Airspace Management – Explosion of Terrorism

By Muhammad Saleem

Airspace Management over the territorial boundaries is a sovereign right of each state. Effective airspace management entails, a failsafe surveillance system across the entire length and breadth of the country to monitor the flights originating, arriving and transiting through its skies. To regulate these flights, a command and control system is indispensible to identify the flight details, de-conflict the routes and warn the violators for consequences. In case, pilot of an aircraft enters the airspace management, then the fighter aircraft are diverted to enforce sanity.

Afghan Airspace connects Far East, Middle East and Central Asia. Being a war ravaged country; it does not have native airspace management system.  Therefore, USA is managing its airspace since 20041. Now USA is panning to stop managing Afghan airspace after expiry of the contract by the end of June, 2015, other than the flights operating to and from Afghanistan, its airspace can earn about $40 Million annually from air traffic that crosses Afghanistan above 29,000 feet. So far, Afghan  aviation authority does not have a capacity to take over tis function. Apparently, international community is also not interested in further engagement and building the airspace management capacity of Afghanistan. Afghanistan minster of transport, told Wall Street Journal that its Aviation Authority lacked qualified air traffic controller, Therefore, afghan aviation authority has to rely on external assistance.

To endure the airspace management operations USA requires $25 million for next six months. To settle the issue, Japanese Govt has conveyed her willing to fund the “bridging contract” until the end of 2015. Concurrently, Afghan government is in the process of reviewing bids for the contract. The contract may cost about $200 million for a period of five years. Reportedly few of the countries including India are bidding for the contract. Afghan Finance Minster   said “we expect to conclude with one that offers the most competitive price compared to similar contract regionally”. Probably, he was hinting towards Airport Authority of India (AAI) , which has expressed willingness  to mange Afghanistan’s air space.

Afghanistan is an important air corridor on the Europe-Asia route that is crossed by almost 300 aircraft daily. India’s commitment to support terrorist has been amply assured by its leadership. Mr Modi’s hostile rhetoric for its neighbors, Mr Ajit Dovel’s public statement to once again dismember Pakistan through terrorists and recent interview of Mr. Parrikar, defense minister of India to “form terrorist group “ is a case in point. Imagine, the plight of regional and intra-regional countries, if India is assigned the contract of managing the airspace of Afghanistan. The implications would be complex, serious and far-reaching. It could promote human trafficking, drug trafficking for financing terrorist group, air drop of weapons to sustain their maneuvers and influx of terrorists across to various counties. Consequently, India will export terrorism in Europe     and blame Muslim Community. It would be dangerous for world peace and neighboring countries. It warrants immediate attention of all the regional and international community to bear the cost of airspace management to Afghanistan. Additionally, resources should be pooled to build the capacity of capability of Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority to assume the task of Airspace management. Given a chance, people of Afghanistan can attain this capability within a year timeframe.  

Afghan Confabs: A Coming Home of the Natives!

Aasef Chauhdry

The scenario in the Subcontinent has taken an abrupt turn and it has happened within a month. While Pakistan’s ISI is working ceaselessly to forge peace in the region like arranging talks between Kabul and Afghan Taliban on the direction of Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, India’s RAW is engaged in full-time sabotage activities and of late it has also started pressuring UK authorities for not sharing terrorists’ financing trail with Pakistan. It is just like sparing no opportunity to create hindrance and hurdles on one pretext or the other with the ultimate objective of destabilising the region so as to sabotage the peace process that has materialized.  The holding of these talks was an uphill task to get done, especially with the background of infighting in Afghanistan that was deep-rooted and every sane person realised that bringing the alienated factions on the table was not an easy task at all; however, with the hard work done by ISI under COAS’ directives, it was finally made doable. It came as big nudge to India and its supporters that all the prominent factions of Afghan Taliban took part in the talks.

It is hard for India to digest this new development especially the joint working of US, China and Pakistan to facilitate this peace process that will also go a long way in bringing about stability inside both Pakistan and Afghanistan. The fact is that both US and China realise this reality well that stability of Pakistan as well as Afghanistan is necessary to bring peace in the region. Till the convening of these talks, vested interests inside the Indian camp and that of its cohorts have been building up the impression that some groups of Afghan Taliban e.g. Haqqani Group will not take part in the talks. This propaganda turned out to be altogether false and forged.

On the other hand, Pakistan’s military, long accused of harboring insurgents who fight its cause in Afghanistan and beyond, proved by brokering landmark Taliban peace talks last week that it is serious about tackling Islamist militancy in the region. The heads of the army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency were personally involved in bringing about talks between the Afghan Taliban and Kabul government on July 8 near Islamabad.

The negotiations were a tentative first step toward ending war in neighboring Afghanistan that kills thousands of people each year, as government forces fight Taliban insurgents whose hardliner Islamist regime was toppled in 2001. The analysts are convinced that the Army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif in particular has made Afghanistan’s peace process a “top foreign policy goal”.  For him, convincing Afghans to end the war is just as imperative as fighting anti-Pakistani militants”.

China, a key regional ally and investor, has also played a much needed role in Pakistan’s intervention, as Beijing believes that the militants from its restive Xinjiang region receive training in lawless areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Moreover, changes in leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan also helped pave the way for these talks. In Pakistan, doubtlessly, all credit goes to General Sharif who became army chief in 2013 and brought in Rizwan Akhtar to take over the ISI next year. While in Afghanistan, President Ashraf Ghani took office last September and ever since then he has made improving relations with Pakistan, in contrast to his predecessor Hamid Karzai.

The meeting of July 7 in the Pakistani hill resort Murree was the first direct interaction between the Afghan government and the Taliban in 14 years. Chinese and American officials also attended as “observers.” While the first round of talk turned to be quite fruitful there are different reports regarding venue of next round of dialogues between Afghan Taliban and Afghan government. As it is feared that the Indians will not spare any moment to spoil the peace efforts sincerely being made by Pakistan (to be more accurate if we say by the Pakistan Army and the ISI), the venue is not confirmed yet. However, the sources claim that the next round of dialogues between Afghan Taliban and Afghan government could be held in Islamabad. Pakistan hosted the meeting in a cautious step towards ending more than 13 years of war in neighbouring Afghanistan, where the Taliban have been trying to re-establish their regime, which was toppled by a US-led military invasion in 2001.

The delegates met from around 10 pm on July 7, after aftar, to 4am on July 8. The atmosphere at the meeting was “positive” and “warm” and it ended with the sides sharing Sehr. When they sat down for the Sehr meal, it was as if they were celebrating Eid. There was a sense of celebration. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has reached out to Islamabad since taking office last year, and Pakistan has pledged to pressure Taliban leaders, many of whom are believed to be hiding in the country, to come to the negotiating table.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the United States welcomed the talks, calling them “an important step toward advancing prospects for a credible peace”. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China backed the process and was in touch with all sides.

A senior Pakistani official has said that the country will host the second round of talks between the Afghan Government and Taliban on July 31. The official rejected reports that the talks could be held in China or Qatar, confirming that the talks will be held in Pakistan. It is strongly believed that some progress is expected in the second round of talks between the Afghan Government and Taliban.

