American Disengagement, not Anti-Americanism might Help Pakistan

By Yousuf Nazar

Hillary Clinton says country needs to understand that anti-Americanism and conspiracy theories will not end its problems. I agree. But what would help? Many things but to start with, but American disengagement most definitely will. A heavy handed approach has destabilized Pakistan and fuelled anti-Americanism and doubts about its “real intentions”.Americaneeds to follow a policy of constructive disengagement inPakistanandAfghanistan.

Its hands-on aggressive militaristic approach in Pakistan and Afghanistan has failed. It even tried to micro-manage not just the so-called ‘war of terror” but also domestic politics. Isn’t a decade long enough a time to learn this? The results are before us. The American policies have destabilized both the countries. And Secretary Clinton does not need to pay attention to what we emotional and irrational Pakistanis – in the government or outside of it – think or tell her.

Secretary Clinton just needs to read if she did not, or re-read, if she did, what her own country’s ambassador Anne Patterson wrote in a secret cable (dated September 29, 2009) to the State Department:

“Afghan instability by definition leads the Pakistani establishment to increase support for the Taliban and thereby, unintentionally, create space for al-Qaeda. No amount of money will sever that link. Rather, we must reassess our regional approach and find ways to reassure the Pakistanis that they can address their long-standing national security objectives most effectively — both to the east and to the west — by working closely with the U.S. Increased unilateral operations in these areas [FATA] risk destabilizing the Pakistani state, alienating both the civilian government and military leadership, and provoking a broader governance crisis in Pakistan without finally achieving the goal.”

Ambassador Patterson made three critical points in this cable:

• It is the instability inAfghanistan(a consequence of the combined failure of NATO and Karzai government) that spilled over intoPakistan.
• It is theUnited Statesthat needs to review her policy.
• America’s military approach is destabilizing the Pakistani state.

Secretary Clinton may also wish to get the benefit of the views of Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles a former British ambassador inAfghanistanwho served for three years (2007-2010).

His recently published book, Cables From Kabul: The Inside Story of the West’s Afghanistan Campaign, is an ironic testimony to the fact that policies made in Washington, without real consultations with even a close American ally like Britain, and in total disregard of the views of the western diplomats on ground, have been at the heart of the American failure in Afghanistan.

Sir Sherad told British newspaper Guardian May 25 that American policy is “profoundly wrong.” “No doubt Petraeus has hammered the Taliban extremely hard,” he said. “I am sure that some of them are more willing to parlay. But, equally, for every dead Pashtun warrior there will be 10 pledged to revenge. I’m afraid I don’t think the present increase in violence is right or proper and its nightly slaughter of the Taliban without a political strategy in place is tactics not strategy. It is profoundly wrong and it’s not conducive to a stable political settlement.”

And it is not just the Pakistani media that has been harsh in its criticism of the US policy. A usually cautious and elitist paper, the Financial Times (FT) has warned about the potentially catastrophic consequences of American policy in an op-ed “How American folly could destroy Pakistan” published May 24. The FT opinion piece says:

“Washington must not get carried away by killing bin Laden. Killing the Afghan Taliban leadership is madness, given that Washington must talk to them about a settlement. Instead, the USshould reassure a thoroughly rattled and hostile Pakistani population, in part by cutting back on drone strikes. The danger is that a future US raid leads to a US-Pakistani fight, or a Pakistani mutiny. Then Washington, grotesquely, might contribute to the destruction of the Pakistani state it is trying to save.”

Perhaps, Secretary Clinton may wish to step back, take a deep breath, and just play a devil’s advocate against her own government’s policy. She might reach the conclusion, as two – one US and one British – Ambassadors did, that it is the misguided and heavy handed militaristic US policy which is the core issue and the right approach might be a constructive disengagement of the troops with a full and renewed focus on a political settlement.

I don’t understand why our liberals are so confused? It is elementary!Pakistan’s number one enemy is its own Army Generals. Their biggest supporter throughout our history has been theUnited States. Without its money and arms, Army Generals would have no choice but to behave according to their real size. If it was Libya or Syria that would have been found to have a link with events like the Mumbai attacks or financing the 9/11 hijackers, theUSwould have declared war. Or if Saleem Shahzad was a Chinese or Russian dissident, the White House would have made it a big international issue. But the US depends on the Pakistani Generals for the implementation of its regional agenda. Hence, saat khoon bhi maaf hein. As long as the US continues to prop the Generals up, on one pretext or the other, little is likely to change. So the answer to who isPakistan’s Number One Enemy: Generals and the U.S.

