Cinema burnings shock fans, cultural fraternity

By Zia Ur Rehman

Sep 26, 2012

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2012/09/26/feature-01

KARACHI – Mobs torching Pakistani cinemas September 21 shocked not only industry insiders but also the country’s art fraternity.

The owners of some of the cinemas set ablaze by protesters denouncing an anti-Islam film termed the act barbaric and sought compensation.

In Karachi, protesters torched the Capri, Nishaat, Prince, Bambino, Gulistan Takes and Nigar cinemas, while in Peshawar, they stormed the Shabistan, Shama, Capital and Naz cinemas. The Karachi cinemas were destroyed; the Peshawar ones damaged.

“We have shut it down … whenever we were asked,” said Zafarullah Khan, manager of the Gulistan in Karachi, referring to requests by militants to close. “There was no point in attacking cinemas, which were closed five days prior to September 21 in (sympathy with the) protest.”

Police officers respond after the Bambino cinema was set afire September 21 by violent protesters. Organised crime and banned sectarian groups are suspected of being involved in burning six Karachi and four Peshawar cinemas that day, their owners said. [Zia Ur Rehman]

The arson not only financially harmed the cinema owners but also threatened their employees’ jobs, Khan told Central Asia Online.

“The demonstrators would have painted a much better picture of Pakistan to the world had they proceeded peacefully, but instead, the miscreants resorted to damaging the property of their own Muslim brothers,” said Nadeem Mandviwala, chairman of the Pakistan Film Exhibitor Association (PFEA) – Southern Zone.

“We, the cinema owners, have not calculated our losses yet, but it is in billions of rupees,“ Khan added.

Police September 22 made 104 arrests in connection with charges of arson against public and private property during the September 21 action, they said.

Major setback for industry

Cinema owners and cultural activists termed the destruction a major setback for the Pakistani cinema industry.

Cinemas in Pakistan have been hurt by the availability of films on CDs and DVDs, said Tarek Memon, a Karachi-based show business analyst, adding that declining business has forced many owners to replace cinemas with other commercial ventures.

Developers in recent years already have converted 31 Karachi cinemas to shopping centres and apartment buildings, he said.

Peshawar movie-goers have recently mourned the loss of the Falak Shair, Metro, Palwasha and Ishrat cinemas – all shopping centres now – while the other local cinemas struggle to survive.

An employee September 22 surveys the damage at the Gulistan Takes cinema in Karachi. People are calling the arsons that affected 10 theatres across Pakistan at attack on art and culture. [Zia Ur Rehman]

The riots were another devastating blow to cinemas that had only in the past few years begun to see viewership rebound after decades of decline, Memon told Central Asia Online.

Historic cinemas attacked

Some of the cinemas attacked were not economically feasible, but the owners kept them running as a tribute to Pakistani heritage, Mandviwala told Central Asia Online.

For example, the Nishaat cinema was opened in 1947 by Fatima Jinnah, the sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of the Pakistani state.

“Since its inauguration, no one had attacked this cinema,” – until now, said Nawab Hassan Siddique, Nishaat’s owner.

Similarly, the Bambino cinema, inaugurated by then-president Ayub Khan in 1968, was home to the first 70mm projection screen in Pakistan.

“September 21 will be remembered as a black day for the Pakistani cinema industry forever,” said Memon, blaming the day’s violence on the “Taliban mentality” that invariably opposes art and culture.

“The government should establish a commission and provide compensation to the cinema owners,” Mandviwala said. “It will require exhaustive rebuilding efforts to get them up and running again.”

Banned militant outfits, criminal gangs allegedly involved

Organised criminal gangs and banned sectarian groups are suspected of torching and destroying the cinemas, cinema owners charged.

“Those who caused the damage were not merely protesters but criminals,” alleged Chaurdry Farrukh, owner of the Capri cinema, who said the protesters came with tools to remove expensive goods like air conditioners, indicating the vandalism was planned.

Most of the attackers came from banned sectarian groups, contended Nishaat cinema employee Afzal Sheikh.

Mandviwala, on behalf of PEFA, urged the government to ban processions on MA Jinnah Road as they could prove disastrous for property owners along that road.

Torching cinema condemned

Cultural circles have condemned the attacks on cinemas in Pakistan and called them an assault on art and culture.

Blaming cinema halls for a video created by bigoted individuals in a western country is complete madness, Express Tribune wrote in its September 23 editorial.

Cinemas and theatres are a vital form of entertainment anywhere and attacking cinemas was an attempt by Taliban-minded elements to stop the masses from accessing entertainment, said Riaz Hazarvi, a Pashtun tele-film director and scriptwriter.

Militancy in Pakistan already has dealt a blow to the film industry and recent attacks were the second blow to the industry, Hazarvi said.

Violent protesters who invoked the name of Islam clearly violated Islamic preaching, said Dilshad Bhutto, president of Pakistan Secular Forum.

“It seems the protesters are more interested in looting and plundering public and private property, which has nothing to do with showing love for the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH),“ Bhutto told Central Asia Online.

International University of Peace and Sufism inaugurated

 

By Zia Ur Rehman

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2012/09/05/feature-01

Sep 5, 2012

HYDERABAD – As the first international Sufi university opened in Sindh Province, Pakistan, its founders said they hope the school will help eradicate extremism by promoting peace.

The International University of Peace and Sufism (IUPS) is in Bhit Shah town, Mitiari District, home to a shrine of the Sufi saint Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai.

“The IUPS has been established in such a situation when we daily read the news of attacks on Shia buses … and news of Hindus’ migration from various parts of Sindh,” said Sindh University Vice-Chancellor Dr Nazir A. Mughal. “This happens only during intolerance, terrorism and extremism.”

