Who attacked Ahmed Noorani?

I don’t know.

I only know that Ahmed Noorani, a newsperson with The News, often makes headlines with controversial stories.

But that is what is every news person always likes to do.

Some armed motorcyclists intercepted him on Friday in Islamabad and inflicted deep knife wounds on him. 

This what a news person least like to be. They do not want to be news.

I am deeply shocked how a reporter can be so brazenly attacked in broad daylight on the capital busy roads.

He is hospitalised and I wish him a speedy recovery.

I don’t know the attackers.

The attack on him will send a message to all reporters that …

Press freedom is increasingly becoming a hot issue in Pakistan. Recently, ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif raised the issue of involuntary disappearance of two members of the social media team of Maryam Nawaz with Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal. Little headway has been made in efforts to recover them. The good minister has also vowed to make the case of Ahmed Noorani an example. I will wait to see how the government makes progress in the case.

So far, attacks on journalists are rarely investigated and concluded logically.

Did the government look into the case of a female journalist, Zeenat Shahzadi, who remained disappeared for two years, and was rescued from the militants in the porous Pak-Afghan border area, as per the claim of law enforcement agencies?        

No.

When a journalist can be attacked in Islamabad where the multi-billion Safe City is helpless to trace the attackers, what to say about the off-the-capital areas.

What about Baluchistan?

What about parts of Quetta, where vendors have stopped delivering newspapers after threats from militant outfits?

It is a matter of great concern that Pakistan stands 139 out of 180 countries in the World Press Index of 2017, released by the Reporters Without Borders. The recent developments will impact Pakistan standing in the World Press Index in the next year ranking. The safety of journalists in Pakistan is a big concern as in the last 15 years, 117 journalists have been murdered. Neither the press watchdog nor the law enforcement agencies have any track record of these cases. Perhaps the files of these cases are gathering dust in some courtrooms.

Instead of taking up the cases in courts, whenever a journalist is attacked, opinions and rumours fly high that who is behind the attack. Often fingers are pointed at militant outfits, criminal gangs, political groups as well as government agencies.

I don’t know who the attackers were in the case of Ahmed Noorani.

As social media was running madly to implicate security agencies in the attack, they should be reminded the case of press freedom activist Sabeen Mahmud, who was killed in Karachi. All were sure of the involvement of the premier security agency in the murder unless the killers of Safoora Goth were arrested. They disclosed that they had killed Subeen Mahmud for her activism.  

A free press is essential for a healthy, vibrant society and strong democracy. A press working under threats would never come up with the true picture of society.

Ahmed Noorani might not be an objective journalist. Several of his source-infested stories were just agenda-setting stories. Regardless of what standards of his journalism are, there is no point that Ahmed Noorani is attacked. Other forums are available to take up and contest his work.

Get well soon, Ahmed Noorani!

Get well soon, press freedom! 

NA-4 bye-polls: the picture of forthcoming general elections

The bye-election for NA-4 in Peshawar was being dubbed a litmus test for the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI). 

The party, however, rose to the occasion, defeating campaigns on social media and by some TV talk show hosts that the ruling party had lost its popularity in the province. Had it lost the election, its impact would have felt across the country. It seems party chief Imran Khan’s ceaseless campaign against corruption is still attracting the masses.

The seat fell vacant after the death of PTI dissent MNA Gulzar Khan. The PTI fielded Arbab Amir Ayub to face Pakistan Muslim League-N’s (PML-N’s) Nasir Khan Musazai, Awami National Party’s (ANP’s) Khushdil Khan and Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Asad Gulzar.

Bye-elections are mostly manipulated by incumbent provincial government. 

PTI’s stepped-up efforts to challenge the PML-N in its stronghold Lahore bye-elections (NA-122 and NA-120) gave a chance to the PML-N to give the PTI sleepless nights in its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa constituency (NA-4). Amid the reports of huge funds doled out by both the federal government and the provincial government, the media built a momentum for the Election Day. Ahead of the polling day, the PML-N and the PTI gathered bad press for their leaders’ cases. Even when the polling was in process, PTI chief Imran Khan hit the headlines for tendering an apology to the chief election commissioner. Side by side, the PML-N leader, disgracefully ousted Nawaz Sharif, was being declared an absconder and arrest warrant issued. These breaking news stories, however, deterred both parties’ supporters least from going ahead with their plans to poll votes for their candidates.      

