CIA man in Pakistan may not have immunity

A former State Department lawyer says real questions remain about the legal status of Raymond Davis

By Justin Elliott

Supporters of Pakistani religious party Jamat-e-Islami attend a rally against Raymond Allen Davis in Lahore, Pakistan.

(UPDATED) An expert who previously worked in a key State Department diplomatic affairs position is questioning the Obama administration’s claim that Raymond Davis, the American currently imprisoned in Pakistan after killing two men, has diplomatic immunity.

A specialist in diplomatic law, Ron Mlotek served for 25 years as legal counsel at the State Department Office of Foreign Missions, which regulates foreign missions in the United States. In an interview with Salon, Mlotek said there remain crucial unanswered questions in the case, and that the question of Davis’ immunity is not nearly as clear-cut as the administration has argued.

“On the basis of what has been publicly reported, it appears to me that the State Department is relying on legal smoke and mirrors,” says Mlotek, who retired two years ago. In his former position, Mlotek dealt with many cases of alleged crimes by foreign representatives in the United States.

Davis was recently revealed to be a former Blackwater contractor working for the CIA in Pakistan, though it turns out those are not the most relevant facts when it comes to determining whether he has immunity.

Davis shot and killed two men in disputed circumstances while driving in the eastern city of Lahore last month; the U.S. maintains he acted in self-defense. An American vehicle that was dispatched from the “safe house” where Davis was living in Lahore then struck and killed a Pakistani bystander while rushing to the scene to pick up Davis. Subsequently, the wife of one of the slain men committed suicide. The case has sparked large protests in Pakistan.

Davis was arrested after the incident and has been held in Lahore while a court considers his claim of immunity. The Obama administration has argued that Davis’ detainment is not permitted because he has full diplomatic immunity — a position that, if he does enjoy such immunity, would be correct, according to Mlotek.

So the key questions are: How does one get full diplomatic immunity, and does Davis have it?

There are two relevant international treaties to consider: the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (1963) and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961).

When a diplomatic officer (someone who works at the embassy) or a consular officer (someone who works at a consulate) is dispatched to a foreign country, the United States informs the so-called “receiving state” that the officer is arriving and describes his or her job at the embassy or consulate. The mode of official communication is known as a “diplomatic note.” After getting the notification, the receiving state — in this case Pakistan — typically recognizes the person as a diplomatic officer or a consular officer and issues some kind of diplomatic ID card or notice of recognition.

Diplomatic officers get full immunity, while consular officers get only limited “official acts immunity.” This difference is crucial in Davis’ case. That’s because the administration has changed its story about Davis’ status. In late January, the administration described Davis as “a staff member of the U.S. Consulate General in Lahore.” Later on, they insisted that Pakistan had been officially informed in early 2010 that Davis was “a member of the administrative and technical staff” at the embassy.

Diplomatic officers who work at the embassy get absolute immunity, meaning, according to Mlotek, that they “could in theory pull out a gun and shoot down a family in cold blood and walk away and the foreign government could not lay a finger on them.” But consular officers have a lesser class of immunity that covers only actions that are part of their official duties.

“Davis’ official duties almost certainly would not have involved using an unregistered pistol against Pakistani civilians,” says Mlotek.

But, in a background briefing this week, an unnamed administration official seemed to claim that the U.S.informed Pakistan that Davis worked for the embassy in Islamabad and therefore that he has full immunity. The specifics of what the U.S. told Pakistan in 2010 are not clear. I’ve asked the State Department for more information on this and will update this post if I hear back.

Assuming what the administration is now claiming is true, there is a second set of potential flaws in the claim of full immunity, according to Mlotek. That is, if the U.S. informed Pakistan in 2010 that Davis was working at the Islamabad embassy, why was he actually working in Lahore?

Mlotek summarizes the potential problem:

“Suppose we not only lie about the fact that he’s a spy, but we lie about the fact that he has anything to do with the embassy in Islamabad. And then, to top it all off, not only is he not in Islamabad, he’s in Lahore. He’s not even working in the premises of the consulate. He’s working in a secret facility that we have not announced. The Vienna Convention specifically obligates the U.S. to tell Pakistan about where their premises are. And not only that, he’s carrying a weapon — we didn’t tell the Pakistanis that,” Mlotek says. “At what point do you say the diplomatic note was not valid?”

Mlotek also says a crucial concern when he worked at the Office of Foreign Missions was the “reciprocity angle.”

“What if the other guys did the same thing here? Would the U.S. allow the Pakistani agent to go free?”

UPDATE: State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson tells me that the January 2010 diplomatic note regarding Davis will not be made publicly available. “We don’t release diplomatic communications,” she said.

Justin Elliott is a Salon reporter. Reach him by email at jelliott@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @ElliottJustin More: Justin Elliott

Intelligence assets: After Davis’ arrest, US operatives leaving Pakistan

By Asad Kharal

LAHORE: At least 30 suspected covert American operatives have suspended their activities in Pakistan and 12 have already left the country, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The foreign ministry states that there are 851 Americans with diplomatic immunity currently in Pakistan, of whom 297 are not working in a diplomatic capacity. PHOTO: FILE

In the aftermath of the shootings in Lahore on January 27 by suspected CIA operative Raymond Davis, intelligence agencies in Pakistan began scrutinising records of the Americans living in Pakistan and discovered several discrepancies, causing many suspected American operatives to maintain a low profile and others to leave the country altogether.

