#Former Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan

[mariacallous]

The results of Pakistan’s general elections on Feb. 8 reflected widespread dissatisfaction with the country’s civil and military establishment, but they seem to have brought about the opposite of what many voters wanted. Independent candidates affiliated with former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party—barred from running under its banner—won more seats in parliament than any major party, but not enough for a majority. Parliamentary arithmetic necessitates a coalition, and Khan, who is in prison on corruption charges, refuses to negotiate with his rivals.

Pakistan’s next government will instead be formed by a coalition of legacy parties, including the center-right Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and the center-left Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), led by former President Asif Ali Zardari and his son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. On Feb. 8, Pakistan’s entrenched political order—in which parties vie for votes as well as the powerful military’s favor—was jolted but did not crumble. Although PTI’s surprising performance damaged the military’s reputation and mystique, the military’s ability to influence the course of events remains intact.

The latest episode in Pakistan’s game of thrones comes amid a serious economic crisis as well as security threats from the resurgent Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militant groups. Political polarization makes it difficult to address Pakistan’s swelling debt and deficit. With a GDP of $340 billion, Pakistan must repay nearly $78 billion in external debt before 2026. Imposing taxes on key sectors of the economy—agriculture, real estate, retail—is difficult without political consensus. And amid the uncertainty, various loss-making state-owned enterprises, from Pakistan International Airlines to the country’s power distribution companies, which collectively cost the government around $1.7 billion annually, cannot be privatized.

Pakistan also needs a comprehensive strategy to deal with jihadi groups, which are now responsible for terrorist attacks inside the country but were once encouraged or tolerated as part of unconventional warfare against India and a way to secure influence in Afghanistan. Populist narratives blaming India, Israel, and the United States for holding back Pakistan’s progress hinder action against extremists, who portray themselves as Islamist heroes. Meanwhile, peace with India, relations with the West, and ties to economic benefactors in the Arab world are now held hostage to Pakistan’s internal divisions: Those holding office at any given time are often accused by their opponents of selling out Pakistan’s interests.

If there was ever a time for Pakistan’s squabbling politicians to form a government of national unity, it would be now. Given the fragmented election results and allegations of vote-rigging, a stable cross-party government could pave the way for the military’s withdrawal from politics. It could also help Pakistan transition away from its long-standing tradition of one major politician or another being in jail—such as Khan—while their supporters are harassed. Parliamentary debates on alternative policy ideas could replace the current shouting matches between rival leaders’ supporters about who is more corrupt.

But rather than inspiring unity, the coalition government that is taking shape will immediately face opposition from Khan’s supporters. As things stand, it seems unlikely that Pakistan’s divisions will end anytime soon. The results of last week’s elections confirmed voters’ weariness with the political elite and dynastic politics, as well as with the meddling—both overt and covert—by the country’s generals. Widespread dissatisfaction with the economy and the absence of opportunities for Pakistan’s burgeoning young population have given rise to populist politics that will not lead to reconciliation.

Khan, the cricket star-turned-quintessential populist leader, dismisses the idea of a negotiated settlement with his political opponents. He has built a powerful narrative of victimhood that blames Pakistan’s political elites and foreign conspiracies for the country’s problems. His grandiloquence may not offer realistic solutions, but it does create an outlet for powerless people to vent their rage and frustration. Khan seems to believe that a revolution could give him greater power than embracing the idea of a new national pact. Instead of using PTI’s electoral success to talk to the other major parties, Khan has offered an alliance proposal to two minor religious parties, although one of them has already refused the partnership.

After his initial arrest in May 2023, the former leader encouraged attacks against military installations, according to an aide; he could now encourage violent protests against alleged election rigging in another attempt to ignite a street revolution. But the May 9 attacks paved the way for a harsher crackdown on PTI than if there had not been violent turmoil. Hundreds of party activists were arrested while thousands faced intimidation from security services. It would be irresponsible of Khan to put his supporters’ lives and freedom at risk.

Ironically, Khan came to power in 2018 with the help of Pakistan’s military and security services as a crusader against corrupt civilian politicians. The generals built up Khan as an alternative to these politicians, many of whom had quarreled with the military at some point in the past. But Khan also ran afoul of the military as prime minister because he defied the generals’ wishes and mismanaged the economy; his populism harmed Pakistan’s precarious external relations. To remove Khan from office, the military turned to the same politicians it had sought to discredit.

After his ouster in a parliamentary no-confidence vote, Khan saw an opportunity to continue his anti-elite bombast, adding the country’s top generals to the list of villains from whom he would save Pakistan. His supporters lapped it up. The military has influenced the country’s politics for decades, but it now faces a unique challenge. Khan has poisoned even traditionally pro-army constituencies by arguing that the generals were acting at the behest of the United States—allegations that Washington denies—and against Pakistan’s interests. Military leaders have now been trying to get an entire nation to change direction away from Khan for nearly two years with little success.

The generals and their new civilian allies may have assumed that jailing Khan, bringing back Sharif from exile, and implementing repressive measures—such as barring PTI-affiliated candidates’ access to the media—would ensure the election result that they wanted. Instead, young PTI activists used social media to mobilize voters and upended the establishment’s plans.

Still, the reaction of voters to the Pakistani military’s highhandedness is unlikely to unleash a revolution. In the short term, the country will continue to have a weak civilian government willing to work closely with the military while Khan will remain in prison and his party will remain out of power. Any widespread political violence will only result in a clamor for the military to take over and restore order.

For years, Pakistan’s military has repeated the cycle of “elect, dismiss, disqualify, and arrest” for civilian politicians. But in the long term, the country’s leaders must collectively address the widespread frustration and polarization that has contributed the success of Khan’s populism. Although unlikely, Khan changing tack and accepting political compromise could also help ease Pakistan’s pain. In any case, the hostility toward the military’s political role among its former supporters makes it difficult for generals to act as if nothing has changed.

[speedyposts]

Armed group kills 10 in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region

At least 10 policemen have been killed in an attack in northern Pakistan as violence mounts in the run-up to national elections.

Police reported on Monday that attackers had targeted a police station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail district with heavy weapons. Alongside the 10 people killed, at least six others were injured.

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Police said that they have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to hunt down the attackers.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TPJ) issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack. The armed group is believed to be an offshoot of the outlawed Pakistani Taliban (TTP), which, seeking to overthrow the government and establish strict religious law, has targeted the state and its institutions for years. Dera Ismail Khan is a former TTP stronghold.

The remote northwestern region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has witnessed a rise in violence as Pakistan’s 128 million voters prepare for February 8 elections.

Rehan Zaib Khan, an independent candidate, and four aides were shot dead in the province’s Bajur district on January 31.

In December, the TPJ claimed responsibility for an attack in Tehsil Daraban during which a suicide bomber detonated an explosive-laden vehicle outside a police station. The attack killed at least 23 troops and wounded 32.

Last month, at least 101 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a mosque in the regional capital Peshawar.

