Super-Charged Jet Stream Caused Pak. Flood

[Evidence of weather warfare?  SEE: Pakistan: unlucky in everything then? really?]

Pakistan floods: supercharged jet stream ‘causing flooding’

A highly-charged jet stream is contributing to the worse floods Pakistan has seen in decades, meteorologists have said

Super-Charged Jet Stream Caused Pak. Flood, posted with vodpod

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The jet stream, a massive ring of high speed winds, is moving quicker than usual over north western Pakistan, causing wet monsoon air to be sucked faster and higher into the atmosphere.

The stream, which is normally too high to affect every day weather but does influence large scale weather patterns by shifting the atmosphere around, is “supercharging” the monsoon, leading to some of the heaviest rainfall in memory.

Scientists say the hyperactive jet stream is also causing deadly landslides in China and the drought in Russia, which is leading to wildfires.

The stream has split in two with one section heading north over Russia and the other going south over the Himalayas into Pakistan. In Russia the stream is inhaling some of the country’s hottest temperatures on record and spreading them quickly, causing the fires.

Experts say it is very unusual for the stream to head that far south.

On Monday the United Nations rated the floods in Pakistan as the greatest humanitarian crisis in recent history with more people affected than the South-East Asian tsunami and the recent earthquakes in Kashmir and Haiti combined.

Although the current 1,600 death toll in Pakistan represents a tiny fraction of the estimated 610,000 people killed in the three previous events, some two million more people – 13.8 million – have suffered losses requiring long or short-term help.

Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said: “This disaster is worse than the tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and the Haiti earthquake.”

The comparison illustrates the scale of the crisis facing Pakistan as its inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy battles to mitigate the effects of the flooding.

The disaster zone stretches from the Swat Valley in the north, where 600,000 people are in need of help, to Sindh in the south.

Billions of pounds will be needed to rebuild affected areas but western nations have pledged only tens of millions in aid. Radical Islamic groups are jockeying to fill the vacuum left by government incompetence and relative international indifference.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, formerly North-West Frontier Province and scene of a bloody Taliban insurgency, has been devasted by swollen rivers. The steel girder bridge over the Khyali River in Charsadda which built by the British at the height of the Raj is a jagged stump. It was a vital gateway to the region and its loss has hampered the aid effort.

“There are people here who are 80 and who will tell you that they have seen nothing like it in their lives,” said Arif Jabbar Khan, leading the Oxfam team in the town. “This was a productive agricultural area with a big middle class who have now lost everything. The effect of that will be enormously destabilising. There was a riot in town as people demanded food.”

Beneath it, the brown waters of the swollen Khyali, three times its normal width, thundered southward over what had been homes and farms.

The problems here are being replicated across Pakistan. Of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s population of 1.7 million, some one million have been made destitute by the flooding. The government has managed to distribute 10,000 food packs in the 10 days since the disaster. They will feed just 80,000 people.

Flood victims stand around homeless, aimless, their clothes covered in sticky red mud. The river thunders on, oblivious.

“The reaction in the west to this crisis has been lukewarm so far,” said Mr Khan. “The governments there need to understand what is going on.” Meanwhile Mr Khan must get on with the basics, pouring chlorine into wells to prevent the spread of e-coli and cholera, and organising payments to families so that they can buy food in Charsadda’s still-functioning market.

The nearby city of Peshawar relies on the area for much of its food, and prices are now rocketing in the markets there – as they are along the length of Pakistan.

Still more people are still dying in Pakistan’s remote mountainous northern provinces, swept away in the torrent or buried in landslides.

The government in Islamabad has admitted that cannot cope with such a catastrophe, but the international response has been lukewarm.

Yousuf Raza Gilani, Pakistan’s prime minister, left to deal with the crisis while his president, Asif Ali Zardari, toured Britain and France, said the floods would set Pakistan back years.

Jean-Maurice Ripert, the United Nations special envoy for the disaster, said the scale of funding for Pakistan’s recovery could only escalate. He said: “The emergency phase will require hundreds of millions of dollars and the recovery and reconstruction part will require billions of dollars.”

Angry survivors have attacked government officials in flood-hit areas. The government’s fear of a backlash is believed to be behind the blocking of two independent TV channels, Geo and Ary, which have been critical of President Asif Ali Zardari for going ahead with a European tour as large parts of his country suffered inundation.

The peace option

Rizwan Asghar

Balochistan has arrived at the brink of secession because of mishandling of the crisis by the federal government in Islamabad, which remains oblivious to ground realities in Pakistan’s largest province.

The conflict in Balochistan dates back to independence, when the first military action was undertaken there to coerce the Khan of Kalat to accede to Pakistan. Three uprisings occurred in the province in 1958, 1962-63 and 1973-77, which were brutally dealt with by the state.

Balochistan comprises almost 40 per cent of the total area of Pakistan and is strategically the most important region of the country. It is rich in valuable minerals, including vast copper and natural-gas deposits. The grievances of the Baloch people stem from a host of factors. Foremost among them is economic deprivation. The gas deposits of Sui in Balochistan are catering to the needs of other provinces, but certain areas of Balochistan even today lack the supply of Sui gas. The province receives a meagre amount of royalties for its natural resources.

