Tuesday, 2 August 2016

Unjustified Revenge of the Holocaust Continues

By Sajjad Shaukat

Massacre of Jews through various tactics of torture in the concentration camps, erected by Hitler before and during the World War 11 is still shocking and condemnable. It was a big tragedy, popularly known as the Holocaust, conducted by the forces of state terrorism. But, since the 9/11 tragedy, the Zionist-Israeli-led America has been taking unjustified revenge of the Holocaust from the Muslims in particular and the Christians in general, including persons of some other religious communities, who were not responsible for the Holocaust.  

Zionist-controlled American leading think-tanks and media have propagated that “genocide of 5 million Jews was carried out at the extermination camps, using tools of mass murder, such as gas chambers of Germany, Poland, Austria and Alsace”, while some Jewish-influenced Western scholars have estimated the genocide of the 7.8 million Jews.

On the other side, impartial writers, researchers and authors have opined, “Following the rise of Hitler there were no more than 4 million Jews, living in areas occupied by the Third Reich at the height of its power. Yet on June 30, 1965, the West German government announced that some 3,375,000 Jewish holocaust “survivors” had applied for reparations money. The International Red Cross had already reported in 1946 that of registered Jewish camp inmates no more than 300,000 could have died, and their audit to December 31, 1984 records a total 282,077 registered deaths of all internees in all German Concentration Camps from all causes.”

Some Holocaust deniers claim, “The mass extermination of the Jews by the Nazis never happened…the Nazi command had a policy of deporting Jews, not exterminating them”, while some remark that the number of Jewish losses has been greatly exaggerated…that the Holocaust was not systematic nor a result of an official policy…only 600,000 Jews were killed rather than six million. All Jews were not killed through gas chambers, but also due to hunger, diseases and depression.”

On the one hand, the Jews have made the Holocaust the greatest device of gaining sympathy, while, on the other, they have used it for wars, anti-Muslim policies, expansion and foreign-aid, and to fulfill the Zionist ambition of greater Israel. With the support of American-Zionist Jews who manipulate the Holocaust, Israel has also become the sixth strongest military power of the world owing to the US assistance.

Once Henry Kissinger stated “legitimacy is not natural or automatic, but created.” Under the cover of the 9/11 tragedy, the US President George W. Bush who was in collaboration with the neo-conservatives and the Zionist Jews, orchestrated the drama of global war on terror to obtain the illegitimate interests of Israel by targeting the Islamic countries and persecution of the Muslims.  

Bush who used the words, “crusade against the evil-doers” adding to the perception that the ongoing ‘different war’ against terrorism is actually a war against the Muslim countries also warned the world to choose sides by saying, “either you are with us or with terrorists.” It was due to employment of pressure-diplomacy on the weak states—Muslim countries like Pakistan, Indonesia, Libya etc., including almost all the Arab states joined Bush anti-terrorism war. By manipulating the 9/11 carnage, Bush also got the sympathies of almost all the major Western countries including NATO states which also joined the fake global war on terror.

By justifying the unjustified war on terror, several Muslim countries were deliberately destabilized and converted into concentration camps to attain the political, economic and religious interests of the Jews, and for a greater Israel. For the purpose, double game and false flag operations which still continue became the part of the American CIA, Israeli Mossad and Indian RAW.

The unjustified revenge of the Holocaust started when in 2001; the US-coalition forces attacked Afghanistan. Then, Anglo-American forces invaded Iraq in 2003, which was also changed in the concentration camp.

During the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq and after occupation, the brutal tactics of the US-led NATO like heavy air bombardment and ground shelling by the sophisticated war machinery, including special military operations and extra-judicial assassinations killed several innocent persons. Particularly, the US military strategic warlords who preferred to create a paralyzing effect of ‘shock and awe’ displayed the terrible inferno of destruction in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In this regard, some instances are notable. The forces of the Northern Alliance, supported by America had killed hundreds of the Taliban who had taken shelter in the Jangi Fort, besieged by the former. Even if, the foreign Muslim fighters, hiding in the fort, did not want to surrender as the Americans claimed, the former could come out within fifteen or twenty days due to hunger and thirst. However, US high military strategists did not wait and deliberately killed them through air strikes. In another event, the US-backed Northern Alliance fighters had massacred about seven thousand Taliban who were prisoners and were being moved from Kandhar to Kabul in containers.

In case of Iraq, many of the Iraqis including some members of the former Interim Governing Council were shocked at the violence in Fallujah. Even the US weekly, ‘Newsweek’ admitted in its publication of April 19/April 26, 2004 that the US forces “used very heavy hand in Fallujah where more than 400 people were killed. Four members of the [former] Governing Council resigned in a protest against America’s crackdown in Fallujah…according to doctors figure of the deaths was impossible to check and it is more than 400…an airstrike dropped a 500 pound bomb. Arab language TV claimed that the bomb killed more than a score of civilians at prayer.”

Like Afghanistan, American soldiers also massacred several wounded people and civilians in Iraq. In November, 2004, a number of world’s televised channels including those of America showed footage of a US marine who was shooting and killing an already captive and wounded Iraqi prisoner at close range in a mosque in Fallujah where civilians had taken shelter.

Nobody can deny the fact that these were the worst examples of US-led state terrorism or use of abnormal force.

It is of particular attention that the US-led troops, assisted 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. 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 also set up 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. American notorious private military firm Blackwater also eliminated countless Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.

