EDUCATED YOUTH CAN
RECTIFY AILING
SYSTEM. NAZIM KARACHI
Karachi Apr 16: Nazim Karachi
Syed Mustafa Kamal has said that on
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
TRAFFIC PROBLEMS
CORRIDOR-III TO SOLVE 80 PERCENT TRAFFIC PROBLEMS.
Karachi Apr 17: Nazim Karachi
Syed Mustafa Kamal
has directed Works & Services Department to ensure speedy completion of all projects of corridor-III so that the project could be completed and opened for traffic within next 2 to two and half months.
Karachi, Pakistan Information and History
The tomb of Mohammed Ali Jinnah—founder of Pakistan. Despite the wishes of British colonial authorities, Gandhi, and Nehru, Jinnah made the Muslim state a reality.
Photograph by Robert Harding/Robert Harding World Imagery/Getty Images
KARACHI ROBBERS IN FIRE
The crowds that gathered around and witnessed the burning bodies of the three robbers near the Timber Market, Karachi yesterday said they were ‘happy over the incident and praised the persons who had torched these robbers alive.’
Is this justice served or a mob that acted out of sheer frustration and torched three men, two of whom died on the spot and the third succumed to his death in the hospital?
Granted the looting and robbing of citizens has reached new highs in recent times and the people were fed up of being robbed and looted. But can this act of ignorance and brutality ever be justified by any means? Where is the sense in torching three human beings to death? What law were these people following and why have none of them been taken in to custody for murder?
As always, there were conflicting reports of what actually happened and how. Daily Times stated that only one police mobile was present at the time when the robbers were fleeing after looting a house and were fired upon. As a result of the chase that the police gave, two of the robbers were shot dead and one was critically wounded. The mobs wanted to beat and set fire to the three bodies which they gladly did while both the police and the Edhi Ambulance people were shoved back by thousands of angry residents.
There was a conflicting account in the very same news clipping that the robbers were caught fleeing by the residents and were beaten up with any thing they could lay their hands on and THEN they were torched to death while atleast 5-6 police mobiles and one ambulance service were rendered helpless by the angry crowds.
What are we turning in to? Just recently we saw chaos in Multan where angry mobs took to the streets and damaged private and government property in their own style of protests against the impending load sheddings. And now yet again, law has been taken in the hands of a common man and three men, although criminals, were burnt alive in broad day light as a lesson for others who followed the same path.
So does this mean we do not need law and order in our country any more? Is there no need for police or the army or the courts or any laws and sentences?
Who is going to be held responsible for this heinous act? The robbers who rob, the people who killed them, the policemen who watched, the ambulance staff who couldn’t help, or us all who will think about this for five minutes and then move on?
Monday, April 20, 2009
KARACHI
By the time we realized that we had to take care of the city ourselves, it was too late. The Mullahs, the MQM, and other sectarian me-too’s had taken Karachi by the scruff of the neck, dragged it through excreta, thoroughly looted, pillaged, plundered and raped it — and left it for dead. All this was done, while the citizens of Karachi stood by and watched – maybe ranted about it for a while, but did nothing constructive to better the situation. The key word here is “constructive,” because we do take out rallies, shout slogans, wave flags, and generally rant and wave our arms indignantly, but what exactly has that brought us? Every rally and strike paralyses life in the city, affects small business, and in general, just pushes us back into medieval times, one step at a time.
Judging by the recent situation in the city – the effect of the monsoons, the “rallies”, etc. – it is high time that the people of Karachi shake themselves out of their current inanimateness, or as a friend very aptly puts it “We’re going to have to remove Karachi from the list of ‘cities’ pretty soon. We don’t get running water, electricity is dear, the roads are messed up, the people don’t care – we live in a village!”
