The Nation state versus violent non-state actors

Express Tribune
28 August 2015
by Muhammad Ali Babakhel

Recognising the need to ban armed militias, creating deterrence for proscribed organisations to re-emerge and prohibiting the glorification of terrorist organisations in the media, were key points in the National Action Plan (NAP) that depicted the Pakistani state’s resolve to weed out violent non-state actors (VNSA). In the backdrop of the post-Cold War scenario, VNSAs have posed more threats to states than the military might of rival nations. The last three decades of the 20th century saw the nurturing of VNSAs. Consequently, the 21^st century has witnessed a dominant role for them. There is hardly a country where non-state actors don’t exist, whether they are active or dormant. Although VNSAs are a reality, states often go into denial rather than acknowledging their existence. Such denial provides further space and strength to VNSAs.

UK: Swedish Integration Police Cheif Slams Government of Pakistan for Anti Ahmadi Laws

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | UK Desk
Source/Credit: Expressen.se
By Sanna Wikström | August 26, 2015

The Integration Police Inspector Ulf Boström from Gothenburg slams the Pakistani government in front of the eyes of millions of Ahmadi Muslims.

He was invited as a speaker at the largest Muslim convention, Jalsa Salana, in London, and after the speech the Gothenburg Police Inspector was praised both on site and in social media.

When Ulf Boström was asked whether he was willing to speak at Jalsa Salana in London, an annual convention that is followed by millions Ahmadi Muslims, he never hesitated.
"I saw this as part of my job as a police officer, it was natural for me to say yes," he says.

Saad Aziz: The story of an educated terrorist

The Nation
25 Aug, 2015

Education is not all about collecting a degree from a prestigious institute. Instead, it steers your mind and create the ability to differentiate between right and wrong. There is a famous saying: “Learning starts from the womb of the mother”. And now scientific research has also proven this fact but in this era all such maxims are just worthless. All these learning and degrees have no importance when you interact with such an influential personality who has a strong ability to control your brain by washing it. These inspiring persons wear angelic masks covering their filthy fiendish faces. They have the ability to destroy anyone’s life no matter how strong he is both mentally and physically.

Yes I am talking about men running terrorist gangs.  

Threat of Sectarianism

Daily Dawn
Editorial

There remains a troubling disconnect between what the government claims and the reality on the ground when it comes to the state’s attempts to fight sectarianism.

On Monday, Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan once again claimed that there has been significant progress in several areas of the National Action Plan and appeared to suggest that the clampdown on sectarianism is continuing.

Madressah Clean-up

Daily Dawn
Editorial

IT appears that the Punjab government has been busy cleaning up the seminaries — but away from public view.

Rana Sanaullah, the provincial law minister, says the madressahs in Punjab have somehow been purged of militant elements. He did, as a prelude to his claim, ‘admit’ to the presence earlier of 20 such seminaries whose students or faculty had been involved in terrorism, even if ‘only’ as facilitators.

What magic wand the administration waved to get such surprising results has yet to be disclosed.

The Sectarian Front

Wednesday, August 26, 2015 
From Print Edition
Editorial
Finally, words from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have confirmed the Pakistani state’s commitment to taking on sectarian outfits and private militias in the country. In a meeting of the federal cabinet on Monday, PM Sharif made good on the commitment to implement the National Action Plan in its true spirit. Dealing with the mushroom growth of sectarian outfits seems to be a key component of the way forward that the government is planning. The same words were echoed by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, who concurred that the abolition of sectarianism was a primary objective, and that no one would be allowed to declare other sects as non-Muslims. While tackling this would require much more than targeting sectarian groups, these words are much appreciated. In the last five years, the targeting of Shia and Ahmadi populations increased significantly. The past few months, though, have passed without any major incident after the horrific Shikarpur attack in early January. Since then, two key Laskhar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) leaders, Malik Ishaq and Balochistan head Usman Kurd, have been killed.

