U.S.-Pakistan Relations Under the Khan Administration

U.S.-Pakistan Relations Under the Khan Administration

By Qamar-ul Huda

Pakistan’s July 25 elections exemplified a new, energetic chapter in the country’s politics as voters chose longtime outsider politician Imran Khan as prime minister. In its position as an opposition party, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) faced consistent disparagement from the incumbent parties Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Both the PML-N and PPP have criticized the PTI (especially Khan himself) of being inexperienced with regards to political decision-making, governance, economic development and particularly in the realm of international politics.

Politics is no picnic in Pakistan. For months ahead of the elections, the PML-N and PPP could not run from their loss of public confidence fueled by corruption allegations, such as the charges that ousted former three-term prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Instead, they targeted Khan’s personal life and his recent marriage to a spiritual adviser and even promoted his former wife Reham Khan’s accusations of sexual and other misdeeds to call into question Khan’s character and morality.

The First 100 Days

Khan’s Naya Pakistan (New Pakistan) platform has promised a transparent government that will fight corruption and will be responsible for the protection and progress of the nation. Khan highlighted his own impressive contributions in establishing hospitals, new schools, and colleges during his party’s five-year rule in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and his anti-corruption drive targeting the police, parliamentary officials, and the incumbent PML-N.

But winning the election is just the first step; for Khan, governing will be the real challenge. Indeed, the new prime minister faces the immense challenges of Pakistan’s insecure position in regional and international geopolitics, a looming economic crisis, mangled and neglected infrastructure, a never-ending energy crisis, lack of opportunities for the youth, and a business climate that holds little allure for international investors.

A Naya Pakistan will require a visionary manifesto that addresses all of Pakistan’s social, political and economic challenges and concrete changes. And for those changes to happen, the army — a constant factor in Pakistan’s domestic politics — will have to cooperate. Khan’s strategic diplomacy will be tested when he needs to work closely with Pakistan’s army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa (and the other generals) while working toward his populist vision of anti-corruption and accountability. Whether it be trade, regional stability, or handling foreign policy issues among allies, Khan will need the military’s approval to move forward.

U.S.-Pakistani Bilateral Ties

On the foreign policy front, Khan has an arduous struggle ahead in creating a productive relationship with the United States; the White House’s opinion of him rests on sensationalist journalism alleging that he has sympathies for the Haqqani terrorist network and labeling him “Taliban Khan.”

The last two decades of the U.S.-Pakistani relationship has centered on a “transactional security” policy. Unfortunately, Washington views Pakistan solely as a tool to stabilize and secure Afghanistan, to counter terrorist groups in the region, and to mitigate Iran’s growing influence and China’s expansionary aspirations. Washington also seeks to minimize or eliminate the Pakistani ultra-conservative wing’s ambitions to threaten India’s economic progress. Khan has an opportunity to deal with these issues by resituating Pakistan’s long-term goals regionally and internationally.

The U.S. will also have to change its calculations regarding stability in Afghanistan in light of Khan’s ideas on counterterrorism. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Khan have already spoken on the phone to discuss bilateral issues and to “bury the past.” However, Khan has been an outspoken critic of the U.S. drone policy in Pakistan because he believed there were more civilian fatalities than deaths of suspected terrorists. Indirectly, and diplomatically, Khan was challenging the Pakistani army and intelligence sectors who were promulgating Islamabad’s position on Washington’s drone policy.

While strongly criticizing U.S./Afghan counterterrorism strategies, Khan insists that building up infrastructure, having a strong rule of law, providing access to education, alleviating poverty, and ensuring that civil society is an active partner in the government’s efforts can prevent extremist ideologies from taking root. The military kinetic approach to counterterrorism, he reasons, expends an incredible amount of human resources while providing few, if any, results. Khan’s vision of a national countering violent extremism policy that inoculates Pakistan from extremism will mean a shift in the U.S.-Pakistani relationship. Rather than security-based transactional efforts, the countries can form a broader, substantial relationship in areas like strategic trade, political economy, and scientific research and development.

The U.S. National Defense Strategy (NDS), released in January 2018, emphasized that the “Great Power Competition” — namely with Russia and China — is using an authoritative model to assert revisionist ideas of power throughout the world. Secretary of Defense James Mattis claimed that the Russia-China “inter-state strategic competition is now the primary concern in U.S. national security.” Pakistan cannot change the Pentagon’s security priorities, but Islamabad can reconfigure its function and role in the “Great Power Competition” strategy.

Thus, Khan’s Naya Pakistan cannot be limited to domestic activities. Instead, starting a new chapter will require Khan to design a forward-thinking policy that reconfigures U.S.-Pakistan ties beyond a transactional relationship for short-term gains.

The U.S. suspension of aid to Pakistan earlier this year, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s criticism of Pakistan’s use of IMF funds to bail out on a $18 billion debt, will not advance U.S. interests in regional stability. Instead of arm-twisting tactics, Washington will benefit from persuading Islamabad to further align its security policy for Afghanistan with the United States’ and to open a progressive diplomatic relationship with India.

Dr. Qamar-ul Huda is Vice President of Development and Strategy at the Center for Global Policy (CGP). Prior to joining CGP, Dr. Huda was a Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Department of State Secretary’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs. The views expressed herein are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of CGP.

