have been a liveable place.
Even now the Muslims don’t cry: ‘we must act’. Islam is truly the religion of peace. In the absence of Islamic principles A number of Islamic countries are supporting the UN in peace missions as well as military operations yet their role is never appreciated the world would have seen the worst type of cannibalism and torture. The roots of Islamic teachings are far deeper in the Islamic societies and the majority of the Muslims reflect those teachings of peace, justice, religious harmony, tolerance, sacrifice and perseverance. Their love and respect for the Prophets of all religions and particularly that of the Prophet of Islam are part of their faith. By trespassing those limits of ethics and morality and faith means stepping out of the Islam. The world criticism and animosity cannot let them skip their fundamental principles for fear of losing their faith, their only wealth they wish to possess. Their faith makes them large hearted otherwise just see how strong can the Muslims be--- Dr Afia did not seek pardon, Saddam didn’t appealed for life.
Societies must be built on the foundations of equality, justice, mutual tolerance. This type of coexistence is the only key to peace if the world ever needs it. Baroness Warsi has not perhaps seen Pakistan for quite some time except in the media. Racial discrimination in the UK against the Muslims by some communities is more severe than religious discrimination in Pakistan. People belonging to all religions coexist there. Even the Qadianis, who have been declared constitutionally as the non-Muslims are never targeted until unless they are found involved in some anti-social unlawful or criminal activities. There are hundreds of thousand Christian schools n localities in various provinces of Pakistan where Muslim and non-Muslim teachers co-work with mostly Muslim students. Hindus, Sikhs, Parses and Buddhists etc. are never looked down upon neither are they deprived of their businesses or properties. It is only because having secrecy leaks or harbouring ill-will against any other person is also an un-Islamic activity. Muslim countries are far better societies to live in rather than so-called civilized rich societies of the west. In Islamic countries life of the smaller communities/ minorities is almost ideal-type. They remain part n parcel of national life and enjoy full religious freedom because Islamic code of conduct rejects going against minorities.
If Baroness Warsi had witnessed killings of Muslims by the Croatians, of Palestinians by the Jews of Israel, of Kashmiris by the Indian paramilitary forces, or Iraqis by the Americans she would have had a more reasonable stance. In each case millions of Muslims have lost their lives.
Only for the purpose of strengthening her own argument she admits that Hazara shias of Pakistan, Bha’is of Iraq, Rohingya Muslims in Burama have been singled out and hounded out. She is talking of smaller communities rather sectarian incidents of riots from here and there when it turns out to be the case of the Muslims. In these cases the sum total of affected people is not over a thousand. Christianity is the largest religious world community about whom Baroness is talking of extinction. The Muslims have been wiped out completely from by the Christians from Spain. Never ever in history a Muslim monarch or a ruler sought extinction of a religious community. Do the Christian have a good history?
There can be so many causes of migration and change of habitation. There can be political, economic, family, war-fear, unfriendly and hostile surroundings, national and internally changing scenario etc. If the Christians in many countries are going to UK, America or in the western countries they may not necessarily be terrorised; they may be going there because of better opportunities offered over there. The other communities are also per suing for the same thing. Afghanistanis and the Parkton are also shifting and migrating from their native places to find a safe haven in various cities of Pakistan and other countries. They are not all fighters. Christians are accepted early for jobs and immigration than the Muslims. Fear of War and talks of war on Syria for so long may be the cause of shift of Syrian Christians. Local conditions might have been aggravated due to American threats and Christian riots.
Baroness Wasti has constantly harped on one theme: ‘Life of Christians is in danger’. Sombre and serious Politicians must talk of something better for the world. World needs peaceful,tolerant people to reduce misery. The very phrase ‘we must act’ is reactionary; reactions create disturbance and disturbance turmoil. Turmoil ends up peace and efforts for peace. Politicians should stop issuing charged statements like ‘we must act’. Somewhere else I found a typically charged statement ‘Christian flee Syria village that speak the language of the Jesus’. The statement gives special reference as if the speakers of the language of Jesus are penalised for being Christians to invoke the aid of the other Christian world. It is the common in the language of public reactionary elements. If the leaders and opinion makers do so then who will teach and harness them.
Thursday, 14 November 2013
LORD AHMED: A SIGN OF BRILLIANCE
By Dr.Shahid Qureshi
About a decade ago I called Lord Nazir Ahmed and requested for an interview. We agreed a time and there he was o
n time waiting for me in the Houses of Parliament. Since then we have developed this relationship of mutual respect. He is sharp, articulate, concise, and solution focused. After the brief interview he invited me for a coffee and received his bill in envelop which might be more expansive then the original bill? The whole place is quite intimidating for many people unless you know your own history.
Lord Ahmed is a permanent bridge between Pakistan and Britain irrelevant of who is ruling in Pakistan and living in exile in London before of after ruling. The amount of support and respect he gets from people is extraordinary. But don’t want him to burn out too with the amount of community programs he arranges? I recently presented him my book ‘War on Terror and Siege of Pakistan,’ before a dinner he gave to the journalists in an exclusive central London restaurant ‘Kitchen’.
He was jailed and freed for the offence which according to, “The lady Justice Hallett in her judgement at the Court of Appeal said Lord Nazir Ahmed was neither legally or morally responsible for the death of Slovakian Martyn Gombar. The Court acknowledged the remarkable support that you had from various agencies and people of all walks of life. The Lady Justice Hallett said I have assessed the letters of reference in being in excess of 6,000”. He has now fully qualified to be a politician in Pakistan as he is been to the prison? Coming proudly from a humble background, studied in a school in Mirpur, Free Kashmir, Lord Ahmed is outspoken on the issues which rock many boats and rattle cages from war in Iraq , Afghanistan , occupation of Palestine and Kashmir . He is on the wrong side of the rulers but mostly on the right side of the people. That is what matter. Some part of the British media love to scold him. He said, ‘he was tried at least four times. Explaining Lord Ahmed said, “On the day of accident, some of the headlines actually said six killed Lord car crash or 12 whatever. Because what they did, they counted all the accidents of December 25th and put it together with it. And the second time when the file actually being considered I did not hear from my solicitors or the police that my file was going to CPS, it was the journalist who called me and said that your file is being sent to DPP, ‘what do you have to say to that. You are involved in a death crash.’ And when I was charged or CPS decided to charge me; normally the police will invite you and normally they will say to you that you are being charged, you have anything to say. On my occasion, I was informed by a TIMES newspaper reporter who called me and said you are being charged for dangerous driving and he did not say death driving but he linked it the death that was caused; ‘what you have to say to that’. I said ‘I don’t know about it.’”
He said, ‘the police officer who interviewed him said: ‘there was no case to answer.’ “The Magistrate that has dealt with it and the three Courts – the District Judge, the High Court Judge and the Court of Appeal – all the judges said that I do not have the legal or moral responsibility for the death or for the accident. Because Mr. Martyn Gombar was drunk; he had a faulty car tires and he had an accident long before I arrived there and two other cars are gone in. This is something that the media chose not to write,” Lord Ahmed explained.
Though the recent corruption expanses scandal of some British parliamentarians is an attempt to intimidate the whole ‘Parliament’ by the bankers who siphoned billions and ‘bailed out’ by the very government who should have put them on trial? Some one said, ‘these MPs and members of the House of Lords are petty thieves compare to what bankers did to Britain ’?Though Lord Ahmed believes in multiculturalism and inter-faith but some asked, ‘would he be tried in the media and send to prison in the same manner if he was a survivor of the Holocaust’?One of his admirers says Lord Ahmed, ‘always baffle people with brilliance’. Keep doing the good work, My Lord.
(Dr Shahid Qureshi is award wining journalist and writer on foreign policy & security based in London)
About a decade ago I called Lord Nazir Ahmed and requested for an interview. We agreed a time and there he was o
n time waiting for me in the Houses of Parliament. Since then we have developed this relationship of mutual respect. He is sharp, articulate, concise, and solution focused. After the brief interview he invited me for a coffee and received his bill in envelop which might be more expansive then the original bill? The whole place is quite intimidating for many people unless you know your own history.Lord Ahmed is a permanent bridge between Pakistan and Britain irrelevant of who is ruling in Pakistan and living in exile in London before of after ruling. The amount of support and respect he gets from people is extraordinary. But don’t want him to burn out too with the amount of community programs he arranges? I recently presented him my book ‘War on Terror and Siege of Pakistan,’ before a dinner he gave to the journalists in an exclusive central London restaurant ‘Kitchen’.
He was jailed and freed for the offence which according to, “The lady Justice Hallett in her judgement at the Court of Appeal said Lord Nazir Ahmed was neither legally or morally responsible for the death of Slovakian Martyn Gombar. The Court acknowledged the remarkable support that you had from various agencies and people of all walks of life. The Lady Justice Hallett said I have assessed the letters of reference in being in excess of 6,000”. He has now fully qualified to be a politician in Pakistan as he is been to the prison? Coming proudly from a humble background, studied in a school in Mirpur, Free Kashmir, Lord Ahmed is outspoken on the issues which rock many boats and rattle cages from war in Iraq , Afghanistan , occupation of Palestine and Kashmir . He is on the wrong side of the rulers but mostly on the right side of the people. That is what matter. Some part of the British media love to scold him. He said, ‘he was tried at least four times. Explaining Lord Ahmed said, “On the day of accident, some of the headlines actually said six killed Lord car crash or 12 whatever. Because what they did, they counted all the accidents of December 25th and put it together with it. And the second time when the file actually being considered I did not hear from my solicitors or the police that my file was going to CPS, it was the journalist who called me and said that your file is being sent to DPP, ‘what do you have to say to that. You are involved in a death crash.’ And when I was charged or CPS decided to charge me; normally the police will invite you and normally they will say to you that you are being charged, you have anything to say. On my occasion, I was informed by a TIMES newspaper reporter who called me and said you are being charged for dangerous driving and he did not say death driving but he linked it the death that was caused; ‘what you have to say to that’. I said ‘I don’t know about it.’”
He said, ‘the police officer who interviewed him said: ‘there was no case to answer.’ “The Magistrate that has dealt with it and the three Courts – the District Judge, the High Court Judge and the Court of Appeal – all the judges said that I do not have the legal or moral responsibility for the death or for the accident. Because Mr. Martyn Gombar was drunk; he had a faulty car tires and he had an accident long before I arrived there and two other cars are gone in. This is something that the media chose not to write,” Lord Ahmed explained.
