Invisible Refugees’ Burden Cities
Jun 18, 2009 News & Events, Pakistan
SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: June 17, 2009
New York Times
MARDAN, Pakistan — The Khan family made it through Taliban rule, a military offensive and the three-day journey to this crowded city.
But after more than a month of living together — 75 people, three rooms, one bathroom — they might not survive one another.
“This is a test for us,” said Akhtar Jan, a mother of four who is part of the extended family. “If we don’t smile, we would be dead from crying.”
Pakistan is experiencing its worst refugee crisis since partition from India in 1947, and while the world may be familiar with the tent camps that have rolled out like carpets since its operation against the Taliban started in April, the overwhelming majority of the nearly three million people who have fled live unseen in houses and schools, according to aid agencies.
They are the invisible refugees, and their numbers have swollen the populations of towns like this one northwest of the capital, Islamabad, multiplying burdens on already sagging roads, schools, sewers and water supplies, and, not least, on their host families.
Most fled suddenly, without cash or belongings, and many have limited access to the millions of dollars in international aid that has been flowing in.
“People aren’t noticing them,” said Michael McGrath, Pakistan director of Save the Children, an aid organization that has focused on refugees outside of camps. “Their needs are not being met.”
Their hardships have made time of the essence. Refugees said they left their homes because they believed that the government was serious about stopping the militants this time. The more time passes, the more good will is lost, and the more likely they are to become frustrated with the war effort.
“This is it,” Hamid Akbar, 25, a refugee from the Swat Valley, said in Peshawar, the regional capital. “The military isn’t going to get another chance.”
But as far as the refugee crisis goes, the provincial and federal governments’ response has been haphazard, or non-existent. Refugees said in interviews last week that they saw no evidence of government assistance.
The main relief effort is instead carried out by aid organizations and the United Nations, which register refugees in the tent camps, most which are far from the city centers. Many of the displaced did not know how to register, or even that they could.
All of this puts the burden on their host families, who, according to a survey conducted by Save the Children, have taken in more than two families each. (The average family size is 10.)
It is a colossal act of charity. The survey found that only a third of refugees were living with relatives. The rest were staying with friends and even strangers.
“It would have been a disaster if these people didn’t take them into their homes,” said Azam Khanis, who is coordinating the provincial government’s aid effort.
But that generosity is not endless. It has been more than a month since Pakistan began the operation in Swat, and host families are tiring of their guests.
Ms. Jan said her family navigated daily life by assigning numbers to family members, divvying up bathroom time, sleeping time, and the time for cooking, which takes place over two blue propane gas canisters in a courtyard.
At night, 25 women and children sleep together in her room, covering the stone floor like a blanket. “Foot on mouth, hand in face,” are the words Ms. Jan uses to describe it.
They have taken over three spare rooms in a building reserved for guests that belongs to a local businessman. They get free lunches at a nearby school, but the rice is full of pebbles. For dinner, they are on their own. On a recent night, Ms. Jan cooked turnips.
“We are forgotten,” said Shah Khan, one of her cousins.
The Swat Valley, where the Khan family is from, is cool, green and full of streams and forests, and the searing heat of Mardan is unfamiliar. Children were lying in wilted forms on mats on the floor.
Hamza Bakht, 14, spends his days on the street for relief from the stifling two-room apartment where his 40-member family is living. When he was home in the Swat Valley, his parents shut him inside and forbade him to go out after school, for fear that he would be forcibly recruited by the Taliban, whose foot soldiers were mostly teenagers.
“Mostly I watched TV,” he said.
Tags: Idp's, IDP's Swat, mardan, Pakistan, Swat, war on terror
Cat attacks rottweiler
Jun 18, 2009 Videos
Iran Tightens Crackdown and Claims U.S. Interference
Jun 18, 2009 News & Events
NAZILA FATHI and ALAN COWELL
The New York Times
June 17, 2009
TEHRAN — Iran expanded its crackdown on journalists on Wednesday and for the first time directly accused the United States of interference in the disputed presidential election, summoning the Swiss ambassador, who represents American interests in Tehran, to complain of “interventionist” statements, according to news reports quoting the semi-official Fars news agency on Wednesday.
President Obama said a day earlier that it would be counterproductive for the United States “to be seen as meddling.” But he has also said he was “deeply troubled by the violence” in Iran and that democratic values needed to be observed.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry officials, without being specific about which comments they were reacting to, expressed “protest and displeasure,” the news agency said.
