Military risking another debacle like East Pakistan, by Imad Zafar

Military risking another debacle like East Pakistan, by Imad Zafar

Sunday, May 26, can be termed another dark day in the history of Pakistan. Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) activists were shot by the military in North Waziristan. According to recent reports, three activists died on the spot while dozens suffered gunshot injuries. PTM leader Ali Wazir, who is also a member of parliament, was arrested.

PTM a peaceful movement that has been demanding the fundamental rights of Pashtuns and insisting that the powerful military return to its constitutional role instead of dictating the policies of the state.

There were already signs that an incident like the one on Sunday was coming. A few weeks earlier, Major-General Asif Ghafoor, the director general of inter-services public relations (DG ISPR), warned the PTM that the military would take stern action against it. In that press conference, Ghafoor called PTM members traitors and accused the movement of conspiracy against the state.

On Sunday the PTM was protesting against enforced disappearances in the tribal area when gunfire erupted. The military immediately spread propaganda through the electronic media that PTM activists led by Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar had attacked a military check-post and in retaliation, the military opened fire on the protesters. Since the electronic media in Pakistan always sides with the military establishment, the TV channels repeated this propaganda around the clock. In order to silence the PTM activists and to suppress the truth, the military also imposed a curfew in North Waziristan, while cellular and Internet services were also blocked. However, a few of the PTM activists who recorded the event and managed to flee the area uploaded pictures of the injured people.

Soon after that, social-media platforms were used by the PTM and civil society to bust the propaganda of the military establishment and the electronic media. Such was the pressure of the civil campaign that the chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, had to issue a statement calling for an inquiry into why guns were fired at political activists.

Maryam Nawaz, vice-president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), also condemned the incident but in a soft manner. She did not name anyone but showed her concern about the incident and said in a tweet that these matters can never be solved with the might of gun.

The military establishment, as always, is trying to hide the truth, and through the media it is posing the PTM as a terrorist organization that attacked a military checkpoint. On the contrary, since its birth, the PTM has been a very law-abiding human-rights movement

The military establishment, as always, is trying to hide the truth, and through the media it is posing the PTM as a terrorist organization that attacked a military checkpoint. On the contrary, since its birth, the PTM has been a very law-abiding human-rights movement and has never adopted the path of violence. In fact, it is the resistance of PTM against retaliating against the establishment in anger that has earned it a good name in civil society. So the question arises, why would the PTM at this juncture, just when it is gaining popularity across the country, attack a military check post?

Then the other question that comes to mind is why teargas or the firing in the air was not used to disperse the protesters. Is it that the military establishment has lost its patience and  wants to teach the PTM a lesson? Ali Wazir has been arrested and Mohsin Dawar’s whereabouts are still not known at this writing, while it seems that soon PTM chairman Manzoor Pashteen too will be taken under custody by the military establishment on charges of treason.

It seems that the military establishment has not learned any lessons from history, that a movement stripped of its top leadership can prove very dangerous as protests then even go beyond the control of the leaders who have been arrested. The East Pakistan debacle is an example. After freedom fighter Sheikh Mujeeb Rahman was put behind bars, even he was not able to control the outcome, and East Pakistan finally separated and became independent Bangladesh.

The use of force on a human-rights movement that is popular in the Pashtun belts and in parts of Balochistan is unwise, and it shows that the military establishment is feeling the heat. After all, the demands of the PTM are very legitimate and according to the constitution of Pakistan. It demands the arrest of the former police official Rao Anwarwho killed Naqeebullah Masood in a fake encounter, and everyone knows that Anwar was a hitman of the powers that be. The PTM demands about producing missing persons in courts is legitimate, and so is the demand for respect and clearing their areas of military checkpoints and landmines. In so doing, the group is actually raising the voice of the helpless in the Pashtun belt.

The military establishment has no answer for the missing-persons issue as anyone who shows dissent can go missing at any time. Such is the state of fear that many of my colleagues, whether they work for TV channels, print media or radio, are happy to spread the one-sided narrative of the establishment as are afraid that speaking or writing the truth could cost them a job, or they they could even join the ranks of the “missing persons.” They are right – even while writing this piece I have a fear that I could go missing at any time while showing dissent, which has already cost me invisible restrictions in the media.