The foreign ministry states that there are 851 Americans with diplomatic immunity currently in Pakistan, of whom 297 are not working in a diplomatic capacity. However, sources at the interior ministry put the number of non-diplomats at 414. The majority of these ‘special Americans’ (as the ministry refers to them) are concentrated in Islamabad, with some also residing in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar. Interior ministry records show that most of the “special Americans” live in upscale neighbourhoods in Islamabad and Lahore, with smaller presences in Karachi and Peshawar.

Most of the ‘special Americans’ are suspected of being operatives of US intelligence agencies who are on covert missions in Pakistan, reporting to the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), according to sources familiar with the situation.

Counter-intelligence agencies in Pakistan have long suspected a covert US espionage presence in Pakistan. The first internal investigation into suspicious activities by American citizens in the country was conducted in March 2009, which revealed some significant gaps in the implementation of laws concerning foreign citizens.

Under the Foreigners Act of 1946, foreign citizens are not allowed to live in cantonment areas anywhere in the country. Yet the majority of the suspected American intelligence operatives in Lahore are reportedly living in the Officers’/Generals’ Colony on Sarwar Road and Cavalry Ground in the Lahore Cantonment.

Several senior retired army officers – ranging in rank from brigadier to lieutenant general – have rented out their homes to American citizens at rates astronomically higher than the rents of similar homes in the area. The presence of these Americans came to light when several serving and retired Army officers who lived in the neighbourhood reported suspicious activity, including unauthorised foreigners living in cantonment areas.

Foreign citizens in Pakistan have to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from security agencies before they can rent a residence. This process is meant to ensure that they are not living in prohibited areas. But somehow American citizens were able to get NOCs issued to live in cantonment areas in violation of the law.

Sources say that the intelligence agencies’ reports state that many of the Americans living in these residences are assumed to be US Special Forces – including members of the covert Delta Force of the United States Army – and therefore are considered armed and dangerous.

The report further claims that the late US special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, had visited one of the covert American teams in Lahore, at a residence on Sarwar Road owned by a retired army general.

THE DAVIS SCENARIOS

BY MIR JAMSHED BALOCH
Area14/8

Scenario One: Davis gets diplomatic immunity and walks. This may happen after a determination by the Pakistan government, Pakistani courts or the International Court of Justice. Pakistan will be the loser and may face unrest triggered by anti-government protests. The families of the men killed get nothing unless Pakistan decides to compensate them. US-Pakistan relations nose dive and anti US sentiment gets a big boost.

Read Complete Article Here: http://www.area148.com/cms/?p=2508

Acquitted terrorists regrouping in K-P

By Qaiser Butt

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has blamed the lower judiciary for a rapid increase in terrorist activities in the province.

Cabinet alarmed that courts have sentenced only two per cent of the accused. PHOTO: APP

According to the government, terrorist activities in the province have increased because courts “honourably” exonerate 98 per cent of the terrorists that face trial.

The provincial cabinet met in Peshawar on Wednesday to discuss the situation, said provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain during a news conference. “Those terrorists freed by the courts become active again as they are given the opportunity to regroup,” he reasoned.

Hussain said that the cabinet was astonished that courts sentence only two per cent of the terrorists that stand trial. “Terrorists deserve to be hanged. They should be awarded the death sentence,” he rhetorically said.

Giving details of cases decided by courts in the last two years, Hussain said that 200 cases were registered during 2009 but the number fell to 101 in 2010. However, according to him, a 75 per cent increase was recorded in the last three months.

It is due to the government’s efforts, he said, that only 96 per cent of those accused for terrorism were freed by courts and four per cent were sentenced.

“Those terrorists who were freed by the courts have been able to re-establish their networks,” Hussain said. “The police and security forces have made massive sacrifices in arresting them but the terrorists have been given a licence to kill innocent people.”

The Khyber-Pakhtunkwa cabinet also noted that those militants who were not sentenced were apparently responsible for more attacks on police and security forces.

“Almost all of them took shelter in Mohmand Agency and Malakand to re-launch attacks on civilians and security forces,” Hussain said.

He said that senior leaders have allowed local commanders to make independent decision about terrorist activities. “Courts must discharge their responsibilities in accordance with the prevailing situation in the province,” he said.

MPAs fear another ‘catastrophe’ if dykes are not repaired soon

By Hafeez Tunio

KARACHI: Sindh legislators are afraid of another “catastrophe” if the dykes on the Indus River are not repaired any time soon.

Damages to railway tracks in Sukkur after the 2010 floods. PHOTO: FILE

During the Sindh Assembly session on Wednesday, the MPAs discussed at length the pace of repairs on breaches and agreed that work must be completed before the flood season arrives.

Pakistan Muslim League-Functional MPA Nusrat Saher Abbasi raised this issue by pointing out that not a single breach has been plugged yet. She recalled that Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Dr Ahmed Ali Shah, who is the head of the parliamentary committee to review repair work, had earlier criticised government officials and the irrigation ministry for not working on the breaches.

“Your own committee has expressed concern on the issue. The people of Sindh cannot afford another calamity and we want to get a clear version from the government on it,” she said.

Dr Shah replied that there was no “satisfactory” progress and, after visiting the site of several breaches, the committee had sent a report to the president. The repairs of these dykes should have started two months ago and there are multiple factors behind the delay, he said. “A group of dacoits is demanding extortion from the contractors,” he said.

The Tori bund is located close to the katcha area, which is a hideout of the dacoits demanding bhatta [extortion] by sending “chits”, Dr Shah said.

