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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...

Pakistan Conflict Tracker Monthly Report – October 2014

This report is an attempt to analyze the overall law and order situation in the country and look at the challenges that keep emerging from the acts of violence by various criminal and political non-state actors following topics are selected to have a comprehensive coverage of the subject being discussed: Casualties of violence in the country during October 2014 Casualties of violence in Balochistan Casualties of violence in FATA Casualties of violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Casualties of violence in Punjab Casualties of violence in Sindh Sectarian violence in Pakistan This report is based on open source information, largely reports as they appeared in national newspapers including (The News, Express Tribune, Dawn, Daily Times, and the Frontier Post) during the month of October. All efforts are taken to make this report as informative and factual as possible.  Errors and omissions are always a possibility in such statistical work.  However, such mistakes do not grossly affect the basic objectives and the ultimate analysis of this report. CRSS will appreciate receiving comments that the readers may have on this report.   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 request to: (mail@crss.pk or mohammad.nafees@yahoo.com)   OVERVIEW Fatalities from violence in the country during October, 2014: Deaths =          592 Injured =          295 The incidents of violence and counter-violence in the country left 592 persons dead and 295 wounded during the month of October 2014 (Refer table 1 and graph 1) with FATA having the highest number of fatalities followed by Sindh, KP,  Balochistan, Punjab, AJK, and GB (Refer graph 2).   Table 1: Deaths from violence in provinces – October, 2014:   Graph 1: Deaths from violence in Pakistan – October, 2014:   Graph 2: Deaths from violence in...

Al-Qaeda’s Resurgence: Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent

On September 6, 2014, when national Defense Day was being celebrated across Pakistan, four officers of Pakistan Navy entered the Pakistan Naval Ships (PNS) Dockyard, located near Karachi harbor and attempted to take over warship PNS Zulfiqar. The terrorists planned to hijack the heavily armed destroyer of Pakistan Navy and then to move towards international waters in order to attack US or Indian Naval vessels. The carefully planned attack failed miserably. All terrorists (in-service and retired naval officers of Pakistan Navy) were subdued and arrested by the security forces from the ship and some who managed to escape were later arrested near Quetta while they were trying to flee to Afghanistan. A week later on September 11, Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) Amir, Asim Umar claimed responsibility of attack. (The Express Tribune, September 11. 2014) Days earlier, Al-Qaeda Amir Ayman al-Zawahiri announced the establishment of Al-Qaeda’s newest branch AQIS. Zawahiri in his 55-minute video message, while celebrating the formation of new chapter of Al-Qaeda describes AQIS as, “This entity was not established today, but it is the fruit of a blessed effort for more than two years to gather the mujahideen in the Indian subcontinent into a single entity to be with the main group, Qaedat al-Jihad, from the soldiers of the Islamic Emirate and its triumphant emir, Allah permitting, Emir of the Believers Mullah Muhammad Omar Mujahid.”  (Message translated by SITE Intelligence Group, September 2014) Parallel to this development Al-Qaeda has also inaugurated its new English language magazine “Resurgence”. The first issue of Resurgence (released October 2014) primarily focuses on Indian Subcontinent, with Al-Qaeda Central’s official spokesperson Adam Gadahn penning the cover article defining the Al-Qaeda objectives. Gadahn wrote, “America considers Islam to be its main enemy and a threat to the foundations of its existence. It has waged an incessant war against Islam and...

The PM’s China visit

The prime minister’s recent visit to China yielded a rich harvest of agreements and contracts between the two sides. The bulk of these agreements centred on ‘investment’ by Chinese companies in energy projects in Pakistan. Not surprisingly, the government’s PR team went into overdrive extolling how the agreements would be a “game-changer” for the country. Greater investment interest by China in Pakistan is indeed welcome and long overdue. The fact that out of a total of $101 billion outward FDI by China in 2013, only $90 million found its way into Pakistan is a reflection of how Pakistan has failed till now to leverage its unique and special relationship with its great north-eastern neighbour. While bilateral trade volume has soared since the signing of the FTA between the two countries, with the deficit heavily skewed against Pakistan, a more meaningful engagement had failed to materialise. This is as good a time as any for Pakistan to woo strategic investments by China. As amply demonstrated by the recent APEC summit hosted by China and the developments on its sidelines, China has been craftily using its economic powerhouse status and riches to project ‘soft power’ and increase its economic and political footprint from Africa to Asia. This is as good a time as any for Pakistan to woo strategic investments by China. The main planks of the Chinese strategy so far have been: — Strategic acquisition of natural resources, mainly in Africa — Liberal lending via trade and investment credits by China’s Ex-Im Bank. (In fact, in the last two years alone, the Chinese Ex-Im Bank has lent $670bn — more than the entire amount loaned by the US Ex-Im Bank in its entire existence). — Laying the groundwork for a new global as well as regional financial architecture to rival the West’s hold of the Bretton Woods institutions. This includes setting up of the so-called BRICS Bank (the New Development Bank), the recently launched Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, and a separate...

Growing Pakistan, China and US Synergy on Afganistan

Pakistan went up in arms with the release of Pentagon’s six-monthly report which restated the not-so-new US narrative on Pakistan, underscoring the “proxies” being used across the western and eastern borders of the country. The ministry of foreign affairs went to the extent of handing over a protest note to the US ambassador in Islamabad. Much of the national reaction and international media projection of the Pentagon report in fact sounded clearly out of synch with some telling trends in the multinational focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan. As the US and foreign troops thin down to about 12,500 by December, convergences among US, Pakistan, China and Afghanistan become increasingly visible. These convergences also belittle some of the conclusions drawn in the Pentagon report. Since the US remains the elephant in the room, let us look at how the Af-Pak envoy Danial Feldmann and Gen Joseph Anderson, the ISAF commander in Afghanistan, look at the situation. In a talk at the Atlantic Council in Washington (Washington, DC, October 14, 2014) Feldmann made some statements which marked a significant departure from Washington’s view on Pakistan. Some excerpts from his speech: “But Pakistan has also suffered dramatically, over 50,000 Pakistani lives have been lost as a result of terrorism… Pakistan’s economy has suffered dramatically. Growth prospects have fallen. In recent times, inward investment and exports have declined, as security concerns have compounded the energy deficit… It is no secret that for the last decade, the American approach to the region has been filtered through the lens of our mission in Afghanistan. Perhaps no relationship has been more affected than Pakistan… It is a misconception that we will not be there. We will be there in significant numbers. The combat operations will stop. International community’s assistance and commitment will continue for a long term in Afghanistan” he said. November began with unusual activity in Beijing “There is no...

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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