The only other reason for the ‘liberal’ confusion would be they are compromised by affiliations with the US organizations as Jamaat Islami and other right-wing groups have been through their ties with the Army generals going back to the 1970s. The right-wing would never say it is the Army Generals and a particular brand of ‘liberals’ would never like to acknowledge the role of theUSin sustaining the power of the military in Pakistan. So the people are left with half-truths and left bewildered as what is the truth? The truth is “mullah militancy is a policy tool of Pakistani establishment in a double game in which theUSis complicit through its money and arms given to the Generals through the decades.” I would like to know who would disagree with that and on what grounds?

www.stateofpakistan.org

 

 

 

 

Baba Ramdev’s anti Corruption Fast: New Face of Communal Politics

by Ram Puniyani 

The police crackdown on people assembled to participate on the anti corruption fast by Baba Ramdev on the Sunday night, 5th June 2011, needs to be condemned to no end. As the police methods are, brutal by there nature, in their effort to evacuate the Ramlila ground, they did resort to the firing of tear gas shells and lathi (baton) charge leading to injuries to many, including women and children. The police action was the culmination of the failure of the negotiations between Government and Ramdev. Ramdev is continuing his fast in his Patanjali Yoga Ashram in Haridwar.

A brief run down of the background and few details of the event are in order. After Anna Hazare started his fast for Lokpal bill at Jantar Mantar, Baba did join it. The fast by Anna Hazare got a lot of support from the middle class sections. All over one could see the hand of well organized machinery trying to crystallize the spontaneous upsurge of people in support of Anti Corruption movement led by Hazare. This again, one can see, came in the backdrop of massive scams, 2G etc. the scale of graft shook the people and the middle classes spontaneously supported the fast, and RSS backed up the fast and made the upsurge more organized. During this fast the whole attention was focused on Anna Hazare who was labeled as ‘Second Gandhi’! Baba had his differences with Annaji, as he had his own scheme of things to capitalize on the issue around his following. This following has been built up through his very ‘successful’ business of Yoga teaching. This Yoga is being lapped up in country with new anxieties and to overcome the new tensions of the globalized era.

Baba claims to have a massive following and after Annaji’s fast he declared that he too will go on fast with a focus on the illicit money stashed in foreign countries. He began his mobilizing work and his advisors included the RSS trained Govindacharya. His protest hunger strike was well organized, a sort of five star arrangements were put in place with massive expenditure. The support base of Ramdev is the section of middle class, including the trading community and the one’s with organizations like Khaps, who came in large number. Those who have seen the dharnas and protests of the deprived sections of society must have been gripped with shock that such massive funds can be mobilized with such a huge number participating in a protest, which though genuine, still just looks at the issue in a superficial way.

One concedes that corruption is one of the major scourges of our country, but one also knows that corruption is a superficial manifestation of the deeper rot of the system as a whole. The attempts to weed out corruption without addressing the gross inadequacies of the system and massive injustice prevailing it the society cannot work, as repeatedly demonstrated during the agitations led by Jaya Praksh Narayan and later V. P. Singh.

Still the section of population which participates in these protests is those, who are very different from the large suffering masses of the country. Generally this section is those, based on whom the BJP slogan of ‘Shining India’ depends. In addition, there is another following of Baba, whose own source of wealth may have dubious origin. Coming to Baba himself he is quite a phenomenon, a successful yoga teacher turned businessman and now on the threshold of the political ambition, hiding it all under the cover of saffron garb and religious image.

To pick up the sequence of events, once Baba was close to begin his fast, the Government got panicky for obvious reasons of electoral politics. RSS combine has the parallel support base like that of Baba. Negotiations with RSS were already on, about starting a new political party or to undertake maneuvers which can shift away substantial votes in the kitty of RSS politics, to its progeny BJP; working for a politics aimed at Hindu nation. The Government was keen to prevent his fast and in that direction they kneeled in front of Ramdev. The negotiation began and in the second round of negotiations the agreement was reached that government will expedite measures to ensure all in the direction of getting the illicit money from abroad and tighten the noose around those who have stashed such wealth. Ramdev’s associates signed the agreement and Ramdev declared that 99% of his demands have been met. Obviously it meant that there was no need for him to sit on the hunger strike.

Still once he came to Ramlila maidan (ground), he persisted on the fast. Now his associate claims that they purposely gave a letter of approval, as they feared being arrested. At this point of time the Government felt ditched. Normally these agitations are undertaken so that your demands are fulfilled and 99% is the highest success rate possible. So what was the intention in continuing the agitation? Obviously the fast was a pretext to ensure that the mobilization done for political goals should be consolidated and not be allowed to fritter away. The anti corruption label was just a façade and the goal was to strengthen the politics for Hindu Nation, something which had led to divisive tendencies in the country. Interesting things followed. Manmohan Singh says the crackdown was inevitable; the details are not given so one cannot say as to what was there in Government’s mind. It is at this time that the state authorities decided to take Ramdev away and get the Ramlila maidan cleared of those assembled there. When police approached to take Ramdev away, he jumped from the stage in the midst of his women supporters and disappeared. Few hours later he was spotted wearing the clothes of a women and hiding his beard with a duppata (scarf), from where he was taken away.

