Struggle for Power

America and Russia possess the largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons to undermine and destroy the humanity. They are competing not reducing the arms race. Perhaps global leaders appear to have lost the sense of purpose to safeguard the mankind from the scourge of wars and to undo the tyranny of competing and compelling hegemonic politics. The raging conflicts in Syrian, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Ukraine, Palestine and Israel are constant reminders of dreadful consequences for the whole of the mankind. Do the contemporary global leaders have any viable humanitarian imagination for the peace and security of the future generations?

Bombs and wars kill people – the living human beings, destroy humanity by enforcing barbarism and cruelty, practically denying all prospects of peace and co-existence. Traditional wars were aimed at annihilation of political and economic enemies but the 21st century conflicts are ready-made recipes not only to eliminate the mankind but also the environment in which human beings survive and the planet Earth that sustains life. Given the strategic know-how and the scientific-technological developments, it is an established fact that any futuristic global warfare will end the very existence of man and humanity on this planet. The Weapons of Mass Destruction that the US, West Europeans and Russian have placed on the planet and in space are a ready-made menace to the survival of mankind. Wars appear to be the outcome of sinister minds, devilish individual plans and monstrous scheme of things against the very humanity of which these people are a living part. With massive news media propaganda campaigns and falsification of the facts of human life, common folks and even the intelligent ones do not seem to have the rational understanding of the wars and their consequential impacts on life and the universe. One would have imagined that more knowledgeable people become, more rational world will emerge in the coming ages of rational thinking. Not so, we continued to be occupied with false images and misleading rationale of global conflicts.  Like always, few cynical and mentally unbalanced people plan and wage wars against others, not mindful of the dreadful end results of their intrigues and conspiracies against life, human rights and dignity and futuristic possibilities of human survival on the planet.

We march collectively toward self-annihilation. Corporate capitalism, if left unchecked, will kill us. Yet we refuse, because we cannot think and no longer listen to those who do think, to see what is about to happen to us. We have created entertaining mechanisms to obscure and silence the harsh truths, from climate change to the collapse of globalization to our enslavement to corporate power that will mean our self-destruction. If we can do nothing else we must, even as individuals, nurture the private dialogue and the solitude that make thought possible. It is better to be an outcast, a stranger in one’s own country, than an outcast from one’s self. It is better to see what is about to befall us and to resist than to retreat into the fantasies embraced by a nation of the blind. History has a role to teaching and learning which is denied by the global war strategists. All wars are the outcome of anti-human thinking and cruelty and none can or will bring peace and security to the humanity.

Global Warlords are haunting the mankind because wars are a racketeering enterprise. Most democratic leaders have no sense of humanity, peace and global security except militarization of the world. Aggressiveness, police raids and irrational harsh legal judgments do not articulate cooperation and respect for human dignity or social harmony and peace in human society but divide people in hatred, fear and more conflicts. You cannot change a society with law and order dictum. When a problem is misunderstood, its diagnostic approach will be wrong. An out of the official box approach to understand the problem is urgently needed.

Read More

TTP-RAW nexus wreaks havoc in Baluchistan!

At least 70 people were killed and over 100 others injured today when a Taliban suicide bomber struck mourners, mostly lawyers, gathered at a hospital in Pakistan’s restive Baluchistan province in one of the deadliest terror attacks in the country this year. The bomber struck over 200 mourners at the government-run Civil Hospital in Quetta where the body of prominent lawyer Bilal Anwar Kasi, who was shot dead earlier in the day, was being brought. Kasi was the president of Baluchistan Bar Association (BA) Advocate.

A loud explosion was heard at the emergency department where Kasi’s body was brought for autopsy. Gunfire followed the explosion. Police said it was a suicide attack where 8 kilograms of explosives were used.

“No crater found at the site of the attack and it appears the bomber had the explosives strapped to his chest,” a police officer said. Bomb Disposal Squad officials also confirmed the explosion was a suicide bombing.

A spokesman for Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, said that his faction “accepts responsibility” for the attack in the southwestern city of Quetta and vowed more attacks “until the imposition of an Islamic system in Pakistan”.

The head of the provincial health department said, “The death toll has risen to 70 and there are 112 injured.” Officials said the toll may go up. Television footage showed scenes of chaos, with panicked mourners fleeing through debris as smoke filled the corridors of the hospital’s emergency ward. Many of the victims were clad in the black suit worn by lawyers. A contingent of Frontier Corps and police arrived and cordoned off the hospital following the blast, restricting access to the area.

