Thursday, March 27, 2014

VIDEO: Investigation commissioned by NJ Governor Christie clears him in bridge scandal

Kabhi Kabhi mere dil mein khayal aata hai

President Obama: Travels with The President - Rome & Vatican City

Movie: 'Noah' to sail to No. 1 at the box office

An Old Testament epic will storm theaters this weekend with hopes of attracting a boatload of moviegoers. Director Darren Aronofsky's $130-million-budgeted "Noah" is expected to generate around $40 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada through Sunday, according to people who have seen pre-release audience surveys. Paramount Pictures, which is releasing the film, has predicted a softer gross of $30 million to $33 million. An opening in the projected range for the special effects-heavy, big-budget disaster film — starring Russell Crowe as the biblical boat-builder — will almost certainly make it the No. 1 movie at the domestic box office. If "Noah" is a hit, it will be the latest in a string of religion-inspired successes.
"Son of God," a less-expensive New Testament retelling culled from Mark Burnett and Roma Downey's "Bible" miniseries, opened this year with $25.6 million in revenue, propped up by bulk purchases from Christian groups, and has since gone on to gross $56 million. The modern-day campus drama "God's Not Dead" opened last weekend with a surprisingly strong $9.2 million from just 780 theaters. Aronofsky's dark take on the Book of Genesis story of Noah's ark, financed by Paramount and Regency Enterprises, marks a departure for a director best known for lower-budget fare such as "Black Swan," "The Wrestler" and "Requiem for a Dream." The PG-13-rated film has faced criticism from the outset, both from religious groups that questioned how faithfully it would treat its source material along with conservatives who decried its emphasis on environmental themes. Reviews by film critics have been generally positive, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
The scripture-sourced slate won't end with "Noah." Upcoming God-themed movies include "Heaven Is For Real," "Exodus," "Last Days in the Desert" and "Mary," all coming at least a decade after the massive success of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." "Noah" began its maiden voyage in Mexico and South Korea a week ago with a strong $14 million, and it's likely to play well overseas. Alongside Crowe, the disaster picture's stars include Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Connelly and Emma Watson. Last week's chart-topper "Divergent," the teen dystopian adventure starring Shailene Woodley, should continue to pull in plenty of box-office cash. Lionsgate is hoping the Summit Entertainment film will kick off another strong young-adult franchise after the massive success of the "Hunger Games" series. Its second weekend could add around $25 million to its domestic total of more than $60 million.
In "Noah's" wake, Arnold Schwarzenegger's new crime thriller "Sabotage" is not likely to see much action at the multiplex. The movie about a DEA team whose elite agents are targeted by a ruthless drug cartel, is expected to take in less than $10 million in its debut. The $35-million picture was financed and produced by QED International and is getting its U.S. release from Open Road Films.
Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel," expanding to 970 theaters, should continue to impress with a weekend tally of around $10 million. The quirky director's latest, distributed domestically by Fox Searchlight Pictures, has amassed more than $14 million in its limited run.
The new "Cesar Chavez" biopic could bring in around $5 million from 660 locations. Michael Peña plays the civil rights activist and labor organizer in the film directed by Diego Luna and produced by Pantelion Films, a joint venture between Lionsgate and the giant Mexican media company Grupo Televisa. "Bad Words," an R-rated comedy written and directed by "Arrested Development" star Jason Bateman, is expanding to around 600 theaters and could gross $5 million or less.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-noah-sabotage-grand-budapest-hotel-20140326,0,4391185.story#ixzz2xCP2IoJd

G8 to G7 - it's no big deal

The US-led Group of Seven (G7) has decided to suspend participation in the Group of Eight (G8) and abandon the scheduled G8 summit to be held in Sochi in Russia. The Russian Foreign Minister commented with harsh irony that as the G8 is an informal group, there is no formal membership, so there is no such concept as “being ejected”.
As globalization increases, the influence of the group, whether G7 or G8, is becoming weaker. Especially after the global financial crisis, emerging economies have flourished, bringing change to the international economy, and also changing the face of world politics and diplomacy.
As a 'rich man's club', when the G7 absorbed Russia in 1998 it had the strategic intention to westernize Russia. Since Putin came to power, he has had frequent confrontations with the West’s strategic plans, and as result the G8 is becoming something of a “man of straw”, maintaining the form, but with few substantive actions. Thus the matter of the G8 returning to G7 is of little importance for global politics.
The real issues of concern are not whether the G8 can survive, but whether the globalization process will be stopped and whether a new form of cold war will be launched. The G7 changed the theme of the Nuclear Security Summit to condemn Russian actions in Crimea, reflecting the sharp confrontation between the West and Russia.
Excluding Russia from the G8 is a further sanction and a warning shot from the U.S. and its allies to Russia. If the situation in eastern Ukraine deteriorates, tougher economic sanctions will be imposed by the western side against Russia.
We must now wait to see how Russia will react. If Putin offers some compromises to split the U.S. from its allies, it is possible that Russia and the West will shake hands again after a period of cooling-off.
In fact, Russia has already made some conciliatory gestures. During the Nuclear Security Summit, the Foreign Ministers of Russia and Ukraine engaged in a first dialogue, indicating Russia’s tacit assent to the new regime in Ukraine. As long as the situation in eastern Ukraine can be gradually calmed down, Russia, Ukraine and the West can be expected to enter into a period of negotiations.

Unfortunately, Russia is not as clever as China

The decisive and tough position of the Kremlin on the situation around Ukraine was no surprise to the West. Throughout 2013 Russia has demonstrated independence and consistency in defending its national interests. Diplomat Alexander Panov discussed the events of last year in a conversation with the chief editor of Pravda.Ru Inna Novikova.
"I read an opinion of a well-respected expert that the success in Crimea in March of 2014 was based on the successes in Russia's foreign policy in 2013."
"Indeed, it was quite a successful year for the Russian foreign policy. This has to do primarily with the fact that we managed to reduce the risks, the crisis, in the sense that there has been no armed open clash in Syria. It was Russia that had an impact on the Syrian leadership that convinced them to choose chemical disarmament. It was Russia that has become the guarantor that would ensure that the disarmament of Syria will not make it vulnerable to a threat of external forces. Of course, this was a success."
"Was it Russia or Russia and China that played a decisive role in this outcome of the Syrian crisis?
"China was involved to a lesser extent. China is a rather clever state."
"We are clever, too."
"Unfortunately, not really. I believe that we are often too direct; if we want something, we go ahead and do what we need in a rush. The Chinese think in terms of a bigger picture, long term. When they are increasing their presence in global affairs, they are doing it gently, slowly, without sticking out too much."
"Therefore, Syria was Russia's apparent success?"
"Certainly, and it has to do with the fact that Russia timely saw the situation where both the U.S. and the EU were debating whether to fight or not. Obama, generally, was more inclined not to fight. Indeed, why would the Nobel Peace Laureate suddenly start a war?"
"They were paid by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and this is openly discussed."
"I think that the sheikhs paid France, this is why Hollande was so vocal. He was paid more, he has very close relations with Saudi Arabia, and the United States is a wealthy enough country to not depend on Saudi money. France had to work for this money to the fullest. Obama, of course, had doubts, and he hesitated for a long time. Then we realized that through the initiative to destroy chemical weapons, Russia will help to break the impasse. Obama jumped at it. "
"This, I think, was the first time when the Americans abandoned the idea of a declared military strike."
"If the U.S. wanted to fight, they would have hit regardless of Assad's actions. There was a skillful, subtle and brilliant game by the Russian diplomacy. Putin, when he met with G8, clearly and firmly made a proposal that everyone agreed with. Even the fact that when Crimea was annexed to Russia the U.S. has frozen the diplomatic relations with Syria (which, incidentally, is quite a shallow and inconsistent decision) cannot erase our success in Syria."
"Syria was the second victory, because before that there was Snowden, and I think his information was successfully used by our diplomacy ..."
"I have some doubts regarding Snowden. I believe that he was given us by China. He also came to China and likely wanted to stay there. The Chinese have worked with him, but Beijing is now building relationships with the United States, and so Snowden was told to go wherever he wanted. We were in an ambiguous situation, and I think that granting him asylum was a controversial decision."
"What were the risks for Russia?"
"This could have led and did lead to a certain deterioration of the relations. On the other hand, unfortunately, now we do not have the best relations with the United States. I believe that under Obama we could have had more constructive and productive relations because there is no guarantee that the next U.S. president will take a constructive approach towards Russia. Maybe it will be the opposite. We have seen how the Republican candidates generally speak against Russia. There are only two years left until the next election, we'll see. However, the relationship with Obama is not getting better.
"Look at a photo where Putin and Obama are sitting next to each other, their poses send a clear message that these are two people who do not even want to talk to each other. Now take the U.S. and China. The Chinese leader visited California last summer. The two leaders talked for eight hours. Of course, they talked not so much about the economy or contradictions. They talked about something else, and now it is clear that certain agreements on the delimitation of interests have been reached. We do not have any high-level dialogue with the United States."
"This is a strange situation ..."
"Perhaps this is a question for both leaders. It happens at times that there is no relationship between the leaders, no desire or willingness to talk and negotiate." "But they have to understand that they represent their countries, regardless of personal feelings ..."
"Of course, but in this case for a number of reasons it has not happened. In politics, personal factors are very significant. Remember when Germany was under Schroeder Putin had great relationship with him, and with Merkel it is not all that smooth."
"Let's go back to the successes of our foreign policy. I think that the main success is in the fact that in the hot spots Russia has successfully resisted tough and selfish policy of the USA, this empire that no one contradicted in the last quarter of a century, with the exception of maybe China, sometimes. Everything worked for Washington."
"I agree. But we must admit that now there is one empire, the United States, albeit peculiar, soft, so to speak, but it defines the international climate policy as a whole. We should remember though that empires do not last forever. This is a topic for a separate discussion."

