Peace Returns to Balochistan

By Tariq Rizwan

Though government has been able to overcome the low level insurgency in Balochistan and security has improved significantly, yet it will take some more time to completely root out the factors involved. The self styled Sardars and Nawabs, tribal feuds, sectarianism, ethnic divide and external interference specially spillover effects of security situation in Afghanistan have greatly affected the law and order situation in Balochistan for the last one decade. Balochistan is laden with mineral resources and Pakistan will be able to stabilize the province’s economy as well as its own by its proper utilization in the time to come.

The peaceful transition of political governments, construction of highways across the province, improving law and order situation and rising confidence of locals as well as foreign investors are some shining indicators. The efforts of Federal government and Army in terms of employment under Aghaz-e-Haooq-e-Balochistan and establishing a strong network of Cadet Colleges across Balochistan is near to bear the fruits.

People of Balochistan are coming out of the trauma, where thousands of local Baloch, Pashtuns, settlers and security personnel lost their lives in the terror attacks. The recent Seminar “Peace and Prosperity in Balochistan”, organized in Serena hotel, Quetta by University of Balochistan, was largely attended by intellectuals, political figures and media persons from all over the country. It is considered an encouraging move on the part of Balochistan University and sitting PML (N) government. Local politicians, academics and journalists spoke boldly which may further strengthen the bond between the Federation and the Province of Balochistan.

Several external forces including Afghanistan are working against Pakistan in Balochistan. Kabul is playing an active role in destabilizing Balochistan at the behest of India without realizing that economic development in Balochistan is in the best interest of Afghanistan. Balochistan is a gate way towards Afghanistan and Central Asia. CPEC is a game changer for Pakistan and Afghanistan as it can connect Afghanistan and Central Asia to the Sea via Gwadar Port.

The foreign mercenaries and self exiled Baloch Sub Nationalists are working hand in glow to regain their lost popularity with foreign money and support. Apart from financial and moral support, hostile networks are providing ammunitions to the Baloch leaders and using them to create disturbance in the province. Their main agenda is to break and divide Pakistan once again. The miscreant leaders are enjoying abroad in a self-exile and sponsoring terror in Balochistan. Afghanistan is the hub for low tier leadership while Europe is providing asylum to all heads of these miscreant groups.

Foreign media has also left no stone unturned in projecting these Sub Nationalists as heroes of Baloch nation. They are being rewarded for their efforts of creating law and order situation in Balochistan.  The recent edition of Herald of 15 Apr, 2015 showing the article “Mama Qadeer, the Voice of Missing” written by Sana Nasir with a photograph of Mama Qadeer is an effort in this regard. Qadeer’s son Jalil Rekki was affiliated with “Baloch Republican Army – BRA”, a hard core militant group. There is no doubt, he and the group BRA are involved in terror attacks across Balochistan and carrying terror attacks including bomb blasts, hand grenade attacks, killing innocent people and destroying gas and electricity infrastructure. The group alongwith BLA and BLF, are still active in the province. Brahmdagh is controlling BRA from Geneva, Switzerland with the financial support of Indian “RAW”.

Reports in foreign media like discovery of the mass graves in Tootak area of Khuzdar on 25 Jan 2014 created a furor.  Consequently, Baloch Sub Nationalists have unleashed a barrage of allegations against Pakistan by bloating the number of bodies found and declaring them to be those of “Missing Persons”. The discovery has provided the Baloch sub nationalists a whip to wallop Pakistan and use the news as propaganda to portray Balochistan problem as a human rights issue at international forums and seek support.

In the same chain of events, on 29th January 2014, the self exiled Baloch sub nationalists including Hyrbiar Marri, Mir Suleman Khan Daud and Mehrab Baloch (Suleman Khan’s Assistant) met US Congressmen Louie Gohmert, Steve King and Dana Rohrabacher at London to propagate against Pakistan for alleged human rights violations in Balochistan. The later propagated the issue in US political circles to its maximum to malign Pakistan without realizing the actual situation and ignored the brutalities of Baloch militant groups supported by these Baloch sub nationalist leaders.

US Congressman Louie Gohmert found it opportune to deliver a highly venomous speech on 30 Jan 2014 in the US House of Representatives on Balochistan situation, citing his meeting with the Baloch sub nationalists’ leadership. Gohmert read out an article of Tarek Fateh (Canada based Ahmedi and sympathizer of Baloch sub nationalists), published by the Toronto Sun on 28 January 2014, criticizing US for ignoring the mass graves issue during US Senator John Kerry’s meeting with Pakistan’s National & Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz on 27 January 2014. He criticized Pakistan over the alleged human rights violations and strongly endorsed Baloch sub nationalists’ separatist agenda of Independent Balochistan.

However, the recent Seminar “Peace and Prosperity in Balochistan” in Quetta Serena Hotel has proved that security situation in the province as well as confidence of people has improved. The US/Western so called champions of democracy like Louie Gohmert must be repenting now on their wrong doings in the past.

Though government has stabilized its writ in the province yet the local disgruntled Nawabs, Sardars, tribal feuds, sectarian and ethnic divide are still posing serious threat and being exploited by the external forces to achieve their nefarious designs in Balochistan. People of Balochistan are being deprived from the fruits of development and prosperity. Hectic diplomatic efforts are needed to thwart any more bloodshed in the province. All the regional and extra regional stake holders to be taken on board including  like Iran, UAE, Afghanistan, India and USA to take the agenda of CPEC ahead. It may usher an era of peace and prosperity in the region in general and Balochistan in particular.

