Pakistan: Goodbye & Good Luck

Source: http://www.newslaundry.com/2013/05/pakistan-goodbye-good-luck/

Human beings cut off ties with one another all the time. This not only prevents a fight-unto-death scenario, it also allows the adversaries to cool off and move on – go their separate ways.

The time has come for India to cut off all diplomatic, economic, cinematic and other ties with Pakistan. In perpetuity. Good luck and goodbye, Pakistan. May you prosper and may your people find peace.

I say this with a degree of conviction and moral certitude that our forefathers, barring perhaps Mahatma Gandhi, would have approved of. Let me explain.

Pakistan has a pathological hatred of India and the idea of India.

It was a nation created because of it. The creators of Pakistan abhorred India’s plurality. They disbelieved the assertion of many – including Gandhi – that Hindus and Muslims can stay as brothers. They doubted India’s assertion of secularism. No, they said, a time will come when our people will be under the boot of the majority. We want a separate land for our people.

The first speech Mr Jinnah gave in the newly created Pakistan was astonishing in its effrontery. He talked of how he wanted Pakistan to be a secular state! That’s right – you can’t bear to live as one in a secular state, but now that you’ve created your own nation – based solely on a religious conviction and unfounded fear of the majority – you are happy to believe that your newly-turned majority desires nothing else but a secular state where all minorities shall live in peace. Well, we know what came of it, the experiment that was Pakistan.

Pakistan has never been able to reconcile with the fact that an overwhelming majority of Muslims – whom Pakistan’s founders were supposedly fighting for in the first place – decided to stay back in India. This is a thorn that pricks Pakistan daily and will continue to do so.

Those who doubt the sincerity of Indian Muslims and forever taunt them and address them as “they”, forget this simplest of facts. A huge piece of land was created especially for them – “Come all ye brothers, to our promised land where you will never live under fear of the majority” – and then, when the time came, these very people, the Indian Muslims, ignored the call. Can anything else be more telling of the idea of India?

Pakistan has a pathological hatred of India because millions of Muslims decided to stay back.

The hatred became acute when Pakistan broke into two, of its own internal stress. A nation that was based on religion could not keep itself together to even celebrate its silver jubilee.

All history – right from the time of Herodotus – is contemporary when you factor in the fact that we read, assess and describe a few thousand years on a timeline of 13.8 billion years. What monumental folly! No wonder we cannot trust history and we fail to learn from it.

The cutting off of economic ties will not hurt India. It may hurt Pakistan, but if they believe it won’t then so be it. Our bilateral trade is minuscule compared to our trade with other countries.

It is, however, the cutting off of ALL ties, meaning people-to-people mostly, that divides opinion in our country, to the extent that we begin to label people as hawks and doves. We somehow believe it is not morally right.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

For all the unimaginable work that Bapu did for us, and the path he showed us, there were some blunders he committed that went on to condition us. The Mahatma, we must understand, had an unrivalled moral compass, more so if you notice the decades he was active in – Hitler, Churchill, Stalin, Mao, and Mussolini were his contemporaries.

I believe he was wrong in demanding that India pay Pakistan a chunk of money we owed them Rs 55 crore ($ 78.5 million today) even though it was certain that Pakistan would use it against India, in buying arms and expanding its skirmishes and not-so-contained battles over Kashmir. In any case, the two nations were at war when Gandhi demanded we make this payment.

The only man who stood up to Gandhi was Sardar Patel. I don’t know how to say this, and pardon my ignorance of history, but I am yet to find a blunder that Patel committed in all the years that he served India’s cause. I love Bapu and I like Nehru, but it is inescapable that the two made some astonishing mistakes. If anyone can list a single blunder of Patel, I’d be the wiser.

Those who say he was a right-wing fanatic know nothing! Patel exhibited the goodness of Gandhi but crucially, he did not let it – like Nehru did every time – cloud his exemplary realpolitik wisdom. In essence, Patel was an incredible student of history. People forget how close he was to Bapu – many a time Bapu told him to keep Nehru in check for he worried Nehru was getting too close to the Communists.

Patel was forthright in his objection to handing Pakistan the money. He went to Gandhi and told him so in as many words. But what can anyone do if the man he loves and admires decides to go on a fast-unto-death over the issue? What does a son do when the father blackmails? The awful dilemma of Patel – realpolitik versus Gandhi’s moral compass – is described in many books (Alex Von Tunzelmann’s Indian Summer comes to mind immediately). But the most objective description is in Joseph Lelyveld’s Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and his struggle with India. What does one do when the person you love asks something from you that you don’t want to give? In the end Patel backed out.

