ZoneAsia-Pk: THE SHARIF ‘SIAPA’

By Ghalib Sultan
ZoneAsia-Pk

‘Siapa’ is a wonderfully expressive Punjabi word almost impossible to accurately translate into English. It means a development or situation full of interconnected problems, difficulties, contradictions and intrigues – not easy to resolve and not easy to live with. Why should the elections that catapulted the Sharifs to power be a ‘siapa’?

For starters there is the track record of their past stints in power. The first time around they had a President who was a thorough gentleman dedicated to democracy and ready to help them govern. There was also an army Chief who was a thorough professional with zero interest in politics ready to support in every way. The elder Sharif went into totally unnecessary confrontations with them egged on with the sycophants and jesters around him. He took the situation to the point where there was a ludicrous confrontation between the institutions that were a phone call away from each other. The result was an Army brokered arrangement with both the President and the Sharif departing ignominiously.

The second time around there was an equally supportive and gentlemanly President and an equally professional Army Chief. In addition there was a Chief Justice who wanted to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law. Once again the elder Sharif with the same motley crowd around him confronted each one to the point where each left in disgust. With no sense of reality and amid much victorious chest thumping the Sharifs thought they had it made – their own President, their own Chief justice, and horror of horrors, the perception that by ignoring seniority and making an Army Chief of their choice they had finally conquered the military. This perception was rudely shattered when the ‘man of their choice’ proceeded to endanger the country’s security and then sent them off to jail. The next 10 years are directly attributable to these shenanigans of the Sharifs. An editorial in the London Economist of May 20, 1999 makes interesting and instructive reading. It also points to the horror that awaits us if the Sharifs are unchanged – Allah forbid. A nuclear test may be a notch in the belt but it can be a millstone around the neck if you cannot secure the country!!

The wish is that instead of hare brained schemes and incompetent sycophants the Sharifs will now bring competent teams for policy making, for governance and interaction abroad. We also know that if wishes were horses beggars would ride. The elder Sharif publicly prayed that he be given a mandate so that he did not have to deal with a messy coalition. He got it. But he had also got it in 1997 and blew it. Not only did he and his family go down but more importantly the country once again went down into the dungeon of military rule. What the Sharifs have never understood is that the mandate given to them is not for testing their manhood but for guiding this country and its hapless citizens to security and prosperity. They have to serve and not lord it over everyone and no one wants them to assemble a cast of minions, lackeys and sycophants. These can be left in the farmhouse in Jati Umra and trotted out for entertainment there.

Lyari – Swat of Sindh

ZoneAsia-Pk

To the oldest locality of Pakistan’s largest city, violence and illegal activities is not new. Lyari saw its first well known gangster back in 1960s. Gangs were typically involved in drug smuggling, bootlegging and other street crimes. The situation took a turn for the worse in the 1980s when weapons and arms began to enter Pakistan through the anti-soviet war in Afghanistan.

Two of the largest and widely known gangs of Lyari are Arshad Pappu’s Gang and Rehman Daicait’s Gang. They once used to be on the same side but a conflict over profits caused Rehman and Haji Lalu, Arshad Pappu’s father, to split. This was a great setback for Lalu as Rehman took his supporters and contacts with him to form the Peoples Amn Committee in 2009.

The latest operation in Lyari was prompted by the murder of a Pakistan People’s party (PPP) leader, Malik Mohammad Khan a week ago.  The continuous state of insecurity has brought life to a standstill. Basic amenities of life like water, gas, electricity are not available. Meager food supplies and high  resistance against relief packages are a constant source of worry for the residents.  Exceptions for medical aid are not even made. It is reported that Edhi ambulances are forbidden from entering the zone in case their Baluch- ethnic drivers assist the criminals.

The violence stemming from gang wars has swollen to such great proportions that law enforcers are finding it difficult to quell the unrest. These gangsters have been using sophisticated weapons including rocket propelled grenades and some of their local inventions like the Awan, a combination of a grenade and a rocket launcher.  The police have returned fire by their Armored Personnel Carriers, which some believe are of little help as they frequently break down, are too large for the narrow lanes in Lyari and are not bullet proof. Other techniques like blocking mobile services in the area have also been used to disadvantage the criminals. But since they use walkie-talkies the only disadvantaged party are the common people who cannot communicate with each other.  Although rangers and paramilitary forces have been called to reinforce the operation, the deteriorating living conditions have forced many families to abandon their homes for safer neighborhoods.