Though the recent corruption expanses scandal of some British parliamentarians is an attempt to intimidate the whole ‘Parliament’ by the bankers who siphoned billions and ‘bailed out’ by the very government who should have put them on trial? Some one said, ‘these MPs and members of the House of Lords are petty thieves compare to what bankers did to Britain ’?Though Lord Ahmed believes in multiculturalism and inter-faith but some asked, ‘would he be tried in the media and send to prison in the same manner if he was a survivor of the Holocaust’?One of his admirers says Lord Ahmed, ‘always baffle people with brilliance’. Keep doing the good work, My Lord.
(Dr Shahid Qureshi is award wining journalist and writer on foreign policy & security based in London)
Sunday, 27 October 2013
Gulf allies losing faith in the US
By Abdullah Al Shayji
Last week was a week to remember in the testy relationship between the Gulf states and the US. I was in Washington and witnessed the drama unfold live; something is amiss nowadays, between the US and its allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
We see a non-committal, wavering, fatigued US. A dysfunctional and stalemated Washington, which is worrying its allies, not only over security and strategic issues, but even financially, since most of US allies’ sovereign wealth funds are being invested in US Treasury Bills and stocks.
For instance, most of the GCC assets, including the Saudi central bank’s net foreign assets of $690 billion (Dh2.53 trillion) are thought to be denominated in dollars, much of them in US Treasury bonds.
We see unprecedented anger and chastising of Washington by some of its long time staunch and reliable allies. For the first time, in years the dispute and differences with Washington are out in the open. Adjectives describing the US policy in the Middle East and the Arabian Gulf like ‘weak’, ‘wavering’, ‘dithering’, ‘naïve’ and ‘unreliable’ have become the norm.
At the 22nd NCUSAR (National Council of US-Arab Relations) meeting, held on October 22-23, the huge gathering listened with shock and admiration to the pointed criticism and chastising of US policy over a host of issues by Prince Turki Al Faisal, the former intelligence chief and former Saudi ambassador to the US and UK.
Prince Turki expressed doubts that Obama would succeed in what he called an “open arms approach” to Iran. Obama is doing this much to the ire of the Saudis, even though the US administration is clearly aware of the Iranian policy of meddling and fomenting troubles, and inciting sectarianism in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Bahrain, thus undermining the US allies and their interests.
Even though US Secretary of State John Kerry tried to allay the fears of the Saudis at a meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal in Paris last week, insisting that “no deal with Iran was better than a bad deal”. Assuring, he said, “I have great confidence that the United States and Saudi Arabia will continue to be the close and important friends and allies that we have been,” But that apparently did not assuage the Saudis who seem to be the most hawkish in their views in critiquing US policy in the Middle East and the Gulf.
The Saudis showed unusual public displeasure. Al Faisal cancelled the Saudi speech at the UN General Assembly and as an even bolder measure, the Saudis, to the surprise of everyone, turned down the highly coveted non-permanent membership for the next two years in the United Nations Security Council. It was done to protest the ineffectiveness of the UN in solving the Middle East crises and the double standards of the international community led by the P5.
Prince Turki was critical of the US policy in the Middle East, accusing the Obama administration of “dithering” on Syria and Israel-Palestinian peace. Prince Turki did not expect a breakthrough over the charm offensive and “open arm” approach with Iran. “We, Saudis observe Obama’s efforts in this regard. The road ahead is arduous...Whether [Iranian President] Hassan Rouhani will succeed in steering Iran toward sensible policies is already contested in Iran. The forces of darkness in Qom and Tehran are well entrenched,” he said.
While the current head of the Saudi intelligence and former Saudi ambassador to the US Prince Bandar Bin Sultan doubled up on the US threatening a shift in the Saudi relations with the US. “Prince Bandar told diplomats that he plans to limit interaction with the US,” a source close to Saudi authorities said.
“This happens after the US failed to take any effective action on Syria and Palestine. Relations with the US have been deteriorating for a while, as Saudi feels that the US is growing closer with Iran and the US also failed to support Saudi Arabia policy over Bahrain.
“There would be no further coordination with the United States over the war in Syria, where the Saudis have armed and financed rebel groups fighting Bashar Al Assad. The kingdom has informed the US of its actions in Syria, and diplomats say it has respected US requests not to supply the groups with advanced weaponry that the West fears could fall into the hands of Al Qaida-aligned groups.”
Clearly things are not all well today between the US and its Saudis allies and to some degrees the other GCC states that have been following with concerns and worries, the United States’ hands off, smaller footprint approach and its retrenchment from the Middle East and the Arabian Gulf. There are more questions and demands and less assurances and consoling from Washington.
The cracking up of these close knit strategic relations between the US and the GCC states needs to be looked at and addressed through the wider geostrategic context that has been bedevilling the region.
The Saudi chagrin and letting off steam is indicative to how the relationship between the US and the kingdom is drifting not only over Iran’s overtures and charm offensive, which came on top the disagreement and friction over the Arab-Israeli conflict, Syria, Egypt, Bahrain and Yemen. Where the GCC allies see their patron, the US is not inclined to understand, support and accommodate their stands.
Is the relationship reaching a tipping point between the two sides? Far from it, but it is worrying and I needed to remind everyone, that the relationship between Saudi Arabia mainly and the rest of the GCC states have endured a lot of its ups and down in thin and thick.
The equation from the GCC view point at this stage, especially over Iran and Syria is being viewed as a zero sum game, shutting out the GCC completely from consultations or taking their concerns and worries as a factor in US policy towards the region.
The GCC would like to see a nuanced and holistic approach that addresses the gambit of issues and not just the nuclear programme. It would like to see a more rational Iran that is at peace and has reconciled with its neighbours the disagreements and practices good neighbourly relations in the new architecture that would emerge in the new Middle East and the Gulf. What it does not want is Iran returning to be the Policeman of the Gulf through a grand bargain.
The widening trust deficit today between the GCC states and the US over all these divergent issues is harming and hurting the relationship between the two partners.
Clearly, there is a widening rift with Washington from the GCC perspective, but let me end by pointing out that we are not yet talking about separation, breaking up, divorce, let alone taking a second wife or at least at this stage. But there is an urgent need by the Americans to be more receptive, accommodating and listen to their angry and worried partners.
(Professor Abdullah Al Shayji is the Chairman of the Political Science Department - Kuwait University. He is a specialist in Gulf and US Politics).
The Puppet Comes to Life by Akbar Sher Babar
The statement of the ‘Kat Putlee Wazir-e-Ala’ of KPK to stop NATO supplies if the US does not end drone strikes has made headlines. Besides creating a political stir, the news value of the statement seriously downgraded the media coverage of the supposedly mega media event organized by the PTI Chairman Imran Khan on the launching of a documentary on drone strikes the same day. Most would recall that just before the March 2013 Lahore Jalsa, a rally in Islamabad and subsequently the peace march to South Waziristan was organized for the dual purpose of highlighting the drone issue as well to facilitate shooting of the documentary.There are many myths propagated by the propagandists of war about the continuing drone strikes. The argument that takes the cake is that Pakistan is helpless to stop drone strikes as it cannot match the US power if it decides to shoot down the drones. Unlike in Pakistan, the US system of government is not run on ‘verbal instructions or understandings.’ The drone strikes are part of a ‘covert operation’ duly authorized in writing by the U.S. President with the tacit approval of those that govern Pakistan who have always remained above any law. If the Pakistan government officially communicates to the U.S. government that any more drone strikes would be considered an act of war, the U.S. government would have two options; (1) to stop drone strikes and employ diplomatic, economic, and political arm twisting measures to force Pakistan’s hand on the issue or (2) declare war against Pakistan through an act of Congress. The likelihood of the US declaring war against Pakistan for not allowing drone strikes at this time of history is next to zero for a long list of reasons that need no elaboration.
All the internationally recognized political, moral, humanitarian, and legal arguments are in favor of those that oppose drone strikes including the argument that it evokes revengeful terror attacks in Pakistan. However, more and more, the issue of drone strikes is being politicized to gain political mileage instead of seriously addressing it. Nawaz Sharif because of his election rhetoric was forced to publicly raise the drone issue during his recent visit to the U.S. An effort upstaged by the release of secret documents to the US media on Pakistan’s collaboration in facilitating at least some drone strikes.
While the PTI remains the original and the lead political opponent of the drone strikes, but increasingly it appears treading the path of using it to gain political mileage. For example, the drone strikes require an elaborate human infrastructure on the ground without which the drones become merely eyes looking for random targets. The human infrastructure that supports the U.S. covert operations in Pakistan is partially documented in the Abbottabad Commission Report. In an article titled 'Servitude and leadership' published in ‘the News’ dated July 12, 2013, the PTI Central Information Secretary, writing in her official capacity, expressed concerns about 'deep inroads made by the US government and foreign NGOs into both government and state institutions.' She termed the Abbottabad Commission report a 'wake-up call for the state to begin institutional restructuring and contain US and foreign NGO operations in Pakistan.' She also blamed the dependency syndrome in our 'political and military leadership that had become weak in the face of the lure of dollars.'
The ‘news post’ section of the same newspaper published a letter by ASB dated July 15, 2013 which stated that quote now that the PTI is in power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and hopefully its leadership free from the 'lure of dollars', could Dr. Mazari, as the spokesperson of the party, clarify: how many foreign funded NGOs have been asked to wind up their operations and close their offices in KPK as part of the PTI policy to 'contain US and foreign NGOs operations in Pakistan'? How many USAID, DFID, and other donor-funded programmes have been closed in KP to live up to the PTI's electoral commitment of refusing aid? Lastly, is it true that the US and other foreign-funded NGOs identified in the Abbottabad Commission continue to perform in KP unquote? Obviously evoking no response, I am posting a picture extracted from the official website of the CM, KPK showing him meeting a delegation of the same NGO identified in the Abbottabad Commission report. The picture, as they say, speaks a thousand words and graphically separates political rhetoric from policy.
