NEW YORK: On Aug 15, dozens of people publicly beat to death two young brothers, Hafiz Mughees, 15, and Hafiz Muneeb, 19. Present on the “occasion” were the Sialkot District Police Officer Waqar Chauhan and eight policemen. These crime-stoppers watched crime committed literally on their watch. Instead of watching out for crime being committed, these immoral state employees watched the brutal act of lynching taking place in front of their own trained and watchful eyes. They could have stopped – even resisted, called for backup, reinforcement, etc. But they were silent spectators, like watching a favorite mohalla pastime being played out in a galli. In fact, news reports said the SHO allegedly masterminded the killing of the brothers. He has fled away and is still at large.
The bodies of the Hafiz brothers were later hanged upside down on the chowk. Some reports said the locale was the exterior of 1122 rescue office. Phew! what a way to rescue – or be rescued! Allah Khair Karey!
Mob frenzy, gang mentality, gladiator philosophy –all of these jellied and spurted out like toothpaste and cleansed their demented souls. Souls of all those who volunteered to witness the gory incident – on a day after the 63rd birth anniversary of Pakistan.
It’s an irony that lawlessness danced in concert with immorality on a day of fasting. It’s the holy month of Ramadan when even the sinful slow down. How many of those who watched the lynching were fasting that day? Did they break their fast with it or after it?
“What message have you given to the world about Pakistan,” the Chief Justice asked DPO Chauhan and said: “Nowhere in a civilized society such an incident takes place in the presence of police.”
What about the message sent up who watched all of it and whose first language is silence?
“Not only it was the duty of police to stop those who were beating the two brothers, but the people in the mob should also have shown moral courage by preventing the beating,” the chief justice said.
The DPO told the court that FIR against 12 people has been lodged on charges of murder of the two young men while SHO has been taken into custody. Why wasn’t this done on the same day? Why didn’t the Punjab IG take notice of it? Where were the local politicians? PML-N, PML-Q, PPP, PTI? What about the Punjab administration? The system failed!
Will the arrest of the 12 police officers bring back the soul of the two brothers? One is said to be a Hafiz Quran, other one I am not sure. Both were crazy about cricket I am told. Khawaja Asif (PML-N) told Shahid Masood he knew the family well and over three generations. Did he contact them the day this incident happened or did he wait to jump into action once the news hit the roof and became a “public issue” to be milked for political mileage?
Today is the sixth day of the horrible incident. While the Dapper Dan chief executive of the country chose to remain silent, the delusional but Teflon President came out from his bunker (on the sixth day) to strongly condemn the killing and called for report, inquiry, etc. into the gruesome incident. What is he going to do after that? Stack it along with Benazir Bhutto murder report?
It is a defining moment for the introduction of rule of law in Pakistan. Now or never! Only the youth can push this matter through though. They just sacrificed two of their own. If the death of Bushra Zaidi could be the defining moment for politics in Karachi, so can the death of these two brothers be for the advent of rule of law in Pakistan. The rest will swirl into place like the unwinding of a warped wire of a telephone headset. Go for it. Pakistan is still wired – not cordless!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
The Show Must Go on Despite Flood & Fasting!
NEW YORK: Neither the flood nor the fasting will stop the Pakistani pageant in Toronto. The show must go on!
The beauty pageant, with swimsuit portion and all, involving expatriate Pakistanis, is on this Friday after Iftar, despite three weeks of massive flooding that has plunged 20 million into chaos in an already fragile country.
The month of Ramadan kicked off last week. Austerity, abstinence are the hallmark of this Islamic practice.
But Pakistani-Canadian pageant president Sonia Ahmed told The Toronto Star the pageant represents hope for the country she once belonged to. The show must go on. Most Pakistani-Canadians maintain dual nationality, enjoy such activities but not in Ramadan, commented Huma - a Pakistani Canadian living in Toronto.
It would be impossible, we imagine, to cancel or change the pageant at this point. Seven women of Pakistani origin from Norway, the U.K., the U.S. and Canada are already in Toronto, preparing for the glitzy evening at the Pearson Convention Center, published reports said. The winner will represent Pakistan at international pageants, the paper said.
“People have paychecks depending on this event,” Sonia told The Toronto Star. “My heart goes out to the victims. Every Pakistani has certain ways of dealing with culture and tradition, and my duty is to make sure my country has a positive image through the world.”
Yahya Qureshi, from Markham, said if people want to have a pageant, they should be sensitive.
“It doesn’t look nice when our own are doing glamorous things, which are not warranted in this situation,” he said. “But if they have made pre-plans, and have their own unfortunate situation that they cannot cancel, that is different.”
“There should have been an attempt to at least postpone it,” said Naomi Zaman, who won the crown in 2005. “We should focus more instead on raising funds. I’m hoping there will be some type of fund-raising going on at the pageant.”
Zaman won’t be attending, it has emerged. She’s recording a song and video, and plans to donate proceeds to a number of “disasters around the world, especially flood victims,” the Toronto Star reported.
Khalid Usman, a member of the Canadian Friends of Pakistan, said organizers should be more considerate.
