Pakistani press

Pakistan - Annual report 2008

Area: 796 100 sq. km.
Population: 159,500,000.
Languages: Urdu, English.
Head of state: Pervez Musharraf.

It was an annus horribilis for journalists in Pakistan. Six reporters were killed, nearly 250 arrested and more than 100 incidents were recorded of threats and physical assault. The brutality came from all sides: the army, Islamists, political militants and local organised crime. And Gen. Pervez Musharraf, rocked by a protest movement launched by judges and lawyers, made life impossible for privately-owned television and radio stations.

Pakistan has been through a year of major political crisis which began in March 2007 with the sacking of the President of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, deepened with the 3 November declaration of emergency rule and culminated in December with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the historic leader of the leading opposition party. Pervez Musharraf’s reaction to this crisis only aggravated the situation. After unleashing a first wave of repression and censorship in April and May, the head of state at the start of November ordered a blackout of all independent television and radio stations.

The president and his ministers however constantly boasted of the “total freedom allowed to the Pakistani media”. In March, when several TV stations were censored for showing footage of demonstrations in favour of Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, information minister Muhammad Ali Durrani told Reporters Without Borders that, “The government never banned the media from broadcasting these images. It was a decision of the Supreme Judicial Council. The media are close to our heart and no station has been censored”. The authorities in November rejected international condemnation of the ban on privately-owned broadcast media, claiming it was not censorship but a necessity to “save the nation”.

The political crisis prompted a craving for news among Pakistanis. Newspaper sales soared, particularly supplements devoted to the state of emergency, after the ban on private TV and radio. The Urdu service of the BBC World Service boosted the number of news bulletins while its programmes were pulled from Pakistan’s FM band after the army closed the FM 103 station. And although only 15% of Pakistanis are connected to the Internet, more than a million people visit the Geo TV website on a daily basis.

Silencing of privately-owned television and radio

The government in 2002 allowed the development of electronic media but did not create the conditions to guarantee their independence thus exposing them to daily and unfair harassment from some government officials and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). This authority abused its power on at least ten occasions to force cable operators to halt broadcasts by certain television stations.

The government, overwhelmed on all sides, at the end of May banned live broadcasts of news events. Information minister, Mohammad Ali Durrani, warned media not to cross the “legal limits”. As a result privately-owned stations Aaj and ARY TV were pulled from the cable package by operators in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. A manager at ARY TV told Reporters Without Borders that the government claimed not to know anything about it. “But when we call the cable operators they tells us that is it the government who asked them to do it”.

The government in June promulgated the PEMRA Amendment Ordinance 2007 to boost the regulatory body’s power of censorship and control over television stations and cable operators. It gave the PEMRA the right to seize TV equipment, to close installations and cancel licences for any violation of the law. Fines were also increased from one to ten million Rupees. The regulatory authority no longer even needed to go to the complaints council set up under a previous ordinance. Faced with an outcry, the government at first backed down, then took advantage of the 3 November state of emergency to impose the new measures.

On the day emergency rule was declared, Pervez Musharraf told PEMRA to halt broadcasts on all cable networks of all privately-owned regional and national TV stations, and in particular news channels. Only state-run PTV continued to broadcast. Mobile telephone communications in the capital were also subject to constant interruption.

The head of state amended the Press, Newspapers, News Agencies and Books Registration Ordinance of 2002 and the PEMRA Ordinance of 2002. Under these amendments, it was totally forbidden to all media to broadcast footage or news about a suicide-bombing (the terrorist, his claims or the victims); to make remarks prejudicial to the ideology, sovereignty, integrity or security of Pakistan; to broadcast any news ridiculed the head of state, the army and institutions; or to refer to ongoing judicial proceedings.

On 15 November, international channels BBC and CNN were restored after being interrupted on 9 November, while covering the house arrest of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in Islamabad. The previous evening they were able to get back on air for a few hours during which President Pervez Musharraf announced that elections would be held in February 2008. The government had in July prevented journalists from the US channel from entering the Red Mosque, after it put out a documentary called, “The threat within” on the presence of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Pakistan.

Radio Mast FM 103 in Karachi was able to resume broadcasting on 6 November after accepting certain conditions: no national or international news or presidential election news and the BBC Urdu-language news bulletin was to come off air.

The federal government was enraged to see thousands of Pakistanis buying satellite dishes so that they could still watch privately-owned television, and on 13 November decided to make it more difficult to buy decoders, modulators and other equipment, making importers obtain permission from the PEMRA. The authorities also put pressure on the Dubai government to close Geo News and Ary One World, broadcasting from the emirate. The emir of Dubai ordered a halt to broadcasts on 17 November, but following an international outcry the two channels resumed broadcasting ten days later.

At the start of 2007, privately-owned channels had begun showing news programmes and talk shows which became more and more daring. The authorities applied political and financial pressure to try to stop the most troubling of them. In June, colourful television presenter Ali Saleem announced the end of his programme on Aaj because of “increasing government censorship”. He invited guests for interview in his “boudoir”, in which he appeared in drag. At the end of November, Aaj pulled its talk shows “Live With Talat” and "Bolta Pakistan".

Serious police brutality

As the crisis surrounding the sacking of the president of the Supreme Court gathered steam, journalists were frequently attacked and beaten up by the security forces. They also raided editorial offices, as on 16 March at the studios of Geo TV, in Islamabad, which had just shown footage of lawyers injured during a demonstration in support of Iftikar Mohammed Chaudhry.

Police wielding clubs in Islamabad injured at least 30 journalists on 29 September, in a bid to prevent them covering a crackdown on a demonstration by lawyers opposed to the candidature of Pervez Musharraf at the presidential elections. Journalists complained to the Supreme Court which ordered the government to suspend the chief of police and two officers, which order was carried out. The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) declared 30 September to have been a “black day” and the Pakistani press called the incident, “The battle of Constitution Avenue”.

Brutality and raids against the media also accompanied the imposition of emergency rule. Members of PEMRA and about 30 police officers arrived at the offices of radio FM 103 in Islamabad on 3 November and seized broadcast equipment. Police surrounded the studios of Aaj television and radio FM 99 in the capital. Police arrested at least five photographers and cameramen in front of the Karachi Press Club on 5 November as they covered a demonstration by human rights activists. At the same time a correspondent for the BBC was arrested close to the home of a judge in Karachi. A police officer in Quetta tried to destroy a camera belonging to a reporter for Agence France-Presse who was covering a demonstration. And in Rawalpindi, police beat and insulted journalists covering a lawyers’ demonstration. Photo-reporter Muhammad Javed had two fingers broken by one officer, who also seized the memory chip of his camera.

The secret services also went after journalists, and even more aggressively. Eight agents arrested Shoaib Bhutta, editor of the Urdu-language Daily Tulou at his office in Islamabad in November. In two days of questioning, during which he was kept chained up and deprived of sleep, they quizzed him about why he was critical of the authorities. A few days later, Khurram Hashmi, of Aaj television suffered a brutal interrogation about the funding of the press protest movement against the state of emergency. He was beaten and threatened with reprisals before being released in Karachi. Secret service officers in Islamabad beat up Babar Malik, of the ARY TV in August. “If you break scandals, we can also break your arms and legs”, one of the soldiers told him, shortly after it broadcast a report by the journalist about the disappearance of Imran Munir, sentenced for spying by a military court.