Besides taking the media limelight away from the Chairman’s event on the same issue the same day, the statement of the CM KPK would be challenged by political opponents on constitutional and political grounds. Constitutionally, key communication channels and foreign policy remain a federal subject. Politically, the statement may be challenged by opponents on the grounds that by creating a political deadlock, the PTI may be attempting to sidetrack focus from its lukewarm performance and possibly extricate itself from the KPK government on a political high.
All in all, the statement to stop NATO supplies if the US does not end the drone strikes has put life in a ‘puppet’ by outshining the ‘puppeteer’ whose penchant to remain center stage has been upstaged for the first time by one of his own creation.
Saturday, 15 June 2013
Female converts to Islam facing growing scrutiny in America
When Karen Hunt Ahmed and her Muslim husband divorced four years ago, many friends asked her, “Now you can stop this Islam stuff, right?”
Some friends, she thought.
“Like it was a hobby I took up when I got married and now I’m supposed to drop it,” said Hunt Ahmed, president of the Chicago Islamic Microfinance Project, which she founded with two colleagues in 2009.
Hunt Ahmed, 45, is part of a growing sorority of female American converts to Islam, especially those who are or were married to Muslim men, who must deal with the perception that they converted to Islam because of domineering boyfriends or husbands.
The stereotype was revived in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, when news emerged that the wife of bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Katherine Russell, converted to Islam after meetingTsarnaev in 2009 or 2010 when she was about 21.
Tsarnaev, 26, was shot and killed during a standoff with Boston police while his 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar, was taken into custody and now faces a raft of terrorism charges.
“It’s not just Fox. A lot of the media have portrayed her as someone who was brainwashed and who didn’t know what she was doing,” said Edlyn Sammanasu, who was born to Catholic parents and started studying Islam when she met her Muslim husband in college, and converted when she was 21.
“When I saw the coverage, I thought this was ridiculous,” said Sammanasu, now 32, a technical writer in Fremont, Calif.
Seema Imam, an education professor at National Louis University in Lisle, Ill., has seen the same thing. She grew up as an observant Methodist but converted to Islam 40 years ago at age 17.
“Whenever someone talks about Muslim converts being involved in something negative, it’s done in a way in which people say, ‘Be careful, look what happens when you become Muslim,’” she said.
Converts to Islam are as diverse as the rest of America, racially and ethnically, as well as in their interpretations of the faith. Some female converts wear a headscarf, some don’t. What they share is the perception from others that they are incapable of making their own choice in a decision that involved substantial spiritual wrestling.
It’s as insulting as it is inaccurate, they say.
“These reports are misogynous in nature, reducing women to creatures who cannot think for themselves,” said Malika MacDonald Rushdan, who converted in 1995 after divorcing her Christian husband. She made her “shahada,” or declaration of faith, at the Islamic Society of Boston mosque in Cambridge, which the Tsarnaev brothers occasionally attended.
“My faith, by definition, is for the Creator, not for my husband,” wrote Ohio attorney Sarah Anjum, who converted almost 10 years ago, while she was in college studying Islamic political movements and Arabic, and four years before she met her husband.
While some American Muslim women converted while single, those who started reading about Islam after meeting future husbands are incredulous over the idea that they converted to please them.
When Kelly Wentworth, 35, told her Yemeni boyfriend that she was interested in learning about Islam, he pointed her to a Muslim professor who taught at Tennessee Tech, where the two were students at the time. When she later told him she wanted to convert, he didn’t celebrate.
“He was worried people would think that I converted because of him, or that I was being forced to convert,” said Wentworth, a software engineer in Atlanta and board member of Muslims for Progressive Values, a national advocacy group. “The stereotype is out there. That’s something I fight with now.”
Wentworth became so worried about how friends and family would judge her after the Katherine Russell stories that she couldn’t sleep for several nights.
A 2011 study from the Pew Research Center found that about 20 percent of an estimated 1.8 million Muslims in America are converts, while a 2007 Pew study found that 49 percent of converts converted by the age of 21. The 2007 study also found that 58 percent of converts converted for religious reasons, and 18 percent for family and marriage reasons.
Female Muslim converts acknowledge that they have heard about Muslim women trapped in abusive relationships, but say that such relationships affect women of other faiths as well.
“That has nothing to do with religion,” Wentworth said. “That’s a problem with personality.”
Katherine Wilson, a convert and Rhode Island resident who works with female victims of violence and sexual assault, said the media, by focusing on Russell’s faith, missed a chance to speak about domestic violence. She believes Muslim women converts are perceived negatively because some people see their choice of faith as a knock against their own decisions.
“I believe this is partially due to white privilege in that there is not an understanding why an ‘all-American girl’ would give up her privilege-assumed, carefree lifestyle,” said Wilson. “I think it bothers people that an ‘all American woman’ would walk away from what they think is a great life, which is a stereotype within itself.”
While such stereotypes still annoy these women, many say they have grown tired of having to explain their decisions to convert. Which doesn’t mean they aren’t trying to change minds.
“There will always be those who judge based upon ignorance. They are of no concern to me,” said MacDonald Rushdan. “I will keep on doing what I’ve always done. I will not apologize for being a God-fearing woman whose faith provides her with inner peace and contentment.”
Sunday, 9 June 2013
Syria: Western-backed terrorists running like rats
The western-backed terrorist filth which has infested many parts of Syria in the last two years is being systematically exterminated and removed from its hideouts before the areas are sterilized by the Syrian Armed Forces, heroically waging a winning war against NATO's mercenaries, special forces and Islamist terrorists they have brought into the fray.
As the west becomes desperate and the common EU policy literally falls apart while bully boys France and the UK gnash their teeth to launch another imperialist spectacular, as they did in Libya, the terrorist strongholds collapse like a house of cards and the demented vermin which has infested so much of Syria over the last two to three years runs screaming.
In the border town of al-Qusayr, the Syrian Armed Forces are progressing steadily, exterminating pockets of takfiri terrorist bands of murderers, rapists, arsonists, thieves and torturers. Sources quote "significant losses" among the terrorist forces as they fled, after denying access to the civilian population of the city to flee, something which the Syrian Armed Forces had insisted upon.
The towns of Mansoura, Aldalbh, Tal Saka and Saka have been cleansed and sterilized, and large numbers of terrorists have been liquidated. The leader of the Descendants of the Prophet brigade, Abdullah Alkhator, was killed, as was the Benghazi Libyan terrorist Ayman al-Bosifi (terrorist filth exported by NATO?).
Meanwhile, there are reports from the Syrian Arab News Agency that another stash of chemical weapons has been found among terrorist forces, this time Sarin Nerve Gas, taken by the Syrian Armed Forces during a raid against terrorist elements in the city of Hama. Along with the nerve gas, a large number of weapons and munitions were apprehended.
The west has repeatedly accused the Syrian authorities of using chemical weapons - there is not one shred of evidence that it has, while on the contrary there have been several incidents pointing towards the "opposition" deploying such weapons, met with a wall of silence by the western backers of those who fight President Assad and wish to turn Syria into an Islamist State.
Russia and Syria have insisted that every alleged case of the use of chemical or biological weapons should be exhaustively investigated by an independent commission. Why have such commissions not materialized and who is blocking them? Not Syria, not Russia. Then, we have our answer.
The UN Commission into the use of chemical weapons did carry out a study in Aleppo, where it discovered that the chemical weapons deployed were fired from a rebel-held area.
Who is carrying out the west's dirty work? There are allegations that the terrorists are moving freely inside Turkey, that Qatari money has been used to finance the terrorist groups inside Syria and that the Saudi government has opened up old smuggling routes through the south-western tip of Iraq.
Increasing number of areas back to normal
BY Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
The Syrian Armed Forces have sterilized the capital city, Damascus, with peace returning to all its districts after the liquidation of bands of terrorists, rapists, murderers, child molesters, thieves and arsonists. A unit of the Syrian Armed Forces exterminated terrorist bands in Huseinieh village, Um al-Shaker, Kherbt Gimrah, Aqrab and the countryside of Daraa.
Jabhet al-Nusra terrorists were eliminated in the Lattakia countryside as they fled. Among the dead was the Libyan terrorist commander. Finally, dozens of terrorists were exterminated in Bait Shurooq and al-Suda, where the terrorist commander of the Nour Eddin al-Zinki battalion, Bashar Wadfa, was destroyed.
Right from the very beginning, the West, buoyed by its imperialist escapade in Libya to destroy the dream of the African Union which Colonel Gaddafi was financing, got it wrong in Syria. Finally, after all these years, we see who the evil ones are and we see who sides with terrorists.
Shame on the FUKUS Axis (France- UK- US) and their partners in murder, NATO. Their foreign policy has been exposed for what it is: pandering to the whims of the corporations which control these.....er.....democracies.
As the west becomes desperate and the common EU policy literally falls apart while bully boys France and the UK gnash their teeth to launch another imperialist spectacular, as they did in Libya, the terrorist strongholds collapse like a house of cards and the demented vermin which has infested so much of Syria over the last two to three years runs screaming.
In the border town of al-Qusayr, the Syrian Armed Forces are progressing steadily, exterminating pockets of takfiri terrorist bands of murderers, rapists, arsonists, thieves and torturers. Sources quote "significant losses" among the terrorist forces as they fled, after denying access to the civilian population of the city to flee, something which the Syrian Armed Forces had insisted upon.
The towns of Mansoura, Aldalbh, Tal Saka and Saka have been cleansed and sterilized, and large numbers of terrorists have been liquidated. The leader of the Descendants of the Prophet brigade, Abdullah Alkhator, was killed, as was the Benghazi Libyan terrorist Ayman al-Bosifi (terrorist filth exported by NATO?).
Meanwhile, there are reports from the Syrian Arab News Agency that another stash of chemical weapons has been found among terrorist forces, this time Sarin Nerve Gas, taken by the Syrian Armed Forces during a raid against terrorist elements in the city of Hama. Along with the nerve gas, a large number of weapons and munitions were apprehended.
The west has repeatedly accused the Syrian authorities of using chemical weapons - there is not one shred of evidence that it has, while on the contrary there have been several incidents pointing towards the "opposition" deploying such weapons, met with a wall of silence by the western backers of those who fight President Assad and wish to turn Syria into an Islamist State.