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Case filed against ‘US meddling’ in Pakistan’s internal affairs’ in Sindh High Court Submitted by Mohit Joshi on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 09:38. * Feat
Karachi, Mar. 28 : A constitutional petition has been filed in Sindh High Court challenging the alleged meddling of US diplomats in Pakistan's internal affairs during the political crisis in the country. In his petition, local lawyer Sohail Hameed claimed that after the invading Iraq and Afghanistan, the US government was now meddling in the internal affairs of Pakistan by using indirect methods.
The US is trying to control political parties through their influence, forcing the government of the day to enter into a compromise on the terms dictated by the opposition, he alleged.
He stressed that as per the Constitution of Pakistan, the government is bound to defend the territorial integrity of Pakistan and ensure independent governance as per Islamic ideology.
The petitioner stated that a series of meetings by US diplomats in Pakistan, are aimed at fanning political turmoil.
The petitioner has sought a court direction to the respondents, which includes the president of Pakistan, the prime minister and interior and foreign secretaries, to ensure independence of the country.
Hameed also urged the court to direct the respondents to file a case before the US courts of law against US officials intervening in Pakistan's political and other affairs.Shocking tales of Pak female health workers sexual harassment by colleagues surface Submitted by Mohit Joshi on Thu, 04/02/2009 - 11:03. * Featu
Karachi, Apr 2 : The condition of women in Pakistan seems to be worsening by the day, with the latest being exploitation of Lady Health Supervisors (LHS) by their male colleagues who often use them to fulfill their shameless desires.
Male colleagues have been accused of treating their female counterparts working under the National Programme for Family Planning and Primary Health Care and the Extensive Programme for Immunisation shabbily.
The extent of corruption in the system came to light when around 22 lady health workers and Lady Health Supervisors (LHS) came forward to say that New Karachi Town Health Officer (THO) Javed Iqbal lures many of them into his "be quiet or you will be fired" trap and has sexually harassed them.
The Daily Times quoted a lady health worker as saying that that she is a married woman and chose this profession only because she desperately needed to make ends meet.
She compared her job to a beggar with a somewhat higher purpose and adds sadly that the male residents of many houses are disrespectful and crude towards her. What saddens her more is that her ordeal does not end on the road, as THO Javed Iqbal and a male vaccinator, Abdul Aleem Khan, successfully reproduce the scenario at work.
She shamefully admits to being a victim of their lust many a times, adding that she was also forced to entertain a group of officers with the threat to subjugate or lose the job. She said that she refused to give in and escaped the consequences narrowly.
Another lady health worker revealed that Iqbal and Khan have on many occasions offered to buy a sexual relationship from her.
"THO Iqbal had offered to give me Rs 1,000 daily if I give in to his demands. I am a respectable married woman and I would prefer to sit at home rather than sell my honour," she said.
Another co-worked added that the THO and Khan have taken advantage of many lady health workers.
She further points that Khan has been threatening other vaccinators who have been let in on his dirty secrets to remain quite or to be exposed in public for crimes they have not even heard of.Altaf demands public hanging of culprits behind flogging of Swat girl Submitted by Mohit Joshi on Mon, 04/06/2009 - 09:47. * Featured * Alta
Karachi, Apr 6 : Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has asked President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Interior Adviser Rehman Malik to publicly hang those who had flogged a young girl in Swat. He made this demand while delivering a telephonic address on Sunday at a MQM women wing's rally at the mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
The MQM observed a peaceful black day all over the country, including Karachi vehemently condemning the flogging of the young girl in Swat.
Protests were also held in other parts of the country, including Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Umerkot in Sindh and parts of the Punjab. Protests were also registered by the MQM in parts of England and some states of the USA.
Lashing out at Ulema who had issued statements in support of flogging, Altaf said as per the Quranic verses, the girl could only be punished if four pious eyewitnesses, who prayed five times a day, were produced.
He added if these people failed to produce such witnesses, then the people who had flogged the girl should be whipped publicly 80 times, The News reported.
Altaf also lashed out at the Taliban and said they were defaming Islam. The MQM chief made it clear that he was not against the Pakhtuns, but opposing the Talibanisation of the society, adding he did not accept the Shariah of the Taliban.