Other than the win of the PTI candidate, the result sheet offers the picture of the emerging electoral scene.

The ANP is striking back slowly, steadily, and with a little more effort, it can regain its lost grounds. In the face of two governments candidates, its candidate stood second with a convincing 24,000 plus votes; that is quite an achievement. PML-N’s Musazai added a few thousand votes to its earlier 2013 poll record. That would not have happened, had its party not armed him with development funds. He had the consistent backing of energetic Amir Muqam and other leaders in Islamabad.

The PPP had a face-saving day with 13,000 plus votes. After its worst drubbing in NA-120 bye-elections, the party was looking to the result card with a hushed, fearful silence. The party had also secured 12,000 votes in the 2013 elections. A well-attended party rally, addressed by fearless Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, convinced the vote bank to give the party another chance.

The Labaik Party is gaining strong footing in electoral activities. First, it made inroads to elections in NA-120 bye-election, where it beat Milli Muslim League and the PPP to grab the third place. This time, its little-known candidate defeated the Jamaat-i-Islami candidate to reach the fifth place. The chorus of extremism, and religious discourse, by the PML-N, JI, PTI and other right-wing parties, is going to eat up their own vote. Let them face the reality.

The general elections are only a few months away. Political parties have not much time at disposal to make big changes to their vote tally. The cases of the Sharif family, Imran Khan and Jehangir Tareen and some PPP leaders will impact the parties’ seats.

And we are proud to see these historical moments.

After Rex Tillerson’s visit

Thank goodness, he did not call US State Secretary Rex Tillerson a reckless truck. 

Once he took the floor and called a woman MNA a tractor-trolley. 

On another occasion, he called a former woman miniser a dumper. 

Now, this trolley-dumper fame MNA from the ruling party is our foreign minister.

Meet Khawaja Asif.  

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson landed in Islamabad for a few hours stay before flying to New Delhi leaving a trail of fireworks to be exhibited by our Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif. 

On Wednesday evening, the foreign minister resorted to a fiery speech in the Senate, often punctuated with nationalism and Mochi Gate-style political rhetoric, amid defeating thunders of applause from treasury benches. He said that the visiting delegation had been told to accept their defeat in Afghanistan given the fact 50 percent of the Afghan territory was under Taliban and Daesh control despite a consistent fight by US and allied forces. The facts may be undisputed but this is not the way to address foreign policy issues, especially when the other side is President Doland Trump-led US.

Rex Tillerson had a tough assignment to deliver a tough message to the Pakistani side. Coldness ran high on either side after the visitor was greeted by the US ambassador to Pakistan and a mid-level foreign office’s officer at the airport. It shows both countries are passing through a complex era after the introduction of Donald Trump’s pro-Indian South Asian policy, much to the annoyance of our army.

At the time when Khawaja Asif was telling the Senate that the US had better accept it defeat in Afghanistan instead of imposing its demands on Pakistan, the US state secretary in a meeting with his Indian counterpart in New Delhi was expressing his optimism that Pakistan would meet US expectations. Whenever the terms of engagement in Afghanistan come to the fore, Pakistan calls the terms ‘demands’, while the US calls them ‘requests’ or ‘expectations’. In diplomacy, words and gestures matter a lot. The discussion behind the doors is often not for the public consumption. Similarly, sometimes, something is said in the public to convey the other side, which cannot be taken up face on face.

A few these terms of engagement was revealed in the minister’s Senate speech. Both countries exchanged lists of wanted people. And no side is sure about the whereabouts of them. The US demands that Pakistan eliminate militants’ sanctuaries on its soul, whereas Pakistan seeks credible intelligence and information about the location of these hideouts. The US demands that Pakistan takes action against the Taliban and Haqqani networks, whereas Pakistan maintains it has no active connections with the militant groups.

