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Afghan Weekly (Dec 17 – Dec 23, 2016)
Pakistan's acting permanent representative to the UN, Nabeel Munir, while speaking in a debate about the situation in Afghanistan in the UN Security Council this week, stated that sanctuaries of terrorists have shifted to Afghanistan due to the successful operation of Zarbe-Azb, the results of which are widely acknowledged by the international community.[1] Kandahar's police Chief General Abdul Raziq, too, confirmed that at least six Taliban leaders left the Quetta city of Pakistan along with their family members this week and have shifted to the Helmand province of Afghanistan. Some of the Taliban leaders who were attempting to leave Quetta were arrested and jailed by the Pakistani military.[2] Below follow other key updates on the security, politics, international engagements and socio-economic developments occurring in Afghanistan in the past week. Security Overview 16 loyalists of the ISIS killed in a US airstrike in Achin district of eastern Nangarhar province late night on December 16.[3] 5 female workers of the Kandahar airport killed by unknown gunmen in Kandahar city earlier on December 17.[4] 3 people killed and 3 others sustained injuries in an attack by gunmen in Kabul late on December 17.[5] Nearly 100 people killed or wounded in two separate traffic incidents in western Farah and Nimroz provinces of Afghanistan after a bus collided with a truck on December 18.[6] 5 militants were killed and 6 others were wounded after the Afghan forces repulsed a coordinated attack on security check posts in eastern Nangarhar province on December 18.[7] Pentagon confirmed the death of two Al Qaeda leaders, named Bilal al-Utabi and Abd al-Wahid al-Junabi, in a US strike in Afghanistan in a statement on December 19.[8] 5 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group killed in the premature explosion of improvised explosives devices (IEDs) in the Asmar district of Kunar province in Afghanistan on December 19.[9] Zardad Faryadi, a former Hizb-e-Islami commander, was...
Russia Publicly Favors Pakistan Over India
India is worried that its nearly 70-year friendship with Russia is about to end. Russia is warming up to India’s biggest historical enemy, Pakistan, which inevitably has led to tensions between New Delhi and Moscow. So even though India and Russia were very close for nearly seven decades, Russia-Indian relations have come crashing down over the last two years. Geopolitics is the reason the relationship between the two countries is deteriorating. Moscow and New Delhi have backed one another on the international diplomatic sphere for decades. But when Russia refused to support India’s bid to turn Pakistan into a pariah state this year, Moscow took a major step away from its friendship with New Delhi. Russia and India may have signed large-scale military deals over the past seven decades, but when Moscow held its first-ever joint military drills this year with Pakistan – India’s biggest adversary – it was a sign that Russia is trying to send a message. India remains mute about Russia-Pakistan friendship Last week, Moscow and Islamabad held their first-ever foreign office consultations, leaving India understandably worried that Russia is further deepening its ties to Pakistan. During those consultations in Islamabad, Russian and Pakistani officials discussed a wide variety of regional issues and pointed out some areas of mutual interest, including economic cooperation. According to the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistani and Russian officials “exchanged views on important global and regional developments.” The ministry added in the statement that “it was also decided that the next round of consultations will be convened in Moscow in 2017.” Just last year, nobody in their right mind would believe that Russia could make friends with its Cold War rival Pakistan. But by selling four Mi-35M helicopters to Pakistan in 2015, Russia mutely announced huge changes in its geopolitical strategies. Then in October 2015, Russia and Pakistan held their first-ever joint...
