The Taliban has turned on Christians with a vengeance for the ongoing army offensive against the Islamic militants in Pakistan.
Furious over the U.S. and Pakistan's military operations in Swat Valley, the Taliban attacked a Christian colony, causing fear and panic among its members who are joining 200,000 others leaving the town.
In Karachi city, a growing foothold of the Taliban, there were reports of attack on a Christian slum, where the hardcore extremists indulged in violent acts.
Pastor Salim Sadiq of Holy Spirit Church in Karachi, during a telephonic conversation with Christian Today, said Christian homes were pounded by the Islamic extremists who have vowed to avenge for "the suffering of their brotherhood in NWFP area."
"They barged into our homes shouting "death to infidels” and beat us, hurling murderous threats if we don’t convert to Islam," he said.He lamented that, "Christians have no voice here. We have been suffering from ages like this under the staunch Muslim militants who rape our daughters, burn our churches and raze down our homes."
"Although the majority Muslims need not worry about the military offensive on Taliban, for Christians who are so microscopic and fragile, it is a serious concern, as it will amplify the Taliban and foment dreadful violence on us."There is rising fear that Taliban insurgents will spread to main city with Swat being just 100 miles from Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.Sadiq predicts that a ruinous wave on Christians is in the offing.
The Associated Press on Thursday quoted Rev. Richard D'Souza of St. Jude Church in Karachi, saying, "In Pakistan today there is a lot of feeling of fear by all the minorities."In D'Souza's church after young Christians protested the anti-Christian graffiti on the church walls, 25 strong men with long beards went on a rampage, beating Christians, pelting stones and setting fire to homes. An 11-year-old boy was killed during the violent spree.
"The police never helped. None of us had weapons. The police just stood there," AP quoted 26-year-old Imran Masih, who spent 10 days in the hospital after a bullet pierced his neck. The U.N., meanwhile, said it had registered more than 800,000 Pakistanis fleeing fighting between the army and the Taliban.
Calling for massive aid operation, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, hinted that plights of displaced people might spark further conflict."If you are not able to cope with the challenges posed by such an overwhelming number of people displaced, in communities that have not the economic capacity to absorb them, and if the very serious humanitarian response is not organised, this population will become a huge factor of destabilisation."
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Murdered Pakistani girl may not receive justice
The murderers of a young Pakistani Christian girl may never be brought to justice as authorities end their search for her killers. Nisha Javid, nine, was walking near her home in the Punjab on Maundy Thursday this year when she was kidnapped, gang raped, beaten to death and left in a canal. Christians in the area believe the attack was meant to intimidate them, coming as it did the day before Good Friday. Now police have stopped looking for the perpetrators of the crime, reports Voice of the Martyrs Canada.
Christians in Pakistan often struggle to receive justice in the legal system as their testimonies are not regarded as valid compared to Muslim testimonies. A Christian man’s testimony is worth half of that of a Muslim man, while a Christian woman’s testimony is worth a quarter of a Muslim man's, meaning that crimes committed by Muslims against Christians often go unpunished, especially in cases of rape.
Recently another child, a boy aged 11, was killed by anti-Christian groups near his church. According to Voice of the Martyrs Canada many such attacks are not planned but happen when Christians get in the way of Muslims.
(Christian Today)
Christians in Pakistan often struggle to receive justice in the legal system as their testimonies are not regarded as valid compared to Muslim testimonies. A Christian man’s testimony is worth half of that of a Muslim man, while a Christian woman’s testimony is worth a quarter of a Muslim man's, meaning that crimes committed by Muslims against Christians often go unpunished, especially in cases of rape.
Recently another child, a boy aged 11, was killed by anti-Christian groups near his church. According to Voice of the Martyrs Canada many such attacks are not planned but happen when Christians get in the way of Muslims.
(Christian Today)
A Muslim raped Christian girl for four years after pledge on Quran to marry
Lahore, Pakistan: May 14, 2009. (PCP) A Christian girl Christian girl named Fozia aged 27 years, has been sexually abused by a Muslim for four years. She was in physical relation with Mohammad Asif who was promising to marry her. She lived with Asif without marriage for four years. She got three pregnancies, first she gave birth to a baby son (presently aged of one year and six months). She had miscarriage on her second pregnancy and third time she managed for abortion because the baby was died in her womb because Asif tortured her. Mohammad Asif got married with a Muslim girl in the first week of March 2009. Fozia approached Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan (SLMP) for help on April 17, 2009.Fozia belongs to a poor Christian family residing at Youhanabad Lahore. She has four brothers and three sisters. Her father is a laborer while brothers also do some labor work. Her mother and one of younger sisters do domestic work in the houses on wages. She was 15 years old when she started working a housemaid with her mother.
Fozia told all about the occurrence, she said “In the year 2005, I was doing job as a domestic worker in the house of a Muslim (in a posh area of Lahore known as Gulberg). I was doing 24 hours job for 1500 PKR (22 U.S Dollars) per month. On 5th May 2005, a Muslim named as Asif met with me in the neighboring house of my work place. He was doing some repairing work of sofas. I asked him if he can help me to buy a secondhand sofa for my family. Asif asked me to go with him so that he can show a sofa at some place. He deceivingly took me to a hotel and raped me. After raping, he promised that he will marry me. He took Quran in his hands and said that Quran will be witness of his promise and he can turn from every word but he cannot turn from this promise because Quran is witness and he is Muslim. I trusted him when he gave me pledge on Quran. He accommodated me into a rented house. I asked him to introduce me in his family but he always refused and said that he cannot introduce me because I am Christian. He abused me sexually for four years. Whenever I asked him to marry me, he replied that he need money for court marriage, and that he will arrange very soon. During this period he remained kind to me just for the times of having sex, otherwise he did not take care of me. He was living with his parents. He has been torturing, misusing and forcing me to go back to me family.”
Answering to a SLMP’s question, she told, “On January 1, 2008, I gave birth to a son in a private hospital. Asif did not take care of me; even he did not visit me in the hospital. I was alone at home when my labor pain was started; a lady from neighbors helped me. After few months of delivery, I conceived again. That was month of Ramdan (Muslims’ lent days), Asif mostly used to live with his family and rarely visit me, I stayed behind hungry for many days, because of my improper diet and hunger baby died in my womb and I had abortion. Two months later I conceived third time with a baby of Asif, at that time he tortured me ruthlessly in my pregnancy and due to physical torture I miscarried into the pregnancy.”
She said, “I could understand that he was creating circumstances for me to leave him. He stopped visiting, or to provide any facility. Eventually, I started begging in market. I was helpless, my son was hungry and I had to feed him.”
Fozia told that Asif, when he was intending to marry a Muslim girl, offered her an amount of money to leave him and not to tell that she has a son from Asif. She said, “I was aware that he is going to marry another (Muslim) girl, but he hurt my feelings more when he offered money with replacement of four precious years of my youth. He used me like a tissue paper and now wants to throw me in streets.”
Fozia is confronting lots of pressures because of having illegal child with her. Pakistani society does not accept such children. Even people don’t want to have any relation with girls those who have illegal child. This is very hard for Fozia to bring his child up as a respectable citizen. She contacted her family few days ago, but they flatly refused her to give shelter. One of her sisters (married) is willing to give her shelter but she wants Fozia to give her son to someone. Fozia does not want to leave the baby.
SLMP team member asked her that what she thinks her future would be. She said, “I am suffering from mental stress because I have not any other way to live. No body is accepting me; even my own family does not want to see me. I am unable to survive in these hardships. I cannot do job because of little child. He needs proper food, but I cannot provide him even a cup of milk. Sometimes I think where my fault was, trusted him with close eyes but he dodged me mercilessly.”
Fozia wants to take legal action against Asif, but there is great risk for her own life if she moves application in police station. She has nothing to prove her innocence that she was raped. If she moves application against Asif, police will also implicate her in adultery case, because she has also been involved willing having physical relation with Asif.
Rev. Sohail Johnson Chief Coordinator Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan strongly condemns such abuses with Christian girls. He said that conversion of Christian girls, forced marriages, such maltreatments, abuses and sexual assaults are drawbacks of Christian community in Pakistan. He expressed his sorrows over Fozia’s situation. He said that Fozia’s story remind us many other sisters in Christ sexually abused, kidnapped and forcibly married with Muslim guys, he said it should be stop now.
SLMP is concerned about Fozia and her son’s immediate needs like shelter and food. She needs special care and love to survive her mental stress. She is feeling alone and helpless. SLMP is trying to make her family not to harsh with her.
(Pakistan Christian Post)
Deadly bomb strikes Pakistan city
A bomb has exploded in Pakistan's north-western city of Peshawar, killing at least nine people and injuring others, police say.
The bomb exploded on a busy street in the city's Kashkal area, a police official told AP news agency.
A number of other people were injured and taken to nearby hospitals after the explosion, he said.
It came after officials in Islamabad said at least 10 people were killed by a suspected US drone in North Pakistan.
The unmanned aircraft fired missiles at a building and a vehicle in the North Waziristan tribal region. The officials said two foreign militants were among those killed, and several more people were injured.
Islamic school hit?
The Peshawar bomb exploded near a school bus in a busy street, police said.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack. Following the drone attack, there was no comment from US forces, but in the past they have used drones to target al-Qaeda militants.
Pakistani officials said the attack took place in the Khaisor area of North Waziristan - a region populated by ethnic Pashtuns.
One report quoted officials as saying the building hit was an Islamic school, but others described it as a compound or house.
On Tuesday, at least eight people were killed when a suspected US drone destroyed a house in Sra Khawra village in nearby South Waziristan district.
There are estimated to have been more than 30 strikes by US forces based in Afghanistan since August. Some 340 people are reported to have been killed, most in the North and South Waziristan tribal regions.
The Pakistan government has criticised the attacks, saying that civilians are among the casualties and that the raids boost support for the militants.
The American military has in the past announced the killing of several al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan's border area but seldom confirms the use of drones.
The latest violence comes as Pakistan's army continues its offensive against Taleban rebels in the Swat valley in country's north-west. Nearly one million people have fled from heavy fighting in the past two weeks, the UN says.
The UNHCR says the crisis could destabilise the entire region unless there is a massive response from the international community. It is expected to launch an emergency appeal for Pakistan in the next few days. Pakistan's Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, has described the situation as the country's worst refugee crisis since the bloody partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 at the end of colonial rule.
(BBC)
The bomb exploded on a busy street in the city's Kashkal area, a police official told AP news agency.
A number of other people were injured and taken to nearby hospitals after the explosion, he said.
It came after officials in Islamabad said at least 10 people were killed by a suspected US drone in North Pakistan.
The unmanned aircraft fired missiles at a building and a vehicle in the North Waziristan tribal region. The officials said two foreign militants were among those killed, and several more people were injured.
Islamic school hit?
The Peshawar bomb exploded near a school bus in a busy street, police said.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack. Following the drone attack, there was no comment from US forces, but in the past they have used drones to target al-Qaeda militants.
Pakistani officials said the attack took place in the Khaisor area of North Waziristan - a region populated by ethnic Pashtuns.
One report quoted officials as saying the building hit was an Islamic school, but others described it as a compound or house.
On Tuesday, at least eight people were killed when a suspected US drone destroyed a house in Sra Khawra village in nearby South Waziristan district.
