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CRSS hosts The Century Foundation International Working Group on Pakistan panel
Jago Pakistan report provides methods for looking at potential solutions to various socio-economic issues affecting Pakistan, with particular emphasis on education reform and economic stability Islamabad, May 19, 2015: The Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) on Tuesday hosted a panel comprising of members of The Century Foundation (TCF) International Working Group on Pakistan. The panel discussed the recently released report titled "Jago Pakistan" (Wake Up Pakistan), and fielded questions from the audience comprising of foreign delegation representatives, media, academia, intelligentsia and other notable opinion multipliers. The panel consisted of: H.E. Thomas Pickering (Former United States Secretary of State for Political Affairs and Chairman International Working Group) Former United States Ambassador, H.E. Cameron Munter Ambassador H.E. Ann Wilkens (Former Swedish Ambassador to Pakistan and Afghanistan) Hikmet Çetin (Former NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan, Former Member and Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and Former Foreign Minister of Turkey) Mr. Imtiaz Gul (Executive Director, CRSS) Mr. Riaz Khokhar (Former Foreign Secretary and Ambassador of Pakistan) Mr. Ahmad Rashid (Prominent author and journalist) Mr. Najam Sethi (Editor-in-Chief, The Friday Times) Mr. Mosharraf Zaidi (Director, Alif Ailaan campaign) Ambassador Tom Pickering, the chairman of the Working Group said a country cannot prosper without a great economy and the means to combat emerging challenges. He also spoke at length about the various issues addressed by the report including education, peace and access to justice. Mr. Ahmad Rashid said that there was a dire need for economic reform for stability, as Pakistan was dead last in the region in terms of tax collection, trade reforms, privatization and exports. Mr. Hikmat Çetin stressed the importance of education in Pakistan, and iterated that without education reforms, Pakistan cannot hope to...
ISI, Afghan intelligence in landmark deal
A historical deal has been struck between the premier intelligence agencies of Pakistan and Afghanistan for cooperation on counter-terrorism and security issues. In a path-breaking deal Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Afghan intelligence outfit National Directorate of Security (NDS) have signed an accord for cooperation, which is aimed at bolstering fight against terrorism. The first-of-its-kind deal between the two intelligence agencies followed a landmark visit by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif along with Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif and ISI Chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar to Kabul last Tuesday during which the Pakistan government denounced Taliban and said that future violence by the militant group would be treated as terrorism. The agreement signed in Kabul some time last week was officially announced only by the ISPR, which besides being the public affairs wing of armed forces also speaks on behalf of the ISI, after Pakistani media outlets came to know about it because of its criticism by Afghan parliamentarians in a debate in Wolesi Jirga (the lower house of Afghan parliament). Read: Don’t destabilise Afghanistan, PM warns Taliban In a late-night tweet, now the ISPR chief’s usual mode for releasing news, Maj Gen Asim Bajwa said: “MoU signed by ISI and NDS includes intelligence sharing, complementary and coordinated intel operations on respective sides.” President Ashraf Ghani’s spokesman Ajmal Abidy, was quoted by Afghanistan’s ToloNews, as saying: “The focus of this agreement is mostly on jointly fighting terrorism.” Agreement for complementary and coordinated operations signed in Kabul with NDS The ToloNews quoted the Karzai government officials as saying that no such agreement existed in the past. Under the agreement, the two intelligence agencies would cooperate in counter-terrorism operations. An essential element of the accord is a provision for joint probe of the terrorism suspects. The ISI would also equip the...
