As of now, Pakistan-Afghan relations are currently undergoing an unprecedented transformation, manifest in Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s latest phone call to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Ghani not only thanked Sharif for sending Army chief General Raheel Sharif to Afghanistan” but also apprised him of the impending talks with the Taliban. Ostensibly, Ghani and Pakistani leaders are also wary of detractors who may try to vitiate the air through media leaks and conspiracies about the impending talks. This way, he resonated the concerns which General Sharif expressed last week in Kabul. Both Ghani and the Pakistani civil-military leadership fear that proponents of the former Northern Alliance — heavily represented in the Afghan security establishment, including Amrullah Saleh, Afghanistan’s former intelligence chief — could keep undermining the reconciliation process through their rhetorical posturing, as witnessed at a recent conference in Geneva. As usual Saleh not only painted Pakistan in black but even decried China for “pushing us to talk to Taliban terrorists.” It’s ironic indeed that China is asking us to make peace with the Taliban while it is cracking down on the (Chinese Taliban) associated with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement as a terrorist group, the former Afghan intelligence chief argued. He also wondered why pressure is being exerted on nuclear Pakistan which supports the Taliban terrorists. A Chinese official present on the occasion shot back to tell Saleh that Beijing was only trying to facilitate intra-Afghan reconciliation in Afghanistan. Don’t call it a surrender to terrorists. The Taliban are your people and your president, Ashraf Ghani, has been requesting the world community for help in reaching out to the insurgent group. Pakistani delegates also pointed out that most conflicts do culminate in reconciliation. Diplomatic circles in Islamabad, Washington and even in Kabul, meanwhile, agree that China has, for several reasons, emerged as...

On January 5, 2015 the Pakistan Parliament in a joint session of both Houses (Senate and National Assembly) passed 21st Amendment to the constitution of Pakistan, establishing military courts for trying Islamist terrorists. The 21st amendment was the consequence of the Army Public School incident of December 16, 2014 in Peshawar,  where Islamist terrorists belonging to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Fazalullah faction cold-bloodedly murdered 145 (132 of them school children). The terrorist attack which is now being considered as Pakistan’s 9/11 appears to have changed the course of action of policy makers or at least related to TTP and linked groups. The passing of 21st amendment by Pakistani parliament for paving the way for military courts seems to be an unprecedented act for dealing with the Islamist terrorists in Pakistan. The framers of the bill even used the terms “using the name of   religion or a   sect  and  raise arms  or  wage  war  against  Pakistan”, another unprecedented moment. Besides this the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif came under intense pressure from civil society (via social media) to suspend the moratorium on capital punishment[1]. The immediate suspension of moratorium has hitherto led to the execution of 9 convicted terrorists, and the number may cross 100 within few months[2]. The said Act amended the Article 175 of the constitution leading to further amend the first schedule of the constitution (i.e. clause XXXIX of The Pakistan Army Act 1952, VI of The Pakistan Air Force Act 1953, XXXV of The Pakistan Navy Ordinance 1961, and X of The Protection of Pakistan Act 2014)[3]. Salient Features The 21st amendment shall provide constitutional cover to military courts (trial of offences by the military courts) Extension of the jurisdiction of military courts to try  terrorists (under Pakistan Army Act 1952) The 21st amendment shall remain part of the constitution for two years Article 175 shall have no application on the trial of persons...