The writer is freelance journalist based at London.    

Aid curbs on Pakistan to hurt US interests: Pentagon

Washington - Restricting or conditioning of military aid to Pakistan will be detrimental to US interests as it may "reduce" the country's willingness to continue its counterterrorism operations, top Pentagon commanders have warned American lawmakers.
"The risks of ineffective and unclear signals and conditioning may risk us losing our access and frank dialogue with Pakistan in areas critical to US interests," General Joseph L Votel, nominee of the Commander of US Central Command told members of Senate Armed Services Committee during a confirmation hearing.
Votel warned that curtailing aid "may reduce" Pakistan's willingness to continue its counterterrorism and counterinsurgency and "risks our current access" to Pakistan Air Lines of Communication and Ground Lines of Communication to support operations in Afghanistan and the region.

"We will need to continue cooperation with Pakistan to defeat Al-Qaeda, support Pakistan's stability, and achieve a lasting peace in Afghanistan," said Lieutenant General Raymond Thomas, nominee for US Special Operations Command during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The US-Pakistan relationship is fundamental to our vital national security interests, Thomas said. "If confirmed, I would in consultation with Commander United States Central Command (CENTCOM) continue to evaluate the specifics of the relationship based on my assessment of our shared interests with Pakistan and its effectiveness of achieving our shared goals," Thomas said.

"I will continue to evaluate the efficacy of the military cooperation we have with Pakistan and identify ways in which we can support CENTCOM efforts to work with Pakistan to enhance regional stability," Thomas added.

Votel said Pakistan's counterterrorism and counterinsurgency campaigns remain vital to targeting militants that threaten the United States and Pakistan. "Our security assistance, which focuses on enhancing Pakistani counterterror capabilities is critical in this regard," he said, adding that the risks and benefits of conditioning US assistance and support to Pakistan vary.

"The important thing will be for the United States to maintain credibility while still accruing benefits toward US interests," he added. "If we are able to strike such a balance and remain consistent in our bilateral relationship, we may see Pakistan increase its transparency and cooperation with Afghanistan on the full range of security, border control, and economic issues," he said. "Likewise, Pakistan may take further action against violent extremist organisations, such as Haqqani network," Vitol said.

Published in The Nation newspaper on 11-Mar-2016

Refocus on Extrajudicial Killings through CIA-operated Drones

By Sajjad Shaukat

After the September 11 tragedy, the Muslim countries which joined the Bush’s fake global war on terror became the target of the US state terrorism which still continues in one way or the other.

The US-led troops, supported by CIA have carried out indiscriminate mass round-ups in catching up suspected Muslim men and women in Afghanistan and Iraq, including some Arab countries without evidence. Israeli secret agency Mossad has helped the CIA officials in arresting the Muslim men, having beard and ladies, wearing scarves. Besides Guantanamo Bay and Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, CIA torture cells were present in several Islamic countries and were set up even in ships where US secret agencies and military personnel employed various methods of torture on the militants and suspected persons like physical violence and even murder.

In this regard, in March, 2013, an investigative report by the British Guardian/BBC pointed out that acting under the direction of the top US officials; the CIA utilized a global network of secret prisons, foreign intelligence agents and torture centers in various Islamic countries including Belgium etc. where torture was conducted directly by American intelligence operatives.  

The report which also mentioned Bagram and Guantanamo, links US high officials to atrocities carried out in Iraq—unleashed a deadly sectarian militia which terrorized the Sunni community and germinated a civil war, and claimed tens of thousands of lives.

But, under the pretext of American so-called counterinsurgency programme, and while implementing the anti-Muslim policy of his predecessor, the US President Barack Obama has broken all the record of human rights by extrajudicial killings of the innocent people through CIA-operated drone attacks in Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen etc. in general and Pakistan in particular, while, the United States claims to be protector of human rights not only inside the country, but also all over the world.

On March 11, 2014, Ben Emmerson, UN Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights, who conducted an investigation into targeted killings, and examined legality of drone strikes, presented his report on drone strikes to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC). His report examined 37 drone strikes as sample—the US, UK and Israel have launched in Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and Gaza, which resulted into civilian casualties.  Emmerson told the HRC, “These strikes require a legal duty on the relevant states to provide…a justification for the use of deadly force…to disclose the results of their own fact finding inquiries, why no such inquiries have taken place.”

Emmerson also referred to an interactive website, produced by Forensic Architecture teem which marked the location of 30 drone strikes which helped in his final report.

In this context, Professor Eyal Weizman, the Principal Investigator of the Forensic Architecture project said, “Studying buildings hit by drones reveal much of consequences of a strike. The work we do is essential because states undertaking drone strikes, such as the US and Israel, attempt to hide actions and even deny them outright.”

In another report, issued by the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner For Human Rights (OHCHR) on September 14, 2015 pointed out that since 2002 between 156 and 365 civilians including children have been killed in drone attacks in Yemen.”

In this connection, some classified US intelligence documents, obtained by The Intercept-an anonymous whistleblower, published on October 15, 2015 as the Drone Papers shed light on the secretive drone programme which has become a staple of United States counterterrorism policy since the attacks of September11, 2001. The papers indicated, “Drone strikes have often been based on thin intelligence, kill a large number of unintended people and refer to people inadvertently killed by strikes as “enemies killed in action” (EKIA), even when their identities were unknown.”