When America implemented plan of Rand Corporation and sparked a civil war between the Sunnis and Shias in wake of war on terror to promote the objectives of Israel in the Muslim World, the horrible scenes of deaths were witnessed in Pakistan and especially Iraq.

In March, 2013, an investigative report by the British Guardian/BBC disclosed 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, Thailand etc. where torture was conducted directly by American intelligence operatives.

The report also mentioned atrocities of the US-backed entities, carried out in Bagram Airbase (Afghanistan), Guantanamo and Iraq—unleashed a deadly sectarian militia which terrorized the Sunni community and germinated a civil war between Sunnis and Shias, and claimed tens of thousands of lives.

It revealed, “At the height of that sectarian conflict, 3,000 bodies a month were strewn on the streets of Iraq. Rounding up Sunnis in American pickup trucks, the captives were thrown into secret prisons established in libraries, airports, and ministries. Anti-occupation politicians, human rights activists, and journalists were murdered. The purpose was also to terrorize ordinary Iraqis who opposed the US occupation.”

In this respect, the report focuses on the role of retired Colonel James Steele who worked with the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. David Petraeus who also served as Obama’s CIA director. Steele sent regular memos to Donald Rumsfeld who forwarded them to Vice-President Dick Cheney and President George Bush, while, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died and millions were displaced as a result of the chaos and brutal practices.

As exact details of the death toll in Afghanistan and Iraq are not available due to the Jewish controlled media and their dominated concerned strategic institutes, some independent organizations have published their reports on the basis of randomly selected interviews of the household persons and the military officials. Some latest reports suggest that more than 3 million people including civilians died in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.

Following his predecessor, President Barack Obama has also continued the ruthless killings of the Muslims to complete the unfinished agenda of the Zionist Jews and Israel. Apart from air strikes on funerals, marriage-ceremonies and mosques in Afghanistan, he converted Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen etc. into concentration camps. As part of the US double game, CIA which created Al-Qaeda and then Islamic State group (Also known as Daesh, ISIS, ISIL), including Al-Qaeda’s Al-Nusra Front and Syrian rebel groups in fighting against the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iraqi regime is responsible for the mass murder of more than 2 million Muslims and Christians who were killed in civil wars—ground and aerial strikes of the US-led Western countries, including suicide attacks and bomb blasts, conducted by Al-Qaeda and ISIS. Besides, during the phony global war on terror, in these countries and Afghanistan and Iraq, especially in Syria, millions of Muslims became homeless. The plight of refugees—countless deaths, particularly of children due to lack of medical treatment and starvation has displayed the holocaust on larger scale.

President Obama has also broken all the record of human rights by extrajudicial killings of the innocent people through illegal CIA-operated drone attacks in Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen etc. in general and Pakistan in particular.

It is mentionable that through the war against terrorism, President Bush and Obama providing a golden chance to Israel and India to accelerate the systematic genocide of the Palestinians and Kashmiris by equating the wars of liberation in the controlled territories of Palestine and Kashmir with terrorism. Their forces have been employing military terrorism such as curfews, crackdowns, sieges, massacre and targeted killings to maintain alien rule on these territories.  

A number of investigative reports after lab-verification verified that since 1948, Israel used the banned chemical and radiological materials against the Palestinians, Egyptians and Syrians, and during various phases of the Palestinian Intifada, which resulted in to severe convulsions, the burning sensation, the difficulty to breathe, the vomiting and pain found in relation to the victims—mostly women and children, a majority of whom died in the long run. In 2006, during the war against Lebanon, Israel used banned chemical weapons like phosphorous bombs in Lebanon and Gaza, which killed 286 Palestinians and injured 4,200.

After the destruction of more than 7,500 Palestinian homes and displacement of some 3,500 families by a brutal military operation, Israel started the barbaric blockade of Gaza in 2007 by preventing humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. This new phase of atrocities reminded the world of a concentration camp, set up by the Israeli Jews for the Palestinians in the modern era.  Israel’s main aim was to collectively punish the Palestinian innocent civilians, condemning them to vast devastation, leaving them to imminent death, without bothering even for patients who were suffering from kidney and heart problems. Besides fuel, the occupying power deprived the Gazas of clean water and electricity to ensure that homes, hospitals, factories and shopping markets are not able to function, resulting into a miserable life for the Palestinians—and even to the eventual deaths of the most vulnerable. However, Israeli brutalities in Gaza amounts to the brutal treatment of human beings which Jews themselves faced in the concentration camps, established by the ‘Hitlerite Germany’, but, they learnt no lesson. On January 23, 2008, after suffering from acute starvation including everything, Palestinians were forced to pour into Egypt from Gaza Strip through a border wall, blown up by the Hamas militants. This scene reminds the escape of Jews from Sobibar, a concentration camp, erected in Poland during World War 11. In that camp, German Nazis had made the life of Jews so troublesome, even culminating to deaths that a number of Jews prepared a plan and succeeded in saving their lives through the ‘escape’.

On March 21, 2016, in a speech in Utah, the only Jewish Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders
called for an end to the economic blockade of Gaza. Earlier, in an interview with the New York Daily News on April 1, 2016, Sanders remarked about Israel with blood libel in relation to the August 2014 Israeli war in the Gaza Strip by elaborating that Israeli forces bombed apartment houses and hospitals and “killed 10,000 Palestinian civilians…Israel’s force was more indiscriminate than it should have been.”