He said according to investigative reports, the marriage of the girl and the boy was forcibly solemnised and now the boy was under immense mental pressure. One of the brothers of the girl works in Saudi Arabia and the victim had done intermediate from a college in Mingora, he said.
Altaf disclosed the Taliban had been chasing both the boy and the girl. He demanded of the authorities concerned to save them from these elements. In an emotional tone, Altaf said this act of the Taliban had brought shame to the entire nation. He demanded that those responsible for this act be publicly flogged to death.
He further said he had been repeatedly cautioned about the danger posed by the Talibanisation in Pakistan, including Karachi, but the authorities had turned deaf ears to his warnings and they themselves saw how the girl was flogged.300 suicide attackers present in Pakistan: Rashid Submitted by Mohit Joshi on Mon, 04/06/2009 - 10:00. * Featured * Sheikh Rashid Ahmed
Karachi, Apr 6 : Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has said that as many as 300 suicide attackers are present in Pakistan and if they are not controlled, large-scale disaster may hit the country. Talking to the media at the Jinnah International Airport, he said Pakistan was in the grip of suicide attacks and the whole nation would have to rise against them.
Condemning the suicide attack at an Imambargah in Chakwal, Rashid said the country was going through a critical phase, the Daily Times reported.
Decisions were being taken on the roads rather than by parliament and some decisions were being made at gunpoint, he remarked.
The Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) judges were there before the suspension of the Punjab Government and they are there after its restoration as well, Rashid added.
He demanded Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States (US) should be called back for not arguing the case of the country in an effective way.
The US could not succeed in Afghanistan without the help of Pakistani forces and agencies, Rashid underlined.
He stressed the political parties should bring back the money their leadership had stashed in offshore accounts.
Replying to a question, Rashid said the reinstatement of the judges had been decided on March 13.Nawaz’s plane hijacking conspiracy case records missing since 2007 Submitted by Mohit Joshi on Wed, 04/08/2009 - 09:01. * Featured * Nawaz S
Karachi, Apr. 8 : The records of former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's appeals in the plane hijacking conspiracy case have been missing from the Sindh High Court records since 2007. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawyer, Arshad Khan Jadoon, said that three miscellaneous applications were filed by the PML-N seeking certified copies of the judgment by an anti-terrorism court (ATC-I) for Karachi division.
However, the court informed him that the record had been misplaced in 2007, and an inquiry in this regard was also conducted by the assistant registrar of the SHC, the Daily Times reports.
Sharif was sentenced twice to life imprisonment by the ATCs in Karachi in April 2000, and his appeal against the conviction was turned down by the full bench of the SHC in October 2000.
Sharif did not file an appeal earlier because "the judiciary was previously not independent and the judges took oath under the PCO".
PML-N Lawyers' Forum has said that Khawaja Muhammad Haris - the main defense counsel for Sharif, would now file an appeal with the Supreme Court against the SHC judgment and conviction of Sharif under the anti-terror law.
The appeals could not be filed due to the seven year exile of Sharif and his family to Saudi Arabia, after an agreement with General Pervez Musharraf's government that commuted his life imprisonment to exile.Five terrorists planning an attack on Karachi arrested Submitted by Mohit Joshi on Wed, 04/08/2009 - 13:58. * Featured * Karachi * Pakis
Karachi, Apr 8 : The Karachi police on Wednesday foiled an attempt to carry out a terrorist act by arresting five alleged terrorists, seizing explosives and a large cache of ammunitions from them. CCPO Wasim Ahmed confirmed at a news conference that the accused Muhammad Akbar, Sarfaraz, Faridullah, Faisal Sheikh and Dar Muhammad Baloch were arrested following an exchange of fire near Super Market in Sohrab Goth.
He said that the accused were planning to target senior police officials, Home Minister office, Police Headquarter, DIG CID office, Imambargahs and mosques.
