LJ mastermind accused of 70 murders set to go free

KARACHI: Malik Ishaq, one of the founders of the outlawed militant organisation Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, could be released on bail early next month despite a police record of at least 70 murders, according to a report in the New York Times.

Ishaq, a ‘jihadi hero,’ has used his organisation to intimidate witnesses and exploit weaknesses in Pakistan’s legal system to prevent successful convictions against him since his arrest in 1997.

Witnesses in Ishaq’s murder cases have been killed or gone missing, the newspaper says. The few who have dared to testify live in fear, including one Shia man from Multan, Fida Hussein Ghlavi, who has seen twelve of his family members murdered.

The Ghalvi family has endured eight years of court proceedings and eight more deaths in the family since they agreed to testify, but a judge in 2004 ruled that there wasn’t enough evidence to convict.

‘My life is totally constrained,’ Ghalvi told the paper. ‘I can’t even go to funerals. What have I gotten from 13 years of struggle except grief?’
The report says cases against violent militants, and murderers in general, rarely result in convictions for a number of reasons: intimidation by the criminals, a 1990 blood money law which encourages victims’ families to settle, outmoded police work, corrupt law enforcers and a weak judicial system.

Ishaq was found guilty in one of his more high-profile terror cases, a plot in which eight people were killed in an Iranian cultural centre in 1997. But a Supreme Court decision overturned the conviction.

‘It was fear,’ said the judge who issued the initial verdict, explaining the Supreme Court decision. ‘It’s as obvious as daylight.’

‘The criminal justice system is almost completely broken,’ the judge said, explaining that Ishaq had even confessed before him to the deaths at the Iranian centre, but that under Pakistani law, only written confessions can be used as evidence. ‘A revolution will be required to fix it.’

The newspaper quotes Samina Ahmed, director of the International Crisis Group in Pakistan, as saying that fair trials of radical militants like Ishaq are the only way to expose them before the public.

‘It strips away that veil of ideology,’ she said, ‘and leaves behind that naked face of a criminal.’

http://www.dawn.com.pk/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/09-lj-mastermind-accused-of-70-murders-set-to-go-free--szh-02
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Baitullah Mehsud killed. Our condolences to Imran Khan, Ijaz-ul-Haq and Mullah Munawar Hasan

Is the despised leader of the Deobandi-Wahhabi alliance in Pakistan, namely Taliban (or Sipah-e-Sahaba or Al-Qaeda), finally killed? Is the spiritual son of General Zia-ul-Haq killed?

Our condolences to the supporters of Taliban, namely Ijaz-ul-Haq, Imran Khan, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Mullah Munawar Hassan, and Mullah Fazlur-Rehman.

Here is a report by BBC News:

There are growing indications that Pakistan's most wanted man, Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, has been killed by a US missile.

A Mehsud aide reportedly confirmed that he had died when a drone attacked the house where he was staying.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Quresh said the government was seeking "ground verification".

Taliban leaders have gathered in South Waziristan to choose a successor, local sources have told the BBC.

See a map of the region

ANALYSIS Orla Guerin, BBC News, Islamabad Mehsud's death would be seen in Pakistan as a huge step forward. He has been the country's most wanted man, blamed for a string of suicide attacks and also accused of being behind the assassination of the former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto. He has also been on America's wanted list, with a price of $5m on his head. He is seen there as an al-Qaeda facilitator. In the past month or so, both the Pakistanis and Americans have been working hard to tighten the net around him, with US drone strikes but also with air strikes by the Pakistani authorities. If reports of his death are confirmed, this will be seen here as the elimination of a key enemy of this country and of a man who has caused the killing of hundreds of civilians.

Three names are under consideration says Abdul Hai Kakar, a BBC reporter based in Peshawar.

Hakimullah Mehsud, Maulana Azmatullah and Wali-ur-Rehman were all mentioned as possible successors.

People living close to the scene of the missile attack in South Waziristan told the BBC Baitullah Mehsud had been killed along with his wife early on Wednesday.

The remoteness of the location is contributing to the delay in establishing the facts, the BBC's Orla Guerin reports from Islamabad.

A US official said there was "reason to believe reports of his death may be true but it cannot be confirmed".

Previous reports of Baitullah Mehsud's death have proved to be unfounded.

South Waziristan is a stronghold of the Taliban chief, who has been blamed by Pakistan for a series of suicide bomb attacks in the country.

'Hit on the roof'

Kafayat Ullah, described as an aide to Baitullah Mehsud, told the Associated Press by telephone on Friday that his leader had been killed along with his second wife by a US missile. He gave no further details.

There is a sense of awe as this short, plump, bearded man greets us Syed Shoaib Hasan BBC reporter on meeting Baitullah Meshud in 2008 Tea with Mehsud Profile: Baitullah Mehsud Long war against the Taliban

The missile fired by the US drone hit the home of the Taliban chief's father-in-law, Malik Ikramuddin, in the Zangarha area, 15km (9 miles) north-east of Ladha, at around 0100 on Wednesday (1900 GMT Tuesday).

At the time of the attack, the Taliban leader was said to be on the roof, suffering from an illness for which he was taking medication, local people told our Peshawar reporter.

Some who had reportedly seen his body said that it had been half-destroyed by the blast.

Baitullah Mehsud was buried in the nearby village of Nardusai, the witnesses told our reporter.

Several of Baitullah Mehsud's relatives were also injured, local people told the BBC earlier.

Pakistan's foreign minister told reporters in Islamabad that "to be 100% sure [of the Taliban leader's death], we are going for ground verification".