Like Israel, India left no stone unturned in crushing the war of independent in the Indian-occupied Kashmir. Encouraged by America and silence of the US-led Western powers for the solution of Kashmir issue, both open and clandestine techniques of state terrorism have been employed by the Indian security forces to suppress the struggle of Kashmiris who are fighting for their genuine right of self-determination, as recognized by the UN resolutions. So, Kashmir has also become a concentration camp. In 2008, a rights group reported unmarked graves in various regions of the India-held Kashmir. Then researchers and other groups pointed out thousands of mass graves without markers.

In this context, in August, 2011, Indian Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) officially acknowledged in its report that 2,156 unidentified bodies of the innocent civilians killed in the two-decade conflict had been buried in unmarked graves in various regions of the Indian-held Kashmir. While concealing actual details, the Indian commission’s report also disclosed that few bodies were defaced, 20 were charred, five only had skulls remaining, and there were at least 18 graves with more than one body each. Notably, foreign sources and human rights organizations have confirmed that unnamed graves include those innocent persons, killed by the Indian military and para-military troops in the fake encounters including those who were tortured to death by the Indian RAW.

Afterwards, rights groups have disclosed that more than 10000 people have disappeared, accusing government forces of staging fake gun battles to cover up killings. The groups also revealed that suspected persons were arrested and never heard from again.

In its report, China’s leading News Agency Xinhua unearthed more unnamed graves in Poonch of the Indian-controlled Kashmir. The report quoted the statement of Sofi Aziz Joo, caretaker of a graveyard as saying, “Police and Army used to bring those bodies and direct me to bury them. The bodies were usually bullet-ridden, mutilated, faces disfigured and sometimes without limbs and heads.”

Imitating the pattern of Israeli forces, India security forces have so far killed more than 200,000 innocent Kashmiris through destructions of houses, sieges, and during curfews—and orphaned over 107, 351 children, widowed 22,728 women and gang raped 9,920 women.

In the recent years, the US-backed military regime in Burma (present Myanmar) has broken all the record of religious cleansing by encouraging Rakhine extremist Buddhists who butchered thousands of the Burmese Muslims belonging to the Rohingya Muslim through various brutal methods of torture. Eye witnesses disclosed that Buddhist extremists who are in majority in the country, torched several mosques, shops and houses of Muslims, while Burmese military and police have been found involved in genocide, targeted killings, disappearances and rape of Muslim women.

According to reports, nearly one and half million Rohingya Muslims have been murdered since June 28, 2012, while more than 20,0000 are missing.

In March 11, 2006, about the tragedy of Burma’s Rohingya Muslims BBC reported, “They have been called one of the world’s most persecuted people....in addition to their almost total lack of legal rights, many have been regularly beaten by police, forced to do slave labour and jailed for little or no reason.”

Even, American-backed Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Buddhists did not condemn the massacre of Burmese Muslims.

Although the US and some Western countries which claim to be the champion of human rights in the world, have issued some verbal statements regarding humanitarian tragedy in Myanmar, yet no practical action has been taken against the brutal military rulers of the country by taking the issue to the UN Security Council.  Particularly, US double standard is part of its strategic game in Burma. America has also included India in this game. Obama Administration lifted restrictions on the US investment in Myanmar to advance the business interests of the Jews. India has also been availing the opportunity of economic benefits in the country. Now, Burma is undergoing an arranged political change to legitimize its military regime, and enlist US-led India and some Western partners to evade the influence of China.

Despite the dual strategy of Bush towards Al-Qaeda which franchised this outfit on global and regional level, Al-Qaeda and its affiliated militants exterminated several Western nationals and American soldiers by a number of the past suicidal missions such as on Indonesian resort island of Bali, Saudi Arabia, Spain etc., and through a series of bomb attacks on London’s transport network, the 18-story headquarters of the British-owned HSBC bank and the British consulate in Istanbul including those ones in other Afro-Asian countries. Analysts opine that Al-Qaeda lost control on its affiliated militant groups. Al-Qaeda’s decimated old guard may no longer be able to mount elaborately detailed plots, executed by other trained terrorists of various new groups which claim their links with Al-Qaeda, but, are not under its direct command. For instance, in Somalia—splitting away of a hardliner-faction Al-Shabaab is an offshoot of the Islamic Courts Union, though the US defined Al-Shabaab as Al-Qaida’s ally.

If the double game of George W. Bush franchised Al-Qaeda on global level, President Obama’s dual policy franchised both Al-Qaeda and ISIS as part of the anti-Muslim campaign to attain the unfinished agenda of the Zionists, Israeli lobbies and the neoconservatives in the pretext of global war on terror.

Meanwhile, as part of the double game, Mossad and CIA utilized the ISIL militants to conduct terror attacks in Paris and Brussels including the shooting at San Bernardino, California which eliminated several Christians. All these acts of terrorism were false flag operations, because, like the drastic aftermath of 9/11 tragedy, rulers and politicians of the US-led Western countries, particularly of Europe, including their media have been misguiding their general public by creating chauvinism against the Muslims in order to obtain several aims such as exaggeration of Islamophobia, persecution of the Muslims, expulsion of Muslims, especially Syrian refugees from Europe, anti-Islam movement etc., and to get the assistance of Europe and other Western countries against Russia in connection with Syrian war and for intervention in the Islamic countries like Libya.

