Some Hurriyat leaders sell MBBS engineering seats in Pakistan colleges meant for kin of Kashmiri martyrs

Some Hurriyat leaders sell MBBS engineering seats in Pakistan colleges meant for kin of Kashmiri martyrs

SRINAGAR: Since the early 1990s, Pakistan government has been allotting about 100 seats annually in MBBS and other professional courses in its institutions for Kashmiri students whose kin have been martyred or those who have been associated with the resistance movement. Do the deserving candidates get their due? Resistance leaders say they do but a significant share of these seats is also either “sold” to those who do not meet the criteria.

Apart from MBBS course, which is the major chunk of the quota, admissions are given to Kashmiri students in engineering, BTech, dentistry and veterinary sciences.

Hurriyat Conference (G) spokesman Ayaz Akbar said the undivided Hurriyat Conference had set up a body exclusively for processing such admissions. No leader of any constituent organisation of the Hurriyat had a say in the admissions, he added.

Children of police officers and bureaucrats were recommended by none other than Hurriyat leaders. I think hardly five to ten per cent of the seats have gone to the kin of martyrs

“Initially, the quota reached the deserving candidates, but that did not last long. If there were five seats, there were hundreds of claimants. The standard of the selection process declined,” Akbar said.

He said that Hurriyat (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani has never had anything to do with the admissions ever since he formed his own resistance group, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat.

“These days there is no fair distribution. I have heard that many lower-rung leaders who are allotted one or two seats every year might have taken small donations from people,” said another Hurriyat leader on condition of anonymity.

He added that in the absence of a system, there is ample scope for nepotism and corruption.

“Ideally the resistance leaders should hunt for the deserving students than wait for them to come because not many people are aware of the quotas,” he said.

This year, a Pakistani official dealing with these admissions said, 70 Kashmiri students have been provided admissions to MBBS and engineering courses. Some of these admissions are funded through scholarships provided by Pakistan government and ‘Azad Kashmir’ government, he said.

“Preference is given to the kin of martyrs,” he said.

However, a senior Hurriyat leader told Kashmir Reader that “it is common knowledge that there is rampant nepotism in these admissions”.

“Children of police officers and bureaucrats were recommended by none other than Hurriyat leaders. I think hardly five to ten per cent of the seats have gone to the kin of martyrs,” he said.

A veteran Hurriyat leader, however, said that by and large only the meritorious and deserving students are recommended by the resistance leaders.
“The letter of recommendation mentions the contribution of the kin of the student. Students’ academic merit is the key criterion. Contribution towards the freedom struggle only adds to the eligibility of a candidate. Leaders’ recommendations only ease visa process and other formalities,” he said.

Resistance leaders, he said, are sometimes faced with a dilemma of recommending a less bright student whose kin have contributed towards the struggle over an academically brilliant student whose family may not have contributed as much.

Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) chairman Shabir Ahmad Shah are among also recommends the students.

An official in one of the Hurriyats said that in the past, lower rung leaders would often bring the parents of non-deserving candidates to the top leadership and seek recommendations for their wards.

“Once the recommendation letter was signed by the top leader, the lower rung leader would then seek money from the parents. Some of them got exposed and over the time the top leadership became cautious. These days, I would say, the process is by and large fair,” he added.

http://kashmirreader.com/2016/04/some-hurriyat-leaders-sell-mbbs-engineering-seats-in-pakistan-colleges-meant-for-kin-of-kashmiri-martyrs/

Taliban appoints Mullah Omar’s brother, son to key leadership positions

Taliban appoints Mullah Omar’s brother, son to key leadership positions

BY BILL ROGGIO | April 5, 2016 | admin@longwarjournal.org | @billroggio

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the official name of the Taliban, appointed Mullah Omar’s brother and eldest son to key leadership positions in the jihadist group’s executive council. Mullah Omar’s kin had previously opposed the appointment of Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour as emir of the Taliban after Omar’s death was disclosed in the summer of 2015, but quickly changed their mind and swore allegiance to Mansour.

The Taliban announced yesterday that Mullah Abdul Manan Akhund, a brother of Mullah Omar, was named “the head of Dawat wal Irshad,” or the Preaching and Guidance Commission. Mullah Mohammad Yaqoub, Omar’s eldest son, was given a seat on the executive council, which is better known as the Quetta Shura, “as well as the military chief of 15 provinces” within the structure of the Taliban’s Military Commission.

