* Gilani says Pakistan is ready to train Afghan security forces and administration to cope with situation after withdrawal of foreign troops
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, on Friday, said there could be no peace in the region without peace in Afghanistan.
Talking to Ustad Mohaqiq, member of Wolesi Jirga and Commission on Law and Justice of Wolesi Jirga chairman at the PM House, Gilani said Pakistan was ready to train the Afghan army, police and administration to cope with the aftermath of withdrawal of foreign troops by 2014.
Gilani said he shared his views about peace in Afghanistan with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and said friendship and animosity could not co-exist, as was the case with reconciliation and brinkmanship.
The prime minister said that All-Parties Conference’s resolution stood for giving peace a chance, and it was conveyed to the US secretary of state and to the world in a very candid manner.
The prime minister urged the need for frequent exchanges of parliamentarians between the two countries, adding people to people contact was the best diplomacy to build bridges among people.
Gilani said it was his vision to develop good neighbourly relations with countries of the region, saying this paradigm shift in the foreign policy best served the national interests. “It was in accordance with this vision that I have embarked upon diplomacy aimed at enhancing cooperation among the countries located in this part of the world,” the prime minister said.
Gilani said he had met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Karzai, Iranian president and leaders of other countries of Central Asia to further the cause of friendly relations with the countries situated in close proximity to Pakistan. He said such a shift in foreign policy was critical to establishing connectivity among peoples of the countries, promoting intra-regional trade, and laying the foundation for sustainable bonds, a prelude to social development of people.
The prime minister said he had visited Afghanistan twice and met President Karzai along with Pakistan’s military leadership. He said Pakistan supported an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process of reconciliation. “We want to see independent, prosperous and stable Afghanistan. My government supports any solution which will not destabilise Pakistan as was the case last time when this country had to host three million Afghan refugees,” Gilani stated.
The prime minister said he went to Quetta and expressed his deep condolences over the brutal killings of members of the Hazara community and directed the administration to take all steps to ensure safety of their lives and properties.
“Interior Minister Rehman Malik recently visited Quetta on my instructions to assure the community that the government would bring the culprits to justice,” the prime minister said. The prime minister said Pakistan had contributed $350 million to the rehabilitation of people of Afghanistan and awarded 2,000 scholarships to the Afghan students who were now studying in various universities of Pakistan.
Gilani thanked Ustad Mohaqiq for giving land to build Jinnah Hospital in Afghanistan with the assistance of Pakistan, including a number of basic health units and primary schools.
Ustad Mohaqiq said both the countries shared common traditions, culture and history.
He paid tributes to the leadership of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan by saying that he was a man of peace.
He advocated the kind of reconciliation in which Taliban could be included provided they accepted the Afghan constitution.
He thanked the Gilani for taking effective measures to protect the Hazara community.
He strongly rejected the practice of blaming each other and instead underscored the need for working closely against the common enemy.
He said both Afghanistan and Pakistan should work to accomplish the mission of Professor Burhanuddin who wanted to see both the countries as good neighbours and good friends. app
Daily Times
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Shia Hazaras: Guilty of being a minority in establishment’s Pakistan – by Hafsa Khawaja
Originally published on her blog
The Pakistan of today has found itself to be nothing but a wreckage of a country, a carcass of a state and an international outcast.
A tragedy brought upon itself by both; the sharp functioning muscle of the unofficial institutional dictatorship that aggrandized itself under four decades of military authoritarians and the Pakistani nation’s obscene obsession with easy acceptance of the exacerbation, denialism, dogmatism and preposterousness.
The very characteristics have been manifest in wake of the recent unleashing of organized and systematic bloodletting of the peaceful, educated and civilized community of Shia Hazaras in Balochistan by the associates of the Establishment’s ‘Assets’.
Carrying a history replete with persecution and torment, the Shia Hazaras have found little relief and difference between their past in Afghanistan and present in Pakistan; where they are the victims of various sectarian militant groups such as Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, that deem and decry Shi’ites as Non-Muslims. ‘Impure’ creatures that they are determined to completely exterminate from ‘The Land of Pure.’
A question might arise, why is it that blame for this bloodshed is ascribed as such to them.
Amir Mir writes in one excellent article of his on the predicament the Hazara Shia have been placed in and the militant sectarian groups:
‘The SSP and the LeJ, which is considered to be the military wing of the SSP, were once the strategic assets of the state of Pakistan and have linked with al-Qaeda as its ancillary warriors, killing Pakistani citizens and targeting the security forces to dissuade Pakistan from fighting the “war against terror” as a United States ally.
The LeJ today has deep links with al-Qaeda and the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban and is considered to be the most violent terrorist organization operating in Pakistan, with the help of its suicide squad. As with most Sunni Deobandi sectarian and militant groups, almost the entire LeJ leadership is made up of people who have fought in Afghanistan with the backing of the Pakistani security establishment and most of its cadre are drawn from the numerous Sunni madrassas (seminaries) in Pakistan.’
The fact that these terrorist organizations are the ‘ancillary warriors’ of the ‘elements’ that the Establishment cherishes and avails in pursuit of its detrimental ‘Strategic Depth’ policy in Afghanistan (The Policy, to put it simply, is constructed on the Establishment’s compulsive obsession with the theme and idea of India as the arch enemy of Pakistan and envisages a Pro-Pakistan Government in Post-Troop-Withdrawal Afghanistan that counters the Indian influence there and protects ‘Pakistani interests’.) naturally transforms their position to being ‘untouchable’, considering they are part and parcel of the deal – thus the ‘failure of intelligence and the forces’ when it comes to sectarian killings similar to that happening in Balochistan of the Hazaras.