Violence has been mounting across Pakistan as the vote approaches.

Security threats are also rife in the southwestern region of Balochistan, where the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) – the most prominent of several separatist groups – have stepped up attacks. Last week, at least 15 people were killed when the BLA targeted military and security installations in the city of Mach, 65km (40 miles) south of Balochistan’s capital, Quetta.

Fearing violence during the February 8 ballot, Balochistan’s Information Minister Jan Achakzai announced on Sunday night that the internet service will remain temporarily restricted on election day.

“Ensuring the safety and security of ordinary citizens is of utmost importance, as there is a concern that terrorists may exploit social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and other similar channels for communication purposes,” he wrote in a post on X.

Balochistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, is strategically important because of its rich copper, zinc and natural gas reserves. Cities in the province are a constant target of armed groups.

Baloch nationalists initially wanted a share of provincial resources, but later initiated a movement for complete independence.

Abid Hussain in Islamabad contributed to this report.

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[pdj-france]

Les talibans pakistanais et Al-Qaïda veulent fusionner, puis intégrer avec eux d'autres groupes terroristes majeurs en Asie du Sud pour former un groupe terroriste majeur. (Image : Shutterstock/Représentant)Le TTP veut fusionner avec Al-Qaïda et construire une organisation terroriste faîtière composée de tous les groupes terroristes d'Asie du Sud.Un rapport soumis au Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU a affirmé que le groupe terroriste Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) pourrait chercher à fusionner avec le groupe terroriste Al-Qaïda pour former une organisation faîtière qui abritera tous les groupes terroristes opérant en Asie du Sud.Le rapport indique que certains États membres de l'ONU craignent que le TTP ne fournisse "un parapluie sous lequel une série de groupes étrangers opèrent, voire s'unissent, évitant les tentatives de contrôle par les talibans".« Un État membre a évoqué la possibilité d'une fusion d'Al-Qaïda et du TTP. Il a estimé qu'Al-Qaïda fournissait des conseils au TTP pour mener des attaques accrues au Pakistan », indique le rapport, selon les agences de presse ANI et The Dawn.Le comité de l'ONU qui surveille les activités terroristes à travers le monde a également approuvé la plainte du Pakistan selon laquelle le TTP, qui est interdit dans le pays, exerce une plus grande influence après la prise de contrôle des talibans en Afghanistan.« Un État membre a évoqué la possibilité d'une fusion d'Al-Qaïda et du TTP. Il a estimé qu'Al-Qaïda fournissait des conseils au TTP pour mener des attaques accrues au Pakistan », indique le rapport.Le rapport souligne, à la grande préoccupation du Pakistan, qu'il existe des camps d'entraînement dirigés par divers groupes terroristes dans la province afghane de Kunar et que des terroristes du TTP utilisent ces camps. "Depuis la réunification avec plusieurs groupes dissidents, et enhardi par la prise de pouvoir des talibans en Afghanistan, le TTP aspire à rétablir le contrôle du territoire au Pakistan", indique encore le rapport, prenant connaissance des plaintes du Pakistan."La capacité du TTP est évaluée comme ne correspondant pas à son ambition, étant donné qu'elle ne contrôle pas le territoire et manque d'attrait populaire dans les zones tribales", indique le rapport.Pendant ce temps, le porte-parole des talibans, Zabihullah Mujahid, a rejeté le rapport, le qualifiant de "faux".Le rapport du Conseil de sécurité indiquant que l'Émirat islamique d'Afghanistan entretient des relations avec l'organisation Al-Qaïda n'est pas vrai. L'organisation Al-Qaïda n'est pas présente en Afghanistan et les informations sont fausses. L'Émirat islamique n'autorise personne à utiliser le sol afghan contre la sécurité Quel autre pays devrait l'utiliser ? - Zabihullah (@Zabehullah_M33) 28 juillet 2023« Le rapport du Conseil de sécurité selon lequel l'Émirat islamique d'Afghanistan entretient des relations avec l'organisation Al-Qaïda est faux. L'organisation Al-Qaïda n'est pas présente en Afghanistan et les informations sont fausses. L'Émirat islamique n'autorise personne à utiliser le sol afghan contre la sécurité d'un autre pays », a déclaré Mujahid dans un tweet.Le rapport a été soumis au Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU (CSNU) le 25 juillet. Le rapport affirme également qu'il existe d'autres groupes terroristes utilisant le TTP comme couverture pour opérer en Afghanistan.Le rapport souligne également que la distinction entre Al-Qaïda, l'aile Khorasan de l'État islamique, le TTP et d'autres groupes terroristes est « floue » parce que les combattants ont tendance à « s'identifier à plus d'un groupe » et qu'il y a aussi « une tendance pour les gens à graviter vers la puissance dominante ou ascendante ».Il convient de noter qu'un rapport séparé de l'équipe de surveillance des sanctions de l'ONU a déclaré que "le lien entre les talibans et Al-Qaida et Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) reste fort et symbiotique. Une série de groupes terroristes ont une plus grande liberté de manœuvre sous les autorités talibanes de facto ».

Le rapport indique qu'il y a environ 20 groupes terroristes opérant dans le pays et qu'ils ont l'intention d'étendre leur influence à travers les régions dans le but de soutenir des entités quasi-étatiques théocratiques, a déclaré Dawn.Il y a au moins 400 combattants d'Al-Qaïda en Afghanistan. Il y a au moins 30 à 60 membres principaux d'Al-Qaïda. Dans le sous-continent indien, il y a environ 200 combattants. Shankhyaneel SarkarShankhyaneel Sarkar est rédacteur en chef adjoint chez News18, couvrant les questions internationales. C'est un fan d'Arsenal, et pendant son temps libre, il aime explorer...Read More

[xtruss]

Time Magazine Covers Imran Khan’s ‘Astonishing Saga’

In a cover story for Time Magazine, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and Illegally Ousted Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has called for a “New Social Contract” to empower political institutions, lamenting that he was “Helpless” while in government because the Corrupt Army Chief did not “Think Corruption Was That Big a Deal.”

Titled “Imran Khan on his Plan to Return to Power,” the wide-ranging article outlines the year the ousted prime minister has spent out of power, highlighting the U.S.’s disenchantment with his rhetoric and his vague plans for Pakistan’s economic revival if he is re-elected. “Our economy has gone into a tailspin,” Khan tells author Charlie Campbell, claiming the country has the “worst economic indicators in our history.”

However, the article notes, this is unlikely to garner much sympathy from the West, which has been “put off” by Khan’s anti-American bluster and cozying up to autocrats and extremists, including the Taliban. Referring to his ties with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as his declaring Osama bin Laden a “Martyr” and praise for Beijing’s confinement of Uighur Muslims, it points to his “strong sense of grievance” over War Criminal U.S. President Joe Biden’s failure to call him after entering the White House. “Morality in foreign policy is reserved for powerful countries,” Khan tells Campbell in justification for his at-times contradictory positions.