The Taliban made the announcement in an English-language statement on Voice of Jihad, its official website.

“Both of the new officials of Islamic Emirate were given advise [sic] by the Amir ul Mumineen [the Commander of the Faithful, the title for Mullah Mansour] who later prayed to Allah Almighty for their success in their current duties,” the statement concluded.

According to the Taliban, Manan and Yacoub received their new positions at “a special meeting” that “was convened by the Islamic Emirate in which the leader, council members, high ranking officials and military heads participated.”

While the statement did not indicate where the meeting was held, it likely took place in Quetta, the Pakistani city where the Taliban’s top leaders are known to be based.

Both Manan and Yacoub accepted senior level positions within the Taliban. The Preaching and Guidance Commission is considered by the Taliban to be one of its most important committees, as it is tasked with spreading “the goals of Islamic Emirate and illegality and aims of the invaders and their stooges,” or the Afghan government. The Military Commission is the Taliban’s largest and most influential structure, and Yacoub now assumes control of military operations in 15 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.

The appointment of Manan and Yacoub to high level positions within the Taliban’s leadership hierarchy may indicate that they are in line to succeed Mansour. However, they would face stiff competition fromSirajuddin Haqqani, one of Mansour’s two deputies. Siraj is the Taliban’s overall military commander and also leads the Haqqani Network, which is closely linked to al Qaeda and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate and military.

Manan and Yacoub initially opposed Mansour’s appointment as Amir ul Mumineen after Mullah Omar’s death was announced on July 31, 2015. Omar died at a hospital in Karachi in April 2013, and the Taliban and Omar’s family concealed his death as they feared it would cause divisions at a crucial time, when US forces began to withdraw from Afghanistan.

Reports from the region indicated that Manan and Yacoub initially did not approve of the way that Mansour was chosen to lead the Taliban. Yacoub is rumored to have sought to replace his father as the emir of the group.

But by mid-September 2015, Manan and Yacoub reconciled with Mansour and swore allegiance to him. This closed a major rift that existed within the Taliban’s ranks, but others still exist.

Mansour still faces a challenge from Mullah Rasul, who leads a breakaway Taliban faction. Clashes between supporters of the two groups break out occasionally, but there are some indications that the factions wish to reconcile. The Islamic State also has a small presence in Afghanistan, however it does not pose a direct threat to Mansour’s leadership.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of The Long War Journal.

http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/content/taliban-appoints-mullah-omar%E2%80%99s-brother-son-key-leadership-positions

India should stop Pakistan from genociding Baloch people, Neela Quadri Baloch

India should stop Pakistan from genociding Baloch people, Neela Quadri Baloch

Strongly condemning Pakistan's atrocities against Balochistan, World Baloch Women's Forum president Naela Quadri Baloch said India must support the people of Balochistan and stop Pakistan from commiting genocide against her people.

"Balochistan is not in Pakistan. It's occupied by Pakistan. So, if somebody is arrested in Balochistan, we can expect any kind of fraud, trap from Pakistan because Pakistan is created on lies, its base and foundation is hate and lies. So, they can do anything like this. The demand of the Baloch people always for India to intervene like they intervened in Bangladesh because Bengalis were Indians basically and we are not. But we are your neighbours," Baloch told ANI.

"The demand of the Baloch people that India should intervene in Balochistan, India should stop Pakistan from genociding Baloch people. India should do it. But India is not doing it. India is not playing their role what they should have. There is no RAW or any other agencies who support Baloch. If they really supported us, till now we were free. We would have been an independent country now like Bangladesh," she added.

Talking about the detained Indian naval officer Kulbushan Yadav, who has reportedly confessed in a video about his involvement in an alleged spying activity in the country, especially in Balochistan, Baloch said it is a trap by Pakistan. "They craft the things like this. They don't accept what they are doing in Balochistan. They are genociding Baloch people and killing at mass level. They are raping Baloch women in their captivity. They kill all the men and take all the women and burn the villages," she added.

Urging India and Afghanistan to take a strong stand against all these, Baloch said it was the responsibility of India and Afghan to support them. "Independent Balochistan is a promise for a non-nuclear region. It's a promise for safety of India and Afghanistan, it's a promise for economic development of India and Afghanistan and Central Asia and Arab countries and the whole world. We are the junction the connecting point. If we are occupied by a terrorist Pakistan and you are silent, then how you can expect peace in your country?" she added.

