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In the following op-ed, Tanvir Qaiser Shahid exposes some secrets of the relationship between Qazi Hussain Ahmed's Jamaat-e-Islami and Nawaz Sharif's PML-N. Read more...
Does the urban Punjab represent the whole Pakistan? Does the motorway party (i.e., PML-N, whose popularity is limited to cities on the motorway from Lahore to Rawalpindi) represent the majority of Pakistan? Do the motorway journalists (i.e., Dr. Shahid Masood, Irfan Siddiqui, Kashif Abbasi, Ansar Abbasi, Hamid Mir etc) represent the opinion of the people of Sindh, Balochistan, NWFP and the Southern Punjab?
Abbas Ather asks some valid questions in the following op-ed.
MQM rally to condemn damaging of BB’s memorial PDF Print E-mail
KARACHI, March 1 (APP): The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) held a huge rally in downtown Karachi on Sunday to protest against the damaging of the memorial at the site of the assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. The rally was attended by lakhs of people in a very disciplined manner.
They displayed banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the damaging of the memorial at the site of assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.
Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Federal Minister Dr. Farooq Sattar, Speaker of Sindh Assembly, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Senior Provincial Minister, Pir Mazhar ul Haq, Sindh Home Minister, Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza, also addressed the gathering.
Speaking on the occasion, the MQM Chief Altaf Hussain offered Mian Nawaz Sharif that if he shuns violent protest and course of confrontation the MQM through the Haq Parast constitutional and legal experts would file review appeal at the Supreme Court against the disqualification of Sharif brothers.
He said that Mian Nawaz Sharif should exhibit large heartedness so that the issues could be resolved through the spirit of understanding and reconciliation. The MQM chief also asked the government to find a middle way through some constitutional and legal manner.
He vehemently condemned the damaging of the memorial at the site of assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.
Altaf Hussain said that Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had sacrificed her life for the cause of country and its people.
He said that the verdict was given by the Supreme Court and not by Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.
The MQM chief said that imputing charges against President Asif Ali Zardari, was also not right as the verdict was given by the Supreme Court and not by President Zardari.
He urged that any derogatory language should not be used against the President.
Altaf Hussain also counselled the workers of the PML (N) to exercise patience and do not resort to politics of reprisal.
Read more...
The way events are unfolding in Pakistan it appears our national failure has been programmed and the political software written by our leaders, whether it was the erstwhile military regime or the current civilian leadership, leaves little scope for recovery. In the face of multiple challenges that the country is confronted with, the need is to develop a broad consensus. Instead President Zardari regrettably is pursuing, the politics of “winner takes all” and Nawaz Sharif is taking his fight to the streets. When the country is facing an expanding insurgency in FATA and parts of NWFP, a nationalist uprising in Baluchistan, an economy in deep distress, increasing tensions with India and acute problems of governance it is mind boggling why any leader should try to destabilize Punjab.
The implications of the court decision are going to be far reaching on the body politic and economy of the country. First, in the short term it would deflect the attention of the government from combating insurgency and counter terrorism. For the government to place reliance on the recent peace deals in Swat and elsewhere would be premature and misleading, as the situation is still tenuous and uncertainClearly, PML-N is the most important political force in Punjab and the second largest national party and it is imprudent to antagonize them at this juncture, when owning the fight against insurgents and mobilizing public opinion against them is crucial. Moreover, PML-N has been taking a moderate and balanced approach toward fighting insurgency in FATA and advocating a firm policy of controlling militants that are destabilizing Pakistan and creating serious problems with India.
It is likely that political expediency may push PML-N in a close alliance with rightist and hard line parties and fight against militancy will weaken. The opposition cannot be expected to remain silent in the face of President Zardari’s effort to impose PPP rule throughout the country. What is more politically significant is that PML-N joining the lawyers’ movement will give a new momentum to it! And as other opposition elements join the band wagon it may result in building a critical mass sufficient to unhinge the government that already is so weak.
PPP regrettably, ever since the tragic death of Benazir Bhutto has been factionalized, its democratic character marred by the authoritarian style of its new leadership and is unlikely to provide the motivation to resist the emerging countervailing political forces. The opposition parties may also succeed in driving a wedge between Prime Minister Gilani and President Zardari. Their relationship is already under stress as most of the government powers rest with the prime minister but are being exercised by President Zardari.
Lack of credibility and popular perception about the legitimacy of the higher courts and of President Zardari, makes the court’s decision to disqualify the Sharif brothers and the imposition of governor’s rule difficult to stick. In any case disqualification of Sharif brothers has been a great setback to democracy and pluralism.
If confrontation is not avoided soon the economic problems will get compounded and political instability will increase. Domestic and external investments will further dry up and overall productivity will fall. Our dependence on IMF, international donor agencies and US assistance which is already high will increase. US influence which is pervasive could become overwhelming. Poverty levels will rise, causing hardship to large cross sections of people. It has been experienced that financially and bureaucratically weak governments create an environment that favours militant recruitment and poorer countries suffer longer insurgencies.
For democracy to endure in a poor country as ours, economic growth is essential. Economic development allows middle class to gain economic and political power as private business and civil society gains strength. All these possibilities would be lost if the political foes do not reconcile their differences.
India will take full advantage of Pakistan’s internal dissensions and will step up its diplomatic pressure.
Military leadership so far has been trying to stay away from politics, but may be constrained to intervene if conditions deteriorate to prevent country’s slide into chaos. And politicians have to remind themselves that every military intervention has been berthed in gratitude albeit the honeymoon has been short lived as they too have failed miserably in solving the country’s myriad problems.
The way to prevent the country from a downward spiral is for President Zardari and Nawaz Sharif to move from confrontation to reconciliation and develop a framework for coexistence and tolerance for each other. Punjab must return to PML-N, just as the PPP government at the centre should be allowed to complete its full term. Any unjust dispensation of political power will accelerate the downslide. We have the experience of 90’s in front of us and President Musharraf’s blunders fresh in our memory. His lack of understanding of the value of institutions be it judiciary, parliament, political parties or bureaucracy brought the country to the brink of a chasm.
Similarly, PPP and PML leaders in the 90’s tried to undermine each other and weakened democratic institutions. It seems they have not learnt from their past mistakes despite the assurances they were giving to the electorate before the elections. It is time that the political leaders diverted their energies toward building the country and wrapping up their convoluted ambitions. They have to draw strength from the people and be accountable to them if they have to stay in power and ensure an enduring democracy.
The writer is a retired lieutenant-general. Email: talat@comsats.net.pk
Amid scuffling MNAs, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani announced Saturday on the floor of the National Assembly that the PPP would sit on the opposition benches in the Punjab Assembly if it failed to form a majority government in the province. He must have been a bit self-conscious when he added, “There is no need for horse-trading...we will sit on the opposition benches if we fail to form a majority government”.
The prime minister also talked of reconciliation as the touchstone of the PPP’s politics as asserted by the late Chairperson Ms Benazir Bhutto. He asserted that he had not known about the Supreme Court verdict on the electoral eligibility of the Sharifs and apparently expressed the wish to smoke the peace pipe with the PMLN. That, of course, would mean giving Punjab back to the Sharifs under a new PMLN chief minister. But is that on the cards?