Nonetheless, the article maintains, the PTI chief can “Legitimately Claim” to have democracy on his side, as poll numbers show his messaging is finding support among the masses. To counter this, it notes, the state has “Flirted” with the idea of detaining Khan—which the former prime minister claims is worse than a martial law—leading to at-times-violent clashes between his supporters and law enforcers. Adding to the intrigue, it states, is Khan’s continued insistence that he faces another assassination attempt after surviving an attack on his convoy in November that left him injured for months. “One bullet damaged a nerve so my foot is still recovering,” the PTI chief tells Campbell. “I have a problem walking for too long,” he adds.

With no end in sight to the confrontation between the government and Khan, Time magazine warns the confrontation could remain in the streets indefinitely. “Political Stability in Pakistan Comes Through Elections,” states Khan. “That Is The Starting Point For Economic Recovery,” he says, adding that “Never Has One Man Scared the ‘Corrupt To Their CoresEstablishment’ … As Much As Right Now.” He continues: “They Worry About How To Keep Me Out; The People How To Get Me Back In.”

Recalling that Khan has accused the U.S. of instigating his downfall through a “Regime Change Conspiracy,” the article posits that the “actual intrigue is purely Pakistani.” Highlighting Khan’s rift with the military after refusing to replace then-ISI chief Lt. Gen. (retd.) Faiz Hameed, it says this allowed the opposition to oust him through a no-confidence vote, which coupled with the assassination attempt on his life to boost his supporters’ “Sense of Injustice.” Khan, in the interview, claims the rift developed because of the military’s unwillingness to go after the Sharifs and Bhuttos for alleged corruption. But according to analysts, says Time, “it was Khan’s relentless taunting of the U.S. that torpedoed his relationship with the military, which remains much more interested in retaining good relations with Washington.”

While Khan has stressed to Time that “Criticizing U.S. Foreign Policy Does Not Make You Anti-American,” the articles makes it clear that Pakistan’s instability has raised the question of who actually “Wins” from supporting the country. Noting that Washington now prioritizes its ties with India due to Pakistan’s relationship with China, it cites the U.S. exit from Afghanistan as a key reason for this. “Lots of Americans in Washington say we lost the war in Afghanistan because the Pakistanis stabbed us in the back,” says Cameron Munter, a former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, who warns that Islamabad’s economic struggles have left a country “ripe for a Bolshevik revolution.”

According to Time, Pakistan’s current political instability comes amid devastating floods, runaway inflation, and resurgent cross-border terrorist attacks from neighboring Afghanistan. “It’s a country where rape and corruption are rife, and the economy hinges on unlocking a stalled IMF bailout, Pakistan’s 22nd since independence in 1947,” it states, noting inflation in March hit 47 percent year-over-year, as the rupee lost 54 percent of its value. This “new nadir” of the economy, as described by author Campbell, was triggered by Khan’s governance, which saw mismanagement that exacerbated global headwinds from the pandemic and soaring oil prices.

Stressing that the PTI-led government did little to address Pakistan’s fundamental structural issues of tax avoidance, it notes that the country has relied on foreign money to balance its budget and provide government services. “But if Khan recognized the problem, he did little to solve it,” it states, noting he was in an “uncommonly strong position” after 2018 with the backing of the military and progressives, as well as the tolerance of the Islamists. Now, it warns, he would be in a significantly weaker position to enact reforms if he were to return to power. Khan, meanwhile, has offered few details on his economic plan, merely reiterating his aim to turn Pakistan into an “Islamic Welfare State.”

Noting that Khan’s time in government saw Pakistan praised for its handling of the pandemic; the “Ten Billion Tree Tsunami” reforestation drive; the 2019 return of international test cricket, the article recalls that he also provoked outrage by saying the Taliban had “Broken the Shackles of Slavery” by taking back power—which he says was “Taken Out of Context”—and made various comments seen as misogynistic.

For now, states the article, many within the PTI fear that the government would declare the party a “Terrorist Organization” or ban it from politics. Ultimately, though, it says all sides are using the tools at their disposal to prevent their own demise: “Khan wields popular protest and the banner of democracy; the government has the courts and security apparatus.” The entire crisis, Campbell cites Khan as stating, can be resolved through elections. “The same people who tried to kill me are still sitting in power,” he says. “And they are petrified that if I got back [in] they would be held accountable. So they’re more dangerous.”

[creatiview]

[ad_1] CNN  —  The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for a deadly blast in a mosque in Peshawar on Monday, the latest attack on the city in northwest Pakistan. A powerful explosion killed at least 48 people and left about 157 injured, according to Peshawar Police Chief Mohammad Aijaz Khan. Rescue operations are now underway in the mosque, which is situated inside a police compound and is mostly attended by law enforcement officials. Sarbakaf Mohmand and Omar Mukaram Khurasani – two officials from the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) – put out statements saying the blast was “revenge” for the death of TTP militant Khalid Khorasani last year. The TTP is a US-designated foreign terrorist organization operating in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. CNN cannot independently verify the group’s claims. In a statement to CNN, Khan, the Peshawar police chief, earlier said the incident inside the Police Lines Mosque was “probably a suicide attack,” echoing Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. “The brutal killing of Muslims prostrating before Allah is against the teachings of the Quran,” Sharif said in a statement, adding that “targeting the House of Allah is proof that the attackers have nothing to do with Islam.” “Terrorists want to create fear by targeting those who perform the duty of defending Pakistan,” the prime minister continued. “Those who fight against Pakistan will be erased from the page.” Sharif added that “the entire nation and institutions are united to end terrorism” and that there’s a “comprehensive strategy” in the works in order to restore law and order in the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Peshawar is located. The prime minister went to Peshawar following the deadly blast and visited Lady Reading Hospital to meet those injured, his office said. “Just returned from Peshawar. The sheer scale of the human tragedy is unimaginable. This is no less than an attack on Pakistan. The nation is overwhelmed by a deep sense of grief. I have no doubt terrorism is our foremost national security challenge,” Sharif posted on Twitter. “My message to the perpetrators of today’s despicable incident is that you can’t underestimate the resolve of our people,” he added. Pakistan’s former leader Imran Khan, whose party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf holds the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkwa, also condemned the blast saying in a tweet that “it is imperative we improve our intelligence gathering & properly equip our police forces to combat the growing threat of terrorism.” The city of Peshawar – which is located at the edge of Pakistan’s tribal districts that border Afghanistan – has frequently been the site of attacks by the TTP and other militant groups. The Islamic State (ISIS) said they were responsible for an attack on a Shia mosque in Peshawar in March 2022. That blast killed at least 61 people and injured another 196. TTP’s central spokesman Muhammad Khurasani is yet to comment on Monday’s attack. [ad_2] Source link

[bhaskarlive]

Ex-Taliban spokesman appeals to Imran Khan to rescue his family

Former Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, who escaped from the custody of Pakistani security agencies in February this year, has accused the Pakistan Army of kidnapping ten members of his family.