Pakistan earlier released a six-minute video of detained Indian naval officer Kulbushan Yadav wherein he has reportedly confessed to his involvement in an alleged spying activity in the country, and especially in Balochistan.

India, on its part, has rejected the allegations of Yadav's involvement in subversive activities in Pakistan, and hinted at his possible abduction from Iran.

"Govt categorically rejects allegations that this individual was involved in subversive activities in Pakistan at our behest, the Ministry of External Affairs earlier said in a statement. "While we probe this aspect further, his presence now in Pakistan raises questions, including the possibility of his abduction from Iran," it further said.

India has further sought consular access to the purported RAW agent, who was arrested from Quetta last week, and expressed concern about his well-being.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-no-raw-in-balochistan-want-india-s-support-against-terrorist-pakistan-says-baloch-women-s-group-2197376

The Pakistani Military Must Drop Jihad as a Tool of National Security, by Aqil Shah

The Pakistani Military Must Drop Jihad as a Tool of National Security, by Aqil Shah

Life and Death in Lahore

On Sunday, March 27, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded public park in Lahore, Pakistan, killing 72 people and injuring over 350 others, most of them women and children. The Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a vicious splinter group of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was meant to target Christians celebrating Easter. It also sent the signal that it is capable of striking at will in Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s largest province, Punjab, and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s hometown. In response, the military reportedly launched a province-wide counterterror operation and authorities detained over 300 suspected militants.

Pakistan has been here many, many times before. Every major terrorist attack reproduces a sickeningly familiar pattern. With robotic consistency, the generals vow to fight terrorism of all forms, while blaming it all on foreign powers (mostly India) and civilian incompetence. In reality, the fundamental cause of mayhem on Pakistani streets is not a malicious foreign power or inept civilians, but blowback from the military’s own long history of using jihad as an instrument of national security.

Even as terrorists have exploded bomb after bomb in Pakistan for almost a decade, Pakistan’s military has doggedly stuck to a false, self-serving dichotomy between “good” and “bad” terrorists. As it has fought hostile factions of the TTP, it has continued to use other militant groups as proxies against archrival India. These include the Haqqani network and the Afghan Taliban, which help maintain Pakistan’s influence over Afghanistan, and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (reincarnated as Jamaat-ud-Dawa or JUD), which is mainly focused on India.

FAYAZ AZIZ / REUTERS

Special combat police conducting an exercise to repel militant attacks enter Elizabeth High School in Peshawar, Pakistan, January 28, 2016.

The military’s black-and-white view assumes that these groups can be neatly separated, when the actual lines between them are blurred. For instance, the TTP pledged allegiance to the Afghan Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar until the announcement of his death in 2015. The groups also offer each other operational assistance, and there is a revolving door of “good” terrorists turning into “bad” ones. For example, in December of last year, police in Punjab Province busted an alleged Islamic State (ISIS) cell in Sialkot City, whose members were all former JUD militants. And the TTP itself is a loosely organized conglomerate of jihadi groups that were created or sponsored by the military’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to fight in Indian Kashmir and Afghanistan but are now, apparently, more interested in killing Pakistanis.

In the past two years, the military has taken the fight to the TTP and its allied militant groups based in North Waziristan. But its much-delayed offensive, named Zarb-e-Azb, which was launched as a reaction to a terrorist attack on Karachi airport in June 2014, has been a partial success at best. The army seems to have deprived the Pakistani Taliban of its local sanctuaries and degraded their operational capacity to carry out terror operations from Waziristan. In 2015, terrorist attacks were down by 48 percent compared to 2014.

But the military’s gains might be illusory. The army has yet to capture or kill a senior TTP commander, and the operation has reportedly driven the Taliban leadership to sanctuaries across the border in Afghanistan, where they continue to plan terrorist attacks inside Pakistan. At any rate, there is not even any way of accurately assessing the operation’s effectiveness since news media are barred from the area and the only source of information is the army, which has an obvious interest in inflating the losses suffered by militants while underreporting its own.