The situation is not merely of a group of gangs involved in unlawful activities. The gangs themselves are struggling to control internal conflicts. One of the most notorious gangs, People’s Amn Committee, has witnessed a race amongst successors for its leadership. Rauf Baluch, who previously served as an advisor to  Rehman and his brother, was accused of tipping the police about the latter’s whereabouts in order to accede to his position. Rehman’s cousin, Akram Baluch was also interested in becoming the leader but his efforts were in vain. The gang is currently being lead by Uzair Baluch, who has not been as successful at uniting the gang’s members as Rehman was able to. CID reports claim that over 450 lives have been lost in the past 4 years from intra-gang conflicts. The death toll is even higher for disputes amongst  gangs like the Ghaffar Zikri gang, Faizu Dada gang, Rauf Baloch gang and Amjad Lashari gang.

What makes these rivalries even worse is political interference. Lyari is popularly known as the hub of PPP support. Party leaders like Nabeel Gabol and Rafiq Engineer have won through this constituency. In fact, PPP has won every election it has contested in Lyari since 1970 till 2008. It has kept a steady relationship with local gangs particularly the People’s Amn Committee. The gang’s leader, Uzair baluch, was reportedly appointed by PPP. Zulfikar Mirza,senior leader of PPP  has patronized Uzair baluch and Zafar baluch while Gabol has been on record for holding  a meeting with Uzair Baluch as recent as one to one and a half year ago. So one wonders what transpired between the two organizations that caused Gabol to accuse PAC for Malik Khan’s murder.

Some security analysts hold political parties responsible for the creation and development of militancy in gangs. PPP’s support to the Amn Committee is countered by MQM’s support to Arshad Pappu’s Gang and the Kutchi Community. Zafar Baluch recently attested to the fact that PPP armed the locals with weapons to aid their political rallies especially against MQM. These weapons are now allegedly being used against law enforcers. Both parties deny any involvement.

According to the Amn committee their rift with the PPP came about when the latter refused to help them in acquiring employment and achieving better living standards. Others believe the real reason to be the forced closure of the gang’s drug havens which affected their incomes. PPP leaders deny any involvement in illicit activities and pledge to stop all kind of criminals in the city.

The ethnic dimension of the violence is too distant an issue. The Baluch political parties have protested against the biased operation in Lyari which are targeting their community. They feel betrayed by the government for whom they voted for in the past. Protests have been carried out at various location like Nishter Road, PIB Colony and Malir. Shops were closed, roads were blocked, tires and effigies of PPP leaders were burned. But the Baluch Liberation Army’s (BLA) literature seized from some of Lyari’s gang members tells another story. The police believe BLA is using the help of Lyari gangs for their insurgency operations.

Law enforcement agencies are not free from allegations and scandals either. Numerous reports have been heard about the gradual success of police forces in securing parts of Lyari but many have been found to be an exaggeration. The efficacy of the police forces is questionable when about 15000 forces are deployed to take down only  few hundred  criminals. If gangsters are being caught and killed, the level of violence has not assuaged and neither has the public been given any proof of the  convicted or killed criminals. There are rumors which claim the police has joined forces with Arshad Pappu’s gang to take down members of the Amn Committee. At the same time, the weapons confiscated by the police are said to have vanished implying some underground deal. Many cases of corrupt actions have been heard against Chaudhry Aslam, the face of the law enforcement forces in Lyari. Some believe he yields more power than IG Sindh.

The situation in Lyari should be an eye opener for the government which at the moment is engrossed with new provinces and the fate of a convicted prime minister. Internal discontent is not intrinsic to Pakistan but the repetitive unwavering violence in Lyari should be taken seriously.

Irrespective of who is responsible in Lyari, the public is witnessing a change in their mood and probably loyalties. The well known hub of PPP may no longer be in the clutches of PPP. Extremely vocal and visible dissatisfaction has been shown regarding their leaders. The ruling party is already cornered on all fronts by the nation’s troubled economy, security and foreign policy situation. Internal divisions in the heart of its province may be the last blow for PPP.

More importantly, the perseverance of criminals and non-state actors to influence the state is dangerous. The ease with which internal peace can be disrupted makes Pakistan a prey to all kinds of possible schisms. The unlimited provision of warfare to criminals is already a sign of how much our unity has been eroded.