A good call on Global Strategists about Pakistan

A good call on Global Strategists about Pakistan

As democracy takes root in Pakistan, a new world equilibrium will be birthing for Muslims. If Imran Khan does it right, it would be a shining example of Islamic Democracy and I hope he does not resort to dictating Islam, Islam is about free will. He needs to revoke the uncivilized laws passed by the dictator and the opportunists. He has to earn the respect among the community of nations as a nation that  respects the rights of minorities and the weak  and bring Pakistan to reflect the will of her people, who are moderate, caring and civilized. 

A majority of the Muslim-run nations have dictators or monarchs. They don't trust the people to govern among themselves.   

Redeeming Pakistan is one of the blogs I maintain among the Blogs about India, Israel-Palestine, and others. http://redeemingpakistan.blogspot.com 

My focus remains on continually developing the Center for Pluralism, thanks to everyone, we have earned a big name on Pluralism in religion, politics, society, culture, and workplace with our work. Our think tank www.WorldMuslimCongress.org was established in 2001 and the research work continues there as my contribution to my religion.

Mike Ghouse

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A call from Bob Crane, former US Ambassador

Global strategists of the world unite!

       For anyone concerned about the future of human civilization, pasted below is the best writing on foreign policy and especially on Central Asia since Owen Lattimore's book, Pivot of Asia, which I practically memorized in 1947 in preparation for a trip as a manure-shoveler on a United Nations boat transporting cattle to a starving China.  

       This article, entitled "Pakistan Elections: May Be Good News for Pakistan, but Not for U.S", is by Graham Fuller, who used to be head of National Intelligence Estimates in the CIA when I was on loan from the State Department as Deputy Director of the new Office of Product Improvement more than forty years ago in the office of the Director of Central Intelligence, James Schlesinger.

       Graham has been an astute student of the global discord that has resulted from American support of European colonialism in Southwest and Central Asia after the Europeans essentially withdrew except as spectators, to be followed perhaps eventually by the Americans in pursuit of Donald Trump's electioneering promise in 2016 to abandon the catastrophic dream of "nation-building".  This militantly secularistic project has been designed to eliminate organic nations and maintain stability in the process through local dictators and whatever foreign military support may be necessary.  This, by the way, was the precise opposite of the policy essentially of con-federalism and national autonomy practiced successfully by the Ottoman Empire for many centuries.

       Now that Imran Khan has won in the peaceful shift in Pakistan's governing political parties, only the second one in 71 years, Central Asia is a new ballgame, including even the paradigmatic shift of Afghanistan from South Asia to Central Asia.  The new player, Pushtunistan, which the British in 1947 split between Pakistan and the artificial country of Afghanistan, is now acknowledged as a central player.  Indeed, it may offer the only hope for the end of the 17-year American war to ruthlessly subjugate the Pushtuns, who until today were known in American circles as the radical Taliban.  

       The leadership of the Pushtun was educated by the Saudis as orphans from the war during the 1980s against the Soviets.  Today, when the younger generation of the Pushtun liberate new areas, the first thing they do is to open girls schools and invite United Nations NGOs to help them join the modern world while maintaining the best of their centuries-long heritage, best epitomized by Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a non-violent soldier of Islam, whom Mahatma Gandhi said was his essential model and inspiration for the liberation of India from British occupation (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_Soldier_of_Islam).

       The only important point not mentioned by Graham Fuller in his think-piece below is the fact that President Bush violated all the laws of the "just war doctrine" when he refused the Taliban's offer to surrender Osama Bin Laden after 9/11 for trial in the third country of their mutual choice.  President Bush replied, "I want Osama bin Laden dead or alive".  

       Bush made his second most egregious error when he bombed Baghdad after the Pope sent his legate to advise President Bush in early March 2003, that under the existing circumstances an American invasion of Iraq would violate every one of the doctrine's seven conditions and constitute a war crime.

       The domestic and global repercussions of Imran Khan's dramatically populist victory in Pakistan's recent presidential election on July 26, 2018, are spelled out in detail by Graham Fuller below.  The latest development reportedly is that Washington yesterday put President Imran Khan's closest advisor, on the American "no-fly" list, perhaps in part because President Khan was born in the middle of Pushtunistan and accordingly has been a populist opponent of America's entire strategy against terrorism.  America's terrorist counter-terrorism has been a major cause of global terrorism, together with the growing wealth gap within and among countries caused by a defective system of money, credit, and banking, and may continue to do so in the decades ahead unless the militaristic paradigm of Neo-Con thought is replaced by what the brilliant Zbigniew Brzezinski, head of the National Security Council in the White House under President Jimmy Carter during the late Soviet Communist era, introduced successfully as "peaceful engagement". 

       For the best deep background perspective on a post-Neo-Con foreign policy, see the several books by Douglas M. Johnston, Jr., who once was Executive Director of the world's most powerful foreign policy think-tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  His latest book, published by Praeger in 2011, is entitled Religion, Terror, and Error: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Challenge of Spiritual Engagement, 283 pages.

       The key to ultimate success in policy-making is networking among like-minded people.  Such a networking strategy is the opposite of the common concept and practice among Muslims that too often has focused internally and negatively against others, following the model of Ibn Khaldun's bad asabiya, whereby one often derives one's own identity by looking down on others.  The opposite is pride in the best of one's own community as a source of identity and as an essential means to appreciate the good in other persons and communities, so that one can focus outwardly and constructively in cooperation with other communities and nations in everyone's best interests, in accordance with the Qur'an's emphasis on the good asabiyah.  

