Protesting oil workers gain political backing : Iraq Begins Design of $18B Oil Pipeline to Jordan

Feb 28 2013 Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 By Hassan Hafidh Special to DOW JONES NEWSWIRES AMMAN--Oil-rich Iraq has started technical work on a planned $18 billion oil-export pipeline from Basra in southern Iraq to the Jordanian port of Aqaba on the Red Sea, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, senior Iraqi oil officials said Thursday. If realized, the pipeline would deliver a significant export outlet for Iraq's growing crude-oil production, which rose by 15% last year as the country focused on rejuvenating its energy sector. It could also provide an alternative to seaborne transport of oil through the Strait of Hormuz after Iranian officials threatened last year that they could block the potential chokepoint if the West didn't ease pressure on the country over its nuclear program. Iraq has signed some 11 post-war oil deals, three gas agreements, and four oil and gas exploration contracts with international energy companies. The first phase of the 1,680-kilometer oil pipeline will export some 1 million barrels a day from Basra, which pumps around 2.3 million barrels a day, or about 70% of Iraq's total oil production, Basra Governor Khalid Abdul Samad Khalaf said at an Iraqi conference in Amman. The second phase will export a further 1.25 million barrels a day to the Syrian Banias port in the Mediterranean, said Jamal Faleh Hassan, head of designs section at the State Company for Oil Projects, an affiliate of the Iraqi oil ministry. "Our priority now is to set up the part of the pipeline which goes to Aqaba in Jordan, while the part to Syria has been delayed because of the [security] situation there," he said. Pipeline developers from the U.S., Canada, Germany, Japan and China attended the Amman conference, organizers said. The Iraqi oil ministry has already awarded Canadian consultant SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. (SNC.T) a contract worth between $13 million and $14 million to carry out front-end engineering designs, said Mr. Hassan. The company is expected to finish the FEED work in the next three months, he said. The 680-kilometer section of the pipeline located inside Iraq--which would extend from Basra to Haditha, northwest of Baghdad in the western Anbar province near the Jordan border--will be financed by the Iraqi government, said Sabah Abdul Kadhim al-Saedi, deputy head of the contracts office at the Iraqi oil ministry. The Iraqi and Jordanian governments will choose investors to fund, build and operate the remaining 1,000 kilometers inside Jordan. A gas pipeline will be built parallel to the oil pipeline to supply gas to power stations that will be constructed along the route. Some three pumping stations and three power stations will be built in Iraq to operate the pipeline. In the Jordan section, there will also be three pumping stations, Mr. Hassan said. The project will also build storage facilities near Basra and Haditha with a total capacity of 28 million barrels, he said. The gas-pipeline section inside Iraq will have a transport capacity of 350 million cubic feet a day to feed power stations operating the pipeline in Iraq. The Jordan section will handle some 258 million cubic feet a day. About 100 million cubic feet a day of that gas will go to Jordan for domestic use while the remainder will be used to operate the pipeline inside Jordan. Out of the 1 million barrels a day of oil exports, about 150,000 barrels a day will go to Jordan for domestic use as the Jordanian government has requested, Mr. Hassan said. Jordan is dependent on imported oil and gas, as 96% of its needs come from other markets. The pipeline, if built, could easily meet all of Jordan's needs. Last year, the Paris-based International Energy Agency estimated that Iraq would be able to pump up to 6.1 million barrels a day in 2020 and 8.3 million barrels a day in 2035. Iraq said it would be able to reach 8 million to 9 million barrels a day in 2020. The bulk of Iraqi crude oil exports are handled by the southern oil terminals in the Gulf, where Iraq is pumping between 2.1 million and 2.2 million barrels a day while 350,000 to 400,000 barrels a day are handled by the Iraq-Turkey pipeline to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Write to Hassan Hafidh at hassan.hafidh@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires =============== Protesters outside the South Oil Company headquarters in Basra. (ALI ABU IRAQ/Iraq Oil Report) By Ali Abu Iraq and Staff of Iraq Oil Report Published February 28, 2013 BASRA - As Iraqi oil workers continue to protest in Basra, their persistence and growing numbers have helped win support from high-profile Iraqi leaders. Up to 700 employees are estimated to have thronged at the gates of the state-run South Oil Company (SOC) headquarters in the latest round of demonstrations. Staff there are rallying for improved pay and contractual conditions, and threatening to stop cooperating with foreign oil companies if their demands are not met. "There is a real push to res... towersight Woh Iraq :Ammar al-Hakim announces initial agreement with Kurdistan alliance to resolve oil disputes ekurd.net/mismas/article… Iran pipeline work to begin March 11: officials The pipeli­ne on the Irania­n side has almost been comple­ted. By AFP Published: March 1, 2013 Islamabad has said it will pursue the gas pipeline project regardless, calling it vital towards overcoming debilitating blackouts. PHOTO: FILE ISLAMABAD: An Iranian-Pakistani consortium will start work next week on a much delayed $7.5 billion gas pipeline from Pakistan to Iran that has aroused strong US opposition, Pakistani officials said Friday. The date was announced after Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari held talks in Tehran with Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who urged Islamabad to press ahead with the project. “The groundbreaking is going to be performed on March 11 on the Pakistani side of border and we hope that the presidents of the two countries will be present on the occasion,” a senior Pakistani official told AFP, requesting anonymity. He said the ceremony would mark the start of work by an Iranian-Pakistani consortium on the 780-kilometre (485-mile) pipeline earmarked on the Pakistani side of the border, which is said to cost some $1.5 billion. A second Pakistani official also confirmed March 11 as the start date. The pipeline on the Iranian side has almost been completed. But Pakistan has run into repeated difficulties over the project, in finding the money and over US opposition and the threat of possible sanctions due to Iran’s controversial nuclear activities. The United States says it is providing Pakistan with alternative means to help overcome its crushing energy crisis and to avoid sanctions. “It’s in their best interests to avoid any sanctionable activity, and we think that we provide and are providing… a better way to meet their energy needs,” State Department deputy acting spokesman Patrick Ventrell said Wednesday. Islamabad has said it will pursue the gas pipeline project regardless, calling it vital towards overcoming debilitating blackouts and suffocated industry. ================ Main | ‘Education, Not Racist Experimentation!’ » Thursday Feb282013 War Looms over U.S.-China-Iraq Battle for Oil Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 10:35PM The sharpening rivalry between U.S. imperialism and China threatens armed conflict across the globe. From Iraq to Africa, as profit-seeking bosses go to war over oil, gas, uranium and other natural resources, more masses of workers worldwide will be killed. Millions of others will be driven deeper into poverty by the bosses’ super-exploitation in extracting these resources. For the international working class, the only answer to these horrors is a communist revolution to destroy their source — capitalism. Late last month, Barack Obama sent 100 U.S. troops to Niger in Western Africa to establish a drone base. Aimed allegedly at al Qaeda, the unmanned assassination tools will menace China’s growing uranium operations there. (Niger is the world’s fourth largest uranium producer.) Meanwhile, Iraqi rulers are pressuring Exxon Mobil to sell its stake in a vast oil field to a Chinese firm. Exxon has countered with deals with the Kurds in northern Iraq, a move that could unleash a civil war. U.S. Air Force personnel in Niger belong to the Pentagon’s Africa Command. Created in 2007, AFRICOM’s main mission is to combat the Islamic terrorists who pose a real problem for U.S. and allied rulers, as shown by a February attack on a British Petroleum gas plant in Algeria. According to J. Peter Pham, a lecturer at the U.S. Army War College, AFRICOM’s second mission is “protecting access to...strategic resources which Africa has in abundance” and “ensuring that no other interested third parties, including China, India, Japan, and Russia, obtain monopolies or preferential treatment” (World Defense Review, 10/2/08). While Obama’s Niger move helps France’s efforts to stave off al Qaeda and recolonize neighboring Mali (see box), it also serves the U.S. strategy to dominate China’s energy sources. As the Washington Post noted, “The drones will be based at first in the capital, Niamey. But military officials eventually want to move them north to the city of Agadez” (2/22/13). It’s no coincidence that the Sonima uranium mine, where China is the biggest shareholder, lies in the Agadez region. Exxon Confronts Iraq’s Premier over Oil An even hotter U.S.-China confrontation is brewing in Iraq. For two years, Exxon Mobil has battled Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki — who is pro-China and a favorite of Iran — over oil profits. Out of the U.S.-led slaughter of more than a million Iraqis, Exxon won the right to exploit the West Qurna-1 oilfield, Iraq’s biggest. But because U.S. rulers are divided and strapped for cash, they were unable to impose control with an effective military occupation. Seizing on U.S. rulers’ weaknesses, Maliki put the screws on Exxon, which now gets less than two dollars per barrel as a service fee. The Iraqi bosses, the legal owners of the crude, then sell the oil for forty times Exxon’s fee. Exxon’s temporary possession of the oil, and its ability to dictate West Qurna-1’s pumping rate, played to the advantage of U.S. capitalism. But Exxon requires profits as well as access. It wanted the same deal with Maliki that it made with the Kurds. In 2011, the U.S. empire struck back. Exxon began cutting a more lucrative oil-drilling deal with Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government. Maliki went ballistic, demanding that Exxon sell its West Qurna stake and signaling that he would “favor bids by China National Petroleum Company and [Russian] Lukoil” (Reuters, 12/20/12). Condoleezza Rice Threatens Maliki with Saddam’s Fate To warn Maliki that he could end up like Saddam Hussein, Exxon hired three of the bloodiest mass murderers from the second Iraq war as advisors. They are ex-Secretary of State (and Chevron director) Condoleezza Rice, ex-national security advisor Stephen Hadley, and James Jeffrey, the former U.S. ambassador to Iraq (National Journal, 2/15/13). All hail from the George H.W. Bush regime, further proof that the first Gulf War was also waged for oil. They are acting without reproach from either Obama or the liberal media, a clear sign of approval from the dominant finance capital wing of U.S. capitalists that controls Exxon. To make the message even clearer, Exxon-allied bosses formed the United States-Kurdistan Business Council. In 2012, the group made ex-Marine commandant and Obama advisor General James Jones its CEO. Jones told the Iraq Oil Report, “It’s not a good sign for the global community when companies like Exxon and Chevron both kind of say, ‘It’s easier to do business in Kurdistan than it is with Baghdad.’ That has a chilling effect, you know, globally. And I think Baghdad’s gonna have to learn from that” (12/26/12). The harsh lesson Jones and his Exxon handlers want to teach Maliki would amount to a fourth round of genocide against Iraqi workers. First came George H.W. Bush’s massive 1991 invasion to retake Kuwaiti oil, protect U.S. access to Saudi resources and put both Iraq and Iran on notice. Next came Clinton’s no-fly operation over Iraq’s skies, which enforced sanctions on food and medicine and wiped out at least a million Iraqis, including 500,000 children. In 2003, George W. Bush unleashed his “shock and awe” fiasco, which used a limited number of troops to kill hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. But none of these imperialist assaults permanently subjugated Iraq, an essential goal for U.S. rulers. The solution? U.S. bosses now envision an Iraqi civil war to confront China by local proxy: If Exxon Mobil starts drilling operations [in Kurdistan], Baghdad will have no option but to try and stop them,” the Middle East Economic Digest quoted a source in [Kurd capital] Erbil as saying. “But they’ll have the KRG [Kurdish Regional Government] and the Peshmerga behind them.” The Peshmerga, which means “those who face death,” are the Kurds’ battle-seasoned fighters who for decades fought a separatist war against Baghdad until Saddam Hussein was toppled.... Both sides have heavily armed forces confronting each other along Kurdistan’s southern border. Oil could well be the spark to ignite a war. (UPI, 2/15/13) The Final Conflict: International Working Class vs. World’s Imperialists The international working class has no stake in any of these ruling-class rivalries. The bosses use workers from northern Africa, Iraq and the U.S., as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan, as cannon fodder in their battle over energy resources. Masses of workers need to understand that capitalism is the source of their misery — and that it must be and can be destroyed. That is the goal of the revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party. We fight for the overthrow of the profit system, the cause of mass unemployment, racism, sexism, poverty and imperialist wars. We need a mass party to get there. We need you to join us and help lead this revolution for a society run by our class, for our class interests. ==============

IP gas pipeline project: Iran firm wins contract to build Pak portion of pipeline

