Anti-terrorism: Pakistan must move towards a home-grown policy
Nasim Zehra

AS PAKISTAN moves forward on the irreversible path towards genuine constitutional democracy, the first issue that the newly elected coalition has been forced to address is Pakistan’s policy on dealing with terrorism. This policy has directly impacted Pakistan’s internal security and been the centre-piece of its equation with the United States. The confusion on policy generally and on the nature of cooperation with Washington specifically has persisted. For example, in the latest issue of Newsweek magazine, it is claimed that the recent drone attacks to some extent resulted from an understanding between US and Pakistani officials giving clearance to Washington to hit at targets in the border areas. According to the magazine, “The surge began after visits to Pakistan at the beginning of the year by senior US officials, including intelligence czar Mike McConnell, General Michael Hayden, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and Admiral William Fallon, who recently resigned as commander of US forces in the region.”
However on March 24th the presidential spokesman Major General (R) Rashid Qureshi, rejected the report. He said, “The report is baseless and unfounded. No such type of approval has been given to US forces.” He said that the US had been informed several times that only Pakistani forces had the right to launch operations against Al Qaeda in the Tribal Areas. While the Musharraf regime has repeatedly said that no foreign forces will be allowed to fight on Pakistani territory, there is no evidence that US drone and missile attacks on Pakistani territory take place without permission from Pakistan. Late last year the Director General Military Operations, while briefing journalists at the GHQ, had categorically stated that no US attacks were granted on Pakistani territory without prior clearance from Pakistani authorities.
US authorities arrived in Islamabad within hours of the election of the new Leader of the House, Yusuf Raza Gilani. Washington’s primary concern was whether or not the new elected government would continue with Pakistan’s policy of cooperation with the US on the war on terrorism. Currently, Pakistan provides a range of logistical facilities crucial for Washington’s military operations in Afghanistan. Recent statements on Pakistan’s current anti-terrorism strategy by leaders of the ruling coalition clearly indicate that the ruling collation will not opt for complete continuity of the existing anti-terrorism policy. For example, the PPP leader Asif Zardari has indicated in several television interviews including a late February Hum TV interview that his party will support dialogue with the militants. The need for dialogue has also repeatedly been stressed upon by Mian Nawaz Sharif. In his first address to the parliament, the ANP leader Asfandyar Wali underscored the necessity of dialogue also. In his impassioned plea, the ANP leader argued that if we could hold a dialogue with Indian Prime Minister ManMohan Singh, then dialogue with the militants should also be possible. Clearly the entire ruling coalition recognises the seriousness of the terrorist threat and how it continues to devastate Pakistan from within. Yet more importantly, the political leadership cannot ignore the near ineffectiveness and also the damaged caused at home of the existing policy.
The political forces recognise the many compelling compulsions to review the current policy. Eight are noteworthy. One, the overwhelming use of force has not at all worked for Pakistan. Since 2003, when forces were deployed in the tribal areas, the crisis of internal security has accentuated. Last year alone 1,200 people were killed. This year already 500 have met the same fate. Two, from Pakistan’s vantage point, just using more force will alienate even a greater number of people vis-à-vis the government. The peoples’ perception has been that instead of getting out of the firing line we have brought fire into our house; indeed literally put our own house on fire. Three, Pakistan has become the target of terrorism while fortunately for the US there have been no major incidents since 9/11. By contrast in Pakistan thousands have been killed since the induction of forces in the tribal areas. Four, never has a counter insurgency strategy, which does not enjoy the support of the people, ever been successful. In Pakistan the overwhelming majority of the people do not support the government’s current policy for countering terrorism — the public and the state do not share a common threat perception. The local population comprises Pakistanis, majority of the militants are Pakistanis and so are the local influentials. We believe we must engage with all these groups.
Five, while the ingredients of the Musharraf regime’s policy may have been correct, they were inadequate and were not given sufficient time. For example, while use of force, dialogue, development, regional and international cooperation and coordination were there, they were not there in the correct proportion. Also, the policy was neither coherent nor consistent. Peace treaties and dialog have to be given a fair chance. The key element of widespread and across-the-board political support from national regional and local players has generally been missing. Without political support the policy can enjoy no public support.
Six, as much as the ingredients of the policy, the articulation and framing of the policy is crucial. Major flaws of the Musharraf policy have been articulation, conduct and no less the policy formulation process. Seven, even if the Musharraf regime has been able to hand over number of high profile terrorists to the US, within Pakistan the political outcome of this policy has been the spread of violence, terrorism and anti-US sentiment. It is a policy that in the Pakistani public perception has undermined human and security rights as enshrined in the constitution of the citizens of Pakistan.
Eight, the only policy which will receive the support of the people of Pakistan will be one that is seen to be a ‘made-in Pakistan’ policy. People are suffering the fallout of two problems – one, terrorism itself and two, a flawed anti-terrorism policy. Pakistanis want to fight terrorism but not in a manner that backfires on the people of Pakistan. Given these compulsions and the fact that the new government must obviously have zero tolerance for terrorism, it must formulate a homegrown anti-terrorism policy. Pakistan’s policy must above all uphold rule of law at home, protect the lives, property and dignity of our citizens at all costs and oppose through strict enforcement of law any attempt to forcibly impose any outside system on the citizens of Pakistan.
Such a policy alone can help us defeat terrorism at home and exclude the possibility of letting any Pakistan-based group spread it outside. Only the Pakistan government itself, factoring in Pakistan’s own contextual realities, political dynamics and the concerns of the international community, can create the most success-prone policy to fight terrorism.

