Chief Justice, & Not the PPP, is the Champion of the Poor

July 15, 2009 at 8:07 am · Filed under PPP, Pakistan Under PM Gillani ·Tagged ,

Instead of PPP giving relief to the poor, the Chief Justice is trying to help them.
 
Since March 2008, PPP has not done any thing other than establishing a Benazir Fund, to change the direction of economic policies which were followed by Musharraf.
 
Whats the point of having democracy when no benefits occur to the deprived classes. Why should people wait for democratic governments?
 
What PPP could have done since coming to power:
 
–PPP with the help of ANP and MQM should have implemented the 1977 Land Reform passed by the Parliament.
 
–All taxes taken indirectly from people like the PDL, 17% Excise duty on electricity, gas and telephone, Rs 25 Custom plus other taxes on edible oil  and other such items could have been withdrawn to give immediate relief to the people.

To cover the loss in income, salaries and benefits of all government employees may have been reduced.They have increased 400% during the last 4 years and thus at even at half they will up 200% or 50% annually. While the poor have been crushed with more than 60% inflation during the same period.
 
–To tax the rich, 40% Inheritance Tax could have been imposed and Wealth Tax revived at 2% above Rs 4 crore.
 
–Besides the whole Tax collection system may be tendered out. I estimate that it will be taken up at Rs 4 trillion against current collection of Rs 1.1 trillion.
 
–To make Army self financed, all Army barracks and offices in Urban Areas may be auctioned out and all installations shifted to remote areas. I estimate it will bring in Rs 50 trillion.
 
–Out which, Rs 10 trillion should be enough to make state of the art defence facilities while Rs 40 trillion  invested at 10% should bring in Rs 400 billion annually for running expenditure of the army.
 
Tarique Khan Javed
President,
Overseas Pakistani Investors Forum (OPIF)
0300-923-2476
www.tariquekj.com

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Democracy Takes Root in Pakistan

July 14, 2009 at 10:15 am · Filed under Pakistan Under PM Gillani ·Tagged , , ,

Punishment for indecent SMS and emails

kaira2-570x427[1]The government announced on July13, 2009 that sending indecent, provocative and ill-motivated stories and text messages through emails and mobile telephone Short Messaging Service (SMS) was an offence under the Cyber Crime Act (CCA) and its violators could be sent behind bars for 14 years.

An official announcement by the interior ministry said that the government was launching a campaign against circulation of what it called ill-motivated and concocted stories through emails and text messages against civilian leadership and security forces.

The announcement does not elaborate what is meant by ill-motivated e-messages, but it is believed that the ‘civilian leadership’ meant President Zardari, PM Gilani, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and other politicians.

A senior official of the ministry said: ‘Sending indecent message is a crime under the Cyber Crime Act and liable to punishment.’ He said that some elements had been trying to malign the political leadership and security forces engaged in a military operation in Malakand and some areas in Fata.

The government has tasked the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Cell to block or trace such emails and mobile telephones’ SMS.

Under the Cyber Crime Act, violators could be jailed for 14 years, besides confiscation of their property. Similarly, any Pakistani living abroad and violating provisions of the act may be charged and will be liable to deportation to Pakistan.

Under the campaign, all Internet Service Providers would be checked physically by the FIA on a daily basis.

The directive said the campaign would also target proscribed organisations which had been using internet for malicious propaganda against security forces.

The Director General of FIA, Mr Tariq Khosa, has been instructed to monitor and check stories and messages and take necessary action under the CCA.

An FIA official said that strict action would be taken against all culprits in the next few days and the agency had already done a lot of work in this regard.

‘Interpol/Lyon has also been requested to identify those email addresses and websites registered abroad which are being used for such stories,’ the official said.

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Why People in the South of USA Fat?

July 14, 2009 at 9:29 am · Filed under Health Tips for You ·Tagged , ,

!cid_6.4116765018@web56613.mail.re3.yahoo[1]Mississippi is not only the fattest state in the nation, but also the poorest, with 21% of its residents living below the poverty line. Alabama and West Virginia, the second and third fattest states, are tied for fifth poorest. With a poverty rate of 14%, the South is easily the most impoverished region in the country. When you’re poor, you tend to eat more calorie-dense foods because they’re cheaper than fruits and vegetables.

Poor neighborhoods also have fewer grocery stores, even in the rural South. A 2004 study by the University of South Carolina found that most food-shopping options in rural areas fall into the convenience-store category because grocery stores are located too far away. But although poverty puts people at risk for obesity, it doesn’t determine their fate. A number of impoverished states — including Montana, Texas and New Mexico — have relatively low levels of obesity. There must be something else.

Maybe it’s the culture. Southerners definitely enjoy their fried chicken (not to mention fried steak, fried onions, fried green tomatoes, fried pickles and fried corn bread). Even when their food isn’t fried, they like to smother it in gravy. But while nutritionists frequently blame Southerners’ large guts on their regional food choices, the accusation is a little unfair.

Just as Californians don’t actually live on wheat grass and tofu, Southerners don’t really sit around eating fried chicken every day. “I’ve not come across anything that says the diet in the Southeast is worse than the rest of the country,” says co-director of the University of Tennessee’s Obesity Research Center. “We’re definitely in what I like to call the ‘Stroke Belt,’ ” he says, referring to Southeastern states’ high percentage of heart disease and hypertension, “but I think that has more to do with Southerners’ lack of physical activity rather than the food.”

He isn’t just talking about neglected gym memberships and people who sit on the couch all day. Physical activity can be something as simple as walking to the bus stop. That’s another problem, by the way: the South doesn’t have many bus stops. Public transportation is paltry, and for most people, the best way to get around is by car. “You don’t really think of riding the train as exercise, but at least you have to walk a few blocks to get to the stop,” says Bassett. States like Mississippi and Tennessee also have a surprising lack of sidewalks, discouraging even the most eager pedestrians. Many roads are narrower than those in the North — where streets have wider shoulders to accommodate winter snow — and people who want to bike or jog find themselves uncomfortably close to traffic.

But who wants to exercise when it’s 100 degrees outside? The South is really hot and humid. Nobody in Mississippi goes running in the summer — at least, nobody sane. Colorado, the state with the lowest obesity rate (18.9%), is relatively affluent and has a temperate climate and plenty of trails that lend themselves to outdoor activities.

So there you have it. Southerners have little access to healthy food and limited means with which to purchase it. It’s hard for them to exercise outdoors, and even when they do have the opportunity, it’s so hot, they don’t want to.