That was the first occasion when Pakistanis knew Indians are emotional people, that their every judgment from thereon would be clouded by emotion and the desire to feel good about taking the high moral ground.

We have suffered ever since at the hands of Pakistan. Not a day has passed when it hasn’t desired the destruction of India. Those who are old enough to remember the 1980s would recall how, when Pakistan was clearly fomenting trouble in Punjab, we gushed at Zia-ul-Haq’s arrival at the Jaipur test match. Even though we saw Pakistan’s intentions we wanted to embrace her, we wanted to take the high moral ground. This continued all through the 90s and continues to this day. The release of the Kandahar terrorists and their rapturous welcome in the streets of Pakistan; the 26/11 massacre; the LOC beheadings; the murder of Sarabjit…nothing will stir us into cutting all ties with Pakistan. Why? Because we think it’s not ethical and moral to do so.

But this is where we are so wrong!

India was one of the few countries which were unequivocal in cutting all relations with the apartheid South Africa. Those who say sports and politics shouldn’t be mixed forget that for decades we as Indians didn’t want anything to do with South Africa. It was even written in our passports, for crying out loud! Can any right-thinking person say that it was wrong on our part to do so?

Those who say that the overwhelming majority of Pakistanis are like us, good people, nice friendly people – why do they forget that the same held true for a large number of white south Africans, too? Were Nadine Gordimer and Dr Christiaan Barnard racist? But nations don’t behave like how their well-meaning people would like them to behave.

Apartheid continued for 50 years. The South African economy, based on diamonds, and gold, and mining and agro products, was one of the largest in the world during the time of apartheid, so much so that those who call themselves the upholders of morality and ethics now – the Western world – continued to trade with South Africa until as late as 1989!

But we were steadfast. And I am proud of that, proud that we can look Mandela and Tutu and Biko (if he was alive) in the eyes and say we stood with you, brothers, we were there right beside you.

We could have benefited a great deal from trading with the apartheid regime but we stood up for principles. Not all white South Africans were racist pigs. But despite that we wanted nothing to do with South Africa.

Why can’t we realise that the situation with Pakistan is exactly the same? Come what may, no matter how many Pakistanis think well of India, the pathological hatred that was the basis of their nation’s creation will make sure that Pakistan will use any opportunity to humiliate India, to bring her down, to break her.

I have nothing personal against Pakistanis. The majority of them are fine people and I have many of them as friends. But this is about our people, their continued suffering. It is time we took a stand, like we did against the apartheid South Africa despite losing out on economic trade and other ties.

We must cut all ties with Pakistan and be in no hurry to resume them until we are certain that the leopard has changed its spots. We must not worry about Pakistanis not being able to come and play cricket here. Did we lament when Gavaskar and Chandra and Amarnath couldn’t play with the South Africans? On the contrary, we were proud of them. Not so the case with the few West Indians who went on a rebel tour to South Africa in the 80s. They are derided to this day in the West Indies for selling out.

No, it’s much more than sports or Bollywood or literary contacts. It’s about two brothers realising reconciliation is impossible if one of them fails to confront the truth.

Pakistan, we wish you luck. Goodbye

Your’s Sincerely
Diljit C Shah
N. Gopaldas & Co.,
36, Chinnakadai Street.,P.O. Box 328,
Tiruchirapalli – 620 002. India
email: diljitshah@yahoo.co.in

Miss India 2009 – Pooja Chopra

Neera Chopra is her mother. This is her story.

Neera Chopra lived through abuse, poverty and some tough choices to make her once-unwanted girl child, Pooja Chopra.

“I don’t know where to begin… they were terrible times. My husband was well-placed, but the marriage had begun to sink almost as soon as it began. Like most women do, I tried to work against all the odds .

My in-laws insisted everything would be alright if I had a son. My first child was a daughter, and that didn’t do me any good… but I couldn’t walk out. I had lost my father, my brother was in a not-so-senior position in Bata. I didn’t want to be a burden on my family and continued to live in my marital home in Kolkata.

I looked after my mother-inlaw, who was suffering from cancer, and while bathing her, I would tell myself she would bless me and put things right.

I don’t know how I tolerated it all. The least a man can do, if he must philander, is to not flaunt his women in his wife’s face. Then began the manhandling. I still wanted my marriage to survive. I was a pure vegetarian and learnt to cook non-vegetarian delicacies thinking it would please him.

Then, I was pregnant again. When Pooja was eight months in my womb, my husband brought a girl to the house and announced he would marry her. I thought of killing myself. I hung on the slight hope that if the baby was a boy, my marriage could be saved.

