Pakistan's Descent into Chaos: Terrorist & Drone Attacks

[thethinker]

Blasphemy in Pakistan: The case of Aasia Bibi

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/6/18/blasphemy-in-pakistan-the-case-of-aasia-bibi.html

Exclusive access to sealed court transcripts raises serious concerns about the trial of the only woman on death row

June 18, 2015 5:00AM ET
by Zehra Abid @zehra_abid4

LAHORE, Pakistan — June 19 marks six years since the arrest of Aasia Noreen, also known as Aasia Bibi, the only woman to be sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan. In her village of Ittan Wali, in the province of Punjab, it is the season for berries again. In 2009, Aasia (many Christians in Pakistan are known by their first name) was plucking falsa, a kind of berry, in the fields when she got into an argument with a group of women working beside her. They were Muslim, and Aasia, Christian. The women refused to drink water from the cup that Noreen had touched, contending it was unclean. In the heat of the quarrel, they said, Noreen made blasphemous remarks against the Prophet Muhammad, a charge that can lead to the death penalty in Pakistan.

Asma and Mafia, sisters who each go by one name, as some do in parts of Pakistan, were witnesses to the alleged incident. They reported the altercation to the village cleric, Qari Saalam, who filed a police report against Aasia on charges of blasphemy five days later. State vs. Aasia Bibi was heard in a lower court in the nearby city of Nankana Sahib, and in November 2010,Aasia was found guilty and sentenced to death. Now, the former daily wage laborer and mother of two remains in solitary confinement on death row in the women’s jail in the southern Punjab city of Multan.

Her case has drawn widespread criticism, and calls for her release have come from as far away as the Vatican; international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have championed her cause. Aasia’s case is just one of hundreds in Pakistan based on the infamous blasphemy laws, which carry with them a virtually mandatory death sentence or life imprisonment and, activists say, are often used as cover to settle personal disputes, especially with members of religious minority groups.

 

[thethinker]

Blasphemy in Pakistan: Anatomy of a lynching
A Christian couple in a village were set ablaze at a brick kiln by a mob. This is the story of what happened

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/6/20/blasphemy-in-pakistan-anatomy-of-a-lynching.html

This is the second story in a two-part series about blasphemy in Pakistan. The first part, about the case of the first woman on death row for blasphemy in that country, is available here.

KOT RADHA KISHAN, Pakistan — Walking through the quiet, empty streets of Chak 59, patrolled by stray dogs and the odd buffalo, one finds it difficult to tell whether the village is inhabited at all.

It is striking how silence can envelope a life, so as to all but erase it. Or, in this case, two lives: Shama and Shahzad Masih, a young Christian couple accused of blasphemy in this hamlet 31 miles from the big city of Lahore, but deep in the wilderness that dominates Pakistan’s Punjabi heartland.

On Nov. 4, 2014, Shama and Shahzad (most Christians in Pakistan are known only by their first name) were killed by a mob, stirred up by false allegations that the couple had desecrated the Holy Quran, at the brick kiln where they lived and worked for the previous 18 years.

The mob first beat them with sticks and fists before dragging them to the kiln furnace to set them on fire. Witnesses say one or both of them were still alive as they burned.

A month later, there was only silence on the streets of Chak 59. Villagers who lived alongside the couple said they never knew them. Among their co-workers, some said they were visiting relatives on the day of the attack, others that they had left to observe the religious ritual of Ashura. From grocery-stall vendors to policemen, no one admitted ever meeting, let alone knowing, Shama and Shahzad. Most of the villagers fled after the attack, and many of the rest were locked up in police custody.

Probing beneath the silence, however, one discovers that by the morning of Nov. 4, everyone in the village knew that a mob was being formed to kill the couple, and no one — not even they themselves — did anything to stop it.

 

[thethinker]

Christian discrimination in Pakistan.

 

[thethinker]

Hindu discrimination in Pakistan

Life Standard of Hindu Dalits in Pakistan

http://www.hinduhumanrights.info/life-standard-of-hindu-dalits-in-pakistan/

t has been long since Hindu Dalits in Pakistan are facing double discrimination wherever they live. This discrimination starts from the place they live which is by upper caste Hindus who creates a disturbance in their lives from entrance to temples. On the other hand majority of Dalit Hindus are facing severe problems wherever they work and their boss are Muslim; agriculture or labor. It is estimated by senior analysts of Dalit community that more 70% of Dalit Hindus relates to agriculture workforce and illiterate. Hindus are the first largest minority in Pakistan; although 85% of this total Hindus population constitutes Dalits in Hinduism which indicates that Dalits plays the role of pillar for Hinduism in Pakistan.

Before the decade of 80’s in Pakistan the life standard of Dalit Hindus was so vulnerable and they were discriminated at all stages; later on few movements for Dalits were initiated to give them a safe and discrimination free life. Many of the individuals who initiated the movement against this discrimination were given torture and several punishments but they did not leave their mission and continued their efforts for betterment in society.

Those who have raised their voices for ending such discrimination against Dalits includes: Haider Bux Jatoi, fazil Rahu, GM Syed, Sambho Hameerani, Miskeen Jahan Khan Khoso and others. Although their mission of Development of Dalits is still continued by Adv. Rochiram, Dr. Sono Khangharani, Adv. Bhooro Mal Kolhi, Surrendar Velasai, Abdul Wahid Arisar, Ghulam Hiader Laghari, Ramesh Jaipal, Pirbhu Satyani, Malji Meghwar, Ganpat Rai and many more.

Dalits in Pakistan constitute 42 major castes which are being shared in my previous article ‘Dalits in Peril’. All of these castes face lots of problems each day and their life is again getting worst like that of 80’s decade where their honor was disrespected and they were treated like animals. In a recent fact and finding of Pakistan Hindu Seva in collaboration with Global Human Rights Defence where I have personally gone for search of issues with minorities in Pakistan I found every issue which I have never expected. During case studies I found several cases of rape and conversion, rape and forced conversion, bonded labor, land grabbing, forced conversion of minor girls of Hindu community, rape with minor Hindu girls, abduction of young Hindu boys for ransom, beating officials from Hindu community, rape of married Hindu girls for snatching property, caste discrimination and many more.


