[Image from GEO]
Media outlets reported today that Pakistan arrested 124 people in a crackdown “on groups allegedly linked to the attacks in Mumbai.” Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters that five Jamaat-ud-Dawa camps have been shut down and several of their leaders including Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi have been arrested. Dawn reported in its coverage:
During a press conference, he said that the camps claiming to be doing relief work, had actually been militant training camps and had immediately been shut down. It was also announced that Jamaat-ud-Dawa’s websites will be blocked and their publications will be banned.
According to the Associated Press, “Malik dodged a question on whether Pakistan was admitting militants from its soil staged the attack, saying evidence was still needed.” He did note, however, that the crackdown was in response to the U.N.’s accusation that a Pakistani charity was a front for an outlawed militant group allegedly linked to the attacks. Malik further noted that “every aspect and every detail pointed out by India regarding the accused groups would be investigated and a detailed report would be presented soon.” GEO Television cited the official who also urged India “to establish direct diplomatic channels with Pakistan for the exchange of information on Mumbai attacks instead of using indirect channels.”
Meanwhile, Dawn reported that British Foreign Secretary David Miliband reportedly “rejected” India’s demand for the extradition of ‘suspects’ of the Mumbai attacks, asserting that they should be prosecuted in Pakistan, since they broke the law in Pakistan. He told reporters, “There was no extradition treaty between India and Pakistan for handing over suspects…But I think given that we all have worked so hard for an independent, sovereign judicial system in Pakistan we should let it take its own course.” He did assert, however, “We have absolutely no doubt about origin of the Mumbai attacks. The origins are in Pakistan.”
CHUP will continue to provide details on today’s developments as they come in. For more information on Pakistan’s recent crackdown on the Jamat-ud-Dawa, click here.
@ thats it now, the PPP Govt. looking for any scoop to
recuperate from the damages of her party’s
foriegn ” militants” !!!
now the puppets will dance !
[…] and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi have been arrested. Dawn reported in its […] Read more at: CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan accusation, crackdown, david miliband, dawn, diplomatic channels, extradition treaty, hafiz, […]
India could soon become another Pakistan.
A disconnected elite living in heavily guarded villas or speeding down highways in gleaming Pajeros with tinted glass in the front and gunmen at the back. An elite that has contempt for elected politicians and instead worships the army Beautiful women writing escapist sex-and-fashion columns by day and by night arguing for bombing the enemy.
And almost next door to the fortified villas and Pajeros: another world. A world where the desperately poor blow themselves up either as suicide bombers or as footsoldiers of ideology, insane with aspiration, without any stake in the ruling system, hopeful only of the Five Star lifestyle available in jannat. This is not just a description of Pakistan. It’s a description of what India could become if we don’t keep our democratic institutions safe.
In the aftermath of 26/11 India’s case against Pakistan has rested on its identity as a superior liberal democracy, as a rising economy, a responsible nuclear power. India is the successful democratic experiment, Pakistan is the failed state, goes our conventional wisdom. The conventional wisdom, for the moment, is not false.
Pakistan, as its noted lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan once described it, is a “bonsai democracy”, a stunted artificial plant set out as window dressing for its western sponsors.The civilian government headed by Asif Ali Zardari is revealing every day its catastrophic lack of control over its country. Notwithstanding the peacemaking missions of American diplomats, India’s diplomatic offensive to get the world to recognize Pakistan as a rogue state and to get Pakistan to act on the 26/11 dossier of evidence, there are now reports that the LeT has now emerged under a new name-the Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Qibla Awal and has just held a held a protest rally in Lahore.
Yet the Pakistani ruling class continues to insist that the war on terror is being waged. Indeed the predicament of the Pakistani elite is an example of what could happen if the rich and educated withdraw into their own private fortresses, if politicians are not held accountable by a watchdog media and if civilian government becomes so weak that there are no options but martial rule.
The sacking of the Pakistani National Security Advisor Mahmud Ali Durrani simply because he acknowledged that Kasab was a Pakistani, shows the extent to which the fight against terrorism for Pakistan, in the case of 26/11, is really just a game of political shadow boxing and one-upmanship with India, a game which the politicians play umpired by the Pakistani army. The weakness and helplessness of the Pakistani politicians stems from the fact that none of them are genuine mass leaders.
Most Pakistani politicians are feudal or highly privileged. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani comes from an influential family of Multan. Information Minister Shehrbano “Sherry” Rahman comes from a highly educated elite family. The Cambridge-educated Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi who still speaks English like Henry Higgins from My Fair Lady also comes from another wealthy feudal family and is a graduate of the elite Aitchison College.
