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PML-N, MQM agree to join hands for 'stronger opposition'

A joint statement said that the two parties would work together on key national issues such as inflation, load shedding, law and order and corruption.

Leaders from both parties met here and discussed the formation of a ‘grand opposition alliance.’ Raza Haroon, Haider Abbs Rizvi and Waseem Akhtar represented the MQM in the meeting while the PML-N was represented by Ishaq Dar, Saad Rafique, Mushaidullah and Pervez Rashid.

A joint statement read out by Haider Abbas Rizvi said that the two parties would work together on key national issues such as inflation, loadshedding, law and order situation, corruption and AJK elections ‘rigging.’

Senator Ishaq Dar said both parties will play the part of a stronger opposition in lawful and constitutional manner.

He added that both parties had set aside their differences and decided to work together in the interest of the country.

Taliban Again refute claims of peace talk with west :

“The rumour about negotiation with America is not more than the talks aimed at the exchange of prisoners,” the Taliban said.

In a statement emailed to media, the Taliban also repeated their long-standing position of rejecting any negotiations for peace as long as foreign troops were in Afghanistan.

“The rumour about negotiation with America is not more than the talks aimed at the exchange of prisoners. Some circles call these contacts as comprehensive talks about the current imbroglio of Afghanistan,” the Taliban said.

“However, this shows their…lack of knowledge about the reality. It is clear as the broad daylight that we consider negotiation in condition of presence of foreign forces as a war stratagem of the Americans and their futile efforts.”

Last month, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the United States was in direct talks with the insurgents but that talks were not at a stage where the Afghan government was sitting down with the militants.

Washington and London have both acknowledged there have been recent contacts with insurgents although former US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said he expected it could take months before any headway could be made.

But so little is known about these contacts that they have been open to widely different interpretations and any discussions that may be taking place are still not at a stage where they can be a deciding factor.

Despite trumpeting military gains, particularly in southern Afghanistan, foreign leaders and military commanders have long recognised the need for a political solution to a war that has now dragged on for almost 10 years.

In Wednesday’s statement, the Taliban said they had been in contact with “some” countries to arrange prisoner exchanges, including most recently with France for the release of two French journalists and their Afghan translator last month.

The men were seized outside Kabul on December 30, 2009 and held captive for 18 months.

France has denied any ransom was paid to secure the release of the two men, and their Afghan interpreter Reza Din. Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said revealing details of the negotiations could damage efforts to free other French hostages in Africa.

The Taliban said they were also continuing “direct and indirect” contacts to secure the release of US and Canadian prisoners.

IED attacks in Pakistan increase by over 145%

 

ISLAMABAD: The number of attacks from improvised explosive devices in Pakistan has grown by more than 145 percent in the last four years, as expertise in the crude bombs has flowed from terrorists in Iraq to Afghanistan and eventually to Pakistan, officials said. 

Just on Tuesday, three separate IED attacks in North Waziristan near the Afghan border and Balochistan in the southwest killed nine Pakistan border troops and wounded 30. 

“Where this expertise is coming from, probably initially it came from Iraq, and then from Afghanistan and now it’s here,” said an intelligence official. He said there had been a dip in suicide bombings in Pakistan with a correspondent increase in IED attacks, which are increasingly the weapon of choice for terrorists.

IEDs are also one of the Afghan Taliban’s most effective weapons against coalition troops in Afghanistan.

A team of law enforcement officials from Pakistan and the United States began meetings in Islamabad on Tuesday as part of their strategic dialogue, with a large part of the discussions focussed on ways to fight the menace of IEDs. 

“It’s a lethal weapon,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik said at the opening of the session, vowing to equip security forces with better detection equipment. 

According to figures provided by the Inter-Services Intelligence, the number of IED attacks on Pakistani troops and security forces soared from 413 in 2007 to 1,015 in 2010, an increase of 145 percent. A breakdown of casualties from IEDs was not available. 

But unlike in Iraq, where caches of munitions hidden by Saddam Hussein’s regime were the main source of explosive material, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, most IEDs are made using ammonium nitrate, a common fertiliser in Pakistan. 

