HINDUS IN PAKISTAN'S BALOCHISTAN UNDER THREAT, EXODUS EMINENT

[Prior to the partition of India‚ in 1941‚ there were some 54‚000 Hindus in Balochistan. After 1947‚ when persecution by Muslims forced entire communities in other provinces to migrate to India‚ Hindus in Balochistan continued to live without hindrance‚ partly because they were protected by Baloch tribal chiefs. The deteriorating security situation has dissolved this protection‚ leading to forced migration. Unable to provide exact figures‚ Khan says the past five years have seen an exodus of influential Hindu families from the province. He says the going ransom for kidnapped Hindus ranges from Rs. 2 million to Rs. 3 million. Most recently‚ Hindu spiritual leader Lakki Chand Garji was abducted from Kalat on Dec. 21.]

By Jahanzeb Aslam

Hindus in the restive province of Balochistan are under threat. Citing kidnappings‚ target killings and rape‚ 27 families have appealed to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad for asylum. This‚ according to Saaed Ahmed Khan‚ regional director of the Ministry of Human Rights in Quetta‚ highlights some of the problems being faced by Pakistan’s minorities. Except that these families are under threat not because of religion‚ but money.

  

“This is purely financial. There is no religious factor‚” says Khan. “The families attempting to move are all rich business ones. The poor do not attempt to move because they have no reason to leave. They are never kidnapped.” I. A. Rehman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan‚ a nongovernmental organization‚ says reports of such flight are nothing new. “The migration of a few Hindu families is an everyday occurrence and nothing special‚” he says. “A struggling economy‚ discrimination and lack of representation often compel Hindus to move out of Balochistan and Sindh. It has been happening for several years.”

  

Prior to the partition of India‚ in 1941‚ there were some 54‚000 Hindus in Balochistan. After 1947‚ when persecution by Muslims forced entire communities in other provinces to migrate to India‚ Hindus in Balochistan continued to live without hindrance‚ partly because they were protected by Baloch tribal chiefs. The deteriorating security situation has dissolved this protection‚ leading to forced migration. Unable to provide exact figures‚ Khan says the past five years have seen an exodus of influential Hindu families from the province. He says the going ransom for kidnapped Hindus ranges from Rs. 2 million to Rs. 3 million. Most recently‚ Hindu spiritual leader Lakki Chand Garji was abducted from Kalat on Dec. 21.

Losing these citizens to India may be harming the province’s already struggling economy. Balochistan cannot afford to lose merchants and businessmen who pay taxes and provide jobs‚ says Khan. “When these families leave‚ they take everything with them. We have to protect them.”

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@ Newsweek Pakistan

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN, IN PAKISTAN TRIP, EMPHASIZES U.S. COMMITMENT TO COUNTRY

[Pakistani military officials say they will launch an offensive when they are ready. They say that the U.S. military has failed to stop insurgents crossing into North Waziristan from Afghanistan and that U.S. policy favors India, Pakistan's arch-foe - a belief some Pakistani nationalists argue reflects U.S. efforts to weaken Pakistan.]

By Karin Brulliard

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - Vice President Biden insisted Wednesday that the United States will not abandon Pakistan in the aftermath of the Afghanistan war, sternly rejecting the notion as one of several widely held "misconceptions" here about U.S. intentions in the region.

Democracy and stability in Pakistan - where al-Qaeda and a complex stew of other Islamist militant groups have found haven - are in the "vital self-interest" of both countries, Biden said during a one-day, unannounced visit to the Pakistani capital.

"It is the extremists who violate Pakistan's sovereignty and corrupt its good name," Biden said at a news conference with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani. The U.S. objective, Biden said, "is to restore and strengthen sovereighty in those areas of your country where extremists have violated it."

Biden arrived Wednesday morning on a trip meant to reemphasize U.S. commitment to Pakistan but also to pressure it to shore up its floundering economy and more aggressively pursue militants based on its territory. In addition to Gillani, Biden also met with President Asif Ali Zardari and Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani.