Khamen­ei tells Zardar­i the projec­t must go ahead despit­e US pressu­re. By Zafar BhuttaPublished: February 28, 2013 Presidents Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Asif Ali Zardari and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a meeting in Tehran. PHOTO: AFP ISLAMABAD: In an apparent snub to mounting US pressure, Pakistan has awarded the contract of building its portion of the multibillion-dollar Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline to an Iranian firm. This comes as President Asif Ali Zardari met with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Wednesday. Iranian firm Tadbir Energy has been awarded the contract to construct Pakistan’s portion of the gas pipeline, sources told The Express Tribune. The initialisation of the contract took place during a recent visit of a Pakistani delegation to Tehran. The pipeline construction will be formally launched on March 4 on the Pak-Iran border. The Pakistan cabinet has already approved a waiver of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority rules in order to award the contract directly to Tadbir Energy. “After Russia and China backed out due to US pressure, Pakistan decided to avail Iran’s offer for financing and constructing Pakistan’s portion of the pipeline,” a senior government official said. Sources added Pakistani public sector firm Interstate Gas Systems (ISGS) and Tadbir Energy initially signed the contract in Tehran, and now the ISGS board will endorse it. Iran designated Tadbir Energy to work on the project for which Tehran is also extending a $500 million loan. The firm faces no sanctions from any foreign government. It is controlled by the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation, one of Iran’s largest charitable groups. The neighbours had already signed an inter-governmental cooperation agreement and the firm has now formally been awarded the contract. Sources added that Tadbir Energy would undertake all engineering, procurement and construction for the first instalment starting from the border at a cost of around $250 million. Tadbir Energy will also undertake the second phase of the project, and will increase the financing by allocating a further $250 million to the pipeline project, subject to discussions regarding its involvement in the distribution of gas in Pakistan later on. It has also agreed to provide and assist in arranging $250 million as supplier credit and any additional financing for the second phase. The firm will act as the lead contractor along with the nominated local subcontractor(s). The total cost of the project is expected to be around $1.5 billion. Tehran will cough up $500 million, while the remaining $1 billion will be generated through the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC). With Washington slapping Tehran with a raft of sanctions that have hurt Iranian companies’ ability to do business and creating hurdles in making payments to them, Islamabad and Tehran have drawn up a plan to finance the pipeline on Pakistan’s side without the former transferring funds to the latter. “Pakistan will not pay any money to the company; instead, the Iranian government will pay $500 million directly to the firm for the construction of the pipeline,” a source said. The project envisages gas inflows of 750 million cubic feet per day by the end of December 2014, which will be consumed by power plants to generate around 4,000 megawatts of electricity. The project’s engineering and management consultant, who was appointed in April 2011, has completed work on a bankable feasibility study, an interim front-end engineering design, and a route reconnaissance survey. Project must go ahead: Khamenei In Tehran, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told President Zardari that the gas pipeline project must go ahead despite US opposition. “The Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline is an important example of Tehran-Islamabad cooperation, and despite hostilities towards the expansion of ties we must overcome this opposition decisively,” Khamenei told Zardari, his office reported. “Accessing safe energy source is the first priority for any country including Pakistan. In this region, the Islamic republic is the only nation that has safe energy resources and we are ready to provide Pakistan its energy needs,” Khamenei said. President Ahmadinejad told Zardari that, “building the gas pipeline between Iran and Pakistan is a great and important event, and it serves the two nations’ interests,” the president’s office reported. “I believe that building this project is very beneficial for both sides and we support all the work carried out so far,” Zardari said in talks his Iranian counterpart. “The international and regional players have tried in vain to prevent an expansion of Iran-Pakistan ties but the people have learnt how to act against enemies of Islam,” he was quoted as saying. Islamabad has said it will pursue the project regardless of US pressure, saying the gas is needed to help Pakistan overcome its energy crisis that has led to debilitating blackouts and suffocated industry. Iran has almost completed the work on 780-kilometre pipeline in its territory. “There are impediments in view of the US opposition to the project but we are determined to complete it to meet our fast-growing energy requirements,” said one government official on condition of anonymity. (With additional input from AFP) Published in The Express Tribune, February 28th, 2013. ================== Iran pipeline work to begin March 11: officials The pipeli­ne on the Irania­n side has almost been comple­ted. By AFP Published: March 1, 2013 Islamabad has said it will pursue the gas pipeline project regardless, calling it vital towards overcoming debilitating blackouts. PHOTO: FILE ISLAMABAD: An Iranian-Pakistani consortium will start work next week on a much delayed $7.5 billion gas pipeline from Pakistan to Iran that has aroused strong US opposition, Pakistani officials said Friday. The date was announced after Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari held talks in Tehran with Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who urged Islamabad to press ahead with the project. “The groundbreaking is going to be performed on March 11 on the Pakistani side of border and we hope that the presidents of the two countries will be present on the occasion,” a senior Pakistani official told AFP, requesting anonymity. He said the ceremony would mark the start of work by an Iranian-Pakistani consortium on the 780-kilometre (485-mile) pipeline earmarked on the Pakistani side of the border, which is said to cost some $1.5 billion. A second Pakistani official also confirmed March 11 as the start date. The pipeline on the Iranian side has almost been completed. But Pakistan has run into repeated difficulties over the project, in finding the money and over US opposition and the threat of possible sanctions due to Iran’s controversial nuclear activities. The United States says it is providing Pakistan with alternative means to help overcome its crushing energy crisis and to avoid sanctions. “It’s in their best interests to avoid any sanctionable activity, and we think that we provide and are providing… a better way to meet their energy needs,” State Department deputy acting spokesman Patrick Ventrell said Wednesday. Islamabad has said it will pursue the gas pipeline project regardless, calling it vital towards overcoming debilitating blackouts and suffocated industry. ===========================

U.S. Justice, Gulf states crafting BP spill settlement

U.S. Justice, Gulf states crafting BP spill settlement Sat, Feb 23 17:05 PM EST (Reuters) - The U.S. government and Gulf Coast states are considering offering BP Plc a deal under which it pays $16 billion to settle civil suits stemming from the deadly 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The deal would cover the company's potential penalties under the Clean Water Act and payments under the Natural Resources Damage Assessment, the newspaper said, citing sources familiar with the discussions. It was unclear if the deal has been formally offered to BP. The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment. A settlement could avert a bruising courtroom battle over the worst ever U.S. offshore oil spill slated to start on Monday in New Orleans, although the trial may begin as the terms of the deal are hammered out. A settlement would also put a solid number on BP's costs under the Clean Water Act, which range from $4.5 billion to $17.5 billion, as well as potential natural resources damage assessments to the states under the Oil Pollution Act. "BP doesn't talk about possible offers or negotiations, but I can tell you we are ready for trial and looking forward to the opportunity to present our case starting Monday," BP spokesman Geoff Morrell said when contacted by Reuters. BP has spent or committed $37 billion on cleanup, restoration, payouts, settlements and fines. That includes an estimated $8.5 billion deal with most plaintiffs and a record $4.5 billion in penalties, and a guilty plea to 14 criminal counts to resolve criminal charges from the Justice Department and civil claims from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. BP has said it would settle on "reasonable terms," but was prepared to go to trial if the demands were "excessive and not based on reality." (Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago; Editing by Vicki Allen and Gunna Dickson)

Car bomb kills over 60 near Damascus ruling party office

Thu, Feb 21 17:22 PM EST By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - A car bomb killed more than 50 people and wounded 200 in central Damascus on Thursday when it blew up on a busy highway close to ruling Baath Party offices and the Russian Embassy, state media and activists said. Syrian television showed charred and bloodied bodies strewn across the street after the blast, which it described as a suicide bombing by "terrorists" battling President Bashar al-Assad. It said 53 people were killed. Central Damascus has been relatively insulated from almost two years of unrest and civil war in which around 70,000 people have been killed across the country, but the bloodshed has shattered suburbs around the capital. Rebels who control districts to the south and east of Damascus have attacked Assad's power base for nearly a month and struck with devastating bombs over the last year. The al Qaeda-linked rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra, which claimed responsibility for several of those bombs, says it carried out 17 attacks around Damascus in the first half of February, including at least seven bombings. Activists said most of the victims of Thursday's attack in the city's Mazraa district were civilians, including children, possibly from a school behind the Baath building. Opposition activists reported further explosions elsewhere in the city after the explosion which struck shortly before 11 a.m. (0900 GMT). One resident in the heart of the capital heard three or four projectiles whistling through the sky, followed by explosions. At least one of them landed in a public garden in the Abu Rummaneh district, she said, but no one was hurt. EMBASSY DAMAGED The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors violence via a network of sources inside Syria, said the Mazraa car bomb was detonated at a checkpoint close to the Baath Party building, located about 200 meters (660 feet) from the Russian embassy. It said 56 people were killed, of which at least 15 were from Syria's security forces and the rest civilians. Eight other people were killed by a car bomb in the Barzeh district of northeast Damascus, one of several explosions which followed the Mazraa attack. Russia's Itar-Tass news agency quoted a diplomat as saying the Mazraa blast blew out windows at the Russian Embassy, but no employees were wounded. "The building has really been damaged ... The windows are shattered," the diplomat said. The vehicle was carrying between 1 and 1.5 metric tons (1.65 tons) of explosives, Damascus Governor Bishr Sabban told Reuters. A correspondent for Syrian television said he saw seven body bags with corpses at the scene. He counted 17 burnt-out cars and another 40 that were destroyed or badly damaged by the force of the blast, which ripped a crater 1.5 meters deep into the road. Syrian TV said security forces had detained a would-be suicide bomber with five bombs in his car, one of them weighing 300 kg (440 pounds). In the southern city of Deraa, where the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011, warplanes bombed the city's old district for the first time in nearly two years of conflict, killing 18 people, activists said. A rebel officer in the Tawheed al-Janoub brigade which led a rebel offensive this week in Deraa said there were at least five air strikes on the city on Thursday. "The (rebel) attacks on several major checkpoints in the Hay al-Saad neighborhood and its declaration as a liberated area have prompted this response," said Abdullah Masalmah, an activist from the city, via Skype. Fighting has intensified in southern Syria in recent weeks, leading to a sharp increase in refugee flows to neighboring Jordan, according to officials. A Jordanian military source said 4,288 refugees arrived in the last 24 hours alone. Nayef Hawatmeh, head of the Damascus-based Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was lightly wounded by an explosion in a mosque next to his office, a DFLP official said. Talal Abu Tharifa told Reuters in Gaza that glass fragments had caused a slight wound to Hawatmeh's hand. (Additional reporting by Marwan Makdesi in Damascus, Laila Bassam and Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Alissa de Carbonnel in Moscow; Editing by Andrew Roche)

UAE company to set up coal-based power plants in Karachi

Planning ahead: By Our Correspondent Published: February 22, 2013 Electricity produced by the coal-based plants will cost approximately half of what electricity costs if generated using oil. PHOTO: FILE KARACHI: UAE-based Burj Power will invest up to $700 million in developing four coal-based power plants of 125 megawatts (MW) each at Port Qasim, Burj Power CEO Shahzad Qasim said on Thursday. Speaking to The Express Tribune after signing a formal agreement with a representative of Harbin Electric International – the technical partner for the project – Qasim said the first plant of 125MW generation capacity will become operational by 2016. “We will try to add one plant annually 2016 onwards, until we achieve 500MW capacity,” he said. The first phase of the project alone will cost up to $170 million, while the total cost of the project is expected to be between $650 million and $700 million, Qasim noted. However, he did not state the expected tariff per unit of the electricity generated through the project, saying that Burj Power will approach the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) within the next six months to determine the rate at which it will sell electricity to the Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC). “We have yet to finalise a power purchase agreement with KSEC. After that, Burj and KESC will go to Nepra together for the finalisation of the tariff,” Qasim said. He said that electricity produced by the coal-based plants will cost approximately half of what electricity costs if generated using oil. The project will be constructed near the upcoming coal and clinker terminal being developed at Port Qasim. Burj Power is a UAE-based power project development and advisory firm, which is developing projects in key markets of the Middle East and Africa. It is also developing three wind power projects in Pakistan. The company is part of the Burj Capital group, which is also involved in the investment banking, retail, agriculture and oil and gas sectors. Harbin is a Chinese power engineering, manufacturing and construction group with an established base of over 30,000MW of thermal power plants. It was also the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the recently-completed Bin Qasim Combined Cycle Power Plant, which is producing 560MW of electricity for KESC. Published in The Express Tribune, February 22nd, 2013. Like Business on Facebook to stay informed and join in the conversation.