Russia and Syria have insisted that every alleged case of the use of chemical or biological weapons should be exhaustively investigated by an independent commission. Why have such commissions not materialized and who is blocking them? Not Syria, not Russia. Then, we have our answer.
The UN Commission into the use of chemical weapons did carry out a study in Aleppo, where it discovered that the chemical weapons deployed were fired from a rebel-held area.
Who is carrying out the west's dirty work? There are allegations that the terrorists are moving freely inside Turkey, that Qatari money has been used to finance the terrorist groups inside Syria and that the Saudi government has opened up old smuggling routes through the south-western tip of Iraq.
Increasing number of areas back to normal
BY Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
The Syrian Armed Forces have sterilized the capital city, Damascus, with peace returning to all its districts after the liquidation of bands of terrorists, rapists, murderers, child molesters, thieves and arsonists. A unit of the Syrian Armed Forces exterminated terrorist bands in Huseinieh village, Um al-Shaker, Kherbt Gimrah, Aqrab and the countryside of Daraa.
Jabhet al-Nusra terrorists were eliminated in the Lattakia countryside as they fled. Among the dead was the Libyan terrorist commander. Finally, dozens of terrorists were exterminated in Bait Shurooq and al-Suda, where the terrorist commander of the Nour Eddin al-Zinki battalion, Bashar Wadfa, was destroyed.
Right from the very beginning, the West, buoyed by its imperialist escapade in Libya to destroy the dream of the African Union which Colonel Gaddafi was financing, got it wrong in Syria. Finally, after all these years, we see who the evil ones are and we see who sides with terrorists.
Shame on the FUKUS Axis (France- UK- US) and their partners in murder, NATO. Their foreign policy has been exposed for what it is: pandering to the whims of the corporations which control these.....er.....democracies.
Friday, 7 June 2013
Democrats, liberals and the AK Party
By Suat KINIKLIOGLU
The Gezi Park protests are still continuing. All of us are trying to digest
what happened and what it means for our society, politics and future. One
of the highlights reflecting pro-government thinking occurred during the
height of the protests. Taha Ozhan, the head of the pro-government think
tank SETA, tweeted the following: "State employees' Kemalism that
mismanaged the republic rallies has been upgraded to lumpen Kemalism
through the enabling of liberal duplicity."
Ozhan expressed his frustration with Turkey's democrats and liberals, who
by and large supported the protests from the outset. This is rather
understandable as Turkey's democrats and liberals had been supporting the
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) agenda from 2003 to 2010. After
all, the AK Party was then clearly the most progressive force in the
country. Confronted with daunting challenges from the Kemalist deep state,
the AK Party was the primary force in transforming civil-military
relations, bringing Turkey to the negotiating table with the EU and
facilitating impressive economic growth. I myself was in the ranks of the
AK Party, defending it at every platform, foreign and domestic, most
forcefully when it was faced with the absurd closure case in 2008. In 2010
a crucial constitutional amendment was passed by 58 percent of voters in a
hard-fought referendum due to a comprehensive coalition that included the
AK Party, democrats, liberals, Kurds and many Nationalist Movement Party
(MHP) supporters.
What has happened since 2010? First, in 2011 the parliamentary group was
radically overhauled. A massive purge of those who were seen as more
centrist and liberal occurred. Many who were critical in shaping the
perception that the party was moving to the center in 2007 were expelled.
Then the party congress in September 2012 completed the job by purging
similar elements from the party's executive organs. The Turkish media
initially reported that it was a purge of people close to President
Abdullah Gül, but there was more to it.
In April of this year, Aziz Babuscu, the powerful chairman of the İstanbul
party organization, openly said the party was parting ways with Turkey's
liberals. In the bluntest manner, he said that there was no longer a need
for liberals with whom the AK Party cooperated to dissolve the first
republic. Babuscu said: "Those with whom we were stakeholders throughout
the past 10 years will not be our stakeholders in the coming decade. ... Let
us say the liberals, in one way or another, were stakeholders in this
process, but the future is a process of construction. This construction era
will not be as they [liberals] wish. Hence, they [liberals] will no longer
be with us. ... The Turkey that we will construct, the future that we will
bring about, is not going to be a future that they will be able to accept."
Babuscu denied his comments the next day, but the quotes came from the
Anatolia news agency, and many in the hall confirmed to me that he actually
uttered them.
Given the harsh response to the peaceful Gezi Park demonstrators on Friday
morning, the inflammatory statements by the prime minister as well as many
other mistakes, why was it such a surprise that Turkey's democrats and
liberals chose to side with the protesters? Babuscu's comments confirm the
AK Party intended to part ways long ago. Lumping democrats and liberals
together with Kemalists is not only unjust but also demonstrates a lack of
cognition of what actually happened in Taksim and elsewhere in the country.
Blaming democrats and liberals for the blatant mistakes the government made
throughout this crisis is irresponsible. Liberals are not engaged in
duplicity. They still stand for the freedoms and ideals they defended from
2003 to 2010. If any party in this coalition has changed it was not the
liberals.
Sunday, 21 April 2013
EU Policy towards Middle East
Imran Saqib: Brussels
This is important to know that what’s going on in the neighbor hood of Europe specially when no one imagine that what will happen in coming few years. We live in a world where the power of image and ability on gross root communication with each other in various means have a powerful impact and source of information to understand the situation.
I want to share some news with you and a bit discussion on that issues. I am sure that you are following the news are being published in the European papers in last couple of weeks.
One week ago there was a news that 12 Belgian youngsters are died in Syria during fight against Bashar al Asad, and one journalist of Belgian newspaper from Lebnan send news that several hundreds of europen youngesters are still fighting there.
The chief of Belgian intelligence Andre Vandoren mentioned in his interview to a local tv that normally we don’t know that who are they but they will be dangerous when they will come back.
And One of the Imam of a local mosque who looked into this case said that several of them are back. So danger is there.
One of my source informed me that minimum 5 thousand youngsters from only 5 European countries (UK, France, Germany, Holland and Belgium) got commando war training. Almost three weeks ago there was a news that from the house of an Algerian in Anderlecht here in Brussels police got heavy guns, grenades and other explosive material in one raid, we don’t know how many others have the same material at their houses. Still there are more news which are the sign of danger for the society.
One thing is important to know that all of them are born and brought up in Europe and most of them are kids of Arab parents.
We have to think…… that is this due to wrong policy of EU towards Arabs or there is some thing else in the bottom?
If we see in the Arab spring and European attitude, then we will see that it was started due to discrimination in education, jobs and other facilities, and now this is in its second faze. The first faze was ended after the change in Tunisia and Egypt. A friendly dictator for EU and US Ali Zain al Abdeen. He was a “good” dictator, when French President Mr. Sarkuzi asked him to send pera military forces to help him and said that we are good to do it, Mr. Zain al Abedeen was in the craft to Saudi Arabia and now there is religious extremist regime in power. Although in Egypt the movement was started in the middle of 2007 with strikes in the factories by labor unions for their basic rights in small cities and all that efforts bring this movement to Tehreer Squire.
The fall of Tunisian regime helped them and Muslim brotherhood enter into the seen strongly. US and EU tried their best to safe Mubarak but there was no way and at the end we lost Husni Mubarak and Ikhwan al Muslimeen came in power finally.
In the same time in Yemen, Bahrain Libya and Syria also started the demonstrations against the long lasting dictatorships. I have one more news concerning Libya, This is about the high level visit to Tripoli (Libya) by Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, and Štefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood policy was the culmination of increased dialogue and part of the new momentum in EU – Libya relations, marked by several positive developments:
They had an agreement with Libya and it was mentioned that
Commissioner Füle said: "I welcome agreeing on this cooperation agenda because this is an important first step to solve the challenges,
And what was the second step? That we all know. Hillary Clinton said couple months before the attack that Qadafi is a moderate and the best leader in the rigine, and what happened in few months that he was killed by French and NATO forces even he transferred billions in UK and US banks in the mean times. The forces killed 40 to 50 thousand people there and all infrastructure. All religious extremists were launched in Libya. Now we can see that extremism is increasing there, even they brutally killed the Ambassador of US. If we look at Bahrain, the 85% majority is against the regime but EU is supporting the regime. No one is helping the huge majority to get their rights for education, health jobs and proper place in politics. I met one MEP on this issue, he said that because Bahrain is one of the station of the oil and other trading ships goes to US from Persian Gulf so we don’t want no change, we will support the regime against the will of public. So one great Arab country is launching there Jehadies imported from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, who are helping the government against public, there are lot of atrocities but no body is saying even one word to stop this.
In Syria again France and Great Britain supporting the extremists, with weapons, man power, moral and political help. The current news are the proof. Even the head of Al-Nusrah the largest opposition militant party has pledge allegiance to the leader of Al-Qaida Eyman ul Zawahri. So directly EU leaders are supporting Al-Qaida’s branch. Are we creating a new OBL in the state of Abu Mumahhad Al-Jawlani who is head of Al-Nsrah?
I belong to Pakistan and we are passing through the experience with this Taliban mind set physically. Pakistan is one of the producer of these Jehadis on behalf of USA and Saudia against Russia and communism.i
Even USA it self import Shekh Yasin a leader of Muslim Brother hood from Egypt when he was in Jail and establish a new mosque in Brookland and start recruitment of Jehadis for Afghan Jihad and they launched them in the field.
As after 9/11 when Pakistan allowed US and agree to give all support to crush these Jehadies…. they bite back to Pakistan and up till now there are almost 30000 innocent people have been killed by them in 11 years and no any institution is safe from them.
I don’t know that any European state is behind these Jehadis who are going there in Syria or any where else, but if yes….. then this is again a mistake like we did in Afghanistan so we should get ready to face the same reaction like Pakistan is facing and if there is no any involvement of state aliment then again this is related to the EU policy toward the middle east.
Secondly EU always support the economic sanctions of the countries which are ruling by disagreeable or contentious leader in the following of USA. We know that these sanctions never affect the rulers, general public is always victims of these sanctions. Food, energy sources, house holdings, travelling sources like oil for passenger crafts and their spare parts, even all type of economic sanctions effect on public directly and it create hatred against the sanction operators۔
European parliament published a statistical book “Muslims in Europe”, they mentioned that according the statics of UN that in 2040 the Muslim population of EU will be 55% of total. Most of them are Arabs. In this snerio we have to rethink about our policy. Instead of Economic sanction there should Political isolation, militant involvement should be replaced with table talk with taking care of their autonomy and fair deal should be placed instead of double standard policy. Other wise we are sowing thorns for our next generations for a short time benefit and producing new OBL’s and new terrorist groups that they can hit the prosperity and peace of the continent.
