Pakistan Conflict Monitor

Disarming of Key City Proposed to Stop Targeted Killings

Targeted Karachi Killings Lead to Calls to Disarm City, Central Asia Online, 28 July 2010

EXCERPT: "Disarming Karachi is essential to control the city’s skyrocketing rate of assassinations, analysts say. Worried about increases in targeted killings, political observers are demanding that the government de-weaponise the city and divert funds into economic policies, such as reducing poverty and increasing job opportunities, to curb the violence. The government has formed a committee to look into implementation of a de-weaponisation programme, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said, adding the government has ordered a judicial enquiry into the increase in targeted killings from January 2010 until the present. About 42 people were killed July 21-26. Some of the dead were affiliated with the Awami National Party (ANP), the Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Punjabi Pashtun Ittehad (PPI); most were not political activists. The MQM and ANP have blamed each other for the recent violence, but Federal Home Minister Rehman Malik rejected accusations of either party’s involvement and instead denounced the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). 'People from different castes, creeds and backgrounds live in the city in harmony, but terrorists want to spark violence on an ethnic basis in order to achieve their dirty motives,' Malik said. [...] 'In the first six months of this year, 889 people have been murdered, of which some 260 were targeted in the city,' Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) data indicate. "

Read the full story.

Related articles:
SHC demands comment on target killings, The Express Tribune, 30 July 2010
Sindh govt establishes tribunal to investigate Karachi killings, DAWN, 27 July 2010

Related posts:
Following a "spate of targeted killings", Karachi begins crackdown on "criminal elements", 27 July 2010
Political meetings in Karachi banned, 16 June 2010
Wave of violence sparks protests across Karachi, 14 June 2010
200 arrested after political killings in Karachi, 20 May 2010
Targeted killings, ethnic violence plague Karachi, 25 January 2010

Torture Prevalent in Security Forces' Custody: Report

Hegemony of Wilderness Torture Situation in Pakistan [pdf], Asian Human Rights Commission, 25 June 2010

EXCERPT: "Amid the demonstration of the most cruel form of torture by the police, armed forces, the intelligence agencies and paramilitary forces during the last year, from July 2009 to June this year, the government of Pakistan has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. It is also quite well known in Pakistan that torture prevails both in police and military custody. The primary method by which crimes are investigated is still the use of torture and in almost all police stations torture takes place daily. Dealing with this issue by the development of the police force will now be one of the main obligations of the state. Civil society and human rights organisations must now take greater interest in the attempt to eliminate the use of torture within the policing system. Torture in custody is a very common phenomenon in Pakistan because of the rouged legal system and impotent rule of law."

Read the full report [pdf].
Read the press release.

Related articles:
Pakistan jail head faces charges over missing prisoners, BBC News, 22 June 2010

Related posts:
Torture risk Halts UK deportation of Qaeda operative, 18 May 2010
Court to rule on missing Pakistanis, 19 March 2010
Court orders inquiry into past cases of police torture, 5 March, 2010
Public dismayed by crisis of governance, 18 January 2010
Pakistan slips five places in Transparency International Corruption Index, 18 November 2009

Pakistan Ranks 10th among "Failed States"

Pakistan Ranks 10th among "Failed States", DAWN, 22 June 2010

EXCERPT: "Pakistan was ranked the 10th most failed state in the world, just three places below Afghanistan, in a US survey released on Monday. Somalia tops the 2010 Failed States Index followed by Zimbabwe, Sudan, and Chad. The index issued by the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace, a Washington-NGO, ranks India 87th in a list of 177 countries. [...] The report notes that Pakistan has more than once been described as the world’s most dangerous country. Its wild northern reaches remain host to various branches of the Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda. More than three million Pakistani civilians were displaced by 'counterinsurgency' operations in 2009 — the largest single movement of people since the Rwandan genocide. [...] The continuing violence in Pakistan’s poorest and most remote regions makes it extremely difficult for food and medical supplies to reach the areas that need it most. Many parts of the country go without electricity and clean water; conditions are notoriously poor in the refugee camps in northern Pakistan. The human rights situation has improved significantly since 2008. The security apparatus indicator has also improved. In Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan local militias exercise significant control over their communities. In the tribal areas, the government’s authority is barely recognized. [...] The indicator for external intervention has worsened since 2008. Pakistan is the second-largest recipient of US foreign aid. The US is also using drone aircraft to attack Taliban and Al Qaeda sites within Pakistan."