The issue of missing persons remains a major irritant in relations between the federation and Balochistan. According to UN reports, around 8,000 people from Balochistan have gone missing since 2005. The disappearance of a large number of Baloch women has further exacerbated the situation. This has given rise to an overwhelming feeling among the Baloch people that Balochistan always receives a raw deal from the federal government.

Gory incidents of targeted killings are a daily occurrence in Balochistan and they are putting an adverse impact on the socio-economic situation in the province. The killing of Habib Jalib Baloch on July 15 sent shockwaves across the province. Baloch nationalist leaders accuse the intelligence agencies of this murderous act and such incidents of high-profile killings have gone a long way in weakening Balochistan’s bond with the federation.

Moreover, the local sardari system has remained an obstacle to the development of the province. The Baloch usually follow their local tribal chiefs, who are known as tumandars. These tribal chiefs have established their own fiefdoms with their own system of justice. The sardari system was formally abolished by the System of Sardari (Abolition Act of 1976), which prescribed three years’ punishment to anyone exercising sardari. The Act was not enforced after its approval by the National Assembly during the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Neither the government of Pakistan nor the sardars have any agenda for the political and economic uplift of the province. Fearing loss of power, the sardars are themselves opposed to the economic development of the province. The weakness of Balochistan’s civil society has strengthened tribalism.

The present PPP-led federal government introduced “Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan” package as part of its efforts to heal the wounds of the province. But the package still awaits practical implementation. Despite claims to the contrary by the government, Balochistan remains under the control of paramilitary forces. The policymakers miss the point that there is no military solution to the Balochistan problem. It can be resolved by formulating a well-coordinated and unified political strategy, following by its implementation in letter and spirit.

A new policy is badly needed to compensate for the past mistakes. The federal government should come up with a concrete plan for removing regional disparities. The decades-old mistrust will not be wiped out overnight, but we have to take first step in the right direction. The military operation must be halted and the missing persons should be recovered on a priority basis. And, last but not least, complete provincial autonomy should be granted to Balochistan.

Email: rizwanasghar7@yahoo .com

Plague of Locusts for Pakistan?

Officials prepare for locust infestation

Locusts are the swarming phase of short-horned grasshoppers of the family Acridities

By Prakash Bhandari

Jaipur: Floodwaters that inundated Sindh province in Pakistan after devastating the northwestern provinces could become an ideal breeding ground for locusts. The locusts are likely to cross over to the western Rajasthan endangering the crops.

Moist conditions in both India and in the Thar desert because of heavy rains would breed the insects and officials of both India and Pakistan are meeting Wednesday at Munabao on the Indian side to discuss the issue. Munabao is the last Indian railway station from where the weekly train to Khokhrapar in Pakistan operates.

Locusts are the swarming phase of short-horned grasshoppers of the family Acridities.

These are species that can breed rapidly under suitable conditions and subsequently become gregarious and migratory. They form bands as nymphs and swarms as adults — both of which can travel great distances, rapidly stripping fields and greatly damaging crops.

Spotted

According to deputy director of locust control in Jodhpur KP Singh, he has been informed by the Pakistan government officials that locusts in large number are have been spotted in Balochistan and they may move towards the Sindh province and from there cross over to India.

It’s Not Over Yet–Monsoon set to bring more misery in Pakistan

Monsoon set to bring more misery in Pakistan

Central Punjab and northwest of Balochistan are expected to be spared the deluge.

• By Naveed Ahmad, Correspondent
• 

Villagers scramble for food supplies dropped from an army helicopter in a flood-hit area of Kot Addu in central Pakistan on Saturday. Image Credit: AP

Islamabad: Authorities reeling from the devastating floods will not be comforted by the fact that the monsoon is far from over.

“It is not the last spell of rain, we are only in the middle of the monsoon,” Dr Qamaruz Zaman, Director-General of the Met Office told Gulf News yesterday. He added that the monsoon spell would bring at least 100mm of rain over the next 24-36 hours before weakening and transforming into scattered rainfall.

Central Punjab and northwest of Balochistan are expected to be spared the deluge.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani visited flood-hit areas of Sindh province, reiterating his plea for international aid. He said the disaster had exceeded the government’s capacity.

“Millions of people have suffered and there is more rain and further losses are feared. I appeal to the world to help us, we are doing what we can,” Gilani told reporters, as he urged those threatened by the “unprecedented” floods to move to safer areas.

“The government has done everything possible but it is beyond our capacity, we are facing an extremely difficult situation,” he added.

Pakistan will need billions of dollars to recover from the worst floods in its history, further straining a country already dependent on foreign aid to prop up its economy and back its war against militants, the United Nations said yesterday.

Jean-Maurice Ripert, UN special envoy overseeing the flood relief operations, said foreign aid could be difficult to procure given the global financial crisis.

The UN is still calculating specific figures, but Ripert said in an interview with The Associated Press that “the emergency phase will require hundreds of millions of dollars and the recovery and reconstruction part will require billions of dollars”.

Much of that money will be needed in the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which faced the worst damage from the floods that hit two weeks ago after extremely heavy rain. But as the floodwaters rushed south, they also brought death and destruction to the central and southern provinces of Punjab and Sindh.