Putin demands quick legislative groundwork for Crimea, Sevastopol

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday demanded that the Russian parliament promptly ensure the necessary legislative groundwork for the economic and social development of Crimea and Sevastopol. Russia's President also announced the country's intention to build national payment-processing systems, similar to those in China and Japan.
"It is necessary to ensure legislative groundwork for everything that concerns the development of the economy and social spheres of Crimea and Sevastopol," the president said at a meeting with the upper house’s council. Putin said their accession to Russia necessitated a solution to many tasks. "We must smoothly, carefully, consistently and professionally ensure the entry of Crimea and Sevastopol into our legal system without creating problems for the people, but on the contrary creating conditions for the development of the economy and social spheres in Russia’s new entities," the president added.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_03_27/Putin-demands-quick-legislative-groundwork-for-Crimea-Sevastopol-6006/

Obama: We will "do everything we can to support Ukraine"

Obama to Visit Saudi Arabia, Key Source of Funding for Growing Jihadi Militarism in Middle East

Despite Saudi Arabia’s funding and arming of militants in Syria, Iraq and beyond, President Obama is set to visit the kingdom this week to meet with King Abdullah. It’s the only Middle Eastern or Gulf nation on Obama’s overseas itinerary. Many analysts say the conflict in Syria has grown into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Saudi Arabia’s links to jihadist groups go back decades. Fifteen of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers were Saudi. The 9/11 Commission Report identified Saudi Arabia as the main source of al-Qaeda financing. And in 2010, WikiLeaks published U.S. diplomatic cables which identified Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest source of funds for Islamist militant groups. Members of Congress and human rights organizations have also been calling on Obama to address the kingdom’s treatment of women, religious minorities and political activists. We are joined by Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for The Independent. Cockburn wrote The Independent’s recent five-part series examining the resurgence of jihadists across the Middle East, "Al-Qa’ida’s Second Act: Why the Global 'War on Terror' Went Wrong."
NERMEEN SHAIKH:
"Al-Qaida, the Second Act. Why the Global 'War on Terror' Went Wrong." That’s the name of the new five-part series published in the U.K.'s Independent newspaper that examines the resurgence of jihadists across the Middle East. A key part of the series examines how Saudi Arabia has openly backed militant groups in Syria, Iraq and other countries. Many analysts say the conflict in Syria has grown into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Saudi Arabia's history of backing jihadist groups goes back decades. Fifteen of the 19 September 11th hijackers were Saudi. The 9/11 Commission Report identified Saudi Arabia as the main source of al-Qaeda financing. And in 2010, WikiLeaks published U.S. diplomatic cables which identified Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest source of funds for Islamist militant groups.
AMY GOODMAN:
Despite this record, Saudi Arabia remains a close U.S. ally. President Obama is heading to Saudi Arabia this week to meet with King Abdullah. Saudi Arabia is the only Middle Eastern or Gulf nation on Obama’s overseas itinerary. Members of Congress and human rights organizations have also been calling on Obama to address the kingdom’s treatment of women, religious minorities and political activists. To talk more about Obama’s visit to the oil-rich kingdom, we go to London to speak with Patrick Cockburn, the Middle East correspondent for The Independent who wrote the five-part series on the resurgence of al-Qaeda. One of the pieces is called "Is Saudi Arabia Regretting Its Support for Terrorism?" So, can you answer that question, Patrick Cockburn, and also talk about it in the context of President Obama meeting with King Abdullah?
PATRICK COCKBURN:
The Saudis have got rather nervous at the moment that—having supported these jihadi groups, that are all either linked to al-Qaeda or have exactly the same ideology and method of action of al-Qaeda, so they’ve introduced some laws saying that—against Saudis fighting in Syria or elsewhere. But it’s probably too late for this to have any effect. The al-Qaeda-type organizations really control a massive area in northern and eastern Syria at the moment and northern and western Iraq. The largest number of volunteers fighting with these al-Qaeda-type groups are Saudi. Most of the money originally came from there. But these people now control their own oil wells. They probably are less reliant on Saudi money.
Will President Obama’s visit make much difference? It’s doubtful. I mean, it’s a rather extraordinary relationship, which doesn’t get much attention, between Saudi Arabia and the United States. Saudi Arabia is one of the few theocratic absolute monarchies on Earth, and therefore it was always absurd to be allied to Saudi Arabia in a bid to introduce secular democracy in Syria or Libya or anywhere else. So, probably, they will come out with comforting statements, and the Saudis will be saying to Obama, "Well, look, we’re taking measures against the jihadis now, so let’s step up our attempts to overthrow Assad in Syria." But in practice, the groups that they’re supporting are closely linked to Jabhat al-Nusra, the main al-Qaeda group. So I don’t think things are going to change very much.
NERMEEN SHAIKH:
I want to turn to U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks in 2010. In a December 2009 memo, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton identified Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest source of funds for Islamist militant groups such as the Afghan Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba. She writes, quote, "While the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia takes seriously the threat of terrorism within Saudi Arabia, it has been an ongoing challenge to persuade Saudi officials to treat terrorist financing emanating from Saudi Arabia as a strategic priority. Due in part to intense focus by the [U.S. government] over the last several years, Saudi Arabia has begun to make important progress on this front and has responded to terrorist financing concerns raised by the United States through proactively investigating and detaining financial facilitators of concern. Still, donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide." Patrick Cockburn, that was a U.S. diplomatic cable from 2009 released in 2010. Could you explain why you think the U.S. has been hesitant to act against Saudi Arabia in the way that it has against other countries in the Arab world following 9/11, and especially following these revelations?
PATRICK COCKBURN:
It’s pretty extraordinary, given that so much of what happened on 9/11 can be traced back to Saudi Arabia. Why hasn’t there been a greater reaction in the U.S. and the rest of the world? Well, the Saudis have cultivated people in Washington, government in Washington. There are enormous arms sales by the U.S. to Saudi Arabia. The arms on orders—on order at the moment are worth a total of $86 billion—fighter aircraft, helicopters, everything else. And they’ve also spent money cultivating former diplomats, officials, academics and so forth. And therefore, there hasn’t been—though I find this rather amazing—more pressure on Saudi Arabia or on the U.S. government to stop Saudi Arabia supporting jihadi movements. It’s not just money. It’s, I mean, a lot of it, propaganda of a satellite television, which is anti-Shia, anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, hate propaganda. So long as they have these methods of propaganda, they can probably raise men and money to send to Syria and Iraq and elsewhere.
AMY GOODMAN:
Patrick, this trip that President Obama—accompanied by Secretary of State John Kerry, to show the significance of it—in the United States is being seen as a reconciliation trip, the U.S. wanting to improve its relationship with Saudi Arabia, especially frayed when Saudi Arabia wanted the U.S. to be tougher on Iran—interestingly, Saudi Arabia sharing the same view as Israel on this issue. Can you talk about that in the context of the role Saudi Arabia is playing in the world?
PATRICK COCKBURN:
Yes, I mean, last year, there was difference between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. over the support of al-Qaeda-type organizations in Syria, which in turn are destabilizing Iraq. Saudi Arabia was eager for Obama to launch a military assault on Syria last August after the use of poison gas in Damascus. They were vocally upset when the U.S. didn’t do this. They have pushed for a U.S. war with Iran, going back several years. King Abdullah is quoted by—on a diplomatic cable as saying, "Cut off the head of the snake." So they’ll try to ensure that they’re at one with the U.S. in trying to bring down Assad and opposing Iran.
NERMEEN SHAIKH:
Patrick Cockburn, you’ve also pointed out that these Islamist groups, violent Islamist groups, have proliferated since 9/11, and especially after the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011. Could you explain what the distinction is, if any, between al-Qaeda and all of these offshoot groups, and if the hesitation on the part of the U.S. has to do with the fact that these new groups operate regionally rather than in the West?
PATRICK COCKBURN:
Yes, I think that they draw too great a distinction—I mean, Washington draws too great a distinction between people who have a direct operational link to the remains of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda in Pakistan and other groups that have the same ideology, operate in the same way, have the same methods. And you could see that in Libya, when—where the U.S. ambassador, Christopher Stevens, was killed by jihadis, who were not, in fact, al-Qaeda, and he seems to have thought, and the people around him thought, were not as dangerous as al-Qaeda. And tragically, he and they were proved wrong. You can see that in Syria at the moment, that the largest group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, is not in fact part of al-Qaeda—it used to be. There’s a new group, Jabhat al-Nusra, which is the official representative, but there isn’t much difference between these groups. They’re all pretty well the same. They are extraordinarily bigoted. They’re extraordinarily brutal. They kill Shia or any other nonfundamentalist Muslims who fall into their hands. So, pretending that one group, simply because it’s funded by Saudi Arabia, is not the equivalent of al-Qaeda, I think, is self-deception—and self-deception which may well have disastrous results, you know, as happened in Afghanistan in the 1980s, which eventually produced the Taliban and Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda.
AMY GOODMAN:
In 2011, Democracy Now! spoke to former Senator Bob Graham and asked him about how part of the 9/11 Commission Report remains redacted.
BOB GRAHAM:
The suppressed pages were in the Congressional Joint Inquiry. We worked diligently throughout 2002 to gather as much of the information as we could and to make recommendations. We had an 800-plus-page report, one chapter of which, which related primarily to the role of the Saudis in 9/11, was totally censored. Every word of that chapter has been denied to the American people.
AMY GOODMAN:
What about that, Patrick Cockburn? You know, Bandar Bush, of course, as he was called, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, sitting out on the Truman Balcony with President Bush the day after the 9/11 attacks. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. And then Bandar Bush, the former U.S.—Saudi ambassador to the U.S., being one of the major forces behind the forces, the rebel forces in Syria?
PATRICK COCKBURN:
Yes, it’s sort of—it’s amazing. And, I mean, it’s had a very unfortunate consequence by not going after the very obvious roots of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, in terms of money and political support and so forth. This has enabled al-Qaeda to grow again. I mean, al-Qaeda, I worked out on the map, now controls an area in northern Syria and northern Iraq which is about the size of Great Britain. Al-Qaeda was rather a small organization at the time of 9/11. Since then, we’ve had the war on terror. We’ve had vast resources poured into this, increase in intelligence and security services, rendition, torture, everything else. And at the end of it, al-Qaeda and its affiliates are far larger than they were in—at the time of 9/11. I mean, this is a pretty extraordinary situation. AMY GOODMAN: Of course, I just want to clarify, Bandar Bush was the nickname for him. His name was Prince Bandar bin Sultan. He’s now Saudi Arabia’s intelligence minister. Nermeen?
NERMEEN SHAIKH:
Patrick Cockburn, that’s right, he’s the intelligence minister now, but as you point out in one of your articles, he’s no longer in charge of Saudi Arabia’s policy in Syria. Could you explain what you think the impact of that decision will be, and whether Saudi policy with respect to the rebels is actually changing?
PATRICK COCKBURN:
I mean, it’s a very good question, and I think we’re going to maybe see the answer over the next week. Maybe one of the things it will be interesting to see, what comes out of Obama’s visit. Bandar bin Sultan’s policy in Syria failed somewhat disastrously. He wanted to get rid of Assad; they failed to do that. Instead, we’ve had these jihadi, al-Qaeda-type organizations grow enormously. And they now, sort of really the whole way from Baghdad to the Mediterranean, they control much of the territory. Now, the Saudis are—seem to be taking a slightly more diplomatic line, but what they’re saying is: "We shall support jihadis, who are different from al-Qaeda but will still be able to overthrow Assad. We’ll do this from Jordan." But will this really happen? And if they do fund a anti-Assad army there, would it just be a mercenary army that has no real support within Syria?
AMY GOODMAN:
We’re going to move onto a segment next on Iraq. And earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of openly funding the Sunni Muslim insurgents in western Anbar province. He told France 24, quote, "I accuse them of inciting and encouraging the terrorist movements. I accuse them of supporting them politically and in the media, of supporting them with money and by buying weapons for them." If you could, finally, comment on that, as well as your final comment in your recent piece, saying, "All the ingredients for a repeat of 9/11 are slipping into place, the difference today being that al-Qa’ida-type organisations are now far more powerful."
PATRICK COCKBURN:
Yeah, the Iraqis have felt for a long time, but didn’t say so openly, that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Gulf monarchies were an essential prop to al-Qaeda in Iraq through private donations, through hate preachers, anti-Shia preachers, and finally they’ve come out and said it. And they have a lot of evidence also from suicide bombers who were captured before they blew themselves up. On the other question, yes, definitely. I mean, you know, these drone attacks in Yemen and Waziristan, these declarations of victory, I think, just divert attention from the fact that you look at the map, that al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda-type groups, that are no different from those that followed Osama bin Laden, now control a large territory. They have large revenues from oil wells. They have lots of experienced people. At the moment, they’re fighting against Assad and the Iraqi government. But they don’t Ike the governments of the West anymore. They’re not ideologically committed to only one enemy in their home countries. So if they do want to start making attacks in the West again along the lines of 9/11, they’re far better equipped militarily and politically, financially and any other way than they were when the attacks of 9/11 were originally made.
AMY GOODMAN:
Patrick Cockburn, we want to thank you for being with us, Middle East correspondent for The Independent, just concluded a five-part series on the resurgence of al-Qaeda, including that piece, "Is Saudi Arabia Regretting Its Support for Terrorism?" President Obama is visiting Saudi Arabia on Friday along with Secretary of State John Kerry. When we come back, two women, a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi feminist, join together for the right to heal on this 11th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Stay with us.
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/3/26/obama_to_visit_saudi_arabia_key

Video: 'Erdogan banned Twitter to cover up corruption' - Turkish journalist

Turkey shuts off YouTube after 'Syria invasion plan' leak

Access to YouTube has been cut off in Turkey after an explosive leak of audiotapes that appeared to show ministers talking about provoking military intervention in Syria. Other social media have already been blocked ahead of tumultuous local elections. The latest leaked audio recording, which reportedly led to the ban, appears to show top government officials discussing a potential attack on the tomb of Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire.
The tomb is in Syrian territory, but protected by Turkish soldiers.
On the tape, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is heard to say that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sees any attack as an "opportunity" to increase Turkish presence in Syria, where it has staunchly supported the anti-Assad rebels. Security chief Hakan Fidan then goes one step further, and suggests staging a fake attack to give Turkey a casus belli to intervene in the conflict.
Turkish officials have recently vowed to protect the tomb as its "national soil."
The Foreign Ministry in Ankara reacted to the tape by issuing a statement, calling the leak a “wretched attack” on national security. It also claims the tape was “partially manipulated.”
"These treacherous gangs are the enemies of our state and people. The perpetrators of this attack targeting the security of our state and people will be uncovered in the shortest time and will be handed over to justice to be given the heaviest penalty," the ministry said.
A source inside the office of President Abdullah Gül, who has taken a softer line than Erdoğan over the series of government leaks, told Reuters that access to YouTube may be restored if the sensitive content is removed, even though the original video has been deleted.
Invoking national security and privacy concerns has been the government’s tactic in fighting off a stream of leaks showing top officials engaging in unsavory or downright illegal practices.
Erdoğan has also repeatedly claimed that most of the audio recordings are fakes. He labeled the latest audio revelation "villainous" during a stump speech in Diyabakir.
Twitter, another popular source for leaks, has already been shut down in Turkey since March 20, after a court order.
Since then, the California-based social network and organizations have fought in several courts to have the decision reversed, calling it “disproportionate and illegal.” A court ruling in Ankara on Wednesday supported the appeal, but the country’s regulator has a month to unblock Twitter, leading to speculation that any such move would only take place after the election. The incumbent party also enjoys the benefit of robust privacy legislation passed last month, which makes it easy to cut off any website even before any violation has been legally proven. The US has led the chorus of international condemnation, calling the government’s moves "censorship" tantamount to “21st century book-burning.”