In a letter written to Prime Minister Imran Khan, a copy of which IANS accessed, the former Taliban militant said, the Pakistan army kidnapped ten members of my family, “detaining them in an unknown location for the past three months, and without regard for the laws of Pakistan.”

[antoine-roquentin]

On July 3, the International Monetary Fund approved a $6 billion bailout package to help “return sustainable growth” to Pakistan’s economy. Throughout the deal spanning 39 months, the IMF will review Pakistan’s progress on a quarterly basis. As part of the agreement, $1 billion has been released to Pakistan.

This is the 13th IMF bailout for Pakistan, with the Fund looking toward the correction of “structural imbalances” in the country. In this regard, the IMF had announced in the negotiations over the past couple of months that Islamabad would have to increase taxation in order to repay external debt and increase foreign exchange reserves.

Details of the agreement reveal the targets that have been set for Pakistan, requiring the country to increase the foreign exchange reserves from the current $6.824 billion to $11.187 billion next year. As a result, the country’s net reserves are expected to increase from negative $17.7 billion to negative $10.8 billion over the same period.

The IMF has further asked Pakistan to pay $37.359 billion in external debt within the duration of the IMF bailout deal. Islamabad owes $14.682 billion of this figure to Beijing, largely due to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The increase in taxation required by the IMF was visible in this fiscal year’s financial budget, with the government increasing the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) tax collection target from 3.94 trillion Pakistani rupees ($25 billion) to 5.5 trillion rupees. The documents further reveal that over the next two years of the bailout package, additional 1.5 trillion rupee and 1.31 trillion rupee hikes in revenue collection have been scheduled.

Even before the budget was passed, the government had already implemented steps to enhance taxation, with hikes in the price of petrol and electricity. Government officials confirm that further hikes are expected next month.

In addition to the heavy taxation, another precondition of the IMF bailout was the devaluation of the Pakistani currency, which the Fund deemed to be artificially valued. With the IMF calling for a “market determined” value of the Pakistani currency, the rupee has lost over half its value since December 2017, resulting in the inflation rate reaching a five-year high at 9.4 percent in April, and expected to rise to over 13 percent, as per the Fund’s forecast.

The All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajran (meaning “trader’s association”) calling a nationwide strike is one example of the impact that the rise in taxation has had on local industries. As a result, the working class in Pakistan is rising up against what it calls the “IMF’s imperialistic takeover” of the country.

“[The IMF] package is littered with conditionalities that are putting [a] burden on the lives of ordinary people. Pakistani people and traders have no capacity to pay taxes demanded by the IMF,” Farooq Tariq, spokesperson and the former general secretary of the Awami Workers’ Party, told The Diplomat.

“As part of the package, the IMF installed its own ‘intelligent’ people on key posts. Not only does it serve the IMF’s purpose of increasing its stranglehold over the country, it reflects a total lack of confidence in PTI’s capacity to do the job,” Tariq added. PTI refers to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the current ruling party of the country.

Multiple interviews with officials in the Finance Ministry reveal that the appointments of former IMF mission chief Reza Baqir as the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan and former Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh as the prime minister’s adviser on finance were enforced by the IMF in the lead up  to the bailout agreement.

When asked, a senior government official told The Diplomat that the IMF forced the issue to install “its own men” amid continued deadlock with former Finance Minister Asad Umar. The IMF’s pressure further escalated after it was revealed that the entirety of the loan Pakistan received from Saudi Arabia and the UAE at the turn of the year was spent to prevent the currency market from crashing.

Senior financial journalist and analyst at FX Empire Shahab Jafry questions the manner in which the IMF has forced the government to manage the local currency’s valuation.

“The currency market was going haywire, and you had to dump the [U.S.] dollar to buy the rupees – to support the local currency. The government says it is letting the rupee free float – it can’t let that happen, the country will collapse in 48 hours,” he told The Diplomat.

“The currency has an annual 5 percent depreciation against the dollar. I don’t see the rupee stabilizing because I don’t see the economy stabilizing. In the modern day, in competitive floating currencies, you have to have a very strong export revenue generation to have a stable currency – or oil reserves, because you are prone to imports and the fluctuation of commodities and currencies can crash markets,” Jafry added.

Observers note the usual IMF pattern in its current dealings with Pakistan, with the Fund employing trusted people in countries where there is large-scale misappropriation of funds obtained from international institutions.

Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the PM’s financial adviser, was also part of the team that negotiated the 11th bailout package with the IMF as the finance minister during the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) rule from 2008 to 2013.

Last month, an entire inquiry commission was formed to probe the alleged corrupt practices of the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz over the past decade. While many see it as an attempt to audit the funding received in the past, others see it as a maneuver led by the current ruling party, the PTI, to victimize its political opponents with the help of the Pakistan Army.

Farooq Tariq maintains that the military establishment has had a role to play in the aggravation of the economy, and the PTI isn’t the first party to seek the Army’s help in maintaining the vicious circle of debt for Pakistan.

“Pakistan goes to the IMF every few years because of its ruling political parties’ inability to run the economy. The reason is very simple: military and debt expenses. Both take up over half of the national budget at present. The successive governments have bowed down to the pressures of the generals and the creditors not to reduce these two unproductive expenditures,” he said.

Where the Army bolsters particular parties to safeguard its economic interests, the IMF wants Pakistan to pursue certain geopolitical interests. For many, the bailout agreement reveals that instead of economic reforms, geostrategic interests are at the heart of the deal.

“The IMF package is a straitjacket for Pakistan’s economy. The IMF document illustrates a very simplistic thought process,” economist and political scientist Farrukh Saleem, the PTI government’s former spokesperson on energy and economy, told The Diplomat.

“They say the budget deficit is extremely high, the solution is to increase the revenue by 45 percent. How exactly? It’s a shrinking economy. Similarly, they say the trade deficit is extremely high, and then devalue the rupee. The IMF isn’t trying to solve Pakistan’s problems at all, the package has zero reforms – be it power, budget deficit, or trade deficit. After all, the IMF is not a purely economic institute, it’s a political institute as well,” Saleem added.

The former spokesperson maintains that the IMF is advancing U.S. security interests in the region by using the bailout package to ensure Islamabad’s compliance. He refers to this year’s WikiLeaks document “Army Special Operations Forces Unconventional Warfare,” originally written in September 2008, as evidence of how the IMF and World Bank are used to serve U.S. regional goals.

Lieutenant-General Talat Masood, former secretary of Pakistan’s Ministry of Defense Production, says there are obvious U.S. goals that the IMF is looking to fulfill.

“They would like to control our nuclear development. They don’t want us to spend on conventional forces and try to match India. They want us to focus on the economy. They don’t want us to use Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT] and others to destabilize India and Afghanistan. Also, CPEC and our relationship with China is too strong for their liking. They want us to contribute significantly in the Afghan peace process by pushing the Taliban,” Masood told The Diplomat.