In a perverse way, terrorism has aggrandized Pakistan’s army. For example, in response to the TTP attack on an army school in Peshawar in December 2014 that killed over 130 students, the army, under Chief of Staff General Raheel Sharif, took full charge of the state’s response to that horrific act. The generals pressed the government to create military courts for delivering “speedy justice” to terrorists. Subsequently, parliament amended the country’s constitution in January 2015 to authorize military courts to try civilians accused of terrorism. The proceedings of the courts remain secret, convicts do not have the right of appeal, and the impact on terrorism is less than impressive despite the execution of three dozen “hardened” terrorists.

For its part, the government adopted a National Action Plan (NAP) immediately after the army school attack. The NAP lifted the moratorium on the death penalty, in place since 2008, to execute terrorists on death row. It also committed the government to preventing armed militias from operating in the country, strengthening the civilian-led National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), tackling terrorist financing, regulating madrassas (religious seminaries), cracking down on hate speech and extremist materials, creating a special counterterrorism force, and reforming the criminal justice system. But the plan remains poorly implemented, partially because of the government’s lackluster follow-through but mainly due to resistance from the military, which wants to lead the counterterror effort without civilian interference.

For example, NACTA remains a shell organization in considerable measure because the military’s intelligence agencies refuse to work under its authority. With the exception of the government’s prosecution of several clerics for hate speech and the police’s extrajudicial killings of key Sunni militants in Punjab, there is as yet no concerted strategy or plan for dismantling the country’s vast militant infrastructure, nor have any serious efforts been made to reform the criminal justice system or bring the madrassas that typically spawn terrorists under meaningful scrutiny.

FAISAL MAHMOOD / REUTERS

Leaders of Islamist activists talk to their supporters as they announced the end of their sit in protest against the execution of Mumtaz Qadri, a policeman turned criminal, after negotiations with the government outside the Parliament building in Islamabad, Pakistan, March 30, 2016.

Civilian intelligence and police officials, meanwhile, complain that the ISI routinely blocks or intervenes in their investigations when they involve “good” terrorists. Even the anti-terror campaign against “bad” terrorists is hampered by the military’s desire to steal the limelight and appear resolute to the Pakistani public. Following the Lahore attack, the army and its intelligence services carried out raids against suspected militants in five major cities across the province, which were duly advertised on Twitter by the military’s social media-savvy official spokesman, Asim Bajwa, as an exclusively military operation. The military’s PR offensive forced an embarrassed provincial government to claim that the counterterror operation was actually a joint venture between civilian and military security forces.

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/pakistan/2016-03-30/life-and-death-lahore

Taliban sold alleged ‘Indian spy’ to Pakistan, claims ex-German envoy to Islamabad Gunter Mulack

Taliban sold alleged ‘Indian spy’ to Pakistan, claims ex-German envoy to Islamabad Gunter Mulack, by Mohammed Uzair Shaikh on April 2, 2016

Mulack believes that the entire controversy surrounding the 'Indian spy' was raked up by Pakistan's military establishment to deter the peace process initiated by PM Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

New Delhi, April 2: In the past week, Pakistan launched a diplomatic counter-attack against India by presenting an apprehended individual as a ‘RAW agent’ allegedly spying in Balochistan. The accusations made by Islamabad were partly validated by the Ministry of external Affairs who accepted him as an Indian citizen, who had served in the armed forces. However, New Delhi refuted the charges that he was linked to RAW and serving as a spy across the borders for the Indian intelligence.

Almost a week later after the controversy came to light, ex-German envoy to Islamabad, Dr Gunter Mulack made shocking claims about the ‘Indian spy’. “The person who is being presented as an Indian spy was actually apprehended by Taliban years ago, and is now sold off to Islamabad. However, the case is in favour of Pakistan since India has accepted that he was a member of Indian Navy,” he said while speaking to television news channel NDTV.

Mulack believes that the entire controversy surrounding the ‘Indian spy’ was raked up by Pakistan’s military establishment to deter the peace process initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif. The noted diplomat claimed that it is a ploy to detract attention from the positive steps taken by Modi and Sharif in probing the Pathankot attack. “Although I disagree with both Modi and Sharif on a range of their policies, I absolutely credit them for attempting to normalize the relations between India and Pakistan. They represent the aspirations of peace-loving people across the borders, he added.

