Saturday, April 30, 2011

Kurram Agency: MQM, PTI express solidarity with tribesmen

Business Recorder

Kurram Agency: MQM, PTI express solidarity with tribesmen


RECORDER REPORT
ISLAMABAD  (April 30, 2011) : Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday, expressing solidarity with the protesting tribesmen belonging to restive Kurram Agency, asked the government to take immediate measure to lift the four-year long blockade of Thall-Parachinar Road.

MQM's parliamentary leader in National Assembly, Dr Farooq Sattar and PTI leader Zahid Hussain Kazmi were addressing a large gathering of protesters belonging to Kurram Agency here in front of the Parliament House. The gathering was also addressed by chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on States and Frontier Region, MNA Sajid Hussain Turi.

Sattar extended MQM's full support to the people of Kurram Agency in redressing their problems of lawlessness and the four-year long blockade of the region by militants adding that MQM would also raise the issue in the parliament. He asked the government to take action against the elements that were creating law and order situation in Kurram Agency. He said MQM would also submit adjournment motion in the National Assembly regarding lawlessness in Kurram Agency and the problems being faced by the tribesmen due to the blockade of Thall-Parachinar Road.

He criticised the government for not taking measures to rescue over 0.5 million residents from the trenches created by militants who were brutally killing innocent tribesmen. Sattar criticised PTI Chief Imran Khan for not raising voice for the people of Parachinar, who he said were subjected to brutalities of the militants. "We all are opposing and condemning the US drone attacks. But it is deplorable to neglect the 0.5 million population who are at the mercy of the extremist elements," he said.

The MQM leader also expressed solidarity with the people of Parachinar on behalf of the party's Quaid Altaf Hussain, adding that his party would stand side by side with the residents of the Kurram Agency. "We have to remove differences and those elements promoting such rifts among the society if we want to create a real Pakistan in accordance with the dreams of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah," he added.

Sattar was of the view that if the government fails to redress the genuine issues of the people there would soon be a revolution. The gathering was later joined by PTI leader Zahid Hussain Kazmi, who also extended his party's support to the people of Kurram Agency. He demanded of the government to undertake immediate measures to restore peace in the restive region.

Kazmi criticised media for keeping itself mum over the matter of Kurram Agency and for not highlighting the plight of the local tribesmen. He was of the view that the government does not have right to govern if it is not able to establish its writ and wipe out militants who were plying with the lives of innocent people.

The rally was also addressed by vice President Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Mirza Hassan Jehadi, Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen leader Allama Fakhar Abbas Rizvi and PPP's former candidate from Kurram Agency Dr Syed Riaz Hussain Shah.

Copyright Business Recorder, 201
source http://www.brecorder.com/component/news/single/599:news.html?id=1183794

Protesters castigate authorities for their silence

 
Mumtaz Alvi
Saturday, April 30, 2011
 
Islamabad

Hundreds of residents of under-siege Parachinar here on Friday castigated president, prime minister and political parties for what they called their criminal silence over the 0.5 million population's plight at the hands of militants.

They called upon the rulers to either honour their commitments made on several occasions with the Jirga delegates and MNAs belonging to Fata or step down in case they could not make secure the only road link between Kurram Agency and rest of Pakistan.

The protesters, mostly youth, took out a rally and staged a sit-in near the Parliament House. All political parties, barring Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf completely ignored the event.

In their fiery speeches, speakers regretted that PPP, PML-N and so-called NGOs were insensitive to the long-continuing human rights violations in Parachinar, the headquarters of Kurram Agency. The rally was organised by the Youth of Parachinar, which has encamped outside the Press Club here since last week to press the government for re-establishment of its writ there.

MQM Parliamentary Leader in the National Assembly Dr. Farooq Sattar expressed solidarity with the protestors and promised to demand lifting of the siege and reopening of the Thal-Parachinar Road on the floor of the lower house. He added MQM leader Altaf Hussain would address the affected of Parachinar if they organised such a programme in the coming days.

They noted Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan had recently staged a dharna in Peshawar in a bid to halt drone attacks. They said they were also against any kind of outside interference in Pakistan's internal matters.

But they decried Imran never issued even a statement against the blockade of Parachinar and in support of their struggle against the militants' barbarism. However, PTI central spokesman of Imran, Zahid Hussain Kazmi on behalf of the party chairman, rushed to the venue and joined the protest. Later, he delivered a brief speech, condemning the siege of the region.

The PTI spokesman expressed solidarity with the protesters and criticised the PPP-led government for its indifference to the seething human misery in Parachinar.

Maulana Asghar Askari cautioned that if the status quo persisted, next time they could stage a sit-in inside the Parliament premises. He noted the president, prime minister and even interior minister had promised to drive Taliban out of the region and secure the road from them but they failed to honour their pledges.

Amid chants of shame, shame and down with Zardari government, he said they were aware as to which hidden forces were behind the diabolical activities of Taliban. "There is uniform behind the rampant terrorism," the participants shouted in response to his statement.

He recalled that Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had very recently rightly said that Pakistan army was the best in the world. "We may dare to ask our army chief why then the Thal-Parachinar Road is not being made secure," he remarked.

The religious scholar complained that the electronic media had not been projecting the crisis, as it should have had been and noted the media often looked for noted political figures for coverage instead of highlighting human misery.

