Taal Matol
Things we forgot

By Shoaib Hashmi
There is an old Lahoree saying, "The cadaver lay around for months not moving or saying anything, but once it moved it took its coffin apart"! That is how it is with us Lahorees. For two years we have not flown a kite as it was banned by the government, and upheld by the courts. Then the provincial legislature passed a unanimous resolution saying Basant should be allowed, and the Governor backed it up.

truce
Accords no guarantee of peace
The peace deals between the government and the Taliban militants in both Swat and Bajaur are being questioned by the locals as the details become public knowledge
By Mushtaq Yusufzai
People in Bajaur and Swat have begun to question the rationale behind the peace accords signed with Taliban. If the government had to negotiate with them, finally, why launch massive military operations, killing hundreds of people and wiping away entire villages, they ask. These accords, they argue, have not stopped militants from pursuing their activities; rather they have allowed them to carry out their activities with impunity and stopped the government from taking action against the militants.

Top of the class
With a new world record of 22 As in A Levels, Ali Moeen Nawazish has become Pakistan's pride
By Reja Mateen
Ali Moeen Nawazish is naturally gifted. The Pakistani student has made it to the Guinness book of records by appearing for 23 advanced level subjects from Roots School System, two of which were at the Advanced Subsidiary level, and securing 22 A grades in his A-level Cambridge examinations. He was also the top candidate in the world, in ordinary level Computer Studies in June 2006, and top candidate in Pakistan in advanced level Computer Studies and Applied Information and Communications Technology in June 2008.

RIPPLE EFFECT
Spying in America
By Omar R. Quraishi
When you read a title such as the one above you normally would think of the Soviets, now Russians, the North Koreans, the Iranians or the Cubans -- but would you ever think of the Israelis? Perhaps you should.

 

Things we forgot
By Shoaib Hashmi

There is an old Lahoree saying, "The cadaver lay around for months not moving or saying anything, but once it moved it took its coffin apart"! That is how it is with us Lahorees. For two years we have not flown a kite as it was banned by the government, and upheld by the courts. Then the provincial legislature passed a unanimous resolution saying Basant should be allowed, and the Governor backed it up.

And suddenly Saturday and Sunday were declared Basant days. After Friday prayers the police went round town encouraging the kite sellers to open their shops and sell kites and string -- until the sellers asked if they could have the fifty thousand kites the police had confiscated five days before? They couldn't. So the sellers decided simply to raise the prices of the stuff they still had by a hundred percent.

Friday night was the first Basant night and the city came to life with hordes up on the roofs. But it was a bit subdued, as the authorities had issued long instructions about what you could or couldn't do. And to top it all, they had simply banned anyone driving a motorcycle anywhere in the city on Friday evening, or Saturday or Sunday. But we still managed to injure eight people with kite string on Saturday.

Everyone looked forward to a field day on Sunday as the first officially sanctioned Basant in many years. Before the ban came along, Basant had become the biggest festival with millions taking part, flying kites morning and night. I remember 65 Basants when the only injuries were cuts on the fingers. That meant telling everyone in the house to cook something dry because the wet parts stung the fingers for weeks after. That was until they started using some kind of new fangled nylon string, which does not break easily with some kind of chemical stuff instead of the ground glass, stuck on to the string with glue. That's when they started getting people's necks cut while riding motorbikes, and no amount of admonitions telling people not to use nylon string worked. I suppose it makes sense to simply ban them going round on motorbikes!

The good thing is that Basant is back in business. Even the courts have gone along. The bad thing is that they just gave us three days to prepare ourselves. They forgot that the great deal of the fun was flying for the months of winter in the bright winter sun, before topping it off with one day of all-day flying. They also forgot that Sunday was the day the lawyers and the opposition had threatened to start a long march to Islamabad. Or maybe they didn't forget!

 

truce

Accords no guarantee of peace

The peace deals between the government and the Taliban militants in both Swat and Bajaur are being questioned by the locals as the details become public knowledge

By Mushtaq Yusufzai

People in Bajaur and Swat have begun to question the rationale behind the peace accords signed with Taliban. If the government had to negotiate with them, finally, why launch massive military operations, killing hundreds of people and wiping away entire villages, they ask. These accords, they argue, have not stopped militants from pursuing their activities; rather they have allowed them to carry out their activities with impunity and stopped the government from taking action against the militants.

An interesting aspect of the whole peace restoration episode was the role played by Maulana Sufi Mohammad, the founding chief of Tanzime Nifaze Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM). Maulana was assigned the task to bring the two warring sides -- NWFP government and Maulana Fazlullah-led Swati Taliban -- to the negotiating table to ink yet another truce.

