RAW’s hand established
S M Hali

TWO powerful blasts rocked the provincial metropolis Tuesday morning resulting in the death of 28 persons and injuries to over 150 others, sending a wave of panic across the city. According to police sources, 20 persons were killed and 150 injured in the powerful blast at the FIA Office at Temple Road here, while four were killed in a blast in Model Town, where three persons were reported injured. CCPO Lahore, Malik Muhammad Iqbal talking to newsmen said it was suspected that the blast at FIA Office was caused by a suicide bomber who came on a car loaded with explosive material and blew himself up. The blast was so powerful that the FIA building was badly damaged while window panes of buildings in the surrounding area including the Mall were shattered. The 114 injured including women and 45 school children were shifted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. Hospital sources said the students of the school situated near the FIA building had been brought to the hospital with minor injuries, caused mostly by glass splinters from the breaking windowpanes of their classrooms.
The other blast which took place in Model Town claimed the lives of four persons including two children, while three others sustained injuries. The front of the building at 83-4 Model Town, which served as the office of an advertising agency, was totally destroyed in the powerful explosion caused by a suicide bomber who drove a vehicle into the building and detonated the explosive material. The servant’s residential quarters and a house adjoining the building were also badly damaged. Two of those killed in the blast at Model Town have been identified as 8 year old Seemi and 10 year old Muhammad Hussain.  Another victim of the blast was a woman whose identity could not be ascertained immediately, while the fourth was suspected to be the suicide bomber.
The heinous crime, which indicates that terrorists and suicide bombers strike with impunity, depicts another more macabre aspect of the gory episode. Within hours of the atrocious deed, renowned RAW operative, B. Raman, came up with his detailed account of the terrible blasts in his story titled ‘One More Suicide Attack’, published in Outlook, within the space of moments; the same article was religiously carried by the RAW propaganda outlet: South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG).
Mr. Bahukutumbi Raman, commonly known as B. Raman, former Additional Secretary Government of India, ex-head of the counter-terrorism division of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the author of an insider account of India’s infamous intelligence agency RAW: “The Kaoboys of R&AW: Down Memory Lane”, which is a memoir of the former spymaster who spent 27 years working in Intelligence Bureau (IB) and RAW, “Intelligence—Past, Present & Future” and “A Terrorist State as a Frontline Ally”; now contributes generously to various Indian dailies and journals with an obsession of targeting Pakistan. He provides analyses of any and every event in Pakistan; at the drop of a hat, he is there to offer his slanderous opinion, which is religiously carried by SAAG.
With his usual twist, Mr. B. Raman writes: “The FIA is the Pakistani equivalent of India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). It is the principal agency for the investigation of all corruption-related cases. It also co-ordinates terrorism-related investigations. It is one of the three central police agencies of Pakistan—the other two being the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Narcotics Bureau. The FIA is largely manned by police officers taken on deputation from the provinces and direct recruits. President Pervez Musharraf had inducted a number of serving and retired military officers into it to monitor the investigation of corruption-related cases against Mrs. Benazir Bhutto, Mr. Asif Zardari, Mr. Nawaz Sharif and other political leaders. 
Before the recent elections and thereafter, the investigations into all the corruption-related cases against Benazir and Zardari were discontinued on the orders of Musharraf, but not the investigations against Nawaz. Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani withdrew from it the serving military officers deputed for monitoring the investigations. The FIA had always been considered a highly politicized agency used by different leaders for witch-hunt against their opponents. It became particularly controversial during the second tenure of Benazir as the Prime Minister from 1993 to 1996. Zardari was accused of misusing the FIA and its officers for allegedly harassing his political opponents and businessmen, who were reluctant to pay commissions. Before Benazir returned from political exile on October 18, 2007, her associates decided not to leave her security totally in the hands of the government, but to make their own arrangements for her security. Zardari, then based in Dubai, co-coordinated the security arrangements. To assist him, he chose Mr. Rahman Malik, a highly controversial Police officer who was in the FIA during her second tenure as the Prime Minister. There were widespread allegations of corruption against Malik. When Mr. Farooq Leghari, the then President of Pakistan, dismissed Benazir in November, 1996, he also dismissed Malik and ordered his arrest on charges of corruption. He managed to escape to London and was living in exile since then. From London, he was co-coordinating her security during her travels abroad. Sections of the Pakistani media blamed him for alleged negligence which, according to them, led to her assassination on December 27, 2007, at Rawalpindi. Despite this, he continues to enjoy the confidence of Zardari and acts as one of his principal advisers. He also acts as the liaison man with the security agencies for ensuring the physical security of Zardari.
The present wave of suicide attacks started after the commando raid in the Lal Masjid in July, 2007. Initially, the suicide terrorists were targeting the Army, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Special Services Group (SSG), a US-trained commando group of the Army, all of which were involved in the Lal Masjid raid. They then attacked political leaders, who had supported the commando action. This included some workers of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), who were attacked in Islamabad, Benazir Bhutto and Mr. Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, who was the Interior Minister during the commando action. He escaped two suicide attacks. They then attacked targets in the Army, the Frontier Corps and the Air Force, which were involved in the military operations in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). Thereafter, they attacked the Naval War College in Lahore. The Pakistan Navy is a member of a multi-nation naval task force which provides naval cover to the US operations in Afghanistan. It also provides security for the unloading at Karachi of logistic supplies for the NATO forces in Afghanistan.
They have also attacked provincial police units and officers. Many police officers performing physical security duties were killed when the jihadis attacked non-police targets. Now, for the first time, they have attacked an important office of a central police agency. Like the CBI in India, the FIA not only investigates cases of corruption, but also supervises the investigation by the police of important terrorism attacks. Where necessary, it investigates the terrorism cases itself just as the CBI investigated the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. It has been monitoring and co-coordinating the investigation of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto allegedly at the instance of Baitullah Mehsud, the Amir of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The attack on the FIA office came two days after the reported issue of a warrant by an Anti-Terrorism court for the arrest of Baitullah on a charge of masterminding her assassination. It is not clear why the jihadis attacked the advertising agency.”
Mr. B. Raman has overplayed his hand. The haste, with which he produced his “scholarly sleuthing masterpiece”, indicates that he had prior knowledge of the attack. Apparently, Mr. B. Raman had his article ready, complete with details, all he did was fill in the blanks regarding the number of casualties and present his op-ed. Since he is an established RAW operative, it is confirmed now beyond the shadow of doubt that RAW is involved in attempting to destabilize Pakistan to put the government in waiting and President Musharraf under pressure. RAW has been pressurizing Pakistan through its operatives in Afghanistan but has now made inroads within Pakistan to strike at the provincial metropolis and the capital. Their macabre needs need to be exposed to the world.