“They should understand people are suffering, anywhere you are celebrating does not make sense,” he said.
This is not the first time the eight-year-old pageant has been criticized. In the pageant’s early years, members of the Pakistani community complained about the nature of the event.
This year, the pageant falls in the holy month of Ramadan. Organizers said the show begins after the fast (Iftar) on Friday.
But “Religion is not going to stop us,” Ahmed told the paper. “We’re doing it for the Pakistani community.”
Sonia told TS said she received many applications from women in Pakistan, but there are no contestants from the flood-ravaged country because the visa process is too complicated.
Her pageant in 2006 produced Mariyah Moten as "Miss Pakistan Tourism 2006". DesPardes titled her Pakistan's Miss Bikini. Moten draped in Pakistan's crescent and star flag and her interview on DesPardes became a hit among Pakistanis (and desis) on the internet!
Read:
Pakistan's First Miss Bikini!
Her photo: http://www.despardes.com/Albums/hottie/20060724.htm
In April, 2008 DesPardes interviewed 2007's Miss Pakistan World and asked Mahleej Sarkari if she would like to date Musharraf. Her answer was a quick yes! Sarkari became another hit on the internet and the chanachoor circuit!
Read Sarkari's story:
http://misspakistanworldofficial.blogspot.com/2008/04/musharraf-is-hunk-despardescom.html
The beauty pageant, with swimsuit portion and all, involving expatriate Pakistanis, is on this Friday after Iftar, despite three weeks of massive flooding that has plunged 20 million into chaos in an already fragile country.
The month of Ramadan kicked off last week. Austerity, abstinence are the hallmark of this Islamic practice.
But Pakistani-Canadian pageant president Sonia Ahmed told The Toronto Star the pageant represents hope for the country she once belonged to. The show must go on. Most Pakistani-Canadians maintain dual nationality, enjoy such activities but not in Ramadan, commented Huma - a Pakistani Canadian living in Toronto.
It would be impossible, we imagine, to cancel or change the pageant at this point. Seven women of Pakistani origin from Norway, the U.K., the U.S. and Canada are already in Toronto, preparing for the glitzy evening at the Pearson Convention Center, published reports said. The winner will represent Pakistan at international pageants, the paper said.
“People have paychecks depending on this event,” Sonia told The Toronto Star. “My heart goes out to the victims. Every Pakistani has certain ways of dealing with culture and tradition, and my duty is to make sure my country has a positive image through the world.”
Yahya Qureshi, from Markham, said if people want to have a pageant, they should be sensitive.
“It doesn’t look nice when our own are doing glamorous things, which are not warranted in this situation,” he said. “But if they have made pre-plans, and have their own unfortunate situation that they cannot cancel, that is different.”
“There should have been an attempt to at least postpone it,” said Naomi Zaman, who won the crown in 2005. “We should focus more instead on raising funds. I’m hoping there will be some type of fund-raising going on at the pageant.”
Zaman won’t be attending, it has emerged. She’s recording a song and video, and plans to donate proceeds to a number of “disasters around the world, especially flood victims,” the Toronto Star reported.
Khalid Usman, a member of the Canadian Friends of Pakistan, said organizers should be more considerate.
“They should understand people are suffering, anywhere you are celebrating does not make sense,” he said.
This is not the first time the eight-year-old pageant has been criticized. In the pageant’s early years, members of the Pakistani community complained about the nature of the event.
This year, the pageant falls in the holy month of Ramadan. Organizers said the show begins after the fast (Iftar) on Friday.
But “Religion is not going to stop us,” Ahmed told the paper. “We’re doing it for the Pakistani community.”
Sonia told TS said she received many applications from women in Pakistan, but there are no contestants from the flood-ravaged country because the visa process is too complicated.
Her pageant in 2006 produced Mariyah Moten as "Miss Pakistan Tourism 2006". DesPardes titled her Pakistan's Miss Bikini. Moten draped in Pakistan's crescent and star flag and her interview on DesPardes became a hit among Pakistanis (and desis) on the internet!
Read:
Pakistan's First Miss Bikini!
Her photo: http://www.despardes.com/Albums/hottie/20060724.htm
In April, 2008 DesPardes interviewed 2007's Miss Pakistan World and asked Mahleej Sarkari if she would like to date Musharraf. Her answer was a quick yes! Sarkari became another hit on the internet and the chanachoor circuit!
Read Sarkari's story:
http://misspakistanworldofficial.blogspot.com/2008/04/musharraf-is-hunk-despardescom.html
Two youths tortured to death in public in Sialkot (Video)
Was it robbery, a dispute over cricket, or an old enmity? Regardless of the reason, it was medieval justice delivered by the vigilantes on the watch of the crime stoppers themselves. What a shame that such a height of lawlessness was reached in the birth town of Allama Iqbal - poet philosopher who talked about "Khudi (self) and dreamed of Pakistan for the Muslims of the sub-continent.
Published and TV reports said two brothers were lynched and then their bodies hanged upside down in a public square in Sialkot while police watched.