“It was the need of the hour to establish such an institution of higher education from which we might be able to educate our youth so that they may select the path of the Sufis, who always chose the way of love, tolerance, harmony and brotherhood,” Mughal said at the August 29 inauguration ceremony.

Teachers, government officials and Sufi activists pray at the August 29 inauguration of the International University of Peace and Sufism in Bhit Shah, Matiari District. The new Sufi university will help end extremism and intolerance by promoting peace and harmony, academics, Sufi activists and literary leaders say. [Zia Ur Rehman]

First Sufi university in Asia

The IUPS is the first Sufi higher educational institution in Asia to earn the status of university, Mughal said.

The first class of students will start their studies October 1, said Nadir Mugheri, spokesperson of Sindh University, adding that it will initially offer only diploma courses, but master’s-degree studies will start next year.

“The students at the IUPS will be taught job-oriented courses and degrees, and … (to value) brotherhood and religious tolerance,” Mugheri told Central Asia Online.

Students will later be able pursue masters’ degrees in any field related to Sufism like meditation, interfaith harmony, and Bhitai’s poetic works focusing on religious harmony, he said.

The university will have three major wings: Sufi thought and practice; mystic poetry and literature; and South Asian arts (fine arts, folk music, performing arts and architecture). It will follow admission quotas for all provinces to ensure a geographically diverse student body.

Setting up Sufi university hailed

Educators, writers, peace activists and other have praised the founding of Sufi University, saying it will help curb extremism and promote tolerance.

“The menace of terrorism and militancy could be eliminated from the country by promoting the teachings of Sufi saints, and the setting up of the IUPS is a part of efforts the government is making in this regard,” said Pakistani Senator Aajiz Dhamrah, who added that IUPS is being established according to a directive from President Asif Ali Zardari.

Sufi religious leaders and poets like Bhitai, Rehman Baba and Bhulay Shah command the respect of the local population, said Muhammad Arshad Khan, a Karachi-based artist and a leader of the Pashtun Thinkers Forum.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government should also try to establish a Sufi university in that province as Sufism had had a deep impact on Pashtun society and Sufi shrines dot the landscape, he suggested.

Sufism is key target of Taliban militants

Sufism has a deep influence on the sub-continental societies and a large number of Sufi shrines dot the landscape of Pakistan and Afghanistan, said Sufi leaders.

But Taliban militants have frequently targeted Sufi shrines in Pakistan, especially those in the Pashtun regions.

Such attacks are linked to the arrival of al-Qaeda-linked Arab militants in Afghanistan, said Abdul Majid Baqi, a Lahore-based Sufi researcher, adding that such extremists often are ingrained with a philosophy that conflicts with Sufi Islam.

The militants justify their attacks on shrines and other cultural symbols as attempts at constructing a new culture and a new identity, Baqi said.

More than 25 shrines across the country have been attacked since 2005 and more than 200 devotees have been killed, Baqi said.

For example, in July 2010, two suicide bombers attacked the shrine of Sufi saint Data Ganj Baksh Hajveri in Lahore, killing about 45 devotees and injuring dozens of others. A suicide attack on the shrine of Sufi saint Abdullah Shah Ghazi in Karachi killed nine people in October 2010. And an attack on Baba Farid Ganj Shakar’s shrine in Pakpattan that same month killed seven.

“They are desecrating the graves of Sufi saints and poets loved by people, and it is an attempt to provoke them,” said Yousaf Ali Dilsoz, president of the Rehman Baba Adabi Jirga. “Those Sufis are icons of spirituality and humanity, and their love for peace and tolerance is a guiding principle for all of us.”

Afghanistan sees new political parties form

 

By Zia Ur Rehman

Sep 11, 2012

http://www.centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2012/09/11/feature-01

KABUL – A recent rise in registration of new political parties and increased political activities in Afghanistan indicate that defeat of the Taliban militancy could be at hand, politicians and security analysts said.

The Afghan Ministry of Justice has registered 84 political parties since a new law took effect in September 2009, according to ministry official Hakim Wardak. Another 12 are in the process of registering, he added.

“In the beginning, political circles were reluctant to form or register a political party, but now the trend has changed significantly,” Wardak told Central Asia Online.

An Afghan woman (right) casts her ballot as a voting official looks on during parliamentary elections in Kabul September 18, 2010. Afghanistan has recently seen a rise in the formation and registration of new political parties. [REUTERS/Fayaz Kabli]

Only four of 18 candidates in the 2004 presidential elections had backing from political parties, while in the 2005 parliamentary polls only 14% of 2,835 candidates declared a party affiliation, he said.

However, he and others report a greater participation of parties in 2009 and 2010 elections.

A multi-party system began emerging in Afghanistan after the Taliban’s fall in 2001.

“Political parties play a vital role in any democracy in encouraging political co-ordination and strengthening the accountability of government through organised and constructive opposition,” said Samia Azizi Saadat, a woman parliamentarian elected from Parwan Province.

Development of the country cannot be ensured without democratic and political development, Saadat told Central Asia Online.

After the fall of the Taliban, a technical and political process of democratisation commenced with formation of a mixed presidential and parliamentary system, a bi-cameral parliament and an electoral cycle, said Zahid Amiri, a political analyst at Kabul University. As a result, participation of political parties in Afghan national politics increased during the 2009 and 2010 elections, he said.

Afghanistan’s electoral system

In 2003, President Hamid Karzai signed a law allowing political parties to form and register, said Wardak.

The law stipulated several conditions, including that parties ensure their activities comply with the principles of Islam and not provoke violence between different social groups, he said. The 2004 Constitution specified further that parties could not be formed on the basis of ethnicity, region, language or religious sect.

As Afghanistan prepares for parliamentary elections in 2015, the Ministry of Justice, based on suggestions from the Independent Electoral Commission, has issued new regulations to strengthen and simplify the electoral landscape, Afghanistan Today reported August 1.