Pakistan: Christian man awarded death penalty in Joseph Colony case

A court in Pakistan sentenced a Christian man to death for blasphemy Thursday, his lawyer said, over an incident that triggered a riot in the country's second-largest city.
Sawan Masih was convicted of insulting the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) during the course of a conversation with a Muslim friend in the Joseph Colony neighbourhood of Lahore in March last year.
More than 3,000 Muslims rampaged through Joseph Colony, torching some 100 Christian homes, after the allegations against Masih emerged.
Naeem Shakir, one of Masih's lawyers, told AFP: “The judge has announced the death sentence for Sawan Masih.
“We will appeal the sentence in the Lahore High Court.”Verdict and sentence were announced inside the jail where Masih was held, Shakir said.
The country has had a de facto moratorium on civilian hangings since 2008. Only one person has been executed since then, a soldier convicted by court martial. Pakistan has extremely strict laws against defaming Islam, including the death penalty for insulting the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), and rights campaigners say they are often used to settle personal disputes.
Masih has maintained his innocence and argued the real reason for the blasphemy allegation was a property dispute between him and his friend. No one was killed in the rampage through Joseph Colony last year but the incident highlighted the sensitivity of blasphemy in Pakistan.
Some 97 per cent of the 180 million population are Muslim, and even unproven allegations can trigger a violent public response.
Earlier this month an angry mob set fire to a Hindu temple in the southern city of Larkana over the alleged desecration of a Quran.
A recent report from a US government advisory panel said Pakistan used blasphemy laws more than any other country in the world, listing 14 people on death row and 19 others serving life sentences for insulting Islam.
In January an elderly Briton was sentenced to death in Pakistan for blasphemy, though his lawyers said the court had failed to consider “overwhelming” evidence of his mental illness.

Afghans Criticize Government’s Handling Of International Norouz Event

The Paghman Hill Castle was a year in the making, cost more than $10 million, and was meant to host one of the biggest events of the year in Afghanistan -- the international festival marking Norouz, the Persian New Year.
But in a move that has been widely criticized, the Afghan government abruptly ditched its original plan to hold the one-day event at a specially-built castle in Paghman, a picturesque resort town outside Kabul. Instead, the festival has been moved to the grounds of the capital's heavily fortified presidential palace.
The government’s official reason for the move was that work on the castle was incomplete. Many in Kabul have accused the government of negligence and poor mismanagement. Others have said the real reason for the decision is the government’s inability to provide security for the event, despite Kabul’s insistence that security concerns did not factor into its decision. The international Norouz festival is hosting around 700 local and foreign leaders from 11 countries, including the leaders of the Central Asian republics and of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Azerbaijan. The high-level delegations in attendance will hold high-level talks on regional security and trade on March 27, after which they will attend the Norouz festivities in the presidential gardens.
The festivities include traditional performances by dancers from all 11 countries represented at the event. There will also be a live concert performed by local musicians as well as an arts and craft convention, and foods that traditionally accompany the holiday will be served to guests. Security is extremely tight in Kabul, where several thousand soldiers and police are on high alert. Many of the main roads in the capital have been closed or cordoned off, and people have been advised to stay at home.
Presidential Retreat?
Originally, the festivities were planned to be held at the three-story Paghman Hill Castle and a vast garden that had been constructed. The castle and surrounding areas are now expected to be used as a presidential retreat and a location to host foreign guests.
The Afghan government has offered a muddled explanation for why the celebration in Paghman was canceled.
Gul Agha Ahmadi, the head of the government-appointed Committee for Norouz Celebrations, which is organizing the festival, has said the government moved the venue because construction of the castle was incomplete. Ahmadi denied security concerns were behind the sudden shift of venue.
The government’s decision comes after a recent spate of deadly militants attacks that have left dozens dead across the country. Violence has soared ahead of the April 5 presidential election that militants have vowed to disrupt.
But the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing Affairs, which oversees the project, declared last week that the venue was complete and “ready to welcome our guests.”
National 'Disgrace'
Afghan lawmakers and citizens have vented their anger at the government’s decision to relocate the event.
Sayed Mohammad, a resident of Kabul, said the Norouz event is a chance for the country to showcase its rich culture and traditions, but that in moving the venue the government has brought embarrassment to the country.
“It’s a disgrace," Mohammad said. "The government should have organized the event properly. They should have organized the security so these [foreign guests] could come to [Paghman].”
Ghulam Hussain Naseri, a member of parliament, was also critical of the last-minute change of venue. “The Norouz festival in Paghman has been planned since last year," he said on March 25. “The government should have thought about possible security problems way before. This shows their negligence.”
Abdul Aziz, another Kabul resident, called the government’s official reason for suddenly changing the venue a sham. He said the government is simply incapable of providing security.
“The government keeps saying we will ensure security," Aziz said. "They say we have the military and the police and will ensure 100-percent security. But they can’t -- there are attacks everywhere on every day.”

Pakistan Taliban Agrees to Ceasefire to Help Afghan Allies

The Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan have secretly agreed to focus on carrying out operations in Afghanistan, with Pakistani militants announcing a ceasefire with their government in order to preserve militant bases used to stage cross-border attacks.
The collaboration between the two Talibans, revealed to Reuters by militant chiefs and security officials in the region, increases the risk that violence will escalate further in a crucial year for Afghanistan.
The nation of 30 million people holds a presidential election on April 5, a litmus test for foreign donors hesitant about bankrolling the government after the bulk of NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan withdraw this year.
The Pakistani and Afghan Taliban are closely allied and both aim to impose a strict form of Islam on their societies.
But their leadership and targets differ. The Pakistani Taliban focus their attacks in Pakistan, while the Afghan Taliban focus on Afghan and NATO security forces and anyone allied to them.
A rash of Taliban attacks this month has already raised concerns about the credibility of the poll, which should mark the first democratic transfer of power in war-ravaged Afghanistan.
Most foreign observers withdrew their monitors after a deadly attack on a hotel in the heart of the capital, increasing the risk of the widespread fraud that marred the last presidential election in 2009.
A large number of voters may also be too scared to cast their ballot.
Afghanistan's interior minister said this week that the one-month ceasefire announced by the Pakistan Taliban on March 1 to revive peace talks with the government in Islamabad had prompted militants there to switch focus from home soil to Afghanistan. "From the day there was a ceasefire on that side, almost every night one or other of our border posts has been attacked by people from the other side of the border," Umer Daudzai told Reuters.
CEASEFIRE STRATEGY
The ceasefire was urged on the Pakistani Taliban by the hardline Haqqani network and the Afghan Taliban, who are based around the mountainous border between the two countries, militant commanders and a security source said.
They feared the threat of an offensive by the Pakistani military could hamper their own push to carry out attacks in Afghanistan, including on election officials and NATO forces. Peace talks between Islamabad and the Pakistan Taliban began in February, but broke down when the militants bombed a police bus and executed 23 paramilitary troops. The Pakistani military then launched air strikes and said it was preparing to storm militant sanctuaries in North Waziristan, a border region that is a militant stronghold. But the operation was put on hold after the Pakistan Taliban announced the truce. The revelations suggest that the ceasefire may have been a smokescreen to give the Pakistani militants a chance to regroup and also work with the Afghan Taliban and Haqqanis to ramp up attacks in Afghanistan ahead of the election. "We need to focus on Afghanistan," one Taliban commander told Reuters. "It is a very crucial time for us and if the North Waziristan operation goes ahead we will lose many of our fighters."
The Pakistani security forces and government did not respond to requests for comment.
INCREASED CONVERGENCE
Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told Reuters this month that the government was worried about the possibility of increasing convergence between the two Talibans.
"Then the (Pakistani Taliban) will have a powerhouse behind them," he said.
This week Pakistan's National Security Council was told in a briefing that plans had been hatched in Islamic religious schools to disrupt the poll in neighbouring Afghanistan, an Islamabad-based security official said.
The shadowy Haqqani network, which is blamed for some of the deadliest and most sophisticated attacks in Afghanistan, was at the heart of the ceasefire plan, sources said. Shortly after the peace talks collapsed in February, Pakistani politicians approached Haqqani commanders and asked them to help broker a ceasefire, two Taliban chiefs and two Kabul-based officials said. "I'm sure of the involvement of the Haqqanis and Quetta Shura in these (ceasefire) talks," said a high-ranking Afghan government official with extensive contacts with the insurgency. The Quetta Shura is the leadership of the Afghan Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban initially rebuffed the Haqqanis, who then asked senior members of the Afghan Taliban to help persuade their Pakistani counterparts to announce the truce. It worked, Taliban commanders said.
The police chief of the eastern Afghan province of Kunar, which lies on the border with Pakistan, said there was no doubt Taliban militants were crossing into Afghanistan.
"It is too early to say how the peace talks in Pakistan would affect this side, but insurgents there are crossing the border to disrupt the election," Abdul Habib Sayedkhil told Reuters. "We are prepared and have certain measures in place to tackle it."