Perhaps my fellow journalists in Pakistan need to understand that this noble profession needs sacrifices, and there is no place in it for the faint of heart and opportunists.

Sadly, greedy and opportunistic people in the guise of journalism are siding with the establishment, and as a result becoming party to the conflict. Three innocent citizens lost their lives and dozens were injured, but for the establishment and the greedy opportunistic journalists, it is business as usual. What they have failed to understand is that the PTM mostly consists of Pashtun youth and they are not doing power politics, so they have nothing to lose – it is the state that has everything at stake.

The formerly voiceless Pashtuns have put their weight behind the PTM, especially youth. It is time that the state stop using force, as movements like the PTM can never be eliminated by violence. Pakistan has already seen the fall of East Pakistan in 1971 when the military dictator General Yahya Khan used force against the popular movement of Bengalis. It is time that the political leadership of the country comes forward and starts a dialogue with the PTM regarding their demands, which are justified and according to the constitution of Pakistan. Otherwise by using these kinds of fascist methods the military establishment will once again push the country into a debacle like 1971.

https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/05/opinion/military-risking-another-debacle-like-east-pakistan/

Pakistan’s army is to blame for the poverty of the country’s 208m citizens.

Pakistan’s army is to blame for the poverty of the country’s 208m citizens.

It has fostered the paranoia and extremism that hold the country back.

It has for so long been a country of such unmet potential that the scale of Pakistan’s dereliction towards its people is easily forgotten. Yet on every measure of progress, Pakistanis fare atrociously. More than 20m children are deprived of school. Less than 30% of women are employed. Exports have grown at a fifth of the rate in Bangladesh and India over the past 20 years. And now the ambitions of the new government under Imran Khan, who at least acknowledges his country’s problems (see Briefing), are thwarted by a balance-of-payments crisis. If Mr Khan gets an imf bail-out, it will be Pakistan’s 22nd. The persistence of poverty and maladministration, and the instability they foster, is a disaster for the world’s sixth-most-populous country. Thanks to its nuclear weapons and plentiful religious zealots, it poses a danger for the world, too.

Many, including Mr Khan, blame venal politicians for Pakistan’s problems. Others argue that Pakistan sits in a uniquely hostile part of the world, between war-torn Afghanistan and implacable India. Both these woes are used to justify the power of the armed forces. Yet the army’s pre-eminence is precisely what lies at the heart of Pakistan’s troubles. The army lords it over civilian politicians. Last year it helped cast out the previous prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and engineer Mr Khan’s rise (as it once did Mr Sharif’s).

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/01/12/pakistans-army-is-to-blame-for-the-poverty-of-the-countrys-208m-citizens?fbclid=IwAR10O_X2E2J8_wN1BhYpy684bll3Ze8AQzQ_NuoHATo0A46bazybX7TI8As

Can Pakistan Protect CPEC? By Muhammad Akbar Notezai

Can Pakistan Protect CPEC? By Muhammad Akbar Notezai 

An attack on a luxury hotel in the heart of Gwadar proves that Pakistan’s military-centric approach is failing.   May 20, 2019

 Undoubtedly, Gwadar – the port city in Balochistan on the Arabian Sea —  is the backbone of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is why it has been in the center of media attention ever since the announcement of the multi-billion dollar project. In this regard, Pakistan’s prosperity is also linked to the development of the Gwadar port project. On some occasions, Pakistani officials have gone as far as to assert that Gwadar has the potential of changing the fate of the whole region.

But on May 12, Baloch militants carried out an assault in the heart of CPEC.

Three armed militants reportedly stormed the luxury Pearl Continental hotel in Gwadar. The attackers were killed, but only after killing five people inside the hotel and a soldier.

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CPEC is part of China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative. It seeks to link China’s western and less-developed Xinjiang region with Gwadar in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. This plan will give China valuable access to the Arabian Sea.

