on Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 11:56pm
MEDIA RELEASE
CURTIN ASYLUM SEEKERS HOLD PROTEST AT HAZARA KILLINGS IN QUETTA.
NEITHER PAKISTAN NOR AFGHNAISTAN IS SAFE FOR HAZARAS
Yesterday (Thursday 21 September), at 3.30pm, more than 400 mostly
Hazara asylum seekers staged a peaceful protest near the
administration building inside Curtin detention centre.
According to a statement released by the Curtin Hazara asylum seekers,
the hour-long demonstration was to let the immigration department know
of the dangerous situation that face their families in Quetta,
Pakistan.
Quetta has a large community of Hazaras who have fled persecution in
Afghanistan. But Pakistan is mostly Sunni Muslim and the Hazaras, who
are Shia Muslim, are increasingly the target of fundamentalist
killings in Quetta. Many of the Hazara asylum seekers families have
been left living illegally in Quetta.
“We want immigration department to know how we feel and how much we
worry [about our families’ situation].” the statement said.
The protest was held following news that on 20 September, over 29
Hazaras traveling on a bus near Quetta, were separated from other
passengers and executed. It was the third such attack in a month.
A number of speeches at the Curtin protest told of the persecution of
Hazara and Shia Mislims. The asylum seekers held banners saying,
“Where is UN?”; Why UN do not hear our voice?; Stop killing of
innocent Hazaras?; Is being Hazara is a crime?
At the end of the peaceful protest the asylum seekers returned to
their compounds. But the anxiety remains.
On the same day as the mass killing of Hazaras in Quetta, the
Australian government deported an Hazara man from Villawood detention
centre to Pakistan.
“The man is not a citizen of Pakistan. And the immigration department
ignored the very real dangers that confront the Hazaras in Quetta. The
deported man’s son had been injured in a Taliban attack in May this
year,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action
Coalition.
“The Australian government has directly violated its commitments not
to refoule asylum seekers. We are also calling on the government to
terminate its Memorandum of Agreement with the Afghan government to
return Hazaras to Afghanistan?
“How can the Australian government possibly justify such an agreement,
when the attacks on the Nato base and the killing of Burhanuddin
Rabbani, the head of the Afghan Peace Council show that Kabul itself
is not safe?” asked Rintoul.
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
خمینی چاہیے
محمد حنیف
بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، کراچی
’حالات دیکھ کر لگتا ہے کہ یہاں پر مچھر مارنا زیادہ مشکل ہے شیعہ کو مارنا نسبتا آسان‘
مستونگ میں زیارت پر جانے والے اہل تشیع کے جنازوں کو دیکھ کر مجھے وہ نادان پاکستانی یاد آئےجو ہمیشہ یہ کہتے پائے جاتے ہیں کہ اس ملک کو ایرانی انقلاب کی ضرورت ہے۔
ہمارے کئی اداریہ نویس اور دانشور ایران کے صدر احمدی نژاد کو اپنا ہیرو مانتے ہیں۔ دن رات یہ ماتم کرتے ہیں کہ اس مٹی سے کوئی ایسا سادہ دل اور جرآت مند رہنما پیدا کیوں نہیں ہوتا جو امریکہ کو آنکھیں دکھا سکے۔
رکشہ ڈرائیور، بینکار حتّی کہ عبدالستار ایدھی بھی یہ کہتے پائے جاتے ہیں کہ اس ملک کو ایک خمینی کی ضرورت ہے۔
کیا ان محب وطن شہریوں کو احساس ہے کہ اگر اس ملک میں اگر احمدی نژاد یا خمینی پیدا ہو تو اُس کی عمر کتنی طویل ہو گی، اور اُسکے بعد کیا ہو گا؟
غالباً وہی جو مستونگ میں ہونے والی بربریت کے بعد ہوا۔ تاسف، مذمت، سوگ اور پھر خفیہ ہاتھ پر الزام۔