Education, extremism and the elite

By Imtiaz Gul

Published: August 26, 2015

Express Tribune

Why shouldn’t young minds turn towards extremist ideologies — I’m not talking of terrorism — if they are marginalised, their basic rights grossly violated, or if they are under-paid or unemployed? What role are many private educational institutions playing in promoting extremist tendencies among young academics? Is the state attentive to this? Is education a market economy product determined by the demand and supply principle, or is it a government responsibility (as promised underArticle 25-A of the Constitution)? The state is the guarantor of the right to education, bound to provide decent livelihoods as well as protect the youth from exploitation.

Pakistan: Religious leaders condemn blasphemy arrests

"We [Christians] have already apologized to our enraged Muslim brethren for this misunderstanding and asked for forgiveness, but they have rejected our apology and pressed the police to arrest the organizers."
Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: ucanews.com
By ucanews.com | August 21, 2015

Christian men arrested for using the word 'prophet' in a personal pamphlet 
Pakistani religious leaders and rights campaigners on Aug. 21 criticized the arrests of three Christians and one Muslim over the use of the word "prophet" in a pamphlet honoring a dead minister.

Needed-- A synchronised effort to counter terrorism

By Tariq Mahmud

Published: August 25, 2015

Express Tribune

After achieving some decisive breakthroughs in the tribal areas, Operation Zarb-e-Azb is now moving on to a higher trajectory, making inroads in urban Sindh, pinning down terrorists, militants and their helping hands. The extended reach of the operation has singled out elements within state organs and political parties, which had developed a mutuality of interest with organised crime. Punjab has been no exception, with the chief of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Malik Ishaq, being killed along with his companions in a reported police encounter.

Virus of extremeism

MOHAMMAD ALI BABAKHEL 
Daily Dawn

THERE is hardly any organised effort to assess the causes of extremism. Certain questions need to be answered. What roles do discrimination and a class-based education system have to play in fanning extremism? What is the nexus between curriculum and extremism? How can communities — particularly women — counter extremism? How does social isolation incubate obscurantism?

Saudi Women To Vote

The Nation
August 24, 2015

News this week that women are registering to vote in elections in Saudi Arabia has generated much attention. Many are hailing this a step as a “monumental” step toward bridging the gap of gender inequality. The Kingdom is declaring this a significant milestone in progress, in accordance with the 2011 royal decree permitting women to run and vote in municipal polls to be held in December.

Pakistan's growing gender gap

RUKHSANA SHAH
Daily Dawn

In 2013, Pakistan ranked 135th out of 136 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index Report of the World Economic Forum. In 2014, eight more countries were included in the report, but Pakistan remained second last at 141 out of 142 countries. It is significant that Pakistan ranked at 112 in 2006, the first year of the report, and since then, its position has been steadily deteriorating every year.

The Dark Reality

The Nation
Editorial
August 21, 2015

It is worrisome that we are still doubting whether the Kasur Scandal was actually a case of child abuse or not.
Let’s be clear.
It was.
The HRCP-AGHS fact-finding mission, in this regard, has also made sure that all the nonsense regarding any ulterior motives of the children should come to an end.
They have received credible testimonies, indicating large-scale sexual abuse of children over many years in Husain Khanwala village of Kasur.

Taking on Terrorism

August 23, 2015
The Nation 
Saad Rasool

Terrorism, at least in the case of Pakistan, is a multi-headed dragon; one that cannot be killed with a single swing of the sword. Over the course of the last three decades, we have deluded ourselves as to how deep and entrenched the scrooge of terrorism festers in our society. Hiding behind the nomenclature of ‘sectarianism’, ‘provincialism’, ‘wahabism’, and a pristine image of noble ‘mujahideen’ fighters, we have avoided calling terrorists by their name. And for this reason, above all, this inertia towards regarding all forms of militancy as terrorism, for the past many years we have struggled to devise and implement a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy that acknowledges the various heads of terrorism, and attempts to eradicate each on its own turf.

