How Pakistan has terrorised its Ahmadi minority for decades
contribution by Sadaf Meehan
My family are Ahmadi Muslims, a small Islamic sect that was declared non-Muslim by Pakistani authorities in 1974.
This pacifist sect – one of the central tenets is never to meet violence with violence – make-up less than three per cent of the Pakistani population, yet have been described by the BBC as one of the ‘most relentlessly persecuted communities in the history of Pakistan’.
A few years ago, it was to be my first Eid in Pakistan since childhood, and I was excited. My parents, both Karachi-ites, left in 1972 and settled first in Yorkshire, where I was born, and then in Macclesfield, Cheshire, home to New Order, the Macc Lads and me, until I went off to Uni at 18.
continue reading… »
Is this the only solution to Afghanistan?
There’s a distinct air of unreality which must around hang around newspaper offices and also the realms of Whitehall. The reaction to the killing of 5 British soldiers by an Afghan police officer was one of a still aloof nation that regards it as unbelievable that it can be so apparently easy to kill Our Boys, while also perplexed at how “Terry Taliban” isn’t prepared to play by good old fashioned Queensbury rules.
It wasn’t so long ago that IEDs were being described as “new” and “asymmetrical” tactics, as if guerilla warfare was some new concept, and that it was perfectly beastly that the other side weren’t allowing themselves to be shot out in the open like the clearly inferior fighters that they are. How dare they make the greatest, best trained army the world has ever seen look bad?
The problem the attack poses though is obvious: when our policy is to train the Afghan army and police and then get out, or at least that’s what it’s meant to be, that this officer was apparently not a new recruit and had been in the police for three years raises the nightmare that there may be many more “cells” where we have in fact trained those will then turn on us when the chance arises.
This isn’t exactly new either though: the Iraqi police and army were and probably still are riddled with those with their own distinct agendas, and that was in a country where there are only two major sects in conflict with each other.
continue reading… »
More on why we must stay in Afghanistan
Last year when traveling around Nepal, a friend who worked out there said she saw India as basically an imperial nation telling the Nepalese government what to do. India controls all the main trade routes going into Nepal (the border with China is closed) and this allows them to dictate policy.
I highlight this point to illustrate that in South Asia, all the big powers are in a sense imperialists – trying to exert lots of influence outside their borders. Afghanistan has always been a target of proxy wars, with India, Pakistan, Iran, Russia, China and USA trying their hands in various degrees.
If we leave, the game begins again. I said this as much in an article for Guardian CIF on Friday: that staying in Afghanistan right now outweighs the potential dangers of leaving: the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, their attempts to take over Pakistan, and stir trouble in India. With over a billion and half people in the immediate region, the deaths caused by more instability, which is inevitable, would outweigh the death-rate right now.
I highlighted a comment on my own blog in response to my article, by a Pakistani, on the menace that the Taliban is. And I think to leave the Afghanis under their mercy is not a viable position to take: for humanitarian reasons and because it would mean we’d have to intervene again sooner or later (if war broke out between India and Pakistan over terrorist attacks).
continue reading… »
Needed: an exit strategy from Afghanistan
Eric Joyce’s resignation as PPS to defence minister Bob Ainsworth is to say the least, intriguing.
Joyce is most certainly on the Blairite wing of Labour, and even under Brown until recently a major loyalist, and with little chance of influencing any sort of attempt to overthrow the prime minister, it seems his decision to go is based purely on his considerable discontent over the war in Afghanistan.
Joyce sets out, while clearly trying to be as non-threatening and as lightly critical as he can while questioning the entire current strategy, that the public is not so stupid as to believe or to much longer put up with the “terrorism” justification, that we are punching way above our weight in our current operations, and that we should be able to make clear that there has to be some sort of timetable outlining just how long our commitment is both able and willing to last.
All of this should be way beyond controversy, yet already we have the ludicrous sentiment from both Bob Ainsworth and the even more ridiculous Lord West that they don’t recognise the picture which Joyce sets out (”confused and disjointed” was West described it).