There are estimated to have been more than 30 strikes by US forces based in Afghanistan since August. Some 340 people are reported to have been killed, most in the North and South Waziristan tribal regions.
The Pakistan government has criticised the attacks, saying that civilians are among the casualties and that the raids boost support for the militants.
The American military has in the past announced the killing of several al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan's border area but seldom confirms the use of drones.
The latest violence comes as Pakistan's army continues its offensive against Taleban rebels in the Swat valley in country's north-west. Nearly one million people have fled from heavy fighting in the past two weeks, the UN says.
The UNHCR says the crisis could destabilise the entire region unless there is a massive response from the international community. It is expected to launch an emergency appeal for Pakistan in the next few days. Pakistan's Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, has described the situation as the country's worst refugee crisis since the bloody partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 at the end of colonial rule.
(BBC)
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Pakistan's religious minorities report violence
By KATHY GANNON
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Fauzia Abrar had finally gotten her crying baby to sleep when screaming men pounded on the steel doors of her home in the mostly Christian slum in the port city of Karachi.
Suddenly she heard shots, and the screaming grew louder: "Long live Taliban! Death to infidels!"
The men forced their way into her house, hurled loose tiles and a glass at her and fired a shot. She fainted.
As the Taliban gains a stronger foothold in Pakistan, increasingly violent assaults against religious minorities are further evidence of its growing power and influence. While the Taliban does not carry out all of the attacks, extremist elements inspired by the group will sometimes act in its name.
These attacks add to the instability of an already highly unstable country and also show how Pakistan, supposed to be a U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic extremism, is now itself increasingly threatened by extremists.
In dozens of interviews from Karachi to Peshawar, Christians, Sikhs and Hindus told of attacks and threats and expressed an overwhelming sense of fear. Minority Rights Group International, a watchdog organization, ranked Pakistan last year as the world's top country for major increases in threats to minorities from 2007 — along with Sri Lanka, which is embroiled in civil war. The group lists Pakistan as seventh on the list of 10 most dangerous countries for minorities, after Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar and Congo.
"In Pakistan today there is a lot of feeling of fear by all the minorities," said the Rev. Richard D'Souza of St. Jude Church in Karachi. "We feel we have no protection."
The trouble in D'Souza's parish started with bold blue graffiti on the church walls praising the Taliban and Islamic law, and condemning Christians as infidels. Young Christians in the neighborhood protested.
Within days, about 25 burly men with shaggy beards rampaged through the neighborhood, beating Christians, pelting women with stones and setting fire to the doors of houses and to meager possessions. An 11-year-old boy was killed, and several people were wounded.
"The police never helped. None of us had weapons. The police just stood there," said 26-year-old Imran Masih, who spent 10 days in the hospital after a bullet pierced his neck.
Dozens of Christian families fled. One man who stayed, Sohail Masih, showed what is left of the family's two Bibles and a Sunday school book — a seared and crumbled mass of paper. He had wrapped it in plastic bags and hidden it, in case evidence was ever needed.
D'Souza said the parish is thinking of forming its own armed youth brigades to patrol Christian areas. When he asked the government for armored personnel carriers, he said, two bored-looking policemen showed up for the Easter Sunday service and were gone the next morning.
Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's minister for minorities affairs, said the government is trying to stop the Taliban through military operations.
"I don't say minorities are not worried. They have a genuine concern. They have been attacked," said Bhatti, a Christian. "The Taliban say non-Muslims are infidels, and the people who are misguided zealots can interpret this in any way. Minorities can be easy and soft targets of these extremists, but these Taliban are committing such violent acts that everyone feels fear in their presence — the minority and the majority in Pakistan."
Religious minorities represent about 5 percent of Pakistan's 160 million people, according to the CIA World Factbook. But Michael Javed, director of a peace council and a minister in southern Sindh, charged that census takers intentionally keep minority figures low to deny them greater representation. Christians alone represent 5 to 6 percent of the population, he said.
Javed said he has been told by militants to take the cross off his schools in Karachi, and has refused. Frightened Christians are trying to arm themselves, he said, pulling out a bulging file with more than 60 applications to buy weapons.
"It has never happened in the past like this. Today we feel we have no future. They want us to hide, but we won't," he said.
Even Shiite Muslims have come under attack as the Sunni Taliban tears through the tribal areas. In the past two years, the Taliban has embraced a violently anti-Shiite group, Lashkar-e-Janghvi, unleashing a fresh wave of bitter bloodletting. More than 500 Shiite Muslims in the Kurram tribal agency have been killed in daily attacks.
Editorials in local newspapers have warned of the threat to minorities and predicted that the brutality will eventually reach the larger population. In an April letter to the prime minister and president, Lahore Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha said allowing Islamic law in the violent Swat Valley would give license to "trigger-happy Taliban (and further) erode constitutional protections for minorities and women."
The Taliban issued an ultimatum in March to the elders of more than 25 Sikh families in the Orakzai tribal agency near the Afghan border: Convert to Islam, join the jihad or pay 5 billion rupees — roughly $62 million — for protection.
"We couldn't pay that amount. We were farmers," said a young Sikh who asked to be identified only as Singh, because he was too terrified to give his full name or location. He fidgeted nervously, and his voice became little more than a whisper as he recalled the Taliban's threat to take a Sikh leader to South Waziristan to decide his fate if the extortion money wasn't paid.
The villagers persuaded the Taliban to reduce the amount to 12 million rupees or $150,000 — still a princely sum for the Sikh community. But Singh said they raised enough money to get their elder released, with a promise to pay the rest by March 29.
On March 28, he said, the Sikhs paid the full amount, and the Taliban promised to protect them anywhere in Pakistan. But by 10 p.m. that day, the Taliban had told Sikh elders they were preparing to attack.
By 2 a.m., the elders had packed everyone into cars and trucks, and more than 150 Sikhs fled to Peshawar, the provincial capital of the northwest.
"What are we to do? We have nothing," Singh said. "We have asked the government of Pakistan, either relocate us to somewhere safe or send us to India."
The lives of Hindus are also in danger, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Last month, extremists attacked a Hindu Holi religious festival not far from the border with India, setting fire to a Hindu temple and destroying several shops. And last year, a young Hindu worker was beaten to death at a factory in Karachi by fellow workers who accused him of insulting Islam.
Although no figures are available, anecdotal evidence and human rights groups say attacks against Hindus have risen in the last two years, with temples and worshippers targeted especially in Sindh province, where Karachi is located.
"We are under more and more of a threat because of these extremists, but we ourselves feel if we take the wrong step, even to tell of the wrong things, then it will be death for us," said Amarnath Motumal, a lawyer and head of the Karachi Hindu Panchayat, representing Hindus. "We worry about the future of our families and our children here in Pakistan — all of us (minorities) do today because of these extremists."
(Associated Press)
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Fauzia Abrar had finally gotten her crying baby to sleep when screaming men pounded on the steel doors of her home in the mostly Christian slum in the port city of Karachi.
Suddenly she heard shots, and the screaming grew louder: "Long live Taliban! Death to infidels!"
The men forced their way into her house, hurled loose tiles and a glass at her and fired a shot. She fainted.
As the Taliban gains a stronger foothold in Pakistan, increasingly violent assaults against religious minorities are further evidence of its growing power and influence. While the Taliban does not carry out all of the attacks, extremist elements inspired by the group will sometimes act in its name.
These attacks add to the instability of an already highly unstable country and also show how Pakistan, supposed to be a U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic extremism, is now itself increasingly threatened by extremists.
In dozens of interviews from Karachi to Peshawar, Christians, Sikhs and Hindus told of attacks and threats and expressed an overwhelming sense of fear. Minority Rights Group International, a watchdog organization, ranked Pakistan last year as the world's top country for major increases in threats to minorities from 2007 — along with Sri Lanka, which is embroiled in civil war. The group lists Pakistan as seventh on the list of 10 most dangerous countries for minorities, after Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar and Congo.
"In Pakistan today there is a lot of feeling of fear by all the minorities," said the Rev. Richard D'Souza of St. Jude Church in Karachi. "We feel we have no protection."
The trouble in D'Souza's parish started with bold blue graffiti on the church walls praising the Taliban and Islamic law, and condemning Christians as infidels. Young Christians in the neighborhood protested.
Within days, about 25 burly men with shaggy beards rampaged through the neighborhood, beating Christians, pelting women with stones and setting fire to the doors of houses and to meager possessions. An 11-year-old boy was killed, and several people were wounded.
"The police never helped. None of us had weapons. The police just stood there," said 26-year-old Imran Masih, who spent 10 days in the hospital after a bullet pierced his neck.
Dozens of Christian families fled. One man who stayed, Sohail Masih, showed what is left of the family's two Bibles and a Sunday school book — a seared and crumbled mass of paper. He had wrapped it in plastic bags and hidden it, in case evidence was ever needed.
D'Souza said the parish is thinking of forming its own armed youth brigades to patrol Christian areas. When he asked the government for armored personnel carriers, he said, two bored-looking policemen showed up for the Easter Sunday service and were gone the next morning.
Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's minister for minorities affairs, said the government is trying to stop the Taliban through military operations.
"I don't say minorities are not worried. They have a genuine concern. They have been attacked," said Bhatti, a Christian. "The Taliban say non-Muslims are infidels, and the people who are misguided zealots can interpret this in any way. Minorities can be easy and soft targets of these extremists, but these Taliban are committing such violent acts that everyone feels fear in their presence — the minority and the majority in Pakistan."
Religious minorities represent about 5 percent of Pakistan's 160 million people, according to the CIA World Factbook. But Michael Javed, director of a peace council and a minister in southern Sindh, charged that census takers intentionally keep minority figures low to deny them greater representation. Christians alone represent 5 to 6 percent of the population, he said.
Javed said he has been told by militants to take the cross off his schools in Karachi, and has refused. Frightened Christians are trying to arm themselves, he said, pulling out a bulging file with more than 60 applications to buy weapons.
"It has never happened in the past like this. Today we feel we have no future. They want us to hide, but we won't," he said.
Even Shiite Muslims have come under attack as the Sunni Taliban tears through the tribal areas. In the past two years, the Taliban has embraced a violently anti-Shiite group, Lashkar-e-Janghvi, unleashing a fresh wave of bitter bloodletting. More than 500 Shiite Muslims in the Kurram tribal agency have been killed in daily attacks.
Editorials in local newspapers have warned of the threat to minorities and predicted that the brutality will eventually reach the larger population. In an April letter to the prime minister and president, Lahore Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha said allowing Islamic law in the violent Swat Valley would give license to "trigger-happy Taliban (and further) erode constitutional protections for minorities and women."
The Taliban issued an ultimatum in March to the elders of more than 25 Sikh families in the Orakzai tribal agency near the Afghan border: Convert to Islam, join the jihad or pay 5 billion rupees — roughly $62 million — for protection.
"We couldn't pay that amount. We were farmers," said a young Sikh who asked to be identified only as Singh, because he was too terrified to give his full name or location. He fidgeted nervously, and his voice became little more than a whisper as he recalled the Taliban's threat to take a Sikh leader to South Waziristan to decide his fate if the extortion money wasn't paid.
The villagers persuaded the Taliban to reduce the amount to 12 million rupees or $150,000 — still a princely sum for the Sikh community. But Singh said they raised enough money to get their elder released, with a promise to pay the rest by March 29.