A secular vision for Pakistan

By Umair Rasheed

Published: August 23, 2015 

Express Tribune

The National Assembly of Pakistan last week passed a resolution endorsing Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s August 11 speech as the road map for the country in dealing with its minority communities. The resolution should be welcomed by every Pakistani who opposes the state’s use of religion as a marker of identity of its people and wants the state to guarantee fundamental rights (enshrined in Articles 8-28 of the Constitution) to the citizens without regard to their [religious] beliefs and practices. It demonstrates that a section of the political elite (represented to various degrees in all three major political parties) of the country is cognisant of the plight of its minority religious communities. Like Jinnah’s speech, however, this resolution may not cause a substantive change in either the position of the state vis-a-vis minority religious communities or the social, economic and political status of the majority among minority religious communities. The reason, it seems, is that the elite segment, like Jinnah, has yet to delve deeper into the economic basis of the political community it aspires for the country.

In search of Quaid's Pakistan

By Shahzad Chaudhry

Published: August 22, 2015

Express Tribune

The Pakistani intelligentsia is in a quandary in its search for Quaid’s Pakistan. To fuel this debate are his two speeches, both addressed to the Constituent Assembly, and with only a gap of two days. The one he made on August 11, 1947 is now widely quoted and freely available on the internet with numerous references. And then there is another one that was delivered on August 13, which he purportedly also made to the same Constituent Assembly and which made it to our history books and was used as a reference for decades, but lo and behold, is now lost to the digital world.

Change in attitude is a key for effective inter-religious dialogue

Pakistan Christian Post

Lahore: August 20, 2015. (Fr. Inayat Bernard + Pervez Yousaf) “Change of attitude is a key for effective inter-religious dialogue”. Hafiz Mehmood Ashrafi, the chairman of the Ulema Council of Pakistan was talking to the inter-religious gathering at the Lahore press club organized by Council for Interfaith Dialogue Pakistan (CFID) and United Religions Initiative (URI) on the eve of 68thIndependence Day of Pakistan. This prayer gathering was led by Fr. Francis Nadeem OFM Cap (coordinator of CFID), Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi (Chairman of Pakistan Ulema Council), Fr. Pascal Paulus OP (President of Major Superiors of Pakistan) and Fr. James Chanan OP (Representative of URI, Pakistan).

Registration of blasphemy case against Christian in Gujrat violates religious freedom: PCC

Pakistan Christian Post

Karachi: August 21, 2015. (PCP) Dr. Nazir S Bhatti, President of Pakistan Christian Congress PCC, in a statement issued here today from Central Secretariat of PCC, have strongly condemned arrest of three Christians under charges of blasphemy and terrorism by Gujrat police on publishing a flyer for worship gathering with title of “Prophet” to their deceased religious leader. The Civil Lines Police Station arrested two Christians and one Muslim owner of Printing Press on publishing and distributing a religious gathering flyer in city of Gujrat on calling a Christian leader “Prophet”.

Pakistan: Pastor Aftab and four others charged with blasphemy

Pakistan Christian Post

London: August 19, 2015. (PCP) A blasphemy case has been registered against Pastor Aftab Gill, and three other people from Nai Abadi, Bandith Road, Gujrat (Punjab). 

They have been accused of using the word "Rasool" (apostle) in relation of Pastor Gill's later father, Pastor Fazal Masih, who had established the local Biblical Church of God several years ago. 

USA: Harrisburg Harmony Walk Will Highlight Unity in Diversity

At each stop, the religious leader will share words about the value of unity among religions. People of all religions, including Buddhist, Baha'i, Hindu, and Sikh, and those of no specific faith are invited. 
Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | 
Source/Credit: Harmony Walk
By Web Desk | August 20, 2015

Harmony Walk, a celebration of cooperation among religions in the Harrisburg area sponsored by the InterReligious Forum of Greater Harrisburg, is planned for Sunday, September 20, 2015.

The event is held in conjunction with the United Nations International Day of Peace.

