Habib Siddiqui

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

Pakistan Bombing Puts Focus on Its Struggle With Islamist Militants

(Reuters) - A suicide bombing that killed at least 45 people at a political rally in Pakistan on Sunday has again brought into focus the challenges in keeping Islamist militants at bay.

Pakistan has seen a resurgence of attacks by Islamist militants since last year when a ceasefire between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamabad broke down.

Following are some details of Pakistan's tussle with hardline Islamists:

* Militants have mainly operated out of Pakistan's former tribal areas that border Afghanistan in the northwest. This region was known as the semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas until a 2018 merger with neighbouring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

* The region saw an influx of Islamist guerrilla fighters in the 1980s, and the Taliban and al Qaeda after the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan began in 2001.

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* The TTP, which has carried out some of the bloodiest attacks inside Pakistan since its formation in 2007, is an umbrella organisation of various hardline Sunni Islamist groups operating individually in Pakistan.

* Since the TTP is formed of several groups, some of which have splintered previously, it makes it difficult for Pakistani authorities to hold peace talks with them. The group has distanced itself from Sunday's attack and its spokesperson has condemned it.

* TTP attacks are mostly directed at Pakistan, unlike the other big militant threat in the region, Islamic State (ISIS).

* ISIS affiliate Islamic State in Khorasan (IS-K) bombed a Shi'ite mosque in Pakistan's Peshawar in 2022, killing scores of people.

* The IS-K has been more active in Afghanistan than in Pakistan. There have been reported defections from the TTP into IS-K and some splinter cells have started to work closely together.

* A newly founded militant group called Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP) has also carried out a string of attacks in the country, most recently killing 12 soldiers at a Pakistani military base earlier this month.

* Little is known about the TJP and whether it operates under any larger militant group.

* Sunday's explosion took place in the former tribal area of Bajaur. The party targeted, the conservative Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), is known for its links to hardline political Islam and is a major ally of the coalition government.

* The JUI-F and its chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman were previously attacked because the party opposes local Islamist militants, saying their armed campaign against the state doesn't constitute a Jihad - a fight against opponents of Islam - analysts say.

* The party, however, supports the Afghan Taliban movement and calls it a just fight against foreign occupation.

* Islamist militants aim to overthrow the Pakistani government and install their own brand of strict Islamic law in the predominantly Muslim country of 220 million people.

‘Facebook Files’ Reveal Despicable Disregard for the Constitution

Last week’s revelation that Facebook took orders from the Biden Administration to censor even accurate information about Covid is the latest example of the US government’s disregard for our Constitution. Thanks to Rep. Jim Jordan, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, we now know the extent to which the Biden Administration went in its proxy war against the First Amendment.

Getting the information wasn’t easy. It was only after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was threatened with being held in contempt of Congress that he relented and shared information with the Judiciary Committee about Biden Administration pressure to censor Americans on Facebook who disagreed with White House policy on Covid.

What we have discovered thus far is disgusting. For example, in April 2021, a Facebook employee sent a message to top executives in the company complaining that, “we are facing continued pressure from external stakeholders, including the [Biden] White House” to remove posts. In another example, senior executive Nick Clegg complained that Andy Slavitt, a Senior Advisor to President Biden, was “outraged…that [Facebook] did not remove” a particular post, according to Rep. Jordan’s report.

Rep. Jordan revealed that the “offending post” that the Biden Administration wanted removed was simply a joke making fun of possible vaccine injury down the road. The Biden Administration even wanted to “protect” us from jokes that it didn’t like.

The Administration did not stop at targeting what it called “misinformation.” As Constitutional Law Professor Jonathan Turley noted in a recent column, “the administration also demanded the removal of ‘malinformation’ that is ‘based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.’” So the Biden Administration wanted to “cancel” even truthful information counter to its own preferred narrative.

This level of contempt for our Constitution is shocking. As Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. – who was himself censored at the behest of the Biden Administration – testified recently before Congress: “A government that can censor its critics has license for every atrocity. It is the beginning of totalitarianism.”