Journalists campaign to defend their freedom

Journalists’ organisations, particularly the PFUJ, have also suffered official harassment. A lawsuit was started against nearly 200 journalists for defying a ban on protests after they held a press freedom rally on 4 June. The collective suit was withdrawn a few days later on the orders of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz after it was condemned in the press. Secretary General of the PFUJ, Mazhar Abbas, found an envelope containing a bullet in his car at the end of May.

During the November crisis, the principle media organisations - the PFUJ, the All Pakistan Newspapers Society, the Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors, the Pakistan Broadcasters Association and the South Asia Free Media Association (whose director Imtiaz Alam had been held for one day) - joined together to fight the new laws and demonstrations drawing thousands of journalist defied the government.

Police in Karachi and Hyderabad arrested some 160 journalists on 20 November. One police officer said he had received the order to use force against journalists who were assembling near an official building. Around a dozen journalists were beaten.

Violence in the tribal areas

The few journalists who work in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, members of the Tribal Union of Journalists (TUJ), were targeted by the Taliban and their Jihadist allies, but also by the authorities. The vice-president of the TUJ, Noor Hakim, a journalist on the Urdu-language daily Pakistan, was killed in a bombing in June in the tribal area of Bajaur in the north-west. Four other people died in the attack that was aimed at an official.

Foreign journalists are banned from going to the most turbulent regions, particularly Waziristan, while Pakistani reporters now hardly ever venture there. The most radical Islamists use illegal FM radios to broadcast calls for Jihad.

The case of Hayatullah Khan, a reporter from the tribal areas kidnapped and killed in 2006 had a further tragic twist when in November his widow was killed in a bombing at her home in Mir Ali in North Waziristan. The teacher had campaigned to condemn the kidnapping and murder of her husband. The journalist’s brother Ehsanullah Khan accused his brother’s killers of being behind the death of his widow. In the past he had accused members of the military secret services of taking part in the kidnapping of his brother, which the government has always denied. But the authorities have never made public the conclusions of the inquiry carried out by a judge in Peshawar in 2006, which identifies the killers. Ehsanullah Khan said that he informed the information minister, Muhammad Ali Durani, that the life of his brother’s widow was in danger, but the authorities did not take any steps to protect her.

Islamists in Waziristan killed four family members of Din Muhammad, a reporter for the newspaper Inkishaf, who had assisted a group of Pakistani correspondents working for the national and international press, to go to Wana, a town under the influence of Jihadist groups. Three other members of his family were kidnapped.

The home of Nasrullah Afridi, correspondent in the tribal areas for the Urdu-language daily Mashriq Khyber, was targeted in a grenade attack in May. Five days earlier, the head of the Jihadist group Lashkar-i-islam, Mangal Bagh, made a death threat against the journalist on the illegal FM radio that he runs. The journalist, who had already moved home because of similar threats, told Reporters Without Borders that “I am in fear for my life” and I will have to “leave the town”.

The army, which has proved unable to get on top of the situation, sometimes makes life difficult for local journalists. An officer in the Pakistani army insulted and threatened to kill Sailab Mehsud, correspondent for the newspaper The News and Al-Jazeera in Dera Ismail Khan, south of Peshawar, and editor of the website Karwan-e-Qabial (karwan-e-qabial.net). The former president of the TUJ had the previous evening broadcast news about a clash between the army and the Taliban in South Waziristan. “He introduced himself as a member of military intelligence based in Dera Ismail Khan. He insulted me and said I would disappear and future generations would never find me,” said Mehsud.

Islamist threats

The offensive by Islamist groups was not limited to the tribal areas. A religious leader at the Red Mosque pronounced a fatwa in June against, among others, Zubair Kasuri, editor of the fashion magazine Octane, for publishing series of photos captioned “Adam and Eve, the apple of discord”. Police in Islamabad made a “blasphemy” complaint against the magazine. Then, in July, the presenter on a talk show on state-run PTV, received death threats from extremist students after broadcasting an interview with the former imam at the Red Mosque, Maulana Abdul Aziz, wearing a woman’s burka, in which he had disguised himself to escape the besieged mosque.

Suicide bombers posed serious threats to the safety of journalists, particularly photographers and cameramen, who have to closely follow political figures. A young freelance photo-journalist, Mehboob Khan, was killed in this way in April during a suicide attack against the interior minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao. Four other journalists were wounded. The cameraman Muhammad Arif of privately-owned ARY TV, was one of the 133 victims of the suicide-bombing of the cortege of former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto in Karachi on 18 October.

Kidnappings and censorship in Balochistan

Pakistani security forces fighting separatism in Balochistan, in the south-west, secretly detained many civilians there, including journalists. The secret services in August released Munir Mengal, director of the channel Baloch Voice, after holding him secretly for more than 16 months. But police immediately sent him to prison for 30 days in Khudzar, Balochistan province under the Maintenance of Public Order. “How can he threaten public order when he is already in the hands of the security forces?” asked one journalist reporting on the case. After so many months in the hands of the military he was “weak and suffering from unexplained illnesses.”

Javed Lehri, of the Urdu-language daily Azadi, based in Quetta, in Balochistan province is disappeared since November. One colleague who request anonymity, told Reporters Without Borders, “Even if Javed Lehri belonged to an opposition political party, his disappearance seems much more likely to be linked to his journalistic work”. Editor of the paper considered that secret services agents were behind his disappearance. Javed Lehri had just done a report on a political party rally against the assassination of Akbar Bugti, the head of the Balochistan National party.

Riaz Mengal, of the newspaper Intikhab based in Khuzdar, was kidnapped on 5 October. Before his disappeared he had written articles about a car-ringing gang. “Riaz had received death threats after his reports His life was in danger”, one Balochistan journalist told Reporters Without Borders. He managed to escape from his captors on 25 November.

Criminal tendencies

It is in the rural areas - dominated by a quasi-feudal system - which the henchmen of politicians go after the press in the most brutal ways. For example, six men armed with Kalashnikovs on 17 June killed Nasir Ahmed Solangi, correspondent for the Sindhi-language Khabroon in Kingri, Sind province. A colleague, Khan Muhammad, told Reporters Without Borders that “Solangi had received death threats two days before the murder from the Junejo tribe which was furious about his reporting”. One of his colleagues rebutted the official theory that he had been killed for ethnic reasons. “He was killed because of his work,” the journalist said.

Also in Sind, Zubair Ahmed Mujahid, correspondent for the national daily Jang in Mirpur Khas district was shot dead on 23 November, by an unknown attacker on a motorbike. “My brother was killed because of the critical articles he wrote, including on the state of the poor in our region,” his older brother Muhammad Iftikhar said. The experienced correspondent for Jang wrote a weekly column “Crime and punishment” in which he often exposed landowners and police officers. “Our family had no family conflicts (...) My brother wrote articles about the plight of the poor, which were aimed of course at influential people,” said Iftikar.

Independents trounce bigwigs in NWFP

PESHAWAR: In the NWFP districts of Swabi, Dera Ismail Khan, and Kohistan, voters have elected the maximum number of independent candidates to the national and provincial assemblies.

Of the two national and six provincial assembly seats from Swabi district, one independent candidate, Engineer Usman Khan Tarakai, was elected to a national seat while two independents, Javed Iqbal Tarakai and Sardar Ali, were elected for two seats of the provincial assembly.

