Morning Pakistan

ECP issues nomination papers, 400 monitoring teams constituted

2013-03-24T23:42:00.001+05:00

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) began the issuance of nomination papers for the upcoming elections to the respective candidates on Sunday, DawnNews reported.

Moreover, 400 monitoring teams were also formed to ensure implementation of the newly formed code of conduct for the upcoming elections in the country.

Each team would comprise of two security personnel and two cameras to record the proceedings on polling day.

Details of polling stations located in sensitive areas have been sent to the military authorities who have assured the ECP of full cooperation.

ECP further ordered for the removal of State Bank’s Deputy Governor, Ashraf Mahmood who was accused of non-transparent scrutiny of the candidates, within two day.

The distribution of 120,000 nomination forms had begun from Mar 15 till Mar 18.

According to the election schedule of 2013 issued by the ECP, The final date for the candidates to submit the nomination papers to the Returning Officers is March 29, 2013.

The nomination papers will be scrutinised from March 30 to April 5.

All appeals against these will be accommodated from April 6 to April 9.

The final decision on these appeals will be announced on April 16 whereas the last date for the withdrawal of candidature is April 17.

Musharraf vows to ‘save’ Pakistan on return from exile

2013-03-24T23:41:00.000+05:00

Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf returned home on Sunday after more than four years in exile, defying a Taliban death threat and vowing to “save” the country at the risk of his life.
“I have come back home today. Where are those who used to say I would never come back?” the former dictator, who plans to stand in a historic May 11 general election, told members of his political party at Karachi airport.
Hundreds of supporters had gathered at the airport, beating drums, dancing, waving green flags with pictures of Musharraf and Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and scattering rose petals.
“I don’t get scared by anyone except Allah the Almighty… I have come back by putting my life in danger,” Musharraf, who also faces a series of legal cases, told a gathering of his All Pakistan Muslim League.
“I have been ordered by my people to come back and save our Pakistan, even at the risk of my life. I want to tell all those who are making such threats that I have been blessed by Allah the Almighty.”
Musharraf was forced to scrap plans to hold a public rally at Jinnah’s mausoleum in Karachi after the Taliban threatened to send a squad of suicide bombers to assassinate him.
Party supporters said Musharraf was not now expected to make an address at around 5:00 pm and would leave the airport shortly for an undisclosed destination.

His official Facebook and Twitter accounts provided an upbeat commentary on his return, complete with photographs.
An AFP reporter said supporters on the flight from Dubai shouted “Long live Musharraf”, annoying some of the regular passengers.
Musharraf, who has been granted protective bail to lift the threat of immediate arrest on his return to Pakistan, told reporters before leaving Dubai that he was “not feeling nervous” but admitted some concern.
“I am feeling concerned about the unknown… there are a lot of unknown factors of terrorism and extremism, unknown factors of legal issue, unknown factors of how much I will be able to perform (in the elections),” he said.
One of the legal cases that has long ensnared him concerns the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007, three months after she returned to Pakistan from her own self-imposed exile.
The then-ruler is accused of failing to provide her with adequate security.
Another case concerns the 2006 death of Akbar Bugti, a Baloch rebel leader in the southwest, and another relates to the 2007 sacking and arrest of judges.
Bhutto’s son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, has accused Musharraf of his mother’s murder.
In 2010 a UN report said Bhutto’s death could have been prevented and accused Musharraf’s government of failing to provide her with adequate protection.
Security was tight at the airport in Karachi. Police at the airport said 1,000 well-wishers had turned out although an AFP reporter said the number appeared about half that.
Supporters chanted “Long Live Musharraf” and his catchphrase, “Pakistan First”. Young boys wore “Pakistan First” T-shirts emblazoned with his picture.
Wasim Ansari, a television actor and Musharraf look alike who stars in satirical shows mocking the ex-dictator, was among the crowd.
“Whatever popularity I have gained today is because of Musharraf. I regard him as my leader and would do anything for him,” Ansari joked to AFP.

US begins Afghan pullout through Pakistan route

2013-02-11T21:26:00.002+05:00

The US has started using the land route through Pakistan to pull American military equipment out of Afghanistan as it draws down its troops in the country, US and Pakistani officials said Monday.
The US moved 50 shipping containers into Pakistan over the weekend, said Marcus Spade, a spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan. The containers were the first convoys to cross into Pakistan as part of the Afghan pullout, he said.
Twenty-five containers that originated from a base in the southern Afghan district of Kandahar entered Pakistan through the border crossing at Chaman in southwestern Balochistan province on Saturday, said Ata Mohammed, a shipping official.
Another 25 containers entered Pakistan on Sunday through the other major Afghan border crossing at Torkham in the northwestern Khyber tribal area, said Mohammed Yousuf, a local political official.
Pakistan will be a key route for the US to withdraw tens of thousands of containers of equipment out of landlocked Afghanistan as it pulls most of its combat troops out by the end of 2014.
Pakistan closed the route for nearly seven months after US airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani troops at a post along the Afghan border in November 2011. Islamabad reopened the route in July 2012 after Washington apologized for the deaths.

During the closure of the Pakistan route, the US had to use a longer, more costly path that runs north out of Afghanistan through Central Asia and Russia. The US has also used that route to withdraw equipment.
It’s unclear what took the US so long to begin withdrawing equipment through the Pakistani route, which runs south out of Afghanistan to the port city of Karachi.
Supplies have been flowing into Afghanistan since the route reopened in July 2012.

Pakistan test fires nuclear-capable missile

2013-02-11T21:23:00.002+05:00

Pakistan successfully carried out a test fire of the nuclear-capable and short-range ballistic missile Hatf IX (Nasr) on Monday

A statement released by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that the test fire was conducted with successive launches of two missiles from a state of the art multi tube launcher.
The statement further said that Nasr, with a range of 60 km, and inflight maneuver capability can carry nuclear warheads of appropriate yield, with high accuracy.
This quick response system, which can fire a four Missile Salvo ensures deterrence against threats in view of evolving scenarios. Additionally Nasr has been specially designed to defeat all known Anti Tactical Missile Defence Systems.

The missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads for delivery over short ranges is said to possess ‘shoot and scoot’ attributes, which refer to the military tactic of firing at a target with accuracy and immediately relocating to another position to avoid counter-fire from enemy positions.
The successful test has also been appreciated by the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan who have congratulated the scientists and engineers on their outstanding success.

CIA used ISI facilities in Karachi, says US report

2013-02-07T18:49:00.002+05:00

Pakistan extended full cooperation to the CIA in tracing suspected terrorists and provided secret detention and interrogation facilities to the US intelligence agency, says a report.

A Washington-based rights advocacy group, Open Society Justice Initiative, reported that Pakistan “captured, detained, interrogated, tortured, and abused” hundreds of individuals for the CIA.

The report documents participation of 54 foreign governments in CIA’s operations against terrorists and was first published by The New York Times on Tuesday.