In March 2010, the authorities seized more than 6,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate hidden in a market in Lahore. Zulfiqar Hameed, a senior police official, said three men arrested had links with terrorists.

“Explosives are very easily available,” said another senior police official in Peshawar, who requested anonymity to speak to the press. “If somebody wants to buy explosive material for mining or other work he can get it through legal ways, but then there is no check or tracking whether it’s used properly.”

Pakistan shuts key Afghan war supply-route

Pakistan shut down a pivotal US-NATO Afghan war supply route yesterday following a NATO attack on a Pakistani border post that killed three Pakistan Frontier Corps troops and injured three others.

Attack helicopters from the US-NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) twice strafed positions in Kurram, one of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Thursday morning, first about 5:30 AM and again some four hours later.

NATO officials have justified the attack on the Mandata Kandaho outpost as an act of “self-defence,” just as they did three helicopter attacks last weekend that killed more than 50 people.

According to a Pakistani military spokesman, the Frontier Guards at Mandata Kandaho had fired in the air to indicate to the ISAF helicopters that they had entered into Pakistan airspace: “Instead of heeding to the warning,” the helicopters fired “two missiles, destroying the post.”

Soon after yesterday’s attacks, Pakistan officials closed the crossing into Afghanistan at Torkham, north of Peshawar. By the end of the afternoon, the blockade had reportedly forced more than 150 NATO trucks and oil-tankers from the road.

Pakistan government and military officials have not publicly called the border closure retaliation for the violation of its national sovereignty and murder of its citizens. But on Tuesday, Pakistan’s military warned NATO leaders in Brussels that if NATO forces continue to mount military strikes inside Pakistan, Pakistan will no longer be “able to ensure the safety” of ISAF supply convoys.

While Pakistan’s government has for years tacitly accepted US drone attacks in FATA, it has strongly protested whenever US and NATO forces have crossed into Pakistan, including making thinly veiled threats of military retaliation.

This is hardly extraordinary. Under international law, cross-border attacks are tantamount to an act of war.

In commenting on Thursday’s developments, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik said, “We will have to see whether we are allies or enemies.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit vowed Pakistan “will protect our sovereignty in all circumstances.” When asked how Pakistan might retaliate he said, “I leave it to your imagination.”

This latest crisis in US-Pakistani relations erupted one day after Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, claimed to have reached a “decent understanding, with General Ashfaq Kiyani, the head of the Pakistan Army, about last weekend’s incursions into Pakistan and on a day that CIA director Leon Panetta was consulting with top Pakistani officials in Islamabad.

British PM pays surprise visit to Afghanistan

 
 

British Prime Minister David Cameron made a surprise visit to Afghanistan Monday but had to scrap part of the trip as forces hunted for a missing British soldier, an AFP reporter said.

Cameron arrived on a Royal Air Force plane at Camp Bastion, the main British and US base in Helmand province, then later said he had cancelled a visit to the town of Lashkar Gah so helicopters could be used in the search.

"I arrived here today and received the news about this very worrying incident of a British soldier going missing in central Helmand," he told reporters at Camp Bastion.

"I was just very clear that you've got something like that absolutely urgent taking place, where you want to concentrate all the assets and ability that you have to try and find this person and bring it to the right conclusion.

"It's just absolute common sense that the military should concentrate on the most important requirement of all, which is to help and find this person rather than to bother flying me around."

Cameron confirmed British media reports that he would withdraw some of the 9,500 British troops in Afghanistan but did not say how many, adding that he would give a full statement in parliament Wednesday.

He said the campaign against Taliban militants had entered a "new phase" ahead of the handover of security to local forces by the end of 2014 and that Afghanistan's army and police were "increasingly confident".

US President Barack Obama recently announced that he would withdraw 33,000 US "surge" troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2012, bringing the overall number of US forces there to 100,000. (AFP)

Sri Lanka police chief makes exit after union clashes

Sri Lanka’s police chief submitted his retirement papers on Wednesday and investigators arrested two police officers for firing on workers during a union protest that turned violent and sparked President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s first big labour problem.

