Questions worth asking | Umair Javed

Dawn | Jun 23. 2014

It must be pointed out, however, that any situation where nearly everyone is ready to cheerlead a military assault — especially one resulting in civilian casualties and mass displacement — is exceptionally unreasonable. What those amongst us actively celebrating this operation need to contemplate is that baying for blood and shrugging off the loss of innocent lives as collateral damage is a primal, borderline fascistic response. All it does is floor the already low level of moral and intellectual debate in the country, and endorse the already dehumanised view of Pakhtuns and other communities living in Fata and its adjoining areas. Full article

Operation? | Shahram Azhar

“War is politics by other means”. As a result, the success or failure of a military operation is determined, in the final analysis, by its political impact. The United States, for example, did not lose the war against an impoverished Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City; rather the United States lost its imperialist war in the streets of Washington D.C where millions of young working class, progressive and peace-loving American citizens marched against their own imperialist state.

The main point that we need to consider in terms of deciding why we must oppose this operation that is being conducted in FATA today is that its political considerations are rooted in the colonial nature of the Pakistani state: colonial, in the precise sense that FATA is a peripheral region WITHIN a peripheral country (Pakistan). The word “Federally Administered” does not leave a lot to the imagination: it is governed by a colonial law from 1901. The “center” appoints a political agent who is judge, jury and executioner in FATA. The elected representatives of FATA are not sovereign: this is precisely how we define a DICTATORSHIP. To put it in absolutely clear terms, FATA is a colony of Pakistan.

Some people fear that when the TTP takes over (God forbid) they are going to install an ‘archaic’ legal system that will create the worst possible dictatorship we have ever seen. It is unfortunate that these people do not see that the people of FATA are ALREADY GOVERNED by an archaic dictatorial law—the FCR—the law is so barbaric that it allows for collective punishments of entire families. It is so barbaric and archaic that in 2011 a 6 year old girl (Zarmina) was punished for a crime committed by her uncle.

As long as you continue to examine the question from the perspective of the nation-state (Pakistan)—which is controlled by its ruling-classes— rather than the perspective of the PEOPLE of FATA you will make the mistake of assuming that the operation will achieve its political goals.

Support for an undemocratic (undemocratic from the perspective of the local population) operation is bad politics for the simple reason that

1) It ignores the guerrilla nature of the war and the fact that guerrilla armies thrive upon local support. As a result, an undemocratic operation that forces eviction upon millions will only add further fuel to an already precarious situation.

2) It ignores the POLITICAL content of “war” by using politically meaningless terms like “surgical strikes”.

The question is not whether or not “war” is a good or a bad thing in general. I am not one of those people who oppose this operation because I oppose war in general. I am not a pacifist although I am pro-peace. All that I am saying is that the choice of making war (or conducting talks, or doing something else) should be arrived at via the popular consent of the people of FATA. In the absence of this political consent the people of this region (that is still governed by the colonial legal fabric) will be further driven towards the Islamo-fascist opposition that we want to eliminate from our social fabric.

On state terrorism | Aasim Sajjad Akhtar

Dawn | Jun 20. 2014 :

Meanwhile jets pound North Waziristan, the security apparatus continues to target nationalists in Balochistan, and polarisation in Sindh shows no sign of abating. So while the ruling clique is fighting within itself for the right to rule Punjab, the rest of the country is marginalised as only peripheral regions can be. Full article

Stop the Military Operation in Fata

***Please endorse in the comments section***

[For further analysis on the military assault, see here.]

We, the undersigned, demand an immediate end to the ongoing military operation in the North Waziristan region of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). We expect this, the sixth military operation in FATA within the last decade, to follow the pattern set by the previous “decisive” operations which resulted in death and suffering for the people of FATA.

The current operation in North Waziristan is nothing but a sham that will only increase the suffering of the people of FATA. Those declaring “full support” for the military operation choose to ignore history (and the present) at their own peril.

While we condemn religious extremism and militancy in the strongest terms, we do not believe that the problem of religious militancy in Pakistan can be addressed through military means nor by an exclusive focus on FATA as a harbour of militancy. Our demands are as follows:

1. An immediate and unconditional halt to the ongoing military operation in NorthWaziristan and other parts of Tribal Areas.