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Operation Blue Tulsi: Destroying Pakistan’s Nuclear Assets

July 13, 2009 at 9:41 am · Filed under Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir Bhutto, CIA, ISI, Indo Pak Relations, Lawyers' Agitation ·Tagged , , , , ,

PPP government was dismissed in 1996 because Rehman Malik, DG FIA and Asif Zardari had promised Indians and Israelis access to Pakistan’s nuclear facilities. 

In 1994-95 Rehman Malik was working in tandem with this immediate boss Ghulam Asghar, head of the FIA, and under the auspices of Asif Zardari, collecting information about Pakistan’s nuclear installations. Malik offered the Indians direct access to Kashmiri and Afghan fighters he would capture.

 In July 2001 Janes Information Group reported that RAW and Mossad were cooperating to infiltrate Pakistan to target important religious and military personalities, journalists, judges, lawyers and bureaucrats.

In the late eighties, two junior intelligence officers one Pakistani other Indian faced each other on opposite sides of the law. The Pakistani intelligence officer had caught the Indian agent on Pakistani soil with incriminating evidence. Indian agent knew his life had come to an end. However, everything has a price. And his freedom was worth a little less than half a million rupees. A few days later the Indian agent was sitting back at home, free as a bird. And life went on for several more years until the fateful year of 1994 when the two old “chaps” met again. This time officially. The Indian agent had climbed the ladder to an important post in the government. At this side of the border the junior Pakistani agent, against all odds had become one of the top bosses at Federal Investigation Agency. Of course, this was the infamous Rehman Malik.

The Indian side wanted Pakistani Government’s help in reducing cross-border terrorism. But Rehman Malik offered a lot more than mere reduction in “cross-border”. He had been appointed as Additional Director FIA and yielded immense power through the country. Additionally he had become the right-hand-man of Asif  Zardari, stashing his looted money all over the world. He offered them direct access to the jihadists which he would capture. Somewhere along the line Israel also became a party to the deal and soon Mossad agents were carrying out investigations of the captured (ISI backed) jihadists on Pakistani soil. There were millions to be made from the deal and of course Rehman Malik was working in tandem with this immediate boss Ghulam Asghar, head of the FIA and under the auspices of Asif Ali Zardari. ISI, Pakistan Military and top brass quietly kept a close watch. Although painful but capture of a few foot soldiers was bearable in the bigger national interest.

By 1995 in a little over a year the Benazir Bhutto government had expelled 2000 Arab mujahidin of the Afghan-Soviet War and imprisoned number of Pakistani mujahidin.

Secondly and more significantly, Benazir Bhutto on her official visit to US in April 1995 met in secret with an Israeli delegation. On her return she faced stiff resistance from a block of military and civilian bureaucracy which had generated great suspicions of her dealings with India and Israel. Just four months later she thwarted a coup attempt against her headed by Major General Zahirul Islam Abbasi. Director General of Military Intelligence Major General Ali Kuli Khan tipped-off General Abdul Waheed Kakar who immediately ordered Chief of General Staff Lt. General Jehangir Karamat to suppress the coup. A total of 36 army officers and 20 civilians were arrested from Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Then in November 1995 Egyptian Embassy blast occurred. Al-Qaeda was quick to claim it. Although the real reasons of the handlers of bombers remain hidden to this day, but in the next few days a silent but significant event happened. General Abdul Waheed Kakar who was given an extension in his tenure he refused it and Lt. General Jehangir Karamat was appointed as the Army Chief by the then President Farooq Leghari on December 18, 1995. Lt. General Jehangir Karamat was the senior most general at the time, therefore the least controversial within the military. The other three generals who were in the position to become COAS were Lt Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi, Lt Gen Naseer Akhtar, and Lt Gen Mohammad Tariq. Lt. Gen. Ghulam Muhammad Malik had already retired in October 1995.

Maj Gen Naseem Rana was heading the ISI at the time, taken his charge in October 1995. Lt Gen Shujat Ali Khan was heading the ISI’s Internal Wing.

In the backdrop of these events in Pakistan, in March 1995 Israel’s Air Force chief had visited India with an entourage that included key Mossad officials. It was at this point that in a meeting Pakistan’s nuclear program was discussed. A year later Indian nuclear and missile program head, Abdul Kalam had a “top secret” visit of Israel in June 1996. It was “top secret” because no one knew about it. As it turned out, everyone knew about it even before he left India. All the much publicized secrecy and visit of such a top level official achieved the aim and nearly nobody bothered with the entourage which included a manager from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) – Alok Tiwari. The “top secret” meetings between Abdul Kalam and his Israeli counterparts were related to purchase of UAVs. However, in every single one of those “top secret” meetings Alok Tiwari was missing.

Just a few days later, after coming back to India Tiwari accompanied Air Chief Marshal S. K. Sareen to Israel in Israel in July 1996. In fact this was his third trip. He had also visited Israel in April 1996 along with India’s first Defence Attaché to Israel.

First Wave

In late July 1996 MQM organized a province wide strike. Simultaneously a large bomb exploded at Lahore airport and a second at Faisalabad railway station. On 14th August 1996 12 SSP activists were gunned down during an Independence Rally by unidentified gunmen. By end August Punjab had been engulfed in sectarian violence, Shias and Sunnis were being gunned down in broad daylight. The political and security situation worsened by the murder of Murtaza Bhutto and reinstatement of Manzoor Wattoo as Chief Minister of Punjab. The country seemed in a political and economic turmoil with violence erupting throughout the country. At the same time, out of blue Ataullah Mengal returned from his self-imposed exile.

While everyone was busy with the current crisis a team of agents working directly under Rehman Malik were gathering information on Kahuta and A.Q. Khan. Beginning November 1996 ISI saw an increase in Indian troops movement, which finally sent alarm bells ringing through the echelons of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Suddenly, all the pieces fell in place and Ghulam Asghar and Rehman Malik’s shenanigans seemed a lot deeper than mere money grabbing tactics. By fourth of November a thick load of evidence had been gathered on Ghulam Asghar and Rehman Malik working with the consent of Asif Zardari towards gathering information on the progress of Pakistan’s nuclear program.

On November 5, 1996, Farooq Leghari dissolved Benazir Bhutto’s government. At the other side of the border, this caused the immediate visit of Israeli naval chief Vice-Admiral Alex Tal to India. Back at home, Ghulam Asghar and Rehman Malik were imprisoned on undisclosed charges.

Second Wave

In February 1997, Indian Defence Secretary T. K. Banerji led a high level defence delegation to Israel to discuss the “exchange of technology” between two countries. Other than the official purpose the most important topic was Pakistan’s nuclear program. By the end of the visit the two countries had decided to do “whatever” it takes to neutralize the threat.