کیا پوری قوم نہیں جانتی کہ ہماری گلیوں مسجدوں اور منبروں سے کافر کافر شیعہ کافر کے جو نعرے گونجتے ہیں اُنہیں فوج، پولیس، اور خفیہ ایجنسیوں نے تو کیا روکنا تھا کبھی کسی محلے دار یا غازی کو بھی یہ توفیق ہوئی ہے کہ مودب ہو کر کہے کہ بھائیوں یہ فیصلہ اللہ پر چھوڑ دو کہ کون کافر ہے اور کون نہیں ۔
ملک کے حالات دیکھ کر لگتا ہے کہ یہاں پر مچھر مارنا زیادہ مشکل ہے شیعہ کو مارنا آسان۔ رحمان ملک یہ کہہ کر اپنی ذِمے داری سناتے ہیں کہ اِن زائرین کو چاہیے تھا پہلے ہمیں بتا تو دیتے کہ جا کہاں رہے تھے۔
ہلاک ہونے والوں کی لاشیں ابھی مردہ خانے بھی نہیں پہنچی تھیں کہ لشکر جھنگوی نے حملے کی ذمہ داری قبول کر لی۔ ٹی وی اینکرز اپنی ازلی معصومیت کے ساتھ رات کو پھر یہ پوچھتے پائے گئے کہ اس کے پیچھے کس کا ہاتھ ہو سکتا ہے؟
چند ماہ پہلے پاکستان میں شیعہ کافر، مُسلح مہم کے سالار ملک اِسحاق جب لاہور کی ایک عدالت سے اپنی معصومیت کا سرٹیفکیٹ لے کر رہا ہوئے تو اُن کا اِستقبال پھولوں کی پتیاں نچھاور کر کے کیا گیا۔
ایک ٹی وی اینکر نے لائیو ٹی وی پر اُن سے پوچھا کہ اب اُن کا لائحہ عمل کیا ہو گا۔ ملک اِسحاق نے اُتنی ہی معصومیت سے فرمایا کہ وہ کریں گے جو پہلے کرتے تھے۔ نہ انٹرویو کرنے والے نہ ٹی وی دیکھنے والوں کو یہ جاننے کے ضرورت تھی کہ اُن کا مشن کیا ہے۔ اُن پر درجنوں شیعہ شہریوں کے قتل کا الزام تھا جن میں سے ایک بھی ثابت نہ ہو سکا۔
پاکستان میں شیعہ کافر، مُسلح مہم کے سالار ملک اِسحاق جب لاہور کی ایک عدالت سے اپنی معصومیت کا سرٹیفکیٹ لے کر رہا ہوئے تو اُن کا اِستقبال پھولوں کی پتیاں نچھاور کر کے کیا گیا۔
لیکن یہ ظاہر ہے کہ ملک اِسحاق کا لشکر جھنگوی سے کوئی تعلق نہیں کیونکہ لشکر جھنگوی پر پابندی ہے (یہ ابھی تک کسی کو معلوم نہیں کہ لشکر پر کیا کرنے کی پابندی ہے ) سپاہ صحابہ پر بھی پابندی ہے جو ایک زمانے میں انجمن سپاہ صحابہ ہوا کرتی تھی ۔ ملک اِسحاق تو اہل سُنت والجماعت کے ادنٰی کارکن ہیں۔
لیکن یہ انجمن ، یہ سپاہ، یہ لشکر، یہ جماعت کیا چاہتے ہیں اس بارے میں ہمیں کوئی اہل کار کوئی اداریہ نویس نہیں بتاتا۔ اور وہ بتائیں بھی کیوں؟ کیا پوری قوم نہیں جانتی کہ ہماری گلیوں مسجدوں اور منبروں سے کافر کافر شیعہ کافر کے جو نعرے گونجتے ہیں اُنہیں فوج، پولیس، اور خفیہ ایجنسیوں نے تو کیا روکنا تھا کبھی کسی محلے دار یا غازی کو بھی یہ توفیق ہوئی ہے کہ مودب ہو کر کہے کہ بھائیو، یہ فیصلہ اللہ پر چھوڑ دو کہ کون کافر ہے اور کون نہیں۔
اور تو اور مولانا فضل الرّحمن بھی سانحہ مستونگ کے بعد یہ کہتے پائے گئے کہ یہ خفیہ اداروں کی سازش ہے، مسلمان کو مسلمان سے لڑانے کی سازش ہے اور مذہبی جماعتیں اس کی ہمیشہ سے مخالف رہی ہیں۔
کیا وہ سپاہ صحابہ اور اُس پر پابندی کے بعد بننے والی تنظیموں کو غیر مذہبی قرار دے رہے ہیں۔ کیا اس مسلح مہم کے سالار حق نواز جھنگوی مولانا فضل الرّحمن کی جماعت کے ہی رہنما نہ تھے ۔کیا جھنگوی صاحب کے فرمودات آج تک جمیعت علمائے اسلام کے تنظیمی پرچوں میں نہیں چھپتے۔
بلکہ نژاد اور خمینی جیسے ناموں کو واصل جہنم کرنے سے پہلے اُن کا شناختی کارڈ بھی چیک کرنے کی زحمت گوارا نہ کرنی پڑتی اور اگر اُس کے قتل کے الزام میں کوئی گرفتار ہوتا تو ثبوت کی عدم دستیابی کی وجہ سے باعزت بری پاتا اور پھولوں کی پتیوں کی بارش میں اس عزم کا اعادہ کرتا کہ جو کیا تھا وہ بار بار کریں گے۔
پنجاب پر تیس سال سے حکومت کرنے والے جھنگ اور وہاں سے پھوٹنے والی اس تشدد کی لہر کا نام لیتے ہوئے ایسے شرماتے ہیں جیسے نوبیاہتا دُلہن اپنے شوہر کا نام لیتے ہوئے شرماتی ہے ۔
تو پاکستان میں احمدی نژاد اور خمینی جیسے نجات دہندہ کے خواب دیکھنے والوں کی خدمت میں مودبانہ عرض ہے کہ اگر اس نام کا کوئی شخص پاکستان میں پیدا ہو جائے تو اُس سے نمٹنے کے لیے کسی انجمن، کسی لشکر، کسی جماعت کا ایک ادنی کارکن ہی کافی ہے۔
بلکہ احمدی نژاد اور خمینی جیسے ناموں کو مٹا کر ’ثوابِ دارین‘ حاصل کرنے سے پہلے اُن کا شناختی کارڈ بھی چیک کرنے کی زحمت گوارا نہ کرنی پڑتی اور اگر اُس کے قتل کے الزام میں کوئی گرفتار ہوتا تو ثبوت کی عدم دستیابی کی وجہ سے باعزت بری پاتا اور پھولوں کی پتیوں کی بارش میں اس عزم کا اعادہ کرتا کہ جو کیا تھا وہ بار بار کریں گے۔