As regards these revelations about drone strikes, civil liberty groups strongly condemned the US Administration for a lack of accountability and transparency in national security decisions. Hina Shamsi, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is involved in several Freedom of Information Act lawsuits about the legal basis and the targets of America’s drone program said, “These eye-opening disclosures make a mockery of U.S. government claims that its lethal force operations are based on reliable intelligence and limited to lawful targets.”

Naureen Shah, the director of the security with human rights program at Amnesty International USA, stated, “These documents raise serious concerns about whether the USA has systematically violated international law, including by classifying unidentified people as ‘combatants’ to justify their killing.”

It is notable that in 2013, first time, a US Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch supporter of the predator attacks, openly admitted that 4,700 people have been killed by the raids of America’s secretive drone war. The number exceeds some independent estimates of the death toll.

According to the research of London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, “Between June 2004 and September 2012, these unmanned aerial vehicles killed between 2,562 and 3,325 people in Pakistan, of whom between 474 and 881 were civilians including 176 children.” In this respect, in a report, The Guardian disclosed on August 11, 2011, “The CIA claims that there has been not one non-combatant killed in the past year…it is a bleak view: more people killed than previously thought.”

Nevertheless, details collected by the Pakistani journalists show that civilian casualties through unmanned aircraft are higher as indicated by the US officials—more than 5000 innocent civilians and only 22 Al-Qaeda commanders have been killed by these aerial attacks.

While justifying these air strikes by the spy planes, counterterrorism advisor to Obama, John Brennan who had faced a Senate confirmation hearing for his nominee as CIA director is the main player, advising Obama on which strike, he should approve.

Especially, during his first presidential campaign, Obama had pledged to reverse excesses of the Bush era in relation to terrorism. He also promised to reformulate a counterterrorism policy in accordance with the legal and moral values of the US. Contrarily to his assertions, Obama followed the Bush’s approach of counterterrorism in its worst form by expanding and accelerating the predator strikes.

Notably, The New York Time on May 26, 2011, in an article which was written with assistance of several counterterrorism advisers of the administration revealed, “President Obama has become personally involved in the process” and “has normalised extrajudicial killings from the Oval Office, taking advantage of America’s temporary advantage in drone technology. Without the scrutiny of the legislature and the courts, and outside the public eye, Obama is authorising murder on a weekly basis.”

It is of particular attention that American constitution explicitly grants the right to declare war to the Congress so as to restrain the president from chasing enemies around the world, based solely on his authority as commander-in-chief by waging a secret war. But, instead of capturing militants alive and to avoid giving the right of due process of law to them in a court, President Obama has openly acted upon a ruthless policy of targeting killings by supervising the CIA-controlled drone warfare.

Besides, a report of the New America Foundation had disclosed that President Obama has “authorised 193 drone strikes in Pakistan, more than four times the number of attacks that President Bush authorised during his two terms.” The report explained, “When the US drones attack Pakistan’s tribal areas, it is not just the 10, or 50 innocent civilians they kill, these killings provide reason to the youngsters for joining terrorist groups waging war against US and of course Pakistan…while killing 10 militants, the US has murdered more than 1400 Pakistanis, not involved in any terrorist activities. Could it not imply that it gave birth to another 1400 militants?”

Based on research, a report, “Living Under Drones,” prepared by experts from Stanford Law School and the New York University School of Law had revealed that the US campaign of drone “strikes in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt is terrorising civilians 24 hours a day and breeding bitter anti-American sentiment…have killed thousands of people…even stopping their children going to school for fear of being targeted.” The report urged Washington to rethink its drone strategy, arguing it was counterproductive and undermined international law.

Citing unnamed US officials, The Washington Post reported on January 21, 2013, “The Obama administration is completing a counterterrorism manual that will establish clear rules for targeted-killing operations…the guidebook would contain a major exemption for the CIA’s campaign of drone strikes in Pakistan to continue striking Al Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan.”

The then Defense Minister Leon Panetta had defended these attacks on Pakistan’s tribal areas under the pretext of North Waziristan-based Haqqani militants whom they blamed for several assaults on American and NATO bases in Afghanistan. On the other hand, US-led coalition forces had failed in stopping incursions of heavily-armed insurgents in Pakistan from Afghanistan’s side, who killed more than 100 personnel of the Pakistan’s security forces in 2011, 2012 and 2013, while targeting the infrastructure of the tribal areas. In fact, US wanted to make Pakistan’s North Waziristan areas, a scapegoat of NATO’s defeat in Afghanistan by continuing illegal mass murder of the innocent people through CIA-operated drones.

It is mentionable that Pakistan’s then Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt. Gen. Zaheerul Islam who visited America in August, 2012, emphatically told the then CIA Director David Petraeus that predator strikes which are violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty must be stopped. He pointed out that these strikes are proving counterproductive, giving a greater incentive to the fundamentalist and extremist elements in Pakistan, and are increasing anti-US sentiment among the people.

However, setting aside the parliament resolution, rallies and processions of Pakistan’s political and religious parties, while ignoring the Pak-US rapprochement, and without bothering for any internal backlash, these aerial attacks have kept on going on the tribal regions.