Opposition leaders, meantime, called for more mass defiance.
The War Against Terror and Recent Situation in War Hit NWFP Areas
Jun 17, 2009 Pakistan, pakistan politics
Muddasir Iftikhar
Jalaybi.com
17-06-09
Pakistan is engaged in war against terror since years. But the government efforts have been restricted to patty operations mostly through semi military resources. As the terror situation declines in the sense that the so called Taliban Tahreek-e-Pakistan emergence as a threat for the national existence, the government has to start a profitable operation measure against such anti state activities particularly in areas of Swat, Malaccan and other parts of NWFP. It is quite known that Pakistan army is making due efforts to eradicate the terrorist and they have successfully Swat and Dire areas and are making further advancements towards even more remote packets of insurgency.
As the Pakistan forces are restricting the violence ability of Talibans, the extremists in reaction have increased their efforts in suicidal killings and devastations. Now there are almost every day incidents of attack on civilian life and property in NWFP and Punjab. Since there has been an alarming enhancement in terror activities the people are more worried and upset throughout the country. The recent suicidal killing of Dr. Mualana Sarfraz Naeemi has shocked the people throughout Pakistan and one is obliged to raise the question that what is going to happen of the people and the country in the coming months and years. As a peace loving and patriot Pakistani is a realistically aware that this insurgency at the name of Taliban is definitely foreign inspires and outside funded by the enemies of Pakistan. A common Pakistani knows through is heart the names of Pakistani enemy, therefore we must realize that this war against insurgency is not short living or a sudden incident. The enemies have taken due time to produce the element for insurgency and surely the enemy will take further time to get lost when the people of Pakistan push and hit them to run away. We Pakistanis have the faith on the ideology of Pakistan and we have a confidence in our armed forces and we must realize that we have a belief to that there is no substitute to Pakistan so we must protect and save it. How long it takes though it matters yet there is no question to submitting to such insurgency. As it very clear that the insurgency at the name of Taliban Tahreek-e-Pakistan is both aided and motivated by foreign agencies therefore it is very convincing to assume that this insurgency will take its’ due time perhaps years and Pakistan will have to resist it at the cost of life, material and all other assets that counts for a country’s prosper. But there is one sure and ultimate measure that can curb this insurgency in shortest possible time and that is the conviction of all Pakistan to shunt this sort of element at the cost of religion, creed, language and tradition. The enemy of Pakistan cannot claim to be a friend what cloak the rasp around his body. Pakistan is the future of 17 Crore of people and it is the hope of the Muslims of the world. Therefore no one must allow the saced land a victim of any enemy. Let every Pakistani be dually bound to discard and disapprove this terror group and secure the future of all the Pakistani.
There is one more and vital step to be taken for the permanent rescue of our holly land from insurgencies through different excuses. It is the fact that most of the areas appearing to become the nursery for Talibanisation are economically very backward. Literacy rate is at the lowest while most of the people still stick to tribal ego tradition and customs. As soon as these areas are once evacuated from the extremists there should be a speedy measure for rehabilitation. The first to construct must be a school or a college and there should be a powerful incentive for the parents as well as for the children that there is the largest number of students in every institution. There must be a liberal investment on education so as a parent wishing to send his ward is attracted to bring his child to a government school. There must be a free education upto college level with free uniform and food facilities. Very strict measures must be taken to employee the teaching staff surely from outside the area either from Peshawar or Hazara division. It will be more advisable if the teaching staff is employed on merit and with very higher qualification even at the primary level. And it will be advisable if the Islamite is taught from the first step but through qualified teachers. The government of Pakistan must spend very generously on education. In particular for five years on revolutionarily basis and INSHALLah the whole area will be transformed into most promising generation becoming an asset for Pakistan. Let us access that the amount used on reconstruction and regeneration on very high scale will definitely be less than the expanses on the resistance and war measures in the area in the same time
Tags: afghanistan, NWFP, Pakistan, pakistan politics, taliban, Talibans, War against terror, war on terror
Shots have been fired during a massive rally in Iran
Jun 16, 2009 News & Events
Shots have been fired during a massive rally in Iran against last week’s presidential election results, with reports saying one person was killed.
Hundreds of thousands rallied to support candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, but a group of them was fired on from a militia base they had surrounded.
Mr Mousavi has lodged a legal appeal against the result but says he is not optimistic it will succeed.
US President Barack Obama has said he is “deeply troubled” by the violence.