In March next year the BJP won Indian elections and one of the immediate policies adopted was to tackle Pakistan’s nuclear issue by any means possible. With such enthusiastic approach the government even decided to take the most extreme measures if needed. In the next two months the official and diplomatic delegations between India and Israel came to a halt, however, there was a sudden rise in non-diplomatic delegations between the two countries. The last official visit was of Gen. Prakash Malik to Israel in March 1998, who was also the first serving Indian Chief of Army Staff to visit Israel since normalization. In April 1998 two out-of-the ordinary incidents happened. Air India announced its discontinuation of Tel Aviv flight on 1 April 1998 and early April the Confederation of Indian Industry announced an unplanned “Study Mission” to Israel. This was the prelude to the second wave which officially started on 11th May 1998 when India exploded its nuclear bombs.

Night of 27-28 May

Pakistan resisted testing its nuclear bombs for nearly two weeks until 27th May 1998. On 27 May 1998 in a top level meeting Lt. Gen. Naseem Rana, (DG ISIP briefed the PM Nawaz Sharif and army chief of the increasing intelligence reports of possible Indian attack on Pakistan’s nuclear installations. However, the panic this created was nothing compared to the next two meetings.

The first report pertained to the sighting of an unidentified F-16 aircraft at the periphery of Pakistan’s airspace on 27th May. Knowing India did not have F-16, the obvious suggestion was presence of Israeli Air Force in the area (especially with the reports of Indian COAS visiting Israel just a month ago).

And the second report coming just before 1am on 28th May recorded unusual movements of Indian aircrafts just across the border which suggested India was preparing for preventive airstrikes against Pakistan. The obvious response of nuclear tests on 28th May.

The tests confirmed once and for all that Pakistan has nuclear capability.

Deduction

It seemed probable that BJP Government had decided to fire its nuclear bombs to force Pakistan into test firing its – if it has any. After a delay of two weeks, doubts had started rising in nearly every analytical discourse that Pakistan did not have the nuclear capability otherwise it would have responded. This was the golden opportunity to take out Pakistan/Pakistan’s nuclear installations before that Pakistan got the capability. The important visit of Indian COAS to Israel in March – in the light of proceeding events – could only be regarding Israel’s support for the planned attack. Whatever, the reasons and aims, the end result was establishment of Pakistan as a nuclear state, which completely changed the Great Nuclear Game.

Third Wave

Pakistan’s test firing of nuclear bombs was a shock for the rest of the world. No one expected, in the first place for Pakistan to have the capability and secondly to fire them if it had. For India and Israel, who were two top most interested parties in destroying Pakistan’s nuclear assets, this meant a complete overhaul of their strategy.

A year later Indian National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra came to meet Barak in September 1999 and this time he was accompanied with a familiar face – Alok Tiwari. Within a year, Alok Tiwari and another security analyst finalized a document based on their discussion the preceding year.

In June 2000 L. K. Advani visited Israel in which new deals related to Mossad and Shabak espionage and cooperation with RAW are finalized and as a result Israel was allowed to establish its own network to operate from India.

By July 2000 a heavy deployment of Israeli agents in Indian Occupied Kashmir was reported. Near the end of 2000 Israel’s top intelligence officers were reported to have visited India and discussed amongst other issues, Kashmir and Pakistan’s nuclear assets. By the end of the visit the top spies of the two country had agreed to cooperate on the operation detailed inside the thick volume titled: “Operation Blue Tulsi”.

Operation Blue Tulsi: Preparation

Preparation for the mega Operation Blue Tulsi began fervently in early 2001. By mid 2001 eyebrows were being raised over RAW and Mossad’s cooperation and in July 2001 Janes Information Group reported that RAW and Mossad are cooperating to infiltrate Pakistan to target important religious and military personalities, journalists, judges, lawyers and bureaucrats. In addition, bombs would be exploded in trains, railway stations, bridges, bus stations, cinemas, hotels and mosques of rival Islamic sects to incite sectarianism.

At the same time the Balouchistan Liberation Army rose out of dead like a second incarnation and Balach Marri a Moscow graduate declares himself as the leader of BLA. Within weeks in Balochistan numerous training camps sprouted with each camp reported to be training up to a 100 militants. Intelligence of RAW, Mossad and CIA agents operating in Balochistan started coming in.

In mid 2001 reports appeared that Special Operations Division of Mossad, also known as Metsada, specializing in assassinations and sabotage have been based in India since May 2001 to train RAW operatives and Mossad and Shin Bet or Shabak were operating a number of teams in Indian Held Kashmir and were also operating a delicate spy network from Indian soil. In July 2001 RAW increased its budget for Indian consulates in Afghanistan by nearly 10 times.

Within days after Sep 11, a story was leaked into press that Pakistan is dismantling and spreading its nuclear assets to safer places implying that it would be much more difficult to pinpoint them and much more easier for extremists to get hold of. These news stories were shortly followed by another piece on 28 October 2001 which stated that Pentagon was looking into plans to dispatch an elite unit into the Pakistan to disarm its nuclear arsenal. The special unit which was trained to slip into foreign countries to ferret out and disarm nuclear weapons and operated under Pentagon control with CIA assistance and would be getting special help from Israel’s Sayeret Matkal also known as Unit 262.

In December 2001 Indian PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, while addressing the parliament said, “the question was not whether there should be or should not be a war, the question was under what circumstances there will be war … and whether there will be a war.”

In December 2001 Benazir Bhutto while visiting India said in her interviews, “President, Musharraf, as an army general, had planned the Kargil invasion in Jammu and Kashmir while I was the PM.” Later she also said, “Pakistan army as an institution had brought back Osama bin Laden”.

This rhetoric of Benazir Bhutto was perfectly in line with the agreement signed by US and India in 2002. Late in 2002 US and India signed an agreement on cooperation in disarming Pakistan’s nuclear assets and the two player offensive team of Operation Blue Tulsi found a third partner in the form of CIA. As a result of this deal Abdullah Mehsud was freed from Guantanamo Bay and returned to Pakistan with millions in cash.

Benazir Bhutto’s statements in India were the major reason Musharraf’s declaration of Benazir Bhutto as a “security risk” during a chat with Pakistan’s leading editors and correspondents in April 2002. Pakistani security agencies already had a great deal of intelligence regarding Benazir Bhutto, Asif Zardari and Rehman Malik’s involvement with Mossad and India in 1995-96 and their collaboration against Pakistan’s nuclear assets.

In January 2002 under orders from L. K. Advani RAW and other intelligence agencies submited a detailed report on military options for solving Kashmir issue and in case of a full-fledged war, for neutralizing Pakistan’s nuclear assets. One major outcome of the report was creation of Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) in March 2002 with the authority to conduct external operations supported by a huge budget.

