As Pakistan drowns, its leaders fight
Sep 1, 2010 Pakistan, pakistan politics
After a month of extensive flooding in Pakistan’s Indus river, the waters are finally pouring into the Arabian Sea.
The fury of the floods has inundated almost one-fifth of the country’s agricultural land, destroying crops orchards and sweeping away livestock. In the end, it displaced almost 20 million people and destroyed irrigation systems, schools, hospitals, wiped out entire villages and destroyed more than a thousand bridges.
All in all, the government now estimates the total losses from the devastating floods to be around $43bn. Just a few years ago the government also estimated the losses incurred from the ongoing alliance in the so-called War on Terror, which is said to be around $35bn.
Add the two and you get a figure of $78bn – something the Pakistani leadership will have to bear in mind.
Already the country’s external debt is said to be a staggering $53bn on which the country is paying back $3bn annually for debt-servicing, putting an extra burden on the already faltering economy. The question is what happens next?
Calls for revolution
At least one self-exiled political leader, Altaf Hussain of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM), thought the time was rife for a revolution. He has already told the peasants who have lost everything to occupy the homes and estates of the feudal, whom he says control this country and hold sway over parliament, the bureaucracy and the military.
Hussain even asked the patriotic generals to bring the feudal landlords to book and hold them accountable. The message was enough for the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) party to move a point of order in the National Assembly against the MQM.
The message also fueled a ferocious debate on private TV networks in which political figures from various parties and the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party fought verbal bouts in front of a bewildered nation that was already dreading the tough times ahead because of the worst floods in living memory.
Forgotten was the plight of the poor people who were now planning to return to their destroyed farms and villages as the waters gradually started to retreat.
Target killings persist
The floods did nothing to stop the target killings in Karachi, which continue unabated and where two political rivals – the Awami National Party (ANP) and the MQM – are fighting what is now dubbed as a turf war for control of Pakistan’s economic jugular and its major port city, also the financial hub of Pakistan.
Ironically, the nationalists are keeping a low profile in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, previously known as the Northwest Frontier Province (where they are in power) after angry locals complained that political leadership failed to come to the rescue of the ordinary citizens and warned them of dire consequences.
Sadly even now it appears that neither the government nor other political parties are able to concentrate on relief to the victims of the flood.
Even though they were more than generous to offer advice to the people to start a bloody revolution, they had no idea that the people were perhaps contemplating holding their political leadership responsible for their plight.
If the Pakistani leadership wants to be sincere to the people, it should try and win back lost credibility by putting aside petty differences and uniting to save the country.
If leaders fail now they will have to prepare to face the wrath of 180 million people; and though the idea may be coming from some political circles that the country is ready for a revolution, those leaders would not be the benefactors.
Tags: Pakistan, Pakistan Flood, target killing
Shoes hurled at Zardari in Britain UK
Aug 8, 2010 Pakistan, pakistan politics
Tags: Shoes hurled, zardari
Zardari’s Katrina Why is Pakistan’s president junketing while his people drown?
Aug 7, 2010 Pakistan, pakistan politics
ForeignPolicy
Fatima Bhutto
This week, Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, boarded a private Gulfstream Jet along with his family and his hundreds-large entourage to visit the European countries included on the president’s grand tour. Yesterday, Zardari — who was married to my aunt, the late Benazir Bhutto, before her 2007 murder — landed in London. As soon as the plane touched down, the president and his Very Important coterie were chauffeured in a dozen luxury vehicles to
His welcome, however, was less than royal. On the drive to the hotel, protesters held placards reading “Zardari King of Thieves,” “Zardari 100% Pure Corruption,” and “GO Zardari GO.” While Zardari was schmoozing with his cronies in luxe London hotels, Pakistan was reeling from the deadliest floods to hit the country in 80 years. In short, it looks like Zardari’s Katrina.
More than 3 million people in the northwestern region of Pakistan have now been affected by the floods. Parts of the north are facing terminal food shortages even as they are inaccessible to relief workers. The U.N. World Food Program says that 1.8 million will urgently need something to eat in coming weeks. The death toll has risen steadily in recent days to more than 1,400 people. About another million have lost their homes.