Masood believes the recent arrest of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed, in the lead up to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to the United States, underlines that Islamabad has succumbed to the American demands. But Masood is also critical of Pakistan’s own policymaking, which renders it vulnerable to external pressure.

“Pakistan’s policies are so shallow and aren’t based on any foundational principles, and hence can’t be defended. It’s a weakness of policy and the internal structure of Pakistan that they have to succumb to external pressure,” he adds.

[emergingpakistan]

Who is Imran Khan ?

As Pakistan goes to vote Wednesday, cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has emerged as the front-runner for the prime ministerial office of the country. A recently held public opinion survey put Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) slightly ahead of his main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led by Nawaz Sharif’s brother Shahbaz Sharif. The ouster and conviction of Nawaz Sharif in a graft case has helped Khan’s political fortunes.

Born in 1952 in Lahore, Khan is known to be one of the most popular cricket players of his time. Khan, the “Captain” who led Pakistan to its first World Cup victory in 1992 has always been in the limelight due to his sports career, brazen comments and controversial private life. Post his retirement from cricket, Khan founded his political party Khan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in 1996. However, his immense popularity on the field did not immediately transfer into his political career. Until 2003, his party had only one seat in the Parliament. In the present elections, Khan is contesting five seats in the provinces of Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Islamabad Capital Territory.

Imran Khan, the politician

Said to enjoy the support of Pakistani Army, media reports in Pakistan have often suggested that the military is working to put Khan at the helm of power. Khan has often signalled his willingness to work with the army. “It is the Pakistan Army and not an enemy army,” he said in a New York Times interview in May. “I will carry the army with me.” However, while the army might find Khan’s charismatic personality useful, they do not trust him entirely due to his unpredictability. Imran Khan, often accused of lacking a coherent political philosophy, has openly supported the idea of opening channels of dialogue with the Taliban. Khan, who described the Taliban’s fight in Afghanistan as a holy war also earned the name of “Taliban Khan�� from his opponents.

Khan has designed his campaign for 2018 elections around the theme of “New Pakistan.” He has promised better schools, better hospitals, better jobs and infrastructure in the country. Terming corruption as the enemy of Pakistan, Khan has also vowed to wipe it off the country. He has also promised wide-ranging reforms in tax collection. Internal peace finds a prominent place in his manifesto and he has proposed to act against the hate speech and violence towards minorities. Khan, who has also proposed to improve Pakistan’s relation with foreign countries, has often expressed his strong desire to resolve the Kashmir issue. His personal views on India have veered from “why should we not want friendly ties with India?” to “cut trade ties with India”.

Imran Khan and controversies

Khan has often come under the scanner for his “colourful private life.” His playboy image of the past was revived days ahead of the elections, by his former wife Reham Khan. The book portrays Khan as a man who led “a bizarre life” of “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll”. Reham Khan, also claims that the 65-year-old cannot read the Quran, believes in black magic, and had confessed that he has “some” illegitimate Indian children. From Imran’s eating habits to his purported sexuality, the self-published book stops at nothing.

Khan was in the news for his marriage to his spiritual guide Bushra Maneka. This was Khan’s third marriage. His previous two marriages ended in divorce. His first marriage was with Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of a British billionaire, in 1995, which lasted nine years. Khan has two sons from her. His second marriage with TV anchor Reham Khan in 2015 ended after a brief 10 months. He also sparked a row recently when he called Nawaz Sharif’s supporters “donkeys.” An animal charity later reported that PTI supporters had beaten one of the animals close to death. The Pakistan EC has warned Khan against using “inappropriate language” for his political rivals.

[theeurasianpost]

Jirga leaves for talks with TTP - Pakistan

Jirga leaves for talks with TTP – Pakistan

PESHAWAR: A 57-member jirga comprising sitting and former parliamentarians and elders from the erstwhile tribal region left for Afghanistan’s capital Kabul on Wednesday for talks with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The Afghan Taliban’s interim government is facilitating peace talks between Islamabad and the TTP whose leadership is already in Kabul. Prior to the jirga’s visit senior…

[indianarrative1]

After ceasefire agreement, Pakistan Taliban attack polio teams and kill policemen

The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as Pakistan Taliban, killed two policemen guarding polio teams in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in north-west Pakistan over the weekend. Another policeman was wounded even as the polio workers escaped unharmed.

The attacks began as soon as the one-month-long ceasefire ended between the TTP and the Imran Khan government. The TTP militants identify themselves closely with the Taliban militants in neighbouring Afghanistan and advocate for an Islamic rule in Pakistan—in a manner resembling Afghanistan.

Soon after the Kabul takeover by Taliban in August, the TTP began its attacks on the Pakistani Army and security forces.

Aseefa B Zardari, polio ambassador and daughter of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, tweeted about the attacks. In a series of tweets, she said: “The cowardly TTP have taken responsibility for the attack on health workers and police. They are attacking those who are trying to protect our children from disease. Now that they have openly admitted this, the govt has no excuse but to arrest these monsters.”

The TTP claimed responsibility for the initial attack on the polio team that took place on Saturday. The second attack has not been linked to any terror outfit. Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported that the ceasefire agreement with the Pakistan government had ended just a day earlier on Friday with the TTP blaming the Pakistan government for the violation of the agreement.

[christianmediaorganization]

Challenges faced by Christian Community

Pakistan is an Islamic country and overwhelmingly Muslims but Hindus and Christians make up the largest minority groups. As each group represent the 1.6% of the population. Like Lahore and Faisalabad there is a large Christian population in Faisalabad. According to the census 2017 there are 1.27% Christians in Pakistan. Although Pakistan is a Muslim country but the legacy of a caste system reflected the discriminatory attitude towards Christian community among the peoples belonging to Muslim majority.

Christians are just 1.27% of the population and majority of them are overwhelmingly poor and working in menial jobs as cleaners, laborers ad farmhands. They are still deprived from basic minority rights. No one can deny their contributions in building of educational institutions, hospitals and health facilities throughout the country. The are facing a number of issues like other religious minorities. Christians have faced discrimination, violence, forced conversions Blasphemy law and victimization through the history of Pakistan. They are considered as outcasts by majority Pakistanis. Since 2001 the violence and discrimination rate against Christians has increased. They are facing target violence and some other abuses, such as land grabbing in rural areas and the vandalizing of homes and churches.

They have faced attacked on their residential and worshiping places. They faced a suicide attack in September 2013 on Christian Church resulted more than 100 causalities in Peshawar Church. Similarly they are also faced two large mob attacks in March and April 2013 in Punjab. Their homes were destroyed by large mob. Similarly in 2015, Taliban attacked on two churches in Lahore resulted 15 causalities.

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They have also faced blasphemy laws including Asia Bibi case in 2010. She was accused of religious defamation and was the first woman in Pakistan sentenced to death under the law 295-C. According to data by the Centre for Research and Solidarity, of an estimated 434 blasphemy offenders documented between 1953 and 2012 and 114 out of them were Christians.