“Under the new regulations, the founders of a political party which is to be registered has to have 34 individuals from 34 provinces,” Muhammad Naser Hafezy, the director of the Department of Registration of Political Parties and Social Organisations at the Ministry of Justice, told Afghanistan Today.

Analysts and politicians welcome the new regulations and hope they will filter out ethnically orientated parties and strengthen those with communal, national interests.

Mujahedeen groups transform into political parties

 Since the start of the process of democratisation in 2001, a number of former mujahedeen groups have reformed and developed into political parties.

“The 1960s saw the growth of communist parties, but after the overthrow of King Zahir Shah in 1973 and the subsequent Soviet occupation, seven mujahedeen groups formed with the shared goal of resisting Soviet rule,” said Ali Akbar Watanyar, a Kabul-based senior journalist.

“After the withdrawal of the Soviets in 1989, many of these mujahedeen factions fought against one another in the resulting civil war,” Watanyar told Central Asia Online. “During the violent conflicts of the 1980s and 1990s, alliances between these groups changed rapidly as various factions formed coalitions in search of a military advantage.”

However, he termed this transformation a great success of the current government.

“The broader political landscape has changed significantly in the post-2001 era because of the launch of a new democratic process in the country,” he said.

Women in Afghan mainstream politics

Afghan women also entered the political arena after 2001, political analysts said.

Now, female representation in parliament is constitutionally secured at 27.3%, said Shukrai Barakzai, a prominent female politician and a member of parliament. In the Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of parliament, for example, at least 64 of the 249 delegates must be female.

And political parties are including women in their decision-making bodies, like central executive committees, according to Amiri.

Woman parliamentarians have voiced concern about violence against women, child marriages, women’s health and education and other social issues, Barakzai told Central Asia Online.

Challenges : 

While the formation of political entities and broader democratic participation generally are popular, the number and nature of the political affiliations are seen as having spiralled out of control, analysts said, and political parties still face challenges, especially in terms of public confidence, they add.

“It is just because of misuse of the word ‘party’ or ‘tanzim’ by the violent mujahedeen groups in the past who were responsible for killing thousands of people during the civil war,” said Hafiz Rasikh, a central leader of the Solidarity Party of Afghanistan.

“(The mujahedeen groups fought among each other between the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 and the Taliban victory in 1996), and in Kabul alone they had killed more than 65,000 innocent people (before the Taliban took Kabul in 1996),” Rasikh told Central Asia Online.

Pakistan takes steps to prevent faith violence

 

by Zia Ur Rehman

August 22, 2012

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2012/08/22/feature-01

KARACHI – With militant acts on the rise, Hindus in Sindh Province, Pakistan, have been falling victim to an increased incidence of forced conversion, extortion and kidnapping for ransom.

Now, in response to calls from human rights groups, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has ordered the formation of a committee to prepare a draft constitutional amendment designed to protect minorities’ rights and to prevent the forced conversion of Hindu girls.

Amarnath Motumal, vice-chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, hailed Zardari’s decision and said Pakistani Hindus are looking forward to an end to forced conversions of Hindu girls.

Civil society activists outside the Karachi Press Club protest against kidnapping and forced conversion of Hindus August 10. Militant activity is harming religious harmony in the region, the activists say. [Zia Ur Rehman]

The Hindu community has been calling for help since the alleged kidnapping and forced conversion of Rinkal Kumari in February, according to media reports, and the August 7 abduction and forced conversion of 14-year-old Manisha have sparked a mass exodus of Hindus from Sindh, minority rights activists say.

Such violence against the Hindu community is killing the spirit of religious pluralism that has long been a hallmark of Sindhi culture, said Ali Hassan Chandio, head of the Sindh National Movement.

It is high time for political parties, civil society, enlightened religious scholars and media to act together to prevent such insanity in the interfaith tranquil province of Sindh, he said.

The governmental response is multi-faceted. Legislation to deal with the issue is under consideration in the National Assembly and the Sindh Assembly, Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Maula Buksh Chandio said.

Also, Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah announced plans to spend Rs. 50m (US $530,000) for the welfare of poor Hindus and development of worship places. Shah also has ordered implementation of a 5% quota for minorities in government jobs, according to an August 15 press statement from Chief Minister House.

Shah directed the provincial police chief to ensure timely co-operation on complaints of kidnapping, robberies and forced conversions within the Hindu community, the statement said.

Increase in faith-based violence in Sindh

Pakistan’s 2.7m Hindus constitute the country’s largest religious minority, according to the 1998 census. Most Pakistani Hindus live in Sindh Province, which has seen an increase in faith-based violence in the past few years, said Dr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, head of the Pakistan Hindu Council.

“The minorities are vulnerable to religious exploitation, complaining of an increase in forced conversions, targeted killings, extortion, looting, kidnapping, religion-based discrimination, and troubles linked to their places of worship,” Vankwani said.

In recent sectarian violence, three Hindu men were gunned down November 7 in the Char area of Shikarpur when a Muslim local clerk incited the Bhayo tribe to attack them, local media reported, and the Sindh government last September deployed Rangers in Pannu Aqil to stop Muslim rioters from destroying Hindu houses and shops.

Such events have lent momentum to the trend of Hindus abandoning their motherland, Vankwani told Central Asia Online.

However, some activists and governmental officials challenged the reality of a mass exodus.

No official statistics exist on how many Hindus have fled Pakistan, Eshwar Laal, a Sukker-based leader of Hindhu Panchayat, an organisation representing the Hindu community, said.

However, more than 1,000 such families have left Sindh in recent years, he said. More than 200 Hindus had left for India in recent days, but they were visiting religious sites and were expected to return, Chandio said.