Read the full story.
View the full Failed States Index.

Related posts:
Pakistan fifth most unstable country: Global Peace Index, 10 June 2010
Pakistan 10th in 2010 Impunity Index, 22 April 2010
Pakistan among top ten humanitarian disasters: Report, 23 December 2009
Pakistan slips five places in Transparency International Corruption Index, 18 November 2009
Pakistan 159th out of 175 in 2009 Press Freedom Index, 16 November 2009

Court Summons ISI over Disappearances

Pakistan Court Issues "Disappearances" Ruling, BBC News, 17 June 2010

EXCERPT: "Pakistan's Supreme Court has ordered the powerful ISI intelligence agency to appear in court to explain what has happened to a missing political leader. Akash Mallah went missing in October 2009 in the city of Hyderabad in the southern province of Sindh. He is believed to be held by the ISI. Pakistan's security agencies routinely detain such suspects for 'anti-state' activities. Most are held without being charged for months and even years. The Supreme Court has already ordered the government to set up a national commission to investigate what has become a major humanitarian crisis. [...] His case is just one of hundreds being heard in the Supreme Court. Most of those arrested belong to nationalist groups in southern Sindh or Balochistan provinces, and some are said to be members of jihadist organisations. Human rights groups maintain that such detentions have been used to intimidate nationalist groups."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
SC summons ISI inspector in missing activist case, The News Internatioanl, 18 June 2010
The valley at the centre of the Kashmir insurgency, BBC News, 10 June 2010

Related posts:
ISI trains, funds, and supplies Taliban: Report, June 14 2010
Former ISI major a recurring link in terrorism investigations, 08 June 2010
Former ISI officials accused of training Taliban, 5 March 2010
Civil service need urgent repair, 16 February 2010
Challenges of Pakistan's governance system, 26 October 2009

Pakistan Fifth Most Unstable Country: Global Peace Index

Pakistan Ranked Fifth Most Unstable Country, DAWN, 10 June 2010

EXCERPT: "Pakistan is the world’s fifth most unstable country, better only than Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan and Sudan in that order, says the US State Department. The department’s Global Peace Index (GPI), released on Wednesday, reports that Pakistan’s overall score deteriorated steadily for the second successive year and it slid three places into the bottom five. Pakistan’s overall rank now is 145 on a list of 149 countries. All South Asian nations occupy the lower half of the regional table, headed by Nepal, in 82nd place. India, although better than Pakistan, is also in the red zone and is ranked 128. [...] Ongoing internal conflicts and related security concerns in Afghanistan and Pakistan contribute to their low rankings. Embroiled in conflict and instability for much of the past two decades, Afghanistan remained far from peaceful during 2009. [...] A sharp rise in Pakistan’s GPI indicator of the number of people killed in internal conflict and upward shifts in scores for the potential of terrorist acts, the likelihood of violent demonstrations and the homicide rate underline the extent to which the country became embroiled in violence that verged on civil war in 2009.The report notes that Pakistan’s score and rank did not fall further in part because of an improvement in the measure of relations with neighbouring countries, albeit from the lowest possible level, and a slight rise in political stability."

Read the full story.
View the complete index.

Related articles:
The most dangerous place, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 June 2010

Related posts:
Record number of deaths due to militant violence: Report, 11 January 2010
At the precipice: Is Pakistan about to fail?, 10 December 2009
Pakistan: "The most dangerous foreign policy issue facing the US"?, 9 December 2009
Pakistan slips five places in Transparency International corruption index, 18 November 2009
Pakistan 159th out of 175 in 2009 Press Freedom Index, 16 November 2009

