How not to be on FATF watchlist

The consequences of an approach that the world is not watching us are coming to the fore. The United States and its European allies have come up with a motion much to the delight of our neighbours India and Afghanistan, with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) pleading to put Pakistan on a watchlist of countries that are non-compliant with global anti-terror financing measures. The fact is that the Punjab government is financing the seminaries of banned Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) despite banning the JuD. On one hand, banning an outfit and on the other hand, financing its seminaries is just defying all logic and all reasons. Similarly, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government doles out millions on the seminary, considered to be the birthplace of the banned Taliban. What do our people at the helm thin that such measures do not warrant global actions? One can make the world fool for one decade, but it does not go on endlessly.    

The measure to put on the watchlist by the FATF is unanimous by the major world players. True, that the US under the administration of Donald Trump is hostile to Pakistan. But the United Kingdom had never taken a partisan position on India and Pakistan. The motion presented before the FATF has been, however, tabled by both the US and the UK. That means Pakistan is losing international friends. (De Fecto) Finance Minister Miftah Ismail also confirmed that “the US and the UK had nominated Pakistan to be put on the watchdog’s international money-laundering and terror-financing ‘grey list’ a few weeks ago, before France and Germany joined them as co-sponsors”.

This is ironic. These countries have been supporting Pakistani in its efforts to eradicate terrorism. They have given cash, tools as well as expertise. They have been asking Pakistan to control the activities of terror outfits. Muftah says they are in touch with the US, UK, Germany and France for the withdrawal of the nomination. "We are also quite hopeful that even if the US did not withdraw the nomination that we will prevail and not be put on the watchlist." The motion against Pakistan could be adopted at the FATF meeting scheduled to take place in Paris from February 18 to 23.

According to Reuters, “the FATF maintains grey and black lists for identifying countries with weak measures to combat money laundering and terror financing. The watchdog does not have the powers to impose sanctions on a country found not meeting the required standards. However, its listing can affect international transactions from the country concerned as those would then become subject to greater scrutiny. This will increase the cost of doing international/cross-border transactions and ultimately higher cost of doing business locally. Pakistan was last placed on FATF’s grey list in February 2012 and stayed on it for three years”.

Pakistan has taken some remedial measures. It has promulgated a presidential ordinance last Friday amending the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 with regards to banning terrorist individuals and organisations to include entities listed by the United Nations Security Council. That means the JuD and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation, besides the UN listed outfits of Al Akhtar Trust and Al Rashid Trust can be banned.

Pakistan needs to take action, not to thwart the FATF move, but also in the best interest of its own people.

So long, Asma Jahangir

We all should feel pride for being in the era of Asma Jahangir. 

We are lucky we saw her work. 

We saw her fight against dictators. 

We saw her speak for innocent blasphemy case suspects. 

Of course, she was our national pride. 

She breathed her last on February 11, 2018, in Lahore because of her cardiac failure. She was the voice of every oppressed, voiceless and powerless person of the country. This sounds a cliché remarked for Asma Jahangir, but my family would have first gone to Asma Jahangir for, had my work or social media statement put me in trouble. She made her presence felt, and voice heard, and she had not reached this pedestal overnight. She had earned this place.  

She became a public person when she was 18. Her entrance to the public life was not by her choice. She had been forced into the circumstances. The military dictator, Yaha Khan, had detained her father, former civil servant and lawyer Malik Ahmed Jilani, and no lawyer was ready to take his case. Asma took the case to her own hands and approached the Lahore High Court. The appeal was rejected. She moved the Supreme Court. The good judges sat on the case until the dictator was gone, and her father had been released, but the judges declared the dictator as a usurper. The landmark judgment, known by her name, is a reference document.   

During the military regime of Gen Zia, Asma Jahangir fought for democracy on The Mall and for the prisoners in courts. She took the cause of women’s rights and fought relentlessly against Hudood Ordinance. The Mall saw Asma being beaten by police. Many jail barracks hosted her for sometime days, sometimes weeks and occasionally months. Once she took a group of the bonded labourers to the high court. The judge asked why she had brought the people who stunk. She sternly responded: “You’re are here exactly for these people.” The judge was annoyed. Asma Jahangir did not care about milord’s mood. She kept on arguing the case passionately. Her arguments convinced the judge and the verdict ordered a crackdown on the bonded labor practices.  

