Current Projects
CRSS Completes Second Of Three Trainings Under The Harnessing Future Leaders Project
Between August 7 and 9, The Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) completed its second round of training for youth in the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa under the “Harnessing Future Leaders” (HFL) initiative. The first three-day training concluded on June 14, 2015, and focused on the topics of “Leadership and Motivation”, “Democracy, Governance and Accountability”, and “Civic Engagement”. This second round that was conducted in Peshawar focused on “Rule of Law, “Respect for Diversity”, and “Conflict Resolution and Mitigation”, while delving into greater detail on how youth, in their individual capacity can help bring about social harmony and cohesion in the country The 60 plus students were once again trained by some of the most inspiring names in the training industry, who hailed from various walks of life. Examples include Dr. Khadim Hussain, Managing Director, Bacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation, and Safiullah Gul, Bureau Chief for a private television channel in Peshawar. The training included theoretical underpinning for each topic, practical examples and case studies to highlight the concepts, and group activities to drive the point home. CRSS hopes that by training these youth in critical life skills, which are normally not taught at their respective educations institutions and are considered outside the ambit of academic discourse, we can create momentum for tolerant, peaceful resolutions of indigenous conflict, inculcate respect for diversity and rule of law, and sensitize youth to respect the opinions different from their own. This initiative subscribes to the larger philosophy of mitigating and eliminating conflict in the region through peaceful mechanisms. Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly Member Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao also addressed the youth during the closing ceremony of the training. He said that youth in Pakistan faced a myriad of challenges across a wide variety of issues, and that training programs like HFL can play a vital role in...
Pakistan Loses 100,000 Lives Every Year Due to Cigarette Smoking
No less than 100,000 people die of smoking induced diseases in the country every year against collection of around Rs.70 billion as sales tax on cigarettes only. Prof. Dr. Javed A Khan a senior pulmonologist and one of the most prominent campaigners fighting for public right to health and quality life talking to APP Friday said there was urgent need that federal and provincial governments set their priorities right. There is absolutely nothing above or more important than right of any citizen to quality life and healthy environment he said. Regretting inability of the authorities to resist the pressure of tobacco industry he said easy availability of smuggled cigarettes has severely jeopardised the life quality of both active smokers and passive smokers. Passive smokers he mentioned are those who do not smoke but are exposed to smoke due to their presence in an environment be it a room or any other space where others may be smoking. This should be therefore of no surprise that lungs and prostate cancers besides asthma chest and lung infections coronary diseases are fast emerging as the commonest cause of morbidity and mortality in our country, he said. Dr. Khan said what is all the more alarming is steady increase in the number of youth indulging in smoking tobacco be it in form of cigarette or the trendy sheesha. Cosmetic measures like forced closure of cafes and other outlets where sheesha is readily available can not make any difference. He urged for strict vigilance to ensure that it is not available at all. This is often their first step towards the slippery domain of drug addiction warned the senior doctor. In reply to a question he said public education is important but this has to be necessarily complimented with measures adopted by state against availability of cigarettes and other tobacco based products be they cigarette, bidi, sheesha, gutka or plain tobacco used by locals as tambakoo. I know cultivation of tobacco is source of living for many of our...