The news is also unlikely to get any better: Officials now say that the waters are expected to hit Punjab and Sindh provinces, Pakistan’s food-producing regions. New flood warnings are still being issued, and the country is bracing for further monsoon downpours.
Zardari takes a lot of overseas trips — so many that one local TV pundit estimated somewhat anecdotally last year that Richard Holbrooke, U.S. President Barack Obama’s special envoy to the “AfPak” region, had spent more time in Pakistan than Zardari had recently. But the timing of this particular visit has angered not only his subjects but also his hosts. Two prominent Asian Britons refused to meet the visiting head of state. Khalid Mahmood, a member of parliament, vigorously condemned Zardari’s decision to visit London. “A lot of people are dying,” he told the press. “He should be [in Pakistan] to try to support the people, not swanning around in the UK and France.” Lord Ahmed, a labor MP, continued that Zardari had a responsibility to be “looking after people, not [be] over here.”
Yet the protests seem to have fallen on deaf ears — which really shouldn’t surprise anyone who has watched the Zardari government in action. The floods are just the latest, most tragic example of how inept the Pakistani state truly is. The inundation was predictable; Pakistan suffers monsoon rains every year at exactly the same time. But in a country — and with a president — so endemically corrupt, dealing with the entirely preventable, whether terrorism or natural disasters, has become impossible. There is simply no will, and more importantly no money, to spend on the Pakistani people. The country’s coffers are constantly being diverted to more pressing programs — or pockets, for that matter. Before he came to office, Zardari was facing corruption charges in Switzerland, Spain, and Britain. (As president, he withdrew Pakistan’s cooperation with the latter two countries’ courts; his presidential immunity prevented a Swiss case from re-opening.)
a five-star hotel where the president will be staying in a £7,000 ($11,160) per night Royal Suite.
Tags: Pakistan, Pakistani Flood, Paksitan food, zardari
Drone Attack on Schools
Jul 4, 2010 Pakistan, pakistan politics
Tags: afghanistan, cia, Drone Attack, Drones, ISI, Pakistan, USA, war on terror
Talat Hussain AAJ News Tv gone missing after the attack by the Israeli forces
May 31, 2010 Pakistan, pakistan politics
A private TV channel (Aaj TV) anchor Talat Hussain and producer Raza Agha have gone missing after the attack by the Israeli forces on an international flotilla carrying aid to besieged Gaza, killing at least 20 people and injuring several others.
Tags: Israeli Commandos, Talat Hussain, Talat Hussain in Gaza, Talat Hussain Kidnaped
Ex-ISI official Khalid Khwaja found dead in Fata
May 1, 2010 Pakistan, pakistan politics
Dawn
PESHAWAR: Militants in North Waziristan killed on Friday Khalid Khwaja, a former officer of the Inter-Services Intelligence, who was kidnapped on March 26 along with another ISI officer and Taliban sympathiser Col (retd) Amir Sultan Tarar and British journalist Asad Qureshi. Khalid Khwaja was shot in the head and chest. A little known Asian Tigers group had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
Khwaja’s body was found near a stream in Karam Kot, about 7 kilometres south of Mirali.
Local people said they had seen the body but did not pick it up for fear of militants’ attack. A senior official said a jirga of local notables and clerics deputed by the local administration had retrieved the body.
Officials said the body would be taken to Islamabad and handed over to family. A note found with the body said that Khwaja was working for the Americans and anybody working for them would meet the same fate.
An email sent to media by a spokesman for the Asian Tigers said that Khwaja was executed because the government had not met its demands, including release of senior Afghan Taliban leaders Mullah Baradar and Mansoor Dadullah.
Mr Javed Ibrahim Paracha, who played host to Khwaja and his companions when they had stopped over in Kohat on way to North Waziristan, said the Asian Tigers was an offshoot of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi comprising mostly Punjabi Taliban.
Mr Paracha said that Khwaja had told him they were going to North Waziristan to work on a documentary with a journalist from a British television channel to highlight collateral damage caused by drone attacks.