The Express Tribune published picture of the lynching today. See photo:
Geo was reportedly the first to break the news. Its airing of the video footage (see below) in connection with the death of these two teenage brothers prompted the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry to take suo moto notice of the crime today.
Geo News reported that DPO Sialkot Waqar Chauhan, who reportedly witnessed the crime, was summoned by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The Lahore High Court also took suo moto notice of the unfortunate incident of vigilantism.
According to reports, dozens of people beat the two young brothers to death with batons in public in Sialkot in front of eight police officials and a gathering. DPO Sialkot Waqar Chauhan was also present during the incident, it has emerged.
At least eight police officials kept watching the two young brothers being tortured to death blindly but no one intervened including the law enforcing officers present at the scene, video footage showed.
The two brothers died of baton charges. Their dead bodies were then hanged in upside down position at a chowkee.
Deputy Commissioner Sialkot said that the charged mob killed the two brothers for injuring four people in a dispute during a cricket match.
The uncle of the two teenagers said his nephews were tortured for two hours. He said the police has admitted that his sons were lynched due to an enmity. He was talking to the media outside the Supreme Court building.
Express Tribune reported that the two brothers, 18-year-old Moiz Butt and 16-year-old Muneeb Butt, were beaten to death by a mob after an alleged theft and murder in Sialkot on August 16.
Conflicting reports suggested that the victims had been involved in a robbery and murder that took place on Sunday, ET report said.
“Later the police have admitted the teenagers had no criminal record, and that they had been killed due to enmity.”
Fourteen policemen, including an SHO, have been suspended and further investigations are underway.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry summoned Secretary Establishment for action against the police. He said brutal killings in presence of police was the height of lawlessness.
The Supreme Court ordered the establishment division to suspend DPO Sialkot for failing to stop the merciless lynching of the two teenage brothers.
WATCH VIDEO:
Published and TV reports said two brothers were lynched and then their bodies hanged upside down in a public square in Sialkot while police watched.
The Express Tribune published picture of the lynching today. See photo:
Geo was reportedly the first to break the news. Its airing of the video footage (see below) in connection with the death of these two teenage brothers prompted the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry to take suo moto notice of the crime today.
Geo News reported that DPO Sialkot Waqar Chauhan, who reportedly witnessed the crime, was summoned by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The Lahore High Court also took suo moto notice of the unfortunate incident of vigilantism.
According to reports, dozens of people beat the two young brothers to death with batons in public in Sialkot in front of eight police officials and a gathering. DPO Sialkot Waqar Chauhan was also present during the incident, it has emerged.
At least eight police officials kept watching the two young brothers being tortured to death blindly but no one intervened including the law enforcing officers present at the scene, video footage showed.
The two brothers died of baton charges. Their dead bodies were then hanged in upside down position at a chowkee.
Deputy Commissioner Sialkot said that the charged mob killed the two brothers for injuring four people in a dispute during a cricket match.
The uncle of the two teenagers said his nephews were tortured for two hours. He said the police has admitted that his sons were lynched due to an enmity. He was talking to the media outside the Supreme Court building.
Express Tribune reported that the two brothers, 18-year-old Moiz Butt and 16-year-old Muneeb Butt, were beaten to death by a mob after an alleged theft and murder in Sialkot on August 16.
Conflicting reports suggested that the victims had been involved in a robbery and murder that took place on Sunday, ET report said.
“Later the police have admitted the teenagers had no criminal record, and that they had been killed due to enmity.”
Fourteen policemen, including an SHO, have been suspended and further investigations are underway.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry summoned Secretary Establishment for action against the police. He said brutal killings in presence of police was the height of lawlessness.
The Supreme Court ordered the establishment division to suspend DPO Sialkot for failing to stop the merciless lynching of the two teenage brothers.
WATCH VIDEO:
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Pakistan Americans in Boston mobilize for Pakistan floods (Video)
NEW YORK: New England based Pakistani-Americans have quickly mobilized to help push the Pakistan flood relief efforts a notch up - in their own small way.
It's a humanitarian disaster of staggering proportions - the worst flood in its history, said New England Comcast News Network (NECN).
According to published reports, Pakistani American in Boston raised $50,000 over the weekend, but billions are needed to aid those affected by flood-ravaged Pakistan. The United Nations has appealed for $460 million in aid for immediate relief with billions needed over the years to reconstruct the affected areas - a vast swath of 1000 longitudinal miles stretching from the Swat Valley in the north to the Indus plains in southern Sindh.
So far about 20 million people have been affected. It is said to be the worst floods in Pakistan's recorded history, and around 2, 000 are reported dead. More than 6 million children are affected the most - 3.5 million of them are at risk of flood diseases. A case of cholera has also been reported.
Dr. Khalil Khatri, a dermatologist in Boston, and member Association of Pakistan Physicians said, "it is the common man who has suffered the most," but the "news has not traveled out so easily to the American public and the international community, said Oxfam America representative.
Tahir Chaudhry, former president of the Pakistani Association of Greater Boston said he realizes that the country "has a bad rap" right now due to its politics and involvement in the Afghan war, but the flood has affected the common people who have nothing to do with the political situation.