In the absence of land reforms, a dynamic party system or genuine democratization, the Pakistani political class is not as rooted in the soil as Indian politicians are.
The upsurge of middle class activism that occurred when lawyers protested on the streets against the sacking of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary by Musharraf seems to have petered out. After decades of martial rule, in the absence of a Mayawati or a Lalu or even a Mamta Bannerjee, Pakistan remains a glaring example of how civilian power and social dynamism has been destroyed by the army.
There is little scope for the poor and backward to fight their way up Pakistan’s political system. Democracy is practiced by those born into privilege rather than those who claw their way up from the dirt. As long as the Pakistani political elite remains restricted to the rich feudal class, they will always be emasculated and always be at the mercy of the army and ISI. Pakistan needs a Lalu Prasad Yadav to sit in his baniyan on a verandah and roar out to the army: yeh sab nahi chalega.
Which is why it is important to recognise that India’s politicians may be by and large a nasty undesirable lot but they keep alive an important dream and they are crucial safety valves in a society fast becoming marked by savage differences between rich and poor.
Our political system, (however terribly flawed as it may be) makes disconnection or deracination beyond a point impossible. A Kapil Sibal will have to share his space with a Ram Vilas Paswan, a Arun Jaitley whether he likes it or not will have to perhaps one day sit at the table with Mayawati, the intellectual Manmohan Singh relies on the political support of the wrestler Mulayam Singh Yadav.
In the US, the current Senate majority leader was born in a shack and his mother did the laundry for local brothels. Similarly, the social depth of our democracy is our greatest resource. The social coexistence which our politics forces upon is what keeps our country somewhat sane and stops us from producing armies of suicide bombers. If terrorism and suicide bombing are seen as the last desperate resource of the destitute and disenfranchised, the Mayawati, Paswans and Mulayams, however annoying their ways, remain examples of how our political system still delivers patchy services to the very poor.
It is this organic democracy that we must zealously guard. As differences between rich and poor widen, India’s rich too are tending to remain imprisoned in their villas and Pajeros, pouring scorn on politicians and espousing anti-democratic values like warlike postures, hatred of the media and wholesale adoration of military power and efficiency.
But after 26/11 it is more crucial than ever that we remember the ideals of that other 26th – the 26th of January, and hold those values close. A country that upholds mass-based politics that respects the law, that understands the need for a free press, which above all upholds the right of the poorest of the poor to gain access to the citadels of power.
It is social open-ness, social co-existence, delivering power to the people that will keep our country from becoming an armed cantonment surrounded by terrorists and bombers. Citizens of India, throw open the windows of the Pajeros and villas and let the winds of democracy blow.
Posted by Sagarika Ghose
ISLAMABAD: Every year an estimated 216,000 Pakistani newborns die before they reach their first month of age, which represents 58 per cent of deaths of children under the age of five.
This was disclosed by the UNICEF Country Representative, Martin Mogwanju at the launching of the State of the World’s Children Report 2009: Maternal and Newborn Health, launched here Thursday. DG Health, Ministry of Health, Dr Rashid Jooma was also present on the occasion.
The report said that although more children are surviving to live their fifth birthday than ever before, at 53 deaths per 1,000 live births, Pakistan has the eighth highest rate of death among children under one month of age in the world.
It attributed this high rate to lack of services for mothers and babies, low awareness of the health needs of pregnant women and the poor status of women.
Pakistani women have a one in 89 chance of dying of maternal causes, compared to one in 8,000 in developed countries. Yet 80 per cent of maternal deaths are preventable with access to healthcare, the report says.
Good healthcare during pregnancy, childbirth and the first weeks after birth ensure healthy mothers and create a foundation of health, hygiene, nutrition and love for babies that gives them a good start in life, it said.
‘If women have access to appropriate healthcare, know-how to access and utilise services and information, and are empowered to take decisions through education, then they will be in a position to make the best health choices for themselves and their children,’ said Martin Mogwanja, UNICEF Country Representative for Pakistan.
‘Families, communities and nations benefit when a woman and her children are healthy, empowered and productive contributors to their society.’
To achieve this, the report recommends a continuum of care that extends through a lifetime. Educated girls can make informed health decisions and marry later than girls who have never been to school.
During pregnancy, antenatal check-ups warn women about complications and ensure that they receive appropriate health, immunisation, hygiene and nutritional advice.
It said through community support and the Lady Health Worker Programme, women can be informed about good care practices, such as the importance of hygiene and of breastfeeding from birth. Skilled attendants at childbirth can manage delivery safely and hygienically, recognise complications such as excessive bleeding and breathing difficulties and take a woman to hospital when needed. Health care supports women and babies through the critical days after birth, giving both a foundation for a wholesome life.