Behaving Respectfully with Public is Legal Binding on Police, District Nazim, Mardan
The common objective of all the initiatives as part of KP police reforms is “improved public service delivery of police”. Respectful engagement with public is crucial to ensure a crime-free society, minimize public-police gaps and tackle the trust deficit between them. The police today in KP is ever more accountable where postings, transfers and promotions have been linked with performance. Hundreds of police officials punished on corruption charges exemplify the accountability mechanisms in-place within the KP police. A good police officer is the one who has good relations with public. The police officials should critically evaluate their performance against the tax payers money spent on their emoluments. Change; reformation and institutionalization is a long term process and takes time. These were the remarks made by Dr. Mian Saeed, newly appointed DPO Mardan during a public forum on police reforms at press club, Mardan. Mr. Himayat Ullah Mayar, District Nazim, Mardan and Prof. Saeed Ahmed, Degree College Mardan also spoke on the occasion. The event was participated well by the members of community with diverse backgrounds including lawyers, local government representatives, media, academia and youth representatives. The forum was part of the project “Ulasi Police” an awareness and advocacy campaign undertaken by the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) – as part of USAID Small Grants and Ambassadors’ Fund Program – to strengthen the rule of law in KP province by promoting and disseminating the significant police reforms aimed at incorporating local communities’ policing needs and international human rights standards. The endeavor aims to tackle the trust deficit between the public and police, help KP police become an accountable and community-focused police force. The DPO Mardan also said that decreasing the gaps between the public and police - at the hands of militancy post 2006 – was one of the primary considerations of police reforms....
Bringing Up the Bodies
In a remarkable first, the Quetta Commission report delivers a strong indictment of the state’s performance and security establishment Sometimes it takes a judge to hunt down a suicide bomber in Pakistan. It was only when Justice Qazi Faez Isa forced the police to forensically enhance photographs of terrorists, print them in newspapers and offer a reward for information that someone came forward to identify the attacker and his accomplices for the two incidents that took place in Quetta on August 8. A lawyer, Bilal Anwar Kasi, was killed on his way to work and a suicide bombing targeted the lawyers that gathered for him at the Sandeman hospital that day. Seventy-five people were killed and 105 people were injured. By October 6, the Supreme Court had formed an inquiry commission. It worked straight for 56 days and gathered the testimony of 45 people and published its findings on December 14. What has emerged is a sobering indictment of Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan and the multiple institutional failures that have unfolded since the inception of the National Action Plan. “The people of Pakistan have been subjected to sustained terrorist attacks, which continue unabated, and deserve answers,” the report concludes. “Those who have failed the people of Pakistan need to be held accountable. Things cannot go on as they have been. Without top-tier accountability, it is unlikely systemic change will be possible.” The general critique of the government has centered on the leadership’s confusion, lack of coordination at the top echelons of government, selective application of laws, ministerial apathy and inefficiency, and deficient data collection in critical focus areas such as seminaries. “If the functionaries of the state had established a bank of forensic information on past attacks, and pursued the cases, they might have prevented the attacks of August 8,” the report notes, for example. To a certain degree the justice is justified; the SOPs for handling a...
Opening Aqina Railway Encourages China to Invest on Kabul -Quetta, Peshawar Way
Kabul (BNA) China is requesting construction of Peshawar –Kabul Quetta railway at a time that in opinion of experts, with exploitation of Ata Murad Aqina Lozur road - railway, a sound trade race has appeared among the regional countries and Afghanistan neighbors are in favor of good commercial ties with her. Economic experts said that China is making efforts to develop big economic projects in Afghanistan and the region to export its products to regional markets and find new markets for its products. Economic analyst Ibrahim Shams said, China has close ties with Pakistan and if she expert pressures on latter, ground will be paved for implantation of economic projects. It is possible that availing at influence on Pakistan would wish to pave the way for expansion of economic cooperation’s in which Pakistan would also be benefitted. It has been said that China has invested over US $46 billion for construction of many roads and railways from China to Pakistan inside Pakistan territory which is the biggest regional investment in recent years. Politicians believe that Pakistan is facing political, commercial isolation. While Afghanistan and Pakistan are strongly suffering of increasing insurgencies and presence of terrorist groups, China has started efforts for construction of economic projects. The region which this railway is expected to be transfer through it, is seriously affected by activities of terrorists groups. China has started efforts for construction of economic projects. The region which this railway is expected to be transfer through it, is seriously effaced by activities of terrorist groups China deputy minister has said that the main problem in the region is terrorists threats and his country would be making efforts to remove this threat. The ACCI authorities said that improving economic relations with regional countries is in the benefit of Afghanistan. Azrekh Hafizi said that further economic and trade cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan is in...