While much has been excellently chosen, written about and posted about the grave issue on LUBP and a few other sites that have proven to challenge the distortions of the mainstream media and welcoming to topics that they either ignore or willingly twist and feed to the people with their vulpine cunning – this post aims to focus on the collective, institutional and national conspiracy of silence that was concocted after the slayings of the Hazara Shias based solely on a sectarian footing.
One can only wonder where the conveniently-free-media is when fatwas, pamphlets and declarations of hate and instigation of murders are circulated around in different parts of the country?
Where does their self-proclaimed ‘patriotism’ and professional magnificence vanish to when it comes to the intentional misrepresentation of the massacres that only helps to reinforce, what those under whose patronage the groups act, want the people to believe?
Why is it that only outrageuously sparse coverage is provided to the victims and their plight but hours of talk shows are wasted on futile discussions?
And the ever-eager-to-take-suo-moto judges? Are the Shia Hazaras Children of a Lesser God in the eyes of a so-called judiciary that is anything but independent, rather just another instrument of the Establishment for furthering their goals and ambitions?
Afterall, what can be expected of judiciary that releases butchers like Malik Ishaq on grounds of ‘lack of evidence’
The Government too, brazenly watches over the the whole community being pulled down into pools of blood of their own while the Punjab Government gives the very butcher, a montly stipendand their Law Minister proudly courts extremists to garner votes for elections.
Hundreds from amongst the ordinary came marching on the streets and roads against Raymond Davis gunning down two Pakistani citizens and for a dubious ‘Daughter of the Motherland’ but as corpses over corpses pile of the Hazaras, none speak up nor the ‘activists’ hold their famed vigils.
Is the nation only moved and it’s compassion and anger only evoked when America is the proposed guilty party?
It must be public knowledge to the citizens of Pakistan that these incidents of carnage aimed at the Shia Hazaras are not sporadic as they seem but part of an entire crusade (Note: The Shia Tooris of Parachinar, often slaughtered by the Haqqani Network members and other ‘Assets’ given refuge there) waged by sectarian militant outfits that are best-described as the subsidiaries of major terrorist organizations (in whose name and due to whom, the entire country has been struck by sheer devastation) and are under the auspices of the Establishment.
Which other nation should hold the importance of the lives, security, liberty and interests of the minorities highly than that of a country whose history bears witness that the threats to the interests and protection of the Muslim minority of Pre-Partition India was a central factor in fostering the struggle for its creation?
And today when the generations of that minority are a majority of the country – other minorities: the Shias, Christians, Hindus and Ahmedis are fraught with peril.
It is about time, that the proponents of Jinnah’s vision in this country, if any, come forward against the Establishment on all fronts and also fight for the rights of those whose only crime is being guilty of being a minority.
- Hafsa Khawaja
*Ironically, much of the non-controversial content in this post that concentrated on the lack of attention that the Shia Hazara murders deserved, was sent as three separate letters to the ‘News Post’ of ‘The News’ which they decided not to publish. So much for a free media
Let Us Build Pakistan
The Pakistan of today has found itself to be nothing but a wreckage of a country, a carcass of a state and an international outcast.
A tragedy brought upon itself by both; the sharp functioning muscle of the unofficial institutional dictatorship that aggrandized itself under four decades of military authoritarians and the Pakistani nation’s obscene obsession with easy acceptance of the exacerbation, denialism, dogmatism and preposterousness.
The very characteristics have been manifest in wake of the recent unleashing of organized and systematic bloodletting of the peaceful, educated and civilized community of Shia Hazaras in Balochistan by the associates of the Establishment’s ‘Assets’.
Carrying a history replete with persecution and torment, the Shia Hazaras have found little relief and difference between their past in Afghanistan and present in Pakistan; where they are the victims of various sectarian militant groups such as Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, that deem and decry Shi’ites as Non-Muslims. ‘Impure’ creatures that they are determined to completely exterminate from ‘The Land of Pure.’
A question might arise, why is it that blame for this bloodshed is ascribed as such to them.
Amir Mir writes in one excellent article of his on the predicament the Hazara Shia have been placed in and the militant sectarian groups:
‘The SSP and the LeJ, which is considered to be the military wing of the SSP, were once the strategic assets of the state of Pakistan and have linked with al-Qaeda as its ancillary warriors, killing Pakistani citizens and targeting the security forces to dissuade Pakistan from fighting the “war against terror” as a United States ally.
The LeJ today has deep links with al-Qaeda and the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban and is considered to be the most violent terrorist organization operating in Pakistan, with the help of its suicide squad. As with most Sunni Deobandi sectarian and militant groups, almost the entire LeJ leadership is made up of people who have fought in Afghanistan with the backing of the Pakistani security establishment and most of its cadre are drawn from the numerous Sunni madrassas (seminaries) in Pakistan.’
The fact that these terrorist organizations are the ‘ancillary warriors’ of the ‘elements’ that the Establishment cherishes and avails in pursuit of its detrimental ‘Strategic Depth’ policy in Afghanistan (The Policy, to put it simply, is constructed on the Establishment’s compulsive obsession with the theme and idea of India as the arch enemy of Pakistan and envisages a Pro-Pakistan Government in Post-Troop-Withdrawal Afghanistan that counters the Indian influence there and protects ‘Pakistani interests’.) naturally transforms their position to being ‘untouchable’, considering they are part and parcel of the deal – thus the ‘failure of intelligence and the forces’ when it comes to sectarian killings similar to that happening in Balochistan of the Hazaras.