It is further ashamed that all such incidents do not make any change for the people living in society. At most, these cases are not exhibited in society by media so that victims become more vulnerable and dies every moment each day. In many cases when a victim of such case goes to police; it happily says that nothing will happen, just compromise and leave us.

Such a comment from our law enforcing agencies deteriorates the rights of Dalit community to a high extent. In Pakistan if a girl of Hindu Dalit is raped or even murdered then it makes no change to their own upper caste Hindus but if a girl from upper caste Hindu family is abducted; these upper caste needs sympathy from Dalits which they give because kindness is more important for them than life.

There have been cases in Umerkot district of Sindh province where Hindus specially Dalits are neglected by Judiciary and they are given such decisions which are not legal; judge give such decisions because he receives some gifts by perpetrators behind the scene. It will surely be in your mind that they should try to reach Higher courts or Supreme court in Pakistan but the reality is this they even don’t have money for two times a food a day; the fees of Higher courts and Supreme courts and transportation and other expenses during it are never imagined by them. They sale their livestock and jewelry of their daughters to reach lower courts and it’s the final stage for them to reach for justice where from they come back with disappointment.

The pain of helplessness leads them to suicide which is at high toll to Dalits in district Tharparkar of Sindh province. Most of the people having some budget have sacrificed their relatives and lives and have migrated abroad; to India, Canada, UAE or UK for a better living of their children in future. Most of the Hindus in Sindh also fear for sending their girl children to school due to fear of abduction; in the recent days a Dalit girl named Sapna Rani was abducted from a school at Peshawar who is hardly recovered now with the efforts of members of Coalition for the Rights of Minorities (CRM).

Hundreds of non-governmental national and international organizations are working for the development of minorities in all over Pakistan but due to improper implementation of projects and corruption, the expected outcome is not achieved. It is also important to note that each year many developing programmes are initiated by government but none of these specifically focuses the issues of Dalit Hindus in Pakistan. The government of Pakistan and our law enforcing agencies must understand that Dalits are an asset to Pakistan because these days they are achieving their level best in the field of IT, Development, Politics, Doctoral, Law and business. The situation of Dalits in Sindh is worst due to lack of education which needs proper attention from government so that they become aware of their basic rights.

By Chander Kolhi

(Vice President, Pakistan Hindu Seva)

 

[thethinker]

Violence against religious minorities rising alarmingly in Pakistan: HRCP

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/islama...minorities-rising-alarmingly-in-pakistan-hrcp

* 687 people killed in more than 200 sectarian attacks last year, a rise of 22 percent on 2012 g 869 women killed in the name of honour and more than 800 committed suicide

ISLAMABAD: Sectarian killings rose by more than a fifth in Pakistan last year, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said on Thursday, warning of an alarming increase in violence against religious minorities.
The HRCP said 687 people were killed in more than 200 sectarian attacks last year, a rise of 22 percent on 2012. The group warned that ongoing peace talks between the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the hardline militants of the Pakistani Taliban could make minorities even more vulnerable. Violence against Shias, who make up around 20 percent, has been growing in recent years, much of it led by extremist sectarian groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
The country’s small Christian, Hindu and Ahmadi communities also suffer discrimination and occasional outbursts of violence. At the launch of the HRCP’s annual report on Pakistan’s rights situation, Secretary General IA Rehman said minorities were facing increasing violence. “Minorities in Pakistan are increasingly feeling insecure since the present government came to power in June last year,” he told reporters. Peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban could have “immense repercussions” on religious minorities, he warned.
“It is a choice of the government if it wants to have negotiations with the Pakistani Taliban but these negotiations should not come at the cost of religious minorities and women,” said Rehman. Nearly 200 Shias were killed in the first seven weeks of 2013, most in two huge bombings in Quetta, a flashpoint for sectarian violence. The rights group said that since the present government came to power the trend had shifted from large-scale attacks to individual killings targeting Shia doctors, lawyers and intellectuals.
The report also called 2013 “one of the darkest years” for Christians in Pakistan, with the deadliest ever attack on the community mounted in Peshawar in September. Nearly 100 worshippers were killed when two suicide bombers blew themselves up at All Saints Church after a Sunday service.
The State of Human Rights 2013 report, which was launched on Thursday, said 869 women were killed in the name of honour. More than 800 women committed suicide in 2013. Only 18.3% women had secondary or higher level of education and only 28% were formally counted in the workforce. At least 56 women were killed solely for giving birth to a girl child. There were only 560 women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s 60,000-strong police force. In Punjab, only 9 out of 146 SPs were women. Out of 474 DSPs in Punjab, only 35 were women. Women’s participation as voters and candidates grew in the 2013 election.
According to HRCP over 14,000 murders were reported to police in 2013 and 694 people died in 45 suicide bombings. It stated that parliament made around two dozen laws. Eight presidential ordinances were promulgated. Several security-specific laws were adopted. The report said there was a heavy backlog of cases across all tiers of the judicial system. 20,000 cases were pending in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court continued to use suo motu powers, as legal experts highlighted lack of guidelines governing how the court took up and prioritised such matters.
The report said 357 police encounters were reported, 503 suspects were killed and 49 injured in the encounters. 50 policemen were killed and 99 injured. Thirty-one drone attacks killed 199 people, while 91 aid workers were attacked in Pakistan in 2013. Hundreds of cases of kidnapping for ransom were reported, 2,576 rape cases were reported from Punjab. Violence in Karachi killed 3,218 people, up 14% from 2012. Over 64,000 firearms, 561 grenades and 2.7 million bullets were seized and 72 million kilogrammes of explosives were confiscated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

 

[thethinker]

Pakistan's Hindus, other minorities face surge of violence

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/05/us-pakistan-minorities-idUSBREA440SU20140505

A security official and members of the Hindu community stand inside a temple that was attacked in Larkana, located in Pakistan's Sindh province, in this March 16, 2014 file photo.
Reuters/Faheem Soormro/Files

Munawar Jee, a member of the Hindu community who said his sister was kidnapped and converted to Islam, speaks during an interview with Reuters at his shop in the small town of Jamal Din Wali, located in Pakistan's Rahim Yar Khan District, March 26, 2014.
Reuters/Faisal Mahmood


The mob arrived at around midnight, brandishing clubs. They smashed statues, looted gold artifacts and then set the Hindu temple in Pakistan ablaze.