The process of plugging breaches has been completed in the Punjab because they received funds from the federal government on time, he explained. The Sindh government received Rs2.5 billion only a few days ago, he added.

“The tenders have been awarded and the work has started,” he said. Dr Shah recommended the government hire irrigation and water consultants to review the plugging of the embankments. He hoped that the situation will be different in the next 15 days.

Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, who belongs to the same party as Dr Shah, refuted his claims and criticised the officials who claim to have started working on the breaches. “I visited Aqil Aghani Loop Bund near Larkana a few days ago and even the machinery has yet to be mobilised,” he said. “The same situation prevails in Tori and other embankments as well.”

Khuhro said that even though funds have been released and discussions have lasted for nearly two months, it seems as if no work has taken place on the ground. “The responsible person should properly inform the house why this is being delayed,” he said.

Residents of flood-affected areas are afraid that the water will rise again in April, he said. “It is the government’s responsibly to get rid of the extortion menace and establish the writ of the government,” he added.

Revenue minister Jam Mehtab Dahar said that they have hired professionals, including former irrigation secretary and water expert Idrees Rajput and his team. Out of the Rs5 billion allocated by the government, only Rs2.5 billion has been released, he said.

Since three different committees have been formed to review the situation, the work will be completed before the kharif season, he promised.

Earlier, irrigation minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo said that his department has sent a summary to the chief minister to appoint a member of Indus River System Authority (Irsa) from Sindh. “We are looking for a water expert as an Irsa member,” he said.

The government has also finished the feasibility study for a new barrage between Sukkur and Kotri, said Dharejo. Kalabagh Dam is a “dead issue” and the prime minister has assured that it could only be built after a consensus between the provinces, he added.

Courage has a face in Kunan-Poshpora

TABISH NASEER

Kunan-Poshpora (Kupwara): If courage had a face, it would resemble 50-year-old Bhakti’s. In the North Kashmir hamlet of Kunan-Poshpora, where agony and adversity to women was forced upon, on the intervening night of 23rd and 24th February, 1991, through the “weapon of rape”, she stood stoically against the perpetrators of the crime very few are capable of.

A grab from a video taken few days after the incident shows desolate Kunan village

The incident that is perhaps written as the night of “oppression and brutality” may also be inked as a night when a mother of six daughters showed unrelenting courage and braved “terror leashing men even when gods turned their shoulders and watched silently”.

In Bhakti’s words, the wintry silence was broken by the trampling noises as she was attending her ailing husband who had suffered a heart attack few days back. Then there were cries that cut through the heart of the dead night.

“I first thought there was some quarrel between neighbours and went out to see where the noise was coming from,” she says.

It wasn’t a duel between neighbours. Army’s 4 Raj Rifles of 68 Brigade C/o 56 APO had launched a search operation in the two villages situated about five kilometers from the Kupwara Township. A section of troopers, who the locals claim were in an inebriated state, had gone on a rampage.

“Men held at gun points, women fleeing homes, open air interrogations” – all this happened away from the media glare on that cold wintry night. Women ran about as if chased by “wild animals”, she exclaims.

A video grab shows villagers listening to heads during a meeting

Suddenly tentacles of fear gripped, for moments she remained unmoved. “None of my daughters were married then, they were young and when I discovered what had befallen Kunan, I became numb … my daughters were sitting around their father’s bed,” she says.

Her numbness was broken by a loud knock. A woman who was fleeing from the troopers stood at the gate shouting for help. “I could not sit and listen to her cries. Somehow I overcame fear and ran towards the door,” she recalls.

Taja (name changed) stood at the door, breathless; she lived over a hundred yards away. “They (troopers) had barged into our house and caught hold of my sister-in-law and I managed to give them a slip through the door that leads to our kitchen garden,” says Taja.

Sensing trouble Bhakhti dragged her in and bolted the door quickly. “I asked one of my daughters to get water for her and then she narrated the story. Instead of making me worried I somehow lost fear,” Bhakti exclaims.

With fear written all over her face, Taja sobbed. She was restless till a thunderous bang at the main door made her stop. “She crouched in my arms as if she was dead,” says one of Bhakti’s daughter (name withheld).

The troopers had barged into the house compound. “My mother went to the door opened it and straight away asked for the officer heading the party of troopers, we could hear it from the room we were sitting in,” says her daughter.

She stood at the door and “refused to move till she saw the officer”. A call was made on the wireless. “He came and asked me why I wasn’t allowing his men to conduct search and I sternly replied that I had six daughters and I doubted his men,” says Bhakti.

Village heads during a meeting few days after the incident

An awkward silence followed and the officer asked his men to move away. Her courage grew and she ventured out to see if she could help more women. Her neighbour, Fahmida (name changed) recalls, “Many women were fleeing from the troopers and she dared to go out and give these women shelter,” adding “she stood guard at the gate of her house and forced back the troopers while her daughters looked after their ailing father and women who successfully fled from the clutches of the troopers.”

Her confrontation with the troopers ended only when they left at dawn. The night had passed witnessing the battle between “oppressor and oppressed”. However, the day saw a battle between “courage and cowardice”. “When the army left that morning, I went to a clinic to fetch a doctor. On my way, I noticed that the troopers had installed a video camera and were forcing men to record statements in their favour,” she vividly remembers. The sight perturbed her and she yelled at the group of men who were giving out statements. “If I had a gun I would kill all of you right here and would hand your widows to the army, do you people have a slightest idea of what has happened to your wives and daughters in your homes,” she recalls shouting angrily.