2. We demand that the people of FATA have the right to decide what to do with the problem of militancy in their area. This process must include working-classes, peasants, women and minorities in FATA – with complete accountability, full access to independent media and without any coercion from the security establishment or militant groups.

3. Public disclosure of the names, details and any alleged militant linkages of those killed in the ongoing operation.

4. Immediate abolition of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) and steps to integrate FATA into mainstream Pakistan by providing guarantee of fundamental rights including rights of political association and the national penal code.

5. Formulating and implementing a pro-people development policy to reverse the systematic underdevelopment of the FATA region.

6. Ending the systematic discrimination against internally displaced persons (IDPs) from FATA, who have been denied entry into other provinces.

7. The security establishment must end its policy of supporting militant groups for strategic ends, both within Pakistan and in neighboring countries such as Afghanistan.

8. Cutting off sources of funding and support for militant groups operating in the country, for example from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.

9. Canceling all defense and unequal economic agreements with imperialist powers (such as the US) and institutions (such as the World Bank and IMF), which perpetuate uneven development and exploitation of peripheral regions like FATA.

What Pakistan needs is a new social contract based on the radical equality of all its peoples. The time is for a peoples’ movement against the Pakistani military and ruling classes’ continuing relationship with militant groups and US-Saudi imperialism. Progressives in Pakistan must remain committed to building a pro-people, anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist political alternative without blinding themselves by expressing support for short term measures that only serve to intensify the contradictions bred by almost 70 years of subservience to imperialism and exploitative capitalist development.

Standing with the peoples of Pakistan means saying no to the wars waged against them by American imperialism, the Pakistani military and its proxies. Standing with the peoples of Pakistan means holding this military accountable for its criminal acts, not cheering it on.

We say NO MORE WAR AGAINST THE PEOPLES OF PAKISTAN!

Signatories:

1 M. Wasim Khan (Advocate Malir Bar, Karachi)
2 Sarah Suhail (Advocate, Lahore and PhD Student)
3 Noor Mir (Anti-War Activist, Washington DC)
4 Ehsan Rafi (Artist)
5 Ehsan Ali (Awami Action Committee Convenor and Lawyer, Gilgit Baltistan)
6 Ashraf Kakar (Awami Workers Party and Faculty, Quaid-e-Azam University)
7 Fahad Rizwan (Awami Workers Party and NSF)
8 Sonia Qadir (Awami Workers Party and Student, New School for Social Research)
9 Mahvish Ahmad (Awami Workers Party Islamabad/Rawalpindi)
10 Ammar Rashid (Awami Workers Party Islamabad/Rawalpindi)
11 Sher Ali Khan (Awami Workers Party Lahore, Dep Gen Sec)
12 Sara Kazmi (Awami Workers Party, Lahore)
13 Khalid Mehmood (Awami Workers Party, Vice President Punjab)
14 Hassan Mujtaba (Awami Workers Party)
15 Husna Ali (Awami Workers Party)
16 Aima Khosa (Awami Workers Party)
17 Ateeb Ahmad (Awami Workers Party)
18 Hashim Bin Rashid (Awami Workers Party)
19 Umair Javed (Awami Workers Party)
20 Shahzad Arshad (Awami Workers Party)
21 Ammar Ali Jan (Awami Workers Party)
22 Feroz Imran (Awami Workers Party)
23 Hasan Raza (Awami Workers Party)
24 Umair Rasheed (Awami Workers Party)
25 Muhammad Ali Jan (Awami Workers Party)
26 Maham Hameed (Awami Workers Party)
27 Sohaib Bodla (Awami Workers Party)
28 Fakhra Hassan (Awami Workers Party)
29 Akhtar Bashir (Awami Workers Party)
30 Rizwan Khaliq (Awami Workers Party)
31 Qasim Baloch (Baloch Human Rights Activist)
32 Mir Muhammad Ali Talpur (Baloch Rights Activist)
33 S Adeel ur Rahman (Business Consultant, Karachi)
34 Campaign Against Drones in Pakistan (CADiP)
35 Arsalan Samdani (CADiP)
36 Urooj Shahzadi (CADiP)
37 Zarak Khan Kasi (Chair, Iranian Studies, SOAS)
38 Kamran Vardag (Chairman, Green Peoples Movement, Islamabad)
39 Nasha Ali Shah (Concerned Citizen and Social Activist)
40 Meera Ghani (Concerned Citizen)
41 Alia Ali (Concerned Citizen)
42 Nabeel Shakeel Ahmed (Concerned Citizen)
43 Ali Ally (Concerned Citizen)
44 Amna Masood Janjua (Defense of Human Rights [DHR] Pakistan)
45 Waqas Ali Zaheer (Democratic Students Federation DSF)
46 Ali Arqam (Freelance Journalist, Karachi)
47 Osama Motiwala (Freelance Journalist)
48 Haider Ali (FSc Student, Faisalabad)
49 Adnan Atta (Geologist, University of the Punjab)
50 Asha Amirali (Graduate Student, University of Oxford)
51 Sobia Kapadia (Human Right Activist and Architect, Karachi)
52 Isfundiar Kasuri (Imran Khan Foundation)
53 Tahir Jan (Inqilabi Socialist Hunza)
54 Riaz Shah (Inqlabi Sociaists, Central Organiser and Doctor, Karachi)
55 Rizwan Atta (Inqlabi Socialists & Journalist, Lahore)
56 Naghma Shaikh (Inqlabi Socialists and Feminist Activist, Karachi)
57 Ali Sajjad (Inqlabi Socialists and Teacher, Faisalabad)
58 Rehana Channer (Inqlabi Socialists and Teacher/Poet, Karachi)
59 Sartaj Khan (Inqlabi Socialists IS Pakistan, Editor “Socialist” Urdu)
60 Riaz Ahmed (Inqlabi Socialists Pakistan and Teacher, Karachi University)
61 Asim Jaan (Inqlabi Socialists Pakistan)
62 Adnan Ata (Inqlabi Socialists Pakistan)
63 Inqlabi Socialists Pakistan (Inqlabi Socialists Pakistan)
64 Amal Rana (Interfaith Institute for Justice, Peace and Social Movements, Vancouver)
65 Irfan Dawar (Internee, FATA Development Authority)
66 Ali Yawar (Irtiqa Institute, Karachi)
67 Naveed Iqbal (Islamabad)
68 Chris Hedges (Journalist and Author, Pulitzer Prize Winner 2002)
69 Miranda Husain (Journalist, Lahore)
70 Rifatullah (Journalist, Peshawar)
71 Mustafa Bhutto (Karachi)
72 Sophia Hasnain (Karachi)
73 Reem Khalid (Karachi)
74 Nofil Naqvi (Karachi)
75 Kashaf Asim (Karachi)
76 Roza Khan (Khaton Pakistan College Student, Karachi)
77 Dr Alamgir Khan Shinwari (Khyber Agency, FATA)
78 Abdul Haleem (Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
79 Amanullah Jiffrey Kariapper (Lahore)
80 Zoya Rehman (Lahore)
81 Habeel Khalid (Lahore)
82 Shaffaf Shahid Latif (Lahore)
83 Abira Ashfaq (Lawyer, Pakistan)
84 Huma Dar (Lecturer, University of California – Berkeley)
85 Aneeqa Khan (LUMS & SOAS)
86 Talha Naushad (LUMS)
87 Taimoor Shahid (LUMS)
88 Adnan Khan (Malakand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
89 Muhammad Azam Khan (Malakand, KP and Islamabad)
90 Arfan Chaudhry (National Students Federation NSF Punjab, President)
91 Khurram Ali (National Students Federation NSF, Central Organiser)
92 Nasir Mansoor (National Trade Union Federation NTUF, Dep Gen Sec)
93 Fawad Hasan (NSF Karachi, Gen Sec)
94 Fatima Zaidi (NSF Karachi, President)
95 Ali Raza (NSF Punjab, Organiser)
96 Mir Askari (NSF Sindh, Organiser)
97 Alia Amirali (NSF, Gen Sec Punjab)
