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| UN observers in Indian Kashmir have takers | | In PoK, extremists pose threat to UN officials | |
BL KAK
NEW DELHI, May 12:
Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley appears to have already emerged as a 'safe' territory for the UN military observers. Considering Kashmir as the "disputed" territory, Muslim rebels and separatists have, more often than not, held the average UN official in high esteem. The Srinagar office of UN military observers has, on numerous occasions in recent years, witnessed unusual activity, with groups of anti-India elements flooding it with posters, leaflets and memoranda--all loaded with anti-India accent.
The situation across the Line of Control (LoC)--in Pakistani ashmir--did not appear to be different in relation to the UN officials till recently. The pro-UN observers scenario in PoK (Pakistan occuped Kashmir) has undergone a big change in recent times. Following attacks and threats from “certain quarters”, the United Nations office in Islamabad has announced closure of all its operations as well as offices in Bagh in occupied Kashmir. Why did the UN take such a drastic decision? Obviously, it took the decision because the houses of two UN officials were torched by extremists who had been warning the UN and other NGOs against employing females.
The Islamists who have forced the UN to stop its work in an area where Pakistan needs all the help it can get, are on the side of the state, not civil society.
Not even Pakistani politicians are representatives of civil society which is completely at the mercy of the state and its “extremist” agents. When Gen. Pervez Musharraf was requested to stop some of the “extremist” jihadi organisations from taking part in rescue and reconstruction in Pakistan occupied Kashmir after the earthquake in 2005, he did not listen. He did not react when a jihadi organisation began to take on the foreign humanitarian agencies helping the quake victims.
Now the UN office says that all the mission staffers were under security threats for the last many months and it had become difficult to continue operations under these circumstances. The houses of two UN workers were burnt down in Bagh by a mob that was not stopped by the Pakistani authorities. The UN will close its offices for two weeks, then talk to the government to ascertain if it is willing to protect the people who have come to help the poor of the stricken area.
The Pakistan government had enough time to prepare its reaction to the “extremists” that Gen. Musharraf keeps talking about. It all started as far back as July 2006 when a local group, Awami Action Forum (AAF), warned the United Nations and other NGOs against employing females in the earthquake affected areas. Who was backing this AAF? According to the UN officials, “extremist religious leaders and members of an opposition party”. What should the UN have done? Back down in the face of threats? It did not and expected Islamabad to protect its workers.
Local goons, reported Pakistan's Daily Times, harassed a female worker of the American Refugee Council (ARF) who was spending time with her cousin at a picnic spot. A UN driver, who was passing by when the extremists were harassing the girl, stopped and tried to rescue her. But he was beaten up by the mob. The next day they burnt the houses. The UN then decided to close down the operations and freeze all the funds badly needed by the people affected by the quake. What kind of role has the state of Pakistan played in this sorry drama? And what has the government done after hearing that the UN was being threatened under its very nose?
What happened the same day in the National Assembly of Pakistan is instructive. A bill was moved by a minority member, MP Bhandara, to amend the blasphemy laws in order to render them more rational and to include in them a mechanism that would prevent misuse of the law and wilful negligence of the “conditions” already attached to it at the administrative level to prevent innocent people from being victimised. The administrative “rider” to the law is that the police will not act on complaint but will consult the top bureaucrats of the district before registering an FIR under blasphemy. But no one abides by this provision.
What was the response of the government to Bhandara’s move in the National Assembly? The Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Sher Afgan, ruthlessly shot it down. What did he say while opposing the bill? “Pakistan was made in the name of Islam and is not a secular state”. Afgan should take a good look into his conscience and recall that not long ago he was counted as a liberal PPP politician. The Blasphemy Law was imposed by Gen. Zia-ul Haq and unfortunately padded up to include the minimum punishment of death by the Muslim League under Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
One is also saddened by the rhetoric of President Musharraf who has such men on his leash but goes on lamenting the growth of “extremism” in Pakistan.
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