Genel's Kurdistan shipments raise hopes for Gulf Keystone

"the funders have funded a enormous amount already , there is pressure for the funders to pay more what's wrong with that" ------------------------------------------------------------------ If Jonathan Gaisman had said that, no-one would have batted an eye-lid. It is what he is paid for. But both oilman and simonfisher have confirmed that Judge Clarke said it! Surely then, a remarkably strong hint as to which way Judge Clarke is leaning.... and putting further pressure on the 'funders' (note 'funders', NOT Excalibur) too. This is getting VERY interesting IMHO. 7th Feb/13 B77: It is also disingenuous to keep referring back to progress since 2009 when evaluating performance over a single financial year like 2011-12, or the year to date. Todd has already wrung enough juice out of that one, IMHO. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ But this is exactly the point that YOU are missing. TK' s remuneration was largely made up of bonuses earned in earlier years which were VESTED in March last year at 251p per share and so included in his REPORTED annual remuneration. The basic salary was, from memory, $675,000, and the fact that his overall remuneration package was recorded at $22 million was the result of the SP appreciating so markedly in those years and driving up the value of the benefits accrued. If the share price had barely changed from 3 years ago, we wouldn't be having this debate - you would simply be complaining that GKP was just another AIM oiler which had failed to deliver! Interestingly, if WZR's SP were to rise in similar fashion to that of GKP (say to $20), some of their BoD remuneration packages will also look completely ridiculous in a few years time, since the options will have risen too from their current $1. What will you be saying then - that they had all been monstrously overpaid, OR that they had done brilliantly by increasing shareholder value? AND FINALLY - you completely mis-read my post yet again. I did NOT offer a view as to how much TK should be paid, just mentioned a number of contributory factors that have led to the current situation, and what I believe is often misrepresented or not appreciated at all. My HOPE is that the remuneration committee, minus Lord Truscott, but with Messrs. Hanson and Guthrie as NEDs will carefully consider what is appropriate should further benefits be awarded this year. After all, wasn't that the main purpose of removing LT last year? Why we are back to discussing this baffles me, I can tell you...unless some people have borne grudges for some considerable time, and jump on anything published which could put TK in a bad light. Finally, my average purchase price is about £1 per share and you don't hear me complaining (despite several years of the GKP roller-coaster). Conversely there are some here who have already multi-bagged, and made comparative fortunes out of GKP's success, but seem to spend all their time moaning.... somehow failing to appreciate quite how good GKP has been TO THEM. They really need to look at themselves IMHO - has greed finally taken over and are they just continuously searching for someone to blame? Oh well, back to the shadows for me - sometimes it feels like l am banging my head against TSC's table. We ALL want the same thing - we just have differing OPINIONS about what happens while the journey continues! It doesn't need to be a war-zone. GLA, scaramouche ======= Bomb disables Iraq fuel oil pipeline February 17, 2013 05:04 PM A general view shows the North Rumaila oilfield in the southern city of Basra in Iraq December 25, 2012. REUTERS/Atef Hassan BAGHDAD: Attackers bombed and disabled a pipeline carrying fuel oil from Iraq's largest refinery to a province north of Baghdad, the oil ministry said on Sunday. "A bomb attack led to an explosion in the 16-inch pipeline transporting fuel oil from Baji refinery to Nineveh province," said ministry spokesman Asim Jihad. He said the ministry expected repairs from the blast - which occurred early on Saturday some 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad - to take several days. Fleets of trucks were transporting oil to Nineveh, which gets all its domestic fuel via the damaged pipeline. The attack coincides with growing political unrest, with Sunni Muslims in the western provinces accusing Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of marginalising their minority sect. At least eight car bombs exploded in Shi'ite neighbourhoods across Iraq's capital on Sunday morning, killing at least 26 people. Attacks against Iraqi energy installations and oil pipelines have declined in recent years as security has gradually improved since the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2003. Iraq, OPEC's second largest crude producer, has signed oil contracts with a number of foreign firms to develop its long neglected energy sector. ============ Bomb disables Iraq fuel oil pipeline inShare0Share this Email Print Related NewsPakistan faces growing anger over sectarian bombings 12:10pm EST Blasts hit Shi'ite districts in Baghdad, killing 26 9:58am EST Bomb kills 64 in Pakistan's Quetta Sat, Feb 16 2013 Attacks kill 12 in Iraq's Mosul: sources Mon, Feb 11 2013 Attack on Iranian dissident camp in Iraq kills five Sat, Feb 9 2013Analysis & OpinionOil in the blood The key to the meaning of Keystone XL Related TopicsWorld » Meteorite hits Russia Stunning images as a meteorite explodes over Russia. Slideshow BAGHDAD | Sun Feb 17, 2013 9:58am EST BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Attackers bombed and disabled a pipeline carrying fuel oil from Iraq's largest refinery to a province north of Baghdad, the oil ministry said on Sunday. "A bomb attack led to an explosion in the 16-inch pipeline transporting fuel oil from Baji refinery to Nineveh province," said ministry spokesman Asim Jihad. He said the ministry expected repairs from the blast - which occurred early on Saturday some 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad - to take several days. Fleets of trucks were transporting oil to Nineveh, which gets all its domestic fuel via the damaged pipeline. The attack coincides with growing political unrest, with Sunni Muslims in the western provinces accusing Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of marginalizing their minority sect. At least eight car bombs exploded in Shi'ite neighborhoods across Iraq's capital on Sunday morning, killing at least 26 people. Attacks against Iraqi energy installations and oil pipelines have declined in recent years as security has gradually improved since the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2003. Iraq, OPEC's second largest crude producer, has signed oil contracts with a number of foreign firms to develop its long neglected energy sector. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by John Stonestreet) == For the second time in less than a week, saboteurs bombed a pipeline supplying refined fuel to Ninewa province from the Baiji refinery. North Iraq pipeline bombings continue Iraq’s Oil Police secure the site of a burning oil pipeline near the northern city of Kirkuk on July 3, 2006, after it was bombed by insurgents. (MARWAN IBRAHIM/AFP/Getty Images) By Staff of Iraq Oil Report Published February 21, 2013 BAGHDAD - A pipeline carrying fuel from the Baiji refinery to Ninewa province was bombed for the second time in less than a week, highlighting the volatility of an area long home to militants and a populace marginalized by Iraq's ruling politicians. Saboteurs bombed the pipeline at 2:10 a.m. on Wednesday. Soon after, fire fighters and civil defense forces responded, working to extinguish the fire, assess the damage, and remove mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that the attackers had planted... ============ Genel's Kurdistan shipments raise hopes for Gulf Keystone By Darshini Shah | Wed, 09/01/2013 - 10:37 Genel Energy (GENL) has started to ship crude oil into Turkey from the Kurdistan region of Iraq in small quantities. "While the amount is small, what it does do is clearly demonstrate that the Kurdistan [Regional Government] is keeping to its timetable of permitting exports independently of Baghdad," stated analysts at FoxDavies. "The volumes may be small, but this is a significant step forward, and paves the way for the wholesale export of crude in the next 12 to 18 months." Should investors buy Gulf Keystone? The news bodes well for the region, as well as for the companies operating there, including Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP). Last year was a rollercoaster for the company, which saw the shares reach a peak of 433p in February, before falling 60% to end the year at 177p. However, the clouds seem to be clearing for the oil and gas explorer. One of the big problems Gulf Keystone has faced is a ban on oil exports caused by disputes between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Iraq's central government. However, Wednesday's news appeared to be paving the way for exports to flow from the region once more. In fact, plans to build a new pipeline to increase export capacity are already underway. Secondly, Gulf Keystone has been engaged in a legal dispute with a company called Excalibur Ventures, which is claiming that an agreement dating back to 2006 entitles it to a 30% share of Gulf Keystone's subsequent discoveries. However, January should see the matter settled one way or another and remove any uncertainties. Winning the case would likely pave the way for a move to the FTSE 250, which would give it greater exposure to large, institutional investors. Thirdly, Kurdistan has an estimated 45 billion barrels of oil, with Gulf Keystone's 51%-owned Shaikan asset estimated to hold 14 billion barrels in place. Even if investors assume only a quarter of this is recovered, that equates to just 95p per barrel at the company's current market capitalisation of approximately £1.65 billion. Finally, with Shaikan the biggest asset in Kurdistan, the explorer could be on the radar for other players in the region, including Chevron (CVX), Total (TTA) or ExxonMobil (XOM). Gulf Keystone's attractiveness could be further augmented if the company wins the court case, as this would remove any obstacle to a takeover bid. ============= IRAQ – Kuwait Energy charge 6.24 dollars to produce a barrel of oil from Basra =========== ============