Situation in Swabi: In the NA-12 constituency, Usman Tarakai defeated Asfandyar Wali Khan, chief of the Awami National Party (ANP), while the two independent winners of PF-32 Swabi-II and PF-34 Swabi-IV defeated Amir Rehman and Amjad Ali Khan, also of the ANP. The remaining NA and PF seats were swept by the nationalists, against candidates from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao (PPP-S).

Independents in Kohistan: In Kohistan district, the single NA constituency of NA-23 was won by independent candidate Mehboobullah against his rivals from mainstream parties including the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), while all the three provincial assembly seats were also taken by independents in this district.

The three independent winners include Maulana Obaidullah (PF-61), Mehmood Alam (PF-62), and Abdul Sattar (PF-63). Kohistan is the only district where none of the mainstream political parties were elected.

DI Khan: The situation in DI Khan is similar, as two independents were elected to the provincial assembly. Two of the five provincial assembly seats – those of PF-64 DI Khan-I and PF-68 DI Khan-V - were won by independent candidates Khalifa Abdul Qayum and Murid Kazim respectively, while the remaining three seats were grabbed by PML-Q and PPPP candidates.

Kohat: In Kohat too, two of the provincial assembly seats were won by independent candidates Malik Amjad Khan Afridi (PF-37) and Qalbe Hasan (PF-38). The third seat (PF-39) was won by an MMA candidate. Interestingly, the NA seat from this district was won by ANP candidate Pir Dilawar Shah.

Haripur: In Haripur district, three of the four constituencies were won by independents, while only one seat was taken by a party candidate. Former chief minister and provincial president of the PML-N Pir Sabir Shah is the only party candidate in Haripur who stood firm before the independents, who took PF-49, 50 and 51.

One seat in each of Karak and Hangu districts was won by independent candidates, while MMA candidates also won a single seat in each district. While the election for the PF-59 seat was postponed in Batagram, one of the remaining two seats was won by independent candidate Maulana Ubaidullah. The other was taken by the MMA’s Shah Hussain.

Among the four provincial assembly seats in Bannu, again two were grabbed by independents, while the MMA was victorious in the other two, as former NWFP chief minister Akram Durrani and his son Ziyad succeeded in the two seats of PF-73 and PF-70.

Two of the three provincial assembly seats were won by a single independent candidate Anwar Saifullah, while the third was grabbed by PML-N’s Anwar Kamal. In Shangla, one seat, PF-88, was won by an independent and the other by a PML-Q candidate.

The election was postponed in PF-81 Swat and PF-92 Upper Dir, but one independent candidate emerged successful in PF-93 in Upper Dir.

In Peshawar, Charsadda, Mardan, Abbottabad, Tank, Bunair, Swat, Chitral, Dir Lower and Malakand, no independent candidate won the election, and the seats were mostly grabbed by candidates of the ANP, the PPPP or the MMA.

Politics takes new turn in DI Khan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Political scenario in all the five provincial seats of DI Khan has changed after candidates with strong tribal as well as family backgrounds notched up victories with the MMA not gaining even a single seat.

In the 2002 elections, 26 independent candidates out of total 46 candidates contested in the five constituencies. Three winners were independent candidates.

PF-64: Seventeen candidates were in the race and the real fight took place among Hafeezullah Alizai (PPPP), Hafiz Hamadullah (MMA) and Khalifa Abdul Qayyum. Khalifa won the seat by securing 14,696 votes. His close rival was Hafizullah Alizai who got 12,244 votes.

The polling turnout was 31.95 per cent.

PF-65: Former Dera Ismail Khan Nazim Lateefullah Alizai, brother of Hafeezullah Alizai, took on debutant Maulana Ubaidur Rehman, brother of Fazlur Rehman.

The main fight occurred between Latifullah Alizai and Abdul Haleem Qasuriya. Alizai won the seat by securing 13,595 votes. Qasuriya got 10,745 votes. The polling ratio was 62.73 per cent.

PF-66: Maulana Lutfur Rehman of JUI-F, the brother of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, did a lot for the development of this constituency.

But he lost to Sanaullah Khan Miankhel of PML-Q, who won the seat by securing 18,353 votes against Lutfur Rehmanís 16,709. The polling ratio was 41.71 per cent.

PF-67: This constituency is the stronghold of the Gandapur clan and late Sardar Inayatullah Gandapur's son Israrullah Gandapur (PPP-S) won the seat, which he secured in 2002 as a debutant. Israr toppled JUI-F's Maulana Lutfur Rehman.

He got 15,047 votes while Lutfur Rehman secured 8,611 votes.

The polling ratio was 37.93 per cent. Lutfur Rehman and Israr were the only two party-backed candidates and the rest of candidates were independent and not politically strong.

PF-68: Independent candidate Murid Kazim Shah reached an electoral alliance with the JUI-F to ensure he retained the seat that he won in 2002.

He faced Ihtesham Javed Akbar Khan, son of Javed Akbar Khan, who won the seat four times. Murid Kazim won the seat by getting 28,406 votes against Ihtesham's 28,211 votes.

The polling ratio was 51.86 per cent. In 2002, Akbar Khan did not contest because of the graduation bar.

This time, he was disqualified on a Madrassa degree. Kazim was PPP-S parliamentary leader in the erstwhile NWFP Assembly. Kazim had a slight edge over his rival.

(http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=97257)

General election-2008 results

Party NA PP PS PB PF

PPPP 87 78 65 7 17
PML(N) 66 10 10 0 5
PML(Q) 38 66 9 17 6
MQM 19 03 8 0 0
ANP 10 0 2 1 31
INDEPENDENT 27 35 1 10 18

TOTAL RESULTS 258 285 125 46 91

so Pakistans Peoples Party and PML-N gain lead in elections. The general elections have given clear lead to Pakistan Peoples Party in National Assembly while another opposition party Pakistan Muslim League-N has also attained obvious gains in the polls.President Pakistan Muslim League-Q Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and his 22 former federal ministers have faced clean defeats in the elections.

Losers:

Several political stalwarts were defeated in elections including President Pakistan Muslim League-Q Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Speaker National Assembly Chaudhry Ameer Hussain, secretary general Pakistan Peoples Party Jahangir Badar, chief of PPP-Shaheed Bhutto Ghinwa Bhutto, Hamid Nasir Chattha, former chief minister of Sindh Aftab Shaban Meerani, MMA leader Maualana Fazl-ur-Rahman from Dera Ismail Khan, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Hyderi, Fakhar Imam, Begum Abida Hussain and Sughra Imam. The other prominent politicians that have suffered setback in the elections included Rao Sikandar Iqbal, Naurez Shakoor, Ejaz-ul-Haq, Shaikh Rashid, Liaquat Ali Jatoi, Ovais Leghari, Ishaq Khakwani, Sikandar Hayat Bosan, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Khalid Ahmed Lund, Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri, Humayun Akhtar Khan, Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain, Dr. Sher Afgan, Wasi Zafar and Yar Muhammad Rind.

According to unofficial results of 256 National Assembly seats Pakistan Peoples Party has won 86 seats, while Muslim League-N remain victorious at 65 seats and former ruling party PML-Q trailing far behind with 37 seats. Awami National Party (ANP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) have won 19 seats each, while other political groups and independents won 27 seats.