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Former Pakistani MLA from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, Baldev Kumar has requested political asylum from Delhi in 2019. Beldev told news agency “Not only minorities but even Muslims are not safe there (Pakistan). we are surviving in Pakistan with lot of difficulties. I request the Indian Government to give me asylum here. I will not go back”.

Christians are living a life with almost no opportunities. They are among the country’s most marginalized communities. They have low quota in Government jobs. They have most government jobs in the lows grades like bulk of the city’s sanitation workers and street sweepers. In Lahore, Christians are working as a street sweepers and are living in harsh conditions.

Christian women are also facing multiple forms of discrimination, including forced marriages and sexual violence. As they are non influential group so they do not get any solutions for their problems. As many Christians are in the poorest societies. They remain isolated from other communities. They live in their own restricted areas and are not allowed to participation in social issues of Pakistan. Religious discrimination and persecution are among the serious problems faced by the Christian minority in Pakistan.

According to the present situation it will take a considerable amount of time to resolve with these type of issues in Pakistan. All these issues can be resolved by Government but there is need to change their mind set. There is injustice in society with Christian community. They have social, legal and political problems. They are already too scattered, too divided and too uneducated in the society. They are now demanding the voice. They can not live more in this situation. They want their rights, they demands religious freedom.

[mariacallous]

It’s getting difficult to determine which one among Pakistan’s myriad crises will finally engulf the country. Inflation is hitting historic highs, unemployment is pushing young men into the ranks of extremists, the military is torn between its loyalty to the state and the terrorists it helped create, and leading politicians are engaged in a battle for mutual destruction. The reality is that Pakistan is fighting for its survival.

It’s been dubbed one of the most dangerous countries in the world so often that when U.S. President Joe Biden repeated the epithet in October, he seemed to simply be stating the obvious. The Pakistani Army aims to drive out terrorists that were driven out a decade ago. The government is raising loans to pay interest on loans it took out earlier to pay interest on previous loans. The country’s politics, meanwhile, make its fiscal management look responsible. Pakistan is nuclear-armed, teetering on bankruptcy, and running low on hope that countries it calls friends will save it from itself.

“The biggest crisis Pakistan is facing right now is the credibility crisis,” said journalist and analyst Asad Ali Toor. “People have lost faith in all the institutions and important offices of state.”

In the midst of perpetual chaos, there is, apparently, one thing the fractious political class can agree on—the need for a radical change of policy for dealing with militant Islam, the latest threat to the Pakistani state. They just can’t agree on how. 

The main threat comes from the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), affiliated with groups like al Qaeda and its Afghan Taliban acolytes who returned to power in Kabul a year and a half ago. The TTP is based across the border and armed with weapons left behind by the retreating U.S. military in August 2021. A TTP attack in Peshawar on Jan. 30 killed and injured scores of police officers as they prayed—the biggest of recent attacks on Army and police positions that have sent the people of the northwestern mountains out onto the streets to call for peace and protection. As if that weren’t enough, there are also Baloch separatists, who are taking advantage of the government’s weakness to intensify attacks in Pakistan’s southwest. 

Incapable of solving the economic crisis that’s one of the driving causes of the reemergence of extremism, the government earlier this month announced, to an outcry of opposition, that plans for “all-out comprehensive” military counterterrorism operations nationwide will be drawn up. It’s an acknowledgment, as attacks and casualties mount, that attempts at a diplomatic solution, mediated by sanctioned terrorist and Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, have failed. The TTP ended a cease-fire in November; the number of people killed and injured in attacks just in the first quarter of this year was half as many as all of last year, with most in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, local media reported. 

This being Pakistan, there’s little unity behind the opposition to military action. Parties representing ethnic Pashtuns, who dominate the northwest, say residents will bear the brunt of military operations, as they did in 2014 when counterterrorism assaults displaced thousands of people. Others want past civilian and military leaders called to account for the consequences of those operations before any new campaigns are launched. Still others, like Imran Khan, a charismatic former cricket star whose term as prime minister ended a year ago when he lost a parliamentary no-confidence vote, say it’s a ruse by current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to delay elections that Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party would likely win.

“There is no consensus; everybody understands that there has been a spike in militant violence, but there is disagreement on how to deal with this problem,” said Farzana Shaikh, an associate fellow and expert on Pakistan and Afghanistan at London’s Chatham House think tank. “Even before the last government, there was concern that these operations don’t lead anywhere, that they cause a great deal of violence and are followed by a stalemate that allows these groups to re-militarize.” 

The newly appointed chief of the Army staff, Gen. Syed Asim Munir, arguably the most powerful man in the country, has conceded that attempts to negotiate with the TTP have failed, but he is unlikely to repeat the heavy-handed approach of 2014, said Toor, the analyst. 

“In recent appearances before the Parliament, Gen. Munir has explained that the military is not going to launch any new operations against militants, but in fact his approach signals a continuity of the same ongoing intelligence-based operations to target militants’ hideouts,” he said. But no matter what form the counterterrorism operations take, unless there is a major policy shift, any action by the military will be seen in the context of its historical support for militant groups and far-right religious parties to achieve its goals, Toor said.

The common thread is a recognition that Pakistan’s policy on Afghanistan has failed spectacularly. For more than 20 years, Islamabad, and especially its Army and secret services, sought strategic depth against India by playing in the Afghan sandbox. But Pakistan is now at war with the terrorists that the Army and the secret services helped create and once believed they controlled. Effective options are severely limited. Military action that includes strikes on the TTP’s safe haven bases across the border in Afghanistan would exacerbate tensions with Taliban leadership in Kabul; destabilize the border; force even more Afghans to flee into Pakistan, swelling the millions of Afghan refugees already in the country; and risk a regional conflagration. 

The irony is that Khan, whose PTI does seem poised to win the vote if elections are held later this year (and he stays out of the clutches of the law long enough to run), might to some extent end up reaping what he sowed. Khan has “been partial to militant groups, and one reason why militants have come back with the strength we have seen is because they were given space by the PTI,” Shaikh said, referring to Khan’s overt support for the Taliban’s 2021 victory. “There is a feeling that the PTI needs to answer a few questions, and so do some sections of the military establishment.”

The lack of public trust stems from the blizzard of confused messages of one government after another. Some militant groups, like the Taliban in Afghanistan, were advertised as “good” for foreign-policy objectives, while the Pakistani Taliban offshoot is an outright enemy. Other terrorist groups are “bad” because they threaten territorial integrity, such as those advocating independence for the natural gas-rich coastal region of Balochistan, said lawmaker Mohsin Dawar, chairman of the center-left National Democratic Movement and leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement. 

“As long as there is no change in the Afghan policy of Pakistan, in which we have been saying that we support them for strategic interests yet they are supporting the TTP, it is impossible for the people to trust you,” Dawar said. “Now that they have taken over Afghanistan, peace in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the entire region is almost impossible.”