In fact, America’s such a duplicity contained a number of covert designs. The continued wave of strikes by the pilotless aircraft has thwarted the offer of militants and Pakistani government for peace talks. And the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) accelerated subversive activities in the country. These aerial attacks provoked the tribal people against Pakistan’s security forces by increasing recruitment of insurgents. Another aim was to create a rift between Pakistan’s armed forces on one side and the political and religious parties on the other. Besides, Pakistan is the only nuclear country in the Islamic World. Hence, US, India and Israel are determined to destabilise it. Drone campaign is also part of this game.

It is noteworthy that Pakistan’s armed forces have successfully achieved their objectives in the ongoing military operation Zarb-e-Azb which started on Jun 15, 2014 against the militants in North Waziristan Agency and Khyber Agency, and fight now is moving into last few pockets close to Afghan border. What the US-led NATO forces could not do in the last 14 years in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s armed forces did within 14 months, while, geographically, the North Waziristan is the largest Agency and has the same topography like Afghanistan. Even, the US and other NATO countries have praised the capabilities of Pak Army in defeating the terrorists. But, the US did not stop drone attacks which have shown American double game with Islamabad.

Nonetheless, in one of the major drone attacks, more than 40 civilians and policemen were killed on March 18, 2011 in Datta Khel area of North Waziristan.

On the one side, US top officials have repeatedly stated that America needs Pakistan’s help not only for peace process with the Afghan Taliban, but also for stability in Afghanistan in the post-withdrawal scenario of NATO troops, but on the other, CIA-operated unmanned planes on Pak tribal regions have been undermining international efforts of stability both in Afghanistan and Pakistan including peace dialogue with the Afghan militants.

US ex-presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have opposed Obama’s faulty drone strategy. Even, Secretary of State John Kerry has also criticised unabated use of unilateral drones in Pakistan, saying, “US engagement with the world is not just about drones.”

Apart from widespread criticism from some US allies and human rights groups which have remarked that these aerial attacks are illegal and unethical, and violation of the targeted countries’ sovereignty, the United Nations Charter, universal declaration of human rights and international law, the US warrior President Obama remains obstinate to continue extrajudicial killings through CIA-operated drones.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: sajjad_logic_pak@hotmail.com

Courtesy Veterans Today

Bomb Making Materials: En route from India to ISIS

By: Ishaal Zehra         

Conflict Armament Research (CAR) was established in 2011 in response to “growing worldwide demand for weapon-specific technical expertise to support research, analysis and policy making.” The organization, with the financial assistance of the European Union and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, maintains a database which provides a global reporting mechanism on the illegal trade of arms, including light weapons and conventional weapons.

In 2016 CAR produced a compelling piece of research into the IED component parts being used by ISIS. The EU-funded group had analyzed improvised explosive devices (IED) collected over 20 months on Iraqi and Syrian frontlines to reveal how the so-called Islamic State has been able to amass its arsenal at an unprecedented speed.

The online published report cite that ISIS is manufacturing ever more sophisticated and devastating suicide bombs and improvised explosives using freely available civilian components from around the world. Over a period of 20 months, from July 2014 to February 2016, CAR field investigation teams in Iraq and Syria worked in concert with Iraqi and Syrian forces to document materiel recovered in military action against ISIS forces. Their partners included the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units, the Iraqi Federal Police, the Kurdistan Region Security Council, the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government, and the Military Council of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria. The components documented in the report were recovered during major battles around the Iraqi towns of al Rabia, Kirkuk, Mosul, and Tikrit and the Syrian town of Kobane.

The study revealed that 51 companies from countries including Turkey, India, Brazil, and the United States produced, sold or received more than 700 components used by ISIS to build improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Further investigation found that IS forces have manufactured and deployed improvised explosive devices (IEDs) across the battlefield on a quasi-industrial scale. Made of components that are cheap and readily available, IEDs have become IS forces’ signature weapon. Their chains of supply differ from those of military weapons. For the most part, IED components are commercial goods that are not subject to government export licenses and whose transfer is far less scrutinized and regulated than the transfer of weapons.

Interestingly, as per the report our dear neighbor India, one of the country involved in the supply chain of components used by IS forces to construct IEDs, is the second largest supplier of bomb-making material to IS. Seven Indian companies manufactured most of the detonators, detonating cord, and safety fuses documented by CAR’s field investigation teams. Under Indian law, transfer of this material requires a license. Hence, those were all legally exported under government-issued licenses from India to entities in Lebanon and Turkey, CAR found.

Detonating Cord and Safety Fuse:- IS forces regularly employ detonating cord in their IEDs to complete the explosive train between the detonator and the main explosive charge.

The investigation team found several spools of detonating cords manufactured by Solar Industries, India, which were exported to a Turkish company and to the Lebanese company Maybel, headquartered in Beirut.

Earlier, CAR also documented the use of Solar Industries detonating cord by IS forces on the Makhmour front line in Iraq at the end of 2014. There is no evidence to indicate to which regional entity Solar Industries supplied the cord.

On 24 February 2015, a CAR field investigation team in Kobane documented a spool of detonating cord produced by Premier Explosives Ltd., India. Premier Explosives has confirmed that it sold 6 million metres of detonating cord to the Mechanical Construction Factory, Syria, in 2009 and 2010.

The team also documented a spool of detonating cord produced by Rajasthan Explosives and Chemicals, India and also a spool of safety fuse produced by the Indian company Chamundi Explosives.

Detonators:- IS forces employ a combination of electric and non-electric (plain) detonators during the fabrication of their IEDs, fuses, and improvised weapon systems (such as rockets, rocket-assisted mortars, and other improvised projected weapons).