The change in Punjab has not gone down very well in the country. It has not only further polarised national politics; it has displeased the people watching it. Even the coalition partners have chosen to go to the media condemning it and offering to mediate between the two traditionally brawling parties. The umbrage is specifically taken, not on the Supreme Court verdict, but the imposition of Governor’s Rule. The PMLN has charged that President Zardari had manipulated the “fake” judiciary but most of the “impartial” criticism has focused on the emergency that preceded the imposition of Governor’s Rule and, more intensely, the Governor’s Rule.
Governor’s Rule is not popular because it conceals behind its legality the business of buying and selling votes in the Punjab Assembly. It becomes more ominous when you consider that the PMLN has a majority that might increase rather than decrease if it is a better horse trader than the PPP. But then one has to keep in mind the reflexes of our politicians. They keep looking for the main chance and jump ship if the jumping is lucrative and promises more years in power and the spoils that power brings. Already the gossips are talking of crores of rupees being held up as the price for a single Punjab vote.
But two months are a long time to test the probity of the Punjabi politician. Prime Minister Gilani has hinted at the irreducibility of these two months. The two months are clearly meant for something else. You don’t have to cudgel your brains to arrive at the conclusion that the PPP aims to ward off the danger of the Long March on March 12 and the more dangerous “dharna” on March 16 in Islamabad.
Punjab is pivotal to the success or failure of the Long March. Whoever controls Punjab controls the fortunes of the Long March. And it goes without saying that it will have to be controlled not inside Islamabad but before it reaches Islamabad. It is the gathering of its force in the approaching districts including Rawalpindi which is the main threat and which has to be countered. The PMLN and its supporters will have to be endowed with colossal will power to scale the impediments that the new Punjab administration will place in their path. Once the Long March threat subsides, it will be time to think of the numbers in the Punjab Assembly.
If the Long March is not successful — that is, if the “indefinite dharna” doesn’t lead to the restoration of Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry or the unseating of the PPP government — there will be a month and a half in which to persuade the “forward bloc” MPAs to change their sentiments. As we know, loyalties have a peculiar way of undergoing change after an unsuccessful undertaking. The general atmosphere of deflation will no doubt set the stage for the PPP’s victory. But, before that, there is a more sensible and wise course open, that of compromise and reconciliation. And the time for it has not passed. (Daily Times)
Read more...
Quetta Police Chief, Humayun Jogezai has been once again successful in engineering and executing another round of Shia killings.
Innocent people of Quetta demand an honest police officer such as Shoaib Suddle to be appointed in place of terrorist Humayun Jogezai. Father, son killed in sectarian violence
By Malik Siraj Akbar
In an apparent act of sectarian violence in Quetta, unidentified men murdered a man and his son, both from the Shia sect. The attackers opened fire on the victims at their shop on Quetta’s Double Road. Haji Sakhi and his son, Ghulam Ali, died on the spot. The murderers, who were riding a motorcycle, fled. No one has accepted responsibility for the killing. Separately, a policeman was killed in western Panjgur district in a clash between robbers and the police. The policeman, Mujahid, was killed and another policeman was injured. (Daily Times, 2 March 2009)
کوئٹہ میں فائرنگ دو افراد ہلاک
عزیزاللہ خان بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام کوئٹہ
ہلاک ہونے والوں کے ایک رشتہ دار
کوئٹہ میں ٹارگٹ کلنگ کا سلسلہ جاری ہے اور اتوار کی شام نامعلوم افراد نے فائرنگ کرکے باپ بیٹے کو ہلاک کر دیا ہے جبکہ اقوام متحدہ کے اہلکار کو اغواء کرنے والوں نے اپنے مطالبات کو تسلیم کرنے کے لیے دی جانے والی مدت میں چار دن کی توسیع کر دی ہے۔
پولیس کے مطابق ڈبل روڈ پر اتوار کی شام نامعلوم افراد نے ایک دکان پر کام کرنے والے باپ بیٹے کو فائرنگ کرکے ہلاک کر دیا ہے۔ پولیس اہلکاروں نے بتایا ہے کہ ہلاک ہونے والے افراد کا تعلق اہل تشیع سے تھا۔
اس بارے میں پاکستان عزاداری کونسل کے رہنما رحیم جعفری سے رابطہ کیا تو انہوں نے کہا کہ حکومت ٹارگٹ کلنگ کے واقعات پر قابو پانے میں مکمل طور پر ناکام ہو چکی ہے اور اب بلوچستان میں گورنر راج نافذ کر دیا جائے۔
انہوں نے کہا کہ ان کی ہزارہ برادری اور اہل تشیع کے افراد کو مسلسل نشانہ بنایا جا رہا ہے اور اس بارے میں انہوں نے کور کمانڈر گورنر اور وزیر اعلی بلوچستان کے علاوہ وفاقی مشیر داخلہ سے رابطے کیئے ہیں لیکن ان کی سنوائی نہیں ہو رہی۔
بلوچستان میں ٹارگٹ کلنگ کے واقعات میں سن دو ہزار چار میں شدت آئی اور اب اس وقت ٹارگٹ کلنگ کے واقعات میں خطرناک حد تک اضافہ ہو چکا ہے۔ اس سال کے ان دو ماہ میں اڑتالیس افراد کو ہلاک کیا گیا ہے جن میں ایک بڑی تعداد اہل تشیع کی ہے۔ رحیم جعفری کے مطابق پانچ روز پہلے سریاب روڈ پر ایک باپ اور پانچ بیٹوں کو نشانہ بنایا گیا تھا جن میں سے چار افراد پہلے روز ہلاک ہو گئے تھے باقی دو میں ایک نے دو روز پہلے اور ایک نے آج دم توڑ دیا ہے۔ ان ہلاک ہونے والے افراد کو تعلق افغانستان کے صوبہ کندھار کے اہل تشیع سے بتایا گیا ہے۔
ان ہلاکتوں کے خلاف پشتونخواہ ملی عوامی پارٹی نے بھی احتجاجی مظاہرہ کیا تھا۔
The Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Ms Asma Jahangir, has written to The Friday Times, expressing her concerns of the rising trend of killing Shias in Quetta: “The killing of Shia notables in Quetta has sadly become a frequent occurrence. Some of the killings have been owned by an extremist organisation flying a religious standard. The number of the Shia community members killed there over the recent years has exceeded 300. The government’s failure to track down the culprits has understandably enraged the targeted community, and it has also emboldened the perpetrators to kill with impunity. Besides religious figures, liberal politicians, businessmen and government officials have been targeted”.
George Galloway speaks about the killing of 4 Shia pilgrims by Wahhabis in Madinah
Unrest in Medina
King Abdullah Has No Robes
By RANNIE AMIRI
www.counterpunch.org
Weekend Edition February 27 - March 1, 2009
Located in the Hijaz region of western Saudi Arabia, Medina is the second holiest city in Islam. It is home to the Prophet’s Mosque and its famous green dome, beneath which is found Muhammad’s tomb. Millions of Muslims visit Medina each year, often as a stopover before beginning the Hajj, or annual pilgrimage to Mecca. This week though, in the normally tranquil environs of the mosque, violence erupted and blood was spilled. The strife in Media comes on the heels of recently announced ‘reforms’ of the religious police and judiciary by Saudi King Abdullah, and is a telling sign of just how dismissively they were received.