The chapter on Pakistan shows that the country also permitted its airspace and airports to be used for flights associated with CIA’s operations.
A 2010 UN report observed that from December 2001 until the summer of 2002, Pakistan operated a secret detention programme under which detainees were initially detained in Pakistan before being transferred to Afghanistan and/or to Guantanamo Bay.

Former President Pervez Musharraf acknowledged capturing 672 alleged Al Qaeda members and handing over 369 of them to the United States.
According to Amnesty International, “most of the known victims of rendition were initially detained in Pakistan.”

The report says that Pakistani authorities were involved in the capture of about a dozen key al-Qaeda suspects and also initially detained, interrogated, tortured, and abused dozens of other suspects.

The report includes information provided by Human Rights Watch and other advocacy groups about Pakistan’s role in these captures and detentions.

The report claims that Pakistan has allowed use of its airports and airspace for flights operated by Jeppesen Dataplan that were associated with CIA’s extraordinary rendition.

It quotes US court records as showing that in 2003, Pakistan allowed use of its airports and air space for at least one flight flown by the private charter company Richmor Aviation, which operated flights for the CIA’s extraordinary rendition programme.

This flight was registered as N85VM and stopped over in Islamabad at some point between March 1 and 3, 2003.

Detention facilities in which detainees were held at the behest of the CIA include the ISI detention facility in Karachi, which was allegedly used as an initial detention and interrogation point before detainees were transferred to other prisons.

Although it is controlled by the ISI, detainees at the facility claim to have been interviewed by both US and British intelligence officials.

The report quotes one such detainee, Binyam Mohamed, as claiming that he was held there for a week and hung by his wrists.

The report points out that there has been no official investigation in Pakistan into its complicity in CIA extraordinary renditions and secret detentions.

While many habeas corpus petitions have been filed in Pakistani courts on behalf of disappeared individuals, the vast majority of these petitions have been dismissed because Pakistani police and military agencies denied arresting or holding the individuals in question.

The report notes that in 2005 the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan stated that “these cases of disappearance brought to light the inadequacies of the habeas corpus process because the superior courts could offer no relief if the agency/force/department named as respondents denied the arrest or detention of the missing persons.”

Lift the ban on YouTube, cry artists

2013-02-07T18:46:00.003+05:00

The government’s ban on video-sharing website YouTube has been protested on Twitter and Facebook time and again by everyone from ordinary citizens to journalists and musicians in the past four months.

While most have tried to live a life without YouTube — either by using Vimeo and Dailymotion — or around it by using proxies, the Pakistani music industry has suffered largely in silence. One group of artists has realised the importance of such a video-sharing platform, and has come up with a unique way to protest the ban — YouTube Aloud, a collaborative effort between Omran Shafique (Momo) from Mauj, Hamza Jaafri from CoVEN and Pakistan’s child prodigy Usman Riaz.

“YouTube Aloud is a social media page where we [and the Facebook community] express our thoughts about how this ban is having a negative effect on society,” Riaz tells The Express Tribune.

“Everything that I have learnt and achieved is a direct result of having a close connection to the online realm,” says Riaz. “YouTube can be the reason I became a TED Fellow. I would have never had a chance to speak on the TED stage or perform with Preston Reed — the man whose videos I used to watch on YouTube when I first picked up the guitar — if I didn’t have access to YouTube.”

As a representative of the group, Riaz raises the question: “Does it make sense to burn down an entire library just because you don’t agree with the contents of one of its books?”

In December, Riaz had posted a message on his Facebook page, asking other artists such as Adil Omar, Natasha Humera Ejaz and Mole if they would be interested in holding a marathon concert in support of YouTube. He wrote: “It will do two things. (1) It can be the press conference that Hamza Jaafri had in mind to discuss the negative aspects of this ban on the artistic community (which I am sure we all whole-heartedly agree with) and (2) it can result in a lot of artists coming together to perform and show content.”

“Hear! Hear! We are all with you on this one!” posted Meesha Shafi, in response to Riaz’s post. Others reacted in the same spirit, but so far, the concert has not taken place.

Musicians Zohaib Kazi and Zoe Viccaji recently wrote an open letter requesting Interior Minister Rehman Malik to restore the site. A line from the letter reads: “YouTube is a medium that provides a platform for both. It is a library of today and an archive for tomorrow — an archive from which we will be missing”.

Even Junaid Jamshed, the former Vital Signs member turned entrepreneur, feels YouTube should be restored. According to Jamshed, YouTube is a source of research and information. “I think we have already made our point by banning it — now it should be restored immediately,” he says.

Musician Usman Riaz

“It is a free medium of information for people and plays a pivotal role in religious education because a large number of people go on YouTube to read the Quran and other religious texts,” explains Jamshed. “We are a Muslim nation and will not tolerate or watch anything blasphemous, even if it is present on YouTube. As a Muslim Ummah, we know what is right or wrong for us.”

However, not everyone agrees that the YouTube ban is impacting our music industry in a negative way. Senior musician Asad Ahmed, who has been in the music scene for three decades, says, “[YouTube] should be restored but I don’t think it is harming the music industry.”

“It’s funny that [people are] saying that,” he chuckles. “Around 50% of Coke Studio’s viewership is outside Pakistan and the real YouTube fans in Pakistan already have Spotflux or hotspot shield working for them.”

Exports to China surge over 200% in five years

2013-02-07T18:43:00.002+05:00

Pakistan’s exports to China rose 219% in the last five years from 2007-08 to 2011-12, far higher than the 43% increase in imports, says Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim, indicating a reduction in trade deficit with Beijing.

In a written reply to a question from Muhammad Talha Mehmood in the Senate on Wednesday, Fahim stressed that shipments to China had accelerated after the free trade agreement between the two countries came into force in 2009.

Giving a breakdown of export figures for the past five years, he said Pakistan exported goods worth $684.8 million to China in 2007-08, $701 million in 2008-09, $1.154 billion in 2009-10, $1.634 billion in 2010-11 and $2.184 billion in 2011-12.

In an effort to boost to bilateral trade, Fahim said Beijing had been asked to facilitate Pakistan’s participation in exhibition and trade fairs in China. In response, China is offering space in all exhibitions without any fee and rent.

In 2011-12, the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) took part in six major trade fairs in China to display the products of Pakistan and highlight the potential of its manufacturers.

Responding to another question, Fahim said the country had signed trade agreements with Indonesia, Afghanistan, Developing Eight (D-8) countries and Saarc members in the last four years.

A preferential trade agreement (PTA) was inked with Indonesia in February 2012 and the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) was signed in October 2010.

Earlier, Pakistan signed PTA with D-8 countries in May 2006, which was ratified in February last year. Saarc Agreement on Trade in Services was reached in April 2010.

In reply to a question from Senator Sughra Imam, Fahim said goods worth Rs480.128 billion had been imported from India in the last four years (2008-09 to 2011-12). In the same period, Pakistan exported Rs99.738 billion worth of items to India.