Mulack also urged the media of both the nations to not to sensationalize the issue and demonize each other for personal scores. “I appeal the media of both the nations, particularly India, to not to spoil this historic step which Modi and Sharif have taken. They are attempting to stitch an era of peace in the sub-continent. You must not go on demonizing the other side,” he added.

http://www.india.com/news/india/taliban-sold-alleged-indian-spy-to-pakistan-claims-ex-german-envoy-to-islamabad-gunter-mulack-1077334/

Fifth Province, Senge

Fifth Province, Senge

By Kunwar Khuldune Shahid  17 MARCH 2016 

On January 7, the spokesperson for the chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), Hafiz Hafeez ur Rehman, told the media that, “a high level committee formed by the prime minister is working on [giving GB constitutional status].”

On January 9, the Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) state government decided to lodge a protest against attempts to convert GB into a province. The resolution was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on January 12.

Chaudhry Latif Akber, Minister for Finance, Planning & Development, maintains that Gilgit-Baltistan is part and parcel of the divided and disputed state of Jammu & Kashmir. “Any attempt to merge GB into Pakistan could fatally damage our stand vis-a-vis UN resolutions, which recognise the Kashmiris’ right of self-determination,” he says. “GB is a constitutional part of the Jammu & Kashmir state. We won’t let it be divided at any cost.”

According to sources, the move to grant GB provincial status comes amidst Chinese pressure, with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) passing through what remains a disputed territory. “China obviously isn’t comfortable spending $46.2 billion – its largest ever overseas investment – on a project that runs through an area that is claimed by both India and Pakistan,” says a government official. “However, what could become problematic is the fact that giving GB provincial status in effect means Pakistan backing out from its stance on a plebiscite in all of Kashmir. Not only would this jeopardise Pakistan’s position on Kashmir, it would also alienate the leadership in Indian-administered Kashmir, who would feel betrayed,” he adds.

On January 13, Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani released a statement stating that giving GB constitutional status amounts to ‘betraying Kashmiris.’

“There is no constitutional or moral justification for taking any decision over any part of this territory without the consent of its people and it is also a clear violation of the UN resolutions on Kashmir,” he said. “No such action will be acceptable to the Kashmiri people. Hurriyat is not against the economic development and prosperity of the South-Asian region but creating trade routes at the cost of the aspirations and sacrifices of Kashmiri nation is unjust and unkind.”

On January 27, Geelani wrote a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif opposing the move. “The merger of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan will prove a disaster for the disputed nature of Jammu and Kashmir and this act will impact the disputed status of this region,” Geelani wrote. “CPEC will definitely boost the economic condition of this region but merging it into Pakistan for this purpose is not necessary.”

On February 1, the GB Assembly’s 19-member delegation met Senator Mushahid Hussain,Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on the CPEC. The assembly members represented both the ruling and opposition parties. In the meeting that lasted over two hours, Hussain reiterated the importance of GB as CPEC’s gateway, saying that the region also links Pakistan to the Central Asian states and will be a major beneficiary of the benefits of the economic corridor. Sources privy to the meeting reveal that the GB delegation was not convinced.

On February 18, the Deputy Commissioner of Diamer announced that the Pakistan Army is making its headquarters in Thak Das to provide security installations for the CPEC. “The army will soon take over the land formally and start work immediately so it can assume responsibilities,” he said.

The president of the Washington-based Institute for Gilgit-Baltistan Studies, Senge Hasnan Sering, says the CPEC cannot succeed without taking the people of GB on board. “Pakistan and China need the cooperation and commitment of the local community for CPEC’s viability and security,” he believes.

“Recently Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed stated that GB is intended only as a conduit for the economic and industrial zones to be established further south in Pakistan. This suggests that CPEC serves the strategic interests of China and Pakistan, while excluding local communities in the same fashion as the Karakoram Highway (KH).

“The KH allows a useful historical reference for this approach and its impact on GB. Thirty-seven years after China constructed KH, GB retains the lowest trade ranking of Xinjiang’s six neighbors. The Beijing-Islamabad trade via KH is negligible.”

Sering believes that Pakistan has failed to leverage the KH to export GB’s products to China andCentral Asia.

“According to the BBC, over 80 per cent of Gilgit’s retail outlets carrying Chinese goods are owned or operated by non-locals. Simultaneously, the KH contributed greatly to sharp demographic shifts, which threaten cultural identity. Further, the KH enables movement of weapons, illicit drugs, militants and extremist terrorists, creating greater insecurity and regional instability.