Background
Many Muslims from Saudi Arabia and beyond chose to visit Medina and the Prophet’s Mosque outside of the Hajj season, particularly Shia Muslims, as they did this week. It was to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Prophet Muhammad on 28 Safar (in the Islamic lunar calendar) in 632 AD, corresponding to Feb. 24 this year.
Situated across from the Prophet’s Mosque is a cemetery known as Jannat al-Baqi or “The Garden of Heaven.” It is where many notable persons in Islamic history are buried, including the Prophet’s companions, wives, and the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th Shia Imams (who are direct descendants of Muhammad through his daughter Fatima, and his cousin, Ali). Hasan, the second Imam and grandson of the Prophet, was murdered on 28 Safar. Since the day of his martyrdom coincides with that of the Prophet’s death, many pilgrims were also drawn to al-Baqi.
Before continuing, it should be understood that although Saudi Arabia claims to follow the Hanbali school in Islam, one of the four main schools of Sunni jurisprudence, in reality they follow Wahhabism; an ultra-puritanical and often intolerant version of the religion derived from the 18th century teachings of Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahab.
It was the Muhammad ibn Saud, the founder of modern-day Saudi Arabia, who first forged an alliance and secured a pact with Abdul Wahab, which continues to be honored to this day. The followers of Abdul Wahab (or Wahabis) are allowed control over the educational and religious institutions in the country in exchange for permitting the Saudi royals family to rule it.
It is the Wahabis who have branded Shia Muslims ‘infidels’ for, among other reasons, their deep respect for, and veneration of, the family of the Prophet Muhammad. They consider the practice of visiting the graves of the Imams (who the Shia believe to be the Prophet’s divinely appointed successors) tantamount to idolatry. Indeed, not only visiting graves but commemorating anyone’s birth or death is anathema according to Wahabi doctrine.
As a result, there is pervasive and institutionalized discrimination against Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia, where they form about ten percent of the population. Among other examples, they are barred from obtaining governmental positions; activists are routinely jailed; academic prejudice is commonplace; religious leaders are prevented from broadcasting on radio or television and religious rites are curtailed to the extent possible (which media are also prohibited from covering). In one instance, Shias were even banned from donating blood.
Pilgrims vs. Religious Police
And so they came.
Between 5,000-7,000 Saudi Shia pilgrims from Qatif and Al-Hasa in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, where they constitute one-third of the population, arrived in Medina to visit the Prophet’s Mosque and al-Baqi cemetery in the days prior to 28 Safar.
The trouble started on the evening of Feb. 20 when the Mutawwa, or Saudi religious police, who work under the authority of the “Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice” were found to be illegally filming Saudi Shia women who had gathered outside al-Baqi (so much for virtue). Five male relatives who witnessed this demanded the police hand over or destroy the film. Instead, they were arrested.
After these arrests, thousands of pilgrims protested outside religious police headquarters. Scuffles ensued and riot police began beating protestors. In the following days, the religious police barred women from visiting al-Baqi, even in areas reserved specifically for them (women are not allowed to visit graves in Saudi Arabia) and were addressed with derogatory language at the Prophet’s Mosque. When all were prevented from entering the cemetery on Feb. 23, further clashes ensued. Three pilgrims were killed and nine arrested. Press TV also reports that a bus carrying them was attacked and a cleric stabbed.
Sheik Hussein Al-Mustapha, a prominent Shia cleric, told the Associated Press, “There was a flagrant aggression on women's rights and the Shiite visitors. It was a premeditated action by extremist men who want to put an end to visits by Shiite visitors.”
It would not be the first time Shia pilgrims have been harassed and abused when visiting the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. In 2007, American citizen Sayyid Jawad Qazwini and a group of US and UK pilgrims experienced first-hand the ruthless behavior the Saudi religious establishment exhibits toward Shias.
‘Reforms’ of King Abdullah
Less than a week prior to the violence in Medina, King Abdullah unveiled the most sweeping reforms and reshuffling of prominent department officials the country has seen since he became king in 2005.
They included:
Sacking the head of the religious police, Sheikh Ibrahim al-Ghaith. His replacement,
Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Humain told Al-Arabiya news, “We will try to be close to the heart of every citizen. Their concerns are ours.”
Removing Supreme Judicial Council leader Sheikh Saleh al-Luhaidan (infamous for his fatwa ordering that owners of satellite channels showing “immoral” content be killed).
Expanding the Ulema Council (council of religious leaders) to include members of all four branches of Sunni Islam. Previously, it was limited to only those following the Hanbali school. No Shia members were included, although there are indications two eventually may be.
Appointing the first woman deputy minister, the most senior job ever held by a woman in the Kingdom (although women are still prohibiting from driving).
New heads of the administrative court, the Supreme Council of Justice, and the Supreme Court were named.
The Aftermath
The tragic events which occurred in Medina are sobering evidence of the grip that the Wahabi religious establishment has on Saudi society, its police, and judiciary. The wanton discrimination and violence which continues to be meted out against Saudi Shia citizens make the reforms of King Abdullah—no matter how well intentioned—appear empty and hollow. Saudi columnist Najib al-Khonaizi remarked, "There's a feeling that the Shiites' ambitions have not been realized as hoped, and that could have played an indirect role in inflaming emotions. We have to admit that there's tension in the Shiite street."
As a result of the clashes, arrests and killings in Medina, there are now reports of protests breaking out in the Eastern Province with demands for increased freedom of expression and equal rights becoming more vocal. As reported by the Associated Press, demonstrators were even seen carrying banners reading “down with the government” and spray painting anti-government slogans on billboards—all unheard of in the tightly controlled nation.
It may very well be that spreading anger over the harassment and violence directed against Shias in Medina—insultingly juxtaposed against King Abdullah’s purported reforms—will become the real nidus and driving force behind meaningful change in the Kingdom.
Until then, it will be Saudi Arabia’s Shia Muslims who will point to King Abdullah and the litany of his reforms and remind everyone that truly, “the emperor has no robes.”
Rannie Amiri is an independent Middle East commentator. He may be reached at: rbamiri at yahoo dot com.
http://www.counterpunch.org/amiri02272009.html
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3 killed in Medina unrest: Sources Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:23:43 GMT
The Prophet Mohammed Mosque in Medina, the second holiest city in Islam.
Informed sources have confirmed that security forces in Saudi Arabia have killed at least three Shia pilgrims in the holy city of Medina.
The unrest erupted after religious police and security forces clashed with female pilgrims who were gathering outside Baqi Cemetery to commemorate the death of the Prophet of Islam.
Two of the victims were from Qatif and a third from al-Ahsa, two Shia regions in eastern Saudi Arabia.
The pilgrims were seeking entry into the cemetery, which houses the graves of many of the Prophet's relatives and companions.
Several others were also wounded in the clashes, according to the sources.
There are also reports that Saudi security forces have attacked a bus carrying pilgrims and a cleric has been stabbed.
Saudi officials, who deny clashes had caused casualties, say they have arrested nine people in connection to the case.
According to reports released by rights groups, the Shia minorities who live mostly in the eastern regions of the kingdom are systematically suppressed by the government.