They were also involved in several attacks on security forces and vehicles carrying NATO supplies in Waziristan, The News reported.
The CCOP further said that accused are activists of banned Jihadi outfits, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
Replying to a question, he said that suicide bomber was present in the city.Pak intelligence agencies arrest Baitullah Mehsud’s close aide Submitted by Sahil Nagpal on Tue, 04/14/2009 - 06:34. * Featured * Baitullah
Karachi, Apr. 14 : Pakistan intelligence agencies have reportedly arrested a close aide of the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud.
According to The Daily Times, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) along with other intelligence agencies has arrested one Badshah Deen Mehsud from a hotel here.
Confirming the report, CID SSP Fayyaz Khan said the 59 year old Badshah Mehsud was a close aid of TTP chief.
"Basically, Badshah provided logistical support to Mehsud. He was involved in various crimes including robbing money changers and banks, and providing vehicles and shelter to those working for TTP in Karachi," Khan said.
Badshah Mehsud's name was also included in the CID's list in its Red Book.
Khan said Badshah Mehsud also helped the TTP members evade the raids conducted by Anti Violent Crime Unit in connection with the kidnapping of renowned filmmaker Satish Anand.
Anand was freed by the kidnappers' two days ago after a hefty ransom was paid by his family members.Asif to attend IPL, but only as a spectator Submitted by Mohit Joshi on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 10:53. * Featured * Mohammad Asif * Karachi
Karachi, Apr 15 : Mohammad Asif, who became the first ever doping offender of the Indian Premier League (IPL) last summer, will make a comeback to the cash-rich Twenty20 league in South Africa, not as a player, but as a spectator.
The Pakistani fast bowler is on a rehabilitation mission which takes him to London on Wednesday (today) for a couple of weeks, before he leaves for South Africa to witness some of the IPL matches there next month.
Asif, 26, is hoping to make a successful return to international cricket during this year''s ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa, soon after his one-year ban ends in September.
The pacer was banned by the IPL after he tested positive for banned anabolic steroid nandrolone last summer while featuring in the inaugural season of the Twenty20 spectacle for Delhi Daredevils.
His agent says that the fitness plan has been devised in a way that can help Asif ease his way back into international cricket with the eight-nation Champions Trophy.
"All the setbacks that have hit him in the last year or so have left Asif really exhausted," said Salman Ahmed, an official of the company managing Asif.
"We have prepared a fitness regime for him that will help him recover both mentally and physically," The News quoted him, as saying.
The plan is to make Asif work under expert trainers in England for at least four weeks, and then start playing league cricket there.
Several clubs based either in Cambridge and greater Manchester has shown a lot of interest in hiring Asif for this season.
After playing in England for a couple of months, Asif is stated to return home in August for a final phase of training for the Champions Trophy.After Swat, Taliban intends to spread influence over rest of Pakistan: CSM Submitted by Mohit Joshi on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 11:23
Karachi, Apr 16 : Pakistan Taliban, which has gained a foothold in Swat, intends to spread its influence more broadly across Pakistan - and may face little resistance in some areas
After securing their demand for imposing Islamic law in the Swat Valley, the Taliban has moved into the neighbouring district of Buner and won the right to preach in mosques there.
The success in Buner came with little fighting - unlike in Swat, where they'd battled government forces on and off since 2007, The Christian Science Monitor.
Pakistan Taliban militants are still holding several areas of Buner, carrying out armed patrol to keep up a campaign for recruiting fighters, and having no impact of the enforcement of Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, as demanded by their Swat counterparts.
This continues their expansion beyond their stronghold in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), where Swat and Buner are located. The two areas lie about 60 miles from Islamabad, the capital.
Residents in Buner initially fought the incoming Taliban last week by forming a lashkar, or tribal militia. According to newspaper reports, they killed 20 militants. But they soon found themselves outnumbered as hundreds more Taliban fighters swarmed the area.