The former President Pervez Musharraf had blamed Sufi Mohammad-led banned TNSM for misleading the people of Malakand and taking them to Afghanistan to fight, alongside Taliban, with the well-equipped US-led forces in 2001. Sufi Mohammad is also held responsible for the killings of hundreds of his colleagues whom he had abandoned in the distant parts of northern Afghanistan while he, along with his son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah and a few close aides and relatives, preferred to return home without fighting US-led forces. Critics also believe it was Sufi Mohammad who militarised the peaceful Swat Valley and adjoining districts in Malakand.

"The government has provided an opportunity to Maulana Sufi Mohammad to redeem himself by restoring his image which was badly damaged when he took thousands of young people to Afghanistan for jihad. Many of these 'soldiers' were killed or made hostage by the Afghan warlords," said a Mingora-based local journalist, who wished not to be named.

Before bringing the two warring factions to the negotiating table, Sufi Mohammad promised the government he would convince his son-in-law and former pupil, Maulana Fazlullah and his fighters to lay down arms if the government announced Nizam-e-Adl Regulation.

Sufi Mohammad, known for his rigid stance, succeeded to some degree in bringing peace and achieving Shariah for the seven districts of Malakand region and Kohistan of Hazara division -- Swat, Dir Upper, Dir Lower, Chitral, Buner, Shangla and Kohistan in Hazara. In all these areas neither the militants nor TNSM is in majority. Analysts believe that the demand for Shariah or Nizam-e-Adl in these areas is an attempt by the two militant organisations to strengthen their roots and gain sympathies of the people of these areas.

Senior journalist Nisar Mahmud, who hails from Dir Lower district, opined that TNSM has never been a unanimous voice of the people of Malakand region. But, he said, it always gave an impression of being the lone representative organisation of the people of these mountainous districts.

Irrespective of the consequences of the accord, the government, Swati Taliban and TNSM have, for now, agreed to a 17-point plan to bring back lasting peace to the valley. All the three signatories of the accord -- TNSM, militants and the government -- have each promised to adhere to the peace deal reached with the announcement of Nizam-e-Adl.

Besides getting their key demands approved, the militants have benefited from the deal, especially with commitments like: end to the military operation; removal of roadside checkpoints; release of the detained militants; compensation to militants and locals for the losses due to violence and instability; and most importantly replacing of all civil and sessions courts with Islamic ones. They government has been forced to accept these demands in black and white.

Other points of the agreement are:

1. Action against drug peddlers will be initiated.

2. Measures will be taken to end obscenity.

3. A robust campaign against bribe-taking will be launched.

4. A ban will be placed on sale of obscene CDs.

5. Shops will be closed for prayers.

6. Expulsion of prostitutes and their pimps (from the valley).

7. Action against hoarders and those shopkeepers fleecing people will be started.

8. A special campaign to raise awareness regarding crimes will be launched.

9. A timely action on people's complaints.

10. The establishment of a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts.

11. Initiation of teachings of Quran in all jails and steps for their rehabilitation.

12. All Ulema will be persuaded to work for inter-faith harmony and take part in drive for this purpose.

13. Measures must be taken to restore people's confidence in police stations.

14. Banishment of all corrupt police officers from Malakand division.

15. A complaint-box must be fixed outside every officer's office.

16. Women must be given their due share in inheritance.

17. Protection of the rights of employers and employees be ensured.

The major achievement for the militants was the establishment of Qazi courts in Malakand division and Kohistan district.

Interestingly, it was Sufi Mohammad and representatives of the Swat militants who gave approval of the selection of seven Qazis or judges appointed by the government for Qazi courts in Mingora.

Amir Izzat, a spokesman for TNSM, told TNS that the government has promised Sufi Mohammad that only those Qazis will be allowed to attend Qazi courts who meet his criteria. Interestingly, Sufi Muhammad will have the self-proclaimed authority to change Qazis if they failed to decide cases "in line with Shariah." Also, the representatives of TNSM and Swat Taliban will monitor court proceedings in courtrooms making this judicial system a farce, Izzat added. Under the Nizam-e-Adl, Darul Qaza will be the final court. No individual from Malakand and Kohistan will have the right to appeal in Peshawar High Court or Supreme Court against the verdicts of the Qazi Court.