Repatriation of refugees is imperative
Furzana Shaheen

FOLLOWING decades of war and civil strife, Afghans constituted the world’s largest refugee population, with 8 million people scattered in over 70 countries across the globe at the height of their exodus. Thousands of Afghan people continued to leave during the 90s as internal factional and ethnic conflicts persisted. Internal displacement due to violence, drought, and poverty was also significant. Afghanistan’s economy has collapsed, a large segment of public and private property stand destroyed and productive assets have fallen into disrepair. Consequently, rural and urban communities have fragmented and families have split up. Most of the Afghan people have taken refuge in Pakistan and Iran.
Pakistan is still hosting the world’s largest single case load of refugee population of 3.2 million approximately. Islamabad has provided shelter and support to Afghan refugees despite great social, economic, cultural, and demographic ramifications during the last 3 decades. There are 43 Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan, out of which 30 are in NWFP, 12 in Balochistan, and 1 in Punjab. Out of these camps, Kacha Garhi camp in NWFP has been closed and closure of Jalozaicamp is in process. Due to various reasons including the onset of harsh winter season, Government of Pakistan in line with its traditional hospitality and brotherly relations with Afghanistan, has agreed to extend the deadline for the closure of Jalozai camp.
The worsening security situation in the most of the parts of Afghanistan is effectively impeding the return of these refugees to their homeland. In the past the repatriation of Afghan refugees was viewed as progressing at somewhat satisfactory level but the recent drastic fall in numbers has created many difficulties and injected complications for the Pakistani host. Islamabad desires a successful voluntary and comprehensive’ repatriation of Afghan refugees, therefore, it entered into the Comprehensive Repatriation and Reintegration Strategy 2007-2009 with UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) and the Government of Afghanistan in February 2007 to resolve the refugee problem. Under this strategy, all refugees are to be repatriated by 2009.
The foreigners on Pakistan’s soil are not only our economic burden but their presence has evolved some dangerous dimensions; in so far as Pakistan’s internal security is concerned. Afghan refugees in Pakistan attract accusations of involvement in smuggling, drug trafficking, terrorism, and the ongoing insurgency in Waziristan and other tribal areas. This is further exacerbated by the lack of border management and the continued unregulated movements of people, particularly to and from Afghanistan. Unless and until the security situation in Afghanistan improves, the number of returnees is likely to further drop. Most of the Afghan refugees are reluctant to repatriate, citing unwillingness once again to undergo the traumas of displacement, the inability of the Afghan authorities to provide even minimal services to which they have become accustomed, and the absence of guaranteed economic security. One of the refugees said that, “It is much better to stay here in Pakistan until there is security, peace, and economic incentives in Afghanistan”.
Restoring security, reviving reconstruction and development can pull these refugees back to their homeland. There is a need to provide incentives to settle them to the towns and villages where they lived before their displacement. The presence of Afghan refugees in Pakistan has already complicated the situation in Pakistan and- gave birth to many unanticipated social and economic problems. Due to emerging implications, the longstanding presence of Afghan refugees on Pakistan’s soil has increasingly begun to emerge as an irritant to bilateral relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
It is said that Afghan refugee camps provide safe havens for insurgents who easily cross back and forth across the busy and porous border and the relations between Kabul and Islamabad have been strained for tit-for-tat accusations about the roots of insurgency and the whereabouts of Taliban and AI-Qaeda leaders. The people of Pakistan are doing everything t6 facilitate their stay in Pakistan but accommodating attitude of some of the refugees to provide cover to the Taliban inject complications for Pakistan. Afghan and the Western media invariably without undertaking proper investigation puts out reports in such a way that it generates the impression that it is being done with the connivance of Pakistan’s Government. But what they have failed to acknowledge is that Pakistan is doing all it can to curb cross-border infiltration.
Islamabad has decided to fence the 2,430km Pak-Afghan porous border, laying down mines, establishing 1000 security check-posts as compared to just 100 on Afghan side, introducing biometric identity checks on the Pakistani side of the border, initiating peace jirga commissions, closing of refugee camps, and repatriation of Afghan refugees to address the issue of cross-border infiltration. The Government of Pakistan is also doing the registration of Afghan refugees and registered Afghans are given PoR (Proof of Registration) cards with a validity of three years. The data from the registration exercise is helpful in providing a sharper profile of the Afghan refugees. There are 2.153 million registered refugees in Pakistan and 0.314 million refugees are non-registered. This registration would eliminate all chances of illegal entry and stay of Afghans in Pakistan.
Despite acknowledging Pakistan’s support for her Afghan brethren, Karzai and his international supporters alleged Islamabad of sponsoring insurgents in Afghanistan to fight ISAF and Afghan forces. While Pakistan’s major objective is to have a friendly and stable Afghanistan, it appears that the developments in Afghanistan have invariably influenced the Afghan decision makers to employ the strategy of shifting responsibilities in one form or the other. Despite blaming Pakistan, the international community should expedite the refugees’ return to Afghanistan creating conducive conditions in this regard.
The Comprehensive Repatriation and Reintegration Strategy 2007-2009 should be implemented to resolve the refugee issue and it would not be possible without mutual assent of Government of Pakistan, government of Afghanistan and UNHCR. On the other hand, Government of Pakistan must adhere to the closure of refugee camps without any further delay because these camps pose a ‘security threat’ to Pakistan. Closure of these camps is necessary to eliminate safe havens for militants crossing the border to and from Afghanistan. Repatriation efforts must comply with the international law and previous agreements by a Tripartite Commission comprised of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and UNHCR must be followed. Afghan Government should envisage return issues in accordance with its absorption capacity, its security constraints and realistic development prospects because a stable and peaceful Afghanistan can accelerate the return of the Afghan refugees and it would be possible by the joint efforts of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and UNHCR.