At the face of it Lyari’s grievances seem very simple- the right of employment, basic amenities and safety. Achieving these goals is not hard if the rulers and leaders of all the involved parties agree to put the interests of the public before their own interests. For the time being however, the unabated killings and siege in Lyari has to stop. The army has been quite adept at handling the violence in Karachi in the 1990s and more recently in Swat. A strong hand is needed to halt this violence but an even stronger will on the part of all political and social leaders is needed for sustainable peace.

India Thinking Small, Again

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan-India is a big country with the brain of a mouse. Take this headline from India’s largest newspaper, Times of India: Obama Mission: Billions To Pakistan, Billions To India.

I love the headline. It’s not wrong but a little exaggerated. US President Obama is offering $2 billion’s worth of military hardware purchases to Pakistan, subsidized by US government.

For Pakistan, it’s a cautious welcome. Nothing will come to us immediately. The purchases are divided over the next five years. It will be a slow process, involving government red tape, politics and the usual arm-twisting that Washington is so good at. It’s also a lollypop that the US government has dangled before the Pakistani military to calm some of the anger over a US helicopter killing three Pakistani soldiers three weeks ago.

The Indian government knows all this. It also knows that recent US sale of F-16s to Pakistan came with a harsh condition: the planes will be accompanied by US ‘minders’ as part of support staff who will live on the base and ensure Pakistan does not ‘misuse’ the planes, as in against India.

Still, two weeks before Obama lands in India on an official visit, Indian media managers leaked this fabulously-titled but well-researched report, grumbling that billions of Indian dollars will be going to US pockets while Pakistan will be getting billions’ worth of weapons for free. Of course, even if Pakistan buys up all the $2 billion’s worth of US weapons immediately and not over five years, it will still not match India’s massive weapons shopping spree worth $30 billion, to be spent by 2012, meaning within the next two years.

This tells you one thing: the Indian government is really not worried about the puny $2 billion offer to Pakistan tipping the scales. We can’t match India’s $30 billion.

If that is clear, then what is it that India is worried about? Why whine about two billions to Pakistan over five years when India is spending fifteen times that figure in less than two years?

It’s just India’s small-minded pursuit of anything that would undermine Pakistan. There is no way Pakistan would ever invade or destroy India, nor are most Pakistanis interested in this proposition. It’s always the bigger countries that destroy smaller ones. Yet India doesn’t really miss a second seizing any opportunity to hurt Pakistan. Remember 1971 when peaceful Pakistanis were busy in post-elections noise? India launched an unprovoked invasion of Pakistan and, as the invasion unfolded, we discovered the Indians had actually planned it for two years and created and recruited a proxy army inside our country to help them once the invasion started.

The mindset behind the Times of India story is the same mindset that invaded us in 1971, the same mindset that refuses to resolve Kashmir and pave the way for peace, the same mindset that exploits Afghan mess to set up training camps to export terrorists to Pakistan, the same mindset that plants terrorism in Balochistan, and the same mindset that bans Pakistani TV channels across India.

And to confirm the height of this Indian small-mindedness, it is the same mindset that bans Pakistani visitors from posting comments on Indian news websites, no matter how respectful that comment is, if the comment questions official Indian positions on any question. [Let me also add that Pakistani guest columnists are banned in mainstream Indian newspapers for the same reason. Compare that to Pakistani generosity as our newspapers permit guest Indian columnists to write freely even if they criticize official Pakistani policies, and no Pakistani news website bans Indians surfers from posting comments.]

Our American friends can’t see this Indian small-mindedness, of course. That’s why we hear US officials insisting India is not a threat to Pakistan, the latest such gratuitous advice came just this week during the Pak-US strategic dialogue currently underway in Washington.

For Pakistan and India to live in peace, even resolving Kashmir won’t help if India doesn’t get itself a new mindset, big and confident, in contrast to the existing insecure, small-minded way of looking at its smaller neighbors.

New British govt rocked by minister’s resignation

By Guy Jackson

LONDON – Britain’s new coalition government was dealing Sunday with its first blow after David Laws, a high-profile finance minister, resigned over expenses revelations that also exposed his homosexuality.

Britain’s new coalition government was dealing Sunday with its first blow after David Laws, pictured …

Laws stepped down as Chief Secretary to the Treasury after The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported he had channelled more than 40,000 pounds (57,800 dollars, 47,100 euros) of taxpayers’ money in rent to his long-term boyfriend.