Ducking their chins in their cloaks in shame, the group of men grew uneasy. Her reminder prompted them to cut loose. Perhaps this was the moment that instigated the people to seek action. Rhate, her neighbour confirms, “People started to gather immediately after Bhakti shouted at them and they started to think of police action against the army.”

It was noon, the village heads were in serious consultation thinking about the course of action. A senior official from the army walked into the village demanding clean chit. Speaking in front of the gathering, the official vouched for his men. While villagers listened carefully, Bhakti, who stood in the crowd shouted at the official, “You had 10,000 army men with you?” He nodded. She asked, “Where were they all night? You yourself were standing outside the village where our men were interrogated. How do you know what was your army doing in the village?”

Video grab shows a victim holding her baby

She gently moved an 80-year-old woman who was also a rape victim (The woman has passed away). “I bought her in front of the major and asked him, tell me isn’t she your mother… look at her torn clothes…what explanation would you offer now? All of them put their heads down in shame,” she recalls.

A few days later, the official came again, this time asking specifically for Bhakti, but she refused. Abdul Ahad Dar, the Sarpanch of Kunan while acknowledging says, “The officer came a few times probably to strike a deal and wanted to speak to Bhakti in person as she was at the forefront of the protest against the army.”

She refused bluntly, but the officer persisted upon a meeting. “It was only after some village elders convinced her to meet the officer, she relented,” Dar adds.

Bhakti says, “The officer had said to her that they had made an appeal which was granted and they were ready to pay compensation, provided villagers say that army has not done anything here.”

“Even if you give me money equaling the length and breadth of this house even then I won’t change my word. Till the judgment day the blood will ooze from our wounds,” was Bhakti’s reply.

Davis Case: Shumaila’s uncle poisoned in Lahore

LAHORE: Some unidentified outlaws have fed poisonous bills to the paternal uncle of Shumaila, the widow of Faheem, who was crushed to death in Lahore in Raymond Davis double murder case, Geo News reported early Thursday.

The discussed family also claimed to have received life-threats a week ago for following lawsuit against Raymond Davis, sources said.

According to details, some unknown gunmen broke into house of Shumaila’s uncle Mohammed Sarwar and forcefully fed him poisonous pills besides brutally torturing the victim.

Later, the intruders succeeded to flee the crime scene while the victim, Mohammed Sarwar, was rushed to hospital in critical condition, sources said quoting hospital sources.

Meanwhile, the area SSP Sadiq Fogar claimed that their home is under police’s constant observation.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Faheem’s widow committed suicide at hospital in protest against unlawful act happened to her family and laziness of government in handing US suspect punishment. She also demanded justice of Pakistan government before suicide via television footages.

The NYT’s journalistic obedience

BY GLENN GREENWALD

Earlier today, I wrote in detail about new developments in the case of Raymond Davis, the former Special Forces soldier who shot and killed two Pakistanis on January 27, sparking a diplomatic conflict between the U.S. (which is demanding that he be released on the ground of “diplomatic immunity”) and Pakistan (whose population is demanding justice and insisting that he was no “diplomat”). But I want to flag this new story separately because it’s really quite amazing and revealing.

In this Jan. 28, 2011 file photo, Pakistani security officials escort Raymond Allen Davis, a U.S. consulate employee, center, to a local court in Lahore, Pakistan.

Yesterday, as I noted earlier, The Guardian reported that Davis — despite Obama’s description of him as “our diplomat in Pakistan” — actually works for the CIA, and further noted that Pakistani officials believe he worked with Blackwater. When reporting that, The Guardiannoted that many American media outlets had learned of this fact but deliberately concealed it — because the U.S. Government told them to: “A number of US media outlets learned about Davis’s CIA role but have kept it under wraps at the request of the Obama administration.”

Now it turns out that The New York Times — by its own shameless admission — was one of those self-censoring, obedient media outlets. Now that The Guardian published its story last night, the NYT just now published a lengthy article detailing Davis’ work — headlined: “American Held in Pakistan Shootings Worked With the C.I.A.” — and provides a few more details:

The American arrested in Pakistan after shooting two men at a crowded traffic stop was part of a covert, C.I.A.-led team of operatives conducting surveillance on militant groups deep inside the country, according to American government officials. . . . Mr. Davis has worked for years as a C.I.A. contractor, including time at Blackwater Worldwide, the controversial private security firm (now called Xe) that Pakistanis have long viewed as symbolizing a culture of American gun slinging overseas.

But what’s most significant is the paper’s explanation for why they’re sharing this information with their readers only now:

The New York Times had agreed to temporarily withhold information about Mr. Davis’s ties to the agency at the request of the Obama administration, which argued that disclosure of his specific job would put his life at risk. Several foreign news organizations have disclosed some aspects of Mr. Davis’s work with the C.I.A.. On Monday, American officials lifted their request to withhold publication, though George Little, a C.I.A. spokesman, declined any further comment.

In other words, the NYT knew about Davis’ work for the CIA (and Blackwater) but concealed it because the U.S. Government told it to. Now that The Guardian and other foreign papers reported it, the U.S. Government gave permission to the NYT to report this, so now that they have government license, they do so — only after it’s already been reported by other newspapers which don’t take orders from the U.S. Government.