Karbala-e-Quetta

کربلائے کوئٹہ‎ کربلائے کوئٹہ‎ جس کسی نے کوئٹہ کی چھاؤنی دیکھی ہے اس نے چھاؤنی کے تمام داخلی راستوں پر قلعہ نما مورچوں کو بھی دیکھا ہوگا، ان مورچوں سے ارد گرد کا تمام علاقہ بڑی آسانی سے نظر آتا ہے. ایسے ایسے حفاظتی انتظامات ہیں کہ کوئٹہ کا ہر شہری یہ کہتا پھرتا ہے کہ چھاؤنی میں وردی والوں کی مرضی کے بغیر پرندہ بھی پر نہیں مار سکتا، لیکن اسی چھاؤنی کے مرکز میں واقع اے.ٹی.ایف جیل سے لشکر جھنگوی کے رہنما عثمان سیف اللہ کرد اور داؤد بادینی دن کے اجالے میں بغیر کوئی تالہ توڑے وردی والوں کی گاڑی میں بیٹھ کر فرار ہو جاتے ہیں. سب سے مزے کی بات یہ ہے کہ پچھلی ہی رات جیل کے تمام شیعہ ہزارہ اہلکاروں کو چھٹی پر بھیج دیا جاتا ہے، اس کے باوجود اگر میں کہتا ہوں کہ یہ جو دہشتگردی ہے اس کے پیچھے وردی ہے تو آپ حیران کیوں ہو جاتے ہیں؟؟؟ کیا یہ حیرت کی بات نہیں کہ جو ٹولہ خود نہ علمدار روڈ دھرنے میں شریک ہوا اور نہ ہی ہزارہ ٹاؤن دھرنے کو لائقِ شمولیت جانا بلکہ پوری پاکستانی قوم سے اتحاد کرنے کے بجائے اپنی ڈیڑھ اینٹ کی مسجد الگ بنائی آج وہی ٹولہ سب سے پہلے دھرنا ختم کرنے کی مخالفت کر رہا ہے؟؟؟ کیوں بھئی، آپ کو اس دھرنے سے کیا؟ آپ اپنی ڈیڑھ اینٹ کی مسجد کی فکر کریں، کہیں اس کی کچی دیواریں اس تیز بارش میں بہہ نہ جائیں۔ لیکن شاید زیادہ حیرت کی بات یہ ہے کہ کچھ نادان دوست بھی اس ٹولے کی سازش کو سمجھ نہیں پائے اور جذباتی ہو کر اسی طاقت کو برا بھلا کہہ رہے ہیں جس نے ہماری حمایت میں چار دن تک پورے پاکستان کو جام کر رکھا یعنی پاکستان کی ملت تشیع اور ان کے معزز علماء۔ کیا یہ رسمِ شرافت ہے؟؟؟ اور ہاں، کیا یہ ٹولہ سمجھتا ہے کہ وہ شہداء کے ورثا سے زیادہ شہداء کا ہمدرد ہے؟ جب شہداء کے لواحقین نے بذاتِ خود تمام تر اختیارات علماء اور کوئٹہ یکجہتی کونسل کو دے کر دھرنا ختم کرنے اور شہداء کی تدفین پر راضی ہوگئے ہیں تو اس ٹولے کو حقِ اعتراض کس نے دے دیا؟؟؟ S K [Official] جنرل کیانی آپ کو نیند آجائے گی آج رات؟؟ کوئٹہ میں آنے سے منع کردیا آپ نے!!!! کیوں؟ کیونکہ بلوچ باغیوں کے خلاف جن لوگوں کو آپ کے اداروں نے تیار کیا اُن کو ختم کرنا پڑے گا، اگر نہیں کیا تو آپ کا ادارہ متنازعہ ہوجائے گا، کچھ سوشیعہ قتل ہوتے ہیں تو ہوجائے مگر "S-Wing" پر آنچ آجائے ایسا کیسے ممکن ہے!! سمجھ آرہا ہے تھوڑا، تھوڑ کوئٹہ : سانحہ کرانی روڈ کے بدترین واقعے میں 250 سے زائد زخمیوں میں سے 40 زخمی جن کی حالت نہایت خراب ہے جنکو آج رات طیارہ C130 کے ذریعے کراچی منتقل کیا جائے گا ڈان نیوز میں شائع ہونے والے خبر میں کہی انکشافات ہوئے ہیں جن میں یہ بهی شامل ہے کہ فوج کوئٹہ شہر میں آنے کے لئے تیار تهی، جبکہ حکومت نے فوج کو نہیں بلایا، اسلام آباد سے آئے وفد کے آگے عمائدین نے 23 مطالبات پیش کئے جن میں ایک کو چوڑ کر تمام مطالبات منظور کرلئے گئے، وہ ایک مطالبہ جو پورا نہیں ہوا یہی فوج بلانے کا تها، اور اس مطالبہ کو کمزور کرنے والے بهی کوئ اور نہیں بلکہ HDP کے سربراہ اور سردار سعادت تهے جنہوں نے فوج لانے کی مخالفت کی جب MWM کے سربراہ آمین شہیدی سے اس بارے میں پوچها گیا تو انہوں نے کہاں کہ ہمارے پاس کوئ اور اپشن نہیں بچا جب ہزارہ قوم کے اسٹیک ہولڈرز نے یہ فیصلہ کردیا۔ For More Open The Link. http://dawn.com/2013/02/20/govt-vetoed-hazaras-demand-army-was-ready-for-quetta-deployment ======== Shiitenews ایسے وقت میں جب ملت جعفریہ 40 دن پہلے 87 جنازے اُٹھانے کے بعد اپنے پیاروں کے مزید 113 جنازے دفنانے کیلئے جا رہے تھے تو ملت جعفریہ کہ اتحاد اور وحدت سے خوف خاکر سازشی عناصر نے ایک بار پھر ملت جعفریہ کے زخموں پر نمک چھرکنا شروع کردیا۔ یہ نمک پاشی کافی ہے اُن لوگوں کو خواب غفلت سے جگانے کیلئے جو دوست اور دشمن میں فرق نہیں سمھجتے۔۔ ========= کوئٹہ اپڈیٹ: سانحہ کرانی روڈ کے بدترین واقعے میں 250 سے زائد زخمیوں میں سے 35-40 زخمی جن کی حالت نہایت خراب ہے ، کو آج رات طیارہ C130 کے ذریعے کراچی منتقل کیا جائے گا۔ ان زخمیوں میں زیادہ تر لڑکیاں اور عورتیں شامل ہے۔ کوئی ہے جو ان وحشی درندوں کو بتلائے کہ جب رسول الله (ص) اسلام لے کر آئے تو سب سے پہلے عورت کو مقام و منزلت دی تاکہ جہالت کے خاتمے میں اپنا کردار ادا کر سکے۔ یہ کونسے اسلام کے پیرو ہے کہ جس میں عورت کو بھی بخشا نہیں جاتا؟ بے شک یہ مسلمان نہیں ۔ اسلام کو بدنام کرنے والے غدار ہیں ۔ ============ S K [Official] دھرنے کے بعد فوج کیوں نہیں آئی؟؟ سب یہی پوچھ رہے ہیں! بات یہ ہے کہ تمام ملکوں کی ایک فوج ہوتی ہے لیکن یہاں اُلٹا ہے یہ ملک ہماری فوج کا ہے، اگر فوج آنا چاہے تو حکومت بھی نہیں روک سکتی کیونکہ یہاں پس پشت میں صرف فوج کی ہی چلتی ہے۔ فوج نے خود کوئٹہ میں آنے سے انکار کردیا!! وہ کیوں؟ اب سُنیں اس دھرنے سے ایک گروہ جس کا نام "فوج" ہے بے نقاب ہوگیا! ہماری فوجی اسٹبلشمنٹ خود لشکر جھنگوی کے دہشتگردوں کو پال رہی ہیں کیونکہ بلوچستان میں بلوچ باغی پاکستان سے علیحدگی کی موومنٹ چلا رہے ہیں تو یہ دہشتگرد اُن کے خلاف استعمال ہورہے ہیں اُسی طرح جس طرح پارہ چنار کے گرد نواح میں طالبان کو سرحدوں کی حفاظت کے لیے استعمال کیا گیا تھا اور قتل ہمارے مومنین ہوئے تھے، کیونکہ اگر آپ کسی کو پالے گے تو وہ بھی تو کچھ اپنا کام لے گا!! ننے بچے بننا اب چھوڑ دیں!باتوں کو سمجھنا شروع ہوجائے! وقت سب کے پاس کم ہے =========== کربلائے کوئٹہ‎ جنگِ صفین کو یاد کرو, جب قرآن کے خلاف لڑنے والوں نے مکاری سے کام لیتے ہوئے سپاہِ کوفہ کو امام علی (ع) کے خلاف گمراہ کرنے کے لئے قرآن نیزوں پر اٹھا لئے۔ اس وقت بھی مالکِ اشتر لوگوں کو سمجھاتے سمجھاتے تھک گئے لیکن سادہ لوح لوگ جذبات میں آ کر دشمن کی سازش کا نشانہ بن گئے۔ اور پھر بعد میں اپنی بیوقوفی ثابت ہونے پر سب کے سب نادم ہوئے اور اپنے گلوں میں جوتے لٹکا لئے۔ تاریخ اپنے آپ کو دہرا رہی ہے، کچھ کہنے سننے سے پہلے یہ سوچ لیں کہیں ایسا نہ ہو کچھ دنوں بعد آپ بھی اپنے کسی فعل پر پشیمان ہو جائیں۔ ===== کربلائے کوئٹہ‎ شہدائے انقلاب ہزارہ ٹاؤن کی تدفین پرامن طور پر جاری ہے۔ میڈیا بے بنیاد پروپگینڈا کر رہا ہے، ہماری مائیں اور بہنیں باغیرت اور منظم ہیں انہوں نے خوش اسلوبی سے اپنے علماء اور رہنماؤں کا فیصلہ مان لیا ہے۔ تدفین سے انکار کی تمام باتیں منافقین کی پھیلائی ہوئی ہیں اور میڈیا لوگوں کے جذبات سے فائدہ اٹھا کر اس مسئلے کو اچھال رہا ہے۔ سوشل میڈیا پر بغیر تصدیق کے افواہیں پھیلانے والے میڈیا کی اس شرارت کا حصہ بن رہے ہیں، انہیں اصل حقیقت کا قطعی علم نہیں ہے۔ اصل حالات جاننے کے لئے ہزارہ ٹاؤن میں موجود نوجوانوں سے رابطہ کریں۔ ============== شیعہ کلنگ پر اگر آپ اعتماد کرتے ہیں تو خدارا ایک بات پر آمادہ ہوجائے، "کم ازکم بھی 6دن کے لیے آپس میں مکمل طور پر اتحاد کرلے" اُس کے بعد جو بھی کرنا ہو کریں،!! ہمیں تقسیم کیا جارہا ہے میڈیا میں ہمارے کردار کو متنازع بنایا جارہا ہے۔ کیوں؟ کیونکہ، ہماری ریاستی ایجنسیاں نہیں چاہتی کہ ہم منہ کھولے! آپ خود سوچے 800 کلو گرام دھماکہ خیز مواد لاہور سے کوئٹہ آگیا اور راستے میں کسی چوکی نے پوچھا تک نہیں؟ اتنی بڑی خفیہ ایجنسی ISI کیا چنے بیچ رہی تھی؟ بات کو سمجھے فوج نے خود کوئٹہ میں آنے سے منع کردیا اب تو حکومت نے بھی اپنا کام کرلیا لیکن ہماری فوج کو ہماری فکر ہی نہیں!! اور فوج کیوں نہیں آنا چاہتی یہ آپ کو پہلے سے پتہ ہے! جذباتی ہونے سے کچھ نہیں ہوگا! اس وقت اتحاد سب سے بڑا ہتھیار ہے ================ کربلائے کوئٹہ‎ شیعیان کوئٹہ جیکب آباد میں ہونے والے دھماکے اور اس میں اہلسنت سے تعلق رکھنے والے گدی نشین پیر سید بخاری کے پوتے کی شہادت پر بھرپور احتجاج کرتے ہیں. اگر ہمارے اہلسنت دوست طالبان/سپاہ صحابہ کے خلاف احتجاج یا دھرنے کی کال دیں تو ہم ان کا بھر پور ساتھ دیں گے. شیعہ سنی ساتھ ہیں، تکفیری خالی ہاتھ ہیں...... =============== Alamdar Road علمدار روڈ‎ Assallam.o.Alaikum, With Due Respect, Hum Alamdar Road علمدار روڈ Page K Admins Aap Sab K is Naqabil e Bardasht Messages se Bohot Mayus Huwai Hai..! Hum Din Raat Aap Logo Ki Agahi K Liye Apni Jaan ki Parwah Nakarthe Huwai Quetta Or Dunia Bhar se Khaber/News Updates Jama Karte Pirthe Hai. Or Badle Mai Kisi Chez Ki Oumeed Tho Nahi Karte Par is chez Ka Gilla Zaror Karsakte Hai Aap se Ki Aap Logo Ko Pal Pal Bakhaber Rakne Ka Sila Hamai Galliyon Or Badwahiyou Mai Nahi Milna Chahiye..! Hum Jo Kuch Bhi Aap Tak Pohanchate Hai, Oun Mai Hamara Zaathi Mufaad Ya Hamari Taraf se Kuch Nahi Hota. Jo Kuch Quetta Or Gird o Nawah Mai Hota Hai, Hum Aap Tak Sirf Wahi Khaber Pohanchate hai..! Agar Aap Log Humare Kam se itne he Nakhosh Hai Tho Hum Aaj K Baad Aap Tak Koi Khaber Nahi Pohanchayengai. W,salam. -Alamdar Road Admin. ============= نام نہاد آئی ایس آئی کا آصل چہرہ سامنے آخر آ ہی گیا! آج سب واضح ہو گیا کہ ہمارے قتل عام میں کون ملوث ہیں،کون ہے جو ہمیں قتل کر کے باآسانی فرار ہو جاتا ہے،کس کی آڑ میں وہ 100 معصوم لوگوں کے قاتل اچھلتے ہیں،کون انکی پشت پناہی کرتا ہے۔ہمیں تو آج پتہ چلا لیکن یہ کہانی تو بہت پہلے سے چل رہی ہیں۔ ہم سوچتے تھے کہ ہماری اووو معذرت ہماری نہیں دہشتگرد آرمی کو ہمارے ٹیکسز سے چلاتے ہیں لیکن یہ ہماری غلط فہمی تھی یہ دہشتگرد،بدمعاش آرمی تو سعودی ایڈ پر چلتی ہیں اور انہی پیسوں سے اپنی عیاشیاں کو سامان کرتے ہیں اور روزانہ معصوم شیعوں کے خون سے نہاتے ہیں۔ ============ Shiitenews shared Shiite News Media Watch's video: ‎تدفین کا عمل روکنے والوں کا خانوادہ شہداء سے کوئی تعلق نہیں تھا‎. ==== تدفین کا عمل روکنے والوں کا خانوادہ شہداء سے کوئی تعلق نہیں تھا یہ سازش ایک لسانی تنظیم کے کہنے میں آکر کچھ ضمیر فروش لوگوں نے علماء اور ملت کے درمیان انتشار پھیلانے کی ناکام کو شش کی تھی۔ خانوادہ شہداء کے ذمہ داران کی میڈیا سے گفتگو ================= Quetta bombing: Burial ceremonies complete amidst protests By Web Desk Published: February 20, 2013 Pakistani Shia Muslims carry the coffins of relatives during a mass burial ceremony in Quetta on February 20, 2013. PHOTO: AFP QUETTA: Burial ceremonies of the Quetta bombing victims was completed on Wednesday amidst aerial firing and ongoing protests that continued at the Hazara town graveyard throughout the day. Earlier in the day, miscreants hurled stones on passing cars which broke the windshield of a vehicle belonging to the Deputy Commissioner of Quetta and injured one of the Levis security staff. Additional Frontier Corps (FC) personnel and police were called in. The protesters also blocked the Western Bypass and opened aerial firing in order to block the burials. Meanwhile Abdul Qayyum Changezi, a leader of the Quetta United Council (QUC) said that those creating trouble for the burials were “irrelevant” people and were not related to the victims of the bombing. Members of Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) were not permitted to go inside Imam Bargah Bin Jaffer due to a targeted operation going on in the area. In protest a few youngsters locked the entrance to the Imam Bargah. After the chaos settled down, participants of the protest and relatives of the victims once again entered into discussions and decided to carry forward the burial. The authorities then brought the dead bodies to the Hazara Town graveyard. Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Quetta Zubair Mehmood said, “Few people got emotional during the process but everything is under control now.” He also said that an FIR will be launched against the miscreants. ====== کوئٹہ الرٹ : کرانی روڈ واقعے میں زخمی ہونے والی مومنہ گل افشا زخموں کی تاب نہ لاتے ہوئے شہید ہوگئی۔ اب شہداٴ کی تعداد 114 ہوگئی۔ بی بی زھرا (س) کی مہمان مرحبا ، صد مرحبا USA TODAY, an American newspapers: The biggest problem of America in Iran, is the existence of a "super opponent "who is Ayatollah Khamenei .he knows the roadmap and people trust him with faith! ﺍﯾﮏ ﺍﻣﺮﯾﮑﯽ ﺍﺧﺒﺎﺭ ﻧﮯ ﻟﮑﮭﺎ ﮨﮯ ﮐﮧ : ﺍﻣﺮﯾﮑﮧ ﮐﯽ ﺍﯾﺮﺍﻥ ﻣﯿﮟ ﺳﺐ ﺳﮯ ﺑﮍﯼ ﻣﺸﮑﻞ، ﺍﯾﮏ ﻋﻈﯿﻢ ﻣﺠﺎﮨﺪ، ﺟﻮ ﮐﮧ ﺁﯾﺖ ﺍﻟﻠﮧ ﺳﯿﺪ ﻋﻠﯽ ﺧﺎﻣﻨﮧ ﺍﯼ ﮨﮯ۔ ﻭﮦ ﺭﮦ ﺣﻞ ﺟﺎﻧﺘﺎ ﮨﮯ ﺍﻭﺭ ﻟﻮﮒ ﺍﺱ ﭘﺮ ﯾﻘﯿﻦ ﺭﮐﮭﺘﮯ ﮨﯿﮟ۔ ﺍﻟﻠﻬﻢ ﺍﺣﻔﻆ ﻟﻨﺎ ﺳﯿﺪﻧﺎ ﺍﻟﻘﺎﺋﺪ ! ﺍﮮ ﺍﻟﻠﮧ ! ﺭﮨﺒﺮ ﻣﻌﻈﻢ ﮐﺎ ﺳﺎﯾﮧ ﮨﻢ ﭘﺮ ﻇﮩﻮﺭ ﺍﻣﺎﻡ ﺯﻣﺎﻧﮧ ﺗﮏ ﻗﺎﺋﻢ ﺭﮐﮫ = آرمی چیف بتانا پسند کرینگے کوئٹہ کی روڈ پر بیٹھی ہوئی پاکستان کی بیٹیاں جن کی آنکھوں میں آنسو ہیں؛ کیا اس منظر کو دیکھ کر مدینہ والے سرکار خوش ہونگے یا خون کے آنسو رو رہے ہونگے؟ حوا کی بیٹی کو کیا صرف اس جرم میں رونے دیا جارہا ہے کیونکہ اس ملک میں "نام حسین" لینا جرم ہے؟ =========== Victims of terrorism: Australia offers asylum to 2,500 Hazara families The asylum to Pakist­ani Hazara famili­es offere­d on humani­tarian ground­s. By Web DeskPublished: February 21, 2013 Protesters staged a sit-in in front of the Governor House in Lahore to protest Shia killings. PHOTO: INP/ FILE The Australian government has offered asylum to 2,500 Hazara families of Pakistan who have been affected by terrorism, reported Express News on Thursday. The asylum was offered on humanitarian grounds. Last week, a representative of Australian immigration department met with United Nations officials to make the asylum offer. Over 80 residents of the Shia Hazara neighbourhood in Quetta were killed when over 800 kilogrammes of explosives packed in a vehicle detonated in the middle of a busy bazaar on February 16. The attack led to countrywide agitation, with families refusing to bury their loved ones till their demands of the army taking over the city and targeted operation against the perpetrators were met. In January, twin blasts in Quetta killed over a 100 people and left over 300 injured. After being continuously attacked by militant outfits, the Shia Hazaras went on strike across the country demanding the government to take immediate action. Correction: An earlier version of the article incorrectly mentioned February 6 as the date of the Quetta bombing instead of February 16. The error has been rectified. میں ایک سنی ہوں لیکن کوئٹہ کے اس افسوس ناک واقعے پہ ماتم کر رہا ہوں ۔ - مبشر لقمان مجھے علی شیر حیدری (سپاہ صحابہ) نے بتایا تھا کہ ابھی ہم شیعہ کو مار رہیں ہیں ، اس کے بعد تم لوگوں کی باری آئے گی۔ - فرزندِ شہید علامہ نعیمی (اہل سنت) ============== آپ نے دیکھا ہوگا کہ چند میڈیا اینکرز اور ہمارے صفوں میں چُھپی کالی بھیڑیں کوئٹہ میں جاری شیعہ نسل کشی کو "ہزاہ کمیونٹی کے قتل عام" کا نام دیتے ہیں۔ وہ اس لیے کے"ہزارہ" قتل عام ظاہر کرکے دوسرے ممالک میں پناہ کی درخواست دی جاتی ہے، کہا جاتا ہے کہ پاکستان میں ہماری جان کو خطرہ ہے تو کوئی اور ممالک ہمیں اپنے ملک میں قبول کریں!! یہ عمل کئی سالوں سے جاری ہے،آج آسٹریلیا حکومت نے بھی اعلان کیا ہے کہ 25 ہزار "ہزارہ" خاندانوں کو آسٹریلیا پناہ دینے کے لیے تیار ہے!یہ عمل پاکستان میں رہنےوالے 5 کڑوڑ شیعوں کی توہین ہے! یہ قتل عام ہزارہ قتل عام نہیں بلکہ شیعہ نسل کشی ہے۔ کیونکہ کوئٹہ میں تو راولپنڈی کے زائرین بھی شہید ہوچکے ہیں!! یہ ملک ہمارا ہے ہم نے بنایا ہے۔ موت کے خوف سے اپنی کربلا چھوڑ جانا کسی صورت بھی حسینی عمل نہیں!! پاکستانی میڈیا کا ایک اور شرمناک جھوٹ پکڑا گیا !!! مختلف اخبارات اور ٹی وی چینلز پر کوئٹہ کے 7000 شیعہ ہزارہ کو آسٹریلیا کی طرف سے سیاسی پناہ دینے والی خبر جھوٹی نکلی۔ کینبرا آسٹریلیا کی امیگریشن ڈپارٹمنٹ کی ایک اعلیٰ آفیشل کی طرف سے ٹوئٹر پر پیغامات نے پاکستانی میڈیا کی غلط خبروں کو سختی سے رد کر دیا۔ اب معلوم ہو رہا ہے یہ میڈیا کن قوتوں کے بل بوتے پر پل رہا ہے اور کس گھٹیا طریقے سے کوئٹہ کے مظلوم شیعوں کی مذہبی شناخت مٹا کر اور انہیں پاکستان کے عظیم تشیعُ کے پیکر سے کاٹ کر فقط ایک لسانی اور نسلی برادری کا نام دینے کی کوشش کر رہا ہے اور ان کی مشکلات میں مزید اضافہ کرنے کی کوشش ہو رہی ہے۔ Sandi Logan: National Communications Manager at Dept Immigration and Citizenship, Canberra. http://www.pakistan.embassy.gov.au/islm/PR130221-Hazara.html — Fake News Spread by Pakistan Print & Electronic Media (5 photos) ==================== کوئٹہ الرٹ: منافقین کی منافقت جاری.... ہزارہ ٹاؤن دھرنا کے منظور شدہ مطالبات کی نگران تین رکنی کمیٹی میں سے علامہ امین شہیدی کو نکال دیا گیا. کمیٹی اب سردار سعادت، حاجی قیوم اور رقیہ ہاشمی پر مشتمل ہے. یہ تو وہی لوگ ہیں جو دھماکے کی پہلی رات ہی دھرنا ختم کروانا چاہتے تھے، ان سے بھلائی کی امید بھلا کون رکھے گا؟؟؟ =========

Zakaria Masomi i promise an guarante thid damn page has nothing more than to divide and disperse our nation,,, this fking page sees everyone as demon and only inocent and angel is the fking ullama,,, go to hell u with ur fking ullamas,, we dont need them,,, if pak people demonstrate coz of ullamas so we dont need them,,, protest for humanity, for justice and for cruelity not for ur ulama damn fking morons everywhere..