The American CIA’s actions involving the use of drones are a contravention of the due process of law but this modern weapon remains the preferred choice of the American security establishment. The element of justice is missing altogether from this kind of warfare because the CIA never contacts a court for action against perceived enemies. Making a case against drones as a violation of international law at an international counterterrorism conference at Geneva (February 16), Jean-Francois Fechino, director at the International Institute for Peace, Justice and Human Rights, said drones have invaded our skies and homes and will probably continue to do so. The international conference drew several dozen leaders, security experts and officials from all over to discuss how a cooperative international effort could strengthen the rule of law and reinstate basic human rights principles, while performing counterterrorism activities. The conference was informed that 364 of the 415 drone strikes (until early February 2015) on targets inside Pakistani territory had killed nearly 4,000, including over 1000 civilians, mostly women and children. A case study of 24 such strikes by the Centre for Research and Security Studies, too, had exposed the extremely disproportionate civilian harm caused by these attacks which increased seven-fold under the Obama Administration. A petition filed with the Peshawar High Court in 2012 had quoted the instance of drone strikes in North Waziristan, where it said only 47 of 896 civilians killed until December 2012 were foreigners. The conference was also reminded of the March 11, 2013 ruling by the Peshawar High Courtwhich said that “drone strikes, carried out in the tribal areas (Fata) particularly North and South Waziristan by the CIA and US Authorities, are blatant violation of Basic Human Rights and are against the UN Charter, the UN General Assembly Resolution, adopted unanimously, the provision of Geneva Conventions thus, it is held to be a...

The American CIA’s actions involving the use of drones are a contravention of the due process of law but this modern weapon remains the preferred choice of the American security establishment. The element of justice is missing altogether from this kind of warfare because the CIA never contacts a court for action against perceived enemies. Making a case against drones as a violation of international law at an international counterterrorism conference at Geneva (February 16), Jean-Francois Fechino, director at the International Institute for Peace, Justice and Human Rights, said drones have invaded our skies and homes and will probably continue to do so. The international conference drew several dozen leaders, security experts and officials from all over to discuss how a cooperative international effort could strengthen the rule of law and reinstate basic human rights principles, while performing counterterrorism activities. The conference was informed that 364 of the 415 drone strikes (until early February 2015) on targets inside Pakistani territory had killed nearly 4,000, including over 1000 civilians, mostly women and children. A case study of 24 such strikes by the Centre for Research and Security Studies, too, had exposed the extremely disproportionate civilian harm caused by these attacks which increased seven-fold under the Obama Administration. A petition filed with the Peshawar High Court in 2012 had quoted the instance of drone strikes in North Waziristan, where it said only 47 of 896 civilians killed until December 2012 were foreigners. The conference was also reminded of the March 11, 2013 ruling by the Peshawar High Courtwhich said that “drone strikes, carried out in the tribal areas (Fata) particularly North and South Waziristan by the CIA and US Authorities, are blatant violation of Basic Human Rights and are against the UN Charter, the UN General Assembly Resolution, adopted unanimously, the provision of Geneva Conventions thus, it is held to be a...

There is an upper limit to what this government can accomplish, intellectually, ideologically and operationally  On December 16, Pakistan as we knew it seemed to have changed. The tragedy of the Peshawar attack brought about a collective state of national grief and anger, a palpable bloodlust that raged through the streets and the corridors of power. Vigils were lit, rallies rallied, meetings held, and stakeholders coerced, cajoled and catapulted into hasty decisions and compromises. In a televised speech, the prime minister announced a 20-point agenda to combat and eradicate the menace of terrorism. For the first time, the blurred lines in the upper echelons of power began to come into focus, the good vs bad Taliban narrative gave way to the “you’re either wish us, or against us” doctrine. The 21st constitutional amendment was passed to allow for the controversial military courts, arrests were made, loudspeakers were turned off, printing presses were raided. For a moment, it seemed Pakistan was finally awake. Unfortunately, the flurry slowed to steady pour and finally dawdled into a light drizzle. Information on government activity slowed down to a crawl, morsels of information being doled out sparingly with seemingly inflated numbers. The initial propulsion seemed to fizzle out, replaced by lethargy and stagnation. The revelation last week on a private news network that the government had reached a secret deal with cleric Abdul Aziz, despite a non-bailable arrest warrant against him, did not help matters much. There were rumors of bans on dozens of other organizations, including the Haqqani Network, which primarily operates in Afghanistan, and Jamaatud Dawa, the alleged humanitarian front for the banned Laskah-e-Taiba, which operates in Kashmir and India. But these remained rumors, quickly snubbed out by clarifications from the Interior Ministry. There are faint glimmers of hope, such as the hurried, disjointed statement from the foreign office this week,...