But Khwaja’s son, Osama Khalid, told a private television channel his father had gone on a peace mission.
He said that a Punjabi militant named Osman had organised the group’s visit to North Waziristan.
According to a journalist who had spoken to Khwaja before his departure for the restive region he had told him that he wanted to persuade the Taliban to stop suicide bombings and attacks inside Pakistan and instead focus their attention on combating the United States and Nato forces in Afghanistan.
Khwaja served in the Inter-Services Intelligence for about a year and was dismissed from Air Force when he was a squadron leader during the days of Gen Ziaul Haq.
He rose to prominence during the Lal Masjid siege in 2007 when he took up the cause of missing people.
The kidnappers believed that he had duped Maulana Abdul Aziz, the radical head of Lal Masjid, into leaving the mosque wearing a burqa and then tipping off security personnel who arrested him. Khwaja’s family strongly denies the allegation and says that the family of Maulana Abdul Aziz stayed with them for over a month after the siege.
But according to some analysts, the main reason for his murder might have been his offer to arrange talks with security agencies in return for militants’ commitment to stop attacks inside Pakistan and focus instead on Afghanistan.
“This might have raised their (militants’) suspicion,” said one analyst. Mr Paracha said that the vehicle of Tehrik-i-Taliban leader Wali-ur Rehman had come under a drone attack soon after he had met Khwaja and his companions. Because of the attack, he said, Waliur Rehman also wanted to get hold of him.
The militant group has not said anything about Col (retd) Amir Tarar and journalist Asad Qureshi. It is reported to have demanded a $10 million ransom for the journalist, but indi- cated to some negotiators they may consider releasing Tarar.
But a sinister line at the end of the email sent to reporters said ‘what next?’ which, according to the analysts, meant that there may be another killing.
Tags: colonel imam, ISI, khalid khwaja, North Waziristan, taliban, war on terror
The problem with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
Apr 27, 2010 Pakistan, pakistan politics
A beast has re-awoken in Pakistan, and it’s not the Taliban. Renaming the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) has been stirring emotions in Pakistan since the creation of the province: many view it as a product of British colonial branding. Last week, the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari signed into law the 18th amendment, which included a clause to rename the NWFP to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The new name seeks to reflect the majority Pashtun community living in the NWFP. While Pashtuns rejoiced throughout the province, dancing and handing out sweets, minority groups in the NWFP were incensed at a name that they perceive as a stamp of marginalization.
Let’s start with some sweeping history. In 1901 the NWFP was drawn out of neighboring province Punjab. Among the motivations for this was the idea that the creation of their own province would lead to improved relations between local British officials and the independent tribesmen. In the years since, local and provincial leaders have implored the government to amend a name which has no cultural or ethnic significance for their people. Today, in order to improve relations once again with political figures who could be critical to the fight against the Taliban, the national government has decided the time is right to listen to the demands of the people of the NWFP.
But whose voice should be heard? The NWFP is home to a variety of tribes, spiritual and political leaders, and minority groups. The ruling party of Pakistan, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), decided to rally the support of the Awami National Party (ANP), a secular Pashtun nationalist group which leads the provincial government in the NWFP. The ANP lobby decreed that the province be named “Pakhtunkhwa” to reflect the Pashtun ethnicity of 75 percent of its 20 million people. The PPP obliged. The logical argument was that the ethnic association of the name would bring the identity of the people in line with that of the other provinces — Sindh, Balochistan, and the Punjab — which have names that match their majority ethnic groups. But political decisions are not a matter of pure logic. Shortsightedness by those involved in the re-naming may have created more problems than they are resolving.
Most notably, since the renaming of the NWFP re-surfaced in 2008, the Hindko-speaking population of the Hazara division, the Hazarawals, has been fuming. Hazara is the largest division within the NWFP, and is home to big industry, including the NRTC (National Radio Telecommunication Corporation) and the renowned Tarbela Dam. Despite sharing one province, Pashtun nationalists — and their party, the ANP — have never been able to sink roots into Hazara because of historical disputes. In fact, differences are so distinct that in Abbottabad, the central city of Hazara, Pashto (the main language of the NWFP), is spoken by a mere 2.22 percent of the population in Hazara. For some Hazarawals, the name name-change signaled a future of Pashtun rule.