On March 28, he said, the Sikhs paid the full amount, and the Taliban promised to protect them anywhere in Pakistan. But by 10 p.m. that day, the Taliban had told Sikh elders they were preparing to attack.
By 2 a.m., the elders had packed everyone into cars and trucks, and more than 150 Sikhs fled to Peshawar, the provincial capital of the northwest.
"What are we to do? We have nothing," Singh said. "We have asked the government of Pakistan, either relocate us to somewhere safe or send us to India."
The lives of Hindus are also in danger, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Last month, extremists attacked a Hindu Holi religious festival not far from the border with India, setting fire to a Hindu temple and destroying several shops. And last year, a young Hindu worker was beaten to death at a factory in Karachi by fellow workers who accused him of insulting Islam.
Although no figures are available, anecdotal evidence and human rights groups say attacks against Hindus have risen in the last two years, with temples and worshippers targeted especially in Sindh province, where Karachi is located.
"We are under more and more of a threat because of these extremists, but we ourselves feel if we take the wrong step, even to tell of the wrong things, then it will be death for us," said Amarnath Motumal, a lawyer and head of the Karachi Hindu Panchayat, representing Hindus. "We worry about the future of our families and our children here in Pakistan — all of us (minorities) do today because of these extremists."
(Associated Press)
Girls’ school blown up in Bannu
BANNU: Suspected Taliban blew up a government girls’ primary school in Ibrahim Mumshkhel area on Wednesday morning. According to police, explosives planted inside the school destroyed the entire building. There were no casualties. app
‘Pakistan can defy the odds’
* Report says weak Pakistani state can be rescued by reforms and global support
LAHORE: Pakistan is being seen as a failing state and questions are being raised about the safety of its nuclear weapons in case of a Taliban or Al Qaeda takeover, but a US think tank report released at a congressional hearing on Monday says the country has the ability to “defy the odds”.
Pakistan is “a democratic society trapped inside an undemocratic state”, according to the report on the future of the country report by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding titeld ‘Pakistan Can Defy the Odds: How to Rescue a Failing State’. The briefing was sponsored by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson. The approximately two dozen suicide bombings in 2009 so far, 66 in 2008, and 61 in 2007, are a matter of concern in the context of the evolving crisis in Pakistan, according to the report. But “terrorists need far more than suicide bombers to get hold of nuclear materials”, the report said.
More alarming is the expanding influence of the Taliban in FATA and NWFP – that the report blames partly on “poor law enforcement capacity and inadequate counterinsurgency know-how on the part of Pakistan’s army” – and “confused threat perceptions and popular conspiratorial thinking” that “encourages the denial of reality”. But although these threats along with failing infrastructure and absence of good governance show a dismal scenario, there is another side of the picture, according to the report.
The “courageous and sustained lawyers’ movement” has “inspired ... thousands of Pakistanis to struggle for the rule of law, an independent judiciary, and the supremacy of the constitution”, and “a vibrant and enthusiastic electronic and print media” helped the cause “though sometimes at the cost of objectivity”. A large number of Pakistani writers, artists, poets, and intellectuals are readying people to face challenges including religious bigotry, the report says, and a number of women are joining Pakistan’s army and air force as soldiers and fighter pilots – “something inconceivable for many Pakistanis just a decade ago due to cultural as well as dogmatic religious worldviews”. These examples, according to the report, show a “picture of hope and change”. In this context, the report says dealings between the US and Pakistan “increasingly fraught with resentment, miscommunication, and a sense of caginess” should be improved to “build a deeper, sustainable, and long-term strategic engagement with the people of Pakistan”.
The report ends with a quote from Professor Robert I Rotberg: that weak states (or states in crisis) “may be inherently weak because of geographical, physical or fundamental economic constraints; or they may be basically strong, but temporarily or situationally weak because of internal antagonisms, management flaws, greed, despotism, or external attacks. Weak states typically harbor ethnic, religious, linguistic, or other intercommunal tensions... Urban crime rates tend to be high and increasing... Schools and hospitals show sign of neglect... GDP per capita and other critical economic indicators have fallen or are falling... Weak states usually honor rule of law precepts in the breach.” daily times monitor
(Daily Times)
LAHORE: Pakistan is being seen as a failing state and questions are being raised about the safety of its nuclear weapons in case of a Taliban or Al Qaeda takeover, but a US think tank report released at a congressional hearing on Monday says the country has the ability to “defy the odds”.
Pakistan is “a democratic society trapped inside an undemocratic state”, according to the report on the future of the country report by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding titeld ‘Pakistan Can Defy the Odds: How to Rescue a Failing State’. The briefing was sponsored by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson. The approximately two dozen suicide bombings in 2009 so far, 66 in 2008, and 61 in 2007, are a matter of concern in the context of the evolving crisis in Pakistan, according to the report. But “terrorists need far more than suicide bombers to get hold of nuclear materials”, the report said.
More alarming is the expanding influence of the Taliban in FATA and NWFP – that the report blames partly on “poor law enforcement capacity and inadequate counterinsurgency know-how on the part of Pakistan’s army” – and “confused threat perceptions and popular conspiratorial thinking” that “encourages the denial of reality”. But although these threats along with failing infrastructure and absence of good governance show a dismal scenario, there is another side of the picture, according to the report.
The “courageous and sustained lawyers’ movement” has “inspired ... thousands of Pakistanis to struggle for the rule of law, an independent judiciary, and the supremacy of the constitution”, and “a vibrant and enthusiastic electronic and print media” helped the cause “though sometimes at the cost of objectivity”. A large number of Pakistani writers, artists, poets, and intellectuals are readying people to face challenges including religious bigotry, the report says, and a number of women are joining Pakistan’s army and air force as soldiers and fighter pilots – “something inconceivable for many Pakistanis just a decade ago due to cultural as well as dogmatic religious worldviews”. These examples, according to the report, show a “picture of hope and change”. In this context, the report says dealings between the US and Pakistan “increasingly fraught with resentment, miscommunication, and a sense of caginess” should be improved to “build a deeper, sustainable, and long-term strategic engagement with the people of Pakistan”.
The report ends with a quote from Professor Robert I Rotberg: that weak states (or states in crisis) “may be inherently weak because of geographical, physical or fundamental economic constraints; or they may be basically strong, but temporarily or situationally weak because of internal antagonisms, management flaws, greed, despotism, or external attacks. Weak states typically harbor ethnic, religious, linguistic, or other intercommunal tensions... Urban crime rates tend to be high and increasing... Schools and hospitals show sign of neglect... GDP per capita and other critical economic indicators have fallen or are falling... Weak states usually honor rule of law precepts in the breach.” daily times monitor
(Daily Times)
Swat outlook ‘pretty bleak’: Kilcullen
* US strategist says Pak military has no counterinsurgency capability
LAHORE: Pakistan’s campaign against the Swat Taliban has only a limited chance of success, a counter-insurgency expert has warned.David Kilcullen, hailed as a key strategist behind the US success in Iraq, has said outlook for the operation is “pretty bleak” given the army’s inexperience and its refusal to accept help from the west. Kilcullen has been a leading adviser to Gen David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command.In an interview with the Financial Times, Kilcullen said he doubted Pakistan could succeed. He added that the failure would endanger the international mission in Afghanistan by cutting off NATO supply routes. Capability: “The Pakistani military has no capability for what we would call counterinsurgency,” he said. “What they are doing in the Swat valley is a conventional offensive ... they need a more sophisticated approach and they need training and assistance, which they are currently refusing.”“They will move into Swat, they will fight the Taliban, there will be half a million refugees, there will be immense dislocation. I’m not sure that, looking back on this in six months, we will see any improvement.” Kilcullen said the situation in Pakistan was central to NATO’s Afghan mission. The strategist also warned that US drone strikes in the Tribal Areas were counter-productive. “They have an undeniable benefit…but have a negative strategic effect” as they incited militancy, he said.
LAHORE: Pakistan’s campaign against the Swat Taliban has only a limited chance of success, a counter-insurgency expert has warned.David Kilcullen, hailed as a key strategist behind the US success in Iraq, has said outlook for the operation is “pretty bleak” given the army’s inexperience and its refusal to accept help from the west. Kilcullen has been a leading adviser to Gen David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command.In an interview with the Financial Times, Kilcullen said he doubted Pakistan could succeed. He added that the failure would endanger the international mission in Afghanistan by cutting off NATO supply routes. Capability: “The Pakistani military has no capability for what we would call counterinsurgency,” he said. “What they are doing in the Swat valley is a conventional offensive ... they need a more sophisticated approach and they need training and assistance, which they are currently refusing.”“They will move into Swat, they will fight the Taliban, there will be half a million refugees, there will be immense dislocation. I’m not sure that, looking back on this in six months, we will see any improvement.” Kilcullen said the situation in Pakistan was central to NATO’s Afghan mission. The strategist also warned that US drone strikes in the Tribal Areas were counter-productive. “They have an undeniable benefit…but have a negative strategic effect” as they incited militancy, he said.
UK filmmakers attacked
LAHORE: A British filmmaker fled Pakistan after his crew was shot at near Quetta. David Whitney was shooting Kandahar Break, a film about Taliban-rule in Afghanistan. The crew was flown out of the country within 24 hours. “Fortunately we all survived, but it was terrifying,” Whitney told BBC. “Four members of our crew were shot but they escaped without serious injury... We were flown straight out of Quetta, landed in Islamabad and then onto Manchester. I was really disappointed though, we were at a crucial point in the filming.” With three-quarters of the production finished, Whitney managed to get financial backing and ended up shooting the rest of it in Tunisia. Having just finished filming, he hopes to release it in July. daily times monito(Daily Times)
India confirms Pakistani troop reduction at border
LAHORE: New Delhi has confirmed that Pakistan has shifted troops from its border with India to its border with Afghanistan, Hindustan Times (HT) has reported. The paper quoted a top government official as saying, “There has been a 'thinning' of troops but they have 'many more' which can be moved out.” It said it was “the first official confirmation from India of Islamabad moving out troops from its border with India”. “This is a unilateral decision (by Pakistan) and has nothing to do with a similar reduction by India. We are under no pressure from the US,” the official said.daily times monitor
(Daily Times)
(Daily Times)
Taliban ask politicians to quit
LAHORE: All national and provincial parliament members from Malakand division must resign within three days or their families will be captured and their buildings destroyed, Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said on Wednesday. He told CNN the Taliban had only killed people that had a negative impact on society, “like people who are working for army”. He also issued a directive for religious political parties, saying they must hold press conferences to show support for the Taliban and sharia law in Malakand. daily times monitor
670,000 flee Swat conflict: UNHCR
ISLAMABAD: The number of people who have fled fighting in northwest Pakistan and registered with authorities in the last 11 days has increased to more than 670,000, the United Nations (UN) refugee agency said on Wednesday. “The new figure of registered people since May 2 for the new influx is 670,906. That breaks down to 79,842 in the camps and 591,064 out of camps,” UN High Commission for Refugees spokeswoman Ariane Rummery said. Those who were not sheltering in camps might be renting homes, staying with friends or relatives, or camping out elsewhere, Rummery said. The total number of those displaced by the latest fighting between the Pakistani military and the Taliban was likely to be higher, she added. Wednesday’s number was up from the 501,496 people who had registered as of late Tuesday. afp
(Daily Times)
(Daily Times)
Afghan war rules set to change
LAHORE: The new US commander in Afghanistan, Lt-Gen Stanley McChrystal, is likely to be willing – unlike his predecessors – to fight on both sides of the border with Pakistan, the New York Times has announced.