Asma Jahangir took those cases, which other lawyers would refuse to fearing the backlash of religious bigots. She took the case of blasphemy charges fearlessly. She survived many attacks. Salmaan Taseer was not so lucky. Neither was Benazir Bhutto. After the assassination of such people, our society has seen the lynching of Mashal Khan and celebrations over the acquittal of the accused in the murder case.

She was also a person of intellect; she was a good speaker and much sought-after commentator for prime time TV talk shows. Her eloquent yet forceful defence of victims and the vulnerable everywhere will be greatly missed.

Her last appearance at the international level was at an Oxford gathering in memory of their alumnus Benazir Bhutto. Malala was also there. She was the most suitable speaker to speak on democracy icon Benazir Bhutto.

Social media is full of hate speech on her death. People are questioning her religious thoughts, her attachment to Pakistan and so on. This shows that the mission of Asma Jahangir for a liberal, democratic and forward-looking Pakistan needs to be taken seriously.

May her dream gets realized very soon.

PML-N’s Senate choice

The Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) is a Sharif family’s personal empire, and a sort of business venture, though not offshore. People are employed here, fired here and promoted and demoted then and there as per a business concern's needs. Those performing extraordinary are given bonuses: ticket for a safe constituency, ministry or advisor office, ticket for a family woman on reserved seats and tickets of the Senate. Performances and services which land these rewards are making the Sharifs happy. What pleases the Sharifs is: defend them on the national media and project them the only popular leaders of Pakistan, if not of South Asia or Asia or the world. And if you have illicit or legal wealth, shower on them, without any thinking.

Many journalists have benefitted from the House of Sharifs. Many sycophants have become national leaders. Many are in the pipeline of the urban party to become leaders. The latest lineup to occupy Senate benches on the PML-N seats from Punjab and the federal capital area is a total disappointment. The way the Sharif family picked up Senate candidates and the way all parliamentary norms were trampled in the process suggest that the PML-N is just a to-serve-Sharifs party.    

Those awarded PML-N tickets are former finance minister Ishaq Dar, former Punjab police IG Rana Maqbool Ahmad Khan, office-bearers of the party’s UK and US chapters Zubair Gul and Shaheen Butt, Mr Sharif’s spokesperson Dr Asif Kirmani, former senator Haroon Akhtar, industrialist Farooq Khan and Hafiz Abdul Kareem, a leader of the Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith and MNA from Dera Ghazi Khan.

The profiles of the candidates speak volume.

Ishaq Dar is a fugitive man; he is wanted to the National Accountability Court (NAB) for his alleged accumulation of wealth. More than a fugitive, he is the father-in-law of Maryam Nawaz’s sister. Maryam Nawaz is herself facing a number of NAB references. Why a party would give a Senate ticket to a retired provincial police chief is beyond people’s comprehension. The award of a Senate ticket for Rana Maqbool is a clear message to the serving bureaucracy that those serve us without any a second question are patronised and rewarded even after their retirement.   

The next on the list Zubair Gul and Shaheen Butt. Zubair Gul, according to Rauf Kulasra columns, severed the Sharifs when they were in exile in the UK during the Musharraf regime. He served them from buying a good plate of mutton pulao to arranging air tickets for the whole family. He still serves their children who are on the run and have been living in the UK since the start of the NAB trial.  

Shaheen Butt: when one browses his name, Google says that one Shaheen Butt was arrested and convicted of money laundering in the US.  One is not sure if it is the same Shaheen Butt. Also, Sharifs are also facing the allegation of money laundering here in Pakistan. So, money laundering is a standing connection between the Shaheen and the Sharifs. Still, we are not sure if the Senate candidate Shaheen Butt is the same one convicted in the US.

Dr Asif Kirmani was once caught on camera for acting like a traffic cop to make way for the car of the Sharifs. In fact, he was making his way for the Senate corridor. Haroon Akhtar was rewarded for withdrawing an application against the relocation of a Sharif family’s sugar mills to Muzaffargarh. Farooq Khan has lots of wealth. Similarly, Hafiz Abdul Karim has a big pocket.

What will the Senate look like when such people occupy seats there and discuss national issues?  