تونسہ ضلع ڈیرہ غازی خان میں مذہبی منافرت کی بنا پر 37سالہ احمدی نوجوان اکرام اللہ اپنے میڈیکل سٹور پر سر عام قتل

ملک بھر میں احمدیوں کے خلاف کیا جانے والا بے بنیاد پراپیگنڈہ معصوم احمدیوں کی زندگی کا گلا گھونٹ رہا ہے:ترجمان

چنا ب نگر:پ ر     ۔ڈیرہ غازی خان کے علاقے تونسہ میں مذہبی منافرت کی بنا پر 37سالہ احمدی نوجوان اکرام اللہ کو قتل کر دیا گیا۔تفصیلات کے مطابق دو موٹر سائیکلوں پر چار نامعلوم افراد آئے اوراپنےمیڈیکل سٹو رپر موجوداکرام اللہ صاحب پر فائرنگ کر دی ۔ان کو پانچ گولیاں لگیں جن میں سے ایک نے سر کو نشانہ بنایا جس سے وہ موقع پر جاں بحق ہو گئے۔مرحوم نے لواحقین میں بیوہ کے علاوہ ایک بیٹی بعمر پانچ سال اور ڈیڑھ سال کے بیٹے کو سوگوار چھوڑا ہے۔اکرام اللہ صاحب ایک فعال احمدی تھے اور ایک شریف النفس انسان تھے ۔ان کی کسی سے کوئی دشمنی نہیں تھی ۔قتل کا واقعہ مذہبی منافرت اور تعصب کا شاخسانہ ہے۔

Pakistan cannot tackle child abuse with politicians like Rana Sanaullah in power

By Noman Ansari Published: August 20, 2015
Express Tribune

Like a tiny flame still years away from growing into a full blown fire, a child is deeply vulnerable to strong winds. Due to this susceptibility, a child feels more intensely than adults do; raised voices from parents, the death of a pet, a seriously traumatic event, all become long-term fixtures on the portrait of a child’s mind.

Now imagine the repercussions of molestation on such an impressionable consciousness.

A child’s mind is like an open canvas gradually taking shape from the brushstrokes of life’s experiences. An event such as child molestation only leaves permanent dark splotches on the canvas. Through years of professional healing, a victim can paint over these ugly smears, but the marks can never truly go away.

Being groped, harassed and video-taped on Independence Day

By Noman Ansari Published: August 18, 2015
Express Tribune

For anyone who has an ounce of respect for other beings, the 39-second video, which has gone viral in Pakistan, is difficult to watch. 

In the said video, while on a crowded street at night, a vile young man drabbed in Pakistani national colours, evidently celebrating August 14^th, sexually harasses a burqa clad woman. As his friend watches with a devilish grin wide enough to let an airplane in, he attacks a lady sitting on a bike by grabbing her from behind, gyrating against her, and then continuing the abuse for a several more uncomfortable seconds.

Beware: You may be heading into (murderous) marriage

By Nazia Manzoor Published: August 18, 2015
Express Tribune

Marriage comes with its own set of doubts and insecurities. You might have heard it on the news, you might have seen it happen with someone you know – there are many stories about failed marriages all around us. Stories about how families have been fooled in the name of this sacred bond and have lost their life’s worth of savings.

The increasing statistics about marriages being broken due to infidelity, fraud by the in-laws, husbands being abusive or having prior criminal record, paint a horrible picture of marriages in our country.

The divorce rate has reached an alarming level and this is because marriage is a delicate relationship, which a single lie can cause a crack in. Two in every 10 families are getting fooled by their prospective in-laws and therefore deception and fraud in families has become commonplace.

Now or Never in Punjab

By Asad Rahim Khan

Published: August 18, 2015, Express Tribune

History, we’re told, is a bunch of dates and dead people. But that’s not what Simon Sebag Montefiore, historian par excellence, thinks.

Attack on Rashid Godil

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Rashid Godil is fighting for his life at Liaquat National Hospital in Karachi after being shot by ‘unknown assailants’ as he travelled in his car, on August 19. He was hit in the neck and chest five times. He is currently reported to be clinically stable, though not out of danger as his condition remains critical. According to doctors, he has considerably improved on his condition when admitted, however, his injuries may yet prove fatal, but for now he clings to life.