While much has been excellently chosen, written about and posted about the grave issue on LUBP and a few other sites that have proven to challenge the distortions of the mainstream media and welcoming to topics that they either ignore or willingly twist and feed to the people with their vulpine cunning – this post aims to focus on the collective, institutional and national conspiracy of silence that was concocted after the slayings of the Hazara Shias based solely on a sectarian footing.
One can only wonder where the conveniently-free-media is when fatwas, pamphlets and declarations of hate and instigation of murders are circulated around in different parts of the country?
Where does their self-proclaimed ‘patriotism’ and professional magnificence vanish to when it comes to the intentional misrepresentation of the massacres that only helps to reinforce, what those under whose patronage the groups act, want the people to believe?
Why is it that only outrageuously sparse coverage is provided to the victims and their plight but hours of talk shows are wasted on futile discussions?
And the ever-eager-to-take-suo-moto judges? Are the Shia Hazaras Children of a Lesser God in the eyes of a so-called judiciary that is anything but independent, rather just another instrument of the Establishment for furthering their goals and ambitions?
Afterall, what can be expected of judiciary that releases butchers like Malik Ishaq on grounds of ‘lack of evidence’
The Government too, brazenly watches over the the whole community being pulled down into pools of blood of their own while the Punjab Government gives the very butcher, a montly stipendand their Law Minister proudly courts extremists to garner votes for elections.
Hundreds from amongst the ordinary came marching on the streets and roads against Raymond Davis gunning down two Pakistani citizens and for a dubious ‘Daughter of the Motherland’ but as corpses over corpses pile of the Hazaras, none speak up nor the ‘activists’ hold their famed vigils.
Is the nation only moved and it’s compassion and anger only evoked when America is the proposed guilty party?
It must be public knowledge to the citizens of Pakistan that these incidents of carnage aimed at the Shia Hazaras are not sporadic as they seem but part of an entire crusade (Note: The Shia Tooris of Parachinar, often slaughtered by the Haqqani Network members and other ‘Assets’ given refuge there) waged by sectarian militant outfits that are best-described as the subsidiaries of major terrorist organizations (in whose name and due to whom, the entire country has been struck by sheer devastation) and are under the auspices of the Establishment.
Which other nation should hold the importance of the lives, security, liberty and interests of the minorities highly than that of a country whose history bears witness that the threats to the interests and protection of the Muslim minority of Pre-Partition India was a central factor in fostering the struggle for its creation?
And today when the generations of that minority are a majority of the country – other minorities: the Shias, Christians, Hindus and Ahmedis are fraught with peril.
It is about time, that the proponents of Jinnah’s vision in this country, if any, come forward against the Establishment on all fronts and also fight for the rights of those whose only crime is being guilty of being a minority.
- Hafsa Khawaja
*Ironically, much of the non-controversial content in this post that concentrated on the lack of attention that the Shia Hazara murders deserved, was sent as three separate letters to the ‘News Post’ of ‘The News’ which they decided not to publish. So much for a free media
Let Us Build Pakistan
Hazara: another 'abandoned' community
Analysis By Khaled Ahmed
Tentacles of terror
If there ever was a sign of the demise of the Pakistani state, it is the killing of the Hazara community of Quetta
On 20 September 2011, at least 26 Hazaras were shot dead execution style in a Baloch-dominated area of Mastung/Luk-Pass near Quetta. Armed terrorists intercepted a bus en route to Taftan, border town near the Iran border, singled out all Hazara men, and shot them dead. Terrorists stayed at the scene for 10 minutes firing with AK-47's to ensure no one survived. Terrorists ambushed and killed several Hazaras rushing to the scene to ferry their loved ones to the hospital. The Hazara travel far and wide looking for employment and that includes Mashad and Tehran.
If Pakistan succeeds once again in controlling Afghanistan, the Hazara of Central Afghanistan should expect genocide
A few weeks before the massacre, a sectarian organisation had circulated an open letter addressed to Hazaras in Quetta. Written in the Urdu language, the letter stated:
All Shi'ites are worthy of killing. We will rid Pakistan of unclean people. Pakistan means land of the pure and the Shi'ites have no right to live in this country. We have the edict and signatures of revered scholars, declaring Shi'ites infidels. Just as our fighters have waged a successful jihad against the Shi'ite Hazaras in Afghanistan, our mission in Pakistan is the abolition of this impure sect and its followers from every city, every village and every nook and corner of Pakistan.
Like in the past, our successful jihad against the Hazaras in Pakistan and, in particular, in Quetta, is ongoing and will continue in the future. We will make Pakistan the graveyard of the Shi'ite Hazaras and their houses will be destroyed by bombs and suicide bombers. We will only rest when we will be able to fly the flag of true Islam on this land of the pure. Jihad against the Shi'ite Hazaras has now become our duty.
If there ever was a sign of the demise of the Pakistani state it is the killing of the Hazara community of Quetta. The Hazaras, after getting killed like flies, are asking a question that no one busy rebuking the world for finding fault with Pakistan can answer. The extremism of blasphemy law and the killing of Ahmadis is a national death-wish, but what is the killing of the Hazaras? In Punjab, the government is scared of losing vote, and its leaders fear personal attack from the erstwhile non state actors killing Christians and Ahmadis. In Quetta everyone including the executive is scared of protecting this luckless community numbering nearly 600,000.