Live drama MQM

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) is returning to its old times when it was ruled by formidable and unchallenged Quaid called Altaf Husain, much before the abrupt fragmentation of the MQM and the creation of the MQM-Pakistan on August 22, 2016. The MQM of its old time used to be full of Bollywood style thrillers, such as blood, violence, hero, villain, and song, and a little bit display of love. MQM Quaid Tehreek Altaf Husain would control the party and the urban parts of Sindh through his hours-long speeches on TV screen from London, which no channel would dare to skip. He would announce a strike for something effective from 24 hours later, but his loyalists would present him the whole city shuttered within hours of the announcement. 

Some signs of the Altaf-led MQM are hitting the screens nowadays with late night hours-long speeches after the internal infightings brewed up in Farooq Sattar-led faction, called MQM-Pakistan. When Altaf Hussain was the MQM king, such internal fight was unthinkable. Now, on the issue of MQM nomination for the Senate elections, the Farooq Sattar-group and the MQM Rabita Committee have been fighting each other to no end. Both factions are adamant about fielding their own candidates. The Rabita Committee says their nominated candidates have been selected on the basis of their services for the party, loyalty, and caliber, whereas Farooq Sattar thinks that being the party head, he has every right to select the candidates.

The impasse is not a secret affair anymore, as both groups have been stealing quality air time to air their point of view for the last several weeks. The turning point, however, was on Friday when the Rabita Committee announced stripping Farooq Sattar of nominating the candidates. Hours later, Farooq Sattar shunned his signatory reconciliatory tone and tenor and announced giving a show cause notice to the Rabita Committee members of their illegal activities and also called a general house gathering on Sunday.  

Both groups seem determined not to bow to each other. Both groups stand their ground. Confused are MPAs, who are to cast their votes in the elections. Their divide will minimize the chances for MQM to get elected their representatives for the Upper House.

This is not the first time internal fissures have threatened to lead to the disintegration of the MQM.

We remember the creation of the Afaq Ahmed-led Haqiqi faction in 1990s. Much later, in 2016 former Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal struck a blow to his former party creating the Pak Sarzameen Party. He has won over several MPs from the MQM-Pakistan but his popularity test has yet to sail through a general election.

It can be argued that the system Mr Hussain nurtured — one-man rule — did not allow the creation of any genuine second-tier leadership; Altaf Bhai’s word was law and there was very little internal democracy. However, even if there is a patch-up within the MQM-P, it may only be temporary and more factionalism cannot be ruled out.

It is ironic that a party that once ruled Karachi — often through strong-arm tactics — is today facing disintegration. A very real question of who will fill the MQM’s void in urban Sindh arises. The PSP, for one, is waiting to deliver the knockout blow. Things will definitely remain interesting in urban Sindh in the run-up to the general elections.

When dubious devices are watching over women's changing room

One never know if the upscale brand house has installed sinister cameras in their fitting rooms. Perverts find pleasures in seeing the bodies of women customers. When a woman selects a dress and decides to give it a try in the shop’s dressing room, in fact, they show a sort of confidence in the brand’s product, staff, and the environment. This bond was, however, breached and may not be repaired anytime soon, when a male customer in Faisalabad found that the locker room of a brand shop where his sister was going to try a dress had installed a hidden camera. 

This is what Dawn newspaper reported: “Noman Zaffar, a law student, had filed a complaint with the People’s Colony police stating that he had visited the shop located on Chen One Road with his sister. She had gone inside the fitting room and found hidden cameras installed there. When she informed him, Mr Zaffar said, he made a video of the hidden cameras, but the store employees flared up at this and threatened to upload the videos onto social media if he took action against them. He said that two of the employees — Rizwan and Fayyaz — had tried to snatch his mobile phone so that they could delete the video of the hidden cameras he had recorded. He said they told him that the cameras had been installed at the behest of the owner of the outlet. He claimed the employees had also tried to illegally detain him. The police registered a case under relevant sections of the Pakistan Penal Code against four people, including the owner of the outlet, its manager, and the two employees, who were taken into custody. Police did not reveal the names of the outlet’s manager and owner and stressed that investigation into the matter was underway.

“Madina Town SP Ahmed Nawaz Shah said the shop had been sealed and the district government would be approached for directions to seal the outlet. He said they had also seized a mobile phone which had been used to record the videos. The suspects had started recording videos of their customers two to three days ago, he said, adding that during interrogation, the suspects revealed that they had so far made three videos which they had apparently deleted after watching them”.