Source,
BBC URDU
Three killed in Quetta bus attack
By Hafeez Baloch - Sep 23rd, 2011
Quetta: Unknown gunman opened fire on a passenger van, killing at least four people and injuring two other in Quetta, police said on Friday.
According to reports the incident on Sibbi road. Police said the bus was heading toward Mach, Bolan when it came under attack.
Police and rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area. The dead and injured were taken to nearby hospital. Sources said four armed men intercepted a van carrying 15 people on board and disembarked members of Hazara community and opened fire. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Source,
The News Tribune
Quetta: Unknown gunman opened fire on a passenger van, killing at least four people and injuring two other in Quetta, police said on Friday.
According to reports the incident on Sibbi road. Police said the bus was heading toward Mach, Bolan when it came under attack.
Police and rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area. The dead and injured were taken to nearby hospital. Sources said four armed men intercepted a van carrying 15 people on board and disembarked members of Hazara community and opened fire. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Source,
The News Tribune
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Pakistan's Sectarian Killers Operate With Impunity; TIME Magazine
By Omar Waraich / Islamabad Friday, Sept. 23, 2011
Residents and relatives gather near the coffins of victims, who were killed in a suspected sectarian attack, before their burial in Quetta on September 21, 2011
Naseer Ahmed / Reuters
It began as an ordinary journey, but ended in a bloody storm of sectarian terror. On Monday, 40 Shi'ite pilgrims from the ethnic Hazara community boarded a bus bound for Iran, planning to pay homage at shrines of their revered saints. Near the town of Mastung, in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, the bus juddered to a halt when a pick-up truck swerved in front of it, blocking its path. The bus driver later told reporters that a second pick-up has pulled up alongside, and men bearing rocket launchers and automatic rifles had leapt from both vehicles.
As the attackers forced the passengers off the bus, some managed to flee, sparing themselves. The others were lined-up in front of the bus and summarily shot — 26 were killed and six wounded. The gunmen then left the scene, with Pakistani security forces arriving only an hour later, to find relatives wailing over blood-soaked bodies. On Wednesday, the survivors, who had set out to mourn at the shrines of their ancient martyrs, instead lowered new ones into fresh graves. Shi'ites, who comprise over a quarter of Pakistan's population, are deemed "apostates" by many extremist sectarian Sunni groups.
Responsibility for the attack on the long-suffering Hazaras of Baluchistan was claimed by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) — a group also suspected of a devastating attack earlier in the week on the home of senior police officer in Karachi who has a record of taking on the militants. Though little known in the West, LeJ, is a sectarian extremist outfit linked to al-Qaeda and to the Pakistani Taliban, is now widely considered Pakistan's most dangerous terrorist group.