Who knows how many thousands of Facebook accounts were banned or restricted at the behest of the Biden White House. Early last year I received notice that my own Facebook Page was “restricted” for 90 days because I pointed out that the CEO of Pfizer once claimed that his Covid shot was “100 effective” but later changed his story. The post was completely accurate but still my page was targeted.

Although some are using this information for partisan gain against the Democrats in power, Americans should not delude themselves: left unchecked, there is little reason to believe a Republican Administration would show any more respect for the Constitution than the Biden Administration. Both parties have shown themselves to be selective in their pledged oath to uphold and defend the US Constitution.

It is just as unconstitutional – and thus illegal – for the US Government to violate the First Amendment by proxy – through so-called private companies – as if the government directly attacked our free speech. We must remember that the unprecedented US government censorship of Americans during Covid was just the test run. Be assured that when the next “crisis” comes – and it will – the authoritarians in charge will again ramp up the censorship machine unless we do something about it.

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

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Myanmar: Aung San Suu Kyi jail term reduced after some pardons

Former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been pardoned in five of 19 charges brought against her by the military.

The pardon, part of a seasonal amnesty, will reduce her 33-year jail sentence by six years.

Former president Win Myint, who was ousted along with Ms Suu Kyi, also received a reduced jail sentence after getting two of his charged pardoned.

Periodic amnesties have been announced before, but this is the first time they have included Ms Suu Kyi and Mr Myint.

The military junta has made other concessions in what appears to be an effort to revive stalled diplomacy efforts.

Last week, Ms Suu Kyi was moved from prison to house arrest in the capital Nay Pyi Taw.

The 78-year-old Nobel laureate has been detained by the military since February 2021 following the coup that ousted her.

The coup triggered civil war in the country, and has led to the deaths of thousands of people.

The military junta has also been accused of unleashing disproportionate violence against those opposing its rule.

Some countries, notably China and Thailand, have started a dialogue with the junta, but these initiatives have been criticised for excluding Ms Suu Kyi's party which won a huge majority in 2020 elections.

The extent of the win led the military to allege election fraud - which they then used as a justification for the coup.

Any negotiations of a compromise with the international community would almost certainly require the involvement of Ms. Suu Kyi. She has, however, been kept isolated since her arrest after the coup. Almost no news had emerged about her condition for more than two years.

Ms Suu Kyi is appealing the convictions to the other offences, which ranges from election fraud to corruption,

All the charges - which she has denied - were brought against her in closed-door, military-run trials. Rights groups have condemned the court trials as a sham.

The military junta on Monday postponed an election promised to be held by August this year following its coup two years ago.

US concerned over reports of intimidation, violence at Bangladesh protests

Reuters

July 31, 20231:04 PM PDTUpdated 8 hours ago

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) stage nationwide protest against attack on sit-in programmes in the capital Dhaka

Supporters of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chant slogans during a rally at the Suhrawardy Udyan, as part of a nationwide protest against attack on sit-in programmes in the capital Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 31, 2023. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

WASHINGTON, July 31 (Reuters) - The United States is concerned about reports of intimidation and political violence during protests in Bangladesh over the weekend against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday.

Police on Saturday fired rubber bullets and tear gas at stone-throwing opposition party supporters, who called for Hasina to step down and for elections due in January to be held under a neutral caretaker government.

"We encourage the government of Bangladesh to investigate reports of violence thoroughly, transparently and impartially, and to hold the perpetrators of violence to account," Miller said.

Miller urged Bangladesh to create a safe environment for people to peacefully assemble and for all parties to "refrain from violence, harassment and intimidation," noting the upcoming elections.

"Free and fair elections depend on the commitment of everyone - voters, political parties, youth wings, and police, and cannot take place in an environment of political violence," he said.

In May, Washington said it would restrict visas for Bangladeshis who undermine the democratic process at home, after accusations of vote-rigging and suppressing the opposition marred elections in 2014 and 2018. Hasina's government has denied the charges.

Hasina, who has maintained tight control since coming to power in 2009, has been accused of authoritarianism, human rights violations, cracking down on free speech and suppressing dissent while jailing her critics.