Some Western diplomats say Islamabad now seems serious about promoting Afghan stability. According to them this was the most genuine push they saw from Pakistan. Pakistani author Ahmed Rashid sees “an institutional change” at the top of the Pakistan military favoring ending Afghanistan’s war. As for India, Delhi felt it had been sidelined from the process because U.S. and Chinese observers attended the Taliban talks. It will be hard for India to digest this new development. She will create all sorts of hurdles to sabotage the emerging development. In fact, India wants instability in Afghanistan, which favours its clandestine aims. But Pakistan seeks stability in Afghanistan, which is essential for both the countries including US, China, Iran and other regional states. With this viewpoint, facilitation of dialogue between the Afghan rulers and the Taliban is a positive development, but India is failed to digest this bitter truth.

Afghanistan: India Undermines Regional Stability

By Sajjad Shaukat

Waging a prolonged war in Afghanistan, the US and other NATO countries have realized that after the withdrawal of foreign troops, Afghanistan would be thrown in an era of uncertainly and civil war. They recognize the fact and terrorism or stability in Pakistan and Afghanistan is interrelated. Therefore, US-led developed nations which also spent billions of dollars for the development of Afghanistan have repeatedly agreed that without Islamabad’s help, stability cannot be achieved there. Unfortunately, India does not intend see peace in that country and is undermining regional stability by creating unrest in Afghanistan and some other countries, and by sabotaging their cordial relations.   

It is notable that on the direction of Pakistan’s Chief of Army Stafff General Raheel Sharif, country’s superior intelligence agency, ISI done hard to bring the Afghan Taliban factions to the negotiating table to conduct talks with the Afghan government. In this regard, Pakistan Foreign Office said, “A meeting hosted by Pakistan between the Afghan High Peace Council (HPC), the body tasked with opening negotiations and Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan representatives in Murree (On July 8, this year)-an Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process-the representatives of China and the USA also participated in the meeting. The participants expressed their collective desire to bring peace to Afghanistan and the region-agreed to continue talks through the next meetings.”

India which has been making attempts to foil the dialogue between the Afghan rulers and the Afghan Taliban is creating an impression that some groups like Haqqani outfit did not take part in the new talks. While, the US, China and Pakistan are jointly working to facilitate the process so as to bring peace both in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the whole region.

In fact, New Delhi is destabilizing the regional countries in general and Afghanistan and Pakistan in particular. In order to obtain its secret designs, aimed at augmenting Indian hegemony in the region, India is foiling the peace process between Afghanistan and Pakistan by managing terrorist attacks like the recent assaults in both the countries.

In this respect, former Chief of Indian secret agency RAW, Amarjit Singh Dulat disclosed on June 4, this year that Indian intelligence agencies have over the years paid money to militants and separatists in the Indian occupied-Kashmir and Pakistan.

However, the statement of RAW chief is not surprising, as recently, Indian Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar and even its Prime Minister Narendra Modi Modi openly confirmed assistance to anti-Pakistan elements including separation of East Pakistan.

It is mentionable that Indian former Army Chief Gen. VK Singh also confessed that during his tenure, he supervised special army unit, Tactical Support Division (TSD) on the instructions of the then defence minister to sponsor subversive activities in Pakistan, particularly Balochistan.

These blatant admissions clearly prove that New Delhi has been sponsoring worse kinds of terrorism inside Pakistan by promoting sub-nationalists. New Delhi has been exploiting these entities locally and abroad as proxies against Pakistan.

Nevertheless, Indian RAW has well-established its network in Afghanistan, and is fully assisting cross-border incursions and terror-activities in various regions of Pakistan through Baloch separatist elements and anti-Pakistan groups like Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA), Jundullah and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) including their affiliated outfits. They also abducted and killed many Chinese and Iranian nationals. On a number of occasions, these insurgent groups claimed responsibility for their acts of sabotage.

RAW is making efforts to weaken Afghanistan, Tibetan regions of China and Pakistan, especially Balochistan by arranging the subversive activities, promoting acrimonious sense of dissent, political volatility, sectarian violence and arousing sentiments of separatism.

It is notable that New Delhi which has already invested billion of dollars in Afghanistan, also signed a wide-ranging strategic agreement with that country on October 5, 2011. And, the then President Hamid Karzai had also signed another agreement with India to obtain Indian arms and weapons. While, under the cover of these agreements, India has further strengthened its grip in Afghanistan. By taking advantage of lawlessness in Afghanistan, India is up to its usual tirade to foment an environment by conducting terrorist attacks in that country to prove that Pakistan is creating trouble for Afghanistan.

It is worth-mentioning that Gen. Raheel accompanied by the DG of ISI went to Kabul on December 17, 2014. During his meeting with his Afghan counterpart, President Ashraf Ghani and the ISAF commander, he presented the evidence of linkage between the massacre of children at Peshawar school and TTP sanctuaries in Afghanistan. He also asked about action against the TTP and handing over of its chief Mullah Fazlullah to Pakistan.

In response, Afghan government and US has started taking action against the TTP. A number of TTP militants have been captured in Afghanistan, while Fazlullah survived in a drone attack. Meanwhile, Washington has also designated Mullah Fazullah as a global terrorist and seized his bank accounts.

Now, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani realized that Afghanistan and Pakistan are facing similar challenges of terrorism and will combat this threat collectively. On May 18, 2015, the two countries signed the security agreement—Pakistan’s ISI and Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) to share intelligence and conduct coordinated operations against terrorists. And, frequent visits of Pak-Afghan civil and military leaders to each other’s country also irritate New Delhi.

Nonetheless, Indian desperation in Afghanistan is increasing in the backdrop of growing engagements of Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and US.

Besides, New Delhi is trying to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Recent terror-attacks in Pakistan and Balochistan might be noted as example. In this connection, Indian backed Baloch secessionists have been directed to step up their activities on the CPEC project. Indian RAW has created a heavily funded China-Pakistan specific desk to target growing Pak-China-Afghanistan relations.

If India continues its shrewd diplomacy, negative virtues of Afghan political and bureaucratic circles would not yield any positive effects regarding peace and stability of Afghanistan. Their efforts to create mistrust between Islamabad and Kabul are condemnable, as it also amounts to degrade and sabotage the global efforts of achieving peace and stability in the region.

Instead of criticizing the improving relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Hamid Karzai should help in resolving the irritants which he failed to address during his era of presidency.

High profile visits between Islamabad and Kabul would address the issue of cross-border militancy. They should discuss the failure of Afghan government to hand over of terrorist Fazlullah to Pakistan and better border management, which are direly needed for stable and secure environment. A harmonized Pak-Afghan relationship is the guarantee to draw maximum economic benefits for the future generations, and Pakistan is keen to see return of peace to Afghanistan.

Recent Pakistan-Afghanistan rapprochement-initiatives along with evolving Chinese role in Afghanistan for peace, economic and political developments of Afghanistan are viewed as positive steps with regional assurance. All the existing ethnic groups of Afghanistan are now stakeholders in the governance of country.

Afghan Government is also responsible for early repatriation and rehabilitation of Afghan refugees, languishing in Pakistan. So, this issue must be resolved on priority.