WATCH VIDEO:
It's a humanitarian disaster of staggering proportions - the worst flood in its history, said New England Comcast News Network (NECN).
According to published reports, Pakistani American in Boston raised $50,000 over the weekend, but billions are needed to aid those affected by flood-ravaged Pakistan. The United Nations has appealed for $460 million in aid for immediate relief with billions needed over the years to reconstruct the affected areas - a vast swath of 1000 longitudinal miles stretching from the Swat Valley in the north to the Indus plains in southern Sindh.
So far about 20 million people have been affected. It is said to be the worst floods in Pakistan's recorded history, and around 2, 000 are reported dead. More than 6 million children are affected the most - 3.5 million of them are at risk of flood diseases. A case of cholera has also been reported.
Dr. Khalil Khatri, a dermatologist in Boston, and member Association of Pakistan Physicians said, "it is the common man who has suffered the most," but the "news has not traveled out so easily to the American public and the international community, said Oxfam America representative.
Tahir Chaudhry, former president of the Pakistani Association of Greater Boston said he realizes that the country "has a bad rap" right now due to its politics and involvement in the Afghan war, but the flood has affected the common people who have nothing to do with the political situation.
WATCH VIDEO:
Pakistan-Bangladesh rail link being re-established - after 39 yrs
NEW YORK: Bangladesh and Pakistan may re-establish rail links through India, 39 years after their separation and by Indian standard, 63 years after the subcontinent was divided.
“We would like to have transit and be connected to all South Asian nations, including Pakistan,” Bangladesh foreign minister Dipu Moni told Kolkata-based newspaper The Telegraph.
Islamabad has already said it wants the rail link revived, the paper added.
Last month, while allowing Afghan trucks transit to India, Pakistan had refused to grant Indians passage to Kabul, saying this would have to wait till Delhi gave it transit to Dhaka, the paper reported.
Top Indian railway officials have said they were willing to allow a Lahore-Delhi-Dhaka service — initially with goods trains and later, if politics allowed, with passenger trains.
Bangladesh until now had not been inclined towards any rail link with Pakistan. Till the 1965 Indo-Pak war, goods trains used to travel between Lahore and Dhaka though.
Moni, who at 53 is Bangladesh’s second-youngest foreign minister, reflects new thinking in Bangladesh that wants to put the past behind and become part of a new fertile “green crescent” in which connectivity may be the panacea of all evils if Thomas Bernett is to be believed.
“We are in favor of the Asian Highway connectivity plans.… We want all countries on board in that project,” the young minister said.
The Asian Highway is a co-operative project among countries in Asia and Europe, supported by the UN and global banks such as the Asian Development Bank. It seeks to link countries in Asia, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China and Japan, with Europe through a 7,000km trans-continental highway and railway system.
The gaps in the railway and highway networks lie mostly in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. If these can be filled, the “green crescent” can be harnessed, says one South Asian observer.
“We would like to have transit and be connected to all South Asian nations, including Pakistan,” Bangladesh foreign minister Dipu Moni told Kolkata-based newspaper The Telegraph.
Islamabad has already said it wants the rail link revived, the paper added.
Last month, while allowing Afghan trucks transit to India, Pakistan had refused to grant Indians passage to Kabul, saying this would have to wait till Delhi gave it transit to Dhaka, the paper reported.
Top Indian railway officials have said they were willing to allow a Lahore-Delhi-Dhaka service — initially with goods trains and later, if politics allowed, with passenger trains.
Bangladesh until now had not been inclined towards any rail link with Pakistan. Till the 1965 Indo-Pak war, goods trains used to travel between Lahore and Dhaka though.
Moni, who at 53 is Bangladesh’s second-youngest foreign minister, reflects new thinking in Bangladesh that wants to put the past behind and become part of a new fertile “green crescent” in which connectivity may be the panacea of all evils if Thomas Bernett is to be believed.
“We are in favor of the Asian Highway connectivity plans.… We want all countries on board in that project,” the young minister said.
The Asian Highway is a co-operative project among countries in Asia and Europe, supported by the UN and global banks such as the Asian Development Bank. It seeks to link countries in Asia, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China and Japan, with Europe through a 7,000km trans-continental highway and railway system.
The gaps in the railway and highway networks lie mostly in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. If these can be filled, the “green crescent” can be harnessed, says one South Asian observer.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Rumblings of change of guard in Islamabad
NEW YORK: Fears that President Zardari and his PPP-led coalition government in the center could be overthrown – possibly through an intervention or approval by the army – have grown as the two-and-a-half-years old civilian setup struggles to cope with the flood crisis. Hoarding, rising prices with the advent of Ramadan, ethnic killings in Karachi and Balochistan have added to the political government's woes.
Najam Sethi, editor of the weekly Friday Times, told The Guardian: "The powers that be, that is the military and bureaucratic establishment, are mulling the formation of a national government, with or without the PPP [the ruling Pakistan People's party]."
I know this is definitely being discussed. There is a perception in the army that you need good governance to get out of the economic crisis and there is no good governance," he added.
