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These circles attribute this decision not to disturb Tenet from his post to an important behind-the-scene role, which
he has reportedly been playing since last year in working for a rapprochement between the Palestine Liberation
Organisation (PLO) & Israel in West Asia and between India & Pakistan over Kashmir. Bush & his
senior aides, who do not want the President to personally play an active mediatory role in West Asia or elsewhere
similar to the high-profile roles played by Clinton, reportedly felt that US interests could be better served by
continuing to use the deniable, stealth services of the CIA chief. It is said that Tenet was involved in the secret
goings-on which preceded the subsequently-aborted cease-fire between the India govt & the Hizbul
Mujahideen and in the events preceding & following the non-initiation of combat operations in Kashmir by the
India govt. He operated directly as well as through Maj.Gen. (retd) Mahmud Ali Durrani, who like Gen.Musharraf,
was a blue-eyed boy of the late Gen.Zia-ul-Haq and who is now a close confidante of the self-styled Chief
Executive.
Maj.Gen.Durrani had in the past served as ISI station chief in Washington and was responsible for the ISI's liaison
with the CIA & the FBI. Last year, Jamaat-e-Islami circles in Pakistan had alleged that he had, at the instance
of the CIA, played a role, in consultation with Gen.Musharraf, in persuading the Hizbul Mujahideen to agree to a
cease-fire. However, the whole exercise was sabotaged by Lt.Gen.Mohammad Aziz, the then Chief of the Gen.
Staff (CGS), who is a Sudan from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and had not been consulted by Gen.Musharraf
& Maj.Gen. Durrani. Gen. Musharraf had him subsequently transferred to Lahore as a Corps Commander.
It is claimed by these circles in the US that the Ramzan initiative of the India govt (non-initiation of combat
operations) was to have been reciprocated by the Gen. with an order to his troops for restraint along the
Line of Control (LOC) and action to moderate the activities of the jehadi terrorist organisations in Jammu & Kashmir
which, in turn, would have been reciprocated by India with permission to the Hurriyat leaders to visit Pakistan.
While the Gen. issued the restraint order to his troops, he allegedly went back on his word to the CIA to issue a
similar restraint order to the jehadis on the ground that this was being opposed by some of his Corps Commanders.
It is said to be correct that some of his Corps Commanders & retired military officers such as Lt.Gen.Hamid
Gul & Lt.Gen. Javed Nasir, former chiefs of the ISI, had strongly urged that any restraint by the jehadis should
be conditional on progress in a resumed political dialogue with India. Lt.Gen.Nasir reportedly even urged that if the
dialogue was resumed, any restraint on the jehadi organisations should be only as a quid pro quo to a similar
restraint by the India govt on the alleged anti-Muslim activities of the RSS, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad & the
Shiv Sena, but his advice on this issue did not reportedly enjoy the support of other officers, serving or retired.
It is claimed that in the face of this log jam, Tenet once again stealthily stepped into the scene through his recent
visit to Islamabad and worked out a formula, which could be projected by both India & Pakistan as a
vindication of their respective stand hitherto. Ever since capturing power in October,1999, Gen.Musharraf has been
repeatedly expressing his desire for talks at any place, at any time and at any level. Even if the forthcoming summit
has really been midwifed by the CIA as claimed, this need not detract from the significance of the turn of events.
But, one has to keep one's fingers crossed till the summit actually takes place. Gen.Musharraf, sarcastically called
in Pakistan General Retreat, had in the past repeatedly reversed decisions which were opposed by the jehadis. If
the jehadis outside & inside the army continue to oppose the summit, it is to be seen whether he would resist
their pressure and stick to his decision to come to India.
The summit would at least provide an opportunity to our Prime Minister to test the military dictator's sincerity and to
judge whether the reasonableness projected by him is an act of desperation to move Pakistan out of its continuing
diplomatic isolation & economic difficulties or just one more crafty move to catch India on the wrong foot.
In the past, India had had no qualms about negotiating with Pakistan's military dictators, but Gen.Musharraf cannot
be compared to them: The past dictators were either Punjabis or Pakhtoons, who hold the majority of the posts in
the military. Gen.Musharraf is a Mohajir, who is looked down upon by the Punjabi officers as a Mohajir parvenu.
As Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, often points out, the past dictators seized power
themselves, but it was Gen.Musharraf's subordinates who seized power in his absence and made him the ruler.
He, therefore, owes his gratitude to them and cannot easily over-rule them. The past dictators enjoyed absolute
power, but Gen. Musharraf is only the first among equals.
He has conceded more demands of the Islamic fundamentalists during his 19 months in office than Gen.Zia. Till
now, he has been extremely amenable to pressure from the Jehadis. In recent weeks, significant sections of
Pakistan's civilian bureaucracy and, particularly its economic managers, have been coming round to the view that
Pakistan's continued involvement in Afghanistan & J&K was coming in the way of its economic recovery and
that the harping of the military leadership on the nuclear flashpoint theme in the hope of thereby internationalising
the Kashmir issue was scaring foreign investors away There has been a dramatic drop in foreign investments since
the Gen. seized power.
[ "involvement in Afghanistan and J&K was coming in the way of its economic recovery" = Pakistan
charged in Congressionally required human rights reports of aiding terrorists which auto-suspends foreign aid
delivery; "dramatic drop in foreign investments" = cut-off of U.S. tax$ welfare checks ]
The Corps Commanders, however, do not share this perception and continue to believe in their present policy of
keeping Indian security forces bleeding in J&K in the hope of thereby weakening them and keeping the jehadis
fighting & dying at the hands of the Indian security forces in order to prevent their returning to Pakistan and
talibanising the country.
India should guard itself against any illusion that the summit could lead to peace in J & K. What will really lead to
peace is better governance and attention to the grievances of the people in the State , effective control of
human rights violations by the Security Forces and a willingness, capability and readiness to take the proxy war to
Pakistani territory.
4.7.01 Barry Bearak NYTimes Nevertheless, Ms. Bhutto was talking about just such a comeback today. "I have called all my colleagues over for a consultation as to setting a date," she said to Sky News, the British-based outlet. "One big hurdle to my return has been removed, and it's important for me to go back and be part of the democratic process in my country." Ms. Bhutto and her husband were convicted in April 1999 of accepting kickbacks from a Swiss company. They were sentenced to 5 years in prison & fined $8.6 million. At the time, Mr. Zardari was already in jail on other charges. In setting aside Ms. Bhutto's conviction, the Supreme Court issued a statement that did not explain the reasons for the decision. All along, Ms. Bhutto has insisted that the case against her was a political maneuver set in motion by Mr. Sharif. In February, that accusation gained credence when The Sunday Times in Britain published transcripts of reported conversations between the original trial judge and pivotal figures in the Sharif govt. Today in an interview with the BBC, Ms. Bhutto said of the judges in her case, "They can stand up to the forces of dictatorship and uphold the scales of justice." … Numerous allegations of corruption remain against Ms. Bhutto. If she does go home, she may well be taken into custody and find herself facing additional charges. Her career has been a series of such pinnacles and canyons. In the male-dominated world of politics in a Muslim country, she managed to become prime minister from 1988 to 1990 & again from 1993 to 1996. She was once considered a great hope for good govt in notoriously corrupt Pakistan. But her years in office were marked by the familiar scenes of scandals, favoritism & political vendettas. |
British court releases Bhutto's bank records 4.12.01 AFP ISLAMABAD Govt said today a British magistrates court had released 22,000 documents detailing assets & bank records of Benazir Bhutto and jailed husband Asif Ali Zardari. An official statement said the court had released the documents to Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau (NAB) through the British High Commission here.
4.8.01 Pamela Constable WashPost pA23
"This will create a huge challenge to the regime's agenda. It makes her look both morally clean
and politically resurgent," said Rifaat Hussain, a political scientist in Islamabad, the capital, and a
former diplomatic aide in Bhutto's govt in the early 1990s. "It has given a whole new twist to the
political climate in Pakistan." At the same time, Pakistan's other major political party, the Pakistan
Muslim League, held elections two weeks ago and chose Mian Azhar, a reformist politician from
Lahore, as its new president, reportedly with the tacit approval of the military govt. Before the vote,
the Muslim League had been mired in bickering and confusion. Its standard-bearer, former PM Nawaz Sharif,
Bhutto's longtime rival, was overthrown in the military coup of Oct. 1999, imprisoned for months
and then sent into exile in Saudi Arabia last December. Both parties are still weak & discredited after 2 decades of disappointing leadership by Bhutto & Sharif, who were each elected twice as prime minister and then driven from office. But after 18 months of enforced dormancy, |
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both parties have been given new life and relevance. Gen.
Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler, has also been acting increasingly like a politician
instead of a general. Last month, he announced he would not retire from the army as planned this
fall, and in interviews and news conferences since then he has hinted that he might want to
become president. Musharraf has pledged to restore civilian rule by Oct. 2002, and the military
govt has begun holding elections for local, regional & national parliamentary seats. But
political analysts suggest Musharraf might now want to form an earlier, interim govt in conjunction
with the Muslim League. "Without wanting to sound haughty or arrogant, I have a feeling that I
have a role to play in ensuring continuity & sustainability. … Therefore, I cannot retire,"
Musharraf said in a magazine interview last week. "The govt is examining all aspects of my
becoming the president in 2002." In one way, the court's decision on Bhutto reflects well on the
Musharraf govt, because it shows the judiciary to be independent of military influence. But in
another way, it injects a wild card into the govt's careful script for a controlled political transition.
Musharraf & his aides have been counting on the continued absence of Bhutto & Sharif,
the country's two leading politicians. Sharif is out of the picture, unable to return for 10 years under
his exile agreement. But Bhutto's unexpected legal reprieve has opened the door for her political
homecoming.
In a BBC interview Friday, Bhutto said the court ruling has "removed the biggest hurdle for my
return to the country." Earlier, she said she had planned to come home after local elections were
completed in August, "but today's judgment creates a whole new situation. It will now be sooner
than later," she said. Nevertheless, legal & political analysts said it was far from certain
whether Bhutto, who has been raising 3 children in comfortable exile while her husband, Asif Ali
Zardari, serves a prison sentence in Pakistan for corruption, would risk facing a new trial and the
possibility of being sent to prison herself. "Does she have the raw will to stage a comeback? I don't
think so," said Ayaz Amir, a leading political columnist for Dawn newspaper. "I think the political
keenness she had in the '80s has been dulled by time, children and the millions she has made."
Even attorneys for Bhutto said they were not certain what she would do next. | |
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Pakistani junta arrests 100s in opposition party crackdown
4.3.01 Vilani Peiris WSWS
Pakistan's military regime headed by General Pervez Musharraf carried out a widespread
crackdown on opposition parties to prevent a protest rally in the provincial capital of
Lahore on March 23 Pakistan Day calling for the restoration of parliamentary democracy
& early national elections. In the days leading up to the demonstration, police rounded up
an estimated 2,000 activists from the 16-party Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD)
formed last December to oppose the junta. The alliance includes the Pakistan Muslim League
(PML) of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
Among those detained were 28 political leaders, including ARD leader Nawabzada Nasurullah
Khan, PML acting president Javad Hashmi and ARD secretary general Zafar Iqbal Jhagra. On the
day of the rally, 6,000 police were deployed to prevent people from assembling at the venue,
Mochi Gate Park, which was sealed off with barbed wire barricades. Hundreds of people were
arrested trying to take part in the rally and others were detained when they marched to the
Nawabzada's house.
Two days before the police crackdown, on March 19, the ruling junta met in Islamabad to discuss
how to consolidate their rule. According to a report in the Times of India, the commanders
discussed among other issues a comprehensive political strategy to consolidate the army's hold
on power. One plan was to appoint Musharraf as the country's president with greater powers
under a changed constitution. Musharraf also used the meeting to promote eight generals loyal to
him.
Musharraf has since hinted at his plans to retain power beyond October 2002 deadline for
elections by the Supreme Court. In an interview with the Washington Times, Musharraf
said "the Pakistani environment is not fully conducive to real parliamentary democracy, as it is
understood in the West" and alluded to the possibility of changing the constitution to strengthen
the presidency. At a press conference on March 25, he bluntly ruled out retiring as scheduled
this Oct. and indicated that time was already short to prepare for national elections next year.
When asked whether he planned to seek the presidency, Musharraf said it was within the "strategy
and parameters of the govt … whatever needed to be done would be done
surely."