It’s one thing for a newspaper to withhold information because they believe its disclosure would endanger lives. But here, the U.S. Government has spent weeks making public statements that were misleading in the extreme — Obama’s calling Davis “our diplomat in Pakistan” — while the NYT deliberately concealed facts undermining those government claims because government officials told them to do so. That’s called being an active enabler of government propaganda. While working for the CIA doesn’t preclude holding “diplomatic immunity,” it’s certainly relevant to the dispute between the two countries and the picture being painted by Obama officials. Moreover, since there is no declared war in Pakistan, this incident — as the NYT puts it today — “inadvertently pulled back the curtain on a web of covert American operations inside Pakistan, part of a secret war run by the C.I.A. ” That alone makes Davis’ work not just newsworthy, but crucial.

Worse still, the NYT has repeatedly disseminated U.S. Government claims — and even offered its own misleading descriptions –without bothering to include these highly relevant facts. See, for instance, its February 12 report (“The State Department has repeatedly said that he is protected by diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention and must be released immediately”); this February 8 article (referring to “the mystery about what Mr. Davis was doing with this inventory of gadgets”; noting “the Pakistani press, dwelling on the items in Mr. Davis’s possession and his various identity cards, has been filled with speculation about his specific duties, which American officials would not discuss”; and claiming: “Mr. Davis’s jobs have been loosely defined by American officials as ‘security’ or ‘technical,’ though his duties were known only to his immediate superiors”); andthis February 15 report (passing on the demands of Obama and Sen. John Kerry for Davis’ release as a “diplomat” without mentioning his CIA work). They’re inserting into their stories misleading government claims, and condescendingly summarizing Pakistani “speculation” about Davis’ work, all while knowing the truth but not reporting it.

Following the dictates of the U.S. Government for what they can and cannot publish is, of course, anything but new for the New York Times. In his lengthy recent article on WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, NYTExecutive Editor Bill Keller tried to show how independent his newspaper is by boasting that they published their story of the Bush NSA program even though he has “vivid memories of sitting in the Oval Office as President George W. Bush tried to persuade [him] and the paper’s publisher to withhold the eavesdropping story”; Keller neglected to mention that the paper learned about the illegal program in mid-2004, but followed Bush’s orders to conceal it from the public for over a year — until after Bush was safely re-elected.

And recently in a BBC interview, Keller boasted that — unlike WikiLeaks — the Paper of Record had earned the praise of the U.S. Government for withholding materials which the Obama administration wanted withheld, causing Keller’s fellow guest — former British Ambassador to the U.N. Carne Ross — to exclaim: “It’s extraordinary that the New York Times is clearing what it says about this with the U.S. Government.” The BBC host could also barely hide his shock and contempt at Keller’s proud admission:

HOST (incredulously): Just to be clear, Bill Keller, are you saying that you sort of go to the Government in advance and say: “What about this, that and the other, is it all right to do this and all right to do that,” and you get clearance, then?

Obviously, that’s exactly what The New York Times does. Allowing the U.S. Government to run around affirmatively depicting Davis as some sort of Holbrooke-like “diplomat” — all while the paper uncritically prints those claims and yet conceals highly relevant information about Davis because the Obama administration told it to — would be humiliating for any outlet devoted to adversarial journalism to have to admit. But it will have no such effect on The New York Times. With some noble exceptions, loyally serving government dictates is, like so many American establishment media outlets, what they do; it’s their function: hence the name “establishment media.”

UPDATE: From a few people in comments (and via email), there are several objections/dissents to some of the arguments here. My responses to them are here.

UPDATE II: At his news conference last week, this is what President Obama said about the Davis situation:

With respect to Mr. Davis, our diplomat in Pakistan, we’ve got a very simple principle here that every country in the world that is party to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations has upheld in the past and should uphold in the future. And that is if — if our diplomats are in another country, then they are not subject to that country’s local prosecution.

This is how the New York Times characterized that statement: “Without describing Mr. Davis’s mission or intelligence affiliation, President Obama last week made a public plea for his release.”

It’s one thing for a newspaper to withhold information because it genuinely believes its publication will endanger lives (and I’d love to hear the explanation about why this would). But this situation goes far beyond that. The NYT was regularly printing government claims like the one above (“our diplomat in Pakistan”) which were at best misleading and likely false, and also including their own misleading claims in these stories (“the mystery about what Mr. Davis was doing with this inventory of gadgets”). But they had information in their possession — and concealed it — which undermined (if not entirely negated) the truth of these statements.

There’s a big difference between simply withholding information to protect lives and actively enabling and publishing misleading propaganda. More to the point, there is simply no justification — none — for a newspaper to allow government officials to run around misleading the public, and to print those misleading statements, all while concealing information (at the Government’s request) which reveal those claims to be factually dubious.

India’s coalition woes: Where did it all go wrong?

By Amit Baruah

Not very long ago, India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could do no wrong – or so it seemed.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reshuffled his cabinet on Wednesday, hoping it would restore confidence in his beleaguered government

Long considered a man of unimpeachable integrity, Mr Singh coasted to a second term as the prime minister of the world’s second most populous nation in May last year.

From 145 seats in the lower house of parliament, Lok Sabha, in 2004, his Congress party increased its share of seats to 206 in the May 2009 polls.

By current Indian electoral standards, it was an impressive performance.

With the opposition in disarray, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government appeared to be on a roll.

An unshakeable understanding between Mr Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi ensured political stability in the country. Frequent meetings between the two suggested a neat division of responsibility between party and government.

‘Mind-boggling’

In the past few months, the personal equation may have continued, but things have begun going horribly wrong for the Congress-led coalition.