    

       The broader purpose of any networking project should be to help receptive members of these think-tanks cooperate in addressing the ultimate source of truth and purpose in every person's life (the discipline of ontology), in order to develop this epistemologically into a universal jurisprudence of responsibilities and derivative human rights, and then apply this axiologically to reform the world in practice, including its institutions, in pursuit of the wisdom in Mica 6:8 as the basis for compassionate justice:

What does

the Lord require

of you? but to do

JUSTICE

and to love

MERCY

and to walk

humbly with your

 

GOD

Pakistan Elections—Maybe Good News for Pakistan, But Not for U.S.

August 8, 2018

Pakistan Elections—Maybe Good News for Pakistan, But Not For US

Graham E. Fuller (grahamefuller.com)

8 August 2018

A bold new political face has come to power in the recent Pakistani elections, possibly offering the US a new opportunity in that country. Sadly the opportunity will likely be squandered—again. There’s something about Pakistani and US interests that seem doomed to collision course—mainly because Pakistan’s national interests are rarely what the US thinks they should be. 

Pakistanis themselves can be pleased the country has just experienced for only the second time in its history a democratic electoral transition from one political party to another. Over long decades democratically-elected governments have been routinely dethroned by the all-powerful Pakistani military-dominated intelligence service ISI. 

A key problem is that American interests in Pakistan have had little to do with Pakistan itself, but have been the function of other American interests—China, fighting the Soviet Union, al-Qaeda, and trying to win an ongoing—and losing—17-year US war in Afghanistan. Once about eliminating al-Qaeda, Washington today hopes the war in Afghanistan will eliminate the often violent fundamentalist Pashtun movement (Taliban) and enable the US to impose its strategic agenda upon Afghanistan. And over decades the US has alternately cajoled but mostly threatened Pakistan to do US bidding in Afghanistan. (A former Deputy Secretary of the Pentagon, in the months after 9/11, threatened to “bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age” if it didn’t fully get on board and support the new US invasion of Afghanistan.)

In an earlier decade, after the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to prop up a failing Afghan communist regime, the US had recruited the Pakistani government to take the lead in organizing a new anti-Soviet “jihad” through supporting new mujahedin groups in Afghanistan. It was a fateful moment: this anti-Soviet jihad represented the first time that Islamist warriors, recruited from around the world in a joint US-Saudi-Pakistani strategy, became a powerful battle-hardened jihadi force that would later go on to fight new wars in the Middle East—and against US interests. As one of the mujahideen told me at the time, they had “defeated a superpower”—the USSR—and driven Soviet troops out of Afghanistan. What would be the implications for the future? 

Then, after 9/11, the US invaded Afghanistan in order to overthrow the ruling Taliban—who had taken over the country and restored order after a devastating. nine-year Afghan civil war following the Soviet withdrawal. The Taliban actually represent a home-grown movement—they had no interest in international terrorism.  But they made one disastrous mistake: they allowed Osama Bin Laden to stay on in Afghanistan after he had played a small role in supporting the Taliban in achieving power in 1996. The US invasion ensued.

The thing to be remembered is that the Taliban are primarily a Pashtun movement; Pashtuns constitute the single largest ethnic group in multi-ethnic Afghanistan and have traditionally dominated national Afghan politics over several hundred years. While unquestionably following a kind of Wahhabi-style Islamic rule, they also represent a powerful Pashtun ethnic impulse. Many Afghan Pashtuns dislike the Taliban but they generally also wish to see Pashtuns maintain power in Afghanistan. This same ethnic issue matters a lot when it comes to Pakistan. 

The stated US agenda in Afghanistan now is to prevent the Taliban, who are conducting a fairly successful insurgency against the US-backed government in Kabul, from coming to power. Yet there is no way the Taliban can be decisively defeated, while the US may yet opt to move into its third decade of war there in trying to keep them out of power. While Taliban theology and policies are fairly Wahhabi in character, is it worth the longest war in American history to struggle on to keep them out? (There are a few encouraging signs that the US may be actually trying to reach some negotiated back-door deal with the Taliban for future power-sharing, but the Taliban may just decide to wait the US out.) What Washington doesn’t talk about is its long, strategic ambition to maintain military bases in Afghanistan, right in the heart of Central Asia in close proximity to Russia and China—very much out of the US Cold War playbook. But is it worth this costly and losing game?

Here’s where Pakistan comes in. In the Pak-Afghan border region there are twice as many Pashtuns living in Pakistan as there are in Afghanistan. They represent a powerful force in Pakistani politics—and that’s where Imran Khan, Pakistan’s new president from the heart of Pashtun territory, also comes in. 

Bottom line: the US has consistently attempted to enlist Pakistan into rescuing America’s losing war in Afghanistan; a key US demand has been for the Pakistanis to sever ties between Pakistani and Afghan Taliban movements and crush all radical Islamist groups in the border region. There is no doubt Pakistan has indeed helped the Afghan Taliban (Pashtuns) to fight on in Afghanistan. Pakistan has a deep interest, domestic and foreign, in keeping close ties with all Pashtuns, Taliban or not. (The Pakistani Taliban movement is more violent than the Afghan one but cannot be easily crushed —perhaps only tamed—even by the Pakistani government.)

