Loud Thinking

Archive for the ‘International Affairs’ Category

Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon,

Greetings.

Pakistan is extremely grateful for your visit, particularly for being the chief guest at our Independence Day celebrations, on 14th August 2013.

As it may be already very well in your knowledge that UN has described the 8,00,000 Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, being tortured, displaced, faced travel and trade limitations, murders, now Rohingya Muslims face child-limitation policies as well.

Similarly, over 10 million Kashmiri Muslim population living since 1947 under Indian occupation forces, are the most persecuted MAJORITY in the world. The list of humanly unimaginable atrocities perpetrated for the last almost seven decades, is so long that its compilation will be more voluminous, than the final print edition of 2010 of 32-volume set of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

However, just to refresh the serious human rights violations committed by the Indian military, para military and other forces on the Kashmiri Muslim unarmed children, ladies and men, a very concise but an eye opening report compiled from the wikipedia is submitted as below:

“This article is about Human rights abuses in Indian-administered portion of Kashmir.

Human rights abuses

Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir, a disputed territory administered by India, are an ongoing issue. The abuses range from mass killings, forced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse to political repression and suppression offreedom of speech. The Indian central reserve police force, border security personnel and various militant groups have been accused and held accountable for committing severe human rights abuses against Kashmiri civilians. A WikiLeaks issue accused India of systemic human rights abuses, it stated that US diplomats possessed evidence of the apparent wide spread use of torture by Indian police and security forces.

A US state government finding reports that the Indian army in Jammu and Kashmir, has carried out extrajudicial killings of innocent civilians.

In 2010, statistics presented to the Indian government’s Cabinet Committee on Security showed that for the first time since the 1980s, the number of civilian deaths attributed to the Indian forces was higher than those attributed to terrorist actions.

Thousands of Kashmiris have reported to be killed by Indian security forces in custody, extradjudicial executions and enforced disappearances and these human right violations are said to be carried out by Indian security forces under total impunity. Civilians including women and children have been killed in “reprisal” attacks by Indian security forces and as a “collective punishment” villages and neighbourhoods have been burn down and women raped.

International NGO’s as well as the US State Department have documented human rights abuses including disappearances, torture and arbitrary executions carried out during India’s counter terrorism operations. United Nations has expressed serious concerns over large number of killings by Indian security forces.

Human Rights groups have also accused the Indian security forces of using child soldiers, although the Indian government denies this allegation. Torture, widely used by Indian security, the severity described as beyond comprehension by amnesty international has been responsible for the huge number of deaths in custody.

The Telegraph, citing a WikiLeaks report quotes the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that Indian security forces were physically abusing detainees by beatings, electrocutions and sexual interference. These detainees weren’t Islamic insurgents or Pakistani-backed insurgents but civilians, in contrast to India’s continual allegations of Pakistani involvement. The detainees were “connected to or believed to have information about the insurgents”. According to ICRC, 681 of the 1296 detainees whom it interviewed claimed torture.

US officials have been quoted reporting “terrorism investigations and court cases tend to rely upon confessions, many of which are obtained under duress if not beatings, threats, or in some cases torture.

Amnesty International accused security forces of exploiting the Armed Forces Special Powers Act that enables them to “hold prisoners without trial”. The group argues that the law, which allows security to detain individuals for as many as two years “without presenting charges, violating prisoners’ human rights”.

Indian Army

The soldiers of the 4th Rajputana Rifles of the Indian Army on 23 February 1991 launched a search operation in a village Kunan Poshpora, in the Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir and allegedly gang raped 53 women of all ages. Human Rights organizations including Human Rights Watch have reported that the number of raped women could be as high as 100. The Indian Army is also accused of many massacres such as Bomai Killing, 2009, Gawakadal massacre,2006 Kulgam massacre, Zakoora And Tengpora Massacre, 1990, Sopore massacre. They also didn‘t spared the health care system of the valley. The major hospitals witnessed the crackdowns and army men even entered the operation theatres in search of terrorist patients.

Border Security Force

On 22 October 1993, the 13th Battalion of the Border Security Forces was accused of arbitrarily firing on a crowd and killing 37 civilians in Bijbehara. The number of reported dead and wounded vary by source. Amnesty International reported that at least 51 people died and 200 were wounded on that day.

The Indian government conducted two official enquiries and the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC) conducted a third. In March 1994 the government indicted the Border Security Force (BSF) for firing into the crowd “without provocation” and charged 13 BSF officers with murder. In another incident which took place at Handwara on 25 January 1990, 9 protesters where killed by the same unit.

Central Reserve Police Force

During the Amarnath land transfer controversy more than 40 unarmed protesters were killed by the personnels of Central Reserve Police Force. At least 300 were detained under Public Safety Act, including teenagers. The same practice was again repeated by the personnels of the Central Reserve Police Force, during the 2010 Kashmir Unrest, which resulted in 112 deaths, including many teenager protesters at various incidents.