Iranian president calls for regional unity in first official visit to Afghanistan

In his first visit to Afghanistan as Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani called for regional unity Thursday as regional leaders celebrated the Persian New Year in Kabul.
Rouhani is visiting at a crucial time for Afghanistan, with national elections being held in just over a week and most U.S. and allied troops withdrawing by year's end. With Western influence diminishing in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan and other countries are vying to fill the vacuum.
The Iranian leader, accompanied by his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, also met separately with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon for a summit of Farsi-speaking countries to discuss ways to increase cooperation between their three countries, according to the semiofficial Fars news agency. Dari, a dialect of Farsi, and Pashto are the official languages of Afghanistan.
Rouhani said in his Nowruz address that Afghanistan has been occupied twice by foreign countries — a reference to the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and the U.S. and allied troops who ousted the Taliban. He said "they brought violence and extremists to this country."
These occupations have "brought the unfortunate seed of violence in this country, which has damaged the lives of people and this country. My country the Islamic Republic of Iran has condemned both occupations and has helped the people of Afghanistan in both periods of time," Rouhani said.
Despite improving ties with Washington, Iran sees the U.S. presence on its doorstep as a threat and opposes a security agreement that would allow thousands of foreign forces to stay in Afghanistan beyond the end of 2014. Karzai has refused to sign the pact, but the main three contenders in the April 5 elections to replace him have said they would.
The Nowruz ceremony, which included Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain, was held in the heavily barricaded presidential palace instead of a specially built multimillion-dollar building west of Kabul that had been designed for the occasion. The abrupt change in venue, announced last week, has drawn criticism, with many saying it was a waste of money.
The governor of Kabul province, which includes the capital, said construction of the so-called Pagman Hill Castle had finished, but there was a problem with mold and authorities decided it was not ready to host hundreds of dignitaries. He denied security was a concern, saying Afghan forces had been prepared to protect the venue.
Gov. Abdul Jabar Taqwa said construction had begun in September and cost some $14 million.
Also Thursday, authorities said Afghan security forces killed 20 Taliban militants the day before in the western province of Herat, alleging the insurgents were planning attacks aimed at disrupting next week's elections in the Ghoryan district. Provincial police spokesman Raouf Ahmadi said three of those killed were senior commanders.
The Taliban have warned voters to stay away from the polls, promising a campaign of violence to undermine the vote.
Eight candidates are running in the presidential race, which is the first in which Karzai won't be a contender since the 2001 U.S. invasion that ousted the Taliban.
The three front-runners are Abdullah Abdullah, who was Karzai's main rival in the disputed 2009 election; Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, a well-known academic and former World Bank employee; and former Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul.

Imaandaar - Aur Iss Dil Mein Kya Rakhha Hai Tera Hi Dard - Suresh Wadker

Pakistan: Marvi stands in face of CII with bill against child marriage

A bill introduced in the National Assembly to increase the punishment for guardians, clerics and spouses involved in child marriages should be supported by religious leaders, Member National Assembly Marvi Memon, who tabled the bill, said on Wednesday.
“I’ve seen this injustice in my constituency and around the country in every single province,” Memon told a foreign news agency. “It’s time that we stand up for our women,” she said.
Pakistan’s conservative religious parties strongly opposed the bill tabled by Memon on Tuesday, and some Muslim clerics want the penalties scrapped altogether.
Currently, women can legally marry at 16 in Pakistan and men at 18. But many marry much younger, and the current penalty for anyone involved in a child marriage is a $10 fine, possibly accompanied by up to a month’s imprisonment.
Memon has proposed that the fine should be increased to $1,000 and the possible jail sentence to two years. The bill is currently being reviewed.
Earlier this month the Council of Islamic Ideology issued a statement criticizing current laws forbidding child marriage. The Council said that children should be allowed to get married once they reach puberty under Islamic law.
Memon argues that child marriages cause women to become pregnant before their bodies are ready, leading to permanent damage and possible death. She plans to enlist Islamic scholars to refute the guidance of the religious council.
“Early marriages lead to early conception, which cause many health issues and sometimes death,” Memon said.
Even if Memon’s bill is passed, it will be hard to enforce.
The police are notoriously reluctant to interfere with what many see as culturally acceptable traditions.
Even if police do arrest a suspect, the overworked lower courts can take years to hear a case, and bribes can often make charges disappear. But the high courts have become more active in recent years. Judges are increasingly intervening in egregious cases of human rights violations, although their rulings are not always effective and there is little follow-up.
One third of women around the world are married before they turn 18, according to the Washington D.C.-based International Center for Research on Women. The tradition of child marriage is most prevalent in South Asia. Pregnancy is the leading cause of death for girls between 15 and 19, the group said.
There are no reliable statistics on the number of child marriages in Pakistan. Few cases are reported to the police. The government does not track the issue.
Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani, who chairs the Council of Islamic Ideology, opposed Memon’s introduction of the bill in the parliament. He argued in the National Assembly that current laws forbidding marriage to children contradict the Quran.