Canada: Freedom of expression discussed at World Religions Conference

Maulana Taha Syed, representing Islam and Jonathan Taylor, representing Christianity discussed freedom of religion in an open and responsive forum.
Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Drumheller Mail
By Pat Kolafa | August 15, 2015

The inaugural World Religions Conference took place at the BCF Saturday afternoon. 

Maulana Taha Syed, representing Islam and Jonathan Taylor, representing Christianity discussed freedom of religion in an open and responsive forum.

Ahmedi man shot dead in Taunsa Sharif Punjab.

This incident comes at the heel of a terrorist attack on the Ahmadiyya mosque and  death of two of the terrorists in a reported police encounter.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | 
Source/Credit: Various
By Staff Report | August 19, 2015

An Ahmadi man is shot dead in Taunsa Shareef in Dera Ghazi Khan District of the Punjab.

Victim of a target killing, Mr Ikramullah, was shot multiple times by four unknown men raiding on two motorcycles.

Pakistan, the eternally optimistic

August 17, 2015
The Nation
Sana Anwar

Someone wise once said, “Those who live in the past or the future, cannot live in the present.” However, it is very probably that words are from a fifteen year old, who strung up some words for Instagram. It teaches us a valuable lesson about being Pakistani. The past holds martyred children, their only fault being that they went to school as usual, massacred tourists at Wagah border who simply wished to enjoy the show with their families on a sunny day, the countless servicemen who lost their lives because they took up a sworn duty to protect us in good times and bad and victims of sectarian and religious violence, the people of a lesser God. It is an agonizing past, to say the least. Though we cannot and should not attempt to erase it entirely, to live in this past will prevent us from living in the present. We have shared a collective loss and though we mourn for it, there is much to celebrate as our beloved Pakistan grows a year older and wiser.

You can be an atheist, but not on social media and not on your terms

By Faraz Talat Published: August 15, 2015
Express Tribune

In 2013, radical religious groups drew up a list of 84 atheist bloggers, and submitted it to Bangladesh’s interior ministry demanding them to be unconditionally punished. The list was widely circulated, and so far, four of them have been murdered by extremist outfits.

Those who live, do so in constant fear. The police laid bare its antipathy for them when Inspector General Shahidul Haque victim-blamed the atheists for being vocal about their religious views, thus bringing death upon themselves.

He went from being her uncle to the father of her child, and no one saved her

By Saba Mushtaq Published: August 3, 2015
Express Tribune

Saima was 10-years-old when she was taken from her school located in a small town in Mitiari by her khaalu (maternal aunt’s husband). He told the teacher that Saima’s mother was very sick and she needed to be taken to her at the earliest.

He arrived at the village, along with the little girl who had no idea what was about to happen with her. He asked her to stay at his house till her parents returned from the hospital, and she responded with affirmation. Two days passed by and Saima was eager to see her parents but they had not returned from the hospital as yet. Saima thought to herself,

Why blame Zia for every ill in Pakistan?

By Salman Zafar Published: August 17, 2015
Express Tribune

On the eve of Ziaul Haq’s 27^th death anniversary, his name still generates an animated response from Pakistanis. Browse around social media or the English press, and one gets the impression that there is no leader more disliked than him. He was brutal. He was un-democratic. He was authoritative. He destroyed Pakistan’s moderate socio-political fabric and turned the country into the fragile fundamentalist haven it is today.

Or did he?

India: Extremist Muslims mob attacks Ahmadi Muslims in West Bengal, leaves ten injured

MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2015

A well known religious organisation recently arrived in Bengal on the pretext ‘flood relief’ but have instead carried out sustained anti-Ahmadiyya propaganda.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: AMJ International
By Press Desk | August 17, 2015

On 7 August 2015, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in West Bengal, India, was the victim of a religiously motivated attack. 10 people were left severely injured when a mob, comprising local extremist Muslims, forcefully entered the home of a local Ahmadi Muslim house yielding knives, bricks and metal rods.

