Cross Fire - 29th May 2012

No One Hears the Poor

Here in Kabul, Voices co-coordinator Buddy Bell and I are guests at the home of the Afghan Peace Volunteers (APV), where we've gotten to know four young boys who are being tutored by the Volunteers in the afternoons, having "retired" from their former work as street vendors in exchange for a chance to enter a public school. Five afternoons a week, Murtaza, Rahim, Hamid and Sajad wheel their antiquated bicycles into the APV "yard." They quickly shake the hand of each person present and then wash their feet outside the back door before settling into a classroom to study language, math and art, tutored in each subject by a different Volunteer. They've cycled here from school through heavy traffic, which worries their mothers, but the families cannot afford for the boys to take a public bus. ...Continue Reading... 

Afghan insurgents target safest province Bamiyan

By Mirwais Harooni

KABUL | Tue May 29, 2012 1:21am EDT

(Reuters) - Insurgents have stepped up attacks in the area thought to be Afghanistan's safest, the rugged central province of Bamiyan, moving into the region in a bid to undermine security ahead of the end-2014 exit from the country of most foreign combat troops.

Around 20 Taliban fighters from neighboring Baghlan province have crossed into Bamiyan and launched attacks in several districts, Bamiyan Police Chief General Juma Guldi Yardem told Reuters on Tuesday.

"They usually plant roadside bombs, lead attacks on security checkpoints and some have even launched suicide attacks on some government offices," Yardem said...Continue Reading...

Message for all Hazaras

#Hazara rally welcomed at #OccupyPerth Oct 29 #afghanistan #pakistan

CM Raisani spends hours gazing at shoes as Balochistan burns

Amir Mateen

Sunday, May 27, 2012
From Print Edition

"QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani is a paradox. His admirers will tell you that he is a happy-go-lucky person “who will not say ‘no’ to you for anything that you might ask.”

Well, that could be a good trait as well as bad, depending on what one is asking. He’s got his unique, casual style that is amply posted on YouTube as Pakistan’s most funny videos. In one video he is trying to address a public gathering visibly stoned. He tries to mutter a few sentences then takes long — really long — pauses and finally collapses on stage. His media managers will tell you it was migraine but even a child can tell that it’s not. This style is reflected in everything around him. It seems his clowning around fits every other stakeholder in power."........

........"The province was already beset by sectarian and target killings that saw 1,388 people killed in the last four years, 434 of them from law enforcing agencies. In the ever-growing sectarian strife, 287 Hazaras, Shias, Hindus and Christians were targeted in 88 incidents. Tragedy gets lots in these figures. In this sleepy old town that was known for its beautiful, breezy evenings, everybody seems to be killing everybody else."........

"It’s not just the insurgency but the normal crime rate that has shot up. Criminals are having a field day in the absence of any governance. Murders have gone up from 636 in 2008 to 1,270 in 2011. Robberies have also shot from 240 to 386 in the same period. Kidnapping for ransom has increased from 181 to 421 and still growing into 2012. This has impacted businessmen particularly. Many do not wear good clothes or use good cars to avoid being identified as rich. The very soul of the city seems shattered. An extra stare by a stranger can sometimes cause shivers."......Continue Reading...

Threatened Pakistani Journalist Seeks Asylum in Australia

A Pakistani minority journalist being held at theCurtin Immigration Detention Centre, 40 kilometers southeast of Derby in West Australia, says he now feels "protected" from Islamic terrorist groups that had threatened to kill him in his home country.Amjad Hussain, 38, a print and broadcast journalist, was the only reporter from the often marginalizedHazara ethnic community working in Pakistan's mainstream media in Islamabad, the nation's capital. In less than a decade, extremist groups have killed nearly 600 Hazaras for practicing a Shia version of Islam in Sunni majority Pakistan. Hussain describes himself as a Hazara modernist, a secular professional who has come under attack for his ethnicity and for highlighting the human rights abuses committed by extremist groups and certain segments of the Pakistani security forces...Continue Reading...