Pakistan in a Quandary – Again
With its peace plan stalled, Islamabad is wary of ‘spoilers and detractors’ in Afghanistan. “Imtiaz, you are a very good guy, I agree with your thoughts, but why don’t you grow a beard?” asked the burly, tall Afghan. The venue was the dull café at Kabul’s scarred Inter-Continental, only a few days after the Indian aircraft hijacking drama had ended in Kandahar on December 31, 1999. “Karl Marx had a long beard. So do Sikhs,” I quipped. “That is a different matter. But as a Muslim, you must grow a beard,” said my host. It was Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, the Taliban’s new controversial emir. He was then an aviation minister, and had negotiated the release of the passengers aboard the Indian Airlines Flight 814 a week before the conversation. The insistence on the beard in fact symbolized his rigid views. Mullah Mohammad Omar would not even meet Muslims who did not have a beard. But the Afghan government and external players such as Pakistan and the US did manage to persuade the rigid Mulla Mansoor to be a part of a reconciliation process. This also signaled that more than a decade of insurgency, and nearly five years of operational command of the movement, had softened him. This represented a major breakthrough for Pakistan as well. At least eight of the 15 Taliban Shura members, for instance, had already arrived in Islamabad for the Murree peace talks on July 29, the day the news of Mullah Omar’s death surfaced. These Taliban commanders and leaders were part of the July 7 first round as well. That also underlined Mullah Mansoor’s clout within the organization. Both the ministry of foreign affairs and the military establishment in Pakistan had worked hard to clinch this deal, with the US and China also on board. But the fractures that have appeared in the movement over the issue of succession have stalled the entire process – at least for the moment. “We would like to wait until all the chips have fallen in place,” said an official closely associated with the talks. We...
Mullah Omar’s Death: A Game Changer
The death of the Taliban supremo, Mullah Omar, has finally been confirmed by a spokesman for Afghanistan’s security services last month in July, 2015, putting all speculations regarding his mysterious disappearance to rest.[1] However, contrary to the Afghan assertion that Mullah Omar died in a hospital in Pakistan in April 2013,[2] the Taliban spokesperson, Zahibullah Mujahid, in a statement to the Voice of America, clarified that the Taliban leader indeed died of an illness, however, he “did not leave Afghanistan since the US-Backed forces overthrew the group in 2001”.[3] Within days, the Taliban shura – central council – elected Mulla Akhtar Mansoor, as Omar’s successor, a move that was instantly snubbed by Abdul Manan, the younger brother of Mulla Omar, for lack of transparency. The war of succession, it seems, is gradually intensifying, with Manan and his supporters calling for a grand meeting of the party to determine the new Supreme Leader. Regardless of how this issue settles in the days and weeks to come, Mulla Omar’s departure has dealt a severe blow to the Taliban movement. With the centre of gravity gone, the movement appears fractured and far from the cohesion that it has been known for. Mulla Omar’s death and the ensuing challenge to Mansoor’s leadership have interrupted – for all practical reasons – the peace talks that had begun on July 7 and at least eight Taliban commanders had landed in Islamabad on July 29 for the second round two. Mystery The circumstances of Mullah Omar’s death, and the cause and place may remain unanswered for at least some time. However, the Afghan government’s claim that Omar died in a Karachi hospital once again put Pakistan in the hotspot since after the success of Operation Neptune Spear in May 2011. “The Afghan government has received confirmed reports that Mullah Omar died nearly two years ago in Karachi… We are happy that now the foreign sources have also confirmed that Mullah Omar is no more alive… We still have a...
Revealed: ‘NADRA Men Helped Terrorists Get Pakistani Identity Cards’
Several top ranking officers of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) have helped terrorists and other miscreants obtain fake national identity cards of Pakistan, reveals a report shared by the country’s premier intelligence agency with the NADRA chairman. In the report, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) listed 40 officials who have been involved in issuance of fake national identity cards. Some retired army officers, who currently hold top positions in NADRA’s Karachi office, are also on the list. They include General Manager (Projects) Brig (retd) Ehsanul Haq, Deputy GM (Operations) Lt-Col (retd) Aqeel Ahmed and Deputy GM (Operations) Maj (retd) Nihal. According to the ISI report — a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune — the agency, after a comprehensive intelligence scrutiny as part of its counter-terror operations, found many NADRA officials involved in facilitating attempts by terrorists and miscreants to obtain fake identity cards. Read: NADRA inaugurates online CNIC issuance, renewal facility The scrutiny was carried out after the law enforcement agencies recovered Pakistani passports and computerised national identity cards (CNICs) in possession of a number of local and foreign terrorists they killed or apprehended as part of the ongoing terror purge. According to the report, a senior al Qaeda leader who was killed by the Pakistani military last year had been in possession of a national identity card for overseas Pakistanis (NICOP). Adnan G el Shukrijumah, a senior leader of al Qaeda’s external operations programme who also went under the name Jaffar al Tayyar, possessed a NICOP bearing No 121015-9547114-7 under the fake identity of Shahzaib Khan, son of Akbar Khan, the report says. Shukrijumah, an American national who was on the most wanted list of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was killed by the Pakistani military in an encounter in South Waziristan Agency on December 6, 2014. The brothers of Syed...