What Pakistan is doing to the Hazara of Quetta is nothing short of ethnic-cleansing
Their fault is that they are Shia and their historical origin is Central Afghanistan known as Bamyan, but they have lived in Quetta for centuries. Their other fault is that that they are businessmen and shopkeepers which makes them more elevated in intellect than their Pashtun tormentors. In Kurram they are known are Turis and have been there for centuries. They have some capacity to fight back there but the state of Pakistan has abandoned them to the Taliban and local Sunni rivals, turning a blind eye to the fact that their road connection with Pakistan is no longer free of hazard.
The Turis of Pakistan's Kurram Agency also took no part in the Pak-sponsored jihad and were attacked in 1983, marking the starting-point of the sectarian conflict in Pakistan. Today Turis of Parachinar in Kurram Agency and the Hazaras of Quetta are bearing the brunt of Sunni-Pashtun reprisal. And if Pakistan succeeds once again in controlling Afghanistan, the Hazara of Central Afghanistan should expect genocide. What Pakistan is doing to the Hazara of Quetta is nothing short of ethnic-cleansing. The killers announce loudly that they are killing them because they want to exterminate them to earn Paradise.
This is the underside of Pakistan's military vision. It sees Afghanistan through the Pashtun goggle and that means letting the Shia be put to the sword. This is how Pakistan has survived in the past and this is how it is going to survive with the doctrine of strategic depth. The Hazaras are the burnt offering Pakistan's military thinkers are offering to the holy investors of jihad sitting in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. This is the small print in the contract under which Pak Army and Saudi Army have been exercising in Jhelum. The Saudi aid that will rescue the state of Pakistan from collapsing is running parallel to the private Arab funds that flow into the coffers of the Taliban and their master Al Qaeda so that they can hurt Iran by killing the Hazaras of Pakistan.
Pakistan is in denial about there being an Afghan Shura under Mullah Umar in Quetta and it doesn't matter if this denial is proved false on a daily basis. The Hazara have to pay for the acts of omission and commission of their co-ethnics in Central Afghanistan in the recent past. Organised under their militia Hezb-e-Wahdat, the Hazaras allied with the Jumbish militia of Dostam and Hezb-e-Islami militia of Hekmatyar. In 1995, the Taliban conquered Kabul and captured and murdered the great Hazara leader, Mazari. The Hazaras then fought on the side of the Northern Alliance against the Taliban who visited on them the cruelty to forget the scourge of Mongol hordes.
Because of persecution, the Hazaras of Quetta allowed themselves to be ghettoised, which is a step in the direction of easy killing. All of them moved to Hazara Town which is divided into nine blocks, and almost all the houses are made of concrete. They can speak Urdu but they are originally Persian-speaking. They have, in contrast to other Afghan groups, actively invested in education. The Hazara community is the most educated community in Balochistan. Some 50 percent of the position holders in the matriculation and FA/BA exams are from among them. Hence the visible presence of Hazaras in the civil services, police, the IT market, small businesses and other professional sectors in Balochistan.
In 2003, in one of the worst sectarian assaults in the history of Pakistan, some 58 people, most of them Hazara Shias, were killed while around 200 were injured when suicide bombers attacked Imambargah-e-Kalan in Quetta. Another 38 persons, mostly Hazara Shias, were killed in a sectarian assault on March 2, 2004 on the day of the Ashura. The incident left 200 people injured. Just before the 2003 attack, Quetta city was flooded with leaflets containing fatwas from the country's top-most ulema, declaring the Shia an apostate community. The 2003 massacre was preceded by widespread circulation of anti-Shia fatwas in Quetta, branding them murtad or apostate, a designation normally deserving death in the eyes of the pious Sunni Muslims.
GEO TV (12 September 2003) had TV host Hamid Mir interviewing the imam of the Hazara Imambargah at Quetta where the Shia community had been blown up by suicide bombers. The imam said the attack was carried out by sectarian terrorist groups and this information had been given to the administration in Quetta.
The All Parties Conference (APC) which recently handed over a rapidly Islamising Pakistan to the Army did not have a clue what it was doing except purging itself of its rage against the United States, India and the West. The politician had no idea that the Army was India-centric and was incapable of tackling the problem of extremism started by it under General Zia. General Kayani should have stood up and refused to take the responsibility to tackle a problem he has no inclination to confront. Indeed, he is disinterested in taking power and toppling governments but he should have stated clearly that problems such as Hazara-killing would continue as a part of anti-Americanism and the doctrine of strategic depth.
The Hazara leaders of Quetta claim that nearly 600 members of their community have been killed since 1999.
The News of 7 October 2011, reported that over 13,000 members of the community lived in Karachi, 600 in Hussain Hazara Goth, where the imambargah is located. Rickety roads and mud-plastered houses surrounded the slum while increasingly the inhabitants feared for their lives. One said, 'We are being targeted because extremists want to eliminate Shias. Also, our community, especially in Balochistan, is among the most literate and educated. They envy us. Our people are in the police, government and everywhere. Out of the four female pilots, one is from our community'.
Friday Times
Tentacles of terror
If there ever was a sign of the demise of the Pakistani state, it is the killing of the Hazara community of Quetta
On 20 September 2011, at least 26 Hazaras were shot dead execution style in a Baloch-dominated area of Mastung/Luk-Pass near Quetta. Armed terrorists intercepted a bus en route to Taftan, border town near the Iran border, singled out all Hazara men, and shot them dead. Terrorists stayed at the scene for 10 minutes firing with AK-47's to ensure no one survived. Terrorists ambushed and killed several Hazaras rushing to the scene to ferry their loved ones to the hospital. The Hazara travel far and wide looking for employment and that includes Mashad and Tehran.