Even those Pakistanis whose cities and towns were left relatively unscathed by the floods felt the pain yesterday as fruit and vegetable prices skyrocketed. Vast stretches of crops have been destroyed by the floods.

The prices of basic items such as tomatoes, onions, potatoes and squash have in some cases quadrupled in recent days, putting them out of reach for many Pakistanis. At least 570,000 hectares of crops were destroyed in Punjab, the breadbasket for the rest of Pakistan, the UN said.

Many more crops were devastated in the northwest, where many residents were still trying to recover from intense battles between the Taliban and the army last year.

In southern Punjab and south-eastern Balochistan region, hill torrents started causing renewed human and material damage.

— With inputs from agencies

Iran Not Interested In Reviving Anti-Taliban Northern Alliance

Iran differs on Afghanistan

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, Aug. 6: Iran has hinted it may not be on the same page as India on Afghanistan. The country’s deputy foreign minister, Mohammad Ali Fathollahi, who is here on a three-day visit, had extensive talks with the Indian foreign office on the Afghan situation and claimed that New Delhi and Tehran “enjoy a close viewpoint on Afghanistan”. But Iran does not share India’s concern that the Pakistani army and ISI might foist themselves on Afghanistan once the international security forces leave the region by 2014. Unlike New Delhi, Tehran wants the forces to leave Afghanistan as soon as possible. Fathollahi raised questions about the trove of US military documents released on the website WikiLeaks last month that seemed to prove beyond doubt the ISI’s support to the Taliban. “We have suspicion on these documents because the issues raised in these documents are not newborns…. We believe raising these issues at this very specific time, we believe special objectives and goals are being followed in order to create an atmosphere,” the Iran minister said of the 90,000 pages of documents. Iran is not enthusiastic either about efforts to revive the Northern Alliance to combat the Taliban. Along with India and Russia, Iran had in the late 1990s supported the grouping of anti-Taliban warlords. Tehran however said it sees India as a key player in Afghanistan and invited New Delhi for trilateral meetings to discuss the situation in the war-torn country. Iran plans to host talks on Afghanistan with neighbouring countries in the near future and has already put in place trilateral forums with Pakistan and Tajikistan. Fathollahi proposed an Iran-India-Afghanistan trilateral forum to his Indian counterparts. However, the Iranian foreign minister said his government considered Pakistan an integral constituent of any regional strategy, including on Afghanistan, and has always believed in co-operating with Islamabad. The minister is visiting India to discuss how the two countries can take their bilateral engagement to the status of a “strategic dialogue”. The visit has come within a month of the India-Iran joint commission meetings, which suggests the two countries are making efforts to rebuild their traditional close ties which had seen a downturn in recent years. Fathollahi held talks with external affairs minister S.M. Krishna and his deputy Preneet Kaur. Apart from Afghanistan, the two sides also discussed the expansion of Chabahar port, which will allow Indian goods access to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan. Iran has unveiled an ambitious plan to expand the port and is looking for investments. Fathollahi said the port will deepen India’s outreach both to Afghanistan and Central Asia. The minister said the US has been asking countries to downgrade their ties with Tehran in every sphere but there would be no drastic impact on economic ties between Iran and Asian countries, including India.

Does Russia Worry More About the Taliban, Or Northern Alliance Drug-smuggling?

North Afghanistan ‘a bridgehead for drug-trafficking to Russia’

drugs

© RIA Novosti.

MOSCOW, October 23 (RIA Novosti) – Afghan regions controlled by the Northern Alliance serve as a bridgehead for drug-trafficking to Russia, a top Russian drug control official said on Friday.

An estimated 90% of heroin consumed in Russia is trafficked from Afghanistan via Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and the vast majority of heroin consumed in Europe passes through Russia on its way from Afghanistan, where illegal drug production has reportedly risen 44 times since 2001.

“In the fight against the Taliban, the U.S. has used the Northern Alliance forces, which we are supporting even now,” Viktor Ivanov, director of the Federal Drugs Control Service, said at a meeting at the General Staff Academy.

“This, in my view, is a mistake as the Northern Alliance forces were created to support the Najibullah [Afghan leader from 1987-1992] regime, but they betrayed him later, and the Northern Alliance became a bridgehead for sending drugs to Russia,” he went on.

Ivanov said the Taliban is a religious component in Afghan society, which consolidates various forces to combat a foreign invasion and does not pose a direct threat to Russia.

The most modern and the best equipped laboratories processing opium poppy into heroin are located in the northern provinces of Afghanistan near the Tajik, Turkmen and Uzbek borders, which are areas of influence of the Northern Alliance.

The real threat comes from drug bosses operating in the north of Afghanistan, “and the coalition forces are not conducting an effective fight against them,” the official said.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan established in 2001, has about 67,000 troops in Afghanistan under a UN mandate to give security support to the Afghan government and stop the flow of drugs from the country.

The UN Security Council has extended by one year, until October 13, 2010, the ISAF mandate, unanimously adopting resolution 1890 drafted by Japan.

Ivanov suggested that Russia should send its own special representative to Afghanistan to monitor the situation in the country and promptly report any problems to the Kremlin.

India shuffles its Northern card

Jayanth Jacob, Hindustan Times
Email Author
New Delhi

India is quietly sounding out Afghanistan’s neighbours about reviving the defunct Northern Alliance, the coalition that held out against the Taliban from 1996 to 2001.  New Delhi is being driven by a concern that a precipitate Western withdrawal could pave the way for a new Taliban regime.