Also, a Lawyers’ Struggle surfaced in October 2003 under the leadership of Hamid Ali Khan (now drowned under the infamous Lawyers’ Movement). The first prominent protest of the “struggle” was held on 15 October 2003 in which the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Hamid Ali Khan said, “Musharraf’s very presence within the army and holding of other important offices and Shaikh Riaz Ahmad’s continuation as chief justice after his retirement are undoubtedly illegal and unconstitutional… Let’s think collectively, move forward collectively and act collectively to outs usurper generals and judges (who had collaborated with Musharraf including Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. However, like a B-grade movie twist, four years later Iftikhar Chaudry becomes the hero to these same lawyers who wanted to oust him. Like a script from past, this protest had followed a “Long March”. And the “struggle” then moved to other cities one by one asking Musharraf, Riaz Ahamad and among others Iftikhar Chaudhry’s removal from office. At this point along with Hamid Ali Khan, Kazim Khan was at the forefront. Lacking the charisma and cunning of their successors, assassination of a leader, and shortage of “unlimited” billions of rupees their names and their Lawyers’ Struggles has been confined to the dusty pages of history with their names ascribed against the words, “traitors”.

Also, there is no evidence to support that assassination attempts on Pervez Musharraf were somehow related to the timing of the Lawyers’ Struggle.

By mid 2004 the government had ample evidence that BLA and some Baloch leaders were conspiring against the government, aided by foreign countries.

On 13th August 2004 the Chief Minister of Baluchistan, Jam Muhammad Yousaf is quoted by The Herald (Sep 2004-Karachi): “Indian secret services (RAW) are maintaining 40 terrorist camps all over the Baluch territory”. While this was happening on ground, there was talk of “Peace Talks” everywhere in the air. And Jan Muhammad Jamali had become a laughing stock of the media for his suggestion of foreign agents operating in Balochistan, which despite the ground facts forcefully opposed such thoughts.

Operation Blue Tulsi: Start

1st January 2005 was the starting date. The local agents got the signal and the operation started with the ominous rape of a female doctor in Sui on 2nd January 2005. As expected the incident created headlines all round and culprits not being found created a much supported backlash. This was shortly followed by rocketing of gas installation at Sui on 7th January which put a hole in Pakistan’s gas supply for nearly a week.

2005 was a busy year with Baloch terrorists continuously creating havoc in Balochistan and adjacent areas and ended with assassination attempts on Musharraf in December. After President Musharraf escapes a rocket attack on his life in December 2005 and the Inspector General Frontier Corps survives an assassination attempt, Navtej Sarna, the Indian External Affairs Ministry’s spokesman said, “The Government of India has been watching with concern the spiralling violence in Balochistan and the heavy military action, including use of helicopter gun-ships and jet fighters by the Government of Pakistan to quell it… We hope the Government of Pakistan will exercise restraint and take recourse to peaceful discussions to address the grievances of the people of Balochistan”.
The Indian Government had realized that the two assassination attempts would surely result in backfire on the Indian assets in Balochistan, which it needed to safeguard for its final aim, especially Akbar Bugti. Just as suspected, the Government of Pakistan intensifies its operation against Baloch militants.

And in April 2006 Government of Balochistan is setup with its offices in Jerusalem under Azaad Khan Baloch. In a laughingly stupid mistake, Azaad Khan Baloch who is representing Balochis of Pakistan decided to spell his name according to Hindi transliteration with double “a” in Az”aa”d, rather than a single “a” as used in Pakistan, i.e. Azad. Or more probable, “Azad Khan Baloch” is not a Pakistani.

Meanwhile in Balochistan the government operation against Akbar Bugti intensified who took shelter in the rugged mountain range and coordinated the activities of his militants from there. Ultimately the military found him and during the process of capture Akbar Bugti died because of cave-roof collapse on 26 August 2006.

Starting March 2007, every incident occurring in the country was tied to the aim of ousting Musharraf, including the much profitable Lawyers’ Movement. Intelligence agencies were having a field-day bringing in pile after pile of reports proving involvement of CIA, RAW, Mossad and MI6 towards Musharraf’s ouster. True to some extent but unlike analyzed, ouster of Musharraf was just one milestone towards the main goal, which every agency completely missed. Thus, all their efforts went into controlling the situation to secure Musharraf, while in the backdrop, silently the wheels kept turning. While Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan were burning Swat was sitting quietly, unnoticed and out of radar. Within a period of few months, the numbers of “Pakistani Taliban” in Swat surged and just as well their ammunition, latest military equipment a country like Pakistan would dream of. A portion of this ended up in the ill-fated Lal Masjid. While intelligence and military were busy keeping Musharraf’s seat safe in Pakistan, a new political game started in UAE.

Rehman Malik enthusiastically started pursuing the goal of National Reconciliation Ordinance. He became instrumental in the final deal between Benazir Bhutto, US and Pervez Musharraf and NRO. Since Benazir Bhutto did not have much to lose without NRO she was never  interested in it. That was the reason two options were thrown at Musharraf, i.e. either eliminating the two term condition or NRO. Rehman Malik on the other hand was vehemently pursuing NRO, as of the three (Asif Zardari, Benazir Bhutto and Rehman Malik) the Government of Pakistan only had clear evidence against Rehman Malik and it was enough to put him in jail for life (i.e. involvement in espionage and working with Mossad and RAW). However, at that point no one knew the real motivations of Rehman Malik other than that he was working to get the path clear for Benazir’s return. Amazingly, FBI also was putting its weight behind NRO rather than eliminating the two term condition. While, if US had really wanted Benazir Bhutto as PM, logic dictates that they would want the two term condition eliminated to assure her easy succession to the premiership. It needs to be noted here that Rehman Malik had also tried to do a similar deal in 2005, which never materialized. This time it did.

Near the end of 2007, intelligence and military were convinced that a conspiracy had been hatched in the country with the sole aim of removing Musharraf from power. Assassination of Benazir Bhutto, simultaneous rioting throughout the country, terrorist activities occurring in every province had considerable similarities to the Bush Administration backed Color Revolutions. In order to keep Musharraf in power the government kept giving into one demand after the other. As a result Rehman Malik becomes head of Interior Ministry, Yusuf Raza Gilani becomes the PM and sweeping changes are made in the security and intelligence community. Still, the government saw the war finally over when in one move Gilani puts ISI under Interior Minister on 27 July 2008. Until that time ISI and top brass had thought all Rehman Malik wanted was to get-rid of extremist elements from ISI and Pakistan’s establishment.