The MNA from Parachinar Sajid Hussain Turi who is also chairman of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on the States and Frontier Regions, in his speech described Parachinar as Pakistani Gaza and said their peaceful agitation would continue unless the road was cleared of militants.

He said due to the road blockade, broiler chicken was being sold in Parachinar at Rs450-500 per kilo, price spiral of the day-to-day commodities such as flour, ghee was unaffordable for the majority.

Similarly, he continued, both ordinary and life-saving drugs were also no more available and in some cases, medicines meant for animals were given to patients.

"Entire convoys of vehicles are taken away along with passengers by the militants: either killed with brutality; their bodies are mutilated and returned only after ransom is paid. These terrorists have martyred over 2000 innocent men, women and even children since 2007," he lamented.

He asserted their struggle would continue until 35 persons abducted a few days back were recovered, the army troops moved in to clear the road; violators of the Murree Agreement punished and at the earliest PIA service resumed from Peshawar to Parachinar.
 

Misleading information — III —Farhat Taj

ANALYSIS: Misleading information — III —Farhat Taj
Since 9/11 and the US attacks on terrorist positions in Afghanistan, the authority of the political agent has been replaced by the Pakistan Army officers in a de facto manner. The officers are neither capable of nor legally authorised to deal with tribal or sectarian disputes

This is the last part of my comments on Mr Ejaz Haider's article 'Responding to Farhat Taj — II' published in an English daily on April 11, 2011.

Mr Haider recommends Patrick Porter's Military Orientalism: Eastern War through Western Eyes so that I understand how the Taliban overpowered FATA. The problem is that a great deal of international research and journalistic literature authored on FATA in the context of the war on terror is misleading, at times marred with factual mistakes and tarnished with serious ethical and methodological mistakes. Readers of Daily Times are aware that I have been challenging some of the literature on this forum. My published research papers as well as my forthcoming book, Taliban and Anti-Taliban, question the work of some of the most famous FATA 'experts' around the world. The literature is based on information and assumptions that, at the very best, have only insignificant presence in FATA's ground reality. By producing such blighted knowledge about FATA, the famous FATA experts in the US and Europe have defiled the West's own tradition of scholarship.

I have not read Porter's book and so I am in no position to comment on it. But I will never judge the situation in FATA on the criteria set in this or any other book; I will do things the other way round. Mr Haider's own understanding that, due to internal socio-political changes, the traditional tribal structure led by the tribal leader has been battered leading to the rise of indigenous religious power embodied by the Taliban, is baseless. The tribal leaders have not been outdated through internal changes in society. They have been out-manoeuvred and even killed by the security establishment that engineered, through terrorism and blackmail, the Taliban takeover of tribal society in pursuit of strategic goals.

Kurram is a complicated story, quite different from the rest of FATA. There are also long standing tribal disputes over land, forests and water between Sunni and Shia tribes. Some of the disputes have been pending since colonial times. Some of the disputes are dormant and some have been causing occasional tribal clashes. There are also controversial sectarian disputes. But never before have any tribal clashes in Kurram's history led to so much violence and mass scale human displacement such as those in the deadly cycle of sectarian clashes since 2007.

Traditionally, there have been two authorities that prevented all previous tribal clashes from causing large-scale violence: the jirga led by tribal leaders and the political agent. Since 9/11 and the US attacks on terrorist positions in Afghanistan, the authority of the political agent has been replaced by the Pakistan Army officers in a de facto manner. The officers are neither capable of nor legally authorised to deal with tribal or sectarian disputes. Most of the non-local tribal leaders, who used to play a constructive role in managing disputes in Kurram, have been target killed, like Khandan Mehsud of South Waziristan. The remaining tribal leaders have limited their activities due to security concerns or they toe the establishment's line and are hence irrelevant for the well being of the tribal people. Within Kurram, moderate Shia and Sunni tribal leaders are hostage to armed gangs and occasionally get target killed — the latest example is that of Iqbal Hussain, an important moderate Sunni tribal leader from Parachinar as well as historian of Kurram, who was target killed in January 2011.

With the authority of the tribal leaders removed and the state reluctant to impose its writ, the Shia and Sunni militant groups have been given a free hand to commit as many atrocities as they please. No one in Kurram believes that the state does not have the capacity to rein in the militant groups.

Almost all Sunnis from Parachinar have been displaced by the Shia militant groups. Why did the army stationed in the area not provide security to the Sunni residents of the city by confronting the Shia attackers with full might? The fact that some Sunnis were linked with the Taliban is no justification for the army to remain silent spectators over the carnage and displacement of the Sunnis, most of whom were innocent civilians. There are more people linked with the Taliban in Lahore. Would that be a reason for the army to silently allow a violent eviction of an entire section of the population from the city?

Instead of harshly dealing with the Sunnis linked with the Taliban, the local state agents have been publicly giving them VIP treatment. For example, during the sectarian clashes in 2007, a military helicopter airlifted the injured Eid Nazar Mangal, leader of the anti-Shia Sipah-e-Sahaba in Kurram to a hospital. No other injured Shia or Sunni was given that facility on the occasion. All the government could do for the assaulted innocent Sunnis was to 'facilitate' their forced eviction by providing them transport that dumped them just outside the Shia-dominated area to lick their wounds.

