Friday, September 30, 2011

APC resolution calls for dialogue in tribal areas

http://www.dawn.com/2011/09/30/apc-resolution-calls-for-dialogue-in-tribal-areas.html

The entire political leadership of the country agreed on Thursday to initiate a dialogue process in tribal areas with the slogan “Give peace a chance”, indicating a change in the strategy for tackling terrorism.

“Pakistan must initiate dialogue with a view to negotiating peace with our own people in the tribal areas and a proper mechanism for this be put in place,” says a 13-point resolution unanimously passed at the All-Party Conference convened by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to discuss the situation arising out of serious allegations levelled by US officials against Pakistan’s armed forces and its intelligence agency, the ISI. The United States also alleged that the ISI had links with the Haqqani network of militants.

Although the APC was called to discuss the threats emanating from Washington, the resolution read out by Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan in her televised statement after the conference had no mention of the US or the Haqqani network. The resolution says: “The APC recognised that there has to be a new direction and policy with a focus on peace and reconciliation. ‘Give peace a chance’ must be the guiding central principle henceforth.”

Without elaborating, it says: “The APC rejected the recent assertions and baseless allegations made against Pakistan. Such assertions are without substance and derogatory to a partnership approach.”

Political and defence analysts said they believed that through the APC the political and military leadership had conveyed to the US that Pakistan now wanted to shift its approach of going all-out against militants in tribal areas and its main focus would now be on negotiating peace with the warring groups as being done by the US in Afghanistan.

“If Americans can hold dialogue with the Taliban in Afghanistan, then why not we do the same here,” Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chief Imran Khan told reporters outside the Prime Minister House. He said the slogan “Give peace a chance” had been made part of the resolution on his demand supported by other opposition parties.

“As a peace-loving country, Pakistan desires to establish and maintain friendly and cordial relations with all countries of the world on the basis of sovereign equality, mutual interest and respect,” the resolution says, indicating to the US that Pakistan does not want confrontation with it.

Through the resolution, the participants called for improving bilateral relations with neighbouring Afghanistan. “We need to further enhance our brotherly bilateral relations with Afghanistan at three levels on a priority basis: government-to-government, institution-to-institution and people-to-people,” the resolution says.

The APC recognised the sacrifices of people and security personnel, especially the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and tribal areas. “The international community needs to recognise these tremendous sacrifices as well as the colossal magnitude of destruction in Pakistan,” says the resolution.

It is evident from the resolution that besides discussing security-related issues, political leaders also deliberated upon prevailing economic situation in the country and stressed the need for enhancing self-reliance.

The resolution shows that opposition parties raised the thorny issue of alleged corruption in government ranks and compelled the rulers to agree on inserting their demand for taking steps to check the menace in order to achieve a consensus document.
It says: “Pakistan can enhance its self-reliance comprehensively. Trade, not aid, should clearly be the way forward. We should also focus on internal economic and tax reforms as well as resource mobilisation and the curbing of corruption.”

The opposition parties also managed to highlight failure of the government in implementing previous parliamentary resolutions. They compelled the government to agree that “all earlier unanimous resolutions of parliament and recommendations of the joint parliamentary committee on national security must be implemented” and “a parliamentary committee be formed to oversee the implementation of earlier resolutions as well as this resolution and progress on the same be made public on a monthly basis.”

The political leaders vowed to protect the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the wake of any possible unilateral action by the US on the country’s soil.

“Defence of Pakistan’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity is a sacred duty which shall never be compromised. National interests are supreme and shall guide Pakistan’s policy and response to all challenges at all times,” the resolution says, adding: “Pakistan shall continue to endeavour to promote stability and peace at the regional and global levels, in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and international law.”

The political leaders also extended their full support to the armed forces and assured them of complete political unity in case of any threat to national security. “The Pakistani nation affirms its full solidarity and support for the armed forces of Pakistan in defeating any threat to national security.”