Sethi's comments cannot be dismissed easily given his proximity to the power players both in the political arena and in the establishment.
Other analysts say a military coup is unlikely because the army's priority is fighting the Taliban insurgency, and taking over during a disaster makes no sense, the influential British paper added.
Sethi said, "though only the courts could legally dismiss Zardari, but as the present government is one reliant on coalition partners, behind-the-scenes military pressure on those partners could bring it down," ANI reported.
These partners include MQM of Karachi and ANP of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who will remain beneficiaries no matter what the change of guard comprises of.
The influential Texas-based STRATFOR - a strategic forecasting company popular among the intelligence community has observed that the rising social unrest down the line due to the flood crisis could create a political situation in which the Zardari government may be unable to complete its term, which ends in 2013.
"Should the civilian government prove incapable of managing the overall situation, will the military be forced to step in and take a more active role in governing the country? The government — especially President Asif Ali Zardari, who is also the de facto chief of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party — is, rightly or wrongly, extremely unpopular. Zardari’s decision to take a week-long trip to Europe while the floods were hitting the country has only worsened the situation. Rising social unrest down the line could create a political situation in which the government may be unable to complete its term, which ends in 2013.
"These are obviously worst-case scenarios, but ones that cannot be dismissed. Even if the floods had not happened, the security, economic, and socio-political circumstances in Pakistan demanded close observation. The floods have increased this importance, especially since U.S. President Barack Obama’s entire war strategy involves stabilizing Pakistan."
Do all the above observations by Sethi and Stratfor point to A) a military take-over or B) a national government or C) a new coalition government?
The military is of course knee-deep in security issues. Only a national government or a new popular political government (through the parliament) would suit the stake-holders who are aplenty just as they were in 1977.
President Asif Ali Zardari may already have thrown in the towel with his irrational - almost incoherent acts. Will his (now) one-day visit to Russia be the last foreign trip he undertakes? Only a Mamoo or the coffee-cup reader can predict that. They however came close to predicting in May (on Meray Mutabiq) that they see changes beyond July.
Allah Khair Karey!
Najam Sethi, editor of the weekly Friday Times, told The Guardian: "The powers that be, that is the military and bureaucratic establishment, are mulling the formation of a national government, with or without the PPP [the ruling Pakistan People's party]."
I know this is definitely being discussed. There is a perception in the army that you need good governance to get out of the economic crisis and there is no good governance," he added.
Sethi's comments cannot be dismissed easily given his proximity to the power players both in the political arena and in the establishment.
Other analysts say a military coup is unlikely because the army's priority is fighting the Taliban insurgency, and taking over during a disaster makes no sense, the influential British paper added.
Sethi said, "though only the courts could legally dismiss Zardari, but as the present government is one reliant on coalition partners, behind-the-scenes military pressure on those partners could bring it down," ANI reported.
These partners include MQM of Karachi and ANP of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who will remain beneficiaries no matter what the change of guard comprises of.
The influential Texas-based STRATFOR - a strategic forecasting company popular among the intelligence community has observed that the rising social unrest down the line due to the flood crisis could create a political situation in which the Zardari government may be unable to complete its term, which ends in 2013.
"Should the civilian government prove incapable of managing the overall situation, will the military be forced to step in and take a more active role in governing the country? The government — especially President Asif Ali Zardari, who is also the de facto chief of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party — is, rightly or wrongly, extremely unpopular. Zardari’s decision to take a week-long trip to Europe while the floods were hitting the country has only worsened the situation. Rising social unrest down the line could create a political situation in which the government may be unable to complete its term, which ends in 2013.
"These are obviously worst-case scenarios, but ones that cannot be dismissed. Even if the floods had not happened, the security, economic, and socio-political circumstances in Pakistan demanded close observation. The floods have increased this importance, especially since U.S. President Barack Obama’s entire war strategy involves stabilizing Pakistan."
Do all the above observations by Sethi and Stratfor point to A) a military take-over or B) a national government or C) a new coalition government?
The military is of course knee-deep in security issues. Only a national government or a new popular political government (through the parliament) would suit the stake-holders who are aplenty just as they were in 1977.
President Asif Ali Zardari may already have thrown in the towel with his irrational - almost incoherent acts. Will his (now) one-day visit to Russia be the last foreign trip he undertakes? Only a Mamoo or the coffee-cup reader can predict that. They however came close to predicting in May (on Meray Mutabiq) that they see changes beyond July.
Allah Khair Karey!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Karachi: Targeted killings, bloodbath and beyond..
NEW YORK, USA: Pakistan’s financial capital which is also its southernmost port city – Karachi – with a massive population of almost 20 million, has witnessed a sudden spike in violence, spate of targeted killings, arson, loot, during the last 24 hours particularly. The latest downward spiral in the law and order in the city is unprecedented – almost orchestrated – according to some Karachi observers.