Nuclear safety in India
Mohammad Asad

ON February 18, Indian police arrested six persons at Virpur bus stand in Supal district along Indo-Nepal border. They were trying to smuggle four kilograms of low-grade uranium, worth Rs 50 million across the border. This is not an isolated incident. Since 1980, scores of theft of radioactive material from India’s mines, nuclear installations, and hospitals have taken place.
As India is a signatory to international conventions on safety of nuclear materials, it is bound to report thefts of nuclear materials to international bodies. As reporting such incidents bespeaks poor safety standards, so India tries to hush up such incidents. Take the case of material recovered from G. R. Arun, a post-graduate in structural engineering, S. Murthi, a medical practitioner, and C. Mohan, all residents of Erode (Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu). In their complaint to police, the Indra Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam reported that the afore-mentioned persons had stolen material which had the presence of U-235 and U-238 isotopes (1.40 to 2.20 per cent). The police, initially tried to close the case on grounds that the material seized was not uranium but limenite, a non-strategic substance having ordinary industrial applications. The Centre insisted that the case should be investigated by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). It was later confirmed by the CBI that the allegation in the complaint was correct. In another incident, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission confirmed that the football-size package recovered from some Indians in a border village contained 225 grams of uranium oxide. The attention of international media remains riveted on Pakistan. Had such incidents happened in Pakistan, it would have been speculated that the thieves were members of some ultra-religious outfit.
Aside from the hushed-up cases, India has reported 25 `confirmed’ cases of `stolen or missing’ uranium to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The reports boast about recovery of uranium in varying forms and quantities from `thieves’. The recoveries include fifty-seven pounds of uranium in rod form, eight kilograms in granular form, two hundred grams in semi-processed form, besides twenty-five kilograms in radio-active form, stolen from the Bibi Cancer Hospital. Following events speak volumes on state of nuclear safety in India. `Thieves’ stole three cobalt switches, worth Rs. 1.5 million, from Tata Steel Company laboratory at Jamshedpur (Jharkhand). A shipment of beryllium (worth US$ 24 million), was caught in Vilnius, on its way to North Korea. A ship, carrying dual-use aluminum oxide from India to North Korea was intercepted by Taiwanese authorities. India should tighten its control over its nuclear mines and installations. The stolen material could be used for making dirty bombs. Such bombs may not be so destructive. But, they could create widespread fear as Geiger meters would detect radiation leaks from them. Moreover, the handling of stolen radio-active material poses a hazard to ecology and human health.