The Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) has aired two syndicated radio programs titled “Constituency Hour” on Sunday, October 11, 2015; one each at Karachi and Sargodha as a part of its advocacy campaign for improving the standards of democratic governance at constituency level. The program involves the respective MPs of these constituencies in the radio shows and connects their constituents with them through a dialogue on the local issues. The programs were complemented by field based research stories - radio reports - produced by the CRSS reporters with the community members in these areas. The program in Karachi was fifth in the series with Ms. Naila Munir, MPA, RSW-155, Women Reserve Seat, Karachi as guest MP. The discussions revolved around the key issues of poor sewerage system, lack of play grounds and recreational opportunities, load shedding and cleanliness in the target constituency. The guest MPA, however believed that the Local Government System can prove extremely effective in resolving many of these issues. The sixth Constituency Hour in Sargodha hosted Dr. Nadia Aziz, PP-34, Sargodha-VII as guest MP. The program mainly discussed the issues of poor sewerage system and clean drinking water. Both the guest MPs expressed their firm resolve to stand up to the expectation of their respective constituents and solve the reported problems where possible. As part of this series, the CRSS has so far aired 28 syndicated radio programs covering a wide range of local issues and governance challenges being faced by the citizens of the five selected districts. The endeavors aim to connect the constituents of the target areas with their MPs through a dialogue on their issues and ensure citizen’s active political participation as a measure of enhancing standards of democratic governance at the constituency level. Supported by the IRI, the CRSS Constituency Hour radio campaign includes five live radio programs per month; one each in Mardan, Chardsadda,...

Top diplomat and moderator of a discussion at the launch of Khurshid Kasuri’s book in Mumbai said on Monday, that members of the Hindu right-wing Shiv Sena smeared black paint on his face to protest the book launch. Sudheendra Kulkarni, who is scheduled to moderate a discussion at the launch of Pakistan’s former foreign minister’s book Neither a Hawk, nor a Dove, said the incident took place in his car when he was en route to his office. The Shiv Sena had previously warned that officials at the Nehru Planetarium, the venue of the book launch, to cancel the function, otherwise the event would be disrupted. Despite the threats, Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, has assured ‘total security’ for the event. “For all foreigners, diplomats or foreign dignitaries who are allowed on a proper visa in our country, it’s the responsibility of our government to provide them security. Hence Mr Kasuri and the programme will be provided total security,” he said. “But this does not mean that we endorse all his views. No anti-India propaganda will be tolerated through any such programme, and if found so (sic), the organisers would be held responsible,” he added. However, just last week, in spite of assurances from Fadnavis, a concert by Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali was cancelled by the organisers following threats by the Shiv Sena. Maharashtra’s BJP spokesperson, Madhav Bhandari, said, “The party will look into the incident and take appropriate action against those involved.” Further, Kulkarni, in a press conference accompanied by Khurshid Kasuri, extended welcome to Kasuri and vowed that the book launch would go on as scheduled. This article originally appeared on The Times of India  

Top diplomat and moderator of a discussion at the launch of Khurshid Kasuri’s book in Mumbai said on Monday, that members of the Hindu right-wing Shiv Sena smeared black paint on his face to protest the book launch. Sudheendra Kulkarni, who is scheduled to moderate a discussion at the launch of Pakistan’s former foreign minister’s book Neither a Hawk, nor a Dove, said the incident took place in his car when he was en route to his office. The Shiv Sena had previously warned that officials at the Nehru Planetarium, the venue of the book launch, to cancel the function, otherwise the event would be disrupted. Despite the threats, Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, has assured ‘total security’ for the event. “For all foreigners, diplomats or foreign dignitaries who are allowed on a proper visa in our country, it’s the responsibility of our government to provide them security. Hence Mr Kasuri and the programme will be provided total security,” he said. “But this does not mean that we endorse all his views. No anti-India propaganda will be tolerated through any such programme, and if found so (sic), the organisers would be held responsible,” he added. However, just last week, in spite of assurances from Fadnavis, a concert by Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali was cancelled by the organisers following threats by the Shiv Sena. Maharashtra’s BJP spokesperson, Madhav Bhandari, said, “The party will look into the incident and take appropriate action against those involved.” Further, Kulkarni, in a press conference accompanied by Khurshid Kasuri, extended welcome to Kasuri and vowed that the book launch would go on as scheduled. This article originally appeared on The Times of India  

Top diplomat and moderator of a discussion at the launch of Khurshid Kasuri’s book in Mumbai said on Monday, that members of the Hindu right-wing Shiv Sena smeared black paint on his face to protest the book launch. Sudheendra Kulkarni, who is scheduled to moderate a discussion at the launch of Pakistan’s former foreign minister’s book Neither a Hawk, nor a Dove, said the incident took place in his car when he was en route to his office. The Shiv Sena had previously warned that officials at the Nehru Planetarium, the venue of the book launch, to cancel the function, otherwise the event would be disrupted. Despite the threats, Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, has assured ‘total security’ for the event. “For all foreigners, diplomats or foreign dignitaries who are allowed on a proper visa in our country, it’s the responsibility of our government to provide them security. Hence Mr Kasuri and the programme will be provided total security,” he said. “But this does not mean that we endorse all his views. No anti-India propaganda will be tolerated through any such programme, and if found so (sic), the organisers would be held responsible,” he added. However, just last week, in spite of assurances from Fadnavis, a concert by Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali was cancelled by the organisers following threats by the Shiv Sena. Maharashtra’s BJP spokesperson, Madhav Bhandari, said, “The party will look into the incident and take appropriate action against those involved.” Further, Kulkarni, in a press conference accompanied by Khurshid Kasuri, extended welcome to Kasuri and vowed that the book launch would go on as scheduled. This article originally appeared on The Times of India  