Today’s suicide attack appeared to target Kasi’s supporters,” Anwar ul Haq, a spokesman for the Baluchistan government, said. It is the second deadliest in Pakistan this year so far, after a bombing in a crowded park in Lahore over Easter killed 75.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Mamnoon Hussain strongly condemned the attack. Sharif ordered the provincial government to arrest the culprits.

“No one will be allowed to disrupt the peace of the province,” Sharif said. He cancelled all prior commitments and visited Quetta. Two journalists were among the deceased, according to reports.

“This was a security lapse and I am having this personally investigated,” Baluchistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said. He described the attack as an “act of terrorism.” Bugti said the impact of the explosion was strong that scores of vehicles and motorbikes that were around the hospital were destroyed.

Panic tore through the hospital after the incident and emergency has been declared at hospitals in Quetta. The provincial government announced three-day mourning during which Pakistan’s National Flag will remain at half-mast on government buildings. Social networking site Facebook activated its “safety check” feature after the blast in the provincial capital.

Officials said mobile phone jammers had been activated around hospitals in the area. Quetta has also long been regarded as a base for the Afghan Taliban. In May, Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed by a US drone strike while travelling to Quetta from the Pakistan-Iran border.

Pakistan’s army chief Raheel Sharif said that all necessary steps would be taken to defeat militancy in the country as he chaired security meeting in Quetta. He said that attack was an attempt to undermine improved security in Baluchistan. He said it was attempt to target China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

“All resources to be employed to control situation,” he said.

The director general of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Lt Gen Asim Bajwa, shared the text of General Raheel Sharif’s meeting with the Iranian president. “There is one concern that RAW is involved in Pakistan, especially in Baluchistan, and sometimes it also uses the soil of our brother country Iran”. During the meeting with the Iranian president, Gen Raheel reportedly asked Rouhani to tell them [RAW] that “they should stop these activities and allow Pakistan to achieve stability”, Bajwa tweeted.

Earlier, the military’s media wing had claimed that General Raheel Sharif discussed the issue of RAW's involvement in Pakistan's internal affairs with the Iranian president.

The army chief while highlighting the challenges being faced by Pakistan, discussed the alleged involvement of RAW in Pakistani affairs, especially in Baluchistan, the ISPR statement had claimed.

Raw is using Afghanistan and Iran’s soil to carry out terrorist activities in Pakistan. RAW has promoted terrorism and separatism in Baluchistan. India's point of view is more popular at the world stage simply due to the increasing strategic importance of India. India has a huge market and the West wants to woo it. When U.S. was in Afghanistan, U.S used to shrug off India. Now U.S. and West's interests have changed. India is a rising global power which is too strong to disregard. This is why we can see that U.S. is putting pressure on Pakistan to unroot terrorism. This why Hollande (France's Head of State) said that it was entirely "reasonable" for India to pressurize Pakistan. It's all a game and the more powerful and clever nation wins. Let there be no doubt whether Pakistan is the victim of Indian sponsored terrorism. Raw agents are openly bragging about the thousands of innocent Pakistani's they are massacring. Pakistan is not itself supporting terrorism in India, it is the Kashmiris who have NEVER accepted Indian occupation. And of course not only all Pakistanis but also international community morally supports Kashmir’s right to self-determination. India is destabilizing Pakistan simply out of hatred and animosity that Pakistan exists. Pakistan's only issue with India is the illegal occupation and oppression of the Kashmiri people. THE WORLD MUST STOP INDIAN TERRORISM or the tensions will get worse.

It is an irony of fate that the world seems to have turned blind eye and deaf ear to India’s violation of International Law and sovereignty of states through proxies and terrorism. The evidence of which comes from not other than PM of so called largest democracy of the world i.e. India as Modi in a speech in Bangladesh shamelessly and arrogantly claimed responsibility of dismembering Bangladesh from Pakistan by creating a separatist group called “Mukti Bahini”. Given such a tainted history of Indian involvement in internal affairs of neighboring countries "How can any sane individual rule out or refute Indian involvement in any part of Pakistan particularly Baluchistan"?

Read More

Altruistic Pakistan to Bleeding Kashmir

 Special powers are required to control Kashmir for the security of India. But the irony of this is not so hidden. For the security of India, Kashmir becomes the bait, but wait, does that mean Kashmir is not integral to India (quite obviously)? For where is the security of Kashmir? If the Indian Army is institutionalized for the protection and security of its citizens, then is it not the highest of crimes and greatest of betrayal if the biggest threat to Kashmiris (who the Indian State enforces as citizens) are from the very same Indian Army?

