Gilani, Naik vow to scuttle moves to destabilise democracy

Acting President Farooq H. Naek meets with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Islamabad on Tuesday. – Photo by PPI

ISLAMABAD: Acting President Farooq H. Naik met Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani at the Prime Minister House on Tuesday and discussed with him the prevailing situation in the country.

The prime minister, during the meeting, said that the political opponents who were playing to the gallery would not get political mileage they were hoping for.

The prime minister said that democracy and its dynamics were strong enough to withstand the pressures unleashed by those who did not believe in democratic ways and rather preferred backdoor channels.

The prime minister said that memo case was launched by the man who was a foreign national and whose track record was well known because he had been engaged in maligning the state institutions of Pakistan in the past through media.

The acting president shared the observations of the prime minister and said that the present democratic government was strong and would face no difficulty in scuttling the moves orchestrated by those who are known as believers in the political shenanigan.

But people of Pakistan are sensible and understand their tactics and would certainly support democracy as way of their political life, the acting president said.

Pakistan wants cordial ties with all states: FM Khar

Foreign Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar. — APP Photo

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Tuesday said the final decision on foreign policy was the parliament’s mandate, DawnNews reported.

Khar said the envoys’ conference was analysing Pakistan’s ties with important countries.

Speaking to media representatives outside the parliament, Khar said Pakistan did not want to sever relations with any country, neither did it want a conflict with any state.

Khar said recommendations made during the conference would be presented to the parliament and to the national security committee.

Responding to a question on Nato’s attack of November 26, Khar said diplomatic relations with the United States were still in place.

The foreign minister said Nato supplies could not be restored at least until an internal assessment regarding the attack was ongoing.

Calling all cynics

Cynicism is the last refuge of the disillusioned idealist. Jilted by unmet expectations and jaded by dashed hopes; the disillusioned idealist eventually resigns himself to reality and finds some semblance of peace in cynicism.

The multitudes of problems that have beset Pakistan over the last decade have swelled the ranks of the cynics. This is a grave danger to the future of Pakistan because cynicism induces inertia. It creates an environment where people give up even before trying. It can push society so far into the depths of despair that it starts exhibitingLearned Helplessness: a condition where people behave helplessly to the extent that when an opportunity is provided to escape the oppression to which they have been subjected, they fail to seize it.

The root cause of cynicism in Pakistan has been the inability of people to take their destiny in their own hands. For most of Pakistan’s history, the reins of power have alternated between military rulers and two political clans. These players are still looming large on the horizon and to call them a juggernaut would not be an overstatement. Such entrenched power structures are notorious for being tough to dislodge.

Case in point: The US of A.

In 1961, US President Eisenhower warned his countrymen to beware the “military industrial complex”. His warning fell on deaf ears and today America lies securely in the stranglehold of this behemoth, with next to no hope of breaking free.

According to US Presidential candidate Ron Paul, the “military industrial complex” has effectively reduced the US political spectrum to a 1-party system. Much like Pakistani political bouts, American political rivalries are also Noora Kushti; only better choreographed. Devoid of any hope, the cynical American peers across the horizon, but all he sees is pitch darkness. Owing to the circumstances he finds himself in, his cynicism is incurable.

With the emergence of Imran Khan as a viable national leader, the prognosis for the Pakistani cynic is much better. Imran Khan has openly challenged the powers-that-be. He has not shied away from confronting the political clans that have presided over Pakistan’s descent into despair and neither has he towed the army line.

Accusations of being in cahoots with the military establishment have been levelled against him, but his policy positions on many issues belie those accusations. His long-standing opposition to military operations in the tribal areas, his conciliatory approach to quelling the Balochistan insurgency and above all his proposed guarantee of preventing any militants from slipping into Indian-occupied Kashmir put him diametrically opposed to perceived military policy on all these issues . What’s more, he has vowed to bring the army under civilian control and has said that he would resign if he failed to do so. He has gone as far as to say that if he comes to power he will be General Kayani’s boss.