Saudi Arabia: Critic calls for inquiry into Shia arrests
Riyadh, 25 Feb. (AKI) - A prominent Saudi intellectual has asked the government to hold an inquiry into the behaviour of religious police after nine Shia pilgrims were arrested during clashes in the holy city of Medina. Tawfiq al-Sayf called for probe because he believed the pilgrims' arrests occurred for no reason.
Saudi authorities reportedly arrested at least nine Shia pilgrims after three days of violent clashes in the holy city. The first protest occurred on Friday and the last protest took place on Tuesday.
Jaafar al-Shaib, a leading figure among minority Saudi Shias, said the clashes occurred between Shia pilgrims and religious police near a mosque that houses the tomb of Prophet Mohammed.
"Some 1,500 Shia pilgrims gathered near the mosque for the commemoration of Prophet Mohammed's death," Jaafar told the media.
"We came here to celebrate the birth of Mohammed and the religious police charged at us. While we were in front of the mosque, plainclothes police charged at us with batons to disperse us."
Religious police often prevent pilgrims venerating tombs, seen as idolatry under the strict Saudi version of Islam.
According to Arab daily, al-Quds al-Arabi, there were as many as 1,500 pilgrims outside the mosque where they held a demonstration, shouting slogans against the government and accusing authorities of discrimination.
Some pilgrims were injured in a stampede after police fired into the air to disperse the crowd, Jaafar said.
He also said some shops owned by Shias were attacked.
An interior ministry spokesman for security affairs described the incident as "a quarrel between visitors and worshippers".
Relations are tense between Saudi Arabia's majority Sunnis and the Shia, who are a minority of the country's 22 million people.
The Shia are regarded as infidels under the fundamentalist Wahabi interpretation of Islam followed in Saudi Arabia and often complain of discrimination.
Many Shia critics have been jailed, and others claim to have been banned from jobs in the religious police and teaching religion.
BEIRUT: Lebanon's top Shiite cleric is calling on Saudi Arabia to punish policemen who beat Shiite pilgrims during a scuffle last week at a revered Shiite cemetery in the Sunni kingdom. Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah says "serious" clashes between the pilgrims and riot police at the cemetery in Medina threaten to inflame sectarian tensions. Shiite witnesses said religious police - who enforce Saudi's strict code of Sunni Islam - beat a group of Shiite pilgrims outside the cemetery. Saudi offici als blamed the pilgrims for the disturbances. Yesterday's criticism by the influential Fadlallah is the first from outside Saudi Arabia since the incident. Tensions are already high between Saudi's Sunni majority and its tiny Shiite minority.
Iran complains of Saudi treatment of Shia pilgrims Wednesday, 25th February 2009. 3:26pm
By: Nick Mackenzie.
Prominent Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia have attacked what they describe as the ‘insulting behaviour’ of Saudi officials to Shia pilgrims to the shrine of the Prophet in Medina.
According to informed sources in Saudi Arabia, confrontation between pilgrims and security forces in the holy city of Medina still continues.
Following the row, Sheikh Hassan Saffar, a well-known Shia figure in Saudi Arabia has called for the immediate release of those arrested in the past few days.
Some news sources from the city of Medina reported three days ago that more than 2,000 Shia Muslims from Arab countries took refuge in the sanctuary of "Baqee Cemetery" in protest at the Saudi security forces’ insult to Shia women. But the Saudi-related officials responded by accusing the protestors of creating disorder and arrested five people.
Local police spokesman Mohsen Radadi claimed the Shia pilgrims are anarchists who raised their voice for nothing.
Thousands of Shia Muslims from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries are in Medina to mourn the anniversary of demise of the prophet Muhammad.
Saudi shout-down: Shiite minority demands more freedom, representation in Sunni-led country
Shiite Muslims are shouting anti-government slogans and demanding more freedoms in rare protests amid the minority’s worst confrontations in years with authorities in this overwhelmingly Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
By: Donna Abu-Nsr, Associated Press
Shiite Muslim community leaders gather for lunch in Qatif, the de facto capital of Saudi Arabia's Shiite heartland in the Eastern Province. (McClatchy Tribune)
Ali al Marzouk, a Shiite Muslim activist, strolls past an ancient fort in Tarut, a city in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, where most of the kingdom's Shiites live.(McClatchy Tribune)
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Shiite Muslims are shouting anti-government slogans and demanding more freedoms in rare protests amid the minority’s worst confrontations in years with authorities in this overwhelmingly Sunni kingdom.
Prominent Shiite clerics and intellectuals called on the government Wednesday to launch a fair investigation into a dispute last week that triggered the unrest.
Hundreds of protesters in the poor Shiite town of Awwamiya carried banners saying “Down with the government” and spray-painted the slogan on billboards Tuesday, witnesses said. One said youths threw stones at a police post before officers fired in the air to disperse the crowd, which included women. No casualties were reported.
Clashes between Shiites and religious police also were reported Monday and Tuesday outside a cemetery at the center of the latest uproar.
The Sunni majority has long had strained relations with Shiites, who are a small minority of the country’s 22 million people. Considered infidels under the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam widely followed in Saudi Arabia, Shiites routinely complain of discrimination and outspoken Shiite critics have been jailed.
Latest conflict
The latest eruption of tensions began with an argument Feb. 20 near a cemetery in Medina, Islam’s second holiest city, that contains the graves of revered imams.
Shiites say members of the religious police who maintain an office at the al-Baqee Cemetery filmed female pilgrims and refused to hand over the tapes or destroy them. A Saudi official blamed Shiite pilgrims for the trouble, accusing them of performing religious rituals offensive to other worshippers and authorities at the cemetery.
Shiites say riot police were heavy-handed in dealing with the pilgrims, beating them with batons and arresting some.
The protests came a week after King Abdullah ordered the most significant changes in government, the armed forces, the judiciary and the religious establishment since he became king in 2005, but left Shiites feeling left out of the reforms.
Shiites had hoped for appointments as ministers or representation in the council of senior scholars that had been restructured to include all schools of Sunni Islam. But no Shiites were chosen for those positions.
“There’s a feeling that the Shiites’ ambitions have not been realized as hoped, and that could have played an indirect role in inflaming emotions,” said Najib al-Khonaizi, a Shiite columnist. “We have to admit that there’s tension in the Shiite street.”
Deliberate provocation
Many Shiites say authorities deliberately provoked the dispute at the cemetery.
“There was a flagrant aggression on women’s rights and the Shiite visitors,” Sheik Hussein al-Mustapha, a prominent Shiite cleric, told The Associated Press. “It was a premeditated action by extremist men who want to put an end to visits by Shiite visitors.”
“We demand an investigation into the incident in order to put an end to these ugly practices,” he said.
A Saudi official put the blame on the Shiite pilgrims, saying they triggered the dispute by practicing rituals deemed by others to be “religious infractions,” such as the practice of Shiites to grab a handful of dust as a blessing and pray at the graves of the imams.
The official, who would not allow his name to be used, said such “infractions” are frequent at al-Baqee and usually are dealt with quietly by asking pilgrims to stop. But last week, he charged, a large crowd of Shiites was bent on provoking other worshippers and authorities at the cemetery.
Asked if members of the religious police had videotaped Shiite female pilgrims, the official said that if there was filming it was to take evidence of the infractions and not for voyeurism.
The official said nine of the Shiite visitors to the cemetery were arrested. He said the government was keen to find out the truth and the reasons for the escalation. He said the perpetrators would be held responsible, but did not elaborate.