Regular protests by Telangana activists are just one of the government’s worries at the moment

Inflation, corruption scandals, a massive and ongoing agitation for a separate state of Telangana in southern India, apparent favours in the allocation of land, the abuse of discretionary powers by state leaders: everything seemed to go wrong at the same time for Mr Singh and his government.

A spate of court cases has given the government a headache.

The Supreme Court made some sharp observations of official decisions in what has come to be known as the 2G scandal – where the government is said to have incurred losses of billions of dollars in the sale of mobile phone spectrum.

And on Wednesday, hearing a case of unaccounted money being held by Indians in foreign banks, the court criticised the coalition for its reluctance to provide more information.

“It is a pure and simple theft of national money,” said Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar. “We are talking about mind-boggling crime. We are not on the niceties of treaties.”

Such comments have become a near-daily affair for the government in one case or the other.

And so far it has not been able to come up with convincing answers.

Government ‘rudderless’

In what the Indian media has dismissed as a lame effort to energise his government, Mr Singh changed the portfolios of as many as 36 ministers on Wednesday, terming it a “minor reshuffle” and promising a more “expansive exercise” in the next few months.

But analysts believe that this may not help the image of the government as a performing entity.

Neena Vyas, associate editor of The Hindu newspaper, told the BBC: “More important is whether the government is able to break the logjam with the opposition, which prevented parliament from conducting any business in the recent session of parliament.”

Ms Vyas was referring to the impasse in parliament, in which all sections of an often-divided opposition came together to demand a parliamentary inquiry into the 2G scandal.

Several officials who chose to remain anonymous told this writer that a sense of paralysis had gripped the government.

“No-one wants to take decisions in such an environment where everything is suddenly under question. The government appears rudderless,” one of them said.

“It’s sad, but this is true,” confirmed a junior minister in Mr Singh’s government, who told me he believed the prime minister had been extremely hurt by the personal allegations levelled against him by some opposition leaders.

The government is also struggling with spiralling food and fuel prices

Challenges ahead

It is an open question whether the reshuffle carried out by Mr Singh will mean anything in real terms.

There also appear to be divergences on key issues like a new Food Security Bill between the government and the National Advisory Council, a powerful lobby group within the establishment headed by Mrs Gandhi.

Mrs Gandhi has said publicly there should be “no tolerance” for corruption or misconduct.

At a Congress party conference in December, she suggested fast-tracking corruption cases against public servants, providing full transparency in public procurements and contracts, and reviewing the discretionary powers of state chief ministers.

She also called for an open and competitive system of exploiting natural resources.

Analysts are comparing Mr Singh’s second tenure to the political crisis, linked to a corruption scandal, that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi faced back in the mid-1980s, despite having a huge majority in parliament.

Eventually, Mr Gandhi lost the 1989 elections and a motley coalition of parties took power.

While there are similarities between then and now, Mr Singh and Mrs Gandhi still have the opportunity to retrieve lost ground.

A lot will depend on whether or not the government can check spiralling food inflation. Also, whether the Congress and its allies are able to blunt the opposition attack during next month’s budget session of parliament will be critical.

Mr Singh and his government still have a little over three years to go before the May 2014 elections.

But the prime minister, Mrs Gandhi and the government have a tough job ahead if they fancy a return to power in Delhi.

Fighting fanaticism

Elf Habib

The media has been lending almost tacit support to the currency of intolerance. The country, already battered by bloody terrorist onslaughts, is being further forced to fend off the fury and fanaticism of some hitherto apparently silent segments that have infiltrated into the most treasured security shields

The shock, sorrow and anger that stormed the nation after Salmaan Taseer’s assassination brought home stark realities to highlight the unbridled intolerance, fanaticism and obsession that seems set to obliterate the slightest dissent from the obscurantist notions of faith, conduct and behaviour. The widespread condemnation, mourning, memorial messages, vigils, candle-lighting, processions and protest rallies to vent love, reverence, grief and concern were in perfect order. However, far more potent and concerted steps are needed to reorient the maverick mindset and the attitudes that have abysmally sunk into some circles to enable them to act as self-styled vigilantes, judges, jurists and executioners. Salmaan had committed no crime, but even if someone felt the contrary, the legal recourse for redress would have been the lawful option. Yet his assassin’s reported outburst where he touted a premeditated, brutal murder as a holy feat and the tumult and bravura sweeping his congenital hordes, reflects the dread and design of a fanatic minority to derail the development of a tolerant and pluralistic society. A fatwa, for instance, was flung against Sherry Rehman, merely for suggesting some changes to the blasphemy law. The government and political parties, including some rather avowedly progressive ones like the ANP, have cowered under the hysteric outburst of some skeletal yet supercharged bigoted breeds. The media has been lending almost tacit support to the currency of intolerance. The country, already battered by bloody terrorist onslaughts, is being further forced to fend off the fury and fanaticism of some hitherto apparently silent segments that have infiltrated into the most treasured security shields. The widening gory gyre thus creates new challenges not only for the government but for all democratic forces, rights activists, intellectuals and commoners espousing a tolerant, interactive, pluralistic, peaceful and stable polity devoted to its industrial, economic and social development.