The government has also signed peace accord with Taliban militants led by Maulvi Faqir Mohammad and three major tribes of Bajaur tribal region. A massive military operation was launched against Taliban in Bajaur in Aug 2008, involving Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jetfighters, military gunship helicopters and artillery guns. It was the longest-ever military campaign against militants in the lawless tribal regions of the country.

Around 1500 militants, according to Army officials, were killed in the operation and their hideouts destroyed. As compared to Swat, the military operation inflicted more damage to civilian population and their properties in Bajaur. Around 500,000 tribesmen were dislocated due to heavy bombing by warplanes and fierce fighting between the security forces and militants. Dozens of villages in Charmang, Nawagai, Kotkai, Inayat Kalley and Mahmond were grounded. Like Swat, residents of Bajaur were also shocked because not a single militant commander was killed, injured or captured during the entire military campaign.

Through the peace accord, the government has promised to stop military operation, scrapping of all roadside checkpoints and search of vehicles for militants, release of the detained militants and their proper compensation. The Maulvi Faqir-led militants have also agreed not to obstruct the movement and deployment of the army troops anywhere in Bajaur.

In his 40-miniute speech on his illegal FM radio after signing the peace accord, Maulvi Faqir said: "We and the Army are the same but some selfish people created differences between us." Faqir announced ceasefire and signed truce in the interest of the country and the nation, as war was no solution to the conflict.

Maulvi Faqir, deputy leader of TTP, also proclaimed his men would not attack the security forces and government installations, particularly schools in Bajaur. Besides other damages to government installations, 45 government schools, both boys' and girls', had been destroyed in the fighting in Bajaur. There were also reports, denied by government officials, that a huge monetary compensation has been given to the Taliban.

A leading member of negotiating team that brokered truce, Malik Abdul Aziz, told TNS on telephone from Bajaur that a ten-member committee, comprising government and military officials, tribal elders and Taliban commanders would look after the 28-point peace agreement to promote peace in the region. He said the agreement called for the Taliban to end fighting, lay down weapons, and surrender its senior leaders, including Faqir Mohammad, who would later be pardoned.

Other points of the agreement are as follow:

1. All Taliban groups are to be abolished.

2. Taliban members are to surrender to their tribes, who ensure that they will not continue fighting.

3. The tribes would surrender Bajaur Taliban leader Faqir Mohammad and three other leaders to the government, who then would be pardoned and allow to live peacefully if they promised not to fight against the government forces.

4. The Taliban fighters are to lay down their weapons and stop brandishing of weapons.

5. The Taliban must end attacks on government forces and installations.

6. Militants would not establish parallel governments.

7. The Taliban must recognise and abide by the writ of the government.

8. Foreign elements would not be given shelter in Bajaur and people would not rent homes or compounds to foreigner militants.

9. The Bajaur tribal region would not be used for sabotage activities.

10. The Taliban cannot establish training camps.

11. The tribes must prevent all cross-border movement into Afghanistan.

12. The tribes must not allow the Taliban to interference with the affairs of other countries.

13. Security forces and government officials have the right to move in the region and may retaliate if attacked.

14. Security forces and the government will not tolerate anti-government propaganda.

15. All Islamic seminaries must be registered with the government.

16. Security would be provided to foreign contractors.

Despite all these developments, the displaced tribesmen currently living in miserable conditions in refugee camps are reluctant to return to their villages.

They said the basic infrastructure in Bajaur has been destroyed in the fighting and that the peace process was still fragile.

"We would not return until and unless a permanent peace is restored to the volatile region," Shah Mahmud, a resident of Charmang town said.


Top of the class

With a new world record of 22 As in A Levels, Ali Moeen Nawazish has become Pakistan's pride

By Reja Mateen

Ali Moeen Nawazish is naturally gifted. The Pakistani student has made it to the Guinness book of records by appearing for 23 advanced level subjects from Roots School System, two of which were at the Advanced Subsidiary level, and securing 22 A grades in his A-level Cambridge examinations. He was also the top candidate in the world, in ordinary level Computer Studies in June 2006, and top candidate in Pakistan in advanced level Computer Studies and Applied Information and Communications Technology in June 2008.

While his grand achievement has gone almost unnoticed in his home country, Ali has become the most sought after Pakistani with the likes of BBC and CNN lining up to interview him. Everyone wants to know how he was able to almost score twice number of the previous world record of 13 As: What was his routine? How much did he study? What was his technique? As his schoolmate and then student, I can share the other side of his life that includes interests in a diverse range of activities from cars to watching television soaps to singing and playing piano and guitar.