And the power base of Pakistan’s new president Imran Khan lies precisely in this Pashtun region of the country. He will not likely agree to any policy pressures from the US to crush Taliban cross-border ties; he favors a strong Pashtun/Taliban presence in any Afghan government. Imran Khan has also been outspokenly critical of the US role in Pakistan and he will guard Pakistani sovereignty more jealously than his predecessors.

And then there are geopolitics with India. Already hugely outweighed and outgunned by a huge and powerful Indian state on Pakistan’s eastern border, Pakistan’s geopolitics dictate that it can never allow its geographically narrow state to be simultaneously threatened by a pro-Indian government on Pakistan’s western border in Afghanistan. Yet India has hugely invested—financially, politically and in terms of intelligence presence in Afghanistan with US blessing—perceived by Islamabad as deadly geopolitical threat. Pakistan will do all it can to ensure that Afghanistan does not fall under Indian political domination. That also means deep involvement in Afghan Pashtun politics (that include Taliban).

The US has consistently run roughshod over Pakistani sovereignty throughout its war in Afghanistan, thereby generating strong anti-US feelings in Pakistan. (My first novel: “Breaking Faith: An American’s Crisis of Conscience in Pakistan,” deals  heavily with these issues, including the CIA and American military presence in Pakistan, as well as the complicated range of Pakistani Islamist movements at the human level of a Pakistani family.)

And finally we  have the ever-growing China factor. Pakistan has long been China’s closest ally and considers Beijing to be an “all-weather friend”— in pointed distinction to perceived US opportunism in Pakistan. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan are now integral elements in China’s sweeping new economic and infrastructural Eurasian development plan “One Bridge One Road.”  (Iran too, incidentally, is linked into the same Chinese vision.) There is no way Pakistan will ever choose close ties with Washington over ties with China, for a dozen good reasons, including shared mutual distrust of India. 

In short, Imran Khan may well bring some fresh air into Pakistani politics, including a declared willingness to clamp down on the country’s rampant corruption. The powerful Pakistan military also supports him. It is hard to imagine how the US will not continue to lose ever more traction in the Pakistan-Afghan morass short of undertaking a major US shift away from its military-driven foreign policy. That US policy and style seems to tally ever less with the interests of most states of the region.

Graham E. Fuller is a former senior CIA official, author of numerous books on the Muslim World; his latest book is BEAR, a novel of the Great Bear Rainforest and Eco-Terrorism. (Amazon, Kindle) grahamefuller.com

----------------------------------------

Thank you

What do we do at the Center for Pluralism

http://centerforpluralism.com/what-do-we-do-at-center-for-pluralism/ ;

Mike Ghouse
Center for Pluralism
Washington, DC
(214) 325-1916
Mike@CenterforPluralism.com
www.CenterforPluralism.com

Pakistan lifts ban on YouTube after launch of local version

Pakistan lifts ban on YouTube | RedeemingPakistan.blogspot.com

We welcome Pakistan’s decision to lift the ban on YouTube.

Freedom of speech is an inalienable right of every individual.  There is no doubt; it will be abused by a few in the society, but the answer is not banning it but countering it with a better product.

It should open up opportunities to film producers in Pakistan to make common sense documentaries and films to counter the films like “Innocence of Muslims.”  We have to shape the societies; Quran calls for countering evil with good, and suggests that your behavior may turn them into your friends.  At least your non-violent behavior will not cause them to make more irritating material. There is a lot of wisdom packed in it.

Indeed, we have shelved the movie “Sacred” for lack of funds.  It will offer understanding to those who disrespect what is sacred to one, like desecrating the Quran or curbing Freedom of speech. The film would develop respect for Islam, as Islam is not the reason for individual’s bad behavior but their own backgrounds, and Muslims would fully understand what freedom of speech means.  If you like to read and consider funding the project – It is here;  http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2014/04/reestablishing-right-muslim-attitudes.html    

We welcome Pakistan’s decision, so many people are deprived of the knowledge through you tube, now they can see Ghamidi’s talk on Islam.

This is a good sign, and I hope they appoint people from both sides of the spectrum, liberal and conservatives to debate what needs to be taken down, although one should not take down anything.  Let freedom prevail.

Mike Ghouse
www.MuslimSpeaker.com 
www.InterfaithSpeaker.com 
# # #

ISLAMABAD | BY TOMMY WILKES

YouTube unveils their new paid subscription service at the YouTube Space LA in Playa Del Rey, Los Angeles, California, United States October 21, 2015.

REUTERS/LUCY NICHOLSON/FILES

Pakistan said on Monday it had removed a three-year ban on YouTube after the Google-owned video-sharing website launched a local version that allows the government to demand removal of material it considers offensive.

Pakistan banned access to YouTube in September 2012 after an anti-Islam film, "Innocence of Muslims", was uploaded to the site, sparking violent protests across major cities in the Muslim-majority country of 190 million people.

Under the new version of YouTube, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) can ask for access to offending material to be blocked, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom said in a statement.

"On the recommendation of PTA, the government of Pakistan has allowed access to the recently launched country version of YouTube for internet users in Pakistan," the ministry said.