McChrystal, it says, is a counterinsurgency expert who for years has viewed the violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan as a single problem.Senior US officials told the paper that Gen McChrystal would have no “explicit mandate” to carry out military strikes in Pakistan.
At the same time, current and former officials said he was ideally suited to carry out a White House strategy that regards Afghanistan and Pakistan as a single problem. “For him to be successful, he’s going to have to fight the war on both sides of the border,” said Robert Richer, a retired CIA officer who has worked with McChrystal.
Administration officials and lawmakers have said the decision to install McChrystal was driven at least in part by a desire to elevate a new generation of army leaders with fresh thinking. “This is less about Gen McKiernan than it is about a new counterinsurgency strategy and a new leadership to reinvigorate that strategy,” said Senator Jack Reed. McChrystal was a key advocate last year of a plan, ultimately approved by former president George Bush, to use American commandos to strike at Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan. And a senior CIA official based at Bagram was made in charge of CIA and military commando missions in “Afghanistan and Pakistan”.
Two officials said McKiernan had resisted the creation of a new operational command in Afghanistan that Gates announced on Monday. McChrystal not only supported the plan, but has also pressed for the creation of a new cadre of American officers who would specialise in Afghanistan and serve repeated tours there.
(Daily Times)
McChrystal, it says, is a counterinsurgency expert who for years has viewed the violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan as a single problem.Senior US officials told the paper that Gen McChrystal would have no “explicit mandate” to carry out military strikes in Pakistan.
At the same time, current and former officials said he was ideally suited to carry out a White House strategy that regards Afghanistan and Pakistan as a single problem. “For him to be successful, he’s going to have to fight the war on both sides of the border,” said Robert Richer, a retired CIA officer who has worked with McChrystal.
Administration officials and lawmakers have said the decision to install McChrystal was driven at least in part by a desire to elevate a new generation of army leaders with fresh thinking. “This is less about Gen McKiernan than it is about a new counterinsurgency strategy and a new leadership to reinvigorate that strategy,” said Senator Jack Reed. McChrystal was a key advocate last year of a plan, ultimately approved by former president George Bush, to use American commandos to strike at Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan. And a senior CIA official based at Bagram was made in charge of CIA and military commando missions in “Afghanistan and Pakistan”.
Two officials said McKiernan had resisted the creation of a new operational command in Afghanistan that Gates announced on Monday. McChrystal not only supported the plan, but has also pressed for the creation of a new cadre of American officers who would specialise in Afghanistan and serve repeated tours there.
(Daily Times)
BBC map illustrates Taliban spread
* Research suggests only 38 percent of NWFP, FATA under firm government control
* Says there is high likelihood of increase in Taliban militancy in 47 percent of Punjab in near future
LAHORE: A map produced by the BBC suggests that only 38 percent of the NWFP and the FATA is under firm government control.
The army is currently trying to reclaim part of the region from the Taliban. The report the map was based on covered the 24 districts of NWFP and the seven tribal agencies and six frontier regions of the FATA. The researchers analysed reports from BBC Urdu correspondents over the past 18 months, backed up by conversations with local officials, police officers and journalists. They concluded that in 24 percent of the region the civilian government no longer exercised authority. Either the Taliban were in complete control or the military was engaged in operations to flush them out. Another 38 percent of the region was deemed to have a permanent Taliban presence, meaning they had established bases restricting local government activities and seriously compromising local administration. In these areas – three FATA and 11 NWFP districts – the Taliban carried out periodic attacks at will on girls’ schools, music shops, police stations and government buildings. Considering the region is notorious for its lack of law and order, the researchers applied certain rules to differentiate Taliban activity from general lawlessness: The incidents had to be of a recurring nature, there had to be an official recognition of Taliban presence, Taliban must have appointed local “commanders” and there must be functional religious schools sympathetic to the Taliban in the area. The research also indicates areas to which researchers believe Taliban-style militancy might spread. Likelihood: The report found that, based on current perceptions of religiously motivated violence, there was a high likelihood of an increase in Taliban militancy in the near future in 47 percent of the Punjab. BBC’s Barbara Plett as well as independent observers warned against overstating the existence of a unified insurgency.
(Daily Times Monitor)
JD active in Swat under new name
UK paper says group arranging bus fares for displaced people, emergency lodgings in madrassas, planning 2 camps for 3,000 families
LAHORE: A banned charity accused of links to the Mumbai attacks has resurfaced in Pakistan, this time running an extensive aid programme for the people fleeing fighting in Swat, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday.The Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) offers food, medical care and transport to villagers fleeing into Mardan district, it said.But the paper said, citing experts and some FIF members, that the group was a renamed relief wing of Jamaatud Dawa, a group the Pakistani government banned last December after the UN declared it a terrorist organisation.Dawa volunteers have now re-emerged under a new name to collect relief supplies for the internally displaced persons (IDPs).Their first relief camp is located outside Sher Gur in Mardan, a few hundred metres from the border with Malakand, where the fighting is concentrated.Present at the camp was Abdur Rauf, the FIF head and the former head of Dawa’s welfare wing.Rauf told Guardian that the group’s 24-hour kitchens had fed 53,000 people in roadside camps and in schools where people were living, adding that a fleet of 23 minibuses had transported victims from the battle zone and seven ambulances took the injured to hospital.Relief work: He said the FIF was willing to pay bus fares for people fleeing to Lahore and Karachi, and was organising emergency lodgings in madrassas for those remaining behind. The charity also intended to build two tented camps catering for 3,000 displaced families in the coming month, the paper said.
(Daily Times)
LAHORE: A banned charity accused of links to the Mumbai attacks has resurfaced in Pakistan, this time running an extensive aid programme for the people fleeing fighting in Swat, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday.The Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) offers food, medical care and transport to villagers fleeing into Mardan district, it said.But the paper said, citing experts and some FIF members, that the group was a renamed relief wing of Jamaatud Dawa, a group the Pakistani government banned last December after the UN declared it a terrorist organisation.Dawa volunteers have now re-emerged under a new name to collect relief supplies for the internally displaced persons (IDPs).Their first relief camp is located outside Sher Gur in Mardan, a few hundred metres from the border with Malakand, where the fighting is concentrated.Present at the camp was Abdur Rauf, the FIF head and the former head of Dawa’s welfare wing.Rauf told Guardian that the group’s 24-hour kitchens had fed 53,000 people in roadside camps and in schools where people were living, adding that a fleet of 23 minibuses had transported victims from the battle zone and seven ambulances took the injured to hospital.Relief work: He said the FIF was willing to pay bus fares for people fleeing to Lahore and Karachi, and was organising emergency lodgings in madrassas for those remaining behind. The charity also intended to build two tented camps catering for 3,000 displaced families in the coming month, the paper said.
(Daily Times)
Pakistani Christians Face Discrimination at Relief Camps
Christian Web News - In the northwestern Swat valley, more than 360,000 civilians have fled their homes this past week as Pakistan's army attacks Taliban strongholds in the area. As civilians flood into relief camps, Christians are claiming they are being discriminated against by the local authorities.
According to a Christian source, government-designated staffs at relief camps are denying Christians permission to register and the minority faces social ostracism, threats, and abuse.
Pakistan Christian Congress Chief, Dr. Nazir S Bhatti, said the registration process for Christians, Sikhs and Hindus at relief camps has been harsh and he called upon the Federal Minority Ministry to set up separate camps for the persecuted groups.
Bhatti, quoting a displaced Christian, Yousaf Masih said, “The staff on registration duty appointed by government is not permitting them in camps on a plea that Muslim displaced families cannot share food made for them which is prepared and distributed by them.”
According to Yousaf, Christians have been asked to set up tents and prepare food separately.
After being unable to access any relief camps, Yousaf and five other families finally ended up staying at a relative's house in Peshawar. The Christian explained that it was even difficult to talk to U.N. representatives due to the language barrier.
He said there are also hundreds of Christian families in Mangora city who are unable to flee due to expensive transport and erratic bus services.
Unfortunately, these instances come as no surprise since the Christian population in Pakistan already face severe persecution in the hands of Islamic fundamentalists, who routinely kidnap Christian girls, force conversion and sometimes burn their homes.
Bhatti has demanded that the government make special arrangements to pull Christians from Swat valley and set up camps for them. There are over 500,000 Christians in NWFP who are facing hardships and abuse, according to Bhatti.
He said Pakistan Christians fully support the military offensive against the Taliban extremism.
(Christian Web News)
According to a Christian source, government-designated staffs at relief camps are denying Christians permission to register and the minority faces social ostracism, threats, and abuse.
Pakistan Christian Congress Chief, Dr. Nazir S Bhatti, said the registration process for Christians, Sikhs and Hindus at relief camps has been harsh and he called upon the Federal Minority Ministry to set up separate camps for the persecuted groups.
Bhatti, quoting a displaced Christian, Yousaf Masih said, “The staff on registration duty appointed by government is not permitting them in camps on a plea that Muslim displaced families cannot share food made for them which is prepared and distributed by them.”
According to Yousaf, Christians have been asked to set up tents and prepare food separately.
After being unable to access any relief camps, Yousaf and five other families finally ended up staying at a relative's house in Peshawar. The Christian explained that it was even difficult to talk to U.N. representatives due to the language barrier.
He said there are also hundreds of Christian families in Mangora city who are unable to flee due to expensive transport and erratic bus services.
Unfortunately, these instances come as no surprise since the Christian population in Pakistan already face severe persecution in the hands of Islamic fundamentalists, who routinely kidnap Christian girls, force conversion and sometimes burn their homes.
Bhatti has demanded that the government make special arrangements to pull Christians from Swat valley and set up camps for them. There are over 500,000 Christians in NWFP who are facing hardships and abuse, according to Bhatti.
He said Pakistan Christians fully support the military offensive against the Taliban extremism.
(Christian Web News)
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
751 militants killed, 29 troops martyred in operation: ISPR
RAWALPINDI: Director General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj. General Athar Abbas Tuesday said 751 militants have so far been killed while 29 security men martyred and 77 others injured in operation Raah-e-Haq underway in Swat and other parts of Malakand.
Giving updates of the ongoing operation, DG ISPR said the security forces have accomplished significant achievements, adding the images and videos of the dead militants will be released tomorrow.
He said today Pakistan army’s heliborne troops landed in Peochar, a key Taliban stronghold in the northwest district of Swat. Militants’ hideouts were destroyed in Baba Ziarat area and some arrests were also made, he told the reports.
Four security personnel lost their lives in militants’ attack on Kanju Police Station and Kilay while 4 militants were killed in Imam Dheri.
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the army is setting up hospitals and camps for the IDPs coming from the battle zones and so far 1.3 million people have migrated. In this connection, services of NADRA are being used, he added.
He said Ibn-e-Aql, brother of Ibn-e-Umer, has been killed in the ongoing operation and added that no information has been received of any significant foreign militant’s presence.
The ISPR Chief said efforts are on to drive out the militants from the area. Operation has been conducted from Chakdarra to Gulabad and the militants are swiftly losing ground.
He said the military is abstaining from using helicopters for carrying out offensives to avoid collateral damage and main focus is on ground operation.
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the militants have planted land mines on roads and ground in Mingora and Swat.