The intl response to the police roundup has been distinctly muted. The US State Dept
issued a perfunctory statement saying that the arrests "hamper Pakistan's return to democracy".
The British Commonwealth called on Musharraf to announce a plan for democratic rule. Far from
seeking Musharraf's removal, these routine protests are simply a means to keep the pressure on
the military to implement the policies demanded by the major powers, including the economic
measures dictated by the IMF and World Bank. Pakistan is in desperate need of further
financial assistance. At his press conference on March 25, Musharraf admitted "debt servicing has
gone up to $US36 billion from $14 billion during last 11 years." The amount is now equal to
55% of the budget expenditure and equivalent to the country's total foreign exchange
earnings. Most of what is left of the budget, 26% goes to the military, leaving little for health,
education and other services. Musharraf made an appeal to the country's rich to each lend
$200,000 to help the treasury out of its precarious position.
According to an Intl Labor Organisation report, 6% of the workforce is unemployed and another 15 million
people are underemployed. The regime is proceeding with its restructuring and privatisation program, which will
inevitably lead to more job losses. It plans this month to auction 868 indebted private sector companies, which
have 107 billion rupees in outstanding public sector loans. At the same time, state-owned banks
will close 588 branches and retrench 50 percent of their workforce. Franco Passacantando, head
of a World Bank delegation to Pakistan, last week called on the junta to speed up its economic
restructuring. "We appreciate the govt's structural economic reform which we believe
needs faster implementation," he told a press conference. So far the IMF has released only one
installment of its loans to Pakistan last year after the regime imposed a general sales tax and
began the privatisation of state enterprises. In a revealing statement, the Finance Minister Saukhat
Aziz admitted last month that "more and more people are slipping below the poverty line and
social indicators are deteriorating … Above all, the people of Pakistan are losing confidence in the govt's
ability to manage its affairs." But he emphasised govt had to proceed with restructuring to get "strong support from the intl donors." Small farmers faced with severe drought have carried out a number of demonstrations. On March 22, the Awami Teherek carried out a protest calling on the govt to provide water. Police responded by arresting around 220 people including the organisation's president Rasool Baktish Paligo. According to media reports, the protesters were shouting: "We are at war with General Musharraf." In a recent press statement, Musharraf's press secretary, Major General Rashid Qureshi, pointed to the mounting social tensions in Pakistan. "The country has witnessed strikes, lockouts and breaks in everyday life causing the loss of billions of rupees," he said. "[We] can no longer afford to put the process of stability and the execution of our policies framed in the best national interest at risk …" When Musharraf seized power in 1999, he was able to capitalise on the widespread opposition to Sharif and his economic policies. Eighteen months later the junta has proven incapable of resolving the country's economic and social crisis and is resorting to police repression to try to stamp out opposition. more |
12.6.01 Anwer Kamal News Intl
A resident of Hatri, Jan Mohammad, had filed a habeas corpus petition in the Sindh High Court (SHC)
Hyderabad Circuit through Aftab Ahmed Bhutto stating that SHO Hamir Khan Bhangwar and ASI Photu Khan
along with 10 police constables raided his house on the night of 26 & 27 November. He alleged that
during the raid, the police searched the entire house and stole Rs 10,000 cash, gold ornaments and 82 goats
and added the police picked up his three relatives including Noor Mohammad, Gul Hassan and Mubeen along
with his brother, Luqman and himself, Jan Mohammad. He informed the court that on the next day, the police
released him (Jan Mohammed) with instructions to arrange bribe money for the release of his relatives and
brother. He said instead of arranging the money, he approached the Sindh High Court (SHC) and filed a
constitutional petition under section 491 against the SHO and ASI on 28 November for arresting his relatives
and brother.
He said a two-member bench comprising Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany
appointed Ghulam Murtaza Shah as raid commissioner on his petition to visit the Hatri police station and
ascertain the illegal police detention there. The raid commissioner raided the Hatri police station on the same
day (November 28) but he did not find the relatives and the brother of the petitioner there. The court official
also raided the Masu Bhurgari police post of Hatri police station but they were also not present there.
On the next day, the petitioner again filed an appeal before the SHC Hyderabad against the arrest of both boys
and prayed for their recovery along with others. The bench again appointed Ghulam Murtaza Shah as raid
commissioner and directed him to ascertain the illegal detention of both boys. The raid commissioner raided
the police post of Hatri on November 30 and recovered the boys, Ali Nawaz and Qurban Ali. On inquiry, the
Incharge of Misu Bhurgari police post, Mohammed Urs Chandio revealed that both the detainees were kept at
police post on the directives of ASI Hatri police, Photu Khan. He further stated that the detainees were used to
be shifted to Hatri police lock-up at night but during day they were brought to Misu Bhurgari police post. When
the raid commissioner checked the police daily entry register he found no entry regarding the arrest of both
the boys. He reached the Hatri police station and checked the roznamcha but he found nothing there about the
arrest of Ali Nawaz and Qurban Ali. When the raid commissioner asked the SHO why the two youths were
detained at Misu Bhurgari police post, he replied that he does not know anything about their arrest and the
police does not require them in any case. The raid commissioner directed the SHO to appear before the court
on December 4 along with the entire record. SHO Hamir Khan Bhangwar appeared before a SHC bench and stated that the three people (relatives and brother of the petitioners) including Mubeen, Noor Mohammed and Luqman were wanted by police in a case No. (FIR) 108/2001 registered by police against them under section 457, 382 and 413 PPC while one relative, Gul Hassan had already been released from the police station. About the arrest of two boys the SHO stated that the raid commissioner, Ghulam Murtaza Shah had left the detainees at Hatri police station with instructions that they be kept at the police station and produced before the court on December 4. The SHO said he requested the raid commissioner that Ali Nawaz and Qurban Ali be allowed to go to their home but he refused and instructed that they be kept at the police station. The SHC Hyderabad Circuit bench ordered the release of both the boys, and warned SHO Hamir Khan Bhangwar not to harass the petitioner again. The bench disposed of the case with this order.
4.27.01 AP Army took power 10.99, throwing out civilian govt of Nawaz Sharif on charges of massive corruption, economic incompetence and mismanagement. Army sent Sharif into exile in Saudi Arabia after he was found guilty of hijacking & terrorism and sentenced to life in jail. Military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf promised general elections by the end of 2002 in keeping with a Supreme Court order. But the alliance is demanding immediate polls. Military banned public protests & demonstrations almost 1yr ago. Several religious groups defied the ban to hold large gatherings without any interference from military regime. Several members of alliance gone into hiding say they will resurface May 1 to defy the ban & hold rally.
3.25. 01 Pamela Constable WashPost pA22 |
"Punjab became like a jail," said Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, 80, a veteran politician who is
president of the opposition Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy. "Police paraded in the
streets with guns, and public meeting places were barricaded with barbed wire. There was no
rhyme or reason for it." The scenes of mass arrests and armed forces blanketing the streets of
Lahore contrasted sharply with the martial pomp and precision of an official parade in Islamabad,
the capital, held to commemorate Pakistan National Day on Friday. The parade featured tanks,
missiles, helicopters and thousands of smartly uniformed marching troops. "The images of the 2
events … . will define two opposite portraits of Pakistan," wrote columnist Imtiaz Alam in
today's News Intl newspaper. The parade, headed by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's ruler,
"will define a capital under military rule," he wrote, while the repression of protesters in Lahore "will
convey an image of Pakistan still struggling for the original democratic justification of its very
existence."
Atizaz Ahsan, a former senator from the opposition Pakistan People's Party, said that if the rally
had been allowed to go ahead, "people would have had a cathartic release and then gone home."
Instead, he said, "the recurring image of human rights being violated will do a lot of damage to the
regime's image abroad. It will be very counterproductive for the govt." Musharraf's govt has
banned all political activity since it took power in a coup in October 1999. But it has also vowed to
restore civilian rule by October of next year and to hold local, regional and parliamentary elections
before then. The opposition campaign is led by newly allied figures from Pakistan's two major
parties, once bitter rivals. The leaders of the two parties, former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto of
the Pakistan People's Party and Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League, both live in exile.
But the rally highlighted sharp differences in Sharif's party, which is scheduled to hold elections for
a new leader Sunday. Sharif loyalists backed the rally, but party dissidents have refused to
collaborate with Bhutto's forces.
As preparations were underway for Friday's rally, which was intended to coincide with the national
holiday, military authorities warned that the event was illegal and would not be permitted. They
said they would not tolerate any breach of public order or allow any group to jeopardize the govt's
agenda. Wednesday, Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi, the military spokesman, reiterated the govt's
commitment to holding elections. A number of opposition leaders were arrested Thursday but
released. Khan, who was placed under temporary house arrest Friday, said by telephone from
Lahore that the opposition would continue to organize and plan future rallies despite the
crackdown. "This govt said it would not impose martial law, and it was our fundamental and
constitutional right to hold a rally," he said. "But this govt is very much allergic to political activity.
They don't have popular support. They think those who are demanding the restoration of
democracy are their real rivals, and they want to eliminate us."
Some opposition leaders suggested that the govt, in forcefully quelling the rally, was also trying to prevent Sharif supporters from allying with Bhutto's party, possibly in hopes of persuading them to participate in the elections. "The regime probably thought the rally would upset its apple cart while trying to make deals with like-minded anti-Sharif leaders," said Ahsan, a senior People's Party figure. "It may have thought people might be dissuaded from crossing over if it came down heavily."
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Pakistani retreats in battle for reform 6.5.00 Pamela Constable WPFS
Islamabad The general rode into town last October, pledging to tackle the
nation's daunting array of problems with discipline, efficiency and the implied threat of force that
only a military ruler can command. The public, fed up with corrupt and hapless civilian rule,
cheered him on. But now, 8 months after Gen. Pervez Musharraf seized power and suspended
Pakistan's constitution and parliament, his credibility as a reformer is sagging badly as he backs
down from confronting one traditional interest group after another. If a powerful army cannot force
the country to shape up, Pakistani and foreign observers now ask in dismay, who can?
Musharraf has backtracked on a pledge to slightly loosen the nation's blasphemy law, making it
more difficult to charge someone with insulting Islam, after Muslim leaders threatened mass
"agitation." He has scaled back his sweeping crusade against industrial loan defaulters. And he
has postponed the nation's first income tax survey after shopkeepers across the nation shut down
in protest for the past week. …
"Musharraf is trapped," said Rifaat Hussain, a political scientist at Quaid-e-Azam University. "He
must do a difficult job without damaging the army's image. He has to balance the perception of the
army as being pro-people with the need to use military authority for change. The big question is,
how long can this regime remain benign and still do what needs to be done?"
Ebola-type disease strikes in Pakistan
At least 8 people have died after a highly contagious disease which causes internal bleeding
broke out in the south-western Pakistani province of Baluchistan. The victims incl 5 members of
the same family and two paramedical staff attending the patients. At least 10 people have been
admitted to a govt hospital since the disease broke out last week, and their condition is described
as critical. The disease, which is called Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever and resembles Ebola,
was first detected in Crimea in 1944 and again in Congo in 1956.
U.S. to help catch corrupt Pakistani officials
Islamabad Pakistan's Foreign Minister Abdus Sattar said Monday U.S. promised to help his country catch corrupt officials hiding in North American. "The U.S. govt has given its assurance that it will help in our efforts to trace those accused of corruption," he said at a news conference in Islamabad. Officials in Islamabad earlier said Pakistan's anti-corruption investigators, the National Accountability Bureau, had asked Interpol to track down former navy chief Admiral Mansurul Haq. Haq is believed to be in U.S. The officials said they also had discussed the admiral's extradition with the U.S. officials who had promised to help bring him to Pakistan. "We will soon send a formal extradition request to the U.S.," said one official.
Pakistan maps out road to democracy Karachi Pakistan's military regime yesterday outlined a plan for gradual restoration of democracy, beginning with local elections by July next year. The elections for the local and district govt will start in December and be completed by next July. Announcing his Govt's programme for devolution of power to the district level, General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's chief executive, declared that his main objective was to introduce democracy at the grass roots. He said that by strengthening local govts the military regime wanted to empower the common people. "We want to introduce democracy first at a lower level," he said |
Armed & historically dangerous ¹ Tribesmen not shy about gun culture, vow to resist U.S. 9.28.01 Marcus Stern 9.11.01 terrorist attacks in the U.S. and noted that he has American relatives. But he also said the U.S. would be making a huge mistake by going into Afghanistan. "We will resist. This is our history. It is our way," he said. "Not a single Afghan will stay here, including me. We will go and fight. I am ready to sacrifice my whole family." He said this while sitting on a rope bed, sipping sweet green tea and surrounded by a passel of sons, nephews and grandsons. The words of sacrifice were not idle. His son fought against Soviet commandos when the Soviet Union tried to occupy Afghanistan in the 1980s. The war ended for his son when he stepped on a land mine and was killed.