If Pakistan succeeds once again in controlling Afghanistan, the Hazara of Central Afghanistan should expect genocide
A few weeks before the massacre, a sectarian organisation had circulated an open letter addressed to Hazaras in Quetta. Written in the Urdu language, the letter stated:
All Shi'ites are worthy of killing. We will rid Pakistan of unclean people. Pakistan means land of the pure and the Shi'ites have no right to live in this country. We have the edict and signatures of revered scholars, declaring Shi'ites infidels. Just as our fighters have waged a successful jihad against the Shi'ite Hazaras in Afghanistan, our mission in Pakistan is the abolition of this impure sect and its followers from every city, every village and every nook and corner of Pakistan.
Like in the past, our successful jihad against the Hazaras in Pakistan and, in particular, in Quetta, is ongoing and will continue in the future. We will make Pakistan the graveyard of the Shi'ite Hazaras and their houses will be destroyed by bombs and suicide bombers. We will only rest when we will be able to fly the flag of true Islam on this land of the pure. Jihad against the Shi'ite Hazaras has now become our duty.
If there ever was a sign of the demise of the Pakistani state it is the killing of the Hazara community of Quetta. The Hazaras, after getting killed like flies, are asking a question that no one busy rebuking the world for finding fault with Pakistan can answer. The extremism of blasphemy law and the killing of Ahmadis is a national death-wish, but what is the killing of the Hazaras? In Punjab, the government is scared of losing vote, and its leaders fear personal attack from the erstwhile non state actors killing Christians and Ahmadis. In Quetta everyone including the executive is scared of protecting this luckless community numbering nearly 600,000.
What Pakistan is doing to the Hazara of Quetta is nothing short of ethnic-cleansing
Their fault is that they are Shia and their historical origin is Central Afghanistan known as Bamyan, but they have lived in Quetta for centuries. Their other fault is that that they are businessmen and shopkeepers which makes them more elevated in intellect than their Pashtun tormentors. In Kurram they are known are Turis and have been there for centuries. They have some capacity to fight back there but the state of Pakistan has abandoned them to the Taliban and local Sunni rivals, turning a blind eye to the fact that their road connection with Pakistan is no longer free of hazard.
The Turis of Pakistan's Kurram Agency also took no part in the Pak-sponsored jihad and were attacked in 1983, marking the starting-point of the sectarian conflict in Pakistan. Today Turis of Parachinar in Kurram Agency and the Hazaras of Quetta are bearing the brunt of Sunni-Pashtun reprisal. And if Pakistan succeeds once again in controlling Afghanistan, the Hazara of Central Afghanistan should expect genocide. What Pakistan is doing to the Hazara of Quetta is nothing short of ethnic-cleansing. The killers announce loudly that they are killing them because they want to exterminate them to earn Paradise.
This is the underside of Pakistan's military vision. It sees Afghanistan through the Pashtun goggle and that means letting the Shia be put to the sword. This is how Pakistan has survived in the past and this is how it is going to survive with the doctrine of strategic depth. The Hazaras are the burnt offering Pakistan's military thinkers are offering to the holy investors of jihad sitting in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. This is the small print in the contract under which Pak Army and Saudi Army have been exercising in Jhelum. The Saudi aid that will rescue the state of Pakistan from collapsing is running parallel to the private Arab funds that flow into the coffers of the Taliban and their master Al Qaeda so that they can hurt Iran by killing the Hazaras of Pakistan.
Pakistan is in denial about there being an Afghan Shura under Mullah Umar in Quetta and it doesn't matter if this denial is proved false on a daily basis. The Hazara have to pay for the acts of omission and commission of their co-ethnics in Central Afghanistan in the recent past. Organised under their militia Hezb-e-Wahdat, the Hazaras allied with the Jumbish militia of Dostam and Hezb-e-Islami militia of Hekmatyar. In 1995, the Taliban conquered Kabul and captured and murdered the great Hazara leader, Mazari. The Hazaras then fought on the side of the Northern Alliance against the Taliban who visited on them the cruelty to forget the scourge of Mongol hordes.
Because of persecution, the Hazaras of Quetta allowed themselves to be ghettoised, which is a step in the direction of easy killing. All of them moved to Hazara Town which is divided into nine blocks, and almost all the houses are made of concrete. They can speak Urdu but they are originally Persian-speaking. They have, in contrast to other Afghan groups, actively invested in education. The Hazara community is the most educated community in Balochistan. Some 50 percent of the position holders in the matriculation and FA/BA exams are from among them. Hence the visible presence of Hazaras in the civil services, police, the IT market, small businesses and other professional sectors in Balochistan.
In 2003, in one of the worst sectarian assaults in the history of Pakistan, some 58 people, most of them Hazara Shias, were killed while around 200 were injured when suicide bombers attacked Imambargah-e-Kalan in Quetta. Another 38 persons, mostly Hazara Shias, were killed in a sectarian assault on March 2, 2004 on the day of the Ashura. The incident left 200 people injured. Just before the 2003 attack, Quetta city was flooded with leaflets containing fatwas from the country's top-most ulema, declaring the Shia an apostate community. The 2003 massacre was preceded by widespread circulation of anti-Shia fatwas in Quetta, branding them murtad or apostate, a designation normally deserving death in the eyes of the pious Sunni Muslims.