One factor complicating verification of his death is the lack of photographs of the Taliban leader.

Pakistan's foreign minister: "We are going for ground verification"

When the BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan went to interview him in South Waziristan in May 2008, he found himself sitting down before a short, plump, bearded man, reluctant to allow his picture to be taken.

Pakistan's interior minister, Rehman Malik, told the BBC that even if DNA could be recovered at the scene, the authorities did not have a sample from a male relative of the Taliban leader to compare it with.

.....

Deobandistan or Pashtunistan: The Taliban will survive Baitullah Mehsud
Sat Aug 8, 2009 4:12 pm (PDT)

The Taliban will survive Baitullah Mehsud

The Taliban may have been decapitated in Pakistan, but their success is not about the leadership of any one man

o Jason Burke
o guardian.co.uk, Friday 7 August 2009 17.00 BST

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/07/taliban-pakistan-baitullah-mehsud

Behind the rise of Baitullah Mehsud in Pakistan lie factors that are not going to be resolved by a missile fired from a drone.

Firstly, there is the fusion of Pashtun tribal identity with a radical Islamic identity. The latter has only ever really thrived when grafted onto a sense of local belonging. Hamas in the Gaza Strip represent radical Islam and Palestinians. Al-Qaida in the Maghreb, about the only off-shoot of the terror group that is thriving at the moment, are, as their name suggests, firmly fixed on a real location. Al-Qaida in Iraq failed through being insufficiently Iraqi, reduced at the end to pretending leaders were from Baghdad when they were Egyptian. But the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) knew who they were and where they were from. They were Pashtuns from the Pakistani side of the frontier that has split their tribal lands for over a century.

In 1998 and 1999, I travelled widely in FATA (the Federally Administered Tribal Agencies or Areas) where the TTP and Mehsud were strongest. At the time, I met no hostility. In 2001, as bombs rained on Afghanistan, I travelled up into the Khyber Agency and was warned by Pashtun contacts that the Taliban’s war was their war. So, they added, was that waged by al-Qaida. This remains the case today. This intertwining of ethnic identity, religion and politics will take decades to undo.

Secondly, there is the marginalisation of the FATA’s population of four million within Pakistan. That Mehsud led the Pakistani Taliban indicates the residual attraction of the Pakistani state. The Pashtun tribes of the FATA have the lowest levels of literacy, economic development and infrastructural development of anywhere in Pakistan. They are not considered full citizens. Pushed to the margins, they are, in one sense, trying to fight their way into the centre of national political and economic life.

Thirdly, this marginalisation is reflected within the society of the North-West frontier too. The militants are often men who would normally be consigned to the edges of a tribe in terms of status, wealth and power. Mangal Bagh, a major militant leader in the Khyber Agency, is a former truck driver. Mullah Fazlullah, who masterminded the recent Taliban take over of Swat, worked as a labourer on Pakistan’s only ski lift. In Bajaur and Mohmand agencies, the pattern is repeated with senior militants including mechanics, small shopkeepers, itinerant religious teachers. Captured militants I interviewed in Bajaur last year confirm the trend. Mehsud himself has no formal education, only a basic religious understanding and no claim to any authority. He, like many other militants, also comes from a relatively minor sub-tribe and has thus been doubly marginalised. There are social dynamics to this war that escape the casual onlooker.

Finally, over the last three decades something that could be termed the “Deobandi complex” has emerged in the broad spread of land between the Indus and the central Afghan highlands. It is not a state but has virtually every other attribute of statehood short of printing stamps and money. There is religious homogeneity: the conservative southwest Asian Deobandi strand of Sunni Islam that has established itself with its system of mosques and free schools across the region. There is ethnic homogeneity: the Pashtuns. There is a commercial sector of big businessmen involved in smuggling, transport, timber, drugs and a range of legitimate businesses. There is political representation: parties such as Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Islami. There is diplomacy with connections to the Gulf and elsewhere in the Islamic world. There are significant flows of cash in and out, often through remittances from overseas workers. There is a broadly accepted culture: the conservative, rural, re ligiously-infused values of the Pashun hill tribes. And there is a military: the various Taliban groups. It is unsurprising that those marginalised by other relatively unstable and relatively chaotic political entities € ¦’¶ such as Pakistan € ¦’¶ should look to find a home within Deobandistan or Pashtunistan or whatever name might eventually be put on its passport stamps.

Put all this together and it is fairly clear that drones may tackle symptoms but not causes. It is also clear why, as my colleague Declan Walsh points out elsewhere on this site, another Mehsud may well emerge soon.
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The Gojra tragedy, religious extremism, and General Zial-ul-Haq's legacy in Pakistan

Zahida Hina writes on the Gojra tragey in Pakistan, in which 8 Christians were burnt alive by the pro-Taliban Deobandi-Wahhabi alliance, namely Sipah-e-Sahaba and Lashkar-e-Jhangavi. She also discusses the role of General Zia-ul-Haq in sowing the seeds of hatred in the Pakistani society.

Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), an outlawed pro-Taliban Sunni Muslim sectarian group, and its al Qaeda-linked offshoot, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), were suspected of orchestrating the attack in Gojra town, according to Rana Sanaullah, Punjab's law minister.

Incensed by unsubstantiated allegations that the Koran had been desecrated by a Christian, an angry mob torched dozens of houses in the town Saturday, killing eight people, including four women and a child.

"Absolutely, these banned groups are involved in the rioting," Sanaullah, who is also responsible for the security matters of the province, told Reuters by telephone from Gojra.