According to breakdown, exports to India were worth Rs24.350 billion in financial year 2008-09 against imports of Rs93.471 billion. In 2009-10, exports were Rs22.489 billion and imports Rs102.872 billion, in 2010-11 exports were Rs22.602 billion and imports Rs149.047 billion and in 2011-12 exports were Rs30.297 billion and imports Rs134.738 billion.

After five days: Chaman border reopens for transit trade

2013-02-07T18:41:00.002+05:00

After five days, the Afghan authorities reopened the Chaman border crossing for Pakistani containers destined for Central Asian countries on Wednesday.

Around 35 to 40 containers loaded with fruit and vegetables made their way across, according to sources in Chaman. However, most of the containers which had been refused entry into Afghanistan earlier had returned to Karachi, they added.

The containers were allowed to enter Afghanistan following talks between a delegation of transporters and Afghan officials, Chaman Customs Superintendent Iqbal Tareen told The Express Tribune.

In an official statement, the Pak-Afghan Chamber of Commerce, however, claimed their efforts had led to the reopening of the border crossing.

“Around 40 Pakistani containers carrying fruit and vegetables are being unloaded in Afghanistan,” Tareen said, adding that the freight will be reloaded into Afghan containers before reaching its final destination in Central Asia.

According to sources, the freight would remain with Afghan customs until its tax has been cleared. They said the fate of the containers and their cargo would likely clear up today (Thursday).

Meanwhile, trader Mohammad Dawood thanked the Afghan officials for reopening the border crossing for transit trade. He maintained the traders had been thrust into a severe financial crisis due to the five-day closure.

Last week, the Afghan authorities restricted around 200 containers carrying vegetables, fruit and other edibles to Central Asian countries under a transit trade agreement from entering the country.

The move was intended in response to delays in the clearance of around 3500 Afghan containers at Karachi Port. The containers have been stuck there for close to three months due to bureaucratic hurdles and despite orders by Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf for their release.

Kabul had earlier threatened to stop all transit trade from Pakistan until the containers at Karachi were cleared after repeated diplomatic efforts to resolve the issue failed. Meanwhile, Afghan importers had also threatened to seek UN and US intervention to secure the containers’ release from the Karachi Port authorities.

Higher Education Commission — under renewed threat

2013-02-07T18:26:00.002+05:00

There has been a major transformation of the landscape of our universities under the Higher Education Commission (HEC) during the last decade. Six of our universities are now ranked among the top 500 of the world. There were none in the year 2002. Our international research publications have soared from about 600 annually in 2002 to about 8,000 annually in 2012, bringing us ahead of India in terms of research publications per million people. The period 2003-2008 was described as “a golden period” for higher education in Pakistan by the Chairman of United Nations Commission on Science Technology and Development, who also recommended that these policies should be emulated by other developing countries.

However there was a dramatic change for the worse in 2008 when the present government came into power. Attacks against the higher education sector started almost immediately in 2008 and have continued unabated since then. They have proved that the analysis and fears expressed by the world’s top science journal Nature in 2008 were correct. In an editorial in its August 28 issue, entitled “After Musharraf”, it had said that the PPP had a very poor record as far as support to education was concerned.

The HEC had found that 51 members of parliament had obtained fake degrees in order to contest elections and that there were another 393 who probably were in the same boat but simply refused to submit their documents for verification. It is these honourable ladies and gentlemen who ganged up against the HEC to teach it a lesson.

The first attack on the higher education sector occurred in May 2008 when the government decided to abandon the visionary projects for the establishment of a number of world class universities of engineering and technology in collaboration with a consortia of leading universities of Germany, France, Sweden, Italy, Austria, Korea and China. This would have provided foreign degrees to Pakistani students and they were in the process of being established in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Sialkot, and later in Peshawar and Quetta. The project was abandoned three months before classes were to begin, and this angered the countries with whom the arrangements had been finalised. This was followed by a move to go back on the establishment of four law universities, one in each province. Another attack took place in September 2008 when the government decided not to release funds for thousands of students studying on HEC scholarships in foreign countries. This precipitated my resignation in protest, as I considered it unethical to continue to serve as chairman while the children of Pakistan were suffering abroad. The attacks, however, continued after my departure, with the budget being drastically slashed.

My successor, Begum Shehnaz Wazir Ali, and later Dr Javaid Laghari, fought on valiantly in spite of the difficulties that they faced. Then, on November 30, 2010, the government issued a notification shredding the HEC into pieces and devolving it to the provinces. I decided to fight and filed a petition before the Supreme Court. The Court declared the government’s steps unconstitutional and the HEC was thus saved from destruction, at least temporarily. The PM Secretariat then issued an order on November 26, 2012, that more or less sought to destroy the HEC’s autonomy and bring it under the Ministry of Education. An order was issued by the Establishment Division on November 28, appointing a retired major, who is secretary of the Ministry of Education, as CEO (executive director) of the HEC in place of the brilliant Dr Sohail Naqvi. Under the law that governs the operation of the HEC, this was illegal as it is only the 18-member Commission that has the powers to appoint all officers, servants and advisers (Section 12, of HEC Ordinance on Appointment of Officers etc.). The Commission can make its own rules and appoint officers without any external interference, and it is this autonomy that has been one important reason for its outstanding success so far. I filed a petition before the Supreme Court, and the Honourable Court declared the government takeover attempt illegal. However, the present Minister of Education (whose own degree has been challenged in the Lahore High Court) was not to be deterred. He has been behind a move to change the law so that the HEC could be formally converted to the failed UGC (University Grants Commission) that existed under the Ministry of Education prior to October 2002.

What are the reasons behind the latest attacks? 1) About 393 MPs may not be able to fight the next elections if their degrees are scrutinised and if it is found that they were forged. They would be disqualified under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution that require integrity to be a key eligibility requirement. 2) The term of the present chairman is proposed in the amendments to be slashed from four to three years, mainly so that the present government could appoint an obedient chairman of its choice before the election — Dr Javaid Laghari is considered too independent and has completed three years of his four-year term. 3) The financial powers of the HEC are proposed to be taken away from it under an amendment to the law, as proposed by the Ministry of Education. It should be remembered that the HEC’s annual budget is Rs44 billion and that most universities have lands worth billions. A docile HEC, operating like the old UGC, could allow corruption to occur without hindrance. 4) Scholarships worth billions are awarded after competitive exams strictly on merit, and ‘recommendations’ from ministers are ignored — the corrupt politicians have their eyes on these too.

That battle is currently on. All the vice-chancellors are strongly opposed to the latest attempt by the government to destroy the HEC. The chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Education Rohail Asghar is himself a very honest and educated person. I am confident that he will not allow those who want to destroy the HEC to have their way.

The fundamentalist mind

2013-02-05T11:26:00.000+05:00

FUNDAMENTALISM is a controversial term, ascribed first to 19th-century American Protestant groups which preached strict adherence to basic biblical tenets.

It is now applied loosely to all groups exhibiting broadly similar tendencies. While a consensus definition eludes scholars, certain key characteristics are generally ascribed to fundamentalists.