The shy, polite boys and young men nodded solemnly as their patriarch said he was prepared to see them
"martyred" fighting Americans. One was the teen-age boy of the son killed by a Soviet land mine. As he looked
ahead to a possible war against the U.S., Arbab Tahir Khalil recalled the one against the Soviets. He was living in
the Afghan town of Gulai near Jalalabad, not far from the Pakistani border. "The mujahedeen would come to my
home, 100 of them, at 2 o'clock in the morning. We would get up and feed them happily because they were fighting for the motherland." Another of the men present for the interview yesterday was Hasan Gul Tander. He sat in a gray and brown turban and matching vest, recalling his days fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan alongside Arbab Tahir Khalil's son.
The Pakistani govt has been trying to reduce the number of guns in both the settled and tribal areas of the
North-West Frontier Province, a rugged and almost lawless region that borders Afghanistan. The region is now a
cultural blend of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The effort to make guns less ubiquitous has been greatly successful in the settled areas. While many people keep guns at home, no longer do you see a line of Kalashnikov rifles resting against a restaurant wall while the owners dine. And while the manufacture of weapons has been reduced
significantly in Darra in recent years through govt efforts, the smells and sounds of gun-making are still
ever-present. It is not surprising. The region, the fabled gateway between Central Asia and South Asia, has had a
long love affair with its swords and guns. "A man without a gun is like a woman without jewelry," said Arbab Tahir
Khalil, describing the role of the gun in Pashtun society. "It makes him look handsome. "We sleep with our guns
under our pillows," he added. "And before there were guns, it was swords."
Pakistani forces, militant tribesmen clash
Miran Shah, Pakistan Pakistani helicopter gunships fired on armed pro-Taliban tribesmen after they clashed with security forces Saturday near the border with Afghanistan in the aftermath of a military strike on a suspected militant hide-out.
At least 3 paramilitary soldiers also were killed and about 12 were wounded, most in vehicle ambushes, according to other security and intelligence officials in the region. They said helicopter gunships had been used to target the tribal fighters' positions.
Waziristan is known as a hotbed of al-Qaida and Taliban militants who draw support from the local Pashtun tribal people. Many of the rebellious tribesmen involved in Saturday's unrest were believed to be Islamic students who are sympathetic with the hard-line Taliban militia.
The fighting began Saturday in Mir Ali, a town near Miran Shah, when tribesmen opened fire on vehicles carrying paramilitary rangers, an army officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media about it.
"We acted swiftly to avoid civilian losses ... We are exercising maximum restraint," Sultan said. |
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Pakistan says 300 extremists have been slain Musharraf touts his policy of enlisting tribes to battle foreign militants in south Waziristan border region. 4.13.07 Mubashir Zaidi, Henry Chu L.A. Times
Islamabad Tribal fighters near the border with Afghanistan have killed 300 foreign militants allegedly linked to Al Qaeda over the last few weeks, President Pervez Musharraf said Thursday. Speaking at a counterterrorism conference here in the capital, Musharraf acknowledged for the first time that Pakistan's military had been assisting the tribesmen in their battle against mostly Uzbek militants who have found a haven in the remote, lawless region of South Waziristan.
Under a controversial deal struck last year, Musharraf scaled back troop deployments in the mountainous area in exchange for a pledge by tribal leaders to drive out militants tied to the Al Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban movement. |
Musharraf has been under increasing U.S. pressure to show results on his stated commitment to stamp out militancy and capture Al Qaeda followers hiding in Pakistan, especially in the border areas. Analysts say pro-Taliban forces receive training in camps on Pakistani territory and cross into Afghanistan to carry out attacks against American and other coalition troops.
Musharraf, an army general who seized power in a coup in 1999, said Thursday that 700 Al Qaeda members had been held since late 2001. He dismissed suggestions that the Pakistani military establishment was engaged in a double game, declaring support for the U.S. war on terrorism while tacitly allowing or even encouraging militants to operate.
"If Pakistan is bluffing, if I am bluffing and the ISI is bluffing, I think we should be out of the [anti-terrorism] coalition," he said, referring to the military's Inter-Services Intelligence agency.
In neighboring Afghanistan, U.S. and Afghan troops killed at least two dozen Taliban militants in Zabol province early Thursday, the U.S.-led coalition said in a statement. The joint force called in an airstrike after identifying "a large group" of Taliban fighters on a ridge, the statement said. After the militants scattered, some on motorcycles, warplanes pounded caves in the area.
The statement said 24 Taliban fighters died, but the Associated Press quoted an aide to the governor of Zabol as saying that 35 bodies were recovered. U.S. and Afghan troops also uncovered a cache of weapons in a cave, the coalition said.
In eastern Afghanistan, 2 coalition soldiers were killed and one injured when their convoys were struck by two bombs within half an hour of each other, military officials said. No further details were released.
Unlike that battle and others earlier in the war, U.S. Special Forces & covert soldiers from the Army's Delta
Force are now operating in small groups against handfuls of al Qaeda fighters. Moreover, the al Qaeda fighters are
no longer concentrating but have gone underground or are mixing with the population, forcing the Americans to
devise strategies to draw them out. To carry out this operation, American forces are active not only in Paktia &
Paktika provinces in Afghanistan, areas south of Kabul where U.S. officials say pockets of al Qaeda fighters
remain, but also in adjacent tribal areas in Pakistan where Islamabad govt has limited authority, officials said.
Pakistani govt is nervous about U.S. operations on its territory, esp. with approach of referendum Tuesday on
extending by 5 years rule of President Pervez Musharraf, who seized power through a bloodless coup in 1999.
Although expansion of war into Pakistan is U.S. military recognition that al Qaeda is operating on both sides of the
border, it risks increasing political turmoil in Pakistan, where Musharraf's support for the war has sparked
considerable opposition from Islamic political parties. Pakistan has asked the U.S. to be as quiet as possible about
U.S. activities inside the country, which also involve the presence of American warplanes, Special Operations
troops & regular forces at 4 Pakistani bases. The top spokesman for Pakistan's military govt said yesterday he
had no knowledge of U.S. military operations inside Pakistan. "I think there's some confusion," said Maj. Gen.
Rashid Qureshi. "What I'd heard earlier is that the only thing that may be happening is a communication link. I don't
think any Special Forces or Delta Force commandos are operating inside Pakistan."
Central Command spokesman Army Col. Rick Thomas said "Pakistan has been a staunch ally in the war against
terrorism" and that, as part of that, the U.S. military has established liaison arrangements with the Pakistani military.
"Beyond that, it is our policy not to discuss current or future operations," he said. A former U.S. official steeped in
Pakistani affairs offered a different view. "It is my impression that there is some quiet cooperation going on, but it's
going to be kept as quiet as possible," said former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan Robert B. Oakley. NYTimes
reported yesterday Pakistan agreed to have U.S. advisers accompany Pakistani troops on patrols in border areas,
but it has not been disclosed until now that the U.S. military has already participated in attacks in Pakistan.
Despite the concern about political turbulence inside Pakistan, U.S. & allied offensive is underway because
defense officials believe it is necessary to keep al Qaeda fighters & their allies in Afghanistan's vanquished
Taliban militia on the run. Relentless pursuit of al Qaeda members, they calculate, will help deter new attacks on
Americans, whether in Afghanistan or in the U.S. Officials also worry that Afghanistan is entering an extremely
sensitive phase. As spring arrives, the melting of snow will open up secondary mountain passes and give Pakistani
supporters of the Taliban more opportunity to sneak into Afghanistan. Also, a grand council is being formed in
Afghanistan to pick a new govt in June. Meanwhile, there have been a series of violent attacks in & around
Kabul recently, raising worries about political instability. Deployment of British Marines to the Afghan provinces last
week effectively set up a screen for the new battlefield, cutting off some of the western approaches to the border
area. The deployment also familiarized the British forces with some of the difficulties of operating along barren,
waterless ridges as high as 12,000 ft.
In Afghan regions, U.S. Special Forces & Delta Force deliberately expose themselves to attack to draw out
pockets of al Qaeda & Taliban fighters believed to be hiding in the border area, officials said. This is a novelty
for counterinsurgency tactics, which usually are more proactive. Officials said the strategy is required because the
militants are operating in groups of 15 or smaller. The U.S. forces, which themselves generally work in groups of
just 3 or 4 people, have been assaulted by small arms fire, a rocket-propelled grenade and, in one incident, a knife.
One Afghan ally working with the U.S. forces was attacked with an ax. "We have to get them to shoot at us," said
one soldier. It is frustrating, one official said, because this tactic effectively means that al Qaeda "has the
offensive."
Also, the al Qaeda attacks frequently are launched from within larger groups of bystanders on the streets of villages
& towns such as Khost, making the decision to counterattack difficult, officials said. "The decision to shoot or
not shoot is one of the toughest decisions," said one source.
The enemy fighters tend to have sophisticated communications equipt and "better survival gear than we have," said
one knowledgeable source. Some of the fighters have carried U.S. equipt apparently captured during last month's
battle in the Shahikot valley. al Qaeda members have impressed their American opponents with their military skills,
most notably ability to observe U.S. combat techniques and adjust accordingly. Despite months of bombing and
last month's attack by thousands of U.S. & allied fighters, al Qaeda groups continue to execute well
coordinated operations, officials said. In one instance, enemy fighters are believed to have launched a
synchronized multipronged attack within a 10-minute period.
Another significant difference is that, unlike tactically experienced commanders of the Northern Alliance, which
seized much of the country from the Taliban last fall, Special Forces troops are having to depend on Afghan allies
with little fighting experience and whose allegiances are not well established. "This is unlike anything I have ever
seen," said one source familiar with the history of counterinsurgency operations involving Special Forces. U.S.
military officials said that their goal is to kill or capture as many al Qaeda members as possible, and that they
believe they are succeeding, albeit slowly, in dozens of small encounters in which one or two fighters are shot.
"They have no support" among the people of eastern Afghanistan, asserted one U.S. officer.
Officials said two soldiers died Wednesday evening in a bombing in southern Afghanistan, where Canadian forces form the largest coalition military presence.
[ Canadians = U.S. Pashtuns, uniformed in gurkha green. ]
Pentagon
U.S. fights al Qaeda in Pakistan
Islamabad Covert U.S. military units have been conducting reconnaissance operations in Pakistan in
recent weeks and participated in attacks on suspected al Qaeda hide-outs there, opening a new front in a shadowy
war being waged by U.S. along the mountainous Afghan-Pakistan border, according to U.S. military officials.
U.S. Special Operations troops based on the Afghanistan side of the frontier have been attacked several times a
week over the last month and have been in several firefights with al Qaeda militants, these officials said. The
Americans have suffered some casualties, though no American has been killed, officials said. New U.S. strategy,
which defense officials have not publicized, helps explain the evolution of the Afghanistan conflict since U.S. forces
early last month conducted a week-long ground & air assault on al Qaeda concentrations in the Shahikot
valley south of Kabul, the Afghan capital.
Covert action on Pakistani-Afghan border
4.25.02 D.Priest, T.E.Ricks & K.Vick Wash.Post
As in the opening 2 months of the war, U.S. Special Forces continue to work with Afghan allies and to call in
airstrikes. But they are much less dependent on air power at this stage. Rather, warplanes & Special
Operations attack helicopters are being used to close off caves, to destroy footpaths & routes through the
mountains, and to scout & confirm electronic emissions believed to be coming from al Qaeda troops.
Not all analysts share this view, believing that the Pashtun heartland in southeastern Afghanistan remains
sympathetic to the Taliban & their al Qaeda allies. Analysts worry as well that the fighting between Israel
& the Palestinians is spawning a new crop of recruits from the Middle East that will connect with al Qaeda.