“I do not see how I can carry out my crucial work on the budget and spending review while I have to deal with the private and public implications of recent revelations,” Laws said in a brief statement Saturday.

The wealthy former banker, a member of the Liberal Democrat junior coalition partners, said he had not disclosed the financial arrangement because of “my desire to keep my sexuality secret”.

“I cannot now escape the conclusion that what I have done was in some way wrong even though I did not gain any financial benefit from keeping my relationship secret,” he said.

In a letter accepting the resignation, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron described Laws as a “good and honourable man” and said he believed he had been motivated “by wanting to protect your privacy rather than anything else”.

Cameron said he hoped Laws could return to the government one day as he had “a huge amount to offer our country”.

Laws was deputy to Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, of the Conservative Party, at the Treasury.

It is one of the highest-profile roles in a government that has made reducing Britain’s record 2009-2010 deficit of 156.1 billion pounds a priority.

Osborne and Laws on Monday unveiled spending cuts worth 6.25 billion pounds.

His successor will be another Lib Dem, Danny Alexander, who was formerly the minister responsible for Scotland, Cameron’s Downing Street office said.

Osborne expressed regret at Laws’ departure, saying: “It was as if he had been put on Earth to do the job that was asked of him.”

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, said he hoped Laws could return to government.

“This has come about because of David’s intense desire to keep his own private life private. His privacy has now been cruelly shattered,” he added.

The Daily Telegraph said 44-year-old Laws claimed up to 950 pounds a month for five years to rent a room in two properties owned by his partner James Lundie, a lobbyist.

In a statement Friday immediately following the revelations, Laws claimed he did not consider himself to be in breach of the rules on expenses as he and Lundie had separate bank accounts and separate social lives.

Although Laws had apologised for claiming the money and referred himself to the parliamentary expenses watchdog, he decided that his role in a department charged with slashing public spending had been fatally compromised.

Cameron has pledged to clean up politics after last year’s expenses scandal, in which lawmakers were shown to have filed expenses claims for everything from porn films to ornamental duck houses.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, a former Conservative Party leader, told BBC television: “I think on balance he (Laws) is right. If you have got the toughest job in government to try and find the savings, you cannot be beset by personal problems.”

International Development minister Alan Duncan, the first openly gay Conservative lawmaker, said: “I’m upset by the hurt this must have caused him and I hope he’ll soon be back.”

Britain’s first coalition government since World War II emerged from the inconclusive May 6 general election.

The Conservative-Liberal Democrat government ousted Gordon Brown’s Labour administration.

Baroness Warsi calls on Nawaz Sharif

LONDON, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the Conservative Party’s chairwoman, called on PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif at his Park Lane residence on Monday and reiterated her party’s stress on promoting bilateral relations between Pakistan and the UK. The Baroness became the first Muslim woman to join the British cabinet when she was named minister without portfolio by UK Prime Minister David Cameron in his new coalition government following the May 6 parliamentary elections.

The Baroness became the first Muslim woman to join the British cabinet when she was named minister without portfolio by UK Prime Minister David Cameron in his new coalition government following the May 6 parliamentary elections.

Sharif felicitated Baroness Warsi both on her appointment as the chairwoman of the Tory party and her elevation to a Cabinet post and said the UK Pakistani Diaspora was proud of her achievement.

The Baroness who was accompanied by her husband Iftikhar Azam has been a high-profile champion of Muslim women’s rights and was recently voted the country’s most powerful female Muslim.

Sharif, currently on a private visit to London, also appreciated the charity work of Baroness Warsi in villages near Gujjar Khan from where parents emigrated to England in the 1960′s.

She runs five vocational training centres for orphaned in the villages through a women’s charity and in 2008 David Cameron visited Gujjar Khan with her.

Sharif said women like Baroness Warsi were a fine example in the UK Muslim community who by sheer dint of hard work had been able to achieve high position in the British party politics.

IMAGINING STORMS

By Ghalib Sultan

A respected and usually rational Indian journalist Mr Prawin Swami has written an article in ‘The Hindu’ of March 6, 10 about the appointment of a new Army Chief in Pakistan—an event that is at least seven months away. He predicts a ‘power struggle’ within the Army—something that has never happened before—and a ‘confrontation between the Army and the President over the same issue. The selection of an Army Chief in India is not a subject for speculation in Pakistan and rates just a small slot somewhere on the back page but according to Mr Swami India is ‘watching’ the situation surrounding the appointment of the new chief in Pakistan.