Countless rapes, murders, missing persons, unidentified graves and assaults are the unfortunate reality of your beautiful valley. The ubiquitous presence of the paramilitary reinforces and sustains the eerie message of insecurity and instability. If the Indian Army Commander, in a recent release, claims that the villagers who would disassociate themselves from the militants, now join them in fighting the security forces, this goes a long way to show the level of resentment and gravity of anguish faced that leads you to lose all hope and despair.

But fear not my friends, we are with you in this struggle, against the Indian State who has eulogized hyper-nationalism, to the extent of waging war against its own people. We stand together in this fight against Indian atrocities, and we stand with you in your struggle.

Sincerely,

Concerned Pakistani’s

Read More

Not all but downtrodden and conscientious Indian’s empathize with Kashmiri’s.

I do not think ordinary Indians support the brutality of army occupation in Kashmir. Despite what the Indian state says, and despite what the Indian army and CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) are doing, I honestly do not believe that any ordinary Indian supports the torture of young men, the blinding of people attending a funeral, the rape of women, the killings and maiming and abuse and humiliation that are now a routinized fact of daily life in the Kashmir valley.  To believe that ordinary Indians enjoy watching this spectacle of violence, that ordinary Indians take pleasure in the torture of children, would be to think India is now a country comprised of sadistic psychopaths. I honestly do not think ordinary Indians are psychopaths. India is a large and complex country, a huge and diverse society. Everything that happens in Kashmir, the brutality of the army and the security forces, cannot signify the whole truth of India we tell ourselves. It seems somehow unfair to ordinary Indians that what happens in Kashmir reflects them all.

But the time has come now to squarely face some hard truths about Indians and the dissimulations, psychological and social, by which they continue to live in their country and call themselves ‘Indians’.

If what their government tells them is true, that there is no ‘India’ without ‘Kashmir’, it is only stating a bald historical truth. The day India came into existence as an independent postcolonial country was the day ‘Kashmir’ came into being as an occupied territory. India became postcolonial and colonizer in the same instant. There is no historical contradiction here: this is the zombie afterlife, as a friend describes it, of British colonialism. We know this history, we know its consequences, and we are seeing it unfold every day in the Kashmir valley. But they still behave as though they can continue to think this is an abstract question or old history.

But they must stop lying to themselves. They must find the courage to accept the truth that every killing in Kashmir by Indian security forces, every rape, every murder, and every child brutalized, is a referendum on India. Not on Kashmir. It is a referendum on the existence of India as a political project.

If India can only remain India, as they are told by their government, by insisting Kashmir is an integral part of it against any wishes of the Kashmiri people. It depends on the rape of women in Kunan poshpora. It depends on, feeds on, the brutal torture and disappearance of 6000 people in the Kashmir valley. A CRPF soldier pushed a needle into the eye of a 5 year old child. People attending a funeral have been blinded by pellets. This is what is being done in Kashmir today. This is what is happening in their name as Indians. Do they truly, as Indians, absorb the full weight of this fact? Do they truly, as Indians, understand what this means? There is absolutely nowhere for them to hide now. At all.

The historical birth-story of India explains the terror that grips ordinary Indians when the question of Kashmir arises. This fear, fed and played on by the official position of the Indian state, says: If even once it were admitted that Kashmir is actually not an integral part of India, has never been a part of India, what will happen to the idea of India? If once it is admitted, even once, that the fantasy of territorial integrity and India’s credentials as a secular country can be undone by speaking of Kashmir, what will happen to India? What sense will it make to speak then of India as a country? If they want India to be India then Kashmir has to be resolved.

Indians should demand their freedom. Freedom from the killing, blinding’s, rapes, torture that apparently enable their freedom as Indians. Freedom from occupying this horrifying role in which they find themselves. They should refuse to accept this role: they must have the courage to say their existence as Indians cannot be determined any longer by the continuing oppression of the Kashmiri people. If this is the condition of India’s existence, then they do not want it. They want freedom from this position in which they have all been placed.

Read More

A letter to Apathetic Indians from Oppressed Kashmir!

Dear unconcerned Indian brothers/sisters,

Greetings! Kashmir- paradise on Earth with the most beautiful and exotic valleys, hills and lakes is also the State which has been the subject of oppression and violence of the Indian Security forces for decades now. Narratives and stories of Kashmir brings back the ghosts of the past that enlivens Agha Shahid Ali’s words: ‘I am being rowed through paradise in a river of hell’.