MQM – which is the political party that controls the nerve of the metropolis was rattled by the targeted killing of one of its top loyalists – MPA Raza Haider – a staunch worker for the last 26 years, who belonged to the Shia community. Being a MQM leader, an Urdu-speaking, and a Shia is a mix bag of bad lucks in violent Karachi. Anti-MQM forces are aplenty, in a city whose peace means peace in Pakistan – but where the battle for its turf control has seen more than 800 deaths since January, according to published reports. Just in July, if the present count is updated, it will exceed 100.
Since 6pm Monday evening when Raza Haider and his body guard were gunned down in Nazimabad, more than 50 people have been body-bagged, with dozens of vehicles, push-carts, and khokas (roadside restaurants) set ablaze – reminiscent of what happened in December 2007 (Bhutto murder)and in December 2009 (attack on Shia procession).
Each of these gory incident was hijacked by those whose objectives were beyond protests and demonstrations. So it is this time it seems.
The mob has torched dozens of vehicles, petrol pumps and shops as situation remained tense and normal life has stood still in the metropolis.
Several petrol pumps were also set on fire and the roads wear a deserted look. Aerial firing was also reported across the city.
In Liaquatabad, Karachi, miscreants set on fire a Geo News staff van. Several vehicles were also set on fire in several cities of interior Sindh.
A complete strike is being observed in Hyderabad and Sukkur, over the killing of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) MPA. Karachi is already payyah jammed (wheel jam strike).
All educational institutions in the metropolis remained closed today and examinations have been postponed.
The government has blamed the Taliban and the banned militant group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) for the killing of the lawmaker. Twenty people have been arrested in connection with the violence, federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the Senate on Tuesday.
Some analysts said the violence could ultimately affect the economy. Karachi is home to the country’s main port, the central bank and the stock exchange, which has so far seen thin trade and closed an hour early today because of the violence.
“This obviously raises concern and anxiety, and if these things continue, Pakistan’s economy gets undermined,” said Hasan-Askari Rizvi, a political and security analyst, to a news agency.
“It is a pathetic situation and exposes the helplessness of the government to perform its basic duty towards its citizens,” said Rizvi.
Police and officials said that they also found evidence suggesting that militants had planned a suicide attack during Haider’s funeral, scheduled for later on Tuesday.
“On the basis of evidence available at the moment, it (the killing of Haider) was carried out by the Tehrik-e-Taliban and Sipah-e-Sahaba,” Malik told reporters in Islamabad.
The MQM, a coalition partner in the federal as well as the provincial Sindh government, renewed calls for a crackdown on militants after the killing of its lawmaker.
“For the past 3 to 4 years we have been pointing out and giving evidence about the presence of Taliban and extremists in Karachi,” said Wasay Jalil, a spokesman for the MQM.
“We were ridiculed at that time. But now everyone is admitting that the Taliban and the SSP are here.”
GANGS, MAFIAS
On Tuesday, a day after the killing, Karachi was tense as police and paramilitary troops patrolled deserted streets.
Hyderabad, the second largest city of the province, was also largely deserted as were other towns after the MQM called for three days of mourning.
“This could be the last nail in the coffin and could be disastrous for the stock market because as it is, volume has been below average and this may lead to foreign investors exiting the market,” said Sajid Bhanji, a director at brokerage Arif Habib Ltd, of Haider’s killing and the ensuring violence.
Karachi has a long history of ethnic, religious and sectarian violence. It was a main target of al Qaeda-linked militants after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, when Pakistan joined the US-led campaign against militancy, and foreigners were attacked in the city several times.
“All political forces in Karachi have their armed groups,” Rizvi said. “And then there are a lot of other groups – criminal, sectarian, drug mafia.”
Including last night’s death toll, officials say at least 193 people have been killed in targeted attacks since the start of the year, although analysts and political parties say the number is likely much higher.
Mohajirs, the descendants of Urdu-speakers who migrated from India after the creation of Pakistan in 1947, are the biggest community and dominate the city’s administration through the MQM.
It is also home to the largest concentration of ethnic Pashtuns outside the northwest.
Government officials also say criminals, including drug lords competing for turf in the city’s teeming neighborhoods, take advantage of the tension, complicating the police’s difficulties. So does the land mafia who have influence on all parties.
What lies beyond Karachi’s targeted killings and bloodbath is almost impossible to predict at the moment. “Whether it will lead to limited army control of the city or a civil-military administration is difficult to predict,” said one observer. Meanwhile both sectarian and ethnic forces appear to have made Pakistan’s largest city – its financial hub – their bed, bath and beyond!
MQM – which is the political party that controls the nerve of the metropolis was rattled by the targeted killing of one of its top loyalists – MPA Raza Haider – a staunch worker for the last 26 years, who belonged to the Shia community. Being a MQM leader, an Urdu-speaking, and a Shia is a mix bag of bad lucks in violent Karachi. Anti-MQM forces are aplenty, in a city whose peace means peace in Pakistan – but where the battle for its turf control has seen more than 800 deaths since January, according to published reports. Just in July, if the present count is updated, it will exceed 100.