Special Operations Group

The Special Operations Group was raised in 1994 for counter terrorism. A volunteer force, mainly came for promotions and cash rewards, comprising police officers and policemen from the Jammu and Kashmir Police. The group is accused of torture and custodial killings. A Senior Superintendent of this group and his deputy are among the 11 personnels, who were convicted for a fake encounter, which killed a local carpenter, and was labelled as a millitant to get the promotions and rewards.

Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958

Main article: Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958

In July 1990 Indian Armed Forces were given special powers under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) that gives protection to Indian Armed Forces personnel from being prosecuted. The law provides them a shield, when committing human rights violations and has been criticised by Human Rights Watch as being wrongly used by the forces. This law is widely condemned by human rights groups. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay has urged India to repeal AFSPA and to investigate the disappearances in Kashmir.

“All three special laws in force in the state assist the government in shielding the perpetrators of human rights violations from prosecution, and encourage them to act with impunity. Provisions of the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act clearly contravene international human rights standards laid down in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as members of the UN Human Rights Committee have pointed out. One Committee member felt that provisions of the act – including imunity from prosecution – were highly dangerous and encouraged violations of the right to life“.

—A clipping from a report published by the Amnesty International, 1995.

According to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), in an area that is proclaimed as “disturbed”, an officer of the armed forces has powers to:

Fire upon or use other kinds of force even if it causes death, against the person who is acting against law or order in the disturbed area for the maintenance of public order, after giving such due warning.

Destroy any arms dump, prepared or fortified position or shelter or training camp from which armed attacks are made by the armed volunteers or armed gangs or absconders wanted for any offence.

To arrest without a warrant anyone who has committed cognizable offences or is reasonably suspected of having done so and may use force if needed for the arrest.

To enter and search any premise in order to make such arrests, or to recover any person wrongfully restrained or any arms, ammunition or explosive substances and seize it.
Stop and search any vehicle or vessel reasonably suspected to be carrying such person or weapons.

Any person arrested and taken into custody under this Act shall be made over to the officer in charge of the nearest police station with the least possible delay, together with a report of the circumstances occasioning the arrest.

Army officers have legal immunity for their actions. There can be no prosecution, suit or any other legal proceeding against anyone acting under that law. Nor is the government’s judgment on why an area is found to be disturbed subject to judicial review.
Protection of persons acting in good faith under this Act from prosecution, suit or other legal proceedings, except with the sanction of the Central Government, in exercise of the powers conferred by this Act.

Fake encounters

According to the Srinagar-based Association of Parents of Displaced Persons (APDP), a minimum of 8,000 people have disappeared since the insurgency began. In February 2003, the government of India-administered Kashmir, led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, told the state legislative assembly that 3,744 people were missing.

Hundreds of civilian’s including women and children have been reported to be extrajudicially executed by Indian security forces and killings concealed as fake encounters. Despite government denial, Indian security officials have reportedly confessed to human right watch of widespread occurrence of fake encounters and its encouragement for awards and promotions. According to a BBC interview with an anonymous security person, ‘fake encounter’ killings are those in which security personnel kill someone in cold blood while claiming that the casualty occurred in a gun battle. It also asserts that the security personnel are Kashmiris and “even surrendered militants”.

In 2010 three men were reported missing proceeding these missing reports 3 men claimed to be militants were killed in a staged gun battle the army also claimed they had found Pakistani currency among the dead. The major was subsequently suspended and a senior soldier transferred from his post. In 2011, a Special Police Officer and an Indian Army Jawan were charged by the Kashmir police for murder of a civilian whom the duo had killed in an encounter claiming that he was a top Lashkar-e-Taiba militant.

Disappearances

Indian security forces have been implicated in many reports for enforced disappearances of thousands of Kashmiris where the security forces deny having their information and/or custody. This is often in association with torture or extrajudicial killing. The number of men disappeared have been so many to have a new term “half-widows” for their wives who end up impoverished. Human right activists estimate the number of disappeared over eight thousand, last seen in government detention.These are believed to be dumped in thousands of mass graves across Kashmir.

Mass graves

Mass graves have been identified all over Kashmir by human right activists believed to contain bodies of thousands of Kashmiris of enforced disappearances. A state human rights commission inquiry confirmed there are thousands of bullet-ridden bodies buried in unmarked graves in Jammu and Kashmir. Of the 2730 bodies uncovered in 4 of the 14 districts, 574 bodies were identified as missing locals in contrast to the Indian governments insistence that all the graves belong to foreign militants. According to a new deposition submitted by Parvez Imroz and his field workers asserted that the total number of unmarked graves were about 6,000. The British parliament commented on the recent discovery and expressed its sadness and regret of over 6,000 unmarked graves. Christof Heyns, a special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, has warned India that “all of these draconian laws had no place in a functioning democracy and should be scrapped.”

Extrajudicial killings by security personnel

In a 1994 report, Human Rights Watch described summary executions of detainees as a “hallmark” of counter-insurgency operations by Indian security forces in Kashmir. The report further stated that such extrajudicial killings were often administered within hours of arrest, and were carried out not as aberrations but as a “matter of policy”. In a 1995 report, Amnesty International stated that hundred of civilians had been victims of such killings, which were often claimed by officers as occurring during “encounters” or “cross-fire”. A 2010 US state department report cited extrajudicial killings by security forces in areas of conflict such as Kashmir as a major human rights problem in India.