It was the end of July 2008 when the alarm bells started ringing again in the high echelons. Intelligence machinery went into extra high gear and millions later it came back with the name: Operation Blue Tulsi.

Operation Blue Tulsi: the Revelation

The Establishment, only now realized the full extent of the operation which they had been witnessing since the beginning of 2000. More worryingly, the current operation had eerily similar modus operandi to the 1995-96 debacle – which left the country tethering onto its nuclear assets – just that this time it was vastly more sophisticated and greater in size. In matter of hours the priorities changed. Keeping Musharraf in power suddenly paled in comparison to the real threat.

In 1995-96 India came up with a plan to destroy Pakistan’s nuclear facilities before that Pakistan developed a nuclear capability. The plan was prepared by a RAW agent Alok Tiwari (who has recently been compromised). At that time Mossad was already active in Pakistan and once it heard about the project for elimination of Pakistan’s nuclear facilities jumped in by first streamlining the project further and then using its assets in Pakistan. Somewhere in early 1996 the operation was given go-ahead. At that point FIA Director General Ghulam Asghar and his ADG Rehman Malik in a deal with India and Israel were hunting down Pakistan based Kashmiri and Arab militants. These two proved to be the front line in the operation and when contacted by Indian agents fully agreed to supply all the necessary information regarding Kahuta and A. Q. Khan’s operations. Towards mid 96 demonstrations and chaos erupted throughout the country. The aim was to destabilize the country enough that when the two confirmed Pakistan did not have any nuclear capabilities India would go-ahead with all out assault. General Jehangir Karamat who was already weary of the two chaps and Asif Zardari’s complicity took immediate action and Benazir Bhutto’s government was dissolved. The duo of Asghar and Malik and Zardari had already come into military’s radar the year before when they tried to lure General Abdul Wahed Kakar.

Then five years later, Alok Tiwari submited an updated version of his older report. Israel was again consulted and this time L. K. Advani vehemently pursued it. Towards the end of 2000 a delegation of top Mossad brass visited India and the combined operation titled: Operation Blue Tulsi was finalized and put into operation which had only one aim:

Destroy Pakistan’s nuclear assets followed by its Balkanization.

Approach

Resurrect Baloch insurgency. Pakistan was fine with it, as it had 30 years of experience with it, starting with the Afghan-Soviet War.

Buy officials in military, bureaucracy, politics and law. ISI was fine with it, as it had 60 years of experience in dealing with traitors.

Plant agents in top positions in Taliban, FATA and NWFP. A shocker for everyone.

Taliban were the foster child of ISI and the agency had no contingency for enemy agents in top positions. The best option they came up with was to buy back the agents with more money and as a result they were deceived time and again and again. Top on the list, Baitullah Mehsud. The twenty million dollars he got in suitcases was one of the stupidest moves in the world espionage history and ISI top brass to this day are vengefully pursuing him.

Milestones

Friendly political government. Asif Zardari in place, Aslam Raisani in Balochistan (though first choice Akbar Bugti unfortunately dead, MQM’s omnipresence in Sindh, Fazlur Rehman and ANP in NWFP)

Friendly judiciay. Iftikhar Chaudhry, Munir A. Malik, Atizaz Ahsan

Friendly Civil Society. Ansar Burney, Asma Jehangir

Unrest in NWFP and immediate threat of Taliban taking control of Islamabad. Back in 2002 US had agreed with India that if ever Pakistan seemed to destabilize or falling into the hands of extremists, it would help India in destroying Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities. The situation they agreed upon is well defined by the Pakistani media’s current theme song of “Taliban are coming to Islamabad”

Immediate Countermeasures

By August 2008 the operation was too deep rooted and it was clear if attention was diverted towards saving Musharraf there was more than a probability of loosing nuclear capability in near future. With Musharraf gone, ISI estimated a window of opportunity of 18 to 20 months before either Taliban or Asif Zardari with his shenanigans destabilized Pakistan. In the greater interest Musharraf decided to step down peacefully.

Operation Blue Tulsi: In Operation

Musharraf stepped down and Asif Ali Zardari took over, but by then the order had been sent and the agents in Swat Valley and FATA who had been preparing for the day for the last eight years launched an all out assault on the military with a single aim of destabilizing Pakistan.

In the eventful month of December 2007 Baitullah Mehsud had already announced officially the formation of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. Although right after the victory of PPP Baitullah Mehsud has negotiated peace with the government which led to the great debacle of US$ 20 million by August 2008 he was again involved with the military in a full on battle. ISI and military by this time had realized the foremost importance of ridding the Taliban off foreign agents and assets by any means and costs.

At one end Pakistan military still is trying to safeguard its own assets while tracing out and eliminating foreign agents, while at the other end US is trying its best to safeguard its prime asset of Baitullah Meshud who had taken over after the death of Abullah Mehsud. Until  recently, there had been not a single drone attack on Baitullah Mehsud, while ISI aligned Taliban had been bombed repeatedly, as a result of which many have turned their backs against Pakistan. Only in the recent months four drone attacks on Baitullah Mehsud’s territory have been reported.

Operation Blue Tulsi and Future

Currently the entire country is gripped by the ongoing operations of military against the Taliban. Media which once championed itself as the sympathizers of the Taliban and were chanting “Taliban are coming to Islamabad” have suddenly changed their tunes, especially after being declared by the Taliban as kafirs and thus “killable”.

The economy is in doldrums and corruption is rampantly high but the top brass knows Pakistan is first and for Pakistan nuclear assets come first. Thus, until the country is cleansed of all the foreign agents in FATA and Taliban, the military and intelligence has only one goal, to stop Operation Blue Tulsi at this stage, making sure it never goes into Phase TWO – attacking and destroying Pakistan’s nuclear assets because extremist elements have destabilized Pakistan. 

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Eat Out at Your Own Risk

July 13, 2009 at 8:54 am · Filed under Health Tips for You ·Tagged ,

Beware of the water used by street vendors in Pakistan.

The blob of crushed ice, popularly known as `gola ganda’, laced with red and green sweetened syrups and a dollop of sweet condensed milk may look tantalizing but might be lethal. 
 
With country’s temperature soaring, it is these ices, chilled sherbets and punches sold by street vendors which are a leading cause of diarrhoea and gastroenteritis. 
  
Perhaps the worst you can do to your stomach, especially in this heat, is to consume anything from outside that has water which is suspect.
 
 These include one of the most popular street food savory items – ‘channa chaat‘, made of chickpeas with tamarind chutney over it, cut vegetables like cucumber and radishes, and seasonal fruits with ice.
 