The government could ask Google to block access to offending material for users within Pakistan and the ministry said Google and YouTube would "accordingly restrict access" for Pakistani users.

Google, however, said that it would not automatically remove material without conducting a review, and that the vetting process was the same as in other jurisdictions with local YouTube versions. Government requests to remove content would be publicly reported, it added.

"We have clear community guidelines, and when videos violate those rules, we remove them," it said in a statement.

"Where we have launched YouTube locally and we are notified that a video is illegal in that country, we may restrict access to it after a thorough review."

Blasphemy is a highly sensitive subject in Pakistan, where angry mobs have killed many people accused of insulting Islam. The crime of blasphemy can carry the death penalty, although a death sentence has never been carried out.

Pakistan has blocked thousands of web pages it deems undesirable in the last few years as internet access spreads, but activists say the government sometimes blocks sites to muzzle liberal or critical voices.

(Additional reporting by Jeremy Wagstaff in Singapore; Editing by Nick Macfie and Stephen Coates)

Pakistan, India and Kashmir Peace Talks - Why War Is Not An Option.

Note: Mona is one of my favorite Muslim human rights activists and I admire her for her work. I wish, I could attend the program, as I am deeply involved in the Anti-Muslim protests and solutions there of, and then go to Salt Lake City for the Parliament of Worlds Religions. 

Please participate in the symposium and things will change if you do something about it and Mona is doing it. Give her the support

Mike Ghousehttp://RedeemingPakistan.blogspot.com
http://MikeGhouseforIndia.blogspot.com 

# # #

Pakistan, India and Kashmir Peace Talks - Why War Is Not An Option.

By Mona Kazim Shah

This symposium is scheduled for the 10^th of Oct, 2015 at UT Dallas at 2 PM at Naveen Jindal School of Management. It is organized by #ProjectPakistan, an ongoing campaign that speaks for human rights issues, has philanthropic projects, political radio shows, provides space for open mics, and is working diligently to encourage dialogue to resolve conflicts and promote South Asian art and culture in the U.S.

The focus of this symposium is to bring the youth from Pakistan, Kashmir and India on one forum and to instigate peace talks and healthy dialogue that will finally take their voices further. Since we will be micro blogging and streaming the event live for the participation of the audience in the region, we expect our voices to reach back home. We believe the same youth will be part of our government, bureaucracy, policy making and pressure groups in a very short time and is capable to take these talks to the next level. They have shown serious political acumen and the will to re-open the frozen issues, such as the one under discussion.

The panelists are pro peace, pro dialogue Journalists/Academics/Activists/Artists who have worked in their own capacities for years and have paid a price for it.

 Beena Sarwar, a journalist, artist and documentary filmmaker from Pakistan (focusing on media, gender, peace and human rights issues) who also work part time as Editor, Aman ki Asha, a peace initiative between the Jang Group of Newspapers, Pakistan and The Times of India. I asked her about the fact if any change should be expected from younger generation of government/bureaucracy? Her answer was in affirmation she also added that, “Politicians, business people and even a common person is capable of bringing about a change, the younger generation doesn't have the baggage or carry the animosity. Most want to live in peace and have good relations. I believe that the change is happening, but it will take time” Beena said optimistically. Beena currently teaches Journalism at Brown.

Raza Ahmad Rumi, a Pakistani journalist and policy analyst who serves as an editor at The Friday Times, Pakistan's foremost liberal weekly paper, had an interesting analysis about the role that media can play in bringing India, Kashmir and Pakistan on the same page. According to Rumi, “The media is a powerful player now, even stronger than state actors. It has a vital role in shaping public opinion for peace-building. However, the disturbing corporatization of media means that you have to sell conflict for profits. This is why peace and diplomacy find less traction and more sensational stuff is witnessed. This has grave implications for the future peace efforts”.

Rumi, himself survived an assassination attempt by religious extremists in Pakistan last year. Rumi’s book, Delhi by Heart: Impressions of a Pakistani Traveler is a must read.

Dr.Amie Maciszewski, an international musician, a Sitarist who will be opening the symposium with a Kashmiri folk tune told us how her life has been about liminality: negotiating borderlands and building bridges. She has been studying and practicing expressive traditions, particularly music, of a complex region like South Asia.  For her Kashmir is one such borderland which has been enriched by intercultural encounter, dialogue, and collaboration.  Amie believes, Symposia like this are most important steps towards dialogue, collaboration, and, ultimately, mutual enrichment.

At this much anticipated event, we also have Dr. Pritpal Singh as a panelist. A Physician who has always stood up and addressed Human Rights Issues with great passion.  He is an executive with Cigna. He facilitates workshops and projects which aim to fight both religious and political oppression through reflection, awareness, and activism.  Dr. Singh is a frequent guest speaker at the educational, religious, and social forums.  Dr. Singh believes, “Conflict only furthers tensions and creates more divisions, solutions that take the route of peace are the only ones that provide political and social harmony and is of optimal value.”

Dr. Nyla Ali Khan is on the faculty of the Expository Writing Program and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the University of Oklahoma. She is a native of Kashmir, and a native speaker of the Kashmir language.

 Dr. Khan believes that the younger generation of Kashmir has witnessed the militarization of the Valley and has grown up in a traumatized environment. She told me that when she interacted with young people at various academic institutions, she realized that they have tremendous potential.  Dr. Khan said, “I hope the right opportunities are created for them, not just in academia and the government sector, but in the private sector as well” She hopes that young Kashmiris tap into the potential that they have, “only then there is hope for light at the end of the tunnel”.