GEO TV (12 September 2003) had TV host Hamid Mir interviewing the imam of the Hazara Imambargah at Quetta where the Shia community had been blown up by suicide bombers. The imam said the attack was carried out by sectarian terrorist groups and this information had been given to the administration in Quetta.
The All Parties Conference (APC) which recently handed over a rapidly Islamising Pakistan to the Army did not have a clue what it was doing except purging itself of its rage against the United States, India and the West. The politician had no idea that the Army was India-centric and was incapable of tackling the problem of extremism started by it under General Zia. General Kayani should have stood up and refused to take the responsibility to tackle a problem he has no inclination to confront. Indeed, he is disinterested in taking power and toppling governments but he should have stated clearly that problems such as Hazara-killing would continue as a part of anti-Americanism and the doctrine of strategic depth.
The Hazara leaders of Quetta claim that nearly 600 members of their community have been killed since 1999.
The News of 7 October 2011, reported that over 13,000 members of the community lived in Karachi, 600 in Hussain Hazara Goth, where the imambargah is located. Rickety roads and mud-plastered houses surrounded the slum while increasingly the inhabitants feared for their lives. One said, 'We are being targeted because extremists want to eliminate Shias. Also, our community, especially in Balochistan, is among the most literate and educated. They envy us. Our people are in the police, government and everywhere. Out of the four female pilots, one is from our community'.
Friday Times
٧٦فیصد مکاتب دایکندی فاقد تعمیر است
by سید غلام on Oct 21, 2011 - 11:11
نیلی (پژواک، ٢٩میزان٩٠): از مجموع مکاتب ولایت دایکندی،٧٦فیصد آنها فاقد تعمیر بوده و بیش از صدهزار شاگرد در خارج از صنف درس می خوانند.
شاگردانی که مکاتب آنها تعمیر ندارند در فضاهای باز، زیر درختان، تکایا، مساجد و خانه های مخروبه مشغول تدریس هستند.
سردار علی جعفری مدیر استخدام ریاست معارف دایکندی به آژانس خبری پژواک گفت که در مجموع ٣٣٤مکتب در این ولایت فعالیت دارد.
به گفته وی، از مجموع این مکاتب، ٨٠ باب آن دارای تعمیر بوده و مابقی یا تعمیر ندارند یا اینکه کار ساخت آنها جریان دارد.
جعفری افزود که 118104 تن از شاگردان آنها در فضاهای باز، زیر درختان، تکایا، مساجد و خانه های مخروبه مشغول آموزش می باشند.
ناظر پناهی مدیر پلان ریاست معارف دایکندی نیز در گفتگو با پژواک ضمن تائید بی سرپناه بودن بیش از صدهزار شاگرد در مکاتب این ولایت، نبود آب آشامیدنی صحی را نیز از جمله مشکلات دیگر عنوان داشت.
وی گفت که این مشکلات روند درس را مختل کرده و به شاگردان اجازه نمی دهد تا در فضایی آرام درس را فرا گیرند.
منبع از ارگانها و نهادهای کمک کننده خواست تا در این راستا ریاست معارف دایکندی را حمایت کنند.
شاگردان و معلمین ولایت دایکندی نیز از نبود صنوف درسی شکایت داشته و می گویند که فضای مناسب درسی برای آنها مهیا نیست.
خالق نظر یکتن از معلمین مکتب محمدیه ولسوالی شهرستان به پژواک گفت :«عدم موجودیت تعمیر مکتب یک مشکل جدی بره ماست.»
به گفته وی، شاگردان این مکتب در حال حاضر در سایه درخت و یا تکیه خانه مسجد ولسوالی مصروف درس هستند که این امر درسهای آنها را مختل کرده است.
یاسین یکتن از شاگردان این مکتب نیز با شکایت از وضع موجود به پژواک گفت :«هیچ درسه نمی فامم، صدای موترها و گرد و خاک نمی مانه که درس ره خوب یاد بگیرم.»
وی از مسوولین خواست تا در این راستا اقدامات جدی انجام دهند.
مرضیه یکتن از شاگردان لیسه مرکزی ولسوالی کیتی به پژواک گفت :«حالی ده مسجد درس می خوانیم چون مکتب ما تعمیر نداره.»
به گفته وی، زمانی که مراسم فاتحه در مسجد باشد، درسهای آنها نیز تعطیل بوده و نمی توانند بدرستی درسها را مرور نمایند.
گفتنی است که 155400 شاگرد که ٤٠فیصد آنها را دختران تشکیل می دهند، تحت نظر ٢٩٠٩ معلم مرد و زن مصروف تعلیم می باشند
Pajhwok
شاگردانی که مکاتب آنها تعمیر ندارند در فضاهای باز، زیر درختان، تکایا، مساجد و خانه های مخروبه مشغول تدریس هستند.
سردار علی جعفری مدیر استخدام ریاست معارف دایکندی به آژانس خبری پژواک گفت که در مجموع ٣٣٤مکتب در این ولایت فعالیت دارد.
به گفته وی، از مجموع این مکاتب، ٨٠ باب آن دارای تعمیر بوده و مابقی یا تعمیر ندارند یا اینکه کار ساخت آنها جریان دارد.
جعفری افزود که 118104 تن از شاگردان آنها در فضاهای باز، زیر درختان، تکایا، مساجد و خانه های مخروبه مشغول آموزش می باشند.