 Instead, take water from home or drink a carbonated drink if you are parched, but try not to buy juices and cold drinks from those street vendors. Even if they say they are using boiled water, what about the ice that they purchase from God knows where.

Many vendors still use glasses and china plates instead of disposable paper cups and plates and spoons and may not rinse them after each use. 
 
Most of the street vendors selling sugar cane juice on one our streets serve their clients with glass cups full of ice and juice after just immersing those cups in a water tank without any detergent.

Huge chunks of ice are being crushed into pieces under unhygienic conditions on the spot.

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Sex Workers in Karachi End-up Attending an Air-conditioned Workshop

July 11, 2009 at 6:52 am · Filed under Pakistan ·Tagged ,

A three-day skill building workshop on STIs (sexually transmitted infections) and HIV got under way on July 9 in Karachi to educate and prepare sex workers for running various preventive health programmes solely for their own benefit.

sexworkers608The United Nations Population Fund, an international agency, is organising the workshop with the collaboration of the National Aids Control Programme. About 70 female sex workers, mainly from the red light areas of both Karachi and Hyderabad, turned up on the first day to attend lectures and interactive sessions.

The female workers were brought to the workshop entitled ‘Skill building workshop on HIV and sex works’ with the support of an NGO and contraceptive marketers. There are plans to bring the female sex workers operating from kothis, bungalows and those giving services on call to such a forum in the future.

At the inaugural session, the participants were told that since the late 1980s a large proportion of HIV cases had been detected in men, particularly those who had worked abroad.

At present, based on cumulative cases, a higher proportion of people have been infected through sexual transmission, but the epidemic is expanding rapidly among injecting drug users, with a reported prevalence of 26 per cent among drug users in Karachi alone.

A recent round of surveillance has shown an overall 6.4 per cent prevalence among male transvestites and 0.9 per cent prevalence among male sex workers. However, the rate among female sex workers continues to be low, informed Sindh Aids Control Programme officials.

The country manager of the UNFPA said that the main objective of the advocacy workshop was to discuss and develop appropriate strategies to address the sexual health needs of female sex workers in the country.

The experts will help in developing models of good practices in providing culturally appropriate sexual health promotion strategies to sex workers.

Experts, including a sociologist from Bangladesh working as the UNFPA consultant at Myanmar, highlighted the risks and needs of sex workers and asserted that work needs to be done to build the capacity of government bodies, service providers, NGOs and donors in addressing these needs.

The subject of the first day included FSW work in Karachi, field work methodologies, boyfriends/husbands of FSW and peer education.

The workers were told that development of prevention skills and implementation of strategies should come from them, as it was the only viable way to increase personal and organisational capacities of the sex workers who were at risk of STIs and HIV.

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Why did the Fokker Crash in Multan in July 2006?

July 11, 2009 at 6:46 am · Filed under Pakistan Under PM Gillani ·Tagged ,

The federal government has yet to make the Multan Fokker crash report public, three years after the tragic incident.

MultanFokkerCrash_608x325A Civil Aviation Authority had submitted the investigation report to the government and it was up to it to make it public. The authority on its own cannot reveal anything in this regard.

As many as 41 passengers, including two judges of the Lahore High Court, a former principal of the King Edward Medical College and four crew members, lost their lives when the Lahore-bound Fokker (F-27) crashed soon after its take-off from the Multan airport on July 10, 2006.

A three-member team comprising Air Commodore Junaid Amin (head), Wing Commodore Nasim Ahmed and PIA’s captain Dara Shah Nawaz had conducted the probe with the help of experts from the US, the UK, France, Germany and Netherlands.

Under the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) rules, it is mandatory for the CAA to make public the findings of the investigation into any aircraft crash.

The federal government even did not bother to share the investigation report with the countries it had sought help from in the process. The ICAO rules also require a member country to formally submit the findings of a plane crash probe to the other members it takes on board during investigation process.

Following the accident, the government had grounded the Fokker fleet.

According to a source in the authority, the ill-fated aircraft F-27, before starting its journey from Islamabad airport, had developed faults in its engine and radio instruments, which delayed its journey to Lahore by 40 minutes. The pilot, Capt Hamid Qurehi, had lodged a complaint in this regard but to no avail.

A fact-finding committee of High Court Bar Association, Multan, had said the aircraft, soon after its take-off (Lahore to Multan), got de-tracked for about 25 miles towards the eastern side of the Pakistani border due to flawed navigation system. The fact of plane’s losing direction was brought to the pilot’s knowledge, who responded that he had complained about the navigation system and other defects in the aircraft repeatedly but no body cared to remove them.

The record proved that Capt Qureshi was overworked and fatigued and he was called to fly the aircraft after the rest of only ‘six hours’. This practice still goes on despite frequent protests by pilots. A senior PIA pilot has been recently censured for pointing out induction of overworked co-pilot in his crew.

According to a senior CAA official, the crash was primarily the outcome of ‘human error’. He said one of the two engines of the 42-year-old plane had stopped working at the time of take-off and the pilot could not timely pull up the landing gear within the altitude of 400 feet. The plane crashed within one minute and 12 seconds of take-off.

The aircraft was manufactured in 1964 and bought by PIA in 1979 after remaining operational for fifteen years. It had a recommended 28 years of life (non-extendable).

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Why I Write?

July 10, 2009 at 9:54 am · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged ,

 By Terry Tempest Williams

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It is just after 4:00 A.M. I was dreaming about Moab, Brooke and I walking around the block just before dawn. I threw a red silk scarf around my shoulders and then I began reciting in my sleep why I write: I write to make peace with the things I cannot control. I write to create fabric in a world that often appears black and white. I write to discover. I write to uncover. I write to meet my ghosts. I write to begin a dialogue. I write to imagine things differently and in imagining things differently perhaps the world will change. I write to honor beauty. I write to correspond with my friends. I write as a daily act of improvisa­tion. I write because it creates my composure. I write against power and for democracy. I write myself out of my nightmares and into my dreams. I write in a solitude born out of community. I write to the questions that shatter my sleep. I write to the answers that keep me complacent. I write to remember. I write to forget. I write to the music that opens my heart. I write to quell the pain. I write to migrating birds with the hubris of language. I write as a form of translation. I write with the patience of melancholy in winter. I write because it allows me to confront that which I do not know. I write as an act of faith. I write as an act of slowness. I write to record what I love in the face of loss. I write because it makes me less fearful of death. I write as an exercise in pure joy. I write as one who walks on the surface of a frozen river beginning to melt. I write out of my anger and into my passion. I write from the stillness of night anticipating-always anticipating. I write to listen. I write out of silence. I write to soothe the voices shouting inside me, outside me, all around. I write because of the humor of our condition as humans. I write because I believe in words. I write because I do not believe in words. I write because it is a dance with paradox. I write because you can play on the page like a child left alone in sand. I write because it belongs to the force of the moon: high tide, low tide. I write because it is the way I take long walks. I write as a bow to wilderness. I write because I believe it can create a path in darkness. I write because as a child I spoke a different language. I write with a knife carving each word through the generos­ity of trees. I write as ritual. I write because I am not employable. I write out of my inconsistencies. I write because then I do not have to speak. I write with the colors of memory. I write as a witness to what I have seen. I write as a witness to what I imagine. I write by grace and grit. I write out of indigestion. I write when I am starving. I write when I am full. I write to the dead. I write out of the body. I write to put food on the table. I write on the other side of procrastination. 