Sanaullah said "masked men" had come from the nearby district of Jhang, birthplace of both SSP and LeJ, to incite the anti-Christian rioting in Gojra.

Around 150 people were detained for questioning.

The government received an intelligence report two months ago suggesting that militants were switching from suicide bombings to inciting sectarian strife in the country," Sanaullah said.

Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti held the same fears following the attack in Gojra.

"We suspect and we are getting evidence that members of banned organizations were involved in it," he told Reuters.

SSP was founded in the 1980s and is primarily connected to sectarian violence against minority Shi'ite Muslims. It was officially banned in January 2002.

LeJ, a splinter group of SSP, has forged ties with al Qaeda.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2009/08/04/pakistan_suspects_al_qaeda_allies_killed_christians/

While the Deobandi-Wahhabi alliance is responsible for executing the Gojra massacre, Barelvis must also think about their criminal negligence on this tragdey, writes Tanvir Qaiser Shahid:

.....

PMLN President Qadeer Awan involved in the Gojra massacre. Shame on you Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif:

Sectarian violence hits Pakistani town

By Aleem Maqbool
BBC News, Gojra, Pakistan

On a street in the small Punjabi town of Gojra, house after house stands gutted and looted.

One home in particular is the focus of attention. The windows and doors are gone, what is left of the furniture lies gnarled inside, and some of the ceilings have collapsed. People are peering into a small bedroom at the back of the building.

It is from here that the charred bodies of six members of the Hameed family, from Pakistan’s minority Christian community, were recovered. The youngest of the dead was four-year-old Mousa.

We found his father, Almass Hameed, 49, in a crowded hospital ward nearby.

‘Shocked and crying’

“He was such a bright boy. His teachers complained that he was cheeky at times, but nobody could doubt how clever he was. But now he’s gone,” Mr Hameed said, breaking down.

“ It was like the most horrific movie. They destroyed our lives ”
Almass Hameed
He described how an angry Muslim mob came through the area, known here as the Christian Colony.

“I think there were thousands,” he said. “My elderly father went out to see what was happening and they shot and killed him. We were all shocked and crying. Before we knew it, they were breaking into the house.”

Mr Hameed explained how he and nine other members of the family hid in the bedroom as the house was over-run.

“We could hear them smashing everything and dividing our belongings amongst themselves,” he said. “Then they started beating on the door saying they would teach us a lesson and burn us alive.”

Soon after, a fire was raging through his house.

“We just couldn’t breathe,” he said. “I grabbed my eldest son and managed to get out of the room through the flames, my brother came out with one of my daughters, but the rest were stuck and we had no way of rescuing them.”

As well as his father and Mousa, Mr Hameed lost his 11 year-old daughter, his wife, a brother, a sister-in-law and her mother.

“It was like the most horrific movie. They destroyed our lives.”

‘Fired shots’

Tensions had risen after allegations that Christians in the nearby village of Korrian had torn up and burnt pages of the Koran at a wedding a few days earlier.

“They started it,” 19-year-old Omar Ali Raza said in Gojra’s marketplace.

“We Muslims are the victims. We gathered to protest about what they did to the Koran in Korrian and just wanted to walk through their area, but they threw stones at us and fired shots.”

“Of course it is bad that Christians died,” he added. “But they provoked the Muslims here. I don’t understand why everyone is on their side.”

But an elderly Muslim man passing by interrupts. “The responsibility is with the one who actually burns the Koran, not all Christians,” he said. “Here, we live together, and there were no problems before this.”

As it happens, a local police chief, Ahmed Javaid, said he believed the claim that Christians desecrated the Koran was not true in the first place.

“Yes, pieces of paper had been cut up to look like money at a Christian wedding, but they were not pages of the Koran,” he said.

“However, the rumour spread and the issue became politicised.”

Very soon after the allegations from Korrian surfaced, politicians from several parties held large rallies denouncing Christians in the area, calling for action. These were not just politicians from expressly right-wing Islamist parties.

PML-N leaders have visited Gojra in recent days, expressing solidarity with minority communities. But Christians here say they are sceptical.

They accuse the party and others of having previously taken advantage of anti-Christian feelings rather than helping to calm things down.

‘Rare’ violence

Senator Pervaiz Rashid, at the headquarters of the Nawaz party, told me it was very serious in its commitment to minority rights.

“We acknowledge there were problems in Gojra, and it is an embarrassment,” he said. “However, it was an isolated incident and the local president, Qadeer Awan, has now had his party membership suspended.”

“I do not believe that there are any other local politicians in our party involved in such activities.”

Violence of this scale against Pakistan’s estimated three million strong Christian community may be rare (this is the worst such incident in seven years), but complaints of discrimination are certainly commonplace.

The government says it has opened an inquiry into what happened in Gojra, but Asma Jahangir, the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission, is not expecting the type of change she thinks is needed.

“For too long the Pakistani state has protected people with extremist views,” she said.

“It is not just political parties. There are radicalised individuals, and supporters of militant groups within the judiciary, the education system, the bureaucracy and police as well.”

This was not the vision of Pakistan held by its founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

“Minorities, to whichever community they may belong, will be safeguarded. Their religion or faith or beliefs will be secure,” he said just weeks before Pakistan’s creation in 1947.

“They will be, in all respects, the citizens of Pakistan without any distinction of caste or creed.”