Human Rights Watch Seeks Repeal of Blasphemy Law

Pakistan: Massacre of Minority Ahmadis, Human Rights Watch, 1 June 2010

EXCERPT: "[...] Since the military government of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq unleashed a wave of persecution in the 1980s, violence against the Ahmadiyya community has never really ceased. Ahmadis continue to be killed and injured, and have their homes and businesses burned down in anti-Ahmadi attacks. The authorities continue to arrest, jail and charge Ahmadis for blasphemy and other offenses because of their religious beliefs. In several instances, the police have been complicit in harassment and the framing of false charges against Ahmadis, or stood by in the face of anti-Ahmadi violence. [...] However, the government seldom brings charges against perpetrators of anti-Ahmadi violence and discrimination. Research by Human Rights Watch indicates that the police have failed to apprehend anyone implicated in such activity in the last several years. Since 2000, an estimated 400 Ahmadis have been formally charged in criminal cases, including blasphemy. Several have been convicted and face life imprisonment or death sentences pending appeal. 'Under Pakistan’s Blasphemy Law, virtually any public act of worship or devotion by an Ahmadi can be treated as a criminal offense,' said Hasan 'Ahmadis could be sentenced to death for simply professing their faith.' Human Rights Watch urged concerned governments and inter-governmental bodies to press the Pakistani government to: repeal the Blasphemy Law; Prosecute those responsible for harassing, and planning and executing attacks against the Ahmadiyya and other minorities; and take steps to encourage religious tolerance within Pakistani society."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
"Punjab govt giving special treatment to arrested terrorist", Daily Times, 4 June 2010
Ahmadi sect pleads for help after Pakistan killings, AFP, 3 June 2010
Religious figures claim no terrorists in south Punjab, DAWN, 3 June 2010

Related posts:
At least 80 killed in attacks on minority sect, 28 May 2010
Pakistan blasphemy laws used to justify "murder": EU parliament, 21 May 2010
Pakistan fails to protect religious minorities from violence, discrimination: Report, 29 April 2010
Religion, politics and governance in Pakistan, 23 February 2010
2009 Department of State report on religious freedoms in Pakistan, 16 November 2009

Torture Risk Halts UK Deportation of Qaeda Operative

Two Pakistani Students Pose "Serious Threat" but Can Stay in UK, The Guardian, 18 May 2010

EXCERPT: "Britain's counter-terrorism strategy was thrown into turmoil today when a judge ruled that two Pakistani students posed a serious threat to national security but could not be deported because of the risk that they would be tortured or killed in their own country. A special immigration court ruled that Abid Naseer was 'an al-Qaida operative' who remained a serious threat, while his friend Ahmed Faraz Khan had been radicalised before coming to the UK and was willing to participate in terrorist activity. Neither man was allowed to see the evidence upon which the court reached its decision, and nor was their solicitor. After they had been publicly identified as terrorism suspects, however, the court also ruled that it was not possible for them to be deported to Pakistan, where terrorism suspects face torture or death. Mr Justice Mitting, chair of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac), said that in Pakistan 'there is a long and well-documented history of disappearances, illegal detention and of the torture and ill-treatment of those detained, usually to produce information, a confession or compliance'."

Read the full story.

Related articles: 
Commission to review human rights act after terror case, BBC News, 18 May 2010 
Operation pathway: What happened, BBC News, 18 May 2010 
Manchester terror plot: The e-mails, BBC News, 18 May 2010 
Terror arrests timeline, The Guardian, 18 May 2010 
Should terror suspects be allowed to stay in the UK?, The Guardian, 18 May 2010 

Related posts: 
Human Rights Watch accuses Pakistan army of unlawful killings, 6 April 2010 
Pakistan: State of human rights in 2009, 23 March 2010 
2009 UK report on human rights in Pakistan, 22 March 2010
Pakistan must do more: UK, 30 November 2009 
Transnational ties: Islamist terror plots in UK, 27 October 2009 

Pakistan Acquits Suspected Militants

Pakistan Court Acquits Men Accused Of Militant Attacks, BBC News, 13 May 2010

EXCERPT: "A Pakistani court has acquitted nine men accused of planning two deadly attacks on security targets, including one which killed the army's top medic. A suicide bomber killed Lt Gen Mushtaq Baig with seven others in February 2008. He is the most senior military official to be killed since 2001. Just weeks earlier, several employees of Pakistan's intelligence agency were killed in a suicide attack on a bus. But the judge said there was not enough evidence. The men pleaded not guilty. The 2008 suicide bombings left 16 people dead and wounded dozens more."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Four suspects in Marriott bombing case acquitted, DAWN, 5 May 2010
Rawalpindi attack mastermind previously arrested and released [blog], The Long war Journal, 12 October 2009
Suicide bomber kills senior Pakistani general in Rawalpindi [blog], The Long War Journal, 25 February 2008