YPG forces captured electric detonators manufactured by an Indian company Economic Explosives on 25 December 2012 and exported them (on an unspecified date) to the Lebanese company Maybel, Beirut.

At the same location, CAR field investigators observed plain and electric detonators produced by Rajasthan Explosives and Chemicals, India; plain detonators produced by Premier Explosives, India; and electric detonators produced by IDEAL Industrial Explosives, India.

"These findings support growing international awareness that ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria are very much self-sustaining - acquiring weapons and strategic goods, such as IED components, locally and with ease," said James Bevan, CAR's executive director.

The sale of these cheap and readily available parts, some of which are not subject to government export licences, is far less scrutinised and regulated than the transfer of weapons.

Perhaps the most significant finding of this report concerns the speed with which ISIS forces have been able to acquire IED components. The appearance of these components in possession of ISIS forces, as little as one month following their lawful supply to commercial entities in the region, speaks to a lack of monitoring by national governments and companies alike. It may also indicate a lack of awareness surrounding the potential use of these civilian-market components by terrorist and insurgent forces. The study found that ISIS is able to acquire some components in as little as a month after their lawful supply to firms in the region, suggesting a lack of oversight in the supply chain.

James Bevan says the group was continually experimenting, refining and creating new types of IEDs ranging from suicide and car bombs to landmines, booby traps and improvised mortars.

The inventions have taken a heavy toll on the Peshmerga, Shia militias, Kurdish YPG, opposition rebels and other forces attempting to take back ISIS territory.

“Whenever they try to liberate an area, that area is absolutely littered with IEDs and they are causing the greatest amount of casualties,” Mr Bevan said. “It’s on a larger scale than we’ve seen in recent conflicts.”

CAR’s investigations map out the legal trade in component parts across the region. In all identified cases, producers have lawfully traded components with regional trade and distribution companies. These companies, in turn, have sold them to smaller commercial entities. By allowing individuals and groups affiliated with ISIS forces to acquire components used in IEDs, these small entities appear to be the weakest link in the chain of custody.

All companies and countries named in the report have been informed of the findings as investigations continue in Ramadi and other territory recently retaken from ISIS. Now the question remains that how India and others involved in this deadly supply-chain will tackle this alarming situation.

Amritsar Treaty: Agony of Kashmiris

By Sajjad Shaukat

The very agony of the people of Jammu and Kashmir started on March 16, 1846 when the Treaty of Amritsar was signed. Under the Treaty, British colonialists sold Kashmir along with its people e to a Dogra Hindu, Gulab Singh for 7.5 million rupees. The Treaty of Amritsar which was signed by Gulab Singh, Hardinge, Currie and Lawrence had common cause among the parties with the aim to end the Muslim rule in Jammu and Kashmir. Gulab Singh thus became the founder and first Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

As a consequence of the Treaty of Amritsar, a reign of terror was unleashed by the Dogra dynasty on the Kashmiris. During the Dogra rule (1846-1947), Kashmiri Muslims were leading so miserable life that it was difficult to differentiate them from beasts. Slave labour, heavy taxes, capital punishment for cow slaughter, and living under constant terror was order of the day.

In this regard, Yousaf Saraf in his book, ‘Kashmiris Fight for Freedom’ calls it “free forced labour” and “instead of donkeys and horses, Kashmiri Muslims were used for transportation of goods across the far-flung areas.” Atrocities of the Dogra regime could also be judged from the book of Sir Walter Lawrence, ‘The India We Served’. While describing the pathetic picture of the Kashmiris, he writes, “Army was employed in forcing the villagers to plough and sow, and worse still, the soldiers came at harvest time and when the share of the state had been seized” and “there was very little grain to tide the unfortunate peasants over the cruel winter.”

On April 19, 1931, the ban of Eid Khutba ignited widespread demonstrations in the Jummu city. For the first time, people openly opposed the oppression. On July 13, 1931, thousands of people thronged the Central Jail Srinagar. As the time for obligatory prayer approached, a young Kashmiri stood for Azan. The Dogra soldiers opened fire at him. In this way, 22 Kashmiris embraced martyrdom in their efforts to complete the Azan.

The people carried the dead and paraded through the streets of Srinagar, chanting slogans against Dogra brutalities. Complete strike was observed in the city, which was followed by weeklong mourning. This incident shook the whole state and the traffic from Srinagar to Rawalpindi and Srinagar to Jammu came to halt.

However, upon these ruthless killings, the Kashmiri leadership realized the need to form a political party, Muslim Conference (MC) with a view to waging struggle for their freedom. Later, in 1934, state’s first elections were held and MC won 10 out of 21 seats, and after two years in 1936, it succeeded in getting 19 out of 21 seats. Indian Congress was upset with this situation and tried to create division in the ranks of Kashmiri leadership. Afterwards, on July 19, 1947, MC passed a resolution to merge Kashmir with Pakistan, considering the geographical proximity—majority of Muslim population (77%), language and cultural relations of Jammu and Kashmir.

During the partition of the Sub-continent, in 1947, the ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, Hari Singh, in connivance with Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Governor-General Lord Mountbatten, had decided to join India, quite contrary to the wishes of the majority of Kashmiris.

When a contention arose between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir dispute in1948, India took the issue to the United Nations Security Council and offered to hold a plebiscite in the held Kashmir under UN supervision. On February 5, 1964, India backed out of its promise. Instead, in March 1965, the Indian Parliament passed a bill, declaring Kashmir a province of India.