Chinese investment a bonus, but more work required
Many say that the two most important elements that contribute to a country's economy are social and economic security. Unfortunately for Pakistan, the past decade has seen dire circumstances in both these areas. Where terrorism and extremism has claimed countless lives, the fragile economy has cost countless jobs and investment prospects. Pakistan's economic progress has been hampered by a severe energy crisis and shortfall, which results in hours of power outages throughout the country. The energy crisis has literally crippled the overall economy, directly affecting businesses and industries. In some instances, the militant outfits - benefiting from this crisis - have multiplied the woes for the government by attacking main power lines. In one such instance, a power line in Balochistan was blown up by militants in January, leaving 80 percent of the country without power for hours. It is because of this crisis that Pakistan's textile industry, one of the major contributors to the country's exports, recently reported a 16 percent fall in revenues, prompting the government to take serious notice. Pakistan's current energy shortfall sometimes results in daily power outages of 18 and 12 hours in rural and urban areas, respectively. One of the major shortcomings of Pakistan's energy sector is the use of thermal energy for power generation, carried out mostly by independent power producers (IPPs). Because of fluctuating international oil prices, import barriers and other complications, along with delayed payments by major public and private institutions, the phenomenon of circular debt keeps on prevailing in the system. It is due to circular debt that governments, both in the past and present, have had to interfere time and again in order to bail out various state institutions and IPPs in order to keep the power generation machinery going. It came as a relief for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif when Chinese President Xi Jinping on his recent state visit signed and announced...
The Century Foundation launch of the Jago Pakistan Report
Imtiaz Gul, CRSS, speaking at The Century Foundation (TCF) on Pakistan-Afghanistan-China situation on the occasion of the launch of the report: Jago Pakistan (Wake Up Pakistan), produced by the TCF with the support of Pakistani and international experts, academics, ex-ambassadors and ex-officials on May 14 at Washington. Gul was part of this over two-dozen strong panel that worked on the report which surveys Pakistan's socio-political landscape, identifies its pressing problems and recommends remedies for durable, people-focused solutions for Pakistan. The electronic version of the report is now live on our website: http://tcf.org/bookstore/detail/wake-up-pakistan. The report is being launched in Pakistan next week in the presence of the international working group led by ambassador Tom Pickering. The group includes former foreign secretary Riaz Khokhar, Sherry Rehman, James Dobbins, Ann Wilkens, former Swedish ambassador , Mosharraf Zaidi i.a.
No respite
Sectarian killings continue to rise. Six men armed with guns attacked a bus from the mostly-Ismaili Al Azhar Garden Colony in Karachi on Wednesday. Eyewitnesses say the attackers were on several motorcycles and donned police uniforms – a tactic used by terrorists to both create confusion and gain access. The gunmen first fired at the bus from outside, said a police source, and then entered the bus to attack the passengers. They used 9mm pistols and Kalashnikov rifles. Nearly 150 shell casings were recovered from the scene. In nearly 10 minutes of horrific violence, more than 40 people were killed and another 24 injured. Among the dead were 16 women and several children. Among the survivors was a little girl, who hid between the bodies. Condemnations begin to pour in right away. Syed Qaim Ali Shah, chief minister of Sindh, wasted no time in suspending the local stationhouse officer and deputy superintendent of police. Bilawal Bhutto, Altaf Hussain and Imran Khan condemned the attack. Chief of the Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif cancelled his trip to Sri Lanka. Condolences also came from across the border from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. Around 1 pm, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) Jundullah group, while talking to Reuters, claimed responsibility for the attack. A group with shifting allegiances, Jundullah was first affiliated with Al Qaeda, then the TTP, and even pledged loyalty to the Islamic State (IS) last year. The group has claimed responsibility for many prior attacks – In 2012, the Kohistan massacre, killing 18 Shia passengers on a bus; in 2013, eight foreign tourists and their guide in Gilgit-Baltistan; also in 2013, the twin bombing of the All-Saints Church in Peshawar that killed 127 and injured 250, the deadliest attack on the Christian community in Pakistan; in 2014, a suicide bomb attack at the closing ceremony at Wagah border, killing 60 and injuring well over a hundred; in 2015, a bomb on a Shia imambargah on January 30, which...
