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CRSS Round-table on Political Reconciliation in Afghanistan
Center for Research and Security Studies, Islamabad organized a round-table discussion with Dr. Barnett R. Rubin, the Senior Adviser to the Special Representative of the President for Afghanistan and Pakistan in the US Department of State on ¿political reconciliation in Afghanistan– on October 17, 2012 in its office. Dr Rubin has worked as the Director of Studies and Senior Fellow at the Center on International Cooperation of New York University. Major General (Retd.) Ather Abbas, Air Vice Marshal (Retd.) Shehzad Chauhdry, former Chairman National Reconstruction Bureau, Danyal Aziz, Chris Waters Deputy Political Counselor at US Embassy, Islamabad and former ambassadors Ayaz Wazir and Arif Ayub participated in the round-table. CRSS Executive Director Imtiaz Gul moderated the discussions. During the discussion, it came through that the Obama administration believes the core objectives of intervention in Afghanistan i.e. to degrade and weaken the Al-Qaeda as well as to delink it from the Taliban have been achieved. The US now wants to focus on how to prepare the way to the bulk pullout of foreign troops from Afghanistan. This means a renewed focus on political reconciliation in Afghanistan as well as expectations of Pakistan. The cut-off date for troops– withdrawal was also aimed at bringing Afghan government, Taliban and regional states together for finding a sustainable solution and to ensure regional stability. Also because US never designated Taliban as its enemy that is why it wants to involve them in political reconciliation process, but within the framework of Afghanistan local aw and constitution. Moreover, the US wants to take the neighboring states of Afghanistan on board for reaching out to Taliban and to find a regional solution to the Afghan issue. Pakistani analysts were of the view that only an all-inclusive Afghan dialogue and transparent engagement by the United States could probably help all Afghan and regional stake-holders to get on to the same...
Pakistan Conflict Tracker Weekly Report – October 05-11, 2012
The raging wave of violence significantly surged across Pakistan during the current week. Ethno-political violence in the largest metropolis, Karachi, also increased marginally, wherein almost 43 persons (compared to 42 of last week) lost their lives. Meanwhile, the wave of bomb blasts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), armed clashes between militants and the security forces in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the recovery of mutilated dead bodies continued to pile up misery and toll upon the citizens of Pakistan. The data collected throughten newspapers, which CRSS uses as the source, indicates that as many as 123 persons died, as a result of 73 violent incidents across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).The violent incidents also left 80 people injured. During the current week, civilians had to once again pay the major price of the conflict, as the civilian death toll accounted for 73 percent (4/5) of the total deaths. In total, 93 civilians decimated and another 56 injured as a result of violent clashes across Pakistan. The second highest number of fatalities was ofmilitants, wherein 25 militants got killed under different circumstances. Furthermore, like the preceding week, just one CIA operated drone strikewas reported in Hurmaz village of Mir Ali sub-division, North Waziristan Agency (FATA), during the course of the week, killing four persons and injuring three women. Also, continuing their sabotage campaign to demolish state infrastructure, militants blew up two power pylons, a gas pipeline of 24-inch diameter and two state-run schools in different areas of KP, FATA and Balochistan. Moreover, five sectarian attacks left four persons, one Sunni and three Shia men, dead and another three injured in Karachi (Sindh), Quetta (Balochistan) and lower Kurram Agency (FATA). The number of deaths due to target killing dropped by one percent, (41 percent against last week 42 percent) during the current week. Overall, 63 percent of...
Weekly Data Sheet – October 05-11, 2012
Malala, Swat and Taliban Militants
Malala Yousufzai, the 14-year old girl from Swat is still struggling for her life in the hospital bed because the forces she had been fighting against with her harmless weapon have targeted her with their lethal weapons to silence her voice forever.The time is ticking for her. One of her friends, Kainaat, who also got injured in the terrorist attack, is meanwhile back home, while the third friend Shazia, is also fighting survival at a Peshawar hospital.The gory incident has triggered a massive wave of anger and sympathy across Pakistan and elsewhere in the world. The whole nation is praying for the recovery of the three girls, and the doctors are doing everything possible within their resources to save this precious life. The forces of evil ´ the Tehreeke Taliban Pakistan ´ in their own way continue to abhor women and symbols of a functional state, hurling threats at all and sundry ´ a fact borne by three deadly terror incidents between Friday and Saturday that left at least 37 people dead in northwestern Pakistan. A countrywide protest against this heinous crime, claimed and committed by the Taliban, has been going on since the day of the incident and among the protestors you can even find those as well who never felt any shame in supporting or ignoring such crimes of the Taliban.For the first time, even the former chief of Jamat-e-Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, condemned the Taliban by adding in his statement a conditional clause 'if they are involved in it'.Raising doubt and using conspiracy theories are the two very effective propaganda tools to hide such crimes when all evidences point in one direction - Taliban.Taliban have proudly admitted their involvement in this crime and have reiterated their resolve to carry out such operations against all those boys and girls who would follow Malala.Is Malala a first victim of the Taliban outrageous action? There is a history of events where all those voices that were raised against them were silenced through the...
Malala Attack: Trigger for Strategic Change?