An accusation of blasphemy sparked the attack in the town of Larkana, human rights activists said, part of a spike in violence against Hindus in predominately Muslim Pakistan.

March was the worst month for attacks on Hindus in 20 years with five temples attacked, up from nine during the whole of 2013, said Life for All, a Pakistani rights group. But it's not just Hindus who feel victimized.

All of Pakistan's minorities - Hindus, Christians, Ahmadis and even Shi'ite Muslims - feel that the state fails to protect them, and even tolerates violence against them.

Many complain the problem has become worse since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is seen as more conservative and indulgent of Islamists than his predecessor, came to power last year.

This raises questions about the state's pledge to rein in the militants who launch attacks into India and Afghanistan. The neighbors say the extremists act with the complicity of Pakistan's security agencies. Islamabad denies that

Non-Muslims make up a small fraction of the 180 million people in nuclear-armed Pakistan.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the hero of the country's creation as a haven for the sub-continent's Muslims, ushered in independence in 1947 with a promise to minorities that they would enjoy freedom of worship and equality without discrimination.

But for many members of Pakistan's minorities those words ring hollow.

The U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom said in a recent report that conditions in Pakistan had "hit an all-time low" and governments had failed to adequately protect minorities and arrest perpetrators of crimes against them.

"Pakistan is increasingly failing to protect its minorities for two broad reasons: principally, rising religious intolerance and the space ceded to violent ideologies," said Sherry Rehman, who was a government minister and ambassador to the United States under the previous Pakistani administration.

The security establishment has used Islamists for decades, against political opponents at home and to pursue aims in Afghanistan and against old rival India. But some militants, like the Pakistani Taliban, have turned on the state since Pakistan joined the U.S.-led war on militancy.

The government launched peace talks with the Taliban in February and rights activists fear that they and other militants have been emboldened by the talks to step up attacks on their minority-group enemies.

Activists also say the tolerance of militancy provides cover for opportunist attacks by those who just want to grab land, homes or businesses of minority neighbors under the guise of religion.

Hindus and members of other minorities say the situation has worsened since Sharif won an election last year. Sharif has close ties with Saudi Arabia, whose brand of conservative Wahhabi Islam is preached by many of the people who denounce minorities.

Saudi Arabia, the center of Sunni Islam, sees Pakistan as a bulwark against Shi'ite Muslim Iran and it has long supported hardliners in Pakistan. It recently gave the country a gift of $1.5 billion.

"IMPUNITY"

Whatever the cause of the surge of violence and abuse, many Pakistani Hindus in the richest province of Punjab are feeling beleaguered and increasingly looking to get out. More than 100 families are leaving for India each month, rights groups say.

Among those who have gone were Munawar Jee's brothers and their families after his married sister was kidnapped last year. Her abductors got her certified as a Muslim convert and re-married her off the next day. Recanting Islam would mean she could legally be put to death.

"Losing my sister is the biggest regret of my life," Jee told Reuters at his shoe shop in Punjab's Rahim Yar Khan district. He said he would soon join his family in India.

Hindus say their women are easy targets for rape or forced marriage. Temples are attacked and looted. Accusations of blasphemy, punishable by death, are increasingly being used to drive Hindus from their homes, they say.

Punjab, the prime minister's heartland, had until recently been a refuge for Hindus compared with some other areas.

But the province has also become a power base for militant groups, many of which have been nurtured by the security agencies and appeased by the politicians seeking votes.

"The militant groups work with impunity as they enjoy support from the state functionaries. They cannot work without some level of support," said veteran rights campaigner I.A. Rehman.

If the militants' treatment of minorities can be seen as a reflection of the state's acceptance of the groups, then people hoping the security forces will follow through on government vows to crack down on those responsible for violence would seem wise to be cautious.

"It is difficult to say if the security establishment has come out of its 'good Taliban'/'bad Taliban' mindset," said prominent lawyer and human rights campaigner Asma Jahangir, referring to the military's propensity to accept some groups while fighting others.

Federal Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid did not return calls seeking comment on policy towards minorities. A Punjab government spokesman rejected the suggestion that authorities were not doing enough to help Hindus.

"The government is committed to protect its religious minorities," said Shoaib Bin Aziz, adding he was not aware of an increase of Hindus leaving. He denied that the provincial government was soft on militancy.

"Terrorists are not friends of anyone," he said. "The Punjab government does not have soft corner for any terrorist organization."

Hindu activist Kirshan Sharma said such reassurances meant little. The government was talking to the Taliban but refused to protect Hindus, he said.

"Pakistan has kneeled before the Taliban by holding talks," Sharma said. "What hope can Hindus see in the country's future?"

(Reporting by Syed Raza Hassan; Editing by Katharine Houreld and Robert Birsel)

 

[thethinker]

Obfuscating reality: 'They were killed for being Pakistanis, not minorities'

http://www.dawn.com/news/1182336

This is an attack on Pakistan

They were killed for being Pakistanis, not Ismailis

This line of response to atrocities within Pakistan is not new, but has become rather common, as was seen after the horrific recent assault on the Ismaili community in Karachi.

However, there is a problem with this.

As mentioned before, attacks on religious minorities in Pakistan are often deemed a continuation of the plague of terrorism in the country; violence that is raging yet indiscriminate, targeting and affecting all Pakistanis.