During the hiccups of blames and explanations, comes the statement of Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani who says that Afghanistan will not join the China-Pakistan Economic corridor unless its eastern neighbor allows India to join the transit corridor to reach Afghanistan. It seems Pakistan is alone on diplomatic fronts in South Asia. Other than the transit route, Afghanistan often complains about safe havens of militants in Pakistan. This all requires our foreign minister to adopt less fiery speeches and more credible actions to win over the trust of neighbours.

Pakistan’s diplomatic channels and foreign policy principles should be utilised to have effective alliances and allies to fight militancy and poverty in Pakistan and the region. Pakistan, India, Iran, Afghanistan, and China can find ‘agents of chaos’ as a common enemy and make a joint policy to fight it out. True, these countries are not on the same page on several issues, but a common enemy can make them friends for a while.

Your enemy’s enemy is your friend.

PTA runs after mobile phone thief.

You might be among a few lucky people if you have not stolen or snatched your mobile phone. 

If on a fine evening, if you are mugged and your mobile phone is gone, the next thing on your mind will be: how and when to get a new phone. 

Of course, it is very hard for us to survive without a mobile phone for a day or two. 

Why do gunmen ask for one's phone in a robbery even before ordering them to hand them over cash? 

They are sure to get ready buyers of used mobile phones everywhere. 

People on streets are ready to buy used handsets. 

OLX has thousands of prospects buyers. 

Hafeez Centre never disappoints the sellers and buyers. 

Not anymore. 

Once the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) takes the step, which should have been taken almost one decade ago, is being taken now, a stolen mobile phone will be just a piece of junk. 

The PTA plans to enforce a Mobile Devices Identification, Registration and Blocking System (MDIRBS) to stem the use of illegal, smuggled and stolen mobile phones. This is a welcome measure by the PTA which will go long way in protecting users’ data and handsets.

Over the years, the unprecedented growth in the telecom sector in Pakistan and around the world has caused unethical and illegal practices, which is not so surprising, as conmen and mafias try to cash in on with parallel illegal activities of every booming industry. 

The telecom sector has been struggling hard to counter the mafias involved in smuggling of handsets, tampering with the mobile devices identification and trading in stolen mobile phones. According to the draft of the MDIRBS of 2017, the authority will formulate certain standard operating procedures to execute technical, management and operational matters. 

That is all about technology dealing with technology, involving less manual interaction.

The measure is surely being taken on the insistence of law enforcement agencies (LEAs), which saw a surge in crime involving the telecom technology. 

Earlier, the biometric documentation of subscriber identity modules (SIMs) was done in 2014 only after a valley of suicide attacks where the bombers using stolen mobile phones and forged SIMs unleashed death and destruction. Similarly, on religious occasions such as Eids and Muharram mourning days, telephone coverage service is suspended in sensitive areas, which lends credence to the reality of increasing use of mobile phones in terror and criminal activities.  

Without any doubt, LEAs have tracked and captured several criminals and terrorists using the telecom technology. Still, much scrutiny was needed to stop the illegal trade and usage of handsets.

The PTA regulations in the draft address key areas burdening the mobile dealers and manufacturers with uphill tasks. Like, one provision provides that “mobile network operators (MNOs) and type approval holders shall ensure non-compliant mobile devices are not imported, sold, marketed or connected with the mobile operators’ networks”. 

Of course, no established operators would like to import and market non-compliant mobile phones. Who will be responsible if their adversaries smuggle in and market a certain brand that is non-compliant? The PTA needs to establish a mechanism that probes any irregularity before taking an adverse action.

Another provision binds MNOs to block stolen mobile phones and the handsets with duplicate or non-standard identifiers. This can only be done once the mobile users are sensitised about reporting on phone theft about tampering with identities. 

Often, people do not report phone theft. 

They do not care about the credentials of the sellers in case of buying a used handset. 

Several times, they land in trouble when the handset they are using turns out be red.

The system, however, has lots of bright areas: it asks the subscribers to establish the genuineness of their blocked duplicated IMEI device(s), by presenting documents to the PTA and get their device unblocked. The mechanism should be simple and easy to do. The proposed system requires the individuals importing/carrying device(s) to get a certificate of compliance to technical standards for IMEI devices by the PTA. MNOs will deny service to unregistered devices and the violators will be put on the blacklist. 

