On June 8, 2015, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested 17 executives at the Axact branch office in Islamabad. A case was registered against CEO Shoaib Shaikh, his wife Ayesha Shaikh, regional directors, operators and managers, due to their involvement in issuing fraudulent degrees in exchange for obscenely large sums of money. Going into more detail about the flaming controversy surrounding Axact will only sound redundant at this point. Several reporters and writers have thoroughly scrutinised the company’s insatiable appetite for deception. They have also voiced their utter bewilderment after witnessing the CEO’s staunch resistance to accusations against his corrupt venture. I once sat back and wondered whether he was a fiercely tenacious liar or just a man who lived in a sorry state of denial. Either way, it appears as if Shoaib Shaikh and his goons have been cornered — for now at least. I also want to recall a specific incident that was reported on June 5, 2015. It’s the day eight men who helped orchestrate a gun assault on Malala Yousufzai were acquitted from a 25-year jail sentence. Why is it that the eight men who were involved in the attempted assassination of a 14-year-old child have been spared the wrath of justice? Even though legal entities acted swiftly against the perpetrators of the Axact scandal, they have consistently limped, withered and eroded when given an opportunity to constrain militant violence in Pakistan. Executives heading a fake diploma mill indefinitely need to face the consequences of swindling people on a global scale. I, however, fail to understand why more flexibility is being shown to individuals who played a role in using bullets to silence a young girl’s courageous defiance. According to previous reports, police officials said there was not enough evidence connecting these eight men to the 2012 attack on Malala. This supposed lack of proof is rather baffling since they actually admitted to helping plan the attack. Even...

Where our priorities went wrong “Ninety per cent of my time is spent on resolving issues relating to terror, power crisis,” says Prime Minister of Pakistan. Action reflecting these aforementioned words is hardly visible. Unfortunately, people of Pakistan have not been able to experience any such scenario that can save their lives by solving their problems. Commitment and openness is regrettably missing. Things could not have been worse than May 2015 when ECC approved Lahore Orange Line Metro Train, the brainchild of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, of worth PKR165 billion that is only confined to the city of Lahore. On 28th May, 2015, All Parties Conference was held where Prime Minister reiterated the same agenda of overcoming energy crisis via the CPEC projects. Energy projects under CPEC are mostly coal based and LNG based plants at Balloki and Haveli Bahadurshah. If LNG imported from Qatar, at $14/MMBtu is used in the power sector then what will be the impact on average price of energy basket that is already extremely high? Is this not daylight robbery? Complete silence is being observed in the economic corridor with respect to the tariff, economic impact of energy projects. It merely appears to be a joke for the people of Pakistan as they are not only being deprived from energy at affordable rates but are also victims of severe water shortage. It seems like the interminable water crisis in Karachi and the people of Thar who are calling for help from the global community are not making any impact on the decision-makers. Are there any steps being taken for the development of dams, for water storage from swelling rivers and heavy rainfall in monsoon? In addition, the country is badly caught up with the issue of terrorism. It has become a nightmare that is haunting every citizen of the country. A general observation suggests that socially and economically deprived areas are nourishing the bread of terrorists. When the Minister of Water and Power of the current...