Indian officials term its activities as “option hunting” and “exploratory.” This caution is born of a desire not to give Kabul the impression India is washing its hands of Hamid Karzai. The larger driver behind the policy is how war-weary governments, notably that of Britain, will force a withdrawal of the US-led Western army in Afghanistan. But New Delhi has no doubts that it needs to hedge against a Taliban return.

“Something Pakistan is happy to support,” said an Indian official.

So far India has taken the following diplomatic steps:

Afghanistan was a key element of the agenda of Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao’s Moscow visit early last week. Russia expressed an interest in exploring options in a matrix that included India, Iran and some Central Asian countries. This has been a major shift: even a year ago Moscow was passive regarding a new anti-Taliban front.

India has had the longest engagement on this possibility with Iran and is now in bilateral discussions about “realistic option hunting.” Tehran had raised the Northern Alliance option the earliest, as long as three years ago. India had then declined after consulting alliance veterans, like Abdullah Abdullah.

A senior Indian diplomat with considerable Afghan experience recently visited Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan with the Northern Alliance on his agenda.

Other countries have already announced similar moves. Moscow wants to hold a meeting of Afghan, Indian, Iranian and Tajik officials. Iran is planning a trilateral that would include Afghanistan and India.

There is an acceptance in New Delhi that this will not be an easy task. The original Northern Alliance was led by a charismatic fighter, Ahmad Shah Massoud. Since his assassination by the Al Qaeda, there is no obvious replacement. The present moves, admit Indian officials, are more about “reviving the remnants” of the alliance.

India also believes it would be useful for the alliance to have a Pashtun head. The Pashtuns are the largest Afghan ethnic group and India believes it has been able to win the hearts and minds among this group, thanks to the “participatory model” it used in its Afghan aid programme. This is a gain it does not wish to fritter away.

New Delhi still hopes the US will not withdraw and still believes Karzai’s present tilt towards Islamabad, at least in supporting the Pakistan military’s plans for integrating the Taliban into the Kabul regime, is merely “tactical”. A government source said, “Karzai is seeking support from everywhere…But the Pakistani role in all this is inimical to Indian interests.”

New Delhi sees little positive in the present process about “mainstreaming” the “rank and file of the Taliban”. Even if the process follows the criteria set by the international community — for example, the rehabilitated Taliban must support the Afghan constitution — the result is seen as abetting Pakistani influence in Kabul. But that would be nothing compared to the setback that a full Taliban return, even if it rebadges itself, would mean for India. Said an official, “A Taliban regime can just suit Pakistan.”

(With inputs from Pramit Pal Chaudhuri)

India’s Plan for Back-Stepping Away From the US In Afghanistan

[India is forced to falling back to its original position on Afghanistan (after hitching their horses to the fading American star) and it is trying to spin the whole debacle as putting forth a new "plan."  If Indian politicians had found the balls to stake-out a moral position in Afghanistan in the first place, to counter the American pipe dreams, then it might be possible now to wind this war down.  Since they were like every other government, they did whatever the American leaders asked of them, hoping to share in the pipeline bounty in the end.

The world set great hopes in Manmohan Singh, thinking that a man of such great intellect would see beyond the bullshit of this great psycho-drama and commit the Indian people to a path of enlightenment for humanity.  But the baby blue turban must have hidden nothing new, nothing beyond the usual soulless politicians.

The people of the world have real solutions to the tight knot we know as Afghanistan--the politicians know nothing, since they cannot see beyond the glare of all the imaginary profit.  Afghanistan is not about profit; it is about the humanity...or more specifically, the total lack of any within the leadership of all the nations.

The solution for Afghanistan is for all of us to get out of Afghanistan now--Today.   When the people of Afghanistan decide for themselves what they want, they can let us know.  Meanwhile, the amount of money allocated for destroying Afghanistan can be set aside for rebuilding what we have blown away.

We are the problem.]

India’s Tripartite Plan for Afghanistan

Delhi is drawing closer to Iran and Russia in anticipation of a U.S. troop drawdown.

By SHANTHIE MARIET D’SOUZA

While the United States seeks to revamp its Afghanistan strategy, India, too, is reassessing its approach to the war-torn country. Its vision, a kind of regional “concert of powers” with Russia and Iran, would not only protect India’s interests in Afghanistan in the short term but could help stabilize the country in the long term after U.S. troops leave.

New Delhi is concerned about the ramifications of that possible U.S. troop drawdown, announced by President Barack Obama last year. That decision accelerated the Afghan government’s efforts to reconcile with the Taliban and America’s hurry to hand over responsibility for running the country to the Hamid Karzai administration. India worries that Washington is moving too fast and leaving the door open for Pakistan to increase its influence in the country.

Kyodo/Associated PressIranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and Pacific Affairs Mohammad Ali Fathollahi

The latter is a real concern. The Pakistani military appears to have convinced Mr. Karzai that it holds the key to reconciliation with the Taliban. This is an easy argument to make, given Islamabad’s intelligence services funded the Taliban in the group’s early days. Foreign and local Indian media reported in June that Islamabad has facilitated meetings between Mr. Karzai and Taliban factional leader Sirajuddin Haqqani in Kabul. Both countries signed a series of pacts seeking enhanced political, strategic and trade cooperation last month.