Suicide

According to a report, 17,000 people mostly women have committed suicide during the last 20 years in the Valley. According to a study by the Medecins Sans Frontieres,
“Women in Kashmir have suffered enormously since the separatist struggle became violent in 1989–90. Like the women in other conflict zones, they have been raped, tortured, maimed and killed. A few of them were even jailed for years together. Kashmiri women are among the worst sufferers of sexual violence in the world. ‘Sexual violence has been routinely perpetrated on Kashmiri women, with 11.6% of respondents saying they were victims of sexual abuse’,”

At the beginning of the insurgency there were 1200 patients in the valley‘s sole mental hospital. The hospital is now overcrowded with more than 100,000 patients.”

Mr. Secretary General, in view of the above extracts compiled by the International organisations, governments and the UNO, there is no doubt that the entire freedom loving world is witnessing a perpetual worst ever human rights violations (never witnessed by the humanity on this planet on a majority population of an specific area) by the Indian forces facilitated by the Indian government with the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), about which the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay has urged India to repeal AFSPA and to investigate the disappearances in Kashmir.
In view of the foregoing your Excellency is urgently requested to advise Indian government to immediately implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 47, adopted on April 21, 1948 and instructed the UN Commission to go to the subcontinent and help the governments of India and Pakistan restore peace and order to the region and prepare for a plebiscite to decide the fate of Kashmir.

As a first step India must withdraw over 7,00,000 forces personnel from occupied Kashmir. Remember, nowhere in the world repeat nowhere in the world so much troops are posted for just about 12.5 million population.

However, if the Indian government declines your request, the UN must come to the rescue of the most persecuted majority population of an specific area on this planet Earth; and initiate war crimes proceedings, on the pattern of Nuremberg war crimes tribunal, against all the Indian civil, military and other forces personnel, about whom all the crimes of GENOCIDE on Kashmiri people are very well documented in the archives of International Human Rights Organisations, world governments and the United Nations.

YOUR EXCELLENCY, LET NOT THE POSTERITY DOCUMENT THAT YOU SIDED WITH THE HOLOCAUST OFFENDERS OF INDIA AND FAILED TO USE YOUR INFLUENCE TO STOP GENOCIDE OF INNOCENT KIDS, WOMEN AND MEN DEMANDING THEIR LEGAL AND MORAL RIGHT OF SELF DETERMINATION.

REMEMBER KASHMIRI PEOPLE ARE NOT ASKING FOR THE MOON.

Best regards,

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

The fox is out of the bag..!

And the Indian government and the politicians had the guts to talk about minority rights in Pakistan.

May be one day the secrets of the Indian Parliament and Mumbai attacks will also unfold as false flags to corner and pressurise Pakistan..???

A Times of India eye opening report dated 4 April, 2014.

NEW DELHI: An elaborate sting operation, conducted on 23 key people of the Ram Janambhoomi movement, claims that the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, was elaborately planned by the various wings of the Sangh parivar and executed with precision by trained volunteers. It wasn’t, as it is claimed, a case of mob frenzy going out of control, leading to the fall of the disputed 16th century structure.

The investigation, carried out by Cobrapost, claims that by piecing together the versions given by the top Ram Janambhhomi players, among them Sakshi Maharaj, Acharya Dharmendra, Uma Bharti, Mahant Vedanti and Vinay Katiyar, it is apparent that top BJP leaders like L K Advani and the then UP chief minister Kalyan Singh, as well the former Congress PM, P V Narasimha Rao, were aware of the planned demolition of Babri Masjid. TOI has no independent confirmation of these claims, or whether the purported confessions are accurate or not.

Posing as a would-be-author researching his book on the Ayodhya movement, Cobrapost associate editor K Ashish travelled to Ayodhya, Faizabad, Tanda, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Mathura, Moradabad in UP, Jaipur, Aurangabad, Mumbai and Gwalior interviewing 23 of those who participated in the operation. He clandestinely recorded conversations with them.

If what they claim is true, the Ram Janambhoomi leaders and activists toiled secretly for months on a plan codenamed ‘Operation Janmabhoomi’ and executed it with military precision. Volunteers were trained, logistics painstakingly put in place and the assault on the disputed shrine launched using large surging crowds with volunteers skilled in demolishing structures embedded in it.

Not only do those interviewed spell out details of the planning, they also allegedly reveal how enthusiastic young participants were deliberately used as cannon fodder by provoking a police firing on kar sevaks in 1990 because of the belief of some leaders that the movement would not gather steam unless ‘some Hindus die’.

Many of those interviewed by the make-believe author are accused in CBI cases pertaining to the demolition. Yet, they seemed to have no qualms in “confessing” (or boasting) about their role in the episode that left a deep communal schism in India.

