Current Projects
CPEC’s Territorial Impact
ON Nov 13, the military and civilian leaderships of Pakistan appeared on the same page during the operationalisation ceremony of Gwadar port and testing of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’s western route. An impressive array of development components related to road transportation, railways, port airport development (in Gwadar), energy and warehousing constitute the revealed dimensions of the corridor initiative. No doubt many more will follow. Barring some dissenting voices, political forces and provincial administrations have generally welcomed CPEC and are working to connect with it to reap greater benefits for themselves and, perhaps, their people. However, there seems to be little effort vis-à-vis the general preparedness of the planning and implementation apparatus at the national, provincial and local levels to connect Pakistani people — especially the proletariat, entrepreneurs, manufacturers, traders and the like — with the project. While the corridors of movement and connectivity are discussed with much rigour and energy, the territorial and spatial impacts of CPEC are not being considered. Whether urban, sub-urban and logistic-based settlements shall be able to reconcile and adjust to these physical developments remains an unaddressed concern. An immediate outcome of corridor-based developments is a rapid rise in land values along the arteries of movement in suburban and rural settings. Land and real-estate enterprises tend to cartelise to acquire land along strategic locations. Development of high-end neighbourhoods along the Super Highway between Karachi and Hyderabad is one example. All along the western and eastern routes, ruthless investment sharks are likely to expropriate land from existing owners. As a consequence, the working classes here will be pushed out and marginalised. Capitalists may also elbow out indigenous livelihoods in many parts of the alignments and corridors. Subsistence fishermen in Gwadar were concerned about the closure...
Post-Presidential Karzai: Still A Challenge To The NUG?
Hamid Karzai may have handed over the reigns of power in September 2014, but his influence on Afghanistan’s politics did not end. His calls for a Loya Jirga, as the National Unity Government approached its two-year anniversary, represented a danger to that government. However, political groups and influential individuals, even those who had previously been his closest allies, did not take up his call. Rather, some of his recent comments have met clamorous pushback and the expressions of support he did receive, mainly from people in government, only increased the controversy that surrounds him. AAN’s Ali Yawar Adili (with parliamentary reporting from AAN’s Salima Ahmadi and input by Thomas Ruttig) looks at a number of recent incidents, their fallout and what they tell us about Karzai’s political clout. Ever since he left office in 2014, former president Hamid Karzai has maintained a shadowy presence on Afghanistan’s political scene. In his compound not far from the presidential palace, he frequently meets those who feel belittled by the National Unity Government (NUG), or who have an axe to grind with it, often hosting elaborate luncheons. (The new president, Ashraf Ghani, has abolished such practices in the presidential palace.) There are rumours that the former president has been tacitly conspiring against the NUG (see this July 2016 Los Angeles Times article or this June 2015 Radio Free Europe article, both by Afghan authors), an accusation he has denied. More overtly, he has frequently granted interviews to the international media, opining on a wide range of topics. He told the German news agency dpa there were ‘no tensions’ between himself and his successor Ashraf Ghani, but that he would make his voice heard “when he had the feeling that the country was moving in a wrong direction on essential issues.” “Death to Karzai” Over the last few months, Karzai has been involved in a fair share of controversy. The most notable incident took place on 30 September 2016...
Isis in Afghanistan: 'Their Peak Is Over, But They Are Not Finished'
Fifteen months ago, militants arrived in the village of Manan Bagh, eyeing its strategic location in the mountains close to Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan. They started picking out community leaders, elders and people they accused of conspiring against them. Among them was Zahir Shah, who was marched into the mountains and whose fate his family only learned from a video uploaded to Facebook. “They forced him to sit on explosives,” Ziarat Gul, Shah’s father-in-law, told the Guardian. “We haven’t been able to find even one part of his body.” Islamic State fighters have been pummelled by US airstrikes and receive little local support, but they maintain a small – and seemingly resilient – stronghold in eastern Afghanistan. The fighters are few but unusually brutal, in keeping with the group’s behaviour elsewhere. They may not be an existential threat to the Afghan state but they are to civilians. Local authorities said using explosives was a common method of killing for Isis, who also impose strict rules at odds with local customs: forcing men to grow beards and women to wear burqas. They declare government-officiated weddings invalid, smash shrines and ban smoking, snuff and poppy cultivation. These rules erode an already limited public support for Isis, argues the US Institute of Peace in a new report. However, since it emerged publicly in 2014, Isis has continued to claim attacks outside Nangarhar – the only province where it has managed to gain ground – most notably when it targeted a crowd of protesters in Kabul in July, and a group of Shia mourners last month. This week, Isis attacked a unit of elite Afghan bodyguards in central Kabul, which killed at least six, including civilians. Although on the ropes in Afghanistan, the group can still strike in the heart of the capital. Since April, about 200 US airstrikes in Nangarhar alone have helped push Isis into retreat, killed its leader in Afghanistan – Hafiz Saeed Khan – and limited its reach to four districts....