But as Pakistan prepares to mark its independence day, many of its citizens do not see any cause for celebration.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/8196013.stm

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Taliban Leader Umer Khalid Alive And Well in Pakistan

[The Mullah-Military (ISI-Taliban) Alliance Remains Intact?]

Monday August 03, 2009
Alex Crawford, Asia correspondent

Sky News has obtained exclusive and conclusive proof that one of Pakistan's most feared Taliban leaders is alive - contradicting government claims that he was killed months ago.

The Pakistani Government said Khalid died months ago

Umer Khalid, who is also known as Abdul Wali, was thought to have died in the Pakistani government's crackdown against extremists.

But our pictures show him not only alive and well, but with four hostages whom he is threatening to kill unless the authorities free Taliban prisoners they are holding.

Khalid allowed himself to be filmed to disprove the official claims and apparently to initiate negotiations with the authorities.

The Interior Minister Rehamn Malik told reporters in January that Khalid was among those killed in an attack on militant extremists in the Mohmand Agency, part of Pakistan's tribal areas.
The claims were denied by the Taliban at the time.

The footage - which was filmed within the last few days - shows Khalid relaxing and smiling with a group of young, armed men who form his fighting group.

He says he has 35,000 fighters under his control but this figure is impossible to verify.
Sky's cameraman is allowed to film the militant leader signing a paper giving his access to the four hostages.

The four hostages are sitting together in a line still wearing their security uniforms.
They belong to the Frontier Constabulary, which is the security force operating in the tribal areas.

One of the men addresses the camera and says they have been held for three months.
He appeals to the government to release Taliban prisoners in exchange for their freedom.
Khalid tells Sky News that he has already killed two of his hostages but is willing to free the remaining four if five Taliban prisoners are let out of custody.

He appears to indicate he is ready to negotiate with the authorities.

The pictures of the Taliban leader coincide with concerns voiced by the US special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan over the success of the military operation in the Swat Valley.
Richard Holbrooke said he was not sure whether the operation had achieved its aim of driving the Taliban out of the former tourist spot.

There are increasing worries that the militants may have just shifted to other areas in the country or gone underground.

Holbrooke is the first high-profile member of the Obama administration to voice doubts over the operation in public.

The new US administration has up until now given great support to Pakistan's attempts to curb extremism in the country.

The pictures showing Umer Khalid alive are likely to heap further embarrassment on the government.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Taliban-Leader-Alive-Umer-Khalid-Not-Dead-Despite-Pakistani-Governments-Claims/Article/200908115352539

‘Army majors arrested for collaborating with terrorists’

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: Elements in the intelligence agencies who were sympathetic towards terrorists had resigned and had been arrested, a private TV channel quoted Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Monday, adding they were officers of the rank of major and wanted to target army generals.

He said there have been some elements in the intelligence agencies who have had links with terrorists, including Baithullah Mehsud, Qari Ilyas and Qari Hussain and with banned organisations.

To a question, he said South Waziristan had become a hub of anti-state activities and terrorists from various areas, including Hangu, Bajaur and Mohmand agencies, were operating against security forces.

Malik said he would bring the culprits behind Benazir Bhutto’s murder to justice.

He said terrorists were responsible for the current economic and law and order situation.

He said the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Muhammad supported Taliban and Al Qaeda in destabilising the country, adding all madrassas were not involved in illegal activities. (Daily Times, 4 August 2009)
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Sipah-e-Sahaba (the Deobandi-Wahhabi alliance) burns 8 Christians alive in Gojra. Shame on you Shahbaz Sharif.

8 Christians burnt alive in Gojra riots

* Rangers called in after mob torches Christian homes
* Punjab law minister says preliminary investigation shows no desecration of holy Quran

By Ali Usman

LAHORE: The government deployed the Rangers to the town of Gojra on Saturday after at least seven (eight according to BBC Urdu.com) Christians, including three women, were burnt alive and dozens injured following the second incident of violence against Christians in Punjab in one month.

The latest riots, which started almost a week ago following allegations that a copy of the holy Quran was defiled, escalated on Saturday as locals shouting slogans against Christians took to the streets in Christian Town, a Christian-only locality. Following the escalation, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, on directions of President Asif Ali Zardari, ordered the Punjab Rangers to reach Gojra and help the civil administration maintain law and order. Eyewitnesses said a protesting mob turned violent when armed men from Jhang reached the spot and started attacking Christian houses. Locals claimed the attackers were members of a banned organisation, adding they carried sophisticated weaponry. Emboldened by the attackers, the mob started throwing acid and petrol bombs on the houses, forcing the people to come out. A local resident said dozens were feared dead, adding the exact number could not be confirmed as several bodies were buried under debris.

Claiming the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba group was involved in the rioting, Federal Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti told the Associated Press he had directed police to ensure protection for the Christian community but they had ignored his instructions.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said authorities had investigated the allegation of a Holy Quran being defiled “and our initial reports say that there has not been any incident of desecration”. He said the situation had calmed down on Friday, but extremists had entered the city on Saturday and pushed people toward armed clashes. Faisalabad Commissioner Tahir Hussain told local TV channels that representatives of the two communities would meet on Saturday in an effort to calm the situation.