I stated this before, but it warrants repetition that dislodging well-entrenched power structures is no cake walk. Imran Khan has set out to do exactly that and with the wind in his sails, he actually has a shot at success. If you are a cynic peering across the horizon in search of a twinkling light, squint your eyes and you may just spot a flicker of hope streaking across the sky. Hope is the only anti-dote to cynicism, and in the shape of Imran Khan we have just that.

Cynicism can be fun. It furnishes many enjoyable “I-told-you-so” moments to revel and gloat in. But cynicism can not be an end in of itself. There comes a point when you have to look at things through the eyes of a wide-eyed freshman and risk being proven wrong. A positive and constructive attitude demands that we dig deep within ourselves and find the courage to overcome the inertia that has plagued us for ages. We need to take stock of realities as they stand and act not on the basis of what has been, but on the basis of what can be. We also need to latch on to any straws of hope that present themselves, and that’s where Imran Khan comes in.

In all likelihood, you didn’t become a cynic just for the fun of it. If things take a turn for the better and it is within your power to right the wrong that triggered your cynicism, then you are duty-bound to take action. So come forth! If it works out, you will have been part of something great; something for which the word ‘revolution’ is an under-statement.

If it doesn’t, you can shrink back into your shell in the cynics’ colony. I’ll be there waiting for you.

Irfan Waheed is an engineer working in Austin, Texas. He can be reached at irfanwaheed@msn.com

The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.

Pakistan to revisit terms for Afghan Transit Trade

Trucks carrying oil and containers at the Pak-Afghan border.—File Photo

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to revisit the conditions for Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) on the basis of concrete evidence suggesting that the facility was grossly being misused in many ways, official sources told Dawn.

They said since the closure of the route for Nato forces in Afghanistan, there had been instances of Nato supplies reaching the land-locked neighbour in the name of Afghan Transit Trade.

Answering a question, a senior official said there was no immediate timeframe for lifting of embargo on Nato supplies through Chaman and Tourkham borders. “Since the current terms have been violated by Nato, new terms of cooperation will be discussed with the United States after our own internal exercise”, he remarked.

He said the negotiations on carriage will take into account the colossal loss caused to the roads by heavy Nato containers, if and when a decision was taken to remove restriction on the supplies clamped in the aftermath of attack on two military posts in Mohmand Agency.

He revealed that the government under the previous arrangements was getting only Rs410 per truck for handling and loading at Port Qasim Karachi, while the contactors hired by Nato dominated by Afghan cartel end up making huge profits.

Another source said the government was mulling proposal to levy special tax on Nato trucks even before the November 26 incident. He said the Communications Ministry upset by the losses caused to roads and infrastructure was discussing modalities for establishment of designated check-posts at Chaman and Tourkham borders to collect the amount.

Various parliamentary committees in the recent past had expressed their concern over the damage caused to the roads by Nato containers and recommended levy of special tax on NATO containers.

A huge chunk of budget for repair of the roads is spent on account of damage caused by heavy Nato trucks for about a decade. Before the Nato supply was halted, hundreds of trucks used to cross Tourkham and Chaman borders every day.

About the Afghan Transit Trade, an official said it had remained controversial from the very beginning. “It has a history of damaging interests of the local industry on one hand and discouraging legal imports on the other”.

He pointed out that the production of televisions in Pakistan quadrupled in four years after inclusion of the item in the negative list for Afghan transit trade in 1996.

Pakistan had signed an agreement with Afghanistan in 1965 to facilitate foreign trade of its land-locked neighbour. The agreement has been massively abused by the unscrupulous

elements to import products way above their actual demand in Afghanistan meant only to push back the products into Pakistan.

The agreement resulted in massive smuggling of black tea, tyres, electronic goods, kitchen items, home appliances and other such goods into Pakistan. Every body knows that Afghans prefer green tea, but black tea in huge quantity was imported only to make money by misusing the facility.