Since 6pm Monday evening when Raza Haider and his body guard were gunned down in Nazimabad, more than 50 people have been body-bagged, with dozens of vehicles, push-carts, and khokas (roadside restaurants) set ablaze – reminiscent of what happened in December 2007 (Bhutto murder)and in December 2009 (attack on Shia procession).
Each of these gory incident was hijacked by those whose objectives were beyond protests and demonstrations. So it is this time it seems.
The mob has torched dozens of vehicles, petrol pumps and shops as situation remained tense and normal life has stood still in the metropolis.
Several petrol pumps were also set on fire and the roads wear a deserted look. Aerial firing was also reported across the city.
In Liaquatabad, Karachi, miscreants set on fire a Geo News staff van. Several vehicles were also set on fire in several cities of interior Sindh.
A complete strike is being observed in Hyderabad and Sukkur, over the killing of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) MPA. Karachi is already payyah jammed (wheel jam strike).
All educational institutions in the metropolis remained closed today and examinations have been postponed.
The government has blamed the Taliban and the banned militant group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) for the killing of the lawmaker. Twenty people have been arrested in connection with the violence, federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the Senate on Tuesday.
Some analysts said the violence could ultimately affect the economy. Karachi is home to the country’s main port, the central bank and the stock exchange, which has so far seen thin trade and closed an hour early today because of the violence.
“This obviously raises concern and anxiety, and if these things continue, Pakistan’s economy gets undermined,” said Hasan-Askari Rizvi, a political and security analyst, to a news agency.
“It is a pathetic situation and exposes the helplessness of the government to perform its basic duty towards its citizens,” said Rizvi.
Police and officials said that they also found evidence suggesting that militants had planned a suicide attack during Haider’s funeral, scheduled for later on Tuesday.
“On the basis of evidence available at the moment, it (the killing of Haider) was carried out by the Tehrik-e-Taliban and Sipah-e-Sahaba,” Malik told reporters in Islamabad.
The MQM, a coalition partner in the federal as well as the provincial Sindh government, renewed calls for a crackdown on militants after the killing of its lawmaker.
“For the past 3 to 4 years we have been pointing out and giving evidence about the presence of Taliban and extremists in Karachi,” said Wasay Jalil, a spokesman for the MQM.
“We were ridiculed at that time. But now everyone is admitting that the Taliban and the SSP are here.”
GANGS, MAFIAS
On Tuesday, a day after the killing, Karachi was tense as police and paramilitary troops patrolled deserted streets.
Hyderabad, the second largest city of the province, was also largely deserted as were other towns after the MQM called for three days of mourning.
“This could be the last nail in the coffin and could be disastrous for the stock market because as it is, volume has been below average and this may lead to foreign investors exiting the market,” said Sajid Bhanji, a director at brokerage Arif Habib Ltd, of Haider’s killing and the ensuring violence.
Karachi has a long history of ethnic, religious and sectarian violence. It was a main target of al Qaeda-linked militants after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, when Pakistan joined the US-led campaign against militancy, and foreigners were attacked in the city several times.
“All political forces in Karachi have their armed groups,” Rizvi said. “And then there are a lot of other groups – criminal, sectarian, drug mafia.”
Including last night’s death toll, officials say at least 193 people have been killed in targeted attacks since the start of the year, although analysts and political parties say the number is likely much higher.
Mohajirs, the descendants of Urdu-speakers who migrated from India after the creation of Pakistan in 1947, are the biggest community and dominate the city’s administration through the MQM.
It is also home to the largest concentration of ethnic Pashtuns outside the northwest.
Government officials also say criminals, including drug lords competing for turf in the city’s teeming neighborhoods, take advantage of the tension, complicating the police’s difficulties. So does the land mafia who have influence on all parties.
What lies beyond Karachi’s targeted killings and bloodbath is almost impossible to predict at the moment. “Whether it will lead to limited army control of the city or a civil-military administration is difficult to predict,” said one observer. Meanwhile both sectarian and ethnic forces appear to have made Pakistan’s largest city – its financial hub – their bed, bath and beyond!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Why Kayani to remain Pak army chief until 2013
NEW YORK, USA: Army chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has been given another full-term (3 years) extension of service. Instead of retiring in November this year, he will now hopefully walk into sunset in November 2013 – almost right after the next elections are held.
Gen. Kayani had been averse to accepting any tenure extension, published reports have said. However, former COAS Gen (R) Waheed Kakar was said to have played an important role in convincing him to accept the extension in the larger national interest and that of the armed forces institution in particular.
Some observers feel the range of forces behind Kayani’s incumbency is as vast as the vested interests of war on terror and in the “re-making of Pakistan” as a “progressive, liberal, secularist society.”
The announcement of Kayani’s extension was made by none other than Prime Minister Gilani himself. Gilani’s public announcement was one of the shortest on TV in Pakistan’s history. In his two-and-a-half-minute burp, Gilani said that owing to the ongoing military operations against militants, it was important to maintain continuity in the military leadership.
The army chief will now become the first to enjoy the longest ever tenure, notwithstanding those who extended their own tenures in the like of Gen Ayub, Gen Zia, Gen Musharraf.