The only part which it’s difficult to agree with Joyce on is his criticism of the other NATO countries’ contribution: who can possibly blame France, Germany and Italy for not wanting to spend a similar amount of both their blood and treasure to us on a war in which they can’t even begin to claim as we do that it’s preventing terrorism on their streets?
The reason why it doesn’t seem right to truly coruscate Labour over the utter cowardice of their current lack of a policy is that it’s a failure of leadership which is shared across all three of the major parties. For all their protests and attacks on the government over Afghanistan, you could barely get a cigarette paper between both the Conservatives and Lib Dems’ own ideas on what we should be doing.
All still think, at least in public, despite doubtless their private misgivings, that this is both a war that is worth fighting and one which can be “won”, whatever their own idea is of a victory.
Our Afghanistan Problem
The War in Afghanistan: what exactly is the plan?
I’ve always had issues with invading Afghanistan. Yeah, I hated the Taliban as much as the next person (and yeah, I knew about them before 2001), but I couldn’t see the sense in a ground-war in a country so completely conditioned for decentralised guerrilla combat.
The plan, if it was to be violent (let’s face it, military retaliation was exactly what 9/11 was intended to provoke), should have been intelligence-gathering, air-strikes and hardware support for anti-Taliban forces. Not that I’m a military expert of course.
The one thing democratic governments can’t suffer is an endless war of attrition in a faraway land. Any conflict in Afghanistan, that involved regular infantry on the ground, was always going to be one.
continue reading… »
Afghan realities
There are two good pieces at Comment is Free written by Afghan women.
Malalai Joya, who was formerly the youngest Afghan MP, notes that ‘Almost eight years after the Taliban regime was toppled, our hopes for a truly democratic and independent Afghanistan have been betrayed by the continued domination of fundamentalists and by a brutal occupation that ultimately serves only American strategic interests in the region.
You must understand that the government headed by Hamid Karzai is full of warlords and extremists who are brothers in creed of the Taliban. Many of these men committed terrible crimes against the Afghan people during the civil war of the 1990s.’
continue reading… »
No simple solutions to Afghanistan
I’ll confess to being a bit indecisive about the war in Afghanistan and the regional strategy being pursued by the Obama administration. Whilst I think Sunny’s case for continuing to fight Afghanistan’s heavily-armed, well-organised & utterly mercenary militants is a good one, I’ve never really had an issue with the justification for our involvement there.
Instead, I just harbour a deep scepticism about whether the sort of ‘victory’ expected by politicians and the public is within the capability of coalition forces.
continue reading… »
Disinformation from Afghanistan’s Opium war
Last week, troops in Afghanistan launched a four-day raid on a Taliban strong-hold, during which they seized some drugs. Would you like some more detail? According to the BBC, the raid took place in “Marja” (which is actually in Nigeria); Al-Jazeera believe it happened in “Marija“; AP took a guess at “Marjah“; while only UPI correctly named “Marjeh”, in the Helmand province. 14, 16, 34, or 60 militants were killed in the operation.
If you think that’s bad, when it comes to the record of what was actually seized the ‘facts’ take on a life of their own. The AP report that 16.5 tons of drugs were seized, along with “other materials”. The BBC declare that ninety-two tons of “poppy seeds and other drugs” were seized, and Al-Jazeera continue the game of chinese whispers, changing this to “ninety-two tons of drugs”.
continue reading… »
Committing hara-kiri over Gurkhas
Without a doubt I’m delighted Gordon Brown and Phil Woolas were humiliated in losing the Gurkha vote. And all credit to Nick Clegg for precipitating the climbdown. But I’ve been mystified why this government refused to give in to what was so obviously the right moral and political stance to take. Did Phil Woolas really believe that by taking a hardline against the Gurkhas somehow this government would be seen as tough against all immigrants (which it is already)? Or perhaps there were other equally idiotic political calculations I was unaware of.
Anyway, so yesterday I repeated on Twitter something Lynne Featherstone MP had said: “Labour defeated in Parliament vote on Gurkhas!” — and I immediately got replies from Dave Cole, Sadie Smith and clawsfour saying: “Screw you. I’m Lab supporting the Gurkhas. But fed up with Tory lies – how many Gs did they home? 0!”
continue reading… »
Tamil protests in Westminster: pictures & video
Demonstrations by ethnic Tamils outside of the Houses of Parliament have this morning grown considerably in size and energy, with protesters bringing traffic to a stand-still in the Parliament Square area.