The government, political parties and judiciary in established democratic polities provide the mainstay, shield and stimulus to the diversity of thought, belief and harmonious debate and dialogue, leading to a broader multicultural and multi-faith spectrum. No attitudes, phenomena, beliefs or institutions in any democratic polity are precluded from the ambit of query, question, debate, review, revision and improvement. The repeated dictatorships here, however, stifled this surge, interrupted the political process and drove deeper divisions and distrust into various parties and regions spawning several regional, ethnic and sectarian outfits. Even our principal parties are now forced to stitch some quite disparate and cantankerous coalitions and submit to silly compromises even with the most dogmatic lobbies, hence sacrificing the most rudimentary steps to stem intolerance or promote debate and dialogue. The judiciary is also stymied by several similar constraints. Yet the government can certainly improve intelligence, the security apparatus, training and monitoring. Qadri’s elite corps, evidently, was neither trained to sift and separate personal feelings from professional duties nor vetted for its emotional stability. The absence of an in situ reflex or rapid response from Qadri’s companions to thwart his attack was an even more glaring professional failure. Such security lapses in a country where more than half the federal and provincial revenues are spent on the security sector cannot be condoned.

The security organs must strive to foster an essential professional ethos, extirpating the slightest propensity for fundamentalist notions and the cliques clamouring for vengeance against opponents, and must stop patronising the extremist factions. The other state organs, similarly, also have to cease appeasing intolerant thought or activities and work for the prevalence of an all-inclusive and all-enfolding sufi spirit and pluralism in line with thought and tradition in Islam. The existing legal recourse relating to the incitement of hatred and bigoted appeals to incriminate and annihilate individuals, apparently deemed to be deviant by some self righteous vigilantes, be faithfully implemented. The relevant rules required to mend the drawbacks must be explicitly formulated. The state can similarly initiate several effective steps to regulate the training and certification for various imams and preachers. This is actually an integral aspect of re-educating and re-orienting the mind, skill and outlook of our adult population and, evidently, also necessitates the revamping of the entire approach and mechanism of our religious instruction in schools and seminaries. Respect and tolerance for dissent, dialogue and pursuance, the poise and patience to pocket even the most provocative invectives or preferring a cool methodical legal procedure for redemption by curbing the instinctive impulse for instant vengeance have to be urged and imbibed at the earliest stages. This becomes unavoidable as the world rapidly shrinks to become an inevitable intermix of innumerable faiths, cultures, communities and ideas.

The state can certainly lead and stimulate these endeavours to a large extent but combating the intolerant mindset is more of a collective social responsibility involving efforts by institutions and organisations devoted to impart formal and informal education, influence and outlook. This necessitates the revamping of the syllabi and the mode of formal and informal instruction. But indirect impact and inspiration from the media, movies, theatre and literature is even more crucial. European societies have made some resplendent efforts in taming the fury, fire and free flow of the blood that soaked the Reformation and French Revolution The reaction to Darwin’s iconoclastic theory and Marxist ideas was quite chaotic and contentious, yet it lacked those antecedents of violent, gory feuds. In the US, the state braced a protracted struggle to stem slavery and secession while visionaries, reformers, media and movie magnates orchestrated some really remarkable themes and crusades to transcend racial barriers and expose the futility of clinging to the bygone cotton culture. Now, even video games have joined the genre in tearing down totalitarian dogmatism. Even some African states have swamped the stranglehold of apartheid and racial superiority.

Our media, unfortunately, has miserably failed in exposing the futility of the force and fanaticism for the imposition of any particular idea. It has never portrayed the ravages of morbid monolithic passions and has persistently spurned literature, movies and documentaries, historic evidence, debates and analyses illumining the instructive fate of the ideas that were once considered celestial and immutable. Accounts of societies swallowed by the schism and the strife riled by their stubborn insistence on the supremacy and enforcement of obscurantism are scrupulously ignored. So are the realities to realise the receding role and limitations of religion in the state and global affairs. The enthusiasts and proponents of liberal, logical and realistic thought have a far greater onus to disseminate a dispassionate understanding of the diversity of human thought, rites and the consequent need for tolerance and reconciliation.

The writer is an academic and freelance columnist. He can be reached at habibpbu@yahoo.com

OUR DIPLOMAT IN PAKISTAN

By Ahsan Waheed
ZoneAsia-Pk“

Our diplomat in Pakistan’ was how President Obama described Raymond Davis now uncovered as a member of a covert CIA team operating under cover inside Pakistan. The disclosure came after his cover was blown by British media and a gag order on US media that was to have facilitated Davis’ extradition under diplomatic immunity was lifted because it no longer served any purpose.

The United States Department of State issues a Diplomatic Identity Card to all diplomats accredited to the US. This is what the card says front and back:

Read Complete Article Here: http://www.zoneasia-pk.com/ZoneAsia-Pk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3673:our-diplomat-in-pakistan&catid=70:free-talk&Itemid=84

We will motivate the masses for peaceful revolution: Nawaz

Ten-point agenda: PML-N rhetoric heats up

The Express Tribune

Balancing their opposition to the PPP-led administration with the support for democratic governance, leaders from the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) seemed to be gearing up for the next big political fight with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

“We will motivate the masses for peaceful revolution in streets, mohallahs and villages across the country.”

“We will motivate the masses for peaceful revolution in streets, mohallahs and villages across the country,” said PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif on Monday in a meeting with party workers belonging to Gujranwala and Rawalpindi divisions.

Sources in the party told The Express Tribune that Sharif, while addressing the participants, used strong language against President Zardari and asked the supporters to recall PML-N’s long march which forced the president to restore ousted judges.

Ahsan Iqbal, the party’s information secretary, said that while the country as a whole was moving in the right direction – with improving rule of law, an independent judiciary and media and a vibrant civil society – the PPP-led government was not delivering on its promises to lead the nation towards economic stability.