Buner tribal elders met with Taliban representatives twice in the past week at a jirga, or council. They guaranteed the militants the right to preach in mosques, as long as they did not threaten local residents or their property. The fighters agreed to leave by last Friday.
But that promise remains unfulfilled. Although more than 100 had departed as of Monday, armed Taliban militants are still roaming freely through marketplaces and mingling with local tribesmen, says Abdur Rahman Abid, a journalist based in Sultanwas, a village in Buner.
Government officials say they can't prevent the peaceful entrenchment of the Taliban in Buner.
On Monday, according to Dawn, a leading English-language daily, Taliban members briefly detained a government official they had mistakenly identified as belonging to the lashkar, along with his security personnel.
KARACHI 10 years back The News International - 8 hours ago
The Health Watch, an NGO, regretted the fact that Pakistan, while being an atomic power, had an ailing economy, the lowest rate of literacy
20 Indian fishermen remanded to judicial custody in Karachi
Karachi (PTI): Twenty Indian fishermen, arrested for illegally fishing in Pakistani waters have been remanded to judicial custody till April 28.
The Indian fishermen were arrested and their four boats – Poona Putra, Raj Mensi, Jal Ganga and Suneel Raj – were seized by the Maritime Security Agency on Monday.
Police presented them before Judge Nadeem Zafar Hashmi on Wednesday, who remanded them to judicial custody. They were booked the Foreigners Act and Fisheries Act.Karachi lawyer offers to defend Ajmal Kasab Friday, April 17, 2009 By By our correspondent Karachi
A Karachi-based lawyer offered his services for providing legal assistance to Ajmal Kasab, the Mumbai attacks suspect who is facing terrorism charges before the Indian special court.
Sending a letter to the High Commissioner of India, Javed Ahmed Chattari advocate from Karachi said that he was willing to provide legal assistance to Kasab after his request, also reported in the media, to the court to provide him a Pakistani lawyer to defend him against terrorism and murder charges.
Chattari said that despite the fact that the Indian government refused to provide the service of lawyers who did not belong to India he would say that it was the fundamental right of any under-trial person to be allowed to choose the lawyer of his choice.
Twenty-one-year-old Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab is charged with murder and waging war against India. More than 170 people were killed while over a hundred were injured when armed people attacked various places in Mumbai, a hub of economic activities of India. Except Kasab, the other attackers were killed by the Indian law-enforcement agencies.
Kasab, who was being tried by a special court in India, had demanded a Pakistani lawyer for his defence. However, his request was turned down by the trial court observing that the Pakistani government or family members of the suspect could engage an Indian lawyer.
The Indian court also appointed Abbas Kazmi, a criminal lawyer from Mumbai, after sacking the first defence lawyer Anjali Waghmare, who was dismissed for “professional misconduct”. Waghmare was alleged to have also signed to represent an attack victim.
Friday, April 17, 2009
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Thursday, April 16, 2009
MQM says it opposed NAR in country�s interest Updated at: 1820 PST, Thursday, April 16, 2009
KARACHI: Convener Coordination Committee of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and MNA Dr. Farooq Sattar Thursday said his party opposed the �so-called� Nizam-e-Adl Regulation in the larger interest of the country.
Addressing a press conference here, Dr. Sattar said MQM informed the nation about what he called the serious consequences of implementation of Nizam-e-Adl
�We were Muslims yesterday and we are Muslims today and are well-aware of the teachings of our religion,� he asserted.
Islamabad is only a few kilometers from Buner and after Swat it is now the turn of Islamabad, he feared.
He was of the view that making agreement with the elements who perpetrated the crime of public flogging of a young girl in Swat is tantamount to giving permission to carry out illegal activities openly. �If these people call themselves Muslims then all other Pakistanis should stop calling them so,� he added.
The MQM leader said by carrying out a suicide attack in Charsadda the Taliban celebrated victory of their violence-ridden campaign which has nothing to do with peace. �Their Shariah does not allow them laying down arms and those who support this deal have actually betrayed their voters,� Dr. Farooq Sattar maintained.