10.7.94 Hon. Peter Deutch FL HOUSE (Mr. FINGERHUT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) Mr. FINGERHUT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to bring to the attention of my colleagues … It is shocking … [ Col. North, Dir. Casey & Pres. Bush taught them how. BCCI started out as the first viable microbank. Wall St was its bane. ]
7.10.99 AP Pakistan
12.26.99 UNITED NEWS OF INDIA The book exposes Saudi millionaire Osama Bin Laden's role in the Kargil infiltration and brings under scrutiny the ISI plan which led to the conflict that claimed thousands of lives on both sides. The book, the third by the author, a journalist with the Newstime- Eenadu group of newspapers, focuses on the proxy war waged by the ISI against India for the past two decades that culminated in the hilly terrain of Kargil. The ills of terrorism in a civilised society forms the basis of the book which delves at length on the terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "It is unfortunate that hitherto the western world with its somewhat limited vision has fuelled the fire and inadvertently promoted countries like Pakistan in its acts of terrorism,'' says former air chief N C Suri in his foreword to the book. |
[
Pakis call them freedom fighters in a struggle of national liberation. They call themselves
martyrs for God, not a nation. India & trading partner U.S. call them terrorists since they own
the assets targeted. It is all cover for munitions industry & distant narcoplantations operated
by CIA assets laundering proceeds at a 40% cost in NY & London exchanges ]
Foreign Terrorist Organizations
Designations
Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) (Army of Mohammed)
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LT) (Army of the Righteous)
headlines history
5.4.00 Ayaz Gul VOA … Pakistan's chief diplomat, Inam ul-Haq: The international community has always held that terrorism cannot be equated with national liberation struggles, and the struggle of the Kashmiri people is a struggle for national liberation. And therefore, it cannot be equated with terrorism.
Religious minorities tread carefully under Taliban Rule
KABUL, Afghanistan
… the Taliban recognizes only the lunar calendar & the current year is officially 1421
here. … Ayatollah Sayad Ahmad Tawasali, a Shiite cleric who heads a small mosque and
Koranic school in Kabul, said he had "no problems" with the Taliban. He pointed out that unlike in
Pakistan, there is no sectarian violence between Sunni & Shiite sects in Afghanistan. "Here
things are peaceful & we do not have terrorism," he said.
The attack in this south-central Pakistani city was the worst in memory against the country's small Christian
community. 14 worshippers, their minister and a Muslim police officer guarding the church were slain. Despite the
priest's entreaties for calm, a group of about 250 young men chanted for revenge. "Blood for blood," they said. "We
will pay them in the same kind." It was unclear whether the violence was related to unrest over U.S.-led airstrikes
on Afghanistan. Police believe the killers might have come from a radical, banned Muslim group aiming to avenge
the deaths of 35 Pakistani fighters last week in Afghanistan. The young Muslims had gone to Kabul to fight for the
Taliban and were killed in a bombing raid. Police said one of the dead was Father Emmanuel, the Protestant
minister conducting the morning services. They did not know his last name. After the U.S.-led airstrikes on
Afghanistan began, the Pakistani govt ordered a police guard assigned to every Christian church. Muhammad
Saleem, the single guard at St. Dominic's, was unable to stop the assailants. Yesterday, the number of guards at
churches throughout Pakistan was doubled. Though St. Dominic's is a Catholic church, a Protestant congregation
in Behawalpur that lacks its own building was worshipping there, as it has for 30 years, at the time of the shootings.
The worshippers were members of the Church of Pakistan, which has about 800,000 members. The church,
founded in 1970, brings together Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans and other Protestants.
Pakistan is 97% Muslim, and its isolated Christian community represents only part of the remaining 3%.
There has been religious violence between Sunni & Shiite Muslims in the area, but this was the first such
attack on Christians in recent memory, authorities said.
Survivors said worshippers tried to flee or hide under pews to escape an indiscriminate hail of automatic weapons
fire that left holes in the walls of the stone building. "I saw some attackers escaping. I couldn't recognize them," said
Aina Bakshi, who was near the church when the gunfire began. "I saw small children crying; some of them were
bleeding." Most shops were closed yesterday morning, as was Behawalpur's outdoor market. The victims' bodies
were returned to their home villages after the funeral.
24 killed in Pakistan suicide bombings
Lahore, Pakistan Massive suicide bombs ripped through a seven-story police headquarters and a business on Tuesday, killing at least 24 people and wounding more than 200 others in attacks that deepened Pakistan's security crisis.
Twenty-one people were killed, including 16 police, officials said. Doctors at Lahore hospitals said the wounded included 32 girls who were hit by flying debris at a school near the police building. Paramedics carried a bloodied body on a stretcher from the building, while volunteers sifted through the rubble with bare hands, apparently searching for survivors.
Scores of nearby houses sustained major damage. Gates and doors were torn off, windows blown in and air conditioners dislodged and left in the street.
The second bombing hit an advertising agency at a house in an upscale neighborhood less than 50 yards from a residence owned by Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and co-chairman of her party. Police officials declined to speculate on whether that was the intended target. Zardari was in Islamabad at the time.
The bombings come amid a spate of violence that authorities are blaming on Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants, spreading beyond their strongholds along the Afghan border, and as the victors of last month's elections prepare to form a new govt. There have been at least seven suicide attacks in the three weeks since the 2.18.08 vote.
A spokesman for the country's largest Islamic group, Jamaat-e-Islami, blamed Musharraf's friendship with the U.S. for a campaign of attacks inside Pakistan.
After the attacks, small groups of city residents enraged by the bombing gathered on Lahore's main Mall Road, chanting "Musharraf is a dog, Musharraf is a pimp." Police were deployed to keep order but no trouble was reported.
Tuesday's violence was the first major act of terrorism since Sharif's and Bhutto's parties announced over the weekend they would form a coalition govt after routing Musharraf's allies in the Feb. 18 parliamentary elections. The parties are vowing to restore judges axed by Musharraf to secure his own re-election last year, setting them on a collision course with a key U.S. ally in its war on terror.
16 dead in Pakistan terror blast
A bomb hidden in a crate of grapes ripped through the biggest open-air produce
market in Pakistan's capital of Islamabad yesterday, killing at least 16 people, authorities said.
More than 80 people were injured, several seriously, in the latest terrorist attack to hit Pakistan.
The bomb was hidden in a crate of grapes imported from neighboring Afghanistan. There was no
claim of responsibility.
US researcher seeks to exhume 'Christ' in Kashmir
An American researcher who believes she has found the final resting place of Jesus Christ is campaigning to
exhume a body at a Muslim shrine in Indian-administered Kashmir for scientific tests. NY based researcher
Suzanne Marie Olsson is currently in Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, studying the Muslim shrine of Rozabal.
While Muslims say Rozabal houses the tomb of Yuza Asaf, a Muslim saint, many researchers believe it contains
the body of Jesus Christ. To put an end to speculation, Ms Olsson has suggested exhuming the remains at
Rozabal for DNA testing & carbon dating. "This will trace him to his origin … and resolve the raging
controversy over the identity of the place forever," she said. Ms Olsson has already dug up a shrine at the Murree
hill station in Pakistan under the supervision of archaeologists Ahmad Hassan Dani & Saida Rahman.
Murree is believed to be the resting place of Jesus' mother, Mary. "The exhumed remains have been sent for the
DNA testing and the report is awaited," she said. "Now Rozabal holds the key.
"If the remains there are sent for testing and then tallied with the results of the Murree project, it will either establish
the link between the two shrines as being of similar origin and thus authenticate the Marium-Jesus theory or prove
it wrong for good." However, her project has run into trouble with the managers of the Rozabal shrine, who are
strongly opposed to its "desecration". "We will never allow it," said Mohammed Amin, one of the managers.
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5 dead in attack on Pakistan church Dozens injured in grenade assault near U.S. Embassy 3.17.02 N.O'Donnell & C.Grisanti NBC, AP & Reuters
An American woman & her daughter were among 5 killed Sun. in grenade attack at Protestant church in
diplomatic compound near U.S. Embassy in Islamabad. About 45 people were hurt in what Pakistan's president,
Gen. Pervez Musharraf, called a "ghastly act of terrorism." Pres. GWBush expressed outrage at the attack on the
Protestant Intl Church, which is located in a heavily guarded diplomatic enclave about a half-mile from the U.S.
Embassy. It was filled with worshipers at the time. "I strongly condemn them as acts of murder that cannot be
tolerated by any person of conscience nor justified by any cause," he said in a statement. "We will work closely with
Pakistan govt to ensure those responsible for this terrorist attack face justice."
Attack occurred at 10:50 a.m. during a sermon before 60 to 70 worshipers. Dozens of police & soldiers rushed
to the scene. U.S. Embassy identified dead Americans as Barbara Green & her daughter Kristen Wormsley,
Sr at American School in Islamabad. Green & her husband, Milton Green, worked at the embassy, she in
administration and he in the computer division. The others killed included one Afghan, one Pakistani and one
person of unknown nationality, the Pakistani govt news agency said. 10 Americans were among the 45 injured,
along with 12 Pakistanis, 5 Iranians, one Iraqi, one Ethiopian and one German, police said. The govt said injured
also included Afghans, Swiss, Britons, Australians and Canadians. 6 or 7 were in serious condition, Dist. Judge
Tariq Mehmood Khan said. It was the second attack against Christians in Pakistan since 9.11.01, which prompted
Pakistan to abandon support for the Afghan Taliban and instead back the U.S.-led coalition against terrorism.
U.S. Pakistan amb. Wendy Chamberlin called the attack a "cowardly act of violence against innocent people" and
said it would only strengthen U.S. resolve to fight terrorism.
U.S. agencies incl FBI, are working with Pakistani officials to investigate the bombing, U.S. diplomats told NBC
News. "We are cooperating closely with Pakistani law enforcement officials in the investigation and are determined
to see the guilty parties swiftly brought to justice," Sec.State Colin L. Powell said in a statement. Security was
immediately tightened in Islamabad & other parts of Pakistan, incl port city Karachi, where slain Wall St
Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in January. "We will take whatever measures we judge appropriate to
protect our people & their dependents," a State Dept official told NBC News. There were conflicting reports
among witnesses about the number of attackers. Sr police official Khalid Khan Khattak told NBC News that a lone
assailant rode up to the church on a bicycle from a wooded area in front of the church and hurled between 5 &
9 grenades at the congregation.
Khattak told NBC the attacker was not Pakistani but did not give any details of his nationality. Police are cross-
examining more eyewitnesses, Khattak said. Others said there were 2 attackers. 3 grenades exploded ,and the
attacker or attackers eluded security guards at the scene, police said. "I saw 2 men come into the back of the
church into the main sanctuary and threw what looked like hand grenades," said Cindy Jess, an American who did
not give her hometown. Elisabeth Mundhenk, 54, of Hamburg, Germany, said she took refuge under a piano when
the first explosion rocked the church but still suffered shrapnel wounds in the leg. "There was blood, blood, blood,"
she said while awaiting treatment at the hospital. "It was horrific. There was a horrible smell, and we could barely
breathe."
Although no group claimed responsibility, suspicion fell on Islamic militants angered by Musharraf's crackdown on
Islamic extremism begun in January. The motive of the attack "is not clear at this point," the State Dept official told
NBC News. "Extremist groups in Pakistan have repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to commit horrific crimes
against their govt. ... The struggle to neutralize and destroy such groups has our full support." "It's a highly
deplorable attempt to spoil our relations with foreign countries. Choosing this place is meant to embarrass the
govt," Pakistani Law Minister Khalid Ranjha said. British Foreign Sec. Jack Straw called the attack a
"serious outrage, particularly because it took place within what we thought was the well-protected diplomatic
enclave." "This is part of a continuing effort by dissident extremist terrorists to try to destabilize President
Musharraf's govt and the support which he enjoys from around the world, including the Western nations,"
Straw told the BBC.
Sectarian violence has been increasing in Pakistan, but most attacks have targeted Pakistan's Shiite Muslim
minority. Extremists from the majority Sunni Muslim community have been blamed. Despite increase in
sectarian violence, Ranjha said officials believed the church was well-protected. Head of Pakistan's main Islamic
party said it could not have been the work of a religious group. "We condemn this act in the strongest words and
assure the Christian minority that we fully share their grief and tragedy and will support any action against people
who did this," said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, a Jamaat-e-Islami leader. Such attacks in the Pakistani capital, where
security is higher than elsewhere in the country, are relatively infrequent. "The attack shows that those who carried
it out were committed people," Ranjha said. The last major violent incident directed at Christians occurred Oct. 28
when gunmen entered a church in the Punjab province town of Behawalpur and killed 15 worshipers and a Muslim
guard. Religious tension had been expected to rise with the start this weekend of the Islamic month of Moharram,
marking the beginning of the Muslim year. In January, Musharraf banned 5 Islamic extremist groups and
announced measures extending control over religious schools considered a breeding ground for terrorism. More
than 2,000 people were arrested, but many were released.