The system carries several provisions for MNOs and mobile phone companies regarding educating the public about International Mobile Equipment Identity Database and respond to public complaints.

Overall, the system is a right and welcome call. 

What is wrong with our campuses?

The Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) often makes both good and bad news. 

It won accolades from national and international education circles when it appeared among the top 500 world universities on Times Higher Education World University Rankings this year. That is a big achievement as only three other Pakistani universities shared the ranking with the QAU.  

This year, the university also has been in the spotlight for bad reasons. 

First, it was the increasing number of students using drugs; then it hit the headlines that its land was being grabbed by certain mafias. Now, since October 4, the university has been hogging the media attention for students’ strike for the acceptance of their demands. An umbrella of ethnic and political students – the QAU Students’ Federation – had called the strike against a fee hike, the expulsion of students from the university and worsening conditions of academic activities and boarding complexes. 

After several days of the federation’s protest, the university management expressed willingness to resolve their demands; consequently the fee hike was withdrawn and students groups were invited to the university syndicate meeting on last Friday. 

The university, however, played a dirty role by excluding the Baloch Council, the QAU Students’ Federation part, from the meeting. It angered the Baloch students who returned to the protest camp. The university called in the Islamabad police to stem the wave of protest and got 70 students arrested. Soon, the social media was abuzz with scenes of police using high-handed tactics, leaving several of the Baloch students injured. 

What was the need to unleash brutality on a group of student exercising their constitutional right to protest and speech freedom?

Were the students armed or did they pose a threat to the university peace or administration?

If the answer to the above questions is ‘no’, it is the failure of the university administration to handle the protest well. If the answer is otherwise, it is the failure of the whole system which has turned the places like university campuses into protest venues and violent politics.  

The protesting students should realise that higher education is an expensive commodity all over the world. Pakistani students often do not realise that they are lucky to get a university education at no price. Similarly, they should know that the university campus is not for ugly, violent politics. What we have been seeing over the decades is that some political and religious elements use the university students for their political interests.  

But the core problem lies at the door of the university administrations. 

University corridors often make scenes for teachers’ politics and fighting among teachers’ factions. Most of the classes are taken without any planned objectives; teachers teach students to pass them whereas students also study only to pass the examinations. Universities, ideally places of learning and research, have become degree and diploma factories. On average, a university student should study 60 hours a week. Our students, however, on average study (or cram the course) 60 hours altogether and that only during the examination week and pass.    

It will be heartening to see if students resort to protest against unprepared teachers and a lack of course guidelines on campuses. Teachers should be seen perturbed at students’ performance in the classroom. An ideal situation will be when students and teachers are engaged in heated debates and discussion on pure academic issues. 

That objectives will only be achieved when the job market demands good quality human resources and policymakers demand result oriented academic activities.

These dream objectives can be achieved, when students, teachers, and managers sit and talk out the issues. 

Talking to the Baloch students would be the first step in the right direction.  

Shakespearean tragedy in the house of Sharifs

Nawaz Sharif or Shahbaz Sharif? 

Maryam Nawaz or Hamza Shahbaz? 

The in-house fighting for the throne of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) is not a secret anymore. Calls to hand over the reins of the ruling party to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif are growing within the party. 

First, it was PML-N MNA Sultan Mahmood Hinjra, of Kot Addu, who while addressing a public rally in the city, all in the presence of Shahbaz Sharif, demanded that Nawaz Sharif step down from the party office and pass on the throne to his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif. When he finished the speech, Shahbaz Sharif showed his annoyance to him at the stage. Mr Hinjra maintains that whatever he had spoken up was planned and Shahbaz Sharif knew very well of his speech. 

Later on, Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Riaz Pirzada used a better platform – the Islamabad National Press Club – and demanded the change of guards in the top office of the party. His words attracted the attention of the mainstream media. Soon, a meeting of MPAs in Lahore became the talk of the town, where, according to of one of the participants, provincial minister Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, the matter of the party leadership was discussed.

Insiders say that the two brothers have the difference of opinion on how to cope with the post-Panama case verdict situation. 

Nawaz Sharif and his children have been indicted in graft cases and face an uncertain future, whereas Shahbaz Sharif and his family are relatively in calmer waters at the moment, for there is no case going on against them. Wounded Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz have indicated, though not so clearly, taken up a confrontation with the state institutions, Supreme Court, 

and the army, to be precise. 