The solution, he said, is first to “disconnect support for the Afghan Taliban, dismantle their presence in Pakistan, completely exclude them from Pakistan territory.”

“Only then can you lead. If you have the will to do something, there is always a way,” he said.

[expatimes]

Father of Pakistani rights activist arrested on ‘terror’ charges | Human Rights News

Islamabad, Pakistan – A Pakistani court has granted police custody of Muhammad Ismail, the father of a prominent Pakistani human rights activist, on “terrorism” charges that rights groups say are part of a sustained campaign of harassment.

The court in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar granted police custody of Muhammad for three days during proceedings on Wednesday, his daughter, Gulalai Ismail, told Al Jazeera. The 66-year-old had been arrested a day earlier at a bail confirmation hearing.

Gulalai, a prominent and award-winning women’s rights activist, is a leading member of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) rights group that calls for accountability for Pakistan’s powerful military for alleged rights abuses committed during its war against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and its allies.

The PTM and other rights groups have documented hundreds of cases of enforced disappearances and alleged extrajudicial killings during the campaign in the country’s northwest. Its leaders, including members of Parliament, have faced a widespread campaign of arrests and legal cases against them across Pakistan since the group’s formation in 2018.

In 2019, Gulalai was forced into hiding due to threats against her life, with security services seeking her arrest in a number of cases, including charging her with “sedition” for remarks made during a speech at a PTM rally.

Later that year, she surfaced in the United States, where she is seeking political asylum.

“They just want to harass my family and to break their nerves,” said Gulalai. “To break their morale to set a precedent, that if any father lets his daughter speak her mind and use her freedom of expression, then the parents will also not meet a good fate.”

‘Goodbye’ Facebook and Twitter

Muhammad is a retired professor of Urdu language and lives with his 62-year-old wife, Uzlifat, in a modest suburb of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

Following Gulalai’s escape from the country, both her parents were charged with “terrorism financing” in a case that went on for more than a year. In July 2020, that case was dismissed by a Peshawar anti-terrorism court judge for lack of evidence.

Weeks later, authorities refiled the charges with the additional allegation that Gulalai’s parents had directly facilitated a 2013 attack on a Peshawar church that killed more than 78 people and a 2015 attack on a Shia Muslim mosque that killed more than 20 worshippers.

The Ismail family denied the allegations.

Separately, authorities filed a second case against Muhammad alleging he was sharing “anti-state” content on social media. Hearings, in that case, are ongoing, with a judge in January ordering him to stop sharing “objectionable content”.

“Honouring the orders of the court, I hereby surrender my right to share my dissident voices on social media, therefore say goodbye to Facebook and Twitter,” Muhammad told Al Jazeera after that hearing.

He was arrested on Tuesday after a judge ruled to deny him confirmation of interim bail granted a day earlier in the “terrorism” case. Uzlifat, his wife, implicated in the same case, was granted bail.

“The continued and relentless harassment of Professor Ismail’s family is an affront to human rights,” said Rimmel Mohydin, South Asia campaigner for rights group Amnesty International.

“He has been abducted, forced to make multiple court appearances and faces a travel ban since 2019. Now that he’s been detained, at great risk to his already precarious health – made worse by a recent COVID-19 diagnosis – the charges against him must be dropped immediately.”

Prominent Pakistani rights activist Gulalai Ismail

The arrest of Muhammad comes amid a tightening of space for freedom of expression, particularly criticism of the powerful military, and human rights work in Pakistan.

On Monday, the Peshawar High Court ruled to allow the trial of human rights activist Idrees Khattak by a military court on espionage charges.

Khattak, a prominent rights activist, was abducted by unidentified men in November 2019 while travelling in his car. Months later, Pakistan’s military admitted he was in their custody as they investigated him under the country’s Official Secrets Act.

On Monday, the government’s lawyer contended Khattak was being tried for having held meetings more than 10 years ago with Michael Semple, an academic and former United Nations official who Pakistan considers an agent of British foreign intelligence agency MI6.

“Currently, the situation for human rights activists in Pakistan is very restricted, civic spaces are being eliminated and human rights are being criminalised,” said Gulalai.

Read full article: https://expatimes.com/?p=17682&feed_id=32043

[technologyinfosec]

US designates TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud as ‘global terrorist’

Mehsud was named the leader of TTP in June 2018, following the death of former TTP supremo Mullah Fazlullah. “Under Noor Wali’s leadership, TTP has claimed responsibility for numerous deadly terrorist attacks across Pakistan,” the State Department noted. Along with Mehsud, the other SDGTs included leaders of previously designated groups, including Hizballah, HAMAS, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, ISIS, ISIS-Philippines, ISIS-West Africa, and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. These individuals were designated as global terrorists by means of an executive order issued by President Donald Trump, a day before the anniversary of 9/11. The executive order will “enable the US to more effectively sanction the leaders of terrorist organisations and those who train to commit acts of terrorism,” the State Department said in its statement. “All of their property and interests in property subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them,” the statement read. “The administration will continue to aggressively use all levers of American power, including financial sanctions, to target terrorists who plot murderous operations to indiscriminately kill innocent civilians around the world, and those who enable, facilitate, and finance their heinous acts.” Below are the names of the individuals designated as global terrorists: Marwan Issa He is the deputy commander of the Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the operational arm of HAMAS. Muhammad al-Hindi He is the deputy secretary general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Baha Abu al-Ata Ata is a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Higher Military Council. He is a commander of the Gaza and North Battalion in the Al-Quds Brigade. Ali Karaki He is a senior leader within Hizballah’s Jihad Council. He led Mu’awaniyeh 105 (Southern Command) and was responsible for military operations in southern Lebanon. Southern Command was divided into five geographic fronts (Mihwar), each consisting of a group of villages in a geographically contiguous strip. Muhammad Haydar Haydar is a senior leader within Hizballah’s Jihad Council. He was the chief of Bureau 113, and ran Hizballah networks operating outside of Lebanon and appointed leaders of various units. He was very close to deceased senior Hizballah official Imad Mughniyah. In 2004, Haydar was elected to the Lebanese Parliament. Fuad Shukr A senior Hizballah Jihad Council member, who oversaw Hizballah’s specialized weapons units in Syria, including its missile and rocket unit. He is a senior military advisor to Hizballah Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah and played a central role in the planning and execution of the October 23, 1983 US Marine Corps Barracks Bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, which killed 241 US service personnel. Ibrahim Aqil A senior Hizballah Jihad Council member, Aqil is Hizballah’s military operations commander. Hajji Taysir He is a senior ISIS leader and reports to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. As the ISIS Wali of Iraq and former emir of improvised explosive devices, Taysir likely ordered IED attacks in the region. He was considered a booby trap expert while working in ISIS’ booby trap headquarters in 2016. Abu Abdullah ibn Umar al-Barnawi He is the emir of ISIS-West Africa. Barnawi was previously active in Boko Haram. Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan He is the emir of ISIS-Philippines and is the mastermind of the January 27, 2019 Jolo City cathedral bombing that killed 23 and wounded 109. Faruq al-Suri Suri, a Syrian national also known as Abu Humam al-Shami, is the leader of Hurras al-Din and a former al-Nusra Front military commander in Syria. The US has also designated Hurras al-Din, an al-Qaida-affiliated group in Syria, as an SDGT, according to the State Department statement. In addition to these, the US Department of the Treasury also designated 15 terrorists affiliated with ISIS, ISIS-Philippines, ISIS-Khorasan, al-Qaida, HAMAS, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force under the same authority. Read the full article