Pakistan: LHC to take up blasphemy accused’s bail plea this week

SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 2015

Waleeha Irfat was jailed on March 3, 2012, after an FIR was registered against her at the Factory Area police station under Section 295-B (blasphemy) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Express Tribune
By Rana Tanveer | August 16, 2015

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) will take up this week a bail application of a24-year-old ‘mentally-challenged’ girl who has been in jail for more than three years on charges of blasphemy.

On August 12, Justice Shaid Bilal Hassan had put off the hearing on her plea until August 20.

Perspective: When was Pakistan founded? | When was Pakistan founded?

MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2015

There are some inalterable truths about the independence struggle and the creation of Pakistan that nationalists on both sides — in India and Pakistan — have been fighting in vain.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Daily Times | Pakistan
By Yasser Latif Hamdani | August 17, 2015

It is not a wonder that the Pakistani youth are extremely confused about history and identity. Recently writing in the Urdu press, self-styled historian Dr Safdar Mahmood made a startling revelation: Pakistan was founded in 1192 and the real founder of Pakistan was Sultan Shahabuddin Muhammad Ghori. The basis for this claim is a letter that he claims Sultan Ghori wrote to Raja Prithviraj Chohan of India in which he asked for the separation of areas that now constitute Pakistan from the rest of India. Apparently, that one letter has more weight than the constitutional and democratic struggle the Muslim League was involved in during the closing stages of the British Raj.

Pakistan: Christian women Aasia Bibi’s appeal might not be heard for six years

An SC official said the appeals that were granted leave in 2009 were being taken up by the court. “The petitions granted leave now might be taken up in another six years,” he told The Express Tribune.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Express Tribune
By Rana Tanveer |  July 27, 2015

LAHORE: Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy, might have to wait for at least six years before her appeal against the sentence is fixed for hearing before the Supreme Court’s Lahore Registry.

The SC Lahore Registry is currently taking up appeals of death convicts who were granted leave in 2009 and earlier. Last week, a three-member bench of the SC had granted her leave to appeal. Aasia, mother of five, has been in jail for six years.

The Sacked Principal

The Nation
17 August, 2015

It’s a dream of every parent to provide the best education to their children from the best institutes like Cadet College Petaro, Aitchison College Lahore, Military College Jhelum and etc, but unfortunately their kids don’t qualify for the admissions as they fail to come on the merit list. This is just because the roots of corruption have crept inside the educational institutes, such as Aitchison College, where from decades the students were being selected on source by using the powers of our so-called leaders to get their kids qualified for the admission.

COLUMN: Holy women, waderas, and weapons of the weak

CLAIRE CHAMBERS — PUBLISHED a day ago
Daily Dawn

AFTER my last column on Balochistan was published, a reader requested a follow-up on Sindh and its literary representations, because “Sindh and Sindhis too are suffering in Pakistan”. In her recent article ‘Who has Sin’d?’ Ayesha Siddiqa makes a similar link between the troubled provinces of Balochistan and Sindh. I decided to research Pakistan’s southeast, as depicted in fiction by four women writers.

Combating abuse

BINA SHAH — PUBLISHED a day ago
Daily Dawn

Bina Shah is a writer and columnist in Karachi; she is the author of the novel Slum Child and A Season for Martyrs.

IN Kasur district, Punjab, a gang of men sexually assaulted several children — it is still not certain how many — over several years, filmed them being abused and sold the videos to other paedophiles. Details of the abuse, which emerged some days ago after clashes between villagers and the police over the latter’s failure to arrest all the abusers, left the entire nation shocked, with people making emotional calls demanding that the perpetrators be hanged.

A post-Zia Pakistan?

DR NIAZ MURTAZA — PUBLISHED a day ago
Daily Dawn

INFLUENTIAL leaders continue shaping national fate posthumously through concrete legacies. Viewed so, unfortunately Gen Ziaul Haq arguably emerges as Pakistan’s most influential leader ever, whose legacies still haunt Pakistan decades later.