Hosting and Feasting May 16

 

by Khurshid Anwer

Nation – The dinner hosted by Ambassador Haqqani for the president was attended by 2000 people at an expense of half a million dollars! The US media is making fun of such happenings

Nation, May 16 –  Haqqani returns alone by taxi

President Zardari secretly met the head of CIA for two hours at an undisclosed location at midnight on Tuesday last. Haqqani was excluded from the talk at the last minute and after this embarrassing dismissal had to return alone by Taxi cab.

 The sources also confirmed continuation by the president of the Musharraf policy of giving some ‘very high assurances’ to US officials, possibly including intrusion of US forces into Pakistan territory.  

Nation – Federal ministers are desperately worried about shortage of funds for new upholstery and drapes in their official residences. Finance ministry sanctioned Rs 100,000 each but the ministers cried ‘Do More’. Despite PM’s resistance the grant was upped to Rs 500,000, multiply this by over 70 plus advisors.

Sheikh Rashid is an expert at coining new phrases. He has now said the PPP government is running on ‘Daily Wages’.

Athar Minallah told the Washington Pot, “The parliament is deaf and dumb and Zaradari is living in bunkerised luxury”.

An MQM type was pontificating that a whole year was lost in bringing back Iftikhar Chaudry on the premise that on his coming the rivers of milk will start flowing, there will be jobs for every one, economy will improve etc. Nothing of this has happened.

It is disgusting when educated people talk such politically blinkered nonsense. The ignoramus cannot see the advantage of having a judiciary which is capable of making independent judgments on matters concerning the people and is not functioning like the previous judiciary which was an extension of the various ministries.

Letter in the Frontier Post – The recent publication of a book titled "Formation of Republic of Jinnahpur" is a part of MQM´s conspiracy to disintegrate Pakistan. The ongoing condemnation by Altaf Hussain of Talibanisation in Karachi is an open evidence that MQM wants to clean Karachi from the settlers and pave way for formation of Republic of Jinnahpur!

PTI concerned over threats to the poor tandoor owners, cobblers, cart vendors, small hotel owners, labourers and other workers from NWFP and Balochistan to wrap up their businesses.

Police and Rangers carried out flag marches on May 12, 2009. Where were they on May 12, 2007?

The sayings of Sarwar Sukhera – msukhera2000@yahoo.com

On smoking and cancer – of course, all living beings are going to die sooner or later. In the case if men, one wishes that some had died much earlier than when they actually did.

On revolutions – study any revolution and you will invariably find the mention of bread before any other social demand. Even Karl Marx’ wife had wished her husband would stop writing about the just distribution of money and start earning money to buy bread.

On walking – I envy young men with biceps larger than their brains

Prostitution in Pakistan Under the PPP Rule of Farzana Raja, Fauzia Wahab & Sherry Rehman

— http://www.ummatpublication.com/2009/05/12/story6.html
SEX IN DEPTH
In Pakistan, a Dark Trade Comes to Light
By William Sparrow

(Asian Sex Gazette) – Prostitution in the Islamic nation of Pakistan,
once relegated to dark alleys and small red-light districts, is now
seeping into many neighborhoods of country’s urban centers. Reports
indicate that since the period of civilian rule ended in 1977, times
have changed and now the sex industry is bustling.
Early military governments and religious groups sought to reform areas like the famous "Taxali Gate" district of Lahore by displacing
prostitutes and their families in an effort to "reinvent" the
neighborhood.

While displacing the prostitutes might have temporarily made the once
small red-light district a better neighborhood for a time, it did
little to stop the now dispersed prostitutes from plying their trade.
Reforming a neighborhood, instead of offering education and
alternative opportunities, appears to be at the core of early failures
to curb the nascent sex industry. This mistake would become a
prophetic error as now the tendrils of the sex trade have become
omnipresent in cities like Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi and Lahore,
not to mention towns, villages and rural outposts.

An aid worker for an Islamabad-based non-governmental organization
(NGO) recently related a story: quickly after his arrival in the
capital, he realized the house next to his own was a Chinese brothel.
The Chinese ability to "franchise" the commercial sex industry by
providing down-trodden Chinese women throughout Asia, North America and Europe would be admirable in a business sense if it were not for the atrocities – human trafficking, sexual slavery and exploitation -which cloud its practice.