Walk the talk
At the recently held third Think Tank Roundtable Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building in Asia (CICA) in Shanghai, issues such as China-US relations, Afghanistan, non-traditional security threats and a new Asian security paradigm topped the discussions. Much of the discussion moved around the One Belt One Road (OBOR) notion that President Xi Jinping has turned into China’s flagship project. Most participants looked at the OBOR as a game-changer for the region, a concept that envisages a win-win situation for all through road, rail and maritime connectivity. They looked at this ambitious project as a consequence of China’s internal stability and economic development that has lent it enormous soft power. Some looked at this project as Chinese expansion headed westwards. Others were sceptical about China’s capacity. They questioned whether its “over-drive” in getting heavily involved in the realisation of three economic corridors could get out of control. Participants from Central Asian states also wondered whether isolated economic models can guarantee success of grand visions such as the OBOR. Its success, they pointed out, depended on equitable development of all regions that are connected by this concept. The Roundtables and the CICA conferences involving scholars, experts and officials from all over Asia are held to garner international consensus on how Asian countries should take the management of security and conflicts in their own hands rather than being dependent on Nato. In this context, some delegates also questioned whether the insurgency in Afghanistan and militancy in parts of Pakistan would allow the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Professor Xing Guangcheng, director of the Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies at the China Academy of Social Sciences, pleaded for an institutional mechanism where Asian countries and major powers outside Asia can communicate with one another. It is, he underlined, a multipurpose...
Statement of the Chairman, Amb. Gu Ziping, Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA)
Third CICA Think Tank Roundtable Chairman’s Statement on Asian Security Developments and Further Think Tank Cooperation The Third CICA Think Tank Roundtable was convened at Hongqiao State Guest Hotel in Shanghai on May 11-12, 2015 sponsored by the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS). The fact that this Roundtable was held in the context of this year’s marking the 60th Anniversary of the Bandung Conference and the 70thAnniversary of the World War II adds more significance to this Roundtable. Present at the Third Roundtable were 35 participants from Afghanistan, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand and Turkey. Ms. Xing Fangfang, the Chinese Senior Official to the CICA, delivered a keynote speech and praised the worthy contribution to the CICA by this Roundtable series. Besides, Singaporean and Thai Consulates-General in Shanghai also sent their observers to participate the discussion. The Third Roundtable reviewed the Asian security developments since the convening of the CICA Shanghai Summit in May 2014. Generally speaking, there were three opinions in evaluating the past year at the Third Roundtable. The optimistic held that there was no imminent danger of irruption of massive wars, that the awareness of regional security and political willingness were on the rise, and that there saw some positive signs in the China-U.S. relations, management of maritime disputes in the East China Sea and the South China Sea and the improving situation in Afghanistan. The pessimistic pointed out that the dual structure of security and economic divergence is solidifying, that the most worrisome is the deepening strategic distrust between China and the United States, that the Ukraine crisis casts negative impacts onto the West-Russia relations and even the Central Asian economies, and that the Cold War mentality still affects the security thinking and actions in the region. And as always, there was a third school in between the...
Pakistan military officials admit defectors key role in Bin Laden operation
Two former senior Pakistan military officials told AFP on Tuesday that a ‘defector’ from country’s intelligence agency did assist the US in its hunt for Osama bin Laden but denied the two countries had officially worked together. The officials' accounts came after the publication of a controversial news report by US journalist Seymour Hersh in which he claimed to have uncovered a ‘secret deal’ between Washington and Islamabad that reportedly resulted in the killing of Al-Qaeda chief in 2011. The White House has flatly rejected Hersh's claims that Pakistan was told in advance about the May 2 special forces raid in Abbottabad. A source — who was a serving senior military official at the time of the raid — told AFP that the defector was a “resourceful and energetic” mid-ranking intelligence officer whose efforts were critical to the operation's success. Know more: Pakistani officials reject claims of ISI handling bin Laden Hersh's report quoted a senior US source as saying a “walk-in” approached the then-Islamabad station chief for the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 2010 promising to lead them to bin Laden, who according to the journalist had been imprisoned by Pakistani authorities at the Abbottabad compound since 2006. However, the Pakistani military source told AFP the defector had no knowledge that his target was bin Laden, but he was instead given a task that would help verify the Al-Qaeda chief's identity. The source declined to elaborate on what that task was, but a Pakistani investigation found that the CIA had run a fake vaccination programme with the help of physician Dr Shakeel Afridi who obtained DNA samples. Qazi Khalilullah, Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman, meanwhile said the government was investigating Hersh's account and would announce its reaction soon. “We are looking into the matter and will give our reaction soon,” he said. Verification task On the defector's role, the source said: “This guy was inducted at a much later stage...