ناظر پناهی مدیر پلان ریاست معارف دایکندی نیز در گفتگو با پژواک ضمن تائید بی سرپناه بودن بیش از صدهزار شاگرد در مکاتب این ولایت، نبود آب آشامیدنی صحی را نیز از جمله مشکلات دیگر عنوان داشت.
وی گفت که این مشکلات روند درس را مختل کرده و به شاگردان اجازه نمی دهد تا در فضایی آرام درس را فرا گیرند.
منبع از ارگانها و نهادهای کمک کننده خواست تا در این راستا ریاست معارف دایکندی را حمایت کنند.
شاگردان و معلمین ولایت دایکندی نیز از نبود صنوف درسی شکایت داشته و می گویند که فضای مناسب درسی برای آنها مهیا نیست.
خالق نظر یکتن از معلمین مکتب محمدیه ولسوالی شهرستان به پژواک گفت :«عدم موجودیت تعمیر مکتب یک مشکل جدی بره ماست.»
به گفته وی، شاگردان این مکتب در حال حاضر در سایه درخت و یا تکیه خانه مسجد ولسوالی مصروف درس هستند که این امر درسهای آنها را مختل کرده است.
یاسین یکتن از شاگردان این مکتب نیز با شکایت از وضع موجود به پژواک گفت :«هیچ درسه نمی فامم، صدای موترها و گرد و خاک نمی مانه که درس ره خوب یاد بگیرم.»
وی از مسوولین خواست تا در این راستا اقدامات جدی انجام دهند.
مرضیه یکتن از شاگردان لیسه مرکزی ولسوالی کیتی به پژواک گفت :«حالی ده مسجد درس می خوانیم چون مکتب ما تعمیر نداره.»
به گفته وی، زمانی که مراسم فاتحه در مسجد باشد، درسهای آنها نیز تعطیل بوده و نمی توانند بدرستی درسها را مرور نمایند.
گفتنی است که 155400 شاگرد که ٤٠فیصد آنها را دختران تشکیل می دهند، تحت نظر ٢٩٠٩ معلم مرد و زن مصروف تعلیم می باشند
Pajhwok
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Balochistan PA condemns Mastung incident
By: Bari Baloch | Published: October 21, 2011
QUETTA - The Balochistan Assembly while condemning Mastung incident in which 26 Shiite Muslims of Hazara community were brutally killed has demanded of the govt to take practical steps to bring the culprits to justice.
The Balochistan Assembly adopted a condemnation resolution in its session which met with Deputy Speaker Matiullah Agha in the chair on Thursday.
Speaking on the admissibility of resolution, Chengezai said previously high profile members of Hazara community were being targeted but the current year witnessed more heinous incidents of mass killing of people belonging to the community.
Citing the details of attacks, he said terrorists on Eid-ul-Fitr day carried out blast in Quetta killing several people belong to Hazara community.
‘If volunteers were not deputed near prayers place the terrorists could have approached the congregation and more casualties could have occured’, he said,adding, 27 Shiite pilgrims were brutally murdered in Mastung district on September 20th.
He said when injured were being shifted to Quetta the terrorists attacked the vehicles killing three more Shiite people ,adding, that merely three day after Mastung incident three more members of Hazara community were dismounted from a mini bus near Machh and were shot dead.
He further said more than one dozen Hazara people were held at gun-point near fruit market in the outskirts of Quetta and after confirming their identity as Hazaras assailants brutally killed them. Chengezai regretted over lack of arrest of culprits, saying despite repeated attacks on Shia Muslims none of the culprits were brought to justice ,adding, that they should be told that why they were being treated like this whether they were not human beings.
He said it was the responsibility of the provincial government to ensure security to people and asked the chair to summon high-ups of law-enforcement agencies at the Assembly and the matter should be discussed. Supporting the condemnation resolution, Tariq Massuri Bugti said govt had failed to control law and order as such incidents were even not taking place in the dictatorial regime of Pervez Musharraf. ‘Innocent people were being killed and abducted but government is doing nothing’, he remarked.
Debating on the resolution, Provincial Minister and leader of PPP Ali Madad Jattak criticised his party member Jan Ali Chengezai, saying it was absolutely wrong conception that only members of Shiite Muslims were being targeted. ‘Terrorists do not belong to any religion or nationality as their sole aim is to create differences amongst the people living in Quetta’, he remarked and ,added, terrorists also targeted Sunni scholars including that of Maulana Abdul Karim and son of Maulana Hafiz Hussain Sharrodi.
He said Rehman Malik had visited Quetta on the special directives of President Zardari to meet members of Hazara community and visited Imambargah.
Due to hard hitting remarks of Ali Madad Jattak, Jan Ali Chengezai took the floor and said the Minister was threatening us in polite manner and he should not speak like this.
However, Mir Sadiq Umrani, PPP Balochistan President rushed to Jattak and calmed him down.
However, when the chair put the resolution for vote the House adopted it unanimously.
The House witnessed uproar when Mir Sadiq Umrani on a point of order strongly criticised PML-N President Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif for using hard words against PPP in public meeting in Dera Ghazi Khan.
‘Nawaz Sharif has committed contempt of the democratic institutions by using bad language against PPP leader’, he remarked and used unparliamentarily remarks for Nawaz Sharif.
At this, the chair stopped Umrani for passing objectionable remarks and ruled twice for getting the Umrani out of the House and expunged his remarks.
However, other members controlled the situation before a clash.