Chinese bordellos, often operating as "massage parlors" or beauty
salons, are across Pakistan, even spread even to war-torn and restive
locations such as the Afghan capital Kabul. Chinese in the sex
industry have developed a cunning ability to recognize areas where the demand for sex far outstrips the supply.

The NGO worker said that after months of living adjacent to the
brothel things were shaken up – literally. One evening a drunk
Pakistani drove his car into the brothel. Later the driver told
authorities the ramming was a protest by a devout Muslim against the
debauchery of the house and its inhabitants. The NGO worker, however, had seen the same car parked peacefully outside the house the night before.

The local sex industry comprised of Pakistani prostitutes has also
grown in recent years. One can easily find videos on YouTube that show unabashed red-light areas of Lahore. The videos display house after house with colorfully lit entranceways always with a mamasan and at least one Pakistani woman in traditional dress. The women are
available for in-house services for as little as 400 rupees (US $ 6)
to take-away prices ranging 1,000 to 2,000 rupees. These districts are
mostly for locals, but foreigners can indulge at higher prices.

Foreigners in Pakistan have no trouble finding companionship and may
receive rates similar to locals in downtrodden districts. More upscale
areas like Lahore’s Heera Mundi or "Diamond Market" cater to well-
heeled locals and foreigners. At these places prettier, younger girls
push their services for 5,000 to 10,000 rupees for an all-night visit,
and the most exceptional can command 20,000 to 40,000 rupees for just short time.
Rumors abound online that female TV stars and actresses can be hired
for sex. "You can get film stars for 50,000 to 100,000 rupees but you
need good contacts for that," one blogger wrote after a trip to
Lahore.

"The Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi sex scenes are totally changing
and it’s easier and easier to get a girl for [sex]," another blogger
wrote. "Most of the hotels provide you the girls upon request."
Bloggers also reported that it is easy to find girls prowling the
streets after 6 pm, and foreigners can find young women hanging out
near Western franchises like McDonald’s and KFC. Such women, the
bloggers claim, can lead the customer to a nearby short-time
accommodation.

Short-time hotels offering hourly rates can be found all over major
cities, underscoring the profits being reaped by the sex industry.
Pakistan can also accommodate the gay community with prostitution.
Unfortunately, this has also given rise to child prostitution.
A Pakistani blogger wrote: "We [ethnic] Pathans are very fond of boys.
[In Pakistan] the wives are only [had sex with] once or twice a year.
There are lot of gay brothels in Peshawar – the famous among them is
at Ramdas Bazaar. [One can] go to any Afghan restaurant and find young waiters selling sex."
As in many societies, access to technology, the Internet and mobile
phones, has only facilitated the sex trade in Pakistan. "Matchmaking"
websites serve the male clientele, while providing marketing for
prostitutes.
The root causes of prostitution in Pakistan are poverty and a dearth
of opportunities. Widows find themselves on the streets with mouths to feed, and for many prostitution offers a quick fix. A local Pakistani
prostitute can earn 2,000 to 3,000 rupees per day compared to the
average monthly income of 2,500 rupees.

Forced prostitution is not rare. Women in hard times are often
exploited and pushed into prostitution. Sandra (not her real name),
said that after the death of her father she was left alone; friends
and relatives deserted her after the grieving period. As a middle-
class, educated woman she was surprised to find herself forced into
prostitution from her office job.

"My boss initially spoiled me at first," she told Khaleej Times.
"[But] now I am in [the sex industry]." Sandra first thought her boss
was being gracious, but quickly learned he was grooming her for sex
for his own pleasure, and then acting as her pimp.

Many of Pakistan’s contemporary sexual mores may have evolved from
traditional practices. For example, the polygamy permitted in Muslim
society stemmed from the need for larger family units, the better to
support familial ties and tend for widows. Until such ancient customs
are updated, women such as Sandra will continue to be bought and
sold.

It’s time for Pakistan to admit that prostitution is doing a roaring
trade within its borders, and will continue to prosper until it is
addressed in a modern manner. Let us hope that the people and
government of this proud Muslim country will stop pretending the
problem simply isn’t there.
[Mr. William Sparrow is Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Sex Gazette. He
has reported on sex in Asia for over six years. Friday, 15 May 2009.
http://www.asiansexgazette.com

View through the burka

 

By Sadia Qasim Shah
Saturday, 16 May, 2009 | 09:27 AM PST |

Many women in Swat have no choice but to hide themselves inside the shuttlecock burka.— Reuters

A WELL-BUILT, middle-aged maid working for a wealthy family in the restive Swat valley was once stopped by the Taliban on her way to work. Objecting to her traditional parhoonay or covering, one of the Taliban asked her, ‘Why are you not wearing a burka?’