Returning to our earlier discussion, India is weary of growing cooperation among Afghanistan, China and Pakistan. To hinder this trilateral cooperation, New Delhi is clearly bent upon creating unfavourable situation through her proxies by targeting China, Pakistan and Afghanistan. And Pakistan seeks stability in Afghanistan, which is essential for both the countries including China, Iran, US-led western countries and other regional states. But, India wants instability in Afghanistan, which favours its clandestine aims. Hence, India is undermining regional stability by applying secret diplomacy.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com

True Perspective of Baloch Insurgents Surrender

By MI Kashmiri

Recent series of surrender by Baloch militant commanders along with their accomplices and relating it to the  previous such happenings thus giving the impression that the current development may not yield desired dividends is certainly a biased perspective few analysts and critiques are attempting  to deliver to their  readers. These analysts  instead of giving  hopelessness about the success of surrender process should be talking  about the positivity of such  initiative taken by the Baloch political headship in collaboration with the leadership of security forces .The fact must be kept in mind that the surrender of militants on one hand is the most useful mean to weaken the militancy and on the other hand it will spread a ray of hope amongst the general public of the province and the stake  holders interested in the prosperity and economic development of Balochistan.

Although the surrender exercise is not new but any sane analyst will agree to the fact that with the changing ground realties and prevailing environments every happening cannot be fully compared with the past occurring. The current situation in Balochistan is different from the past due to no of reasons which include the psyche of players involved, their objectives, response from the state institutions along with their understanding of the issue with new perspective and the most important of all is the civil military cohesiveness to pursue the goals in the province with mutual trust and cooperation. Now when the provincial govt is headed by a moderate sub nationalist group which is trying to reach out to all annoyed Baloch elements within and abroad for finding the ways to bring normalcy in the province and working out the modalities to address the apprehensions of the sub nationalists, the hope for peace in Balochistan should not be considered a dream. At this point of time the entire process of reconciliation between the govt and the insurgent’s leadership has full backing and support of the state institutions. This is the change which has seldom been witnessed in the past. It’s because of such encouraging working relationship between the provincial govt and the security establishment that the initiatives towards bringing the insurgents to main stream merit unbiased evaluation of the current surrender strategy of the govt.

Some of the analysts influenced by a particular mindset referring back to the surrender of Nawab Noroz Khan are fearing that due to the reason of not keeping up the promises of amnesty to the said Nawab and his accomplices the insurgent movement continued even after the surrender of Nawab Noroz and same would be the fate of current surrender process. It must be remembered that this is just a mere propaganda and if  recalled objectively it would reveal that   it was not the betrayal from the state institutions that the Nawab Noroz and his associates were jailed but it was according to the law of the land to which both parties agreed and the surrender took place. Then comes the era of start of current insurgency in which analysts are mixing up the reconciliation with the Marri elders during the forming of the govt in Balochistan after 2002 elections. Although Mr Balach Marri was elected as MPA but he neither appeared for the oath taking nor attended any assembly session. However, after the amicable solution of long awaited Chamalang issue with the intimate and passionate efforts of the military leadership in Balochistan and the provincial govt the Marris got annoyed as the agreement  included in its beneficiaries the Lonis, the Marris , the locals and other stake holders thus reducing the share of Marri tribal heads. It was this reason and the murder case on Marri elders that some of them remained away from the main stream politics and later resorted to armed struggle against the state. As far as dialogue with Nawab Akbar Bugti are concerned, its again known fact that full fledge parliamentary committee was constituted by the federal govt to seek input from all stake holders in Balochistan for alleviating the concerns and the sense of deprivation felt by the Baloch leadership and the masses there. The committee had long meetings as planned and met Nawab Akbar Bugti several times but due to the undemocratic and unjustified demands of the Nawab, the reconciliation process kept delaying and ultimately ended up in failure as Nawab Akbar Bugti decided to go for the armed struggle to pursue his self envisioned  goals for the rights of his people. Not going into the  details of the development projects and the financial assistance provided to the province during the period from 2002 to 2008, impartial analysis would reveal that the tribal heads with the changing regional and local socio political environment and undertaking of speedy development projects aiming at poverty alleviation , taking good care of health and education issues of the common Balochi people, started fearing to loose their influence in their respective areas and thus adopted the old strategy of maintaining and regaining their position and status through militancy.

The analysts are actually trying to undermine the recent process of surrender by falsely portraying that the surrendered militants are not the hard core elements but have either been disowned or thrown out of the main stream cadres of insurgent groups. The only and reasonable answer to all such elements is the vigorous pursuance of the surrender policy thus ensuring to bring more and more disgruntled elements to normal civic life. With the current policy adoption by the provincial govt and the security establishment the nation can hope to see such surrenders not occasionally but regularly. It’s further heartening to see the harmony amongst the ruling coalition of NP, PMLN and PKMAP and the opposition parties on the issue of reconciliation and the surrender initiatives. Coupled with the ongoing backchannel and overt dialogue between Khan of Kallat, Brahm Dagh Bugti and Mehran Marri, this policy of pursuing the militants to surrender is certainly a leap forward towards the achievement of peace and prosperity in Balochistan.The is however a need to have a comprehensive and well thought out surrender strategy having consensus of all stake holders to make it most fruitful and lasting. A well motivated team of experts from the concerned quarters having full support and freedom of taking all rightful decisions in the implementation of the envisaged surrender initiatives will certainly prove to be a catalyst in fighting the menace of unrest in Balochistan.

Day of Kashmir’s Accession to Pakistan

                                            

By Sajjad Shaukat

Every year, Kashmiris living on both sides of the Line of Control and Pakistan including rest of the world celebrate July 19 as the Day of Kashmir’s Accession to Pakistan, as on this very day in 1947, the historical resolution was adopted by the by the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference in Abi Guzar, Srinagar during an emergency convention at the residence of Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan. It was presided over by Chaudhry Hamid Ullah Khan, and the resolution was presented by Khawaja Ghulam-ud-Din Wani and Abdul Rahim Wani, with 59 prominent leaders in attendance.

The resolution was unanimously adopted, indicating that existing religious, geographical, cultural, economic ties and the aspirations of millions of Kashmiri Muslims warrant accession of the state of Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan. During the partition of the Sub-continent, the people of the state of Jammu and Kashmir which comprised Muslim majority decided to join Pakistan according to the British-led formula. But, Dogra Raja, Sir Hari Singh, a Hindu who was ruling over the J&K in connivance with the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Governor General Lord Mountbatten joined India.

The design to forcibly wrest Kashmir began to unfold on August 16, 1947, with the announcement of the Radcliffe Boundary Award. It gave the Gurdaspur District—a majority Muslim area to India to provide a land route to the Indian armed forces to move into Kashmir. There was a rebellion in the state forces, which revolted against the Maharaja and were joined by Pathan tribesmen. Lord Mountbatten ordered armed forces to land in Srinagar.

However, Indian forces invaded Srinagar on 27 October 1947 and forcibly occupied Jammu and Kashmir in utter violation of the partition plan and against the wishes of the Kashmiri people. 

When Pakistan responded militarily against the Indian aggression, on December 31, 1947, India made an appeal to the UN Security Council to intervene and a ceasefire ultimately came into effect on January 01, 1949, following UN resolutions calling for a plebiscite in Kashmir.

It is mentionable that the Security Council adopted resolution 47 (1948) of 21 April 1948 which promised a plebiscite under UN auspices to enable the people of Jammu and Kashmir to determine whether they wish to join Pakistan or India. On February 5, 1964, India backed out of its promise of holding plebiscite. Instead, in March 1965, the Indian Parliament passed a bill, declaring Kashmir a province of India-an integral part of the Indian union.

The very tragedy of Kashmiris had started after 1947 when they were denied their genuine right of self-determination. They organised themselves against the injustices of India and launched a war of liberation which New Delhi tried to suppress through various forms of state terrorism.

