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Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Politics on May 19th, 2009
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The number of people displaced by fighting in Pakistan’s northwestern Swat valley has risen to more than 1.4 million, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said on Monday.
Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Religion on May 18th, 2009
IT IS RAMADAN in Islamabad: the restaurants are deserted all day, the mosques are crammed with the devout, and the populace are going about their tasks with a weary, hangdog, hungry air.
At the Restaurant Baiga in a market on the southwestern fringe of this planned and gridded capital of Pakistan, the sign says “Closed for Ramadan”. But there are lights on behind the lace curtains upstairs, and if you brave the smell of stale curry you will find one outpost of a quite un-Islamic import that is doing unseasonably good business.
Catarina, Vera and Sonia (not their real names) have not shut up shop for the holy month. And although their colleagues have been arrested, held in squalid jails for months on end and then booted out, these girls are staying put. They are sure that prostitution has a rosy future in this stronghold of Islamic orthodoxy. Catarina, wearing a black negligee, curls up in the rumpled bed under the harsh fluorescent light in the large, bare room and smokes a Marlboro; Vera, thin and frizzy-haired, disappears into the shower; Sonia, much older and beefy, with the charm of an Aeroflot stewardess, the minder and madam in this small establishment, screws up her mean mouth and prepares to talk numbers.
Catarina, who has a fair complexion, jet-black hair, large eyes and a prominent nose – a winning combination in these parts – says that she is a Turk from Ankara, and a Muslim. But it soon emerges that all three are Russians. They may be Orthodox Christians, too, but although my visit coincided with the Orthodox Church’s Christmas Day, there were no signs of festivity. The prostitutes from Russia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and other parts of central Asia first came to the Pakistani public’s attention last October, when police raided several plush guesthouses and arrested more than a dozen women.
They were held in jail for two months on grounds of overstaying their visas. But their places were quickly taken by arrivals from places in the Gulf such as Abu Dhabi. The mobile phones were handed on to the next contingent like batons, with numbers unchanged. The women have caused a stir in Islamabad, partly because it likes to be thought of as a centre of Islamic purity, but also because, despite being the nation’s capital, it is about the size of Tunbridge Wells, and not much goes on. “Islamabad is small,” said one of the policemen involved in the operation. “Everybody noticed these women and started talking about them.”
The prostitutes are rotated in a circuit that includes several Gulf states, and until recently their Pakistani base was Karachi. With its heterogeneous population, Pakistan’s biggest city and only port is more their natural habitat. Russians and other Central Asians first trickled into Karachi under the protection of Soviet mafia and corrupt local police in the late 1980s, to buy second-hand Western-made clothes in bulk and lug them back to Russia. Later, the girls arrived under the same protection, and business flourished.
But in the past year Karachi has become too dangerous because of fighting between terrorists. Killings are a daily occurrence, many accompanied by gruesome mutilations. Three Americans travelling in a car were shot dead along with their Pakistani driver. One foreign prostitute was also murdered. It was then that the exodus of the girls began. Until the arrests and expulsions, they were doing very nicely in Islamabad. And now the immediate fuss has died down, they are doing very nicely again. Above the Restaurant Baiga, Sonia demanded Rs10,000 (about pounds 140) for a night with Catarina and after extended haggling the price came down only to Rs 7,000 before the Independent on Sunday made the traditional excuses and left.
Across town at the Diplomat Inn (next door to a United Nations agency), the price demanded for a night in the arms of a “Turkish 16-year-old” – actually another Russian – is Rs 8,000. For a young Pakistani girl, on the other hand, the rate is only Rs 6,000. The women are doing well because the classical Central Asian look – fair skin, strong nose, glossy black hair – corresponds to the Pakistani ideal of female beauty. Pakistani men appear unmoved by the delicate, small noses and almond eyes of mongoloid peoples of Central Asia, such as the Uzbeks. The Uzbeks are happy for it to stay that way. “Our country has a strong religious background,” said a spokesman for the Uzbek embassy, “and we do not indulge in such things.”
Newspaper Publishing PLCals. Independent, The (London) , Jan 10, 1999 by FROM PETER POPHAM in Islamabad
ARTICLE PUBLISHED AT:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/foreign-prostitutes-go-to-work-as-pakistan-closes-for-ramadan-1046222.html
Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Politics on May 18th, 2009
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.
Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Politics on May 17th, 2009
In retrospect as I analyse now, the US-Afghan war followed the following distinct phases:-
An initial arm-twisting manoeuvre of Pakistan’s illegitimate military regime to secure ground, aerial and logistic passage. This happened from October 2001 and continues till to date.
Pressurising the illegitimate Pakistani military regime into launching operation in Waziristan when there was no insurgency in Waziristan from 2002 till 2006, thus destabilising a most strategically sensitive region of Pakistan and internally dividing Pakistan.
Strengthening US military presence in Afghanistan in terms of constructing permanent air bases for possible future long-term use to dominate the region including Pakistan, Iran, Central Asia, Chinese Singkiang and India.
Creation of an intelligence operation base from where third party penetration operations could be mounted to infiltrate any extremist or ethnic group in conflict with its parent country’s federal government. The prime immediate target being Pakistan, while Iran, China, Central Asian States may possibly be later phase targets. This phase started from November 2001 and continues till to date.
Forcing the illegitimate Musharraf military regime to mount another military operation in Mohmand and Bajaur, thus destabilising another strategically sensitive region of Pakistan and to discredit the Pakistani armed forces. This started in 2005 and continues till to date.
A dispassionate reader may form his own conclusions but I have the following observations:
At no stage from 2001 till to date did the US or NATO forces mount any major military operation inside Afghanistan against Taliban. Actually the force ratios of US and NATO forces does not allow this in any case.
All major US Army and USAID and NATO construction contracts were sub contracted at third and fourth tiers to contractors who were Taliban after sunset and contractors after sunrise. All this happened with US military officials in full knowledge.
While major Taliban infiltration from Pakistan to Afghanistan takes place in the 1400km tract in between Gomal River and Chaghai Hills the US government at no stage pressurised the Pakistani illegitimate military regime of Musharraf to interdict this influx!
All the US pressure on Pakistan was to take military action in Waziristan from where hardly 10 percent of influx into Afghanistan was taking place! Later the US pressure also expanded to include Bajaur and Mohmand who have a very short less than 300km border with Pakistan.
Thus while major Taliban attacks were taking place on US and NATO forces in Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul who have no border with Waziristan, all along the US government was pressurising the Pakistani government to attack the Taliban in Waziristan which accounts for less than 5 percent damage to any US or NATO forces in Afghanistan in terms of length of border contiguous with provinces where maximum US and NATO casualties took place!
Till 2007 I could travel from Kabul on one end to Herat on the far end via Kandahar in a private car without any weapon safely. But not after 2007. Suddenly everything changed and USA and NATO forces took no action from 2007 till to date to secure this area!
Despite the fact that no major US casualties took place in Khost and Paktika provinces adjacent to Wazisristan and Kunar and Nangarahar provinces adjacent to Khyber Agency, Bajaur and Mohmand and Dir/Swat the USA spent a fortune on bases and infrastructure building in these provinces. Construction profits were made by the very tribes fighting the Pakistan Army in Waziristan, Khyber, Bajaur and Mohmand.
No container taking supplies to NATO at the height of Taliban operations in Afghanistan was attacked in any area of Pakistan in between 2001 and 2008 but in 2008 mysterious attacks started!
The deductions that can be drawn from the above are:
The USA did not come to Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban.
The USA by design destabilised Waziristan, Khyber, Bajaur and Mohmand to create a war-like situation to justify international action to denuclearise Pakistan.
Pakistan needs to drastically revise its foreign policy making a clean break with USA and NATO and making peace with India and an alliance with Russia, China and Iran while preserving its nuclear deterrent.
It is worthwhile quoting Henry Kissinger who said: It is one thing to have the USA as an enemy but to its friend is deadly!
The USA is part of Pakistan’s problems. Friendship with the United States of America is not the solution. But who will bell the cat. Who will make the resolute decision? No peace in sight until Pakistan’s leaders and top military brass stop sleeping with the devil!
Courtesy: The New International Online, Islamabad, Pakistan
The writer is a freelance columnist based in Kabul, Afghanistan
Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Politics on May 14th, 2009
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