I am sure that your collective conscience is yet to be satisfied. I am not Syria. I am not Palestine. I am not Gaza either. God has made me “Paradise on Earth”. But now I am as good as living hell. I am an untold story. I am bleeding land being brutally and illegally occupied by your nation which uses its military power to suppress the voice of freedom of my people. They have already killed tens of thousands of my innocent sons. The cheapest thing on my land is none other than that of human blood. My children grow up watching graveyards populate their villages. My daughters continue to live an undignified life. Everything on my land whether it is home, hamlet, town, city or market has tragic tales of grief to narrate. I wonder how your nation has never been questioned of its atrocities. Doesn’t it deserve to be brought before the International judicial court of the United Nations (UN) for her trail of killing about my five lakh people and other crimes like human rights violation in past six decades?

Unfortunately your electronic media has always remained biased. They never supported my cause rather they brushed the atrocities of their government under the carpet.  A daily business of slaying my people mainly children is being reported in the internal pages of your print media, quite often in microscopic fonts. That is the biggest reason why you are unfamiliar of the brutalities carried out by the various fascist regimes of your nation. The realities of my land remain shrouded. My people had reasons to live but they see themselves as if they never lived. They are in a grip of utter trauma living a miserable life and there is no one to hear their anguished cry. I am virtually crumbling under Indian occupation and my people are at a fateful crossroad and facing an uncertain future. But one is thing is sure! India cannot occupy me based on gun power. The more they kill my people, the more rebels they would create out of them. Even if India would kill my entire population, yet it won’t be able to brush my issue under the rug and move on.  How long you can turn a blind eye? Your “Proud Army” is crossing all heights of atrocities by killing my teenagers mercilessly. Blood bath continues. People are being caged, curfew imposed, internet and other modes of communication are snapped and hospitals, ambulances even journalists are targeted. During past 15 days, there has been the brutal and sadistic murder of people, all civilian, mostly youth and children.  The only crime they do is that they resist against Indian oppression through protests, voices, and stones. And in return they are being killed through bullets and pellets by brave Indian soldiers. Don’t forget that stone pelting has resulted the death of none not even a single security personal but bullets and pellets took away the lives of thousands of my children. Such inhuman actions may satisfy but it won’t benefit you. My people won’t give up. How India can defeat them who have already defeated their own fears? None can stop them from freedom. The flag of freedom they raised to heights.  Freedom from Indian occupation. Freedom from Indian oppression. My sons will attain it, even if they have to kiss martyrdom.  Please put yourselves in the shoes of my people and try to see the conflict through their eyes. Talk to any common man and he can share with you the direct pain, injustice and indignity that they continue to suffer as a result of the Indian oppression. My people are not doing any crime but asking for a plebiscite which was promised by your respected Prime Minster Nehru Ji. Here’s a valid question to ask you as Indian citizens, political leaders, bureaucrats, army chiefs, right-wing extremists and so: Are you blind? Can’t you see that my people want recognition of their identity? Burn your Bollywood movies. Come to my land. Walk through my cities. The bridges. The ruins. The graves. Look at what I eat. Look at my buildings. My shrines. My architecture. My history. Speak to me.  Holding me against my will not bring any benefit to you and your country. It is definitely undemocratic, brutal and absolutely unnecessary.

My people are crying out for a solution which would have sincere interest to understand the solemnity of the existing situation- which would understand the pain of the common man- which would hold the hands of a mother who has lost her son- which would give them a future of justice and reconciliation… I will end up this painful letter with the words of Shelly, the English poet; Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!

Sincerely,

Oppressed Kashmir!

Read More

“Kashmir, a Festering wound”

Kashmir is the oldest unresolved agenda with the UN; a festering wound which speaks volumes of international apathy towards the just cause of the people of Kashmir. All this Indian occupation forces unleash a reign of terror on the unarmed Kashmiri population including atrocities which are a shame for humanity. The so called developed nations of the world were quick to annihilate Iraq and Libya on suspect weapons of mass destruction, which could never be found. Whether former Yugoslavia, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria or Afghanistan, the same developed nations did not take long to unleash their might.