Passing through various phases, the struggle of Kashmiris which has become an interaction between the Indian state terrorism led by the Indian security forces and war of liberation by the freedom fighters keeps on going unabated.

It is notable that since 1947, in order to maintain its illegal control, India has continued its repressive regime in the Occupied Kashmir through various machinations. In this regard, as already mentioned that India forcibly occupied Kashmir in gross violation of the “Partition Plan of the Indian Subcontinent, but, through the so-called-Instrument of Accession of October 27, 1947 which is illegal, and remains controversial, New Delhi justifies its hold on the Kashmir.

India has also been acting upon ethnic cleansing and conspiracies to alter the demography of the Indian-held Kashmir. In this context, Indian establishment has militarized the princely state of Kashmir since its illegitimate occupation. In 1947, the Muslims constituted 77%, while the Hindu population was 23% of the population. The ratio is now 64.19% to 32.24% due to unabated killings and other controversial acts like settlement of non-Muslim migrants (Hindus and Sikhs) from Punjab.

For the purpose, illegal land-grabbing is being practiced by Indian security forces such as Army, CRPF, ITB, and BSF in the Indian Occupied Kashmir, using lease and acquisitions.

Nevertheless, various forms of state terrorism have been part of a deliberate campaign by the Indian army and paramilitary forces against Muslim Kashmiris, especially since 1989. It has been manifested in brutal tactics like crackdowns, curfews, illegal detentions, massacre, targeted killings, sieges, burning the houses, torture, disappearances, rape, breaking the legs, molestation of Muslim women and killing of persons through fake encounter.

According to a report on human rights violations in the Indian Occupied Kashmir, from January 1989 to December 2013, there have been deaths of 93,984 innocent Kashmiris, 7,014 custodial killings, 1,22,771 arrests, 1,05,996 destruction of houses or buildings, 22,776 women widowed,  1,07,466 children orphaned and  10,086 women gang-raped/molested.

Indian brutal securities forces have continued these atrocities—extrajudicial killings in way or the other.  From January 1 to June 15, 2014, there have been deaths of 54 innocent Kashmiris, 09 custodial killings, 3438 arrests, 08 destruction of houses or buildings, 02 women widowed, 03 children orphaned and 34 women gang-raped/molested.

In fact, Indian forces have employed various draconian and controversial laws like Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and the Public Safety Act (PSA) etc. in killing the Kashmiri people, and arbitrarily arrest of any individual for an indefinite period.

Besides Human Rights Watch, in its various reports, Amnesty International has also pointed out grave human rights violations in the Indian controlled Kashmir, indicating, “The Muslim majority population in the Kashmir Valley suffers from the repressive tactics of the security forces. Under the Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed Areas Act, and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act and Public Safety Act, security forces personnel have extraordinary powers to shoot suspected persons.”

It is mentionable that under the cover of draconian laws, most of the times, majority of the popular pro-movement leadership is detained or house-arrested by the Indian security forces, and mostly, without prior orders from the higher authorities. As per a Kashmiri human rights group, Voice of Victim (VOV), a total of 1 471 torture centres are operating in the Occupied Kashmir where arrested Kashmiri leaders and the youth are subjected to severe torture.

In this respect, European Union has passed a resolution about human rights abuses committed by Indian forces in the Indian held Kashmir.

It is of particular attention that in 2008, a rights group reported unmarked graves in 55 villages across the northern regions of the Indian-held Kashmir. Then researchers and other groups reported finding thousands of mass graves without markers. In this regard, in the last few years, rights groups discovered nearly 3,000 unnamed graves in the various districts of Kashmir. In this respect, in August, 2011, Indian Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) officially acknowledged in its report that innocent civilians killed in the two-decade conflict have been buried in unmarked graves. The report indicated 2,156 unidentified bodies which were found in mass graves in various regions of the Indian-held Kashmir.

Notably, foreign sources and human rights organisations have revealed that unnamed graves include those innocent persons, killed by the Indian military and paramilitary troops in the fake encounters including those who were tortured to death by the Indian secret agency RAW.

In its report, China’s leading News Agency Xinhua has unearthed more gruesome details on world-stunning unmarked graves in Poonch of the Indian occupied Kashmir. The report revealed the statement of Sofi Aziz Joo, caretaker of a graveyard as saying, “Police and Army used to bring those bodies and direct me to bury them. The bodies were usually bullet-ridden, mutilated, faces disfigured and sometimes without limbs and heads.”

It seems that non-condemnation of these Indian massive human rights violations and non-interference for the settlement of this issue by the so-called civilized international community, especially the US have further encouraged New Delhi to keep on going with its state terrorism on the armless Kashmiri masses. Ignorance of the issue by them involves the risk of nuclear war between Pakistan and India.

Indian authorities are not willing to talk with Kashmiri people on political grounds. New Delhi reached to a conclusion that only bullet is the right way of dealing with Kashmiris, demanding their right of self-determination. Surprisingly, Indian successive governments are trying to ignore the dynamics of the freedom movement of Kashmiris for the sake of their alien rule.

Nonetheless, every year, the Kashmiris and their brethren in Pakistan, and those living all over the world observe July 19 as the Day of Kashmir’s Accession to Pakistan to re-affirm their commitment to continue their struggle against Indian illicit occupation, and till the attainment of this liberation.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com

Barach Obama's Visit to South Asia

Target Killing of Innocent Kashmiris

Pakistan Army against Terrorists

Indian Consulates Involvment in Baluchistan Unrest

Morsi awarded the death sentence

By Muhammad Jamil

Unemployed youth along with other sections of society, including the opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood, came out in droves to protest against the government

An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced former president Mohamed Morsi and 106 others to death for a mass jail break in 2011. However, the verdict will be referred to the grand mufti, the highest religious authority in Egypt, for confirmation and the court will pronounce its final verdict on June 2, 2015. The verdict has drawn condemnation from Amnesty International and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan but most European countries that have banned the death sentence are mute. Even though the Brotherhood has long opted out of violence to pursue its objectives through acceptable, peaceful means and had been winning elections even before the Arab Spring, it was outlawed as a terrorist outfit in 2013. Its assets were frozen and seized, and even voices sympathetic to it were muzzled and silenced. Hundreds of its members have been killed and thousands incarcerated. Not even female members were spared the deep state’s campaign to decimate the Muslim Brotherhood into extinction. Morsi was deposed by his then military chief and minister of defence, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, after mass protests against his rule in the summer of 2013. Following the coup, the former president’s supporters launched a series of protests and sit-ins across the country culminating in a crackdown by security forces that left hundreds dead. Egypt’s military junta declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation on account of a deadly bomb attack on the police establishment in the country’s Mansoura city. However, the responsibility of that bombing has been claimed by Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, an al Qaeda aligned outfit, hostilely disposed towards the Brotherhood for its renouncing violence and joining the political mainstream. 