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\08\02\story_2-8-2009_pg1_1

گوجرہ: مسلم عیسائی جھگڑے میں آٹھ ہلاک

عیسائی آبادی والے اضلاع میں سکیورٹی سخت کر دی گئی ہے: صوبائی وزیر

پاکستان کے صوبہ پنجاب کے شہر گوجرہ کے ایک گاؤں میں اطلاعات کے مطابق مسلمانوں اور عیسائیوں کے درمیان پرتشدد جھڑپوں میں ہلاک ہونے والے عیسائیوں کی تعداد آٹھ ہو گئی ہے۔حکام کے مطابق شہر میں رینجرز کو طلب کر لیا گیا ہے۔

کلِکگوجرہ میں مسلم عیسائی جھگڑا

ہلاک ہونے والے افراد کے جنازے اتوار کو ہوں گے۔ صوبائی وزیر قانون رانا ثنا اللہ نے بی بی سی کو انٹرویو دیتے ہوئے کہا کہ مقامی ڈی ایس پی کو معطل کر دیا گیا ہے اور اس واقعے کے سلسلے میں چار لوگ گرفتار بھی ہوئے ہیں۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ مزید افراد کی گرفتاری کے لیے بھرپور کارروائی کی جائے گی۔

وفاقی وزیر برائے اقلیتی امور شہباز بھٹی نے بی بی سی سے بات کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ گوجرہ میں ہونے والے حملے چالیس گھر جلا دیے گئے ہیں۔انہوں نے ایک سوال کا جواب دیتے ہوئے کہا کہ اس واقعے میں وہ عناصر شامل ہیں جو مذہبی رواداری اور قومی یکجہتی کے خلاف ہیں۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ ان لوگوں کی نشاندہی کرنا قبل از وقت ہے۔ ’یہ وہ لوگ ہیں جو نہیں چاہتے کہ امن ہو‘۔

صوبائی وزیر قانون رانا ثنا اللہ نے متراثرہ علاقے کا دورہ کرنے کے بعد کہا کہ وہ اس واقعہ کی وجوہات معلومات کرنا چاہتے تھے اور یہ جاننا چاہتے تھے کہ اسے کیسے روکا جا سکتا تھا اور کیا انتظامیہ نے اپنی ذمہ داری پوری کی ہے۔

صوبائی وزیر نے کہا کہ انہوں متاثرین، عام لوگوں اور انتظامیہ کا جن میں پولیس کے اعلیٰ حکام شامل ہیں موقف سنا ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ وہ اس نتیجے پر پہنچے ہیں کہ پہلے واقعے میں کوئی جانی نقصان نہیں ہوا تھا اور زیادہ تشویش محسوس نہیں کی گئی۔

انہوں نے بتایا کہ ابتدائی طور مقامی ڈی ایس پی کو معطل کر دیا گیا اور واقعے کے ذمہ دار افراد میں سے چار کو گرفتار کیا گیا ہے۔ انہوں نے کہ جو لوگ اس واقعے کے ذمہ دار ہیں ان کی شناخت ہو چکی ہے اور ان کے بارے میں کسی کو ابہام نہیں ہے۔

صوبائی وزیر نے کہا کہ اتوار کو ہلاک ہونے والے آٹھ افراد کے جنازے ہوں گے اور ان سے فارغ ہو کر انتظامیہ دیگر افراد کی گرفتاری کے لیے ’کریک ڈاؤن‘ کرے گی۔

ایک سوال کے جواب میں صوبائی وزیر نے کہا کہ مقامی واقعے کے لیے مقامی انتظامیہ کی نااہلی ہو سکتی ہے لیکن بدنیتی نہیں ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ جہاں نا اہلی ہوئی ہے اس کی سزا دی جائے گی۔

مزید عیسائی مسلم فسادات کے خدشات کے بارے میں انہوں نے کہا کہ اس کو خارج از امکان تو قرار نہیں دیا جا سکتا اور ان تمام اضلاع میں جہاں عیسائی آبادی موجود ہے انتظامیہ کو سکیورٹی کے مکمل انتظامات کرنے کا حکم دے دیا گیا ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ وسیع پیمانے پر اس طرح کے واقعات کا خطرہ نہیں ہے اور نہ ہی پہلے کبھی ہوا ہے بس اکا دکا واقعات ہو جاتے ہیں

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2009/08/090801_gojra_update.shtml

Fear and shame of Gojra

After a week of simmering Muslim-Christian dispute over the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran in tehsil Gojra in Toba Tek Singh district in Punjab, violence has broken out simply because the local administration ignored orders from Lahore to control the situation. The Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, has suspended the persons responsible for letting this very familiar type of incident get out of hand. Seven Christians have been burnt alive and their houses torched. There may be more casualties.

As usual a “banned organisation” — Federal Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti says it was Sipah Sahaba — came in from outside the town and took over and used acid and petrol bombs to destroy property and kill Christian women and children, while the local government and police simply did nothing. The federal government has taken serious note by sending in the Rangers and the Punjab government has ordered an inquiry into what really transpired. Compensation for the destroyed property has already been announced.

There is a pattern of violence against Christians in Punjab that cannot be ignored. First of all, let us ask why it happens mainly in Punjab? Some facts are illustrative. The Christians of Pakistan are the largest religious minority in Pakistan. The total number of Christians in Pakistan was at least 2 million in 2008, or 1.1 percent of the population. An examination of birth records yields a total number of Christians at 2.8 million. More than 90 percent of the country’s Christians reside in Punjab, making them the largest religious minority in the province. And 60 percent of them live in the villages, and in most cases are more indigenous to their areas than the Muslims.