In response, India is hedging its bets by drawing closer to Russia and Iran, both of which broadly share Delhi’s antipathy toward the Taliban. Moscow in particular harbors no love for the Taliban, given its own experience in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and believes that an extremist-led Afghan government would pose significant risks not only to Russia’s underbelly in Central Asia but to the larger South Asian region. Last week, Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao visited Moscow to discuss, among other things, ways the two countries could cooperate on Afghanistan.

Delhi is warming ties with Tehran, too, despite voting with the U.S. against Iran’s nuclear program development last year. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Ali Fathollahi visited India for three days last week to discuss a wide range of issues, including coordinated efforts to stabilize Afghanistan. This was the second ministerial visit from Iran to India in less than a month and follows a July 9 meeting at which both countries discussed ways to expedite the development and expansion of the Chabahar port in Iran, which could facilitate India’s trade with Afghanistan and Central Asia—and bypass Pakistan.

At the moment it’s tough to discern what the details of this tripartite cooperation might look like. The overarching goal is to prevent the return of the Taliban to any position of influence in Afghanistan. India would of course welcome any initiative to inhibit the political legitimization of the Taliban and, by extension, Pakistan’s influence in Afghanistan. One example is the Indian government’s construction of the Zaranj Delaram road, which connects landlocked Afghanistan to Central Asia and Iran, reducing the country’s dependence on Pakistan for trade.

India’s vision shouldn’t be surprising. The country has historically been allied with Iran and Russia, so in some respects Delhi is simply reverting to form. But since the Clinton administration, India has drawn closer to the U.S., both economically and militarily, as a response to the rise of China. Given the Obama administration’s strained relationship with Russia and Iran, Delhi will have to proceed cautiously to avoid a rift with its U.S. partner.

This isn’t an impossible mission. Even Washington must agree that in the long run, Afghanistan will be better off if all of its neighbors have a stake in the country’s stability. When President Obama visits Delhi in November, India should present its roadmap for how it can contribute to this vision, either as a direct participant or as a bridge between the U.S., Russia and Iran.

For years, India pursued a “soft power” approach to Afghanistan that focused on economic aid and development. Its reinvigorated regional diplomacy shows how its role in the region is changing. Unlike in the past, India is a key power that needs to be involved, consulted and heard in discussions on Afghanistan. Washington should take note.

Ms. D’Souza is a visiting research fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore and an associate fellow at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi.

Give Me the Mandate to Negotiate with Insurgents, Chief Minister Begs Islamabad

The Baloch Hal News

QUETTA: “The federal Government should give us clear mandate to hold talks with political opponents, including insurgents, so that the conflict in Balochistan is resolved amicably,” said Chief Minister of Balochistan, Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani told newsmen on Sunday.

Talking to a group of journalists at Chief Minister’s Secretariat, he said so far the Federal government had not given the required mandate to hold dialogue with all political elements of the Balochistan conflict.

“The issue can be resolved when Federal Government gives us mandate to go ahead,” he said.  He said that federation is not paying attention towards Balochistan and the provincial government is trying to catch its attention, on and off.

“We have convened a session of Balochistan Assembly on August 9, to demand the revival of subsidy of tube wells,” he said adding that the issue was also taken up with Prime Minister.

“I am not able to make complete comments about the missing persons and the recovery of dead bodies because different factors are involved in this issue. Some cases attributed to kidnapping for ransom and some internal clashes among the political elements had been observed among the covered organizations who usually claim the responsibility of killing,” he maintained.

He strongly condemned the target killings saying a large number of professors, teachers, barbers, engineers and masons are leaving the province owing to fear of being targeted.  This inhuman and cruel act will push the Baloch nation at least one century back and whosoever indulging in target killing is damaging the legitimate Baloch interests at the behest of others and the civilized nation will never forgive them.

He said the government had approved three University Campus, three medical colleges and hospitals for Turbat, Mastung, Naseerabad and Loralai but there is scarcity of teachers “who will teach our children?”

“The people are living in this province for centuries in Balochistan and the killing of such people is big crime against the humanity and a great sin,” he said adding that he, his son and brother Senator Haji Lashkari Raisani are also on the hit list but he said that they are armed.

Responding to a query from this correspondent to divert the entire MPA funds towards flood-victims, Chief Minister replied positively “I will issue a directive asking all MPAs to earmark Rs 10 million [$116,640] for the flood affected.” He said It would be better that all the concerned MPAs should allocate funds for the relief and rehabilitation of flood-stricken districts of Balochistan.

“The Prime Minister convened a meeting of all the four Chief Ministers but he will not participate in this meeting because on the same day I will be visiting the northeast areas of the province where widespread devastation was reported in flash floods,” he said and added then he will take up the issue with Prime Minister.

He rejected a recent article in an English Daily (Not The Baloch Hal) accusing him (CM) running the Government and the administration on tribal basis and not democratically. He denied of any revenge against the opponents saying “media is targeting me at the behest of somebody because there is not certain evidence that I had taken political revenge. Regarding the opposition member Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind he said that the government is implementing the orders of court and the issue should not be mixed up and made controversial.