Why did Colonel Tauseef even hold the jirga in which he invited a controversial anti-Shia personality from Kohat? He does not have any legal authority to do so. His move achieved nothing for peace in Kurram but contributed towards a bad tribal perception about his institution. The Sunni tribal leaders now say that Colonel Tauseef's plan to repatriate the Sunnis was the army's plan to trap the Parachinar Shias in violence. Without having appropriate security arrangements in place to protect the repatriated Sunnis from aggression by Shia militant gangs, the returned IDPs would be slaughtered by the Shia armed groups. This would provide a pretext to the military to conduct a fake military operation in the name of elimination of the Shia groups, but would actually result in the carnage of innocent Shia families.

The text of the Murree Agreement clearly identifies three parties to the crisis in Kurram — the local Shia, Sunni populations and the government of Pakistan — and, depending on the case, any of the three will be responsible for any violation of the agreement. It is only the government of Pakistan that has failed to fulfill its responsibility under the agreement. Both Shias and Sunnis from Kurram hold the government responsible for non-implementation of the agreement. Rather than implementing the Murree Agreement, the government is holding media circuses, like the jirga in March 2011 as referred to by Mr Ejaz. The jirga was boycotted by an important stakeholder of the Kuram crisis, the Sunni IDPs from Parachinar. There has been more violence in the area against innocent Shias and Sunnis since that jirga.

Due to space constraints, I will not be able to discuss more about Kurram, but I wish to inform that, together with another author, I am writing a report about Kurram, which will elaborate most of the issues touched upon by Mr Ejaz. Therefore, I would request the readers to wait for the report.

The writer is a PhD Research Fellow with the University of Oslo and currently writing a book, Taliban and Anti-Taliban
 

Forces release LI founder Mufti Munir Shakir

 
 
Said Nazir Afridi
Saturday, April 30, 2011
 
BARA: Security forces released the founder of banned militant organisation Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) Mufti Munir Shakir in Sadda in Kurram Agency on Friday and ordered him to leave the area within three days, official sources said. The sources said security forces arrested him while checking vehicles at a checkpost in lower Kurram Agency on March 27, 2011. Talking to this scribe, Munir Shakir said neither was he involved in anti-state activities nor charged in any case. He termed his expulsion from Kurram Agency as violation of basic human rights. Munir Shakir and his rival Pir Saif-ur-Rehman were expelled by the political administration from Bara in Khyber Agency in the first quarter of 2006 for inciting people against each other through their illegal FM radio stations. Following his expulsion, Mangal Bagh organised the Lashkar-e-Islam and started to implement its manifesto forcefully in major parts of Khyber Agency. Mufti Shakir was arrested by security agencies at Karachi airport when he was ready to leave Pakistan in May 2006. He was released on August 20, 2007. He tried to come back to Bara and lead the LI but Mangal Bagh opposed his return as he considered him a threat to his power. The sources said that in early 2008 Mufti Shakir shifted to his hometown Karboogha in Hangu district and remained there till his capture by security forces.
 

Friday, April 29, 2011

27 militants, two Lashkar men killed in Kurram

 
 
our correspondent
Friday, April 29, 2011
 
SADDA: Twenty-seven militants and two members of a tribal Lashkar were killed and two others injured in clashes in the central Kurram Agency on Thursday, official and tribal sources said.

The sources said the militants attacked members of the tribal Lashkar with heavy weapons in Mirandi area in Kurram Agency, killing two of them. The sources said the Lashkar volunteers repulsed the attack and killed five militants and injured two of them.

Meanwhile, official sources said the military's gunship helicopters targeted the hideouts of militants in Mirandi, Sangroba and Chinarak areas, killing, at least, 22 insurgents and injuring several others.

The sources said three militant hideouts were also destroyed in the attack. The claims could not be independently confirmed. The Kurram Agency has seen sectarian clashes and operations against the Taliban and other militants by security forces recently.
 

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Is Parachinar not part of Pakistan, asks NA panel chief

 
 
Mumtaz Alvi
Monday, April 25, 2011
 
ISLAMABAD: Over 100 residents of militant-besieged Parachinar, which is the headquarters of Kurram Agency, have set up a protest camp outside the National Press Club to press the government for ridding them of the armed gangs of Taliban.

Through a memorandum, a copy of which is available with The News, the Youth of Parachinar, a platform of Turi and Bangash tribes, aired some questions: Is Parachinar not a part of Pakistan? Is it really impossible for the government to open and make secure the main Thal Parachinar-Peshawar Road that was closed over four years back?

It continued could a civilised nation justify the crippling embargo on a population of more than 0.5 million people? Is there any humanitarian organisation in Pakistan that could help alleviate deepening sufferings of these people, facing acute shortage of life-saving drugs and other medicines: paucity of daily use items such as rice, atta, tea, sugar and groceries?

"I have met the President at least 20 times and Prime Minister 40 times on different occasions and raised the issue with them but it appears either they are insensitive to our agony or unable to do anything to drive the militants out of Parachinar," said an MNA from the Kurram Agency's headquarters Sajid Hussain Turi while talking to The News at the camp.

Turi, who is chairman of the National Assembly's standing committee on States and Frontier Regions, pointed out as the government functionaries were unable to perform their responsibility in Parachinar there was a breakdown of civil and social services: education and health were the most affected sectors; donors and foreign philanthropists had also stopped visiting the area due to seething insecurity.