Government spokesman on the occasion announced that a special fund has been set up for the families affected by terrorist activities.
DG ISPR replying to a question said action is being taken after receiving report from the intelligence agencies but stopped short of giving any details.
(Pak Tribune)
Giving updates of the ongoing operation, DG ISPR said the security forces have accomplished significant achievements, adding the images and videos of the dead militants will be released tomorrow.
He said today Pakistan army’s heliborne troops landed in Peochar, a key Taliban stronghold in the northwest district of Swat. Militants’ hideouts were destroyed in Baba Ziarat area and some arrests were also made, he told the reports.
Four security personnel lost their lives in militants’ attack on Kanju Police Station and Kilay while 4 militants were killed in Imam Dheri.
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the army is setting up hospitals and camps for the IDPs coming from the battle zones and so far 1.3 million people have migrated. In this connection, services of NADRA are being used, he added.
He said Ibn-e-Aql, brother of Ibn-e-Umer, has been killed in the ongoing operation and added that no information has been received of any significant foreign militant’s presence.
The ISPR Chief said efforts are on to drive out the militants from the area. Operation has been conducted from Chakdarra to Gulabad and the militants are swiftly losing ground.
He said the military is abstaining from using helicopters for carrying out offensives to avoid collateral damage and main focus is on ground operation.
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the militants have planted land mines on roads and ground in Mingora and Swat.
Government spokesman on the occasion announced that a special fund has been set up for the families affected by terrorist activities.
DG ISPR replying to a question said action is being taken after receiving report from the intelligence agencies but stopped short of giving any details.
(Pak Tribune)
Canadian Pakistani Christian Diaspora express “No Confidence” on Federal Minority Minister of Pakistan
Toronto, Canada: May 11, 2009. (PCP) Mr. Aftab Rana, a community leader organized a meeting on May 9, 2009, in Toronto to defuse tension among Canadian Pakistani Christians on forthcoming venue in honor of Shahbaz Bhatti,
Federal Minority Minster in Pakistani government dated May 17, 2009. The said gathering turned disputed on statement by minority minister in Pakistani media that “Christians are enjoying equal rights in Pakistan” which was termed as denial to facts by thousands of Canadian Pakistani Christians.
Mr. Aftab Rana invited the organizers of reception of minority minister and protesting Christians for clarifications of comments and chalk out united agenda. The opportunity of Teleconference was also managed that Pakistani Christians around the globe may participate in reconciliation meeting.
A large number of Christians gathered in Toronto on May 9, 2009, while organizations from UK and Pakistan expressed their views via Teleconference.
Mr. Aftab Rana issued following press release for media which PCP is publishing without editing:
Dear Friends,
I would like to thank all the local community members and members of overseas organizations who participated in this important community meeting to discuss the current situation of minorities in Pakistan, and on the negative role of selected Minority Minister under the government of PPP. This meeting was called with a true spirit to defuse the differences between the community and International Christian Voice (ICV) because of Minister of Minority’s false statement on equal rights, voting in favor of Sharia Laws and his continuous ignorance toward community's day to day issues/incidents. The ICV was invited to defend their dubious leadership, but regretfully they refused to show up in the meeting, further jeopardizing their role and efforts towards the well being of Pakistani Christian community. This ignorance of ICV has raised many questions and the community has seen the true face of ICV, not different from Minister of Minority, who is ignoring minorities in Pakistan. It is very clear now that this organization has no involvement with human rights issues based on persecution and has become a government puppet failing to protect the minorities.
The organizations from UK and Pakistan were contacted via teleconference and shared the plight of minorities and lack of support of government of Pakistan and in particular a Christian Minority Minister. It has been observed that members of the community in Pakistan and abroad has no confidence over the role being played by the Minority Minister as he is not responding the calls of the oppressed and suffering minorities while in need.
In keeping with the views shared by the majority of the participants as well as the representatives of the overseas organizations it has been concluded that the Minister and his organizations based locally and in Pakistan has no respect and interest in the welfare of the minorities.
It is my humble request to local organizations to please come forward to unite the community. It has been noticed that some of the self made leaders have ignored the community by shaking hands individually with government officials of both Pakistan and Canada without confidence of the community. It is my request to stop corner political meetings and speak out for the truth and stop making jokes on the oppressed and suffering community.
At the end, I would like to emphasis that without unity it is impossible to achieve the goals, just think and follow other communities around, through unity they are achieving and becoming more successful in raising their voices.
As being neutral body, I have tried my best and it is up to community members to decide the next step.
Thank you and God bless,Aftab Rana,
According to sources it was revealed to PCP that Pakistani Christian Diaspora will write to Canadian government to cancel official visit of Federal Minority Minister to Canada.
(Pakistan Christian Post)
Federal Minority Minster in Pakistani government dated May 17, 2009. The said gathering turned disputed on statement by minority minister in Pakistani media that “Christians are enjoying equal rights in Pakistan” which was termed as denial to facts by thousands of Canadian Pakistani Christians.
Mr. Aftab Rana invited the organizers of reception of minority minister and protesting Christians for clarifications of comments and chalk out united agenda. The opportunity of Teleconference was also managed that Pakistani Christians around the globe may participate in reconciliation meeting.
A large number of Christians gathered in Toronto on May 9, 2009, while organizations from UK and Pakistan expressed their views via Teleconference.
Mr. Aftab Rana issued following press release for media which PCP is publishing without editing:
Dear Friends,
I would like to thank all the local community members and members of overseas organizations who participated in this important community meeting to discuss the current situation of minorities in Pakistan, and on the negative role of selected Minority Minister under the government of PPP. This meeting was called with a true spirit to defuse the differences between the community and International Christian Voice (ICV) because of Minister of Minority’s false statement on equal rights, voting in favor of Sharia Laws and his continuous ignorance toward community's day to day issues/incidents. The ICV was invited to defend their dubious leadership, but regretfully they refused to show up in the meeting, further jeopardizing their role and efforts towards the well being of Pakistani Christian community. This ignorance of ICV has raised many questions and the community has seen the true face of ICV, not different from Minister of Minority, who is ignoring minorities in Pakistan. It is very clear now that this organization has no involvement with human rights issues based on persecution and has become a government puppet failing to protect the minorities.
The organizations from UK and Pakistan were contacted via teleconference and shared the plight of minorities and lack of support of government of Pakistan and in particular a Christian Minority Minister. It has been observed that members of the community in Pakistan and abroad has no confidence over the role being played by the Minority Minister as he is not responding the calls of the oppressed and suffering minorities while in need.
In keeping with the views shared by the majority of the participants as well as the representatives of the overseas organizations it has been concluded that the Minister and his organizations based locally and in Pakistan has no respect and interest in the welfare of the minorities.
It is my humble request to local organizations to please come forward to unite the community. It has been noticed that some of the self made leaders have ignored the community by shaking hands individually with government officials of both Pakistan and Canada without confidence of the community. It is my request to stop corner political meetings and speak out for the truth and stop making jokes on the oppressed and suffering community.
At the end, I would like to emphasis that without unity it is impossible to achieve the goals, just think and follow other communities around, through unity they are achieving and becoming more successful in raising their voices.
As being neutral body, I have tried my best and it is up to community members to decide the next step.
Thank you and God bless,Aftab Rana,
According to sources it was revealed to PCP that Pakistani Christian Diaspora will write to Canadian government to cancel official visit of Federal Minority Minister to Canada.
(Pakistan Christian Post)
Urdu Church Holland offered special prayers for protection of Pakistani Christian
Amsterdam: May 11, 2009. (P. Iqbal correspondent for PCP from Holland) The Urdu Church Holland offered special prayers for peace, long life and wisdom to authorities for their homeland and special for the unity, safety and protection of the Christian in Pakistan. The Urdu Church Holland congregation offered prayers at both churches in Amsterdam and Rotterdam.Rev. S Eric in his message highlighted the importance of prayers in all situations specially in this tuff time in our homeland Pakistan. “Our God is a most high authority and can do all those are beyond our thoughts and all is possible through Him and in Him which can never be done by the Top Governments, High authorities and mankind. For us is the most important to be united and gather together to ask our heavenly Father for peace, safety, and unity among all nations and tribes in Pakistan and specially the leaders and Government Pakistan” Prayer is our most powerful weapon against all Satanic attacks and in all circumstances no matter wherever we are our prayer weapon will hit right on the target. Connecting beautifully a mothers day eve with the prayer Sunday (May, 10) Rev. S. Eric first congratulated all mothers and thanked God for all Blessings through mothers in our lives and families. He further added, in our culture we say '"our Home land is our mother (Hamari Dhatree Hamari Maan) and see now a days our mother is in a lot of troubles. Lets jointly give a gift of our prayers and Love to our Mother (homeland) with all our unity and unity among all the nations living in Pakistan. We are proud to be Pakistani and indeed our identity is Pakistan, lets play our role and contribute for strength and life of Pakistan. Talking to PCP correspondent, Mrs. Rose, representing mothers of Urdu Church Holland congregation said, we feel the pains of our community in Pakistan and specially women facing problems there, Mrs. Rose explained, this is not easy to leave every thing behind and escape from home which made by a woman as wife and mother by sacrificing all her happiness and life and with gathering stick by stick to make nest. As we have seen on different screens how people left everything behind to save their lives. We pray for more strength for all women in Pakistan. On a question Mrs. Rose left a message for all mother in Pakistan, that since future of Pakistan is come through you and will develop under the hands and in lap of mothers, therefore please raise up your children according to God's teaching and with God fearing manners wisely. Feel the importance and take steps, you all are not alone, First your God is with you, second your sould is with you and finally we all are with you.Appealing to all Rev. S. Eric said please don’t forget to pray for the cause each day with strong faith and be sure we see happy life and High Flag of Pakistan.
Minister orders inquiry into Javed Masih case
ISLAMABAD, May 10, 2009 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) -- Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti Sunday strongly condemned and directed the concerned authorities to probe into the incident of abduction of general councillor Javed Masih by a landlord in Sheikhupura.
Inquiry has been ordered to expose the culprits involved in this serious crime, adding that it quite an inhuman and shameful act and the government cannot allow such kinds of incidents to happen in the country, said the minister. He said the PPP-led coalition government is determined to safeguard the rights of the minorities and all out efforts would be made to bring them at par with other religious communities in the country.The minister said the government has initiated several measures for uplift of minorities.
Bhatti also expressed his sympathies with the victim family and assured that the persons who involved in this incident would be brought to book soon.
Inquiry has been ordered to expose the culprits involved in this serious crime, adding that it quite an inhuman and shameful act and the government cannot allow such kinds of incidents to happen in the country, said the minister. He said the PPP-led coalition government is determined to safeguard the rights of the minorities and all out efforts would be made to bring them at par with other religious communities in the country.The minister said the government has initiated several measures for uplift of minorities.
Bhatti also expressed his sympathies with the victim family and assured that the persons who involved in this incident would be brought to book soon.