Some of the questions he is usually asked include the secret of his intelligence? Was he extra intelligent, hard working or simply lucky? In my personal experience I found him to be a helpful and humorous person, quite unlike other intelligent people who never share their knowledge or lack the wit. Apart from that, he was amazing as a teacher. He went out of the way for his students to understand their syllabus and took classes seven days a week without making it difficult for them. He taught not to make money but to share his knowledge with other students.

Like other boys of his age, he enjoys life too with activities like driving his customised civic-cum-sports-car. He is fun to be with. In the class-room he made sarcastic yet funny barbs at us. There are many amusing incidents to recall during my experience with him.

Even after the huge honour, Ali remains modest and down to earth; a person who practices the teachings of his religion in a true sense. He still believes that he does not deserve to be a role model or an inspiration. Ali Moeen is a true youth icon also substantiated by a popular fan club on Facebook. He has undoubtedly set a blazing trail for the youth to follow, and almost next to impossible to break.

It was saddening to see that Pakistani media ignored him until he was interviewed by international media. But now he is the hottest story for almost every news channel and newspaper. The boy has made the country proud and is studying at Trinity Hall, Cambridge University on a scholarship. Ali has also been interviewed by almost every news channel and newspaper besides being invited as a guest on Kamran Khan's show which gave him all the projection he deserved. He has also been recently asked to star in the famous Geo TV programme 'Ek Din Geo Ke Saath' with Sohail Warraich.

Former Chief Minister Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, honoured Ali Moeen and his teachers, whose tireless efforts transformed the schoolboy into the genius he is today. Ali has also been awarded by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani with a cash prize of Rs1 million on his students' recognition day. The Prime Minister also offered Ali to spend time with him at Prime Minister's House.

There are many students like Ali except that they do not have the proper resources. Consequently, their abilities stay untapped. At present, when terrorism is the only 'famous' thing about Pakistan, Ali has provided us with an achievement making all of us proud. Let us hope he proves to be an asset and continues to make accomplishments that raise the bar higher and higher.

 

RIPPLE EFFECT

Spying in America

By Omar R. Quraishi

When you read a title such as the one above you normally would think of the Soviets, now Russians, the North Koreans, the Iranians or the Cubans -- but would you ever think of the Israelis? Perhaps you should.

Alternet (www.alternet.org) is an excellent internet resource for those who are interested in the latest news about America, Europe and indeed the rest of the world, something you cannot find in The New York Times, The Washington Post or Times. This past week, while trawling through the website, I came upon an excellent article -- surely the kind you will never find in the mainstream American press.

Titled 'Breaking the Taboo on Israel's spying efforts on the United States' by Christopher Ketcham (who has written for Harper's, Vanity Fair, Salon, GQ, Counterpunch and several other magazines and websites), the article breaks down several myths. And before going into some of the things he has spoken off, I would like to clarify that what he writes isn't really conspiracy theories. It is more along the lines of investigative journalism. In fact, I myself would be the last journalist in this country to speak of a Zionist conspiracy against Islam or Pakistan or believe a story of 4,000 Jewish people not showing up to work at their WTC offices on the morning of Sept 11 or blaming RAW/MOSSAD/CIA for everything bad that happens in Pakistan or the Islamic world.

According to Ketcham, Israel runs one of the "most aggressive and damaging espionage networks" targeting America. The irony is that discussion and debate in the public sphere on this is virtually zero. Asks a counterintelligence officer in the US government, Ketcham claims, and he will say that Israel is no friend of America.

Before getting into the details of spying activists that Ketcham talks about, one may ask, why there is no public debate in America on this issue. The answer can be found in the very strong hold that several Israeli lobbying groups exercise over members of the US Congress. Any government representative or senator who takes an independent view of Israel -- speaking out against its perceived interference in American politics and in shaping that country's policy agenda -- is brought to heel by these lobbying groups and by some sections of the mainstream media. The tactic usually used is to equate questioning of Israel's status in the US policy matrix with unequivocal support for the Palestinian cause, even if that may not be at all the reality. Because of this, the issue itself becomes sensitive. And because of this kind of atmosphere, a kind of 'void' is created, one where "facts should sit" but which is instead filled with "hallucinations of conspiracy theory".

The effect, according to Ketcham, is "the less the truth is addressed, the more noxious the falsity that spreads". So, in a way, the lobby not only manages to stifle any valid questioning of Israel's apparent disproportionate influence in Washington but, by doing so, it creates a situation where any attempt to debate and/or examine/scrutinise this special relationship is relegated to the realm of conspiracy theory.