آپ نے دیکھا ہوگا کہ چند میڈیا اینکرز اور ہمارے صفوں میں چُھپی کالی بھیڑیں کوئٹہ میں جاری شیعہ نسل کشی کو "ہزاہ کمیونٹی کے قتل عام" کا نام دیتے ہیں۔ وہ اس لیے کے"ہزارہ" قتل عام ظاہر کرکے دوسرے ممالک میں پناہ کی درخواست دی جاتی ہے، کہا جاتا ہے کہ پاکستان میں ہماری جان کو خطرہ ہے تو کوئی اور ممالک ہمیں اپنے ملک میں قبول کریں!! یہ عمل کئی سالوں سے جاری ہے،آج آسٹریلیا حکومت نے بھی اعلان کیا ہے کہ 25 ہزار "ہزارہ" خاندانوں کو آسٹریلیا پناہ دینے کے لیے تیار ہے!یہ عمل پاکستان میں رہنےوالے 5 کڑوڑ شیعوں کی توہین ہے! یہ قتل عام ہزارہ قتل عام نہیں بلکہ شیعہ نسل کشی ہے۔ کیونکہ کوئٹہ میں تو راولپنڈی کے زائرین بھی شہید ہوچکے ہیں!! یہ ملک ہمارا ہے ہم نے بنایا ہے۔ موت کے خوف سے اپنی کربلا چھوڑ جانا کسی صورت بھی حسینی عمل نہیں!! ========== پرچمِ عباس تلے ایک ہو جاوٴں اور فروخت شدہ ضمیر فروشوں کو نکال باہر کردو!!! جب میں چھوٹاتھا تو اپنے والدین سے آخری زمانے کے بارے میں ، اس کی نشانیوں کے بارے میں مختلف باتیں سنتا لیکن ہنس کے پھر کھیل کود میں مصروف ہوجاتا۔ اب اُن نشانیوں کو کم و بیش پورا ہوتے دیکھ رہا ہوں۔ ان نشانیوں میں سے ایک یہ بھی تھا کہ ظالم و مظلوم، جابر و مجبور اور مومن و منافق میں فرق واضح ہوجائے گا۔ آج یہ ہوتا دیکھ رہا ہوں ۔ ستم کی داستان کندھوں پہ اٹھائے ، ظالم کا نقشہ آنکھوں میں بسائے، مجبور کو جابر کے سامنے سر جھکائے اور منافق کو نت نئے حربےاستعمال کرتے ہوئے دیکھ رہا ہوں ۔ کھبی کفر کا فتوٰی دیتے زمینی خدا بنے ظالم سامنے آئے تو کھبی فرقہ وارانہ فسادات کا نام دیتے ہوئے مجبور آشکار ہوئے ۔ کھبی نسلی رنگ دے کر ہمارے شیعہ طاقت و یکجہتی کو سبوتاش کرتےاور بلا وجہ جنگ و جدل پیھلاتے ہوئے منافق پہچانے گئے تو کھبی انہی منافقین کو یک دست ہوتے اپنے پیٹھ بھرتے ہوئے دیکھا۔ مگر میں گھبرایا ہرگز نہیں ۔ کیونکہ یہ سب خود ہی اپنے آپ کی پہچان کرواتے پھر رہیں ہیں ۔ اصل میں ہو یہ رہا ہے کہ ان کی ذلت اور پستی میں اضافہ ہوتا جارہا ہے۔ تم بھی گھبرانا نہیں میرے عزیزوں!!! ستم کے آندھی تو چل کے نکل پڑے گی لیکن تمہارا احتساب ہوگا ، ضرور ہوگا۔کہی تمہارا گردن سرِِ محشر خم نہ ہونے پائے۔۔۔۔ ============== ’ایک ہزار سے زائد شیعہ ہزارہ ہلاک، دو لاکھ نقل مکانی پر مجبور‘ آخری وقت اشاعت: جمعـء 22 فروری 2013 ,‭ 17:31 GMT 22:31 PST Facebook Twitter دوست کو بھیجیں پرنٹ کریں . لاکھوں ہزارہ نقل مکانی پر مجبورٹارگٹڈ آپریشنز جاری، حالات بدستور کشیدہ.عنبر شمسی بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، اسلام آباد شیعہ ہزارہ آبادی کو زیادہ تر کوئٹہ اور مستونگ میں نشانہ بنایا گیا ہے پاکستان کے صوبہ بلوچستان کے دارالحکومت کوئٹہ میں رہائش پذیر ہزارہ برادری اپنے عقیدے اور نسل دونوں کی بنیاد پر نشانہ بنائی جا رہی ہے اور اب تک جہاں ایک ہزار سے زائد شیعہ ہزارہ اپنی جان سے ہاتھ دھو چکے ہیں وہیں ہزارہ تنظیموں کے مطابق دو لاکھ ایسے ہیں جنہوں نے اپنا گھر بار چھوڑ کر ملک کے دیگر علاقوں یا پھر بیرونِ ملک پناہ لی ہے۔ پاکستان میں حقوقِ انسانی کے لیے سرگرم ادارے ہیومن رائٹس کونسل آف پاکستان کے مطابق 1999 سے 2012 تک تیرہ برس کے عرصے میں آٹھ سو شیعہ ہزارہ ہلاک کیے گئے جبکہ رواں برس کے ابتدائی چند ہفتوں میں ٹارگٹ کلنگ اور بم دھماکوں میں دو سو سے زائد افراد کی جان گئی۔ کوئٹہ میں قیام پذیر ہزارہ رہنما عبدالقیوم چنگیزی کا کہنا ہے کہ جہاں ہلاک ہونے والے ہزارہ افراد میں سے اسّی فیصد اپنے عقیدے کی بنا پر نشانہ بنائے جاتے ہیں وہیں بیس فیصد ہلاکتوں کی بنیاد نسلی ہے۔ ہزارہ برادری کی تنظیم ہزارہ قومی جرگہ اور شیعہ تنظیم قومی یکجہتی کونسل کے اعدادوشمار کے مطابق جان و مال کو درپیش خطرات کی وجہ سے 1999 سے لے کر اب تک تقریباً دو لاکھ ہزارہ بلوچستان چھوڑ کر پاکستان کے دیگر شہروں میں منتقل ہوئے یا پھر ملک چھوڑنے پر مجبور ہوئے ہیں۔ نقل مکانی کرنے والے ہزارہ خود تو شہر چھوڑ آئے ہیں لیکن اب انہیں یہ خوف ستاتا رہتا ہے کہ پیچھے رہ جانے والے نہ جانے کب نشانہ بن جائیں۔ زینب خود تو اسلام آباد آ گئیں تاہم ان کی والدہ اور بہن کوئٹہ میں ہی ہیں۔ ’میری بوڑھی ماں اور اکیس سالہ بہن اکیلے رہنے پر مجبور ہیں کیونکہ ہم نے اپنے دونوں بھائیوں کو پاکستان سے باہر بھجوا دیا ہے۔‘ 1999 سے 2012 تک تیرہ برس کے عرصے میں آٹھ سو شیعہ ہزارہ ہلاک کیے گئے زینب پاکستان سے باہر چلے جانے کے باوجود اپنے بھائیوں کے بارے میں اس خدشے کے تحت بات کرنے کو تیار نہ تھیں کہ انہیں پاکستان سے باہر بھی نشانہ بنایا جا سکتا ہے۔ یہ خوف ایسا ہے کہ پاکستان سے ہزاروں میل دور چلے جانے کے باوجود ہزارہ اپنی شناخت ظاہر نہیں کرنا چاہتے۔ پچیس سالہ بتول گذشتہ سال امریکہ پہنچیں۔ انہوں نے اپنے خاندان کو نہیں بتایا تھا کہ وہ یہاں مستقل رہنے کے لیے آئی ہیں۔ ڈیڑھ ماہ تک دربدر ٹھوکریں کھانے کے بعد انہوں نے نیویارک کے علاقے کوئینز میں خواتین کے لیے قائم کردہ مسلم شیلٹر میں رہائش اختیار کی۔ وہ اب سیاسی پناہ کے حصول کے لیے کوشاں ہیں مگر جنہیں پیچھے چھوڑ آئیں انہیں بھولنا بتول کے لیے بہت مشکل ہے۔ ’یہ میرے لیے بہت مشکل فیصلہ تھا۔ میں جب خبروں میں کوئٹہ کے ہزارہ قبرستان کی تصویریں دیکھتی ہوں، تو تسلیم کرنا بہت مشکل ہوتا ہے کہ اتنے سارے لوگوں کو میں جانتی تھی وہ اب ہم میں نہیں ہیں۔‘ ایچ آر سی پی کی سربراہ زہرہ یوسف کے مطابق بلوچستان میں شیعہ ہزارہ آبادی کو زیادہ تر کوئٹہ اور مستونگ میں نشانہ بنایا گیا ہے اور ان اضلاع میں کالعدم تنظیم لشکرِ جھنگوی کی واضح موجودگی ہے۔ رواں برس کوئٹہ کے ہزارہ ٹاؤن میں پہلے علمدار روڈ اور پھر کرانی روڈ پر ہونے والے دونوں بڑے دھماکوں کی ذمہ داری بھی لشکرِ جھنگوی نے ہی قبول کی ہے۔ بلوچستان کے سیکریٹری داخلہ اکبر درانی نے بی بی سی اردو سے بات کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ ان دو واقعات کو روکنے میں انٹیلیجینس کی کمزوری ضرور تھی۔’ان تمام دنوں میں جب ہائی الرٹ رہا تو کوئی مسئلہ نہیں تھا لیکن اس بار دہشت گردوں نے بارودی مواد تیار کرنے کے لیے نیا طریقہ استعمال کیا، جس کی ہمارے پاس معلومات نہیں تھیں۔‘ اس بار دہشت گردوں نے بارودی مواد تیار کرنے کے لیے نیا طریقہ استعمال کیا، جس کی ہمارے پاس معلومات نہیں تھیں: اکبر درانی اس سوال پر کہ کیا یہ کمزوری کی بجائے ناکامی نہیں، انہوں نے کہا ’جائز سوال ہے کہ خفیہ ایجنسیاں کہاں تھیں۔ دراصل ہم ایک واقعے کو دیکھ رہے ہیں، ان نو واقعات کو نہیں دیکھتے جو روکے گئے۔ ہم نے شہریوں کو ان ممکنہ واقعات سے محفوظ رکھا ورنہ اس سے کئی گنا زیادہ نقصان ہوتا۔اس طرح ہم ایجنسیوں کو موردِ الزام نہیں ٹھہرا سکتے۔‘ ہزارہ رہنما بھی ان دھماکوں کو صرف انٹیلیجنس کی ناکامی قرار دینے کے حق میں نہیں۔ اسلام آباد میں مقیم نوجوان ہزارہ رہنما سجاد چنگیزی کا کہنا ہے کہ ’ہم بار بار کہتے رہے ہیں کہ یہ ایک ستون کی ناکامی نہیں ہے۔ پولیس انہیں گرفتار کرنے میں ناکام رہتی ہے، عدلیہ بھی انہیں سزا دینے میں ناکام ہے۔ اسمبلیوں میں قانون سازی نہیں ہوتی اور خفیہ ادارے ان کو چھوٹ دیتے ہیں۔‘ انہوں نے مزید کہا کہ ’اگر پاکستانی ریاست اسی طرح نااہل رہی، تو بلوچستان سے ایک اقلیتی برادری کا نام و نشان مٹ جائے گا۔ ہزارہ قبیلے کی وجود کو خطرہ لاحق ہے تاہم، ہم آخری دم تک پرامن طریقے سے مزاحمت کریں گے۔‘ امریکی و سعودی نواز لشکر یزید کے سرغنے کا اعتراف جرم / قتل کہاں ہے چیف جسٹس ؟ کہاں ہیں پاکستان میں قائم امن و امان کے ادارے ؟ کیوں بے گناہ اور مظلوم انسانوں کے قاتل کو آزاد چھوڑا ہوا ہے ؟ کیوں حکومتی ادارے اتنے بے بس ہیں ؟ ... کیا یہ ان قاتلوں کو تحفظ فراہم کرنے کیلئے گرفتار کیا جاتا ہے ؟ تاکہ ان قاتلوں کو کوئی نقصان نہ پہنچ جائے اور حکومت ان اثاثوں کو محفوظ رکھنا چاہتی ہے ؟ حکومتی اور قانون نافذ کرنے والوں کے لئے ایک چیلنچ ہے کہ سینکڑوں بے گناہ انسانوں کا قاتل کھلم کھلا دھمکی بھی دے رہا ہے اور حکومت اسے تحفظ فراہم کرنے کیلئے گرفتار کرتی ہے تاکہ اس کی جان کو خطرہ نہ ہو۔ کہاں ہیں انصاف کے ٹھیکیدار کیوں انصاف نہیں کرتے ؟ کیا ان کی ان سے کوئی رشتہ داری ہے یا ان کی باگ دوڑ بھی کسی اور کے ہاتھ میں ہے ؟؟؟؟؟ کم از کم تین دہائیوں سے جاری اس شیعہ کش مہم کی فکری بنیاد ہو سکتا ہے کہیں اور پڑی ہو۔ ریال اور دینار شاید ہمارے برادر اسلامی ملکوں سے آئے ہوں، لیکن اب یہ مقامی مشن ہے اور اب اس کے تانے بانے سپاہ صحابہ کے مسجد اور مدرسوں سے نکل کر بازاروں میں پڑے چندے کے ڈبوں، عدالتوں میں سہمے ہوئے ججوں سے ہوتے ہوئے خفیہ اداروں کے ان مفکروں تک جا ملتے ہیں جو اپنے آپ کو ہماری نظریاتی سرحدوں کے محافظ کہتے ہیں۔ شیعہ نہیں پاکستانی مارے جا رہے ہیں کی پالیسی پر عمل کر کے انشورنس پالیسی لینے والوں میں وہ سینیئر صحافی بھی جو تیس سال سے اس مہم کے گواہ ہیں لیکن قاتلوں کا نام لیتے ہوئے یوں شرماتے ہیں جیسے پردہ دار بیویاں اپنے شوہر کا نام لیتے ہوئے شرماتی ہیں۔ ایک بین الاقوامی خبر رساں ادارہ "بی بی سی" کھلم کھلا دہشتگرد ملک اسحاق کا انٹرویو نشر کررہا ہے جس میں لفظ "شیعہ" استعمال کرکے پاکستان میں رہنے والی 5 کڑوڑ شیعہ مسلمانوں پر تنقید کی جارہی ہے۔ کیا یہ ہے آزادی صحافت؟ اور تو اور پاکستان کا ایک ٹی وی چینل "ایکسپریس" اُسی پروگرام کو نشر بھی کررہا ہے اور ہمارا پیمراسورہا ہے؟ اس نازک وقت میں جب 40 دنوں میں 200 شیعہ مسلمانوں کو شہید کیا جاچکا ہے۔ صحافت کا اتنا غیر زمہ دارانہ عمل کیا اس ملک کے امن میں فائدہ مند ہوگا؟ اس وقت تو محبت کی باتیں کرنی چاہیے تاکہ احترام کا درس دیا جاسکے، لیکن اُلٹا نفرتوں کا بازار گرم کیا جارہا ہے ___ یہ کیسا ملک ہے؟ یہ کیسی حکومت ہے؟ جو اپنے شہریوں کی بنیادی حقوق کا بھی خیال نہیں رکھتی = امریکی و سعودی نواز لشکر یزید کے سرغنے کا اعتراف جرم / قتل کہاں ہے چیف جسٹس ؟ کہاں ہیں پاکستان میں قائم امن و امان کے ادارے ؟ کیوں بے گناہ اور مظلوم انسانوں کے قاتل کو آزاد چھوڑا ہوا ہے ؟ کیوں حکومتی ادارے اتنے بے بس ہیں ؟ ... کیا یہ ان قاتلوں کو تحفظ فراہم کرنے کیلئے گرفتار کیا جاتا ہے ؟ تاکہ ان قاتلوں کو کوئی نقصان نہ پہنچ جائے اور حکومت ان اثاثوں کو محفوظ رکھنا چاہتی ہے ؟ حکومتی اور قانون نافذ کرنے والوں کے لئے ایک چیلنچ ہے کہ سینکڑوں بے گناہ انسانوں کا قاتل کھلم کھلا دھمکی بھی دے رہا ہے اور حکومت اسے تحفظ فراہم کرنے کیلئے گرفتار کرتی ہے تاکہ اس کی جان کو خطرہ نہ ہو۔ کہاں ہیں انصاف کے ٹھیکیدار کیوں انصاف نہیں کرتے ؟ کیا ان کی ان سے کوئی رشتہ داری ہے یا ان کی باگ دوڑ بھی کسی اور کے ہاتھ میں ہے ؟؟؟؟؟ ============== اس بات میں کوئی شک نہیں کہ گذشتہ سال اور بالخصوص پچھلے دو مہینے کوئٹہ کے ہزارہ برادری پر عذاب جھنگوئی بن کر گذرے ہیں۔ان تمام واقعات میں انسانی جانوں کا ضیاع تو اپنی جگہ پر ایک عظیم المیہ ضرور ہے لیکن ان حالات نے ہزارہ قوم کو اس طوفان سے آشنا کردیا ہے جس کے بارے میں لگتا ہے کہ علامہ اقبال نے ہزارہ قوم ہی سے شکایت کی تھی ’’کہ بحر کی موجوں میں اضطراب نہیں‘‘۔میرے خیال میں ہزاروں نے اپنے اتحاد اور یکجہتی سے صرف دو مہینوں میں وہ کام کردیکھایا جو بلوچ سیاست دان دس سالوں میں نہ کرسکے۔ ہزاروں کو شکایت ہے کہ لشکرِ جھنگوئی کو فوج سے منسلک خفیہ اداروں کی حمایت حاصل ہے اور بلوچ بھی یہی کہتے ہیں کہ لاپتہ افراد اور مسخ شدہ لاشوں کے پیچھے فوج اور ایجنسیاں ہیں۔ لیکن ایسا کیو ں ہوا کہ تین سے پانچ لاکھ کی آبادی والے ہزاروں نے پورے ملک کو ہلاکر رکھ دیا ہے؟ ہزاروں میں کیا خوبی تھی جس نے بلوچستان کی پوری حکومت اکھاڑ کر پھینک دی؟ ہزاروں نے کیا کیا جس کی وجہ سے فوج کے ترجمان کو جھک کر یہ بیان دینا پڑا کہ فوج کا لشکر جھنگوئی کے سا تھ کوئی تعلق نہیں ہے ؟ جو لوگ کہتے تھے کہ پاکستانی میڈیا بلوچستان پر خاموش ہے وہ یہ بتائیں کہ ہزاروں نے کیسے پاکستانی نیوز میڈیا میں اپنی خبر سب سے بڑی خبر بنا کر پیش کی؟ اتنی چھوٹی قوم نے بی بی سی سے لے کر الجزیرہ پر کیسے اپنی ہلاکت کی خبر کو چوبیس گھنٹوں تک زندہ رکھا بلکہ اسے عالمی خبروں میں بھی شہ سرخی بنادی؟ ہزاروں کے پاس جادوکی کونسی چھڑی ہے جس نے سپریم کورٹ کو سوموٹو نوٹس لینے پر مجبور کیا اور وزیراعظم سے لے کر عمران خان تک سب کوئٹہ کی طرف دوڑیں مارنے پر مجبور ہوگئے؟ ایک ایسی قوم جس کے پاس قومی اور صوبائی اسمبلیوں میں صرف ایک ایک نشست ہو اس نے وفاقی حکومت ، فوج اور عدلیہ کو اپنی پالیسی پر نظر ثانی کرنے پر کیسے مجبور کیا ؟ جی ہاں ایک ایسی قوم جس پر ایران اور پاکستان کا ایجنٹ ہونے کا الزام ہو اور اس کے ساتھ ساتھ اس کے حوالے سے اس بات کا بھی اعتراف کیا جائے کہ یہ قوم پاکستانی خفیہ اداروں کی حمایت یافتہ لشکر جھنگوئی کی دہشت گردی اور سعودی عرب کی طرف مذہبی انتہا پسندی کو پروان چڑھانے کے لئے آنے والے انسان دشمن پیسوں کی وجہ سے دہشت کا شکار ہوگئی ہے۔ ایک ہزار جانوں کی قربانی دینے کے باوجود ہزارہ قوم نے ایک گولی چلائے بغیر اپنے مسئلے کو کیسے پوری دنیا کے سامنے اجا گر کیا؟ کون کہتا ہے کہ پاکستان یا بلوچستان میں پر امن تبدیلی نہیں آسکتی؟ کیا ہزاروں نے دو ہفتوں میں یہ سب کچھ کرکے نہیں دیکھا یا؟ جی ہاں لیکن یہ سب کچھ کیسے ممکن ہوا؟ اس کا صرف ایک سادہ سا جواب ہے اور وہ ہےاتحاد ویک جہتی۔ہرگھر اور قبیلے میں لڑائی جھگڑے ہوتے ہیں لیکن جب بات ان کی قومی بقا پر آگئی تو انھوں نے ایک دوسرے کا ’’ ایجنٹ‘‘، ’’ غدار‘‘ اور ’’ ہزارہ دشمن‘‘ کہہ کر اپنے دشمن کو فائد ہ نہیں پہنچایا۔ گھریلو اختلافات کو ظاہر کرکے ہزاروں نے اپنے دشمن کو اپنی چھوٹی سے چھوٹی کمزوری نہیں دیکھائی۔جب احتجاج کی باری آئی تو ان کی ماوں، بہنوں ، بچوں اور بوڑھوں نے ہلاک شدگاں کی لاشیں لے کر کوئٹہ کی بد ترین سردی میں کئی دن اور راتوں تک مظاہرے کئے۔ جب قومیں اس حد تک متحد ہوں انھیں دنیا کی کوئی جھنگوئی لشکر شکست نہیں دے سکتی ۔ دوسری طرف نظریں ڈالیئے۔ بلوچستان میں گذشتہ دس سالوں میں بلوچوں پر کون کون سے مظالم نہیں ڈالے گئے؟ کیا ایشیا کے کسی بھی خطے میں اتنے لوگ ایک ساتھ لاپتہ ہیں جتنے بلوچستان سے لاپتہ ہوئے ہیں؟ کیا اکیسویں صدی میں کہیں بھی کسی قو م کی نسل کشی اس دیدا دلیری کی ساتھ کی جارہی ہے کہ مسخ شدہ لاشوں کے ساتھ پرچیاں ڈال کر انھیں ’’عید کا تحفہ‘‘ سمجھ کر بیج دیا جائے۔ کیا دنیا میں کوئی خطہ ایسا بھی ہے جس کے معدنی وسائل پر دنیا کی دارلحکومتوں میں معائدے طے پائیں اور عالمی تھنک ٹھینکس میں ان معاہدات کے حوالے سے بحث و مباحثہ ہو اور خود اس سرزمین پر انسان افریقی ممالک سے بھی بد ترین غربت کی زندگی بسر کررہےہوں؟ اس کی وجہ یہ ہے کہ بلوچ اپنے اوپر ہونے والے مظالم پر کبھی ایک بن کر نہیں اٹھ سکے؟ کیا بی این پی ، این پی، جے ڈبلیو پی، بی این ایم ، بی آر پی نے کبھی یہ سوچا کہ آزادی اور خود مختاری پر ہمارا اختلاف رائے تو ہوسکتا ہے لیکن مسخ شدہ لاشوں کی برآمدگی ، فوجی آپریشن تو ہمارا قومی مسئلہ ہے؟ کیا دوہزار چھ کو قلات جرگہ کے بعد بلوچ رہنماوں نے دنیا کے کسی بھی کونے میں مل بیٹھ کر ایک پریس کانفرنس کی؟ کیا بلوچ رہنما کسی ایک بات پر متفق ہوسکتے؟ شاید بلوچوں اور ہزاروں میں بنیادی فرق یہ ہے کہ ان کے پاس’’ توار‘‘ اور ’’انتخاب ‘‘جیسے اخبار نہیں ہیں اور انھیں اخباری بیان بازی کا شوق نہیں لگا ہے یا ایسا بھی ہوسکتا ہے کہ انھیں پتہ ہے کہ قومیں اپنی جنگیں صرف اخباری بیان بازی کے ذریعے نہیں لڑتی ہیں۔کاش بلوچ کسی ایک مسئلے پرایک ہوتے۔ لاپتہ افراد کو حیربیار مری اور برہمداغ بگٹی کے فریڈم چارٹر سے کوئی غر ض نا اختر مینگل کی سپریم کورٹ سے اور نہ ہی ڈاکٹر مالک کی پارلیمنٹ سے۔ انھیں تو صرف اس بات سے غرض ہے کہ وہ جلد از جلد بازیا ب ہوکر اپنے خاندانوں سے ملیں۔ ڈیرہ بگٹی اور کوہلو میں فوجی آپریشن کی وجہ سے لاکھوں لوگ بے گھر ہوئے لیکن ان تمام سیاسی رہنماوں کی ذاتی آنا ، حسد اور نااتفاقی نے انھیں ایک دن بھی اکھٹے نہیں ہونے دیا۔گذشتہ ایک دہائی میں بلوچ رہنماوں اور کارکناں نے اپنی نصف سے زیادہ توجہ وتوانائی ایک دوسرے کی ٹانگ کھینچنے ، غداری اور مخبری کے فتوے لگانے میں ضائع کئے۔ سوال یہ پیدا ہوتا ہے کہ اب ہوگا کیا ؟ بلوچ سیاست دانوں کے رویے اس وقت تبدیل ہوں گے جب ماما قدیر یہ مطالبہ کریں گے کہ ’’توار‘‘ اخبار میں ان کے قصیدے لکھنے یا لکھوانے کے بجائے بلوچ رہنما ان کا شانہ بشانہ اسی طرح گورنر ہاوس اور وزیراعلیٰ ہاوس کا محاصرہ کریں جس طرح ہزاروں نے کیا تھا۔ جب لاپتہ ہونے والوں کے بچے انھیں کہیں کہ آپ اپنی سیاست شوق سے کریں اور اپنی انا کی پرستش بھی لیکن کم از کم حصول انصاف میں تو ہمارے ساتھ رئیں۔ بلوچوں کے لئے موقع ہے کہ وہ ہزاروں کے اتحاد ویکجہتی سے سبق سیکھیں ۔ بی بی سی اردو کا کہنا ہے کہ دو لاکھ کے قریب ہزارہ کوئٹہ چھوڑنے پر مجبور ہوئے ہیں اور شاید باقی بچارے بھی بلوچستان اور پاکستان چھوڑنے پر مجبور ہوں لیکن میں سمجھتا ہوں کہ اگر دنیا کے کسی کونے (مثلاً آسٹریلیا ) میں چند ہزار ہزارے بھی باقی رئیں گےیہ قوم یہودیوں کی طرح ایک بار پھر ابھر ےگی۔( میں یہودیوں کا بڑا احترام کرتا ہوں لہذہ مذہبی سوچ رکھنے والے لوگ اس مشابہت پر ناراض نہ ہوں۔ میں یہودیوں کو ایک کامیاب اور گر کر اٹھنے والی سمجھ دار قوم تصور کرتا ہوں) ۔ ہزاروں کے حوالے سے میں یہ بات اس لیئے تحریر کر رہا ہوں کہ مجھے یہ کہنے کی ضرورت نہ پڑے کہ ’’میر ی بات لکھ کر یاد رکھیں‘‘۔ اس منظم قوم کے بچے آج سےچند سال بعد بڑے ہوں گے اور ان میں سے عالمی شہرت کے سائنس دان اور مصنفیں و منصفیں پیدا ہوں گے کیوں کہ یہ قوم متحد ہے اور اور دنیا میں متحد و منظم لوگوں کو دنیا کی کوئی طاقت جھکا نہیں سکی ہے۔ اور جو قومیں تقسیم در تقسیم رہتی ہیں انھیں دنیا کی کوئی قوت اکھٹی نہیں رکھ سکتی ========== علامہ عارف واحدی نے کہا ہے کہ سوشل میڈیا پر ملی وحدت کے خلاف کام کرنے والے ملت کی خدمت نہیں کر رہے اور یہ کام کسی طور پر بھی شرعاً جائز نہیں ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ بڑے عرصہ بعد قوم میں وحدت پیدا ہوئی ہے جس پر دشمن پریشان ہے، لہٰذا کوئی بھی شخص خواہ اس کا کسی بھی تنظیم سے تعلق ہو اسے یہ حق نہیں پہنچتا کہ وہ کسی بھی شیعہ شخصیت، علماء کرام اور تنظیمی افراد کے خلاف بدزبانی کرے یا منفی پروپیگنڈا کرے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ ہم ان تمام افراد کی مذمت کرتے ہیں جو تنظیمی خول میں رہ کر کسی دوسری تنظیم یا شخصیت کے خلاف پروپیگنڈا کرتے ہیں۔ خفیہ ایجنسیوں کے تین سو اہلکار تبدیل کرنے کا فیصلہ bbc urdu news ============ Insight: Spiral of Karachi killings widens Pakistan's sectarian divide Sat, Feb 23 20:01 PM EST 1 of 3 By Matthew Green KARACHI (Reuters) - When Aurangzeb Farooqi survived an attempt on his life that left six of his bodyguards dead and a six-inch bullet wound in his thigh, the Pakistani cleric lost little time in turning the narrow escape to his advantage. Recovering in hospital after the ambush on his convoy in Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital, the radical Sunni Muslim ideologue was composed enough to exhort his followers to close ranks against the city's Shi'ites. "Enemies should listen to this: my task now is Sunni awakening," Farooqi said in remarks captured on video shortly after a dozen gunmen opened fire on his double-cabin pick-up truck on December 25.