Malala Yousufzai continues to struggle for life. In a targeted action on October 9, obscurantist Taliban militants shot down the 14-year old girl in Mingora, the administrative headquarters of the Swat Valley which the Taliban dominated between 2007 and 2009. Ms Malala had then championed the cause of girls– education because the Taliban opposed sending girls to schools. The attack on the 'symbol of girls– education' in Swat has invited widespread condemnation from all over the world. CRSS hopes Malala will recuperate from the critical surgery she went through Wednesday morning whereby surgeons successfully removed the bullet that had penetrated her skull. Doctors said that Malala was still in critical condition and that is why advised shifting her to capital Islamabad. CRSS urges the Pakistani authorities to track down and punish those responsible for this cowardly and barbaric act against a young girl who only wants and advocates education for the girls of her home-town. The government has offered to send her abroad for treatment but such a step is contingent upon the panel of surgeons looking after her. CRSS also hopes this incident serves as a trigger for a comprehensive and unambiguous strategic review of the defense policies that the security apparatus had pursued until recently. Without a categorical position on various shades of radical militants known as the Taliban it will become very difficult to counter the monstrous militancy. As an expression of solidarity with Malala and her family, CRSS requested a few noted foreign scholars and experts for their reaction on the tragic incident. These reactions are being reproduced below. This post also includes statements by world leaders. Reactions Peter Knoope, Director International Center for Counter-Terrorism, The Hague, Netherlands If the Taliban in Pakistan ever had any legitimacy; they have lost every inch of it by the attack onMalala Yousafzaiyesterday. If an act of political violence is above all...
Long Live Malala
CRSS strongly condemns the dastardly attack Tuesday, October 9, 2012 on Malala Yusufzai, a 14-year old girl in Swat, Pakistan. Ms Malala, championed the cause of girls– education during the brutal and dark days of the Taliban rule (2007-09) in District Swat of north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The attack, a targeted action by unknown brutal militants, has severely injured the young outspoken rights' activist, invoking strong reactions by all and sundry across Pakistan. CRSS hopes Malala will recuperate from the critical surgery she went through Wednesday morning whereby surgeons successfully removed the bullet that had penetrated her skull. CRSS also urges the Pakistani authorities to track down and punish those responsible for this cowardly and barbaric act against a young girl who only wants and advocates education for the girls of her home-town.
Pakistan Conflict Tracker Monthly Report – September 2012
The raging wave of violence substantially reduced during September across Pakistan. Ethno-political violence in Karachi, religio-terrorism in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and nationalist-separatist violence in Balochistan, meanwhile continued to mount the death toll. The deadly wave of target killing in Karachi, which ensued in the last week of March, left almost 131 persons dead during the current month. In total, 162 persons perished in Karachi during September. Also, the militancy stricken areas of FATA and KP continued to seethe under violence, wherein a whopping 300 persons lost their lives during the month under review in different circumstances. The data collected throughten newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, depicts that some 506 people lost their lives in 205 incidents of violence across the country (for details see data sheet). The violent clashes also left 526 people injured across the country in September. A concise peep into the casualty figures underscores that the civilians remained the major target of violent actors, with the civilians accounting for 3/5 of the total deaths as a result of various acts of violence and terror in Pakistan. As noted in pie chart I below, civilians were almost 59 percent of the total dead in September. The share of civilian deaths is slightly higher than the previous month, wherein 43 percent of the dead were innocent civilians. As a whole 298 civilians were killed during the month. Moreover, the data suggests that the militants fighting against the state remained the second major target i.e. 34 percent (170) of the total dead. Clashes also left 38 security forces– personnel (7 percent of total deaths) dead and these were mostly recorded in insurgency infested areas of FATA, ethno-political violence hub, Karachi, and nationalist-separatist epicenter, Balochistan. Furthermore during September (from August 31 to 27 September), three CIA operated drone strikes were reported...
Weekly Data Sheet – September 21 – October 04, 2012
Pakistan Conflict Tracker Weekly Report – September 21 – October 04, 2012
The overall level of violence further sub-sided across Pakistan during the current week. Ethno-political violence in Karachi, the largest metropolis of Pakistan, also decreased slightly during the week, wherein almost 42 persons (compared to 44 last week) lost their lives. Meanwhile, the wave of bomb blasts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), armed clashes between militants and the security forces in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the recovery of mutilated dead bodies-continued to mount death toll. The data collected throughten newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, indicates that as many as 101 persons were dead, as a result of 58 violent incidents across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).The violent incidents also left 31 people injured. Like in case of past week yet again, the civilians bore the major brunt of violence during current week, wherein civilians were accounted for 52 percent of the total death toll. In total, 53 civilians were killed and 16 others wounded as a result of violent clashes across Pakistan. The second highest number of deaths was ofmilitants, wherein 41 militants were killed under different circumstances. Furthermore, one CIA operated drone strikesstruck in Haiderkhel village of Mir Ali sub-division, North Waziristan Agency (FATA), during the course of the week, killing two suspected militants. Meanwhile, continuing their campaign to demolish state infrastructure, militants blew up two power pylons and two state-run schools in different areas of KP and FATA. Moreover, eight sectarian attacks left eight persons, five Sunnis and three Shias dead in Karachi (Sindh) and Quetta (Balochistan). The number of deaths due to target killing soared by six percent, (42 percent against last week 36 percent) during the current week. Overall, 67 percent of the total violent attacks wereoftarget killingin nature.The trend also underlines that the target killing insistently remains the preferred weapon in the hands...
Weekly Data Sheet – September 21-27, 2012
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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.