Referring to Reko Diq copper and gold project, Raisani categorically said refinery will be established in Balochistan and the PC-1 about this purpose had been prepared and handed over to the Planning and Commission. He said we have technology and experts to run the project in a far better way and Governing Body has also been formed under the chairmanship of Dr Samar Mubarakmand, the renowned nuclear scientist of the country.

“If there will be need of experts then we will hire from the International Market to run the project,” he added and said that if private sector wants to invest in this project they will be welcomed but the Management and control will be with the Balochistan Government only to defend the legitimate interests of Balochistan and its people.

“We are waiting for the proposal of Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) about the Reko Dik and will study it thoroughly because we are not Chasing out any investor from Balochistan but the interest of local people will be given first priority,” he maintained. Chief Minister said that the government will invest Rs 120 billion on Gwadar Deep Sea Port, OGDCL, Saindak and Reko Diq, all mega projects.

He said that the provincial government intended to establish Dry docks at Costal area so the repair of ships could be take place in Balochistan rather then move the Ships to other country. He also informed that Karachi Port Trust had been asked to prepare the feasibility about the ship building for Balochistan.

“We have plan to invest in PPL in order to bring it under Balochistan then run it accordingly,” he said adding that Alternate Energy Board has also been established to utilize the natural resources like huge potential of wind and solar energy.

Referring to abolition of Concurrent list from the Constitution of Pakistan, Chief Minister said the Provincial Government had already taken initiatives this regard. The Capacity Building Committee had been formed under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary and the Joint Parliamentary Group was formed under the supervision of Chief Minister.

“Provincial Government categorically told Federal Government to transfer the departments with complete mechanism and annual budgets and definitely it will take one or two years,” he told journalists.

The Chief Minister declared that he had established a Relief Fund for the aid of flood affected people of Balochistan and appealed all concerned to contribute in the CM’s fund generously. He disclosed that he had already talked to the Ambassadors of United States, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia seeking their assistance for flood victims of Balochistan.

Are US-Israel intelligence agencies blocking Palestinian civil rights to weaken Hezbollah?

Part X of a series on securing Civil Rights for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon

Franklin Lamb

Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp, Beirut

The State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (NIR) is part of the U.S. Intelligence Community’s panoply of 16 agencies, which comprise the US Intelligence Community (IC).  According to Congressional sources consulted below, NIR and Israel have been working longer hours than most members of Lebanon’s Parliament, carefully analyzing the language of the main draft proposals concerning elementary civil rights for Palestinian Refugees. The proposals are currently scheduled for an August 17, 2010 Parliamentary vote and the US-Israel plan is to allow nothing to be enacted into law that would actually benefit Lebanon’s Palestinian refugees.

Why would failing to pass internationally mandated civil rights for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon benefit Israel and why is US-Israeli pressure being applied to some  anti-Hezbollah Lebanese MP’s in the run up to this month Parliamentary vote?  The short answer is that some in the US Intelligence Community, including the NIR, as well as members of Congress in the service of Israel, believe that Hezbollah would get credit internationally if Lebanon’s Parliament fulfills its international obligations towards her refugees.  Thus granting Palestinians full employment and home ownership rights just as any other refugee or foreigner in Lebanon receives not “fit” with US-Israeli plans for Hezbollah and the region.

NIR’s analysts submit to the State Department periodic evaluations of political, economic and social events in Lebanon in order to insure that US intelligence activities support US-Israel national security considerations. NIR shares in IC’s 50 billion dollar annual budget and receives varying assistance from among the 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies in more than 10.000 locations in the US currently working on counter terrorism, homeland security and intelligence. Scores of NIR employees are among the 854,000 in the IC who hold top-secret clearances.

In Lebanon, NIR’s writ extends to “Developing ways to eliminate Hezbollah’s support base among Palestinians as well as throughout the Arab and Islamic countries.”

According to  three US Senate Congressional staffers whose work includes liaising with the State Department and the NIR for the Senate Intelligence Committee, some in the NIR and IC believe that it is not in the national security interest of the United States or  Israel to allow Lebanon’s Palestinian refugees meaningful civil rights. At least not “until the Hezbollah and Iranian problems are resolved.”   We believe that Hezbollah has emerged as the single most supported group in the country, while American influence, traditionally anchored in increasingly weakened proxies, has markedly receded”, one staffer explained on 8/3/10.

Some NIR analysts also believe that Israel may soon be another “victim” of its own encouragement of the neoconservative hijacking of US Middle East policy under the Bush administration. Some consider that unlike Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, all fundamentally changed but surviving; Israel may well cease to exist by approximately 2028. Sooner still, if it attacks Iran and Lebanon.

The 65-page Analysis, (Ed: anticipated soon online via Wilkileaks) presents under the subhead “Obstacles to implementing American policy objectives in Lebanon” a summary of the historical links among those who inspired and founded Hezbollah and, at the time, the powerful Beirut headquartered Palestine Liberation Organization.   The NIR study traces the PLO-Islamic ‘ military and political culture of resistance’ and the symbiosis that quickly developed between the Islamic and secular movements including relationships in the mid-1970’s with many Islamist leaders who today occupy some of Hezbollah’s key  leadership positions. For example, it was in the spring of 1978-one year before the victory of the Iranian Revolution that deposed American protégé and strategic ally, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, that PLO Chairman Yassir Arafat offered sanctuary, security, and support in Beirut’s “Fakhanistan” to the late, father of Hezbollah, Imam Ruhollah. (Arabic for “spirit of God”) Khomeini. The PLO also trained and armed many of the volunteers who arrived from Iran, and elsewhere to join the resistance to Israeli aggression and occupation in Lebanon.