 

Forces to escort vehicles on Parachinar Road, says Malik

Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Forces to escort vehicles on Parachinar Road, says Malik
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rahman Malik on Monday announced in the National Assembly that security forces would be deployed within 48 hours on Parachinar Road to secure it. Rahman Malik announced it after an MNA from FATA, Sajid Turi, on a point of order sought the attention of the Chair towards the precarious security situation on Parachinar Road. He later walked out from the House and refused to listen to the interior minister despite his insistence that he should be given a chance to let him explain the government's position on the issue. Malik said that people belonging to Sunni and Shia sects in the area have failed to protect the artery, adding that the security forces would escort the vehicles on the road in the form of convoys after every one hour. The minister said that the road was opened on assurance given by both Shias and Sunnis that they would protect the route, however, the terrorists still pose a threat to the security of the road. On a question about misuse of blasphemy law, the minister said that law enforcement agencies and the judiciary prevent misuse of this law, however, he admitted that there were certain cases where some people were implicated in false cases. On a compliant from a member that rangers personnel in Karachi mistreated him, the minister said that he would probe the matter, but said that no one was immune to security procedures because impersonation was rampant in Karachi. He informed the House that strict action was being taken to check human smuggling, adding that local police, Coast Guard, FIA and FC are jointly working to curb this illegal practice. tanveer ahmed.
 

Security forces to secure Parachinar road: Malik

 
Security forces to secure Parachinar road: Malik
 
By Khawar Ghumman | From the Newspaper
 
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik assured the National Assembly on Monday that law-enforcement personnel would be deployed within two days to secure the Thall-Parachinar road in Kurram Agency and help the besieged people of the area.
He was responding to a point of order by MNA Sajid Hussain Turi from the affected area who subsequently walked out in protest against what he termed the government`s indifference to the misery of the people of Parachinar who could not travel on the road because of insecurity. Mr Turi announced that he would join a hunger-strike camp set up several days ago by the affected people from his area in front of the press club here.
The protesters have been moving towards the Parliament House during the assembly session, but Monday`s protest was the noisiest when they used loudspeakers to draw the attention of passing lawmakers to their problems.
Despite repeated requests, the government had failed to provide adequate security in the area, Mr Turi said.
"Therefore, I am walking out of the house and joining the hunger strike of people from the area. I will remain there till the government takes concrete measures to address their concerns."
No other member joined him in the protest, although Dr Abdul Qadir Khanzada of the MQM spoke on the closure of the road.
The interior minister said the Sunni and Shia communities of the area had reached an agreement in the past but had not honoured their commitments.He said he would send a senior officer of his ministry to Peshawar on Tuesday to assess the situation and promised to send security personnel to the area within 48 hours. The minister said because of the complex situation it was impossible to ensure complete peace there without the support of local people.
The road has remained closed since March 25 because of incidents of killing and kidnapping in violation of a truce reached in early February at a jirga presided over by Mr Malik and attended by a large number of elders from all tribal agencies, including Mr Turi, Fata parliamentary leader Munir Orakzai and Sports Minister Shaukatullah, and Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi.
According to some reports, Taliban were part of the deal. As a result of the accord, the Thall-Parachinar and all other roads in Kurram Agency were opened on Feb 5 after four years.
However, on March 13, militants intercepted a Peshawar-bound coach in Mamo Khwar area of Hangu district and killed 11 passengers from Parachinar. BLASPHEMY LAW:
Replying to a question about misuse of the blasphemy law, the interior minister said a number of incidents had come into the knowledge of the government where the law had been invoked to settle personal scores. However, he declined to share specific information, saying that every time something was said about the law it made headlines in the media and sent wrong signals to the people. "Therefore, considering it a highly sensitive issue, I will prefer to personally convey the needed information to the lawmakers concerned."
Replying to a supplementary question, the minister said there were less chances of misuse of the law in the presence of the independent higher judiciary.
 

Parachinar residents seek security

 
Parachinar residents seek security
By A Reporter | From the Newspaper
 
ISLAMABAD, April 25: After waiting for five years to visit his hometown, Ali Mohammad returned to the country from UAE last month, but all that was received by the family was his burned corpse, released three days back by suspected Taliban commanders after negotiations.

He along with 33 other passengers was kidnapped while going to Parachinar from Peshawar. Of them 13 were burnt and maimed and thrown on the roads. The fate of the rest is still unknown.
Like rest of the family members the excitement of Saqib Hasan faded away when he received the body of his cousin Ali Mohammad. But all he can do is to bury him in accordance with the religious rituals.
In sheer frustration and anger against the authorities, Saqib arrived in the federal capital on Monday to participate in the protest demonstration and sit-in at the Parliament against Taliban brutalities.
The participants narrated tales of sufferings faced by their family members at the hands of Taliban who have blocked the road leading to Parachinar, creating severe shortage of fuel, food and medicines in the area.
"My brother's leg had to be amputated only because he could not receive medical care in time," said one protester, adding, "Six of my cousins have been killed by Taliban in last four years."
The road between Peshawar and Parachinar is almost 250-km but a patch of 25-30-km around Tal is the troubled spot.
Speakers at the protest demonstration held in front of National Press Club said Taliban were creating unrest in the region and committing crimes against the Turi and Bangash tribes.
The organiser of the protest demonstration Sajid Hussain Bangash said that more than 2,200 Turi and Banghash tribesmen have been killed and over 5,000 injured by the Taliban in four years.
Later the residents of Parachinar staged a a token sit-in at D-Chowk opposite to the Parliament House where they were addressed by parliamentarians.
In his fiery speech, MQM leader Haider Abbas Rizvi, expressed sympathies with the residents of Parachinar.
"Our party will take up the issue with the president, prime minister and the interior minister," he added.
Sajid Turi, MNA from the area announced to leave his seat in protest if the authorities failed to implement the peace accord between the Shia and Sunni tribes.
 

