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CRSS launches series of radio shows for reforms in Sindh police

CRSS has launched a series of 10 radio talk shows as part of its advocacy campaign for capacity building of the Sindh police across the province of Sindh. The talk shows are being broadcast daily from 7:30pm to 8:00pm on 14 FM stations – 12 FM-105 stations, one FM-88 Sukkur and one FM-101 Karachi. The talk shows have been designed to sensitize the stakeholders for reforms in the existing police laws and building people’s confidence in police. The participants of these talk shows have been drawn from Sindh police department (senior retired and serving officials), media, civil society, citizen-police liaison committee, business and legal communities.

International Day for Elimination of violence against women

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is observed every year on November 25. The day holds relevance to Pakistan as well because of the prevalence of the phenomenon at various levels of the society. As a commitment to the fundamental human and women’s rights, and the Centre is sharing two insightful articles – one each by Peter Heyward, the Australian High Commissioner, and Philip Barton, the British High Commissioner to Pakistan –for further dissemination. Elimination of violence against women By: Peter Heyward On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, we are reminded of the horrific acts of violence against women that take place every day — in Australia and across the Pacific, in countries of the Indian Ocean Rim and beyond. Violence against women persists as one of the most heinous and prevalent human rights abuses. While there is no shortage of good work being done in every country, the statistics remain deeply disturbing, and the impact of violence on individual lives and on the well-being of our communities is devastating. Globally, more than one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in some other way, most often by someone she knows, including her husband or another male family member. In some parts of the Pacific, the reported rate is as high as two in three surveyed women. In Australia, one woman is killed every week by a current or former partner. Australia’s National Council to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children reported that in 2009, violence against women and their children cost the Australian economy an estimated AU$13.6 billion and, without appropriate action, this could rise to AU$15.6 billion by 2021-22. Violence affects women first and foremost, but also their children, families and communities. However, it is also a burden on national economies, as well as a barrier to lasting peace and a threat to sustainable national development. International...

China will meet 85 per cent of the financing needs for constructing the LNG pipeline from Gwadar Port to Nawabshah

The $45 billion worth of agreements signed by Pakistan and China earlier this month included a multibillion-dollar LNG pipeline and terminal deal, which will work as an alternative to the troubled gas import project with Iran as the pipeline will be extended to the Gulf state after international sanctions are lifted, according to a report in the local media. “The agreement was signed during Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to China. It is a state-to-state deal and no bidding will be held for the award of contract,” the report quoted an official. According to initial estimates, the project is expected to cost $3 billion – $1 billion will be needed to lay the pipeline from Gwadar and over $2 billion will be required to construct the terminal with liquefied natural gas (LNG) handling and re-gasification facilities and to develop large storages. China will meet 85 per cent of the financing needs for constructing the LNG pipeline from Gwadar Port to Nawabshah. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources is seeking the support of economic decision-makers for relaxing the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules. “The ministry will approach the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) to win its approval for easing PPRA rules,” the official said. “This will clear the way for direct award of a lucrative contract to a Chinese state-owned company.” This will be the second LNG terminal in the country as a fast-track terminal is already being built by Elengy Terminal Pakistan Limited (ETPL) at the Port Qasim, which is likely to be completed in February next year. The LNG pipeline will be extended from Gwadar to Iran for gas import when sanctions on Tehran are lifted. Its capacity will be one billion cubic feet per day. The pipeline will have the same specifications that were proposed for the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline including a diameter of 42 inches. According to the report, since Pakistan has not been able to lay a 781km pipeline from the Iranian border to...