MNA Haider Abbas Rizvi, on the occasion, said Chaudhry Nisar has violated the Parliamentary traditions by issuing a statement against MQM.
He termed the statements against MQM Chief Altaf Hussain as regrettable.
Dr. Farroq Sattar said now we also reserve a right to issue statements against Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif.
PML-N decides not to join federal cabinet Updated at: 1815 PST, Thursday, April 16, 2009
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-N, deciding not to rejoin the federal cabinet, demanded that the government should try former president Pervez Musharraf for sliding the country into crises.
Addressing a news conference after party�s central working committee (CWC) meeting here on Thursday, PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif called on the federal government to form an autonomous commission headed by a Supreme Court judge to resolve issues of Balochistan.
Nawaz Sharif said that the participants passed a resolution condemning the killing of three Baloch nationalist leaders and expressing oncerns over current Balochistan unrest.
The former prime minister reiterated his belief that those responsible for the current crises be held responsible. �Those responsible for the present crises should be brought to justice. Musharraf needs to be made accountable for his mistake,� he said.
�Balochistan is in turmoil because of Nawab Bugti�s assassination,� he said, while continuing to press for prosecution of the Musharraf government under whose watch the operation was carried out.
He said that the people of Balochistan were not alone as the nation and PML-N workers stood by them.
The resolution further demanded that issues of Fata, tribal and northern areas should be resolved in a democratic manner.
The PML-N Quaid said his party would support the government if it took steps to address issues faced by Baloch people under the 1973 Constitution and Charter of Democracy (CoD).
Responding to a question, he said that Chaudhry brothers should appologise to the nation for supporting a dictator.
The Life Chairperson - Pakistan Peoples Party
Political activist with the PPP, 1977-84; repeatedly imprisoned and kept under house arrest by the Pakistani government; political exile in London, England, 1984-86; returned to Pakistan in April, 1986; Pakistan co-chair, beginning in 1986; After elections held November 1988, invited to form the government, became Prime Minister in 1988 but her government was illegally dismissed in August 1990. She again came to power after her Party won a majority in elections held in October 1993. Her government was once again dismissed illegally in November 1996. Since then PPP under her leadership has been subjected to political persecution first by Nawaz's regime and then by Musharraf regime. The leadership faced all the difficulties with courage and has remained united under her leadership despite coercion and intimidation.
MQM
Tehreek-e-Insaf pti Imran Khan MQM Altaf Hussain Karachi Nawaz Sharif Benazir Lahore punjaab punjaabi punjabi Aaj Geo Ary tv pakistan ppp pmln pml n pmlq anp capital talk Musharraf 12 may bhutto sita white zani Mohajir sindh azizabad nwfp jamaat islami j
Police seize Rs 26 crore 'unaccounted money' in India
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Police have seized over Rs 26 crore unaccounted money during last two weeks reportedly meant for distribution among voters in the elections, state Chief Electoral Officer said.
The illegal money was seized during veh
The illegal money was seized during veh
Baloch sees no change in PPP, PML-N attitudes
LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Naib Amir Liaquat Baloch has said that Pakistan People Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have not changed their attitudes despite singing the charter of democracy (CoD).
Speaking to different del
Speaking to different del
Nawaz demands formation of commission on Balochistan Updated at: 1530 PST, Thursday, April 16, 2009
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-N demanded on Thursday that the federal government should form an autonomous commission headed by a Supreme Court judge to resolve issues of Balochistan.Talking to media after PML-N central working committee meeting here, the party�s Quaid Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif said that the participants expressed their concerns over situation in Balochistan. The killing of three Baloch nationalist leaders was also condemned. Nawaz said that the people of Balochistan were not alone and the nation and PML-N stood by them.
The PML-N Quaid said his party would support the government if it took steps to address issues faced by Baloch people under the 1973 Constitution and Charter of Democracy (CoD).