Firstly, they desire strict adherence to their interpretation of an earlier ideology which they view as being perfect and timeless. Their interpretation often distorts the original ideology. Usually, the idealised ideology is religious since religious reverence makes it easier to recruit followers, though political, economic and nationalistic ideologies also occasionally spawn fundamentalism.

Secondly, fundamentalists see only black or white, viewing themselves as perfect and others as wrong.

Thirdly, fundamentalists often invoke the memory of a past community which prospered by supposedly following the idealised ideology.

Fourthly, they believe in manifest destiny, i.e., that they have been prophesised to prevail universally. The more a group exhibits these characteristics, the more fundamentalist it is.

Not all fundamentalists are terrorists nor are all terrorists fundamentalists. Fundamentalist groups fall into three categories.

The first includes reclusive fundamentalists who practise their traditions in isolation, e.g., the American Amish and the Pakistani Kalash, and show little interest in converting others. Beyond adherence to traditions, they share little else with other fundamentalists, being fairly egalitarian in their practices.

The second category includes pacifist fundamentalists who non-violently want to establish states run strictly on “divine” laws though no religion provides detailed divine rules to cover all or even most present-day complexities. Religions do however provide timeless general principles.

The third category includes violent fundamentalists, whom Pakistanis know well. Pacifist and violent fundamentalists believe that a small, morally superior vanguard group must carry the burden of converting the morally inferior majority. Thus, they generally adopt a top-down disciplinarian approach where the vanguard group leads while others follow their wisdom unquestioningly.

Fundamentalism has mushroomed recently largely in reaction to the uncertainty and tumult caused by the spread and dominance of Western liberal civilisation globally. A civilisation is a large national group spread over a large territory for several centuries with a distinct combination of cultural, religious, economic, political and epistemic institutions which make significant contributions to overall human progress.

The distinctive coordinates of Western liberal civilisation include capitalism, democracy, science/rationality, materialism, secularism, individualism and imperialism. Imperialism along with capitalism has been a key factor in spawning resistance to Western civilisation globally despite its other sterling features, e.g., democracy and science.

To date, Western liberalism has faced three generations of global challenges: Nazism/ fascism (a political philosophy); Soviet communism (an economic philosophy); and religious fundamentalism (a cultural philosophy). Common to all three were vanguard groups who attempted to convert the “impure” majority through strong discipline and even force.

Ironically, each succeeding challenger initially cooperated with the West to defeat its predecessor before becoming the West’s nemesis. Communism helped the West defeat fascism in 1945 and fundamentalism helped defeat communism in Afghanistan.

Fundamentalism exceeds the other two in the totality of its rejection of Western liberalism and the barrenness of its own ideas. While fascism and communism at least achieved significant geographical and scientific progress before their demise, fundamentalism cannot even boast of that and will fail too.

Humanity’s most glorious achievements ever have undoubtedly occurred under Western liberalism, notably the immense freedom provided by democracy and the spectacular technology provided by science.

However, it is equally true that individualism, materialism, free-market capitalism and imperialism are causing today’s most serious global threats, including climate change, nuclear proliferation, unsurpassed inequality, anomie and economic
depressions.

Thus, there is scope to challenge those specific liberal coordinates. Any successful challenge to Western liberalism must match its positive aspects (i.e., freedom and technology) while avoiding its weaknesses.

By basing their strategy on top-down discipline and even totalitarianism, the three challengers each instantly failed this test and consequently could not attract large numbers of people. Fortunately, other non-violent movements like the global green movement (a political, economic as well as cultural movement) meet this test better, though it has a long distance to travel before it becomes a coherent intellectual challenge.

While all major religions have fundamentalist groups, the most virulent ones today are Al Qaeda-cum-affiliates and the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (the former being far more potent globally).

Consequently, some argue that revealed Middle Eastern religions generally encourage fundamentalism more since each claims to be the only right religion unlike South and Southeast Asian ideologies, e.g., Hinduism, Buddhism etc. However, Abrahamic religions also emphasise rationality, tolerance and moderation.

Opinions differ on why people become fundamentalists. Some view poverty as the main cause. However, the motivations of its leaders rather than its foot soldiers represent the root causes of any movement. Poverty supplies fundamentalism its foot soldiers, but not its leaders.

What motivates the leaders remains a mystery. Psychologists define defence mechanisms as mental processes people adopt to deal with uncertainty and challenges. One such mechanism is regression, i.e., mentally living in the past when life was better instead of tackling present challenges bravely. The desire of fundamentalists to recreate the distant glorious past literally represents collective millennial regression. Something in the socialisation of fundamentalists gets them hooked to regression.

For anyone dissatisfied with liberalism’s downside and contemplating embracing fundamentalism, violent or pacifist, the message is clear — fundamentalism represents regressive escapism and a blind alley.

Despite their developing nature, progressive global movements already provide better answers to liberalism’s downside while embracing its many positive features. However, to wean impressionistic minds away from fundamentalism, progressives must articulate their ideas more loudly and clearly.

Deadly riots ahead of Bangladesh war crimes verdict

2013-02-05T11:23:00.002+05:00

A man was burned to death as riots rocked Dhaka ahead of a verdict Tuesday against a senior Islamist opposition official accused of genocide during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.

Abdul Quader Molla, 64, assistant secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, could be sentenced to death by the controversial International Crimes Tribunal following charges of rape, genocide and murder.

Jamaat announced a nationwide strike on Tuesday after the tribunal on Monday announced the verdict would be delivered the following day. Jamaat warned it would resist at any cost a “government blueprint” to execute its leaders.

The verdict is expected to be given at around 11:30 am (0530 GMT).

Police said a young banker was burnt to death and four people injured on Monday evening after a bus was torched by suspected Jamaat activists protesting the war crime trials of its leaders.

“He was in the bus when it was set on fire,” deputy police commissioner Nisharul Arif told AFP, blaming members of Jamaat, the country’s largest Islamic party for the arson.

Police clashed with protesters early on Tuesday near Old Dhaka after they smashed cars and autorickshaws. “We fired several rounds of rubber bullets to disperse them,” police inspector Mizanur Rahman told AFP.

Security was tight in the capital with more than 10,000 policemen on patrol. Schools were closed and many shops and businesses shuttered. Motorways linking Dhaka with other cities were largely empty.

Protests against the war crime trials turned deadly last Thursday, leaving three people dead in the northwestern city of Bogra.

The Tribunal, a domestic body with no international oversight, was created by the country’s secular government in 2010. It has been tainted by allegations it is politically motivated, targeting only senior opposition officials.

Ten other opposition figures — including the entire leadership of Jamaat and two from the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) — stand accused of war crimes.

Both Jamaat and the main opposition BNP have labelled the cases “show trials” aimed at barring the leaders from upcoming polls. International rights groups have questioned the proceedings.