This is important to know that what’s going on in the neighbor hood of Europe specially when no one imagine that what will happen in coming few years. We live in a world where the power of image and ability on gross root communication with each other in various means have a powerful impact and source of information to understand the situation.
I want to share some news with you and a bit discussion on that issues. I am sure that you are following the news are being published in the European papers in last couple of weeks.
One week ago there was a news that 12 Belgian youngsters are died in Syria during fight against Bashar al Asad, and one journalist of Belgian newspaper from Lebnan send news that several hundreds of europen youngesters are still fighting there.
The chief of Belgian intelligence Andre Vandoren mentioned in his interview to a local tv that normally we don’t know that who are they but they will be dangerous when they will come back.
And One of the Imam of a local mosque who looked into this case said that several of them are back. So danger is there.
One of my source informed me that minimum 5 thousand youngsters from only 5 European countries (UK, France, Germany, Holland and Belgium) got commando war training. Almost three weeks ago there was a news that from the house of an Algerian in Anderlecht here in Brussels police got heavy guns, grenades and other explosive material in one raid, we don’t know how many others have the same material at their houses. Still there are more news which are the sign of danger for the society.
One thing is important to know that all of them are born and brought up in Europe and most of them are kids of Arab parents.
We have to think…… that is this due to wrong policy of EU towards Arabs or there is some thing else in the bottom?
If we see in the Arab spring and European attitude, then we will see that it was started due to discrimination in education, jobs and other facilities, and now this is in its second faze. The first faze was ended after the change in Tunisia and Egypt. A friendly dictator for EU and US Ali Zain al Abdeen. He was a “good” dictator, when French President Mr. Sarkuzi asked him to send pera military forces to help him and said that we are good to do it, Mr. Zain al Abedeen was in the craft to Saudi Arabia and now there is religious extremist regime in power. Although in Egypt the movement was started in the middle of 2007 with strikes in the factories by labor unions for their basic rights in small cities and all that efforts bring this movement to Tehreer Squire.
The fall of Tunisian regime helped them and Muslim brotherhood enter into the seen strongly. US and EU tried their best to safe Mubarak but there was no way and at the end we lost Husni Mubarak and Ikhwan al Muslimeen came in power finally.
In the same time in Yemen, Bahrain Libya and Syria also started the demonstrations against the long lasting dictatorships. I have one more news concerning Libya, This is about the high level visit to Tripoli (Libya) by Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, and Štefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood policy was the culmination of increased dialogue and part of the new momentum in EU – Libya relations, marked by several positive developments:
They had an agreement with Libya and it was mentioned that
- Good progress in the negotiations of the bilateral 'Framework Agreement', which will establish a very first official and legal relationship between the EU and Libya and open up many areas for working together.
- Opening an EU Office in Tripoli, that should become operational very soon, as a demonstration of EU's commitment to establishing a long-term relationship with Libya.
Commissioner Füle said: "I welcome agreeing on this cooperation agenda because this is an important first step to solve the challenges,
And what was the second step? That we all know. Hillary Clinton said couple months before the attack that Qadafi is a moderate and the best leader in the rigine, and what happened in few months that he was killed by French and NATO forces even he transferred billions in UK and US banks in the mean times. The forces killed 40 to 50 thousand people there and all infrastructure. All religious extremists were launched in Libya. Now we can see that extremism is increasing there, even they brutally killed the Ambassador of US. If we look at Bahrain, the 85% majority is against the regime but EU is supporting the regime. No one is helping the huge majority to get their rights for education, health jobs and proper place in politics. I met one MEP on this issue, he said that because Bahrain is one of the station of the oil and other trading ships goes to US from Persian Gulf so we don’t want no change, we will support the regime against the will of public. So one great Arab country is launching there Jehadies imported from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, who are helping the government against public, there are lot of atrocities but no body is saying even one word to stop this.
In Syria again France and Great Britain supporting the extremists, with weapons, man power, moral and political help. The current news are the proof. Even the head of Al-Nusrah the largest opposition militant party has pledge allegiance to the leader of Al-Qaida Eyman ul Zawahri. So directly EU leaders are supporting Al-Qaida’s branch. Are we creating a new OBL in the state of Abu Mumahhad Al-Jawlani who is head of Al-Nsrah?
I belong to Pakistan and we are passing through the experience with this Taliban mind set physically. Pakistan is one of the producer of these Jehadis on behalf of USA and Saudia against Russia and communism.i
Even USA it self import Shekh Yasin a leader of Muslim Brother hood from Egypt when he was in Jail and establish a new mosque in Brookland and start recruitment of Jehadis for Afghan Jihad and they launched them in the field.
As after 9/11 when Pakistan allowed US and agree to give all support to crush these Jehadies…. they bite back to Pakistan and up till now there are almost 30000 innocent people have been killed by them in 11 years and no any institution is safe from them.
I don’t know that any European state is behind these Jehadis who are going there in Syria or any where else, but if yes….. then this is again a mistake like we did in Afghanistan so we should get ready to face the same reaction like Pakistan is facing and if there is no any involvement of state aliment then again this is related to the EU policy toward the middle east.
Secondly EU always support the economic sanctions of the countries which are ruling by disagreeable or contentious leader in the following of USA. We know that these sanctions never affect the rulers, general public is always victims of these sanctions. Food, energy sources, house holdings, travelling sources like oil for passenger crafts and their spare parts, even all type of economic sanctions effect on public directly and it create hatred against the sanction operators۔
European parliament published a statistical book “Muslims in Europe”, they mentioned that according the statics of UN that in 2040 the Muslim population of EU will be 55% of total. Most of them are Arabs. In this snerio we have to rethink about our policy. Instead of Economic sanction there should Political isolation, militant involvement should be replaced with table talk with taking care of their autonomy and fair deal should be placed instead of double standard policy. Other wise we are sowing thorns for our next generations for a short time benefit and producing new OBL’s and new terrorist groups that they can hit the prosperity and peace of the continent.
Sunday, 9 December 2012
وزیر خارجہ کا دورہِ یورپ اور پاکستان
عمران چوہدری برسلز
یورپ کے ساتھ پاکستان کے اور پاکستان کے ساتھ یورپ کےبہت سے مفادات وابستہ ہیں۔ معاشی معاملات میں آزاد تجارتی پیکیج ہو یا جی ایس پی پلَس، دفاعی معاملات میں آلاتِ حرب کی ترسیل ہو یا ناٹو افواج کی خِطے میں موجودگی ، پاکستان کی جغرافیائی صورتِ حال ہویا اس کیفیت میں یورپی ممالک کے مفادات کا تحفظ، ایران کی ہمسائیگی میں یورپی لابی کا پاکستان ہو یا چین کی دوستی کا بھرم رکھنے کے ساتھ امریکہ نوازی کا کردار،ہندوستان کے یورپ کے ساتھ وسیع المفاداتی مراسم کی موجودگی میں پاکستان کی اشک شوئی کی خواہش ،پاکستان کا داخلی امن ہو یا ساری دنیا میں پیش آنے والے دہشت گردی کے واقعات میں پاکستان کا بالواسطہ یا بلا واسطہ تعلق ، جہادی تنظیموں کی پیدا وار ہو یا دہشت گردی کے خلاف جنگ میں پاکستان کا اہم کردار، گویا بہت سے ایسے معاملات ہیں جن کی بنا پر یورپی یونین اور ناٹوکے لئے پاکستان بہت اہمیت رکھتا ہے۔
شاہ محمود قریشی کے معزول ہونے سے اب تک وزیر خارجہ کی سطح پر پاکستان نے یورپ سے کوئی مؤثر رابطہ نہیں رکھا۔ جس کی بہت ضرورت تھی۔ اب وزیر خارجہ، سیکریٹری خارجہ جلیل عباس جیلانی جو بہت منجھے ہوئے تجربہ کار سفارت کار رہے ہیں، ان کے دور میں یورپ کے ساتھ معاملات خاصے بہتر ہوتے جا رہے تھے، اور پھرپاک افواج کے سربراہ جنرل کیانی جو اپنی وسعت نظری اور معتدل مزاجی کے باعث عوام اور دانشوروں میں مقبول ہیں کا دورہِ برسلز دیر سے سہی لیکن بہت اہمیت کا حامل تھا۔ اس دورہ میں ان کی ملاقاتیں دنیا بھر کی اہم ترین شخصیات سے طے تھیں۔ ناٹو کے ہیڈ کوارٹر میں سیکریٹری جنرل راموسن، ہلیری کلنٹن اور بیلجئم کے وزیر خارجہ سے ملاقاتوں میں جہاں پاکستان کے خطہ میں اہم کردار اور دہشت گردی کے خلاف جنگ میں قربانیوں پر ستایش کی گئی وہاں افغانستان سے 2014میں ناٹو افواج کے انخلا ء کے بعد علاقائی صورت حال میں پاکستان کے تحفظات پر بھی غور کیا گیا۔ اور راسموسن اور کلنٹن نے یقین دہانی کروائی کہ پاکستان کے مفادات کو ملحوظِ خاطر رکھا جائے گا ۔ سیکریٹری راسموسن نے حِنا ربانی کھر کی دعوت پر پاکستان کے دورہ کی دعوت کو بھی قبول کیا جس کے وقت کا تعین بعد میں کیا جائے گااو ر یہ بھی طے کیا گیا کہ اسلام آباد کے ساتھ ناٹو کے مراسم اور گہرے کرنا ہونگے تاکہ رفاقتِ کار میں بہتری لائی جا سکے۔