A nondescript harbor for wanted men
Karachi The building is a plain white concrete box on a commercial street in the part of the city
known as the Defense Section. The only ornamental touch is the gray-tile facing on the corners. A more
nondescript setting in a more undistinguished area of this densely packed metropolis is hard to imagine. It was here
that Pakistani authorities tracked down one of the world's most wanted men: Yemeni Ramzi Binalshibh who
allegedly sent money to the 19 9.11.01 hijackers, and who
might have been a hijacker himself if not repeatedly denied a U.S. visa.
Through an open window, a plastic bag on the floor and a crushed water bottle can be seen from a neighboring
building, but the flat itself has no visible furnishings. Neighbors say the Arabs who lived there apparently slept on
carpets, keeping few possessions, a sign that they may have moved frequently. Zeshan, an employee at a public
relations firm in an adjoining building, said no one suspected that behind the curtains lived "serious" terrorists. "We
had no idea that they were foreigners & Al Qaeda," he said.
The apartment would not have been very expensive; flats on this street go for less than $130. Neighbors say that
both the real estate agent who rented the apartment and the building owner, a woman who lives in the suburbs,
have been taken into custody for questioning. The tenants "lived in a quiet fashion and never created any problem,"
said Zeshan, who goes by one name.
About half an hour later, he heard 2 explosions and was stunned to see 100 to 150 police officers in the street firing
into the neighboring building. At first, he thought that police had caught robbers in the act at an electrical store.
Soon the police, incl members of Pakistan's elite paramilitary Rangers, had taken up firing positions on nearby
roofs. As authorities explained later, they had developed information from a satellite phone interception that Al
Qaeda suspects were living in the building. When they went to arrest the inhabitants, some suspects
surrendered. |
Among those who surrendered was Binalshibh, who was led out blindfolded & dressed in a blue T-shirt. Later
in the day, police also brought out the corpses of two Al Qaeda suspects who had been killed. The bodies, wrapped
in bloodied sheets, were placed into an ambulance to be taken to a morgue. 6 police officers were wounded.
A reporter who reached the roof opposite the building said that after the battle, he could see one of those killed
lying face down on the floor as members of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, riffled through a
pouch of documents they took from the top of an air-conditioning unit.
The whole incident has left neighbors puzzled. What were the Al Qaeda fugitives doing here? How were they
traced to this spot? If they were really desperate terrorists, why were they not able to put up a more effective
resistance? "Living in a commercial area like this, it is difficult to accept that they were such wanted men," said
Salim Mahmood, Zeshan's employer at Media Strategists. "If I was one of them, I would not have chosen a street
on which over 1,000 cars pass every day, a place where if you stick your head out you wind up in someone else's
window. "Frankly speaking, it is all very curious."
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Pakistan after 10.99 military coup special report 7.31.00 BBC NewsOnline
Pakistan National Reconstruction Bureau
"charged with formulating policy/strategy options for national reconstruction, and a return to
democracy, with approval by National Security Council."
9.26.00 A.B.S. Jafri
The hierarchy of relationships in
Pakistan work as follows. The nucleus family is tied into other networks - the extended family,
beradari, clan, and tribe. The Pakistani individual when not operating within this nexus of family,
beradari, clan and tribe does not have other institutional connections. If his workplace has a union
it is probably weak. He probably is not actively involved in political work since political
organizations that have dominated the Pakistani scene have not developed deep structures. He
has, therefore, few reference points outside the family and the clan and he drifts without focus. He
drifts unless he joins two well-organized institutions: the military or a religious group. Putnam as
well as the institutional economists who have begun to highlight the importance of institutions in
promoting economic development would immediately see in this description of Pakistan a problem.
They will notice that a typical individual in Pakistan, in defining his values, has very little to go
beyond his allegiance to a family or to a clan. Unless, of course, he works in the military or is
actively engaged with a religious group.
Various nation-building efforts have failed in lifting the individual's sense of belonging from the
narrow base of the family and beradari to institutions at a higher level. I am told of a
little experiment once carried out in a class in a military school. The students were asked to list five
things that came to their minds when they think about the characteristics of a typical Pakistani.
Most lists had many more negative than positive attributes. A little later, they were asked to do the
same thing with reference to Punjabis, Pathans, Sindhis, Mohajirs, and Balochs. This time around
many more positive rather than negative characteristics were identified.
Women's Rights Project & Asia Watch
"Over 60 percent of women prisoners in Pakistan are detained under the Hudood Ordinance,
penal laws prohibiting sex outside of marriage devastating women's rights."
4.10.01 AP
4.8.01 Barbara Crossette NYTimes
4.9.01 Barbara Crosette NYTimes |
• great highlands in N w/ world's highest peaks, Himalayas • Balochistan Plateau in W & SW sectors; broken highlands of many 1000ft ridges crossing NE to SW • Indus Plain, most prosperous agricultural region 300 thousand sq.mi in E and from N to Arabian Sea in south • desert areas in SE
130 million population (1998) concentrated in fertile Indus River valley & along river's major
tributaries in N & NE. W & SW sparsely inhabited. Est. annual 3.0% growth rate
(Human Dev. in S.Asia 1997) is highest of any developing country. Ranks 134th of 173 nations on
UN Development Pgm index (Human Development Report, 1998). At least 35 million people live
in abject poverty. Public access to health, education, clean water, sanitation and family planning
remains low. Almost half of the population is less than 15 years old. Developing mixed economy based largely on agriculture, light industries & services. GNP increasing more rapidly than population but GNP per capita, est. US$430, is among lowest for developing countries. Growing industrial sector, manuf. generates half of country's exports. Gas, oil & mineral deposits contribute to economic growth which is uneven; widespread poverty persists, particularly in rural areas, where two thirds of the population lives. Up to 50% of workforce is agriculture.
Development is failing to keep pace with the population growth. Common practice in urban areas
for scavengers to burn solid waste in open air. Most hospitals burn waste close to facility. Major
industrial sectors in Pakistan are textile, metal, dying chemicals, pesticides, cement,
petrochemical, energy & power, leather, sugar processing, construction, steel, engineering,
pulp, paper, tanning, food processing, beverages, electronic consumer goods and mining. Toxic
and hazardous wastes in Pakistan are mainly the by-product of the chemical and petrochemical
dying industries.
40% Pakistan deaths are related to water borne diseases. WHO reports 25-30% hospital
admissions connected to water borne bacterial & parasitic conditions which cause 60%
of infant deaths. Drinking & bathing in polluted water are most common routes for diseases'
spread. Symptoms like abdominal pain, hair
loss, numbness in hands, loss of appetite, eye infections, irritation of skin, and
fever. In many urban areas, proper sewerage systems are still not available. Domestic wastewater
collects on the streets and sewage water is thrown into canals or rivers without any prior
treatment. Rivers change into stinking pools of stagnant water during low water discharge.
Drinking water lines and sewage lines in most areas are laid side by side, resulting in frequent
contamination of potable water when the fresh water pipes erode. Pollutants penentrates subsoil
water.
Cotton cultivation requires large inputs of irrigation water and pesticides. 10,000 farmers are
poisoned annually by indiscriminate use of pesticide in cotton growing rural areas. More than 70-
80% of pesticides used in this country are being used on cotton crops. Strong media campaign by
200 local, national & multinational companies with 6000 dealer distribution network has
convinced farmers it is essential to use pesticides. Use of pesticides is increasing at the rate of
25% a year. Due to a complex cropping system & small land holdings, ground spray is
preferred; aerial spraying is restricted to epidemics. Estimated 1,935 stockpiles of obsolete
pesticides in the 41 agriculturally active districts of Pakistan are threaten thousands. |
There are also questions about whether aid to the Taliban is coming from the administration of
Pakistan's leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, or from freewheeling elements inside Pakistani
intelligence agencies in league with Islamic parties. Pakistan continues to deny that it is giving
material support to the Taliban. At a news conference, Shamshad Ahmad, Pakistan's UN envoy,
dismissed the allegations of support. He said his country is "a law-abiding member of the UN, in
full compliance with Security Council resolutions." He referred to resolutions that ban military aid to
the Taliban but not to its armed opposition. "There is no ground for any sanctions on Pakistan," he
said. UN officials, some of whom opposed the sanctions, say Russia, Iran and lately India have
been equally to blame for fueling the war in Afghanistan, by supporting the armed opposition
against the Taliban. Barnett Rubin, Ctr on Intl Cooperation director of studies at NYU, said in an
interview that it was useful to bring the discussion of outside military assistance to Afghanistan into
the open.
But he was critical of the sanctions policy as it is currently constructed. "What's totally missing to
complement the sanctions is incentives to give Afghan people a concrete idea of what
reconstruction might be available if they change their behavior," he said. Mr. Rubin, an expert on
Afghanistan & Central Asia, added that a policy of sanctions without incentives "is not the
way to get people to reorient their behavior more toward peace-building and to strengthen
moderates who are either in the Taliban or on the Taliban side at the moment." He also
questioned the support for Ahmad Shah Masood, a cosmopolitan former general in a previous
Afghan govt who is leading the armed opposition and has long attracted Western support as the
face of moderate Islam in Afghanistan.
In anticipation of Security Council review of the sanctions this week, Mr. Masood went to garner
support in Europe, where he received praise from French Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine,
aspokesman for the French Foreign Ministry said. "Among the leaders who exist in Afghanistan,"
Mr. Rubin said, "Masood is the best, but the fact is that he represents very little in Afghanistan,"
noting that Mr. Masood is a member of the Tajik minority. "He has a very narrow political base."
3.15.01 Asian Immigration News
3.13.01 DAWN About the problems of refugees, he said many refugees were facing problems due to lack of facilities at the camps inside Pakistan. But he did not endorse the recent press reports that many of the refugees, particularly children, had died in their camps due to cold and lack of food and medicines. Pakistan recently closed its border for fresh Afghan refugees after the UN reported that 150,000 more refugees have crossed over to the country during the past five months. Over 500,000 Afghans have been rendered displaced due to continuing fighting and drought in Afghanistan. The UNHCR has asked Pakistan to open its borders for these refugees as they are confronted with bitter conditions in their country. It has also demanded of the govt of NWFP to allocate a new site for setting up more camps for these people, but the latter rejected the demand saying the newcomers were not real refugees. Afghan refugees have started enterting Pakistan through unmanned passes along the Pakistan- Afghan border abutting on Bajur & Mohmand Agencies, Peshawar Bureau adds. Though the local police had arrested 10 Afghan refugees within two days and sent them back home to discourage new comers, but this proved a fruitless effort. 5 were arrested on a ring- road on Monday and the rest were picked up |
5.1.01 Anne Applebaum Slate … infamous Jalozai refugee camp, where 80,000 Afghans, many opponents of the fundamentalist Taliban, are crammed into a dried-out Pakistani riverbed without much food or sympathy from Pakistani govt. &133; an alternative, although it isn't a secret either. barely figures in the collective consciousness. Ahmed Shah Masoud continues to command the Northern Alliance, the moderate Islamic group that is still fighting against the Taliban in the north of the country. Masoud, who is far better known in Europe than US, was recently in Paris, where his presence attracted 250 journalists, as well as in Strasbourg & Brussels accompanied by Dr. Abdullah, the alliance's foreign minister, who then went on to Vienna and Warsaw. … The Northern Alliance is not so hubristic as to request Western military support, which, given the general distaste for fueling further fighting in the region, would probably not be forthcoming anyway. They would like, simply, more humanitarian aid-and for the general policy of Western (and particularly American) "neutrality" to shift in their favor. They are confident that even small shows of support would be enough to swing the country behind them and against the Taliban whom, they claim, are increasingly hated. |
Tajikistan
a) WFP has received confirmation for a new pledge of 2,400 tons of wheat
flour. Still, only 33,645 tons (26 percent of the total requirement), has
been made available since November.
b) In Kurgan Tyube, WFP is observing a deteriorating food security
situation, with people affected by drought becoming increasingly desperate
after selling their last household assets. In Khatlon province, WFP have
frequently come across agitated hungry people demanding food. An
abnormally large number of institutions, such as orphanages, schools, and
even local govt departments, have been approaching WFP for food aid.