The fact of the matter is that if one looks at the case of naval intelligence officer (and a Jewish American) Jonathan Pollard in detail, it will become evident that Israel's spying in America is a well-documented fact. Ketcham says that every year the FBI prepares a report for Congress on economic and industrial espionage by foreign countries and that the threat posed to America by Israeli agents is second only to that from China. He adds that in 1996 the Defence Intelligence Service, an agency within the US Defence Department, issued a warning that for Israeli intelligence services the "collection of scientific intelligence in the US" was the "third highest priority" -- after information on Israel's Arab neighbours and information on secret US policies or decisions related to Israel.

Wiretapping and bugging are routine methods adopted by intelligence agencies of practically every country. You expect the Pakistani embassy in New Delhi to be bugged by the Indians and vice versa in Islamabad. But you don't expect the Pakistanis to bug the Chinese embassy in Islamabad. This, apparently, is a norm between America and Israel, especially in US embassies in Middle Eastern countries.

To collect scientific and quasi-military intelligence, Israel has set up various enterprises and some of these instances have in fact been documented, says the writer. For example, he writes, the national Israeli airline El Al, is often the conduit of such agents into the US as has been Zim, an Israeli shipping company. Another example he mentions is an undercover operation that penetrated an American company which was providing weapons-grade uranium to the US Defence Department. As a result of this, Israeli agents managed to basically steal and take to Israel around 80 kilogrammes of uranium.

More intriguing are the claims by a best-selling author, journalist and expert on the subject, James Bamford, in his recent book The Shadow Factory. He claims that because of the way many Israeli technology firms have developed joint operations with hi-tech American firms, much of what the super-secret National Security Agency (NSA) does and collect is possibly exposed to Israeli eyes and ears as well.

Israeli firms also provide technology to major American telephone providers such as AT&T and Verizon for wiretapping. (According to one estimate, these two phone companies account for 90 per cent of all communication traffic in America.) One particular firm, Verint, headed by a former Israeli intelligence officer, is believed to provide the technology to Verizon for all its wiretapping has clients (most intelligence and police services) in at least 100 countries around the world. One of the chief concerns aired by US officials is that Verint data can be accessed from anywhere in the world by those given access to it.

Bamford claims in his book that the management of Verint, in fact of all other such Israeli firms, maintain close connections with the Israeli intelligence services and that this is limited to not just Mossad or Shin Bet (the internal security service) but also to Unit 8200 -- part of the IDF and thought to be Israel's own version of the NSA. One of Israel's biggest newspapers, Haaretz, says that the technology used by most Israeli communication companies and offered to American and other firms is based directly on technology that was developed by Unit 8200 of the Israeli army. So what is the end result? The entire US communications traffic is bugged by companies that have close links to Israeli intelligence services and, worse still, the US government has no legal oversight of these companies. Even the contracts that these companies have with the NSA are considered out of legislative bounds and kept secret because they are passed off as trade secrets, Bamford writes. He also mentions another Israeli company, NICE Systems, which, he says, is "a major eavesdropper in the US" and which keeps its government and commercial client list "very secret". NICE too was set up by former officers of Unit 8200 and showed up at least once on US counterintelligence radar. Between 2000 and 2001 CIA and FBI agents invested allegations that Israeli nationals posing as 'art students' were in fact spies. It was found out that at least one such 'art student' was a NICE employee.

Ketcham says that both the Australian and the Dutch intelligence services, since 2002, have approached the Americans with concerns over Verint. So, again, Israel's potential for spying is a matter of record. He cites a story in C'T, a respected technology and computing magazine published in The Netherlands, which said that "all tapping equipment" of the Dutch intelligence services and "half the tapping equipment" of the national police force was "insecure and is leaking information to Israel". He says that Australian lawmakers actually confronted Verint on the remote access of data to which Verint promised that it would not be done again implying that it was done nonetheless. Again, the worrying thing is that this is not the route adopted by the US Congress, which is stifled by an array of pro-Israeli lobbying groups and a culture which clamps down on any talk which debates the US-Israel relationship.

Perhaps the words of former CIA counterterrorism officer Philip Giraldi say it all: "Most of the people in the agency were very concerned about Israeli espionage and Israeli actions against US interests. Everybody was aware of it. Everybody hated it. But they wouldn't get promoted if they spoke out. Israel has a privileged position and that's the way things are. It's crazy. And everybody knows it's crazy".

The writer is Editorial Pages Editor of The News. Email: omarq@cyber.net.pk

 


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