[pakistantime]

Rao Anwar found ‘responsible’ of Naqeeb Mehsud’s murder

Rao Anwar, who was remanded in custody, has been found responsible for the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud, an aspiring Pashtun model from the country’s tribal region. Mehsud was killed in a fake police encounter on Jan. 12 this year. “Rao Anwar has been found guilty,” a senior official who is part of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing Anwar, told Arab News. The apex court on March 24 had formed a JIT headed by Aftab Ahmed Pathan, Additional IG Sindh, to probe the incident. The JIT comprised  Waliullah Dal, Additional IG Special Branch; Azad Ahmed Khan, DIG South; Zulfiqar Larik, DIG East; and Dr. Rizwan Ahmed, SSP Central Karachi.

The official, who requested anonymity, told Arab News that the JIT report will be produced in the court once signed by all of its members. Anwar was presented before the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Karachi on Saturday which sent him on judicial remand to prison till May 2, prosecutor Zafar Solangi told Arab News. When asked for a comment upon his appearance at the ATC, Anwar said: “I have challenged the JIT and I don’t accept its findings.” He further claimed: “I have not recorded any statement before this JIT.” On April 5, Anwar filed a petition praying for the inclusion of representatives of “the intelligence agencies, armed forces and civil armed forces.”

Anwar claimed that the inclusion of the members from intelligence agencies and armed forces was required by law. The police officer was brought to the court amid tight security arrangements, where he was produced along with 11 other accused. Investigation officer, SSP Dr. Rizwan Ahmed, who is also part of the JIT probing the incident, told the court that investigations are underway and the JIT’s report will be presented before the court once it was finalized. He sought a week for the submission of the report. Anwar was given into 30-day police custody upon the last court hearing. Anwar, who is accused of killing Mehsud in a fake police encounter, claims that the slain Pashtun model was an active member of banned terrorist outfits Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Al Qaeda, and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). However, the evident subsequently began to pile up against the police team involved in his killing.

Following the incident, a formal inquiry was launched against Anwar. As pressure mounted on him, he decided to go underground and even made a botched attempt to fly out of Pakistan. He also wrote a few letters to the Supreme Court after the top court began a suo motu hearing of Naqeebullah’s murder, telling the judges that the system was heavily stacked against him and he was not hopeful of getting any justice in the case. In response, the country’s top court decided to grant him some relief, asking him to surrender himself and let the law take its course. The court was also willing to reconstitute a joint investigation team to look into Naqeebullah’s killing since the absconding police officer had voiced concern over its composition.

Authorities froze Anwar’s accounts after his repeated non-appearance before the court. In a surprise move last month, the absconding police officer came to the court in a white car. He was clad in a black dress and wore a medical mask to cover his face. Anwar’s lawyer told the chief justice that his client had “surrendered” and wanted protective bail. However, the Supreme Court turned down the request and ordered the law enforcement authorities to lock up the former SSP.

Source : Arab News

[christianmediaorganization]

Challenges faced by Christian Community Pakistan is an Islamic country and overwhelmingly Muslims but Hindus and Christians make up the largest minority groups. As each group represent the 1.6% of the population. Like Lahore and Faisalabad there is a large Christian population in Faisalabad. According to the census 2017 there are 1.27% Christians in Pakistan. Although Pakistan is a Muslim country but the legacy of a caste system reflected the discriminatory attitude towards Christian community among the peoples belonging to Muslim majority. Christians are just 1.27% of the population and majority of them are overwhelmingly poor and working in menial jobs as cleaners, laborers ad farmhands. They are still deprived from basic minority rights. No one can deny their contributions in building of educational institutions, hospitals and health facilities throughout the country. The are facing a number of issues like other religious minorities. Christians have faced discrimination, violence, forced conversions Blasphemy law and victimization through the history of Pakistan. They are considered as outcasts by majority Pakistanis. Since 2001 the violence and discrimination rate against Christians has increased. They are facing target violence and some other abuses, such as land grabbing in rural areas and the vandalizing of homes and churches. They have faced attacked on their residential and worshiping places. They faced a suicide attack in September 2013 on Christian Church resulted more than 100 causalities in Peshawar Church. Similarly they are also faced two large mob attacks in March and April 2013 in Punjab. Their homes were destroyed by large mob. Similarly in 2015, Taliban attacked on two churches in Lahore resulted 15 causalities. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dawn.com%2Fnews%2F1169713&psig=AOvVaw3OUnlSiYvjcfEmDv50NyuS&ust=1638877658656000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCIiumOSNz_QCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD They have also faced blasphemy laws including Asia Bibi case in 2010. She was accused of religious defamation and was the first woman in Pakistan sentenced to death under the law 295-C. According to data by the Centre for Research and Solidarity, of an estimated 434 blasphemy offenders documented between 1953 and 2012 and 114 out of them were Christians. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dawn.com%2Fnews%2F750512%2Ftimeline-accused-under-the-blasphemylaw&psig=AOvVaw3RXPv983ISjQUOIR4SK3ke&ust=1638876862846000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCPjlttOPz_QCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD Former Pakistani MLA from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, Baldev Kumar has requested political asylum from Delhi in 2019. Beldev told news agency “Not only minorities but even Muslims are not safe there (Pakistan). we are surviving in Pakistan with lot of difficulties. I request the Indian Government to give me asylum here. I will not go back”. Christians are living a life with almost no opportunities. They are among the country’s most marginalized communities. They have low quota in Government jobs. They have most government jobs in the lows grades like bulk of the city’s sanitation workers and street sweepers. In Lahore, Christians are working as a street sweepers and are living in harsh conditions. Christian women are also facing multiple forms of discrimination, including forced marriages and sexual violence. As they are non influential group so they do not get any solutions for their problems. As many Christians are in the poorest societies. They remain isolated from other communities. They live in their own restricted areas and are not allowed to participation in social issues of Pakistan. Religious discrimination and persecution are among the serious problems faced by the Christian minority in Pakistan. According to the present situation it will take a considerable amount of time to resolve with these type of issues in Pakistan. All these issues can be resolved by Government but there is need to change their mind set. There is injustice in society with Christian community. They have social, legal and political problems. They are already too scattered, too divided and too uneducated in the society. They are now demanding the voice. They can not live more in this situation. They want their rights, they demands religious freedom.