Feb 26th 2009 | CAIRO From The Economist print edition
Shia unhappiness is rattling regimes in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Gulf
EPAWomen versus women in Bahrain
LIKE the crude oil that lies in vast pools beneath the Persian Gulf, tensions between the region’s Sunni and Shia Muslims tend to stay below ground. But when pressures build and a ready channel is cleared, they can bubble to the surface with alarming force. Thirty years ago the Islamic revolution in Shia-majority Iran inspired a wave of unrest among fellow Shias of the opposite shore. Things then calmed down. Nervous Arab rulers, all of them Sunnis, soothed their Shia subjects with a few rights and promises of more, while Iran largely gave up trying to export its revolutionary fervour.
But with Iran lately sounding more aggressive under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, small incidents are again triggering bigger eruptions. On February 20th, for instance, a group of female pilgrims visiting the most revered Shia site in Saudi Arabia, a cemetery in Islam’s second-holiest city, Medina, where hundreds of the Prophet Muhammad’s descendants are said to have been buried, screamed when they spotted what they guessed was a religious policeman filming them from on top of a security wall. Male relatives, outraged by this invasion of modesty, demanded the footage. Instead, the all-Sunni police force arrested five of them, sparking a riot by thousands of Shia pilgrims, more arrests and injuries. Repeated protests over several days then spread from Medina to Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province. That province contains many of the kingdom’s Shia minority, numbering about 10% of Saudis, as well as most of its oil reserves.
As Shia clerics weighed in with calls for an end to what they called systematic persecution, Sunni extremists accused the rafida, an abusive term for Shias, meaning rejectionists, of acting as a fifth column for Iran. “Today they besiege the religious police,” howled one website commentator. “Tomorrow they will encircle the Eastern Province along with the Shias of Bahrain and with Iranian backing.” The Saudi king should “strike them with an iron fist”, declared the writer. Another suggested that the Shias be hurled into the Red Sea or, better still, dropped onto the Iranian shrine city of Qom.
Mention of Bahrain carries particular resonance. It was in this tiny neighbouring island kingdom, where two-thirds of the citizens are Shias and where the American Fifth Fleet is based, that sectarian troubles loomed alarmingly in the 1980s. More recently, in December, Bahrain’s authorities accused 35 Shias of plotting to overthrow the state. Since then, sporadic riots have rocked the poor Shia villages that ring Bahrain’s capital, Manama. In January three human-rights campaigners were arrested. This week 21 people, including two of the human-rights activists, appeared in court, accused of planning to ambush policemen and bomb public property, shopping malls, markets and hotels.
Yet when Iranian politicians recently sniffed that Bahrain used to be an Iranian province, Bahrain’s main Shia parties were quick to reaffirm their Arab identity, joining a chorus of Arab protest that led some commentators to remark pointedly that several Iranian provinces happen to house large Arab and Sunni populations. Fearing damage to the reputation it has tried to build as a defender of pan-Islamic causes, Iran hastily apologised to Bahrain.
The ugly nearby example of sectarian strife in Iraq, though it has subsided in the past two years, has left little appetite in the region for more trouble of that kind. Despite suspicions of their loyalty, Shia Arabs tend to look not to Iran but to their own spiritual leaders for guidance. Yet with Iran determined to chase the Arabs’ American ally from the Gulf, and with Shia Arabs often still suffering political exclusion and social stigma, unrest is likely to break out from time to time. Considering local, regional and international variables, a clash between the Saudi regime and its Shia citizens is a matter of time, reads an ominous analysis on a popular Saudi website.
Qazi doesn’t see President Zardari Govt. continuing Updated at: 1335 PST, Sunday, March 01, 2009 (The News)
LAHORE: Amir Jamaat-e-Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmad said that President Zardari government was not seen continuing.
Talking to journalists here, Qazi said that if the mid-term elections were held under the existing President, then it would not be fair. He said that President Zardari government didn’t seem continuing and he could hear once again the buzz of the boots. He said that democratic society could come into existence, when the difference of opinion respected.
Nawaz to meet Qazi for cooperation Sunday, March 01, 2009 By By Asim Hussain LAHORE
IN his bid to get political cooperation from different quarters against the PPP regime, PML-N Chief Mian Nawaz Sharif will hold an important meeting with Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Ameer Qazi Hussain Ahmad on Monday morning at Mansoorah.
According to sources, the leaderships of PML-N and JI will discuss the prevailing political situation and explore the possibilities of expanding cooperation between the two parties in the ongoing movement for restoration of judiciary. Besides, they will also discus the disqualification of Sharif brothers by Supreme Court, imposition of governor rule in Punjab, review of the preparations of lawyers’ long march and sit-in at Islamabad and finding ways for ensuring peace during the current anti-government protests to ward off intervention from military establishment.
Nawaz Sharif will be accompanied by former Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Khwaja Asif, Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa and others. JI Secretary General Munawar Hasan, Naib Ameer Liaqat Baloch and Amirul Azeem will also attend the meeting.
Both leaders are expected to discuss the possible revival of the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM), the alliance formed in 2008 comprising about a dozen parties that stood for boycotting the polls unless independent judiciary and independent election commission were established in the country.
The APDM lost its steam after a few parties, including PML-N, contested the Feb 18 polls by dissociating it from APDM’s objectives leaving it almost dormant.
A JI leader said that the main purpose of the meeting was to expand the mutual cooperation and reassure the mutual confidence for the ongoing movement for establishment of independent judiciary. Seeking anonymity, the JI leader said that forging new political alliance was not on the agenda but both sides were of the view that reinforcing the existing political cooperation and finding new avenues for mutual political support were need of the hour and required necessary discussion.
The meeting will also discuss the options to nominate the alternative leaderships to carry on the current political movement in view of the expected government crackdown and arrests of the top opposition leaderships. (The News)
like Mr Zardari, Mr Sharif is a flawed leader and no doubt is manipulating the combustible court ruling for personal political gain: NYT
NEW YORK: ‘Between the threats from extremists, an unraveling economy, battling civilian leaders and tensions with its nuclear rival India, Pakistan is edging ever closer to the abyss,’ the New York Times said Saturday.
In a lead editorial the newspaper asks President Asif Ali Zardari and the leader of Pakistan Muslim League (N) Nawaz Sharif ‘to find a way to work together’ saying ‘their country is in mortal danger’ and they need ‘to save it.’
The Times recalled ‘when Mr Zardari became president, he pledged to unite the country’ but noted ‘he has not’.
‘We don’t know if Mr Zardari orchestrated this ruling, as Nawaz Sharif and many others have charged. (The government actually argued Mr Sharif’s side in the case, which stems from an earlier politically motivated criminal conviction.) We do know the danger of letting this situation get out of control.’
It also notes ‘like Mr Zardari, Mr Sharif is a flawed leader and no doubt is manipulating the combustible court ruling for personal political gain.’
It underscored that ‘for Pakistan’s democracy to survive, a robust opposition must be allowed to flourish and participate peacefully in the country’s political life. That includes finding a way for Mr Sharif to run for office.’
The newspaper asserts ‘Pakistan must get serious about tackling its problems, including the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban. Mr Zardari, whose wife, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated by extremists, seems to understand.’