False flag terror-attacks have continued unabated. On July 25, this year, a priest has been killed in an attack by two armed men in a church of France near the city of Rouen. ISIL claimed responsibility for the assault.

Preplanned scheme of the CIA-Mossad is also inspiring the Christians and Muslims against each other. Some terror attacks and shooting are the result of self-resentment, conducted by the individuals, having no links with the ISIL. For example, the teenager Ali David Sonboly who killed 9 people in Munich after the deadly shooting in Olympia shopping mall and outside a nearby McDonalds on July 22, 2016 had no connection with the ISIS. Police investigation revealed that he was a mentally troubled person and police also discovered extremist material, linked to the attack by Andres Behring Brevik, the white supremacist who murdered 77 persons in Norway in 2011. The massacre in Munich took place on the fifth anniversary of the Norway attacks and Sonboly had recently changed a profile picture on an online messaging service to one of Breivik.

Earlier, a truck driver identified as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a French national of Tunisian origin killed at least 84 people on July 15, 2016 in a rampage in the French city of Nice. Western media reported that a poster apparently created by the ISIS accepted responsibility on the social media. Undoubtedly, it was also a false flag terror-act.

The shooting in Munich came just four days after an Afghan refugee attacked people with an ax-and-knife in a German train near Bavarian city of Wuerzburg, leaving five people severely injured. Through its Aamaq news agency, the ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on a German train. But, the German authorities said, “it appears the 17-year-old Afghan asylum seeker who was shot and killed by police have self-radicalized and had no direct link to the extremists.”

Notably, Israel, India and Zionist lobbies which are clandestinely supporting America’s anti-Muslim, pro-Israeli and pro-Indian Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee want to see him as the president of the United States. Trump who is well-known for his anti-Muslim rhetoric not only exploited the terror assaults of Paris and Brussels, but also the shooting at the gay night club in Orlando, Florida which killed at least 50 persons.  

But, the incident of shooting at the gay club not only exposed this false flag operation, but also endorsed other false flag terror-attacks. In this regard, in an interview with Brazilian TV on June 14, 2016, the ex-wife of the Orlando shooter Omar Mateen Sitora Yusufiy revealed that American FBI pressurized her to keep quiet about his homosexuality. While, Mateen had been dubbed as an Islamic terrorist by the politicians, senior officials and commentators in the US, following reports that he had pledged allegiance to the ISI, but FBI wanted to downplay the personal and self-hating nature of the assault. Even, President Obama stated on June 12, 2016, “Federal authorities had made no definitive judgement on the killer’s motivation, and whether he was inspired by or directed by Islamic State or other terrorist groups. Obama made it clear by elaborating, “Orlando shooting was the result of Mateen’s personal resentment in relation to the gay club.”

In this context, on June 28, 2016, The New York Times wrote, “The mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on June 12 included a curious phrase:  false flag…the victims in the shooting? They were “crisis actors” hired to promote the story as a pretext to impose tighter gun restrictions, the theory goes…the term false flag relates to naval warfare when a ship would fly a flag that would conceal its true identity as a way to lure an enemy closer. Today, it is commonly a shorthand for an act of deception…conspiracy theorists have applied the label to high-profile attacks, including the shootings by a husband and wife last year in San Bernardino, Calif, that killed 14…the phrase has even been used to doubt the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.”

Nevertheless, it is owing to the double game of the US and some Western countries that CIA, Mossad and RAW are conducting false flag terror-operations also to divert the attention of American and Western public from multi-faceted internal problems, which are the result of prolonged war in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world. Irresponsible approach of their leaders as well as double game of Turkey and Saudi Arabia have made the ISIL, the most dangerous militant outfit which has rapidly spread its tentacles in the US, Europe, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Middle East and Africa. Apart from previous terror assaults in Jalalabad (Afghanistan), Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Indonesia etc., ISIL is behind the recent bombings in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Bangladesh, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan’s capital Kabul.

Both ISIS and Al-Qaeda and their afflicted terrorists have also killed several Christians and some persons of other religious communities through suicide attacks, bombasts and beheadings.

And in their longest war of history, the US-led NATO forces have been failing in Afghanistan. The ambush attacks on their military installations and personnel by the Afghan freedom fighters have continued, particularly, targeting American installations and armed persons.

A latest report points out that more than 50,000 members of US armed forces, including 10,000 have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, while the Pentagon always lies about US casualties.  And many contractors of various companies, particularly of the West have also been murdered in these countries and elsewhere in the world by the militants.

Regarding the present holocaust, it had already started when the US emerged as the sole superpower in the unipolar world after the disintegration of the former Soviet Union. American former President Bush, (The Senior) replaced the old bipolar order with the New World Order, with the US acting as a kind of global policeman to protect the political and economic interests of Israel and the American Jews who are owners of many big cartels—multinational corporations, arms factories, oil companies, banks etc., including print and electronic media of the US in particular and the world in general. By dominating American internal policies, Zionist Jews mould country’s foreign policy for their own interests. In the unipolar world, the United Nations became an instrument of the US policy to establish American hegemony in the world. In order to obtain the hidden agenda of Jews, the US imposed its sudden terms of globalization such as free markets, privatization and de-nationalization etc. on the ill-prepared developing countries and the Muslim states which left behind shattered nations and a global financial crisis, increased poverty in most of these countries, which resulted into deaths of many persons due to diseases and lack of medical treatment. It further widened the gap between the poor and the rich countries or G-7 countries. The corporations and international financial institutions like IMF and World Bank which are indirectly controlled by the Jews have continued to drive the project of globalization through the sole superpower. Besides, America’s child-killing sanctions against Iraq and Iran; late action to curb ethnic cleansing in Kosovo—genocide of the Bosnian Muslims annoyed the Muslims all over the world.