Nyla Ali Khan has most recently edited a major anthology, The Parchment of Kashmir: History, Society, and Polity, which develops an unparalleled understanding of the region’s culture, resilience and fate as political pawn. Her recent book, ‘The Life of a Kashmiri Woman’ a critically acclaimed work, is a hybrid form of academic memoir and biography on her maternal grandmother, Begum Akbar Jehan. Nyla’s goal is to engage in reflective action as an educator questioning the erosion of cultural syncretism, the ever increasing dominance of religious fundamentalism, and the irrational resistance to cultural and linguistic differences.

Amitabh Pal is the Managing Editor of The Progressive. He has interviewed the Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter and John Kenneth Galbraith. In addition to his role as the Managing Editor, Pal is the Co-Editor of the Progressive Media Project. He is the author of "Islam" Means Peace: Understanding the Muslim Principle of Nonviolence Today.

Quoting one of Amit’s articles, “The international community including the United States, the European Union and other nations has pressed for India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue”

According to Pal, “Indians and Pakistanis deserve a better future than the fate their leaders have bestowed on them for more than half a century and both countries need to work toward that -- step by step”.

The panelists, the audience and the city look forward to this very timely and important discussion that may lead to positive results. This is yet another effort in the name of peace by the people who truly believe that war has not and will not solve anything.  We are done with the tired rhetoric and losing innocent lives on the borders. All three regions can use the money it invests on defense on development, health care and education of its masses.

We would like to thank our partners and supporters for trusting us and our efforts for this Peace Symposium and for joining hands with us in making a difference.  We thank United Nations Dallas Chapter (UNAUSA Dallas),  Pakistan Students Association UT Dallas, Indian Students Association UT Dallas, Embrey Human Rights Program Deadman College, Southern Methodist University (SMU), Never Forget Pakistan, Pakistan Society of North Texas (PSNT) Fun Asia Radio, Dallas, Voices Breaking Boundaries (VBB), Dallas Peace and Justice Center, Pakistan Students Association UNT, Indian Students Association UNT and World Echoes  from the bottom of our hearts.

About the Author: Dr. Mona Kazim Shah is the Founder of #ProjectPakistan, Journalist and Human Rights Activist. Dr. Shah is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Global Studies and Human Rights & Social Justice from Southern Methodist University. She lives with her husband and twin daughters in Dallas.  She can be reached at monakazimshah@gmail.com

Rare Video of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Karachi

RedeemingPakistan.blogspot.com 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2u6801_a-very-rare-and-unseen-video-of-quaid-e-azam-muhammad-ali-jinnah-in-karachi_tv

Asia’s highest cross in Pakistan, congratulations.

ASIA'S TALLEST CROSS IN PAKISTAN | REDEEMING PAKISTAN
http://redeemingpakistan.blogspot.com/2015/06/asias-highest-cross-in-pakistan.html
Congratulations to the people of Pakistan.

This is good news, and a  good step forward. I hope with this Pakistan's tradition of Pluralism is rekindled. Let all religions flourish, let God be honored in every which way he can .  As any minority anywhere in the world, the Christian community of Pakistan has gone out of the way to build relationships with the majority and it is time to recognize this. Let the Government of Pakistan protect this monument.

When Barack Obama  became President of the United States, he gave hope to the world, that in a civilized nation, a person's skin color, religion, financial or minority status does not matter, as long as the person has the merit to serve the nation. Islam teaches and the Prophet reinforced the ideals of equal opportunity, access, schooling, housing, jobs or retirement with simple words in his last sermon - no discrimination of any kind and no one is superior to the other.  I am glad to see this cross, it is symbolic.

I hope someday,  the people will rise and make Pakistan once again a civil society and rip the discriminatory laws. I also hope some day a  Christian, Hindu, Sikh or an Ahmadi can become head of the state and uplift the psyche of the nation. Indonesia has done that with Djoko as its president.  That is a pinnacle achievement of a civil society.

I am delighted with this good news, as a Pluralist, may be some of us from Dallas join them in celebrating the opening of the cross.

May God bless Pakistan and  a genuine democracy emerge.

Mike Ghouse
www.foundationforpluralism.blogspot.com 
www.StandingupforOthers.com 

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Asia’s highest cross in Pakistan: A fitting tribute to selfless Christian community

May 29, 2015, 4:29 PM IST Sameer Arshad in Gray Areas | World | TOI

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/gray-areas/asias-highest-cross-in-pakistan-a-fitting-tribute-to-selfless-christian-community/

When Pakistani real-estate tycoon Parvez Henry Gill’s dream project would be a reality later this year, it would tower over Pakistan’s financial nerve centre — Karachi — as Asia’s highest Christian cross. Gill hopes to inaugurate the 140-feet religious symbol with large celebration in presence of Pope Francis, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Queen Elizabeth II and ex-US secretary of state Hillary Clinton. The inauguration would be of great symbolic value in a city with large Hindu and Christian population and a sprinkling of Parsis and Sikhs. It would importantly coincide with the implementation of the National Action Plan formulated to combat terrorism and radicalization, which led to massacre of around 150 children in Peshawar last year. The real test of the plan would be how it changes the lives of ordinary Christians and people from other minority communities, who are often at the receiving end of discriminatory laws. Pakistan’s efforts to root out terrorism and radicalisation would be inadequate as long as it does not fulfill the promise of equal citizenship the country’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah had emphatically made to the minorities. In case of Christians in particular, it would not be a favour but recognition of their selfless services to the country.