98 Mian Naveed (NSF, General Secretary)
99 National Students Federation (NSF)
100 Rashid Khan Orakzai (Orakzai Agency, FATA)
102 Syed Suhaib Ali Shah (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf)
103 Maryam Kanwer (Pakistan Youth Alliance PYA, C0-Founder)
104 Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi (Pakistan Youth Alliance PYA, Founder)
105 Hifza Jillani (Peace activist)
106 Sabeen Mahmud (Peace Niche, Karachi)
107 Sarwat Viqar (PhD Candidate, Concordia University)
108 Marianna Assis (PhD Student, New School for Social Research)
109 Adaner Usmani (PhD Student, New York University)
110 Asif Akhtar (PhD Student, New York University)
111 Natalya Naqvi (PhD Student, University of Cambridge)
112 Shahram Azhar (PhD Student, University of Massachusetts)
113 Sahista Patel (PhD Student, University of Toronto)
114 Amen Jaffer (PhD Student)
115 Shozab Raza (PhD Student)
116 Kyla Pasha (Poet and Beaconhouse National University, Lahore)
117 Ali Hassan (Principal High School, Karachi)
118 Zahra Khalid (Professional, Islamabad)
119 Khadija Ali (Professional, Islamabad)
120 Ahmad Jamal Mirza (Professional, Islamabad)
121 Saadia Toor (Professor, CUNY New York)
122 Ali Nobil Ahmad (Professor, LUMS)
123 Tariq Amin-Khan (Professor, Ryerson University)
124 Sahar Shafqat (Professor, St. Mary’s College of Maryland)
125 Hadia Akhtar (Quaid-i-Azam University)
126 Waqas Butt (Researcher, University of California, San Diego)
127 Anders Widmark (Researcher, Uppsala University)
128 Nadia Hasan (SARG South Asia Research Group , York University)
129 Nausheen Quayyum (SARG, York University)
130 Nishant Upadhyay (SARG, York University)
131 Nayani Thiyagarajah (SARG, York University)
132 Tanveer Hussain (School Teacher, Karachi)
133 Toufic Haddad (SOAS and Editor, International Socialist Review)
134 Sanaa Alimia (SOAS, Senior Teaching and Postdoctoral Fellow)
135 Peter Boyle (Socialist Alliance, Australia)
136 Tony Iltis (Socialist Alliance, Australia)
137 Margaret Gleeson (Socialist Alliance, Brisbane Australia)
138 Uneeb Khan (Software Architect, Lahore)
139 Usman Rana (Student Activist)
140 Usmaan Basharat (Student, Arizone State University)
141 Omer Aijazi (Student, British Columbia)
142 Sohaib Ibrahim Khan (Student, Columbia University, New York)
143 Fatima Tassadiq (Student, Columbia University)
144 Zarak Khan Kasi (Student, Coventry University)
145 Mujtaba Waseem (Student, Faisalabad)
146 Bilal Anwar (Student, FC College Lahore)
147 Saif Ullah Nassar (Student, FC College University, Lahore)
148 Haider Tupi (Student, Karachi)
149 Muhammad Asaad Khan (Student, Lahore School of Economics)
150 Fatima Javed (Student, LUMS)
151 Virinder Singh (Student, Manchester University)
152 Haider Naqvi (Student, New School, New York)
153 Hira Nabi (Student, New School, New York)
154 Asad Ur Rehman (Student, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics)
155 Hassan Turi (Student, Parachinar FATA)
156 Nadine Zubair (Student, Parent, Citizen)
157 Iman Sultan (Student, Temple University, Philadelphia)
158 Tayyaba Jiwani (Student, University of Toronto)
159 Arsalan Khan (Student, University of Virginia)
160 Aina Niaz (Student, Utah State University)
161 Ayyaz Mallick (Student, York University, Toronto)
162 Mehreen Kasana (Student)
163 Chloe Bourcier (Student)
164 Myra Faza (Student)
165 Naila Ali (Student)
166 Halimah Babakarkhail (Student)
167 Fatima Anwar (Student)
168 Jahanzeb Dar (Student)
169 Asghar Dashti (Teacher Federal Urdu University Karachi)
170 Iman Sultan (Teacher, Islamabad)
171 Faisal ur Rahman (Teacher, Karachi)
172 Amber Saeed (Teacher)
173 Erum Haider (Teaching Fellow, LUMS and PhD Student, Georgetown University)
174 Saad Intikhab (University of Hong Kong)
175 Zehra Goawala (University of Melbourne)
176 Snehal Shingavi (University of Texas, Austin)
177 Shamineh Mavalvala (University of Toronto, Sussex University)
178 Madeleine Nephew (Washington, D.C.)
179 Muneeb Siddiqui (Writer)
101 Feriyal Amal Aslam
180 Ibad Khurram Khan
181 Rabayl Mirza
182 Moaiz Siddiqui
183 Vaqas Arshad
184 Ziyaad Yousef
185 Zehra Hashmi
186 Mahwish Humayun
187 Muhammad Shehryar
188 Atif Sheikh
189 Usman Khalid Kashmiri
190 Beenish Raza
191 Farooq Tariq
192 Annie Onaiza
193 Zainab Moulvi
194 Mahvesh Khan
195 Angela Ramos
196 Aasim Sajjad Akhtar
197 Bakhshal Thalho
198 Sarah Humayun
199 Ali Raza
200 Fahd Ali
201 Anzee Altaf
202 Safdar Bashir
203 Hasan Rashid
204 Zehra Wamiq
205 Haziq Basharat
206 Safoora Arbab, (University of California, Los Angeles)
207 Syed Haider Tipu (Karachi HR Professional)

