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JUI-F leader shot dead in Gilgit,  Party`s members quit peace committees: report in Dawn, Dec 1

GILGIT, Nov 30: A local leader of Jamiat Ulema-iIslam (Fazl) was shot dead outside his house here on Friday morning, police said.

According to Superintendent of Police Wasal Khan, unidentified men opened fire on Ubaidur Rehman when he came out of his house to go to work, killing him on the spot.

Panic and fear gripped the town after the incident and streets were deserted.

The SP said the murder appeared to be an incident of terrorism, adding that exact motive of the attack could be determined only after the investigation which had been started.

He said four suspects had been taken into custody upon the basis of lead provided by intelligence agencies. Search for another suspect was on and raids were being conducted.

`We have credible information and we are about to know why he (Ubaidur Rehman) hasbeen slain,` he said.

Security has been tightened in town and paramilitary troops have intensified patrolling.

A large number of people attended the funeral of Mr Rehman. The atmosphere became charged with tension as JUI-F supporters started raising slogans against the government.

The JUI-F workers took out a procession and blocked roads and set tyres on fire in protest against the killing of their leader.

Also, the party withdrew its members from peace committees and mosque boards. `We are no more members and part of Masajid boards as they have targeted our efforts for peace,` said Maulana Attaullah Shahab, general secretary of the GilgitBaltistan chapter of JUI-F.

He said killers were agents of the enemies trying to destroy the foundation of brotherhood.

http://epaper.dawn.com/~epaper/DetailImage.php?StoryImage=01_12_2012_008_001

Ministry row renders G-B’s appellate court dysfunctional

By Shabbir Mir  in The Express Tribune

GILGIT: A row between the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) government and the ministry of Kashmir Affairs and G-B has delayed the appointment of judges in the Supreme Appellate Court, leaving the court dysfunctional since May.

“There is obviously a row between the two that’s why appointment (of judges) has gotten delayed,” a G-B government official told The Express Tribune on Thursday.

This was also confirmed by various other sources in the G-B government as well, who say it has sent various summaries for the appointment of two judges, according to the mechanism provided in Self Governance Order 2009. However, the Kashmir Affairs Ministry remained unmoved, ignoring the plight of litigants in the region.

A senior official in the governor’s office said that the latest summary moved by G-B governor Pir Karam Ali was held in abeyance by the ministry mainly because Mian Manzoor Watto did not agree with it.

“The names for judges have been communicated to the ministry recently but we haven’t heard from them,” the official said.

The court has ceased to function since May 26 when two of the three judges – Justice Jaffar Shah and Justice Muhammad Yaqoub – retired.

Legal experts say that the chief judge of the court, Justice Rana Mohammad Arshad Khan cannot singlehandedly hear the cases, as under Article 60(14) of the Self Governance Order 2009 an appeal to the Supreme Appellate Court shall be heard by a bench of at least two judges.

Legislative Assembly Speaker Wazir Baig, when contacted, refused to comment on the row. He said that a summary has been forwarded to the federal government, suggesting names of probable judges.http://tribune.com.pk/story/473021/ministry-row-renders-g-bs-appellate-court-dysfunctional/

New paths in Kashmir: by A.G. Noorani in Dawn, Dec 1

The writer is an author and a lawyer based in Mumbai

IT is a great pity that a unique conference in Muzaffarabad, held early last month, has not received the attention which it so richly deserves. On Nov 5, the first-ever delegation of women civil activists crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir to attend a conference.

The first such cross-LoC conference was held in Srinagar in November 2007 and the next in Gulmarg in September 2011.

This was a unique conclave in that women from all the five regions of the area Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Ladakh, Jammu and the Kashmir Valley participated. Its reportage fell short of its importance. Tariq Naqash`s report in Greater Kashmir (Srinagar) was an exception.

Three broad topics were discussed.

They were `gender and peace-building`understanding women narratives`; `empowering women in peace-building`; and `women-inclusive security and sustainable peace-building in Kashmir. The consensus statement issued at the conclusion of the conference is far more specific than what we have so far been treated to by other Pakistan-India talking shops.

It suggested a smart card to facilitate travel across the LoC and pleaded for increased interactions between women entrepreneurs, educationists, lawyers, journalists, students and conflict-resolution experts.

Two specific steps were suggested.

One was a working group to develop a shared vision of peace to repair fractured relations between the communities and bridge the perception gaps between west and east Kashmir. The other was a task force of women on both sides of the LoC on human rights, humanitarian and other issues.

In the context of the virtually stalled peace process, the conference made animportant contribution by suggesting relocation of heavy artillery, removal of land mines, demilitarisation of Siachen and its conversion into a peace park.

The proposals made are practicable, precise and relevant to the situation.