جنرل کیانی نے بھی برسلز میں یورپی یونین کی سیاسی و عسکری کمیٹی کے مشترکہ اجلاس میں افغانستان کی بحالی اور تعمیرِ نو میں اپنے کردار کی اہمیت کو واضح کیا اور پیشہ ورانہ مہارت کے ساتھ سیکیورٹی کے خدشات اور امکانات پر تفصیلاً روشنی ڈالی۔ انہوں نے یورپی یونین اور ناٹو دونوں اداروں میں پاکستان کی سِول اور عسکری قیادت کے افغانستان کے سیاسی قائدین کی راہنمائی اور ہر ممکنہ مدد کرنے کا وعدہ بھی کیا اور بتایا کہ یہ سب ان دونوں اداروں یورپی یونین اور ناٹوکے تعاون سے ہی ممکن ہے۔ ان کے اس دورہ میں افغانستان کا مسئلہ سرِ فہرست رہا۔
کیتھرین ایشٹن کے علاوہ وزیر خارجہ نے یورپی ٹریڈ کمیشن کے سربراہ کارل ڈی گُشت کے ساتھ بھی میٹنگ کی جو پاکستان کی جیایس پی پلس کی درخواست کے منظور ہونے میں کلیدی کردار ادا کر سکتے ہیں۔ گو یورپ کے موجودہ معاشی بحران کی وجہ سے پرتگال، اٹلی اور یونان جو ٹیکسٹائل کی صنعت میں اپنے وجود کو قائم رکھنا چاہتے ہیں بہت بڑی رکاوٹ ہے اس کے باوجود پاکستان کو 72ٹیکسٹائل کی مصنوعات کے یورپ بھی کی منڈی میں ٹیکس فری تجارت بہت بڑا معرکہ تسلیم کیا جا رہا ہے۔ جی ایس پی پلس کے حوالے سے بات پر ممبران پارلیمنٹ کی طرف سے ملالہ یوسف زئی اور دیگر اقلیتوں کے ساتھ ہونے والے ناروا سلوک کے بارے میں تند و تیز سوالات کا بھی سامنا کرنا پڑا۔ گو وزیرِداخلہ نے سفارتی چابق دستی سے حالات کو سنبھالے رکھا لیکن ایک بات واضح ہے کہ حکومت کو انسانی حقوق کے ان علمبرداروں کو مطمعن کرنے اور ان سے مفادات حاصل کرنے کے لئے اقلیتوں کو تحفظ دینا لازمی ہے۔
لاقانونیت اور قتل و غارت گری کے جو واقعات پاکستان میں ہو رہے ہیں اس کے پاکستان کے تشخص پر بہت بُرے اثرات پیدا ہو رہے ہیں۔خاص طور پر کراچی کی صورت حال انتہائی تشویش ناک ہوتی جا رہی ہے۔ ہر روز 10کی اوسط سے نہتے شہریوں کی لاشیں گرائی جا رہی ہیں اور قانون نافذ کرنے والے ادارے بے بس نظر آتے ہیں۔ کراچی کے علاوہ بھی ملک کے دیگر حصوں میں بم دھماکے اور دہشت گردی جہاں پاکستانی شہریوں کے لئے عدم تحفظ کے احساس میں اضافہ کر رہی ہے وہاں بین الاقوامی اداروں اورسرمایہ گذاروں کے لئے بھی تشویش کا باعث ہے۔ اب جہاں پاکستان کے عسکری، سیاسی کے ساتھ ساتھ میڈیا بھی ماضی میں کی گئی غلطیوں پر نادم ہیں اور اصلاحِ احوال کرنا چاہتے ہیں وہاں پاکستان کے مذہبی قائدین کو بھی چاہئے کہ عدم برداشت کے رویئے کو ختم کرتے ہوئے اخوت اور رواداری کی تعلیمات کو فروغ دیں اور دیگر اداروں کے ساتھ مِل کر ملک کے وسیع تر مفادکے لئے ہوش کے ناخن لیں۔
پاکستان جب سے معرضِ وجود میں آیا ہے شائد ہی کوئی ایسا وقت ہو جب ہم یہ کہہ سکیں کہ پاکستان میں امن ہے، سیاسی استحکام ہے، ملک ترقی کی راہ پر گامزن ہے، معاشی ترقی ہو رہی ہے، عوام کی بنیادی ضروریات پوری ہو رہی ہیں، پاکستان کو کوئی خطرہ نہیں ہے، ہمسائے ممالک سے تعلقات بہترین ہیں یا بین الاقوامی سطح پر پاکستان کے وقار میں اضافہ ہو رہا ہے۔ کسی بھی ریاست کے معروضی حالات کبھی بھی اس قدر آئیڈیل نہیں رہے کہ کہا یہ سب کچھ کہا جا سکے البتہ حکمران اپنے وسائل کے اندر رہتے ہوئے ایسے اقدامات کے لئے کوشاں رہتے ہیں۔ اپنے راستوں کا تعین کر لیتے ہیں اورایک ایک قدم آگے بڑہتے رہتے ہیں ۔ اب وہ وقت آ گیا ہے جب یہ فیصلہ کرنا ہوگا اور اجتماعی مفادات پر ذاتی مفاد کو قربان کرنا ہوگا۔مستقل بنیادوں پر خارجہ پالیسی کے خطوط کا تعین کر نا ہوگا۔دو سال بعد ترقی پسند، دِلچسپ گفتگو کی ماہراور مدِ مقابل کو مسخر کر لینے والی وزیرِ خارجہ حِنا ربانی کھر، معاملہ فہم و مدبر جنرل کیانی اور جہاں دیدہ و تجربہ کار سیکریٹری خارجہ سید جلیل عباس جیلانی جیسی شخصیات کے اس دورہ کے مثبت اثرات کو قائم رکھنے کے لئے اِن بین الاقوامی اداروں کے ساتھ باقائدہ اور مستقل منصوبہ بندی کے ساتھ مسلسل رابطے میں رہنا ہوگا ۔
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
Iran pushes out Afghans as regional power-play heats up
Ghaus worked in Iran for five years but has nothing to show for it. All he has are memories of being jailed, beaten and sent home to Afghanistan.
Afghanistan's oil-rich western neighbor has for years been a destination for Afghans seeking work or fleeing war. Afghanistan and Iran share a language, and cultural and historical links.
But hostility to the U.S. role in Afghanistan, regional ambitions and an economy choked by Western sanctions have persuaded Iran to cast out Afghan migrants, to the dismay of those forced home and their government.
In May, Iran threatened to expel Afghan refugees and migrant workers, in all about 2.4 million people, if Afghanistan signed a strategic security pact with the United States. The deal was struck.
"Afghan refugees and migrants are becoming the victims of big political games played between the Iranian and U.S. powers," said Abdul Samad Hami, Afghanistan's deputy minister for refugees.
Few of the migrants, who pay smugglers about $700 to get across the 1,000 km (620 miles) border into Iran, know they have been caught up in a geopolitical power play.
Barefoot and wearing a sun-bleached silver turban, Ghaus was huddled with about 20 other expelled migrants at a U.N. center in the western Afghan city of Herat after being dumped out of a bus on the border.
"Suddenly, my life came to an end," the soft-spoken bricklayer told Reuters.
Ghaus is one of 191,121 unregistered Afghan migrants forced out of Iran from January to September 30 this year, according to the U.N. refugee agency, up 29 percent from last year.
About 1.4 million migrant workers remain in Iran but hundreds of them are being expelled every day. There are also nearly a million Afghan refugees who are allowed to live there.
Shuffling home through Herat's Islam Qala border checkpoint, most of the returning migrants are young men dressed like Iranians in jeans and brightly colored bomber jackets, but with bulging suitcases and bed-rolls on their heads.
Many migrants have called Iran home for decades, part of an exodus of nine million Afghans - a third of the population - who fled to neighbors Iran and Pakistan, beginning with the Soviet invasion in 1979, through to the austere Taliban rule of the 1990s.
The expulsions represent not just a burden for Afghanistan but also a loss of income, and could even spell more instability ahead of the withdrawal of most foreign troops by the end of 2014.
Afghan migrants in Iran send home about $500 million a year, a considerable sum for one of the world's poorest countries. The funds will become more important as foreign aid shrinks with the departure of Western forces.
INFLUENCE, OPIUM
Iran says migrant workers pose a security threat. But Afghan politicians and analysts say Iran is pushing them out to show it can ratchet up the pressure when it doesn't get its way.
As the United States reduces its role in Afghanistan, neighbors are competing for influence. Iran already backs a third of Afghan media and builds schools and clinics to boost its sway, according to Afghan officials.
Iran's economic influence in Afghanistan is palpable in Herat, which enjoys robust trade over the nearby border and boasts smoothly paved roads and bustling markets.
Iran offers Afghan migrants menial work, often on construction sites. Many of the men return home addicted to opium after being paid in the drug instead of cash.
This is not only because it is cheaper for employers to pay in opium, but also because the depreciation of Iran's rial, in the face of international sanctions over its nuclear program, has made opium more attractive than cash for the workers.
"We were allowed to choose - money or drugs. Over time, drugs seemed the better option," said Rasool, a grey-bearded man who guarded a construction site in Iran's second-largest city of Mashhad for 15 years.
Like Ghaus, Rasool was briefly imprisoned in Iran before being expelled.
Some migrants end up in prison after getting home.
"We've noticed an increase in the number of migrants coming back here with drug addictions," said General Shah Mir, who oversees Herat's provincial prison, where almost 300 former migrant workers are doing time for opium trafficking.
Health officials estimate there are 1 million Afghans addicted to opium or heroin, or about 8 percent of the adult population, making it the world's top user per capita. It is also the top producer of opium and its refined form, heroin.
"TOUGH TALK"
But it is not just the migrant workers that Iran wants out.
It is also making moves to force out the majority of the 930,000 legal Afghan refugees and is stepping up a campaign to make them feel unwelcome, Afghan officials and rights group say.
Last month, Iran's Interior Ministry said a decision had been made to "end the status of asylum for 700,000 Afghans" by March 21, 2015.
An Interior Ministry spokesman declined to comment on the reason for the decision.
Faraz Sanei, Iran researcher at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said Iran gets tough on repatriating Afghans when it feels pressured in the regional maneuvering for influence.
"When political tension between Tehran and Kabul is high, for example, with regard to the U.S. role in Afghanistan, Tehran has stepped up its tough talk," Sanei said.
Iran and Afghanistan, along with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, agreed on a voluntary repatriation program in 2002 in the belief that with better security at home, the refugees should choose to go back.