What the American-Israeli intelligence community fears, according to these sources, is that Hezbollah has the political support and power to achieve the enactment into Lebanese law of internationally mandated civil rights. The IMCR’s are defined as:

1. The full right to work on a parity with other foreigners,
2. The commandant right to certain employee-employer paid social security benefits including accident/injury/maternity/ and health care coverage,
3. The right to own a home and inherit property on the basis of parity with other foreigners and as provided by international treaty and customary law on the subject

Why Palestinian refugees obtaining elementary civil rights in Lebanon is of rising interest in Washington is that INR analysts believe that Hezbollah will be credited internationally and likely gain a broad reservoir of support and good will. NIR believes it will come not just from Palestinians under occupation and their countrymen in the Diaspora, but also from international human rights organizations and advocates, from the Arab and Muslim streets as well as from “small town USA” and the west generally. This they point out could make Hezbollah a global power and an increased threat to Israel because Hezbollah would be seen as a ‘mainstream’ human rights practitioner.

Some at NIR believe that in the eyes of the international public, Hezbollah would be perceived as shedding its militant image that unsettles many in the west that are unfamiliar with US-Israel plans for the Middle East. To makes matters worse for Israel, it is these citizens who unwittingly fund its brutal occupation of Palestine. An amount that is now estimated by IC agencies, when taking into account Israel’s negative global effect on the US economy,  to total more than  two trillion dollars since 1973.

One Congressional staffer elaborated on 8/3/10:

“The CIA and NSC (National Security Council) believe that Hezbollah is rapidly on the ascendency in Arab and Muslim countries, as well as globally.  Hezbollah has shattered the “mud of the Arabs’ moniker because of its record of carefully thought out actions while delivering on its promises.  In contrast, few in Washington power centers, except perhaps arch Zionist Dan Shapiro, who Bill Clinton and  Dennis Ross got appointed as Israel’s man and  NSC ‘expert’ on the Middle East, credit much of what comes out of Israel the last few years. Israel’s President Shimon Peres has become an embarrassment for Washington with his decade long ranting.  Analysts at the State Department believe that the region is ripe for Hezbollah to dramatically expand its influence and if it delivers on civil rights for Lebanon’s Palestinians its political gains will be a major setback for US-Israel plans for the region.  Currently, Hezbollah is more dangerous to Israel because of its role in creating the growing “culture of Resistance” in the region than because of its arms. Weapons are relatively easy to acquire in this region, but having a powerful, common sense, resonating message weakens Israel. They can’t deal with it.”

Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah consistently ranks near the top of the global lists of the most admired leaders in Arab public opinion polls and Hezbollah leaders are the most sought after by American and other foreign delegations for dialogue and candid discussions.  Hezbollah officials have often explained that they expect Lebanon’s Palestinian refugees will be among the first to return to Palestine. (Ed: many of Lebanon’s refugees arrived in April and May 1948 from 53 villages within just 30 miles of the Lebanese border)

In addition to NIR views, on 8/5/10 the State Department issued this month its 2010 Country Reports keeping Iran on its Sponsors of Terrorism list due to its support for Hezbollah and because Iran supports the Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation. However in an Appendix to the Report,  the National Counter terrorism Center (NCTC) provided a statistical analysis  in which it claimed that in  2009, 11,000 “terrorist attacks” occurred in 83 countries, including some by Zionist colonists in Occupied Palestine, resulting in more than 15,700 deaths. None of these “acts of terrorism” were attributed to Hezbollah.

Some of the ways analysts believe Lebanon and Hezbollah would gain against Israel if Hezbollah uses its power in Parliament to enact Palestinian civil rights include the following:

·         Oppressed Palestinian refugees are potentially a source of social unrest and in their present situation are prey for drugs kingpins, various criminal enterprises and $ 300 per month hired guns for various groups, Stabilizing their economic situation would remove a source of unrest in Lebanon in areas like Burj al Barajaneh, Tyre and the Bekaa; areas where Hezbollah has its largest support base.

• Poor Palestinian refugees are economically ‘bad’ customers. Improving their financial conditions of refugees will increase their cash flow into businesses owned by Hezbollah.
• Palestinian refugees would make the resistance stronger, as they are a natural source of support for the enhancing resistance cadres at all its levels.
• Palestinian refugees can be used to tamp down a Sunni-Shiite conflict but if the Palestinians refugees feel that Hezbollah does not support them the refugees could easily fall into the orbit of Sunni “takfiris” or extremists as may have been the case with some of the those fighting at  Nahr el Bared in the summer of 2007.

·         Helping Pal refugees will enhance Hezbollah’s ability to work to improve its image in the Palestinian Diaspora, through support networks of Palestinian refugees and their supporters around the world.