He ordered her to wear the all-enveloping garb that has only a latticed ‘opening’, resembling a grill, in front for a woman to see and breathe. This garment is popularly called a shuttlecock burka. Some say it resembles a tent.

The next day the maid was taking some food in a huge pot covered by her burka to some relatives of the family she worked for. Once again she was stopped — this time by the police who assumed she was a security threat.

‘I don’t know what to do. Should I wear a burka or not?’ she wondered. However, observing that the Taliban were harsh in imposing their self-styled Islamic edicts on women she realised she had no choice but to allow the all-enveloping material to cover her.

However, another woman from Swat who now lives in Islamabad said that she and her young nieces had decided that they would not go to Swat if they had to wear the burka. Until just a few years ago, Swat regularly saw local and foreign tourists attired in outfits of their personal choice. 

Unfortunately, in the face of Talibanisation, many women have no choice but to hide themselves inside the shuttlecock burka. The view from behind the ‘grill’ is not very clear. There is hardly any opening for fresh air. The shape of the burka ‘cap’ perhaps symbolises how the Taliban do not want women to grow intellectually.

It is too early to say what the results of the ongoing military operation will be, but until just some days ago, the Taliban had not only been entering and controlling many of our towns, they had also come to affect private lives. Their demand has been for men to sport beards and women to wear the shuttlecock burka.

It is quite clear that the Taliban are averse to a role for women outside their homes — this is their policy or one-point agenda as far as women are concerned. Matters could be worse for working women, especially those who do not have male breadwinners in the family, as the Taliban expect women to be accompanied by a male family member, or mehram, when venturing out of their homes.

‘My 15-year-old son laughed when he told me how the Taliban referred to two of his young cousins wearing burkas as ‘women’ when he accompanied them to their home,’ said a young Swati widow. She is lucky to have a teenaged son to accompany her to the school where she teaches.

Previously, Swati women had donated generously — even their jewellery — for the construction of the Imam Dheri seminary on the banks of the Swat river at the call of Maulana Fazlullah who initially broadcast ‘Dars-ul-Quran’ and Islamic teachings, interpreting these in Pashto, through the FM radio channel. 

Many women, who could not read or write, appreciated this. Little did they know that once the Taliban started to gain power and make inroads into their lives, they would stop women from doing the simplest of things like shopping, and that they would threaten their school-going daughters with beheading if they went out in a chaddar and did not wear a burka. True, the burka has been in use in parts of the NWFP, but it has never been so common as it is now after the rapid Talibanisation of the past few years.

Today, one can see girls as young as eight or nine (it is not easy to make an exact guess as their faces and physiques are hidden from view) walking home from school in a row wearing the shuttlecock burka on the main Bara Road just adjacent to the Peshawar cantonment area. ‘When my niece was studying in class 8, she wore the shuttlecock burka for the first time. She vomited as she felt claustrophobic,’ said a resident of Lower Dir.

If walking in the shuttlecock burka is difficult for young, agile girls, one can only imagine how difficult it is for much older women to handle the attire. ‘My grandmother who was wearing the shuttlecock burka recently fell down and sprained her ankle. When we tried to take her to hospital she cried out angrily that we should forget the hospital and go and tell Maulana Fazlullah what happened,’ said a Swati woman.

A young man from Pabbi town in Nowshera district where women have traditionally worn the white shuttlecock burka said that his grandmother was attired in one as she crossed the road. She was hit by a vehicle. But she never knew exactly what had hit her since women have only a limited view of the outside world from inside the burka. Would it be too much to ask the Taliban, who have such a penchant for the burka, to try out one themselves some time? The same young man from Pabbi certainly did. He once donned his mother’s shuttlecock burka for a college skit. ‘I couldn’t see properly. It was so suffocating,’ he recalled. 