Thursday, September 29, 2011

American PR in Pakistan needs serious work


A media frenzy has erupted in Pakistan as politicians, retired military personnel and popular talk show hosts declare that the United States is on the warpath with Pakistan. Such is the level of ill-feeling towards the U.S. government in Pakistan that popular talk shows have begun discussing the possibility of an American invasion of Pakistan, whilst one television news channel has even aired a war anthem. As a result of this frenzy within Pakistani civil society, Islamabad has seen a flurry of diplomatic activity with visits from Chinese and Saudi officials. Having met with Vice Premier Meng Jianzhu of China, Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani declared that “China categorically supports Pakistan’s efforts to uphold its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity,” referring to alleged interference from the US. In an earlier interview with Reuters, Prime Minister Gilani heavily criticised cross-border raids by American forces into Pakistan, labelling such activities as infringements of Pakistani sovereignty. Talks of confrontation does not seem to be limited to just the media and public statements by politicians, as there has also been some nervous activity from Pakistan’s military institutions. General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the army chief, cancelled his Monday visit to Britain. In addition, on Sunday General Kayani chaired a meeting of his senior military commanders; though no press statement was issued, an anonymous military official commented that “certain decisions were taken, primarily of some defensive nature, in the event of a possible U.S. attack.”

This display of anti-American sentiment reflects the deep mutual mistrust and suspicion that characterises Pakistani-American relations. U.S. officials have suspected involvement by the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (Pakistan’s intelligence agency) in the attack by Haqqani militants on the American Embassy in Kabul earlier this month. Javed Ashraf Qazi, a retired Pakistani general, said that the U.S. is “pressurizing Pakistan to hide its own failures in Afghanistan” and criticized the American media of supporting what he called government propaganda against Pakistan. Qazi’s opinion is reflective of widely held views in Pakistan. Enver Baig, a former senator, said “U.S. elections are approaching and Americans want a safe and respectable exit from Afghanistan and are scapegoating Pakistan.” The media is rife with discussions about a possible rupture in diplomatic relations between the two countries. Some commentators have called for Pakistan to block NATO supply lines to Afghanistan, whilst others have warned that the U.S. is plotting to give India, Pakistan’s archrival, a “proxy role” in the region.

Whether or not diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Pakistan are deteriorating in reality, the Pakistani media must be warned that their reporting of the matter is adding more fuel to the fire and runs the risk of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Censorship in Pakistan January- September 2011 Reporters Without Borders

In March of this year, RWB reported that in the past thirteen months, fourteen journalists had been killed in Pakistan. This made Pakistan one of the world’s deadliest countries for media- related deaths in 2010, and attributed to their ranking of 151st out of 178 countries in last year’s Reporters without Borders Press Freedom Index. In line with this, nine journalists have been killed since the beginning of 2011; a figure which does not seem to bear any trace of improvement for the future of journalism in Pakistan. In addition to being badly paid, journalists in Pakistan have to negotiate their way around many sensitive issues; the border with Afghanistan, terrorism, the conflict with India, the age-old tribal situation in the North Western provinces, and the political history of the country, not to mention the violent and corrupt methods adopted by the police forces.

Reporters without Borders (RWB) seek to highlight the climate of fear and the extent of censorship that has been imposed as a result of acts of intimidation, governmental inadequacy and local corruption. The suspected ‘target killing’ of Wali Khan Babar, a reporter for GEO TV, on January 13th in Karachi, followed his coverage of a controversial police investigation and led to calls for a report from the authorities into the surroundings of his death. Consequently, on April 7th, Sindh police announced that they had identified four suspects in connection with his ‘pre- meditated murder’ (the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan), all of whom had allegedly confessed. Whilst in the process of investigating Wali Babar’s murder, two police officers in connection with the case were also murdered, as well as the relative of another officer, and an informer. Evidently, the repercussions of this such investigation go some way to explaining why there are so very few in- depth investigations over suspicious so- called ‘target killings’ in Pakistan. Even after the President and other prominent figures condemned Babar’s killing, journalists organised widespread protests nationwide, and the Provincial Assembly ordered a judicial inquiry, no one was convicted. This particular case emphasises the idea that those who commit crimes against reporters in Pakistan are able to continue to do so with impunity.