A 140-foot cross at the Gora Qabristan Cemetery (Getty images)

The Pakistani Christian contribution has not been limited to healthcare and quality education, which has given Pakistan some of its finest politicians, jurists, soldiers and sportsmen. The community has perhaps punched above it weight most in the battlefield, something that may surprise most. Christian officers have made their presence felt in upper echelons of Pakistani armed forces and have been decorated with highest gallantry awards. Air Commodore Nazir (Bill) Latif was one of the first Christian officers to make a mark in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). He has the distinction of commanding all PAF fighter wings besides its Fighter Leader’s School and the tactical wing. Bill came into his in the 1965 war when India overwhelmed Pakistan as its tanks crossed the border and had Lahore Cantonment within their range.

Nazir (Bill) Latif (Wikipedia)

In his 2011 obituary in a Pakistan newspaper, Bill’s junior, Air Commodore (retd) Sajad Haider, echoed criticism of Pakistani version of exaggerated exploits in the 1965 war as ‘unsubstantiated rhetoric’. But he credited men like Bill with ‘halting the juggernaut of the Indian invasion’. Haider wrote Bill’s last mission during the war ‘was the deepest penetration’ in Indian territory against ‘their farthest bomber base in Agra – with Mig-21s, SAM missiles and the inferno of light and heavy anti-aircraft shells emblazing the sky over the target’. He added Pakistan’s second highest military award — Hilal-e-Jurat —was created for him, which he got for the second time for his role in the 1971 war even as Pakistan was decimated and dismembered. Bill, according to Haider, was the only commander in his air rank to fly ‘dangerous daylight and night missions against the Indian deluge in Khokhrapar sector threatening Hyderabad (Sindh)’ in 1971.

Like Bill, Wing Commander Mervyn Lesley Middlecoat is known for his rare exploits in the otherwise disastrous 1971 Pakistani campaign. He was conferred Sitara-e-Jurat for the second time posthumously when he fell into the sea after he ejected from his aircraft as a missile hit it over the Gulf of Kutch while strafing aircraft at Jamnagar air force base in 1971. Middlecoat (31) was commanding PAF’s 26 Squadron in Peshawar before the war. He had opted out of a deputation to Jordon to take part in it. Middlecoat was among six pilots chosen for bombing heavily-guarded Jamnagar base. He had earlier been awarded Sitara-e-Jurat for the first time during the 1965 war for defending Karachi when Indian jets bombed the city. The Ludhiana-born Anglo-Pakistani had brought down two jets and earned the name of the ‘Defender of Karachi’. Group Captain Faisal Chaudhry, another Christian officer, too was awarded Sitara-e-Jurrat twice for his role in 1965 and 1971 wars.

Rear-Admiral Leslie Norman Mungavin, who had opted out of his posting in London as defence attaché to fight the 1971 war, has the distinction of being the highest ranking Pakistani Christian military officer. He served as a prisoner of war following his capture in Chittagong before becoming the deputy chief of Pakistani navy and National Shipping Corporation chairman. The two-star admiral had opted for Pakistan after partition and served its navy for 33 years. He commanded various war ships and was awarded Sitara-e-Pakistan in recognition of his services. Mungavin’s body was cremated and his ashes were scattered over the Arabian Sea following his military funeral as per his wishes in Pakistan following his death in UK in 1995.

In the army, Christian officers Noeel Israel and Julian Peter have achieved the third highest — Major General — rank. Many like Yubri Malven and Simon Simon Sharaf, who is now a leading member of Imran Khan’s party, have been Brigadiers. Sharaf’s brother, Captain Justin George Napoleon Sharaf, spent over a year in an Indian prisoner of war camp after he was captured following the fall of Dhaka in 1971. Allahabad-born ex-federal minister Shiv Kumar Tressler, a Christian, retired as a colonel before joining the Foreign Service, where he went on to become director general in 1994. Among the decorated Christian army officers, Major Sermecis Rauf was awarded Sitara-e-Basalat for bravery. In 2009, Major Julian James, a commando, was wounded while fighting the Taliban death cult in Swat.

But no Christian officer has captured the public imagination as much as fighter pilot Cecil Chaudhry, whose contributions go beyond the battlefield. He was first conferred Pakistan’s third highest bravery award for his role in the 1965 war. But his heroics became legendary in the 1971 war even though his country was decimated and disremembered. Cecil Chaudhry is said to have continued flying his plane at the height of 3,500 feet even as it took a hit. The plane caught fire as Chaudhry landed it on a minefield with broken ribs inside the Pakistani territory. He was decorated with his second bravery award as he insisted on continuing fighting and shot down two aircraft over the area, where his own plane had been hit. Cecil Chaudhry had been cleared for promotion in 1983, but was shocked to learn that military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq had blocked it as part of his poisonous policies of exclusion. The decorated officer resigned three years later as Group Captain after 28-year-old career.