When Pooja was born a girl, for three days, nobody came to the hospital. There was a squadron leader’s wife on the opposite bed, who was kind enough to give me baby clothes for Pooja to wear. When she was 20 days old, I had to make a choice. I left the house with my girls ‘ Pooja and Shubra, who was seven then. I haven’t seen my husband since. I promised myself, even if we had just one roti, we would share it, but together.

I began life in Mumbai with the support of my mother, brother, who was by then married. It wasn’t the ideal situation, especially when he had children – space, money, everything was short. I began work at the Taj Colaba and got my own place. How did I manage? Truth be told, I would put a chatai on the floor, leave two glasses of milk and some food, and bolt the door from outside before going to work. I would leave the key with the neighbours and tell the kids to shout out to them when it was time to leave for school.

Their tiny hands would do homework on their own, feed themselves on days that I worked late. My elder daughter Shubhra would make Pooja do her corrections… This is how they grew up. At a birthday party, Pooja would not eat her piece of cake, but pack it and bring it home to share with her sister. When Shubhra started working, she would skip lunch and pack a chicken sandwich that she would slip in her sister’s lunchbox the next day.

I used to pray, ‘God, punish me for my karma, but not my innocent little kids. Please let me provide them the basics.’ I used to struggle for shoes, socks, uniforms. I was living in Bangur Nagar, Goregaon. Pooja would walk four bus stops down to the St Thomas
Academy . Then, too little to cross the road, she would ask a passerby to help her. I had to save the bus money to be able to put some milk in their bodies.

Life began to change when I got a job for Rs 6,000 at the then Goa Penta. Mr Chhabra, the owner, and his wife, were kind enough to provide a loan for me. I sent my daughters to my sister’s house in Pune, with my mother as support. I spent four years working in Goa while I saved to buy a small one-bedroom house in Pune (where the family still lives). I would work 16-18 hours a day, not even taking weekly offs to accumulate leave and visit my daughters three or four times a year.

Once I bought my house and found a job in Pune, life began to settle. I worked in Hotel Blue Diamond for a year and then finally joined Mainland China ‘ which changed my life. The consideration of the team and management brought me the stability to bring them up, despite late hours and the travelling a hotelier must do.

Shubhra got a job in Hotel Blue Diamond, being the youngest employee there while still in college, and managed to finish her Masters in commerce and her BBM. Today, she is married to a sweet Catholic boy who is in the Merchant Navy and has a sweet daughter.

I continue to finish my day job and come home and take tuitions, as I have done for all these years. I also do all my household chores myself.

Through the years, Shubhra has been my anchor and Pooja, the rock. Pooja’s tiny hands have wiped away my tears when I broke down. She has stood up for me, when I couldn’t speak for myself. Academically brilliant, she participated in all extra-curricular activities. When she needed high heels to model in, she did odd shows and bought them for herself.

When I saw Pooja give her speech on TV, I knew it came from her heart. I could see the twinkle in her eye. And I thought to myself as she won ‘My God, this is my little girl.’ God was trying to tell me something.

Today, I’ve no regrets. I believe every cloud has a silver lining. As a mother, I’ve done nothing great.”

Pantaloons Femina Miss India Pooja Chopra’s mother promised, ‘One day, this girl will make me proud’.

Pooja speaks on fulfilling that promise… “When I was 20 days old, my mother was asked to make a choice. It was either me, a girl child, or her husband. She chose me. As she walked out she turned around and told her husband, ‘One day, this girl will make me proud’. That day has come. Her husband went on to marry a woman who gave him two sons. Today, as I stand here a Miss India, I don’t even know if my father knows that it is me, his daughter, who has set out to conquer the world, a crown on my head. 

“Our lives have not been easy, least so for my mother. Financially, emotionally, she struggled to stay afloat, to keep her job and yet allow us to be the best that we could be. I was given only one condition when I started modelling ‘ my grades wouldn’t drop.

“All the girls in the pageant worked hard, but my edge was my mother’s sacrifice, her karma. Today, when people call to congratulate me, it’s not me they pay tribute to, but to her life and her struggle. She’s the true Woman of Substance. She is my light, my mentor, my driving force.”

Pakistan Expels New York Time’s Bureau Chief

Pakistan is facing daunting challenges, including a violent insurgency that threatens the state. Yet its Interior Ministry just prior to the May 11 election had nothing better to do than to expel Declan Walsh, the New York Times’s bureau chief in Pakistan.

The reasons for the expulsion was not explained. However, a section of the Urdu press has quoted intelligence sources as saying that he was a spy and working for the CIA. He has also been accused of being a close friend of Raymond Davis, another CIA agent who was sent to America after he killed two Pakistanis in Lahore.