The committee has met with leaders of Hindu communities and learned that many Hindu families have shifted to Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe, but they are leaving “for their children’s higher education and better future, and not because of lawlessness,” Chandio told Central Asia Online.

Those who are leaving are generally “in search of better economic prospects,” Motumal agreed.

Militancy gaining ground in Sindh

Some districts of Sindh, a province known for its non-violent and secular traditions, are becoming religiously intolerant of minority communities, civil society activists contend. “We, the minorities, know that Islam has nothing to do with militancy and fanaticism, but the extremists are misusing the name of religion to attack minority communities,” said William Sadiq, a minority rights activist associated with the Karachi-based Action Committee for Human Rights.

“Due to deep-rooted influence of Sufism and progressive politics, militancy has never flourished in Sindh, but the proliferation of militants is posing a threat to what has been a liberal society for many years,” said Afzal Junejo, a Larkana-based intellectual.

Pakistani policies cripple militant fund-raising

By Zia Ur Rehman

August 20, 2012

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2012/08/20/feature-01

Taliban militant-linked charities typically exploit Muslim occasions like Ramadan to take advantage of Pakistani generosity to solicit charitable contributions that fund terrorism instead of helping the poor, observers say.

In keeping with the trend of recent years though, authorities July 22 imposed a nationwide ban on zakat and fitrana collections by banned organisations during Ramadan.

“Any social and welfare organisation willing to collect zakat and fitrana has to apply and acquire permission from the government; otherwise, no one will be allowed to indulge in these activities,” Rehman Malik, senior advisor to Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf for internal affairs, said the day the ban was announced.

A seminarian August 10 mans a stall seeking zakat and fitrana donations, while a beggar awaits passersby outside a mosque in Karachi. Militant-linked charities exploit Muslim occasions like Ramadan to solicit donations, but that money funds terrorism rather than helping the poor, officials and analysts say. [Zia Ur Rehman]

But people still need to be wary of where their money is going as militant groups “take advantage of the open-handedness of Pakistani Muslims, who annually contribute billions of rupees during Islamic festivals,” said Abdul Waheed, a social activist and head of Bright Educational Society, a Karachi-based community organisation.

The challenge is that donors often don’t know enough about the fund-raising group or what it supports, Waheed said, adding that a number of such outfits posing as charities and madrassas (religious seminaries) collect donations from commercial centres and in door-to-door campaigns.

Still, development workers say the government’s efforts to keep militants from collecting during Ramadan have been successful. That assessment is based, in part, on the fact that extremist groups haven’t set up any donation camps in Karachi this Ramadan, unlike in past years, Central Asia Online has learnt.

Militants exploit natural disasters, too

Militant-linked charities also enjoy a spike in donations after natural disasters, security analysts say.

After the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Taliban-linked Al-Rasheed Trust (ARAT) raised Rs. 950m (US $10.1m) in five months, while Al-Rehmat Trust (ARHT), a charity associated with Jaish-e-Muhammad, raised Rs. 600m (US $6.4m), according to a 2009 report on funding of Pakistani militant organisations published by the Islamabad-based Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS).

However, in 2006, the government began cracking down on outfits linked to al-Qaeda and other militant groups. In February 2007, the Interior Ministry shut down ARAT and ARHT, sealed their offices and froze their assets.

But militant groups get around that by establishing charity fronts or changing names, said Sindh University social scientist Athar Hussain. That strategy enables them to gain public acceptance and to expand their base of support and donations, he told Central Asia Online.

Jihadi publications and social media

Militants employ various strategies to bolster fund-raising efforts. Primarily, they use hard-copy publications or social media to attract recruits and generate funds, Hussain said.

The government has banned hate literature and jihadi newspapers, making them harder to obtain in Karachi, but militants still distribute some publications outside mosques after Friday prayers or at seminaries and newsstands, Hussain and Shah said.

While some groups run ads seeking donations in publications like Al-Qalam weekly (an ARHT publication) and Jarrar weekly (a Jamaat-ud-Dawa or JuD publication), some computer-savvy militants are raising money on Facebook and Twitter, Karachi blogger Ali Zahid said.

Government’s efforts

Relying on the July 22 ban, authorities have arrested several suspected militants on charges of illegal fund-raising in Karachi.

Officials attending an August 6 meeting jointly chaired by Malik and Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ail Shah in Karachi decided that police and Rangers would raid the dens of the Taliban and other criminals in the city who were involved in collecting extortions and forced zakat.

Besides banning militant groups and charity organisations, the authorities have enacted banking regulations, and have involved intelligence agencies, governmental social welfare and Auqaf (religious endowment) departments, to deny financial resources to militant groups, the PIPS report states.

Militant outfits that used to rely on traditional channels like halawa (an informal, trust-based system) to import funds from abroad have found that the government efforts have severely disrupted such infusions, especially from Gulf countries, Hussain said.

Taliban collect funds through extortion, forced zakat, officials say

By Zia Ur Rehman

August 1, 2012

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2012/08/01/feature-01

KARACHI – Taliban militants are actively generating funds in Karachi from Pashtun traders and transporters through extortion, donations and kidnapping, Central Asia Online has learned.

The militants have also threatened tribe members living in Karachi by seeking forced zakat (Islamic tithing) during Ramadan.

Karachi’s big businesses and wealthy residents are fertile ground for financing Taliban militant groups, police officials and security analysts say.

Police officers guard a street while a shopkeeper waits for customers at a scrap market in Karachi June 14. The Taliban collect funds through extortion and forced zakat during Ramadan. [REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro]

However, the authorities have launched a crackdown on militants who were raising funds in Karachi and have made several arrests. The government July 22 banned nationwide zakat and fitrana collection by banned organisations during Ramadan. Fitrana donations to help the needy, like zakat, are compulsory for Muslims during Ramadan.