Why are only 2% Of The Executions In Pakistan Hardcore Terror Convictions?
In a recent report[1] released by the Justice Project for Pakistan (JPP), of the 419 executions conducted by Pakistan since the moratorium[2] on the death penalty, only 16%, or 67 individuals, were linked to terrorism. Of this 16% (or 67), 88% (or 59) had “no link to a terrorist organization or anything that can reasonably be defined as terrorism.” In other words, 8 of the 419 executed had serious terrorism-related convictions. This is in direct contrast to the first point in the National Action Plan (NAP), which specifically states that there will be implementation “of death sentence of those convicted in cases of terrorism.” According to the JPP[3], 8,200 are on death row in Pakistan, and have been convicted for a wide variety of crimes. There are a total of 27 crimes in Pakistan, for which the death penalty may be awarded. They include everything from the conventional such as murder and rape, to the unconventional, such as blasphemy. Put another way, most convicts on death row will not be convicted of terrorism or even terrorism-related charges. Even if the 16% figure is extrapolated to the 8,200 population, 1,312 of those would be convicted of terrorism offenses. On the low end, this number may be merely 164. The inflation results from a very broad definition of what constitutes as terrorism, but that is a debate for another time. So why is Pakistan executing every individual on death row, when the NAP specifically calls for “implementation of death sentence of those convicted in cases of terrorism?” The problem is that there exists no mechanism for lifting the moratorium selectively. Once it is lifted, anyone and everyone on death row must be executed by law. This is part of the reason that the government has come under severe criticism from rights organizations for executing inmates who may have been juveniles when convicted[4], or trying to execute a quadriplegic[5]. Lawmakers could legislate so that only those convicted of terrorism-related charges may be...
Gwadar, the CPEC and Hambatota
Notwithstanding the fact that the CPEC is a nationally owned mega-economic undertaking with the potential to change the economic profile of the whole region, more so that of Pakistan, a sustained campaign to belittle its importance continues unabated. Some columnists have tried to equate Gwadar and the CPEC with the Hambantota deep seaport in Sri Lanka and other infrastructure projects built there. These columnists feel that Sri Lanka has been pushed into a debt trap – paying 95.4 percent of all its revenues on debt servicing – since Hambantota and all the infrastructure built there were massive investments that failed to generate the desired profits. According to them, Pakistan might also face the same situation if the CPEC does not prove to be a game-changer. The other contention is that the Gwadar Port, like Hambantota, is based on political considerations rather than on economic necessity and that the leadership in Pakistan is trying to gain political mileage by terming the CPEC a victory of their vision. My view is that proponents of the foregoing assumptions have tried to over simplify things to prove their point. Drawing parallels between success and failure stories of two countries with different political setups, circumstances, geo-strategic importance and economic realities is always misleading. While it is true that the former Sri Lankan ruler Rajapakasa did it for political reasons as Hambantota was his home town, in the case of the CPEC the Chinese conceived the idea and Pakistan chose to become a partner in view of its potential. Rajapakasa was the one who took the plunge for the development of an international airport, a cricket stadium and a deep seaport at Hambantota and sought assistance from China, which agreed to advance loans on soft terms in return for using the port as part of its maritime route. Unlike Hambantota, the CPEC project is spread all over the country and the Gwadar Port provides an ideal outlet for the landlocked countries of...