Cecil Chaudhry (Wikipedia)

He used his stature to speak up for the victims of injustices in the Pakistani society till his death as an activist and educationalist. He fought Zia’s poisonous legacy in the form of draconian blasphemy laws. He mentored Shahbaz Bhatti, the Catholic federal minister who was killed in Islamabad in March 2011 for his campaign against the draconian laws often used to target poor Christians. Cecil Chaudhry vowed to continue his struggle against the draconian laws after Bhatti’s assassination even as he was battling lung cancer.

Cecil Chaudhry had his share of successes as an activist. He was instrumental in ending separate electorates system for the minorities, which was another poisonous Zia legacy of religious apartheid. Cecil Chaudhry saw this as a betrayal of Jinnah’s ideals. He had a very non-sectarian view of activism and believed powerful persecuted 90% of his countrymen. The celebrated fighter pilot passed away in June 2012. Hundreds of politicians, military officers, educationalists and activists bid him final farewell at Lahore’s Sacred Heart Cathedral. They celebrated his legacy that is at par with his countrymen like Victor Turner and Alvin Robert Cornelius, who was Pakistan’s first non-Muslim chief justice. Agra-born Cornelius belonged to the Goan Christian community, which along with upper caste Hindus and Parsis buck the general trend of marginalisation of religious minorities. Hindus in Pakistan mostly belong to the lower castes, while large numbers of Christians are descendants of converts from these communities. This is among the reasons of their marginalisation.

Goan Christians are among the most prosperous minority communities in Pakistan. The community has given Pakistan some of the finest journalists, soldiers, educationists, sportspeople, businessmen, jurists etc. Goan Christians began making a mark ever since they arrived in Karachi when the British occupied Sindh under Charles Napier in 1843. They were attracted to the sleepy coastal-village-turned-megacity as it offered them new opportunities in trade and commerce. Parsis and Goans in fact managed the city as majority of the Hindus left Karachi while Indian Muslims began arriving there in 1947. They ran educational institutions, hospitals clubs, pubs and wine stores. According to a Pakistani Goan Christian website, Goans in particular ‘were in the limelight of everything, from municipality to customs, judiciary to policing, sports, music and stage plays to ballroom dancing, and of course cuisiné.

Goan Frank D’Souza, who was the first Indian to become a Railway Board member under the British, set-up Pakistan’s railway system in 1947 on Jinnah’s request. Tollentine Fonseca wrote the musical score of Pakistan’s national anthem while Manuel Misquita was one of Karachi’s first elected mayors after the formation of Pakistan.

Anthony Mascarenhas, whose famous article in 1971 turned the tide against Pakistan in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) in 1971, was a Goan Pakistani Christian. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi cited his article, saying it shocked her deeply and prompted her to campaign globally to prepare ground for India’s intervention in East Pakistan. Mascarenhas was very close to the Pakistani establishment. This was the reason why he was handpicked along with seven other Pakistani journalists for a 10-day tour to East Pakistan. The tour was organised to ‘expose Bengali rebels’ for massacring thousands of people opposed to them. Mascarenhas’s colleagues toed the establishment’s line while he had an article published in the UK’s The Sunday Times headlined ‘Genocide’, detailing the extent of Pakistani brutality in East Pakistan. Mascarenhas later became the first journalist to report Pakistan had developed nukes in 1979.

In the battlefield, Goan Brigadier Mervyn Cardoza’s exploits won him Tamgha-e-Khidmat (seventh highest award). His brother, Colonel Eric Cardoza, Lieutenant Colonel David DeSouza, Major Joseph Lobo, Major Kenneth Cardoza, Brigadier Dr Hilary Zuzarte have received Sitara-e-Basalat. Air Commodore Charles Zuzarte was decorated with the Sitara-e-Basalat. Other prominent Goans, who have served the military with distinction, include Brigadier FG Pinto (army), Commanders Stanislaus DeSouza, Arthur Cardoza, and Lieutenant Commander Phillip Menezes (navy), Flight Lieutenants Reginald Nazareth and Rudy D’Souza (air force). Among the sleuths Blasé Mascarenhas, who retired as Intelligence Bureau deputy director, was decorated Tamgha-e-Khidmat, for their services. Maurice Raymond was the first Pakistani General Manager of the Karachi Port Trust, while Joseph D’Mello went on to become Pakistan Railway Board chairman and Sydney Pereira the head of Atomic Energy Commission. Among the sportsmen, Mathais Wallis, who batted with Hanif Mohammad’s during his record 337-run innings at Port of Spain in 1958, and Antao D’Souza played test cricket for Pakistan.

Most of these men grew up in Karachi, which has suffered the most as a result of Pakistan’s obsession with strategic depth in Afghanistan and the chronic extremism it brought to the city still known for its diversity. Gill’s record-breaking cross should be an important celebration of this diversity and Christian contribution to the city and the country. Pakistan needs to compliment it with more concrete measures that go beyond tokenism and combat radicalism corroding the society with greater sense of purpose. By attending the inauguration of the cross, Prime Minister Sharif should put the money where his mouth is to end the scourge of extremism, which cannot be ended with out rooting Zia’s poisonous exclusionary policies reflected in discriminatory laws against the minorities. Karachi is Pakistan’s soul and the cross coming up there is perhaps a good omen for Islamabad’s promised curative surgery to rid the country of the cancer of extremism.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.