Afghanistan — under gloom and optimism

A recent international experts’ conference on Afghanistan’s future, hosted by the Ditchely Foundation provided interesting and conflicting insights into regional and extra-regional nations’ concerns about the unfolding events in Afghanistan as the Isaf missions nears its end. Worries centred on the fragility of Ashraf Ghani’s government and the challenges it faces. Many of the two dozen or so participants drawn from the Americas, Europe and Asia also expressed cautious optimism for the future of Afghanistan, mostly pegging it to the continued international commitment to the country. The reason behind the optimism was the overriding consensus that China-US cooperation could be the likely key for the future of Afghanistan, and this synergy appeared to augur well for the regional forum initiative that Beijing is pushing to deal with Afghanistan’s political and economic challenges. Most called the Ghani-Abdullah government a clear break from the Hamid Karzai legacy — which rested on an anti-Pakistan narrative and thus prevented any forward movement. Pakistan, as usual, remained at the receiving end, particularly by some US and mostly Afghan experts and ex-officials, who don’t see Islamabad abandoning the idea of ‘strategic depth’. One Afghan expert, who now works for the UN, however, sounded more dispassionate when she cautioned others on “overplaying the Pakistanis’ interference in Afghanistan”. Pakistan may be more visible but everybody else also have their fingers in the Afghan pie. That is why, if the US is not involved in Afghan affairs as the lead power, there is no real elephant in the room. Although most Afghan participants sounded sceptical over Ghani’s Islamabad visit and his capacity to deal with the huge challenges, others did welcome the thaw in Islamabad-Kabul relations and hoped this will shake off the acrimony that surrounded bilateral relations under Karzai. Most experts, however, agreed that only improved India-Pakistan relations can serve as the...

In the name of religion

The most horrifying of incidents, of a mob lynching and incinerating the bodies of a Christian couple accused of committing blasphemy, deeply shocked and saddened the nation. This was followed by another heart-breaking incident of rape and killing of a six-year-old child from the Hazara community in Quetta. In another incident, a man accused of blasphemy in prison was shot at by a prison guard, who was apparently under the ideological influence of Mumtaz Qadri, the killer of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer. In addition, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Wagah border, killing around 60 people and injuring many. Most of these crimes against humanity were committed by invoking religion as a pretext. Therefore, it is imperative that these incidents of brutality should not be seen and condemned as isolated incidents. Such violence and vigilantism is the result of the jihadist policy that the state has followed. A radicalized mindset has been systematically created and supported in order to pursue political interests within the country and in the region. Thus, the state is equally responsible for this mob mentality and the violation of human rights in Pakistan. We are now trapped. The monstrosity that was funded for decades is now challenging the state’s writ. Increasing intolerance in society is posing a serious existential threat to minority communities. All such communities across Pakistan are at risk, due to increasing militancy and extremism, however, the nature of their oppression varies from area to area. They live in constant fear. Their lives and properties are often threatened. Due to growing intolerance and the inability of the government to protect them, they are often forced to leave the country. The size of the non-Muslim population at the time of independence was little over 15 per cent, which has now been reduced to just three per cent. Forced conversions, and kidnapping of Hindu girls and marrying them to Muslim men forcibly are common in...

THE IRON BROTHERHOOD

Chinese Ambassador, Sun Weidong, held a meeting with representatives of various think tanks, including the Center for Research and Security Studies, on November 13, 2014. Senior Research Fellow Zeeshan Salahuddin provides an overview based on the briefing as well as the question-answer session that followed the briefing. Note: Chinese Ambassador, Sun Weidong, held a meeting with representatives of various think tanks, including the Center for Research and Security Studies, on November 13, 2014. The objective of the meeting was to provide an overview of the Sino-Pakistan ties to the context of Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif’s recent visit to Beijing, and to explain Chinese views on various international and regional issues. The following write-up by CRSS Senior Research Fellow Zeeshan Salahuddin is based on the briefing as well as the question-answer session that followed the briefing. Iron Brothers During Premier Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Beijing in November 2014, Pakistan-China signed some 19 agreements on economic cooperation and infrastructure investment projects. Bilateral cooperation dates to over five decades and includes collaboration both in economic and defense hardware spheres. This has now been expanded to a concerted investment in the energy sector, with 13 of the 19 agreements designed to address Pakistan's crippling energy crisis. The Chinese consider Pakistanis their "iron brothers", a bond forged in the wake of the democratization of modern China, and tested over time. For decades, Pakistan has been China's closest ally in South Asia, collaborating on a range of opportunities, including bilateral trade, the economic corridor, defense cooperation. Ambassador Weidong termed the larger goals of the cooperative framework as a "community of shared destiny", a phrase that underlines President Xi Jinping’s the new "Chinese Dream" philosophy of cooperation with China’s extended neighborhood. The Chinese way of development is strengthening internal security...