However, the danger of this narrative is that it blurs a gory reality; that religious minorities face fatal focus from terrorists and extremists; especially targeted and massacred.

From the Shia Hazaras in Quetta to Shikarpur, from Kot Radha Kishan to Youhanabad, and now Safoora Chowrangi, there is a cold-blooded calculation behind this blood-letting, and these are truly besieged communities.

Violence against religious minorities and minority sects is a distinct, targeted violence aimed at their complete extermination from Pakistan. These are not sporadic bouts of savagery but a carefully planned carnage aimed at ‘cleansing’ the land of pure.

Also read: 'Goodbye, my son!' — After spate of attacks, Shias flee Pakistan

There is a special distinction motivating these slaughters, that of religious identity; and this distinction cannot be brushed under the blanket of national identity without appearing as a travesty of truth.

Anti-Shia violence precedes the war on terror. Those who have lived through the '80s and '90s would bear witness to this.

In his piece for Al-Jazeera, Murtaza Hussain mentions:

It is believed that since the early 1990s, nearly 4,000 Pakistani Shias have been murdered in sectarian attacks, and at a pace which has rapidly accelerated in recent years.

Minority sects, especially the Shia, are labelled kafir to kill. They are singled out for being Shia and Shia alone.

Any attempt to sketch attacks against them as any other reality is akin to the attempts made in the US to paint the Chapel Hill shooting of three Muslim students as a “parking dispute", anything other than Islamophobia – which clearly outraged many Pakistanis.


The obfuscation of narrative therefore blurs reality and blinds people to the prevalence and nature of injustice.Therefore, to say that the recent massacre is an attack on Pakistan is to obfuscate the narrative.

It is an obfuscation that serves nothing but to perpetuate these atrocities and normalise their occurrence as part of the routine of violence.

Take a look: Denial doesn’t change reality

This long-existing violence has only been emboldened by the prevalence and pervasiveness of state failure and complicity in overseeing the reign of terrorism in Pakistan.

There is also a rush and tendency in Pakistan to make the perpetrators of these brutalities as monsters, that people from among us can never do such a thing. Yet, their ideas are not new.

They are the same ideas that thrive among many segments of the Pakistani culture and society; ideas that run along, Shias should not be killed but they…”

Ideas that see the Shia as deviant Muslims distorting Islam, as religious “others”, which extremists and terrorists derive strength from, subsequently taking them a bloody stretch further by deeming them kafir and wajib-ul-qatal.

However, as unaccepting of internal rot as many are, naturally little time is spent to link all inconceivable acts of such cruelty to foreign forces.

From 2010: A muted response to minority killings

It is important to quote former Pakistan Director of the Human Rights Watch and human rights campaigner Ali Dayan Hasan, who took to Twitter after news of the attack:

Increasingly, formulaic condemnations and condolences by state institutions in the face of carnage just add insult to injury. Blaming India & others for atrocities against minorities does not absolve the state of failing in responsibility to protect.

As religious minorities remain besieged by persecution, fear and discrimination in Pakistan, let us not lose sight of the fact that the state, with its spinelessness, indifference and links of patronage with these groups, remains complicit in letting militant outfits run amok with their hate and lust for blood.

And as a society, perhaps if we cannot stop this butchery, we can at least try not to silence the screaming plight of these communities who are only guilty of being religious minorities in Pakistan today.

Related:

 

[thethinker]

Since lately, Pakis love to open communal or violence and negative threads about India and leaving them just for provoking DFI Indians, here is what I suggest :

• For every such thread opened by @Neo and et al, similar such threads about Pakistan to be opened but with a twist.

• These threads instead of being created as new should rather be posted in threads where Pakis love to portray Pakistan as a responsible and developing nation- for eg : this very own Pakistan Economy discussion thread or any other thread that has a positive spin on Pakistan.

Feel free to comment :

@Abhijat @A chauhan @Alien @alphacentury @Ancient Indian @anupamsurey @blueblood @brational @Bangalorean @Blackwater @bose @cobra commando @DingDong @DFI_COAS @ersakthivel @gpawar @hit&run @jackprince @Kharavela @Illusive @I_PLAY_BAD @LETHALFORCE @Lions Of Punjab @maomao @Mad Indian @OneGrimPilgrim @tarunraju
@Peter @pmaitra @Razor @raja696 @Rowdy @Sakal Gharelu Ustad @sydsnyper @Srinivas_K @Screambowl @sorcerer @Simple_Guy @Sylex21 @wickedone @tarunraju @TrueSpirit2 @VIP @Vishwarupa @VIP @Varahamihira @roma

@sob @pmaitra - If there are any issues or objections, please feel free to moderate or delete the posts.

 

[thethinker]

Is Pakistan a failing state?
By Shakir Lakhani Published: May 22, 2015

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/27762/is-pakistan-a-failing-state/

More than45 people are shot deadin cold blood by six or eight armed men, who reached the spot on motorcycles. At practically every traffic signal in Karachi, one can see armed policemen stopping motorcyclists, checking the vehicles’ papers and letting them go after extorting some money.

Yet on the day of the mass killing, no one stopped the killers, while the police station nearby was nearly empty.

Isn’t this a glaring sign of failure of the state?

Dr Bernadette Dean, who had been living in the country for many years and was advising the provincial government on revision of syllabi, received death threats from a religious party. She left Pakistan but was too scared to name the said religious political party. We are all aware that in Karachi there is only one particular party deeply worried about teaching our children subjects which will train them to think and question, yet newspapers also dared not name it.

In which other country would such a situation be tolerated?

And you think Pakistan is not a failing state?

In Lahore, a cleric in a madrassa accuses a federal minister of blasphemy because the latter said seminaries produce illiterate students. Government takes no action against the cleric. Students of another seminary in Islamabad are caught installing banners calling for the hanging of the federal minister. When police intervene, they beat up the cops. The students are chased and their madrassa is identified.

Again, no action will be taken against those running that madrassa.

Is this how governments in civilised countries react?