Member National Assembly Saad Rafique said that the PML-N will not use any underhanded tactics in Punjab. “Neither Punjab nor Sindh/Karachi are considered to be no-go areas for any political party,” he said, adding that his party will devise a strategy on how to steer the county out of the crises.

So far the PML-N has not taken any drastic measures, though some PML-N leaders have talked about the possibility of expelling the PPP from the ruling coalition in Punjab. The PML-N can govern without any coalition allied in the province.

For its part, the PPP leadership seems to have kept up its end of the war of words. Babar Awan, federal minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs, on Monday accused the PML-N of trying to bribe PPP legislators in the Punjab Assembly to switch parties.

Awan refuted the suggestion that the government had taken no action on the PML-N’s proposals but bristled at the threats of ouster from the provincial government.

“A single party cannot decide the entire country’s fate,” said Awan, adding that the PPP neither gives nor accepts deadlines on matters of national importance.

According to Awan, the PPP does not have any plans of pre-emptively withdrawing from the Punjab cabinet.

“We believe in politics of federation, reconciliation and that is why we will not leave the provincial government,” said Awan.

WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING FROM APP

‘Unification Bloc can vote for the chief minister’

By Abdul Manan

LAHORE: The Unification Bloc can vote for the chief minister if a vote of confidence is called, according to a Law Department summary sent to the Punjab Assembly speaker.

Law dept summary advises speaker that he has nothing to worry about. PHOTO: TMN

A department official, talking to The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity, said that according to the department advice, sub article 8 of Article 63 A (the law against floor crossing) will take effect following the next general election. “It is a win-win situation since the law does not apply to the current situation. The Unification Bloc members can ignore the opposition leader’s instructions,” the official said.

The Law Department has told the speaker that since the 18th Amendment does not go into effect yet, according to Article 63-A, a parliamentary leader can only report a defection to the presiding officer (speaker) and ask him to declare the rebel members of his party as defectors. “The law is silent on what will happen if the speaker does not take any action,” according to the official. He said that the department had told the speaker that he could hold on to the declaration – in case Chaudhry Zaheeruddin moves it -indefinitely.

Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique, when contacted by The Express Tribune, said that before the 18th amendment, Article 63 A gave the government the benefit of doubt. “Before the amendment, the parliamentary leader could only send a declaration to the speaker. It was up to the speaker whether or not to send it to the chief election commissioner,” Siddique said.

However, if the article is read with the 18th amendment, the parliamentary leader as head of a party has now been empowered to refer the declaration to both the speaker and the chief election commissioner (CEC). “The PML-Q can then go to court where they will be required to prove that the speaker is not forwarding their declaration to the CEC.”

Mirza declares war on Sharifs

Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfikar Mirza on Sunday announced an all out war against PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif during a charged address to a public rally in Lyari area of Karachi. “I am announcing war against Nawaz Sharif and [PTI chief] Imran Khan. Nawaz must avoid undemocratic attempts. I am not a thug, but can become one to protect my country. The numbers game of ‘Takht-e-Lahore’ is an old story,” he said.

Mirza’s comments have come days after PML-N leader and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif purportedly rejected a proposal to carry on with reconciliatory politics with the PPP. Warning the PML-N against “undemocratic attempts”, he said the PPP would fight inside and outside the assembly and “will fight the war on motorway and no official of the PML-N from Karachi to Kashmore will be spared”.

“The PML-N must keep it in mind that if the PPP was forcibly pushed, there will be dangerous consequences. We will not leave so easily,” he said. “An enemy of the PPP is an enemy of the country. Those who are planning to break the PPP should not forget what happened to former Sindh chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim. The shoe throwing incident can be repeated at someone else too,” Mirza said in a charged tone.

Mirza warned the PML-N that if it “attacked” the PPP in Punjab, “there will be no PML-N office left in the entire Sindh”. If the long march can proceed towards Islamabad from Lahore, a similar long march can also be launched on Lahore from Karachi.

He said residents of Lyari had extended their support to the Bhutto family every time and “Bilwal Bhutto Zardari, Bkhtawar Bhutto Zardari and Asifa Bhutto Zardari were ready to serve the people of Lyari”.

Pak, China enjoying exemplary relations: PEW

The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Sunday said Pakistan and China are natural allies enjoying exemplary relations beyond a shadow of doubt.

Issue of uneven growth in World’s No 2 economy with GDP reaching $5.7 trillion should be taken seriously and resolved immediately, it said.

Dr. Murtaza Mughal , President PEW, said that in future, it may be not easy for China to maintain rate of progress without addressing the problem of inequality.

Visionary Chinese leadership should revisit growth-promoting reforms before it pose any risk to poverty reduction efforts at home and potential implications for the rest of the world, he said.

He added that China needed to pour more money in Xinjiang province to bring it at par with developed areas that will minimise chances of political unrest in future.

“It will also have a very positive economic impact on countries bordering Xinjiang including Pakistan. There will be dramatic growth in relations”, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal.

He said government need to enhance efforts to implement decisions announced during historic visit of Chinese Premier to Pakistan.

Pakistan deserves enhanced share in China’s eye-popping pace of growth and its foreign direct investment standing at $400 billion, he said.

Our economically under-developed country is looking forward for more Chinese-funded infrastructure projects with emphasis on energy as stable Pakistan is in the interest of Beijing, said Dr. Mughal.

Pakistan should try not to remain heavily dependent on US aid that results in additional pressure. Chinese investments that are always without strings but play a secondary role should be encouraged to strike a balance.