In September 2013, an Egyptian court banned the Muslim Brotherhood and the ban was extended to the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing. Last month, an Egyptian court sentenced Morsi and 12 other defendants to 20 years in prison for ordering the arrest and torture of protesters in clashes outside the presidential palace in December 2012. The junta charged ousted president Mohamed Morsi as a ‘terrorist’ for meeting with Hamas leaders during his term in office even though the meetings were in the context of long-standing Egyptian attempts to broker a Palestinian rapprochement. In fact, there is a long history of banning the Muslim Brotherhood; it was banned in Egypt in 1948. It was accused of attacks on prime ministers, government functionaries and judges, and an attempt on Gamal Abdel Nasser’s life was made in 1954.
In the 1970s, President Sadat allowed the Brotherhood and Islamists to regroup in an effort to use them against the Nasserists and socialists. In 2005, the Brotherhood was a banned organisation and fielded its candidates as independents, managing to get around 20 percent of the seats. One could see that the Brotherhood had changed stripes coming out of clandestine activities and treading the democratic path. It was able to mobilise the people to get rid of Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship. After the January 2011 revolution, the Muslim Brotherhood was allowed to form a political party, the FJP. In June 2012 elections were held, and the FJP managed to get 46 percent of parliament’s seats. But within one year after forming the government, protests started. The protestors on the street were, in reality, the inveterate traditional opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood. 

They found a chance to achieve what they could not at the ballot box but their hopes came crashing down when they found that the beneficiary of the protests would be someone else. They are concerned that a new Hosni Mubarak is in the making in the strong man el-Sisi, who had thrown his hat in the ring for elections and was elected. Of course, Morsi’s government had neglected the economy, which was in shambles. Unemployed youth along with other sections of society, including the opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood, came out in droves to protest against the government. Events leading to the ouster of Mohammed Morsi as the president of Egypt have reinforced the widely held belief that, for a democratic government to be meaningful, it should deliver and always be sensitive to the interests and aspirations of the people. 

Just as the military rode on the back of 18 days of popular protests to topple Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year-old government to pave the way for the emergence of Morsi, once again the Egyptian army lent a helping hand to millions of protesting crowds to get rid of president Morsi, who came to power on the basis of the religious fervour of his supporters. Rather than integrating diverse interest groups with different religious, political and social affiliations in order to mould a cohesive society, he was accused of playing the politics of alienation and discrimination. The first sign of trouble for Morsi came when he attempted to incorporate a clause into a draft constitution to grant him sweeping and unrestricted powers. The plan was quickly abandoned following sustained pressure mounted by the people through days of street protests. The clause would also have conferred on him immunity from judicial oversight.

His decision to back out and flee the presidential palace, however, did not stop the Egyptians from pressing ahead with more demands, asking for more secularity in governance, as against the bid to subject their freedoms, through an uncalled for constitutional amendment, to the authority of the strict Islamic law, sharia. Even though the sagging economy was one of the reasons for the rise against Mubarak, Morsi had absolutely no idea how to reverse the free fall nor did he appreciate the necessity to do so at all. Indeed, protesting voices are now ruing woefully their actions against Morsi, as they will have to bear the brunt of another dictatorship for a long time to come. However, if the vengeful campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood does not come to an end, the organisation is sure to go underground and peace will elude Egypt for a long time to come. 

Naltar tragedy and display of valour

 By Muhammad Jamil

Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman told state television that “the MI-17 helicopter was fully airworthy, but just prior to landing it suddenly lost control due to technical reasons”. He dismissed as bogus claims by Taliban of having shot it down. Pakistan Air Force has constituted the board to investigate the deadly air crash at Naltar, which has begun its proceedings. “It was purely an accident, and accidents do happen,” Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry said. Envoys of the Philippines and Norway and the wives of the Malaysian and Indonesian ambassadors were among seven persons killed when the helicopter, carrying 12 foreigners, crashed in Gilgit-Baltistan area in the north. Two army pilots and a Pakistani crew member were also killed in Friday’s crash. The nation will always remember their valour, sense of responsibility and for laying down their lives to save many precious lives.

When the helicopter crash-landed at the school, it caught fire. According to a TV channel report army and Air Force officers and jawans virtually went through the flames to evacuate the dead and especially survivors before fire could reach the fuel tank. The survivors of course are the witness to the tragic incident, who did not notice any hit by the rocket. South African High Commissioner Mpendulo Jele, who was on board the helicopter but miraculously remained unhurt, was all praise for military officials and jawans. “It’s an accident that can happen anywhere in the world. Unfortunately we lost some of our colleagues, but Pakistan military saved many lives,” he told a news channel. He added it was a miracle that there were many survivors - twelve passengers survived the crash, as in all there were 19 people on board. 

International community has shown solidarity with Pakistan on Naltar tragedy, which was not sabotage or an act of terror. It was an accident, an adversity or one may call it misfortune. Though tragedy or an accident sometimes does not have a cause, a board has been set up by PAF to investigate the Naltar Helicopter incident. Reportedly, the black box of the helicopter has been found and according to initial investigation the incident was not an act of terrorism. President Mamnoon Hussain has expressed profound grief and sorrow over the tragic Naltar incident. He prayed for the departed souls and extended heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the bereaved families. The President stated that the government and people of Pakistan are deeply saddened over the tragic death of foreigners in the unfortunate incident and equally share the grief of the affected families. 

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif extended condolences on the demise of the two ambassadors and the spouses of two other envoys who died in the crash and had declared one day-mourning on Saturday for the loss of invaluable lives in the tragic accident. The prime minister on Saturday called Malaysian premier Najib Razak to convey his condolences over the death of Malaysian ambassador’s wife. He had contacted the Prime Minister of Norway on Friday to extend condolences on the death of Norwegian ambassador to Pakistan. “The entire Pakistani nation is heartbroken on the incident,” he told the Norwegian prime minister, according to a statement issued by the government. It is just sheer bad luck for Pakistan that a tragic accident took the lives of foreign diplomats. However, the TTP spokesman claimed the responsibility for having downed the helicopter. 

Indeed, it was a false claim and nobody believed that TTP militants have had the capacity to launch such an attack in that area. According to ISPR it was not sabotage or an act of terror but an accident; and there is no reason to disbelieve him. DG ISPR said: “The helicopter crashed due to a technical fault and ruled out the possibility of any terrorist or subversive activity. However, human error has to also be ruled out after a thorough inquiry so that we can rest easy.” The US State Department said on Friday it had no reason to doubt Pakistan’s claim that a helicopter crash, which killed several people including two ambassadors, was an accident. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said: “The Pakistani air force has already said something about this. They described it as a technical fault that they believe was responsible.”
Reminded of a claim by the banned TTP that it had brought down the helicopter, he said: “We have no reason to doubt what the Pakistani authorities have said.” Envoys of Netherlands, Norway, Romania, South Africa, Philippines, Sweden, Lebanon, Malaysia, Poland and Indonesia were on the unfortunate flight. Ambassador of Indonesia Burhan Muhammad was reported to be in a critical condition with 75 per cent burns. The 10 survivors had “varying degrees of injuries”. The injured are being treated at the Combined Military Hospital at Jutial, about 30km away from the area in which the crash occurred. The delegation was on its way to inspect projects on a three-day trip to Gilgit-Baltistan, and also to pay a visit to ski-resort where they were set to meet with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Having that said, international community has stood by Pakistan in this hour of grief. 

The Naltar incident was the fifth crash involving the Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters since 2004. Most of the crashes, according to investigations into previous incidents, happened because of technical failures. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called his Malaysian counterpart Dato Sri Mohammad Najib to condole the death of Mrs. Datin Habibah binti Mahmud, wife of the Malaysian High Commissioner in the crash. Adviser to PM for Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz called Philippines Foreign Secretary Albert Rosario to convey condolences on the death of Ambassador of the Philippines Domingo Lucenario. United Nations Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon expressed his sorrow and condolences over the helicopter crash in Gilgit-Baltistan that resulted in seven deaths, including two foreign ambassadors. In a statement, the UN secretary-general extended his condolences to the families of the crash victims of the Philippines, Norway, Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as his wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured. 