Seeking Peace in Times Of War-Mongering
Raising a voice for peace in times of war-mongering seemed to be a great risk. But the peaceniks who gathered at an Indo-Pak peace conference in Amritsar were applauded by the audience for their display of amity and solidarity among people across the borders. It seems that people are now fed up with the continuing tension along the borders, despite being held hostage by the jingoists in the Subcontinent. Soon after the showdown between Pakistan and India at the Heart of Asia Conference on Afghanistan in Amritsar, the South Asian Free Media Association (Safma) in Indian Punjab, the Folklore Academy and the Hind-Pak Dosti Manch organised a peace moot last Sunday in the holy city of the followers of the revered saint of peace, Baba Guru Nanak. The city witnessed peace activists from both sides of the border who spoke out against the hate and xenophobia being spread by the mainstream media and extremist chauvinist forces. And the dos and don’ts presented by me, as the secretary general of Safma, were fully endorsed by both the hosts and a vocal audience. Despite threats from violent extremists in both countries, who reinforce each other, the peace conference called on all peace-loving people and democratic forces to take a stand against continuing ceasefire violations, proxy wars and the repression of the people. They cautioned against the spiralling conflict that can escalate into mutually assured destruction and result in a horrible nuclear winter. The conference called on politicians, the media and the security forces to observe restraint and take the ultimate route of resolving bilateral disputes through peaceful means. It urged them to support the resumption of multi-layered comprehensive negotiations, which must be unconditional, uninterruptible and complement one another’s concern. The conference emphasised adopting a course of normalisation and confidence-building for conflict resolution. The broader consensus reached among the participants proposed a...
China, Britain Issue Statement on Afghanistan In London
China and the United Kingdom (UK) issued a statement on Afghanistan Wednesday at the 8th China-UK Strategic Dialogue held in London, saying that the two countries remain committed to their long-term support for the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and its people. "The future security and stability of Afghanistan are of vital concern to us, and we will continue to work closely together and with the international community to achieve a prosperous future for Afghanistan," the statement said. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to support an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led political settlement to the Afghan conflict. As members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, China and the UK would continue to support international efforts to assist the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces in bringing safety and security to Afghanistan. The two countries expressed sympathy with the Afghan victims of the conflict and remain deeply concerned over the increase in civilian casualties. The two sides also paid tribute to the efforts and sacrifices of the international community, including the UN-mandated international security forces, for the peace and reconstruction of Afghanistan. Both sides, along with the government of Afghanistan, agreed to establish trilateral cooperation. On infrastructure development, "we plan to bring together Afghan, British and Chinese expertise to support the development of Afghan institutions and improve delivery of much-needed infrastructure," the statement said. "We will continue to work with each other and Afghanistan's regional partners, including the Heart of Asia -- Istanbul process, to help develop the economy, improve the security situation and implement the ambitious reform program being led by the Government of Afghanistan," the statement added. According to the statement, both countries will also work closely together to prevent the flow of weapons and support to all terrorists, violent and extremist groups. China...
China, Britain Issue Statement on Afghanistan In London
China and the United Kingdom (UK) issued a statement on Afghanistan Wednesday at the 8th China-UK Strategic Dialogue held in London, saying that the two countries remain committed to their long-term support for the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and its people. "The future security and stability of Afghanistan are of vital concern to us, and we will continue to work closely together and with the international community to achieve a prosperous future for Afghanistan," the statement said. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to support an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led political settlement to the Afghan conflict. As members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, China and the UK would continue to support international efforts to assist the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces in bringing safety and security to Afghanistan. The two countries expressed sympathy with the Afghan victims of the conflict and remain deeply concerned over the increase in civilian casualties. The two sides also paid tribute to the efforts and sacrifices of the international community, including the UN-mandated international security forces, for the peace and reconstruction of Afghanistan. Both sides, along with the government of Afghanistan, agreed to establish trilateral cooperation. On infrastructure development, "we plan to bring together Afghan, British and Chinese expertise to support the development of Afghan institutions and improve delivery of much-needed infrastructure," the statement said. "We will continue to work with each other and Afghanistan's regional partners, including the Heart of Asia -- Istanbul process, to help develop the economy, improve the security situation and implement the ambitious reform program being led by the Government of Afghanistan," the statement added. According to the statement, both countries will also work closely together to prevent the flow of weapons and support to all terrorists, violent and extremist groups. China...
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TESTIMONIALS
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I am also a member of National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting. Recently, we held a meeting with the Director General of Radio Pakistan and we told them to initiate such local programs (like Constituency Hour) in regional languages to educate and inform people. Even Indian Radio can be heard in FATA which is being used for propaganda purposes and must be closed. Therefore, we should launch some standard and quality programs like CRSS that will change the taste of the listeners.