Pakistan: The Federally Abandoned Tribal Areas

Dr Mohammad Taqi
No matter how negotiations with the TTP end, lasting peace in Pakistan, Afghanistan and FATA itself will remain elusive without addressing the constitutional status of the tribal areas
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial Assembly has sneakily passed a resolution asking the federation to vivisect the province. The speaker did not order a headcount for the resolution that calls for carving out a Hazara province from the current boundaries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The constitutional and legal status of the move is moot and may be challenged in court. Ironically, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), which were instrumental in bringing this resolution, want one section of the Pakistani population to have the right to self-determination, including a new province based purely on linguistic grounds, but seem hell-bent on throwing the Pashtuns of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) back not just a few decades but all the way to the seventh century. The PTI, PML-N and JI are key players in the dialogue with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which, if successful, could turn already forsaken FATA into the Federally Abandoned Tribal Areas.
While the new administrative structure, including the judicial system along with a new high court in a modern state is considered desirable for the Hazarawals — no prejudice intended against their demand — the parties rooted in Punjab and Islamism are determined to shove FATA further down the primitive abyss of the jirga (tribal court) and Taliban sharia. The TTP’s political cheerleaders in Pakistan paint a romantic picture of the defaced and dysfunctional tribal justice system, which even in its most pristine and functional state was quite brutal and arbitrary, especially to the weak. In hypocrisy of the tallest order, the rest of Pakistan gets to enjoy, at least in principle, the right to the due process of law under Article 10-A of the constitution, and FATA is being pushed into the deadly embrace of the jirga/sharia-mongers.
Those presenting the jirga in the media as the panacea to all tribal troubles forget that it is this very institution that frequently settles feuds not just through payments of blood money or cattle heads but also by giving away young girls in marriage in the notorious practice called swara. The manipulation-prone jirga system, wherein no provisions for evidence, forensics or female participation exist, clearly flouts the fundamental rights guaranteed in the constitution, especially Article 25 that calls for all citizens to enjoy equal protection of the law and proscribes discrimination on the basis of sex. No doubt, the great values (arzakhtoona) of Pashtunwali (the Pashtun code) like hospitality (milmastia), sanctuary (nanawatay), deference (ehteram) to elders (masharan) and deterrence through revenge (badal) along with the institution of jirga were once the pillars of a primordial democratic tribal society. However, over the centuries, the commune-like structure of the tribes gave way to exploitative structures, especially the British-introduced Maliki aristocracy and later the TTP’s barbaric sharia. The Maliki arrangement was merely a modification of the Sandeman system deployed by the British in Balochistan, wherein they dealt with the tribes through tribal chieftains. As Sir Olaf Caroe, the last British governor of the North West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) himself noted, in the absence of a well-defined hierarchy in the acephalous Pashtun tribes, the British created a system of stipends (maujib) for handpicked leaders (Maliks) in a largely transactional relationship. Unfortunately, a self-serving arrangement by a colonial power is being touted today as the replacement for modern constitutional structures.
Leaving FATA in constitutional and legal limbo also has geopolitical motives and ramifications. The Pakistani state’s pretence that FATA is ungovernable, while claiming it as an integral part of the state, is a ruse to continue using it as a base for intervention in Afghanistan and buffer against a blowback. Turmoil, not order, in FATA is what Pakistani strategic planners have wanted for decades in order to unilaterally impose a government of their liking in Kabul as well as to neutralise the Pashtun nationalist-irredentist movement. Ironically, the most vociferous champions of the status quo in FATA and the Durand Line and tribal justice are not the Pashtuns. The mess created in FATA is now threatening Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — dubbed the ‘Fatafication’ of the province by some. However, the Pakistani state’s thrust still is anything but regularising the tribal areas, despite the constitution bestowing tremendous powers upon the president to usher in such reform. Indeed, Article 247(6) of the constitution empowers the president, after seeking the opinion of a tribal jirga, to “direct that the whole or any part of a Tribal Area shall cease to be Tribal Area”. Clearly, the framers of the 1973 constitution envisioned bringing FATA into the mainstream, not alienating and marginalising it any further.
No matter how negotiations with the TTP end, lasting peace in Pakistan, Afghanistan and FATA itself will remain elusive without addressing the constitutional status of the tribal areas. Abolishing the 113-year-old draconian Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) could be a start but repealing the FCR is neither possible by itself nor will it change much unless FATA is given provincial status or allowed to join Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The judicial, revenue and policing systems — the sine qua non of a state — have to follow the constitutional reform. The Maliki system cannot hold its own after the TTP onslaught — political parties and the local and provincial government systems must upend that decaying structure. The political parties, however, ought to help determine what the people of the seven tribal Agencies want. The reform task, as arduous as it is, will become perilous if the denizens of FATA feel that a party, province or the federation is imposing the solution.
A major issue attached to the reform in FATA is the status of the Durand Line and a Pashtun nationalist-irredentist sentiment that, though on the ropes, still exists. Candidates in Afghanistan’s upcoming presidential elections have danced around the status of the Durand Line. Until a permanent solution can be found to the border issue, Afghanistan could consider adopting something similar to the China/Taiwan policy or the former West Germany’s Neue Ostpolitik (New East policy) that in essence meant a détente without dropping the mainland’s revanchist claims. This is one area where the Pashtun nationalist outfits, the Awami National Party and the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party can play a huge role. These two parties have effectively accepted a two-state solution for the Pashtuns; the least they can do now is defend the constitutional rights of the people they claim to represent within the federation lest the state codifies the status of the federally abandoned tribal areas as such.

Pakistan: The Abandoned Refugees of North Waziristan

By Taha Siddiqui
Pakistan refugees to acknowledge a growing crisis emerging from its tribal belt.
As the government of Pakistan and the Pakistani Taliban continue to discuss conditions for a peace dialogue, thousands of refugees have fled the tribal belt that sits alongside the Pakistan-Afghan border, especially the North Waziristan area where the terrorist organization commonly known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is based. The refugees have made their way to safer areas in the settled areas of the Khyber Pakthunkhwa province.
The mass exodus happened when the Pakistani army carried out airstrikes in the region last December on suspected militant hideouts.
The refugee crisis has yet to be acknowledged by the government of Pakistan, because it has not formally announced any operation in the North Waziristan region, even though there have been a wave of airstrikes by the country’s armed forces in areas occupied by the TTP and other foreign terrorists.
Most of these terrorists have been hiding in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt since they escaped from neighboring Afghanistan in the aftermath of the U.S.-led attack following 9/11.
The military’s media wing has been claiming that it has killed scores of militants in these strikes, the first of which took place four months ago. However, since journalists from outside are not allowed to visit the North Waziristan area, there is no independent verification of these claims. Refugees who have fled the area have another story to tell. “The bombardments happened near our homes in the market area and the army was not precise in these airstrikes so many civilian homes were targeted too,” says Javed Iqbal, a 31-year-old who comes from North Waziristan’s Mir Ali area and is currently living in Bannu city, next to the Waziristan’s tribal region.
Mr. Iqbal who fled in the middle of the night with more than forty members of his family after the December air strikes had to pay exorbitant sums to transporters in his hometown to shift them to a safer area. Even now, he and his family have received no help from official authorities. “No one is registering us or giving us any aid. Our children are not going to school anymore. There are no medical facilities being offered to us either. We are left entirely on our own,” he adds.
According to independent estimates by local non-government organizations operating within the region, more than 40,000 people have been displaced by the ongoing troubles.
“We sent out appeals to foreign and local donors to help us out with the refugee crisis but they said unless and until the government issues an official notification about an operation, they cannot help,” Nizam Dawar, a social worker based in Islamabad but originally from North Waziristan, tells The Diplomat.
Dawar, who recently met with the refugees in Bannu and has been trying to help them on his own, complains that many of the displaced families are living in the open on vacant Bannu land. They do not even have the money to buy food.
“In turning a blind eye to this influx of refugees, the government is also unwittingly allowing terrorists to flee the area under the garb of refugees. If they would acknowledge the exodus, and register the refugees or anyone escaping the area, there is a good chance that it will help the government in identifying militant elements and apprehending them,” Dawar adds.
Other refugees agree with Dawar’s assessment.
“We want an operation against those terrorists hiding in our homeland, but the government needs to plan it properly,” says Mohammad Imran, who fled North Waziristan in January with fourteen of his family members, and is currently living in Bannu in a rented house.
“There is an air of uncertainty and confusion now,” he tells The Diplomat. “The government should be clear about what it wants to do. It should ensure that common people like us are given safe passage and rehabilitation afterwards like in Swat Valley or South Waziristan operations in past.”
In past years, the Pakistani army conducted military operations in other parts of the tribal belt and also in Swat Valley, successfully driving the Taliban out of those areas. In contrast, the current Pakistani government, which came to power in May last year, has been a proponent of peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban, after a consensus to do so was developed at an all parties conference last September.
The government then announced a peace committee that was able to settle on a ceasefire earlier this month between the government and the TTP. However, within the TTP there are now breakaway offshoots that have vowed to continue the attacks.
“What we have seen is that as these groups, which to my understanding are still connected to the parent TTP organization, carry out terrorist acts. And then the government retaliates too. Its a tit for tat kind of a response,” says Safdar Hayat, former head of the tribal union of journalists, who hails from North Waziristan.
Hayat feels the government has been held hostage to the security policy of the state. “The Pakistani military establishment expects the Afghan Taliban to go home soon since the Americans are pulling out. So it cannot launch a full-scale operation in North Waziristan since the Afghan Taliban occupy the same space as the Pakistani Taliban,” Hayat explains, adding that until then the government will continue to carry out what it calls targeted strikes.
But for the refugees these strikes and no visible strategy from the government means many more months of misery. “The people are turning against the Pakistani government and the military,” warns Imran, the refugee in Bannu. “The tribal belt was already neglected, even constitutionally we have no rights. And now in times of conflict, the state is not coming forward to help us,” he adds. Indeed, the Pakistani constitution does not apply to the tribal belt.
Divided into seven different agencies, the tribal belt is governed by the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), an early 20th century draconian law introduced during the British colonial period of South Asia. Even after independence in 1947, the Pakistan government continues to govern the area through FCR, which does not allow basic constitutional rights to the citizens of the tribal belt.
For this reason, most of the region has remained impoverished and neglected, and often used as an experimental backyard for Pakistan’s military’s security policy. It was here the Americans and the Pakistanis trained the Mujahideens in the eighties to fight the Soviets. And it is here today that the Pakistani state is accused of providing safe havens to Afghan insurgents.
Islamabad has come under international pressure to act against these hideouts. Since 2004, the CIA has carried out its own secret drone strikes.
Now Islamabad has apparently asked the Americans to halt the drone strikes, yet has started its own air attacks using fighter jets and gunship helicopters.
“At least when there were drone strikes, we knew they would be more precise and very targeted. But ever since these airstrikes by the Pakistani army have started, many civilian homes have been damaged and locals killed because they shell and hit the villages indiscriminately,” Imran, the refugee who escaped in January says, adding that even though the drone strikes created a lot of mental stress, it did not force them to flee, as they have had to do now.
“No one knows when we will go back home. All we want is peace. The government should fulfill its responsibility to take care of its citizens,” he concludes.