While passing through various phases, the struggle of Kashmiris which has become an interaction between Indian state terrorism led by the Indian security forces and war of liberation by the freedom fighters, keeps on going unabated.

Despite the employment of various forms of state terrorism by the Indian security forces, war of liberation intensified since 1989.

A report on human rights violations by Indian Army and its paramilitary forces in Indian-held Kashmir disclosed that since 1989, there have been deaths of 93,274 innocent Kashmiris, 6,969 custodial killings, 117,345 arrests and 105,861 destructions of houses. Indian brutal security forces have orphaned over 107, 351 children, widowed 22,728 women and gang raped 9,920 women.

Besides Human Rights Watch, in its various reports, Amnesty International has also pointed out grave human rights violations in the Indian-controlled Kashmir, indicating, “The Muslim majority population in the Kashmir Valley suffers from the repressive tactics of the security forces. Under the Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed Areas Act, and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act and Public Safety Act, security forces have extraordinary powers to shoot suspected persons.”

Particularly in 2008, a rights group reported unmarked graves in 55 villages across the Indian occupied Kashmir. In this context, in August, 2011, Indian Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) officially acknowledged in its report that innocent civilians killed in the two-decade conflict have been buried in unmarked graves. Notably, foreign sources and human rights organizations including Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) have pointed out that unnamed graves include thousands of innocent persons, killed by the Indian military and paramilitary troops in the fake encounters including those who were tortured to death.

It is notable that leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has taken various steps to strengthen Indian illegal control on Kashmir. The Modi regime hurriedly decided to forcibly annex disputed territory of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, uncovering its intentions to wrap up the article 370 of the Indian constitution which ensures a special status to J&K. Therefore, United Nations Military Observer Group India and Pakistan in New Delhi was asked to vacate official accommodation. In fact, BJP government‘s long term strategy is to affect demographic changes in the Indian occupied Kashmir by composition of the region—predominately with Hindu population.

During one year of People’s Democratic Party (PDP)-BJP alliance government in the Indian Occupied Kashmir, BJP in aid of RSS has furthered its agenda of complete integration of Kashmir into India. Though legal experts of India and IOK High Court have clarified the permanent status of Article 370 of Indian Constitution, BJP’s agenda of trifurcations is still on table. In this context, BJP is in hot pursuit of Mission 44+in IOK Assembly elections 2020. However, short of that, BJP and RSS are busy in changing religious identity of the State. For example, special concessions were given to expand the horizon of Amarnath Yatra to project that Hindus have greater stakes in IOK than Muslims.

Special efforts are being made for demographic engineering in the State. For instance, West Pakistan Refugees have been recruited in the Indian Armed Forces from IOK quota. Allocation of lands for separate cities for repatriating Hindu Pundits and allocation of INR 2 million for rehabilitation of each Pundit family in the Valley are aimed at creating Hindu constituencies in a thorough Muslim region of the Valley through delimitations.

Kashmiri Hurriyat leadership has been suppressed by the PDP-BJP government by not allowing them to organize rallies for demanding freedom and expressing love for Pakistan. Their leaders were detained in Police Stations or kept under house arrests during all important events. Detention of Masarat Alam, even after acceptance of bail by IOK High Court, exhibits coercive mechanics of Indian forces/police in the State.

Indian malicious intent is evident from the blame game against Pakistan for every internal security issue, merely to avoid serious dialogue on bilateral issues as well as the humanitarian crisis in Kashmir. Pakistan is committed to the just and democratic solution of the Kashmir issue, which is plebiscite, however, India has never been serious in resolution of the dispute, neither through bilateral dialogue nor involving third party mediation nor by abiding by the UN Resolutions.

Returning to our earlier discussion, the Treaty of Amritsar is the genesis of the agony of the Kashmiris, and their war of liberation  keeps on going, and will continue untill they get their legitimate right of self-determination.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com

Pakistan Knows How to Secure Its Nukes

By Sarah Khan

It was reported in leading newspapers of Pakistan that the White House, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump stated: "I think you have to stay in Afghanistan for a while, because of the fact that you are right next to Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons and we have to protect that.” Mr. Donald Trump seems ignorant about Pakistan's nuclear program's safety and security arrangement. Hence, he is making such statements.

Importantly, the anti-Pakistan nuclear program lobby, especially in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, has been frequently pronouncing detrimental judgments against the safety and security of the program in both print and electronic media. Its primary objective is to persuade the international community about the inability of the Pakistani nuclear establishment to protect its nuclear infrastructure from the transnational terrorist groups. Instead of critically examining the safety and security apparatus of country’s nuclear facilities, nuclear arsenal and nuclear related institutional arrangements for the sake of objective analysis; the anti-Pakistan lobby is merely relying on the baseless concocted stories and fictitious hypothesis.

Without realizing that a nation which develops its indigenous nuclear fuel cycle and successfully manufacture and test nuclear weapons is capable enough to secure its nuclear facilities and arsenal from terrorist groups’ attacks as well as from external powers incursions into the country’s nuclear weapons locations. Though this subjective maligning campaign has failed to cap the progressive trajectory of Pakistan’s nuclear program, yet it has fashioned negative caveats about the country’s nuclear infrastructures’ safety and security.

