Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Pashto Music - Bya Seena ke sta Yadoona - Laila Khan

Pakistan - STATE-SPONSORED SHIA-BASHING CONTINUES AS SHAHDADKOT POLICE TOE ASWJ LINE

Biased police of Shahdadkot tortured Shia Muslims for celebrating the birth anniversary of Hazrat Ali (AS), the first infallible Imam of Shia Islam and fourth guided-Caliph of Sunni Muslim history. Simultaneously, the police accorded official protocol to banned Deobandi terrorist outfit ASWJ’s ringleader Aurangzeb Farooqi who made provocative hate-speech at a takfiri programme there.

The drunkard SHO of Shahdadkot police attacked the Shia Muslims when they brought out traditional procession that was 50th consecutive annual procession, chronologically. Many Shia Muslims were injured and the biased pro-terrorist SHO booked them in false case in a bid to hide his crime.
Biased police took unjustifiable and illegal action against law-abiding peaceful Shia Muslims in a bid to harass them so that they could not celebrate the birth anniversary of Hazrat Ali (AS).
Same police accorded mobile escort to provide protocol to Aurangzeb Farooqi of the banned terror outfit ASWJ, mother of all terrorism in Pakistan.
It is believed that facilitators of the banned takfiri outfits have infiltrated the Sindh Police because in Khairpur too, similar state-sponsored Shia-bashing was witnessed against the celebrations on birth anniversary of Hazrat Fatima Zahra, the daughter of Hazrat Mohammad (PBUH), the last apostle of God and prophet of Islam who was wife of Hazrat Ali (AS).
It is relevant to add here that renowned anti-terrorist police officer Chaudhry Aslam was killed because the facilitator of the terrorist was nobody else but a police cop himself.
Shia Muslims are suffering the state-sponsored Shia-bashing and those who claim responsibility for genocide against Shia Muslims such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, sister wing of ASWJ, are enjoying state protocol and protection.

http://www.shiitenews.org/index.php/pakistan/item/28047-state-sponsored-shia-bashing-continues-as-shahdadkot-police-toe-aswj-line

Well done, Malala!





For the misinformed critic, Malala Yousafzai is an embarrassment to Pakistan. Indeed, she has been ever since she found herself at the wrong end of the barrel of a Taliban gun.
For in Pakistan, an image is everything and everything counts in large amount.
And each time her star soars a little more — from being the youngest-ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize to being named a UN messenger for Peace — that of the political state apparatus dims that much more.
The targeted assassination attempt against Malala took place under the watch of the first post-Musharraf democratic government. Thus we saw a changed tack in its official response. Gone were the petulant demonstrations that sought to berate female victims of male violence for speaking out and tarnishing Pakistan’s image overseas. In their place, a calculated strategy of damage control. Thus almost overnight, Malala was hailed the Bravest Girl in the World and then Pride of Pakistan, following her status as a Nobel Laureate.
In focusing solely on her bravery — the government effectively deflected the spotlight from its own failure in establishing its writ. Indeed, the Army was made to wait two years before going into North Waziristan.
But the greatest humiliation that Malala has dealt the Pakistani state is in refusing to be silenced. She has used her ‘celebrity’ to advocate relentlessly for girls’ right to education. Yet one young woman can only do so much. Three years after the attempt on her life — that is, three years after the then President termed this an attack it on all Pakistani girls, on education and on all civilised people — the country failed to meet most of its commitments under the Millennium Development Goals on Education.
We support Malala. We commend her in continuing her crusade against those whose very inaction has surrendered the narrative to extremists. How easy would it have been for the then schoolgirl to slip into temporary obscurity as she completed her education in Britain? How tempting it might have been for her to keep quiet in a bid to ‘fit in’. So, yes we support Malala wholeheartedly. What we do not support is successive governments and their inertia on the question of fundamental human rights of the girl child. The 21st century has arrived. The Pakistani state should feel well and truly humiliated that it has left all the heavy lifting on this front to a young woman — a young woman who stands alone on the global stage as she begs the international community to place education at the center of all mandates.
In short, the government must understand that the more it insists on appropriating Malala’s image — the more it simply succeeds in highlighting its own impotence when it comes to education of the girl child.