"Though this has been the official government line, we have seen an increase in the restrictive measures against Afghan refugees in recent years that has made life in Iran increasingly difficult," said Sanei.
Iran has been increasing the number of "no-go areas" for Afghans, which authorities say is part of a strategy to secure its borders. Afghans are now allowed in 12 of Iran's 31 provinces, down from 14 last year.
"Even within the allowed areas, movement of Afghans is restricted and there are only certain jobs they can do," said Hami, the deputy minister for refugees.
Afghans have even been banned from certain public parks, Iranian media has reported.
Hami said Afghanistan had been preparing for the expulsion of refugees for some time and was mapping out a "contingency plan" with the U.N. refugee agency that should be ready by January.
For Herat member of parliament Qazi Nazir Ahmad Hanfai, the reason Iran is putting pressure on Afghans living there is clear: Iran is punishing Afghanistan for defying its call to reject the U.S. security pact.
"The Iranians warned the Afghans ... and now we're seeing the result of that threat," Hanfai said.
Afghanistan's oil-rich western neighbor has for years been a destination for Afghans seeking work or fleeing war. Afghanistan and Iran share a language, and cultural and historical links.
But hostility to the U.S. role in Afghanistan, regional ambitions and an economy choked by Western sanctions have persuaded Iran to cast out Afghan migrants, to the dismay of those forced home and their government.
In May, Iran threatened to expel Afghan refugees and migrant workers, in all about 2.4 million people, if Afghanistan signed a strategic security pact with the United States. The deal was struck.
"Afghan refugees and migrants are becoming the victims of big political games played between the Iranian and U.S. powers," said Abdul Samad Hami, Afghanistan's deputy minister for refugees.
Few of the migrants, who pay smugglers about $700 to get across the 1,000 km (620 miles) border into Iran, know they have been caught up in a geopolitical power play.
Barefoot and wearing a sun-bleached silver turban, Ghaus was huddled with about 20 other expelled migrants at a U.N. center in the western Afghan city of Herat after being dumped out of a bus on the border.
"Suddenly, my life came to an end," the soft-spoken bricklayer told Reuters.
Ghaus is one of 191,121 unregistered Afghan migrants forced out of Iran from January to September 30 this year, according to the U.N. refugee agency, up 29 percent from last year.
About 1.4 million migrant workers remain in Iran but hundreds of them are being expelled every day. There are also nearly a million Afghan refugees who are allowed to live there.
Shuffling home through Herat's Islam Qala border checkpoint, most of the returning migrants are young men dressed like Iranians in jeans and brightly colored bomber jackets, but with bulging suitcases and bed-rolls on their heads.
Many migrants have called Iran home for decades, part of an exodus of nine million Afghans - a third of the population - who fled to neighbors Iran and Pakistan, beginning with the Soviet invasion in 1979, through to the austere Taliban rule of the 1990s.
The expulsions represent not just a burden for Afghanistan but also a loss of income, and could even spell more instability ahead of the withdrawal of most foreign troops by the end of 2014.
Afghan migrants in Iran send home about $500 million a year, a considerable sum for one of the world's poorest countries. The funds will become more important as foreign aid shrinks with the departure of Western forces.
INFLUENCE, OPIUM
Iran says migrant workers pose a security threat. But Afghan politicians and analysts say Iran is pushing them out to show it can ratchet up the pressure when it doesn't get its way.
As the United States reduces its role in Afghanistan, neighbors are competing for influence. Iran already backs a third of Afghan media and builds schools and clinics to boost its sway, according to Afghan officials.
Iran's economic influence in Afghanistan is palpable in Herat, which enjoys robust trade over the nearby border and boasts smoothly paved roads and bustling markets.
Iran offers Afghan migrants menial work, often on construction sites. Many of the men return home addicted to opium after being paid in the drug instead of cash.
This is not only because it is cheaper for employers to pay in opium, but also because the depreciation of Iran's rial, in the face of international sanctions over its nuclear program, has made opium more attractive than cash for the workers.
"We were allowed to choose - money or drugs. Over time, drugs seemed the better option," said Rasool, a grey-bearded man who guarded a construction site in Iran's second-largest city of Mashhad for 15 years.
Like Ghaus, Rasool was briefly imprisoned in Iran before being expelled.
Some migrants end up in prison after getting home.
"We've noticed an increase in the number of migrants coming back here with drug addictions," said General Shah Mir, who oversees Herat's provincial prison, where almost 300 former migrant workers are doing time for opium trafficking.
Health officials estimate there are 1 million Afghans addicted to opium or heroin, or about 8 percent of the adult population, making it the world's top user per capita. It is also the top producer of opium and its refined form, heroin.
"TOUGH TALK"
But it is not just the migrant workers that Iran wants out.
It is also making moves to force out the majority of the 930,000 legal Afghan refugees and is stepping up a campaign to make them feel unwelcome, Afghan officials and rights group say.
Last month, Iran's Interior Ministry said a decision had been made to "end the status of asylum for 700,000 Afghans" by March 21, 2015.
An Interior Ministry spokesman declined to comment on the reason for the decision.
Faraz Sanei, Iran researcher at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said Iran gets tough on repatriating Afghans when it feels pressured in the regional maneuvering for influence.
"When political tension between Tehran and Kabul is high, for example, with regard to the U.S. role in Afghanistan, Tehran has stepped up its tough talk," Sanei said.
Iran and Afghanistan, along with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, agreed on a voluntary repatriation program in 2002 in the belief that with better security at home, the refugees should choose to go back.
"Though this has been the official government line, we have seen an increase in the restrictive measures against Afghan refugees in recent years that has made life in Iran increasingly difficult," said Sanei.
Iran has been increasing the number of "no-go areas" for Afghans, which authorities say is part of a strategy to secure its borders. Afghans are now allowed in 12 of Iran's 31 provinces, down from 14 last year.
"Even within the allowed areas, movement of Afghans is restricted and there are only certain jobs they can do," said Hami, the deputy minister for refugees.
Afghans have even been banned from certain public parks, Iranian media has reported.
Hami said Afghanistan had been preparing for the expulsion of refugees for some time and was mapping out a "contingency plan" with the U.N. refugee agency that should be ready by January.
For Herat member of parliament Qazi Nazir Ahmad Hanfai, the reason Iran is putting pressure on Afghans living there is clear: Iran is punishing Afghanistan for defying its call to reject the U.S. security pact.
"The Iranians warned the Afghans ... and now we're seeing the result of that threat," Hanfai said.
Terrorist attacks soar since 9/11
The number of terrorist attacks each year has more than quadrupled in the decade since September 11, 2001, a study released on Tuesday said, with Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan the most affected.
The number of annual deaths in attacks, however, peaked in 2007 -- the height of the Iraq conflict -- and has been falling ever since. The survey reported 7,473 fatalities in 2011, 25 percent down on 2007. That figure included dead suicide bombers and other attackers.
Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Yemen were the five countries most affected by terrorism in descending order, it said, based on a measure giving weightings to number of attacks, fatalities and injuries and level of property damage.
The Global Terrorism Index - published on Tuesday by the U.S.- and Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace think tank - ranked countries based on data from the Global Terrorism Database run by a consortium based at the University of Maryland, a commonly used reference by security researchers.
The U.S. military interventions pursued as part of the West's anti-al Qaeda "war on terror", the researchers suggested, may have simply made matters worse - while whether they made the U.S. homeland safer was impossible to prove.
IRAQIS ACCOUNT FOR THIRD OF TERRORISM DEATHS
"After 9/11, terrorist activity fell back to pre-2000 levels until after the Iraq invasion, and has since escalated dramatically," Steve Killelea, founder and executive chairman of the Institute for Economics and Peace, told Reuters in an e-mail interview.
"Iraq accounts for about a third of all terrorist deaths over the last decade, and Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan account for over 50 percent of fatalities."
The study says terrorism incidents numbered 982 in 2002, causing 3,823 deaths, rising to 4,564 terrorist incidents globally in 2011, resulting in 7,473 deaths.
The researchers used the University of Maryland definition of "terrorism": "the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation".
It did not include casualties from government-backed action such as aerial bombing or other killings.
The study said its methodology allowed researchers the scope to exclude actions that could be seen as insurgency, hate crime or organised crime and incidents about which insufficient information was available.
The upswing in attacks in both Afghanistan and Pakistan only occurred after the Iraq war, the study showed, coming at largely the same time as heightened U.S.-backed military campaigns there by NATO and the Pakistani government respectively.
SYRIA, YEMEN WORSENING
The findings suggested foreign powers should think twice before intervening militarily, Killelea said, even in countries such as Syria, already seeing widespread bloodshed. Unless the conflict was brought to a swift end, terror attacks might actually increase, he said.
The greatest deterioration in 2011 took place in Syria and Yemen, the report said. Yemen has seen a dramatic upsurge in al Qaeda-linked activity in recent years, while Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad have increasingly turned to suicide attacks and bombings.
Of the 158 countries surveyed, only 31 had not experienced a single event classified as a "terrorist act" since 2001, the report said. Even when the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington were taken into account, North America remained the least-affected region over the period studied.
Western Europeans were 19 times more likely to die in a terrorist attack than North Americans, the report said. Aside from the United States - whose rating improved sharply over the decade as the casualties of 2001 were no longer factored in - the greatest improvements were seen in Algeria and Colombia.
The number of annual deaths in attacks, however, peaked in 2007 -- the height of the Iraq conflict -- and has been falling ever since. The survey reported 7,473 fatalities in 2011, 25 percent down on 2007. That figure included dead suicide bombers and other attackers.
Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Yemen were the five countries most affected by terrorism in descending order, it said, based on a measure giving weightings to number of attacks, fatalities and injuries and level of property damage.
The Global Terrorism Index - published on Tuesday by the U.S.- and Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace think tank - ranked countries based on data from the Global Terrorism Database run by a consortium based at the University of Maryland, a commonly used reference by security researchers.
The U.S. military interventions pursued as part of the West's anti-al Qaeda "war on terror", the researchers suggested, may have simply made matters worse - while whether they made the U.S. homeland safer was impossible to prove.