So far the experience of agitations is that the leader takes the first blow. The leader is there to protect the followers from the wrath of the police action. But this is politics of different hue. Here cowardice is paraded as bravery and honesty is replaced by tricks! After giving the letter to the Government, Ramdev backed out from that and like a ‘brave’ leader when the police wanted to take him away he hid behind the women and ran away wearing women’s clothes, leaving his followers to face the consequences of his mobilization! While giving the letter to withdraw the fast and after this disguise to escape, Ramdev justifies it by saying that these are the tactics followed by Shivaji. This argument lacks all the understanding of a democratic society. Shivaji was a king, battling with other kings for power. In democracy the agitations and discussions are undertaken to lead the path for pressure on Government. Leaders’ court arrest in a democracy to make their point and tricks are a cheap escape route for some. So here cowardice is being paraded as emulating a King’s methods.

The political aspects of the whole phenomenon are very curious. The RSS combine has underwritten the whole movement. It seems, after two defeats at the general elections, this political outfit is on the lookout for another issue which can give them the electoral rewards the way communal violence gives or the way Babri masjid demolition gave them. The present mobilization is the same which is for the Hindu nation, by and large, which is opposed to the rights of the Adivasis, Dalits and other marginalized sections of society. This was the pattern of the mobilization of Babri masjid demolition as well. The things are not so unclear by now. All the actors of demolition politics are very much around. Govindacharya, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Uma Bharti, in overt or covert manner. The other actors of demolition assault, Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi have joined in post dispersal protests. RSS functionaries have been the one’s who are the major backers of Ramdev. They have so far kept quiet after the atrocities against marginalized sections, against the violence against farmers or against minorities. Now the Babri demolition gang is leading the procession to Rashtrapati Bhavan and having a ‘celebratory dharna’, dancing and singing, to call for the joint session of parliament.

While the issue of corruption measures against corrupt is to be supported to the hilt, one has to distinguish the genuine and deeper efforts to root out the phenomenon of corruption from the sensational efforts and still bigger sensational presentation of the same by the large section of media. The glorification of Ramdev and the efforts around that are aimed to create a mass hysteria of the pre-Babri Masjid demolition days. The efforts for rooting out corruption had been on at various levels even earlier. What adds to the suspicion about the motives of the breast beating against corruption now is the very timing and the well organized nature of the protest.

The current protests also should bring our attention to another part of our democracy. In a democracy whether the Government is to be seen as less responsible than the civic action groups? While the civic actions groups play a most valuable part in the democracy, by putting pressures on the government in a multiple ways, we need to see that it is still through the elected government that the programs can be implemented. So where do we draw the line. If Government accepts 99% of your demands, is there a need for continuing your agitation. If there are differences in the joint committee formed by civic action groups and the government, what should be the weight-age of each group? After all government is an elected body. The trend of Babas and Swamis coming to the political arena gives a very dangerous message. Is it that we want to emulate Pakistan where Mullahs ruled the roost for long time and even now have a big weight in the political affairs, and that is one of the major reasons for the problems through which Pakistan is going through currently. Baba Ramdev, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Sri Sri Ravishanker have full right as a citizen, but to dabble in politics with the claims of spiritual following is to abuse of religious spirituality.

Many a theories will be tumbling out of the whole Ramdev episode, one of the role it has played is that it has diverted the attention away form the Sangh terror trails which have ravaged the country from Malegaon to Ajmer. The deeper links of those involved in the acts of terrorism with functionaries of affiliated organizations is out in the open now, one hopes that the authorities don’t loose sight to ensure that guilty of acts of terror are given the punishment due to them.

One reiterates that any violation of the peaceful protest for social issues is condemnable, at the same time the betrayal of compromises and five star dharnas may be having more to it than meets the eye is more than clear by now.

http://www.pluralindia.com

Working Paper on the Central Vigilance Commission and the Central Bureau of Investigation

The country has witnessed enormous increase in the incidence of corruption in recent times, with one major scam after another tumbling out of different cupboards.  The government of the day has cut a somewhat sorry figure, both inside as well as outside Parliament, in dealing with the menace.

It remained inactive for long and when it did take action, it was rather too little, besides being too late.

Lack of will by the government in dealing with the problem effectively is not of recent origin.  The government has never shown the keenness to strengthen and invigorate the anti corruption machinery that exists in the form of laws and institutions.

The two most important anti corruption agencies that exist at the central level are the Central Vigilance Commission and the Central Bureau of Investigation.

 

A working paper focusing on the growth of these two central agencies has been repared.  The paper written by Shri G. P. Joshi discusses some important issues relating to the working of the CVC and CBI.

 

Any comments that you may like to make on any point raised in this paper would be highly welcome.