While al-Qaeda has suffered a series of setbacks after CIA drone strikes killed successive leaders based in Pakistan's tribal areas, its local affiliate remains unimpeded. "We haven't seen any change in their capacity," laments Amir Rana, the Director of the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies and an expert on Pakistani militant groups. And few seem willing to change that. The Army is reluctant to confront its bases with force; the police have failed to protect those it threatens; the judiciary is unable to successfully prosecute its leading members; and some politicians have sought to appease it with shady deals.
LeJ began life as a particularly vicious offshoot of the banned anti-Shi'ite Sipah-e-Sahaba organization. The sectarian group, with its cells seeded throughout the country, held both doctrinal and organisational appeal for al-Qaeda, which used LeJ's deep and pervasive network to expand its own presence into Pakistan. While al-Qaeda had operational command, LeJ supplied foot soldiers to carry out attacks. The September 2008 attack that turned the Islamabad Marriott into a smoldering heap was the most dramatic demonstration of their collaboration. It is also believed to have been involved in the March 2009 attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, which spelled the end of international sports events being hosted in Pakistan. Later that year, LeJ members were involved in the dramatic 24-hour siege of the army's headquarters in Rawalpindi. Hoping to end that embarrassing assault, the Army sent the plane of its commander in chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, to collect notorious LeJ leader Malik Ishaq from his prison cell to negotiate with the attackers.
In July, Ishaq was freed from prison, securing bail after the Supreme Court said there was a "lack of evidence" to prosecute him. Many were alarmed that a man who had boasted of killing many Shi'ites, and has a history of inciting others to do the same, could not be successfully prosecuted. According to observers familiar with the case, the witnesses in the case were either eliminated, or were too afraid to appear in court.
"There is no witness protection program in Pakistan," says analyst Ejaz Haider. "These are people who have such a terrifying reach that they have been able to run their terrorist networks from jail," he adds."How will people come to court and testify against them?"
A day before the massacre near Mastung, Chaudhry Aslam Khan was jolted awake in his Karachi home by a 660-pound bomb delivered by a suicide bomber in a car. The blast destroyed nearby buildings and cars, left a 10-foot crater, and killed six policemen, a mother and her son — the deadliest such attack to strike the well-heeled part of Karachi inhabited by its defense elite. And the militants' willingness to strike not just the target, but his family, too, signals a new trend, some fear.
"It's a major shift in their policy," says Azhar Abbas, director of the GeoNews TV news channel. And he has reason to worry. A couple months ago, his name was on a hit list on leaflets dropped by LeJ in Pashtun-dominated areas of Karachi. The pamphlet, Abbas says, had specific instructions: "If you can't reach the target, then get their families." Three other Shi'ite politicians and journalists told TIME their lives had been threatened by LeJ.
For over two years now, Washington has been urging Pakistan to take on militants in North Waziristan, which is home to the Haqqani network (blamed by the U.S. for the recent attack on its embassy in Kabul), al-Qaeda's surviving leadership, the Pakistani Taliban and also, according to a senior military official, the headquarters of LeJ. The Pakistani military's reluctance to enter North Waziristan creates a permissive environment not only for groups that operate against NATO in Afghanistan, but also for those like the LeJ who wreak havoc inside Pakistan.
It's not only the military that appears to be passive in the face of the LeJ. In Punjab, where the group was founded and where leaders like Ishaq continue to openly preach hatred, the provincial government has entered a non-aggression pact with LeJ, says analyst Rana. The Punjab government is alleged to allow LeJ and its parent organization, the Sipah-e-Sahaba to operate with some freedom in return for electoral support. In Karachi and in Baluchistan, where the massacre near Mastung took place, Shi'ites complain that the police are not offering them protection. "It's certainly not a question of capacity," says analyst Rana. "It's a question of will."
Source,
TIME MAGAZINE
Residents and relatives gather near the coffins of victims, who were killed in a suspected sectarian attack, before their burial in Quetta on September 21, 2011
Naseer Ahmed / Reuters
It began as an ordinary journey, but ended in a bloody storm of sectarian terror. On Monday, 40 Shi'ite pilgrims from the ethnic Hazara community boarded a bus bound for Iran, planning to pay homage at shrines of their revered saints. Near the town of Mastung, in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, the bus juddered to a halt when a pick-up truck swerved in front of it, blocking its path. The bus driver later told reporters that a second pick-up has pulled up alongside, and men bearing rocket launchers and automatic rifles had leapt from both vehicles.