Charges of blasphemy and desecration of the Quran are “used” against them, but the latter is used against them collectively, followed by organised dispossession and destruction of property. In 1997, the twin villages of Shantinagar-Tibba Colony 12 kilometres east of Khanewal, Multan Division, were looted and burnt by 20,000 Muslim citizens and 500 policemen acting together after an incident of alleged desecration of the Quran was reported. The police first evacuated the Christian population of 15,000, then helped the raiders use battle-field explosives to blow up their houses and property. Sipah Sahaba was also blamed by the Christians for that holocaust.

In 2005, the Christian community of Sangla Hill in Nankana district in Punjab experienced a most hair-raising day of violence and vandalism. After allegations of desecration of the Quran, a mob of 3,000 led by the local elected politician and police burnt down three churches, a missionary-run school, two hostels and several houses belonging to the Christian community. Lahore’s archbishop stated that the attackers had been brought there by buses from outside. The Punjab government once again acted quickly to compensate for the neglect and complicity of the local administration, but was prevented from proceeding fairly by a renowned Sunni cleric of Lahore who took his own lashkar of youths to “defend” the Muslims in Sangla Hill. Ironically, he has since fallen to a suicide-bomber of the Taliban.

These were big incidents that not only shook Pakistan but the world too. The Archbishop of Canterbury, already expressing sympathy with Pakistan after the earthquake in Azad Kashmir, was forced to say after Sangla that Pakistan was in the process of redefining who could be its citizens. Smaller incidents of persecution of the Christians have never stopped, but Gojra tells us that holocausts can repeat themselves as civic virtue declines in Pakistan under the influence of extremism.

We don’t know whom the laws of blasphemy and desecration were supposed to target, but their intent was to stop the crime mentioned in them. Tragically, blasphemy cases have proliferated after the promulgation of the blasphemy law, and action taken against the accused is not by the state but by the vigilantes the state cannot control. Section 295-B Defiling of copy of the holy Quran says: “Whoever wilfully defiles, damages or desecrates a copy of the Holy Quran or an extract therefrom, or uses it in a derogatory manner or any unlawful purpose, shall be punishable with imprisonment for life”. But the punishment has been inflicted without trial on people who had nothing to do with it.

These are signals of doom. And the crime is being committed by the non-state actors that were once considered “assets” of the military-state. Their dominance in Punjab is well established and their control over local population to the detriment of local administration is also well known. The laws mean nothing under these circumstances. * (Daily Times, 3 Aug 2009)

....

Wusatullah Khan's analysis on BBC Urdu.com

جنگل کی راہ !

وسعت اللہ خان

بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، اسلام آباد

گوجرہ میں مشتعل مسلمان ہجوم نے عیسائیوں کے درجنوں گھر نذرِ آتش کردیے

یہ بات ہے سترہ جنوری انیس سو ستانوے کی۔ پولیس نے شراب کی غیرقانونی فروخت کے الزام میں جنوبی پنجاب کےضلع خانیوال کے گاؤں شانتی نگر میں راج مسیح کے گھر چھاپہ مارا۔لیکن کوئی بوتل برآمد نہ ہوسکی مگر تلاشی کے دوران انجیل کو اٹھا کر پھینک دیا گیا اور راج مسیح کو تھانے میں بند کردیا گیا۔ مقامی عیسائی آبادی نے انجیل کی بے حرمتی کے خلاف جلوس نکالا۔جس کا نوٹس لیتے ہوئے مقامی انتظامیہ نے کچھ پولیس اہلکاروں کو ڈیوٹی سے معطل کردیا۔مگر پولیس والوں نے دھمکی دی کہ اگر الزامات واپس نہ لئے گئے تو عیسائیوں کو خمیازہ بھگتنا پڑے گا۔

تین ہفتے بعد پانچ فروری کو شانتی نگر کی ایک مقامی مسجد سے اعلان ہوا کہ عیسائیوں نے قران کے دو یا تین صفحات جلا دیے ہیں اور یہ صفحات مسجد کے باہر پائے گئے ہیں۔ خبر پھیلتے ہی اردگرد کے چودہ دیہاتوں سے تقریباً بیس ہزار افراد نے عیسائیوں کے دو دیہات شانتی نگر اور ٹوبہ کی جانب مارچ شروع کردیا۔ خانیوال شہر اور دونوں عیسائی دیہاتوں میں پندرہ سو گھراور دوکانیں، بارہ چرچ ، ایک ہاسٹل اور ڈسپنسری تباہ کردی گئی۔ درجن بھر خواتین کی بے حرمتی ہوئی۔اخبار فرائیڈے ٹائمز کے مطابق پولیس نے پہلے پندرہ ہزار عیسائی آبادی کو علاقہ چھوڑ کر محفوظ مقامات پر جانے کو کہا اس کے بعد بلوائیوں کو کھلی چھوٹ دے دی گئی۔ انسانی حقوق کمیشن نے کہا انیس سو سینتالیس کے بعد سے پاکستان میں یہ اپنی نوعیت کا بدترین واقعہ تھا۔

آئیے آگے بڑھیں۔

عیسائی پاکستان کی آبادی کا ڈیڑھ فیصد ہیں۔جب سے پاکستان میں مقدس کتابوں اور انبیاء کی بے حرمتی پر سزائے موت کا قانون لاگو ہے، تقریباً ایک ہزار افراد اس کی زد میں آ چکے ہیں اور ان میں سے نوے فیصد سے زائد ملزم عیسائی ہیں۔ زیادہ تر الزامات کے پیچھے لڑکی، ذاتی و سیاسی رنجش، جائیداد کا جھگڑا یا مذہبی نفرت کا اظہار بتایا جاتا ہے مگر بے حرمتی کا معاملہ اتنا حساس ہے کہ صرف الزام ہی کافی ہے۔ عدالت تک پہنچنے سے پہلے ہی مجمع ملزموں سے انفرادی اور اجتماعی انصاف کرچکا ہوتا ہے۔اور ایسے اکثر واقعات میں پولیس موقع واردات پر پہنچنے والا آخری ادارہ ہوتا ہے۔