However, according to an estimate, more than 8 million Muslim (Excluding the missing persons) have been killed during war on terror and in various terror related attacks by the militant groups. The figure of their fatalities is more than 6 or 7 million, which has, exaggeratedly been claimed by the Jews in connection with the Holocaust. While, the phony war on terror shows no end. If elected as American President, extremist Trump is likely accelerate the mass murder of the Muslims, Christians and military personnel of the US-led West in Syria, Afghanistan etc., and other vulnerable countries. He will set up more concentration camps in the Muslim countries, motivating the terrorist outfits like ISIS to target the Muslims and Christians through more acts of terrorism.

While, in 14 European countries and America, there are laws to penalize the deniers of the Holocaust. But, who will punish the President Bush, President Obama, Zionist Jews, Israel, CIA, Mossad and RAW who committed war crimes and also remained in connivance with the Al-Qaeda and ISIS in a perennial scheme of mass murder.

Without any doubt, we can conclude that the Zionist-Israeli-led America has been taking unjustified revenge of the Holocaust from the Muslims and the Christians, including persons of some other religious communities and even those Americans who were not accountable for the Holocaust. Nonetheless, the unjustified revenge of the Holocaust continues.  

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


Mega Corruption in Golenn Gole Hydro Power Project Chitral

By Sajjad Shaukat

Various forms of corruption have infected almost every sector of the country in such a way that it has now become a national problem.

After the massive leak of the secret documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, the question of rampant corruption in Pakistan has again come into limelight, as the disclosed papers include the names of several Pakistanis, including the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and some other politicians who made millions of dollars of investments in the offshore companies and thus, were involved in tax evasion, fraud, and money laundering. Leaked documents from the Mossack Fonseca law firm in Panama had showed the prime minister’s three children–sons, Hassan and Hussain, and his daughter, Maryam, among other world leaders owned, at least three offshore holding companies registered in the British Virgin Islands.

As the government led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif rejected the draft of the Terms of Reference (TORs), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) decided to launch anti-corruption campaign against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) which will starts on August 7, this year and will be followed by Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT)’s countrywide campaign against the Model Town tragedy of August 6, as PAT Chairman Tahirul Qadri announced on July 31, 2016. Earlier, he also criticized the ruling party’s leaders in relation to corruption.

PTI quarters say protest rallies will continue until the government accepts the opposition parties’ Terms of Reference (TORs) to probe the Panama Leaks.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) also decided to start a campaign of protest against the ruling party in connection with the Panama files.

Earlier, all these opposition parties have also demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. They pointed out that Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundar Davio Gunnlaugsson and Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk resigned in wake of protests and political pressure inside their countries regarding the revelations of the Panama Papers. British Prime Minister David Cameron had faced increasing calls to resign after he admitted that he profited from his father’s offshore trust. Investigations about allegations of corruption have started against several politicians and businessmen in various countries.

Nevertheless, corruption has become a national issue in Pakistan. Besides corruption in other projects, mega corruption in Golen Gole Hydro Power Project Chitral (GGHPis of particular attention.

The project of GGHP to produce 108 MV electricity was started in 2011 and was supposed to be completed on January 31, 2015. Due to corrupt and unqualified staff, the project cost increased from Rs 7.035 to 28 billion and completion delayed till May 2018. The project will not be completed in this revised cost and time frame.

The progress on various aspects of the Golen Gole Hydro Power Project Chitral (GGHP) project is as under: -


Project
Completion Date
Progress
-
Construction of Tunnel
31 Jan 2015
49%
-
Construction of Power House
3 Dec 2014
49%
-
ESM Works
18 Jun 2016
15%
-
Installation of Transmission Lines
from    Golen    Gole    Chitral    to Chukiatan Dir Upper (113Kms)
10 Apr 2016
14%
-
Installation of Transmission Lines
from    Chukiatan    Dir    Upper    to Chakdara Dir Lower (198 Kms)
12 Sep 2016
0.65%

The contract of both transmission lines has been given to NETRACON company which is owned by an Ex-WAPDA employee Retd XCN Syed Ali Asghar Shirazi.

The transmission lines have not been properly designed as per international standard with the help of software program assuring 50 years life span. The substandard design has caused a delay and abnormal increase in cost by 38% (Rs 1.343 billion) and 17% (0.25 billion) respectively in both lines.

The electric towers which were approved in contract are not being installed on ground.

Mr. George (Project Manager Consultant FICHTNER) is not well qualified and experienced, but is getting pay package of more than Rs. 5 million. Mr. Usman Hamid Malik being country representative of FICHTNER consultant and present CEO Pakistan Industrial Trading Corporation (PITCO) favoured him in his appointment. He caused more than Rs. 11 billion loss to the project due to his ineligibility.

The contractors are delaying projects intentionally and claiming this delay as Extension of Time (EOT) with the help of consultant (Mr. George) and claiming more money rather than paying fine.