Minister promises reopening of road within two days

The Express Tribune 

Minister promises reopening of road within two days

Published: April 26, 2011
As Parliament debated the Parachinar issue, students marched towards the house. PHOTO: ZAFAR ASLAM/EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD: 
As hundreds of youths from Parachinar in the restive Kurram Agency marched towards Parliament House on Monday, inside the House, Interior Minister Rehman Malik assured the lower house that security escorts will be provided to commuters and the blocked road leading to Parachinar will be reopened in 48 hours.
The charged protesting youth also staged a sit-in outside Parliament House after packing the five-day protest camp they had set up outside the National Press Club in F-6.
In the question hour session of the National Assembly, Interior Minister Rehman Malik assured the house that Parachinar-Thal-Peshawar Road would be opened and a military escort will be deployed at the troubled patch of the road to provide protection to civilian convoys.
MNA from Kurram Agency Sajid Hussain Turi boycotted the National Assembly proceedings and joined the protesting youth.
MQM's MPs led by their Parliamentary Leader Haider Abbas Rizvi also visited the camp to express solidarity with the protesters.
The protesters have come from different localities and assembled in the Capital in favour of their demands after eight of the 41 people taken hostage by the Taliban on March 25 were returned beheaded, burnt and mutilated.
These people were taken hostage by the Taliban while travelling on the Thal-Parachinar-Peshawar Road. The remaining 33 people are still being held captive by the militants.
Addressing the gathering, Haider Abbas Rizvi demanded that the government make concrete efforts to recover the 33 missing people. He asked the government to restore C-130 air service immediately in the interest of people of the area.
Sajid Turi said that this time we will not accept the government's hollow promises of restoring peace in the area. "Until the demands are met, I will not attend the National Assembly session," he added.
The young protesters were chanting slogans against the Taliban and the government. They felt the government's apathy towards the humanitarian issue was 'senseless'. "We will continue our protest until the government comes up with concrete steps," they said.
Qalandar Bangash, a university student, said that it seems that Parachinar is not part of the country as the Parachinar-Thal-Peshawar Road has been closed for the last four years and the people of Parachinar are facing tremendous problems. According to the protesters, the city is being held hostage by a "handful" of Taliban, who could easily be eliminated if the establishment had the will to do so.
Rohullah, a student of University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar, said, "I left my final year examination to join the protest in Islamabad to highlight a genuine issue."
He said there was only a pocket, a kilometre or so, where the miscreants were hiding and blocking the road, denying people in Upper Kurram access to Peshawar and the rest of the country.
Before the closure of the Pak-Afghan border for security reasons in 2008, people in Upper Kurram were using the Afghanistan route to access Peshawar. Worryingly, now they do not even have access to the basic necessities of life.
With additional reporting by Umer Nangiana
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2011.
 

Ministers’ absence in assembly irks legislators

Ministers' absence in assembly irks legislators

Published: April 26, 2011
Rehman Malik promises security on Tal-Parachinar road.
ISLAMABAD: 
On a day when most of the questions from legislators were about the state of the nation's economy, the absence of Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh from the National Assembly annoyed members from the opposition benches.
Bargees Tahir, an MNA from Nanka Sahib (NA-135) of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz said absence from the question hour had become "routine" for federal ministers.
Perhaps sarcastically, PML-N legislators invited Interior Minister Rehman Malik to take the questions on behalf of the cabinet, since he was one of only two ministers present. Malik restricted his reply to a broad smile.
Malik, however, was forced to begin answering questions after Sajid Hussain Turi, the MNA from the Kurram tribal district, walked out in protest over the failure of the government's failure to control the law and order situation in the district and restore access to the Parachinar-Tal-Peshawar highway.
"I am going to join the youth from Parachinar protesting outside the National Assembly," said Turi, who then went to join the sit-in on Parade Avenue by Parachinari youth protesting the highway's blockage.
The walk-out prompted Malik to assure the house that a military escort would be provided for the security of civilian traffic on Parachinar-Tal road within next 48 hours.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2011.
 