Winners:

The political leaders that have returned back successfully included Asfandyar Wali, Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Jam Muhammad Yousuf, Manzoor Wattoo, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Yousuf Raza Geelani, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Sardar Asif Ahmed Ali, Chaudhry Perwaiz Elahi, Khwaja Saad Rafique, Faisal Saleh Hayat, Dr. Farooque Sattar, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Lt. Gen. (Rtd) Abdul Qadir Baloch and former chief minister of Sindh Sardar Ali Muhammad Mahar.

The vote turnout remained at 45.6 percent at 181 constituencies of the National Assembly, the election commission sources said.

A migrant from D.I.Khan

I hail from Dera Ismail Khan, now part of NWFP in Pakistan. I lived in several cities as my father was in the Army. After graduating from Roorkee, I worked in Kolkata, Hyderabad and Delhi before coming to Bangalore in 1985. All these places welcomed outsiders, with Bangalore being the most welcoming. This is the essence of India, where people from diverse backgrounds live, work and contribute together.

It is easy to make Bangalore your home. The people are friendly. The presence of a large number of educational institutions and PSUs has created a multi-cultural society, which gives the city a distinctive character. All of us have a feeling of collectively contributing to Bangalore and Karnataka.

I love Bangalore, where I have spent most of my corporate life. I have been part of the growth of the IT industry, which gave Bangalore the title of India’s Silicon Valley. MindTree Consulting, which I co-founded with nine others, was set up in 1999. Apart from contributing to the city’s economic development, we have contributed to creating an environment-friendly workplace and a high-quality image of the industry. Through CII, I worked with the government to plan for the long-term development of Karnataka.

I also get immense satisfaction from my association with Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled and the Spastic Society of Karnataka.

Ustad Rashid Khan Kolkata
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Special_Report/Im_a_migrant_this_is_my_city/articleshow/2788430.cms)

Pillion riding banned in D I Khan on 17, 18th

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Pillion riding in D I Khan has been banned on February 17 and 18 as part of security plan devised for peaceful conduct of general election, Additional Inspector General of Police Haji Habib-ur-Rahman said here Saturday.

He said the police have sealed all entry points of the city as a precautionary measure for the general election.

A comprehensive phased-wise security plan has been devised which is pre-polls, during polls, and post-polls, he said, adding to avert any untoward incident on February 18, D I Khan police have also chalked out elaborate security measures, sending appropriate deployment to around 429 polling stations. Besides ten points have also been established at different locations in the city that would be manned by police personnel.


(http://thepost.com.pk/NatNews.aspx?dtlid=145018&catid=2)

The moment of truth for Fazlur Rahman

By Rahimullah Yusufzai

The man who until a few months ago was one of Pakistan's most influential politicians is now mostly confined to his rural home in a remote part of the country in Dera Ismail Khan. Maulana Fazlur Rahman cannot campaign publicly due to security concerns in an election that could drastically reduce his importance and cut down to size the MMA, the religio-political alliance that he and fellow Islamic political leaders led to a spectacular victory and power in the October 2002 general elections.

The maulana and his brothers live outside the city of Dera Ismail Khan and not far from the airport, which is deserted due to disconnection of PIA flights for quite sometime now. An under-construction mosque with its tall domes and minarets beckons from afar. The sprawling compound behind the mosque contains the row of houses belonging to the five brothers, four of whom are contesting the February 18 elections. The fifth, Ziaur Rahman, is a government employee and, therefore, ineligible to become a candidate for the polls.

Twice in recent months, the compound was attacked with rockets fired by unknown people. According to the maulana's youngest brother Obaidur Rahman, who is a candidate from the NWFP Assembly constituency comprising the city and its suburbs, the rockets fell in the agricultural fields on both sides of their houses but failed to cause any damage. On one occasion, the rockets were fired from the road just outside the compound and directly targetted Maulana Fazlur Rahman's home. The rocket attacks and subsequent intelligence reports put together by government agencies highlighted the danger to the maulana's life. Though the maulana isn't convinced that the militants linked to al-Qaeda and Taliban were plotting to kill him, he has been forced by his family members and party leadership to restrict his outdoor political activities. This has affected not only his own election campaign in Dera Ismail Khan and in neighbouring Bannu district where he is contesting another National Assembly seat but also that of his party, JUI-F, and MMA.

Visiting the maulana at his home a few days ago, one saw him delivering a speech on the phone to an election rally of his party in Ziarat in Balochistan province. Seated on a comfortable sofa in his spacious drawing room, he spoke in Pashto to a crowd sitting far away in a place so green, forested and pleasant that Pakistan's founder Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah selected it after falling ill to spend his last days. One wasn't aware of the impact that the maulana's speech would have made on the voters in Ziarat. His physical presence in Ziarat and the rest of Balochistan would certainly have made a difference and swung sections of the electorate to vote for his party candidates. Thanks to the London-based MQM leader Altaf Hussain who introduced the idea of telephonic speeches due to his inability or unwillingness to return to Pakistan on account of security concerns, this innovative method to keep in touch with supporters and run election campaign has now caught on. Islamic politicians, forever keen to make use of modern technology even if they initially suspect the western innovations to be some kind of a trap, are now increasingly using all kinds of phones, emails, SMS texts and websites to mobilize supporters, organize rallies and seek votes.

Though the maulana said he was able to visit five villages in Dera Ismail Khan the previous day and was planning to campaign in some more places that evening, it was obvious that the threat to his life has severely curtailed his movement and almost made him captive in his tightly-guarded home. His party activists are sending out CDs containing his speeches to compensate for his absence.

Making matters worse for the maulana is the split in his party, JUI-F, in Balochistan and also in some districts of NWFP and the disunity in the ranks of MMA following boycott of the polls by the Jamaat-i-Islami. A faction of the JUI-F led by Maulana Asmatullah has parted ways and formed a group known as JUI-Aaeeni, or the JUI Constitutional. It is challenging the mainstream JUI-F faction headed by Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani and has put candidates against party ticket-holders. This was a golden chance for the JUI-F to sweep the polls in Balochistan, particularly in the Pashtun belt due to the boycott of the elections by its major rival, Mahmood Khan Achakzai's Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP). But the emergence of the splinter JUI Constitutional faction and also the aloofness of top JUI-F leaders such as former MNAs Hafiz Hussain Ahmad and Maulana Noor Mohammad due to the denial of party ticket for the coming elections have spoiled its chances of success at the polls in Balochistan. In its NWFP strongholds, the JUI-F has encountered split in its ranks in Swabi, Swat and some other districts and dissidents are contesting election against party nominees. This would certainly result in defeat of several JUI-F candidates and further reduce the political clout of the MMA.

Being a realist, the pragmatic maulana conceded that the Frontier was heading for a split mandate in the elections. However, he was hopeful that the MMA despite the disunity in its ranks would emerge with the largest bloc of seats in the NWFP Assembly. In his view, MMA would have to be accommodated as part of the ruling coalition in the province and at the centre as the alliance would be holding the balance of power. Known for long to be nursing ambition to become the prime minister, he humorously remarked that the parties could agree to his becoming a consensus candidate in view of the likelihood of a split mandate at the centre as well. That is unlikely to happen. Neither PPP nor PML-Q and PML-N would forego claim to the prime minister's office in favour of someone like Maulana Fazlur Rahman with much fewer number of seats in the National Assembly. In fact, his best chance to grab the prime ministerial job was after the 2002 general elections when the MMA had almost 70 seats in the National Assembly and was the dominant electoral force in the NWFP and Balochistan. That is now history and there is no chance that the MMA would repeat its unprecedented electoral performance.