Isis in Afghanistan: ‘Their Peak Is Over, But They Are Not Finished’
Fifteen months ago, militants arrived in the village of Manan Bagh, eyeing its strategic location in the mountains close to Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan. They started picking out community leaders, elders and people they accused of conspiring against them. Among them was Zahir Shah, who was marched into the mountains and whose fate his family only learned from a video uploaded to Facebook. “They forced him to sit on explosives,” Ziarat Gul, Shah’s father-in-law, told the Guardian. “We haven’t been able to find even one part of his body.” Islamic State fighters have been pummelled by US airstrikes and receive little local support, but they maintain a small – and seemingly resilient – stronghold in eastern Afghanistan. The fighters are few but unusually brutal, in keeping with the group’s behaviour elsewhere. They may not be an existential threat to the Afghan state but they are to civilians. Local authorities said using explosives was a common method of killing for Isis, who also impose strict rules at odds with local customs: forcing men to grow beards and women to wear burqas. They declare government-officiated weddings invalid, smash shrines and ban smoking, snuff and poppy cultivation. These rules erode an already limited public support for Isis, argues the US Institute of Peace in a new report. However, since it emerged publicly in 2014, Isis has continued to claim attacks outside Nangarhar – the only province where it has managed to gain ground – most notably when it targeted a crowd of protesters in Kabul in July, and a group of Shia mourners last month. This week, Isis attacked a unit of elite Afghan bodyguards in central Kabul, which killed at least six, including civilians. Although on the ropes in Afghanistan, the group can still strike in the heart of the capital. Since April, about 200 US airstrikes in Nangarhar alone have helped push Isis into retreat, killed its leader in Afghanistan – Hafiz Saeed Khan – and limited its reach to four districts....
India, Pakistan Battle for Influence Over Afghanistan
While India focusses on building dams, highways and new Parliament in Afghanistan; Pakistan has pledged a fresh round of $500 million in October for infrastructure Giant trucks thunder along the main stretch of highway that peels away from the Pakistani border, carrying cement, fruit and chemicals to the Afghan city of Jalalabad. Vulnerable to attacks from Taliban and Islamic State militants, the crucial 74-kilometre expanse of road that runs near the famed Khyber Pass is undergoing a major facelift after security concerns forced a seven-year delay in the project. As well as paving the way for an expansion in bilateral trade between the two countries, the road is at the center of the struggle between Pakistan and India to maintain influence over Afghanistan. Strategic interests “It’s strategic interest that is prompting investment in Afghanistan,” Imtiaz Gul, executive director at the Centre for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad. “Goodwill is secondary.” In the last decade India’s investment in Afghanistan has created discomfort for Pakistan, he noted. In October, Pakistan pledged a further $500 million to help reconstruct Afghanistan, in addition to an existing $500 million package on health, education and infrastructure that includes a 400-bed hospital in Kabul and more than 2000 scholarships for Afghan students. “India, too, has focused on building infrastructure such as dams, highways, and power infrastructure as well as the new parliament in Kabul. It has largely refrained from supporting Kabul militarily because of Pakistani sensitivities,” said Dhruva Jaishankar, fellow at the Brookings India think tank. “For India, the priority is a stable and plural Afghanistan and the defeat of the Taliban. This would ensure that the region is not a hotbed for terrorism and is instead a conduit to Central Asia,” Jaishankar said. Militant insurgency Meanwhile, Afghanistan remains in the grip of a resurgent Taliban and repeated attacks from Islamic State...
