People, companies, and agencies need to be held seriously accountable for stupid decisions, dereliction of duty, corrupt behaviour, and subpar performance. Otherwise, we simply foster the expectation that additional waste, fraud, and abuse will be tolerated in the future, and only those who can shove the money out the door or meet the required “burn rate” are to be promoted and rewarded — John F Sopko, the US Special Inspector General for Reconstruction of Afghanistan (SIGAR) The US Special Inspector General gave this biting conclusion in a rare, blistering critique at Georgetown University, Washington, DC (September 12, 2014) saying, “It appears we’ve created a government that the Afghans simply cannot afford.” He said that the US had spent more than $104 billion for Afghan reconstruction but “what have we gotten for the investment” after committing “more funds to reconstruct Afghanistan, than the US spent to rebuild Europe after World War II under the Marshall Plan?” SIGAR was created in 2008 by Congress to provide “independent and objective oversight of the US reconstruction effort in Afghanistan”. Sopko’s questions on the “reckless” US spending in Afghanistan offers food for thought to Pakistanis, who wonder how the ruling elite and bureaucracy play havoc with the taxpayers’ money without fear of accountability. “I was stunned when senior state department officials on my first trip to Kabul suggested how we should write our reports. They even suggested changes to our report titles and proposed that we give them our press releases in advance so they could pre-approve them,” Sopko said, referring to the high-handed attitude of bureaucratic and military officials on ground. Sopko underscored how SIGAR’s interventions saved hundreds of millions of dollars from being criminally wasted in wrongly prioritised projects. Federal contract officials don’t bother to make site visits, fail to keep proper documentation, fail to enforce standards and fail to ensure work is...

People, companies, and agencies need to be held seriously accountable for stupid decisions, dereliction of duty, corrupt behaviour, and subpar performance. Otherwise, we simply foster the expectation that additional waste, fraud, and abuse will be tolerated in the future, and only those who can shove the money out the door or meet the required “burn rate” are to be promoted and rewarded — John F Sopko, the US Special Inspector General for Reconstruction of Afghanistan (SIGAR) The US Special Inspector General gave this biting conclusion in a rare, blistering critique at Georgetown University, Washington, DC (September 12, 2014) saying, “It appears we’ve created a government that the Afghans simply cannot afford.” He said that the US had spent more than $104 billion for Afghan reconstruction but “what have we gotten for the investment” after committing “more funds to reconstruct Afghanistan, than the US spent to rebuild Europe after World War II under the Marshall Plan?” SIGAR was created in 2008 by Congress to provide “independent and objective oversight of the US reconstruction effort in Afghanistan”. Sopko’s questions on the “reckless” US spending in Afghanistan offers food for thought to Pakistanis, who wonder how the ruling elite and bureaucracy play havoc with the taxpayers’ money without fear of accountability. “I was stunned when senior state department officials on my first trip to Kabul suggested how we should write our reports. They even suggested changes to our report titles and proposed that we give them our press releases in advance so they could pre-approve them,” Sopko said, referring to the high-handed attitude of bureaucratic and military officials on ground. Sopko underscored how SIGAR’s interventions saved hundreds of millions of dollars from being criminally wasted in wrongly prioritised projects. Federal contract officials don’t bother to make site visits, fail to keep proper documentation, fail to enforce standards and fail to ensure work is...

In a report submitted to Standing Committee on Interior Affairs, Rangers official Colonel Tahir Mehmood said security forces have destroyed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) network in Karachi, the provincial capital of Pakistan’s Sind province beyond repair. Rangers submitted a one-year review report to the committee and briefed the members about the operation in which they arrested hundreds of alleged criminals since it started on September 7 last year. Giving numbers, Col Mehmood said more than 3,000 targeted operations were carried out in the crime-infested port city and and around 5,500 suspects were rounded up. He said around 2,300 were handed over to the police while more than 4,000 weapons were seized during the raids.   Col Mehmood informed the committee that land grabbing and street crime do not fall under the jurisdiction of Rangers; however, they have submitted a summary to the premier on how these crimes can be controlled. Speaking about targets achieved in Lyari[1] the Rangers official said incidents of kidnapping and extortion have reduced by 55% since the beginning of the operation. Col Mehmood said the law and order situation improved in the neighbourhood as Rangers have set up pickets in the area. Briefing the committee about what transpired on the night of September 24 when Rangers personnel arrested MQM members, Col Mehmood said the security officials went inside party office after their patrol was fired at in Gulshan-e-Maymar[2]. He said Rangers arrested three target killers during the raid and that many of the arrested MQM workers were released soon after. Courtesy:  The Express Tribune, September 29, 2014 http://tribune.com.pk/story/768750/ttp-network-in-karachi-destroyed-beyond-repair-rangers/ MQM (Mutahida Qoumi Movement) or United National Movement: An ethnic political party with presence of migrants who came after 1947 partition of Indian Subcontinent. It is dominant in the urban areas of Sindh province. ANP (Awami National Party)...