The expulsion letter was a two-sentence ibe. The action was taken “in view of your undesirable activities,” the letter read.

Mr. Declan Walsh, 39, has been based in Pakistan since 2004, working first for The Guardian and since 2012 for the NYT.

Jill Abramson, the NYT‘s executive editor, strongly protested the expulsion in a letter to the interior minister, Malik Muhammad Habib Khan.

Mr. Walsh “has a strong track record as a reporter of integrity who has at all times offered balanced, nuanced and factual reporting on Pakistan,” she wrote. “Your charge of ‘undesirable activities’ is vague and unsupported, and Mr. Walsh has received no further explanation of any alleged wrongdoing. We stand by his reporting.”

Mr. Walsh was on a social visit May 9 evening when he received a phone call from a number he did not recognize advising him to “come home now.” He arrived at 12:30 a.m. to find police officers waiting outside, along with a plainclothes officer who handed him the expulsion letter. While the exact circumstances of his expulsion are unusual, his punishment is not. Even as private media have grown more vibrant, Pakistani officials continue to restrict critical reporting and, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the country remains one of the deadliest for journalists.

Without Mr. Walsh and journalists like him — both Pakistani and foreign — on the scene, Pakistanis and the international community would not know about the level of pre-election violence, including Taliban bombings and the abduction on May 9 of a candidate who is the son of a former prime minister.

Nor would they learn of the extent of Pakistan’s patronage networks, as Mr. Walsh reported on May 8. But maybe that is the point.

Hindus Everywhere, Now Even in Africa

Ghana’s unique African-Hindu temple

The temple is located in the capital Accra, Ghana. The air is filled with the sweet smell of incense burning in a corner of the huge hall.

Wrapped in shiny bright clothes, idols of Hindu gods and goddesses smile benevolently from the elevated platform.

Sitting on the white marble floor a group of more than 50 men, women and children sing devotional Hindi songs.

Nothing extraordinary about this scene, except that the temple is in Ghana and the devotees are all indigenous Africans.

The tall cone-shaped temple emerges out of the crowded neighbourhood of Orkordi on the outskirts of the capital Accra. It can be easily identified – the holy Sanskrit word ‘Om’ shines on its top.
Indian feel The devotees here have no links with India and have never visited the country. Still they strictly follow religious rules and observe rituals in traditional Hindu way.

They say they have all converted to Hinduism but many still use their Christian names and African surnames.

However, they give their young ones Hindu names like Rama or Krishna.

Once inside the temple, you forget that you are a continent away from India.

Diyas or little lamps are lit in obeisance to the gods. Surprisingly, there is even a picture of Jesus Christ amid the idols of Hindu deities.
Come evening and the devotees gather in the temple hall for evening prayer rituals. Holy offerings to the gods are distributed after prayers.

Swami Ghanananda Saraswati, the man who established Ghana’s first African Hindu Monastery in 1975, oversees the prayers sitting in a high chair. Dressed in a flowing saffron kurta and a wrap-around, he addresses the people on the public address system and explains the finer points of the Hindu faith and philosophy.

“I was born in a village nearby into a native Ghanaian faith,” he says.

But his parents converted to Christianity. “From a very early age I would think about the mysteries of the universe and try to find the answers in religious texts. But I failed,” Swami Ghanananda says.
Then he read some books on Hindu faith and embarked upon a new journey which took him to Rishikesh in north India.

He spent some time there with a spiritual guru who suggested him to open the monastery in Accra.

Ask Swami Ghanananda his original name and the reply comes promptly: “My real name is Guide!”

‘No conversion’ It’s not been easy for him to keep the faith. He says initially he faced some opposition from a section of the local people, but then the number of visitors started growing. ”We don’t ask anyone to convert to Hinduism. Those who seek the truth enquire about the Hindu monastery. We write articles in newspapers before we observe big Hindu festivals like Navaratri or Dipawali,” says DG Otchere, manager of the temple. He says that when a devotee died recently, a local TV channel covered his cremation because burning a body on pyre was unusual in Ghana.

There is even one Muslim among the devotees. Jamer Baroudy says he was born into the Islamic faith but his mother introduced him to Hinduism when he was eight years old. Mr Baroudy says: “I am aware that Islam prohibits idol worshipping but then God doesn’t make any distinction. I visit this temple because I find solace here.”

Today there are more than 2,000 indigenous African Hindus in Ghana who come to the temple quite regularly.

The total number of Hindus, including those from India, is much larger.