However, it would be wrong to underestimate Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who is widely acknowledged as a shrewd politician. One cannot help recall that his late father Mufti Mahmud too bargained for and got the chief minister's job in the NWFP despite having only three seats in the provincial assembly compared to 13 won by its coalition partner, National Awami Party, the predecessor to Khan Abdul Wali Khan's ANP. To his credit though, Mufti Mahmud resigned as chief minister some months later to protest the dismissal of Balochistan chief minister Sardar Attaullah Mengal by the then prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on trumped up charges. That was probably the only time that a Pakistani politician gave up such a coveted position to uphold principles. Times have changed and Maulana Fazlur Rahman cannot claim or be expected to practice principled politics in a country where politics has become the name of a money-making and power-grabbing game and political parties have been turned into family businesses.

As for the Maulana, he possesses a trump card that would keep him and his ilk of Islamic politicians relevant even if they lose elections. Here is how he explained it: "The MMA is a wall that is blocking the militants and hardliners. If the MMA comprising moderate Islamic parties is removed from the scene and made irrelevant, then it would not be easy dealing with the militants, particularly the emotional young men among them, who believe in the power of the bullet unlike us striving for a peaceful change through the power of the ballot."

The writer is executive editor of The News International based in Peshawar. Email: bbc@pes.comsats.net.pk

(http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=96590)

6 would-be suicide bombers arrested: AIG Dera

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Additional Inspector General Dera, Habib ur Rehman has disclosed that six would-be suicide bombers have been arrested from Dera and investigation is underway to expose the entire network.

Addressing a press conference here, Additional Inspector General Dera has said that it is our utmost priority to ensure peace on the occasion of Elections 2008 and a comprehensive plan has been devised in this regard.

AIG Dera Habib ur Rehman said that Dera has been divided into 6 sectors and 36 sub-sectors, adding that 63 polling stations out of 229 have been declared most sensitive while 123 polling stations declared less sensitive.

He further told that on the most sensitive polling stations, one police officer and eight armed policemen would be deployed at the polling stations while on the less sensitive areas, one officer and six policemen be deployed.

AIG Dera Habib ur Rehman informed that besides 3,000 police officials, FC officials would also be deployed to ensure law and order situation in the area while the services of Pakistan Army could be acquired immediately if needed, added by AIG Dera.

Commenting on the investigation of Benazir Bhutto, Habib ur Rehman said that Dera Police after effective planning and in time information of the Intelligence Agencies, arrested the most important accused Aitzaz Shah.

After his (Aitzaz) arrest, Sher Zaman and other accused were arrested and most of the accused have now been in custody, he added.

(http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=124503)

February 18th, 2008-Election Day

Salamona everyone. So the Election Day is approaching fast and InshAllah this Monday voters are going to polls to determine which party is going to run Pakistan (of course after the CIA, World Bank, IFP, AB, ISI etc.) Although, unfortunately I won’t be able to vote in the election but I think I have done a fair bit in the election campaign to at least feel better. I worked on the campaign of Tariq Hameed Khattak in Nowshera where his constituency covers my village and Arbab Najeebullah covering our Peshawar residence. Also, while baba (my dad) was out of the country for Hajj I made some preliminary arrangements for Asfandyar Wali Khan’s proposed invitation to our hujra in the village. Although I must admit, nothing beats putting a stamp right next to your choice of candidate, I wish the elections were held on the original planned date in January, I would have certainly been able to vote then.

But over the last few weeks I, like many others, am beginning to question the integrity and fairness of the forthcoming elections. Pakistani politics have been complicated even by the mere standard that they ARE politics. For years our beloved president Musharraf maintained that he was not going to let Mian saheb and Bibi (Benazir Bhutto) let back in the country. But not only did he let both of them in, he also made a deal with Bibi where all the corruption charges were dropped. At one point when the deal between the president and late Bibi seemed to be going South, our honest Attorney General said that corruption charges might be brought back against Bibi should she choose not to cooperate with the President. Did I mention that this statement came from our ATTORNEY GENERAL?

The murder of Bibi has been shrouded in mystery as well. As always, Islamabad has blamed Taleban and more specifically Baitullah Mehsud for this murder. They funny thing here though is that Mr Mehsud has denied any involvement. Usually groups like his are very quick in accepting responsibility for acts like such and actually militant groups jump to take credit for such incidents but that did not happen to be the case here. In a press conference, the interior minister also presented an audio tape where he claimed that Baitullah Mehsud was accepting the responsibility for bibi’s murder but since then the minister has been taken to the cleaners by the media for several things that did not add up in the alleged Mehsud tape.

Now back to our round and naughty Attorney General again, there is an audio tape out on the streets where allegedly he has been boasting to his peeps that the election is not going to fair and free by a long shot.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7247667.stm

No wonder a good deal of people in Pakistan think that the election is going to be rigged.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7244018.stm

I think for all intensive purposes, an election in the province of Balochistan is going to be invalid. All the Baloch parties and major Baloch tribes are boycotting the election. Tribes staying on the sidelines include names like the Bugtis, Marris, Domkis, Mengals, Zarakazis, Bazenjos, Dehwar, Bungalzai and of course many others. In the Pushtuns areas of Balochistan (Pushtuns make up 45-55% of the province’s population), the largest Pashtun nationalist party, Pukhtunkhua Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) of Mehmud Khan Achakzai is also staying out. Remember that PkMAP was the largest party in the National Assembly from Balochistan in 90 and 93. There are also a large number of plotical and tribal leaders in the province who are either in jail and exile or worst yet, died in Islamabad’s military incursions in the area over the last few years. I think it would be fair to say that regardless of what happens in other parts of Pakistan, an election in Balochistan will simply be formality carried out by Islamabad.

Election in Tribal Areas and Pukhtunkhua province has been marred by violence. There have been attacks on the offices and rallies of all major political party.
http://bachakhan.com/blog/360400/Shahadat_of_ANPs_workers

It will be interesting to see how Sunday and Monday go, 48 hours is an eternity in politics especially Pakistani politics.
(http://chowk.com/articles/13617)

Peshawar police foil major sabotage bid

PESHAWAR: Entry of Afghan refugees to urban areas has been banned while police have arrested hundreds of people during a crackdown on suspicious persons and activists of various political parties ahead of the general elections on February 18.

The Peshawar Police claimed to have foiled a major sabotage bid ahead of the polling day by recovering 46 dynamites, 42 detonators and 60 fuses from an under-construction building in Shaftal Banda on Phandu Road here on Saturday.

"The Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees has been directed to confine refugees to camps. They will not be allowed to enter the areas where polling would be going on," said special secretary Home, Khalid Umerzai, while briefing media persons about the security arrangements made for the general elections.

Hundreds of Afghan refugees as well as locals have been arrested from across the province as part of "security measures" ahead of the polls. Some political parties have alleged that the government has arrested a number of their workers to disrupt their electioneering.

The political activists who were arrested during different raids in Gulbahar, Karimpura, Hashtnagri, Sikanderpura and other parts of the city included two nazims, Arif of Gulbahar and Tariq Aziz of union council Lahori.

Other detained political activists were identified as Rahmanullah, Sultan Mohammad, Malik Zrawar, Attaullah, Abdul Rahman, Shahid Noor, Mufti Naveed of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz and Arif Qadri, Sher Wazir, Shafiq, Roohul Amin, Pehlwan Lateef of Pakistan People's Party.