Afghan peace talks Pakistan’s urgent priority

2013-02-05T11:21:00.002+05:00

Pakistan treats the Afghan peace process as an “urgent priority”, Ambassador Sherry Rehman said on Monday as the US media reported that mistrust among key players had floundered talks with the Taliban.

“Pakistan looks clearly to an Afghan-led roadmap for reconciliation, understands that this is an urgent priority,” said Pakistan’s envoy to the US, rejecting insinuations that Islamabad was trying to delay the talks.

“Pakistan also has shown support at the highest level for any track of dialogue that the Afghans deem important,” she added.

The US media reported on Monday that Mulla Omar has recently made a surprise offer to share power in a post-war Afghanistan. But “mistrust and confusion” among key players had floundered the peace effort, the report added.

The United States hopes to reach some peaceful arrangement for transfer of power in Afghanistan before withdrawing its forces from the country by 2014.

“Although the Taliban appear more ready to talk than ever before, peace talks remain elusive because of infighting among a rising number of interlocutors,” reported the Associated Press, quoting official sources in Kabul.

The report said that Taliban leaders had contacted representatives from 30 to 40 different countries, but the relationship among the key players — the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan — was “marked by distrust that keeps tugging momentum away from the peace process”.

The report claimed that “finding a path to the negotiating table” was also a main topic in a series of meetings among Afghan, Pakistani and British leaders in London on Monday.

President Karzai recently complained that the West was using the peace talks as a lever against his government. The US media also reported that both Kabul and Washington were also frustrated with Pakistan for not monitoring the activities of Taliban prisoners it released in recent months.

Pakistan counters this allegation by pointing out that it freed the prisoners at the request of the Afghan government and doesn’t have the resources to keep tabs on them.

The US media also reported that Kabul had asked for the release of the Taliban’s former second in command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, but Washington urged Islamabad not to release him.

But Ambassador Rehman said categorically: “Pakistan has been supporting all discussions that may lead to an Afghan-led peace and reconciliation process.” The Pakistani effort, she added, aimed at strengthening joint efforts to address extremism and advance regional peace and stability.

“President Zardari has made his government’s full commitment to the project of peace in Afghanistan by assuring strenuous and sustained efforts to maintain the momentum of the process,” said the Pakistani envoy.

“US officials also appreciate that Pakistan continues to demonstrate a willingness to cooperate by taking concrete steps that the Afghan High Peace Council asks fo

Fazl welcomes Pakistani Taliban’s conditions for peace talks

2013-02-04T22:58:00.002+05:00

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Monday welcomed “positive” demands by Pakistani Taliban of making Sharif, Hasan and himself guarantor for holding peace talks with the government,

Speaking to media representatives, he said the conditions set by the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for holding talks was a progress in the right direction.

TTP spokesman Ehsnaullah Ehsan, in a video interview, had said on Saturday that if Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Ameer Syed Munawar Hasan and Fazlur Rehman acted as guarantors for the peace talks, they would be willing to negotiate in the best interest of the country.

The JUI-F chief recommended using the platform of FATA’s grand Jirga for peace negations with the outlaws.

Meanwhile, expressing his reservations on the issue, JI’s Deputy Secretary General Farid Ahmed Piracha had told Dawn that his party was not going to oblige the TTP’s demands.

“How can we become a guarantor (in talks) when the government is not ready to implement even the resolutions of parliament,” he added.

Earlier, speaking to a press conference, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who also heads the National Assembly’s Kashmir committee, said Kashmir was a human and political issue and Pakistan was fighting a war of rules rather than of land.

iPillow

2013-02-04T22:54:00.001+05:00

Army camp at Lakki Marwat attacked; six security personnel killed

2013-02-02T11:06:00.000+05:00

A large group of militants attacked an army camp in northwestern Pakistan before dawn with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, killing six security personnel, DawnNews reported.

Twelve militants were also killed in the attack at the temporary camp located in the town of Serai Naurang in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, while eight security personnel were injured. The wounded were shifted to CMH Bannu and Peshawar.

Security forces claimed to have taken into custody the bodies of four of the militants who were killed wearing suicide jackets.

Senior police officer Arif Khan Wazir said the battle started around 3:45 a.m. local time with at least 40 militants attacking the camp.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack. He said four suicide bombers were involved in the attack and three of them were killed while the fourth was still resisting.

Ahsan said the attack was in retaliation for the recent deaths of two Taliban commanders in US drone strikes. He accused the Pakistani army of helping with the attacks.

Sectarian violence: Suicide bomber kills 24 worshippers in Hangu

2013-02-02T10:59:00.002+05:00

For any eyewitness, it may well have been a scene from the Armageddon. Charred human remains lay scattered amid pools of blood along the streets of a crowded market in Hangu, a brutal reminder of Friday’s suicide bombing near a Shia Imam bargah. At least 27 people were killed and 55 more injured in the attack – which targeted worshippers as they poured in and out for Friday prayers.

The bomber detonated explosives packed into a motorcycle in a narrow lane in the Pat Bazaar area that houses both a Shia and a Sunni mosque.

The deputy inspector general of police in Kohat region, Syed Imtiaz Shah, said the police had found the head of the bomber, who came there on a motorcycle and was approximately 22 years old. He went on to add that the attack targeted Shias, but Sunnis also fell victim since their mosque was also very close to the site.

“It is a crowded place where people from both the sects offer prayers. The Shia and Sunni mosques are very close to each other,” Shah said.

The blast, which took place as Shias were leaving Friday prayers and Sunnis entering their mosque for the Friday sermon, also damaged more than a dozen shops. Almost seven kilogrammes of explosives were used in the explosion, according to Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) in-charge Asadullah.

Two Sunnis and three police officers were among those killed in the blast. District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Muhammad Ishaq Bangash said an emergency was declared in the local hospital soon after the explosion, adding that the critically injured were shifted to Kohat divisional headquarters hospital and Lady Reading in Peshawar.

“A large number of people donated blood to the victims,” said Bangash.

Muzammil Hussain, a 28-year-old Shia who received wounds to his head and hand, said that he heard the blast as he left the mosque.

“As soon as I reached the mosque exit, a huge blast rocked the area. Many people fell on me with the impact of the blast,” he said by telephone from the District Headquarters hospital (DHQ) in nearby Kohat.

“I saw red and bloodied pieces of human flesh everywhere. It was a scene I’d never seen in my life before. I was half conscious when people moved to a local hospital from where my family took me to the DHQ,” he said.

“I could see human remains and blood splattered on the boundary walls of the mosque and on nearby shops,” said Constable Raaz Muhammad, who took part in the rescue effort. “The entire street was littered with sandals and caps of the people who were coming out of the mosque,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

usharraf crossed LoC before Kargil war

2013-02-02T10:57:00.002+05:00

Controversy surrounding the former president and Kargil refuses to die down, with fresh allegations by a former Pakistan Army official that weeks before hostilities erupted between Indian and Pakistani troops in Kargil, then army chief General Pervez Musharraf spent a night on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC).