SOURCE: 

Parachinari youth still hopeful for a change of tide

Protest camp: Parachinari youth still hopeful for a change of tide

Published: April 26, 2011
Protesters hold placards, hoping their elected representatives finally listen. PHOTO: ZAFAR ASLAM/EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD: 
Two years away from home, Muhammad Ali's patience is running out. He wants the road leading to his home town opened now so that he could rejoin his family.
"My cousins are dead. The Taliban killed my loved ones and I could not even go to attend their funerals," said Ali, one of the hundreds of youth from Parachinar, the headquarters of Kurram Agency, who are on a hunger strike against the closure of the Thal-Parachinar-Peshawar road for the last four years.
Hundreds of youth from Parachinar and adjoining areas of Upper Kurram Agency gathered in Islamabad four days ago. They established a camp in front of the National Press Club, hoping they might attract the attention of the government and the rights campaigners.
"No one from the government has shown up as yet. Interior Minister Rehman Malik and a few others came to the press club but none of them paid us a visit," said Iqtidar.
Ali is a university student in Islamabad. He and his friends complained that the Taliban were chopping through their relatives like butchers. Whosoever tried to travel on the Thal road was targeted by the Taliban. Even convoys under military protection were not spared, they said.
"The other day they killed my cousin who was in army. We only received his mutilated remains," said Mustafa. His cousin was one of the 41 people abducted by the Taliban on March 25 this year. The bodies of eight were handed over to their families two days ago.
Mustafa said the families had to pay for the bodies as well. "I fail to understand how they [Taliban] attack a convoy travelling under military protection, and that too in settled areas," he added.
To a distant observer, it appeared to be a simple case of Taliban's conventional vengeance against Shiites. But the Parachinar youth refused to believe that. A sectarian divide is being deliberately created. It is much more than a Shia-Sunni issue.
Upper Kurram is a Shia majority area while Lower Kurram is predominantly Sunni populated area. By now, only Upper Kurram is free from Taliban control.
"When we struck a federal government sponsored peace agreement with the Taliban a few months ago, people from the two sides of Kurram agency visited each other and roamed freely," said Mustafa.
"But recently, some people have been creating disturbances. A group of miscreants openly abused our Imams in Parachinar Bazaar recently and the administration remained silent spactator despite our repeated appeals for action against them," said Iftikhar Hussain.
He opined that the "Establishment is behind such tactics to instigate a Shia-Sunni clash." Hussain and many others accused the establishment of wanting to launch the Taliban across into Afghanistan after the Americans exit.
"Hundreds of times we have offered our services to the army and government to fight against any enemy of Pakistan. Why do they need the Taliban when we were ready to give our blood for Pakistan's security and its interests?", asked a number of youth.
The young boys who had come from different parts of Pakistan to express their desire for the restoration of a road link from Peshawar to their hometown said that they loved Pakistan. However, they felt betrayed.
They said their loved ones were being brutally murdered; Taliban were besieging them, denying them access to the rest of the country, while the authorities look the other way. The only air service operating from the area is too expensive for a majority of the people, who feel like the private air company is exploiting the situation.
They remain hopeful of getting the attention of the authorities. Until then, they are not about to end their hunger camp in the Federal Capital anytime soon.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2011.
 

Parachinar residents seek security

Parachinar residents seek security

ISLAMABAD, April 25: After waiting for five years to visit his hometown, Ali Mohammad returned to the country from UAE last month, but all that was received by the family was his burned corpse, released three days back by suspected Taliban commanders after negotiations.

He along with 33 other passengers was kidnapped while going to Parachinar from Peshawar. Of them 13 were burnt and maimed and thrown on the roads. The fate of the rest is still unknown.
Like rest of the family members the excitement of Saqib Hasan faded away when he received the body of his cousin Ali Mohammad. But all he can do is to bury him in accordance with the religious rituals.
In sheer frustration and rage against the authorities, Saqib arrived in the federal capital on Monday to participate in the protest demonstration and sit-in at the Parliament against Taliban brutalities.
The participants narrated tales of sufferings faced by their family members at the hands of Taliban who have blocked the road leading to Parachinar, making severe shortage of fuel, food and medicines in the area.
"My brother's leg had to be amputated only because he could not receive medical care in time," said one protester, adding, "Six of my cousins have been killed by Taliban in last four years."
The road between Peshawar and Parachinar is nearly 250-km but a patch of 25-30-km around Tal is the troubled spot.
Speakers at the protest demonstration held in front of National Press Club said Taliban were making unrest in the region and committing crimes against the Turi and Bangash tribes.
The organiser of the protest demonstration Sajid Hussain Bangash said that more than 2,200 Turi and Banghash tribesmen have been killed and over 5,000 injured by the Taliban in four years.
Later the residents of Parachinar staged a a token sit-in at D-Chowk opposite to the Parliament House where they were addressed by parliamentarians.
In his fiery speech, MQM leader Haider Abbas Rizvi, expressed sympathies with the residents of Parachinar.
"Our party will take up the issue with the president, prime minister and the interior minister," he added.
Sajid Turi, MNA from the area announced to leave his seat in protest if the authorities failed to implement the peace accord between the Shia and Sunni tribes.
 