Circumstances are likely to get worse before the next harvest in July.
c) Recently, WFP monitored 11 land-lease projects in Kurgan Tyube. WFP
interviewed 79 female heads of households and found the living conditions
of all beneficiaries very difficult. Most of the families had no livestock
and for 99 percent of the beneficiaries interviewed, the only source of
sustenance at this critical pre-harvest period was WFP's food assistance.
d) WFP is currently distributing food to 22,142 people in Kabodian and
3,499 people in Dangara, also in Khatlon. The International Federation for
the Red Cross (IFRC) and CARE, two implementing partners of WFP, continue
to distribute food to the drought-affected in Regions of Republican
Sub-ordination and Sughd province, respectively. Mission East, another WFP
partner, and IFRC have been preparing distribution of WFP's food in the
Kulyab zone, covering some 35,000 vulnerable people. WFP is monitoring the
implementation.
Pakistan
a) As of 29 January, the Govt of Pakistan halted the verification
of approximately 70,000 Afghans at the Jalozai transit centre. The
condition of these people continues to give rise to concern.
b) The UN Secretary-General is expected to visit the Shamshatoo camp and
Jalozai transit centre on 12 March.
Iran
a) Due to disturbances reported by the provincial govt in Yazd, a
mission including WFP was invited to the area to get a first hand
impression about the conditions of the Afghan refugees and to hear the
concerns of the local population, as explained by the authorities. The
Office of the Governor-General drew attention to the rise in tensions
between the locals and Afghan refugees and warned of possible security
implications in the not too distant future.
Meanwhile, the UNHCR and the Commission for Afghan refugees, on Wednesday, jointly started
counting of the number of Afghan refugees living in the Jallozai makeshift camp. "The final figures
of the number of Afghan refugees would be available by Thursday as some 50,000 people had
been counted till Wednesday," said the spokesman. Similarly, an exercize to verify the number of
new entrants had also been carried out to know as to how many new refugees had taken shelter
there, he said. The verification exercize was necessary to move the new entrants to other places
for which, according to the spokesman, negotiations with the Pakistani officials, were under way.
Negotiations were also continuing with the Afghan refugees commission for some new sites to
settle the new entrants, said the UNHCR official. Some 10,000 displaced Afghan families [or
50,000 refugees] recently entered Pakistan, had been settled to new Shamshatu refugees camp,
some 26 kilometres from Peshawar. Some 2,000 more families (10,000 refugees) would be shifted
to the new camp from the Jallozai makeshift camp in the near future. He claimed that situation at
the Shamshatu refugees camp was stable and it was getting better with every passing day as the
water, health, education and sanitation facilities had been improved.
1.2.01 CWS
1998 Pakistani refugees in Bangladesh
5.12.99 S.AMDT.899 AMENDS: S.955; H.R. 2159 passed in lieu. Sen Harkin. To
promote democracy-building activities in Pakistan.
2.5.97 H.CON.RES.15 Rep Pallone. Concurrent resolution expressing
the sense of the Congress relating to the July 2, 1995 abduction & detainment of Donald
Hutchings, WA & 4 Western Europeans in Jammu & Kashmir, India by Al-Faran, militant
organization that seeks to merge Kashmir with Pakistan. Waging 5 year war against the Govt of
India. Al-Faran have threatened to kill Donald Hutchings & Western European hostages
unless the Govt of India agrees to release 20 suspected guerrillas from its jails.
4.01 Pakistan pays $30,000 a month for services of former Cong. Charlie Wilson,
D. Even though Wilson cautioned Pakistani Govt last year about hiring another lobbyist, just this
month Pakistan signed contract premier law firm Patton, Boggs & Blow for $ 22,500 a month;
former Clinton special counsel Lanny J. Davis, who helped WHouse navigate 1996 Democratic
fund-raising imbroglio, is handling Pakistan account.
High $ D.C. lobby battles
In a letter
to Pres. Geo.Bush dated 9.1.90, Rep. Stephen J.
Solarz (D-NY), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asian & Pacific
Affairs, said that if Pakistan continues to pursue the development of nuclear devices, and U.S. aid
continues, the credibility of U.S. global nonproliferation policy would be undermined. U.S. aid to
Pakistan may not be extended unless the president certifies annually, per the Pressler amendment
certification for Pakistan under the provisions of Sec. 620E(e) of the Foreign Assistance Act, that
Pakistan is abiding by its pledge not to possess nuclear weaponry or nuclear explosive
devices.
3.8.00 Harold Hongju Koh IOHR testimony re
1999 HRts report
2.14.00 UNI
Issue is Suppression of Self-Determination
…I am now an American citizen myself and see every day among my fellow Americans the
same kind of pure goodness demonstrated by the two American Peace Corps volunteers I met in
Kashmirin 1955. …I remember around that time reading The Ugly American, a book which
chronicled the doings of an American politician who, after losing an election at home, was
appointed ambassador to a Third World country. That was fiction. President Clinton's probable
nomination of defeated Brooklyn Congressman Stephen
Solarz of Rubbergate fame as our ambassador to India is real. …U.S. foreign-policy
makers like Solarz follow the Kissinger doctrine of nurturing, not solving, the Third World disputes
that keep people who seek freedom & democracy poor & suppressed. To keep the
support of the American public now that the communist empire is gone, such members of the
political & military establishment are creating a new bogeyman they call Islamic
fundamentalism. Indian rulers, inheritors of the British Empire, eagerly dance to this tune. They
portray the centuries-old struggle for self-determination, democracy & freedom from
autocratic rule by the Kashmiri people, most of whom are Muslims, as a religious separatist
movement. In 1930 they began their struggle for freedom from the double yoke of feudal rule
under a maharaja, and colonial rule under Britain.
10.93 R.A. Khan dir. L.A. based Kashmir HRts Fdtn WashRpt p37
American World War II hero, Adm. Chester Nimitz, was appointed plebiscite
administrator; 45 years later, the plebiscite pledge remains unfulfilled Bush administration
officials cited the Simla Agreement, signed by India and Pakistan after their third war, as a
panacea for resolution of the Kashmir dispute. Speaking on foreign policy as a presidential
candidate, Bill Clinton said, "We need to be a force for freedom & democracy. We can't
impose it, but we must nourish it." Peace Corps volunteers no longer vacation in Kashmir.
Nomination of a foreign lobby-backed ex-congressman as ambassador to India means that the
"ugly American" may still be around.
[ A decade later, Solarz still feeds well off Indian & Turkish lobby$ ]
Sec. Albright announces Asian Ctr for Democratic Goverance
U.S. & India will launch a joint, nongovtal initiative called the Asian Center
for Democratic Governance during President Clinton's upcoming trip to S.Asia. Jointly
organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Center will be based at
CII's offices in New Delhi. The Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training, an affiliate of the
Indian Parliament, will partner with the CII in implementing the activities of the Center. Focusing
on democratic development in Asia, with an emphasis on problems of governance, the Center will
organize conferences and workshops that will engage practitioners of democracy, business
leaders, and professional executives throughout Asia.
3.14.00
economic report
1999 State Dept HRts report
U.S. displays equipt as Powell calls for rooting out of Pakistani scientist's clandestine network 3.17.04 NYTimes
Oak Ridge TN The clandestine network created by Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan
netted US$100 million for the technology it sold to Libya alone. While revealing this, Bush admin officials for the
first time displayed a selected sample of the type of equipt that the network sold to arm Libya, Iran and
N.Korea.
Under extraordinary security of guards with automatic weapons stationed every few metres, officials in Tennessee
on Monday showed reporters the most basic of the high-speed centrifuges that Dr Khan marketed to countries
seeking to enrich uranium for bomb fuel. Many of the centrifuges, flown out of Libya and stored here at one of
America's first nuclear weapons laboratories, were still in their original packing crates.
N.Korea & Iran are believed to have purchased essentially the same package of technology that Libya
obtained after negotiating with Dr Khan in the mid-1990s. The event on Monday was part of a week-long effort by
the US administration to trumpet what it viewed as one of its biggest foreign policy accomplishments growing out of
the invasion of Iraq a year ago. 'We've had a huge success here,' said Energy Sec. Spencer Abraham, who is in
charge of overseeing the US nuclear stockpile.
The equipt, he said, was 'the largest recovery, by weight, ever conducted under US non-proliferation efforts'.
Libya never began to produce enriched uranium, though experts here said that if assembled, the equipt
that the U.S., Intl Atomic Energy Agency and other nations have recovered could have produced enough fuel to
make up to 10 nuclear weapons a year.
U.S. acts over Pakistani nuke lab
Islamabad U.S. has accused Pakistan's largest nuclear facility of helping an unidentified country's
weapons of mass destruction program. The nuclear installation, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) near
Islamabad, has been hit with 2 years of sanctions by the Bush administration, a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman did not reveal the country involved.
Pakistan denied the accusations. "This is absolutely baseless. We ask America to come up with whatever evidence
they have to prove what they are saying," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told AP Tuesday by phone.
"We have neither imported and/or exported nuclear technology to anyone," Ahmed said.
Recent speculation has forced Pakistani govt to deny accusations it shared nuclear weapons technology with
N.Korea in exchange for missile components & know-how. NY Times report last year said Islamabad provided
Pyongyang with equipt to make highly enriched uranium in return for help on Pakistan's missile pgm.
[
For pretend possession of weapons of mass destruction,
Iraq gets invasion; for the real thing, Pakistan gets ally status.
]
Wash.D.C. Pakistan pres. Musharraf was aware of Abdul Qadeer Khan's nuclear black market
activities for at least a few years, but political pressures kept him from moving aggressively against Khan until
recently, U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton said on Tuesday. But Bolton reaffirmed Washington's view that Musharraf
& other top Pakistani officials were not "complicit in or approved of (Khan's) proliferation activities" and
therefore are not subject to U.S. sanctions.
With Iran & N.Korea's nuclear activities a growing concern for Washington, nonproliferation issues could loom
large in the 2004 election. Since Khan, father of Pakistan's nuclear pgm, confessed in Feb. 2004 to selling nuclear
secrets to Iran, N.Korea and Libya, U.S. officials have insisted only Khan was responsible, not Musharraf and his
govt.
"I think it was a very difficult question for Musharraf in the face of the internal political dynamic in Pakistan, which
has resulted in the past 2 months … in 2 assassination attempts against him," Bolton said. "In fact, it was the
exposure of the Iranian nuclear weapons program … and (Libyan leader Muammar) Gaddfi's decision to
forswear all of his WMD (weapons of mass destruction) programs that brought us to the point that it was possible
for Musharraf to take the actions that he did," Bolton said.
Bush's most recent decision making Pakistan a non-NATO ally goes too far, said Ackerman, adding: "This double
standard with regard to Pakistan makes a mockery of our nonproliferation efforts around the world." Rep. Brad
Sherman D-CA faulted the administration for being "all too willing to risk American lives and to use our very
effective military (in Iraq) but utterly unwilling to use tactics that might inconvenience corporations or our trading
partners" that could force problem states to end proliferation.
Jane's report: Pakistan N-weapons ahead of India
Islamabad Pakistan has edged past India in nuclear weapons capability since the
two countries conducted nuclear tests in May 1998, according to the London-based Jane's
Intelligence Review. This was reported by the Pakistani daily, The News. The weekly said India
moved at a slower pace in deciding & completing delivery systems, evolving procedures, tactics
and doctrine for nuclear use as well as for ensuring effective control over nuclear forces. Pakistan,
on the other hand, moved quickly to implement effective systems and procedures for its more
modest nuclear arsenal. "In all these areas, New Delhi proceeded at a slower pace, insisting on
creating an original Indian system. Pakistan has more fully implemented the lessons that it has
learnt from already established nuclear powers,'' it said.
Contrary to this, Pakistan's nuclear forces are controlled by the Army and have been more fully
incorporated into the country's overall military strategy, the weekly reportedly said. It said Pakistan
officials believe Islamabad's nuclear capability gives it the option of strongly supporting insurgency
in Kashmir. The view is based on the belief that India would not dare hit back with strong
conventional weapons for fear of such a conflict escalating to a nuclear exchange, it said.
