Pakistan Views

Pakistan has asked India to investigate thoroughly and immediately the causes of death of Pakistani national Khalid Mehmood in Indian jail and intimate Islamabad along with his medical report. Khalid Mehmood, a resident of Lahore district died under mysterious circumstances in Gurgaon jail in the suburb of Delhi on Feb. 12. An official of Pakistan High Commission while briefing newsmen here said India had refused to provide, despite repeated requests, details of over 500 Pakistani prisoners languishing in Indian jails. Pakistan High Commission has written letters to Indian External Affairs Ministry for providing consular access to about 200 prisoners but the reply is still awaited. Similarly, High Commission has also sent travelling documents of 150 prisoners for their repatriation to Pakistan but there was no response from Indian side so far, the official said. The official further said India was requested to provide names and details about 48 Pakistani nationals in jails across Indian Punjab as reported by a section of Indian Press. To-date, there is no response. The High Commission has asked in the latest correspondence with the Indian authorities to immediately probe death of Khalid Mehmood and provide details to Pakistan along with his medical report, the official said.

Pakistan and Afghanistan, important but struggling US allies in fighting militants, received mixed reviews in a US State Department review of worldwide human rights conditions last year. Pakistan and Afghanistan share a long and often lawless border that has provided al Qaeda and affiliated Taliban fighters refuge from which they stage suicide bombings and other attacks on the two Muslim South Asian countries. Pakistan was engulfed in political turmoil late last year as President Pervez Musharraf deposed judges, suspended courts and detained lawyers and opposition leaders during some six weeks of emergency rule. “Despite President Musharraf’s stated commitment to democratic transition, Pakistan’s human rights situation deteriorated during much of 2007,” said the annual report released on Tuesday. “At the end of the year, there still were 11 suspended judges and three lawyers under house arrest, and media outlets were required to sign a code of conduct that prohibited criticism of the government in order to operate,” it said.
The report did not cover Pakistan developments since the end of last year, including February elections which were won by opponents of Musharraf. The opposition parties have agreed to form a government and have vowed to reverse Musharraf’s dismissal of the top judges. The State Department said Afghanistan had made “important progress” since the draconian Taliban were deposed after a US military invasion in 2001.
The Taliban, which hosted Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda when they launched the Sept. 11 attacks, have regrouped in parts of the country and continue to confront a fledgling Afghan army that is backed by some 50,000 Nato and US troops. “Afghanistan’s human rights record remained poor due to a deadly insurgency, weak governmental and traditional institutions, corruption and drug trafficking, and the country’s two-and-a-half decades of conflict,” said the report. The insurgency caused more than 6,500 deaths from suicide attacks, roadside bombs, and combat-related violence last year, in a dramatic increase from 2006, it said. “Abuses by national security forces continued, including arbitrary arrest and detention, official impunity, and torture,” said the report. However, the report said the Afghan government was working to extend its rule to more of the country and to professionalize its army and police. To curb abuses, rights training had been introduced for soldiers and police, it said.

Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in Pakistan’s northwest frontier region pose a direct threat to the Islamabad government, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned here Sunday. The presence of the Islamic extremists in the tribal region is not just “a nuisance” to Pakistan, but “is potentially a threat to their government,” Gates told an international security conference in this southern German city.
Gates, who has been calling for NATO reinforcements to defeat the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in neighbouring Afghanistan, suggested the time had come for a Pakistani anti-insurgency sweep on its own side of the Afghan border.
Pakistan has dismissed US claims that Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar were operating from its northwestern tribal areas. Washington has placed multi-million dollar rewards on the two men’s heads.
A top Al-Qaeda operative, Abu Laith al-Libbi, was recently killed in a suspected US missile strike in Pakistan’s north Waziristan tribal area early this month.
The Islamic extremist Taliban militia ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 and gave sanctuary to bin Laden, who masterminded the September 11 attacks in the United States.
A US-led invasion in October 2001 ousted the Taliban from power in Afghanistan, but they have regrouped and are putting up increasingly stiff resistance to NATO-led international forces.