—Khaleej Times

Riots fail to undermine harmony in Gannan
Gong Yidong

SUN QINGYU still feels the terror of the riot that devastated his shop on March 14 whenever he recalls the events. His ten-square-meter shop was left in ruins: the shelves were thrown down, dotted by pieces of broken glass. The cigarettes and wines, the most expensive commodities in the shop, had been stolen. Like Sun, many other people in Maqu county of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture on the Chinese Qinhai-Tibet plateau in northwest China’s Gansu Province, experienced the same trauma. “I heard noises outside. Before I realized what was happening, several yelling rioters waving iron rods forced their way in,” recalled the dark-skinned Sun in his 30s. “They began to smash things immediately, followed by another group who did the same thing.”
“I locked the door of my bedroom, but they pounded on it with sticks. My five-year-old son was scared and started crying. I had to make a hole in the corner of the room to help my wife and son flee.” On that day, Maqu became a sea of flames. The Huanghe electrical appliances store operated by Ma Qinghua was the biggest of its kind in Maqu. However, instead of televisions and microwave ovens, the shop is now full of ashes. “I just stood and watched as one million yuan (140,845 US dollars) worth of goods went up in flames,” Ma sighed. “We attempted to put out the fire with extinguishers, but rioters brandishing knives stopped us.” Shouting “Tibet independence”, carrying rocks and home-made petrol bombs or waving flags of the so-called “Tibetan government in exile”, rioters stormed offices, police stations, hospitals, schools, shops and markets. “I have been doing business in Maqu for 20 years and witnessed the development of the county. Tibetan herdsmen now have tap water and electricity, and roads are built to their houses. It is a time to enjoy life, and I can’t understand why someone would ruin it,” said Ma.
In the Yangguang wine shop where garbage is piled at the gate, Tang Yongqiang paused. “They slashed and battered the counters with their knives and clubs, crying ‘bug off’. They not only took away trunks of cigarettes and wines, poured the tea into their own bags, but broke into the safe and stole about 10,000 yuan (1,408 US dollars) of cash inside.” When they had finished, several women rushed in to set the place on fire. Tang tried to stop them, only to be beaten and forced to hide in a toilet. Unrest broke out in the Tibetan capital Lhasa on March 14, and spread to the counties of Xiahe, Maqu, Luqu, Jone and Hezuo City in Gannan and Aba county of Sichuan.
According to the Maqu county government, 70 percent of the shops in the county were looted or damaged by rioters, while more than 100 big stores like Ma’s suffered major losses in the incidents. In Gannan alone, 94 people were injured, and damage totaled 230 million yuan (32.6 million US dollars). The riot in Gannan was organized and premeditated, the local government claimed, citing eyewitness evidence.
Police have found a semi-automatic rifle and ammunition in one rioter’s hideout. The ammunition included 53 rounds of rifle ammunition, two pistol bullets, 129 shotgun cartridges in 10 boxes and six blank cartridges. Police also seized 400 meters of fuses and 32 knives in the hideout. By March 24, police had arrested 294 people in Gannan, including 62 monks. More than 260 people turned themselves in to the police. Most Tibetan living Buddhas and lamas oppose secessionism and have condemned the riots, said Jamyang Losang Jigme Tubdain Qoigyi Nyima, a living Buddha and vice-president of the Tibetan Chapter of the Buddhist Association of China.
“The violence has disrupted the normal order in lamaseries. It has been proven as having been masterminded by the Dalai Lama group. Ethnicity and religion were only deceitful camouflage. Their real motive was to disturb stability in the Tibetan areas and undermine order in the lamaseries,” he said. Mao Shengwu, acting governor of Gannan said, “the prefecture (Gannan) is marching forward by merging the traditional and modern, but the riots have held back the positive progress.” Observers noticed the theme of cultural co-existence is still strong in Gannan.
An important transit on the Tang-Tibetan Ancient Road from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Gannan has seen comprehensive exchanges between Han and Tibetan ethnic groups in culture and trade. In 1953, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture was founded. It has a population of 677,000, of whom Tibetans make up 51 percent. Due to its cold weather, high altitude and inconvenient transport, Gannan has lagged behind the other cities and counties in Gansu Province. In recent decades, the government has tried to promote the overall development of Gannan. One of the changes is reflected in energy. Traditionally, the Tibetans in Gannan rely on cow dung and firewood for fuel. In 2007, the Ministry of Agriculture initiated a solar energy project with an investment of 4 million yuan (563,000 US dollars). More than 12,000 herdsmen have access to solar powered ovens. The lifestyles of Tibetans have also been transformed. In Sangke Town, of Xiahe County, 118 households have settled down in permanent houses. Moreover, Tibetan schoolchildren in Gannan are exempted from tuition fees and receive a monthly stipend of 100 yuan (14 US dollars). The government reimburses 80 percent of the medical cost of local Tibetans.