In a report submitted to Standing Committee on Interior Affairs, Rangers official Colonel Tahir Mehmood said security forces have destroyed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) network in Karachi, the provincial capital of Pakistan’s Sind province beyond repair. Rangers submitted a one-year review report to the committee and briefed the members about the operation in which they arrested hundreds of alleged criminals since it started on September 7 last year. Giving numbers, Col Mehmood said more than 3,000 targeted operations were carried out in the crime-infested port city and and around 5,500 suspects were rounded up. He said around 2,300 were handed over to the police while more than 4,000 weapons were seized during the raids.   Col Mehmood informed the committee that land grabbing and street crime do not fall under the jurisdiction of Rangers; however, they have submitted a summary to the premier on how these crimes can be controlled. Speaking about targets achieved in Lyari[1] the Rangers official said incidents of kidnapping and extortion have reduced by 55% since the beginning of the operation. Col Mehmood said the law and order situation improved in the neighbourhood as Rangers have set up pickets in the area. Briefing the committee about what transpired on the night of September 24 when Rangers personnel arrested MQM members, Col Mehmood said the security officials went inside party office after their patrol was fired at in Gulshan-e-Maymar[2]. He said Rangers arrested three target killers during the raid and that many of the arrested MQM workers were released soon after. Courtesy:  The Express Tribune, September 29, 2014 http://tribune.com.pk/story/768750/ttp-network-in-karachi-destroyed-beyond-repair-rangers/ MQM (Mutahida Qoumi Movement) or United National Movement: An ethnic political party with presence of migrants who came after 1947 partition of Indian Subcontinent. It is dominant in the urban areas of Sindh province. ANP (Awami National Party)...

In a report submitted to Standing Committee on Interior Affairs, Rangers official Colonel Tahir Mehmood said security forces have destroyed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) network in Karachi, the provincial capital of Pakistan’s Sind province beyond repair. Rangers submitted a one-year review report to the committee and briefed the members about the operation in which they arrested hundreds of alleged criminals since it started on September 7 last year. Giving numbers, Col Mehmood said more than 3,000 targeted operations were carried out in the crime-infested port city and and around 5,500 suspects were rounded up. He said around 2,300 were handed over to the police while more than 4,000 weapons were seized during the raids.   Col Mehmood informed the committee that land grabbing and street crime do not fall under the jurisdiction of Rangers; however, they have submitted a summary to the premier on how these crimes can be controlled. Speaking about targets achieved in Lyari[1] the Rangers official said incidents of kidnapping and extortion have reduced by 55% since the beginning of the operation. Col Mehmood said the law and order situation improved in the neighbourhood as Rangers have set up pickets in the area. Briefing the committee about what transpired on the night of September 24 when Rangers personnel arrested MQM members, Col Mehmood said the security officials went inside party office after their patrol was fired at in Gulshan-e-Maymar[2]. He said Rangers arrested three target killers during the raid and that many of the arrested MQM workers were released soon after. Courtesy:  The Express Tribune, September 29, 2014 http://tribune.com.pk/story/768750/ttp-network-in-karachi-destroyed-beyond-repair-rangers/ MQM (Mutahida Qoumi Movement) or United National Movement: An ethnic political party with presence of migrants who came after 1947 partition of Indian Subcontinent. It is dominant in the urban areas of Sindh province. ANP (Awami National Party)...

The Center for Research and Security Studies-CRSS organised a public meeting on September 24, 2014 titled “Sindh Rule of Law –Problems and Solutions”. The meeting was chaired by the former vice chancellor Engineering University, Nawabshah Mr. Alo Buksh Soomro and was addressed by law maker, lawyer, women right activist and journalist. Participants also spoke on the occasion and gave their input on the issue. Police representative Aijaz Tareen sought law maker’s help in bringing amendments in laws especially in the law of evidence for effective prosecution of criminals in the court. Ms Nasim Hasan Mastoi spoke on the issues related to women and suggested sensitization of police towards women issues and handling. Member Sindh Assembly Mr. Ghulam Qadir Chandio agreed to the need of reforming police system in the province and pledged to take up the issue to the party leadership for making laws to help better policing and prosecution. Mr. Ghulam Shabbir Zardari, Secretary District Bar Association Nawabshah suggested voicing the need for reforms and more effective role of bar in making criminal justice system work for people. Former Vice-Chancellor Dr. Ali Buksh Soomro while addressing the gathering stressed the need to promote quality education so that better people could be inducted in the police department. He said the issue is not with police only but overall governance system is in poor condition and failing in delivering.