The federal finance minister says his government is helpless and cannot take any action against smugglers and those selling smuggled goods in Bara markets.

What kind of government is this?

Do you want more evidence that Pakistan is a failing state?

Senior police officers are being routinely killed, while those policemen who are not ghost employees are guarding the ministers and parliamentarians. There is no development in the city, so one wonders what they do with all our tax money. The whole city is without water for days because government departments have been filled with political appointees who will never be held accountable for their negligence.

And yet you refuse to realise that we are living in a failing state?

A very rich person pays only Rs26 as income tax, his 20-billion dollar IT company fails to file returns for two years, and the tax hounds do nothing. However, if a common man fails to file a return even though he is earning just enough to barely stay alive, the income tax department springs into action and threatens to auction his house. It will be a miracle if the rich man is given adequate punishment; most people believe he will be let off after a long investigation. Some believe that he is innocent, others that his company is being victimised by business rivals, that it is a conspiracy against the country.

Is this how citizens of a successful state respond in such a situation?

A graduate from a prestigious institution turns into an extremist after going on four-month long evangelical tours organised by an ostensibly peaceful group. Others arrested along with him have also, allegedly, been indulging in terrorism for many years. The police, however, were not even aware of their existence until now, after several murders and killings – including the one of 47 people in a bus.

No one will ask the police why they did nothing for all these years, despite the murders of a foreign female principal and several other people. The killer of a provincial governor is garlanded by lawyers who give him the status of a hero.

Not a failed state? Think again!

It’s time to wake up. They have infiltrated our institutions, our schools and colleges, our universities, our police departments, our armed forces and perhaps even our judiciary. They have dedicated themselves to our destruction, and the only way to prevent them is to raise our voices and urge our leaders to do more to fight extremism in the country leading to terrorism.

But of course, first we have to discard our conspiracy theories and admit that our country is failing and is in great danger of disintegration.

 

[rock127]

Since lately, Pakis love to open communal or violence and negative threads about India and leaving them just for provoking DFI Indians, here is what I suggest :

• For every such thread opened by @Neo and et al, similar such threads about Pakistan to be opened but with a twist.

• These threads instead of being created as new should rather be posted in threads where Pakis love to portray Pakistan as a responsible and developing nation- for eg : this very own Pakistan Economy discussion thread or any other thread that has a positive spin on Pakistan.

Feel free to comment :

@Abhijat @A chauhan @Alien @alphacentury @Ancient Indian @anupamsurey @blueblood @brational @Bangalorean @Blackwater @bose @cobra commando @DingDong @DFI_COAS @ersakthivel @gpawar @hit&run @jackprince @Kharavela @Illusive @I_PLAY_BAD @LETHALFORCE @Lions Of Punjab @maomao @Mad Indian @OneGrimPilgrim @tarunraju
@Peter @pmaitra @Razor @raja696 @Rowdy @Sakal Gharelu Ustad @sydsnyper @Srinivas_K @Screambowl @sorcerer @Simple_Guy @Sylex21 @wickedone @tarunraju @TrueSpirit2 @VIP @Vishwarupa @VIP @Varahamihira @roma

@sob @pmaitra - If there are any issues or objections, please feel free to moderate or delete the posts.

Fully agree...

Pakis are working on ISI agenda to spread as much false news on Internet as possible.This includes creating new "News websites" as possible where the owner is the same.Also spreading crap on various forums and then RUN AWAY like a pussy when the facts are found to be wrong or controversial.

They believe that if you say 1 LIE 100 times people would take it as truth.

Pakistan is a Terrorist State and Pakis are extremely Besharam,Behaya,Beigarait and Gair-Islami people.

@pmaitra @LETHALFORCE @sob : Please take a note of the recent Paki troll attack on DFI to post as a much Unsubstantiated/FALSE crap as possible. Just for example their Solar Power was controversial and SU-35 turned out to be a HOAX.Also another crap like "Peace returning to Pakistan" whereas attacks on Journalists are increasing and attack on PAF where 45 got butchered in total.

DFI should not become a platform for this ISI propaganda.I think @tarunraju called out this thing already.

The last thing we want is becoming too "Democratic" to allow crappy false news created by Pakis and google search leading to DFI for such false news.We all know Paki forums are filled with ISI sponsored news already.

===================================================================================
@Abhijat @A chauhan @Alien @alphacentury @Ancient Indian @anupamsurey @blueblood @brational @Bangalorean @Blackwater @bose @cobra commando @DingDong @DFI_COAS @ersakthivel @gpawar @hit&run @jackprince @Kharavela @Illusive @I_PLAY_BAD @LETHALFORCE @Lions Of Punjab @maomao @Mad Indian @OneGrimPilgrim @Peter @pmaitra @Razor @raja696 @Rowdy @Sakal Gharelu Ustad @sydsnyper @Srinivas_K @Screambowl @sorcerer @Simple_Guy @Sylex21 @wickedone @tarunraju @TrueSpirit2 @thethinker @VIP @Vishwarupa @VIP @Varahamihira @roma

 

[I_PLAY_BAD]

Fully agree...

Pakis are working on ISI agenda to spread as much false news on Internet as possible.This includes creating new "News websites" as possible where the owner is the same.Also spreading crap on various forums and then RUN AWAY like a pussy when the facts are found to be wrong or controversial.

They believe that if you say 1 LIE 100 times people would take it as truth.

Pakistan is a Terrorist State and Pakis are extremely Besharam,Behaya,Beigarait and Gair-Islami people.

@pmaitra @LETHALFORCE @sob : Please take a note of the recent Paki troll attack on DFI to post as a much Unsubstantiated/FALSE crap as possible. Just for example their Solar Power was controversial and SU-35 turned out to be a HOAX.Also another crap like "Peace returning to Pakistan" whereas attacks on Journalists are increasing and attack on PAF where 45 got butchered in total.

DFI should not become a platform for this ISI propaganda.I think @tarunraju called out this thing already.