Karachi, an ideal place for extortion

Militants fleeing military operations in the tribal areas gravitate to Karachi, Pakistan’s financial hub and home to about 18m residents, including 5m Pashtuns, said Raees Ahmed, an independent security analyst who is familiar with the militancy.

“The militant groups have been facing a severe financial crisis and a shortage of funds in wake of the measures taken by Pakistani authorities to cut off their main source of income abroad, especially from Gulf States,” Ahmed told Central Asia Online.

The money the Taliban raise is sent to training camps in tribal areas where militants plan terrorist acts, said Chaudhry Aslam Khan, an official at the Karachi Crimes Investigation Department (CID).

Besides forced zakat contributions and extortion, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) members have robbed Karachi banks of US $18m (Rs. 1.7 billion) since 2009, police claim. Police have arrested 42 TTP activists in 2010 and 2011 in connection with various robberies.

TTP-affiliated clerics in tribal areas have issued fatwas authorising their followers to commit crimes to fund the fighting, according to media reports.

Extortion of Pashtun businessmen

Several Taliban militant groups from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are collecting extortions and protection money from the Pashtun traders and transporters based in Karachi, Central Asia Online has learnt. They regularly target wealthy Karachi business owners from South Waziristan, Mohmand and Bajaur tribal agencies.

The amounts extorted range from Rs. 1m (US $11,000) to Rs. 5m (US $53,000). Such cases have become more frequent during Ramadan.

One offender is the Mohmand chapter of the TTP, which formed a network in Karachi to extort protection money from Mohmand Agency natives, said Safi, a Karachi-based tribal elder. Mohmand tribesmen are known for selling timber and construction materials.

The network, which TTP Mohmand chief Omar Khalid and spokesman Ikramullah Mohmand formed, exists exclusively to raise money, he said, adding that Khalid’s deputy, Qari Shakeel, personally calls traders to demand payment.

That network, led in Karachi by TTP commander Yousaf Khan Mian, has killed several traders who refused to pay, he said. They include Misal Khan and Ashraf Khan, killed in February and January, respectively.

In August, militants injured Malik Wazir Khan, a businessman, even after he paid them off, said Safi.

Meanwhile, Mehsud tribesmen from South Waziristan involved in transport and heavy machinery businesses also find themselves endangered in Karachi. The Wali ur Rehman Mehsud-led TTP South Waziristan chapter has formed a cell to extract money from tribesmen.

“The militants know the wealthy businessmen belonging to South Waziristan and other parts of FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” said Wajid Burki, a businessman who fled to Islamabad after his refusal to pay extortion led to death threats.

Taliban groups also collect voluntary donations from university and college students, a purported TTP finance department member told the BBC March 23.

Zakat collection during Ramadan : 

Taliban militant outfits try to rake in zakat and fitrana donations during Ramadan by posing as charities. However, the government has taken various steps to thwart them, besides the July 22 prohibition on their collection of zakat and fitrana.

Faced with those measures, Taliban groups from FATA have changed strategy and begun demanding forced zakat contributions from affluent tribal business owners.

“Many transporters and traders living in Sohrab Goth, Mingophir, Sultanabad and Baldia Town have received such messages … from the extremists,” Burki said. “They threaten to harm them or their family members if they don’t pay.”

Many families quietly pay forced zakat or ransoms for kidnapped relatives and never tell police in order to avoid retaliation, he said.

Government’s Efforts 

The government has ordered law enforcement agencies to watch fund-raising activity by banned organisations during Ramadan, Rehman Malik, the senior advisor to Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on interior affairs, said July 22.

“We are monitoring Taliban activities in Karachi and will not allow them to collect zakat donations during Ramadan,” said Aslam, adding that law enforcement agencies have arrested several TTP suspects belonging to South Waziristan.

Karachi police in May, June and July arrested various extortion, murder and kidnapping suspects, including Nazeerullah Mehsud (July 25), Faisal Mehsud and Khan Mohammad, alias Sajid (July 2), Jahangir Khan Akakhel (June 9) and Muhammad Yaseen Mehsud, alias Naib-Commander (May 28). They killed a key TTP leader, Omar Khitab, July 27.

“Khitab, belonging to South Waziristan, used to collect extortion and forced donations from Pashtun traders in Karachi,” said Karachi police official Chaudhry Bashir. Khitab killed Jan Muhammad Afridi, a former union council mayor and owner of a plant that fills tanker trucks with water, June 30 for rejecting an extortion demand, Bashir told Central Asia Online. He also demanded money from many traders during the first week of Ramadan, Bashir added.

Attack on UN doctor attempt to disrupt anti-polio campaign

 

By Zia Ur Rehman

July 25, 2012

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2012/07/25/feature-01

KARACHI – The July 17 shooting of a World Health Organisation (WHO) doctor and the July 20 slaying of a polio vaccinator are efforts to disrupt Pakistan’s anti-polio campaign, government officials said.

The Pakistani government July 16 launched a three-day anti-polio campaign during which it planned to vaccinate 34m children up to age 5. The number of children immunised has not yet been released.

Passers-by examine the bullet-riddled vehicle of a World Health Organisation doctor whom gunmen attacked in Gadap Town, Karachi, July 17. Government officials and anti-polio campaigners termed the attack an attempt to disrupt the ongoing polio campaign. [Zia Ur Rehman]

However, Taliban militants recently vowed to bar vaccine teams from Pakistani tribal areas, including North and South Waziristan.

Attacks on health workers

On July 17, the second day of the vaccine drive, unidentified gunmen fired on a WHO vehicle, critically injuring Dr. Constant Dedo of Ghana and his Pakistani driver, said Muhammad Sultan, officer in charge at Sohrab Goth Police Station. Dedo was vaccinating children in the Gajro Union Council of Gadap Town, Karachi.