The Center for Research and Security Studies-CRSS organized a consultative meeting with Khairpur Press Club on September 23, 2014. The agenda of the meeting was “Role of Media in Supporting Rule of Law-Problems and Solutions”. Officer Bearers of the HPC and local journalists participated in the consultative meeting. Mr. Qaisar Mahmood, consultant for CRSS in Sindh briefed the participants of objectives of the meeting and also stressed the media to play effective role in voicing the plight of the people with stress to reform the police for the benefit of the society. Journalists pointed out the issues faced by the common men and media representatives in reporting. As elsewhere, the journalists were of the view that the police is not subservient to law but to powerful and ruling elite while performing their duties. Therefore, they stressed that police should be free from the political pressures and interference for better results. They also shared the view that academic qualification for the recruitment should be raised from present Metric for constables and intermediate for Assistant Sub Inspector(s).

1969 was the year, when the United States succeeded in landing humans on the moon – our closest neighbour in space – and safely bringing them back to Earth. The United States, being the most technologically advanced country on Earth, put that feather in its hat about 45 years ago. What was the condition of India and Pakistan at that time? The two countries had already fought two battles, and were about to plunge into another one in 1971. While the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was established in 1969, the same year when humans set foot on the moon, Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) was established in 1961 – eight years before its Indian counterpart. SUPARCO was set up by the most famous of all Pakistani scientists and the country’s only Nobel Laureate: Dr Abdus Salam. Dr Salam had advised Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan, then President of Pakistan to establish a Space Sciences Research Wing within Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. This later turned into SUPARCO in 1964. In 1960, President John F Kennedy had announced that the United States planned to land an American on the moon, and bring him safely back to earth before the decade was over. Dr Tariq Mustafa, a scientist at Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission’s, writes in his memoir that for this project, NASA needed to map the wind conditions at the upper atmospheric region above the Indian Ocean. In mid-September 1961, Dr Abdus Salam and Dr Tariq Mustafa held a meeting with NASA officials in Washington. On the occasion, NASA offered help to Pakistan in the development and launching of rockets to map the atmosphere above Indian Ocean, on the condition that any data acquired from the research on upper atmosphere will be shared with NASA. Pakistan quickly bagged the offer, and started working on the project. On 7 June 1962, Pakistan launched an unmanned rocket, Rehbar-I from Sonmiani, with assistance from NASA. Dr Tariq Mustafa led the team working on this project. With...

In the month of September, yet another Pakistani – became victim of lawlessness from a person who was supposed to be a law enforcer and protector.  The victim, a 70-year-old British man Muhammad Asghar, was a mentally challenged person already sentenced to death by the court on blasphemy charges. On September 25, a prison guard, Muhammad Yousuf from Elite Force, managed to gain access to the barrack where the victim was kept and opened fire on him. He survived the attack but got wounded [Note: Initial reports declared Pastor Zafar Bhatti as dead and Muhammad Asghar as wounded[1] [2].  There is no further information about Pastor Zafar Bhatti though there are unconfirmed reports that he was also shot at.]  Did the guard commit a crime and does he deserve punishment or applause for an act that many in Pakistan condone in the name of religion, using the controversial Blasphemy laws as a shield? Unfortunately, this is not the first case of this kind;  on January 4,  2011, a personal security guard of the then Governor of the Punjab province, Salman Taseer,  resorted to a similar lawlessness when he rained bullets on Taseer in the presence of a dozen police officials and several bystanders at a busy upscale market in Islamabad. A section of the lawyer’s community had then hailed the perpetrator of this crime – Malik Mumtaz Qadri – as a hero and greeted him with flowers when he arrived at the court for the first hearing.  The judge, who convicted Qadri to death, had to leave the country soon after passing the judgment for never to return. Rashid Rehman, a lawyer and human rights activist, was another victim of a premeditated extrajudicial murder in May2014.  Before his murder, his co-lawyer had threatened him right inside a judicial court to either quit appearing as a defense lawyer of a blasphemy accused or be ready to disappear from the face of earth. He knew too, that many others had declined to take on the case but refused to budge because he believed that every...