Perhaps one can use the burka experience to draw a parallel between the physical and mental constraints imposed on women who are faced with the menace of Talibanisation. Just as very little is clear inside the burka, the world outside does not hold a bright future for women who must yield to the outrageous demands on their personal space.

The Taliban mindset has come to dominate and the militant ideology has a harsh manifesto that is invading women’s private space. Women are a vulnerable group, especially in areas where protests against restrictions on personal freedoms are uncommon.
On top of that, when their boundaries are defined by extremist groups who forget that women, like themselves, are human, they lose their fundamental and constitutional human rights. They feel suffocation physically — and mentally.

Taliban shaving off beard to escape: Military spokesman

By Iftikhar A. Khan
Friday, 15 May, 2009 | 05:16 PM PST |

We ask the people of Swat to identify militants and inform security personnel at the nearest checkpost: DG ISPR Maj-Gen. Athar Abbas.—Reuters

ISLAMABAD: The army has appealed to the people of Swat to help it to identify terrorists who are trying to flee in disguise because they are being encircled.

‘We have confirmed reports that these Taliban terrorists are shaving off their beard, trimming their hair and fleeing the area,’ military spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas told Dawn on Friday.

‘We ask the people of Swat to identify militants and inform security personnel at the nearest checkpost.’

He said the youths forcibly recruited by terrorists had started deserting them because troops were inflicting heavy casualties and the operation was gaining momentum.

He said that security forces were now closing in on Mingora and Matta from three directions. Militants’ bases in Peochar valley have been attacked and efforts are being made to target their leadership.

‘We expect to receive an overwhelming support from the people when the army will start liberating the area and provide them the desired level of comfort and security.’

Maj-Gen Abbas expressed the hope that the people would not only support security forces but also act against terrorists after having suffered immensely at the hands of the militants.

‘This is how we are going to take the operation ahead. Brutalities of the terrorists have now started coming out.’

Referring to ruthlessness of Matta Taliban Commander Ibne Amin, the military spokesman said that militants had beheaded prayer leader Zahid Khan and killed three women for providing water to troops. 

Musharraf not ruling out presidency

 

* Former president tells CNN deals with Taliban several years ago were a mistake
Daily Times Monitor
LAHORE: Former president Pervez Musharraf is not ruling out the possibility of running for office once again.
Speaking on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, Musharraf said he wished the current government well and that he “would be the happiest person” if the nation dealt well with threats posed by the growing strength of the Taliban. The programme is scheduled to air on Sunday.

“If Pakistan is in trouble and if any Pakistani, myself included – if you can see that we can do something for it – well … my life is for Pakistan,” he said. Musharraf mentioned that the law would allow him to run for office in Pakistan in six months. “We’re not running for office in six months,” he said.

Deals with Taliban: Musharraf said deals with the Taliban several years ago were a mistake because “it was not from a position of strength”. But, if the military is able to take the upper hand, more deals may be needed to calm fighting by the fundamentalists.

‘US has plans to secure Pakistan’s nukes’

Daily Times, 16th May

LAHORE: American intelligence sources say the military’s chief terrorist-hunting squad, operating in Afghanistan, is working on a secondary mission to secure nuclear arsenals if the Taliban or Al Qaeda overwhelm Pakistan.

The US has a detailed plan for infiltrating Pakistan and securing its mobile arsenal of nuclear warheads if it appears that the country is about to fall under the control of the Taliban, Al Qaeda or other extremists.US intelligence sources told Fox the operation would be conducted by Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the super-secret commando unit.

Fox cited a US intelligence official in Afghanistan as saying JSOC has been updating its mission plan for “the day President Barack Obama gives the order” to infiltrate Pakistan. “Small units could seize them, disable them and then centralise them in a secure location,” he said. daily times monitor

US senators ask India to reduce troops on Pak border

Daily Times 16th May

WASHINGTON: Top US senators on Friday underscored the need for India and Pakistan to reduce troops on the Kashmir border to allow Islamabad to fight the Taliban on its Afghan border more effectively. “Once the elections in India are over and completed, I believe the dynamics will shift so that there can be some redeployment on both sides.

That will help the Pakistanis to begin to deal with this (extremist threat) themselves,” Senator John Kerry said. The lawmaker called for empowering Pakistan to take actions itself against the Taliban. Senator Richard Lugar shared the view on border troop reduction and felt there could be lesser use of American firepower to take out the Taliban. app