A number of workers of the Awami National Party were also arrested during raids by the city police.

A total of 1,094 polling stations have been declared most sensitive all over the province while 3,219 others rated as sensitive. Only 3,618 polling stations have been declared normal.

The government has already declared Charsadda, Swat, Shangla, Tank, Hangu and Malakand as the most sensitive districts while Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan and Lower Dir have been termed sensitive.

The foreign observers and members of the international media have been directed to avoid going to Swat, Shangla, Lower Dir, Malakand, Hangu, Bannu and Tank districts and the Frontier Region of Kohat as law and order situation is not satisfactory there.

"The province has been divided into seven ranges -- Peshawar, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, Hazara, Malakand and Mardan. Police control rooms would be established that could be approached in case of emergency on the polls day," Khalid Umerzai said.

The official said that elections were being held in the NWFP for 35 National Assembly and 96 provincial assembly seats.

Polls have been postponed in three provincial assembly constituencies due to the death of the candidates.

(http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=96817)

The top 33 fights among big guns

ISLAMABAD: Electoral fights in at least 33 constituencies of the National Assembly will be under close watch because of the presence of high-profile personalities in the run.

Of these seats, 25 are in the Punjab, four in Sindh, three in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and one in Balochistan.

The contest in three the Punjab constituencies where PML-Q leader and prime ministerial aspirant Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is fighting has evoked increased interest. He is vying for NA-58 Attock where the PPP and PML-N have pitched their nominees against him. In the neighbouring Chakwal, he is seeking election from NA-61 where two Tammans, Mansoor and Faiz, have challenged him on the tickets of PPP and PML-N, respectively. The third constituency where Pervaiz is in the run is NA-187 Bahawalpur where the nominees of the PML-N and PPP, among others, are pitched against him.

The fight in the two constituencies of Gujrat and Sialkot where PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain is contesting is of interest. In Gujrat (NA-105), PPP's Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, the old challenger against PML-Q chief, is in the run. There is no prominent political personality facing Chaudhry Shujaat in Sialkot (NA-112).

Eyes are set and heated discussion continues to take place on the fate of Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, who is the PML-Q nominee in NA-55 and NA-56 Rawalpindi. In the first constituency, top PML-N leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi is contesting against him and in the second, Hanif Abbasi, who switched over to the PML-N from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) shortly before the elections. Besides, Hashmi is running for two other National Assembly constituencies, NA-123 Lahore and NA-148 Multan. The PPP and PML-Q candidates in Lahore have challenged him.

In Multan, top PPP leader Shah Ahmed Mehmood is contesting against him. PPP's Secretary General Raja Pervez Ashraf is mainly challenged by PML-N's Chaudhry Riaz in NA-51 Rawalpindi (Gujjar Khan).

Senior PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan is aspiring for election from two Rawalpindi seats, NA-52 and NA-53. His contest against former federal minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan has created interest.

Another two Attock constituencies, NA-57 and NA-59, assume importance because the husband (Wasim Gulzar) and wife (Eman Wasim), the daughter of Attock district Nazim and niece of the Chaudhrys of Gujrat, are in the run. PML-N's Sheikh Aftab and Malik Amin Aslam are fighting against Ms Wasim while the PPP and PML-N nominees are pitched against Wasim Gulzar.

In Jhelum, former federal minister Chaudhry Shahbaz is contesting for two seats (NA-62 and NA-63). In both constituencies, the PPP and PML-N candidates are running against him.

Former minister Dr Sher Afgan's bid for re-election from NA-72 Mianwali has generated interest. Humair Rokri, a relative of the Chaudhrys of Gujrat, is the main contender against him.

In NA-88 Jhang, the old rivals, Syed Abida Hussain (PPP) and Faisal Saleh Hayat are facing each other.

The contest in Sialkot (NA-111) is important where National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain has been challenged by PPP's Dr Firdous Ashaq Awan, who left the PML-Q and joined this party some time before the election schedule was unfolded.

The PPP and PML-N nominees have challenged the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) Chairman Daniyal Aziz in NA-116 Narowal.

In the adjoining NA-117, PML-N Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal is in the race. Similarly, former minister Naseer Khan is vying for NA-115.

Hamza, son of PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif, is fighting for NA-119 Lahore where the PPP and PML-Q candidates, among others, are facing him.

Another prime ministerial hopeful of the PML-Q Hamayun Akhtar is desperate to win from NA-124 from where PPP's Aitzaz Ahsan withdrew his candidature to honour the lawyersí boycott of the elections.

PML-N's firebrand leader Saad Rafiq is contesting for NA-125 Lahore.

Yet another prime ministerial aspirant Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri is in the run for NA-140 Kasur where another former foreign minister Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali (PPP) and independent Sardar Hassan Akhtar Moakkal (backed by Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi), are contesting. Top PPP leaders Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Fakhar Imam are vying for NA-151 and NA-156 Multan respectively.

PML-Q's Sikandar Bosan and its Raza Hayat Hiraj have challenged Gilani and Imam, respectively.

PML-N's firebrand leader Begum Tehmeena Daultana is contesting for two Vehari seats, NA-168 and NA-169. In the first constituency, PML-Q's Ishaq Khakwani is facing her. The father (Farooq Leghari) and the son (Awais) are contesting for Dera Ghazi Khan's NA-172 and NA-173 seats, respectively.

In Sindh, the fights of PML-Q's Ghous Bux Mahar (NA-203 Shikarpur), Ghinwa Bhutto (NA-204 Larkana), PML-Q's Fahad Malik (nephew of caretaker prime minister Muhammadmian Soomro) and Functional League's Jam Mashooq (NA-236 Sanghar) will be of interest. In the NWFP, the constituencies where Aftab Sherpao (NA-8 Charsadda), Asfandyar Wali (NA-8 Charsadda) and Maulana Fazlur Rehman (NA-26 Bannu and NA-24 Dera Ismail Khan) are contesting have also created interest.

Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani of the MMA and PPP's Wazir Ahmed Jogezai are vying for Balochistan constituency (NA-264 Zhob).

(http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=96827)

JUI-F facing tough competition

JUI-F facing tough competition in NA-25

The deteriorating security situation occupies the mind of every Tank resident. After months of calm, some disturbances have begun to reccur, as the situation in nearby South Waziristan has become increasingly unstable. A major clash between the Taliban and security forces can lead to lower turnout on polling day

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), a force to be reckoned with in the southern districts of the North West Frontier Province, is facing multiple challenges to its claim over the NA-25 seat. These range from a split in the party, to a “public image” problem in Tank district, which is still under threat from the Taliban despite deployment of troops to protect it from the Baitullah Mehsud-led group operating in nearby South Waziristan.

Some Dera Ismail Khan district areas — some parts of Paharpur, Panyala, Kulachi and Durabin tehsils — were included in the NA-25 constituency, thus terming it the DI Khan/Tank seat.

Tank was the oldest tehsil of Dera Ismail Khan district and it was given district status on July 1, 1992, with a view to develop it. Two major tribes – Bhittani and Mehsud – live in Tank district, along with the Kundi, Gandapur and Jaat tribes.

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s brother, Maulana Attaur Rehman, won NA-25 during by-elections when Fazlur Rehman won both the NA-24 (Dera Ismail Khan) and NA-25 (DI Khan/Tank) seats, but chose to retain only the Dera seat.