National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) Saturday warned all provincial governments, chief commissioner of Islamabad and the police department that three alleged suicide bombers belonging to Baitullah Mehsud group have entered various cities from Dera Ismail Khan and Tank.
NCMC wrote in a letter that these alleged suicide bombers can launch attack in any city; accordingly, the security arrangements should be made still stricter.
According to the NCMC letter, all three bombers have short moustaches; one of them is aged 15/16 years with blonde hair a

Pakistan has arrested 11 Indian fishermen for fishing illegally in Pakistani waters, the Maritime Security Agency (MSA) said on Friday.
Two fishing boats of the fishermen were also seized on Thursday, it said.
The boats were found fishing illegally inside the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Pakistan, a MSA statement said.
The Indian fishermen have been warned time and again not to indulge in illegal fishing, but they repeatedly enter our EEZ to take advantage of our rich fish resources at the mouth of Indus delta
Upon reaching Karachi, the apprehended fishermen will be handed over to Docks Police station for further legal action, the statement said.

Partial phases of solar eclipse are visible in a portion of southeastern Australia and in New Zealand.
The path of totality is only in Antarctica and some of the far South Atlantic Ocean near the Falkland and South Georgia Islands. The duration of the eclipse was 1 hour and 11 minutes, which was not seen in Pakistan.
According to met office, Pakistan will see partial moon eclipse on February 21, 2008.

Severe cold wave continues country wide as several roads have been blocked due to snowfall adding the miseries of the people.
Heavy snowfall continued for third day in mountainous areas of district Mansehra and Balakot.
Continuous snowfall and land sliding closed parts of Kaghan Road whereas links also closed in other mountainous areas and galliyat.
Heavy snowfall in Shawal, Razmik and adjacent areas in North Waziristan agency and Koh-e-Safaid and Cenre Kurram mountain ranges in Kurram region closed roads in the area, sources said.
Incessant rains and snowfall in Parachanar and North Waziristan have disrupted power supply system in the region.
The rain and snowfall spell continued in Azad Kashmir and Muzzafarabad and met office predicted more rains and snowfall in next 12 hours.

Karachi Poultry Wholesales Association has announced Rs24 per kilogram reduction in the price of Broiler chicken and Rs40 per kg in chicken meat, in view of the decline in demand of chicken. This was decided at a meeting of KPWA here on Monday.
After the announcement, price of Broiler chicken declined to Rs50 per kg from Rs74 while the rate of chicken meat reduced to Rs86 per kg from Rs126.

Officials confirmed on Monday an outbreak of the deadly bird flu virus at a second farm in the city and said 12 people had been placed in an isolation ward. The virus was discovered at a poultry farm run by security forces, three days after it was found at another farm in the port city, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry official R.H. Usmani said.

“We have found H5N1 virus in the second farm too this morning,” Usmani told AFP, adding that both farms have been sealed off and officials have culled around 10,000 chickens. A spokesman for the paramilitary Rangers force which owns the farm said they had alerted authorities and destroyed infected poultry and feedbags after hundreds of chickens were found dead.

“We have shifted nine of our workers to a hospital and doctors are monitoring them in an isolation ward,” said the spokesman, Major Asad Ali. Another three poultry handlers from the other farm where the virus was discovered last week have also been placed in an isolation ward at a local hospital, medical officials said.

“Our doctors are observing all the farm workers and have so far found no signs of transmission of the dangerous virus in any of them,” Sindh province health secretary Abdul Majid told AFP. “We are on the highest alert and our teams are monitoring all the places where the poultry industry is concentrated,” Majid said.

The nation will observe Kashmir Solidarity Day today (Tuesday) to express solidarity with the people of the held Kashmir.

This day was observed for the first time in 1990 and now this day is observed every year.

This day will be observed to highlight the issue of Indian occupation of the Muslim majority state besides expressing full support to Kashmiris’ freedoms struggle against the Indian occupant army to ensure their right to self determination guaranteed by a UN resolutions over five decades ago.

Different religious, social and political organisations will hold rallies, public meetings and seminars across the country to highlight the significance of the day and the sacrifices rendered by the Kashmiri Muslims for freedom from India occupation during the last 50 years.