From the beginning, China has been concerned about the threats to CPEC in Pakistan in general and in Balochistan in particular. The southern Pakistani province is home to a long-running insurgency by various Baloch ethnic militias aiming for independence. To address China’s concerns, Pakistan has taken action against militant groups, including banned religious outfits. Over the years, the Pakistani authorities have been able to restore peace in many areas that were previously volatile. There have also been reports of Baloch nationalist militants surrendering before the authorities.

But those gains have proven to be short-lived. The May 12 attack in Gwadar was not a one-off; in November 2018 Baloch militants attacked the Chinese consulate in Karachi. Once again, these groups are gaining momentum and are carrying out attacks to show their presence. Clearly, the militants have only been driven underground, not exterminated once and for all.

The brazen nature of May’s attack was notable. Ever since CPEC was unveiled, security has been beefed up in Gwadar. The whole town of Gwadar city now resembles a military cantonment. Foreign journalists visiting Gwadar have not been allowed to enter the port city without “No-Objection Certificates” (NOCs). Locals who visit other areas of Pakistan are regularly asked to show their national identity cards to step back inside their own hometown. Despite these intense security measures, militants were able to attack a luxury hotel in the heart of Gwadar.

The Gwadar incident suggests that Pakistan has not been able to fully address Chinese concerns. Instead, these concerns are further compounding by the day. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has not been able to satisfy Chinese authorities over CPEC; it doesn’t help that under Khan’s government, there has been talk of renegotiating certain CPEC projects with China. Although those reports were later officially denied, the Chinese were taken aback at the new demands.

China wants CPEC to be successful at any cost. That is why the Chinese have been trying to reach out to some Baloch separatist leaders on their own. Yet those efforts have not borne fruit. On the contrary, things have become even uglier since China’s reported negotiations with Baloch separatists.

Baloch nationalists have shown their hostility toward CPEC from the very beginning. Baloch separatists have posted videos on social media vowing to carry out attacks against CPEC projects. According to them, these development projects are a threat to Baloch identity. In recent months, Baloch separatists have increased attacks in and out of the province. Last month, on April 18, around a dozen armed men killed 14 bus passengers in Ormara, Balochistan, including 11 members of Pakistan’s navy, coast guard, and air force. And as mentioned earlier, last year in November, the the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) carried out an assault on Chinese consulate in Karachi, in which two policemen and two civilians were killed.

Besides Baloch nationalists, ordinary Balochs are also apprehensive about the future of Gwadar port project. Many Balochs are concerned that they are going to be outnumbered by a wave of outside migration to the province, as more non-Balochs come hoping to reap the benefits of CPEC. As a whole, Baloch fear that they will lose their identity if they are outnumbered in their own province following the development of Gwadar and completion of CPEC projects in Balochistan. Meanwhile, shockingly, there is a dearth of clean drinking water, electricity, and other facilities for the locals of Gwadar, the epicenter of CPEC.

The government of Pakistan has failed to address these apprehensions. Instead, these fears are only increasing. For instance Gwadar’s local fishermen are being displaced, gradually but noticeably, from their main site of fishing in the name of development. If the government involved locals in the overall development of the Gwadar port project, the Balochs themselves would stand like a wall against any untoward incidents. But instead of getting local buy-in, the authorities are doubling down on militarizing Gwadar. This security-centric approach cannot prevent all attacks, as May 12 proved.

The recent attack on the only five-star hotel in Gwadar – with the explicit goal of targeting foreigners — has raised some serious questions about the security of CPEC. Already, foreign investors, including Chinese, have security concerns about investing in the province. Under these circumstances, the state of Pakistan needs to provide a secure environment to investors, so that they will not shy away from investing in Balochistan in general and in Gwadar in particular. But before doing that, the state must involve the local Balochs in the overall development of the Gwadar and CPEC projects. If not, the situation in Balochistan will continue to deteriorate, which does not augur well for the future of the port town.

https://thediplomat.com/2019/05/can-pakistan-protect-cpec/