Mediatised Understanding of the Indo-Pak Conflict
“Ma’am, why is it only India who always initiates Peace”, asked a class XII student I asked him to share some examples. He quoted bilateral meetings initiated by India, PM Narendra Modi’s swearing in ceremony and his visit to Pakistan. He further said that India keeps initiating without any positive response. Initially, I shared some examples to burst the “peace is one-sided” narrative that exists in both countries. I then asked him to share the source of his information. To which he replied that he reads the newspaper regularly. Thereafter, I provided some clues to facilitate a discussion in the whole class about yellow journalism, the way media works as a means for the ends of a nation-state, the politics of media and moreover, knowledge between India and Pakistan. This conversation was part of a peace building workshop of Aaghaz-e-Dosti, an Indo-Pak Friendship Initiative, in a school in Delhi. These workshops that are about peace building and conflict resolution in general and Indo-Pak in specific are designed to familiarize students about life and people across the border, educate them about issues of conflict between India and Pakistan, and to facilitate critical thinking. Based on the responses of students and the interaction, this workshop highlighted the role that media plays in Indo-Pak relations. In view of the restrictions in mobility, the media forms the main source of knowledge between India and Pakistan. The media is the platform to know the ‘other’. It is also the platform to understand the Conflict. As we see in the above cited incident, the student had a particular image of Pakistan and Indo-Pak peace based on his readings of the newspapers. This was not limited to this one student, school or just to India. During my trip to Pakistan last year, I had interacted with students in a Lahore school. The students raised the case of a Pakistani musical band that faced opposition by an extremist, anti-peace political group in India. The students believed...
Pak-India Tensions
Is it brinkmanship or something more? With the decade-old ceasefire along the LoC already in tatters, India appears determined to find new avenues of provocation against Pakistan. Over the weekend, first an Indian submarine attempted to intrude into Pakistani waters, according to official accounts, and then a small Indian surveillance drone was knocked down after it strayed across the LoC, again according to official statements. While each incident may individually seem small and both sides will likely dispute what really occurred, it is alarming that incidents, especially one involving a submarine, are taking place at the moment. Pakistan-India ties are not merely in a deep freeze, but appear to be further unravelling. Seemingly that is the intention of the Indian leadership. Do both sides truly understand the risks they appear so willing to stoke? While it is difficult to definitively ascribe motives to the actions of an external rival, it does seem that the Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rejected the idea of engaging Pakistan in dialogue and is determined to go down a path of increasing military tensions. Perhaps this is because the Indian state wants to deflect attention from its troubles in India-held Kashmir or because a strong, militaristic nationalism is the campaign platform of choice for the BJP, which faces crucial state elections once again in the year ahead. With the election of a hawkish Donald Trump in the US, Mr Modi may even now be gambling that the year ahead will see closer cooperation between India and the US and more pressure on Pakistan from the new American administration to address US and Indian concerns about specific militant groups allegedly operating on Pakistani soil. So the combination of pre-existing preferences and the introduction of a new, unpredictable factor in the election of Mr Trump may be the cause of a fresh spike in Pakistan-India tensions. Perhaps all sides, including the incoming US...