“I know there are problems, but party discipline is more important,” Fida Muhammad, 37, who is campaign manager for Attaur Rehman in Tank city, told Daily Times, conceding that the party had split into several factions.

The JUI-F has been facing problems keeping the party united because of ticket allocation throughout NWFP, but the situation in Tank district appears to be more serious. The split could help rival candidates capitalise on the situation, analysts have said.

The situation deteriorated further when Maulana Fazlur Rehman announced at a public meeting that the JUI-F nominee for NA-42 (South Waziristan–II) would be Maulana Mirajuddin, leaving Maulana Hisamuddin, who is also one of the candidates for NA-42, out in the cold. Hisamuddin is a senior JUI-F leader, as well as being deputy head of the party at the provincial level.

Local poll observers told Daily Times that Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s decision to make Mirajuddin the party candidate in South Waziristan would “sink the party deeper into crisis” in Tank district where JUI-F is facing “a kind of revolt” from supporters. These people say the maulanas “did not look back when Tank was burning” in May 2007 in the face of Taliban onslaught.

Last year, local Taliban attacked Tank from all sides to avenge the killing of their commander in a police shoot-out in May 2007, forcing the authorities to impose curfew to return calm to the city. The attack left unforgettable memories among the residents. “It was like hell when the city was under attack from all sides,” 18-year-old Manzoor Gandapur recalled the night when the Taliban wreaked havoc, looting banks and destroying government buildings.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman conceded that the party “lost contact” with the voters after the 2002 polls. “Yes, I acknowledge that we did not keep contacts with the people, but I am talking to them and the situation is improving,” he told Daily Times after addressing a December 25 public meeting in Tank city under tight police security.

Eleven candidates are currently in the running, with Dawar Khan Kundi of Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians, Hizbullah Gandapur of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Umar Farooq Miankhel (independent) representing a strong challenge to Attaur Rehman.

Dawar was main rival of Maulana Fazlur Rehman in the 2002 elections, bagging 31,976 votes against Fazl’s 59,102. Attaur Rehman’s margin of victory during by-elections was lower.

The election also faces an added wrinkle with Habibullah Kundi being allowed to contest the polls after a Peshawar court ruling on January 15 reversed the earlier disqualification that had resulted from problems with his degree. In the final candidate list for the February 18 polls, Kundi’s name is still missing as he was disqualified at the time.

Analysts have said that the JUI-F chief’s victory in the 2002 polls is “indebted” to Kundi, popularly known as “Baboo Khan,” because he supported Fazl and holds considerable sway in the district. However, with the changing situation, a new political realignment has occurred.

“Baboo Khan” has previously won the provincial assembly seat from Tank three consecutive times — in 1990, 1993 and 1997 — in various capacities. Unofficial reports suggest that he “plays into the hands of establishmentnt’ and weeks before the court decided to allow him to contest the polls, it was rumoured that he would be running. He is making his debut for a NA seat on a PML-Quaid ticket, and he may pay for choosing a party symbol that many independent candidates are calling the “symbol of election suicide”.

However, political analysts describe his personality as a “shrewd politician who knows the art of electioneering much better than others”.

The youth of the constituency appear to favour Dawar, who is campaigning with donations from friends and well-wishers, as his father Amanullah Khan Kundi, does not support him. “Let’s pray Dawar wins as he is young and I am also young and a young man wants some colours (sic) in his life,” Manzoor Gandapur said. “I am for Dawar because there should be someone who can pull Tank city out of Taliban influence.” Dawar appears confident that he would overrun the JUI-F candidate this time. “I see a trend among the people who want to hand the mullah a crushing defeat,” the young Dawar told Daily Times in his main campaign office.

Before Tank was given separate district status, it was part of Dera Ismail Khan, and Maulana Fazlur Rehman had won this seat in 1988 and 1993, while losing it in 1990 and 1997.

The district has always had a solid vote-bank for the JUI-F, but it needs support from regional “strong political players” to ensure its victory. The Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao has agreed on a seat adjustment with the JUI-F in Dera Ismail Khan, but whether the Gandapurs of Kulachi tehsil would lend vital support to Attaur Rehman in Tank district is still uncertain. If the anti-JUI-F parties do not unite, it is highly likely that the JUI-F would win. Reports say Israrullah Gandapur, PPP-S candidate for PF-66 (Dera Ismail Khan), has made an arrangement with Hizbullah Gandapur. However, Dawar and Hizbullah would probably divide anti-JUI-F votes amongst themselves, which would only help Atta.

Bhittanis make up a large part of the Tank population and generally vote for the mullah, while the Mehsuds who reside in large numbers in the district have registered themselves in South Waziristan. The deteriorating security situation occupies the mind of every Tank resident. After months of calm, some disturbances have begun to reoccur, as the situation in nearby South Waziristan has become increasingly unstable. A major clash between the Taliban and security forces can lead to lower turnout on polling day.

PF-69:
Tank district spreads across just 1,678 square kilometres and has only one provincial assembly seat. One candidate each from the PML-Q, the PPPP, the Awami National Party and the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, along with five independent candidates are vying for the seat. The winner in 2002 was independent candidate Tahir bin Yamin (15,842 votes). Traditionally, this provincial assembly seat has never been won by the JUI-F and strong candidates have always emerged from the independent side or strong clans like Kundi or Gandapur. It signifies a unique vote trend that prevails in this district: for NA a mullah is traditionally elected, while for provincial politics a different man is elected. Habibullah Kundi is one candidate who has won the seat three times consecutively. However, he is trying his luck on the National Assembly seat this time leaving Irfanullah Kundi of the PML-Q and Mustafa Kundi of the PPPP strong claimants for the seat. Irfanullah Kundi is hoping his uncle - Habibullah Kundi – will use his influence to help him win the seat. All hopes of the MMA triumphing were almost completely erased when Haji Gulistan, party candidiate for PF-69, was disqualified on the ground of sanad issue. However, less than two weeks before polling day, the Supreme Court allowed him to contest the elections.Iqbal Khattak

Former Pakistani official shot dead

ISLAMABAD, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- A former government official was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in his house in northwestern Pakistan, the official Associated Press of Pakistan reported Thursday.
Bashir Hussain Shahani, a retired Scientific Officer of Agriculture Research Institute Ratta Kulachi, was shot in his house in Dera Ismail Khan district of North West Frontier Province late Wednesday night.
Shahani was asleep when unknown armed men sneaked into his room and killed him. The culprits fled from the scene after committing the gruesome murder, said the APP report.
Police have registered the case and started investigation.