Col (retd) Ashfaq Hussain, who was serving in the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) at the time, said Musharraf flew across the de facto border on March 28, 1999 and spent a night at a location 11 kilometres inside Indian territory, The Times of India reported.

Hussain alleges that Musharraf, who was accompanied by Brigadier Masood Aslam, then commander of 80 Brigade, spent the night at a location called Zikria Mustaqar, where Pakistani troops commanded by Col Amjad Shabbir were present.

However, the spokesperson for Gen Musharraf strongly denied Hussain’s claim that the former military ruler had ever crossed the LoC. “Such claims are baseless and nonsense,” said Major General (retd) Rashid Qureshi.

General Qureshi, who is also member of Musharraf’s political party, said Col (retd) Hussain served under him at the ISPR.

“At the time of the Kargil operation, he was posted in Karachi, and his claims about General Musharraf crossing over the LoC were nothing but preposterous,” he added.

Col Hussain first made the revelation in his book ‘Witness to Blunder: Kargil Story Unfolds’, which was published late in 2008.

He repeated the assertion earlier this week on a television show on the Kargil episode.

He went on to say that Pakistani troops first intruded into the Indian side of the LoC on December 18, 1998, when Captains Nadeem, Ali and Havaldar Lalik Jan were sent on a reconnaissance mission.

“They were never told about the aims and objectives of their mission,” maintained Hussain.

However, Musharraf’s spokesman denies this assertion, saying he could not have access to such classified information given the position he was serving in the Army. “It appears to be a publicity stunt,” Gen Qureshi insisted.

V K Singh praises Musharraf’s ‘courage’

On Friday, Musharraf also received praise for entering deep into Indian territory in Kargil in 1999 from former Indian Army chief General V K Singh, who said it showed the “courage” of a military commander.

Singh, who headed the Indian Army from 2010 to 2012, said there were “mistakes” on the Indian side that allowed Pakistani troops to cross over into Indian territory and let Musharraf return to Pakistan safely.

Gwadar port handover to China mulled

2013-01-28T22:25:00.001+05:00

During the hearing of a set of identical petitions against handing over Gwadar Port to the Singapore authorities, the federal government informed a two-member Supreme Court bench on Monday that Pakistan was considering handing over of Gwadar Port to China.

The bench comprising Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain then directed the Attorney General to appear before it on January 31. The court noted that the decision of the case will be issued on that day.

During the hearing, a petitioner Zakir Khan withdrew his petition after the federal government submitted its reply in the court stating that the Gwadar Port was being considered to be handed over to China. The petitioner submitted that if the government handed over the port to China, he had no objection over it.

Another petitioner Barrister Zafarullah Khan requested the court to grant him some time for preparation of his arguments, which the court allowed and adjourned further hearing till January 31, directing the Attorney General to ensure his presence in the court on January 31, as the decision of the case will be announced on that day.

It may be recalled here that last year the court had barred the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) from transferring immovable assets of the Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) until a final decision of the case.

Counsel for GPA, had argued that PSA had been given land for running three terminals at the Gwadar Port, adding that no other land had been given or was being given.

Barrister Zafarullh Khan, a petitioner had highlighted that 600 square kms of land was being transferred to PSA.

Medical colleges: the ever-increasing fee

2013-01-28T22:22:00.002+05:00

EVERY year a handful of government-run medical colleges offer a limited number of seats for pursuing studies in medicine. Thousands of students vie for a slot and remain disappointed.
The rich then approach private medical colleges, offering education on a self-finance basis.
The sufferers are those students who are left out with only a slim margin and mostly belong to the middle class and cannot afford the self-financing scheme.
Some, however, do venture but finally land into trouble as these colleges raises fee annually. The limit of increase, as I understand, is five per cent but never adhered to by colleges.
This year colleges have sent notices for a 10 per cent increase in fee structure, barring a few who are satisfied with five per cent increase. The increase runs in the thousands of rupees, which a middle class person can hardly meet, thus jeopardising the plans of students who some times have to discontinue their studies.
This is injustice to talented youths who, if given a chance, attain the highest standard of education.
My son could not get admission to government-run media college as he was short of two marks to qualify on merit.

However, he is studying in one such college on the basis of a self-finance scheme.
Now I have received a notice for a 10 per cent increase in the fee. This has taken away my sleep.
I request the Governor of Sindh and other authorities concerned to take cognizance of these facts to bring an end to such arbitrary increase in the fee structure each year and save the future of hundreds of students in these private medical colleges.
I hope that the people in power may find some time to address this burning issu

Passport & Pakistani consulate

2013-01-28T22:21:00.002+05:00

I APPLIED for a new passport at the Pakistani consulate in Toronto, Canada. I was informed an urgent passport is delivered within 20 days at an extra charge.
I paid for one and now after 22 days of waiting, I am shocked to learn that the consulate takes no responsibility for delivering the urgent passport within the 20 days that it commits to do.
These are just false commitments made by the Pakistani consulate. It has no control over the preparation of new passports. The extra charge for an urgent passport is outright malpractice, considering the commitment is not honoured.
My flight is booked for Feb 6 and I cannot apply for a visa for Dubai without my passport.
What am I supposed to do? What if I miss my flight because of the delay in receiving my passport? Is the consulate answerable to anyone?

Pakistan’s fuel shortage: Is Tight gas the answer to the prevailing energy crisis?

2013-01-28T21:57:00.002+05:00

Pakistan is facing an energy crisis of gigantic proportions and it is expected to get worse as the summer months approach. Along with that, and in some ways related to that, the country is also tackling an ever-worsening gas crisis. The winter months are the worst as demand for gas increases. But with the rising demand, from domestic consumers, the industry and also power producers, the gas crisis is only going to get worse.
This has led to the search for alternatives like importing LNG – which is expensive – or adding LPG-air mix to the natural gas system, also an expensive solution.
The Tight Gas (Exploration & Production) Policy was promulgated in May 2011 by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources and subsequently approved by the Council of Common Interests (CCI).
One of the objectives of the policy is to attract foreign direct investment, given the high cost of exploration and production. As Tight gas exploration is more difficult and the required technology is more expensive, companies don’t typically go in for exploration until given attractive incentives.
Gas price incentives are an important pre-requisite towards promoting a Tight gas investment recovery process. To encourage investment, 40% premium will be given over the respective zonal price of the Petroleum Policy 2009. And apart from this, in order to encourage the companies to fast track development and production of Tight gas, an additional 10% premium will be given for those volumes that are brought into production within two years of announcement of this policy.’
Apart from this the government is also aggressively pursuing the exploration and extraction of Shale gas but a policy for this is yet to be announced.
What is Tight gas?
Tight gas refers to natural gas reservoirs locked in extraordinarily impermeable, hard rock, making the underground formation extremely “tight.” Tight gas is usually trapped in sandstone or limestone formations that are atypically impermeable or nonporous. Tight gas is held in rock pores which are up to 20,000 times narrower than a human hair.
A conventional gas formation can be relatively easily drilled and extracted from the ground unassisted but Tight gas requires more effort to pull it from the ground because of the extremely tight formation in which it is located.
While conventional gas formations tend to be found in the younger Tertiary basins, Tight gas formations are much older, having been deposited some 248 million years ago. Over time, the rock formations have been compacted and have undergone cementation and re-crystallisation, which all reduce the level of permeability in the rock.