Inspector General of Police Mahinda Balasuriya was due to retire on June 18, but gave formal notice and requested immediate leave until then, the president’s office said. The Defence Ministry told media Balasuriya’s early exit was a “historic display of public accountability” but analysts dismissed it as a ploy to deflect worker anger over a new pension scheme that prompted Monday’s violence. “Balasuriya was anyway going to retire and this government has used him as a scapegoat to come out from the debacle that happened and to clean its hands,” said Kusal Perera, an analyst with the Centre for Social Democracy in Colombo. The clashes broke out at a free trade zone near Sri Lanka’s only international airport on Monday, with protesters throwing rocks and police firing teargas and later, live ammunition. At least 200 people including 15 police officers were hurt. The violence prompted 26 trade unions to band together and vow continuous strikes until the police responsible were punished, and the government scrapped a private pension proposal opposed by employees and employers alike.

Two police inspectors were taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department on Wednesday and accused of firing at protesters, police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody said. Strikes could cripple Sri Lanka’s $50 billion economy at a time when the government is doing its best to boost sagging foreign direct investment despite enjoying a third full year of peace, and generate record growth of 8.5 percent in 2011.

Sri Lanka’s unions have traditionally wielded big influence in the Indian Ocean nation’s political scene, but Rajapaksa has largely sidelined them after asking union leaders to hold off on demands until the government won a quarter-century civil war. Victory against separatist ethnic Tamil rebels came in May 2009, and unions are increasingly demanding Rajapaksa deliver promised wage and benefit increases. However, the government is under pressure to trim its big public sector wage bill under the terms of a $2.6 billion International Monetary Fund loan.

The proposed private pension scheme would make workers wait longer to access their savings and add yet another cost to employers, who already pay big benefits in a nation with one of the highest numbers of annual paid days off in the world. “I need not tell you that this pension scheme is trying to rob the hard-earned money of private sector workers” said a woman who works for the state-run Bank of Ceylon, who joined a protest by hundreds of union members in Colombo on Wednesday.

Eurozone May inflation slows, ECB rate rise still seen

Eurozone inflation slowed in May largely thanks to lower oil prices, but the dip is likely to be temporary and will not stop the European Central Bank from raising interest rates in July.

European Union statistics office Eurostat estimated that inflation in the 17 countries using the euro was 2.7 percent year-on-year this month, down from 2.8 percent in April.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected inflation to stay at 2.8 percent year-on-year. The ECB wants to limit price growth to just below 2.0 percent over the medium term.

“I think they are still on target to increase interest rates by a further quarter point this summer, probably in July. Then I think we’ll get one more this year bringing the refi rate to 1.75 percent,” said Martin van Vliet, economist at ING.

The ECB raised interest rates in April by 25 basis points to 1.25 percent to try to stem inflationary pressures in the eurozone following a sharp rise in commodity prices.

There is no breakdown or monthly data with the Eurostat inflation estimate, but economists said that once more details were published in mid-June, they were likely to show that energy prices fell sharply as a result of a drop in oil prices.

Food prices were likely to be on the rise again but core inflation, which excludes the volatile costs of energy and unprocessed food, was likely to have eased.

“Seasonal patterns will contribute to keep core inflation subdued over the next few months, but the underlying trend in core inflation is upwards, reflecting the gradual pass-through of higher commodity prices along the price formation chain,” said Eoin O’Callaghan, economist at BNP Paribas.

“The ongoing moderation in economic activity will probably ease some of these pressures but will not change the overall picture. We expect core inflation to hit 1.7 percent year-on-year in December, from an estimated 1.5 percent this month and up from 1.1 percent in December 2010,” he said.

“Headline inflation, overall, is expected to peak above 3 percent in the fourth quarter.”

Eurostat said the unemployment rate in the eurozone was unchanged at 9.9 percent of the workforce in April for the third month, despite small declines in the number of jobless in Germany, France and Italy.