One such incident of capturing private moments of the dating couples in internet cafes was reported in Rawalpindi back in the early 2000s when the Internet supply was rare and Internet cafes were the only places providing the facility. Two women had committed suicide when these footages were leaked. After the police had launched a crackdown on the cafes and directed them to remove dubious devices and install transparent cabins. Since crackdowns are prompted by some controversies and are to be shelved in weeks, if not days, no permanent solutions could be devised for these hidden sinister gadgets.

It will be a good measure if all try rooms, washrooms and lodging rooms in shopping malls and searched to see if these devices are watching over us or not. aa    

Encounter specialists: Abid Boxer, Rao Anwar, Umer Virk and Shahbaz Sharif

Everyone is busy asking about the whereabouts of former Malir SSP Rao Anwar. 

Rao Anwar used to be reported as a brave and efficient police officer. He arrested the alleged killers of Safoora bus massacres where more than 20 Ismaili Shias were killed. He has been brave enough to kill Taliban militants and dare them openly on the media. He has survived several attempts on his life. After the unfortunate death of Naqibullah Mehsud, the SSP, who is on the run, is being dubbed as the mastermind of fake encounters and main culprit of extrajudicial killings. 

Until the killing of Naqibullah Mehsud, the system – the courts, the police administration, the media and the civil society – had been tolerating such deaths. Every extrajudicial killing is a crime, and the state must investigate all such cases. The reign of extrajudicial killings under the Shahbaz Sharif government remains unquestioned. As no structured data is available, some media report suggests that from 2008 till present, the good governance guru has killed more than 5,000 people in police encounters. Among them include the 14 deceased who were killed in Model Town in 2016.

Shahbaz Sharif’s love for encounters can be traced in newspapers archives of 1997-1999 when his government groomed SP Umer Virk and Inspector Abid Boxer to kill people on their bosses’ orders. In 2002, stage and film actress Nargis was beaten black and blue by then dismissed inspector Abid Boxer. Dawn (2002) reported “the former inspector, known for killing many alleged criminals in several fake police encounters during Shahbaz Sharif’s reign in Punjab, reportedly tortured Nargis for several hours. He allegedly cut her hair with a knife and shaved off her eyebrows. ‘I have 39 wounds on my body,’ Nargis told Dawn while showing her bruised arm”. Nargis said Abid had been threatening her and her family for the last four years for her refusal to develop relations with him.

In 2007, this notorious boxer disappeared from the scene. He was reported to be seen in Kenya until the news flashed on TV screens on February 7, 2017, that he was arrested by the Dubai police for his alleged role in the murder of a cable operator in Samanabad last year and the family pursued his arrest through Interpol. His safe return to Pakistan and an efficient investigation can put Shahbaz Sharif in troubles. The Supreme Court must take suo motu of the arrest of Abid Boxer case and ensure a fair hearing of his past crimes and how the inspector was forced into the encounter den, and how many people were killed to settle the score.   

Encounter stories have been appearing in Punjab newspapers. Every story has just a different location and dates and characters. The plot remained unchanged: the gunmen fled and place chased them. Gunmen took cover in a roadside field. Gunplay ensued. When the smokes cleared, one of the gunmen was found injured and others fled. They fled in the dead of the night. All encounters happen on dark nights. The bullet hitting the gunman is always fired by their accomplices. Policemen taking part in the encounter never happen to be good shooters. Not a single bullet by them has hit the target.  

Over the years, these police officers and political figures have been acting underworld 'kings’.

Their rule must come to an end now.

Roses are red, but Swat is red with blood

Ahead of the spring season, Swat, the scenic valley of Pakistan, is beginning to blossom. The land of roses and white layers of snow, however, turned red with the blood of 11 heroes, all security officials, when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a Pakistan Army camp in Kabal area on Saturday. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations, 13 other soldiers were injured in the bombing that was carried out at the sports area of an army unit, the military's media. Their state of injured people was not stated by the military’s media wing. We will never come to know that of them, how many survived the blast injuries. 

We wish them a speedy recovery.

The blast scene is a sports area where the jawans were playing volleyball. Once a terrorists-ruled valley in 2007-2009 is now under the constant watch of the military. The blast shows that there were some security loopholes that allowed the bomber to blow himself up near the volleyball net. This fatal negligence, which claimed the precious lives of 11 jawans, must be investigated and the people responsible punished. The army which has been fighting a war for the last 16 years, should not allow such leakages in its working.