UN Secretary General can have stakeout of “Sudan” on 11 July 2016 but not “Kashmir”. It seems like if UN is intentionally brushing aside the issue of Kashmir as a “No Issue”. Various interviews/statements (11-16 July 2016), of spokespersons of UN Secretary General Stephane, OIC Independent Permanent Human Right Commission (IPHRC), US State Department John Kirby, Mark Toner, Elizabeth Tudeau, portray if all have no clear stance on the issue with restraints to give an indistinct verdict on international forum – owing to, growing Geo-strategic interests of US in India. US is avoiding indulging into the Kashmir quagmire by deflecting the worlds concerns by declaring it purely an internal issue of India. The international media is not giving due weightage to burning issue of Kashmir, instead prioritizing on coverage of non-issues.

There is a dire need that the UN to conduct an independent, fair and transparent inquiry against the individuals responsible for the massive killings and ensure accountability of culprits at all levels, as immediate measure and resolve of Kashmir Issues as a permanent step. In their “great games” and “new great games” Kashmir somehow does not figure out which leaves a big question mark on the role of the UN and international powers.

Read More

Qandeel Baloch - Strangled for Being Attractive

Fouzia Azeem better known by the name Qandeel Baloch was a Pakistani model, actress, and feminist, activist and social media celebrity. Baloch rose to prominence due to her videos on social networks discussing her daily routine and various controversial issues. She was famous for her sensational videos on social media. Baloch first received recognition from the media in 2013, when she auditioned for Pakistan Idol; her audition went viral and she became an Internet celebrity. She was one of the top 10 most searched for persons on the internet in Pakistan and both celebrated and criticized for the content of her videos and posts. In many ways, Qandeel Baloch reminded me of Amy Winehouse, the troubled young singer also with a failed marriage who died tragically five years ago when she was just 27. Qandeel’s brother allegedly strangled the 26-year-old actor-crooner-activist. Her daring appearances on social media insulted the family honor. Qandeel was staging a fight for her version of azadi.Baloch's fame was based on her social media posts – pictures, videos and comments. These were considered bold by the largely conservative Pakistani community. Some international news media compared her to Kim Kardashian; however, local commentators stated that she was more significant than Kardashian, as Baloch "went against the norms of society" and lived life on her own terms. In June 2016, Baloch met senior cleric Mufti Abdul Qawi in a hotel room to learn more about her faith; the interaction between them brought about mayhem on social media platforms as their photos went viral online. She also wore a hat with the Mufti's signature the meeting led to the Mufti being suspended from his position on one of Pakistan's religious committees.Qandeel Baloch wasn’t unintelligent. With all my “intelligence”, I could never get three-quarters of a million people to follow me on Facebook as she did. It couldn’t have been her looks alone for she wasn't the only good-looking person out there. Qandeel shot to new heights of infamy when she announced her intention to perform a strip dance for Pakistan cricket captain Shahid Afridi if he succeeded in leading his team to victory on the T20 match against India. She even launched a "trailer" of her performance before the match, promising "[a full] film" upon Pakistan's victory. The video appeared to be the tipping point for Facebook users in Pakistan. Many, many people seem to have reported her page for nudity, resulting in a temporary block on her page. “She must be arrested for spreading vulgarity," insisted one Facebook user. Qandeel feigned hurt upon her return: “Aaj se no video. Get lost tharki awam (I won't post videos on Facebook anymore. Get lost, you perverts)," she said in a message.
On 15 July 2016, Baloch was drugged and then asphyxiated by her brother Waseem while she was asleep at her parents' home in Multan. Her death was reported by her father Azeem. By the time her body was found she had already been dead for fifteen to thirty six hours. Marks on Baloch's body revealed that her mouth and nose were pinned shut to asphyxiate her. Police called the murder an honor killing. Her father told the press "my daughter was brave and I will not forget or forgive her brutal murder.Baloch's murder was widely condemned by media celebrities and people around the globe, while some in Pakistan were more inclined to support her murder. Personalities such as Imran Khan, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Sharmila Farooqi, Reham Khan, Sanam Baloch, Osman Khalid Butt, Meesha Shafi, Nadia Husain, Ali Zafar, along with many others condemned the incident, including filmmaker and activist Sharman Obaid-Chinoy who said, "I really feel that no woman is safe in this country, until we start making examples of people, until we start sending men who kill women to jail, unless we literally say there will be no more killing and those who dare will spend the rest of their lives behind bars. “She further said, "There is not a single day where you don't pick up a paper and see a woman hasn't been killed ... this is an epidemic. British Prime Minister Theresa May also condemned the murder saying "there is absolutely no honor in so-called honor killings and they should be referred to as acts of terror. “May also said it was 'criminal' for women to be murdered by their male relatives on the grounds of defending family 'honor'

Read More