I write for the children we never had. I write for the love of ideas. I write for the surprise of a sentence. I write with the belief of alchemists. I write knowing I will always fail. I write knowing words always fall short. I write knowing I can be killed by my own words, stabbed by syntax, crucified by both understanding and misunderstanding. I write out of ignorance. I write by accident. I write past the embarrassment of exposure. I keep writing and suddenly, I am overcome by the sheer indulgence, (the madness,) the meaninglessness, the ridiculousness of this list. I trust nothing especially myself and slide head first into the familiar abyss of doubt and humiliation and threaten to push the delete button on my way down, or madly erase each line, pick up the paper and rip it into shreds-and then I realize, it doesn’t matter, words are always a gamble, words are splinters from cut glass. I write because it is dangerous, a bloody risk, like love, to form the words, to say the words, to touch the source, to be touched, to reveal how vulnerable we are, how transient.

I write as though I am whispering in the ear of the one I love. 

EXERCISE

1. Why do you write?

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HRW: When will the Torture End in Pakistan?

July 10, 2009 at 9:47 am · Filed under War Against Terror ·Tagged , ,

A Statement from Human Rights Watch forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission

Investigate Complicity in Torture in Pakistan Officials Privately Confirm UK Role in Torture of Terror Suspects

ClipThe UK government should order an independent judicial inquiry into mounting evidence that its security services and law enforcement agencies were complicit in the torture of terrorism suspects in Pakistan, Human Rights Watch said on July 10, 2009. 

Officials in both the Pakistani and UK governments have privately
confirmed to HRW that British officials were aware of specific cases of mistreatment, knew that Pakistani intelligence agencies routinely used torture on detained terror suspects and others, and failed to intervene to prevent torture in cases involving British citizens and in cases in which it had an investigative interest.

“The PM, the Foreign Secretary, former PM Tony Blair and others have repeatedly said that the UK opposes torture. They repeatedly deny allegations that the UK has encouraged torture by Pakistans intelligence agencies, said Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW. But saying this over and over again doesnt make it true. There is now sufficient evidence in the public domain to warrant a judicial inquiry.”

Extensive research by HRW in recent years has established that UK law enforcement and intelligence agents worked routinely on counter-terror cases with Pakistans notorious military-controlled ISI agency, the civilian-controlled Intelligence Bureau (IB) and other Pakistani security agencies. British officials and agents were well aware that these Pakistani agencies routinely resorted to illegal detentions and torture to extract confessions and to punish and intimidate terrorism suspects and others. These practices have been extensively documented by HRW, Pakistani human rights groups, lawyers and media, the US State Department, and the United Nations.
HRW presented information on cases of British citizens tortured and mistreated in Pakistani custody to the UK Parliaments Joint Committee on Human Rights on February 3, 2009 (see
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/02/02/uk-should-investigate-role-torture-pakistan).
This week the Guardian published detailed and credible allegations of
UK complicity in torture in Pakistan.

In off-the-record conversations, knowledgeable civilian and military
officials of the government of Pakistan have on numerous occasions
told HRW that British officials were aware of the mistreatment of several high-profile terrorism suspects, including Britons Rangzieb Ahmed, Salahuddin Amin, Zeeshan Siddiqui, Rashid Rauf and others. Pakistani officials told HRW that they were under immense pressure from the UK and the US to perform in the war on terror and we do what we are asked to do.

A well placed official within the UK government told HRW that allegations of UK complicity in testimony to the UK Parliaments Joint Human Rights Committee in February 2009 were accurate. The official encouraged HRW to continue its research into the subject. Another Whitehall source said  that the research was “spot on.”

According to these UK officials, as a result of cooperation on
specific cases, the Pakistani intelligence services shared
information from abusive interrogations with British officials, which
was used in prosecutions in UK courts and other investigations. UK law enforcement and intelligence officials passed questions to Pakistani officials for use in interrogation sessions in individual cases
knowing that these Pakistani officials were using torture.

UK citizen Rangzieb Ahmed, from Greater Manchester, England, was
arrested in the North West Frontier Province in Pakistan on August
20, 2006 because of his alleged links with the al Qaeda network. On
September 7, 2007 he was transferred to the UK information that HRW conveyed to the international media. While still imprisoned in Pakistan, Ahmed alleged that he was repeatedly tortured, beaten, sleep-deprived and mistreated by Pakistani security agencies. Rangziebs torture included having three of his fingernails pulled out. HRW spoke to members of Pakistans law enforcement agencies
involved in processing him at various stages of his detention. These
sources, from both civilian and military Pakistani agencies,
confirmed the overall authenticity of his claims, including the
claim that British intelligence services were aware of his detention
and treatment at all times.

Zeeshan Siddiqui from Hounslow, London, was arrested in Pakistan on May 15, 2005 on suspicion of involvement in terrorism. He was
deported to the United Kingdom on January 8, 2005. Speaking on
condition of anonymity, Pakistani security officials privately
confirmed to Human Rights Watch that Siddiqui was arrested on the
basis of a tip-off from the British intelligence services and at
their request.

During his detention, Siddiqui reported being repeatedly beaten,
chained, injected with drugs and threatened with sexual abuse and
further torture. The Pakistani sources added that British
intelligence agents were aware at all times that Siddiqui was being
processed in the traditional way and the British were
effectively interrogating Siddiqui even as Pakistans Intelligence
Bureau processed him. “Because no one could prove or get him to
admit anything useful, that is probably why the green light was given
to bring him into the  system,” the source said.

Salahuddin Amin, of Edgware, was convicted in April 2007 in the
Crevice trial for plotting attacks against several potential
targets, including London’s Ministry of Sound nightclub. Amin states
that he gave himself up voluntarily to Pakistani authorities after
assurances were given to his family that he would not be mistreated,
but was then tortured repeatedly through 2004 and forced into false
confessions. During his illegal detention, Amin alleges that he was
met by British intelligence officials on almost a dozen occasions.
Amin was released by Pakistani authorities after a 10-month illegal
detention, then arrested upon arrival at Heathrow in 2005.

