Thursday, March 26, 2009

Shias under siege in NW Pakistan

Shias under siege in NW Pakistan
Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:27:14 GMT
Human rights groups protest against Shia blockade in Parachinar
Taliban have imposed a crippling blockade on Shia communities in northwestern Pakistan raising concerns of a 'dire humanitarian crisis'.

In a Tuesday peace summit held in northwestern city of Parachinar in Kurram Agency, political and religious leaders said the lack of government control had allowed the Taliban to pursue their aggressive agenda in the region.

The summit comes after reports of grave human rights abuses against Shias in Parachinar, which later turned in to a complete siege.

Although Shias are the majority in Kurram, they are surrounded by the Taliban-linked aggressive militants who have gone so far as to cut off roads over the past few months. The militants are also accused of kidnapping or killing those trying to deliver supplies to the Shia areas.

Shia farmers have been forced to sell their agricultural produce in Afghanistan instead of the markets in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province.

Taliban-linked militants in Parachinar, Hangu district and much of the Kurram tribal agency have killed 25 to 30 people on a daily basis over the last six months. Some local media say more than 1,300 Shia community members have been killed in the region since 2007.

They claim that security forces in the tribal regions are 'under the influence of local Taliban groups', adding that law enforcement officers have 'willingly or unwillingly' launched a clamp down on Shia Muslims.

The killing of Shias is to such extent that has caused international outrage with rights groups and regional countries including Iran expressing concern over the 'genocide'.

The leading Shia figure in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has issued a ruling (fatwa) with respect to the treatment of the Shia in the Parachinar. The fatwa encourages all Shia Muslims in Pakistan to do everything within their power to help their "brethren."

Shias say they make up one-third of Pakistan's 160 million-strong population. Since the 1980s, thousands of people have been killed in violence-related incidents in Pakistan by extremist groups - who have embarked on an 'ominous mission' to 'eliminate' Shia elites across Pakistan.

They have killed hundreds of Shia medical doctors, university professors, lawyers and police officers across the violence-wracked country over the past few years.

Moderate Pakistani Sunni groups believe that leaving Shias at the mercy of the Taliban is a conspiracy against the country.

RSM/JG/JR/MMN

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Kohat varsity students demand holding of viva

Kohat varsity students demand holding of viva

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Our correspondent

PARACHINAR: Students who appeared in MA/MSc examinations recently conducted by the Kohat University have expressed their reservations over delayed viva.

Some of the candidates, wishing not to be named, told The News: "Due to unknown reasons the university authorities have declined to hold the viva though the written exams concluded two weeks ago."

They said the refusal by the varsity authorities had hurt the feelings of the students, fearing their future had plunged into darkness. They appealed to NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani to look into the matter and direct the university authorities to hold viva in Parachinar because of the closure of roads.

 

No end to sufferings in Parachinar


 
 No end to sufferings in Parachinar
Thursday, March 26, 2009
By By Mumtaz Alvi
ISLAMABAD: Another humanitarian crisis is in the making in the Kurram Agency, as the main roads leading to the tension-plagued area remain blocked for the last four weeks.

Some residents of Parachinar (the capital of Kurram Agency), who managed to safely move out and settle down here in Islamabad, told The News that the bulk of the agency area was under siege, facing an economic blockade, and presented the look of another Gaza.

They were of the view that NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani and the federal government were required to show greater interest in bringing normalcy to the agency, after ensuring that the decisions taken during the Jirga sessions in the recent months were implemented in letter and spirit.

When approached on telephone for comments, Sajid Hussain Turi, who is an MNA from NA-37 Kurram Agency, said the inhabitants were fed up with the seething tensions and bloody clashes, which had been the order of the day for about two years.

"The rival sides are desperately waiting for peace to return and are prepared for peace moves," the parliamentarian maintained and added that he would be accompanying a Jirga, likely to leave for the Kurram Agency on Thursday for defusing the tension there.

He explained that representatives from Khyber Agency, Bajaur Agency, Mohmand Agency and Orakzai Agency, including Malik Abdullah Bangash, Malik Waris Afridi, Syed Badshah Mian, Fazal Advocate, Bismillah Khan Orakzai and Najmul Hasan Orakzai would be part of the team.

To a question as to how much the federal government and the governor had been helpful in facilitating this initiative, he said that besides the Ministry of Interior, the Fata Secretariat in Peshawar had been handy in arranging their trip by a helicopter.

All members of the Jirga, he noted, were Sunnis and Shias, who had great concern like everyone in Pakistan to help bring back peace to the agency, ridding it of tensions, sieges and terrorism.

"Presently, both sides have taken hostage some locals. If they are not freed through peaceful intervention, this can lead to eruption of fighting again," he cautioned while replying to another question.

Generally speaking, the law maker stated that the residents were peace loving and had realised that certain elements, who had come from the tribal areas, were hell-bent on destroying peace and tranquility.

"The stocks of food, medicines and other needs of daily life are about to exhaust which, if not averted, can further compound hardships of people there because of the continuous blockade of roads," he cautioned.

Meanwhile, this correspondent received an e-mail from the Voice of Parachinar on March 23. It was learnt that the website was run by some local youths. Through the communication, the residents urged Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to take suo moto notice of the worsening state of affairs in the Kurram Agency. The e-mail also accompanied four bone-chilling pictures of slaughtered persons. The way they were slaughtered could not be translated into words.

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