In short, the ATT resulted in a quasi-legal smuggling in many ways. The majority of the imported products booked for Afghanistan just went through the motions never to reach Afghanistan after being rerouted in the border areas of the now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A big quantity also finds its way back into the country flooding the markets in the major urban

centres of the country with the goods imported under the ATT.

With each passing year the abuse increased, pushing products into the local markets which not only undermined the local manufacturing but also the legal imports. While the loss caused to the manufacturing sector forced many foreign investors to close down operations in the country, it also discouraged the legal imports of many items particularly tyres and

spices, due to in-competitive prices. This, in turn, deprived the government of substantial loss in terms of investment, corporate taxes and duties.

The agreement was abused to such an extent that an otherwise necessary service extended to the land-locked country turned it into the major cause for smuggling into Pakistan. It was all the more troubling as it was hard to keep track of the movement of imported goods bound for Afghanistan due to rampant corruption and political influence during all stages

of transit from Karachi, the nation’s only port-city.

The strong concerns of the manufacturing sector and the importers worst hit by the trade under the cover of ATT had forced the government time and again to make addition in the prohibitive list.

Former envoy challenges SC decision

“We have pled that the Dec-1 order is not a final decision but an interim order. And interim orders cannot be reviewed,” said the former Supreme Court Bar Association’s president Asma Jahangir while talking to Dawn.

ISLAMABAD: Former ambassador to US Husain Haqqani is in no mood to give up without a fight.

This was evident on Saturday when through his firebrand lawyer and human rights activist, Asma Jahangir, he challenged the Supreme Court office’s decision of the previous day in which the registrar had rejected Haqqani’s petition against the court’s Dec 1 order in the memo case.

In the first hearing of the case on Dec 1, the SC had appointed a commission to probe the scandal and had stopped Haqqani from leaving the country. In addition, it had asked the president, the army chief, the ISI head and Haqqani to submit their replies to the court. The SC began hearing the case because PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif had petitioned it to do so.

Two days ago, Haqqani had submitted his reply to the court, requesting that Nawaz Sharif’s petition be dismissed and asking for damages for the ordeal he had suffered. The former ambassador had also moved a petition challenging the Dec 1 order of the apex court on Nawaz Sharif’s petition on the memo scandal.

However, on the same day, the Supreme Court Registrar’s office returned Haqqani’s petition challenging the order. The registrar was of the opinion that a court’s order could not be recalled; it could only be reviewed. The registrar’s office had also objected that Haqqani in his petition had cited no specific grievance and that hence it was not clear whether he was critiquing the entire order or those portions that dealt with him.

On Saturday, Ms Jahangir challenged the registrar’s decision.

“We have pled that the Dec-1 order is not a final decision but an interim order. And interim orders cannot be reviewed,” said the former Supreme Court Bar Association’s president while talking to Dawn.

The new petition has also pointed out that no one could be deprived of his rights guaranteed under the constitution.

In such cases, a judge is asked to look into the matter.

Hence, it is likely that Haqqani’s appeal would be referred to some judge of the Supreme Court who would in his chambers decide whether the petition should be entertained or not.

In the main petition moved on Friday, which was rejected, Haqqani had contended that the SC order was influenced by the media hype in the country which was often motivated by ulterior motives and that it had been based on the accusations of a dubious individual.

In addition, he had argued that the petition had not mentioned any violation of fundamental rights and hence was not maintainable.

He had further pointed out that if the memo issue fell within the jurisdiction of the High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973 or the Prevention of Anti-National Activities, 1974, then only the federal government or a provincial government could take cognizance.

Blast from the past; Cash for nukes attempt that failed

A bag full of dollars was dropped in General (r) Ziauddin Khawaja's office by a North Korean General Kang who at that time was serving as Defence and Commercial Attache in the North Korean Embassy in Islamabad. -AP File Photo

ISLAMABAD: General (r) Ziauddin Khawaja, former DG ISI, has disclosed for the first time that North Korea had attempted to bribe him by providing him 0.5 million US dollars in Benazir Bhutto’s last tenure as prime minister, in 1995.