The farce of ‘Shining India’
Zaineb Khan

INDIA is using the slogans of democracy, human rights and empowerment in order to enter into the club of super democracies and to secure a permanent seat in the Security Council. However, the Human Rights Watch World Report, 2008, put forth the actual side of the untold story. Besides Indian claim of abiding commitment to human rights, her record is marred by continuing violations by security forces in counter-insurgency operations and by government failure to rigorously implement laws and policies to protect marginalized communities. According to the World Report, India faces serious insurgencies and armed political movements in several states. Civil armed groups have been responsible for attacks on civilians, killings, torture, and extortion. In response, however, Indian security forces have led to large-scale violations including arbitrary detention, torture, and extrajudicial killings. Despite signing the United Nations’ treaty to combat forced disappearances in February 2007, the Indian government is yet to launch a credible independent investigation into alleged disappearances and fake “encounter killings” throughout the country. In February 2007, police investigations into a “missing persons” case in Jammu and Kashmir exposed a problem long alleged by human rights groups: people were being killed in custody by security forces who constructed fake armed encounters, staging executions to look like acts of defense. Manipur remains among the most violent states in the northeast, with militants blamed for widespread extortion and targeted killings and security forces accused of violations such as torture, arbitrary detention, and custodial killings.
Legacy of communal violence still continues in India. Regardless of national and international condemnation, the Gujarat state government continues to protect those responsible for the killing of Muslims during the 2002 riots. Similarly, after more than a decade of hearings, the individuals believed responsible for attacks upon Muslims in January 1993 which preceded the bomb blasts are yet to be prosecuted and punished. Again, despite promises made by the prime minister in 2005, there was also no progress in justice for victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Where, following a spate of violent attacks by Sikh militants starting in the early 1980s, security forces illegally detained, tortured, executed, or “disappeared” thousands of people during counterinsurgency operations. None of the security officials who bear substantial responsibility for these violations has been brought to justice. Many children, in India, are forced into becoming soldiers in areas where there are armed conflicts. Further there is a marked failure to protect the rights of women, children, Dalits, tribal groups and religious minorities in the country. Dalits and indigenous peoples (known as Scheduled.