Some of those interviewed were, B L Sharma Prem, Dharmendra Singh Gurjar, Jai Bhagwan Goel, Pawan Pandey, Santosh Dubey, Ramji Gupta, Ramesh Pratap Singh, Sadhavi Ritambhara, Kalyan Singh, Prakash Sharma, Champat Rai Bansal, Satish Pradhan, Mahant Avaidyanath, Moreshwar Save, Lallu Singh, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and Swami Nritya Gopal Das.
Their versions make it appear that the plot to demolish the mosque was hatched amid utmost secrecy. Those recruited for training weren’t told their mission till a month ahead of Babri’s fall. At Sarkhej, Gujarat, Bajrang Dal conducted a month-long training in June 1992 for 38 of its cadre from different regions. The trainers were retired high-ranking military officers, while Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Acharya Dharmendra, Praveen Togadia, Jaibhan Paweya and Ashok Singhal held indoctrination sessions.

In subsequent drills at Neela Teela the cadre learnt skills such as climbing tall structures using grappling hooks and ropes. At a top-secret meeting in the basement of Ram Katha Manch, top VHP office bearers asked this band of 38 to form a Laxman Sena specifically to tear down the disputed structure.

Ramesh Pratap Singh recalls, “Five of those who trained at these camps attended this meeting. The sixth person was Ramji Gupta and there was Durg Singh Chauhan. After the meeting, this office bearer told us Durg Singh will be our contact point and he’ll coordinate all meetings. Decide what you want, how you will form it (Laxman Sena). Thereafter, the office bearer disappeared.” The VHP office bearer he mentions was Champat Rai Bansal.

While the VHP and Bajrang Dal were holding a secret meeting at Ayodhya to plan the Babri assault, Sena leaders too were deliberating on the fate of the shrine in North Avenue. Save and Pradhan, among others, attended the meeting. If everything failed, Sena had a plan B: Dynamite Babri.

Claims Goel: “Humare paas dynamite bhi thha, hum dynamite bhi lekar gaye thhe wahan par agar zaroorat padti usko bhi chala dete iss taiyari se gaye the hum (We were carrying dynamite. If the need arose, we had gone prepared to use it).” In 1990, Sena’s Suresh Baghel had tried this, but his attempt was foiled and he was arrested with 28 dynamite sticks.

In the end, petrol bombs were apparently used. Former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh was seen planting a petrol bomb by fellow karsevak Jaibhan Singh Paweya. Here’s what Paweya claims: “Ek petrol bomb do baje koi lekar aaya jo eent mein lagane ke baad dhuan nikal kar reh gaya uske baad hila bhi nahi … Brij Bhushan laya thha arre petrol bomb (Somebody brought a petrol bomb around 2 pm and planted it between the bricks. It didn’t work, only released some smoke. Brij Bhushan brought the petrol bomb).”

Apart from petrol bombs, the Bajrang Dal forward squad used chisels, hammers, pickaxes, spades and grappling ropes to bring down the shrine.

There were two determined attempts to demolish the shrine – first in October 1990 and the second in December 1992. The first attempt ended in police firing in which karsevaks died. Recounting the incident, Sakshi Maharaj says VHP leader Ashok Singhal was to blame for it.

“In front of me, Singhal told Maharaj (Vamdev), the movement won’t gain momentum unless some people die. Maharaj Vamdev said it’d be disastrous if children die. Singhal again said the movement won’t get a fillip until they die.” Sakshi claims well-known karsevaks like the Kothari brothers from Bengal and Mahendra Singh of Rajastan were targeted by police at the behest of vested interests spearheading the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.

Uma Bharti blames Vinay Katiyar for the killing of Kothari brothers: “Jo log marey thhe wo Vinay ki galti se. Galti bhi nahi wo bhagdar machi, wo gali chhoti thhi. Galti matlab wo bhag gaya chhodkar bhag gaya (They got killed because of Vinay’s mistake. A stampede began and the lane was narrow…I mean he fled the scene abandoning his group).

Sensing the do-or-die mood of Ram bhakts in Ayodhya, a sankalp, or oath was administered. The task of initiating the oath fell on Ram Vilas Vedanti. The vow said: “On this day of December 6 we Ram bhakts take this oath on the premises of Ram Lalla that it is necessary to remove the structure from where it stands to make a grand temple. It is necessary to remove the structure to make a Ram Janmabhoomi Temple. We take this oath for Ram Lalla.” Immediately after the oath, the Babri assault began.

Some leaders at the forefront of the movement, like Vinay Katiyar, B L Sharma, Santosh Dubey, Sakshi Maharaj and Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti openly acknowledge the then prime minister Narasimha Rao’s ‘supportive role’.

The then CM Kalyan Singh apparently knew of the demolition plan. Mahant Vedanti claims to have informed him about it a day before: “Paanch December ki raat ko hi Kalyan Singh ke paas samachar bhej diya gaya thha aur usmein ye kaha gaya tha ki yadi awashayakta padti hai toh dhancha bhi tod diya jayega aapko kya bhoomika nirwah karni hai vichar kar lijye (On the night of December 5 Kalyan was informed. He was told that if need be the structure would be felled. You decide what you’d do).”

Apparently, Kalyan Singh made up his mind to resign on December 6 morning, when he came to know the assault on the structure had begun, but senior leaders like H V Sheshadri and Murli Manohar Joshi dissuaded him, while BJP leaders in Lucknow made him captive the whole day until a clean job of the mosque had been made.