Shale Gas is a description for a field in which natural gas accumulation is locked in tiny bubble-like pockets within layered sedimentary rock such as shale. The situation can be best compared to tiny air pockets trapped in a loaf of bread as it bakes.
While Shale gas is trapped in rock, Tight gas describes natural gas that is dispersed within low-porosity silt or sand areas that create a tight-fitting environment for the gas.
Exploring and extracting Tight gas
This is the real challenge since the cost and effort involved in extracting Tight gas is quite different from conventional methods. But it has been commercially extracted in many parts of the world now and there are some tried and tested methods. Some of the proven technologies used in Tight Gas exploration are:
Directional drilling

Directional drilling means drilling wells at multiple angles, usually vertically and in some cases horizontally too, to better reach and produce gas reserves. From a single location, various wells can be drilled at myriad angles, tapping reserves miles away and more than a mile below the surface.
Hydraulic fracturing

Hydraulic fracturing is the practice of injecting a well with large amounts of frac fluids under high pressure in order to break the rocks. Small channels are opened up as a result to release the encapsulated gas and allow it to flow into the wellbore.
Reserves in Pakistan
While there is no proven figure available, it is estimated from various independent sources that Pakistan has estimated total Tight Gas reserves in the range of 24 to 40 TCF, which makes them larger than the existing natural gas reserves.
Mari Gas Company Limited in Zarghun block, Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) in Kirthar block and OMV in Miano and Sawan blocks, have found Tight gas.
Tight gas reserves have also been identified in the existing development and production leases granted to various E&P companies operating in Pakistan. Main Tight gas regions identified are Kirthar Foldbelt located in Dadu, Sindh, Sulaiman Foldbelt (located in Balochistan), Potohar region in Punjab and offshore areas near Karachi.

What does the future hold?
The first ever Tight gas sales and purchase agreement was signed on November 13, 2012 in Islamabad for first production from a Tight gas reservoir in Pakistan from Kirthar Block in Dadu, Sindh. The Kirthar Block is jointly owned by Polish Oil and Gas Company (70%) and PPL (30%).
If exploration and extraction is on schedule, SSGC will receive 30mmcfd gas into its system through two Kirthar Block wells.
For the implementation of this project, SSGC has been awarded a contract of Rs235 million for the construction of 52-km pipeline from Kirthar Block’s Rehman Gas Field which will be integrated into SSGC’s system at Naing Valve Assembly through the Bhit Gas pipeline.

Apart from this, PPL in collaboration with ENI is set to start for the first time drilling of exploratory well in Sindh’s deep sea in 2014. In this regard, around seven exploratory wells, eight appraisal wells, and 19 development wells have been planned for discovering 150 billion cubic feet of Shale and Tight gas in Sindh in the next five years.

Indian ‘spy’ killed for washing clothes in Lahore jail: Witness

2013-01-28T21:56:00.000+05:00

An Indian inmate at the Lahore Central Jail in Kot Lakhpat died under mysterious circumstances.
Chamail Singh, son of Salaar Singh, is a 48-year-old resident of Targwal Khalkay village, Akhnoor tehsil, in Jammu, who was imprisoned on spying charges after a military trial sentence in June 2012.

The beating was witnessed by another inmate, Tehsin Khan Advocate, who was able to speak about it as he was freed three days later on January 18. He told The Express Tribune that at 7:45am on January 15 Singh was washing his clothes at a tap in the jail’s courtyard when two chakar imdadis or hawaldars, Muhammad Sidique and Muhammad Nawaz, and Assistant Superintendent of Jail (ASJ) Nasir Nawaz stopped him for doing so.
“Does he think the jail is his home where he can wash his clothes wherever he wants?” Khan quoted Nawaz as saying.
When Singh responded, the hawaldars started beating him on Nawaz’s orders. The ASJ himself allegedly pounded Singh with his fists. Kicks drew blood from Singh’s upper lip and brow. The three men continued to beat him for a minute, at the end of which he was dead, claimed Khan.
The jailors dispatched the body to the prison hospital before rushing to barrack No. 4 where Singh had been kept. According to Khan, eight affidavits were then extracted from his fellow inmates, all Indian nationals, to the effect that it was a ‘natural’ death. Aided by another inmate Zeeshan, the prisoners who signed the papers were Maqbool Ali, Mohammad Fareed, Kuldeep Kumar, Javed Singh and Lakhu Ram, Shabu Nath. This was all done in the absence of a magistrate.
The affidavits state that Singh lit a cigarette after washing his clothes and died of natural causes. He was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Singh’s body has been in the Jinnah Hospital mortuary for 12 days. Assistant Superintendant of Police Muhammad Sarwar confirms that he had received the body from the jail and taken it to the hospital.
ASJ Nasir Nawaz was contacted several times by The Express Tribune, but he did not respond. Additional Superintendant Ishtiaq Gill denied, claims, that Singh was beaten to death.

Ride to the moon

2013-01-24T08:28:00.001+05:00

The Islamabad container drama, jointly staged by Dr Tahirul Qadri and the federal government, holds important lessons for all of us, that is, if we are willing to learn.
The first is that if those in power are bent upon fooling the nation, they can do so with utmost success and without much challenge — especially, if the fraud is incrusted with bewitching slogans of revolution and democracy. The so-called revolution at core was an attempt to activate a particular type of religious vote bank in the heartland of Punjab that would benefit the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), whose fortunes in this politically powerful province are fairly precarious. Since their opponent, the Pakistan Muslim League-N, seems to be drawing on the strength of more hardcore Deobandi and Alh-e-Hadith voters, the softer religious variant, the Barelvis, could be given a cause to rally around the PML-Q-PPP combine. This primarily explains the overflowing enthusiasm of the Q leadership to champion the cause of the Long March Declaration, whose real worth is less than the paper it is typed on. The international backing to this illusory tale of fictional revolution of the people, by the people and for the people, had to be there because a ‘softer mullah’ holds irresistible charm for the policy of promoting (or inserting) winning moderates in the world of Islam. So, it came to be — the four-day long saga, with its dazzling contradictions and exceptional media hype. In the beginning, even the most educated among us thought it to be real: such is the desperation to find an instant solution to our wide-ranging problems. They thought the day of final judgement is finally upon this terrible system of pelf-based on plunder, not realising that the system is so well-entrenched that no individual — certainly not Dr Qadri — shall ever be in a position of holding it to account.