Whilst it is hard to estimate numbers, from the upper offices in Parliament Street it would appear that 1,500-2,000 protestors have convened this morning. The protesters are demonstrating against continued non-action by the UK regarding alleged human rights abuses of ethnic Tamils by the Sri Lankan authorities. The size of this morning’s protest contrasts sharply with the numbers of protesters present last week, which consistently numbered somewhere in the low hundreds.
continue reading… »
Hidden tiger – the Tamil protests in London
A few thoughts on the ongoing Tamil protest in London that the mainstream media has largely ignored. Here’s a report written over the last week:
Tuesday 14 April, 6pm:
Down at parliament square, a small marquee has been pitched – probably less than 300m from the place where our mighty prime minister and his various hangers-on bitch about the consequences of hiring Derek Draper and other vital matters of state, etc.
A young man called Prarameswaran Subramaniyam sits at the back of the marquee, wrapped in a pile of blankets. Subramaniyam is 28 and a Tamil. He’s in the eighth day of a hunger strike that he hopes will draw world attention to the plight of Tamil civilians being slaughtered by the Sri Lankan government in northern Sri Lanka – the latest awful chapter in the famously horrific 60-year-old conflict between Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority.
Anyway – the publicity returns of Subramaniyam’s hunger strike remained disappointing at the time of writing. The protestors have yet to be offered a substantive UK government statement on the conflict, and – apart from a handful of reports last week when Tamil protestors occupied Westminster bridge at rush hour and started chucking themselves into the Thames – mainstream journalism has managed to ignore the fact of this loud eight-day-old protest almost entirely. Alas for UK Tamils, journalism has been at full stretch on important topics such as measuring the gap between Susan Boyle’s looks and talent, and probing Dolly and Damian McBride.
continue reading… »
What do we do about Pakistan?
In the wake of the recent anti-terror raids around Manchester and Liverpool, we’re back to a question which has flummoxed pundits and politicians ever since 9/11: what do would-be terrorists want from us, and, if we give it to them, will they then stop plotting to blow us up?
Returning from a recent fact-finding trip to discover what’s turning young Pakistanis to terror, Labour MP Sadiq Kahn reports a rather unusual grievance; they blame Britain for the deaths caused by the US’ drone attacks in the country’s remote border regions. The problem with this is that Britain isn’t involved in the US’ bombings, and even if we were to openly criticise the American policy of sending unmanned drones to kill members of Al Qaeda, I’m not sure this would have much of an effect on people who’re evidently too lazy to find out which country is doing the bombing.
continue reading… »
Iain Dale stirs the pot against Lammy
Occasionally, Tory blogger Iain Dale goes from straight Conservative party cheerleading to partisan stupidity. Today we find another such example. Cabinet Minister David Lammy has written a good blog for OurKingdom, sympathising with attempts by British Tamils to raise awareness of the civil war in Sri Lanka and the massacre of Tamils by the SL government. He also writes of the relatively miniscule coverage offered to the people protesting in Westminister – organised entirely by text messages and local radio stations I’ve heard.
But rather than expressing sympathy with the cause, or applauding a minister of trying to engage with blogs through what is a genuinely thoughtful post, Dale can’t help try and stir the pot by saying: “It is yet another sign of a government in decay when Ministers feel free to freelance in this way.” Honestly. The self-declared top Tory blogger keeps up his slide into parody.
Will the Afghanistan strategy work?
In one sense, the claim of responsibility from the Pakistani Taliban for Monday’s attack on the police school, is something of a relief; it means, that as yet, Lashkar-e-Toiba, another group founded by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, has not declared war on the Pakistani state itself.
The other sort of good news from the attack was that a complete bloodbath was avoided thanks to the relatively swift intervention of the Pakistani security forces, those who had been criticised, probably unfairly, after the first Lahore attack. “Only” 11 dead, when there were up to 800 police recruits in the attacked compound, can be seen as something of a success.