The last thing we want is becoming too "Democratic" to allow crappy false news created by Pakis and google search leading to DFI for such false news.We all know Paki forums are filled with ISI sponsored news already.

===================================================================================
@Abhijat @A chauhan @Alien @alphacentury @Ancient Indian @anupamsurey @blueblood @brational @Bangalorean @Blackwater @bose @cobra commando @DingDong @DFI_COAS @ersakthivel @gpawar @hit&run @jackprince @Kharavela @Illusive @I_PLAY_BAD @LETHALFORCE @Lions Of Punjab @maomao @Mad Indian @OneGrimPilgrim @Peter @pmaitra @Razor @raja696 @Rowdy @Sakal Gharelu Ustad @sydsnyper @Srinivas_K @Screambowl @sorcerer @Simple_Guy @Sylex21 @wickedone @tarunraju @TrueSpirit2 @thethinker @VIP @Vishwarupa @VIP @Varahamihira @roma

So the Pakis here and other forums may work for ISI(S) ?
Their posts are childish and gives me the feel that they are all teenagers.
I see neither maturity nor substance in their posts.
Is this the trailer o what ISI could be really ? Are they a bunch of jokers too ?

 

[I_PLAY_BAD]

Since lately, Pakis love to open communal or violence and negative threads about India and leaving them just for provoking DFI Indians, here is what I suggest :

• For every such thread opened by @Neo and et al, similar such threads about Pakistan to be opened but with a twist.

• These threads instead of being created as new should rather be posted in threads where Pakis love to portray Pakistan as a responsible and developing nation- for eg : this very own Pakistan Economy discussion thread or any other thread that has a positive spin on Pakistan.

Feel free to comment :

@Abhijat @A chauhan @Alien @alphacentury @Ancient Indian @anupamsurey @blueblood @brational @Bangalorean @Blackwater @bose @cobra commando @DingDong @DFI_COAS @ersakthivel @gpawar @hit&run @jackprince @Kharavela @Illusive @I_PLAY_BAD @LETHALFORCE @Lions Of Punjab @maomao @Mad Indian @OneGrimPilgrim @tarunraju
@Peter @pmaitra @Razor @raja696 @Rowdy @Sakal Gharelu Ustad @sydsnyper @Srinivas_K @Screambowl @sorcerer @Simple_Guy @Sylex21 @wickedone @tarunraju @TrueSpirit2 @VIP @Vishwarupa @VIP @Varahamihira @roma

@sob @pmaitra - If there are any issues or objections, please feel free to moderate or delete the posts.

Yes, hereafter negative news and posts about Pakistan will be posted/shared/gifted/bestowed in threads created to sing Pakistani praise.
We have to give the mullahs a run for their attempt to sing their country's praise in DFI.

 

[thethinker]

Yes, hereafter negative news and posts about Pakistan will be posted/shared/gifted/bestowed in threads created to sing Pakistani praise.
We have to give the mullahs a run for their attempt to sing their country's praise in DFI.

It is high time to respond to Pakis who think that relaxed moderation here means they can spew any bullshit and try to associate DFI as a pro Paki forum when you search Google or other search engines for Paki news.

All they are doing recently on DFI is posting crimes and violence articles in India while at same time sneaking in pro Paki agenda news (most of which are fabricated).

These are not isolated events but are regularly being done with a set pattern and helps search engines to associate positive Pak developments however real/unreal they are with DFI - credibility by association kind of thing via SEO.

@Abhijat @A chauhan @Alien @alphacentury @Ancient Indian @anupamsurey @blueblood @brational @Bangalorean @Blackwater @bose @cobra commando @DingDong @DFI_COAS @ersakthivel @gpawar @hit&run @jackprince @Kharavela @Illusive @I_PLAY_BAD @LETHALFORCE @Lions Of Punjab @maomao @Mad Indian @OneGrimPilgrim @tarunraju @rock127 @sob @pmaitra
@Peter @pmaitra @Razor @raja696 @Rowdy @Sakal Gharelu Ustad @sydsnyper @Srinivas_K @Screambowl @sorcerer @Simple_Guy @Sylex21 @wickedone @tarunraju @TrueSpirit2 @VIP @Vishwarupa @VIP @Varahamihira @roma

 

[I_PLAY_BAD]

How do you guys tag so many members in your posts ?

 

[thethinker]

How do you guys tag so many members in your posts ?

Find an earlier post that has tagged active posters and copy paste those tags.

 

[A chauhan]

How do you guys tag so many members in your posts ?

Put @ and without leaving space type name of that user.

Find an earlier post that has tagged active posters and copy paste those tags.

Nice short cut !

 

[thethinker]

Balochistan's war comes to Canada

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/09/09/balochistans-war-comes-to-canada

First posted: Wednesday, September 09, 2015 07:08 AM EDT

For years, human rights activists have accused Pakistan's military of carrying out extra-judicial murders of political opponents in the country's largest province, Balochistan.

Islamabad denies these accusations, but now a conscientious objector, a Pakistani soldier, has released a grainy video to Baloch nationalist websites, which appears to confirm their worst fears.

The 90-second clip shows a Pakistan army convoy in typical Balochistan terrain of dry parched land with mountains in the background.

A group of soldiers take a Baloch prisoner from a truck and drags him a few feet.

The prisoner is then set free, but he barely takes six steps when a soldier shoots him three times in the back, killing him on the spot.

The Baloch prisoner collapses face down.

The Pakistani soldier then stands above the body and pumps four more bullets to finish off his prey.

He walks away towards the convoy, but then apparently decides his work is not yet done.

He comes back to the lifeless Baloch man on the ground and shoots one last parting shot into his dead body before running back to the truck.

This in human rights circles is known as Pakistan's "kill and dump" policy in Balochistan.