Marvi disappoints admirers

Published: April 27, 2011
Marvi Memon came into politics under the patriarchal wings of Musharraf, but his fall has not aborted her growth. PHOTO: FILE
Most commentators do not take women parliamentarians seriously, especially those nominated to seats reserved for them in various legislative houses. It is widely believed that, spared the heat and dust of a directly contested election, these 'token representatives' remain clueless of 'ground realities.'
However, since the year 2002 we have witnessed many of our women parliamentarians demolishing this dismissive perception with sweating homework and courageous association with human rights related issues.
Marvi Memon is an iconic example of this category. True, she came into politics under the patriarchal wings of military dictator Pervez Musharraf, but his fall has not aborted her growth.
During the elections for a newly formed Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly in early 2010, she savoured an intensive exposure to the rough and tumble of electoral battles. She also took lead in owning and promoting the cause of flood victims, and is always found amongst the front ranks of activists struggling for the marginalised in the feudal-dominated pockets of Sindh.
Speaking on point of order during Tuesday's sitting, however, she left many of her admirers disappointed.
The sitting was reserved for individual initiatives for legislation. However, most of our representatives preferred wasting the day talking about 'this or that' issue of their constituency through the desultory raising of points of order.
Ms Memon availed the same opportunity and tried to agitate over the blockade of roads leading to Parachinar, which could have been passable – if she had finished there.
Unfortunately, a low level delegation from the US State of Georgia was present in the Speaker's gallery and instead of welcoming the guests with the usual sweet talk, Memon decided to take them on with a vengeance.
Being well-educated, she did not need to be taught to fathom the fact that the 'provincial level' guests in the gallery have nothing to do with defence-related decisions made in Washington. Yet, she wailed over the "violation of our sovereignty" via drone attacks and finished her delirious diatribe with a comment that almost suggested that the Georgian legislators were not welcome in this country.
And all this while, she forgot to her convenience that only a while back she was moaning over the blockade of all roads to Parachinar. Obviously, the Americans have not blocked the route. Pakistanis cannot simply go there because some of our "strategic assets" from Afghanistan are obsessed with converting the area into another operational base for waging Jihad.
Sadly, drones are striking places that had already been denied to our state and people by the same assets.
Honing a would-be-populist in her, Ms Memon should perhaps not care for the fine and delicate details connected to a crowd swaying issue. One would still be willing to believe that she made the rude remarks in a 'high' state of mind that she must have been savouring since addressing the drone-preventing dharna that Imran Khan staged in Peshawar during the weekend.
Notwithstanding the venomous remarks and posturing of Ms Memon against the government and its friends in Washington, journalists and legislators, huddled in parliamentary lobbies and ministerial chambers, kept discussing the pros and cons of an 'almost done deal' between the PPP and the PML-Q.
Most keenly discussed was a newspaper report that had claimed that none other than the younger brother of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Wajahat, would end up in the Governor House of Lahore after the maturing of the said deal. Despite combing various sources, no confirmation was received regarding this piece of information.
However, a reliable source told me that a minister considered "too close to President Zardari" these days had 'planted' this news to upset "Kaira-types of dropped ministers", reportedly eyeing for the interior ministry in their next turn to the cabinet.
The source also did not hesitate to share that 'someone big' from PML-Q seems ready for taking over the ministry of defence. The late Rao Sikandar Iqbal had asked for the same ministry from his hostel-friend, Musharraf, for leading a group of turncoats from the PPP for supporting the election of Jamali as the Prime Minister in 2002. With the additional title of a 'senior minister', he was given the requested portfolio, which he held on to until the completion of the term of Shaukat Aziz's government.
The PIA board, I was told, is to begin meeting in Islamabad from April 27. For the first time, the national flag carrier is expected to announce 'profits' during the scheduled meeting. "At the end of which", my source insisted, "Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar will submit his resignation from the ministry of defence to President Zardari, telling him that 'I have achieved the task of turning around PIA'."
Don't get me wrong, though. I am not saying that Chaudhry Mukhtar will quit the cabinet. No, no. He will just 'vacate' the ministry of defence for someone else, if my source proves to be right in the end.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 27th, 2011.
 
source: http://tribune.com.pk/story/157488/marvi-disappoints-admirers/

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Hunger strike: Three days and counting

The Express Tribune

Hunger strike: Three days and counting

Published: April 24, 2011
Camped outside the National Press Club, the residents of Parachinar have gone on a hunger-strike to force the government to take action against the Taliban in their areas. PHOTO: ZAFAR ASLAM/EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD: 
More than two hundred young men from Parachinar have been camping outside the National Press Club in Islamabad for the past three days. They have been refusing to eat.
They want to know if the government really cannot open and secure the Parachinar-Thal-Peshawar Road closed for the last four years?
"Is Parachinar not part of Pakistan," they ask.
Parachinar has a population of 0.5 million people and is the headquarters of Upper Kurram. According to the protesters, the city is being held hostage by a "handful" of Taliban, who could easily be eliminated if the establishment had the "will" to do so.
The youth vowed to continue their hunger strike until the government did something about their plight. The camp swelled up after the people of Upper Kurram on Friday received badly mutilated and burnt bodies of eight of the 41 people taken hostages by the Taliban on March 25 this year.
These people were taken hostage by the Taliban in violation of a peace agreement while they were travelling on Thal-Parachinar-Peshawar Road. The remaining 33 people are still being held captive by the Taliban.
"It was not the first violation of the peace accord by the Taliban. They have so far killed hundreds of Shiite people from Upper Kurram on the Thal Road," said a young man in the camp.
Many of those protesting thought the government was not serious in its fight against the militants. "The establishment wants to launch these Taliban into Afghanistan at some point in time in future," said an infuriated young boy.
He said there was only a pocket, a kilometre or so long, where the miscreants were present and were blocking the road and denying people in Upper Kurram access to Peshawar and the rest of the country.
Before the closure of Pak-Afghan border for security reasons in 2008, people of Upper Kurram were using the Afghanistan route to access Peshawar. But now they do not even have access to basic necessities of life.
"We ask why the government can not eliminate Taliban from our area if they could eliminate them from Malakand Agency and other tribal regions?" said Iftikhar Hussain, a student.
He said a sectarian divide was being deliberately created to launch people of two halves of Kurram Agency against each other. He said Taliban controlled Lower Kurram where the people had welcomed them with open arms.
But people in Upper Kurram were resisting them.
Hussain said, "We do not want to give Taliban access to our houses. We do not allow them to marry our women. And we do not want to become targets of drone attacks because of Taliban presence in our area."
Published in The Express Tribune, April 24th, 2011.
 