“They wanted an expedited cooperation between the two countries on the missile programme, which was going on between the two countries in that era,” said General (r) Ziauddin while exclusively talking to Dawn at his Lahore residence.

Khawaja, was heading the Directorate of Combat Development, currently known as Strategic Plans Division (SPD). He was directly involved in Pakistan’s defense agreements with North Korea.

The retired general while answering a question said that, a bag full of dollars was actually dropped in his office by a North Korean General Kang who at that time was serving as Defence and Commercial Attache in the North Korean Embassy located in Islamabad.

Khawaja asked General Kang why he was giving him such a large amount of cash. The North Korean General told him that his government is distributing money among the relevant officers dealing in defence cooperation with his country.

General Khawaja said that he immediately informed the then Chief of General Staff (CGS) General Jahangir Karamat who spoke to the then Chief of Army Staff General Abdul Waheed Kakar who was on a foreign trip at the time.

Khawaja added that General Waheed consulted with Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and ordered him to return the money after two or three days.

“General Kang was called at the Headquarters of the Military Intelligence, General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, where the money was returned to him by the then MI Chief, Major General Ali Kuli Khan in my presence,” said Khawaja.

Ziauddin Khawaja is living a retired life in Lahore these days. He was nominated Chief of Army Staff by the former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, on 12th October 1999 soon after the removal of General Pervez Musharraf but the orders of the prime minister could not see the light of day as the military launched a coup.

Balochistan – a human rights free zone

“Every missing person is my son,” says Abdul Qadeer Baloch, whose son Jalil Reki went missing and was found dead two-and-a-half years later. 

Every year on this momentous day, 60-year old retired bank employee Abdul Qadeer Baloch organises special events in Balochistan capital, Quetta, to mark the international human rights day. He has organised, for instance, hunger strike camps and convened press conferences to raise the voices of the families of the disappeared Baloch political activists, students and professionals.

Qadeer had remained absolutely aloof to such hardcore activism until February 13, 2009, when officials attired in plainclothes whisked away his son Jalil Ahmed Reki, 35, from Quetta. The disappearance of a breadwinning son turned Qadeer’s life upside down. He eventually joined the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), an organisation representing the families of missing persons, to campaign for the release of his disappeared son.

Jalil Reki, Qadir’s missing son, had regularly operated as the central spokesman for the Baloch Republican Party, a nationalist political group seeking self-rule for the resource-rich Balochistan province. He was articulate, charismatic and well-connected with the local media. Qadeer made every attempt possible to seek the release of his missing child but completely failed to bring him back from the custody of the captors. After his involvement in similar missing persons’ cases, Qadeer realised his was not the only family which had a loved one listed as ‘missing’.

“Every missing person is my son,” Qadeer assured as he was recently promoted as the vice president of the VBMP. With more organisational responsibility came more pressure. In October, two secret agents reached out to Qadeer in Quetta warning him to immediately and unconditionally end the demand for the release of the disappeared activists.

“They warned if I wanted my son alive then I should end the hunger strike camp,” Qadir shared his insecurity with the media soon after being warned in person and also on telephone.

Qadeer would have routinely snubbed this warning if he had been contacted two years ago. In the past one year, the situation in Balochistan has dramatically changed. The bullet-riddled dead bodies of at least 220 missing persons have been found from different parts of the province in the past eight months.

Thus, Qadeer and his friends were totally cognizant of what he bills as the “nasty capabilities” of the captors of their loved ones. He took the threats seriously but it was no longer practically possible to abandon an organisation which funnelled hope to the relatives of hundreds of other missing persons.

“Quitting wasn’t simply an option” said Qadeer. Those who had warned him stood by their words. On November 24, the tortured and bullet-infested dead body of Qadeer’s disappeared son was found in Turbat district.

This year brings a totally different international human rights day for Qadeer. He says his young son’s killing has not undermined his resolve but given him a reason to stand beside those who still await the return of their loved ones.