But there is much to fear from the continuing spiral into proactive insurgency in Pakistan.
continue reading… »
Which Taliban was responsible?
Once we’ve set aside the horror and revulsion one inevitably feels in the wake of these latest attacks in Pakistan, I’m more inclined than ever to think there’s some truth to the Terrorists-Are-Dumb theory of international politics. I mean, if your idea of jihad is striking a possibly fatal blow to your country’s favourite sport, I think it’s safe to say that you’re going to suffer a major recruitment problem.
Beyond that, I think it’s important to avoid either jumping to rash conclusions, or merging Pakistan’s many militant factions into one slimy gloop called ‘Taliban’, as a guest contributor to Harry’s Place seems to do here. Shiraz Maher links the tragedy in Lahore with the recently-brokered ceasefire between the national government and the thugs who control the North-Western Province (or Swat Valley).
I think this is a mistake.
continue reading… »
A smear job by the MoD
Why has there been so little outrage about the smears and innuendo directed against Colonel Owen McNally and Rachel Reid in Afghanistan?
I wrote a piece about for CiF yesterday and Rachel Reid also has an article about it today. But yesterday, even the Guardian’s initial coverage seemed to accept the story at face value.
It appears that Colonel McNally was arrested for doing his job – that is giving an on-the-record briefing to a human rights researcher asking completely legitimate questions about civilian casualties from NATO air strikes.
continue reading… »
The finest press in the world
ARE THEY BRITISH?*
*No.
ARE WE GOING TO APOLOGISE FOR SUGGESTING UP TO 7 OF THEM WERE?*
*No.
All images via 5 Chinese Crackers, who has more commentary.
Democrats: South Carolina election live blogging
Let the speculation, nail biting, under-the-breath swearing, headline sharing and mud-slinging begin! The voting has started.
12am update: CNN has already called it an Obama win.
continue reading… »
Bhutto assassinated
May I draw your attention to The Daily (Maybe), which has comprehensive coverage of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan who was killed today in a suicide bombing at a rally in Rawalpindi.
Don’t Forget Burma
The Burma Campaign UK have launched Don’t Forget Burma, for self-explanatory reasons. They say: “We have created this site so people can upload messages showing that they haven’t forgotten Burma. … We’d love it if you could have a look at the site and submit a photo of yourself holding up a message showing that you haven’t forgotten Burma.” Spread the word.
You can read articles through the front page, via Twitter or rss feeds.
» What would you ask the Labour leader candidates?
» Complete tits
» How bad is the feline obesity crisis?
» Why don’t MPs pay back tuition fees instead of increasing ours?
» Obama is right to slam BP – and why capitalists should too
» Why does Phillip Blond see civic cohesion as a security issue?
» So what if the Labour candidates went to Oxbridge?
» Last night’s Labour hustings: will it get interesting or turn to torture?
» It’s now down to Ken to win London for Labour
» The Labour people need
» Blog Nation: what would you like to see discussed?
|
12 Comments 66 Comments 20 Comments 13 Comments 10 Comments 18 Comments 4 Comments 25 Comments 49 Comments 31 Comments |
|
LATEST COMMENTS » earwicga posted on What would you ask the Labour leader candidates? » Richard Blogger posted on Ashcroft to launch "devastating" attack on Cameron » Richard Blogger posted on What would you ask the Labour leader candidates? » Red posted on His best speech ever? Jon Cruddas on how Labour needs to reinvent itself » Kate Belgrave posted on His best speech ever? Jon Cruddas on how Labour needs to reinvent itself » Mike Killingworth posted on What would you ask the Labour leader candidates? » cjcjc posted on Complete tits » Flowerpower posted on His best speech ever? Jon Cruddas on how Labour needs to reinvent itself » john b posted on How bad is the feline obesity crisis? » Mike Killingworth posted on Complete tits » Lou posted on Ashcroft to launch "devastating" attack on Cameron » Dick the Prick posted on Ashcroft to launch "devastating" attack on Cameron » Sarah AB posted on Complete tits » tim f posted on What would you ask the Labour leader candidates? » TJC posted on What would you ask the Labour leader candidates? |