یہ بات نومبر دو ہزار پانچ کی ہے۔ فیصل آباد کے نواحی قصبے سانگلہ ہل میں جہاں نوے فیصد مسلمان اور دس فیصد عیسائی رہتے ہیں، یوسف مسیح نامی شخص نے دو مسلمانوں سے تاش کے جوئے میں بھاری رقم جیت لی۔ اگلے روز ان میں سے ایک ہارا ہوا جواری ایک مقامی جلد ساز کے پاس قرآن کا خستہ حال نسخہ لے کر پہنچا اور کہا کہ یوسف مسیح نے اس کی بے حرمتی کی ہے۔ مقامی مسجد سے اعلان ہوا کہ یوسف مسیح نامی ایک شخص نے قرآن کے صفحات جلائے ہیں۔ یہ سنتے ہی تقریباً ڈیڑھ ہزار افراد جمع ہوگئے۔ ایک درجن گھر، پانچ گرجے، تین سکول، ایک کانونٹ اور ایک ڈسپنسری تباہ ہوگئی۔ تین ماہ بعد لاہور کی انسدادِ دہشت گردی کی ایک عدالت نے یوسف مسیح کو ناکافی ثبوت کی بنیاد پر بری کردیا۔ ساتھ ہی عیسائی املاک کو نقصان پہنچانے کے الزام میں پکڑے گئے اٹھاسی افراد بھی ناکافی ثبوت کی بنیاد پر بری ہوگئے۔

عیسائی پاکستان کی آبادی کا ڈیڑھ فیصد ہیں۔جب سے پاکستان میں مقدس کتابوں اور انبیاء کی بے حرمتی پر سزائے موت کا قانون لاگو ہے، تقریباً ایک ہزار افراد اس کی زد میں آ چکے ہیں اور ان میں سے نوے فیصد سے زائد ملزم عیسائی ہیں۔ زیادہ تر الزامات کے پیچھے لڑکی، ذاتی و سیاسی رنجش، جائیداد کا جھگڑا یا مذہبی نفرت کا اظہار بتایا جاتا ہے مگر بے حرمتی کا معاملہ اتنا حساس ہے کہ صرف الزام ہی کافی ہے۔ عدالت تک پہنچنے سے پہلے ہی مجمع ملزموں سے انفرادی اور اجتماعی انصاف کرچکا ہوتا ہے۔اور ایسے اکثر واقعات میں پولیس موقع واردات پر پہنچنے والا آخری ادارہ ہوتا ہے۔

اس پورے ڈرامے میں ایک عنصر یہ شامل ہوا ہے کہ پہلے جو مجمع صرف ملزم کا تعاقب کرتا تھا اب وہ ملزم کی برادری کا بھی اسی جوش و جذبے سے تعاقب کرتا ہے۔فیصل آباد کے قریب گوجرہ میں ہونے والے واقعات اس رجحان کا تازہ ثبوت ہیں۔

بہت ہی کم مقدمات میں جرم ثابت ہوسکا لیکن جھوٹا الزام لگانے والے کسی ایک مدعی کو بھی قرار واقعی سزا نہیں مل سکی۔اس کے برعکس بے گناہی ثابت ہونے کے باوجود عموماً ملزم کو ہی علاقہ یا ملک چھوڑنا پڑا۔یا بے حرمتی کے قوانین کے تحت نظربند متعدد ملزموں کو عدالت کے احاطے یا جیل میں ہی پولیس کی موجودگی میں قتل ہونا پڑا۔

اس پورے ڈرامے میں ایک عنصر یہ شامل ہوا ہے کہ پہلے جو مجمع صرف ملزم کا تعاقب کرتا تھا اب وہ ملزم کی برادری کا بھی اسی جوش و جذبے سے تعاقب کرتا ہے۔فیصل آباد کے قریب گوجرہ میں ہونے والے واقعات اس رجحان کا تازہ ثبوت ہیں۔

اس تناظر میں جب میڈیا فلسطین میں اہلِ یہود کے ہاتھوں مسلمانوں سےہونے والے سلوک پر تشویش کا اظہار کرتا ہے۔ جب مقامی دانشور بوسنیا میں سرب عیسائیوں کی جانب سے مسلمانوں کی نسل کشی کا رقت آمیزحوالہ دیتا ہے۔جب وزارتِ خارجہ بھارتی ریاست گجرات میں ہندو بلوائیوں کے ہاتھوں دو ہزار مسلمانوں کی ہلاکت یاد دلاتی ہے اور جب امام صاحب پوری دنیا میں مسلمانوں سے زیادتی کرنے والوں کے خلاف نگاہیں آسمان کی جانب اٹھا کر خدائی مدد مانگتے ہیں تو جی چاہتا ہے کہ گریبان پھاڑ کر قہقہے لگاتے ہوئے جنگل کی راہ لی جائے۔

Haroon-ur-Rashid's Analysis on the Gojra Massacre

Jang, 4 August 2009

...