A Christian Councilor imprisoned in iron chains by Muslim in his home jail
Lahore, Punjab: May 10, 2009. (Parvez Iqbal correspondent PCP Holland) The Lahore High Court took action on petition filed by sister of Javed Masih and recovered him in a very worse condition. Javed Masih is a Union Councilor of Union Council 9 of Muridke
According to Javed Masih who was half conscious and in very terrible condition briefly explained that he was caught hold by the Land lord Mohammad Ali, his son Mohammad Iftikhar including their workers and imprisoned him under their home made custody four days ago. During these four days he was beaten without food and water. Almost everyone on the spot was surprised while Javed Masih was hardly begging for few drops of water. During all this action Javed Masih lost his conscious repeatedly. It was even very difficult for him to breath and talk, Instead all this Javed Masih disclosed and said tried to escape from their custody during dark of the night but armed guards of land lord arrested and beaten him very badly. His wounds were very visible and his bad health condition is a big slap on Pakistani Government and their big promises before the media and international press.Javed Masih further added that Land Lord also Robbed four hundred thousand rupees forcibly from him and just not to take his name land lord arrested him and brought to this condition. Javed Masih showed a cloth bag in which he saved money which was robed by the Muslim Landlord. He was crying and begging again for water and became unconscious.Sister of Javed Masih, explained that since four days their family were searching for Javed Masih but no body including local police knew about him and finally I knocked on the door of Law and thankful to court for taking very legal and quick action for recovery of Javed Masih. Muslim landlord Mohmmad Ali, his son and all workers escaped leaving their weapons behind Javed. They also took keys of all locks put together with chains around Javed Masih but Javed Masih was still breathing. He shouted as much he can to get attention of the raiding party. After the help of local peoples Chains were broken and Javed Masih was taken to very first and nearest Narang Hospital.Abdul Hameed, Sub Inspector of local Police in a very normal ways said the under section 367 of Pakistan Penal Code action will be taken again those responsible, but he also cleared that it depends what will be contents of the application against the culprits. It was very clear on the face of sub Inspector Abdul Hameed that he cannot take strict legal actions against the Land Lord and his supports. The reasons are best known to Abdul Hameed Sub Inspector and need no clarification to us because his Role was clear how he is under the threats of Land Lord. Javed Masih was kept in a self made home prison by the Muslim Land Lord under a wooden animal trolley in between waste of animal and other dirty things around him. This incident put a big question mark on the face of Pakistani Government and Muslim Religion and their contract leaders that Where is your Law, human right claims and your religious teachings. Indeed Minorities under you is your responsibilities??? You all are responsible to protect their lives, honor, and properties and what you peoples are doing to them????. Be ready for an unseen action from God almighty who will stand for His Loving Christians and take revenge.In message to the Javed Masih and his whole family, PCC Pakistan Christian Congress assured him that community support is with you. First we wish Javed Masih to step in a good health and quick recovery for his health.PCC demanded Government of Pakistan for protection of Javed Masih and his family, The strict and legal action is urged against Mohammad Ali, his son Mohammad Iftikhar and other Muslims involved in all this heinous crime.
According to Javed Masih who was half conscious and in very terrible condition briefly explained that he was caught hold by the Land lord Mohammad Ali, his son Mohammad Iftikhar including their workers and imprisoned him under their home made custody four days ago. During these four days he was beaten without food and water. Almost everyone on the spot was surprised while Javed Masih was hardly begging for few drops of water. During all this action Javed Masih lost his conscious repeatedly. It was even very difficult for him to breath and talk, Instead all this Javed Masih disclosed and said tried to escape from their custody during dark of the night but armed guards of land lord arrested and beaten him very badly. His wounds were very visible and his bad health condition is a big slap on Pakistani Government and their big promises before the media and international press.Javed Masih further added that Land Lord also Robbed four hundred thousand rupees forcibly from him and just not to take his name land lord arrested him and brought to this condition. Javed Masih showed a cloth bag in which he saved money which was robed by the Muslim Landlord. He was crying and begging again for water and became unconscious.Sister of Javed Masih, explained that since four days their family were searching for Javed Masih but no body including local police knew about him and finally I knocked on the door of Law and thankful to court for taking very legal and quick action for recovery of Javed Masih. Muslim landlord Mohmmad Ali, his son and all workers escaped leaving their weapons behind Javed. They also took keys of all locks put together with chains around Javed Masih but Javed Masih was still breathing. He shouted as much he can to get attention of the raiding party. After the help of local peoples Chains were broken and Javed Masih was taken to very first and nearest Narang Hospital.Abdul Hameed, Sub Inspector of local Police in a very normal ways said the under section 367 of Pakistan Penal Code action will be taken again those responsible, but he also cleared that it depends what will be contents of the application against the culprits. It was very clear on the face of sub Inspector Abdul Hameed that he cannot take strict legal actions against the Land Lord and his supports. The reasons are best known to Abdul Hameed Sub Inspector and need no clarification to us because his Role was clear how he is under the threats of Land Lord. Javed Masih was kept in a self made home prison by the Muslim Land Lord under a wooden animal trolley in between waste of animal and other dirty things around him. This incident put a big question mark on the face of Pakistani Government and Muslim Religion and their contract leaders that Where is your Law, human right claims and your religious teachings. Indeed Minorities under you is your responsibilities??? You all are responsible to protect their lives, honor, and properties and what you peoples are doing to them????. Be ready for an unseen action from God almighty who will stand for His Loving Christians and take revenge.In message to the Javed Masih and his whole family, PCC Pakistan Christian Congress assured him that community support is with you. First we wish Javed Masih to step in a good health and quick recovery for his health.PCC demanded Government of Pakistan for protection of Javed Masih and his family, The strict and legal action is urged against Mohammad Ali, his son Mohammad Iftikhar and other Muslims involved in all this heinous crime.
Monday, May 11, 2009
2 Arrested in Javed Masih Confinement Case
LAHORE: Police on Sunday arrested two people on the charge of keeping Councilor Javed Masih in illegal confinement, while the councilor has been shifted to his residence after being treated at a local hospital.
According to the channel, an influential person of the area had abducted Javed Masih, a UC Councilor, and kept him in illegal confinement in a very deteriorating situation at a cattle pen. Masih was also brutally tortured during the confinement.
On Saturday night, Chief Justice Lahore High Court, along with a police party and media team , raided the cattle farm and released him.
Masih, who was confined since last four days and cuffed in chains, was out of his senses and had had torture wounds throughout his body.
According to the channel, police have arrested two people in connection to his abduction and torture.
(A Pakistan News)
According to the channel, an influential person of the area had abducted Javed Masih, a UC Councilor, and kept him in illegal confinement in a very deteriorating situation at a cattle pen. Masih was also brutally tortured during the confinement.
On Saturday night, Chief Justice Lahore High Court, along with a police party and media team , raided the cattle farm and released him.
Masih, who was confined since last four days and cuffed in chains, was out of his senses and had had torture wounds throughout his body.
According to the channel, police have arrested two people in connection to his abduction and torture.
(A Pakistan News)
LHC orders FIR against kidnappers
Staff ReportLAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has directed the station house officer concerned to register a First information Report (FIR) against the men who abducted two men including Union Council-9 Councillor Javed Masih of Muridke.The court issued the direction while disposing of a habeas corpus petition moved by Naseem Anjum advocate. The petitioner alleged that some local criminals and influential people abducted Javed on May 7 from his village Koti Tohil tehsil in Muridke. During his detention Javed and his friend were allegedly kept in chains and severely beaten. The alleged motive for the abduction was an old conflict regarding the destruction of a church wall and Javed’s role in defending the case. The court deputed a bailiff who recovered the detainees from Adian tehsil. They were taken to Mayo Hospital but were not medically examined. The petitioner said both the men had been hospitalised and were being kept under medical observation owing to their poor health. The accused have been identified as Mohammad Khan, Mohammad Usman, Mohammad Iftikhar, Mohammad Zulfiqar, Mohammad Manzoor and Jimmy.
(Daily Times)
(Daily Times)
Thousands flee Taliban terror in Pakistan
Christians and Sikhs in their thousands have flet the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan where an ongoing conflict between Taliban terrorists and the Pakistani military now rages.
By Aftab Mughal
Tens of thousands of people, including Christians and Sikhs, have left four districts, Swat, Buner, Shangla and Lower Dir, of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) where Pakistani military has started an operation, a week ago, against Taliban, who had been challenging the writ of the state and were controlling the area by force for more than two years, and had imposed their self styled Sharian law. They had been beheading people, kidnapping women and destroying schools and government building.
On May 9, about 60 Christian families reached Rasalpur, near Peshawar, provincial capital. They confirmed that the Taliban ordered women of the area including Christian and Sikh women to cover their faces otherwise their would be punished.
Till now, around 2000 Sikhs, including women and children, reached to their holiest place in Pakistan, Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Hasan Abdal, Punjab province. The government’s Evacuation Board is spending every day about Rs. 25,000 (US$312) for their food and shelter. These people have been living in the area for more than 60 years. When military started its operation against Taliban, asked people to leave the area as soon as possible but it was not easy for people to move any safer place without any proper transportation system. As a result, many walked for days to reach to Mardan and Swabi where the government has set refugee camps. Thousands are still waiting for their registration as refugee to get food and shelter. During the last 2 years, the government started 3 operations, at different times, in Swat valley. When the operation was about to succeed the government started negotiation with Taliban. Therefore, after each operation the Taliban become stronger.
According to the government’s estimates, there are 4000/5000 militants in the area. To rot them out, 15000 military men are taking part in the operation. So far 700 militants have been killed, according to the military sources. There are reports that along with the militants about 40 civilians were also killed in the cross firing. Iftikhar Hussain, provincial information minister said that the Taliban are using the civilian population as human shield.
Approximately 300,000 people have left their homes from which 120,000 are registered and living in the refugee camps while more than 200,000 have been staying with their friends and relatives. There is fear that about 1 million people could be displaced within days. The new displaced people are an addition to 555,000 previously displaced Pakistani who fled from other parts of the tribal areas of NWFP since August 2008. Though, generally, the government has got a national support for its operation against Taliban, the Islamic parties and Imran Khan, a former cricketer and head of a very small party which has no presence in the parliament, are openly opposing the operation. During a TV discussion Khan called Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, a well-known Pakistani intellectual who opposes Taliban, an American agent. The pro-Taliban parties blame that the government has started operation against its own people just to please America. They still consider India as a major threat and not Taliban. The Jamiat-e-Islamai is organizing protest rallies with a very small number of demonstrators to oppose the operation. However, this time, the Pakistani army has launched a ‘full-scale’ operation against Taliban in Swat valley and its adjacent districts but many analysts are raising questions about its ability to defeat Taliban, who were created by the state agencies and considered as a strategic assert. Aftab
Mughal is the editor of Minorities Concern of Pakistan.
By Aftab Mughal
Tens of thousands of people, including Christians and Sikhs, have left four districts, Swat, Buner, Shangla and Lower Dir, of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) where Pakistani military has started an operation, a week ago, against Taliban, who had been challenging the writ of the state and were controlling the area by force for more than two years, and had imposed their self styled Sharian law. They had been beheading people, kidnapping women and destroying schools and government building.
On May 9, about 60 Christian families reached Rasalpur, near Peshawar, provincial capital. They confirmed that the Taliban ordered women of the area including Christian and Sikh women to cover their faces otherwise their would be punished.
Till now, around 2000 Sikhs, including women and children, reached to their holiest place in Pakistan, Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Hasan Abdal, Punjab province. The government’s Evacuation Board is spending every day about Rs. 25,000 (US$312) for their food and shelter. These people have been living in the area for more than 60 years. When military started its operation against Taliban, asked people to leave the area as soon as possible but it was not easy for people to move any safer place without any proper transportation system. As a result, many walked for days to reach to Mardan and Swabi where the government has set refugee camps. Thousands are still waiting for their registration as refugee to get food and shelter. During the last 2 years, the government started 3 operations, at different times, in Swat valley. When the operation was about to succeed the government started negotiation with Taliban. Therefore, after each operation the Taliban become stronger.