Either there is no understanding of the present civil-military situation in Pakistan or there is a refusal to accept that situation and imagine storms that do not exist or more likely try and stir the waters to create the storms being imagined. Totally expected from India given its ambitions but sad that there is no change in thinking and mind sets.

Firstly in the present environment there is no confrontation between the military and the President or the government. It is not there because no one wants it. The military has opted out of politics and has accepted civil supremacy. It remains a power player but only to the extent of providing input into policies in the national interest. This is a deliberate policy decision and it has been appreciated. No one wants the military to intervene—not the politicians and not the people. Every difference in opinion has been settled by civil-military interaction and this is a trend that is gaining strength. The President is the supreme commander of the Armed Forces and is accepted as such

Notwithstanding the deep analyses by respected journalists there is going to be no ‘power struggle’ or ‘confrontation’. Whenever political leaders have tried to select chiefs on the basis of loyalty their policy has back fired—a Chief once appointed becomes answerable to the institution he commands. The President knows and understands this—he is working with military leaders he inherited and there has been no problem. He is secure as the elected President and the government is set to complete its term. There is no basis for discussing situations that do not exist.

If the present Chief gets an extension the decision will be accepted and as in the past the military institution will take steps to have a third ‘four star’ to ensure promotion progression. The slot of a Vice Chief is sanctioned and exists. This has happened in the past. If a new Chief is appointed he will be selected from among the senior most three stars that have commanded a Corps and are from the combat arms. This decision will also be accepted. So what is the fuss all about? Very flattering for Pakistan to be the focus of attention in India but not very flattering for India to be so obsessed with the military in Pakistan

If you shut your door to all errors, truth will also be shut out’

By Shafiq Awan

The Punjab chief minister’s unique idea of offering an olive branch to the Taliban and in return demanding amnesty for Punjab from their terror spree was not at all a precipitous act but a well-thought out deliberation.

The CM’s political advisers did not own architecting his harangue at Jamia Naeemia and declared it a brainchild of the newly-appointed media manager who was not aware of the statement’s political repercussions. He alleged that some circles had twisted his remarks, but it was not his official statement, which could be garbled or have a typo error, but his articulated verbal axioms.

A ‘gentleman’ in his media team called it a routine colloquial speech as politicians often made such mistakes and the media had taken it otherwise. His arguments were that the speech was not at all well-versed or well-thought and the media should take it as a routine matter. If the CM had a lackadaisical approach on such an issue then, then it is a more serious issue.

In fact, such approach corroborates the stances of the MQM, ANP and PPP that the Punjab chief minister had prompted the Taliban to choose the rest of Pakistan and ignore Punjab.

The clarification issued by the CM is further complicating the situation. Instead of wobbling on the said speech and making different justifications, it would have been better if the CM’s media team and not himself had corrected his remarks with the condition “if it hurts someone’s feelings”. But we justify our blunders instead of retreating or admitting errors. It requires a lot of courage to act like a human being as only humans accept their mistakes.

In the words of Rabindranath Tagore, “If you shut your door to all errors, truth will be shut out.”

Luckily, the CM had only one voice in his favour and that was PML-N Secretary General Iqbal Zafar Jhagra. While defending Shabaz Sharif, he said, being Punjab’s chief minister, Shahbaz’s appeal to the Taliban for sparing Punjab was justified. He claimed that his reaction would have been the same if it was NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti. I believe his remarks will lead to further controversies in the NWFP.

They never accept foreign dictation or desired to meet the American or the British. It was US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher who first requested to meet Nawaz Sharif, which they accepted with the condition that the venue would be Raiwind.

If Shahbaz had expressed some sympathy with the Taliban’s ideology, it doesn’t mean he supports their extremism. To a query on why the PML-N never condemned the Taliban and always came up with ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’, he argued that every Taliban is not an extremist and the world should differentiate between good and bad Taliban.

There were reports that the army chief in his meeting with Shabaz had also expressed concern over his remarks on the Taliban. The CM’s media team is trying hard to win some favour for their boss or undo the damage caused by his statement, which is complicating the situation even more. The only remedy is to advise the CM to admit his mistake if apologising hurts his ego.