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Drone attacks and public discourse around the globe
The first known missile strike by a US drone in Pakistani territory was carried out in the year 2004, in South Waziristan. Five people, including local Taliban commander Nek Mohammad –who was linked to an assassination plot to kill the country’s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf – were killed in the attack. Wary of naming the CIA in fear of political backlash and public reaction, Pakistan Army owned the attack. The truth, however, remained buried until April 2013 when New York Times dug it out. In a report, it said that the Taliban commander was killed as part of an understanding that allowed the CIA access to Pakistan’s airspace for drone strikes to hunt down its own enemies – the Taliban. The public discourse was, however, immensely affected. The Pakistani government publicly denounced these attacks but reportedly allowed the CIA to operate drones from Shamsi airfield. Secret diplomatic cables made public on Wikileaks revealed that Pakistan’s former army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had tacitly agreed to increased drone operations in 2008. Pakistan denounced the attacks publicly but allowed CIA to operate drones from its Shamsi airfield In March 2013, United Nations special rapporteur Ben Emmerson, who led a team to look into the civilian casualties from the CIA drone attacks, confirmed that the attacks were a violation of the sovereignty of Pakistan. But he also pointed out in his report that government officials in Pakistan unambiguously said that the country did not agree to the drone attacks. However, this was contradicted by the US officials. The drone strikes were stopped in November 2011 after the NATO forces killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in the Salala incident. As a consequence, the Americans were asked to evacuate the Shamsi airfield. It was for the first time that Pakistan officially but circuitously confirmed that drone strikes were carried out from Shamsi. Drone attacks in Somalia are carried out from the AFRICOM headquarters in Germany...
Between Scylla and Charybdis: life in Pakistan’s tribal frontier
The Federally Administered Tribal Areas touching Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan suffer a toxic mix of state and non-state violence and neglect. The consequences are unlikely to be good. Whether it’s the drone strikes, terrorism or military operations in FATA, all of them lead to the killing of the innocent people. Through drone strikes, civilian casualties occur and through military operations hatred and enmity against the state multiplies. These are the sentiments of a Pakistani student from Frontier Region Bannu in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). At Pakistan’s lawless frontier, this is a semi-autonomous entity abutting Afghanistan, governed through tribal codes and rules known as the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR). Although commonly seen as jammed between two major evils, the Pakistan army and the Taliban, its inhabitants also face a third, unseen—CIA-operated drone strikes. While FATA was used as a springboard for training ‘fighters’ for the anti-Soviet Afghan jihad in the 1980s, it was still relatively stable and peaceful until the onset of the ‘war on terror’ in 2001. Soon after the US and its allies initiated ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ in the wake of the ‘9/11’ attacks, FATA again became the centre of attention, a safe haven for the Taliban and other militant factions such as al-Qaeda and the Haqqani network. The Pakistani government has since periodically launched military offensives and brokered peace accords, yet none of these efforts has established an enduring peace in FATA. And locals bear the brunt of the offensives, forcing many to leave their homes, as of the deals and the drone strikes. ‘Good’ Taliban? A female student from Kurram Agency, based in Islamabad, gave this assessment: FATA is lawless land and the government has different policies regarding use of force against some factions of the Taliban, where some are targeted whereas a few are ignored. But the people of FATA are suffering from every kind of militancy—whether...
What does Imran Khan want?
What does Imran Khan want — is it just power or a revolution? This question kept resonating at a recent conference in the UK. Most vocal among the enquirers were at least five foreign diplomats who are familiar with Pakistan because of their assignments in Islamabad. They all sounded sympathetic to the narrative that Khan peddles today i.e., rule of law, accountability, and peoples’ empowerment through district governments and autonomous national institutions. But they clearly differed with the PTI methodology (ouster of the government through sit-ins). Lots of critics at home, too, have had a similar contention with the PTI and its leadership, which have been oscillating between legitimate aspirations (mentioned above) and paradoxical approaches to fulfill those aspirations. Only a few weeks into the Islamabad dharna — once Khan and his cohorts diligently made their point about the rule of law and real democratic values — even sympathisers had begun requesting Khan and company to wrap up the protest and instead build upon the goodwill that the party received in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and elsewhere. By discarding advice on how the party can consolidate its power base in K-P through institutional reforms and then showcase its achievements there, the entire leadership continues to silently tail Khan and be led by his belligerent, shallow, and at times, contradictory rhetoric. This has certainly taken the attention, even of the PTI leadership, off some of the good work that the party has silently done since the summer of 2013. In the first place, the PTI narrative since August has polarised the country in two camps i.e., forces of the status quo and those challenging it. The fact that none of the other parties, including the PPP and the PML-N, are in favour of local government elections also underscores their contempt for devolution. Secondly, (all based on personal experiences of people living in Peshawar, D I Khan and Kohat) no provincial police enjoys as much...