Iran to Get Chinese J-10 Fighter Jets in Return for Oil Rights
Iran is set to receive the advanced J-10 fighter jets from China without paying a dollar by signing a contract to allow Beijing exploit its largest oilfield for the next 20 years. Iran will become the second country after Pakistan to receive Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group’s J-10 fighter jets. While Pakistan is paying a hefty amount for its shopping, Iran will get the J-10 jets without paying a dollar to China. At the heart of China-Iran deal is a barter contract that will allow Beijing to exploit Iran’s largest oilfield over the next 20 years, a Taiwanese newspaper has reported. “China will provide the Iranian Air Force with a total number of 24 F-10 Vigorous Dragon jets, the export version of the J-10, to equip its two fighter groups,” said Want Daily in a report. The cost of a single J-10 is estimated at US$40 million, making the value of the deal around US$1 billion. “This could be bartered through permitting Beijing 20 years of exploitation rights to theAzadegan oilfield,” added the report in the daily which is a sister publication of Want China Times. Barter trade is not new to Iran-China relations, which was adopted as early as 2011 to dodge international sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. There has been some confusion about the exact number of aircraft being part of the deal. Israel’s military intelligence website DEBKAfile reported last week that China had agreed to sell 150 J-10s. There has been no official announcement from either Beijing or Tehran about the deal. According to Chinese magazine Military Today, the J-10 is the first Chinese-developed combat aircraft that “approaches Western fighters in terms of performance and capabilities”. It is known as “Meng Long” or “Vigorous Dragon” in China and as “Firebird” in the West. When launched in 1988 in guarded secrecy, the J-10 was initially intended to counter threat posed by the Soviet forth-generation fighters — the MiG-29 and Su-27. It is believed to be largely influenced by the Israeli...
How Pakistan can Realise its Potential
As Pakistan readies to celebrate its independence day, we can all feel satisfied about progress in restoring macroeconomic stability, but should also realise that the country can and should do much better. Pakistan has many assets, of which it can make better use — from its vast water and river endowment, to its coastline and cities, to its natural resources. And there are upsides: a growing middle class, a lively informal economy and a strong influx of remittances. Pakistan can also be proud of the first peaceful transfer of power between two civilian governments. But to reach its full potential, Pakistan needs to focus on two critical areas, both obvious and urgent. It needs to ensure that its people have the means to fully participate in and contribute to the economy. And it needs to integrate itself more, globally and regionally. The first challenge is demographic. As a result of rapid population growth, 1.5 million youngsters reach the working age each year. The question is, will the private sector be able to provide the jobs they needand want? And will the youth have the skills to get good jobs? Pakistan must do far better in education. Primary school net enrollment is about 57 per cent, well below other South Asian countries. Enrollment drops by half in middle school, with much lower levels for girls and children from poor families. This is not a good foundation to build on. It is not surprising then that Pakistan also struggles to give all its citizens the opportunity to participate in building better lives for themselves. Only 25 per cent of women participate in the labour force, compared to 50 and 80 per cent in most developing countries. Women and girls deserve better. Research shows that girls with little or no education are far more likely to be married as children, suffer domestic violence, and live in poverty. This harms not only them, but also their children, their communities and the economy. Greater gender equality can enhance productivity and...