According to some of these observers, the move heralds the potential of long-term consequences on the country’s political and military landscape including present and future civil-military relationship. Two dynamics are inter-playing: The civil-military relations as envisaged in the Kerry-Lugar Bill and the one as planned by the establishment itself for the long haul.
According to reports, the decision was earlier planned to be announced by July 18. However, it was deferred till the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A poker-faced Clinton said in Islamabad last week that the United States did not and would not comment on Pakistan’s internal matter, when asked about Kayani’s extension. But Pakistan watchers smiled at that. Hillary did however stress that the United States would like democratic setup to continue!
Kayani positioned himself in the overall war against terror’s dispensation with his entry, thanks to Gen Musharraf, as DG ISI. His more than cursory involvement in Musharraf team’s negotiations with Benazir Bhutto, of which he was an integral part, is well known.
When Musharraf in November 2007 gave up his army chief role, he pinned that badge on Kayani. Elections were thereafter held making PPP win enough seats to form a secular government in the center. While Bhutto met untimely death, Musharraf was forced to quit – and in a twist of fate, Zardari and Kayani became new power players representing either side of the divide – or shall we say – from the same side in the great game!
Once a military assistant to the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto as well as a trusted protege of her rival Musharraf, Kayani has been recognised as a chameleon in surviving Pakistan’s treacherous political waters, AFP reported.
Today, a more relaxed and cheerful Gilani praised Kayani for his “commitment to democracy”, recalling that the military chief had termed “democracy inevitable” for peace and development in Pakistan. Read “progressive, liberal, secular forces” in place of “democracy”. The PM also quipped that all four major power balls – the army chief, the PM (himself), the President and the Chef Justice will remain in their seat until 2013!
Kayani has thus come out in the open as the key force in the power structure. He was then and is now, and will remain so in future also, until a mixed bag of nationalistic-secularist-progressive force emerges in the country. Such an ideological boundary for Pakistan may not make all the stake-holders happy though; but then in every successful negotiations – one party is always the grim reaper. Who is or who are the grim reapers – only time can tell. All that can be conjectured right now is that no matter who took the insurance from whom – the underwriter is the same!
Gen. Kayani had been averse to accepting any tenure extension, published reports have said. However, former COAS Gen (R) Waheed Kakar was said to have played an important role in convincing him to accept the extension in the larger national interest and that of the armed forces institution in particular.
Some observers feel the range of forces behind Kayani’s incumbency is as vast as the vested interests of war on terror and in the “re-making of Pakistan” as a “progressive, liberal, secularist society.”
The announcement of Kayani’s extension was made by none other than Prime Minister Gilani himself. Gilani’s public announcement was one of the shortest on TV in Pakistan’s history. In his two-and-a-half-minute burp, Gilani said that owing to the ongoing military operations against militants, it was important to maintain continuity in the military leadership.
The army chief will now become the first to enjoy the longest ever tenure, notwithstanding those who extended their own tenures in the like of Gen Ayub, Gen Zia, Gen Musharraf.
According to some of these observers, the move heralds the potential of long-term consequences on the country’s political and military landscape including present and future civil-military relationship. Two dynamics are inter-playing: The civil-military relations as envisaged in the Kerry-Lugar Bill and the one as planned by the establishment itself for the long haul.
According to reports, the decision was earlier planned to be announced by July 18. However, it was deferred till the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A poker-faced Clinton said in Islamabad last week that the United States did not and would not comment on Pakistan’s internal matter, when asked about Kayani’s extension. But Pakistan watchers smiled at that. Hillary did however stress that the United States would like democratic setup to continue!
Kayani positioned himself in the overall war against terror’s dispensation with his entry, thanks to Gen Musharraf, as DG ISI. His more than cursory involvement in Musharraf team’s negotiations with Benazir Bhutto, of which he was an integral part, is well known.
When Musharraf in November 2007 gave up his army chief role, he pinned that badge on Kayani. Elections were thereafter held making PPP win enough seats to form a secular government in the center. While Bhutto met untimely death, Musharraf was forced to quit – and in a twist of fate, Zardari and Kayani became new power players representing either side of the divide – or shall we say – from the same side in the great game!
Once a military assistant to the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto as well as a trusted protege of her rival Musharraf, Kayani has been recognised as a chameleon in surviving Pakistan’s treacherous political waters, AFP reported.
Today, a more relaxed and cheerful Gilani praised Kayani for his “commitment to democracy”, recalling that the military chief had termed “democracy inevitable” for peace and development in Pakistan. Read “progressive, liberal, secular forces” in place of “democracy”. The PM also quipped that all four major power balls – the army chief, the PM (himself), the President and the Chef Justice will remain in their seat until 2013!
Kayani has thus come out in the open as the key force in the power structure. He was then and is now, and will remain so in future also, until a mixed bag of nationalistic-secularist-progressive force emerges in the country. Such an ideological boundary for Pakistan may not make all the stake-holders happy though; but then in every successful negotiations – one party is always the grim reaper. Who is or who are the grim reapers – only time can tell. All that can be conjectured right now is that no matter who took the insurance from whom – the underwriter is the same!
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