Pakistani intelligence sources maintain that Amins account of his
detention and meetings with British and American intelligence
personnel are essentially accurate. These sources said that Amins was a high pressure case and the British and American desire for information from him was insatiable. The sources added that the British and American agents who were party to Amins detention were perfectly aware that we were using all means possible to extract information from him and were grateful that we were doing so.

“Little is left to the imagination when accounts from victims,
insiders in Pakistan and Britain, and medical and circumstantial
evidence all point to UK knowledge and at least passive encouragement of torture in Pakistan, said Adams. Knowing that torture would be used by others to obtain information and then saying that We had nothing to do with it, is not the behavior of a government unequivocally committed to ending torture.

In its February 2009 submission to the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, HRW posed a number of questions that
are relevant but remain unanswered:

1. What steps, as a matter of policy, does the UK government take to
ensure that torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment is not used in any cases in which it has asked the
Pakistani authorities for assistance or cooperation?

2. What does the UK government do when it learns that such treatment has occurred in a particular case?

3. What conditions has the UK government put on continuing
cooperation and assistance with Pakistan in counter-terror and law
enforcement activities?

4. Has the UK government ever conditioned continuing cooperation or assistance with Pakistan on an end to torture or cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment?

5. Has the UK government ever withdrawn cooperation in a particular case or cases because of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment?

In addition to answering these questions, Human Rights Watch called
on the UK government to:

Hold an independent judicial inquiry into all cases in which there
are allegations of British government complicity, participation, or
knowledge of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of
detainees. The aims of such an inquiry should be to establish:

whether British intelligence, security or law enforcement services
have been complicit in torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment, arbitrary detentions, or enforced disappearances;

what role, if any, UK government policy has played in such abuse, and a code of conduct that is consistent with UK and international law and human rights standards.

Publicly repudiate reliance on intelligence obtained under torture in
third countries.

Publish its current and previous guidance to its intelligence
agencies and agents on torture and how to work with abusive
intelligence agencies that are known to practice torture.

In individual cases where the UK has an interest, condition UK
counter-terrorism assistance and cooperation with Pakistan on the end of the use of torture, disappearances, arbitrary arrests, and other
illegal methods in such cases. This will not only ensure compliance
with the UK’s domestic and international legal obligations, it will
help countless Pakistanis who suffer from torture at the hands of the
Pakistani authorities. It will also enable prosecutions of individuals
responsible for acts of terror or other crimes to be prosecuted in UK
courts without the risk of having evidence excluded or entire cases
collapsing.

Make the end of torture a high priority in the UKs relations with
Pakistan. The UK government should press in public and private for an end to torture. The UKs Foreign and Commonwealth Office should
include a candid and unvarnished description of the problem in its
annual human rights report.

Table a bill in parliament to repeal or amend any legal provisions,
such as those in the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and in the
Intelligence Act 1994, that appear to provide legal immunity for
serious human rights abuses carried out by British security or
intelligence personnel. At the very least, the Intelligence Act
should be amended to rule out acts of or complicity in grave crimes
such as murder, torture, and disappearances.

“Repeating the mantra that Britain does not torture or condone
torture is no longer a credible response to the many specific
allegations of UK complicity in torture in Pakistan, said Adams. It
is time for the British government to end its policy of general
denials and to respond to the many specific allegations about its
involvement in these case. It should set up an independent inquiry to
investigate what happened and put in place measures to ensure that
this never happens again. Britains reputation as a rights-respecting
nation is at stake.

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Is DFID Aid Making a Difference?

July 10, 2009 at 9:37 am · Filed under Economy ·Tagged , ,

UK donor policy stokes concern of overpromising

DAKAR, 8 July - Aid analysts applaud the “courage” of the UK government’s just-released development policy paper, which detailed plans to allocate at least half of all new bilateral funding to fragile states, but question how the government can do the job well without shrinking other aid commitments.

USvafricaThe UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID) White Paper stressed helping fragile and post-conflict states to govern and deliver peace to their citizens by including more support to peace settlements; addressing the causes of conflict and fragility; buttressing security, rule of law and basic services, and; pledging to triple aid for security and justice worldwide by 2014.

Other aid commitments in the 6 July White Paper included education, maternal and newborn health, and a stronger focus on climate change.

“DFID is heading in the right direction,” said director at UK think-tank the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). “But DFID’s desire to extract major savings in operations on the one hand and to support long-term poverty reduction in fragile states on the other is not yet squared away in this White Paper.

“They need to recognize that there are difficult trade-offs here.”

The UK was the world’s third-largest development donor in 2008 after the United States and Germany, committing US$11.4 billion, according to Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. This is expected to increase to $14.6 billion in 2010, the aim being to allocate 0.7 percent of GDP to aid by 2013. Over a third of this will be spent on sub-Saharan Africa – almost three times 2004 levels.

..Fragile states account for one billion people and a third of the world’s poor. We will never eradicate poverty unless we tackle the issues in these countries… 

Expensive and long-term
Shoring up fragile states is an expensive long-term project, and it is not clear where the additional cash will come from in an era of belt-tightening.

“In the UK, all talk of government spending is currently around cuts and stand-stills. Both [political] parties have said they will increase development spending, but we do not know what is around the corner in the economy or where the new money will come from,” head of policy at NGO ActionAid UK said.

In post-conflict Sierra Leone, British government support for security sector reform, rehabilitating ex-combatants and shoring up health services began in 2003 and is expected to run until at least 2013, according to DFID’s Sierra Leone head. But taking such an in-depth approach in all fragile states can be expensive. There is the potential for this [prioritizing fragile states] to be a risky, costly undertaking. But we can’t fault the government’s courage on this one.

DFID spokesperson said DFID plans to close 10 offices by 2011 in countries that have shown significant improvements due to donor aid, freeing up resources to focus on the most vulnerable.

Fragile states account for one billion people and a third of the world’s poor. We will never eradicate poverty unless we tackle the issues in these countries.

Engaging in fragile states is complicated, warned ODI’s Evans. Too often donors create dependency instead of building capacity in weak state institutions, apply heavy-handed rules that can paralyze fragile states, and in worst-case scenarios, do more harm than good.

If donors practiced better division of labour and each focused on limited sectors, they would have a better chance of success.

Engaging in fragile states [requires] heavy doses of humility. This White Paper attempts to walk the line between humility and hubris.but [the government] needs to acknowledge that the risks of working in these environments are considerable and need to be carefully managed.

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