Karachi carnage, RAW suspect

S M Hali

KARACHI incident of 13 May in which 45 innocent Pakistanis (belonging to Ismaili Sect) have been brutally killed has been condemned by all and sundry. Unfortunately, it appears to be the machination of the Indian spy agency RAW, which has been working full time to destabilize Pakistan as well as create disturbances to sabotage the Pak – China economic corridor (CPEC) by indicating to the Chinese that if Pakistan government is not able to provide security to its citizens, how can it protect CPEC. Prior to this incident, Sabeen Mehmood was also killed by RAW to drive a wedge between Balochistan and rest of Pakistan.

Unfortunately, a progressive group in Pakistan is trying to belie our foreign office’s claim that RAW is actively involved in subversive activities in Pakistan. Some pseudo intellectuals would like to sacrifice Pakistan’s security at the altar of human rights. They are demanding that the Foreign Office promise of sharing proof of RAW’s subversive activities in Pakistan with India be made public. They have been holding seminars, writing columns and raising slogans in the name of good practice.
My learned friends have been quoting the example of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), the Karachi University (KU), which were discouraged from holding discussions titled ‘Baloch missing persons and the role of state and society’. The event was a commemorative service for the fallen civil rights activist Sabeen Mahmud who was murdered right after hosting a panel discussion on Balochistan’s plight at her Karachi café, The Second Floor (T2F), on April 24, 2015.
At Karachi, when the event was cancelled by the University authorities to maintain the sanctity and sensitivity of the subject, the organizers held the event outside the premises of the University and clandestinely brought in Baloch human rights campaigner Mama Qadeer Baloch to speak on the issue. 

It is being alleged that freedom of speech is being curbed while the free voices are being gagged. It should be understood that Pakistan is passing through very trying times and the very survival of the nation is at stake. If an organization, which is responsible and does not utter a single word contrary to diplomatic nuances, claims that Indian Spy Agency RAW is behind the trouble in Pakistan, it should neither be doubted nor challenged. If the Indian External Affairs Ministry were to challenge the statements of its Pakistani counterparts, it would be understandable for they are the root of the problem. For bona-fide Pakistanis to raise a hue and cry on the subject is questionable. Perhaps such conscientious objectors are not fully cognizant of the gravity of the situation in Balochistan. Security forces, residents of Balochistan, with a different ethnic origin e.g. from Punjab or Karachi are being made to disappear by the scores and the culpable parties are insurgents or those agents of the enemy, who are not fighting for any human rights but are mercenaries or miscreants. Has there been
The Prime Minister of Pakistan flew to Kabul with his team of foreign office and defence advisors, comprising the Advisor on national Security, the Army Chief and the Director General of ISI. Reportedly, before the departure for Kabul high level team, went into a huddle at the PM House, where they discussed threadbare the modus operandi of the visit and talks. High on their agenda was the involvement of RAW in launching anti Pakistan surreptitious operations form Afghanistan into Balochistan, Karachi and rest of Pakistan. One-on-One discussions between heads of states especially of a sensitive nature as discussed above do not reach the Press. This scribe was not privy to the discussion either but has a fair idea of the gist of the matter discussed.
True that Balochistan has been neglected and denied its rights but for the past many years, Pakistan Armed Forces and the Government have bent backward to launch development projects, recruit Baloch youth into the Armed Forces and bureaucracy and uplift the downtrodden province. Many Baloch youth have been misled and recruited by enemies of the state to carry out operations against their own province. 

There are always two sides of an argument. If the government of Pakistan is providing opportunities to the misled youth to lay down their arms and join the mainstream, perhaps their grievances can also be resolved amicably. 

Instead of condemning the armed forces of Pakistan or the law enforcement agencies and blaming them of committing ignoble deeds, it would be prudent to look at the whole picture and not get carried away by occidental vogues of freedom of speech. After all, in the garb of freedom of speech, caricatures of the Holy Prophet (MBUH) and cartoon competitions are also being launched, but all sane minds are critical of such atrocious activities. 

Similarly, in Pakistan, we need to be patient and let the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Interior and Law Enforcing Agencies conduct their operations as they are all collectively fighting the “Battle for Pakistan”. 

If they fail, what to talk of freedom of speech, we will lose our very independence and freedom and become serfs and minions to those who want to subjugate us and use our own brethren against us. Freedom of speech is a favourable ideal but its pursuit sometimes gets glossed over by furtive deeds. 

No one has counted the bodies of the security and the non Balochi people found in mass graves, massacred by those who believe decapitation of humans is justified in the way of demanding their rights. Let good sense prevail. 

Our wanting counter terrorism effort

By Khalid Iqbal

Whenever those responsible for counter terrorism claim success, terrorist make their presence and power felt through increasingly ferocious attacks. While one understands the complexity and enormity to terrorist activity, matching counter terrorism effort is glaringly missing. In the forefront is lack of will to implement the policies at the middle and lower levels of Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs). Every time there is a high profile attack, new laws are made, LEAs and trial courts are given additional powers, politicians hold meetings under pomp and show and rhetoric is uttered; for a couple of days bureaucrats run from here to there, but end result is zero. Within weeks, another high profile incident takes place, and the previous one is passed on to distant memory. This cycle is going on at least since 2008.

Over the years, LEA’s, bureaucracy, political parties, religious outfits and other state and private institutions have become complacent and take acts of terrorism as a matter of routine. Number of deaths of personnel of law enforcement agencies far exceeds the fatalities suffered by terrorists, which indicate poor professional skills of LAEs. Likewise number of deaths of noncombatants is phenomenal. This clearly indicates that something is seriously wrong somewhere and national counter terrorism effort needs a revisit at professional and technical levels. 

Mere empowerment of these entities, without compatible structural reforms, won’t lead the country anywhere. We have examples that whenever there was requisite will, successful operations were conducted and the terrorists were nailed in. We can certainly do it even now. External and internal factors of terrorism need to be handled concurrently and conjointly. There is a welcome change at policy level, external factors contributing towards acts of terrorism are now being exposes openly and squarely.
Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad has recently said that Indian RAW is involved in terrorist activities across Pakistan; he disclosed that matter had been taken up a number of times at the highest level with India through diplomatic channels. This position should have been taken by the foreign office a long time ago; now time has come for issuing demarche not only to India but also a number of other countries involved in similar acts. During Prime Minister’s visit to Afghanistan on May 12, Pakistan has told Afghanistan that RAW should not be allowed to operate against Pakistan from Afghan territory; by now, this has been done so many times that repetition is nothing more than a joke. At appropriate time, after collecting solid and irrefutable evidence, the matter may also be taken to the United Nations Security Council. Involvement of RAW and other external factors in fermenting acts of terrorism in the urban centres is all too well known. However, this can’t be put up as an excuse for our failures to counter them. Rather it exposes gaps in our counter intelligence effort. By now effective measures should have been in place to neutralize RAW and associates.

Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif has very pertinently emphasized the need for a more proactive and coordinated role of intelligence agencies for an effective counter-terrorism campaign, and to counter hostile agencies’ moves to destabilize Pakistan.
One could agree with the army chief that most of the achievements and successes of intelligence agencies go unnoticed, but this is how it is supposed to be. Their activities are not meant for attracting immediate glamour and hit news headline; but they never go unregistered and unrewarded. It would be better if we let the results speak for themselves, and let the people be the judge. 