On Monday evening, in his first public comments since the election results, he said that free speech and the democratic process must be respected in Iran.
See map of Tehran protests
The BBC’s Jon Leyne, in Tehran, says Monday’s rally was the biggest demonstration in the Islamic republic’s 30-year history and described it as a “political earthquake”.
Mr Mousavi says the vote was fixed – a claim President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denies.
The government had outlawed any protest following two days of unrest, with the interior ministry warning that “any disrupter of public security would be dealt with according to the law”.
Despite this, correspondents said riot police had been watching the rally during the afternoon and had seemed to be taking no action.
The first indications of trouble came at about 2045 local time (1615 GMT), when the protesters were beginning to disperse from Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) Square.
“There has been sporadic shooting out there… I can see people running here,” Reuters quoted a reporter from Iran’s Press TV as saying.
“A number of people who are armed, I don’t know exactly who they are, but they have started to fire on people causing havoc in Azadi Square.”
A photographer at the scene told news agencies that security forces had killed one protester and seriously wounded several others. A man is said to have been arrested over the shooting.
He said the shooting began when the crowd attacked a compound used by a religious militia linked to the country’s powerful Revolutionary Guard.
Other sources told the BBC as many as six people might have died in the incident.
The AFP news agency reported that police fired tear gas and groups of protesters set motorbikes alight.
A BBC correspondent said there had also been gunfire in the north of the city – traditionally an anti-government stronghold – and that the security forces appeared to be hunting down protesters.
There was a large police presence on major streets of the city on Monday night, but evidence of few ordinary people, our correspondent added.
Ayatollah’s intervention
Earlier, the demonstrators had gathered in Tehran’s Enghelab (Revolution) Square, chanting pro-Mousavi slogans, before marching to Azadi Square.
“Mousavi we support you. We will die, but retrieve our votes,” they shouted, many wearing the green of Mousavi’s election campaign.
Tags: rally in Iran
End of Fake Taliban: Pakistan offensive to target Baitullah Mehsud
Jun 16, 2009 News & Events, Pakistan, pakistan politics
Press TV
Soldiers of Pakistan army get ready to transport tanks in Pakistani insurgency hit areas.
Pakistan government orders its troops to launch an offensive against Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in the country’s troubled north-west.
Owais Ghani, North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) governor, announced late on Sunday that Pakistani troops had been told to expand their offensive against militants into the South Waziristan tribal region, a stronghold of pro-Taliban militants’ notorious leader.
“The military and law-enforcing agencies have been ordered to carry out a full-scale operation to eliminate these beasts and killers,” Ghani said at a press conference.
Qari Zainuddin, second from right, the leader of a Taliban faction, pauses outside his office after an interview with media in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan.
Mehsud, a warlord in his late 30s, has claimed responsibility for dozens of suicide attacks on civilians and security forces across the violence-hit country.
The official orders come after Mehsud’s Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed that it was behind serial attacks on mosques in northwestern garrison town of Nowshera and eastern city of Lahore.
The bombings killed several people including a prominent cleric and fueled anti-Taliban sentiments among the Pakistani people.
Local residents stand around a damaged car at the site of a bomb explosion in a market in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan on Sunday, June 14, 2009
Also on Sunday, an explosive-laden vehicle exploded near a busy market in the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan, killing nine people and injuring dozens more.
This is while sources say the army has killed at least 31 insurgents in various districts across the volatile northwestern region over the past 24 hours.
The army claims to have killed more than 1,500 militants since it launched its operations in the troubled Swat valley.
Tags: Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan, taliban, war on terror
Loud & Clear Episode 3 Hamid Gul
Jun 16, 2009 News & Events, Pakistan, pakistan politics
Tags: Hamid Gul, Loud & Clear
Lahore Suicide Blast at Jamia Naeemia
Jun 12, 2009 News & Events, Pakistan
Friday, June 12, 2009 LAHORE: At least five people including Jamia Naeemia principal Dr Sarfraz Naeemi were martyred and eight others injured in a suicide blast at Jamia Naeemia situated in Garhi Shahu area of Lahore, Geo News reported Friday.
The blast occurred after the Friday prayers when the people were making their way out of the mosque after offering the Friday prayers. A lot of people were present in the mosque at the time of blast.
Jamia Naeemia principal Dr Sarfraz Naeemi was present at his office at the Jamia Naeemia at the time of blast, the eyewitnesses said adding he was meeting with the people and students at his office; in the meantime, the suicide bomber blew himself up.