Hindu religion was first introduced in Ghana by Sindhi settlers who migrated to Africa after India was divided in 1947. There is still a Sindhi temple in Accra.

Post-Election Challenges for Nawaz Sharif

by Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq

The real challenges in the post-election period is stemming from the increasing onslaught of miscreants against the State and rapidly deteriorating economic conditions having serious ramifications.

Wanton attacks on almost all political parties with loss of precious human lives confirm that the obscurantists at war with the State are openly committing treason by maintaining private armies prohibited under Article 256 of the Constitution. They are openly demonstrating disloyalty towards the State violating Article 5 which says: “Loyalty to the State is the basic duty of every citizen and obedience to the Constitution and law is the inviolable obligation of every citizen wherever he may be and of every other person for the time being within Pakistan.”

The incidents in Pakistan cannot just be called terrorism—it is much more than that. In fact, this is an open war against the State that needs to be tackled with an iron hand by the new elected government as a first priority or challenge.

Nawaz Sharif’s new government with consensus of all political parties would have to establish special war tribunals to punish miscreants guilty of violating Articles 4 and 256 with impunity.

Article 256 clearly says that “no private organization capable of functioning as a military organization shall be formed, and any such organization shall be illegal.”

Flagrant violation of Article 256 and that of Article 5 needs to be punished without any further delay.

Chapter VI of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 mentions inter alia, conspiracies against the State, collection of arms for the purpose of waging war (s. 122), concealing knowledge about such designs (s. 123) condemnation of the creation of the country, (s. 123A) defiling the national flag (s. 123B), assaulting president or the governors with the intention of creating hurdles in the lawful exercise of their powers (s. 124), sedition (s. 124A) and depredation on territories (s. 126)—need to be applied wherever required, adopting due process of law provided in Article 10A of Constitution.

The last Parliament, during its 5-year tenure did not show seriousness in reviewing the existing anti-terrorism laws. However, just a few days before dissolution, it passed two new laws, The Investigation for Fair Trial Act of 2013 and National Counter Terrorism Authority Act, 2013, aimed at collecting evidence and information against terrorist networks using modern techniques. In March and February 2013, the Parliament also passed the Anti-terrorism (Second Amendment) Act, 2013 and Anti-terrorism (Amendment) Act, 2013. It needs to be stressed that mere passing of laws will not help to eradicate the forces that are bent upon undermining the very existence of the State. An all-out effort on a war footing is required to uproot this menace, lest it is too late.

The second most critical challenge is economy. In the post-election period, the country ensnared in debts, needs strict fiscal discipline, proper collection of taxes and their judicious use and above all rapid infrastructure and economic growth and development. The rising fiscal deficit and shortfall in tax revenue has assumed alarming proportions—there has been an increase of Rs. one trillion in domestic debt alone during the current fiscal year. According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), our overall stock of domestic debt comprising permanent debt, floating debt, unfunded debt and foreign currency loan continues to rise—domestic debt registered a massive surge of 15 percent during first nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year. The stock of domestic debts reached Rs 8.8 trillion mark as on March 31, 2013 as compared to Rs 7.63 trillion as on June 30, 2012, depicting an increase of Rs 1.17 trillion.

Since Pakistan received an amount of $1.8 billion from the US on account of Coalition Support Fund (CSF) so far, it has provided some cushion to reduce reliance on domestic debt resources but even then the government’s borrowing from domestic banking channel has been on the increase. Floating debt, which includes three months’ treasury bills and market treasury bills, is the key borrowing instrument for the government to meet its financial needs and over 50 percent of domestic debt has been borrowed through this instrument. Domestic debt and liabilities are likely to reach Rs. 9 trillion mark at the end of the current fiscal year. Overall floating debts reached Rs. 4.776 trillion mark at the end of March 2013 compared to Rs. 4.143 trillion in June 2012, depicting an increase of Rs. 633.2 billion. In addition, permanent debts, which include market loan, federal government bonds, income tax bonds, prize bonds, etc, rose by 15 percent or Rs. 260.6 billion during July-March of the current fiscal year. With current increase, it surged to Rs. 1.956 trillion from Rs. 1.696 trillion. Similarly, with an increase of Rs. 265 billion, unfunded debts, comprising national savings, postal life insurance and GP Fund, has reached a staggering Rs. 2.063 trillion at the end of the third quarter. Debts under foreign currency loan posted an increase of Rs. 3.1 billion to Rs 4.5 billion. It included FEBCs, FCBCs, DBCs, and special US bonds held by residents. Previously these were part of external debt liabilities but from June 2008 onwards these form part of domestic debt.