Need of the hour is to strengthen all intelligence agencies at professional level so that they anticipate actions of RAW and other affiliated outfits and prevent their plans from translating into horrible acts of terrorism; this is what professional intelligence agencies are expected to do. Attributing the acts of terrorism to enemy agencies, ant yet being unable to counter them is certainly an indicator of failure of own boys. Once on ground results are good, the appreciation would automatically come. Likewise, all front men executing the plans of external agencies are local Pakistanis. Which itself speaks about inability of non-military intelligence agencies in carrying out their surveillance related functions. Army chief is right in stressing the need for a combined civil-military intelligence effort at national level by providing requisite support to the intelligence agencies, and developing modern intelligence techniques—so let’s do it.
Certainly, ISI is doing good job in preventing numerous terrorist attacks, however the number of attacks taking place is good enough to radiate a perpetual feeler of insecurity amongst the public at large. More attention should be paid toward locating and destroying the sleeping cells of foreign intelligence agencies. This is certainly not an easy task; but we may not succeed in stemming out acts of terrorism without accomplishing this tedious potion of the intelligence job. 

While the US-Pakistan relationship is on an upward trajectory, especially in the context of counter terrorism; effort is on to discredit and derail it. Some biased writers continue to churn out speculative pieces to degrade the prevailing environment of goodwill between the two countries. Seymour M Hersh in his expose published on the London Review of Books website has claimed that Bin Laden was a prisoner of the Pakistan military, whose leadership not only knew of his location, but were keeping him under house arrest and accepting funds from Saudi Arabia for his upkeep. Likewise, Christina C Fair in her article “America’s Pakistan Policy Is Sheer Madness” recently carried by “The National Interest” has ridiculed the necessity of recent congressional approval of counter terrorism specific arms/munitions sale to Pakistan by claiming that: “The items that Washington has conveyed to Pakistan have little utility in fighting insurgents and terrorists; rather, they enable Pakistan to better fight India… Fearing that Pakistan is too dangerous to fail, pusillanimous members of Congress, as well as officials in the White House and the Departments of State and Defense, are wary of moving away from the status quo… One thing is certain: their failure to act now will ensure more terrorism and more death in the future”. This is despite the fact that success of ongoing military operation Zarb-e- Azb in the last bastion of militants in Pakistan—North Waziristan—has earned acclaim from everywhere including American military and political leadership. 

Cover of terrorism is also coming handy for those wishing to disrupt the progress on China Pakistan Economic Corridor; acts of militancy are likely to increase in number and intensity during the coming months. RAW has been assigned this task and allocated $ 300 million as initial grant; RAW chief is personally supervising this project. RAW will seek assistance from its strategic partners as well; it will mastermind some false flag operations to accentuate Pakistan’s traditional ethno-sectarian fault lines. Terrorism confronted by Pakistan is being sponsored by many sources, both external and internal; each having its own objectives; we cannot follow a cut and dry approach to counter it, made of cobbled pieces from here and there. There is a need to evolve Pakistan specific counter terrorism policy right from concept to implementation level. Communities and LEAs have to work together to achieve the end objective—Pakistan free from the fear of terrorism. 

Indian cultural invasion on Pakistan

 By Sajjad Shaukat

Socialists agree that historical background and national character play a key role in moulding the behaviour pattern of a country’s people, while customs and beliefs also influence the thoughts of individuals. But electronic media of the rival countries have accelerated the process in formulating the opinion of persons against each other. In these terms, as part of psychological warfare, besides supporting subversive acts in our country, India has started cultural penetration in Pakistan through movies, dramas, shows and advertisements which are directly targeting our own ideology and cultural values. The practice amounts to Indian culture invasion on Pakistan. In this regard, Pakistan government issued licences to various TV channels with a view to earning revenue, showing utter disregard to the core values of our culture. However, the job of media houses has been facilitated by some of us by encouraging projection of Indian films and dramas including advertisements. Shameless interest groups are promoting foreign contents just to protect their monetary benefits. Meanwhile, the civil society has resisted this practice through their meagre voice, but those enjoying political, social and economic influence favoured storming attack of external media instruments which have power and the ability to kill without firing a bullet. In such situation, any uncertain and cynic grain of mistrust injected through Indian media will never allow us to strengthen our real values and beliefs as Muslims. Therefore, the hostile elements, as Indian TV channels also target us with their cartoons and animated caricatures. The aim is to capture Pakistan’s loyal audience of the future and injecting them with dissenting thought to challenge the teachings and traditions of Islamic culture including ideology of Pakistan. Indian hostile propaganda against our customs and beliefs advances at a gradual pace, starting with a positive thought and supporting a just event. But, it contains deeply entrenched acrimony to create sense of suspicion amongst our youth who are passing through a formative stage of development and are at the initial phase of understanding their religious beliefs, cultural norms and core values. Besides Indian films and dramas, Pakistan’s cable networks also display Indian commercials on our channels, projecting Indian products and consumer goods. In such phenomenon, people, especially the youth and female audience are likely to prefer brand of Indian products and goods. 

On the other side, New Delhi does not allow telecast of Pakistani dramas and movies on Indian soil. In this context, New Delhi has adopted very strict policy of restricting Pakistani channels, having their footprint in India. In August 2009, Indian daily, “The Asian Age” disclosed that the Indian government banned Pakistani TV channels in its country and it was also planning to establish high-frequency transmitters and towers in the bordering areas to stop transmission of Pakistani programmes. But, Indian rulers’ decision was taken as a preventive move to keep the new generation ignorant about other side of the coin—from Pakistani media, while continuing Indian propaganda against Pakistan. Nevertheless, more shocking aspect is that there is not lack of supporters of Indian TV channels in Pakistan. These internal elements neglect the fact that the Indian media, news or entertainment tend to malign Pakistan and to dominate its culture rather than to entertain the audience. In fact, Indian film industry often makes movies against Pakistan which project our country as a villain. Pakistan-bashing, denigrating Pakistan and burning its flag are common in Hindi films. Such films are exempted from heavy taxes and win prestigious awards, even if they totally flop in the Indian cinemas. 

It is mentionable that with the rapid development of science, range of the TV channels has been extended to many countries. And, India has deliberately been sending high electronic waves so that its cultural propaganda could reach every part of Pakistan. In this respect, particularly, Indian films, dramas and special-shows which display dances and songs including cartoons and caricatures are full of obscenity and vulgarity. These sorts of entertainment, seen by our youngsters and teenagers are negatively influencing their minds, as being immature; they are becoming more prone to Indian media’s propaganda campaign. 

It is regrettable that owing to the absence of a clear-cut media policy, some renowned private TV channels of Pakistan are also following suit, and present dance competition shows in imitation of Indian programmes by displaying, as if dance is a part of our culture. There is also a misconception among the supporters of Indian channels in our country that both the neighbouring countries share a common culture.
Pakistan’s viewers must know that in one of his speeches, while explaining separate culture of Muslims, Quaid-e-Azam said, “We are a nation with our own distinctive culture and civilization, language and literature, art and architecture, names and nomenclature, sense of values and proportion, legal laws and moral code, customs and calendar, history and tradition, aptitudes and ambitions; in short, we have our own distinctive outlook on life and of life.” 