Surgeons treated Dedo for abdominal gunshot wounds, WHO spokeswoman Maryam Yunus told Central Asia Online.

Three days later, Muhammad Ishaq, a local employee for the Polio Eradication Initiative in Pakistan, was killed in Gadap Town.

Those were not the first attacks on WHO staff in Pakistan, Maryam said, adding the organisation will not suspend operations.

Law enforcement personnel detained 12 suspects from Union Council 4, Gadap Town, police said. The suspects have links to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other banned outfits, Sultan said.

Taliban threats harm children

With vaccine team members fearing for their lives, children in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) remain haunted by a disease that has been suppressed almost everywhere.

Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are the last three countries where polio is endemic, meaning the transmission of indigenous wild poliovirus has never been halted.

Militancy in Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan has caused polio incidence to increase in those countries, imperilling the worldwide anti-polio battle, according to a study published July 4 in the British medical journal, The Lancet. Other reasons included cultural barriers and natural disasters.

Last year, Pakistan reported 198 polio cases, its highest number in a decade, up from 144 in 2010. Afghanistan had 81 cases, compared to 30 in 2010.

Fighting extremist disinformation

In the past, religious extremists convinced many Pashtuns that polio vaccinations were a Western plot to sterilise Muslim children and that they are un-Islamic. They preached against the vaccine in mosques, said Abdul Waheed, a social activist who assists anti-polio campaigns in Pashtun-dominated areas of Karachi. The situation has changed after the government made an effort to fight the misconception, he said, referring to a joint campaign by the government, the National Research and Development Foundation and about 3,000 clerics.

The Gadap area was one of only three reservoirs of polio in Pakistan from 2007 until mid-2011, along with FATA and the Quetta Block (Qilla Abdullah, Pishin and Quetta districts). However, Karachi has reported no cases so far this year, Dr. Elias Durry, WHO’s chief co-ordinator for polio eradication in Pakistan, told The Express Tribune.

“Like other parts of the country, Karachi has also many success stories,” Waheed, who also heads the Bright Educational Society, a Karachi-based civil society organisation, told Central Asia Online.

“With the help of local religious clerics and support of the government, we convinced the parents, especially the tribesmen displaced from South Waziristan, that Islam doesn’t prohibit polio vaccination,” he said.

The Koran clearly instructs all to protect their children from disease, said Qari Sardar Ahmed, a cleric from Qasba Colony, who participates in the government-civil society joint initiative. “We are trying our best to remove anti-polio vaccination misconceptions from the locals,” he said.

The government also has star power to draw on. On July 7 it named cricket superstar Shahid Afridi as its “polio celebrity champion.” He vowed to ensure no child would be harmed by polio in Pakistan.

Pakistani TV channels show Afridi asking viewers in Urdu and Pashtu to choose between crutches and a cricket bat for their children.

Still, attitudes can be slow to change. An Islamabad-based Pashtun family July 16 beat up a vaccinator who wanted to immunise its child, media reported.

A 2-year-old girl recently paid the price of extremist disinformation. The girl from Muslimabad Town, Quetta, was stricken and paralysed after her uncle, Mufti Abdul Qayyum, stopped her from being vaccinated, according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Polio Monitoring and Co-ordination Cell (PMCC). The PMCC has written to the Balochistan secretary of health and to Islamabad authorities, asking them to educate recalcitrant families with Islamic teachings.

A PMCC team of social mobilsers and governmental officials finally converted Qayyum, who had convinced others not to vaccinate their children, into a pro-vaccination activist.

They did so by telling him that Saudi Arabia had eradicated polio using the same vaccine and that the entire Muslim Ummah was almost free of polio due to similar campaigns, The News reported July 23. Qayyum was also shown a video message by Maulana Rafi Usmani, an influential religious scholar from the Deobandi sect, and “fatwas” from other religious scholars.

After he was convinced, Qayyum reportedly launched a polio immunisation campaign in his neighbourhood, according to The News.

End

 

During Ramadan, Pakistani militants collect money for terrorism

 

By Zia Ur Rehman

July 20, 2012

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2012/07/20/feature-01

KARACHI – As the holy month of Ramadan begins, charitable fund-raising appeals are getting under way across Pakistan. But security analysts and social activists are concerned about terrorist groups posing as charities seeking to take advantage of zakat donations.

Zakat is an Islamic tradition of donating money during Ramadan to help the needy. Although legitimate charities do remarkable work, militant groups rake in billions of rupees to fund terrorism instead of helping the poor, charity activists say.

However, law enforcement made it much harder for jihadists and fraudulent welfare organisations to raise money in 2011, they agree.

Zakat collection a lucrative business

Because Ramadan emphasizes helping the poor, activists of political and religious parties, including outlawed militant organisations, do whatever they can to maximise the amount they raise, said Faizan Jalil, a Karachi-based journalist who covers terrorism.

They take advantage of the generosity of Pakistani Muslims, who annually contribute billions of rupees as part of zakat and fitrana, donations of food at the end of Ramadan, Jalil told Central Asia Online, citing various reports.

Naive Pakistanis unwittingly donate to terrorist fronts in the name of Islam and humanity, Shah Wali, an aid worker helping flood victims in Badin District, said, stressing the need to raise public awareness.

A Pakistani security officer seals the Karachi office of Jamaat-ud-Dawa in December 2008. Pakistan put the Islamist charity, regarded as a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, under monitoring. As Ramadan begins, authorities are cracking down on militant groups who pose as charities but use the money to fund terrorism. [REUTERS/Athar Hussain]

Every citizen should demand the credentials of the person seeking a donation before giving him or her money, Wali told Central Asia Online. Doing so will thwart phony organisations from receiving money and defaming Islam, he said.