Monetising rights

The drought in the land of the Bhuttos has claimed the lives of 275 children in 11 months, according to an official list prepared by the district administration. The blasphemy law – as enacted by the crooked General Ziaul Haq in 1979 – has so far led to 508 deaths, social persecution, imprisonment, and extra-judicial murders. Most of the cases are concentrated in the land of the Sharifs and both dynasties claim to be the custodians of their constituents’ rights (as enshrined in the constitution) and equitable development.Ostensibly, and ironically, deaths off famine, misrule and an abysmally mean way of compensating victims, accompanied by hollow rhetoric, underscore the way the landed aristocracy and entrenched business/industrial tycoons deal with the lives of the citizens of Pakistan – who are all supposed to be equal under Article 25 of the constitution.The Sindh government – comprising insensitive waderas, patharidars, patrons of organised crime and led by those pretending to be the Bhutto family – is now scrambling for ‘look good-feel good’ financial and food packages for the impoverished Thar region. Its wayward chief minister Shah believes that poverty and disease are two different things, and that poverty is no crime (this is what he told the provincial assembly).Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has announced a five million compensation for the Kot Radha Kishan couple. Will these compensations alleviate the root causes of deaths in Sindh and Punjab? Is human life – those humans who propel political businessmen into positions of power through their vote – just worth these hand-outs?Statistics compiled by the Centre for Research and Security Studies suggest that out of the 508 “accused of having committed blasphemy”, a staggering 61 were murdered extra-judicially. At least 13 faced lynching attempts. About 22 find themselves on death row, while 11 are serving life imprisonments.Over 90 percent of these cases took place in the aftermath of the Zia...

Pakistan Army Chief US visit

The last time a Pakistani army chief visited Washington, he got an earful from U.S. leaders worried that he was not a reliable partner in efforts to combat militant groups responsible for devastating attacks in Afghanistan. Four years later, Pakistan’s newest military chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, is scheduled to arrive in Washington this weekend on his first official U.S. visit. And this time, the most powerful man in Pakistan is expected to be greeted with far less skepticism. Since becoming army chief a year ago, Sharif has overseen a broad military campaign against Islamist extremists in northwestern Pakistan. Although it could take months or years to fully assess its effectiveness, U.S. officials say the operation has boosted their confidence in Pakistan’s commitment to combating terrorist groups operating within its borders. Last week, Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, a senior commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, told reporters that the Haqqani network — a Pakistan-based Afghan insurgent group — is now “fractured.” “That’s based pretty much on the Pakistan ops in North Waziristan this entire summer-fall,” Anderson said in a video conference from the Afghan capital. “That has very much disrupted their efforts here and has caused them to be less effective in terms of their ability to pull off an attack here in Kabul.” Although other U.S. officials are more guarded in their assessments, Anderson’s remarks are helping to set the tone for Sharif’s visit. The week-long trip also coincides with growing optimism that relations among the United States, Pakistan and Afghanistan are improving now that Hamid Karzai is no longer the Afghan president. “Both sides are aware of this historical moment and are taking steps to seize this moment,” U.S. Ambassador Richard G. Olson said in a speech Wednesday in Islamabad. On Friday, Afghanistan’s new president, Ashraf Ghani, traveled to Islamabad and met with Raheel Sharif. Ghani also plans talks with Pakistani Prime Minister...

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TESTIMONIALS

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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.

Soniya Shams

Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University, Peshawar