PPP Senator criticizes Punjab govt over Hafiz Saeed funding

http://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/
Pakistan People’s Party Senator Farhatullah Khan Babar has said that the government of Punjab allocated Rs61 million for Hafiz Saeed despite the United Nations ban on Jaamtu Dawa chief. He said that Saeed had been working despite the UN ban while chief of Jesh-e-Muhammad Maulana Masood Azhar attended a book launching ceremony only three days before the government unveiled its security policy. The PPP Senator was speaking at the meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Interior on Wednesday. The opposition members of the NA body opposed the Protection of Pakistan bill.

Endemic threat: ‘Pakistan can transmit polio abroad’

The Express Tribune
In a damning verdict, the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative has cautioned that the current situation of polio in Pakistan is a ‘powder keg’ that could ignite widespread polio transmission. “If the current trend continues, Pakistan will be the last place on earth in which polio exists,” wrote IMB Chairperson Sir Liam Donaldson in a letter to the World Health Organisation director general Dr Margaret Chan in February.
The letter – a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune – says the new government has been slow to grasp the severity of the situation, adding that the number of polio cases in Pakistan is going in the wrong direction.
The most serious situation is in the northwest, where the virus is enjoying unencumbered circulation at great human cost, the letter says. “We welcome the firm and intelligently designed anti-polio campaign [Sehat Ka Insaf] under way in Peshawar, but such innovation must be sustained and promoted elsewhere in the country,” it adds.
“The adequacy of the government’s plans will be in full public view at our May meeting and at the subsequent World Health Assembly,” the letter says.
Commenting on the letter, an official of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Health Department said in 2012, 58 polio cases were reported in Pakistan; the number surged to 93 in 2013. 36 cases have already been reported this year. He added that the situation was dangerous not only for Pakistan but for the whole world. He said there were misunderstandings amongst the government and donors.
“The success of the K-P government’s drive is reversible unless polio is eradicated from Khyber Agency and [North and South] Waziristan agencies,” he said.
Talking to The Express Tribune, the focal person of the chief minister’s Polio Monitoring Cell, Dr Imtiyaz Khan, said that the IMB assessed progress towards the attainment of a polio-free world and its views were very broad. He said millions of children in North Waziristan and Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency had not been vaccinated since June 2012 due to a ban by militants and as a result the virus could spread to other parts of the country.

Pakistan:Mufti Shakirullah accepts responsibility for killing of Chaudhry Aslam

The police reportedly solved the mystery of the murder of noted Karachi top cop Chaudhry Aslam. Reports revealed that one of the held accused Mufti Shakirullah gave the details of the plot hatched to eliminate Aslam Chaudhry. According to the deciphered details of the conspiracy, two militant outfits planned the assassination of SP Aslam Chaudhry. An operative of a banned outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Umar hatched the conspiracy who demanded suicide bombers to launch the attack, according to the compromised information of Shakirullah.
Initially, Shakirullah presented himself, but on the refusal of the planners, his pupil Naeem was put forth for the job. The vehicle used in the attack was prepared in one of the go downs of the area. The explosive laden vehicle was placed on the possible route of Aslam Chaudhry for three consecutive days. On the fateful day of January 9,2014 Aslam Chaudhry adopted the route where the suicide vehicle was placed. The suicide bomber Naemmullah was residing in the nearby mosque.
A prayer meeting was also held in a nearby home for the success of attack on January 5, 2014. The accused also revealed that on the deal of his rented home in Safoora Chowrangi, Naeemullah the suicide bomber had signed. The deal was signed from January 10 to December 10. The deal was cancelled on Jauary 9 after the dearth of naeemullah in the suicide hit on SP Aslam Chaudhry. The same outfit was involved in the bomb attack on Shafique Tanoli, he revealed.
The second attack was to have been launched on the hospital where Shafique was expected to be admitted, but he was taken to a private hospital and plan of the attack was cancelled, he disclosed. Aslam Chaudhry’s close associate inspector Bahauddin Babar was also killed by the same gang. In the light of the revelation made by Shakirullah, the police have widens its net of investigation to nab more culprits.

Pakistan: Aasia Bibi case hearing postponed to April 14

A special division bench of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday postponed till April 14 the hearing of an appeal of condemned prisoner Aasia Bibi, who belongs to the Christian community.
The bench put off the hearing till April 14 as counsel for the complainant did not appear before the court. The trail court had awarded death sentence to the lady on blasphemy charges. Complainant, Muhammad Salam had alleged that on June 14, 2009 at a Falsa garden owned by one Idress in Nanankana Sahib Aasia Bibi committed blasphemy. He said that he had not heard her uttering the blasphemous remarks but other ladies Asma Bibi, her sister Mafia Bibi, and Yasmin listened her saying and told him about the incident. He also alleged that locals Muhammad Afzal and Mukhtar Ahmed summoned the accused and witnesses where the accused confessed her crime and begged pardon. He said she had hurt their religious sentiments and she should be tried under blasphemy articles and should be brought to the book.
Yasif Badar, one of the counsels of Aasia Bibi said that Aasia had categorically rejected the story of the complainant. He said that Asma and Mafia are real sisters and falsely involved her in this case as they both felt disgrace and dishonour on the basis of altercation and hard words extended to them by her when they denied drinking water brought by her for them.
He said that the ladies had denied drinking water saying that they would not take it because she is a Christian. He said that Aasia’s forefathers were living in this village since creation of Pakistan but no such complaint against them ever exists.
The other counsel Anis AA Saadie said that before the trial court eight witnesses recorded their statements against Aasia but not a single witness dared to defend Aasia before the court even from the Christians. He said the lower court sentenced her for being under pressure and it was the case with investigation officer. He requested to acquit the lady as being innocent.

Pakistan: Child marriage bill

IT is not often enough that we see a move in parliament to counter the ultra-conservative lobby, something that is particularly true of events in recent months when the right-wing has been in full cry. However, the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill introduced in the National Assembly on Tuesday attempts to do exactly that by pushing back against the Council of Islamic Ideology’s recent declaration that laws barring child marriage in Pakistan are un-Islamic. The bill seeks to amend the British-era Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, by making underage marriage — below 16 for girls and 18 for boys according to the law — a cognisable offence and empowering family courts to take notice of the law’s violation. Those contracting marriages with children or solemnising such unions will both be held liable. The bill also stipulates punishment of up to two years’ rigorous imprisonment or a fine of up to Rs100,000, or both, thereby enhancing it from the present one-month simple imprisonment or a fine of Rs1,000.
Although the CII functions in an ‘advisory’ capacity, the reactionary environment in Pakistan at present offers fertile ground for the body’s appallingly regressive recommendations to influence public debate in a direction that would leave women and children far worse off than they already are. There is no better forum to check this than the country’s primary representative body, and the introduction of the bill in the National Assembly by five PML-N parliamentarians is a timely and much-needed assertion of its legislative role that it must employ for the protection of the most vulnerable segments of society. However, the timorousness of legislators in the face of right-wing onslaught was once again evident with the religious affairs minister suggesting that, if needed, the CII’s input should be considered while the bill is deliberated upon, which would surely consign the proposed legislation to oblivion. Instead, this is as good a time as any to definitively sideline the CII and reinforce the supremacy of parliament.
Another silver lining in this unexpected dredging up of an issue that should have long been settled, is the opportunity it affords to craft effective legislation to check a crime that can have devastating consequences for a child’s mental and physical health. For instance, it is well-known that maternal mortality in Pakistan, which already fares poorly in the region on this score, is highest among girls below 16, whose bodies are not mature enough for the rigours of child-bearing. The existing law against child marriage is a toothless one that is often flouted with impunity in the name of ‘culture’. An amendment in the law is thus a very welcome move, and legislators must stand firm against resistance from those attempting to advance medieval traditions that have no place in modern society.