As the attackers forced the passengers off the bus, some managed to flee, sparing themselves. The others were lined-up in front of the bus and summarily shot — 26 were killed and six wounded. The gunmen then left the scene, with Pakistani security forces arriving only an hour later, to find relatives wailing over blood-soaked bodies. On Wednesday, the survivors, who had set out to mourn at the shrines of their ancient martyrs, instead lowered new ones into fresh graves. Shi'ites, who comprise over a quarter of Pakistan's population, are deemed "apostates" by many extremist sectarian Sunni groups.
Responsibility for the attack on the long-suffering Hazaras of Baluchistan was claimed by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) — a group also suspected of a devastating attack earlier in the week on the home of senior police officer in Karachi who has a record of taking on the militants. Though little known in the West, LeJ, is a sectarian extremist outfit linked to al-Qaeda and to the Pakistani Taliban, is now widely considered Pakistan's most dangerous terrorist group.
While al-Qaeda has suffered a series of setbacks after CIA drone strikes killed successive leaders based in Pakistan's tribal areas, its local affiliate remains unimpeded. "We haven't seen any change in their capacity," laments Amir Rana, the Director of the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies and an expert on Pakistani militant groups. And few seem willing to change that. The Army is reluctant to confront its bases with force; the police have failed to protect those it threatens; the judiciary is unable to successfully prosecute its leading members; and some politicians have sought to appease it with shady deals.
LeJ began life as a particularly vicious offshoot of the banned anti-Shi'ite Sipah-e-Sahaba organization. The sectarian group, with its cells seeded throughout the country, held both doctrinal and organisational appeal for al-Qaeda, which used LeJ's deep and pervasive network to expand its own presence into Pakistan. While al-Qaeda had operational command, LeJ supplied foot soldiers to carry out attacks. The September 2008 attack that turned the Islamabad Marriott into a smoldering heap was the most dramatic demonstration of their collaboration. It is also believed to have been involved in the March 2009 attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, which spelled the end of international sports events being hosted in Pakistan. Later that year, LeJ members were involved in the dramatic 24-hour siege of the army's headquarters in Rawalpindi. Hoping to end that embarrassing assault, the Army sent the plane of its commander in chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, to collect notorious LeJ leader Malik Ishaq from his prison cell to negotiate with the attackers.
In July, Ishaq was freed from prison, securing bail after the Supreme Court said there was a "lack of evidence" to prosecute him. Many were alarmed that a man who had boasted of killing many Shi'ites, and has a history of inciting others to do the same, could not be successfully prosecuted. According to observers familiar with the case, the witnesses in the case were either eliminated, or were too afraid to appear in court.
"There is no witness protection program in Pakistan," says analyst Ejaz Haider. "These are people who have such a terrifying reach that they have been able to run their terrorist networks from jail," he adds."How will people come to court and testify against them?"
A day before the massacre near Mastung, Chaudhry Aslam Khan was jolted awake in his Karachi home by a 660-pound bomb delivered by a suicide bomber in a car. The blast destroyed nearby buildings and cars, left a 10-foot crater, and killed six policemen, a mother and her son — the deadliest such attack to strike the well-heeled part of Karachi inhabited by its defense elite. And the militants' willingness to strike not just the target, but his family, too, signals a new trend, some fear.
"It's a major shift in their policy," says Azhar Abbas, director of the GeoNews TV news channel. And he has reason to worry. A couple months ago, his name was on a hit list on leaflets dropped by LeJ in Pashtun-dominated areas of Karachi. The pamphlet, Abbas says, had specific instructions: "If you can't reach the target, then get their families." Three other Shi'ite politicians and journalists told TIME their lives had been threatened by LeJ.
For over two years now, Washington has been urging Pakistan to take on militants in North Waziristan, which is home to the Haqqani network (blamed by the U.S. for the recent attack on its embassy in Kabul), al-Qaeda's surviving leadership, the Pakistani Taliban and also, according to a senior military official, the headquarters of LeJ. The Pakistani military's reluctance to enter North Waziristan creates a permissive environment not only for groups that operate against NATO in Afghanistan, but also for those like the LeJ who wreak havoc inside Pakistan.
It's not only the military that appears to be passive in the face of the LeJ. In Punjab, where the group was founded and where leaders like Ishaq continue to openly preach hatred, the provincial government has entered a non-aggression pact with LeJ, says analyst Rana. The Punjab government is alleged to allow LeJ and its parent organization, the Sipah-e-Sahaba to operate with some freedom in return for electoral support. In Karachi and in Baluchistan, where the massacre near Mastung took place, Shi'ites complain that the police are not offering them protection. "It's certainly not a question of capacity," says analyst Rana. "It's a question of will."
Source,
TIME MAGAZINE
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)