A nation which develops its indigenous nuclear fuel cycle and successfully manufacture and test nuclear weapons is capable enough to secure its nuclear facilities and arsenal from terrorist groups’ attacks as well as from external powers incursions into the country’s nuclear weapons locations"

Pakistan’s nuclear Programme

By: Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal

Islamabad’s transparent policy about its NCA, SPD, PNRA, NEMS and SECDIV; its practical initiatives to carryout international obligations under the UNSC Resolution 1540, CSI and GICNT; its relative openness in explaining its command and control structures that goes beyond the practice adopted by other nuclear capable states; its commendable Export Control Act 2004; its constructive participation in the three Nuclear Security Summits; and establishment a state-of-the-art Centre of Excellence vindicate that Pakistan’s Nuclear Security is unquestionable.

Pakistan’s nuclear programme has prejudicially been portrayed in the international media since 1970s. Ironically, many security analysts deliberately conceal the reality and twist the facts to generate sensation about the safety and security of Pakistan’s nuclear programme. The anti-Pakistan nuclear programme lobby, especially in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, has been frequently pronouncing detrimental judgments against the safety and security of the programme in both print and electronic media. Its primary objective is to persuade the international community about the inability of the Pakistani nuclear establishment to protect its nuclear infrastructure from the transnational terrorist groups. Instead of critically examining the safety and security apparatus of country’s nuclear facilities, nuclear arsenal and nuclear related institutional arrangements for the sake of objective analysis; the anti-Pakistan lobby is merely relying on the baseless concocted stories and fictitious hypothesis. Without realizing that a nation which develops its indigenous nuclear fuel cycle and successfully manufactures and tests nuclear weapons is capable enough to secure its nuclear facilities and arsenal from terrorist groups’ attacks as well as from external powers’ incursions into the country’s nuclear weapons’ locations. Though this subjective maligning campaign has failed to cap the progressive trajectory of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, yet it has fashioned negative caveats about the country’s nuclear infrastructures’ safety and security.

The nature of subjective criticism; conspiracy theories hatched against Pakistan’s nuclear civil and military programmes; and above all the fear of nuclear/radiological terrorist attacks necessitate serious analysis of the subject, i.e. safety and security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. It seems appropriate to critically examine the measures that Pakistani nuclear establishment has taken over the past more than one decade to ensure safety and security of its nuclear assets. Therefore, the following discussion is an attempt to present briefly the realistic-cum-objective account of the puzzle to keep the record straight. Indeed, the following deliberation on Pakistan’s nuclear safety and security programme would be useful to provide an overview of Pakistan’s efforts in the field of nuclear security that have been recognized by the international community and various international agencies, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – a global nuclear watchdog that looks after issues related to the peaceful use of nuclear technology.

Importantly, the Pakistani nuclear establishment has institutionalized highly secured systems, which have been improved gradually to thwart internal and external security challenges to its nuclear infrastructure and arsenal since the very beginning of the nuclear weapon programme. Immediately, after the nuclear weapons’ tests in May 1998, the Government of Pakistan announced its National Command Authority (NCA) which comprises the Employment Control Committee, the Development Control Committee and Strategic Plans Division (SPD) — the secretariat of the Authority. The periodic meetings of the NCA, and briefings organized by the SPD reveal that a range of overt and covert measures were adopted to guard country’s nuclear programme. A few of explicit measures are spelled out in the following paragraphs.

First, the nuclear assets — both civilian and military — safety and security are ensured by the NCA through its secretariat, SPD. Notably, the SPD works on behalf of the NCA, which increases its role in the nuclear decision-making. It is headed by a serving Lt General of Pakistan Army — Director General of SPD — who is the focal person to ensure the safety and security of both civilian and military components of the country’s nuclear programme. Precisely, the SPD is a custodian of Pakistan’s nuclear programme. In addition, separate strategic forces commands have been raised in all the three services. The services retain training, technical and administrative control over their strategic forces. These arrangements institutionalized the safety and security mechanism of the country’s nuclear weapons.

Second, the custodian’s of the weapon programme had established a ‘Security Division’ that today has more than 25,000 trained personnel at its disposal to guard the nuclear assets. The division is solely responsible for the security of all nuclear assets in Pakistan, and has specially trained combat troops to handle various kinds of contingencies. It also has its own academy to provide specialized training to the newly inducted troops. These trained soldiers are far superior to terrorists and certainly capable to guard both nuclear weapons and sensitive nuclear facilities from terrorists’ attempt and external powers’ incursions into the nuclear weapons’ locations. Thus, presently, Pakistan has not only a robust command and control system in place; but also has trained personnel to protect its nuclear assets from diversion, theft and accidental misuse.

Third, the NCA decided that nuclear weapons would not be stored at one place and very few people know about their exact locations. One can count these people on fingers who exactly know about the location of nuclear arsenals. The SPD introduced a very rigorous vetting process for the nuclear establishment, i.e. personal reliability programme for military personals and human reliability programme for the civilians as well as scientists to prevent insiders’ link with the terrorist groups. The officers, who are trusted with the weapons’ location information, ought to be under continuous surveillance by the intelligence agency, which is directly reporting to the high-ups of the secretariat. This methodology, certainly, conceals the locations of the nuclear arsenals and also ensures the integrity of the employs.