The big three and the scrawny seven

By Shamshad Ahmad
Thursday, January 30, 2014
From Print Edition of the daily “The News”.

This is unbelievable. They want to divide world cricket on the basis of money-making clout and credentials. A surreptitious plan by the so-called ‘Big Three’ or B-3 to assume a monopolistic role in pursuit of their lust for power and money reminds one of the ancient Chinese curse ‘may you live in interesting times’, which could perhaps never have been more relevant than to these times when three most influential countries – which claim to be champions of democracy and equality – seem to have joined hands in opting for the most undemocratic means to acquire arbitrary control over world cricket.

We, indeed, seem to be witnessing ‘interesting’ times which are also times of troubles. Money is the endgame. If the Big Three succeed, it will be nothing but a new apartheid – neo-colonial adventurism in sports. At the very onset of this new millennium, it is disgusting to see self-centred retrogressive forces at full backward ‘silly’ swing in cricket. India’s Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) seems to be behind this whole sinister plan.

Cricket’s power-brokers met in Dubai this week amid an apparent threat from India to withdraw from major global events unless there is radical reform of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The Indians managed to take Australia and England on board in formulating a draft plan – the self-avowed B-3 – that seeks for their cricket boards’ arbitrary decision-making powers and also creation of two ‘divisions’ for Test cricket. This doesn’t affect their own status because of their known commercial importance and also because between they represent the game’s wealthiest nations.

If they succeed, the B-3 will not only control the five-member executive committee atop the board in charge of all policy but also will be protected from relegation in a new two-tier competition, and extract vast ‘contribution costs’ that are essentially appearance fees for their participation in ICC events such as the World Cup and World T20 Cup. At stake is also the current ICC Future Tours Programme (FTP), a system that ensures that all the 10 leading nations play each other over a set period with no selectivity or exclusion, thereby guaranteeing that smaller countries aren’t starved of Test cricket in particular.

The very concept of the Big Three not only divides the cricketing nations into two unequal classes but also contemptuously reduces the other seven countries (Bangladesh, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, New Zealand, West Indies and Zimbabwe) into a non-consequential group of perhaps the ‘Scrawny Seven’ or S-7.

The B-3 by virtue of their cricketing money-power is out to grab effective control of the game’s governing body at the international level. A BCCI official at its final working committee meeting was conscientious enough to admit the plan will formalise “dadagiri” (thuggery) or bullying in cricket.

There couldn’t be greater tragedy for the game of cricket. No one with genuine cricket conscience can accept the move that makes the BCCI, Cricket Australia and the England and Wales Cricket Board a privileged ‘oligarchy’ of world cricket. They seem to have lost sense of time altogether. We are not in the 19th or 20th centuries; this is the 21st century. Other than the notorious P-5, a post-World War Two anachronism in the UN system, there is no room for any more vestiges of power. The era of colonialism and apartheid is long gone.

But the money-conscious cricketing boards of world’s three principal democracies seem to have lost not only the sense of time but also of the fundamental values and norms including the cardinal principle of sovereign equality on which is predicated the very moral edifice of today’s global order. Let us not refer to them as Australia, England and India, for that is an insult to the good folk and cricket fans in those countries. It would be appropriate to refer to them by name in alphabetical order: Mr Clarke of the EWCB, Mr Edwards of Cricket Australia, and Mr Srinivasan of the BCCI who have clandestinely produced a document that has sent the rest of the cricket world scrambling.

A vast majority of cricket fans all over the world are shocked at the BCCI’s attempted ‘dadagiri’. Perhaps it is time for the foreign ministries of these three ‘civilised’ states to give their cricketing barons a power-point presentation on the contemporary rules, laws, values and norms of international cooperation including in the field of sports. Instead of seeking to create elitist centres of power and privilege, these boards should be asked to promote greater democracy, participation, transparency and accountability in the work of the ICC.

The three self-centred cricketing boards need to understand that they are just governing bodies of cricket in their respective countries and are only affiliated to an international governing body. But the B-3 caucus is already bullying the other boards, particularly the vulnerable ones through a carrot and stick policy and also promising them of ‘benevolence’ if they become obedient followers of their planned new architecture of global cricket hierarchy.

How patronising. New Zealand and Zimbabwe already seem to have yielded to the pressure. The boards of the other five – Bangladesh, South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Pakistan – are only half-heartedly resisting the pressure.

Both South Africa, currently Test cricket’s top-ranked nation, and Sri Lanka, losing finalists against India in the last World Cup, had called for the proposal to be deferred and indeed it was taken off the table at this week’s Dubai meeting. The decision on the B-3 proposal has only been deferred, not dropped. It will now be taken up next month.

The real challenge for the aggrieved cricket boards is to act fast and in a united manner to pre-empt this controversial plan. They must coordinate among themselves and also with the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA) whose chairman Paul Marsh, the son of Australia’s great Rodney Marsh, has publicly castigated the B-3 plan which in his view will not serve the best interests of the global game.