‘Moral Crisis’

There is increasing international concern about human rights violations in Balochistan. Official denial of access to international media, human rights groups and researchers and increased role of agencies further make it difficult to independently analyse the crisis in Balochistan.

On November 16, the deputy spokesman of the US Department of State, Mark Toner, expressed concern over the situation in Balochistan.

Amnesty International’s Pakistan researcher Mustafa Qadri terms Balochistan as one of Pakistan’s “greatest moral crises”. The province, he says, has fast become a “human rights-free zone” with security forces and armed groups acting with total impunity.

Qadri, whose London-based global human rights watchdog has actively sought an end to killings and disappearances in Balochistan, says there are no excuses for the government to continue “such policies” in Balochistan.

“The failure of the state to protect its citizens’ right to life has left all of Balochistan’s diverse communities living in constant fear of abductions, torture, and targeted killings. The state continues to suppress the Baloch community’s right to freedom of expression whether with respect to nationalist politics or calls for justice for victims of enforced disappearance,” he claims.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has decided to dedicate this year’s international human rights day to the people of Balochistan in order to urge Islamabad to “make vigorous efforts to ensure respect for the rights of the people in the long suffering province.”

Zohra Yusuf, HRCP’s chairperson, says at least 107 new cases of enforced disappearance have been reported in Balochistan in 2011, and the ‘missing persons’ are increasingly turning up dead.

“Bodies of at least 225 ‘missing persons’ have been recovered from various parts of the province since July 2010,” she reveals, “It is scandalous that not a single person has been held accountable for these disappearances and killings.”

Alarming Trends

With numerous existing indicators, there are valid reasons to paint a murky future scenario for Balochistan vis-à-vis the state of human rights.

Firstly, defenders of democracy, champions of human rights and the advocates of press freedom are all being forcefully dragged into the ongoing conflict. At least two HRCP coordinators, eight journalists and one campaigner for the IDP (internally displaced persons) rights have been tortured and killed in less than a year.

In addition, the so-called ‘kill and dump operations’ provide a glimpse into the prevalent and sophisticated network of illegal torture cells maintained inside Balochistan. For example, when activists, such as Qadeer’s son, disappear from Quetta and are found dead 856 kilometres away in Kech district, it gives a clear idea about the extraordinary operational and logistical capabilities of people involved in such regular and untraceable operations.

Meanwhile, an underground armed group calling itself as the Baloch Musla Defai Tanzeem (Baloch Armed Defence Organisation) recently issued a hit-list of four journalists in Khuzdar district warning to kill them all if they reported the activities of Baloch nationalists. At least two former presidents and two members, of the same district press club have been murdered in recent past, highlighting the threats faced by journalists working in Khuzdar.

Amidst the crises, the governments at the centre and the province do not currently have an engagement policy in Balochistan to give an idea where it stands on the issue of disappearances, killings and warnings to defenders of human rights. It demonstrates absolute official indifference toward the issue while the attacks on defenders of democracy and human rights are taking place with flagrant impunity showing a total absence of an accountability-driven system.

The number of unknown, shadowy armed groups is increasing day by day. Emboldened over lack of official action against them, these groups have become less reclusive, more assertive and more selective while singing out their targets.

Turning a blind eye, the provincial and central governments and the executive and the judicial branches of the government continue to throw the issue of human rights into each other’s court. Additionally, the government has not either completed or initiated investigations into killings for which it has been blamed, such as the murder of Professor Saba Dashtiyari of the University of Balochistan, to assure its commitment to independently probe blatant attacks on educators and free-thinkers.

The government has also not fulfilled the promise it made unveiling the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-Balochistan Package that all missing Baloch persons would be released.

Decades of unabated attacks on dissenters have eroded Balochistan’s political landscape to such an extent that violence has knocked out an ambiance of political dialogue.

Malik Siraj Akbar is a freelance journalist based in Washington DC.