Pakistan, Russia, China Seek To Crack Afghan Conundrum
In international diplomacy, there are no permanent friends or foes. This oft-repeated cliché perfectly illustrates the current transformation of Pakistan-Russia relationship. When Afghanistan was in turmoil in the 1980s, Moscow and Islamabad were in opposite camps. But their Cold War rivalry has taken a dramatic turn. And the two countries are now exploring options to become partners for bringing peace in Afghanistan. For this purpose, Russia will host first-ever trilateral talks involving Pakistan and China next month in an effort to crack the Afghan conundrum. “This is a watershed moment,” said a senior Pakistani official, who believes the development is part of the realignment taking place in this part of the world. Last month, Pakistan and Russia held their first-ever joint military drills in a landmark development showing gradual improvement in their ties marred by Cold War rivalry in the past. Moscow ignored Indian demand not to hold joint military exercise with Islamabad after attack on its military base in Uri in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts also suffered a setback when President Vladimir Putin refused to toe his line on Pakistan during the recent BRICS summit in Goa. The official with knowledge of the upcoming Pakistan-Russia-China trilateral meeting told The Express Tribune that it clearly showed that Modi’s efforts to isolate Pakistan had failed. The official requested not to be quoted on the record because he was not authorised to speak to the media. He said the three-way talks will discuss how to bring an end to the long running conflict in Afghanistan and prevent groups such as Islamic State, aka Da’ish, from gaining a foothold in the war-torn country. When contacted, Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said the initiative was aimed at bringing peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region at large. “The deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan has raised concerns about the...
Acrimony to Amenity
The Sharbat Gula episode coupled with recent bomb explosions in and around Kabul continue to blemish prospects of any real improvement in bilateral ties with Pakistan. Both the countries may have to wait for a long time for an attitudinal change to happen. The level of mistrust has almost disturbed the DNA of the relationship. Figuratively speaking, foreign bodies are feasting more on the frail strength of Afghanistan- Pakistan fraternal ties and their proverbial plethora of common interests than the internal dynamics of their relationship. The commitment of Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah to “good and positive ties with Islamabad” at a meeting in Kabul with the combined delegation from CRSS (Centre for Research & Security Studies) & WPSO (Women &Peace Studies Organization) was indeed heartening. But sustained meaningful talks, which may infuse sanity as well as vibrancy, in the current atmosphere of hostility and misunderstanding on the part of ruling elites in both countries, will be next to impossible. The mistrust has spread through the entire body of relationship. The historic baggage and the one still in the making are hard to lay off. Is there no silver lining? Have the elites, especially hawks, forgotten how much both the countries have sacrificed for a war which was not their own and was imposed on them by outsiders. Afghanistan has suffered the most but Pakistan no less, both in blood and material. According to the Global Terrorism Index 2016 report released by the Institute for Economics and Peace this week, Afghanistan ranked number two, after Iraq, for the year 2015. Afghanistan suffered the worst year so far, resulting in nearly 18,000 deaths from the conflict in 2015. TOLO news shows that October was the deadliest month in the past two years with more than 6,000 insurgents, nearly 500 security forces and more than 700 civilians killed or wounded in October. Pakistan has so far suffered 60,000 deaths, billions of material damages and...
New Guidelines for Afghan Repatriation On The Cards
The Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (Safron) has finalised a set of proposals/guidelines for the repatriation of Afghan refugees that will soon be placed before the federal cabinet for approval. Senior officials in the ministry told The Express Tribune on Sunday that the guidelines have been devised for the smooth and voluntary return of Afghan nationals after Safron Minister Abdul Qadir Baloch consulted the mainstream political parties in parliament on the issue. They include: issuing multiple entry/special visas to Afghan students, investors and those with Pakistani spouses, while the people coming for health reasons would be granted visa on arrival at Torkham. Granting an indefinite visa or permanent residence — if not nationality — to all those born in Pakistan and advocated by several political parties, as well as civil society organisations, has also been under discussion, an official said. Afghanistan’s envoy Dr Omar Zakhilwal also confirmed that Pakistan is in the process of announcing a package for the refugees. “I am glad that the Chief Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees and the Ministry of Safron in consultation with us, have put together a package of proposals which will respond to the needs of these special categories once approved,” Zakhilwal, who is also President Ashraf Ghani’s special representative for Pakistan, told The Express Tribune on Sunday. “We are optimistic this package will be discussed and approved by the government of Pakistan in the near future,” he said. He said there are some categories of refugees that need special provisions — including those who own properties and businesses worth billions of dollars, Afghans who have Pakistani spouses and students who are in the midst of their studies in Pakistani universities. “While we are happy that 600,000 Afghan refugees have returned to their homeland (from Pakistan) since July, we encourage and welcome the return of thousands continuously on a daily basis,” he said. In Kabul,...
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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.