Ali Madad Jattak, on a point of order said they condemn the speech of Nawaz Sharif and general election of 2013 would decide to whom people would vote into power ,adding, that they would not be frightened of sit-ins and rallies.
THE NATION
QUETTA - The Balochistan Assembly while condemning Mastung incident in which 26 Shiite Muslims of Hazara community were brutally killed has demanded of the govt to take practical steps to bring the culprits to justice.
The Balochistan Assembly adopted a condemnation resolution in its session which met with Deputy Speaker Matiullah Agha in the chair on Thursday.
Speaking on the admissibility of resolution, Chengezai said previously high profile members of Hazara community were being targeted but the current year witnessed more heinous incidents of mass killing of people belonging to the community.
Citing the details of attacks, he said terrorists on Eid-ul-Fitr day carried out blast in Quetta killing several people belong to Hazara community.
‘If volunteers were not deputed near prayers place the terrorists could have approached the congregation and more casualties could have occured’, he said,adding, 27 Shiite pilgrims were brutally murdered in Mastung district on September 20th.
He said when injured were being shifted to Quetta the terrorists attacked the vehicles killing three more Shiite people ,adding, that merely three day after Mastung incident three more members of Hazara community were dismounted from a mini bus near Machh and were shot dead.
He further said more than one dozen Hazara people were held at gun-point near fruit market in the outskirts of Quetta and after confirming their identity as Hazaras assailants brutally killed them. Chengezai regretted over lack of arrest of culprits, saying despite repeated attacks on Shia Muslims none of the culprits were brought to justice ,adding, that they should be told that why they were being treated like this whether they were not human beings.
He said it was the responsibility of the provincial government to ensure security to people and asked the chair to summon high-ups of law-enforcement agencies at the Assembly and the matter should be discussed. Supporting the condemnation resolution, Tariq Massuri Bugti said govt had failed to control law and order as such incidents were even not taking place in the dictatorial regime of Pervez Musharraf. ‘Innocent people were being killed and abducted but government is doing nothing’, he remarked.
Debating on the resolution, Provincial Minister and leader of PPP Ali Madad Jattak criticised his party member Jan Ali Chengezai, saying it was absolutely wrong conception that only members of Shiite Muslims were being targeted. ‘Terrorists do not belong to any religion or nationality as their sole aim is to create differences amongst the people living in Quetta’, he remarked and ,added, terrorists also targeted Sunni scholars including that of Maulana Abdul Karim and son of Maulana Hafiz Hussain Sharrodi.
He said Rehman Malik had visited Quetta on the special directives of President Zardari to meet members of Hazara community and visited Imambargah.
Due to hard hitting remarks of Ali Madad Jattak, Jan Ali Chengezai took the floor and said the Minister was threatening us in polite manner and he should not speak like this.
However, Mir Sadiq Umrani, PPP Balochistan President rushed to Jattak and calmed him down.
However, when the chair put the resolution for vote the House adopted it unanimously.
The House witnessed uproar when Mir Sadiq Umrani on a point of order strongly criticised PML-N President Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif for using hard words against PPP in public meeting in Dera Ghazi Khan.
‘Nawaz Sharif has committed contempt of the democratic institutions by using bad language against PPP leader’, he remarked and used unparliamentarily remarks for Nawaz Sharif.
At this, the chair stopped Umrani for passing objectionable remarks and ruled twice for getting the Umrani out of the House and expunged his remarks.
However, other members controlled the situation before a clash.
Ali Madad Jattak, on a point of order said they condemn the speech of Nawaz Sharif and general election of 2013 would decide to whom people would vote into power ,adding, that they would not be frightened of sit-ins and rallies.
THE NATION
Malik was wrongly briefed on law and order situation, says Balochistan minister
By Shehzad Baloch
Published: October 20, 2011
Malik claimed that Balochistan’s situation is comparatively better than other provinces. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
QUETTA: Contrary to Interior Minister Rehman Malik statement, Provincial Minister for Quality Education Jan Ali Changezi of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said the law and order situation in Balochistan is worse than other provinces.
“Malik may have been given wrong briefing about law and order situation in Balochistan,” Changezi told the reporters outside Balochistan Assembly.
He was referring to the statement in which Malik lauded the role of provincial government in overcoming law and order issues. Malik claimed that Balochistan’s situation is comparatively better than other provinces.
Changezi said that the provincial government did play a role in addressing other issues but as far as the law and order situation is concerned, the government is not sincere nor taking any serious steps.
Changezi, while highlighting the insincerity of the government, quoted Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani as saying “We will send a truck loaded with tissues to wipe the tears of the people weeping over increase in targeted killing.”
The Express Tribune
Published: October 20, 2011
QUETTA: Contrary to Interior Minister Rehman Malik statement, Provincial Minister for Quality Education Jan Ali Changezi of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said the law and order situation in Balochistan is worse than other provinces.
“Malik may have been given wrong briefing about law and order situation in Balochistan,” Changezi told the reporters outside Balochistan Assembly.
He was referring to the statement in which Malik lauded the role of provincial government in overcoming law and order issues. Malik claimed that Balochistan’s situation is comparatively better than other provinces.
Changezi said that the provincial government did play a role in addressing other issues but as far as the law and order situation is concerned, the government is not sincere nor taking any serious steps.
Changezi, while highlighting the insincerity of the government, quoted Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani as saying “We will send a truck loaded with tissues to wipe the tears of the people weeping over increase in targeted killing.”
The Express Tribune
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