"I will make Sunnis so powerful against Shi'ites that no Sunni will even want to shake hands with a Shi'ite," he said, propped up in bed on emergency-room pillows. "They will die their own deaths, we won't have to kill them."

Such is the kind of speech that chills members of Pakistan's Shi'ite minority, braced for a new chapter of persecution following a series of bombings that have killed almost 200 people in the city of Quetta since the beginning of the year. While the Quetta carnage grabbed world attention, a Reuters inquiry into a lesser known spate of murders in Karachi, a much bigger conurbation, suggests the violence is taking on a volatile new dimension as a small number of Shi'ites fight back. Pakistan's Western allies have traditionally been fixated on the challenge posed to the brittle, nuclear-armed state by Taliban militants battling the army in the bleakly spectacular highlands on the Afghan frontier. But a cycle of tit-for-tat killings on the streets of Karachi points to a new type of threat: a campaign by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and allied Pakistani anti-Shi'ite groups to rip open sectarian fault-lines in the city of 18 million people. Police suspect LeJ, which claimed responsibility for the Quetta blasts, and its sympathizers may also be the driving force behind the murder of more than 80 Shi'ites in Karachi in the past six months, including doctors, bankers and teachers. In turn, a number of hardline Sunni clerics who share Farooqi's suspicion of the Shi'ite sect have been killed in drive-by shootings or barely survived apparent revenge attacks. Dozens of Farooqi's followers have also been shot dead. Discerning the motives for any one killing is murky work in Karachi, where multiple armed factions are locked in a perpetual all-against-all turf war, but detectives suspect an emerging Shi'ite group known as the Mehdi Force is behind some of the attacks on Farooqi's men. While beleaguered secularists and their Western friends hope Pakistan will mature into a more confident democracy at general elections due in May, the spiral of killings in Karachi, a microcosm of the country's diversity, suggests the polarizing forces of intolerance are gaining ground. "The divide is getting much bigger between Shia and Sunni. You have to pick sides now," said Sundus Rasheed, who works at a radio station in Karachi. "I've never experienced this much hatred in Pakistan." Once the proud wearer of a silver Shi'ite amulet her mother gave her to hang around her neck, Rasheed now tucks away the charm, fearing it might serve not as protection, but mark her as a target. "INFIDELS" Fully recovered from the assassination attempt, Farooqi can be found in the cramped upstairs office of an Islamic seminary tucked in a side-street in Karachi's gritty Landhi neighborhood, an industrial zone in the east of the city. On a rooftop shielded by a corrugated iron canopy, dozens of boys wearing skull caps sit cross-legged on prayer mats, imbibing a strict version of the Deobandi school of Sunni Islam that inspires both Farooqi and the foot-soldiers of LeJ.

"We say Shias are infidels. We say this on the basis of reason and arguments," Farooqi, a wiry, intense man with a wispy beard and cascade of shoulder-length curls, told Reuters. "I want to be called to the Supreme Court so that I can prove using their own books that they are not Muslims."

Farooqi, who cradled bejeweled prayer beads as he spoke, is the Karachi head of a Deobandi organization called Ahle Sunnat wal Jama'at. That is the new name for Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, a forerunner banned in 2002 in a wider crackdown on militancy by Pakistan's then army ruler, General Pervez Musharraf. Farooqi says he opposes violence and denies any link to LeJ, but security officials believe his supporters are broadly aligned with the heavily armed group, whose leaders deem murdering Shi'ites an act of piety. In the past year, LeJ has prosecuted its campaign with renewed gusto, emboldened by the release of Malik Ishaq, one of its founders, who was freed after spending 14 years in jail in July, 2011. Often pictured wearing a celebratory garland of pink flowers, Ishaq has since appeared at gatherings of supporters in Karachi and other cities. In diverse corners of Pakistan, LeJ's cadres have bombed targets from mosques to snooker halls; yanked passengers off buses and shot them, and posted a video of themselves beheading a pair of trussed-up captives with a knife. Nobody knows exactly how many Shi'ites there are in Pakistan -- estimates ranging from four to 20 percent of the population of 180 million underscore the uncertainty. What is clear is that they are dying faster than ever. At least 400 were killed last year, many from the ethnic Hazara minority in Quetta, according to Human Rights Watch, and some say the figure is far higher. Pakistani officials suspect regional powers are stoking the fire, with donors in Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-dominated Gulf countries funding LeJ, while Shi'ite organizations turn to Iran. Whatever factors are driving the violence, the state's ambivalent response has raised questions over the degree of tolerance for LeJ by elements in the security establishment, which has a long history of nurturing Deobandi proxies. Under pressure in the wake of the Quetta bombings, police arrested Ishaq at his home in the eastern Punjab province on Friday under a colonial-era public order law. But in Karachi, Farooqi and his thousands of followers project a new aura of confidence. Crowds of angry men chant "Shia infidel! Shia infidel" at rallies and burn effigies while clerics pour scorn on the sect from mosque loudspeakers after Friday prayers. A rash of graffiti hails Farooqi as a savior. Over glasses of milky tea, he explained that his goal was to convince the government to declare Shi'ites non-Muslims, as it did to the Ahmadiyya sect in 1974, as a first step towards ostracizing the community and banning a number of their books. "When someone is socially boycotted, he becomes disappointed and isolated. He realizes that his beliefs are not right, that people hate him," Farooqi said. "What I'm saying is that killing them is not the solution. Let's talk, let's debate and convince people that they are wrong." CODENAME "SHAHEED" Not far from Farooqi's seminary, in the winding lanes of the rough-and-tumble Malir quarter, Shi'ite leaders are kindling an awakening of their own. A gleaming metallic chandelier dangles from the mirrored archway of a half-completed mosque rising near the modest offices of Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslemeen - known as MWM - a vocal Shi'ite party that has emerged to challenge Farooqi's ascent. In an upstairs room, Ejaz Hussain Bahashti, an MWM leader clad in a white turban and black cloak, exhorts a gaggle of women activists to persuade their neighbors to join the cause. Seated beneath a portrait of Ayatollah Khomeini, the Shi'ite cleric who led the 1979 Iranian revolution, Bahashti said his organization would not succumb to what he sees as a plan by LeJ to provoke sectarian conflict. "In our sect, if we are being killed we are not supposed to carry out reprisal attacks," he told Reuters. "If we decided to take up arms, then no part of the country would be spared from terrorism - but it's forbidden." The MWM played a big role in sit-ins that paralyzed parts of Karachi and dozens of other towns to protest against the Quetta bombings - the biggest Shi'ite demonstrations in years. But police suspect that some in the sect have chosen a less peaceful path. Detectives believe the small Shi'ite Mehdi Force group, comprised of about 20 active members in Karachi, is behind several of the attacks on Deobandi clerics and their followers. The underground network is led by a hardened militant codenamed "Shaheed", or martyr, who recruits eager but unseasoned middle-class volunteers who compensate for their lack of numbers by stalking high-profile targets. "They don't have a background in terrorism, but after the Shia killings started they joined the group and they tried to settle the score," said Superintendent of Police Raja Umar Khattab. "They kill clerics." In November, suspected Mehdi Force gunmen opened fire at a tea shop near the Ahsan-ul-Uloom seminary, where Farooqi has a following, killing six students. A scholar from the madrasa was shot dead the next month, another student killed in January. "It was definitely a reaction, Shias have never gone on the offensive on their own," said Deputy Inspector-General Shahid Hayat. According to the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee, a Karachi residents' group, some 68 members of Farooqi's Ahle Sunnat wal Jama'at and 85 Shi'ites were killed in the city from early September to February 19. Police caution that it can be difficult to discern who is killing who in a vast metropolis where an array of political factions and gangs are vying for influence. A suspect has yet to be named, for example, in the slaying of two Deobandi clerics and a student in January whose killer was caught on CCTV firing at point blank range then fleeing on a motorbike. Some in Karachi question whether well-connected Shi'ites within the city's dominant political party, the Muttahida Quami Movement, which commands a formidable force of gunmen, may have had a hand in some of the more sophisticated attacks, or whether rival Sunni factions may also be involved. Despite the growing body count, Karachi can still draw on a store of tolerance. Some Sunnis made a point of attending the Shi'ite protests - a reminder that Farooqi's adherents are themselves a minority. Yet as Karachi's murder rate sets new records, the dynamics that have kept the city's conflicts within limits are being tested. In the headquarters of an ambulance service founded by Abdul Sattar Edhi, once nominated for a Nobel Prize for devoting his life to Karachi's poor, controllers are busier than ever dispatching crews to ferry shooting victims to the morgue. "The best religion of all is humanity," said Edhi, who is in his 80s, surveying the chaotic parade of street life from a chair on the pavement outside. "If religion doesn't have humanity, then it is useless." (Editing by Robert Birsel) ===== Pakistan’s Hazaras take up arms over attacks Police planni­ng to close entran­ces to Hazara Town, and recrui­t 200 young Hazara­s to patrol their own areas. By AFP Published: February 28, 2013 A Pakistani Hazara resident walking through debris from a bombing on February 16 which killed 89 Shia Muslims in Quetta. PHOTO: AFP QUETTA: Ismatullah holds an AK-47 and checks vehicles on the road. “Enough is enough. We have no trust in the security forces anymore and we’ll protect our community ourselves,” says the teenage Shia student. Extremist bombers killed nearly 200 people in Quetta in the two worst bomb attacks to strike Shia Muslims from the minority Hazara community, just weeks apart on January 10 and February 16. After each attack, thousands of Hazaras, including women and children, camped out in the bitter cold demanding that the army step in to protect them. The government brokered an end to the protests, but refused to mobilise the troops. Outlawed extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) claimed responsibility and has threatened to exterminate all Shias. Few believe that dozens of men rounded up after the bomb attacks will ever be brought to justice. The Supreme Court and rights groups accuse the authorities of failing to protect Hazaras and now young men like 18-year-old Ismatullah are taking up arms to defend themselves and their families. Ismatullah’s best friend was shot dead last June near Hazara Town. He lost more friends when suicide bombers flattened a snooker hall on January 10 and a massive bomb hidden in a water tanker destroyed a market on February 16. “I couldn’t control myself when I saw scattered pieces of so many children and women of our community,” said the first year college student. “Our community is only interested in education and business, but terrorists have forced us to take up whatever arms we have and take to the streets for our own security.” At the moment they operate as volunteers under the name, Syedul- hohada Scouts, registered as part of the Balochistan Scouts Association, an affiliate of the worldwide scouting movement. For years, young men like Ismatullah have volunteered to protect sensitive events, such as religious processions during the holy month of Muharram. But their chairman says the threat is now so great that they should be paid full time as an auxiliary to government security forces. “We have around 200 young men who perform security duties on specific occasions, but most of them are students and workers, and can’t work full-time,” said Syed Zaman, chairman of the Hazara Scouts. “We are trying to make a system to start their salaries for permanent deployment and also coordinate with the security agencies. Hopefully, we will be able to form a regular force… and salaries in a month,” he said. Scouts president Ghulam Haider said it was a mistake to rely on government security when the first of two suicide bombers struck at the snooker hall in the Alamdar Road neighbourhood. “It resulted in another bomb blast minutes after the first one and we lost many more people,” Haider told AFP. “We didn’t want that to happen again, so immediately after the blast on February 16, we armed our youth to man the streets and entry points, which helped to prevent the chances of a second attack,” he claimed. Hazara Town, where the market was bombed, is very exposed, in the shadow of the Chiltan mountains and near the bypass which links the Afghan border town of Chaman to Karachi. While paramilitary Frontier Corps and police patrol the main approaches, they are not visible inside the neighbourhood. “Security agencies can’t protect us. They don’t know the area because most of them come from outside Quetta. So we’re planning to set up our own permanent posts inside our areas,” said Haider. The police, however, have their doubts. “If we start private policing by arming one particular community, it will set the wrong precedent,” said Fiaz Ahmed Sunbal, head of Quetta police operations. He claimed police were planning to close entrances to Hazara Town, and would recruit 200 young Hazaras to patrol their own areas. Haider says closing off roads will isolate the community but welcomed the recruitment of Hazara Scouts as a long-term solution. Others warn that time is running out. “If they don’t do anything and something happens again, we will take up guns and go out and kill our opponents. There will be open war,” said 26-year-old shopkeeper Zahid Ali. ============== Twin blasts in Karachi: Live updates Twin blasts in Abbas Town leave two dead and 18 injure­d. By Web DeskPublished: March 3, 2013 PHOTO: EXPRESS .KARACHI: Twin blasts occurred on Sunday evening in Abbas Town, Karachi, which left two dead and 18 injured, Express News reported. The blasts took place on Abul Hasan Isphani Road, in the middle of a residential area. Both blasts occured at the entrance of Iqra City. Women and children are among the injured. This is the second blast that has shaken Abbas Town in the span of four months. A blast took place in November of last year near an Imambargah in Abbas town, which killed two people and injured over a dozen men, including two Rangers personnel. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7:35pm Women and children were reported to be among those injured in the blasts. Two buildings were completely destroyed during the explosions. The residents of the area are predominantly Shia Muslims. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7:28pm The process of shifting the injured to hospitals is still ongoing, Express News reports. The Bomb Disposal Squad is still on their way to the site to determine the cause of the blasts. Police and security officials have cordoned off the area. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7:20pm Two people have died and 18 have been injured, Express News reports. All of those injured in the blasts have not yet been shifted to hospitals. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7:10pm A second blast was heard in Abbas Town. Windows of nearby buildings reportedly damaged. The blasts were reported to have occurred on Abul Hasan Isphani Road. Witnesses reported seeing a cloud of smoke rising from the site of the blasts. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7:00pm The first blast was heard in Abbas Town. Initial reports suggest that it was due to a planted IED. Rescue teams were alerted and had left for the site. ================