The second lesson is that this nation cannot take to be true all that appears on the media. This industry, like all industries, always had flaws and shortcomings. Long before television invaded national life, the seemingly serene waters of print journalism had terrible troubles of dishonesty and rigged news swirling just beneath. Editorials could be hatchet jobs and opinion pieces could be full of crochets because the writer was bought off. With the advent of private television, these chronic frailties have now become a full-blown disease. It spreads like an epidemic once triggered by devious individuals and their equally dubious money. The grand benefits of good messages reaching out to millions in no time, which cannot be denied, now have an equally weighty downside: propaganda overwhelming the market of opinion. Barring a few exceptions, the media, by and large, behaved like the unsuspecting crowd on the road that swayed and swirled to the high-sounding oratory of Dr Qadri. Acutely aware of the need to have the eyes and ears of the media permanently available to him, the passionate cleric made it a point to halt tackling even the most revered and sacred subjects if he found out that a messy wire had deprived a certain section of people to his sound or picture. His was a media show. The media gave him the stage to do the show. D-Chowk was the studio with 50 cameras rolling. Dr Qadri was the anchor with four-days airtime guaranteed.
There is not enough information available with me to suggest that this exceptional coverage was due to the money-factor. It could just be poor editorial judgement, which is quite possible, considering how little thought goes into news planning these days. Or it could just be competition. One heavy-hitter takes up a subject so the other one must follow suit, and so on. Political and sectarian leanings could also be a factor. It is amazing how deeply-rooted such biases have become in our media system and how audacious is our pretension that we are safe from such parochial divisions. The reality is that staff gets hired and fired on the basis of sectarian leanings and newsrooms and editorial boards are filled with party affinities, and yet, they all wear the garb of being unbiased and pass themselves as balanced journalists. Dr Qadri, endorsed by the MQM, appealed to a certain category of the media and they deified him. But money, too, was there. The ads, the paid content, the soft interviews and the celebrations at the ‘positive culmination’ of the Long March could not just be the result of lack of professionalism and unsound editorial judgement. These carried the unmistakable ideogram of cash at work.
The third lesson is that if you want to avoid the pain of being led up the garden path by a clever cleric, a fake revolutionary, a deceiving democrat, a misleading leader and a (potentially) misdirected media, use your own judgement, arrived at through careful study of individuals and their backgrounds. This place has become a gangster’s paradise. Sifting the good from the bad requires application of mind. Without this resource, the next container ride will take you to the moon and drop you from there.

Controlling teenagers: Worried parents make DHA ban shisha

2013-01-24T08:23:00.002+05:00

Smokers in Defence will most likely head to cafes in Clifton following the ban on the use of shisha.

The Defence Housing Authority (DHA) warned all café owners that their trade licences will be suspended if they violate the ban. The restriction that came into force on Monday has unnerved the owners of nearly 50 cafés who claim their customers are now heading to cafes situated outside DHA.

The ban does not apply to cafes and restaurants in parts of Clifton that do not within DHA jurisdiction. “There is little we can do about that,” said DHA’s town planning and building control director Mian Mehmood Yousuf.

“Shisha is banned around the world and there is no reason why we should not act against its sale here,” said DHA’s town planning and building control director Mian Mehmood Yousuf, who stands by this decision. “There is no turning back now.”

The DHA took the step under the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers Health Ordinance 2002. Yousuf explained that the authority had given enough time to the owners to rethink their business strategy. “We issued public notices a couple of weeks ago but no one took it seriously.”

Does the same ban apply to the sale of cigarettes? Yousuf struggled to explain this. “We are doing all we can to stop the menace,” he said. “Shisha was attracting teenagers.”

The businesses are, however, planning to take DHA to court. They have decided to form a trade association and get it registered with the government before they approach the courts.

Ammar Ahmed, who runs Cafe Mazeh, felt that DHA should not have allowed the sale of shisha in the first place. “People have put Rs10 million to Rs20 million in opening just one cafe,” he said. “No one at the DHA warned us when we registered our businesses with them.”

Ahmed felt the decision was absurd given that shisha is commonly sold everywhere else. “Our customers will just go to Boat Basin.”

Interestingly, not all of Clifton is exempted from the ban. Cafes in Block 8 and Block 9 will also have to close shop if they continue to sell shisha.

According to Ahmed, shisha was main source of revenue for these cafes. “This will affect everything else we sell at our outlets,” he said. “Food is basically an accessory. Who is going to make DHA understand all this?”

According to industry officials, a cafe that has 40 to 50 running tables earns between Rs100,000 and Rs200,000 a month from shisha sale. With this revenue gone, the owners are worried that they might have to increase the prices of meals.

Meanwhile, DHA vigilance department head Colonel (retd) M Amjad defended the decision by saying that they were pressurised by parents. “Members of DHA residents association have asked us, more than once, to take action against such cafes,” he admitted. “Even the residents who come to us for other matters never forget to highlight the menace these cafes have created in the neighbourhood.”

Deputy Commissioner says DHA has no authority

The deputy commissioner South, Jamal Mustafa Qazi, insisted though that DHA was interfering in government matters by enforcing a ban on shisha. “DHA is a development authority and this action is completely unacceptable,” he said. “Imposing a restriction like this does not fall under the mandate of DHA.”

There is already a partial restriction in place that bans shisha sale to teenagers, he said. When Section 144 was imposed and shisha was banned, Qazi recalled that they held meetings with cafe owners and agreed upon certain guidelines that included discouraging people to sit inside a cafe for more than two hours.

The deputy commissioner’s office will take necessary steps to stop DHA from imposing this ban, he added.

Pakistan skiing contingent bags top honours in Korea

2013-01-22T17:00:00.000+05:00

Pakistan’s ski contingent comprising Noor Mohammad and Shah Hussain of Naltar Ski School clinched top two positions by winning gold and silver medals respectively in the ‘Dream Programme-2013’ held at Gangwon-do in South Korea.

An official press release of the Pakistan Air Force issued on Monday said Vice Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Farhat Hussain Khan, who is also the President of the Ski Federation of Pakistan (SFP), congratulated the athletes who met him here on Monday.

Air Marshal lauded the achievements of the skiers for winning gold and silver medals in the event and hoped that their success would
significantly boost the SFP’s ventures in upcoming national and international ski events.

“It shows that we have made huge progress since our joining the Dream Training Programme just two years ago,” he said.

He also acknowledged the contributions and efforts of Embassy of Korea in Pakistan and thanked the South Korean Ambassador, His Excellency Mr Choong-joo Choi, for extending his full support and co-operation in materialising these ski training sessions in Korea.

Later on, the Pakistan skiers also visited the Embassy of Republic of Korea to meet His Excellency Mr Choong-joo Choi who appreciated the outstanding performance of the contingent in Dream Programme — 2013.

‘Dream Programme’ was launched by Gangwon-do which will also be the host of Pyeong Chang 2018 Winter Olympics.

The purpose of the programme is to expand the base of winter sports internationally. Since 2004, the province is inviting young people from countries where winter sports facilities are not fully developed.

This year about 150 participants from 40 different countries participated in the training programme after which the athletes were divided into groups and skiing competitions were held among them.