Right on cue, up stepped the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), Pakistan’s second-largest party, and part of the current coalition government, which draws most of its support from Punjab province and also has a large support-base in the Hazara division. The party’s leadership openly promised that they would fight for the recognition of the Hazarawals, and against the name “Pakhtunkhwa.”
After weeks filled with violent protests across the Hazara division and discussions between the PML-N and the ANP to find a compromise, the Pakistani Senate ratified the name “Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa” on April 15. The only change from the initial name was the addition of the word “Khyber” before “Pakhtunkhwa.” This did little to appease the Hazarwals, and, according to local workers in Peshawar, even served to antagonize some Pashtun nationalists, who felt that the addition of “Khyber” diminished the importance of Pakhtunkhwa. The Hazarawals, meanwhile, argued that “Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa” failed to recognize their culture and identity: “Khyber,” the name of a mountain pass linking Pakistan to Afghanistan is not near enough to Hazara to encompass it.
Back to the drawing board then … well, not quite. As the 18th amendment becomes law, Hazarawals are now demanding their own province, “Hazara.” However, separating the province could illustrate a domino affect throughout the country. In Balochistan, for example, separatists have long fought for greater autonomy, or even independence, from a national government they see as indifferent to their needs. Elsewhere, in southern Punjab, the minority Seraikis have been calling for their own province, Seraikistan, for some years. And what would happen after a breakaway province? Fighting over water, energy, and land — already difficult enough issues in Pakistan? Creating more provinces would exacerbate pre-existing conflicts across different cultural and linguistic groups in Pakistan, weakening the political and economic fabric of an already fragile nation.
This entire debacle could have been avoided. Among the main culprits of the mess must be the ANP, who are the provincial leaders of the now former-NWFP. The ANP leadership not only discounted other linguistic groups when putting forward initial names, but also rejected a referendum that could have given credibility and authenticity to the new name. Moreover, the PML-N — who attempted to represent the Hazarawals — ended up causing more harm. As a result, the inept handling of the issue by political leadership in both parties caused unrest that went onto rock the province. For the past month violent protests, deaths and casualties have increased. Hazarawals have attacked ANP offices, smashing portraits of the party’s founders and setting equipment alight.
What the entire debate highlights is how much ethnic and cultural divisions still permeate Pakistan. Perhaps the answer to such disputes is in carving out provinces wherever groups see fit, or adding prefixes to the names of current provinces. But to what end?
Immediately, Pakistani political leadership must engage with people on all levels who want representation, and seek to build on negotiations and peaceful compromise. It is clear from conversations with the people of Hazara — and other communities — that separate provinces are not the first demand but the final. The Hazarawals, for instance, find themselves feeling unheard and unrepresented. Pakistani leadership must ensure that the representation that currently exists actually represents the views and sentiments of the people. Referendums and consensus votes must not be rejected, but welcomed.
In the long term, Pakistan must fight the challenges of ethnic nationalism. The founding father of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah once stated that: “If we begin to think of ourselves as Bengalis, Punjabis, Sindhis etc. first and Muslims and Pakistanis only incidentally, then Pakistan is bound to disintegrate.” Jinnah is hardly known for his prophetic statements, but there is much truth to his assertion. Since the establishment of Pakistan, politics have followed ethnic and linguistic lines. In recent interviews with politicians in Pakistan, village and federal level leaders say they have tried to advance the causes of their ‘own,’ in all areas of policy, be they Pashtun or Punjabi, Shia or Sunni, Seraiki- or Sindhi- speakers. Pakistan’s national leadership should decide what is good for the country and national cohesion, not for those who belong to his or her ethnic background, or those who speak their language (quite literally). Unless this tradition is reversed the beast will continue to grow.
Bilal Baloch is a Research Analyst with the Transnational Crisis Project.
Tags: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, NWFP, PML (N), taliban, war on terror