According to the government’s estimates, there are 4000/5000 militants in the area. To rot them out, 15000 military men are taking part in the operation. So far 700 militants have been killed, according to the military sources. There are reports that along with the militants about 40 civilians were also killed in the cross firing. Iftikhar Hussain, provincial information minister said that the Taliban are using the civilian population as human shield.
Approximately 300,000 people have left their homes from which 120,000 are registered and living in the refugee camps while more than 200,000 have been staying with their friends and relatives. There is fear that about 1 million people could be displaced within days. The new displaced people are an addition to 555,000 previously displaced Pakistani who fled from other parts of the tribal areas of NWFP since August 2008. Though, generally, the government has got a national support for its operation against Taliban, the Islamic parties and Imran Khan, a former cricketer and head of a very small party which has no presence in the parliament, are openly opposing the operation. During a TV discussion Khan called Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, a well-known Pakistani intellectual who opposes Taliban, an American agent. The pro-Taliban parties blame that the government has started operation against its own people just to please America. They still consider India as a major threat and not Taliban. The Jamiat-e-Islamai is organizing protest rallies with a very small number of demonstrators to oppose the operation. However, this time, the Pakistani army has launched a ‘full-scale’ operation against Taliban in Swat valley and its adjacent districts but many analysts are raising questions about its ability to defeat Taliban, who were created by the state agencies and considered as a strategic assert. Aftab
Mughal is the editor of Minorities Concern of Pakistan.
Taliban Assess Punishing Taxes on Pakistan Sikhs for Being "Infidels"
Aftab Mughal
Taliban forces have seized the homes and businesses of Sikhs living in the Northwestern Frontier Province of Pakistan. Infidels must pay a head tax. Many Sikh families have been forced to leave their homes in the Orakzai area of Pakistan.
Sikhs constitute a tiny religious minority in Pakistan. The latest Sikh nightmare began when Pakistan’s parliament passed the Sharia law for the Malakand Division of the Northwestern Frontier Province. On the very next day, April 14, 2009, the Taliban imposed a prodigious multi-million rupee Jazia (an Islamic tax to non-Muslims) on the Sikh community.
The Taliban said Sikhs are an unwanted minority and must pay the head tax in exchange for living in the area under the rule of Sharia. Following the Taliban’s threat, many Sikh families of the Feroze Khel area of Merozai in Lower Orakzai Agency simply fled.
The Taliban had also forcibly occupied shops of two Sikh businessmen and houses of several Sikhs to force them to pay the Jazia. Some families paid as much as 20 million rupees to Taliban forces to avoid further retaliation. After receiving Jazia tax, the Taliban released Sikh leader Sardar Saiwang Singh and vacated the occupied homes.
However, other families were given a deadline to pay the Jazia. To prove their point, Taliban terrorists on April 29 demolished 11 homes and forcibly occupied three houses and 10 shops of the Sikh community for refusing to pay. The action was ordered by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan chief for Orakzai Agency, Hakeemullah Mehsud, after the first deadline for payment of Jazia passed.
Local Muslims strongly condemned the Taliban actions. Some tribesmen of Manikhel announced that they would protect 63 displaced Sikhs, and gave refuge. Sikhs had been living in the area for over a hundred years, but remain a tiny minority in the region.
(The Cutting Edge News)
New political set-up on the anvil
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: Quiet preparations have begun to give shape to a new political set-up, sometime after the federal budget is passed in June, and several new “Sharifuddin Pirzadas” have been put to work to produce a blueprint, which will take care of constitutional and legal issues that may arise to bring about a major change.
Senior politicians and even government office holders privately admit that things are not working out for the PPP government and some change has to come. I even heard from one PPP source that a political storm was “heading our way”. Some backdoor channels have also being opened with the judicial establishment to make it understand the need for another “doctrine of necessity” of sorts, this time in the name of national security threats, which are clearly visible to everybody in the shape of the extremist Taliban, unrelenting politicians and unstopped corruption.
Nawaz Sharif, the seasoned politicians believe, holds the key to the new set-up. There is a mature realisation in some top PPP circles that Nawaz Sharif had acted wisely and saved the system on March 16 by calling off the long march despite the fact that conditions were ripe to fold the system.
Final touches to overthrow Zardari using the long march were being given, just in case it was needed. But a careful Nawaz refused to offer his shoulders to get rid of Zardari as he thought a politician was preferable to other trying to oust him.
But within the last two months Nawaz appears to have undergone a huge transformation, as he is finally getting convinced with the new logic of forces quietly trying to get rid of Asif Ali Zardari. The constant contacts through backdoor channels have apparently paid off and Nawaz was coming around. This was one strong reason why, despite the best efforts of Prime Minister Gilani and others, Nawaz was not ready to allow his party ministers to rejoin the Gilani cabinet. By his refusal, Nawaz was sending a loud message to all the concerned quarters that he was not interested in continuation of the present arrangement at Islamabad.
According to those working on the blueprint of a new regime, names and details of these people cannot obviously be disclosed, the National Assembly and provincial assemblies may be dissolved and a national government may be installed. Some establishment quarters having soft corner for PM Gilani were backing him as the new head of this national government of 20 ministers of reputation from different walks of national life. The new regime may last for a year or so during which a huge military operation might be launched against the Taliban, and those, who were involved in corruption, might also be taken to the task.
After one year, new elections may be held and if Nawaz Sharif emerges as a majority party leader, he may be given the chance to become prime minister. The establishment may not directly involve itself in the new set-up, but it would offer strong support to it. The names of the likely 20 ministers, according to those who know, are being finalised. Passage of the new budget is awaited as is always done in such cases.Washington is also soft towards such an option as Asif Zardari has greatly annoyed the powers that are said to be quietly collecting evidence about any corruption in Islamabad and Sindh. Asif Zardari, many believe, is operating in total isolation as he had greatly annoyed his friends both at home and abroad.
Likewise the Saudi rulers having strong influence within the Pakistani establishment were seriously annoyed when he openly started not only defying them, but also started coming closer to its traditional enemy, Iran. The major irritant for the Saudis after the sacking of the Sharif government in Punjab was Zardari’s new love for relationship with Iran, as they feared it would revive the influence of Iran within Pakistan, and this is where the Saudis were concerned.
Likewise the Americans, who supported Zardari and had preferred him to Musharraf, had to send a loud message recently when they realised that Pakistani politicians were incapable of dealing with the Taliban. The Swat deal was the turning point when the foreign friends of Zardari decided to distance themselves from his policies. This controversial deal, which was struck on the insistence of the establishment, was said to have paid dividends now, as Zardari had lost his friends both at home and abroad. President Zardari also knows about the political storm heading towards him and is desperately trying to lure Nawaz into a new deal to survive. But Nawaz has been burnt many times with his smiles and charm. He is now making new demands and Zardari believes even if he scrapped the controversial 17th Amendment and executed the main clauses of the Charter of Democracy, Nawaz would still not join the government at the Centre.
Nawaz is more interested in new elections as he could not wait for five long years for his return to power. He has already moved the Supreme Court to get his sentence set aside and he is expecting to get relief from the judges.
Many believe Zardari has actually sealed his own fate when on the wrong advice of his cronies he let Nawaz quit the government last year without realising the damage it had done to the political system.Circles close to the president rejected the report on any move to change the government. They said Zardari's image was tremendously enhanced after he restored the deposed judges fulfilling the will of the people. They said all the misunderstandings of the US about the president have been removed. That is why, they said, the US leaders, including Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Holbrooke, have lauded anti-terrorism efforts being made by President Zardari. They said there is no substance in the claim that the Saudi rulers are angry with the president. They said Zardari enjoys excellent relations with the Saudi government.
(Footage of this man was shown on ARY TV channel in this condition)
ISLAMABAD: Quiet preparations have begun to give shape to a new political set-up, sometime after the federal budget is passed in June, and several new “Sharifuddin Pirzadas” have been put to work to produce a blueprint, which will take care of constitutional and legal issues that may arise to bring about a major change.
Senior politicians and even government office holders privately admit that things are not working out for the PPP government and some change has to come. I even heard from one PPP source that a political storm was “heading our way”. Some backdoor channels have also being opened with the judicial establishment to make it understand the need for another “doctrine of necessity” of sorts, this time in the name of national security threats, which are clearly visible to everybody in the shape of the extremist Taliban, unrelenting politicians and unstopped corruption.
Nawaz Sharif, the seasoned politicians believe, holds the key to the new set-up. There is a mature realisation in some top PPP circles that Nawaz Sharif had acted wisely and saved the system on March 16 by calling off the long march despite the fact that conditions were ripe to fold the system.
Final touches to overthrow Zardari using the long march were being given, just in case it was needed. But a careful Nawaz refused to offer his shoulders to get rid of Zardari as he thought a politician was preferable to other trying to oust him.
But within the last two months Nawaz appears to have undergone a huge transformation, as he is finally getting convinced with the new logic of forces quietly trying to get rid of Asif Ali Zardari. The constant contacts through backdoor channels have apparently paid off and Nawaz was coming around. This was one strong reason why, despite the best efforts of Prime Minister Gilani and others, Nawaz was not ready to allow his party ministers to rejoin the Gilani cabinet. By his refusal, Nawaz was sending a loud message to all the concerned quarters that he was not interested in continuation of the present arrangement at Islamabad.
According to those working on the blueprint of a new regime, names and details of these people cannot obviously be disclosed, the National Assembly and provincial assemblies may be dissolved and a national government may be installed. Some establishment quarters having soft corner for PM Gilani were backing him as the new head of this national government of 20 ministers of reputation from different walks of national life. The new regime may last for a year or so during which a huge military operation might be launched against the Taliban, and those, who were involved in corruption, might also be taken to the task.
After one year, new elections may be held and if Nawaz Sharif emerges as a majority party leader, he may be given the chance to become prime minister. The establishment may not directly involve itself in the new set-up, but it would offer strong support to it. The names of the likely 20 ministers, according to those who know, are being finalised. Passage of the new budget is awaited as is always done in such cases.Washington is also soft towards such an option as Asif Zardari has greatly annoyed the powers that are said to be quietly collecting evidence about any corruption in Islamabad and Sindh. Asif Zardari, many believe, is operating in total isolation as he had greatly annoyed his friends both at home and abroad.
Likewise the Saudi rulers having strong influence within the Pakistani establishment were seriously annoyed when he openly started not only defying them, but also started coming closer to its traditional enemy, Iran. The major irritant for the Saudis after the sacking of the Sharif government in Punjab was Zardari’s new love for relationship with Iran, as they feared it would revive the influence of Iran within Pakistan, and this is where the Saudis were concerned.
Likewise the Americans, who supported Zardari and had preferred him to Musharraf, had to send a loud message recently when they realised that Pakistani politicians were incapable of dealing with the Taliban. The Swat deal was the turning point when the foreign friends of Zardari decided to distance themselves from his policies. This controversial deal, which was struck on the insistence of the establishment, was said to have paid dividends now, as Zardari had lost his friends both at home and abroad. President Zardari also knows about the political storm heading towards him and is desperately trying to lure Nawaz into a new deal to survive. But Nawaz has been burnt many times with his smiles and charm. He is now making new demands and Zardari believes even if he scrapped the controversial 17th Amendment and executed the main clauses of the Charter of Democracy, Nawaz would still not join the government at the Centre.