Declan Walsh, the Pakistani bureau chief for the New York Times, who is banned from entering Pakistan and works out of London, has described the war in Balochistan as "Pakistan's secret dirty war"

Citing alleged war crimes being committed by the Pakistan army, Walsh wrote in the Guardian as far back as 2011:

"The bodies surface quietly, like corks bobbing up in the dark. They come in twos and threes, a few times a week, dumped on desolate mountains or empty city roads, bearing the scars of great cruelty. Arms and legs are snapped; Flesh is sliced with knives or punctured with drills; genitals are singed with electric prods ... All have a gunshot wound in the head."

On Sunday, the war in Balochistan, symbolically speaking, came to Mississauga when a handful of Baloch Canadians set up a protest outside an event organized by hundreds of former Pakistani military officers who have moved to this country.

Delusional as it may sound, they were celebrating their make-believe victory over India in the 1965 war and spreading propaganda and anti-India hatred to the next generation.

As the Baloch chanted slogans against the Pakistan army, they were taunted as "Indian agents" and "traitors to Pakistan" by the former Pakistani army officers arriving in luxury cars.

I heard one man decked out in a tuxedo and driving with a Florida licence plate, boast: "This (military) operation in Balochistan should continue, we will shoot every one who would come in our way."

Another guest, upset that I was with the Baloch Canadians, wrote to me:

"We enjoyed the amazing victory dinner and soon hope Pakistanis will slaughter remaining Baluch terrorists in Pakistan."

At least one of these former Pakistan military officers works for Toronto police and attended the event in uniform.

I asked him if he was representing the police, but he said he could not speak to the media.

This begs the question: How did Canada become a safe haven for Pakistan's military officers despite numerous reports that the country's army is engaged in war crimes in Balochistan, and that elements within the army back the Taliban and jihadi groups fighting us?

 

[thethinker]

Pakistan press freedom under pressure from army

http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...om-army-journalists-military?CMP=share_btn_tw

Journalists claim they are forced to self-censor criticism of the military after indirect threats from army officials

Hamid Mir knew one of the guests on his nightly television show had made a mistake the moment he blurted out the name of the country’s army chief without due deference.

“He just said ‘Raheel Sharif, Raheel Sharif’ without calling him general,” Mir says of a recent episode of his influential Capital Talk programme. “I knew immediately the words came out it would be cut.”

At a time of intense pressure on the media to cooperate with an army public relations campaign that is burnishing the image of General Sharif, channels routinely edit out or drop the sound on the mildest criticism of the military.

Even the country’s only Nobel peace prize winner, the schoolgirl activist Malala Yousafzai, was briefly silenced in early August when she said in an interview with Aaj TV that the prime minister had told her he was unable to spend more money on education because of pressure to fund military operations.

Mir fears that behind the pressure for self-censorship lurk “anti-democratic forces deliberately trying to undermine political institutions by giving more importance to the army.”

Leading journalists claim to have received indirect threats from army officials who warn them they are being targeted by terrorists or that their coverage is raising suspicions they have been compromised by the Indian intelligence service.

There is little doubt the military has rehabilitated its public reputation after the damage done to its popularity in the final years of the rule of Pervez Musharraf, the coup-making general forced from power in 2007.

Media workers say the current unbridled support for the army comes from the need to support the institution at a time when soldiers are dying in a war against Islamist militants. But it also reflects draconian new legal requirements placed on broadcasters. Last month the information ministry issued a sweeping code of conduct that made it a condition of a broadcaster’s licence to not air material that “contains aspersions against the judiciary or armed forces”.

Television stations were also required to have a “delaying mechanism” on live programmes to enforce the restrictions.




Last week the Lahore high court ordered Pemra, the country’s media regulator, to ban all coverage of the speeches and even photographs of the leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the country’s fourth biggest political party, which is reeling from an army-led crackdown in Karachi.

Altaf Hussain, who runs the MQM from self-exile in London, was accused in court of committing treason for issuing an incendiary speech in which he lambasted the army and hinted top generals were involved in corruption.

Most media companies need little encouragement to stay on the right side of the army given memories of all-out war with Geo TV in April 2014. The popular channel triggered military fury when it aired accusations that the head of the army’s intelligence wing had been behind the near fatal shooting of Mir, its star journalist.

Cable television providers were encouraged to drop Geo from their lineup while advertisers deserted the channel.

Mir said his bosses tell him to avoid controversial stories because it will “make trouble for colleagues”. “They say mysterious people call the advertisers and tell them to stop advertising with Geo and then we won’t be able to pay salaries on time,” he said.

Even to suggest Pakistan’s army, with its long history of coups and indirect rule of the country, should stay out of politics is completely beyond the pale, said Mir.

The media has given little attention in recent weeks to a supreme court investigation of well-founded allegations of corruption within the army’s property empire. And there has been hardly any discussion of the slow progress in sending home the huge numbers of people displaced by operations against the Taliban in North Waziristan.

While the media enthusiastically covers stories about corruption and incompetence among civilian politicians, General Sharif receives fawning coverage. Last week Kamran Khan, one of the country’s most famous journalists, devoted much of his nightly show on Dunya News to what he claimed was a growing public clamour for General Sharif to be given a second term rather than be allowed to retire in November next year.

Pakistani journalists credit the general in charge of the army’s public relations department, Asim Bajwa, with crafting an image of Sharif as a dynamic general who was not afraid to take on the Pakistani Taliban.

Footage of Sharif visiting frontline troops or receiving foreign leaders in his office regularly push the country’s civilian leadership off the news bulletins.

General Bajwa said his job was simply to “share genuine information with the people”.

“We are not asking the media to do this or that, or to censor anything,” he said. “People appreciate the work of the army because the reality on the ground is improving.”

Abbas Nasir, a former editor of Dawn, an English-language daily paper, said it was unlikely General Sharif would want a second term given the anger it would be likely to cause within the army. But overconfidence could yet lead to the repeat of the disastrous mistakes of the past.

“My worry is this completely one-sided praise, if it gets to the head of some military leaders, may lead us back to mis-adventurism, whether that’s a march on Islamabad or some sort of an attack on India,” he said. “If you are constantly told you are great, sooner or later you will believe it.”