Afghans clash over controversial marriage law Wednesday, 15 Apr, 2009 | 04:50 PM PST |
Afghan women listen to Ayatollah Mohammad Asef Mohseni, a top Shia cleric, speak out in support of the law in Kabul April 11, 2009.—ReutersThe law, passed last month, says a husband can demand sex with his wife every four days unless she is ill or would be harmed by intercourse — a clause that critics say legalizes marital rape. It also regulates when and for what reasons a wife may leave her home alone.
Women’s rights activists scheduled a protest Wednesday attended by mostly young women. But the group was swamped by counter-protesters — both men and women — who shouted down the women’s chants.
Some picked up gravel and stones and threw them at the women, while others shouted ‘Death to the slaves of the Christians!’ Female police held hands around the group to create a protective barrier.
The government of President Hamid Karzai has said the Shia family law is being reviewed by the Justice Department and will not be implemented in its current form. Governments and rights groups around the world have condemned the legislation, and President Barack Obama has labelled it ‘abhorrent.’
Though the law would apply only to the country’s Shias — 10 to 20 per cent of
Shia backers of the law say that foreigners are meddling in private Afghan affairs, and Wednesday’s demonstrations brought some of the emotions surrounding the debate over the law to the surface.
‘You are a dog! You are not a Shia woman!’ one man shouted to a young woman in a headscarf holding aloft a banner that said ‘We don’t want Taliban law.’ The woman did not shout back at the man, but told him: ‘This is my land and my people.’
Women protesting the law said many of their supporters had been blocked by men who refused to let them join the protest. Those who did make it shouted repeatedly that they were defending human rights by defending women’s rights and that the law does not reflect the views of the Shia community.
Fourteen-year-old Masuma Hasani said her whole family had come out to protest the law — both her parents and her younger sister who she held by the arm.
‘I am concerned about my future with this law,’ she said. ‘We want our rights. We don’t want women to just be used.’
As the back-and-forth continued, another demonstration of Shia women who said they support the law began.
‘We don’t want foreigners interfering in our lives. They are the enemy of
Worrying uncertainties Dawn Editorial Thursday, 16 Apr, 2009 | 08:48 AM PST |
Sharia for peace was the deal, so will the militants live up to their promise?— Reuters/File PhotoNow that the Nizam-i-Adl regulation has been approved by the president, the ball is in the court of the militants in Malakand Division. Sharia for peace was the deal, so will the militants live up to their promise? The jury is still very much out on that question. Sufi Mohammad struck a deal with the provincial government in the NWFP on the basis that he could convince Maulana Fazlullah and the TTP militants to lay down their arms and allow the state to resume its duties in Swat.
At the moment though no such thing is happening; the militants are still visible, they are still carrying out patrols and they are heavily armed. Even if it is accepted that it will take time for the militants to dismantle their terror infrastructure, the point is that they have yet to even begin such a process. Moreover, Sufi Mohammad has sent unsettling mixed signals. He must clarify if in fact he has called for immunity for the militants in Swat. If he has, then was this part of the deal struck with the NWFP government? Surely adding conditions as Sufi Mohammad sees fit cannot be the basis of a viable deal.
One of the basic problems with assessing what is going on in Swat is that many things have yet to be clarified. There are rightly reservations about the bona fides of the militants as potential peace partners in any case. But compounding that uncertainty is the murkiness surrounding what has been agreed to and what hasn’t. Consider the issue of the revamped judicial system that is to be introduced in Malakand Division.
Has the jurisdiction of the superior courts in Pakistan been ousted? Is it even constitutionally possible to remove the Peshawar High Court or the Supreme Court from the picture? There is no doubt that Sufi Mohammad has been pressing for a self-contained judicial system for Malakand, one in which it is locally decided what the Sharia says and how it is to be implemented. So if differences arise, as seems inevitable, on the interpretation of the deal and what the constitution permits, then by what process will Sufi Mohammad and the NWFP government resolve them?