If the new government follows in the footsteps of its predecessors, our foreign debt is going to be US$75 billion in 2015 and that of domestic debt Rs. 12 trillion. They will have to take curative measures and tough decisions in the first 90 days along with overall structural reforms. The policy of appeasement towards tax evaders, money launderers and plunderers of national wealth, if not discontinued, will push the country to complete disaster. The shameless indulgence of rulers and bureaucrats in wasteful expenditure has pushed the country towards the position where half of the population of the country is facing malnutrition and one third is living below the poverty line.

The new government will have a formidable challenge on the fiscal front. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is facing huge revenue shortfall. It estimates to collect Rs. 2050 billion by 30 June 2013—the provisional revenue collection stood at Rs. 1516.6 billion till 7 May 2013. The original revenue target of Rs. 2381 billion was revised downward to Rs. 2191 billion in March 2013, but FBR is not even capable of achieving it. In the remaining two months (May & June), FBR is to collect Rs. 489 billion to reach the second-time revised target of Rs. 2050 billion. This, as usual, will be done by collecting advance tax in advance, raising unlawful demands and blocking of bona fide refunds to further harming the business climate and causing hardship to the masses.

The new government can easily collect taxes of Rs. 8 trillion without levying any new taxes and further destroying the ailing economy. Pakistan certainly has 10 million individuals having taxable annual income of Rs 1.5 million (a very conservative estimate), total income tax collection from them at the prevalent tax rates comes to nearly Rs. 3750 billion. If we add income tax due from corporate bodies, other non-individual taxpayers and individuals having income between Rs. 400,000 to Rs. 1,000,000, the gross figure would be about Rs. 5000 billion. FBR collected only Rs. 716 billion as income tax in the last fiscal year. Similarly, due to rampant corruption in sales tax, federal excise and custom duties, the total collection is only 25-30 percent of actual potential. In fiscal year 2011-12, FBR collected Rs. 804.8 billion under the head sales tax, Rs 122.5 billion under federal excise duty and only Rs. 216.9 billion under custom duties. Total indirect collection of Rs 1148.2 billion was pathetically low. It should have been at least Rs. 3500 billion. If existing tax gap is bridged, the total revenue collection would be Rs. 8500 billion. There is no need to be dejected. We have tremendous potential. All we need is good governance, effective and modern tax administration and prudent use of public money. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure redistribution of income and wealth through progressive taxation—taxing the rich for the benefit of the poor. At present, we are taxing the poor for the benefit of the rich.

The new elected government can end debt-enslavement, which is the main cause of our subjugation provided that as a first step, the President, Prime Minister, ministers, parliamentarians, heads of political parties and high-ranking government officials, start living modestly, pay and collect taxes wherever due and by their behaviour, mobilise the masses for discharging their obligations diligently.

Asian HRs Commission Hongkong Says Army Supported Al Qaeda Candidates

Pakistan military intends to back Al-Qaida candidates for the next parliament

There have been some developments recently that reveal that in the 2013 elections elements of the Taliban and Al-Qaida had been offered seats in the parliament. Before these developments the security agencies with the help of right wing parties have also allowed 53 sectarian candidates to contest the elections without passing through the sword of the articles 62 and 63 of the constitution which debar any candidate known to be involved in cases of sectarian violence, hate campaigns or having been charged with murder and killings through sectarian violence.

The military officials were remained busy in the Bajur agency, FATA, close to Afghan border, to make a deal with the agents of Al-Qaida for the coming elections.

During the time of filing the nomination papers the Military Commander of the Bajur agency, Brigadier Ghulam Haider, held a meeting with the local leadership of Jamat-e-Islami (JI) who, in the past had direct links with the militants of Al-Qaida and master minds of 9/11 and had provided shelter to them. There are two national assembly seats from the Bajur agency and these two seats were assured to JI and in return the JI and other jihadist organization will provide:

(1) logistic support to those who want to join Jihad in Afghanistan from Pakistani side and extend ‘melmastia’, the traditional tribal hospitality, to Mujahideen coming back from Afghanistan;

(2) JI will not oppose any operation in Bajaur but rather support any military operation in Bajure in future;

(3) JI will not oppose but rather help in constructing the road that connects Afghanistan with Pakistan (The road connects Chakdara via Munda-Bajaur-Ghakhi Pass-Kunar and Chakdara-Munda-Samar Bagh-Shahi-bin-Shahi-Asmaar-Kunar) and (4)the arrangement will remain intact between the two parties until a favourable government in Afghanistan is installed.