Three former heads of the ICC also find the B-3 plan unacceptable. “Giving into blackmail never works”, said one, “what will the next demand be?” Another former ICC president questions the very integrity of the plan by exposing gross inaccuracies in its facts and figures, calling for an independent review of the document. Ironically, nowhere in the document is there any serious attempt to grapple with the underlying problems of administrative incompetence and venality within the ICC hierarchy.

In the ultimate analysis, whatever the pros and cons of the B-3 plan, its auspices are highly questionable if not malafide. Caucusing secretly, they never engendered an environment of trust or fair dealing. Instead, they seem to have brazenly signalled: OK guys, enough with the democracy, you are either with us or against us. They are sending a message to everyone in the cricket world: High ideals? Moral code? Forget it. Might is right is the new ‘spirit of cricket’.

The Pakistan Cricket Board must not take this as a simple procedural matter. It is a question of fundamental principles and values and should brook no compromise.

The writer is a former foreignsecretary.

Email: shamshad1941@yahoo.com

Shame on World Bank.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, USA and the UN Security Council must stop WB which plans to invest $2 billion in Myanmar where worlds worst genocide of Muslims is continuously taking place for the last about 2 years.

We must remember that a recent UN report has stated that “Muslims in Myanmar are the worlds most persecuted minority.”

Power to People: World Bank Group to invest US $2 billion in Myanmar to support reforms, reduce poverty, increase energy and health access

January 26, 2014

Yangon, January 26, 2014 – On his first visit to Myanmar, World Bank’s President Jim Yong Kim today announced World Bank Group plans for a US$2 billion multi-year development program. It will include projects that dramatically improve access to energy and health care for poor people and support other key government development priorities.

He announced the major increase in new financial support at a community health clinic in Yangon where he was joined by the Myanmar Minister of Health, Dr. Pe Thet Khin. They met doctors, local residents, and members of the international donor community and Kim pledged the funding will help improve the lives of the poorest people and support ongoing reforms in Myanmar.

“We are increasing our support for the huge reform effort underway in Myanmar because we want to help the government bring benefits to poor people even more quickly,” said President Kim. “Our US$2 billion dollar multi-year program will support the government’s plans to deliver universal health care to citizens and to help everyone in the country gain access to electricity by 2030.”

The World Bank Group will harness expertise and resources from IDA, IFC and MIGA to support the government’s multi-year investment program. This will include US$1 billion in Bank Group financial support to expand electricity generation, transmission and distribution. Over 70 percent of Myanmar’s people do not have access to reliable electricity.

The energy investment will also support development of a National Electrification Plan, enhance institutional capacity, and promote regulatory reforms that are critical for sustainable private sector participation. It will include support for private sector investments in power generation and distribution, as well as the scale-up of renewable energy for rural and off-grid electrification.

“Expanding access to electricity in a country like Myanmar can help transform a society – children will be able to study at night, shops will stay open, and health clinics will have lights and energy to power life-saving technology. Electricity helps brings an end to poverty,” said Kim.

IFC is partnering with the Government of Myanmar to increase efficiency in the electricity distribution sector and extend service to a greater number of end users. The World Bank Group will also pursue investments to support transparent, cost-effective private investments, and public-private joint ventures for large new power stations.

Kim said the investment will include US$200 million in IDA funding to help Myanmar achieve universal health coverage by 2030. Together with financing previously committed by other international development partners, the IDA financing will help Myanmar scale up access to quality, essential health services for women and children through results-based financing, and remove out-of-pocket payments as a barrier to health care for the poorest people.

“Everyone should have access to affordable, quality health services, and no one should be forced into poverty trying to pay for the health care they need,” he said. “The Myanmar government’s ambitious plan for universal coverage by 2030 will help ensure that every Myanmar citizen has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life.”

An estimated 75 percent of Myanmar’s mostly rural population lacks access to quality health care, and high costs place most essential services out of reach for many Myanmar families who live below the poverty line.

President Kim will attend the Second Annual Myanmar Development Forum, on Monday, January 27th, in Nay Pyi Taw where he will meet with President Thein Sein, members of the government and opposition and business leaders.

Additional Information:

· The World Bank Group’s commitment to supporting health care in Myanmar is part of a global effort to achieve universal health coverage with two global targets for universal coverage by 2030. The financial protection target is that no one will be forced into poverty due to out-of-pocket expenses for health care. The service delivery target is to double the proportion of the poorest people with access to essential health services, including maternal and child health services, communicable diseases, treatment for chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes, mental health and injuries, from 40 percent to at least 80 percent coverage.

· Increasing efficiency and capacity of existing power generation is the fastest way to improve electricity supply in a sustainable manner. The first investment credit after Bank re-engagement in Myanmar financed a $140 million electric power project to double the capacity and efficiency of gas-fired power plant in Mon State.

· Development of the country’s National Electrification Plan is also being supported by the World Bank under the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative, a jointly chaired World Bank-United Nations effort that aims to achieve universal access to electricity by 2030.