ISLAMABAD: Some 588 people were killed and another 1,007 sustained injuries in 821 incidents of terrorism in the country during the first eight months of the year. This was revealed in a month-wise break-up issued by the interior division for the period between January and September 2015. January and May proved to be the deadliest months with 121 and 137 fatalities respectively. February turned out to be the safest month with only nine dead in acts of terrorism. According to the Interior Division figures, 122 people were killed and 174 injured in 124 incidents of terrorism during the month of January. Similarly, in 10 terrorism-related incidents during February, nine people were killed and 49 injured, in March 86 acts of terrorism occurred in which 45 persons were killed and 141 injured and in 113 incidents during month of April, 59 lost their lives and 110 got injured. The data further revealed that the month of May witnessed 121 incidents of terrorism with 137 fatalities and injuries to 162 people. In June, there were 70 such incidents in which there were 50 dead and 55 injured, July saw 116 terror acts that left 65 people dead and 131 injured while in August, 61 people were killed and 77 injured in 82 incidents of terrorism. Published in The Express Tribune, October 12th, 2015. http://tribune.com.pk/story/971392/sad-statistics-588-dead-1007-injured-in-821-acts-of-terrorism/

Lynch mobs and assassins are on a rampage across South Asia. Days after a Muslim man was murdered in India, for allegedly eating beef, a Baptist pastor was stabbed in Bangladesh. It isn’t just religious minorities that are under assault. In recent months, bloggers, atheists, and rationalist intellectuals have been assassinated. In India, three activists and scholars have been shot dead amid a Hindu supremacist campaign against “Hindu-baiters”. In their homicidal quest for blasphemers and dissenters, fanatics balk at no ethical limits. In Pakistan last December, the Taliban shot schoolchildren in the face at close range. As always, the temptation to blame religious fundamentalists is strong. And it seems well founded: self-proclaimed Hindu and Muslim chauvinists, after all, lead and cheerlead the violence. (In Myanmar, even Buddhist monks have fallen victim to the contagion of hate and violence.) But religious extremism, in South Asia and indeed elsewhere in Asia and Africa, is symptomatic of a larger and more complex phenomenon: the shattering of the postcolonial order under the stresses of a massive economic and demographic transition. In South Asia, the earliest consensus of nation-building, and the social contract built upon promises of general welfare, has broken down. It was first undone in fragile Pakistan, where a crisis of governability lured elites into a cynical programme of “Islamisation”. It’s now rapidly unravelling in India and Bangladesh, where the promise of collective uplift has given way to the ideology of private self-interest. Hundreds of millions of South Asians have finally entered the modern world that for two centuries has been defined by the interplay of what Tocqueville called “refined and intelligent egotism” — “the pivot on which the whole machine turns.” Tocqueville was of course writing about the first country to be modern: the US, where a weak state wasn’t the “reliever of misery” and where compassion for the “sufferings of others”...

It was an unprecedented journey; but caused little surprise. On Sept 4, Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Nagpur, the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, to present himself before the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. Almost his entire council of ministers and the BJP’s parliamentary board were there to demonstrate their accountability to the RSS. On Oct 2, a dozen or so junior ministers of state got into a huddle with senior RSS functionaries in New Delhi in what was described as a “regular review meeting”. A press release issued thereafter revealed: “The prime minister said he was proud to be a Swayamsevak and he had reached where he had because of the values he had imbibed as a member of the RSS.” Modi is a lifelong RSS activist (pracharak), having left his family to dedicate himself to the organisation. It, in turn, ensured his rise to the post of the highest executive of the country. The entire exercise was a flagrant violation of the fundamentals of the parliamentary system. The prime minister is accountable only to parliament and to no outside body. As a member of the ruling party, he participates in its deliberations but receives no mandate from it. When responsible government was introduced in 1937, under the Government of India Act 1935, Mohammad Ali Jinnah strongly criticised “the Congress high command” for giving directives to the Congress ministries in the provinces. The RSS has riveted its control over the BJP. The BJP general secretary Ram Madhav is an RSS man who was seconded to the BJP along with many others. He wrote recently: “The RSS model is unique. It has a parivar [family] of 40-plus organisations. The RSS is their ideological fountainhead.” It is also the BJP’s muscle; it provides the cadres and foot soldiers who are indispensable at election time. Bhagwat disapproves of the personality cult which Modi and his men have built up ever since he became prime minister. Immediately after his trip to Nagpur, a BJP leader disclosed on Sept...