Outlawed terrorists in Gojra


As the government moved on Sunday to register cases against 800 people involved in killing 7 Christians in Gojra, sources in Gojra have revealed that the killers came from outside the city, from Jhang, the hometown of Sipah Sahaba. According to them, the government had received information that “a group of armed men with masked faces had come from Jhang to lead the violence against Christians on the pretext of desecration of the Holy Quran”.

The outsiders first made provocative speeches to arouse the Muslim community against the local Christian community before setting fire to the houses of the Christians while they were still inside. Improvised bombs of the sort stocked by jihadi organisations were used and one was actually shown in a photograph printed by a national daily. The mischief was started by a “maulvi” who arrived in the targeted Gojra village six months ago. There is no “external hand” here, as announced by an official in Lahore.

Christians and Muslims of the village are mostly brick-kiln workers living peacefully, but for the three mosques in the village where the outsiders set up their group. Maulvi Imran Aslam and his two followers first alleged that Christians had torn up the Quran and thrown it up in the air during a wedding. Then, instead of taking the matter to the police, they went on the loudspeakers and asked the Muslims to attack and kill “all the Christians”.

The Gojra case follows on the heels of a similar recent case in Kasur near Lahore. But the Punjab administration, which should have known better, remained sleeping. The Gojra police simply hoped the trouble would blow over with a few Christians hurt and Muslim passions satisfied, but it did not happen. Christians have been killed according to plans made by Al Qaeda and its followers, as witnessed in the churches of Islamabad, Murree and Bahawalpur. The pattern of violence resembles the one witnessed in Shantinagar in 1997 and Sangla Hill in 2005.

The federal and provincial governments must remain steadfast in their resolve to punish the culprits and compensate the dirt-poor Christians of Gojra. Last time, in Shantinagar and Sangla Hill, the help they finally extended to the victims was neither enough nor well organised. (Daily TImes, 4 August 2009)

...

(Tanvir Qaiser Shahdi, Express, 5 Aug 2009)

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Christians’ homes burnt over ‘desecration’

A burnt house of a Christian family in Azafi Abadi at Chak 95-JB on Gojra-Faisalabad Road. –Photo by White Star

By Tariq Saeed Saturday, 01 Aug, 2009

TOBA TEK SINGH: A mob burnt 75 houses of Christians over the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran in Azafi Abadi at Chak 95-JB on Gojra-Faisalabad Road, 32 kilometres from here, late on Thursday, Christian leaders said.

Christian leaders Atif Jamil Pagaan and Ashfaq Fateh told a press conference that 75 houses were burnt and two churches ransacked by the residents of a neighboring village over reports that Mukhtar Maseeh, Talib Maseeh and his son Imran Maseeh had desecrated the papers inscribed with Holy Quran verses at a wedding ceremony.

Dawn learnt from sources that 50 houses were damaged when the mob in a frenzy of rage held a jury where Talib Maseeh was asked to offer apology over the incident.

Talib, however, denied the incident and refused to offer apology. In the ensuing developments, hundreds of the people attacked Azafi Basti.
Before the arrival of the mob, the residents had fled which gave a walkover to the mob which put on fire 50 houses. The ablaze also burnt a few cattle.

District Police Officer (DPO) Inkisar Khan fielded MPA Bilal Asghar Warraich and Maulana Noor Ahmad to calm down the mob. The DPO also suspended the Gojra Sadar station house officer at the demand of the mob.

The mob blocked Gojra-Faisalabad Road to block the entrance of fire brigades to the village. Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti and Punjab Minorities and Human Rights Minister Kamran Michael visited the locality on Friday and urged both sides to remain peaceful.
They said the Christians would be compensated for their loss. Minority MPAs Rafiq Pervaiz and Khalil Tahir Sandhu also visited the village.
DPO Inkisar Khan said a case has been registered under section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code against Mukhtar Maseeh, Talib Maseeh and Imran Maseeh without any arrest.

Local ulema and traders demanded the arrest of the accused and announced a complete strike on Saturday (today). Former MNA M Hamza condemned the violence against Christians as well as the alleged desecration act. In a press statement, he demanded a judicial probe into the incident.

Labour Party leader Tariq Mahmood, National Workers’ Party Punjab Secretary Rana Azam, Labour Qaumi Movement’s Shabbir Ahmad and Kissan Committee President Chaudhry Fateh Muhammad condemned the violence.

Interfaith League

Expressing his anguish over the violence perpetrated by communal forces against Christian minorities, Interfaith League chairman Sajid Ishaq says it is condemnable to make religion a basis for committing violent acts against humanity.

He said that nation was trying to build a peaceful and stable society in Pakistan and such attacks hindered any progress in this regard.
He demanded that the thugs who carried out the attacks be strictly punished so that no one could dare again to commit such a crime.

http://www.dawn.com.pk/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/14-christians-homes-burnt-over-desecration-zj-05
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Corruption, corruption? Where is good governance, Mr. Zardari?

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What was General Kayani's message to Aitzaz Ahsan? How independent is the Supreme Court of Pakistan?

Islamabad: In a verdict having far-reaching implications, Pakistan's Supreme Court on Friday declared as "unconstitutional and illegal" the emergency imposed by former President Pervez Musharraf in 2007. A 14-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry also declared as unconstitutional Gen. Musharraf's action of sacking over 60 members of the judiciary who did not endorse the emergency imposed on November 3, 2007.

...However, there were indications of manoeuvring behind the scenes to ensure that Gen. Musharraf, who still enjoys the backing of the Army, was not humiliated in any way. A recent courtesy meeting between Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and leading lawyer and PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan triggered speculation that the military had conveyed a message that the judiciary should not rock the boat.

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