The reasons for such developments are described as the USA and Allied Forces are leaving Afghanistan next year so the military has geared up its contacts with those political-cum-religious parties who could help in furthering the interests of Pakistan and the military to establish their major share as a stake holder.

When the US and Allied forces entered Afghanistan, the religious parties in Pakistan were brought into the power in 2002 elections by the then military dictator, General Musharraf. Now, when these forces are leaving Afghanistan, there are hectic efforts to bring fundamentalists again into the power particularly in the province of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP).

The May 11 elections are the first ever party-based elections in FATA history after the political parties order was extended to the tribal belt as part of reforms to the Frontiers Crimes Regulations (FCR) in 2011.

Mr. Haroon Rasheed and Sardar Khan of JI are contesting elections from the constituency of National Assembly 43 and 44 respectively.

Haroon Rasheed was also elected in 2002 on the JI ticket when military needed religious parties to help military government. He was providing shelter to the Al-Qaida militants at his house who were wanted at international level. In 2009, during the military operation, 10 Al-Qaida militants from the Arab countries were recovered who were hiding there since many years. His brother and nephew were arrested but brother was released and nephew is still behind the bar to safe him. His house has also been destroyed with many other houses in the Loi Sim area of Bajur. All destroyed houses were not allowed to be reconstructed but Haroon Rasheed’s house has been renovated as a special case.

The JI and its leaders were involved in providing shelter to Al-Qaida militants. The mastermind of 9/11 incident, Mr. Khalid Shiekh Mohammad was arrested from the house of Ahmed Abdul Qadoos, a leader of JI from Rawalpindi, Punjab, in March 2003 but with the help of Musharraf government Qadoos was released and no action has been taken against him. The same was with former provincial mister of KP, Mr. Siraj ul Haq, the president of JI from the province. He handed over one Al-Qaida man to his friend’s house in Durgai, the Malakand Agency. After some years the Al-Qaida militant was arrested by the military but no action has been taken against Haq and his friend, it was in the era of Musharraf government when Haq was the senior minister of the province.

Last January in Karachi, two Al-Qaeda operatives were arrested after a shoot-out in the house of Sabiha Shahid, another leader of the Jamaat’s women’s wing. Dr. Khawaja Javed and his brother, who are facing trial on charges of harbouring senior Al-Qaeda operatives and their families, in their sprawling residential compound outside Lahore, are closely related to a senior Jamaat leader.

According to the newsline report of 2003, Similarly, in Karachi, Jamaat (JI) activists were involved in the shoot-out which helped a third Arab to escape. “We have strong evidence of the Jamaat’s involvement with Al-Qaeda,” said a senior government official.

The Jamaat boasts the most active women’s wing of any political party. They have been in the forefront of the protests against the arrest of Al-Qaeda leaders. Many political leaders accuse the Jamaat of using its women members as human shields. Security officials maintain that Jamaat activists, who actively participated in the Afghan war against Soviet occupation, developed close contacts with the Arab fighters and the links continued after the war was over. “Their association with the Al-Qaeda is not surprising,” said a senior official. Faisal Saleh Hayat, the federal interior minister, said it was a matter of great concern to the government that top Al-Qaeda operatives were found to be harboured by the Jamaat. “How can they claim that Al-Qaeda fugitives are their guests?” he asked. In a press briefing on March 10, an ISI official maintained that individuals from the Jamaat were associated with the Al-Qaeda.

This time the military has again contacted the JI and other religious groups to induct religious candidates in the parliament so that the liberal and secular political parties should not come in majority and can not change the Islamic colour of the country. In the recent days the chief of the Army staff, General Kiyani has come out with the announcement that the Islamic Ideology is the basis of the creation of Pakistan and it can not be separated from the country. This announcement has been termed by media circles as the ‘pre-poll rigging’.

A deal is under way with many Jihadi groups and they were assured that the military will make their way in to the parliament but in return they have to extend their help in furthering its interests in Afghanistan by providing safety and security to the Jihadi elements. This is the reason that JI have been taken as the best via media for the militant organisations and in return JI will be given good numbers of the seats in the parliament.

The three political parties, the PPP, MQM and ANP and other political parties from Balochistan province, who are liberal and secular have been threatened by the Taliban that they would not be allowed to have freedom of election campaign. Their public meetings are continuously under the bomb attacks and the Taliban claim the responsibility. Those political parties who are supposing to the ‘friends of Taliban’ have the full freedom for the election campaign. The security forces are also not providing any security to stop the attacks of the liberal parties. A great divide has been made by the military, the caretaker government and election commission between the centre right and liberal political parties and all arrangement have made that those political parties must win who have the inclination towards Al-Qaida and Taliban.