There are number of countries which allow access of their citizens to the government-controlled Internet only. In order to protect the nation particularly the youth, the concerned authorities must take immediate note of Indian cultural penetration in Pakistan, against our traditions, and values. In this connection, first of all, the right option is that Indian contents should be banned in Pakistan. For the purpose, proper legislation or law could prohibit TV channels and cable networks which show Indian programmes. Will the high-ups in our media regulator – PEMRA – find some time to go through their own law, rules and regulations, and do a bit of their regulatory portfolio to address this foreign media onslaught into the Pak territory?
And, there is need to promote our own culture by helping our TV channels and film industry, making them lucrative so that Pakistani talent could divert their energies in serving their own audience. Once Pakistani artists and audience are satisfied with local means of entertainment, they will not depend on Indian channels. Media houses should also realize their responsibilities and discourage facilitating or proliferating the Indian contents and help the government in its drive. Nonetheless, Indian cultural invasion needs to be stopped through a strong national commitment to ‘Say no to Indian cultural onslaught’ and ‘No Indian movies’ in Pakistan. 

Afghanistan back in focus

By Khalid Iqbal

Flurry of activities about Afghanistan over the last two weeks have, once again, brought this country under international focus. Former President Asif Zardari led his party delegation to Kabul, Commander United States Forces in Afghanistan General John F Campbell called on Army Chief, General Raheel Sharif, President Ashraf Ghani undertook his visit to India; and there was a semblance of contacts between the Kabul government and Taliban in Doha, facilitated by a Canadian entity Pugwash. Officials from the US, China and Pakistan also attended the talks, with Pakistan officially announcing support for the peace talks. It was the third time the Taliban have sat with the representatives of Afghan government, earlier meetings were held in in France and Japan. However have been no formal talks between the two sides; at least there is no such acknowledgement from either side.

Delegation led by former president Zardari was part of outreach programme initiated by President Ashraf Ghani to reach out to Pakistan’s political leadership for consultation and for mobilizing their support for Afghan peace process. There is a bipartisan consensus among the political leadership of Pakistan for contributing towards peace and stability in Afghanistan; and point is home to all that apart from the Afghan people, it is the people of Pakistan who are to gain maximum benefits from a robust and sustainable peace in Afghanistan. Zardari Delegation met with the Afghan President and Chief Executive. Leadership discussed bilateral relations, regional situation and the need for enhanced economic cooperation. Terming terrorism as the common enemy of Pakistan and Afghanistan, Zaradri called for effective cooperation between the two neighbours. “The current environment requires new decisions. Pakistan, Afghanistan and the whole region face serious threats and these threats need new cooperation,” Dr Abdullah said. Zardari hailed the formation of unity government in Kabul. Welcoming the visit of the opposition leaders to Kabul, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson described the visit as a “good omen,” adding that the government encourages political contacts between the two countries since they promote bilateral ties. 

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif discussed Pak-Afghan border coordination and the overall security situation in the region with General Campbell. Border management is the mother of most of the issues regarding Pakistan-Afghanistan relations. Pakistan has since long been proposing installation of biometric system on formal crossing points between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Bigger side of the issue is informal crossing points. While official crossing points are two, the informal crossings are numerous. Easement rights make the issue still more complicated. While such rights are the entitlement of the people residing within eight kilometers of the Pak-Afghan border, ways and means are not available to ensure that such rights are not misused by other people. 

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have become relatively better after a regime change in Afghanisan—though the spoilers are at work. As of now, intelligence sharing and coordinated efforts along both sides of the border are high on the agenda of both sides to counter terrorism. In April, Afghan army chief General Sher Muhammad Karimi was the first Afghan army chief to speak as chief guest at the Pakistan Military Academy Kakul, where Afghan army cadets also receive training. 

Afghan President’s visit to India reaffirmed that the new Afghan government is seriously pursuing its policy of re-balancing with respect to its relations with India and Pakistan, and one sided anti-Pakistan rhetoric of Karzai era may be over, at least for the time being. Ghani has made rapprochement with Pakistan a key policy since being elected as Afghanistan’s president. Despite facing criticism at home for his efforts, he defended this policy while addressing an audience in New York during his visit to the United States. “I’m cautiously optimistic that we’ve begun a process of fundamental transformation,” he told the Council on Foreign Relations in response to a question about Afghan-Pakistani ties. On its part, Pakistan has made continuous efforts for facilitation of intra-Afghan peace process and smooth transit trade with Afghanistan. Effort is also being made for development of Web Based One Customs System which would help in bringing transparency in the system and enable the Afghan importers and Customs authorities in both countries to trace the cargo en-route to Afghanistan. “Pakistan wants to expect Afghanistan to be open as far as their access to Central Asia is concerned and it’s very natural for Afghanistan to expect from our Pakistani neighbours to open up,” Dr Abdullah said, while speaking to CNN-IBN. Afghanistan needs to appreciate Pakistan’s limitations with regard to extending such facilities to an out rightly hostile country who’s meddling in internal affairs of Pakistan is well known to the Afghan side. Keeping in view peculiar relations with India, Pakistan should not be expected to extend the Afghan transit trade beyond Pakistan-India borders on Wagah-Atari route; however, to facilitate Afghan people, Pakistan has permitted India to carry out trade via Karachi port. 

And in Doha, two days of talks between Taliban representatives and Afghan politicians ended without any concrete development. Qatar’s official news agency described the meeting as ‘reconciliation’ talks; while the Taliban termed them as ‘research talks’ in which each delegate participated in individual capacity and presented views. Pakistan has invested heavily in Afghan peace process and is keen to see forward movement in the process. Nevertheless, there is huge gap between the points of view of the two sides. Afghan government as well as the Taliban continue to articulate their preconditions which should actually be the end objectives of the talks. Pakistan supports peaceful, stable Afghanistan; Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif places great emphasis on strong, stable and cooperative ties with Afghanistan under his vision for a peaceful and prosperous neighborhood. 

Doha talks coincided with the new fighting season in Afghanistan. Apparently a disagreement over the presence of US troops in the country was reinforced during these talks. Head of the eight-member Taliban delegation, Sher Muhammad Abbas Stanikzai, read out a written statement at the conference. The statement said that Afghanistan could not have an independent government in the presence of foreign forces. Taliban side said the Afghan government had asked them to stop fighting and obey the Afghan constitution, but this was a non-starter since US troops are still present in Afghanistan. The Afghan government claimed that only foreign trainers were left, who would leave if the Taliban stopped fighting. Terming the UN sanctions on their leaders as “cruel”, the Taliban said such sanctions and decision were “hurdles in the way of the peace process.” The Taliban also dispelled the impression of exporting their ideology to other countries and said “Afghans have not been involved in terrorism against any country or the people but others have attacked their homeland.” A 20-member delegation from Afghan government, including members of the High Peace Council, attended the conference. A two-member team of Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan of Gulbaden Hekmatyar, the second largest resistance group after the Taliban, was also part of the Qatar talks. This was a significant development given the Taliban’s refusal to join the intra-Afghan dialogue. 

Asked about any progress on Pakistan’s peace efforts in Afghanistan, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry said: “We do not want to make comments in public but the people involved in the process are working hard and with responsibility…There is a need to push the reconciliation process between the Taliban and the Afghan administration.” 

For now, Afghan peace process seems to be moving in right direction, though at snails speed. A glaring discrepancy is absence of a credible guarantor to the final agreement. The UN Secretary General may like to induct P-5 in this role. The process would pick up pace as and Taliban are made stakeholders through power sharing; until then it will be akin to one step forward and two backwards.