Banned jihadi charities working with new names

Banned militant organisations linked with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and al-Qaeda pose as charities, said Raees Ahmed, a security analyst who closely monitors jihadi organisations. During Ramadan, banners and posters appealing for zakat collection appear in different parts of the country, he told Central Asia Online.

Last year, after imposing restrictions on charities linked with banned militant organisations, Pakistani authorities thwarted much of their Ramadan fund-raising.

However, the recently formed Difah-e-Pakistan Council (DPC), an alliance of religious parties, has opened new vistas for banned militant organisations.

The Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil-led Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen (HuM) and Maulana Abdullah Shah Mazhar-led Jammat-ul-Furqan (JuF), banned militant outfits linked to the TTP and al-Qaeda, have started working under the new names Ansar-ul-Umma and Tehreek-e-Ghalba Islam, Ahmed said, adding they are active under the DPC.

Militants fighting in Kashmir and Afghanistan are brazenly raising funds and recruiting potential fighters throughout Pakistan, the daily Express Tribune reported July 9.

Al-Badr Mujahedeen, a breakaway faction of the Hizb ul-Mujahedeen group, organised a two-day “Shuada Conference” July 8 in the Swan Adda area of Rawalpindi to seek recruits and raise funds, the report said, adding that the faction’s supporters from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistani-controlled Jammu and Kashmir attended the conference.

Most banned outfits have many covers for their operations and the first response to a ban is to start operating under a new name, said Muhammad Amir Rana, director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), an Islamabad-based think tank.

“Changed names of charities also mask their links with militant organisations,” Rana said. “The proscribed JeM (Jaish-e-Muhammad) becomes active as Tehreek-e-Khuddam-ul-Islam, while collecting funds and campaigning as Al Rehmat Trust, the charity wing of the organisation. Similarly, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) renamed itself Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and is carrying out its activities as Tehreek-e-Hurmat-e-Rasool, while Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation oversees the group’s charitable projects and fund-raising.”

The long-standing ban has rattled the network of the Al-Rasheed Trust (ART) and Al-Akhter Trust (AAT), charities linked to TTP, JeM, HuM, al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban. In February 2007, the Interior Ministry banned the ART and AAT, sealed their offices nationwide and froze their assets. Authorities also blocked an attempt by the ART to continue working under the name Al-Amin Welfare Trust.

Still, legitimate organisations continue to complain that terrorists are misusing Ramadan to raise funds for subversion.

Government takes action

This year, the government is planning again to order law enforcement agencies to block banned militant groups from raising money during Ramadan, Central Asia Online has learned.

In August, the Sindh and Punjab governments cracked down on 25 and 22 banned organisations, respectively, ordering them to shut down or to stop seeking donations.

Among those on the list are:

TTP

al-Qaeda

HuM

JuF

JeM

Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan

Lashkar-e- Jhangvi

Tehreek-e-Nafaz- e-Shariat Muhammadi

Hizb ut-Tahrir

LeT

“So far we didn’t receive any special directive in this regard, but authorities are updating the list of banned organisations involved in spreading militancy and carrying out subversive activities,” said Abdul Rasheed, a senior police official in Karachi’s west region.

Law enforcement agencies will monitor the activities of banned extremist outfits and stop them from Ramadan fund-raising, as they did in 2011, said Rasheed.

Political parties including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Awami National Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, through their respective charity fronts, the Khidmat Khalq Foundation, Bacha Khan Welfare Trust and Al-Khidmat Foundation, also raise funds but are not linked to any extremism, he added.

A public awareness campaign, especially during Ramadan, is necessary because most Pakistanis do not know whether various charities are legitimate, he said.

 

Pakistani-Afghan chamber builds economic ties

 

by Zia Ur Rehman

June 17, 2012

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2012/07/17/feature-01

KARACHI – A trade delegation from Afghanistan attended a business symposium where Pakistanis and Afghans could explore the possibilities of further expanding bilateral trade.

Pakistani traders visit a stall sponsored by the Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the “My Karachi” exhibition July 14 at the Karachi Expo Centre. Experts say Pakistani traders are exploring opportunities in various sectors in Afghanistan. [Zia Ur Rehman]

“My Karachi,” organised by the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), was held July 13-15 at the Karachi Expo Centre. More than 200 stalls displayed products from local and foreign exhibitors.

The Afghan trade delegation was that country’s first one to visit Pakistan since the Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI) was formed in March. Atiqullah Mehmoodzada, vice-president of the PAJCCI Afghanistan chapter, led his country’s team.

Afghan and Pakistani traders are interesting in exploring opportunities in sectors such as cement, sugar, textile, dried fruits, timber products and coal, said Anwar Khan, a Karachi-based commerce journalist.

“We are also interested in sectors of food, heavy machinery, spare-parts and carpets,” said Abdul Ehsan Momand, a member of the Afghan traders’ delegation.

PAJCCI strengthens Pak-Afghan economic ties

The formation of the PAJCCI should strengthen economic ties, facilitate peace prospects and boost trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan, business leaders and analysts of both countries said.

The PAJCCI will not only increase the trade volume between the countries but also curb smuggling, which contributes to losses in both countries, supporters say.

PAJCCI is an initiative of the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and three Pakistani chambers of commerce and has the support of the two governments. The PAJCCI has two offices, one in Karachi and the other in Kabul, and the presidency of the group will alternate between the countries annually.

“The initiative of PAJCCI has all the support of the private sector and the governments of both Pakistan and Afghanistan,” said Zubiar Motiwala, a prominent Karachi-based businessman, elected in March as the group’s first president.

Pak-Afghan trade enhancement

The existing trade volume of US $3 billion (Rs. 283 billion) could grow to US $6 billion (Rs. 566 billion) in the next three years with an active role of PAJCCI members, Motiwala said.