Shahbaz Sharif, along with former federal minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, supports reconciliatory approach.

Reconciliation or not, Shahbaz Sharif also feels deceived as he was first tipped for the prime minister office after the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif but only to be dropped within days. Later, he was also not considered for the PML-N top office. Over the time, Maryam Nawaz has made her entry into active politics and now she is considered the potential successor of Nawaz Sharif. Hamza Sharif has rebelled and aired his concerns about the rise of Maryam Nawaz.

The Shakespearean style in-house fighting poses questions for the Sharif family and the PML-N.

First, the Sharif family should ask themselves: Is it the war between Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif or Hamza Shahbaz and Maryam Nawaz? Once they find the bone of contention, the family can sit and talk out the terms to reach a settlement.

Second, PML-N leaders should ask themselves and each other: how to keep the party intact in case the House of Sharif breaks into factions, as is the history of every Muslim League.

Only, the time will decide the fate of the party, which represents Pakistan’s urban middle class. Faced with graft cases, and in-house fighting, the party seems to have a bleak future. The disintegration of an established political party is always a great loss to democracy. In the case of the PML-N, a party without any political ideology, its breakup may not be an immediate loss to the political foundations of the country. 

We should, however, be ready for the chaos that may ensue in central and north Punjab.      

The return of Zeenat Shahzadi and disappearance of social media activists

At a time, when one female journalist who remained missing for two years is back to home, two social media activists have gone missing. 

It seems the saga of disappearance and recovery will go on forever in Pakistan.

Zeenat Shahzadi, whose journalistic credentials are not much known, had gone missing two years ago while going to appear before the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance in connection with a case of Indian citizen Hamid Ansari whose whereabouts are still not known. 

Ansari’s mother, Fouzia Ansari, had approached several Pakistani journalists seeking their help for the recovery of her son. Zeenat Shahzadi responded to her pleas, but instead of being a helping hand to her, she herself became a horrible news. 

During her disappearance, her family suffered painful times; her brother, unable to cope with the tragedy, committed suicide while the family remained under financial issues. 

Her family needs time and privacy to divulge the details if they wish so. 

The circumstances under which she was recovered beg answers. 

According to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforcement, headed by newly-appointed National Accountability Bureau Chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal, she was kidnapped by hostile agencies and anti-state elements and she was rescued by law-enforcement agencies along Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Had that been the case, the Inter-Services Public Relation (ISPR), the media and public relation department of the army, would have turned to its Twitter handle to announce yet another big success by the armed forces, as it did in the cases of rescue of the Canadian-American family and the son of the Sindh High Court chief justice. 

The silence of the ISPR is conspicuous. It should clear the situation.  

The return of Zeenat Shahzadi is a welcome development; the occasion, however, could not be celebrated for the disappearance of two social media activists, Anwar Adil and Wajid Rasul Malik, reportedly linked with the social media house of Maryam Nawaz. As neither state departments and organs nor the families of the disappeared activists have issued any statement, relying on ‘media reports’ it can be inferred that the missing activists were involved in a smear campaign against the judiciary and the armed forces. Initially, it was reported that the Federal Investigation Agency, the federal wing mandated with the recently passed anti-cybercrime laws to deal with such cases, had picked them. The agency, however, offered no explanation.

What made the matter more complex is the statement by disqualified prime minister Nawaz Sharif who has ‘ordered’ his own party government to find the whereabouts the missing activists. He should have thought twice before issuing the statement. He was in the office of prime minister when four bloggers were picked. Of them, three have returned while one is still missing. In those times, Nawaz Sharif chose not to speak on the matter. When his own government promulgated the harsh cyber laws, he remained mum. It would be wise if he offers regrets and asks his party government to come up with corrective measures, such as reforming the cyber laws and making the inquiry commission powerful. 

Also wiser it would be for him to advise Maryam Nawaz to use the social media platform for strengthening democracy. It seems she wants to fight her graft cases on social media.

No, Maryam Nawaz, you only need good lawyers to convince the courts that you are innocent. Social media is not the right place.