Arms provider for Benazir murder arrested

ISLAMABAD: The culprit accused of providing arms and ammunitions to the culprits involved in Benazir Bhutto’s murder, has been arrested on Friday.According to Geo News report, the joint investigative team found out the accused Rashid was involved in providing the arms and ammunitions to the miscreants arrested in Benazir Bhutto assassination case.Rashid, who is believed to have launched rocket attack in Kamra, was presented to the judicial magistrate in Rawalpindi amid stringent security, where he admitted his guilt.He is being shifted to Adiala Jail.

http://www.geo.tv/details.asp?id=15913

Imran's Tipu Sultan speech in Peshawar 12 Feb 08

Imran Khan: "MQM gives us threats. I want to tell Altaf Hussein about myself, listen: I travel alone, I don't have any bodyguard with me, God willing when I die I pray to Allah that I don't die a jackal's death like Atlaf, if I die I will take a bullet from the front. God willing, I will go to prison again. Altaf, I am telling you this right now, big jackal Musharraf and little jackal Altaf both listen to this: I am going to Karachi and will come fully prepared with myself, try and stop me!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPfQNvXSjrg

Voice from Waziristan

Khalid Bhatti

Today on 28th October, 2007 I woke up to the horror stories of killing and beheading of thirteen people in Swat, Pakistan that occupied the front page of “Gulf daily News, Bahrain”. Depressed and dejected, I did not know what to do except calling one of my friends from tribal regions to sound him about about the current situation there. I called my friend whose name we can assume to be Atif as disclosing his real name can result in his premature and involuntary journey to the next world. We went to the same school in Dera Ismail Khan and he comes from a well respected family of South Waziristan, the area that have become famous all around the world for all the wrong reasons.

out about the current situation there. I called my friend whose name we can assume to be Atif as disclosing his real name can result in his premature and involuntary journey to the next world. We went to the same school in Dera Ismail Khan and he comes from a well respected family of South Waziristan, the area that have become famous all around the world for all the wrong reasons.

After exchanging usual pleasantries, I was taken back by his narrative of horror that ordinary people are facing there. I will reproduce our discussion for the benefit of readers, which almost took the form of an interview. I have tried to keep his style of narrative intact so that the readers can judge the situation themselves. Further, these are the feelings and opinions of my friend and I do not have any other source to verify them, though I have never found him anything but an upright and sincere person.

Me: Atif! What is going on in the tribal areas?

Atif: Yar (friend), you are talking about tribal area. Even the settled areas of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan (settled areas adjacent to South Waziristan agency) are not immune from Talibanization. Ordinary people are suffering at their hands as well at the hands of Government Forces. Killings are the matter of routine now, and there is sense of fear among all people.

Me: Who are these people?

Atif: Yaraji (O friend), these people are Taliban. Their leaders are the people who were part of Taliban in Afghanistan, and they have recruited a large number of local youth.

Me: Are they local or from other countries?

Atif: There are very few foreigners, and they just live as guests; they do not involve themselves in local politics and keep to themselves. But the Taliban faction, who is creating trouble, is all local.

Me: Local youth? How they have joined them?

Atif: Actually, the youth do not listen to anyone, anymore. They have been brainwashed to the extent that even if father or brothers of these Taliban try to convince them, they reply by branding the father or brother as “munafiq” (Hypocrite). If pressed further, they even do not hesitate to kill the family member who confronts them. The whole social fabric has torn down.

Me: Who brainwashes them?

Atif: Taliban, who somehow have the idea of bringing the entire world to the folds of Islam. They have found these idiots in tribal areas, who can be bent to do anything due to their stupidity in the name of Islam, though they do not have even the slightest idea regarding the basic tenants of Islam. The ranks and files of Taliban comprise of various youth sections of societies including the petty thieves, thugs, unemployed and fanatics. No one can touch them and they roam around freely in the country.

Me: What is government doing about it? After all, army is deployed in the area?

Atif: Yaraji, even a simpleton like me understands that it is the government itself, which is responsible. They have allowed them to grow to show the world that there is problem in these areas. Sometime, to show the world they attack them and then go about shouting about it. They do not even hesitate to sacrifice their own poor soldiers in the process. Tell me, if ISI is not helping them, then how come they have all the latest weapons except tanks and armored vehicles. Now, they have even acquired some armored vehicles also after kidnapping army convoy and are roaming around in it. Almost every single Taliban commander, however small and insignificant he may be, possesses four wheelers and roams around with the escort of bodyguards. Part of the money that is coming to combat terrorism is actually used to help them.

Me: So, the ISI is behind that?

Atif: Yes; most definitely they are. They even have suicide training camps in Waziristan where they train young boys from the age of twelve to sixteen. They brainwash them and make them believe that this is real Jihad, and when they will die in their cause, they will go straight to Jannat.

Me: What the tribal elders are doing about it?

Atif: What can they do; traditionally they were respected and obeyed but in new situation they are totally helpless. Those who have tried are made example for others. ‘un ko baqiyon kay liyay nishan-e-ibrat bana diyaa gaya hay’. Just imagine, when Imam of Ka’ba said that suicidal attacks are haram, even he was branded as “munafiq”. As I told you, they do not listen to anyone, anymore. Alims (Islamic scholars) cannot even confront them; remember, what they did to Moulana Hassan Jan, whose only sin was that he was openly opposed to suicidal attacks.

Me: Once, you politically belonged to Moulana Fazl-Ur-Rehman. Does he have any influence?

Atif: That was in college days, and he cannot do anything. He is also afraid of them. Few days ago, on the occasion of Eid, when people went to greet him, he did not come out of his residence, because he was not sure about who is friend and who is not among two to three hundred people who went to greet him. His brother’s house was recently attacked by rocket fire.

Me: So no one can oppose them?

Atif: Yara ji, you reckon yourself. The things I am telling you, I cannot say in open, because if I do, I am sure that my headless body will be found in two or three days; and this is Dera Ismail Khan, so called settled area. The situation in Tank is worse than that. You remember Sheeraz (not real name), whose relative was kidnapped for ransom in Tank by Taliban. Yaraji, our heart bleeds for what is happening. When some Talib is killed most of the time he is not from the leadership, but is some poor person’s son or brother. Even at the funeral, parents cannot mourn their misguided dead sons as Taliban highjack the funeral and project the death as the death of a hero. When some person of armed forces is killed, he is also some poor soldier struck like us in this bloody situation.

Me: What is the reason that youth join Taliban?

Atif: Yaraji, most of the youth is not educated, and even those who are educated are unemployed because of no economic opportunities. Now, in this scenario, if one knows that he will get money to sustain himself and his family with the added benefit of becoming so called true Muslim, what do you think he will do?

Me: So, they get paid?

Atif: Yes, they get money to sustain themselves. ‘Chai paani chalta hay unka’.

Me: Where they get money from?

Atif: Yaraji, what do you think this money for war on terror goes to? And look, what we have due to them. Nowadays, even the banks in Punjab refuse to open a bank account for us when they come to know about our origin from the identification paper.

Me: Is your family okay?

Atif: No; I have to resettle with all of my family to Dera Ismail Khan and Tank. But these areas are not immune also, as even here they can pick anyone at will and the body is found after few days. People are so much scared that now they don’t have to kidnap them anyone. They just sent a ‘parchi’ (epistle) ordering to go and meet someone and no one dare refusing to go as otherwise whole family bears the brunt. Four, five of our own near ones have become victims (he did not elaborate here, even when pressed). Bas yaraji dua karo kay Allah hum per raham karay - Just pray that may Allah have mercy on us.

At this point, I was not able to continue the conversation and I changed the topic. He asked me when I am coming to Pakistan, and told me that he will himself come to Lahore to meet me, as he cannot invite me anymore due to the situation, and that’s when my eyes moistened as I cannot believe to hear this from my Pathan friend, who are famous all over the world for hospitality.

Frankly speaking, at this moment, I do not know what to write anymore, except remembering my younger days in Dera Ismail Khan and one of my visits to tribal areas with a wedding party (“barat”) when we went around dancing at the beat of “Dhol”. I think it would be a very long time till we are able to hear the beat of “dhol” and voices of joy again in those areas, if any at all.

(http://www.chowk.com/articles/12844)