 

http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/publications/police/cvc_cbi_some_developments_a_brief_history.pdf

 

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative

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E info@humanrightsinitiative.org W www.humanrightsinitiative.org

Sell All Above-15 Female Prisoners to Males

Kuwaiti leader Salwa al Mutairi has suggested that the purchase of female prisoners as sex slaves be legalized.

“Go and buy those and sell them here inKuwait. Better than to have our men engage in forbidden sexual relations”

Did she forget to consider how she would feel if she were a woman who was sold in this way?

How gallant of her to “suggest” that the women sold should be above 15-years-old. Mutari actually claimed the sold women will have a better life.

I want the world to see us in a better light because I believe that people like Mutari do not represent Muslims.

Jamhuriyat ki Khubsurti: Democracy is the Best Revenge; Interior Minister Should Go

[>http://www.facebook.com/ASAY.MA.WEL.CHE<

People of Pakistan were stunned when they watched the video showing Rangers personnel killing a young man in cold blood in a public place during the night of 8 June 2011. Passers-by gathered around the scene and made videos of the incident. The videos were then supplied to different television channels who broadcasted them immediately. Before the video was broadcasted, making the reality of the incident public, a spokesperson of the Sindh Rangers, a paramilitary force, issued a press statement claiming that the 25 year old Sarfaraz Shah was killed during an encounter with Rangers deployed outside a park inKarachi. The press release further claimed that Sarfaraz Shah was caught red handed while snatching cash and valuables from park visitors and that when Rangers officials entered the park, the young man fired at them. The Rangers further claim that they then returned fire, killing the so-called ‘bandit’.

But the claim of the Rangers was proven to be totally forged when, after some time, the television channels showed the unarmed young man being shot dead at a very close range by one of the five Rangers personnel present at the scene. Sarfaraz was seen pleading for his life and being surrounded by a group of Rangers personnel who fired at him in full public view. Please see the following link of the video footage broadcasted by different TV channels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mCbWIEk8qI.

Earlier this year, the government had decided to again grant police powers to the Rangers. The Rangers are now entitled to conduct raids, detain and interrogate suspects on their own. Enjoying the police powers emboldens the Rangers to kill common people and cover the killings as fake encounters. In May 2011, Rangers killed two young men form Lyari, in the old told of the Karachicity, claiming they had attacked the law enforcement agencies. In the current year, at least five persons have already been killed when the Rangers shot at them at point blank.

The extra judicial killing of Sarfaraz Shah clearly exposes the collapse of the rule of law in the country, where law enforcement authorities are using extra-judicial powers to kill anyone while claiming that they are working to maintain law and order and peace and to combat terrorism. Even if the Rangers’ version of events was accurate, that is to say if the deceased young man was a bandit, no law allows the Rangers to kill suspects, especially when they are unarmed and do not cause a direct threat to their lives. The victim should have been arrested and produced before a court for trial on charges of robbery and snatching. Usually in cases of fake encounters, government and its authorities do not launch any inquiry to determine the circumstances of the killings and blindly support the versions of events of the law enforcement agencies. Nevertheless, now thanks to the diffusion of electronic devices, ordinary people are making footages of such events with their cell phone cameras and provide them to the media. This now exposes the reality of the crimes which are committed in the name of maintaining peace and law and order.

This case is revealing of the law enforcement agencies’ belief that they are above the law and out of the reach of the courts. By conducting summary executions, they challenge the principles of fair trial, undermine the legal process through the courts and pose themselves as judge and executioner of the victim. This incident shows that every day in Pakistan, the right to life of the people is made a mockery of by the people who are at the helm of State affairs.

The Pakistan Rangers form a key part of the paramilitary force command. The Rangers are selected from the Pakistan Army and are placed under the direct control of the Ministry of the Interior. The Rangers are entrusted with the task to provide and maintain security in hot conflict and war zone areas. Its heads are always from the highest ranks of Pakistan Army. Since the deployment of the Rangers inKarachi and whole Sindh province in the early 1990s, challenges to law and order have been multiplied.

The Rangers are so arrogant that people are not even allowed to walk on the footpaths in front of their offices. Considering themselves as having the authority of the law, they have grabbed vast patches of land to establish their head offices in different cities of the province without following any legal process and are vulgarly using force against the people to affirm their power.

It is still not clear under which criminal sections of the Criminal Procedure Code the officials involved in the extra judicial killing of the young man were arrested but some media reports are suggesting that they were arrested under minor charges rather under the murder charges.

The government should immediately bring the perpetrators to open courts trial for the murder of an unarmed person in a public place.

The government must immediately withdraw the Rangers from the public places and strictly abide by the Rangers Ordinance 1959 according to which Rangers are supposed to provide and maintain security exclusively in hot conflict and war zone areas.

And last but not least, the Interior Minister should resign. Now is the time to find out if the Parliament is supreme or not.