The Obama administration's intensified war effort in neighboring Afghanistan gave new priority to bolstering Pakistan's government, which previously received far less U.S. aid than did the country's powerful military. Congress passed a five-year, $7.5 billion civilian aid package in 2009, and the two nations have since held several "strategic dialogue" sessions to focus on issues such as agriculture and energy.

"We have learned from the past that the only productive way forward is a long-term, enduring partnership," Biden said Wednesday.

But the relationship is rocky, and both sides voice suspicion of the other's intentions. U.S. officials have been frustrated by Pakistan's reluctance to move against militants based in the northwestern tribal area of North Waziristan, some of which strike American troops in Afghanistan. U.S. officials contend that Pakistan supports some militant groups, such as the Haqqani network, as a bulwark against Indian influence in Afghanistan.

Pakistani military officials say they will launch an offensive when they are ready. They say that the U.S. military has failed to stop insurgents crossing into North Waziristan from Afghanistan and that U.S. policy favors India, Pakistan's arch-foe - a belief some Pakistani nationalists argue reflects U.S. efforts to weaken Pakistan.

Biden rejected that Wednesday as "dead wrong."

"We want what you want: a strong, stable, democratic Pakistan," he said. "We wish your success because it's in our own interest."

Biden's visit, his first to Pakistan since taking office, came amid a string of reminders about the volatility of this nuclear-armed country.

Last week, the liberal governor of Punjab province was assassinated by his police guard, who was then widely hailed as a hero. Days later, Gillani's pro-U.S. government saved its ruling coalition from collapse only by backpedaling on economic reforms, drawing rebukes from U.S. and IMF officials.

The threat of Islamist extremists in Pakistan was underscored Wednesday with a suicide bombing at a police station in the northwestern district of Bannu that killed at least 20 people, according to news reports.

Biden called Salman Taseer, the slain governor, a "brave" man for speaking out against Pakistan's anti-blasphemy law, which makes it a capital crime to insult the prophet Muhammad.

"There is no justification - none - for such senseless acts," Biden said of the killing. "Societies that tolerate such actions end up being consumed by those actions."

Zardari, according to his spokesman, pledged to Biden that Pakistan would "defeat extremists and terrorism of all hues." He added: "A handful of extremists and militants would never be able to impose their vicious agenda on the people of Pakistan."

In recent months, the CIA has sharply escalated drone strikes in Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal belt. Most of the strikes in the past year, including one Wednesday, have targeted North Waziristan.

The tactic is secretly allowed by Pakistan but publicly condemned as a violation of national sovereignty. A Zardari spokesman said the president, during his meeting with Biden, reiterated a request for drone technology that would enable Pakistan to carry out strikes on its own.
@ The Washington Post

NC MAKES U-TURN, WITHDRAWS PAUDEL'S CANDIDACY

By SHIVA ACHARYA

KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress (NC) has rolled back its earlier decision on the candidacy of its Parliamentary Party leader Ram Chandra Paudel for the post of the Prime Minister on Wednesday evening.

In the House meeting, NC senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba has formally announced the withdrawal of Paudel’s candidacy for the post of PM. He spoke of the need to create a conducive environment for the politics of consensus and therefore said the party decided to withdraw the candidacy of Paudel.

Earlier, following the party’s Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting held in the Constituent Assembly Hall, NC general secretary Prakash Man Singh had said that the party decided to withdraw Paudel’s candidacy from the ongoing PM election.

“The NC is in favour of the politics of consensus, unity to draft the new constitution in the stipulated time frame and take peace to a logical end. The situation of the nation is very serious,” said Singh, adding “On the request of all political parties, the NC decided to withdraw the candidacy Paudel.”

The PM poll began on July 21, 2010. Initially UCPN-Maoist Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and CPN-UML Jhalanath Khanal were also candidates for the PM.

Khanal rolled back his candidacy without contesting a single round and the Maoist rolled back Prachanda’s candidacy after the 7th round of futile voting.

The nation has been without a Prime Minister after the resignation of the current PM Madhav Kumar Nepal on June 30, 2010. NC leader Paudel could not garner adequate votes in the Legislature-Parliament in the previous 16th rounds of voting.

The next House session has been scheduled for 3pm tomorrow.