However, several individuals, namely Mr. Saleem Qureshi Qureshi GM North, WAPDA House Peshawar, Mr. George, Project Manager Consultant FICHTNER, Mr. Muhammad Shoaib Iqbal Member Water GGHPP, Mr. Mir Zaman Khan, Syed Ali Asghar Shirazi owner NETRACON, Retd XCN WAPDA, Mr. Usman Hamid Malik, CEO of PITCO and Country Head FICHTNER Consultancy, Mr. Sardar Bahadur, Resident Engineer Consultant FICHTNER, Mr. Masood, Project Manager NETRACON and Mr. Shakeel Durrani, Ex-Chairman WAPDA are involved in the corruption and delay of the project of GGHP.

It is notable that during his last visit to Chitral,   Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif gave clear instructions to WAPDA authorities to complete the project by Oct 2017.  However, even if it is managed it will not sustain more than 3 months like Nandipur power project.
While, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ignored the facts that the unqualified staff and contractors are causing loss of more than 20 million per day to the government.

In this regard, The WAPDA authorities knew that the design of project is faulty and will not be completed in given time and further increase the cost, while, Ex-Chairman WAPDA Mr. Shakeel Durrani remained quiet on this issue.

As a matter of fact, the progress of the work on project to-date is 40% and its projected cost till completion may reach from initial Rs 7.035 billion to Rs 34-35 billion.

Nevertheless, various forms of corruption such as tax-evasion, money laundering, bribery, illegal obligation, nepotism, illicit capital movement etc. are being practiced by the individuals, belonging to both private and public sectors. Besides lack of any appropriate mechanism to control the corruption which is also largely due to lax enforcement of capital and trade controls by regulatory bodies also result into corruption.

Owing to avoidance of paying their fair share of taxes by wealthy individuals and elected politicians in Pakistan, the burden is shared by the ordinary citizens. Sadly, for now anyway, not all these people are the role models they should be.

Now, enough tax has been raised, but not to fully finance improvements in the quality of life for poor people, as many people in Pakistan live below the poverty line.

Definitely, it cannot be good for Pakistan that the elite can afford luxury cars and foreign trips, but cannot afford to pay their real taxes, while concealing their actual assets. In wake of lack of transparency, the government has also failed in implementing any mechanism to discourage corruption in Pakistan—the more open and transparent process will provide less opportunity for malfeasance and abuse.

Nonetheless, mega corruption in Golen Gole Hydro Power Project Chitral shows that corruption is being practiced on larger scale in a country like Pakistan which already depends upon foreign debt which has, rapidly, been increasing.