IRAQIS ACCOUNT FOR THIRD OF TERRORISM DEATHS
"After 9/11, terrorist activity fell back to pre-2000 levels until after the Iraq invasion, and has since escalated dramatically," Steve Killelea, founder and executive chairman of the Institute for Economics and Peace, told Reuters in an e-mail interview.
"Iraq accounts for about a third of all terrorist deaths over the last decade, and Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan account for over 50 percent of fatalities."
The study says terrorism incidents numbered 982 in 2002, causing 3,823 deaths, rising to 4,564 terrorist incidents globally in 2011, resulting in 7,473 deaths.
The researchers used the University of Maryland definition of "terrorism": "the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation".
It did not include casualties from government-backed action such as aerial bombing or other killings.
The study said its methodology allowed researchers the scope to exclude actions that could be seen as insurgency, hate crime or organised crime and incidents about which insufficient information was available.
The upswing in attacks in both Afghanistan and Pakistan only occurred after the Iraq war, the study showed, coming at largely the same time as heightened U.S.-backed military campaigns there by NATO and the Pakistani government respectively.
SYRIA, YEMEN WORSENING
The findings suggested foreign powers should think twice before intervening militarily, Killelea said, even in countries such as Syria, already seeing widespread bloodshed. Unless the conflict was brought to a swift end, terror attacks might actually increase, he said.
The greatest deterioration in 2011 took place in Syria and Yemen, the report said. Yemen has seen a dramatic upsurge in al Qaeda-linked activity in recent years, while Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad have increasingly turned to suicide attacks and bombings.
Of the 158 countries surveyed, only 31 had not experienced a single event classified as a "terrorist act" since 2001, the report said. Even when the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington were taken into account, North America remained the least-affected region over the period studied.
Western Europeans were 19 times more likely to die in a terrorist attack than North Americans, the report said. Aside from the United States - whose rating improved sharply over the decade as the casualties of 2001 were no longer factored in - the greatest improvements were seen in Algeria and Colombia.
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
South Sudan s elephants could be wiped out in 5 years
The once-thriving elephant population of South Sudan could be wiped out in five years if rampant poaching is not brought under control, a wildlife protection group said on Tuesday.
After decades of civil war the African country, which became independent last year, has fewer than 5,000 elephants left, down from around 130,000 in 1986, according to the United States-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
Driven by demand from China, the price of ivory has quadrupled in the last few years, Paul Elkan, South Sudan Director at WCS, said.
"Within the next five years the elephants in South Sudan could completely be gone with the current rates of poaching," Elkan told reporters.
He said 2011 was the worst year on record for poaching worldwide, with 24 tonnes of ivory seized.
Black market trade in wildlife and wildlife products is worth an estimated $10 billion per year, according to the Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking, a group of government and wildlife organisations.
Elkan said the southern rebel army ate much of the country's wildlife during the 1983-2005 civil war against the Khartoum government in the north. Raiders from the north also massacred wildlife, particularly elephants, he said.
South Sudan's zebras and rhinos may have already been wiped out, Elkan said, warning that the new nation's giraffes are also on the brink of extinction.
South Sudan's infrastructure has been devastated by years of war and economic neglect, and conservationists are now worried new road construction will make poaching and trafficking easier.
"Those elephants that survived the war are having a hard time surviving the peace," Elkan said.
Gabriel Changson Chang, South Sudan's minister of wildlife conservation and tourism, said South Sudan has struggled to prosecute poachers and smugglers because it lacks the laws to try them.
The government hopes to pass anti-poaching legislation in the middle of 2013 t o help end the illegal trade, he said.
"There must be a legal framework so that when they are apprehended, they are tried according to specific articles of that act," Chang told reporters.
He said the government was reviewing a 30-year land lease agreed in 2008 with the United Arab Emirates-based Al Ain National Wildlife. The deal gave the Gulf company a hotel and wildlife concession in the pristine grasslands of the eastern Boma National Park.
The minister said the company had built a 50-room lodge on the concession but had not yet opened it.
"We need to know if they are still interested in operating that facility or not. If not it will be auctioned out to other interested investors."
South Sudan wants to set up a safari tourism industry based around the migration of an estimated 800,000 white eared kob antelope - one of the largest migrations in the world with numbers that potentially rival the migrations in Tanzania's Serengeti plains.
After decades of civil war the African country, which became independent last year, has fewer than 5,000 elephants left, down from around 130,000 in 1986, according to the United States-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
Driven by demand from China, the price of ivory has quadrupled in the last few years, Paul Elkan, South Sudan Director at WCS, said.
"Within the next five years the elephants in South Sudan could completely be gone with the current rates of poaching," Elkan told reporters.
He said 2011 was the worst year on record for poaching worldwide, with 24 tonnes of ivory seized.
Black market trade in wildlife and wildlife products is worth an estimated $10 billion per year, according to the Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking, a group of government and wildlife organisations.
Elkan said the southern rebel army ate much of the country's wildlife during the 1983-2005 civil war against the Khartoum government in the north. Raiders from the north also massacred wildlife, particularly elephants, he said.
South Sudan's zebras and rhinos may have already been wiped out, Elkan said, warning that the new nation's giraffes are also on the brink of extinction.
South Sudan's infrastructure has been devastated by years of war and economic neglect, and conservationists are now worried new road construction will make poaching and trafficking easier.
"Those elephants that survived the war are having a hard time surviving the peace," Elkan said.
Gabriel Changson Chang, South Sudan's minister of wildlife conservation and tourism, said South Sudan has struggled to prosecute poachers and smugglers because it lacks the laws to try them.
The government hopes to pass anti-poaching legislation in the middle of 2013 t o help end the illegal trade, he said.
"There must be a legal framework so that when they are apprehended, they are tried according to specific articles of that act," Chang told reporters.
He said the government was reviewing a 30-year land lease agreed in 2008 with the United Arab Emirates-based Al Ain National Wildlife. The deal gave the Gulf company a hotel and wildlife concession in the pristine grasslands of the eastern Boma National Park.
The minister said the company had built a 50-room lodge on the concession but had not yet opened it.
"We need to know if they are still interested in operating that facility or not. If not it will be auctioned out to other interested investors."
South Sudan wants to set up a safari tourism industry based around the migration of an estimated 800,000 white eared kob antelope - one of the largest migrations in the world with numbers that potentially rival the migrations in Tanzania's Serengeti plains.
Thursday, 15 November 2012
Judiciary is a role model for others
Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry Thursday said that no institution on its own can ensure good governance in the country adding that the judiciary is a role model for other institutions.
Messi is FIFA 13's New
IFA 13 Demo, after much anticipation and waiting, draws closer and gets another update, a couple insider details that every avid player must know has recently surfaced.
Angry Imran
I am very shocked when one of my very good and old friend yasir hussain sheikh whose strong affiliations with Pakistan Tahreek e Insaf (PTI) shared a link of an android game
Saturday, 18 July 2009
LORD AHMED: A SIGN OF BRILLIANCE
| |
About a decade ago I called Lord Nazir Ahmed and requested for an interview. We agreed a time and there he was on time waiting for me in the Houses of Parliament. Since then we have developed this relationship of mutual respect. He is sharp, articulate, concise, and solution focused. After the brief interview he invited me for a coffee and received his bill in envelop which might be more expansive then the original bill? The whole place is quite intimidating for many people unless you know your own history. | |
Lord Ahmed is a permanent bridge between Pakistan and Britain irrelevant of who is ruling in Pakistan and living in exile in London before of after ruling. The amount of support and respect he gets from people is extraordinary. But don’t want him to burn out too with the amount of community programs he arranges? I recently presented him my book ‘War on Terror and Siege of Pakistan,’ before a dinner he gave to the journalists in an exclusive central London restaurant ‘Kitchen’. | |
| He was jailed and freed for the offence which according to, “The lady Justice Hallett in her judgement at the Court of Appeal said Lord Nazir Ahmed was neither legally or morally responsible for the death of Slovakian Martyn Gombar. The Court acknowledged the remarkable support that you had from various agencies and people of all walks of life. The Lady Justice Hallett said I have assessed the letters of reference in being in excess of 6,000”. He has now fully qualified to be a politician in Pakistan as he is been to the prison? Coming proudly from a humble background, studied in a school in Mirpur, Free Kashmir, Lord Ahmed is outspoken on the issues which rock many boats and rattle cages from war in Iraq , Afghanistan , occupation of Palestine and Kashmir . He is on the wrong side of the rulers but mostly on the right side of the people. That is what matter. Some part of the British media love to scold him. He said, ‘he was tried at least four times. Explaining Lord Ahmed said, “On the day of accident, some of the headlines actually said six killed Lord car crash or 12 whatever. Because what they did, they counted all the accidents of December 25th and put it together with it. And the second time when the file actually being considered I did not hear from my solicitors or the police that my file was going to CPS, it was the journalist who called me and said that your file is being sent to DPP, ‘what do you have to say to that. You are involved in a death crash.’ And when I was charged or CPS decided to charge me; normally the police will invite you and normally they will say to you that you are being charged, you have anything to say. On my occasion, I was informed by a TIMES newspaper reporter who called me and said you are being charged for dangerous driving and he did not say death driving but he linked it the death that was caused; ‘what you have to say to that’. I said ‘I don’t know about it.’” He said, ‘the police officer who interviewed him said: ‘there was no case to answer.’ “The Magistrate that has dealt with it and the three Courts – the District Judge, the High Court Judge and the Court of Appeal – all the judges said that I do not have the legal or moral responsibility for the death or for the accident. Because Mr. Martyn Gombar was drunk; he had a faulty car tires and he had an accident long before I arrived there and two other cars are gone in. This is something that the media chose not to write,” Lord Ahmed explained. Though the recent corruption expanses scandal of some British parliamentarians is an attempt to intimidate the whole ‘Parliament’ by the bankers who siphoned billions and ‘bailed out’ by the very government who should have put them on trial? Some one said, ‘these MPs and members of the House of Lords are petty thieves compare to what bankers did to Britain ’? Though Lord Ahmed believes in multiculturalism and inter-faith but some asked, ‘would he be tried in the media and send to prison in the same manner if he was a survivor of the Holocaust’? One of his admirers says Lord Ahmed, ‘always baffle people with brilliance’. Keep doing the good work, My Lord. (Dr Shahid Qureshi is award wining journalist and writer on foreign policy & security based in London) | |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)