It said 15.529 million people were without jobs in the eurozone in April, 115,000 fewer than in the previous month and 457,000 fewer than a year earlier.

“With eurozone growth currently showing signs of losing some momentum, the suspicion remains that eurozone unemployment will trend down only gradually over the coming months,” said Howar Archer, economist at IHS Global Insight.

“The jobs situation continues to vary markedly across the region, with improving labour markets in Germany, and other core northern eurozone economies contrasting with still very high unemployment in the struggling periphery economies,” he said.

European stocks jump on Greece rescue hopes

Europe’s main stock markets rose strongly on Tuesday on hopes of a second international bailout for Greece, but investors remained cautious over an easing in the eurozone debt crisis.

Sentiment was also boosted by bumper gains across Asia, where Japan published impressive factory output data. London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index of top shares added 0.97 percent to 5,996.59 points, following a bank holiday the previous day.

Frankfurt’s DAX 30 gained 1.99 percent at 7,302.58 and in Paris the CAC 40 won 1.48 percent to 4,007.73 points. “So another little bounce ... as investors price in the full expectation of another bailout for Greece next month,” said Capital Spreads analyst Simon Denham.

“There’s little chance that they will be able to repay their bond holders come mid-July, where a default was inevitable, and so now they know further aid is in the pipeline. “The concern is that the money will just be frittered away and over the extended week end Greece’s opposition party rejected the Prime Minister’s austerity package.

“This is the major problem and if Germany keeps throwing good money after bad, there’s little incentive for the Greeks to eradicate the debt burden.” Eurozone junior finance ministers will meet Wednesday in Vienna to go over Greece’s debt problems, including the possibility of fresh aid, a European source told AFP on Tuesday.

Greek officials are currently locked in negotiations with representatives from the three organisations which last year bailed out the country with a 110-billion-euro ($157-billion) loan. Athens needs a scheduled instalment of the loan, worth 12 billion euros, to pay its bills in July. But the IMF has threatened to withhold its share of the funding without a broader agreement that will make Greece’s debt — over 350 billion euros — sustainable. “Sentiment over Greece has been swinging between optimistic and negative like a see-saw for much of the last few months,” said City Index strategist Joshua Raymond.

He added: “A second bailout buys Greece time, but the market must be convinced that this will be the final time such a requirement is needed and until then, sentiment over sovereign debt within the eurozone is likely to remain fragile.” Asian stocks surged earlier on Tuesday, with Tokyo boosted by data showing factory output lifting last month, raising hopes for Japan’s recovery from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. But the yen tumbled against the dollar and euro after Moody’s warned that it may cut Japan’s debt rating. Tokyo jumped 1.99 percent to finish at 9,693.73 points, its best percentage jump since March 30. Hong Kong soared 2.17 percent, Sydney added 0.87 percent and Shanghai leapt 1.37 percent.

Womenfolk and our society

Paradoxically, our otherwise divided society has a strange commonality in itself — belief in subjection and inferiority of womenfolk. Almost everywhere male chauvinistic attitudes have ossified this universal image about women that men may treat women as they deem fit. This attitude has a deeper hue in rural and tribal areas where women are supposed to live in complete subordination to men; the situation in the urban areas is generally considered better though not always.

The historical roots of this may be traced back to the Indo Pakistan civilisation where women were considered to be born into subjection, like other old civilisations of the world. Although Islam gives a respectable position to women and has outlined an ethical code in this regard, yet discrimination against women remains prevalent and persistent. For instance, Islam gives the right to inherit property to women but they are generally denied this right. The pre-existing cultural behaviour and stereotypical thinking towards women remain dominant despite Islamic precepts. Due to this, maltreating women is considered normal and is generally dismissed as a personal or private affair. Thus in Pakistan, crimes against the person of women are not considered as serious as is in the case of men.

Crime against women is prevalent in contemporary Pakistani society. Countless women suffer from battery, rape, burning, acid attacks and mutilation. The estimated percentages of women who experience spousal abuse alone range from 70 to upwards of 90 percent. If there is anything more disturbing than the prevalence of these crimes, it is the impunity with which they are committed. Rape is one of these crimes which carry huge socio-economic cost for the victims.

