Article

2016-12-21 India-Pakistan

[DAWN] THE interior minister appeared in a combative mood while responding to the damning indictment of him and his ministry by the inquiry commission report at the presser last week on the Aug 8 terrorist attack in Quetta. But he had nothing substantive to say in his defence. Instead, he himself has raised questions over the impartiality of the judicial investigation.

He certainly has no intention of accepting any responsibility let alone stepping down -- of course, there is no such tradition in our political culture. It is quite apparent that like numerous other commission reports, this one too will perhaps be consigned to the backroom.

Neither will heads roll nor will there be any corrective measure taken to rectify the fault lines in our counterterrorism policy as highlighted by Justice Qazi Faez Isa in his landmark report. The one-man judicial commission was formed by the Supreme Court to investigate the tragedy that had almost completely wiped out an entire generation of senior lawyers in Quetta.

Continued from Page 4

One of the most gruesome terrorist attacks in recent years, the Aug 8 incident should not be seen in isolation. As the report pointed out, it was the non-serious approach of the government and the selective application of anti-terrorism laws that allowed Death Eater groups to operate in the country freely in full glare of the authorities. In fact, the report has pointed out wrongs that were already known.

Who has not seen the interior minister soft peddling on banned groups operating under new banners and his defence of radical holy mans? Similarly, the slow progress on various clauses of the National Action Plan (NAP), particularly those pertaining to madressah reform and choking the sources of funding to radical seminaries, has been a cause of serious concern. Perhaps the most intriguing point raised by Justice Isa was the reluctance of the interior ministry to proscribe terrorist groups like Jamaatul Ahrar
...A Pak Taliban splinter group that split off from the Mullah Fazlullah faction because it wasn't violent enough...
that had grabbed credit for several terrorist attacks including the Aug 8 suicide kaboom.

One amusing point in the report was the response of the interior minister to the query about his meeting Ahmed Ludhianvi, head of three banned
...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organizations (Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain
...a Sunni Deobandi organization, a formerly registered Pak political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. Its stated goal is to oppose Shia influence in Pakistain. They're not too big on Brelvis, either. Or Christians. Or anybody else who's not them. The organization was banned in 2002 as a terrorist organization, but somehow it keeps ticking along, piling up the corpse counts...
, Millat-e-Islamia and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat
...which is the false nose and plastic mustache of the murderous banned extremist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain, whatcha might call the political wing of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi...
). His reply was that he met the holy man as a member of the Difa-e-Pakistain Council and not as a leader of a proscribed group. He conveniently passed on the blame for allowing the group to have a rally in the capital, despite the enforcement of Section 144 in the city, to the local administration.

While the interior minister has been conspicuous by his absence at the time of some major terrorist attacks he has not left any opportunity to defend radical holy mans like Maulana Abdul Aziz
...nutball holy man who runs the Lal Masjid in the heart of Pakistain's capital. After instigating a rebellion against the state in 2007, he was caught trying to sneak away dressed in a burka. He rejects democracy as un-Islamic, which it probably is...
of Lal Masjid
...literally the Red Mosque, located in Islamabad and frequented by all sorts of high govt officials. The proprietors, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed and Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, unleashed their Islamic storm troopers on the city, shutting down whorehouses and beating people up who weren't devout enough. The Musharraf govt put an end to the nonsense by besieging the place. Abdul Aziz Ghazi was nabbed while he was trying to escape dressed up like a girl. BBC reported that the corpse count at 173, but other claims, usually hysterical, say there were up to 1000 titzup. Among their number was Abdul Rashid Ghazi. Everyone then said tut-tut and what a nice guy he had been...
. Even his sympathy for the late Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain leader Hakeemullah Mehsud, who was responsible for the slaughter of thousands, was very much in evidence after he was killed.

The commission has also indicated that the interior ministry withheld important information concerning proscribed organizations -- a serious indictment of a person in charge of the country’s internal security.

While the federal interior minister epitomises many things that have gone wrong with our counterterrorism and counter-extremism efforts, one must not gloss over the responsibility of other security agencies either. It is the collective failure of state institutions that has allowed impunity to the Death Eaters.

It is not surprising that after a brief lull, the Lions of Islam are back in business, launching high-profile attacks and exacting a huge toll on innocent lives. The spectacular attacks on the police academy in Quetta and carnage at a Khuzdar shrine are the most recent examples.

However,
the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits...
the most serious concern is the rise in sectarian-based violence and religious extremism in the country. There is hardly any serious effort to deal with the sources of extremism. The government wakes up after each attack only to go back to sleep again. A committee under the adviser on national security was formed after the Aug 8 attack to monitor the implementation of NAP, but nothing has been heard of it since then.

It is also the failure of the apex committees formed in each province and comprising the civil and military leaderships in the aftermath of the 2014 Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
school tragedy. While the federal government has rightly been held responsible, the provincial governments too have failed to rein in the activities of the banned hard boy groups. Some reports suggested that the Sindh government too had been talking to AWSJ leaders and the group has continued with its activities in the province. There is certainly no excuse for this laxity after the 18th Amendment that has made law and order a provincial subject.

Interestingly, the PTI has also been demanding action against those censured by Justice Isa, but it is its own government in KP that has been doling out millions of rupees to radical madressahs in the province; for example, the Rs300 million grant to Maulana Samiul Haq
...

the Godfather of the Taliban, leader of his own faction of the JUI. Known as Mullah Sandwich for his habit of having two young boys at a time...
’s madressah, which has been known for promoting violence in the name of jihad. The PTI’s ambivalence towards his organization is quite evident.

Similarly, the Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....
government has also been accused of taking a more lenient approach to sectarian groups. Its objections to allowing security agencies a free hand in south Punjab to act against sectarian groups have evoked intense criticism. Meanwhile,
...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves...
the security agencies too have their favourites among the banned Death Eater groups that make a mockery of the claim that there is no distinction any longer between ’good’ and ’bad’ Death Eaters. So it’s not enough to demand one man’s head; there is an urgent need for taking collective responsibility to deal with the existential threat. The Justice Isa report must be taken seriously to rectify our mistakes and not just be used for political point-scoring.

Posted by Fred 2016-12-21 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11134 views ] Top
File under: Govt of Pakistan

21:20 trailing wife
21:18 trailing wife
21:17 Besoeker
21:04 Glenmore
20:58 Gerthudion Bucket9415
20:33 Matt
19:53 Glenmore
19:50 Glenmore
19:40 badanov
19:38 badanov
18:35 Elmomoter Mussolini9149
18:24 Elmomoter Mussolini9149
18:11 Frank G
17:38 Besoeker
17:38 Jairong+Scourge+of+the+Gepids2435
17:37 Besoeker
17:34 Besoeker
17:33 Jairong+Scourge+of+the+Gepids2435
17:31 Jairong+Scourge+of+the+Gepids2435
16:16 MikeKozlowski
16:13 MikeKozlowski
15:36 ed in texas
15:34 Matt
15:30 ed in texas