Pakistan annoyed at US bill linking aid to Dr Afridi’s release
APP and DAWN.COM

Link:-
http://www.dawn.com/news/1081551/pakistan-annoyed-at-us-bill-linking-aid-to-dr-afridis-release

As they say, one can only be insulted to the extent he permits. If the government of Pakistan is really hurt, by the US governments’ decision to make conditional, the release of assistance worth$33 million, with the release of Dr. Shakil Afridi, then the expression of mere disappointment, is just an eye wash, for the consumption of the Pakistani public.

The issue is not the withholding of the US assistance. Never ever, in the diplomatic history of the world, any nation had the guts and the guile to demand extradition of a spy, who was NOT its citizen. Rather, the spy was the very citizen of his own country, against which he acted as a traitor.

Pakistani government must NOT act and behave as a client country of the US. Even the government of a banana country would be ashamed of this Luke warm and dud reaction.

Here we should remember that India is going ahead with the trial of the two Italian navy men, on murder charges of its citizens, despite hue and cry of the entire EU and the West. Moreover, how India stood behind on its stance in the case of its female diplomat in the US, knowing very well that she clearly violated the law of the land. And in this regard, how India stripped PERMANENTLY, US diplomats of many traditional facilities, they enjoyed since ages.

Pak government must warn the American government that any further poking in our domestic matter, may result in the immediate revoking of the permission, granted for the extension of the US embassy in Islamabad and its consulates in Karachi and Lahore.

My letter in English to the Indian Prime Minister translated in Urdu and published by the Urdu daily “JANG” at page 9 today.

Link :- http://e.jang.com.pk/01-18-2014/lahore/page9.asp

An open letter to the Indian PM – Let India and Pakistan live like United Europe and not like divided Korea..!

Dear Mr. Manmohan Singh,

Greetings.

We in Pakistan, really appreciate your desire to visit Pakistan, as informed by you today, in your first press conference in three years.

In this regard, I would like to suggest to the current leadership of both the countries, to take advantage of the conducive atmosphere prevailing in the region; and let India and Pakistan try a NEW APPROACH towards the peace: by first deciding upon a list of such core thorny issues, which are complicated and can only be resolved after full confidence between the two nations is restored; and freeze all such issues or problems, for a short period of just one decade.

In the meantime, India and Pakistan should restore full friendly relations, by genuinely restoring cooperation in all fields of economic activities, visa free to and fro, travel of citizens of both the countries, facilities for the businessmen of the two nations for opening of trade offices, banks, business shops and show rooms in each others country, removal of all restrictions on cultural and sports teams visits and full permission of the TV channels, to be viewed in each other’s country.

It will be just of a sorts of a no war pact for a limited period of ten years. It is expected it may work wonders, like a magic, in the economic emancipation of the teeming millions of both the countries.

Mr. Manmohan Singh, hope you know very well that ordinary people of both the countries are fed up with the acrimony between the two closest neighbours; and earnestly desire hundreds of years of peace, for which the only impediment, is the lack of statesmen and visionary people in the policy making arena of both the countries.

Now, your and our leadership has got a golden chance of a life time, to jointly work for the peace of about 1.5 billion humanity.

Please extend your hands to meet the gestures of genuine peace, already offered by the Pakistani PM Mr. Nawaz Sharif, to make the peace aspirations of the hundreds of millions of residents of the sub continent, come true.

Remember, may be this golden chance for the peace between the two nations if missed, may not come again in the decades.

Also please inform all those military and political planners in your country, not in favour of genuine peace with Pakistan that low intensity war or other covert hostile methods, are no more a long or short term options for, as well as, against any nuclear power(s). All such paradigms are out dated in the ultimate nuclear scenario. Such policy planners have no business to stay in the past non-nuclear status frame of mind; and they must develop a NEW and FRESH vision, to guide a major nuclear nation, like India.

Policy makers of nuclear powers must not have a mindset of a non nuclear state. And the foremost responsibility of these policy makers must be to ensure, at all costs, that under ALL circumstances nuclear flare up or provocation has to be ruled out: irrespective of the defined policy of no first use of nuclear weapons or retaliatory use of WMD’s.

Last but not the least, it must be a very clear objective of the leadership of both the countries, to ensure that India and Pakistan must not live like divided Korea, rather, we should live, like the united Europe.

Seasons Greetings and Best Wishes for a very Happy New Year 2014.

An open letter to the Indian PM – Let India and Pakistan live like United Europe and not like divided Korea..!

Dear Mr. Manmohan Singh,

Greetings.

We in Pakistan, really appreciate your desire to visit Pakistan, as informed by you today, in your first press conference in three years.

In this regard, I would like to suggest to the current leadership of both the countries, to take advantage of the conducive atmosphere prevailing in the region; and let India and Pakistan try a NEW APPROACH towards the peace: by first deciding upon a list of such core thorny issues, which are complicated and can only be resolved after full confidence between the two nations is restored; and freeze all such issues or problems, for a short period of just one decade.

In the meantime, India and Pakistan should restore full friendly relations, by genuinely restoring cooperation in all fields of economic activities, visa free to and fro, travel of citizens of both the countries, facilities for the businessmen of the two nations for opening of trade offices, banks, business shops and show rooms in each others country, removal of all restrictions on cultural and sports teams visits and full permission of the TV channels, to be viewed in each other’s country.