Fear in Karachi: Factory executive gunned down in target killing

Fear in Karachi: Factory executive gunned down in target killing By Our Correspondent Published: February 20, 2013 SHO revealed that the factory was bankrupt and the potential motive could be related to that. PHOTO: FILE KARACHI: Target killings in Pakistan’s commercial capital of Karachi continued unabated on Tuesday, claiming a further eight lives, including a top executive of a factory. Arshad Pervez, the Managing Director of Pakistan Machine Tool Factory was killed and the factory’s general manager Kashif and the driver were wounded when unidentified gunmen fired on his car in Behns Colony within the limits of Shah Latif police station. The incident occurred as they were driving to Pervez’s home in Gulistan-e-Jauhar. Station House Officer (SHO) Ali Hassan Sheikh, quoting Kashif and the driver, said that the attackers were on a motorcycle. Sheikh added that Pervez was shot once in the chest and the bullet traveling across his body and striking Kashif’s arm. The SHO refused to confirm if the killers were extortionists, saying that Pervez was the target, while the police had not received any complaints about extortion threats. He revealed that the factory was bankrupt and the potential motive could be related to that. No arrests have been made. 4 people killed in Shah Latif, Sharifabad Goth Separately, at least four people were shot dead and four others wounded in shooting incidents in Shah Latif and Sharifabad Goth. The deceased were identified as Saeed Khan, Shah Jahan, Mohammad Siddiq and Arshad. The injured were identified as Zeeshan, Jawwad, Taufeeq and Mohammad Ali. Police officials said that a lone criminal, Ismail, was responsible, adding that he first killed his brother Saeed at his cell phone shop in Amin Mobile Market in Shah Latif and wounded Zeeshan and Jawwad. Ismail continued his killing spree in Sharafi Goth where he resorted to indiscriminate firing on shops on Moinabad road, killing Shah Jahan, Arshad and Siddiq and injuring Taufeeq and Ali. Several people gathered at the site and tried to catch the killer. But a heavy contingent of police reached the site and managed to rescue him from the mob. Shia man gunned down A man belonging to the Shia community, Safdar Ali Kazmi, was killed near Chohta Gate within the limits of the Airport police. He was on his way to the sit-in protest in the airport area when two armed men on motorcycle targeted him. Elderly man killed Ejaz Ahmed Siddiqui, an elderly man, was shot dead in Awami Colony. Siddiqui was returning from his sister’s house when two armed men on a motorcycle opened fire on his car. 1 MQM worker killed, 1 injured In yet another targeted attack, a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) worker was gunned down in Orangi Town. Tauqeer Ashrafi was sitting at a meat shop when he came under attack by two armed men. Asim Jafari, another MQM worker belonging to the Shia community was injured in Nazimabad area. Three more people were also injured in a targeted attack in Baldia Town. Published in The Express Tribune, February 20th, 2013.

Pakistan hands management of strategic Gwadar port to China

Pakistan hands management of strategic Gwadar port to China Mon, Feb 18 11:44 AM EST ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - China took over management on Monday of Pakistan's Gwadar port, en route to key Hormuz Straits oil shipping lanes, in a move which has prompted nerves in India about its fellow Asian giant's growing strategic clout. China financed more than 80 percent of the $248 million development cost of the port on the Arabian Sea, as part of a plan to open up an energy and trade corridor from the Gulf, across Pakistan to western China. When complete, the port could be used by the Chinese Navy, analysts say, and Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony told reporters on February 6 that Chinese control of the port was "a matter of concern." Indian policy-makers are wary of a string of strategically located ports being built by Chinese companies in its neighborhood, as India beefs up its military clout to compete. China has also funded ports in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, and Chittagong in Bangladesh, both India's neighbors. After a signing ceremony on Monday, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said he hoped Gwadar would soon be a "hub of trade and commerce in the region". In January, Pakistan's cabinet approved the transfer of Gwadar port from Singapore's PSA International to Chinese Overseas Port Holdings Limited. (Editing by Jason Webb) PAKISTANI NATION DESERVES AN ANSWER TO THESE INTRIGUING QUESTIONS ? [ 1 ] :Gwader Port----handed over to the Chinese. Cost : UNKNOWN----Kickback: UNKNOWN History : Does Zardari government approve any deal without a kickback ? Reason: To get advance payment to cover IMF loan default for this year. Next: When Gwader defaults ? Levying Gwader means what? Would there be a takeover of the property by a neighbor. Past: when and where in the past was a Chinese loan expunged ? [ 2 ] : Iran Pakistan Gas Pipeline: Though the price of Turkmenistan Pakistan gas pipeline (TAPI) was as cheap as this, however Pakistan irked the U.S. and the GCC (Arabs) by signing the deal. Now, when Pakistan's foreign and the defense policies have taken a U-TURN, just like removing the name of the Quaid e Azam from an Islamabad's University while replacing it with Bhutto Dynasty, what this nation should EXPECT ? A promise that expelling U.S. and Saudi influence would mean: 1. No more DRONE ATTACKS because the Chinese will PROTECT Pakistan ? 2. Cheaper Oil and Gasoline prices, because Iran will provide it ? 3. No more load shedding because of Iranian power supply at a cheaper rate. 4. Improved economic conditions because of the support of a TESTED friend (though no one knows when that test took place) ? 5. Enhanced job opportunities for the Pakistani youth because of huge number of openings through these projects ? 6. Opening up of job and business opportunities for Pakistanis in Iran and China just like Saudi Arabia and the U.S. ? 7. Border and internal threats to be removed through Chinese and Iranian support. However, this is what will happen: 1. DRONE ATTACKS will continue, and the severity will enhance. 2. Dollar Rupee exchange rate will double to Rs 200 a dollar. 3. Gasoline and commodity prices will increase. 4. Additional restrictions to Jobs and business opportunities. 5. Pakistan will go under international isolation. 6. FATA and Durand Line will be disputed through resolutions in the U.N. Security Council. 7. India will get closer to the Arab State and the U.S. THIS SITUATION WILL BECOME ALMOST IRREVERSIBLE TO SALVAGE PAKISTAN, ONCE CHINA ENTERS THE TERRITORIAL WATERS OF PAKISTAN. Good Luck Pakistan & the Zardari Regime. You sold Pakistan at a very cheap price !

115 killed, 157 injured in blast on Kirani Road in Quetta

47 killed, 157 injured in blast on Kirani Road in Quetta Baloch­istan provin­cial home secret­ary confir­ms that women and childr­en are among the dead. By Web Desk / Reuters / AFP Published: February 16, 2013 Contest agreements reached over Reko Diq and Gwadar deep sea port. QUETTA: At least 47 people were killed and over 157 injured in a blast on Kariani Road in Quetta on Saturday, Express News has reported. The area is reported to be located near Hazara Town. Sources told Express News that women and children are also amongst the casualties. Security forces and the Bomb Disposal Squad have cordoned off the area, fearing another blast. A search operation has also been launched. The relief teams were allowed in only after the bomb site was cleared. Officials said most of the dead were members of Hazara shia minority. Due to lack of rescue services, people are moving the injured victims to hospitals on Alamdar road by themselves. Emergency has been declared at Civil, Civil-Military Hospital and Bolan Medical Complex (BMC) hospitals. The injured have been shifted the CMH where many of them are reportedly in serious condition. “Dozens of people were also injured. We have announced an emergency in hospitals,” Provincial home secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani said. “It was a remote-controlled bomb,” DIG police Wazir Khan Nasir told AFP. The bomb was planted in a vehicle that was parked near a school and market on Kirani road. The school hosts language classes in the evening, while the market is thronged by people looking to purchase groceries. Durrani confirmed the incident and told AFP that the dead included women and children. Majlis Wahatul Muslemeen has announced to observed strike tomorrow as a protest against the Quetta’s blast. Read more: balochistancrisis , shiakilling . ========== Pakistan faces growing anger over sectarian bombings Sun, Feb 17 04:06 AM EST 1 of 3 By Gul Yousufzai QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan's unpopular government, which is gearing up for elections expected within months, came under fire on Sunday for failing to improve security after a sectarian bombing in the city of Quetta killed 80 people. The nuclear-armed country's leaders have done little to contain hardline Sunni Muslim groups which have stepped up a campaign of bombings and assassinations of minority Shi'ites. On Saturday, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) claimed responsibility for the attack in Quetta, which deepened suspicions among Shi'ites that Pakistan's intelligence agencies were turning a blind eye to the bloodshed or even supporting Sunni extremists. "The terrorist attack on the Hazara Shi'ite community in Quetta is a failure of the intelligence and security forces," Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi, governor of Baluchistan province, said while touring a hospital. "We had given a free hand to security (forces) to take action against terrorist and extremist groups, but despite that the Quetta incident took place." The death toll from Saturday's bombing rose overnight to 80, with most of the casualties in the main bazaar of the town, capital of Baluchistan, near the border with Afghanistan. Most of the dead were Hazaras, a Shi'ite ethnic group. A senior security official said the figure could rise as 20 people were critically wounded. "The government knows exactly who is doing what and who is behind all this," said Mohammad Imran, a local trader. "If the government wants (to prevent it), no one can take even a kitchen knife into any market." POVERTY, CORRUPTION, POWER CUTS Frustrations with the government have already been growing over its failure to tackle poverty, corruption and power cuts. LeJ has also said it was behind a bombing last month in Quetta which killed nearly 100 people, one of Pakistan's worst sectarian attacks. After that attack, Shi'ite leaders called on Pakistan's military to take over security in Quetta and take on the LeJ. Growing sectarian violence is piling pressure on the government, which already faces a Taliban insurgency, to deliver stability. "This is a case of barbarity and heartlessness. This is happening because we are divided and not supporting each other," said Malik Afzal, a Sunni student. "Unless we decide to unite, we will continue to get killed. Today they (Shi'ites) have died. Tomorrow we (Sunni Muslims) will die. The next day, others will get killed." Shi'ite political organisations have called for a strike in Quetta to protest against the latest carnage. Many shops and bazaars were closed. Relatives of the wounded responded for an appeal for blood made by hospitals. Pakistani intelligence officials say extremist groups, led by LeJ, want to destablise the South Asian nation and pave the way for a Sunni theocracy in the strategic U.S. ally More than 400 Shi'ites were killed in Pakistan last year, many by hitmen or bombs. Some hardline Shi'ite groups have struck back by killing Sunni clerics. The schism between Sunnis and Shi'ites developed after the Prophet Muhammad died in 632 when his followers could not agree on a successor. (Reporting by Gul Yousufzai; Editing by Ron Popeski)