“By building a large infrastructure project without inclusivity, China and Pakistan failed to fully realise the KH’s potential and, instead, built a road – with mixed results. Without a meaningful partnership, the CPEC becomes like the KH, which looks great on paper but in reality, is a carcass of a dusty road prone to routine blockages.”

Sering continues: “Like KH, the CPEC is a project of high regional significance. It presents an excellent opportunity for China and Pakistan to demonstrate commitment to global standards of democracy and governance. However, GB’s disputed status and India’s claim over the region is also integral to the question at hand. Given the dispute, China and Pakistan resist local partnerships, exacerbating the poverty and security issues, which are obstacles to progress. I think that CPEC will fail to connect vision to reality or flourish in the absence of a truly robust constitutional and autonomous foundation within GB.”

Sering says that if China’s efforts in GB are viewed as a threat to its people, culture, natural resources and environment, it is a serious setback for the entire region.

“A truly vibrant corridor must incorporate local manufacturing and jobs.  The CPEC has the potential to catalyse accelerated commerce of local goods and ideas while promoting local culture as a means of social stability and tourism. This vision requires a well-regulated system in which Pakistan and China partner with local communities and treat them as equals; build human capital, and give the locals due share in decision-making. As a consequence of GB’s current disputed status and the absence of any constitutional guarantees, its people are skeptical about realising CPEC’s benefits. I urge Pakistan to grant GB a constitution of its own, and demonstrate its commitment to democracy and the rule of law.”

Sering says Pakistan’s claim on AJK or GB will be recognised legally only after Kashmiris participate in the UN-led plebiscite and vote to join Pakistan. “Absorbing GB would be viewed as a unilateral annexation by Pakistan. By doing so, Pakistan sidesteps the UN process, clearing the path for India to do the same,” he says.

“One can utilise the Shimla Agreements to attempt to settle GB bilaterally but that would, again, come at the expense of Indian-administered Kashmir. Any unilateral move by Pakistan will be temporary in nature. The issue involves multiple actors and any one-way conversation with itself is not going to bring long term strategic dividends for Pakistan or GB.

“A unilateral annexation of GB, granting it constitutional rights, would provide momentary relief to locals from the current insecurity and uncertainty but the long-term ambiguity will continue to plague the region until all parties, including India, arrive at an internationally-recognised agreement.

“Till a final resolution, Pakistan must grant GB its own constitution thus reinvigorating the UN process. Only then should projects such as CPEC continue, which recognise GB as an equal partner.”

But how would the people of GB be affected should it be accorded provincial status?

“If Pakistan were to give GB a constitutional status, it would have to merge with KP since GB’s 1.4 million estimated population does not warrant a free-standing province,” Sering believes. “Alternatively, a new province could emerge, comprising GB, Hazara, Chitral, Swat and Muzaffarabad divisions. In either scenario, the people of GB will be subsumed, and vying for identity and resource ownership.”

“Granting a constitutional or provincial status will not satisfy the people of GB since their socio-economic rights and cultural identities would be compromised to ensure the ‘greater national interest’ – a euphemism for the ruling class. The people of GB do realise that the majority of people living under the constitution, such as those in Balochistan and FATA, are not accorded rights over their resources. Further, sister region AJK’s failure to secure royalty from Mangla Dam over the previous four decades does not inspire confidence in GB.

Sering believes Pakistan would have to win over GB hearts for a lasting solution.

“Temporary relief from current uncertainties will lead GB into permanent insecurities, and the people of GB will continue to resist if a legal status leads to further subjugation. I believe winning the hearts and minds of the people of GB is critical for lasting relations with Pakistan. The CPEC process is a critical window in which to herald this necessary step.”

http://brooshaaltimes.com/province/

The Dirty Old Men of Pakistan, by MOHAMMED HANIF

The Dirty Old Men of Pakistan, by MOHAMMED HANIF 

APRIL 1, 2016

Karachi, Pakistan — IN the world we live in, there is no dearth of pious men who believe that most of the world’s problems can be fixed by giving their women a little thrashing. And this business of a man’s God-given right to give a woman a little thrashing has brought together all of Pakistan’s pious men.