However, the newspaper laments ‘unfortunately, the powerful chief of the Pakistani Army, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, still seems far more focused on the potential threat of India than the clear and present danger of the extremists. He is said to have supported the recent deal in which the government effectively ceded the Swat Valley — in the border region but just 100 miles from Islamabad— to militants in a misguided bid for a false peace.’
‘Pakistanis need to understand that this is their fight, not just America’s. We hope top American officials delivered that message loudly and clearly when General Kayani visited Washington this week’, the Times said.
The Times points out in a report this week, The Atlantic Council warned that Pakistan’s stability is imperiled and that the time to change course is fast running out. That would be quite enough for any government to deal with. (Dawn)
Moderation, tolerance and accommodation can help overcome the present crisis. Both sides need to stand-down from their rigid perspectives. The longer they confront each other in the streets, the harder it will be to find a peaceful and mutually acceptable solution
Democracy is a delicate system of governance that can be sustained only if the political class fully subscribes to and implements its basic norms in letter and spirit. The use of violence in the name of exercising the democratic right to protest shows a lack of understanding of the spirit of democracy.
It was disappointing to watch the PMLN leadership discard the democratic framework and call upon its workers to take to the streets to voice their anger against the Supreme Court judgement that disqualified the Sharif brothers from holding public office. Perhaps the PMLN leaders think that democracy is relevant only to the extent that it facilitates the achievement of their partisan political agenda.
Political agitation and violence in the last week has perturbed even those most optimistic about the future of democracy in Pakistan. The main concern is whether this is the beginning of an unrestrained power struggle between the two major political parties that would unravel the democratic process and shift the political initiative to the military.
What are the implications of street agitation for the capacity of the government to cope with religious extremism and militancy?
Pakistan’s current transition to democracy cannot succeed without active cooperation between the PPP and the PMLN within the constitutional framework. The cordiality manifested by the leaders of these parties in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 general elections engendered the hope that both have learnt from their experiences and would not engage in a free-for-all struggle against each other.
The optimism generated by their cooperation led many to challenge those who projected a doomsday scenario for Pakistan or argued that Pakistan lacked the capacity to function within a democratic framework.
In the 1990s, the PPP and the PMLN engaged in an all out confrontation. During 1988-90, the federal government was led by PPP leader Benazir Bhutto and the Punjab provincial government was led by Nawaz Sharif. These governments declared political war and adopted various measures to destabilise each other. It was a most unfortunate confrontation that weakened civilian institutions and processes. The bitter legacy of these years overshadowed their bilateral interaction until General Pervez Musharraf knocked both leaders out of the political process in October 1999.
Now, in 2009, the PPP and the PMLN have again adopted confrontational posture. The intensity of the PMLN’s anger against the judgement of the Supreme Court has surprised most political observers. Instead of building pressure gradually, the tempo of response was raised to the highest pitch in one go.
Nawaz Sharif’s press conference on February 25 and a public address in Sheikhupura on February 26 reflected his defiant mood and determination to take on the PPP-led federal government in the streets. He minced no words in accusing President Asif Ali Zardari of securing his disqualification from the Supreme Court, which Sharif refused to acknowledge as a legitimate court. He also talked about Zardari’s alleged moneymaking practices while Benazir Bhutto was prime minister. Nawaz Sharif’s second government — 1997-1999 — instituted corruption cases against Zardari. However, no charge was substantiated in court during the next ten years. However, Nawaz Sharif played up these charges in his press conference.
It was an unusual move by Nawaz Sharif to call upon the people to take to the streets to challenge the PPP-led federal government that he held responsible for hatching a conspiracy against him and Shehbaz Sharif. He also advised civil servants not to obey the orders of the government, and endeavoured to isolate Zardari by arguing that he did not blame the PPP for the disqualification. It was Zardari’s doing, he argued.
PMLN activists came out in the streets mainly in the Punjab in a defiant mood and targeted government property, PPP posters and Benazir Bhutto’s memorial in Rawalpindi, where she was assassinated on December 27, 2007. Some of the protest marches that resulted in violence were led by PMLN parliamentarians.
The agitation is limited mainly to PMLN activists and its base in Punjab, especially in the cities that elected PMLN parliamentarians in 2008. It is weak in other provinces where the PMLN has a weak political standing.
However, if the agitation persists at the current level of intensity for another week or so, it is expected to attract ordinary people. It can also spread to other provinces and become nationwide. If agitation does not establish itself in other provinces, it will turn into a confrontation between the PPP and Punjab, which may have negative ramifications for Punjab’s relations with other provinces.
The PMLN can strengthen its position by joining the lawyers’ Long March and sit-in, which will have some political parties and societal groups in its fold. This depends on the tempo of the agitation over the next twelve days.
Another dimension of the PMLN agitation relates to the imposition of Governor’s Rule in Punjab for two months after Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif was disqualified.
The available evidence suggests that neither the PMLN nor the PPP has the required number in the provincial assembly to elect a new chief minister. The imposition of Governor’s Rule gives enough time to both parties to woo the PMLQ for support. If the PPP musters enough members it can form its government; and Governor’s Rule will come to an end quickly. If the PPP cannot muster enough support, however, Governor’s Rule may continue for a longer period. The efforts by the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly (who belongs to the PMLN) to summon the assembly session have no legal basis. However, it is advisable to bring an end to Governor’s Rule and let the Punjab Assembly elect its leader. This will ease tensions in Punjab.
The PPP-led federal government must also share the blame for the current predicament. Its performance in the socio-economic domain has been poor and has alienated the people. It also built pressure on the Punjab government though the governor who periodically threatened to remove the provincial government. This convinced Nawaz Sharif and other PMLN leaders that President Zardari wanted to remove the Punjab government and neutralise the PMLN. Therefore, when the Supreme Court disqualified the Sharif Brothers, Nawaz Sharif was quick to blame President Zardari for the present crisis.
Time is fast running out for the PPP and the PMLN. The PMLN strategy of using its political clout in the Punjab to paralyse the federal government through violent protest will cause irreparable damage to democracy. The strategy of street agitation is expected to accentuate Pakistan’s internal and external security problems and undermine economic recovery. This strategy may create a situation where democracy suffers a major setback and both the PPP and the PMLN lose.
Moderation, tolerance and accommodation can help overcome the present crisis. Both sides need to stand-down from their rigid perspectives. The longer they confront each other in the streets, the harder it will be to find a peaceful and mutually acceptable solution. (Daily Times)
Dr Hasan-Askari Rizvi is a political and defence analyst
....
145 held for rioting, torching cars
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The capital police on Saturday arrested 145 people for rioting and damaging and torching government and private vehicles during a demonstration on Islamabad Expressway to protest the disqualification of PML-N leaders Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif by the Supreme Court.
Hundreds of people from Shahzad Town, Koral, Sihala and other villages bordering Islamabad Expressway blocked the road for several hours on Thursday and Friday to protest the disqualification of Sharif brothers.
A police official said that the protesters threw stones and broke the windowpanes of a number of vehicles. They also burnt tyres and torched seven vehicles and police pickets.
He said cases were registered against the rioters under Section 395, 341, 353, 188, 186, 427, 137, 148, and 7ATA of Pakistan Penal Code.
Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Syed Qalb-e-Abbas, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ahmad Latif and other senior officers held a meeting with the representatives of the villagers and assured them that those found innocent would be released against sureties but those found guilty would be penalized. He warned that no one would be allowed to take the law into their own hands. The IGP also ordered deployment of police along the expressway.
Five suspected rioters freed for want of evidence: Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) No-II on Saturday discharged five suspected rioters, including two juveniles, after Shahzad Town Police, Islamabad, failed to provide incriminating evidence against them.
The police produced Muhammad Arif, Ghulam Mustafa, Muhammad Waseem, Muhammad Tufail and Badshah Rehman before the judge, Sakhi Muhammad Jan. Investigation officer (IO) Gulzar Ahmed informed the court that according to the information gleaned from 14 suspected rioters, who were already in police custody on a four-day physical remand, the police arrested those five persons for allegedly torching a fire engine on Islamabad Expressway on Feb 26 during a protest against the Supreme Court verdict in PML-N leaders Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif case.
He said the accused also damaged public and private property and created law and order situation by blocking the main roads and pelting stones at the police. He claimed that the suspected rioters had also snatched a pistol from Sub-Inspector (SI) Muhammad Gulfaraz and sought their 14-day judicial remand.
Raising objections, the judge said that the police neither proceed against the two juveniles under the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance nor they sought the statements of eyewitnesses against them.
He said the court could grant judicial remand only when the police thoroughly investigate a case. (Daily Times)
Sunday, March 01, 2009 In what appears to be another act of sectarian violence in the Hangu area, which has seen over a year of conflict between tribes divided along the lines of sect, a van driver was killed and seven students abducted by armed men who ambushed the vehicle taking the pupils to their college. The incident has triggered angry public protests. It also demonstrates the failure to restore any kind of real order in the area. While tribal intervention last year brought a halt to conflict, the fact is that people across Orakzai Agency live in fear. One reason for this is the failure to back ceasefires with longer-term measures that can ensure continuing calm. These should include a ban, under relevant laws that exist on our statute books, on the incitement of hatred. In Hangu and elsewhere, the dissemination of literature promoting hatred was said to be commonplace. CDs, videos and other material also remained widely available. (The News)
The deliberate attempt to build tension is fanned by the wide circulation of such material. The use of the media by extremists to build support for their cause has been extensive and has proved very effective. An effort must begin to counter it, in places like Hangu, Parachinar and Dera Ismail Khan which have a long history of violence. Scores have died in these places as a result of clashes, targeted killings and terrorist attacks. Only when there is an end to such mayhem can we hope to stop incidents such as the one that took place in Hangu and to restore the capability of people to live in peace with those who hold views different to their own.
The recent suicide attack on Awami national Party rally in Charsadda was certainly a very shameful act. We condemned this suicide attack and everywhere we are against every kind of violence and hatred. We have seen and observed in several such suicide attacks that the coward groups are using innocent children for the suicide attacks. Such coward people have no religion, have no culture and have no respect for the humanity because Islam doesn’t say for the suicide attack. The attackers and their coward planners are certainly the enemy of our Pushtoon nation, they are the enemy of our Pushtoon culture, and they are the enemy of our pushtoon norms and Pushtoon non-violent politics which we learnt from our great leaders Khan Abdul Ghafar Khan Baba and Khan Abdul Wali Khan. The enemy of Pushtoon cannot bear our peaceful politics and they are targeting our leaders, our elders and children in their own homes. We have already known our enemy and they are the coward establishment which is not only the enemy of Pushtoon but also the enemy of every democratic nation living in Pakistan because they cannot accept the democracy in this region.
The present cartoon government (interim government led by Musharraf and Soomro in February 2008) is certainly fully responsible for the recent bomb attack in charsadda because the government agencies know the so-called jihadis organisation in Punjab and in Kashmir and the agencies have already their full biodata of every person belong to those organisations but the so-called administrators sitting in Islamabad have no interest of peace, stability and democracy in Pakistan. They are just enjoying their posh life in their villas and they earn money by blackmailing the whole Pakistani nation. This corrupt mafia know that if there start the process of peace and democracy in Pakistan then there will be no chance for their corruption, and for this purpose they had harboured several kinds of criminal groups and stationed them in Pakistan especially in our Pushtoon region which are Arabs, Chechens and Kashmiri in the name of so-called Jihadi groups. They had been trained for these nefarious activities to blackmail the whole Pakistani people in every time. The sectarian violence in Peshawar, in Quetta and in Kurram agency and the destability in Karachi are the preplanned nefarious activities in which these organisations are used. They have been certainly given the task to postpone the election which is to be held in the coming days. Here I would like to mention also that the American agencies are also fully responsible for the destabilizing and the unrest of our region and our people. Pakistani people have no food to eat and the Americans are coming to help our corrupt cartoon government by providing them their sophisticated weapons. They are just introducing and purchasing their modern weapons in our Pushtoon region and nothing else. We will be compelled to say clearly that the American establishment also don’t want the real democracy in Pakistan because the American establishment have already a bad experience with the Democratic governments in India because there is always a real and pure democratic system in India and the American establishment have very difficulty from the Indian governments to fulfil their motives and therefore I can say that the American establishment don’t want to work with a real democratic government in Pakistan. And for this purpose the American policy makers had introduced the Washington’s sponsored Jihad in our region. They have always worked with the dictators and they have been supporting the dictatorship in Pakistan.
I request to my Pakistani people especially our youth men and women that they should start working for the real democracy in Pakistan because the establishment don’t want to educate the people about the politics and about the establishment policies. Everybody should take part in politics that what is going on around us. We should have complete knowledge about our regional situation. There is no war for Islam. The harboured criminals groups are just using the name of Islam. If we take part in politics then we can win our democracy and our rights. No one can snatch Islam from us. Our uneducated people have been used for these religious sentiments for long time starting from general Zia.
We have to fight against our poverty, we have to fight against our missiries, we have to fight for our rights as a respectable nation in the world. We have to throw those corrupt elements and foreign religious extremists in the Arabian see. We have no place for the American guests which is al-Qaeda. Here I will also request to the American people that they should have some know-how about their agencies and their establishment before they go to vote and to elect a new government in USA that what are they doing in Afghanistan and why even the Opium cultivation in Afghanistan is more then ever? If the American start servicing like other respectable nations members of NATO in Afghanistan then there will be certainly peace and stability otherwise the situation will be worst for our Pushtoon nation.
JIHADIS TARGET FRONTIER GANDHI'S PARTY -INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR--PAPER No. 366
The Awami National Party (ANP) of Pakistan was founded by the late Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, known as the Frontier Gandhi. He was very close to Mahatma Gandhi and tried to popularise Gandhiji's concept of non-violence among the Pashtuns of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). He strongly opposed the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan.
2. After Pakistan became independent in 1947, its authorities arrested him because of his advocacy of the creation of an autonomous, if not independent, Pashtoonistan and because of their suspicions regarding his contacts with India. He made no secret of these contacts and of his love for India. When he was released after many years of his detention in the 1960s, he had the courage to openly visit India to renew his friendship with Indian leaders.
3.Ghaffar Khan was a leftist by ideology. The party founded by him is the only political formation in Pakistan, which is to the left of the political spectrum. It is secular and is strongly opposed to fundamentalism and wahabisation of the Muslim community in Pakistan.