‘Healthy mothers have healthy children,’ said Mogwanja. ‘An investment in healthcare systems serving mothers is an investment in future generations. Educated women and empowered mothers can ensure that millions of Pakistani children have the chance to live, flourish and grow into healthy and educated young people, fully prepared to build the future of Pakistan.’
What are the causes of these deaths?
Recent studies have shown that the most common causes of death amongst newborns are as follows: Birth asphyxia, or insufficient oxygen, causes nearly 40 per cent of deaths. Another 20 per cent die of infections, and 16 per cent due to being born prematurely, the report said.
But the maternal mortality rate in Pakistan is 276 deaths per 100,000 live births compared to eight per 100,000 live births in the developed world.
This translates to 10,400 maternal deaths every year. This means 10,400 families left without mothers and wives, and newborns left with a much lower chance of surviving to adulthood.
There is a huge imbalance in these figures. In Balochistan, for instance, the maternal mortality is 785 deaths per 100,000 live births. This is nearly triple the national rate of 276 deaths per 100,000 live births.
In rural Pakistan, the maternal mortality is nearly twice than that in cities.
The report said babies born to uneducated mothers are nearly twice as likely to die as newborns compared to mothers who have received higher education.
Most of these deaths can be prevented, and the same initiatives will benefit both mothers and their children. It said essential measures to reduce deaths include providing quality reproductive health services, antenatal care, skilled attendants at birth, access to emergency obstetric and newborn care if needed, adequate nutrition, care in the critical days following birth, and education to improve health and hygiene practices.
The report said supporting the education and empowerment of women is key to saving lives.
Educated women marry later than uneducated women, and are thus less likely to suffer the complications of early pregnancy. Women who get pregnant in their teens are much more likely to lose their babies. If their children survive, then are they likely to be born prematurely or underweight. Underweight babies have a 68 per cent higher chance of dying before their first birthday.
Wake-Up Call,
I am really confused – are these articles you wrote yourself?
[…] – Changing Up Pakistan reports that 124 people were arrested in Pakistan in a crackdown on groups allegedly linked to the terror […]
@wak-up Call, (Sagarika GHOSH)
I bet not, these are dictated from ANP MQM PPP and the other
side of the border came from BJP and Sonia Ghandhi, the author is an Indian Nationalist, probably from RSS.
Listen ! what ever is Pakistan according to you, Indians
you still have
450 millions of registered DALITS, with no rights !
320 millions having nothing to eat and wear,
120 millions of Indian children to beadopted by EU, US
380 millions minorities vulnerable to extinctions
you have exterminated 120.000 Kashmiri muslims.
Indian army of 700.000 is perpetrating this Genocide.
your 34 paragraphs in two comments does not solve any of
the above inhuman situation in India, you are wasting your
energy trying to nail Pakistan uselessly. Nothing to compare
@ to all Indian and pro-Indians
please develop links between the six points in follwoing
one subject out of many similar, the terrorism in India
Hinduvta
Col Prohat
Jan Sangh
Nathuram Godse
Gandhi
AbhinauBharat
main victims = Dalits, minorities, muslims !
@Kalsoom,
kindly remove Rehman Malik’s photo, he looks like
a lost donkey, please replace it with a photo of
Sherry Rehman when she was 23 and without make-up !
I would even go for a photo of Piracha fingering her nose.
[…] Banned: Pakistan This seems relevant. Crackdown on Militants Connected to Mumbai Attacks January 15, 2009 by CHUP! Editor – Kalsoom [Image from GEO] Media outlets reported today that Pakistan arrested 124 people in a crackdown […]
@ after the 69 pages Mumbai report and the list of 9 wanted
Mumbai attackers ,
pls. check the website
http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2009/01/19 video-pakistan-
response-to-the-mumbai-dossier.
pure revelations on Indian failure and pretentions,
I must admit I am very sour on the dreadfull discovery of
those who govern us, India or Pakistan.
Pakistan arrested 124 people in a crackdown on Dawa etc,
what is this ? to please the Indians ?
I wonder which Govt, of the two neighbouring countries
are the most idiot and donkey ! I think both the Govts.
are highly incompetent, the most useless burden on their
nations, a total liability.
In any case Mumbai dossier is a solid proof of complete
FIASCO and a total failure of Indian structure, both private
and public sector, nothing worked normaly.
But the opportunists profited largely !!!
@ Rehman Malik is advised to stay away from
Fata and NWFP province, he is on the hit list
of Patriotic Talibans along with Sherry Rehman.