A few weeks ago, Pakistan’s largest province passed a new law called the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act. The law institutes radical measures that say a husband can’t beat his wife, and if he does he will face criminal charges and possibly even eviction from his home. It proposes setting up a hotline women can call to report abuse. In some cases, offenders will be required to wear a bracelet with a GPS monitor and will not be allowed to buy guns.

A coalition of more than 30 religious and political parties has declared the law un-Islamic, an attempt to secularize Pakistan and a clear and present threat to our most sacred institution: the family. They have threatened countrywide street protests if the government doesn’t back down.

Their logic goes like this: If you beat up a person on the street, it’s a criminal assault. If you bash someone in your bedroom, you’re protected by the sanctity of your home. If you kill a stranger, it’s murder. If you shoot your own sister, you’re defending your honor. I’m sure the nice folks campaigning against the bill don’t want to beat up their wives or murder their sisters, but they are fighting for their fellow men’s right to do just that.

It’s not only opposition parties that are against the bill: The government-appointed Council of Islamic Ideology has also declared it repugnant to our religion and culture. The council’s main task is to ensure that all the laws in the country comply with Shariah. But basically it’s a bunch of old men who go to sleep worrying that there are all these women out there trying to trick them into bed. Maybe that’s why there are no pious old women on the council, even though there’s no shortage of them in Pakistan.

The council’s past proclamations have defended a man’s right to marry a minor, dispensed him from asking for permission from his first wife before taking a second or a third, and made it impossible for women to prove rape. It’s probably the most privileged dirty old men’s club in the country.

Some of us routinely condemn these pious old men, but it seems they are not just a bunch of pampered religious nuts. In fact, they are giving voice to Pakistani men’s collective misery over the fact that their women are out of control. Look at university exam results; women are hogging all the top positions. Go to a bank; there is a woman counting your money with her fancy nails. Turn on your TV; there is a female journalist questioning powerful men about politics and sports.

One of these journalists recently was grilling a famous mufti opposed to the bill. Bewildered, the mufti said: Are you a woman, or are you a TV journalist? She was professional enough not to retort: Are you a mufti, or just another old fart?

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Three decades ago, most Pakistani women who had paid jobs worked at menial tasks, and the others were confined to traditional professions like medicine or teaching or, occasionally, law. There was a small and brave women’s movement. Women were writing novels and making movies, but they were few in number. Now they are flying planes, heading companies, policing the streets, climbing mountains and winning Oscars and Nobel Prizes. There are millions of women across the country running little beauty parlors from their homes, employing other women and gaining a measure of independence.

But for every bank teller, there are still millions of women who are farmhands or house help. For every TV journalist, there are many more women who live in half-slavery, scrubbing and cleaning, and shouldering the heavy burden of protecting and raising their kids.

Let’s not just blame the mullahs and muftis. Misogyny is way older than any religion. Even people who have never seen the inside of a mosque or the Sufis who want to become one with the universe wouldn’t think twice before treating a woman as something between a pest and a pet goat.

Some members of Parliament stayed away when this bill was being passed in the Punjab assembly. They probably represent a majority. Some of us even call ourselves feminist. “See, I have never stopped my sister from going to school, never given my girlfriend a black eye. That makes me a feminist, right? But we must protect our families. You don’t want a family-loving feminist man going around with a GPS tracker, do you?”

What really scares the so-called feminist men is that a lot of women are actually quite bored with talking about being a woman. They talk about their work. A film director talks about bad actors. A development worker talks about idiotic funding patterns. A maid talks about her cellphone and the quality of detergents.

There’s a woman in my neighborhood who walks fast. She is always carrying two kids in her arms. Not infants but 3-, 4-year-old sturdy kids, heavy weights. She walks fast. Probably you have to walk fast when you are carrying two kids. She doesn’t expect a lift from the many cars passing by. She can’t afford a cab. She is walking toward her bus. Always with the two kids in her arms and a bag around her shoulder. She gives Quran lessons at people’s homes.

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I don’t think all those pious men, or anyone else, can tell that woman with the two kids how to walk her daily walk. If someone asks her how it feels to be a woman in this society, she’d probably answer, “Can’t you see I’m working?”

Mohammed Hanif is the author of the novels “A Case of Exploding Mangoes” and “Our Lady of Alice Bhatti,” the librettist for the opera “Bhutto” and a contributing opinion writer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/03/opinion/sunday/the-dirty-old-men-of-pakistan.html?_r=1