Swat, which had once become the headquarters of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, was reclaimed by the brave army back in 2009 after a hectic and intense operation. During their 2007-2009 rule, the merciless terrorists would chop off the heads of the peace-loving people and hang them on a tree. They would flog women on their butts publically, as a display of their self-styled Sharia. They would loot properties of the residents. Their rule brought back the memories of the Afghan Taliban, whose acts shuddered the whole world.

After the terrorists were flushed out of the valley, the area had fast returned to normalcy, becoming the hub of the domestic tourism. Side by side, the area has seen sporadic militant attacks since, including assassinations of local leaders who cooperate with the government. Saturday’s bombing is the first major attack in over three years in the valley. The blast shows that the valley has the elements who can wreak havoc anytime and the elements have certain facilitators who help them carry out the gory acts. The area is still dotted with checkpoints, which are manned by police and armed forces personnel. There are approximately 6,000 policemen in Swat and most of them are deployed on checkpoints. These checkpoints should remain there for the time now. A few days ago, Swat police claimed to have arrested two militants, in the same area, allegedly involved in anti-state activities during spillover of militancy to the Swat valley.

According to Kabal police, following a tipoff, they along with the CTD police raided a house in Kabal where they found a wanted militant, Siraj Khan, and arrested him. In the meantime, the CTD police carried out another raid at Shawar area in Matta tehsil and arrested a militant commander, Mohammad Ali Shah, who was allegedly involved in attacks on security forces.

These isolated incidences point to the presence of lawless elements in the country. This demand a well-planned strategy from us to fight terrorism.

Suo motu and deadlines: the case of media

When on Thursday, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar resumed the suo motu case of the alleged extra-judicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud, he asked sternly Sindh Inspector General (IG) of Police AD Khowaja: “Where is Anwar Rao?” The suspended from service senior superintendent of police, Malik Rao Anwar, is accused of executing the extra-judicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud. The IG, who has been protected by the court for over a year from being transferred from the office despite Sindh and federal governments’ several attempts, was kind to him. A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, presided by the chief justice, is conducting the hearing on the case. After being presented with an investigation report by Khowaja, the chief justice remarked: "The state has been blamed for his murder. Those who were responsible for providing security are being accused of murder."

The court had given a deadline to the IG for the arrest of the former SSP. The deadline ended in 36 hours. As the deadline expired, the bench asked the court about the whereabouts of the former SSP. The IG had the usual response to offer: milord, the force has been trying to locate him and as soon as he is arrested, he will be presented to the court of law. The court’s deadline and the IG’s response beg questions. Why on the earth, the court has picked this Naqeebullah Mehsud case, that Intezar Ahmed murder case, here the Kasur’s minor girl’s rape-cum-murder case, and there a minor girl of Mardan’s similar case. Did hours-long coverage of these cases on the TV screens influence the judges’ mind and hearts to such an extent that they took these cases on priority? Did twitter trends on these issues qualify them to attract the judges’ attention? What if a murder is not on twitter trend and is also not TV screens, will it be buried in police files forever?   

This court’s pick and choose approach has made the media houses powerful players. They know they are on the courts’ watch list, so their content has a great value in the justice delivery system. This fact makes the anchor brigade, paid civil society activists and editors powerful people. They create and control the contents and play with it, according to the framings and the agenda-setting regime, they are into.  

The deadline and pick and choose regime was initiated by Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry when he became the chief justice in 2004. His suo motu working was religiously followed by then Lahore High Court Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif. Once Justice Sharif took suo motu notice of a news story published in an English newspaper that an old woman had protested outside the Lahore Press Club, alleging that a certain police officer had registered 100 cases against her only son. While going to the office in his chauffeur-driven car, the good judge marked the story and as soon he reached the office, he asked his staff to call the police officials. They were assigned to find the woman, and cases detail. The whole police machinery swung into action. First, they searched for the reporter, who had filed the story. Once the woman was found, they struggle to find the case record. At the end of the day, not even a single case was found. But the whole exercise consumed police resources and energies. The case was disposed of without any remorse and another suo motu was handed down to police.

This honorable court, however, has taken up several public interest issues, which were not even media radar. The issue of contaminated water supply in cities is one of them. The supreme milord also visited Lahore hospitals to check water supplies there. His visits will bear fruit. 

It is necessary that the whole justice system is reformed where very commoner gets justice without much hassle.

And yes, milord, every story, the media file may not be true.