Obama confirms drone strikes in Pakistan

Obama confirms drone strikes in Pakistan

Obama has publicly admitted for the first time that the US carries out drone strikes inside Pakistan – and the admission came in, of all things, a Google video chat (or, more accurately, a “video hangout” on Google+).

Senate passes resolution to arrest Musharraf

Senate passes resolution to arrest Musharraf

U.S. State Department Funding the Sunni Ittehad Council

The twitterverse has been abuzz this week with revelations of how the U.S. State Department has been spending its money in Pakistan. A couple of interesting items to note:

The U.S. funded the Sunni Ittehad Council for holding a rally in 2009.The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) is a rabidly extremist religious outfit that most recently gained notoriety for offering Rs. 100 million for the gun that Mumtaz Qadri used to assassinate Salman Taseer a year ago. (Taseer was assassinated for his stance on changing Pakistan’s blasphemy law.) In other words, the Sunni Ittehad Council is a nasty piece of work. So what’s the U.S. doing funding such very ugly people? Well, the U.S. has decided that it hates the Taliban more than anybody, and any enemy of the Taliban is a friend, and since the SIC hates the Taliban (for very narrow sectarian reasons), that makes the SIC a friend of secularism and democracy, and thus Uncle Sam’s buddy. Note that the SIC is a Sufi Barelvi outfit, which isn’t supposed to make sense, since the U.S. has also declared that Sufism will save us from terrorism, but these are exactly the kinds of absurdities one ends up with in U.S.-foreign-policy-land.

Another interesting item of note is the nearly $1 million in funds given to film projects by Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy (who has made the films Terror’s Children, Pakistan’s Taliban Generation, Reinventing the Taliban, Pakistan’s Double Game, and many other terror-themed films among others). There are two projects being funded: one, an animated series for children that will focus on identity and history, and two, a series about “ordinary heroes” in Pakistan (I’m going to guess that at least some of these heroes fight the Taliban in their spare time). Given what we know of her past films, and of course about the U.S. agenda, one can only imagine what kind of nonsense will be concocted for these new projects.

Balochistan: Pakistan’s other war – Al Jazeera

Balochistan: Pakistan’s other war – Al Jazeera World – Al Jazeera English.

Who’s Threatening Whom?

Who’s Threatening Whom?

As the war rhetoric towards Iran continues to heat up, here’s an instructive map of U.S. bases in the region showing who the real aggressor is (hint: it’s not Iran).

“End of the [U.S.] pro-democracy pretense”

Glenn Greenwald has a great new post on the remarkably honest turn in the U.S. foreign-policy narrative about the Arab Spring: that it’s dangerous, radical, and counter to U.S. interests in the region. Of course, this sentiment is not new – after all, it is an enduring pillar of U.S. foreign policy – but what is remarkable is the breathtaking honesty of the statements now being made by the U.S. foreign-policy cognoscenti.