Monday, 1 August 2016

China Pakistan Economic Corridor and Afghanistan


By Tariq Rizwan
The new world order is ever determined by economic development. China is making unprecedented progress in industry. The red China today stands as the second largest economy after US and likely to take over the later by 2030. Chinese are developing the centuries old ‘Silk Route’ to reduce the distances for its products and reach to the world markets in no time. To convert the “Silk Route” in to modern highway, they have produced a new theory “One Belt, One Route - OBOR”. Apart from five multi - national ventures in North and North West, China has also signed China Pakistan Economic Corridor - CPEC with Pakistan to reach to warm water and Gwadar Port. To take benefit out of the available opportunity, Russia and the land locked Central Republics have also signed and inaugurated various highways to open up to warm water via China and fulfill their long standing dream.
Though various extra regional powers including India and US are not happy with the development, both China and Pakistan have shown their strong resolve to develop the route at war footing. It is evident from the frequent visits and meetings at the highest level. CPEC has four components; Gwadar Airport, Infrastructure, Energy needs and economic zones. The foes have played their first card to exploit intra - provincial rifts on “Western Route” and distribution of economic zones but Pakistan government has been able to resolve such issues amicably through various All Parties Conferences. The challenges of security and red - tapism are being tackled efficiently. While FWO get a lion share in construction work, Pakistan Army has deployed a complete Brigade to ensure security of construction work.
After some delay due to political crisis in Islamabad, Chinese President visited Pakistan in April 2015 and inked various agreements.  China will construct 4000 km long railroad network from Kashghar to Gwadar, 12 to 13 Economic Zones along the route at a total cost of about $46 billion. China intends to include CARs, Iran, Afghanistan and even India at some later stage.
Long waiting work on CPEC has started. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurated Pakistan-China Optical Fiber Cable project worth Rs 44 million in Gilgit on 19 May 2016. While addressing the ceremony, he said the mega project will not only bring economic benefits to the people, but also help address the issue of extremism by creating job opportunities for the youth.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also inaugurated Gilgit - Baltistan CPEC patrolling police headquarters in Gilgit. Patrolling force has also been announced, comprising three hundred personnel to ensure safe and smooth flow of traffic on the 439-kilometre chunk of the CPEC project in Gilgit. China has gifted twenty-five vehicles for the patrolling police.
Fedral Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms, Ahsan Iqbal, while addressing a press conference in Islamabad on 1st August has said that out of $ 46 billion under CPEC, projects worth $ 10 billion had already hit the ground while the remaining schemes are in pipeline.
Senator Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan Nasir, Chairman Senate Standing Committee for Water and Power, has also said Gwadar Port is an important component of CPEC which would serve as gateway for Afghanistan and Central Asian Republic (CARs) owing to its location and geo-strategic importance. CPEC is not mere a road rather it is a flaghship project having different land, sea and aerial routes to be expanded from Gwadar to China.
Government has resolved the Western Route issue and it get priority. Provinces have been asked to put up their feasibility report for construction of their respective economic zones. Work has already been started on Gwadar Airport. A huge run way is under construction by Chinese company with a small terminal. About 22000 square kilometers land has been purchased for the 1st economic zone to be established in Gwadar with 43 years tax exemption. As an encouraging step, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has appointed National Party senator Hasil Bizenjo as Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping to solve the problems of Balochistan on priority. Law has been enacted not to allow the local community to become a minority. No one will be able to get a local domicile, cast vote except the local resident of Gwadar city. It has been made mandatory for the businessmen, coming from outside to start business in partnership with locals on the rules prevalent in UAE and KSA.
Once the mega project has kick started, the question arises why Afghanistan is losing the opportunity to become a gateway to Central Asia. Is it a willful act or the war torn and economically fragile Afghanistan is hostage in some hostile hands. The fact is that Kabul is being exploited by the extra regional powers to undermine CPEC. Countries opposed to China especially India and US are bent upon destabilizing the region and frustrate the Chine and Pakistan.      
The landlocked Islamic Republic of Afghanistan lies in the heart of Asia, and links three major cultural and geographic regions: the Indian subcontinent to the southeast, central Asia to the north, and the Iranian plateau in the west. Geographically, it is variously described as part of Central Asia and South Asia. Bordered by Iran in the west, Pakistan in the south and east, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast, Afghanistan had a very important role in an ancient Silk Route. As its history reveals it has an important geostrategic location, connecting East and West Asia or the Middle East.  In the age of rapid shrinkage of physical distance through galloping expansion and occupation of technology, Kabul is hardly 235 miles away from Islamabad via the famous Khyber Pass. Likewise Quetta is also about 250 miles away from Qandhar. China is just a few hours away, bordering both Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Karakorum Mountain Range. Afghanistan’s recent history has been one of terrible war and strife.
CPEC is considered a golden opportunity for Afghanistan to become a trade hub between the Middle East, Persian Gulf towards Central Asia.  India is trying to divert Afghan business towards Iranian Chabahar Port which is too small to bear the upcoming business between the Middle East and Central Asia and the Eurasia. Gwadar is the only deep sea port which can handle the high business potential in the Persian Gulf, Middle East, China and Central Asia. Moreover, the Central Asian region due to its geo-strategic location depends more than any other region on the regional connection and integration. This requirement is further deemed to gain in significance by the twenty-first century world that is highly characterized by the notion of interdependence and integration. Afghanistan, as a member state occupying the centre stage in the arena has the potential to make large contributions towards regional and international integration.
The writer is a freelance journalist



Why Controversy over Durand Line?

By Sajjad Shaukat

From time to time, controversy arises between Afghanistan and Pakistan when Afghan officials refused to recognize the Durand Line which is the 2640 kilometer long and porous border, situated between both the countries.

The issue again came to the limelight on June 12, 2016 when Afghan security forces started unprovoked firing at Torkham border crossing, resulting in injuries to more than 16 Pakistani citizens, including the martyrdom of some Pakistani security personnel. Pakistan’s security forces were compelled to give response and skirmishes continued for two days. Afterwards, Islamabad and Kabul agreed for a ceasefire and the latter recognized Pakistan’s stand regarding the construction of gate at Torkham border.
In fact, Durand Line is an internationally established border, but every now and then, Afghanistan government tries to create ambiguity and fuss regarding the issue, as all the governments in Afghanistan remained desirous to get access to the Arabian Sea through Pakistan’s province of Balochistan.

Some of the objections which emanate from the Afghan side about the validity of the Durand Line are, firstly the agreement was forced upon the Afghan King, Abdul Rahman Khan, after negotiations with the British government in 1893—secondly, it was signed only for a period of 100 years and then expired in 1994 and thirdly, the agreement was made with the British Government and not with Pakistan, and so in essence, it can be regarded as invalid.

In response, Islamabad’s stand on the Durand Line has been that it is a valid international boundary, recognized and confirmed by Afghanistan on several occasions. Pakistan has always upheld the norms of international law and has maintained the position of a successor state to the rights and duties inherited from the British government in India. Pakistan, as a successor state to British India derived full sovereignty over areas and its people east of Durand line and had all the rights and obligations of a successor state. As the Treaty was inked in Afghanistan and was further ratified in subsequent pacts of 1905, 1919, and 1921, this negates the assertion that it was a forced treaty. At the same time, no-where in the treaty, a mention of 100 years has been made.

However, creation of controversy by Kabul over Durand Line cannot be seen in isolation, as it is part of the double game of the US and India, including Israel which secretly back the Afghan politicians in this respect.

Pakistan considers that peace in Afghanistan is a guarantee of peace in Pakistan, therefore, has been striving for the same in utter sincerity. But, the US and India do not want to see the peace and prosperity in the region. Sadly, Pakistan’s dominant role in Afghanistan’s peace process under the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) has, deliberately, been sabotaged by killing of the Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansur in CIA-operated drone attack in Balochistan, which badly derailed Afghan dialogue process, as Afghan Taliban leaders refused to participate in the US-sponsored talks with the Afghan government. While, in the recent past, with the help of Pakistan, a series of meetings were held in Islamabad and Kabul among the representatives of Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the US to develop an understanding for the earliest possible resumption of stalled talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban with view to ending nearly 15 years of bloodshed in Afghanistan.