Pakistani has executed approximately 150 ‘criminals’ over the past six months amidst concerns that those executed may have been tortured into making false confessions, reports The Independent. Saudi Arabia has executed at least 90 over the same time period, while the United States, 14. Human rights organisation Reprieve last Thursday marked Pakistan's 150th execution since the lifting of the moratorium. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif partially lifted the moratorium on the death penalty for executions linked to terrorism following the Dec 2014 Taliban attack on Peshawar's Army Public School, leaving at least 50 convicts facing execution. The moratorium was lifted completely on March 10, leaving 8,500 prisoners on death row ─ one of the largest death-row populations in the world ─ up for execution. The report says ministers in Pakistan plan to execute hundreds more despite concerns over ‘forced confessions’ from international organisations. Many of those on death row are believed to have been juveniles at the time of their offence ─ a breach of Pakistani and international law as Pakistan is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that forbids minors being sentenced to death or executed. A 2013 study of 30 Pakistani death-row prisoners conducted by Reprieve and the Justice Project Pakistan found that 10 per cent of prisoners were arrested and sentenced to death as minors. The study infers that according to these findings, there may be at least 800 child offenders among the 8,261 on death row. Shafqat Hussain is believed to be one such offender, whose execution was stayed for the fourth time just hours before his hanging on Tuesday morning. Shafqat was arrested and sentenced to death in 2004 for the kidnapping and involuntary murder of a seven-year-old boy, who lived in a Karachi apartment building where he worked as a security guard. Published on Daily Dawn June 09, 2015 

US DRONE strikes have continued relentlessly in the Fata region. Most recently, on June 6, a US drone strike killed at least nine suspected militants in the Shawal valley of North Waziristan. A few months ago, the US drone programme came under intense scrutiny. A drone strike conducted in January resulted in the deaths of two Westerners held hostage by militants. Outcry followed in the West, which prompted President Obama to issue a formal apology. In a welcome development, the US promised to provide compensation to the victims’ families. The US, however, refuses to mete out the same treatment to drone victims of Fata origin. No apologies are issued or compensation promised. At times loss of civilian life is simply denied. The events of the past few months confirm the observation that civilian life in Fata is less valuable and in turn elicits lower levels of grief compared to the loss of innocent life in conflict elsewhere. This blatant dehumanisation of Pakistani drone victims can be attributed to many external factors, but one cannot discount the role played by local actors. There exists very little connectivity between Fata and the sprawling urban and political centres of mainstream Pakistan. Because of this, there is very little empathy for and understanding of the plight of Fata residents. Many urban dwellers view Fata residents as primitive. This opinion further contributes to the devaluation of Fata life. This apathy in society allows the state to shed its responsibility towards Fata civilians. The Pakistani state is not held to account for failing to protect innocent Fata residents, to ameliorate their suffering by providing compensation, or to prevent their deaths by effectively working towards halting such attacks. The state is being let off the hook and this allows it to pass the buck. Let’s take the political establishment. Barring one major political party, and that too during an election campaign, no party has seriously taken any measures that could...

Raza Naeem, Assistant Professor at the School of Governance and Society in the University of Management and Technology, Lahore , speaking giving at CRSS on Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan's geo-political crisis; the problems, the opportunities and the road forward Raza Naeem gave a run-down of the events preceding the Saudi Arabian bombardment of the Houthis militia in Yemen. He said the only way out of the current crisis was to hold negotiations with the Houthis in Yemen itself. This would prevent the region from descending into a protracted war. He said the national  dialogue in Yemen failed because it had degenerated into a Saudi-American construct. The unrest in Yemen is the result of the socio-economic disparities that had historically existed between the north and the south, despite the south being an inclusive democracy. He said Saudis being a monarchy, always felt threatened by a democratic Yemen and thus felt uncomfortable when the Houthis reached Sanaa, the capital, without any resistance. Usama Butt, executive director of the London-based Institute for Islamic Strategic Affairs argued that the war in Yemen has for all practical reasons become a sectarian conflict with multiple competing interests playing out there. Both Iran and Saudi Arabia have their own geo-stratgic objectives and the Saudi invasion of Yemen in fact provided Iran with an indirect victory in the region, where Teheran has been expressly expanding its influence. He also advised Pakistan against isolating itself in the region. Pakistan being an important leaders should reach out to both Iran and Saudi Arabia and play a pro-active role rather than isolating itself, he said. Butt and other participants of the discussion agreed that military option provides no solution to similar situation. Nor should any party dream of talking from the position of strength, they said. This logic is flawed and has often failed. All parties must be open to careful and quiet talks rather than placing...