Similar to this is the case of Syed Salaam Shahzad’s murder, an Asia Times Online correspondent. Based in Islamabad, he reportedly chose to cover many sensitive subjects, including his recent exposure of the close ties between Islamist militants and the Pakistani army. He was found dead in his car, two hundred kilometres from his home, on May 30th, having been missing for two days. The government have since been accused of showing little interest in his case and Reporters without Borders has received information detailing that many of Shahzad’s personal sources were Islamic extremists, which has contributed to him being branded a ‘secret agent’ for organisations including Al Qaeda in connection with this. At the end of the July, it came to light that the investigation into Shahzad’s murder had already ended, proving fruitless. The failure to convict anyone for such a heinous crime can be attributed in part to the ‘lack of coordination’ between police forces of different regions. The fact that Shahzad’s body was discovered many miles from his place of residence gave both sets of authorities the opportunity to defer responsibility for the investigation, and consequently led to a situation whereby no one was investigating anything. In the Punjab region, Karachi province and the Baluchistan province, where bribery, corruption and violence are verging on institutionalised, the prospect of a police force willingly embarking on judicial proceedings are relatively slim, especially when the potential risks for all those associated with the trial are taken into account.

In the months following the brutal murder of Syed Shahzad, the Committee to Protect Journalists report significant acceleration in the number of journalists seeking their assistance. They have been able to process requests for help in the cases of sixteen journalists in the past nine months and are also aware of at least nine others who have received death threats. Whilst it is vital that endangered journalists continue to reach out for help, the Committee spoke of the limited options that were available to them, in terms of ensuring protection. These included trying to make their plight more public, alerting local police, and even temporarily relocating to another part of Pakistan. Clearly, these options all carry risks in themselves, and for an accomplished journalist, relocating to another country entirely is sometimes the safest, and most feasible option. In the complete absence of any government intervention, journalists have to take measures to protect themselves and their families- this is likely to have a detrimental effect on Pakistani press freedoms in the long run. The CPJ believes that the corruption, poverty and fear that journalists in Pakistan have to overcome has the potential to create an exodus of the media ‘intelligentsia’ abroad, leaving in its place a limited, and largely ineffectual media base, that will leave the perpetuators of mass criminal activity wholly unchecked.

In fact, the idea that corruption and criminal activity are institutionalised is exemplified by the attempted shooting of Talat Hussain and Haider Ali of the Dawn News TV Channel on 4th February, who had been investigating the social impact of recent flooding in Thatta, Sindh province. Reporters without Borders accused local officials of ‘shielding professional killers’, after they failed to take any further appropriate action and it emerged that the suspected gunmen were on the payroll of the former advisor to the province’s chief minister. The fact that the dealings of local officials are so entwined with the actions of criminals, combined with the government’s ineptitude at even approaching justice for journalists, explains why there are so few convictions, and subsequently why many reporters have preferred to opt for a form of self- censorship. For example, on the 1st August, Malik Munawar, a Channel 5 reporter, refused to talk to Reporters without Borders about any detail of his kidnapping on the 21st July, for fear of reprisal. It is this climate of fear that so pushes credible journalists towards self- censorship.

Officials too are trying to impose censorship on the content of broadcasts. The violence against the Express News TV cameraman, Zahid Hussein, on March 4th demonstrates the lengths that officials are prepared to go in order to avoid exposing their own criminal activity. Hussein was the first reporter on the scene of a violent crackdown in Peshawar, and in attempting to film police brutality towards a protestor, he himself became the victim of police assault and his film camera was also confiscated. An apology was later given to Hussein, but his film evidence was not returned. On the 14th March, officials blamed a ‘stray bullet’ for the shooting of Dunya News TV cameraman Fayyaz in spite of the fact that there were no shooting incidents nearby, and that he had previously been publicly critical of a local party member called Nawaz. It is the failure of local officials to take action against such crimes that allows the perpetuators to, quite literally, get away with murder.



Indeed, in recent months, not only have officials been failing to find those responsible for atrocities committed against journalists, but Reporters without Borders reports that of three violent attacks in August, police were responsible for two. On the 19th, a Samaa TV bureau chief Shaukat Khattak, cameraman Imran Khan and satellite- operator Anwar Khan were assaulted and beaten whilst they interviewed victims in the aftermath of a suicide bombing in the Tribal Area, and on the 6th, the Headquarters of the Urdu language daily Mashriq was raided - both by police. Whilst Reporters without Borders continues to provide accounts of the killing, kidnapping and assault of journalists in Pakistan, it seems clear that the level of police violence in the country is also becoming increasingly worrying. As well as the increasing physical danger that journalists face whilst reporting in Pakistan, they now also have to reckon with a largely ineffectual, corrupt, and even criminal police force.