Bilawal Bhutto: 'Coalition once MQM retracts on Sindh's breakup, martial law'

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday said the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was "keen to join" the government in Sindh, but added the caveat that the party would have to address the PPP’s reservations regarding controversial statements in support of martial law and calling for the break-up of Sindh.
The two parties are currently engaged in talks for forging a coalition in Sindh but neither of them has said a word as to what prompted them to engage in the process for having a fresh alliance, which is seen to be not that necessary for the ruling party.
Issuing a statement via his Twitter account, Bilawal said it may not be possible for the PPP to ally with the MQM and invite it to join the provincial government without retracting statements in support of martial law.
The PPP leader’s statement comes days after MQM chief Altaf Hussain urged the armed forces to not follow any ‘anti-state orders’ of the government in relation to sending troops abroad. Hussain’s statement has been viewed largely in reference to the reported shift in government’s policy over Syria in the aftermath of $1.5 billion ‘friendly donation by Saudi Arabia’.
Bilawal also said that the MQM would have to retract statements calling for a break-up of the Sindh province, without which its inclusion in the government could become an impossibility.
The party has on occasions issued controversial statements suggesting Sindh be divided. Earlier in January, the MQM chief had called for splitting the province into two parts: “If Sindh's urban population is not accepted by the PPP and is not given its due rights, then there should be a separate province for these people. Sindh must be split into Sindh One and Sindh Two.”

THE LAHORE LOG: Pakistan's minority report

By NAJAM SETHI
Political Islam and national security policy are ravaging Pakistan. But - neither the military generals, who spawned this symbiotic process in the 1980s and nurtured it in the 1990s, nor the politicians, who exploited or condoned it for legitimising themselves - have the will to turn the tide back. In consequence, the country is besieged by dozens of armed non-state ethnic, sectarian, jehadi, criminal, separatist and terrorist groups, in one garb or another, that have overrun law and order and plunged different communities into a pool of blood.
The minorities, in particular, are being targeted with a genocidal vengeance. The targeted killing of Shias, in particular the Hazara community in Balochistan, has captured headlines in the last two years for three reasons.
First, the scale of the killings is alarming - nearly 1,000 people have been killed in the last eighteen months, mainly in Balochistan, Karachi and the Northern Areas.
Second, the assassins - Sipah- e-Sahaba, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and various related offshoots - have been audacious enough to claim responsibility.
Third, the civil-military establishment has admitted its unwillingness or inability to tackle this menace for reasons that are flimsy and self-serving. The Ahmedis and Christians have been laid low by the blasphemy laws that enable mischief mongers and vested interests to target them with impunity. In the last decade, for example, there have been 12 major anti-Christian incidents across the country, mainly in the Punjab. Chapels, charities, schools and homes have been attacked. In the Gojra riots in 2009, a Christian community was forced to flee, its homes were looted and burnt down. In 2011, Shahbaz Bhatti, a notable Christian leader, was assassinated in broad daylight. The same year, a mob attacked a Christian community in Gujranwala.
In every case, the administration has either avoided pre-emptive action or stood by, while the Muslims mobs rampaged. Indeed, in every case, the provincial or local government in question has screamed its party-political innocence by scapegoating the police department, swept the inquiry report under the rug and refused to learn any lessons for the future. The Gojra incident illustrates this well.
A Tribunal of Inquiry headed by Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman, who is now a Supreme Court judge, delivered a 258-page indictment of the provincial government.
Although the report was never made public precisely for this reason, its main conclusions saw the light of day. First, it warned that "the unfortunate incident of Gojra must be taken seriously and the needful be done on a war-footing without further loss of time."
But the PML-N government did exactly the opposite by consigning it to the rubbish bin. Second, the Tribunal advised appropriate amendments to the blasphemy laws and Police Order 2002 to strip them of their mischief-making potential.
But no government has had the courage to do this. Third, it focused "on the inability of the police to assess the gravity and sensitivity of the situation", it noted the "inadequate precautionary and preventive measure by the police", and the "failure of the intelligence agencies in providing prompt and correct information".
Much the same charge is now being laid at the door of the various law and order departments of government.
Fourth, it criticised the "irresponsible behaviour of the administration" for willfully ignoring the developing situation. This happens time and again. The recent incident in Lahore demonstrates the opportunist political approach of the PML-N. The police, and therefore the government, knew the full facts of the matter before the alleged Christian blasphemer was even arrested.
They knew that the charge was patently fabricated; that a section of the traders of the area had a vested interest in driving the Christians out and seizing their property; that the local PML-N "influentials" were egging on the vested interests.
But the police did nothing for 36 hours after the arrest to thwart any Muslim mob attack on the Christian community. Indeed, if anything the lack of any preventive show of force by the administration or warning to potential trouble-makers that they would be dealt with an iron hand, probably encouraged the mob-drivers to attack the Christian community. In fact, when a contingent of the police arrived on the scene during the mob's looting and arson, it preferred to stand aside and watch, rather than wade in to disperse the arsonists. Police officials openly admit that when they sought orders from their political masters, the orders were ambiguous, delayed or contradictory.
In other words, the government didn't much care about the fate of the Christians and only moved to redress the situation with offers of compensation after the media flogged it for its antipathy. The PML-N's attitude towards the Christians and Ahmedis is blameworthy.
Worse, its soft, hands-off approach to militant anti-Shia organisations like the SSP and LeJ is condemnable. A bit of fear and some sneaking sympathy for the causes of such groups is all too evident. For a party that bodes to rule Pakistan for the third time, this is a bad sign.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2293467/THE-LAHORE-LOG-Pakistans-minority-report.html#ixzz2x9qFVrkK Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Video: Pakistan's lack of religious freedom for Ahmadi Muslims & other minorities

Iran warns Pakistan after abducted soldier feared executed

Tehran on Wednesday issued a warning to Islamabad after reports emerged that one of five Iranian soldiers abducted and taken across the border into Pakistan by Sunni extremists had been executed.
President Hassan Rouhani in a telephone call with Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif demanded "serious and swift action" by Pakistan to secure the release of the soldiers.
"We expect to hear good news in this regard," he said, while calling for "joint action by both countries against terrorists," the official IRNA news agency reported.
For his part, Sharif said the issue was of "utmost importance" to his government and that he was "prepared to boost action to free the soldiers".
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had earlier expressed "grave concern" about the fate of Jamshid Danayifar, who was kidnapped along with four other border guards on February 6 by rebel group Jaish-ul Adl.
"We did all we could to secure their release," Zarif told state television after a cabinet meeting.
"But it is disappointing that the Pakistani government has failed to secure its borders, and allows terrorists to operate on its soil."
Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli had earlier warned -- without elaborating -- that Iran "reserves the right to utilise all its ability in its border areas." Jaish-ul Adl said on its website on Sunday that Danayifar had been killed, warning of further executions should Tehran refuse to "release Sunni prisoners". The rebel group, which took up arms in 2012 to fight for what it says are the rights of Iran's minority Sunni population, is active in the restive Sistan-Baluchestan province that borders both Pakistan and Afghanistan. In November it claimed responsibility for killing a local prosecutor, a month after its rebels killed 14 Iranian border guards in an ambush.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned in a Tuesday statement the reported killing as an "appalling act" and urged that the perpetrators are brought to justice.
A spokesman for the US State Department, Alan Eyre, called for the "swift release" of the abducted soldiers while expressing hope the reported execution -- that came as Iran was celebrating its Persian New Year -- was not true. Shortly after the abduction, Iranians launched a campaign on Twitter, despite the micro-blogging service being banned in Iran. Demanding the soldiers' release, the FreeIranianSoldiers hashtag went viral in February.
Some Iranians have used social media to hit out at the Tehran government for its inability to bring home the young soldiers, who were serving their 24-month mandatory military service.
Border guards chief Hossein Zolfaghari has admitted that there was "negligence" in the lead-up to the kidnapping, saying those responsible were suspended, with some facing prosecution.