The weekly reportedly said that official proclamations by India's nuclear scientists notwithstanding,
it has not proceeded to develop an effective missile-based nuclear deterrent as quickly as
Pakistan and is yet to deploy a missile force in quantity. India's nuclear delivery systems consist of
assault aviation Mirage 2000H fighters, which will be supplemented by Sukhoi SU-30MK multi-role
fighters, along with a limited number of Prithvi-I & II short-range ballistic missiles and Agni
medium-range ballistic missiles, it said. |
[ Paki nukes = BCCI = CIA drugs = Geo.Bush 41st U.S. gave R&D under the table; China sold manufacturing capability incl megamagnets. And the French would not be outdone. ]
Questions raised about Pakistan's nuclear arms
Wash.D.C. After revelations about Pakistan's role in the nuclear black market, Islamabad is seen as
primarily responsible for ending the arms trade but U.S. is not pushing it to have its facilities inspected and
cooperation is limited, U.S. officials & experts say.
"We do have interests in not putting the kind of pressure on Musharraf that would compromise his domestic
position, but the leakage of nuclear material is transcendent," said Ctr for Intl Policy's Selig Harrison . The real
danger is not just the scandal of disgraced Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan confessing to selling nuclear
secrets to Libya, Iran and North Korea.
U.S. officials consider Musharraf a critical ally in the war on terrorism and the best leader for Pakistan at this time.
But American Enterprise Institute's Danielle Pletka finds a contradiction in Pakistan claiming it has control of its
nuclear arsenal while denying it knew about Khan. "Those 2 statements don't jibe. One must be untrue," she said.
After the recent disclosures, Pakistan at a minimum must give U.S. direct access to Khan, so it can unravel the
nuclear network, and satisfy Washington that its nuclear weapons & technology are secure, she said.
Pakistan is proud of its nuclear arms, which were tested in 1998. Because of the political damage it could do to
Musharraf, U.S. officials might not acknowledge if they had interrogated Khan. The CIA declined to comment.
With 48 deployed nuclear weapons and fuel for 52 more, Pakistan should install, under supervision of U.S.
scientists, new protective measures at its nuclear laboratories; permit regular inspection of these labs by U.N.
experts; and radically strengthen export controls, Harrison said.
NBC TV recently reported that since 9.11.01, U.S. nuclear experts spent millions of dollars to safeguard Pakistan's
nuclear arsenal, including secret authorization codes for the weapons. A U.S. official did not deny the report but
insisted: "We … won't go over the edge of our law & the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty."
Pakistan president pardons nuke scientist
Islamabad, Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf pardoned the father of Pakistan's nuclear
program Thursday for giving technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea, heading off a showdown with hardliners.
Religious groups strongly opposed punishment for Abdul Qadeer Khan, who is deemed a national hero for leading
the development of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program.
Pakistan began its investigation in Nov. 2003 after Iran told the U.N. nuclear watchdog it obtained nuclear
technology from Pakistan. Earlier Thursday, the Cabinet had recommended to Musharraf that Khan be pardoned
for proliferation to Iran, Libya and North Korea. In a televised apology Wednesday after meeting Musharraf, Khan
accepted full responsibility for nuclear leaks he said were made without govt approval or knowledge and asked for
forgiveness.
There had been no decision on 6 other suspects detained in the investigation, Musharraf said. Asked what he
thought motivated the scientists who leaked technology, Musharraf said: "What is the motivation of people to do
these things? Money, obviously. That's the reality."
A trial of Khan could have uncovered embarrassing revelations about top govt & military officials. There
was widespread skepticism about claims that they did not authorize or know about proliferation of nuclear
technology & hardware from tightly guarded facilities to countries where Pakistan had strategic interests.
To become a nuclear power and address the imbalance of military power with rival India, Musharraf said Pakistan
had needed people like Khan, who operated covertly from the 1970s until the country's first public nuclear test in
1998. "In the covert period there was autonomy," Musharraf said. Khan "was tasked to do something and he did it.
One could not be that intrusive in case what you desired was not accomplished," he said.
Often appearing combative during the nearly 2 hour news conference, Musharraf said Pakistan would within a
month test a new missile with a range of 1,240 miles. Despite the latest controversy, Musharraf said Pakistan
wouldn't ever give up its nuclear weapons. "This country will never roll back its nuclear assets," he said.
Also Thursday, Malaysia said it would investigate a company controlled by the prime minister's son for its alleged
role in supplying components to Libya's nuclear program. That company has also been connected to the
intl nuclear black market tied to Pakistan.
Nuclear antidotes on offer in tense S.Asia
New Delhi Indian hospitals are on alert to treat victims of a nuclear war and an American co. is
offering anti-radiation pills as fears of a nuclear war persist despite easing of tensions with Pakistan.
Several companies are getting their staff trained to work in a dangerous environment even as India & Pakistan
have withdrawn battleships and taken other confidence building measures to ease a standoff between their
nuclear-armed forces. But more than a million troops remain massed on the border in a standoff over disputed
Kashmir that has raised fears of a conflict, which could escalate into a nuclear war.
contingency plan The federal govt, which has not recommended the use of any preventive
drug, has drawn its own contingency plan, although people in major cities seem unperturbed by the threat of war.
Federal Health Minister C.P. Thakur said hospitals have been asked to stock medicines, keep doctors &
ambulances on standby to deal with the consequences of a possible nuclear, chemical or biological attack.
"We have about 12,000 beds in govt hospitals in Delhi and we have kept all beds ready," Thakur told Reuters.
Thakur said he did not think that the 2 countries would go to war, but health authorities were discussing various
options including building shelters to protect people from radiation. "We have discussed a plan to build nuclear
shields but in that case huge amount of money is needed and we have to make elaborate arrangements," he said.
hostile environment training Bruhn Newtech, an international firm that trains people working in dangerous situations, has several South Asian clients including large media companies. The firm has operations in Britain, Denmark and U.S. David Butler, British Army vet sent by the firm to New Delhi to train clients, said his firm was training people in banks, emergency services, large companies and media firms to deal with hazards of nuclear, biological and chemical threats. "After 9.11.01, companies who thought the unthinkable could not happen, have realised that the unthinkable can happen," Butler told Reuters. He did not reveal the names of the firm's clients in South Asia citing confidentiality. |
|
Pk 'has the missiles to wipe Delhi off map' 9.16.00 S.Farrell & Z. Hussain London Times |
A recent US report claimed that Pakistan's missile capability was more advanced than India's after
Pakistan received help from China and North Korea. Its Gauri missile has a range of more than
620 miles. This year Abdul Sattar, Pakistan's Foreign Minister, denied that his country was ahead
of India, describing its nuclear programme as "extremely limited in scope".
|
Pakistan aid cutoff
U.S. nonproliferation & foreign policy considerations
12.6.96 Richard P. Cronin Foreign Affairs & National Defense Div.
U.S. aid & arms sales to Pakistan generally had been prohibited since Oct. 1990 because the President could
not make a required annual certification to Congress under Section 620E(e) of theForeign Assistance Act, the so-
called "Pressler Amendment," that Pakistan did not possess a nuclear explosive device. However, on 2.12.96, the
President signed into law the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act for FY1996, which includes provisions that
significantly relax previous
restrictions on U.S. aid to Pakistan. Section 559 of P.L. 104-107, introduced by Sen. Hank Brown, provides a "clarification" of restrictions on aid contained in Section 620E(e) of the FAA. The revised Section 620E narrows the scope of the aid cutoff to military assistance & transfers. It expressly allows cooperation for such purposes such as countering terrorism and narcotics trafficking, promoting airport safety & security, and intl peacekeeping. It also specifically allows military to military contact, including intl military education & training (IMET). |
3.20.01 Elizabeth Blunt BBC |
4.18.96 WashPost reported Pres. approved transfer of equipt despite evidence that some time in
1995 Pakistan had acquired 5,000 "ring magnets" from China that could be used in its covert
uranium enrichment program. The Senate action followed several committee hearings &
briefings in both houses, and similar House action in passing legislation authorizing foreign
assistance for FY1996 & FY1997 H.R. 1561. The changes were adopted despite fact
that Pakistan has continued to increase its capability to build nuclear weapons since the Oct. 1990 aid cutoff, and
may possess one or more bombs.
Those supporting the relaxation argued that the aid cutoff has been counterproductive and had jeopardized ties
with a long standing ally. They also pointed to unequal treatment of Pakistan & India under nonproliferation
sections of the FAA. India exploded a nuclear device in 1974, well before Pakistan acquired a similar capability.
Against this view, other Members of Congress argued that the amendment had worked in a rough fashion to
constrain Pakistan's program and warned against sending the "wrong signal" to other potential nuclear
proliferators.
India & Pakistan On the Nuclear Threshold Joyce Battle National Security Archive briefing book #
4.2.01 Iraq-Pakistan, Economics He told journalists "Pakistani pharma industry" representatives have been invited to Baghdad to enhance import of medicines and surgical equipt. He said the quality of drugs, surgical instruments & other appliances manufactured in Pakistan are impressive and Iraqi govt is keen on enhancing the trade to import these items. He said Iraq needs trucks for the disposal of garbage from the cities & towns, bags to store blood & blood products. Cooperation between Pakistan and Iraq in medicines import will enable Iraq to fight Polio, Malaria, TB and other curable diseases, he went on. Iraq is also interested to import different vaccines produced at public & private level. He said anti snake serum, anti-rabies serum, ORS to combat dehydration among children and system to analyze the drugs quality and narcotics are our special interest. The Iraqi official added "I have also delivered a personal message from President Saddam Hussain to the Chief Executive and discussed various proposals aimed at increasing bilateral economic & commercial cooperation specially in the fields of health and medicines." |
11.3.05 Simon Bain Herald (Glasgow)
Brian Quinn, Celtic chairman and former head of banking regulation at the Bank of England, expressed "huge relief" yesterday at the collapse of the £850m lawsuit against the bank by Deloittes, liquidators of BCCI bank, and said he hoped the bank would press for its costs in full.
Mervyn King, the Bank of England governor who was in court, said: "There has never been a shred of evidence to support these disgraceful allegations, and the case has collapsed as we always expected it would."
The central bank, like the Financial Services Authority and govt depts, has immunity from claims of negligence or incompetence, and complainants must prove 'misfeasance in public office'.
The case which began with the bank accused of leaving "an unsupervised monster on the loose" was described as "the most remarkable and humiliating climbdown in the history of English litigation" by bank's counsel Nicholas Stadlen. |
2.21.01 ArabicNews
2.17.01 The Economist U.S. ed. |
Instead of paying interest on deposits and charging it on loans, Islamic banks aim to enter into
profit- and loss-sharing agreements with depositors and borrowers. Under mudarabah, for
instance, a bank will give money to a borrower on the understanding that it will later share the
resulting gains according to a ratio agreed upon beforehand. The bank's depositors will then take
a share of the bank's profits on its mudarabah and other contracts, instead of receiving fixed
interest. Some Islamic bankers claim that this system is superior to interest-based
banking, for reasons beyond religion. Islamic institutions, they argue, think more about the
future profits of their borrowers than about their present creditworthiness. Lending decisions are
therefore longer-term and more likely to be prudent. Banks are less likely to fail as a result
(but see article).
In other ways, however, Islamic banks are less obviously suited to modern economies. Judging
whether a company will make profits in the future is harder than making a decision about its
current ability to repay a loan. A possible perverse consequence of a pure Islamic banking system
is that a smaller number of companies end up getting financed. In addition, Islamic banks offer far
fewer kinds of financing than the conventional sort. Pakistani companies may find that they can no
longer borrow with the degree of flexibility to which they have become accustomed.
In fact, the great majority of Islamic transactions are not based on profit- and loss-sharing at all but
on murabaha, another structure that bears a suspicious resemblance to an interest-bearing loan.
In a murabaha contract, the provider of capital buys, say, a piece of machinery for $1,000, and the
borrower buys it back from the bank later for $1,100. According to the murabaha rules, the $100
represents a "mark-up", but it works much the same as interest in everything but name.
[ False.This is collateral secured lending, not interest based lending. The mark-up is a
transaction fee, not interest. That fee does not accrue based on time, at least as described.
]
Murabaha lending is likely to be the mainstay of Pakistani banks in the next year or so. From a
bank's point of view, mark-up loans are a relatively easy way to lend without receiving interest.
The more complex profit-and-loss ransactions will probably have to wait till later. Transforming
Pakistan's banking system will involve other, more immediate kinds of difficulty, however.