The blast was so powerful that the outer walls of the Jamia Naeemia Masjid collapsed and he nearby buildings were harmed in the blast.
The injured Maulana Naeemi was rushed to the hospital; however, he succumbed to the injuries on the way to the hospital.
The deceased include his close associate Dr Khalilur Rehman.
The personnel of the security forces cordoned off the area and started the relief operation.
The injured were rushed to the Meo Hospital. Emergency has been declared in the hospitals of the Lahore.
The security forces are searching the building on the apprehension of another bomb.
DCO Lahore Sajjad Bhutta said the Maulana was provided with the proper security.
Tags: Jamia Naeemia, lahore blasts, lahore sucide attack, sucide bomb lahore
Internet Will Become “Paid System” Within “Five Years”
Jun 12, 2009 Technology
Tom Steinert-Threlkeld
ZDNet
June 11, 2009
The days of the free Internet will draw to a close over the next five years, according to the chairman and chief executive of IAC, the interactive services company which operates a collection of more than 30 Internet sites which produce $1.5 billion a year in revenue.
The only missing link, according to Barry Diller, who cut his teeth building up over-the-air and cable TV networks: a good billing system, akin to Amazon’s “one-click” button or the Apple iPhone’s slick downloading of paid applications.
“I absolutely believe the Internet is passing from its free days into a paid system. Inevitably, I promise you, it will be paid,” Diller said in a keynote discussion opening up the Advertising 2.0 conference held at his company’s futuristic glass building alongside the Hudson River in Manhattan. “Not every single thing, but anything of value. “
The fact that content and services on the Internet so far have been largely supplied for no charge is “an accident of historical moment that will be corrected,” he said, in an era of “creative chaos” that will span the next three to five years.
So far, news, content and service suppliers were “afraid of not being dinosaurs and slapped everything up on the Internet for free,’’ he said, in an interchange with BusinessWeek media columnist Jon Fine.
But, that will be change. The New York Times, for instance, likely will have to go beyond the “pay wall” in order to cover the cost of its worldwide reporting corps, even if it means having 1, 2 or 3 million paid subscribers, instead of 20 million unique visitors a month. And people will pay – if it is quality they’re buying.
“People have paid for content,’’ he said. “They always have.”
IAC’s Match.com, a dating service, already charges subscription fees. IAC also operates Ask.com, the search service, UrbanSpoon, one of those iPhone apps, Citysearch, a local information service, and The Daily Beast, a content site headed by former New Yorker editor Tina Brown.
Inevitably, Diller said, the “base model” of the Internet will be paid, at the end of the chaos. The forms will include not just subscriptions and individual one-time purchases, but rapid-fire micropayments and other mechanisms.
The early examples: Amazon’s “one-click” system, where a customer enters billing address and credit card information in advance. Then, a button on the screen for a shopping cart is pressed once and the purchase or purchases associated with that cart are confirmed, billed, paid for and delivered.
Similarly, with the App Store for Apple’s iPhone handheld computing and communication devices, “the real trick and key is the billing system and the way of doing it is absolutely a blink,’’ he said.
The right billing system, broadly applied, would remove “one of the greatest bars of buying anything” which “is the steps it takes” to complete a purchase.
The entire Internet, in effect, would become an app – or content – store.
“That little thing – that in fact that you scroll it, you do it, it comes, everything else is taken care of, is the answer to what’s going to happen on the Internet, when in fact, you get the applicability of that broadly across the Internet,” Diller said. “It’s absolutely going to happen.”
And given the movement of ad and subscription revenue to the Internet, “people who manufacture that content will have no alternative,” he said.
The biggest disruptor? When broadband pipes to the Internet are connected to large screens in living rooms around the world and users are interacting with its increasingly video-based content with a remote control.
At that point, television, radio and prior media founded on scarcity, like limited spectrum whose use is overseen by governments, “will be run over by this much more open, much much less controlled (medium) that is not based on scarcity, but based on unbelievable plenty,” Diller said
Tags: internet
Aftermath of Peshawar blast
Jun 11, 2009 News & Events, Pakistan
At least 15 people were killed and dozens injured as a huge explosion ripped through Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar. Authorities feared the Taliban and al-Qaeda militants might launch attacks to avenge the deaths of their comrades in Malakand, where Pakistani Army is engaged in an operation to flush out Islamic militants.
Tags: Al-Qaeda, al-Qaeda militants, Islamic militants., Malakand, Peshawar blast, taliban