Nawaz is more interested in new elections as he could not wait for five long years for his return to power. He has already moved the Supreme Court to get his sentence set aside and he is expecting to get relief from the judges.
Many believe Zardari has actually sealed his own fate when on the wrong advice of his cronies he let Nawaz quit the government last year without realising the damage it had done to the political system.Circles close to the president rejected the report on any move to change the government. They said Zardari's image was tremendously enhanced after he restored the deposed judges fulfilling the will of the people. They said all the misunderstandings of the US about the president have been removed. That is why, they said, the US leaders, including Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Holbrooke, have lauded anti-terrorism efforts being made by President Zardari. They said there is no substance in the claim that the Saudi rulers are angry with the president. They said Zardari enjoys excellent relations with the Saudi government.
(Footage of this man was shown on ARY TV channel in this condition)
A Christian Councilor imprisoned in iron chains by Muslim in his home jail
Lahore, Punjab: May 10, 2009. (Parvez Iqbal correspondent PCP Holland) The Lahore High Court took action on petition filed by sister of Javed Masih and recovered him in a very worse condition. Javed Masih is a Union Councilor of Union Council 9 of Tehsil Mureedkay.According to Javed Masih who was half conscious and in very terrible condition briefly explained that he was caught hold by the Land lord Mohammad Ali, his son Mohammad Iftikhar including their workers and imprisoned him under their home made custody four days ago.
During these four days he was beaten without food and water. Almost everyone on the spot was surprised while Javed Masih was hardly begging for few drops of water. During all this action Javed Masih lost his conscious repeatedly. It was even very difficult for him to breath and talk, Instead all this Javed Masih disclosed and said tried to escape from their custody during dark of the night but armed guards of land lord arrested and beaten him very badly. His wounds were very visible and his bad health condition is a big slap on Pakistani Government and their big promises before the media and international press.Javed Masih further added that Land Lord also Robbed four hundred thousand rupees forcibly from him and just not to take his name land lord arrested him and brought to this condition. Javed Masih showed a cloth bag in which he saved money which was robed by the Muslim Landlord. He was crying and begging again for water and became unconscious. Sister of Javed Masih, explained that since four days their family were searching for Javed Masih but no body including local police knew about him and finally I knocked on the door of Law and thankful to court for taking very legal and quick action for recovery of Javed Masih. Muslim landlord Mohmmad Ali, his son and all workers escaped leaving their weapons behind Javed. They also took keys of all locks put together with chains around Javed Masih but Javed Masih was still breathing. He shouted as much he can to get attention of the raiding party. After the help of local peoples Chains were broken and Javed Masih was taken to very first and nearest Narang Hospital. Abdul Hameed, Sub Inspector of local Police in a very normal ways said the under section 367 of Pakistan Penal Code action will be taken again those responsible, but he also cleared that it depends what will be contents of the application against the culprits. It was very clear on the face of sub Inspector Abdul Hameed that he cannot take strict legal actions against the Land Lord and his supports. The reasons are best known to Abdul Hameed Sub Inspector and need no clarification to us because his Role was clear how he is under the threats of Land Lord. Javed Masih was kept in a self made home prison by the Muslim Land Lord under a wooden animal trolley in between waste of animal and other dirty things around him. This incident put a big question mark on the face of Pakistani Government and Muslim Religion and their contract leaders that Where is your Law, human right claims and your religious teachings. Indeed Minorities under you is your responsibilities??? You all are responsible to protect their lives, honor, and properties and what you peoples are doing to them????. Be ready for an unseen action from God almighty who will stand for His Loving Christians and take revenge.In message to the Javed Masih and his whole family, PCC Pakistan Christian Congress assured him that community support is with you. First we wish Javed Masih to step in a good health and quick recovery for his health.PCC demanded Government of Pakistan for protection of Javed Masih and his family, The strict and legal action is urged against Mohammad Ali, his son Mohammad Iftikhar and other Muslims involved in all this heinous crime.
(Pakistan Christian Post)
During these four days he was beaten without food and water. Almost everyone on the spot was surprised while Javed Masih was hardly begging for few drops of water. During all this action Javed Masih lost his conscious repeatedly. It was even very difficult for him to breath and talk, Instead all this Javed Masih disclosed and said tried to escape from their custody during dark of the night but armed guards of land lord arrested and beaten him very badly. His wounds were very visible and his bad health condition is a big slap on Pakistani Government and their big promises before the media and international press.Javed Masih further added that Land Lord also Robbed four hundred thousand rupees forcibly from him and just not to take his name land lord arrested him and brought to this condition. Javed Masih showed a cloth bag in which he saved money which was robed by the Muslim Landlord. He was crying and begging again for water and became unconscious. Sister of Javed Masih, explained that since four days their family were searching for Javed Masih but no body including local police knew about him and finally I knocked on the door of Law and thankful to court for taking very legal and quick action for recovery of Javed Masih. Muslim landlord Mohmmad Ali, his son and all workers escaped leaving their weapons behind Javed. They also took keys of all locks put together with chains around Javed Masih but Javed Masih was still breathing. He shouted as much he can to get attention of the raiding party. After the help of local peoples Chains were broken and Javed Masih was taken to very first and nearest Narang Hospital. Abdul Hameed, Sub Inspector of local Police in a very normal ways said the under section 367 of Pakistan Penal Code action will be taken again those responsible, but he also cleared that it depends what will be contents of the application against the culprits. It was very clear on the face of sub Inspector Abdul Hameed that he cannot take strict legal actions against the Land Lord and his supports. The reasons are best known to Abdul Hameed Sub Inspector and need no clarification to us because his Role was clear how he is under the threats of Land Lord. Javed Masih was kept in a self made home prison by the Muslim Land Lord under a wooden animal trolley in between waste of animal and other dirty things around him. This incident put a big question mark on the face of Pakistani Government and Muslim Religion and their contract leaders that Where is your Law, human right claims and your religious teachings. Indeed Minorities under you is your responsibilities??? You all are responsible to protect their lives, honor, and properties and what you peoples are doing to them????. Be ready for an unseen action from God almighty who will stand for His Loving Christians and take revenge.In message to the Javed Masih and his whole family, PCC Pakistan Christian Congress assured him that community support is with you. First we wish Javed Masih to step in a good health and quick recovery for his health.PCC demanded Government of Pakistan for protection of Javed Masih and his family, The strict and legal action is urged against Mohammad Ali, his son Mohammad Iftikhar and other Muslims involved in all this heinous crime.
(Pakistan Christian Post)
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Why The Pope Can't Help Middle Eastern Christians
Ever since the year 1204 AD, when the soldiers of the Fourth Crusade sacked the Christian city of Constantinople instead of "liberating" Jerusalem from Muslim rule, Christians in the Middle East have been understandably wary of emissaries of Rome. Today, as Christians in the Middle East prepare for the arrival of Pope Benedict on his first trip to the Holy Land, many are worried that the unpredictable pontiff might stir up passions at a time by religious strife and political cold war. “The thing that worries me most is the speech that the pope will deliver here,” said Archbishop Fouad Twal, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, in an interview with Haaretz on Wednesday. “One word for the Muslims and I'm in trouble; one word for the Jews and I'm in trouble. At the end of the visit the Pope goes back to Rome and I stay here with the consequences.”
But another reason to be concerned about the trip that one of its main purposes -- to lend moral support to the diminishing number of Christians in the region – just isn't going to work.
There is certainly reason to be concerned about the exodus of Christians from the Middle East, who once constituted 20 percent of the population, but whose numbers have fallen to just 2 percent now. The presence of Christians in the Holy Land is both an important symbol of continuity with the origins of the faith, and a reminder of the multi-sectarian, and tolerant history of Arab and Islamic culture.
Though that culture of tolerance is today under threat from the rise of religious extremism, Clash of Civilization pundits and Western leaders like the Pope often ignore how the West helped spark such intolerance, especially through its one sided support of Israel.
Israel is both the first stop on Pope Benedict's journey and a focal point of Western involvement in the Middle East. And while support for the modern revival of the ancient Biblical nation runs deep among many Christians in America and Europe, the creation of Israel has been a disaster for Christians in the Middle East. Many of the Palestinian refugees who fled or were forced from their homes in 1948 -- never to be allowed back -- were Christians. The flood of Palestinian refugees into Lebanon helped spark a civil war between Muslims and Christians there. And the ongoing occupation of the West Bank is strangling the life out of those Christian communities that are left. A UN report released a week ago said that the Palestinian West Bank town of Bethlehem – Christ's birthplace and a major stop on the Pope's visit – is now almost totally controlled by Israel.
The ongoing Israel occupation of the Palestinian territories has also helped fuel the rise of Islamic extremism, especially in countries that have unpopular peace agreements with Israel. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition to the American-backed Mubarak dictatorship, waged a small-scale terror campaign against both the government and the country's Coptic Christians during the 1990's. Since then, in an effort to de-rail the Islamist movement, the secular Mubarak regime has embrace some of their opponent's religiosity, and perhaps some of its anti-Coptic prejudice. Last month, in a supposed measure to prevent Swine flu, the government ordered the slaughter of every single pig in the country, even though there were no documented cases of the flu and humans don't contact swine flu from pigs. Pork-eating Copts worried that they were being set up as scapegoats.
Ironically, some of the best friends to Christians in the Middle East have been at odds with America and the West. The secular societies that formed in the 50's and 60's in opposition to Israel-- especially the Baathist regimes in Iraq and Syria, and Egypt under Nasser – were pretty good protectors of religious pluralism. About 5 or 6 percent of Iraq's population in the 1970's were Christian, and some of Saddam Hussein's most prominent officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz were Christians. But since the American invasion of Iraq, Christians have fled in droves, and constitute less than one percent of the population. Luckily, Syria – which survived attempts by the Bush Administration to isolate the Assad regime -- is still like a living museum of otherwise forgotten Christian sects and shrines.
Middle Eastern societies have also done much on their own to implode, and create fertile grounds for extremism to flourish. But that doesn't mean that one speech from a foreign religious leader is going to heal the mistrust and stop the cycle of violence that started 60 years ago with a political act. In fact, Muslims in the Middle East are getting tired of visiting Western leaders who talk down to them about tolerance but don't practice it at home. If Western society is so multi-cultural, why do Westerners care so much about Christians in the Middle East? It smacks of the same kind sectarian attitudes of the European colonial era, when British and French rulers elevated the region's Christian groups to positions of authority in order to manage their mostly Muslim empires.
And even Middle Eastern Christians have given up looking to the likes of the Pope for help. In Lebanon, the Middle Eastern nation with the largest concentration of Christians, roughly half of the country's Christians have broken away from the sect's traditional, pro-western leadership, and have formed a political alliance with Hizballah, the Shia Muslim anti-Israeli militant group. The leader of these breakaway Christians, a populist former General named Michel Aoun, is betting that the only way to secure a Christian future in Lebanon is to look East towards the rising power of Shia Islam. It may seem far-fetched now, but there may come a day when Christians hit the Arab street to welcome not a Pope from Rome an ayatollah from Iran.
(Courtesy Time Magazine)
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