Why the Saudis need Raheel Sharif







BY OBED PASHA
Islamic Military Alliance is unlikely to help the Saudis with their objectives
Trouble is slowly brewing around the Saudi dynasty as the Kingdom is increasingly confronted with multiple crises that threaten its continuity. Control over the minority Shia population of the Kingdom is getting harder to maintain, whereas ISIS and Al-Qaeda are gaining foothold within the younger generation. Moreover, the unrest in Syria has allowed Iran to play a key role in the region with the help of Russia, and let’s not forget the nightmare of the Houthi rebels of Yemen that is likely to continue. If this was not enough, low oil prices are restricting the Kingdom’s resources and prosperity.
The Saudis are finding it difficult to deal with such matters, and are throwing their hopes behind Raheel Sharif and the proposed Islamic Military Alliance to cope with the security threats they face. Their failure is, in part, a product of the informal and personal means of governance that the Saudi state has adopted at the expense of institution building. Even in matters of foreign policy, the Kingdom prefers to invest in individual leaders of other states rather than forging an institutional state-to-state relationship. Their attitude toward defence is no different. Instead of a unified national defence institution, the Saudi military is divided into two separate factions through the Ministry of the National Guard and the Ministry of Defence that are loyal to the Sudairi and Abdullah factions of the Saudi royal family, respectively. Furthermore, the defence leadership at the command and policy levels is deeply influenced by members of the royal family and chieftains of their loyal tribes.
The Kingdom’s defence structure, thus, betrays the core institutional principle of mission-driven professionalism that is essential for governance in this day and age. The modern institution has evolved over a millennium since its inception with the Roman Catholic Church, emphasising a sense of purpose in the service of the Christian God and merit-based appointments and promotions for clergymen occupying the Church offices. This system was later adopted by the emerging European nation-states from the 15th century onward to govern their territories and colonies. Over centuries, institutions evolved to uphold inclusiveness and professionalism, where the functionaries were encouraged to serve the interests of the nation instead of religion or the ruling dynasty. These features created robust and effective institutions that continue to provide good governance everywhere.
Pakistani military, a descendant of the British colonial army, espouses such attributes that help establish its reputation as an effective combat force. It has proven its worth in dealing with religious zealots occupying tribal territories in the mountainous regions along the Pak-Afghan border, which has an uncanny resemblance with the Houthi situation faced by the Saudis. The Saudi military, on the other hand, remains much less competent to deal with such crises even after spending more than eight times what Pakistan spends on its defence. The Saudis, therefore, are seeking to take advantage of the experience and professionalism of the recently retired officers of Pakistan Army to help protect the Kingdom and preserve its influence in the Middle East.
While this move seems plausible on paper, it is deeply flawed and lacks an appreciation of institutional ethos. The achievements of Pakistan Army have more to do with the institutional structure of our military than the individuals occupying the leadership positions. Pakistan Army enjoys definitive professional discretion and decision-making authority over its matters, and its leaders move up the ranks through a competitive process based on their professional credentials. The prime minister of the country is often restricted by a handful of choices when appointing a Chief of Army Staff, and once appointed, the three-year term is almost always respected. Moreover, any advances by the political government to intrude into what the military considers its policy domains are fiercely repelled with media and political support.
The Saudi royals, on the other hand, maintain strict control over their military with the Minister of Defense serving as the primary decision-maker. Such an elevated level of royal control is necessary given the history of professional armies overthrowing governments in the region. It is no secret that the Saudis are funding this alliance to protect their interests, and would want to steer it as per their desires. Whoever leads this alliance will have to heed to their orders due to a lack of tenure protection and political support. This will evidently decline the leader’s effectiveness.
More importantly, the Pakistani officers of the proposed Islamic Alliance are likely to suffer from a lack of purpose, which will dampen their motivation to innovate and persist. War-making is a grim business with real consequences, and can only be administered successfully when the individuals fighting on your side have a sense of purpose high enough to risk their lives fighting on your behalf. A few centuries ago, bands and tribes of indigenous mercenaries roamed across the subcontinent offering their services to the highest bidding princeling. These mercenaries were governed by a strict code of valor and tribal honor, which made them trustworthy on the battlefield. Raheel Sharif and his fellow retired officers, however, are not governed by such codes and have their loyalties with the state of Pakistan. Decades of institutional conditioning, which engrained deep patriotism for Pakistan cannot be easily over-written for loyalty to the Saudis.
What the Saudi dynasty is going through today has many parallels with the various ruling dynasties of the subcontinent during the 16th and 17th centuries. Back then, an era of relying on tribal confederations and fluid mercenaries was coming to an end, and the Mughals, Marathas, Sikhs, Nizams, and Sultans of the time were increasingly relying on European mercenary officers to modernize their armies. With the help of such officers for hire, they used modern weaponry and strategies against each other with varying levels of success, but stood no chance against a semi-institutionalised military of an emerging British nation-state. If history tells us anything, this alliance is unlikely to help the Saudis with their objectives. In the meanwhile, there is no harm in letting our saviours make a few quick bucks out of the situation.

Pakistan - All citizens must have equality in the eyes of the state, Sherry

Vice President PPPP , Senator Sherry Rehman made a case for Pakistanis to take back their constitution in her opening keynote for the second day of the London School of Economics’ Pakistan Summit held at IBA Karachi.
Asserting on the importance of understanding the Constitution, Rehman said, “For democracy to be meaningful, citizens must put it to use as a constitutional entitlement. We have very little sense of our entitlements. The Constitution is not a remote document but something which gives rights”.
“The government for the people, by the people is no more. It’s now government with the people. Democracy will not work if it’s a top-down construct,” continued the Senator.
Rehman added, “It is timely to be asking questions about the laws that govern our country and laws outside, even as borders harden. Mapping the fundamentals is important to the architecture of laws that govern us today”.
“One core value that we must work on is inclusion. Pakistan is not a monolith and we have been managing our diversity pretty badly. Minority voices matter. All citizens must have equality in the eyes of the state,” said the Senator to applause from the audience.
In her address, Rehman highlighted the importance of detecting global trends, saying, “We are living in an era of profound change and social upheaval but we cannot disconnect. Our constitution needs to account for the three major global trends climate change, terrorism and accelerating digital usage”.
“There is nothing reversible about climate change, terrorism knows no borders and we do not know how to control the internet which is opening doors we do not know how to close. We need predictability, transparency, and accountability in this digital age,” the Senator elaborated.
Rehman further said, “The 18th amendment refashioned the entire relationship with the center and the way resources are distributed. It envisioned to strengthen federal units, national institutions and ensure that issues of public importance are resolved democratically at a local level. The RTI, for instance, played a critical role in making the government less remote”.
The Vice-President PPPP went on to say, “The nature of reform is extremely unwieldy and a fair amount of compromise and political consensus made the 18th amendment possible. Then President, Asif Ali Zardari, did not have to reduce the powers of the President but he did. The PPP government restored the 1973 constitution and devolved all powers to the provinces to end the sense of deprivation in smaller provinces. It has become the party’s pledge and commitment to its manifesto and the people,” concluded Rehman.
https://mediacellppp.wordpress.com