4. The Frontier Gandhi was succeeded by Khan Abdul Wali Khan, his son, who was as great a lover of India as his father was. He was even more leftist than his father by conviction. He was very close to the erstwhile USSR and the then President Najibullah of Afghanistan. He openly used to visit India for a few weeks every year to meet Indian leaders, as well as Kabul as the personal guest of Najibullah. He was a strong critic of the jihad being waged by the US' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Afghanistan. He ignored with contempt a disinformation campaign mounted by the ISI against him projecting him as an Indian and Soviet agent.
5. There were only two Pashtun organisations----both equally moderate, equally enlightened, equally secular, equally friendly to India--- which strongly opposed the Afghan Mujahideen, the late Zia-ul-Haq's attempt to Wahabise the Pakistani society, the Taliban when it came into existence in 1964 and the trend towards the Talibanisation of the tribal belt of Pakistan under President Pervez Musharraf. The ANP is one of them. The Pakhtoonkwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP) headed by Mahmood Khan Achakzai is another. The ANP's following is confined to the Pashtuns of the NWFP. The following of the PMAP is confined to the Pashtuns of Balochistan.
6. When Wali Khan was incapacitated due to old age and illness, he was succeeded by Afsandyar Wali Khan, his son, another moderate and secular-minded person, who has been strongly opposed to the Taliban. After the death of Wali Khan in 2006 , differences cropped up between Afsandyar Wali Khan and Naseem Wali Khan, one of the two wives of Wali Khan, who was the step-mother of Afsandyar. The Army and the ISI took advantage of these differences. As a result, the party has been weakened, but it continues to be as secular, as moderate, as leftist and as opposed to the Taliban as it has always been.
8. Unidentified jihadi terrorists targeted an election rally of the ANP held at village Nahaqi, near Peshawar, in the NWFP on February 8,2008, killing 27 members of the party through an improvised explosive device (IED), which is suspected to have been detonated by a suicide bomber. In accordance with the security advice of the police, the meeting was held in a closed place and not in a public place. The enclosure had been subjected to security checks by the police. Despite this, the bomber managed to gain entry with his concealed IED undetected by the Police. The enclosure was closed immediately after the meeting started. It is stated that a large crowd of ANP supporters found themselves locked out. They pressed those responsible to let them in so that they could attend the meeting. The door was opened and the waiting crowd entered without being subjected to security checks. It is suspected that the bomber must have entered along with them.
9. Afsandyar Wali Khan was not present at the meeting, but Afrasiab Khattak, one of the senior leaders of the party, was. He escaped reportedly unhurt. Afrasiab Khattak was very close to Najibullah and used to live in Afghanistan in the 1980s, when Najibullah was the President along with Ajmal Khattak, another senior leader of the party. Both of them returned to Pakistan after Benazir Bhutto became the Prime Minister in 1988.
10. No organisation has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. The attack has come shortly after Baitullah Mehsud, the Amir of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, had announced an unilateral ceasefire in its operations against the Pakistani security forces---not only in the tribal areas, but also in the non-tribal areas. According to well-informed Police sources, this cease-fire announcement came after secret talks between the Pakistan Army and Serajuddin Haqqani, son of Jalalludin Haqqani, the Afghan Mujahideen leader, who belongs to the Neo Taliban led by Mulla Mohammad Omar. Serajuddin, for whom the US agencies have been hunting, is widely perceived as the mentor of Baitullah. According to these Police sources, the Pakistan Army is keen that the elections should be held as scheduled on February 18,2008, and hence had reached an informal cease-fire with Baitullah to prevent any disruption of the elections by the Mehsuds.
11. The fact that despite this cease-fire, the ANP election rally was attacked shows that either Baitullah has not been able to enforce the cease-fire or that other organisations such as the ant-Shia Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) do not feel themselves bound by this cease-fire and are determined to disrupt the elections at least in the NWFP, if not elsewhere.
12. There have also been indications that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan is not as united behind Baitullah as it is perceived to be. Even as Baitullah's followers were fighting fiercely against the Pakistani security forces in South Waziristan and the Darra Adam Khel-Kohat area of the NWFP, the leaders and cadres of the Tehrik in North Waziristan and the Bajaur Agency were observing an informal cease-fire.
13. The ceasefire with the Mehsud component of the Tehrik does not necessarily guarantee that the elections will not be subject to serious disruptions. That is the message from the attack on the ANP rally.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com)
Another Jihadi Attack on Frontier Gandhi's Party - International Terrorism Monitor---Paper No. 368
Ten persons, including some leaders of the Awami National Party (ANP) founded by the late Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, known as Frontier Gandhi, were killed in North Waziristan on February 11, 2008, when a suicide bomber, estimated to be 17 years old, blew himself up near an election rally held at Eedak village near Mirali held in support of a local candidate for the forthcoming elections to the Pakistan National Assembly on February 18, 2008. According to the US authorities, Al Qaeda and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) are operating from sanctuaries in the Mirali area.
2. While Al Qaeda, the IMU and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan cadres in North Waziristan have been observing an informal ceasefire against the Pakistani security forces in the area, they have been targeting the leaders and cadres of the ANP and their supporters in the local Dawar sub-tribe, who have been strongly critical of the presence and activities of foreign terrorists in the Pashtun homeland. In fact, the ANP has persuaded some of the Dawars to form a Lashkar (self-defence force) to protect the ANP leaders and to counter the foreign terrorists. While the ANP has been strongly critical of the foreign terrorists as well as the Americans and the Pakistan Army for misusing the Pashtun homeland for their attacks on each other, Al Qaeda and the IMU suspect that the ANP, which is secular and anti-Wahabi, has been passing on information to the Americans about the sanctuaries of Al Qaeda and the IMU in the Pashtun belt.
3. Among those killed in the suicide attack were Haji Anwar Shah, President of the North Waziristan branch of the ANP, and Bakhtiar Khan Zeraki, President of the Mirali branch of the ANP. Nisar Ali Khan, the candidate for the election, reportedly escaped with minor injuries. Political parties are not allowed to contest elections in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Only independents can. But most independents are indirectly supported by some Party or the other. Nisar Ali Khan belongs to the ANP, but he is projecting himself as an independent. Local ANP leaders as well as ANP leaders from the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) have been canvassing for him.
4. For information on the Dawars, please visit http://ramanspashtunbeltdatabase.blogspot.com/
A tribute to Pakistani soliders fighting the terrorists of Taliban, Al-Qaeda and Sipah-e-Sahaba
Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto 1953-2007
Ghalib
The rose, with its redolent petals The water lily, with its robe of virgin white These have surely come to us in transmigration Of but a few of those Endowed with sublime beauty and grace. Some embrace death to sprout again But most, forever, in dust remain.
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(Only) When love teaches the etiquette of self-knowledge, Are the Imperial Mysteries revealed to the slaves! Whether it be Attar or Rumi, Razi or Ghazali, Nothing comes to hand without supplication in the early dawn Do not lose hope in them, 0' wise guide! Even though the wayfarers are slow-moving, They are not without zeal (to reach the goal)! (Iqbal)
Moderation, tolerance and accommodation can help overcome the present crisis. Both sides need to stand-down from their rigid perspectives. The longer they confront each other in the streets, the harder it will be to find a peaceful and mutually acceptable solution