One major benefit of PAJCCI will be to reduce losses smuggling causes to the national exchequers, he said.

“Currently, smuggled goods worth $2.5 billion (Rs. 236 billion) are coming back to Pakistan,” he said. About 30% of the total containerised cargo under the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement, a pact announced a year ago, is unaccounted for, causing Pakistan to lose billions of rupees in duties, he said.

Motiwala also urged the private sector of Pakistan to come forward and utilise this chamber for trade promotion. He said the chamber will also help Pakistan pursue a gas and electricity deal with Turkmenistan.

The group will also explore increasing the frequency of rail service because truck transit has created many problems, such as militant attacks, Motiwala said. A PAJCCI delegation will meet with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardai and Afghan President Hamid Karzai soon.

Trade prospects

PAJCCI Co-President Haji Khan Jan Alokozai was optimistic about the potential for growth in trade, which rose from US 53.2m (Rs. 5 billion) in 2005 to US 191m (Rs. 18.1 billion) in 2009, according to a report,“Afghanistan in Transition.”

“Before 2001, the trade between both countries was limited as Pakistani traders were able to transport their products merely to Jalalabad and not beyond there,” Alokozai said, adding that now Pakistanis are able to find new venues beyond Kabul in Afghanistan and in Central Asia, broadening their trade horizons.

Alokozai asked both governments not to allow trade between both countries to fall victim to political disputes and to keep economic issues safe. He also hoped the PAJCCI would help permanently solve issues big and small.

He also suggested working with the Pakistani ports and shipping authorities to speed up the cargo clearance operations, particularly at Karachi Port Trust, as delays in delivering goods to the Afghan markets were costing importers money.

 

Afghan parliamentarians tout progress of women

 

By Zia Ur Rehman

July 13, 2012

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2012/07/13/feature-01

KABUL – Despite daily prejudice and Taliban death threats, Afghanistan’s women parliamentarians are playing a key role in securing the future of Afghan women.

More than 10 years after Taliban militants were driven from power in Kabul, women are making slow but steady progress in securing their basic rights, parliamentarians Shukria Barakzai and Samia Azizi Sadat told Central Asia Online in exclusive interviews.

Barakzai, a native of Kandahar Province, represents Kabul Province, while Sadat was elected from Parwan Province.

Women’s development on the rise

Development of the country cannot be ensured without involving the female population in the country’s political and socio-economic life, they said.

Afghan parliamentarian Shukria Barakzai told Central Asia Online in Kabul June 23 that Afghan women are playing an important role in the development of their country. [Zia Ur Rehman]

Only in the post-Taliban period have women been able to assume political positions, Sadat said. Now, female representation in parliament is constitutionally secured at 27.3%, Barakzai said.

Women parliamentarians have voiced concern about violence against women, child marriages, women’s health and education and other social issues, Barakzai said.

A record number of females are attending schools and universities and public health for women also has improved during the past nine years, Sadat said.

In addition to concrete developments that have improved the lives of Afghan women, the government is working to change public attitudes, she said.

“In Afghanistan’s most traditional areas, conservative social attitudes impede the progress of women, but the situation is changing gradually,” Sadat said.

Barakzai, an outspoken MP

Barakzai is known for her bold stand in parliament over different national and women’s issues. She is a women’s rights activist and the founder of “Aina-e Zan” (“Women’s Mirror”), a weekly publication that focuses on women’s issues.

“From the Soviet intervention to the civil war between the warring mujahedeen groups and atrocities of the Taliban, every single Afghan has been affected badly. I am also one among these affectees,” Barakzai told Central Asia Online June 23. About 65,000 civilians were killed in Kabul alone during the civil war.

“The Taliban were the worst forces, who forbade women from working outside the home, forced women to wear burqas, banned women from attending school at all and punished them with a public whipping for the appearance of ‘immodesty,’” she said. The Taliban beat Barakzai with a rubber whip one afternoon in May 1999 for being outside her home without a male relative.

The atrocities of the past motivated her politically and socially, she said.

“When the Taliban imposed a ban on girls’ education, I secretly headed a network of underground schools for girls and women and this network also helped me to form a group of social activists in Kabul,” Barakzai said.

Barakzai’s political career began with her appointment in 2003 to the Loya Jirga, a group of representatives that discussed and passed the country’s new constitution after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. She won election to parliament in 2005 and 2010.

Sadat survived 2 assassination attempts

Sadat was elected to parliament in 2005 and re-elected in 2010.

Afghan parliamentarian Samia Azizi Sadat told Central Asia Online June 23 in Kabul that the country’s development cannot be ensured without involving Afghan women. [Zia Ur Rehman]

Under the Taliban, she also ran an underground school in her Kabul home. Some 600 female students studied in 24 different classes.

“In 1999, the Taliban knew about my school,” Sadat recalled. “A number of Taliban attacked my school and severely beat me with sticks and punished the girl students with lashes. I was in bed for seven days and was not able to walk because of injuries.”

“Despite the brutal torture by the Taliban, I never lost my mission and continued to teach women and girls,” Sadat told Central Asia Online from her home. “It was indeed a dark age, and it was my belief that the Taliban would be finished one day.”

Before formally entering politics, she taught math at Parwan University. “Teaching was, in fact, a key reason for my popularity in Parwan Province, and local people, including tribal elders, religious clerics and social activists, forced me to run in the parliamentary elections in 2005,” she said. At President Hamid Karzai’s request, she also heads Parwan’s education department.

Sadat has survived two assassination attempts. On May 20, 2007, she was heading to her office when her vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Parwan. She escaped unhurt, but six passing students were injured. Some months before that incident, she survived gunfire aimed at her car.