 

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Slain tribesmen laid to rest in Parachinar


Saturday, April 23, 2011
PARACHINAR: Eight tribesmen belonging to the Turi and Bangash tribes kidnapped by the militants almost a month back and later beheaded were laid to rest in Alizai village amid touching scenes on Friday.

A large number of relatives, friends and well wishers attended the funeral prayers held in Parachinar. The sources said that the militants had burnt the captives after beheading them in their training centres in Ghulam Khan and Ghund Markaz areas in Kurram Agency. 

The militants kidnapped some 40 passengers belonging to the Turi and Bangash tribes on way to Parachinar, the agency headquarters of Kurram Agency, from Peshawar on March 25. Some of the slain tribesmen were identified as Mohammad Irfan, Irshad Ali, Said Laiq Hussain, Nauroz Ali, Ali Mohammad, Khalid Anwar and Nisar Hussain. 

Mohammad Irfan and Irshad Ali were students, Syed Laiq Hussain and Nauroz Ali were soldiers going home for holidays, the sources said. Ali Muhammad was returning home from the United Arab Emirates after three years. Meanwhile, complete shutdown was observed on the call of Turi and Bangash tribes in Parachinar to mourn the killings. 

PAK militants brutally kill 8 Shias - WATCH debate on Shia-Sunni conflict

India Reloaded.TV

PAK militants brutally kill 8 Shias - WATCH debate on Shia-Sunni conflict


At least 8 of over 30 members of minority Shia community, taken hostage by militants in Pakistan's restive tribal belt, have been killed and their bodies burnt by their abductors, media reports today said.
Pro-Taliban militants had abducted over 30 people during attacks on two convoys of vehicles carrying Shias in the Kurram tribal region on March 25.
There has been confusion about the exact number of people kidnapped, with some reports stating that 45 Shias were taken hostage.
Militants burnt the bodies of eight persons after ruthlessly slaughtering them, The Frontier Post newspaper quoted its sources as saying.
The mutilated bodies were handed over to members of the Shia Turi-Bangash tribe in Kurram Agency yesterday.
Another report, from the tribal region, said the militants beheaded the eight persons. The attack last month occurred despite a peace deal signed by rival Shia and Sunni tribesmen earlier this year.
It was widely reported that the Haqqani militant network based in North Waziristan tribal region was involved in brokering the deal.
Following the attack, the strategic Tall-Parachinar road, which connects Kurram Agency to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa capital Peshawar, was closed.
The local political administration, security forces and a grand tribal jirga could not succeed in recovering the kidnapped Shias despite several attempts to negotiate with the abductors. The militants freed five women and seven children.
Tension has gripped the region after the attack. Local residents have expressed their disappointment and criticised the political administration and law enforcement agencies for their failure to rescue the kidnapped people even after a lapse of nearly a month.
The Doha Debates held a couple of years ago had an interesting discussion on the internal strife in the muslim world between the shia and the sunni communities -
part 1.
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5.

SOURCE: 

Govt must secure roads to Kurram Agency


Govt must secure roads to Kurram Agency

Saturday 23rd April, 2011
ISLAMABAD: Tribal people from Kurram agency has vowed to continue their protest in Islamabad until roads to Parachinar is not secured and reopened.
This protest camp would continue till the only road from Peshawar to Parachinar is secured and reopened, addressing the protest demonstration organized by youth Parachinar on Friday evening here in front of the National Press Club Islamabd, the speakers said.
They demanded of the government to take concrete steps for releasing the 41 kidnapped people of Turi tribe. They claimed that the 41 people were kidnapped from Bagan area of Lower Kurram agency on March 25 when as they said militants attacked three vehicles in the area killing three people. "8 dead decomposed bodies of the kidnapped persons were sent to Parachinar the other day," they claimed.
They said that in 2008 a peace truce between the warring tribes was agreed in Mari followed by several jirgas in which Interior Minister Rehman Malik also participated and assured implementation of the pacts. But all the promises proved hollow, they said, and no action was taken against the violators of the peace truce.
They said that communication to the area was suspended in 2007 and it is still persisting that make life almost impossible in the area and Kurram Agency lacks medicines as well as other basic amenities of life. Earlier, people of the area used areas of Afghanistan for travel to Peshawar but travel via Afghanistan also become very risky for the last year.
They demanded of the government to recollect Kurram militia deployed and other areas and redeploy it in the agency. They also stressed for restoration of the suspended PIA flights to the area and mobile service.