 

[thethinker]

http://www.zemtv.com/2015/09/22/how-to-rent-a-violent-mob-in-pakistan-bbc-report/

Investigating Pakistan's 'mobs for hire'
By Saba Eitizaz Central Punjab, Pakistan

• 21 September 2015
  
  

To an outsider, it can often look like mob rule in Pakistan. There are public lynchings and frequent attacks on religious minorities and nobody ever seems to get arrested or go to jail. But running and renting out mobs is also an organised business in the country, where the men organising the mobs insist they are providing a vital public service and anything is available - at the right price.

An old man with fiery red hair, Khwaja, lounges on a rickety rope-woven bed and speaks to a rapt audience. These are all men from the area, many of them wearing prayer caps and sporting beards. He has gathered more than a dozen in just a few minutes, armed only with a cell phone and a little black book full of numbers.

"Gathering a mob - what's so difficult about that?" he says. "One phone call and a hundred people will come, they can throw stones till nothing is left and if that doesn't work, it costs very little to buy 10 litres of petrol and set things on fire."

A few months ago, Khwaja brought together a protest mob that blocked the railway lines till the authorities were forced to accept their demands. What looked like a mass protest against gas shortages was organised by one influential man. In a country where many of the people still don't have access to basic necessities, there is power in numbers, and men like Khwaja claim to wield this power.

When government officials fail to deliver on the legitimate needs of the people, then they come to me for solutions. Now the people of my area have more trust in me than the government."

Religion is often used as a rallying cry to stir up sentiments among people influenced by increasing religious radicalism in the country. Khwaja's huge compound contains the only mosque in the area and he chooses the prayer leader himself. His mosque, his cleric, his rules, he says.

Men like Khwaja are known as patrons or "Dera daars". Khwaja insists that he uses his religious influence, connections and political clout for the good of his community, but admits others have exploited mob power for their own purposes.

He explains: "It doesn't take much to gather hundreds against someone you may have a personal enmity with. If they are from a religious minority, you just say they committed blasphemy or burned the Koran, and everyone will follow, no one will verify the truth of it."

'Failure of the police'
Last year an angry mob attacked the homes of Gujranwala's Ahmadiyya religious minority, not too far from Khwaja's area. Locals say it started as a fight over a game of cricket but as tempers flared, a young Ahmadi boy was accused of religious blasphemy, a crime punishable by death under Pakistani laws.

But the matter never went to court as hundreds of people burned down more than a dozen houses of the community in retribution. Three little girls and their grandmother were burnt to death as the police failed to control the violence. The scorched houses lie abandoned, huge padlocks on the doors, as survivors are too afraid to return home.

Mob violence and public lynchings have become a common form of persecution, particularly against religious minorities in Pakistan.

Last November, a young Christian couple in the Punjabi village of Kot Radha Kishan was attacked by a mob after accusations of blasphemy. They were publicly lynched and thrown into the furnace of the brick kiln where they worked.

Similar incidents are on the rise across Punjab, but there are few arrests and fewer convictions. Police officials often stand by, unable or unwilling to control angry religious mobs, preferring to deal with the aftermath.

Punjab Police Superintendent Sohail Sukhera says: "It starts off as 10 angry people, then 20 and finally hundreds… the situation now is that mobs are burning people alive in front of the police, which I think is a failure of the police, the state and our society."

'Hard cash only'
The BBC secured exclusive access to one of the many crime dens that claims to be running a "mob for hire" business, renting out people to instigate and participate in mob violence.

We are led into a compound on the outskirts of the city where some muscular men are sitting down to a hearty breakfast. Others are cleaning their Kalashnikovs.

Surrounded by armed men, the leader of the group or "mob boss" as he is called here, is closing a deal on an expensive cell phone.

"Hard cash only," he is heard saying. "It takes cash to arrange for the men and the vehicles, and they need weapons."

He tells me his clients need his services mostly to settle personal vendettas or for land grabbing, but it is easier to give everything a religious overtone to gain popular support and pressurise the police into doing nothing.

"We are often hired by religious militant organisations for various tasks - if they want to straighten someone out or send a message, we can find the men to do that. Our men are used in political protests or to fill out political rallies, whatever is needed."

Many militant Islamic organisations have been banned in the Punjab as part of the government's efforts to curb terrorism and radicalisation - but the mob boss says it is easier to operate behind the scenes, by hiring mercenaries like him, with no direct links or affiliations.

Like any professional business, he has a list of services, and prices go up with the intensity of violence.

"Burning and lynching will cost extra, we have to pay off all kinds of people to avoid trouble," he says.

Another individual involved in the business says: "We recruit desperate men, poor labourers sitting at road junctions seeking daily wages. We offer them up to 1,000 rupees ($10; £6), food, transport and the reassurance that we will get them out if they are arrested. We have those connections."

Police Superintendent Sukhera admits such backchannels to local mobsters exist. These mobsters often have strong political support and stronger influence than the authorities.

He says: "What we are seeing is a parallel system of governance. The police are often helpless, because we do not get the protection to apprehend these mobs.

"When we try to stop them through the means necessary, often cases are lodged against the police officers themselves. Why would a police officer put his life and livelihood at risk for others, if he gets no support?"

Psychological experts believe that social unrest is on the rise and tolerance diminishing in a country dealing with the impact of decades of terrorism and growing religious radicalism.

As public confidence in the government's ability to tackle rampant socio-economic problems is eroded, a sense of frustration and anger has emerged. And harnessing that anger to serve ulterior motives appears to have become big business.

 

[rock127]

So the Pakis here and other forums may work for ISI(S) ?
Their posts are childish and gives me the feel that they are all teenagers.
I see neither maturity nor substance in their posts.
Is this the trailer o what ISI could be really ? Are they a bunch of jokers too ?

Do you have idea about how SEO/Google/Spider/PageRank etc work?

See what @thethinker has said in post # 975.

It doesn't matter if internet is filled with posts from some child or granpa but mass posting is a big factor spreading LIES.