Updating Concepts of Asian Security -a presentation by CRSS Executive Director Imtiaz Gul
The following is a presentation given by the Center's Executive Director, Mr. Imtiaz Gul, at the third CICA Think Tank Roundtable on Asian security cooperation, their issues, concepts and institutions. The presentation was given on May 11, 2015, in Shanghai, China. Updating Concepts of Asian Security Since this morning, we have heard exciting views on geo-politics, the diminishing stature of the United States, One Belt One Road and the need for a collaborative world order that allows free flow of people and goods across the globe – as envisioned by the Chinese President Xi Jinping. Let me begin with a quote from the US President Obama’s speech at a three day summit at the State Department on violent extremism, in February 2015. He accepted two bitter realities: First, he said, “There is no one profile of a violent extremist or terrorist... It’s not unique to one group or to one geography or one period of time... but we are here at this summit because of the urgent threat from groups like al-Qaeda and ISIL,” he said, using a term to refer to the Islamic State. Second, “Engagement with communities can’t be a cover for surveillance. It can’t securitize our relationship with Muslim Americans, dealing with them solely through the prism of law enforcement,” he said as the audience applauded in response. This was an admission by the US, that it had used international non-governmental organizations to gather intelligence in our countries. In fact last year, the State Department made a public commitment that the CIA would not use international development agencies as intelligence cover any more. Why did they have to say this? Because Muslim majority territories from western China to Central / South Asia to the Arabian Peninsula and Africa – Xinjiang, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Egypt Libya, Syria, Algeria, Nigeria, Yemen, Sudan – today face one or the other form of violent conflict driven by regional or national religio-political groups. Al-Qaeda Arabian Peninsula, Al-Qaeda...
Heinous Crimes Report May – December 2014
INTRODUCTION Since May 2014, The Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) began collecting data on heinous crimes from the local press covering the national spectrum. These are the crimes committed by those who, in most of the cases, are not necessarily career criminals or militants. Yet, they indulge in such offences because of the values and traditions they consider as a license for their crimes. During the eight months of 2014, almost every day a heinous crime was committed in the country and if we look at the number of casualties of these crimes the victims are more than one per day. Errors and omissions, a possibility in all statistical works, can occur. However, such mistakes do not grossly affect the basic objective of this report. NOTE: All data is from May - December, 2014. Report prepared by: Mohammad Nafees Senior Research Fellow Center for Research and Security Studies NOTE: Readers can approach CRSS for source of any information included in the report. Please send your requests/comments/questions to: mail@crss.pk. LIST OF ACRONYMS STATISTICAL ANALYSIS FATALITIES AND INJURIES OF HEINOUS CRIMES The data collected on the subject is a good explanation of what we consider as heinous crimes. Tables 01 and 02 below show what kinds of crime were committed during the period and the individuals who committed them. Out of 238 occurrences of heinous crimes, 108 were committed by close relatives[1] or blood relations[2], a figure close to 50% of the total number (table 02). Another aspect is the vulnerability of the victims of these crimes. Among all victims of heinous crimes, minor children are the highest affected. The age of child victims ranges from 3 to 12 years and more than one third of them are between 3 to 5 years of age. Gender distribution of these victims is 19 female and 17 male, showing that the gender identity was less important than their age that made them vulnerable to become victims of such crimes. HEINOUS CRIMES - AFFECTED...
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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.