Afghan President Holds Pakistani Identity Card
QUETTA: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani holds a Pakistani identity card, a local government official revealed on Tuesday. District Council Chairman Malik Dilmurad Hasni stunned the entire house during a meeting of the local body in Chagai when he revealed that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani holds a Pakistani identity card. Hasni also presented a copy of the identity document issued by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) during the meeting. He claimed that the legendary Afghan freedom fighter Ahmad Shah Massoud also possessed a Pakistani identity document. Startled by the revelations, members of the district council lashed out at the level of corruption that has plagued NADRA, a federal agency tasked to manage the registration database of citizens in the country. Members were also told that a number of Afghan nationals were elected as members during the local government polls in the province last year. They blamed local committee members for the irregularities during the electoral exercise. Published in Express Tribune, August 5, 2015
The Myth of Shining India
To illustrate how differently India and Pakistan carve and peddle their narratives, former ambassador to the United Nations, Munir Akram recently quoted an excerpt from a review by Pankaj Mishra, a noted Indian author and writer of literary and political essays. “An unblinkered vision of South Asia would feature a country whose fanatically ideological government in 1998 conducted nuclear tests, threatened its neighbour with all-out war and, four years later, presided over the massacre of 2,000 members of a religious minority. Long embattled against secessionist insurgencies… the ‘flailing’ state… now struggles to contain a militant movement in its heartland. It is also where thousands of women are killed every year for failing to bring sufficient dowry and nearly 200,000 farmers have committed suicide in the past decade.” Mishra added: “This country is not Pakistan; it is India.” The review noted that India has revamped its image in the West through a most successful rebranding effort and one of “the cleverest PR campaigns”. On the other hand, Pakistan seems to have “lost the narrative”, argued Akram. He suggests that Pakistanis in general and officials in particular are often defensive and non-assertive even when they are on the right side of the argument. Pakistan, indeed, suffers from poor branding and its own people have failed in carving a narrative built on the positives. Ironically, this article reminded me of a few conversations with foreigners who have been to both India and Pakistan. At the cost of being taken on by nationalist Indians, I am reproducing some of the comments here which were made in the context of the brinkmanship and arrogance that has accompanied Narendara Modi’s government. After taking a study tour to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India, members of an international officers’ delegation made some poignant observations about their stint in the three countries. Some of these observations may be cursory but still reflect certain realities of...
The German Experience of Countering Terrorism: Lessons for Pakistan
It is hard to believe that Germany, now a peaceful and tranquil country, had been subject to such significant acts of terrorism only in the last century; first, during the Weimar Republic following the First World War and again in the 1970s and 1980s in the Cold War period. The German experience of countering terrorism has been no less bitter than any countries’ currently battling the menace of terrorism today such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Syria and India, the top six according to Global Terrorism Index 2014. During the 1970’s and 80’s, terrorism in Federal Republic of Germany, known as West Germany until its unification in 1990, was mainly rooted in the Cold War politics between the two rival super powers, the Soviet Union and the United States, where the East and West Germanys had become staging grounds for insurgencies carried out by far-left and far-right German groups as well as foreign terrorist organizations. West German Marxist-Leninist groups were occasionally supported by the East German state (aka German Democratic Republic) and its security service Stasi while certain Palestinian groups had also found safe havens in West Germany because of its lenient asylum policies. The Germans’ first taste of the scourge of terrorism came during the 1972 Summer Olympics Games held in Munich. On the night of September 4, 1972, eight heavily armed terrorists belonging to the Palestine Liberation Organization’s front group, called the Black September Organization, managed to enter the quarters of 11 Israeli athletes participating in the Olympics and took the Israeli Olympic team hostage. The German response was a fiasco which led to the killing of all except one Israeli athlete. The Munich massacre set the German policy makers to re-evaluate and frame new counter-terrorism policies. Besides Palestinian terrorist groups such as Black September and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Germany was confronted with several other terrorist...
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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.