In Lahore, Jamaat-e-Islami will take out a rally from Nasir Bagh to Masjid Shuhada in the morning. The rally will be joined by a rally of women and children from GPO Chowk to express commitment with Kashmiris’ freedom on behalf of Pakistani nation.

Besides, Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JD) will hold a public meeting titled Kashmir Solidarity Conference at Masjid Shuhada in the evening. Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and other leaders from noted religious and political organisations will address the rally. Liaquat Baloch and other JI leaders including the party’s Lahore Ameer, Hafiz Salman Butt, Chaudhry Muhammad Shaukat, Ziauddin Ansari, Malik Shahid Aslam and Rao Javed will lead the rally.

The government has declared a public holiday today in connection with Kashmir Day. All educational institutions and government/private offices will be closed in this regard. Apart from that, extra curricular activities will be held by educational institutions and social organisations like debate competitions and quiz programmes to highlight the Kashmiri cause, while print and electronic media will air special programmes like talk shows and plays on the occasion.

Jamaat-e-Islami has already set up 20 camps in the City in this aspect, two in each of the nine towns of and the Cantonment area for the last two days. Kashmiri songs are being played, pamphlets renewing pledge Kashmiris’ freedom are being distributed and funds for Kashmir cause are being collected at the camps.

The government has taken elaborate security measures for the two events in the City particularly in view of the ongoing wave of terrorism across the country. Several hundred police personnel have been deployed in all parts of the City and entry points to monitor miscreants while steps have been taken to ensure body search of the participants of the rallies and public meetings.

Talking to The News, JI Lahore Ameer Hafiz Salman Butt said his party will also hold meetings, seminars and public activities all over the country and across the world to remind the international community about its responsibility towards Kashmir’s freedom. These moots will motivate the public opinion against the international conspiracies being implemented in Pakistan to put the Kashmir issue at the backburner and weaken Pakistan’s principled stance by reducing this human issue concerning freedom and fundamental rights of over 10 million Muslims to just a border and land dispute between Pakistan and India.

He said Kashmiris have sacrificed about 100,000 lives during the last two decades of freedom struggle, whereas twice the number of people have been wounded and crippled by the Indian army in crackdowns and in torture camps.

Besides, several thousand people were missing after they were picked up by the Indian army and taken to torture camps. He said thousands of women were raped and billions of rupees worth property including houses, shops and crops were burnt down by the Indian army to victimise the Kashmiri Muslims for demanding annexation with Pakistan according to UN resolutions guaranteeing them right of self determination.

He said the Indian army occupation, military crackdowns, killing, wounding and arresting citizens under black laws have made the lives of people worse than hell in occupied Kashmir. He said India has violated all international laws and commitments made with world community for allowing right of self-determination to Kashmiris and continued its military occupation for over six decades now.

He said the primary cause of concern for Kashmiris was Pakistan’s one-sided flexibility, new formulae for peace suggesting division of Kashmir and making unilateral progress for establishing friendly relations with India. He said all the measures have literally given up the state acknowledged Kashmir cause and granted the Indian army a licence to kill and spill Kashmiris blood.

Pakistan’s variable attitude and fast changing stance has caused confusion among Kashmiri leadership and freedom fighters, and they are now cursing Pakistan’s frustrating policies and apologetic, cowardly attitude, he said.

He asked the people to observe Kashmir solidarity day with full enthusiasm and spirit and forge complete unity from Karachi to Khyber and from Bhimber to Athmuqam to express their commitment to Kashmir’s freedom.

He said the day should be observed with such a determination and spirit so that they could rid themselves of the unconstitutional and illegal rulers occupying their government, which could not only liberate the people of Pakistan but also ensure the freedom to the people of Kashmir.

A spokesman of Jamaat-ud-Dawah said the purpose of the public meeting was to renew the commitment and pledge of Pakistani nation to stand by the Kashmiri brothers in their just struggle for liberation from Indian yoke.style=”float: left; margin: 0px 10px 5px 0px”