Although Mr Musharraf has said that interest payments on the govt's external debt of $36
billion will continue, it is not known what it will do about its domestic borrowing of 1.6 trillion
rupees ($25 billion). According to Fahim Khan, a member of the team that Pakistan's central bank
asked to plan the reform, the country's biggest challenge in the next few months will be to find a
way for the govt to raise money domestically without paying interest.
Then there is the vital question of what to do about old loans and deposits. Will depositors
suddenly be deprived of their accrued interest and given another type of "profit-related" return in its
place? Legal havoc would follow. Or will Islamic methods apply only to new loans and deposits?
So far, says Mr Khan, no final decision has been made. The path of least disruption would no
doubt be to respect existing contracts. The success or failure of Pakistan's experiment in Islamic
banking will also depend on whether the central bank chooses to be liberal or strict in its
interpretation of Islamic law.
There is something of a divide between places like Malaysia, which tends to be flexible and
innovative, and the Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, which are more dogmatic.
Malaysian Islamic banks, for instance, think they have an Islamic justification to buy and sell
existing murabaha contracts once they are in place. The Islamic Development Bank in Saudi
Arabia and other authorities in the Gulf frown on this. The Pakistani central bank would do well to
lean towards the Malaysian model. The more freedom Pakistan's banks are allowed within their
new Islamic framework, the more likely they are to obey it.
… To a question about the removal of US sanctions on Pakistan, Gen. Musharraf said, the question of US sanctions did not figure in the talks. "We did not ask for lifting of the sanctions. … Re issue of restoring democracy, he could not give time-frame as the Govt has to achieve certain objectives in the economic sector and bring about the electoral reforms. "But I will not perpetuate myself," he added. … Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar said the present set-up was a temporary phase and the first step for holding local and district level elections has already been taken, to be followed first by provincial elections and then national assemblies elections. "We in the govt are very cognizant of the fact that we have limited period and we have to perform in that limited period for bringing good governance to Pakistan". Economic mismanagement and rampant corruption of the democratic govts, during which 39 billion US dollars of debt was accumulated while 57 percent of GDP went to debt-servicing. He said the govt is spending 175 million US dollars on preparing new voter lists and ridding those lists of bogus registrations. Sattar said democracy is taking time to have roots in Pakistan as it did in the U.S.."Here, elected representatives need to realise that the crime of corruption does not pay". Re ban slapped by the Govt on the political activities on the eve of Clinton's visit to Pakistan, Musharraf said, the Govt would review it in due course of time. The Chief Executive told the press that the local bodies elections in Pakistan had never been on a party basis.
Pakistani authorities tried to play down seriousness of the attacks and to project them as due to differences
between Mazari & Bugti tribes over their respective share of the royalties paid by the companies to the tribes
in whose territory the gas infrastructure is located.
Commenting on the incidents, an editorial in the News, prestigious Pakistani daily said 1.23.03, "It may only be a
coincidence that the terrorists struck when PM Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali & American amb. Powell were
meeting in Quetta to re-stress the resolve to fight terrorism. Amb. Powell had also delivered hardware to the
Frontier Corps for the protection of the western border.
Nonetheless, even if a coincidence, the latest terrorist strike brings into stark relief internal insecurity that threatens
vital national installations at a time when much of the attention is focused on fighting terrorists as defined by the
USA."
"To justify a pipeline, we would anticipate about 12,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the area," said Cairn Energy's
director of exploration Mike Watts, who is visiting the Rajasthan site. This level of output looks certain to be
reached if production from the latest find, est. 400 to 500 bpd, is coupled with Cairn Energy's bigger find at nearby
Saraswati. "The two together will easily surpass the 12,000 bpd threshold," Mr Watts told BBC News Online.
Cairn Energy is particularly enthused that it has now found oil 3 times in a row on the vast block, RJ-ON-90/1,
which is 5,000 kilometres square. "We see the potential for more of the same size to be repeated across the
acreage" which measures "20 or 24 times the size of North Sea blocks," said Mr Watts.
Rajasthan is a poor state bordering Pakistan, much of it semi-desert, which has been a mining area for centuries: it
supplied marble for the Taj Mahal. Tourism is currently one of the state's main earners, with foreign visitors flocking
to its famous camel fair.
Increasing the find's viability is the fact that gas & water have been found in there, said Mr Watts. Water in the
oil reservoir can be used to push the oil to the surface, increasingly the recoverable amounts and making
exploitation more profitable.
Cairn Energy is the sole explorer on the block, having bought out Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell, though it has agreed
to give a 30% stake to India's state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp if the field goes into production. India currently
imports about 70% of its oil & petroleum.
The term
Shudra first appears in Sanskrit texts around 1500 BC denoting one of the black aboriginal
tribes that the Aryans conquered. It was subsequently expanded to all blacks subjugated, and the
term Dasa or Dasyu , or slave, was used to denote the servitude to which most Sudras were
subjected. Sanskrit texts refer to the Shudra as the black varna or colour. Thus Shudra is
equivalent as a racial term to the Latin Negra . Initially it only referred to subjugated aboriginals
and not the aboriginals themselves who were referred to as avarna and later Adiavasi. Thus the
terms Adivasi and Sudra were exclusive. Later under Muslim rule Arabic: sudd, black &
hence Sudra, not Shudra, became the generic term for Indian blacks. In its modern sense Sudra
denoted any black man in India and hence includes the following sub-races:
sudra
Afro Cubans & Colombians
Y-CHROMOSOMAL DNA VARIATION IN PAKISTAN
Pakistan lies on the path of the postulated early migration route out of Africa, but little is known
about the origins of its current populations. Of particular interest are the Burusho who speak
Burushaski, one of the world's remaining language isolates. The Kalash Kafirs are allegedly
descendants of soldiers who accompanied Alexander the Great. The Baltis are considered to be of
Tibetan origin, while the Hazara are Mongoloid and probably of Tatar descent. Populations in
southern Pakistan of interest are the Balochi (Aleppo origin), the Makrani (Negroid) and
the Parsis who are recent immigrants from Uzbekistan/Iran.
1999 R. Qamar Biomedical & Gene
Eng. Labs, Islamabad, Pakistan
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Dravidian language speakers incl South Indian Dravidians or Settled Dravidians
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Kolarians - Kolarian speakers, incl. Mundas, Oraons, Santal, Ho Dalits - Hindicized Sudras incl
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Karachi Sindhis
nee Abyssinian
Punjabi people in Pakistan
Punjabis in Pakistan are a majority. The
Prime Minister of Pakistan is a Punjabi. The heart of Punjab, anciently called Loh Pur aka Lahore,
is a bubbling city, seat of culture & education. Lahore has given some of the most prominent
people of arts, letters and other fields to both India & Pakistan. Lahore is unique and we wish
every Punjabi can visit it, just like other cities of Punjab province. Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi,
Multan, Sialkot and Gujranwala are major urban centers of Punjab State of Pakistan.
Woman now fighting her govt to come to U.S. 6.29.05 & Dan Abrams MSNBC
This is a story I promised we would follow up on and one I think is being ignored by the media. One that should be of great concern to anyone who cares about women. Three years ago Mukhtar Mai, was ordered gang raped in Pakistan. She walked home barely clothed to the jeers of some in her community. Apparently it was retribution for her 12-year-old brother supposedly having sex with a woman from some higher social class. Now it seems that probably never even happened, but even that point is beside the point.
Rather than hang her head in shame quietly, Mukhtar fought back against the men and the tribal council who ordered the rape. Fourteen men were eventually tried, but eventually most of them were let free. It looked like almost all would walk, but on Tuesday Pakistan Supreme Court stepped in and overturned 13 acquittals.
Abrams: What is the status? Is she allowed to come here? Are they going to send some government minder with her?
Amna Buttar, president & founding member, Asian-American Network Against Abuse of Women: Last I heard from her was Monday, and yes, she has her passport, but she is still being, of course, coerced into not coming. They are saying that she can come if they escort her. And she is saying no, she wants to come here freely like she was planning to come.
Abrams: Your organization invited her here so she could speak out about what happened and serve as an inspiration to many women.
Buttar: Our organization is Asian-American Network Against Abuse of Women, and we formed this organization three years ago.
Abrams: Why did you invite her?
Buttar: We invited her because our goal is to really bring awareness towards violence of women and violence against women of Pakistan. And we invited her to be a spokesperson because she has now become an activist.
Abrams: She is amazing woman, isn‘t she? The fact that where she grew up, rape is a topic that is “A” so shameful, “B”, you know it seems the women who are the ones who are blamed and there she is, coming out publicly, saying this is what happened to me and I‘m going to fight these people.
Buttar: She brings hope to all those women who cannot come forward. Typically these women are expected to kill themselves or their family kills them because they are dishonored and they bring dishonor to the family. Yet, she fought back. She said she‘s going to fight the system. Since Mukhtar, 1,200 women have been gang raped in Pakistan, so today those 1,200 Mukhtarans who never spoke to the media, whose story has not been brought to you are also hoping to.
Abrams: Those other women, are they in a similar situation? Meaning that some awful tribal council ordered it or are you just saying in general there have been 1,200 incidents. I‘m not meaning to minimize it. I‘m just asking you for purposes of statistics.
Buttar: Gang rapes are happening and these are gang rapes. These are not other rapes. These are gang rapes and majority of them are rapes. Some of them are rapes because of vindication and other violence towards women, but these are gang rapes. So these are horrible crimes that are happening and these women are also not getting justice and a lot of that is because of unjust laws. Laws that are discriminatory towards women.
The fate of Pakistani women
UN Development Fund for Women S.Asia
email
Revolutionary Assoc. of the Women of
Afghanistan |
Westside women, girls reach out to Afghans
Feminist Majority Fndtn 888.939.6636 organizes school fund-raisers to support underground education in mostly Taliban-controlled country 3.30.01 Tami Min L.A. Times
West Hollywood Intl politics have entered into the minds and hands of young
girls like Adia Pickens, 13, who had nightmares after hearing a description of what life is like for
girls and women in Afghanistan. "It's just disgusting how they treat women," she said. So Adia
donated $5 to a "back-to-school" fund-raiser sponsored by the Feminist Majority Foundation as
part its "Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan." The national women's rights
organization, which has offices in Los Angeles & Washington, D.C., launched the nationwide
fund-raiser earlier this month at West Hollywood City Hall to help raise money for school supplies.
The event was specifically intended to benefit women running underground home schools for girls
in Afghanistan and in nearby Pakistan,
where many have fled as refugees since the Taliban regime took over most of Afghanistan in 1996
and forced its fundamentalist views of Islamic law on the people.
Since the fund-raiser began on the Westside, students have raised $500 from collection cans set
up throughout the school. Katherine Spillar, a national coordinator for the Feminist Majority
Foundation, organized the campaign to give women and girls in the U.S. a focus. "Last fall . . . as
American school girls were returning to schools, we launched the campaign to make the
connection that their counterparts in Afghanistan were not being able to go back to school," she
said. Spillar said Afghan women struggle to teach, using broken doors as chalkboards and have
virtually no other school supplies. She said students, women and community organizations have
created 320 action teams to raise awareness and funds for Afghan women since the campaign
began in September.
3.12.01 Regional, Culture As is now increasingly well-recognized, forced marriages differ from arranged marriages, a practice common with Arab communities and among Muslim communities in non- Arab countries especially in India and Pakistan. Crucially, the difference turns on consent, in that the woman concerned may consent to an arranged marriage, but does not consent to a forced marriage. By definition, a forced marriage does not entail free and full consent on the part of at least one of the parties. The human right to marry, including the requirement of free and full consent by each of the intending spouse, is contained in the UNiversal Declarion on Human Rights (UDHR )and in various international human rights on Consent to Marriage, and in regional treaties including the ICCPR, ICESCR, CEDAW and the Convention on Consent to Marriage and in regional treaties including the ECHR. … Forced marriage entails a violation of one or more of a number of internationally recognized human rights norms. Recognition of the human rights issues arising from forced marriage is critical to framing adequate responses to the problem and providing effective redress to victims. All cases of forced marriage involve the right to marry and to personal liberty and security, including freedom from arbitrary detention. The more extreme cases may also implicate the right to life, the right to bodily integrity, including freedom from gender- based violence, the prohibitions on slavery or practices similar to slavery; the right to access to justice, the right to equality before the law and equal protection of the law; the right to an effective remedy and the right to freedom from gender- based discrimination. |
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