It seems that a dual game is on to pressurize Pakistan to bring Afghan Taliban either for the dialogue or to take action against them. US, India and Israel have built a hostile nexus for the Great Game and are pressurizing Pakistan by limiting its choices.

In this context, trust deficit has deepened between Pakistan and the America. Therefore, on June 10, this year, a high-level delegation of the US visited Islamabad and met Pakistan’s Chief of the Army Staff Gen. Raheel Sharif and Adviser to the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz Adviser separately.

During the meeting, expressing his serious concern on the US drone strike in Balochistan as a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty, Gen. Raheel Sharif highlighted as to how it had impacted the mutual trust and was counterproductive in consolidating the gains of Operation Zarb-e-Azb against terrorists. He elaborated, “All stakeholders need to understand Pakistan’s challenges-inter-tribal linkages and decades-old presence of over three million refugees—blaming Pakistan for instability in Afghanistan is unfortunate—target TTP [Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan] and its chief Mullah Fazlullah in their bases in Afghanistan—Indian RAW and NDS [Afghan National Directorate of Security] are of fomenting terrorism in Pakistan.”

US ambivalent policy about Islamabad could also be judged from some other development. In this regard, another delegation of US Senators including Senator Lindsey Graham led by Senator John McCain, Chairman of US Senate Arms Services committee, visited Islamabad and North Waziristan Agency (NWA) on July 3, 2016. The US Senators visited areas cleared of terrorists during Operation Zarb-e-Azb. American delegation appreciated the Pakistan Army’s accomplishment of cleansing the entire area of NWA right upto the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, after witnessing the terrorists’ hideouts and communication infrastructure dismantled by the Pakistan Army.

As a matter of fact, RAW-Mossad-CIA assisted, the Afghan NDS is inflicting harm to Pakistan. With latest capture of six NDS supported terrorists in Balochistan, the number of NDS backed terrorists arrested and killed by Pakistani Intelligence agencies has crossed over 126. These foreign agencies are also supporting the TTP which is hiding in Nuristan and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan. Reportedly Mullah Fazlullah led TTP is being prepared to carry out a fresh wave of terror activities inside Pakistan, as the latter has become center of the Great Game owing to the ideal location of its province of Balochistan—Balochistan’s Gwadar seaport among South Asia, the oil-rich Middle East, and oil and gas-resourced Central Asia has further increased its strategic significance.

Therefore, operatives of CIA, Mossad and RAW which are well-penetrated in the ISIS (Daesh or ISIL) and TTP are using their terrorists to destabilize Tibetan regions of China, Iranian Sistan-Baluchistan and Pakistan’s Balochistan by arranging the subversive activities. In this connection, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is their special target.
Notably, ISIS claimed responsibility for a joint suicide bombing of July 23, 2016, which targeted the peaceful rally of the Shiite minority of Hazaras who were protesting against the government’s decision of denying their region essential infrastructure through their plans of rerouting a power line. The twin suicide blasts killed more than 80 persons.

It is notable that the porous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is frequently used by human and drug traffickers, criminals and terrorists. Their easy access through unguarded porous border provides opportunity to miscreants to cause havoc inside Pakistan and Afghanistan. For effective counter terrorism measures strong border, control management is vital at Pak-Afghan border. But, Afghan rulers are using delaying tactics in this respect.

Taking note of the anti-Pakistan intruders, Pakistan’s army had decided that to build a fence along the border, and to control the border crossings. In this connection, the strategic project of 1,100-kilometre-long trench with the cost of Rs14 billion which was initiated along Pak-Afghan border in Balochistan by Frontier Corps in 2013 has been completed this year. In the next phase, the project will be extended to the entire long border with Afghanistan which had opposed this plan.

It is mentionable that the establishment of CPEC between deep Gwadar seaport of Balochistan and the historic Silk Road city in western regions-Xinjiang of China will connect Gilgit-Baltistan through Khunjerab Pass. Beijing would also build an international airport at Gwadar, while the roads infrastructure in Gwadar would link the communication network of rest of the country to facilitate transportation of goods. Gwadar seaport would connect the landlocked Central Asian states with rest of the world. The port is likely to increase volume of trade, bringing multiple economic and financial benefits to Pakistan. It will enable high-volume cargo vessels to move in the major oceans, giving China’s short access to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean.

It is of particular attention that on September 8, 2015, the ISIS and former Afghan president Hamid Karzai had refused to recognize Durand Line as the permanent border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. While, the spokesman for the US Department of State John Kirby said, the United States has made it clear that it recognizes the Durand Line as an international border.”

Nevertheless, today’s world is quite different. Those voicing against the Durand line or in favour of Pakhtun ethnicity needs to realize the new realities. The reality is that there are more Pashtuns living on this side of the Durand Line than in Afghanistan. The referendum of 1947 and the decision of tribal Jirga of FATA are the strongest and undeniable facts to judge the affinity of Pashtuns. Today’s Pakhtuns from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan and FATA have a strong participation in all national and federal institutions including Armed Forces, sports, education, politics and all other walks of life and stand with Pakistan. They have rendered huge sacrifices in war against terror and entire nation respects their sacrifices.

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