Related posts:
471 terror suspects acquitted in Punjab, 23 April 2010
Militants held in indefinite detention, 21 April 2010

Pakistan's Mumbai Suspects May Walk Free

Deadlock over Pakistan's Mumbai Suspects, BBC News, 3 May 2010

EXCERPT: "Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab is the only one of 10 gunmen to have survived after unleashing three days of terror on the city of Mumbai, killing 166 people. But the alleged mastermind of the attacks is currently being held in Pakistan. Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspects were arrested and charged under Pakistani anti-terrorism laws in November 2009. All seven have pleaded not guilty. Nine others have been charged in absentia and warrants issued for their arrest. Mr Lakhvi is the head of the staunchly anti-Indian Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, which Delhi holds responsible for the 26 November attacks. He was arrested in a raid by security forces on a Lashkar-e-Taiba training camp in Pakistani-administered Kashmir on 7 December 2008 - just days after the attacks. Two others arrested later were also named as the main planners: Hammad Amin Sadiq and Shahid Jamil Riaz. But what progress has there been in this case? According to the main lawyer representing them, they are likely to be set free. [...] And it also appears that Indian hopes about the prosecution of Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and the person many see as the real brains behind the whole operation, are over."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
India to seek extradition of Hafiz Saeed, 21 others, Daily Times, 5 May 2010
Kasab continues to hog the headlines in Pakistan, The Hindu, 5 May 2010
Mumbai profile: Lashkar-e-Taiba, Telegraph, 3 May 2010
Manmohan, Gilani discuss prosecution of Hafiz Saeed, The Times of India, 29 April 2010

Related posts:
Conviction in Mumbai case, death sentence sought, 4 May 2010
Pakistan reluctant to rein in LeT: US experts, 12 March 2010
Militant group easily evades ban, 23 February 2010
A year after Mumbai, India offers to talk with Pakistan, 4 February 2010
India-Pakistan relations post-Mumbai terrorist attacks, 19 January 2010

Instability and Poverty Place Children at Risk of Sex Work

Sold into Sex Work, IRIN News, 25 April 2010

EXCERPT: "[...] There are reports that rising poverty is forcing a growing number of families to sell children, with girls in particular ending up in sex work. 'We have more and more reports of people selling their children due to poverty,' I.A. Rehman, secretary-general of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), told IRIN. Boys were sometimes trafficked outside the country, and girls were generally sold into the sex trade, he said. According to HRCP, growing unemployment is a big factor contributing to poverty. According to independent estimates, the unemployment rate is 15.2 percent. Poverty levels have remained persistently high in Pakistan. According to a study completed in February 2010 by economists at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, every second household in the districts of the southern Punjab, comprising 17.49 million people, lives in absolute poverty. The fact that many wage earners have lower skill levels, due to a lack of education, is cited as a key factor in this. 'For households in the north [of Punjab Province], 14.26 percent of their income comes from remittances, which explains their comparative affluence; it is 4.4 percent in the centre [of the province], 2.14 percent in the south and 3.03 percent in the west,' the study says. Punjab is by far the most populous of Pakistan's four provinces. 'Pakistan's economy has been in recession for some years. Because of political instability and terrorism there is no investment and no growth. This means fewer jobs and other related issues,' economic analyst Sikander Lodhi told IRIN. He also said prices of many items, including food, had risen in response to rising fuel costs."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Sex work a dangerous game, IRIN News via Reuters, 6 January 2009
Children at risk [op-ed], Daily Times, 12 December 2006
Lahore's street children find alternatives at UNICEF-supported centre, UNICEF, 9 November 2006

Related reports:
Global report on the status of action against commercial sexual exploitation of children [pdf], ECPAT International, 2006

Related posts:
Child, maternal health goals unlikely to be met: UN, 4 January 2010
Pakistan lagging behind in achieving child health goals, 23 November 2009