The `moderate` faction of the Hurriyat led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq will visit Pakistan in the middle of December. On Nov 16, he declared: `We will meet all sections of society, including trade federation bodies, lawyers and educationists to seek opinion from them about the different social, political and economic facets of the Kashmir issue.

He has been in active politics for the last two decades since the dastardly assassination of his father in 1990. One hopes that these years were not wasted in his neglecting to inform himself of the views of these people on the issues facing Kashmir.

He has often promised to make concrete proposals but has failed to do so.The failure is understandable; not so the unreal hopes he pins on external powers none of whom is interested in the problem. There is not a single major power which would alienate India or Pakistan by making specific proposals which, in the nature of things, will displease both sides.

Yet this is the complaint which the mirwaiz made: `International organisations had a responsibility to solve issues like Palestine, Burma, Syria and Kashmir, but unfortunately they have failed in performing their responsibilities.` This is a tall order.

When did the UN Security Council last discuss the Kashmir question? The ceasefire resolution of Sept 20, 1965, which ended the war asked the UN secretary general `to seek a peaceful solu-tion and to report to the Security Council thereon`. He made no such effort and none asked him why he did not. Nothing has happened since.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, to which the mirwaiz turns time and again, cannot do a thing in the matter except help him project an image of hectic diplomatic activity.

The Security Council is not a vending machine in which states insert a problem and receive a solution. It is led by five powers, each armed with a veto, and each acting not as a judge but as a state governed by its own assessment of its own national interest.

All five seem to have formed the assessment that their interests are not affected by the continuing Kashmir dispute unless there is a threat to peace. Is it not time that delusions of old are shed and the people are not misled? Kashmiri leaders across the board can help to improve the lot of their people by voicing their supportfor the con-sensus statement of the women`s conference; by d e m a n d i n g improvement in LoC travel and opening of new roads.

On Nov 8,Omar Abdullah, chief minister of Kashmir, assured a delegation of industrialists and businessmen that he would urge New Delhi to open the old JammuSialkot road for trade and travel. The route is still intact and is used by United Nations observers. Another proposal on the table is opening the road between Gilgit-Baltistan and Ladakh.

All this sounds less `romantic` than slogans for `UN resolutions`, `tripartite talks`, etc. The mirwaiz means well. He was among the first to support the fourpoint consensus. He would render high service by using his trip to Pakistan to devise practical measures of immediate relevance. http://epaper.dawn.com/~epaper/DetailImage.php?StoryImage=01_12_2012_007_006

Mysterious objects in Dadu part of Hatf V missile: ISPR

RAWALPINDI: The mysterious object that was found in a remote area of Dadu after successful test of Hatf V was part of motor body, ISPR said Friday.

A spokesman of ISPR has said that the Hatf V (Ghauri) missile test conducted on Wednesday was a complete success. The missile during its flight remained within the designated flight path and corridor.

“The metal parts found in a remote area of Dadu, as reported in media today, were part of the motor body, which separated from the missile as planned, well within the safety corridor,” said the spokesman.

He added that it was ensured that at no point, would human life or property be at risk.

There is no cause for alarm or concern, the spokesman concluded.

Fear and bewilderment overtook some parts of Dadu district after the mysterious objects fell on a number of villages late on Wednesday, the local media had reported.

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\12\01\story_1-12-2012_pg7_6

Skyfall: edit in Dawn, Dec 1

MAN has always looked heavenwards for answers but on Wednesday night, disconcerted residents of Dadu district in Sindh had more than the normal vexations of life to quiz the higher powers about when large chunks of unidentifiable equipment dropped out ofthe sky overanarea spanning several villages.

That no one was hurt and no property damaged can only be termed a miracle, for the pieces were far from small. The biggest fragment weighed some 187 kilograms, while a former nazim of the area described a piece of iron as being five feet long and two feet wide.

Military authorities soon took possession of the remains and Pakistanis were left speculating whether the unidentified equipment was a bird, or a plane. Or, going beyond the Superman terminology, a dismembered satellite perhaps? Or even a missile? The last theory gained currency rapidly.

Earlier on the same day, ISPR had reported thatthe army had successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Hatf-V Ghauri ballistic missile. Following this line of reasoning, a few wary souls started wondering whether or not the huge amount of public funds spent on missile-system development produce stable results. Fortunately for the future of defencesystem development, military authorities issued a statement yesterday saying that the objects constituted the part that separates in the normal course of a rocket launch; the missile reached its destination, so the test had been successful. That will no doubt come as a relief to the nervous, sky-gazing residents of Dadu, and other citizens, too, who may fear finding themselves in the flight path of a missile at any time after this incident. We can only wish that such tests would be conducted in more remote areas and with much more care. Surely working out which regions are populated is no rocket science. http://epaper.dawn.com/~epaper/DetailImage.php?StoryImage=01_12_2012_007_003