Fourth, the critics of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenals safety apparatus have failed to comprehend that the country’s nukes are not maintained on a hair-trigger alert. Thereby, in times of peace its nuclear warheads are maintained separately from their non-nuclear assemblies. This approach prevents accidental or unauthorized use of nuclear weapons. In addition, the SPD has developed a fool proof security system such as Permissive Action Link System that is modeled on one used by the United States nuclear establishment. The Permissive Action Link electronically locks nuclear weapons. The SPD also relies on a range of other measures including dual-key system. To prevent any possibility of inadvertent or unauthorized use of nuclear weapons, physical safety mechanisms and firewalls have been developed in the weapon systems themselves and in the chain of command. No single individual can operate a weapon system, nor can one individual issue the command for nuclear weapons use. The evolution of the NCA ensures that no unauthorized use of nuclear weapons could ever take place, yet the weapon can be operationally ready on short notice.

Fifth, Pakistan’s Parliament Legislated an Act in September 2004 – the Export Control on Goods, Technologies, Material and Equipment related to Nuclear and Biological Weapons and their Delivery Systems Act. It was a practical attempt by the government of Pakistan to fulfil international obligations envisaged by the UNSC Resolution 1540 in April 2004. The purpose of the Export Control Act was to further strengthen controls on the export of sensitive technologies, particularly related to nuclear and biological weapons and their means of delivery. Pakistan also established a Strategic Export Control Division (SECDIV) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in April 2007. The purpose of the SECDIV is to further tighten controls over exports, by monitoring and implementing the Export Control Act of 2004.

Sixth, to prevent the possibility of theft and sabotage during the transportation of sensitive nuclear materials, effective measures have been instituted to fulfil international obligations under the UNSC Resolution 1540. Along with other measures taken in this regard, it has been ensured that specialist vehicles and tamper proof containers are provided for transit of nuclear materials, and escorted by military personnel. It was reported that as part of its international obligations, Pakistan has submitted four reports pursuant to UNSC Resolution 1540, providing details of its national legislative measures to prevent non-state actors from acquiring nuclear weapons or related material, till the writing of these lines.

Seventh, Islamabad is very attentive and actively participating in the international arrangements to prevent nuclear/radiological terrorism. For instance, Pakistan was amongst the very first countries that submitted a report to the United Nations to fulfil its obligations under UNSC Resolution 1540. It joined US sponsored Container Security Initiative (CSI) in March 2006 and the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) in 2007. In addition, Pakistan is also part of the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) process – an initiative by President Obama that had led to three successful Nuclear Security Summits in 2010, 2012, and 2014 held at Washington D.C. Seoul, and The Hague, respectively. Pakistan participated in these three Summits at the Prime Minister level and made significant contributions in support of the global efforts towards nuclear safety and security. Eighth, Islamabad has established a state-of-the-art Centre of Excellence that provides specialized courses in nuclear security, physical protection, material control and accounting, transport security and personnel reliability. The Center of Excellence acts as a regional and international hub to train the people. Pakistan also deployed Special Nuclear Material Portals on key exit and entry points to counter the illicit trafficking of nuclear and radioactive materials. During the Nuclear Security Summits, Pakistan also called attention to its endeavours to cooperate with other states to improve their nuclear safety and security system.

Ninth, since 2001, Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) has been guarantying physical protection of nuclear materials and facilities, nuclear material control and accounting, transport security, border controls, the prevention of illicit trafficking and radiological emergencies. Tenth, the Nuclear Emergency Management System (NEMS) has been established by the government to deal with all nuclear and radiological emergencies. For instance, “dedicated Quick Reaction Forces (QRF) and Special Response Forces (SRF) equipped with the latest equipment and technology, including airborne assets, to handle various nuclear safety and security contingencies.”

The national consensus on Pakistan’s nuclear programme and the institutionalized structure of the NCA and its secretariat constituted vigilant custodians of the country’s nuclear programme. The physical-protection apparatus and custodial safeguards’ arrangements make Pakistani nuclear assets both civilian and military inaccessible to the unauthorized outsiders. Consequently, there has been no recorded incident of the sabotage or theft of the Pakistani nuclear material to-date. On March 23, 2015, Lt. General (retired) Khalid Kidwai, the former Director General of SPD stated categorically at the Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference 2015 (CINPC 2015) held at Washington D.C United States that: “I would like to conclude by holding out an assurance to this audience on something I know worries the international community all the time: the safety and security of Pakistani nuclear weapons in the disturbed security environment of our region. For the last 15 years Pakistan has taken its nuclear security obligations seriously. We understand the consequences of complacency, there is no complacency. We have invested heavily in terms of money, manpower, equipment, weapons, training, preparedness and smart site security solutions.” He added, “I say with full responsibility that nuclear security in Pakistan is a non-issue. You have all your national tactical means to verify, but you might also take my solemn words for it. Our nuclear weapons are safe, secure and under complete institutional and professional control.” Notably, during the question and answer session not even a single participant in CINPC 2015 conference asked a question to General Kidwai related to Pakistan’s nuclear security. This verifies that informed international community has confidence in Pakistan’s nuclear security apparatus.

To conclude, Islamabad’s transparent policy about its NCA, SPD, PNRA, NEMS and SECDIV; its practical initiatives to carryout international obligations under the UNSC Resolution 1540, CSI and GICNT; its relative openness in explaining its command and control structures that goes beyond the practice adopted by other nuclear capable states; its commendable Export Control Act 2004; its constructive participation in the three Nuclear Security Summits; and establishment a state-of-the-art Centre of Excellence vindicate that Pakistan’s Nuclear Security is unquestionable.

The writer is Director and Associate Professor at the School of Politics and International Relations, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. He contributes for print and electronic media regularly.

znjaspal@qau.edu.pk