Role of Women in Policing Sindh
The Center for Research and Security Studies(CRSS) organised an Otaq (Public Meeting) in Badin, Sindh province of Pakistan on Wednesday November 26, 2014. The theme was “Role of Women Police and Protection of Women Rights”. Representatives from academia, civil society and female Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Ms. Naseem Ara Panwahar addressed the gathering. Ms. Panwahar while addressing the gathering stressed the need of induction of women in police department. She said, “the society must move forward and give confidence to female members of the family and encourage them to join police. In first place we have to give right status to females in the family. We must educate our daughters and support them in taking challenging tasks like police. We have to bring change in the attitude and mindset of the people and women also has to play their role towards achieving this goal”. Other speakers include Professor Tufail Chandio, Professor Abdullah Mallah, Abida Sammo, Samina Haider Qambrani, advocate Mazhar Memon also stressed the need to change the attitude towards women and empowering them so that they can play role in the development of society and the country.
Deadly Drones: Protect Innocent Civilians
A recent report by Open Society Foundations ‘After the Dead are Counted: U.S. and Pakistani Responsibilities to Victims of Drone Strikes’ recommends that concerted efforts should be made to investigate civilian loss and compensate victims of Drones. The report focuses on compensating the victims of drone attacks because innocent lives are also affected due to this. It also asks the government to fortify political reforms in FATA because the FCR is a threat to the basic rights of citizens of FATA. The report recommends that the U.S government make public any agreement signed with the Pakistani government regarding drone attacks beside making sure its drone operations observe international laws. The United States should also expand its civilian victim support programmes to drone affected families in FATA, the report recommends. Below is a review of the report by Farooq Yousaf, a CRSS Research Analyst. The report focuses on a number of issues related to complexities in estimating the number of civilian casualties as well as the US and Pakistani Governments’ respective responsibilities towards the Drone victims in FATA, Pakistan. Researchers from Open Society Foundations and its partners analyse 27 drone strikes between 2009 and 2012 and civilian casualties in those strikes. Due to limited sample size and survey limitations, the reports also admit to its shortcomings of being unable to imply an average casualty rate in drone strikes. The total sample set for this report consists of 96 residents of FATA along with government officials from USA and Pakistan, experts as well as journalists reporting on the issue. This report is the first of its kind that focuses more on documented civilian deaths and the circumstances in which the victims were killed. Among many stories, the incident where a 12 year old boy, Arif, was killed during a strike on a guest house, hujra, stands out in terms of explaining the complexity of CIA drone operations. Although Arif was a common...
Community and Police
A Regional Conference on “Policing and Role of Community” was organized in Hyderabad, Sindh province of Pakistan on November 25, 2014. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Hyderabad Sanaullah Abbasi, retired senior bureaucrat Mr. Gul Mohammad Umrani, Dr. Qasim Fareed, representative CPLC Hyderabad, representatives from business community, bar and member Sindh Assembly Ms. Rana Siddiqi attended the event. Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) consultant Mr. Qaisar Mahmood gave introduction to the speakers and participants. He also briefed about the issues and highlighted the importance of reforms in the laws and capacity development of Sindh police. DIG Hyderabad Sanaullah Abbasi stressed the need of oversight of police to improve the working in order to ensure better and peoples friendly police. Such an oversight will make police more responsible, he added. Retired senior civil servant and a former Home Secretary Mr. Gul Mohammad Umrani stressed on good governance. He blasted on politicians for their desire to have and maintain a submissive police and even bureaucracy. CPLC representative Dr. Qasim Farid said people must take ownership of this police and work together with it to improve itsfunctioning. Speakers said there is a need to overhaul the police with a new legislation matching today’s challenges.
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...
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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.