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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

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Asian Human Rights Commission
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Padma Rao Sundarji Says Tamils Better-off Now in Sri Lanka Than Before

Across the Palk Strait, concern for Sri Lanka’s Tamils is being expressed through competitive aggression: there’s been a furore over the perceived weakness of a US-sponsored UNHRC resolution slamming Sri Lanka for rights violations and failure to rehabilitate its war-battered Tamils; Sri Lankan Buddhist monks visiting Tamil Nadu have been attacked; Lankan cricketers have been banned from IPL matches in Chennai; and last week, the Tamil Nadu assembly adopted a resolution (one sponsored by chief minister J. Jayalalitha) that India press the UN Security Council to seek a referendum in northern Sri Lanka over the creation of a Tamil Eelam. The vocal 9 lakh-strong Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora has been at work too: the US-sponsored resolution was backed by their wes­tern hosts who had granted them asylum with the vague notion of a faraway ‘freedom struggle’ and allowed money transfers that gave the LTTE claws and teeth.

Colombo, like India over Kashmir, has strongly objected to such external meddling. Sri Lanka’s foreign minister G.L. Peiris speaks of how much has been done in the Tamil-dominated northern and northeastern parts of the island, where over 2 lakh people had been killed in three decades of civil war. “Thousands of Tamils, including 595 LTTE child-soldiers, have been reintegrated. Demining is almost over,” he says. “In which country of former conflict have you seen something comparable within four years of the end of war?” In fact, a trip through the Tamil areas—where, during the conflict, highways lay mine-ridden, houses stood skeletal and palms crownless, and where dazed civilians would stumble about like tear-streaked wraiths, silently holding up pictures of missing children—throws up some surprises.

Yes, the Sri Lankan army is still an overwhelming presence, but, it must be conceded, without a dubious special law like India’s AFSPA. And anyone who has witnessed the conflict—one of Asia’s bloodiest—may well accept that the army cannot yet be withdrawn from an area liberated from terrorists who suicide-bombed with impunity and used child-soldiers as human shields for the leadership.

As visible and present as the army is change. Construction is on everywhere. Houses are being built in large numbers, the railway lines and highways could put the best in India to shame, the tin-roofed war-refugee shelters have almost vanished. Almost every second Tamil in gainful employment is a former Tiger. Killinochchi, once a dismal village of huge graveyards, is now a town bustling with hotels, supermarkets, small and big businesses. Internet connections are spe­­edy. Much of this owes to investment by Sinhalas, but also by well-meaning overseas Tamils. Last week, this former ‘capital’ of the LTTE saw an unusual parade: the graduation of 20 female ex-LTTE cadres who had voluntarily joined the Sri Lankan army. “The UNHRC has been highly selective,” says Peiris, “but we invited its chief, Navanethem Pillay, to see for herself. She promised to come. We are still waiting.”

In Visuwamadu and Mullaithivu, some sombre relics of a bloody conflict still remain: LTTE chief V. Prabhakaran’s air-conditioned bunker; arsenals of weapons; aircraft, submarines, suicide boats and vests. Evidence also stands of wilful destruction wreaked by fleeing LTTE cadres, leaving thousands of Tamils destitute.

Few Tamils in Sri Lanka care for the blood-brotherly breast-beating in Tamil Nadu. “Empty noise,” says former LTTE spokesman Daya Master, speaking from Jaffna. “We want harmony and reconciliation with Sinhalas. Elections are due in September, and we’ll find a solution wit­hin Sri Lanka. These bleeding hearts should leave us alone.” Construction workers, shopkeepers, former LTTE cadres—across class and background, they say Chennai’s politicians have done nothing for them. The cacophony is mere political play. Sri Lanka is on the mend: Tamil Nadu and the Tamil diaspora should help the process or leave them alone.

At a hotel in Mannar, Kamal (name changed), a 21-year-old bellhop, asks me fearfully if Prabhakaran is alive in Tamil Nadu. His father had died a Tiger, and he and his brother were forcibly recruited by the LTTE. Videos of “Prabhakaran alive”, supposedly shot in Chennai, have left many young Tamils like him, struggling to begin anew, frightened. He is happy working for a Sinhala proprietor, has “a good room and a good salary” and says “samadhanam (peace) is the best thing”. Over the week, he has made acquaintance with Malinga, a taxi driver who fought as a Sri Lankan soldier. Malinga is on his first trip to the north after the last days of the conflict, in which he saw many of his mates die. At parting, Kamal and Malinga shake hands, slap each other’s backs, and—just a trifle awkwardly—embrace.