India’s treatment of Rohingya Muslims like sending them ‘back into killing field’: rights group

India should cease a crackdown on Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution and investigate human rights violations by its officials, an NGO group has urged, after it said an investigation had found the refugees faced illegal arrests, beatings and even the forceful separation of an infant from the mother.

Sectarian violence has over the decades displaced more than a million Rohingya from Buddhist-majority Myanmar, with most claiming asylum in Bangladesh. Some groups also travel to India, where a report by rights group Fortify Rights documented evidence of Indian authorities beating Rohingya refugees, denying them due process rights, and indefinitely detaining hundreds, in some cases for several years.

The group said immigration officials in late July detained dozens of Rohingya in northern Uttar Pradesh state, while in a separate incident a week earlier, hundreds of refugees in Jammu faced tear gas and beatings after protesting their indefinite detention, including through a hunger strike.

Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar outside a mosque in Jammu, the winter capital of Kashmir, India in March 2021. Many Hindu groups have demanded the expulsion of Rohingyas from India. Photo: EPA-EFE

“India should provide a safe haven for Rohingya fleeing genocidal attacks and other international crimes in Myanmar,” said Zaw Win, human rights specialist at Fortify Rights. “Rather than continuing their persecution, the Indian government should allow Rohingya refugees access to legal status, education, livelihoods and freedom of movement.”

Fearing arbitrary arrest by Indian authorities, some Rohingya refugees were said to have fled from India to Bangladesh, the group said.

John Quinley III, a director at Fortify Rights, told This Week in Asia that India should uphold the rights of refugees and urgently end the detention of Rohingya Muslims.

“We found that Rohingya children, youth, women and men are all detained,” Quinley said, adding that Rohingya youth who want to be educated and serve their community were instead being detained for years on end.

He noted India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been casting the community in a negative light.

“Many BJP politicians over the years have stirred up anti-Rohingya sentiment, using discriminatory language and policy,” Quinley said.

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In recent years, the BJP has called illegal migrants a threat to national security while on social media, many right-wing Hindu and BJP activists describe the Rohingya Muslims as “terrorists”.

Many Hindu groups have also demanded the expulsion of Rohingyas from India.

Rohingya Muslims have long faced violence and discrimination in Myanmar, where many in the country see them as illegal migrants from Bangladesh. According to the United Nations, about 40,000 Rohingya have fled to India from Myanmar, most of them in 2017 after the country’s military cracked down on Rohingyas in the country’s western Rakhine state.

Customary international law and Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which India is a state party, forbids the arbitrary, unlawful, or indefinite detention of any person, including refugees and migrants.

Fire at refugee camp in Bangladesh leaves thousands homeless

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Other organisations have called on India to stop collaborating with Myanmar’s military, which seized power in the February 2021 coup and is responsible for the plight of the refugees.

Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, said India should cease collaborating with Myanmar’s junta and instead support efforts to bring democracy and peace to Myanmar.

“Once the criminals are brought to justice in Myanmar, India will no longer need to host refugees from Myanmar,” he said.

Nay San Lwin said even though at least half of the 40,000 Rohingya refugees in India were recognised by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, they faced long-term detention and imprisonment.

India is the only country in the world that has deported some Rohingya refugees who survived the genocide back to Myanmar. It is as if they are being thrown back into the killing fieldNay San Lwin, Free Rohingya Coalition

“India is the only country in the world that has deported some Rohingya refugees who survived the genocide back to Myanmar. It is as if they are being thrown back into the killing field,” he said. “If the Rohingya were non-Muslim, I believe they would be treated better by the government.”

Noting that no Rohingya wanted permanent settlement either in India or Bangladesh, Nay San Lwin said they all wished to return to their homeland once the situation in Myanmar stabilised and the rights of the Rohingya were restored.

“None of them aim to burden public resources; they want the opportunity to work and provide education for their children, just like other refugees around the world,” he said.

“Detaining, [as well as] mentally and physically torturing the refugees tarnishes the image of India and its democracy,” Nay San Lwin said, adding that the Indian government should review its refugee policies.

In June, Nada Al-Nashif, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on the Myanmar authorities to ensure full legal recognition of the right to citizenship of all Rohingya people and to issue them appropriate civil documentation.