Although there is a need to address the issues related to the criminal justice system to create effective deterrence in society, this aspect of the issue is not altogether ignored by the policy-makers and helmsmen. However, the miserable life of victims in society has remained obscure due to one or the other reasons rooted in our particular cultural and societal ethos.

The big dilemma facing state and society is that the perpetrators of such crimes generally find escape through the grey areas of our criminal and judicial system but their victims continue to face ongoing agony let loose by societal apathy in the aftermath. This public apathy results in making them complete social outcasts and in some instances precipitate declaring them complete societal pariahs. Unfortunately, victims of parents and siblings are at the forefront in manufacturing this state of misery for them. This worst kind of social exclusion is thrust upon them for no fault of their own. The irony is that on the one hand they are subjected to heinous crimes like rape in the form of physical assault on them and on the other hand they have to undergo an immense amount of mental and psychological stress when they become unwelcome and criminals in the eyes of society. This double jeopardy pushes women victims to commit suicide in some cases because suddenly they become unacceptable for their own families.

This happens again because of our skewed cultural and social mindset, which is constructed by our explanation of family pride and honour associated with women and the thinking that a rape victim is a stigma for the family and is a symbol of disgrace. This is because no one will be ready to marry her and she will be considered as a drain on the family. Her exclusion at home has both social and economic reasons: since society does not accept her, therefore her own family has to support her which has an economic cost. Here it is a catch-22 situation in which society and family are both responsible for creating social exclusion of rape victims but the tragedy is that it is not taken as a serious problem to be addressed.

The problem merits concerted efforts from our media, policy-makers, religious clerics, helmsmen in criminal administration, women’s rights activists and international donors. In order to address this social and economic crisis for rape victims, changing the mindset of the public is very important. It is difficult and resistant to change and can be achieved only in a gradual manner and should be an ongoing effort waged jointly by the media and women’s rights activists. Both the print and electronic media should design and telecast such programmes and plays which bring out the importance of dealing with such victims in a normal way. They can build around themes of Islamic teachings by highlighting the status of women determined by Islam and suggesting that Islam does not discriminate against rape victims. Religious clerics may be asked to provide their help in this regard.

Education being the catalyst of developing minds should be used as a tool to create a positive mindset about women in society. The curriculum designers should envisage this point in designing the curriculum for various levels in schools and colleges. Teachers’ training institutions should also be sensitised to include gender sensitive practices in their training modules and lectures. This will be a gradual but everlasting approach because collective social behaviour is intricately linked to the socio-psychological makeup that students obtain during the formative phases of their education.

Economic independence by women can provide a partial solution to the extent that if a rape victim becomes economically independent, her family will not consider her an economic burden though the social problem will still persist. Then it is also important to highlight the plight of rape victims in society in order to create deterrence. The politicians, police, policy-makers, judiciary, women activists and international community should jointly pool their efforts to bring out such policies and programmes that specifically aim at highlighting the plight faced by the victims and also bring forth practical programmes to reach out to such victims for possibly settling them in society. The jurisdiction of Dar-ul-Amans should be extended in this regard to assist such victims in every possible way. In case such victims are abandoned by their families and society, these institutions should be prepared to house them and arrange for their further rehabilitation.

One of the practical steps towards creating institutional support for such victims is to create a supervisory organisation with some quasi-judicial powers. The National Commission on the Status of Women already exists, although without necessary teeth to deal with the situation. This commission may be given sufficient legal and financial power by empowering it with judicial powers to try the offenders. It should also be assisted by the police force and forensic assistance. Besides this role, the commission should continue to play the role of a watchdog over the provincial governments and continuously keep tabs on the efforts made in this regard.

Time is of the essence in this matter and it is important that state and society as a whole should gear up its efforts to address this serious matter in a practical manner. Though the journey is long and arduous, it will eventually be covered provided the first step is taken.