It will be just of a sorts of a no war pact for a limited period of ten years. It is expected it may work wonders, like a magic, in the economic emancipation of the teeming millions of both the countries.

Mr. Manmohan Singh, hope you know very well that ordinary people of both the countries are fed up with the acrimony between the two closest neighbours; and earnestly desire hundreds of years of peace, for which the only impediment, is the lack of statesmen and visionary people in the policy making arena of both the countries.

Now, your and our leadership has got a golden chance of a life time, to jointly work for the peace of about 1.5 billion humanity.

Please extend your hands to meet the gestures of genuine peace, already offered by the Pakistani PM Mr. Nawaz Sharif, to make the peace aspirations of the hundreds of millions of residents of the sub continent, come true.

Remember, may be this golden chance for the peace between the two nations if missed, may not come again in the decades.

Also please inform all those military and political planners in your country, not in favour of genuine peace with Pakistan that low intensity war or other covert hostile methods, are no more a long or short term options for, as well as, against any nuclear power(s). All such paradigms are out dated in the ultimate nuclear scenario. Such policy planners have no business to stay in the past non-nuclear status frame of mind; and they must develop a NEW and FRESH vision, to guide a major nuclear nation, like India.

Policy makers of nuclear powers must not have a mindset of a non nuclear state. And the foremost responsibility of these policy makers must be to ensure, at all costs, that under ALL circumstances nuclear flare up or provocation has to be ruled out: irrespective of the defined policy of no first use of nuclear weapons or retaliatory use of WMD’s.

Last but not the least, it must be a very clear objective of the leadership of both the countries, to ensure that India and Pakistan must not live like divided Korea, rather, we should live, like the united Europe.

Seasons Greetings and Best Wishes for a very Happy New Year 2014.

Happy New Year 2018 – To All the Indians

New Year Resolution – From Pakistan With Love 💖 to All the Indians..!

While wishing all the Indians a very happy, peaceful and prosperous new year 2018, we would like to inform everyone in India that if at all, we have to be friends, then that friendship must be in true sense; and we must not act and behave with each other, in a hypocritical manner.

We Pakistanis would also like to assure the Indians that even if we wanted, we can’t conquer India. At the same time even if India wanted, it can’t pull down Pakistan, without India being destroyed, as well.

So, why to waste our time and energies in an imaginary hatred policies?

Why to waste our precious resources, in being the prisoners of our foolish past?

From the first day of the new year 2018, let us bury our bitter past and be friends in true sense, like all the European countries.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Let us have a genuine peace. Let India remove all its strike forces from the border without any fear. Let us join hands to wage a war against poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy. Let us turn this subcontinent into a bastion of peace and a heaven on earth.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

India and Pakistan just need a period of single decade of genuine peace, to turn around its fortunes to emerge as the most potent economic and cultural power-house of this world.

The only condition is the genuine and authentic peace, like the one which exists in between the EU countries.

Why India and Pakistan should live for decades like divided Korea? Why both the countries can not live like united Europe?

Europe which was so divided that its residents fought two world wars; but now when sense has prevailed, Europeans are reaping the dividends of peace.

Now, when both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers, conquering one other is out of question, without Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).

As such, those believing in success of low intensity wars are lunatics, living in fools paradise, like Hitler and Mussolini.

War between two nuclear neighbours is out of contention, because, even if one country using first strike option annihilates the other neighbour, the fallout of nuclear radiation will leave the victor, uninhabitable forever.

Thus, peace is the only option for India and Pakistan.

Don’t be afraid of problems between the two countries, because they will remain for ever, but we have to give priority to peace, over the problems.

Let us make a new start from the beginning of the new year 2018, with the slogan – Long live the friendship of the teeming millions of India and Pakistan.

New Year Resolution – From Pakistan With Love to All the Indians

While wishing all the Indians a very happy and prosperous new year 2104, we would like to inform everyone in India that if at all we have to be friends, then that friendship must be in true sense; and we must not act and behave with each other in a hypocritical manner.

We would also like to assure the Indians that even of we wanted we can’t conquer India. At the same time even if India wanted, it can’t pull down Pakistan, without India being destroyed as well.

So, why to waste our time and energies in an imaginary hatred policies. Why to waste our precious resources, in being the prisoners of our foolish past.

From the first day of the new year 2014, let us bury our bitter past and be friends in true sense, like all the European countries.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Let us have a genuine peace. Let India remove all its strike forces corp from the border without any fear. Let us join hands to wage a war against poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy. Let us turn this subcontinent a bastion of peace and a heaven on earth.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

India and Pakistan just need a period of single decade of genuine peace to turn around its fortunes to emerge as the most potent economic and cultural power house of this world. The only condition is the genuine and authentic peace like the one which exists in between the EU countries.

Don’t be afraid of problems between the two countries, because they will remain for ever, but we have to give priority to peace over the problems.

Let us make a new start from the beginning of the new year 2014 with the slogan – Long live the friendship of the teeming millions of India and Pakistan.