• Helping Palestinian refugees achieve the full right to work and to own a home will allow Hezbollah to enhance its image in the West and Europe, many of whom are trying to monopolize the moral high ground of supporting the rights of Palestinian refugees.
• Palestinian refugees and the Hezbollah community share a common history of dispossession and struggle for dignity. Hezbollah is the party of the oppressed, and has a profound moral and religious commitment to support justice for the downtrodden, and most especially those who literally live as next door neighbors in South Beirut and South Lebanon.
• Hezbollah is riding the new epoch of resistance to occupation to a series of victories against Israel, achieving civil rights for Lebanon’s Palestinian refugees would add to this in a major way.
• Hezbollah will be seen  as the sole Arab and Muslim power base to have fulfilled its moral, political and religious commitments to Palestine and will win  many hearts and minds by this historic achievement

If Hezbollah commits to the enactment of  real Palestinian civil rights in Parliament it would thwart  the current  anti-Lebanon campaign which is rapidly spreading from the likes of Israel’s Deputy  Minister of Foreign Affairs Danny Ayalon, whose ministry and a battalion of pro-Zionist bloggers, have launched an international project to support “sending boats to Lebanon to break the   siege of the Palestinians in the camps there and not to Gaza where conditions are better than in Lebanon for Palestinians.”

Ayalon, as part of an Israeli campaign to claim Hezbollah hypocrisy, published an opinion piece in the pro-Zionist Wall Street Journal last month and his Ministry is distributing it widely accusing Hezbollah of attacking Israel for what it claims is its anti-Palestinian policies while, “Today, there are more than 400,000 Palestinians in Lebanon who are deprived of their most basic rights. The Lebanese government has a list of tens of professions that a Palestinian is forbidden from being engaged in, including professions such as medicine, law and engineering. Palestinians are forbidden from owning property and need a special permit to leave their towns. Unlike all other foreign nationals in Lebanon, they are denied access to the health-care system. According to Amnesty international, the Palestinians in Lebanon suffer from “discrimination and marginalization” and are treated like “second class citizens” and “denied their full range of human rights….that most Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have little choice but to live in overcrowded and deteriorating camps and informal gatherings that lack basic infrastructure.”

Ayalon  and the US Israel lobby  are urging Zionist activists internationally  to organize boats and sail them to three ports in Lebanon, (Tripoli Port near Bedawi and Nahr al Bared Camps) Ouzai Port ( in a Hezbollah neighborhood  near Shatila, Burj al Baragneh and Mar Elias camps) and  at Tyre Port,( near Burj Shemali, al-Buss and  Rashedeyeh Camps), in order to “ break the siege of the Palestinians in Lebanon.”  The government of Israel, with US acquiescence is capitalizing on the lack of Palestinian civil rights in Lebanon in order to excuse repressive Israeli policies. According to AIPAC and Ayalon, the (Lebanese) flotilla organizers, whose supporters claim injustice, ignore the dire human rights situation of the Palestinians in Lebanon.”

The US and Israel are wagering that Hezbollah has too much on its plate just now and that they will not finally finish the Palestine Civil Rights issue in Lebanon by granting the full right to work and the right to at least own one apartment as is allowed in Syria. “Many in the US intelligence agencies are said to be  betting that Hezbollah will opt  to get along and go along with reactionary forces in Parliament at the expense of the Palestinian refugees, whose return to Palestine is one of  the party of God’s main  raisons d’etre.

Several Israel lobby articles currently ricocheting around the Internet are attacking Lebanon, and by implication Hezbollah, for the deplorable lack of Palestinian civil rights.  These articles are not aimed at encouraging Lebanon to fulfill its obligations which the US and Israel currently prefer than they not do, but rather they are designed to weaken Hezbollah.

The Efraim Karsh  article in the NYT this month sneers, “While the world is crying over the Israel-imposed blockade on Gaza, the media, for some unknown reason, chooses to deliberately ignore the conditions of the Palestinians living in camps in Lebanon…..Lebanon,  has been holing up Palestinians inside camps for almost 30 years. Those camps do not have any foundations of livelihood or even sanitation and the Palestinians living there are not allowed access to basics such as buying cement to enlarge or repair homes for their growing families. Furthermore, it is difficult for them to work legally, and they are even restricted from going out of their camps at certain hours.”

Karsh asks his readers to “Compare this to the fact that Palestinian laborers were still able to go to work every day in Israel. “In addition, AIPAC is reported to be organizing an ad campaign for major media markets asking why Hezbollah does not do something about the lack of rights for Palestinians in Lebanon and organize boats to sail to Lebanon and break the siege of the Palestinians in its camps.

If the US and Israel succeed is preventing Hezbollah and its allies from enacting meaningful civil rights into Lebanese law by Parliament, they are the winners and  the Palestinians refugees  and Hezbollah are the  losers of this first round of the fight for civil rights for Lebanon’s Palestinians.

Alternately, Hezbollah, as a proven advocate for Justice in Palestine and the single party in Lebanon that has the ability to organize the 65 votes to pass the full right to work and home ownership could score a dramatic knockout and yet another victory against Israel.

If it does, Washington and Tel Aviv fear  Hezbollah may immediately and dramatically expand its future on the world stage.

Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon and can be reached at fplamb@gmail.com