The obvious worry is that if the militants remain armed to the teeth and roam freely in public, they will be able to browbeat the government into accepting their position in any dispute. The second problem is of time frames. When President Zardari dithered over enforcing the Nizam-i-Adl, the militants cried foul and demanded its immediate implementation. But no such immediacy seems to concern Sufi Mohammad when it comes to the militants holding up their end of the bargain. Without a definite timeline to leave the public arena, the fear is that it is the militants who will now be engaging in delaying tactics.Divine Logic Posted by Huma in Featured Articles, Pakistan, Politics on 04 15th, 2009 | 83 responses
Dawn.com’s Huma Yusuf argues that we shouldn’t forget the past just because Sufi Mohammad wants us to.
Now that the Nizam-i-Adl regulation has been passed, women in Swat can be punished for emerging from behind the veil. Drug addicts and bribe takers will be maligned through robust campaigns while prostitutes and pimps are to be expelled from the valley. The sale of CDs will be restricted and hoarders will be exposed and reprimanded. Even corrupt police officers will be checked by the ever vigilant members of the Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM). In other words, all manner of minor transgressors and petty criminals who offend right-wing, religious sensibilities will be dragged to qazi courts in the name of justice.
But Taliban militants who have blown up girls’ schools, kidnapped security and media personnel, and beheaded innocents get off scot-free.
On Tuesday, TNSM chief Sufi Mohammad claimed that the new regulation would protect militants accused of brutal killings from prosecution. According to an article in Dawn:
Asked on Tuesday in a television interview whether the new courts would hear complaints from Swat residents about Mullah Fazlullah or his followers, Sufi Mohammad said they could not.
‘We intend to bury the past,’ the TNSM chief told a private television channel, sitting off-screen. ‘Past things will be left behind and we will go for a new life in peace.’
Sufi Mohammad’s forget-the-past attitude would be laughable if it weren’t so upsetting. Given how controversial the Nizam-i-Adl regulation is, the only way the TNSM could have earned any credibility is by doling out justice under the regulation to all offenders in Malakand – particularly the unabashedly violent militants who Mohammad claims to manage.
No one should excuse the Taliban for this exercise in hypocrisy. We should not for a moment forget that they are choosing to forget the past only because it serves them well in this instance.
In all other circumstances, the Taliban in Pakistan have proved to be vengeful and vindictive, capable of holding long-term grudges that end up being fatal for many innocent Pakistanis.
Speaking to The New York Times in March 2008, Tariq Pervez, the director general of the Federal Investigation Agency, explained that terrorists were stepping up their activity in Punjab in an effort to target Pakistan’s law-enforcing personnel.
At that time, Mr Pervez suggested that militant groups based in Pakistan’s tribal areas were singling out Lahore because Punjabi law-enforcing personnel had been involved in the operation at Islamabad’s Red Mosque in July 2007 and were the targets of terrorists seeking revenge.
Indeed, suicide bombings in many parts of the Punjab, including attacks on security forces in Islamabad and the recent Manawan police academy attack, have later been described as an attempt by militants to seek revenge for the excesses of the Lal Masjid operation.
Last December, in the picturesque village of Shalbandi in Buner, a suicide bomber belonging to the Taliban killed 30 people in order to avenge the death of six militants killed by the villagers four months prior. The attack took place at a school that was serving as a polling station during by-elections for the National Assembly.
Chances are, all militant deaths will at some point be avenged in the most brutal and unnecessary fashion. Given this reality, Sufi Mohammad’s decision to leave the past so as to progress into the future exposes an unforgiveable double standard. If Taliban militants are not willing to forget the past when it is young men from their ranks who end up dead, then the residents of Swat, Buner and other terror-ravaged areas should not agree to get over the past and move on. They should demand that Swat-based militants be the first to face speedy trials in the newly appointed qazi courts - and they should be punished according to the strictest dictates of the Sharia law that they spilt blood to see enforced in the region.
Sufi Mohammad’s reliance on his own version of divine logic should not trump the basic tenants of justice.
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