Spiritual Leader of Hur Community and Chief of Pakistan Muslim League (Functional) Pir Mardan Shah-II, more commonly known as Pir Pagara, breathed his last at the age of 83 here on Tuesday, Geo News reported.

Pir Pagara was taken to a hospital in London for treatment after suffering from an infection following his surgery in Karachi a few days ago.

Pir Pagara spent a major part of his life being actively engaged in Pakistan’s politics.

He was born in Pir Jo Goth on November 22, 1928. He had his primary education at his birth-town. While his his father was under arrest, Khalifas at Dargah Sharif looked after his education.

Read complete news at The News

Akhtar Buland Rana took oath as the new Auditor General of Pakistan on Saturday after Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry accepted his appointment earlier made by President Asif Ali Zardari.

The appointment was accepted after the president sent a reply to the CJP’s letter clearing the allegations against Rana.
In the letter, the president mentioned that Rana was acquitted in a harassment case, and assured that Rana’s dual nationality will not create any obstacle in his performance of official duties.

The chief justice accepted the reply of the president.

Rana was appointed as the new auditor general by President Zardari on August 23 on Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s advice and the chief justice was approached for administering oath to the new auditor general. However, the chief justice wrote a letter to the president on Friday saying that the president might be unaware of the allegations against Rana at the time of his appointment.

The CJP raised several objections against Rana in his letter citing seven charges against him.

The letter alleged that Rana obtained a Canadian nationality without seeking prior permission from the government and travels abroad on three Pakistani passports and two national identification cards. It included that Rana attempted sexual assault on a subordinate woman during service and also pointed out that he did not qualify for his promotion to grade-22.

Read complete article at Express Tribune

On a rare occasion, Altaf Hussain delivered his “Calm Say Khitaab” and apologised sindhi nationalists and intellectuals for his remarks against them.

An anchor and two producers of Dunya TV are facing a ”murder” case over an issue of a girl.

According to an FIR registered with the Defence Police Lahore, Dunya TV anchor Rehman Azhar, producers – Zeeshan and Zagham Abbas – on their car LEB-5224 and LEC-2808 – chased another car LZU-7241 and intercepted it near the Lahore Grammar School Defence Housing Authority on last Saturday.

“They got off the cars and started teasing two women – Mariam and her daughter -who were going along with their driver Safdar Ali to their house in U block, DHA. The media persons who were drunk started teasing the women.

Meanwhile, Mariam had called her husband Ijaz Ahmed Awan who along with his son reached there,” the FIR says.

Ijaz and his son exchanged harsh words with the drunken guys over the matter which led a scuffle between them. “Azhar took out a baseball bat from his car and tried to hit Awan and his son, however, Azhar ended up hitting the bat in the head of Awan’s family driver Safdar Ali when he tried so save his owner from him,” the FIR says adding the three media persons did not allow Awan and the other family members to shift the injured to hospital and the excessive bleeding caused his death.

DHA police station invesyigation official Abdur Rehman said the media persons when arrested were misbehaving with police and threatened them of dire consequences. He said had the accused allowed the injured to shift him hospital his life might have been saved.

He said they were remanded in police custody for the six-day physical remand. He said Safdar had left behind a widow and nine children. Awan is the complainant of the case which is registered against the accused under section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code. He said it appeared that one of the media persons knew the girl.

A senior police officer told PoliticizingPakistan that a TV Channel owner was using his influence to bail out the accused. He said the accused were forcing the family to pardon them and in return receive Rs. one million.
Shan Khan

http://www.politicizingpakistan.com

by Faarigh Jazbati

کیا نواز شریف اور زرداری کے درمیان فوج کی مداخلت کے خلاف کوئی خفیہ معاہدہ طے پا گیا ہے

نواز شریف کی ایبٹ آباد والے واقعے پر ہونی والی پریس کانفرنس میں ایک عدالتی کمشن بنانے کا مطالبہ اور خاص طور پر فوج اور خفیہ اداروں کی اس معاملے میں مکمل ناکامی کی تحقیقات کا مطالبہ بہت سی باتوں کی طرف سوچنے کی دعوت دیتا ہے

بہت سے مبصرین کے اندازوں اور خیالات کے برعکس ، نواز شریف کا سیاسی حکومت کی ناکامی پر زور نا دینا اور اس معاملے میں سیاسی حکومت کی ہلکی سی سرزنش کر دینا بعید از علّت نہیں ہے ، اور اسی طرح فی الحال کسی کے بھی استعفےٰ کا مطالبہ بھی نا کرنا بڑا معنی خیز ہے

صدر آصف علی زرداری کا اس ہنگامہ خیز ملکی صورتحال میں طویل غیر ملکی دورے پر چلے جانا باوجود اسکے کہ نواز شریف کی بیرون ملک سے واپسی پر دھواں دھار ابلاغی مہم کا خطرہ اور اس میں پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کو شدید نقصان پہنچنے کا خطرہ مول لینا کسی بھی لحاظ سے سیاسی دانش مندی نہیں کہلا سکتا تھا ، اسی دوران جناب رحمان ملک کی جانب سے مسلم لیگ نون پر قومی اسمبلی کے اجلاس میں شدید گولہ باری اور مسلم لیگ کی طرف سے قابل ذکر جواب نا دینا بہت سے سوالات کو جنم دیتا ہے

ایک اور سوالات طلب معاملہ جس کی طرف بہت کم لوگوں نے توجہ دی ہے وہ مسلم لیگ ق کا پیپلز پارٹی کے ساتھ حکومت میں شامل ہونے کے باوجود پی پی پی کا پنجاب میں مسلم لیگ نون کی حکومت گرانے کیلئے کسی بھی قسم کی کوشش کا نا کرنا ہے ، کیا پنجاب میں مسلم لیگ نون کی حکومت کے خلاف کوئی کارروائی نا کرنا بھی قاف لیگ اور پی پی پی کے درمیان شرکت اقتدار کے معاہدے کا حصہ ہے .

ایم کیو ایم کا اسی پرانی تنخواہ پر دوبارہ کام کرنے کیلئے پی پی پی کی حکومت میں شامل ہو جانا ،انقلاب کے نعرے مارنا اور محب وطن جرنیلوں کو بار بار دعوت دینے کا اپنا تھوکا ہوا بھی چاٹ لینا کس چیز کی طرف اشارہ کرتا ہے .

٢ مئی کے واقعے والے دن سے لیکر میاں نواز شیف کی پریس کانفرنس تک دور نما کے بزرجمہروں ، اخبارات کے انشائیہ نگاروں اور انٹرنیٹ کے شہسواروں نے ایک ایسی صورتحال بنائی ہوئی تھی کہ میاں صاحب کے ملک میں آتے ہی موجودہ حکومت موسم خزاں کے پتوں کی طرح لرزنے لگے گی اور میاں صاحب ایک دھواں دھار بیان دیں گیں اور اس حکومت کا پتا صاف ہو جائے گا ، لیکن ایسا کچھ نہیں ہوا ، نا تو میاں صاحب نے اس حکومت کے لتے لئے، نا کوئی احتجاجی تحریک کا اعلان کیا اور نا ہی کچھ اور ، اور سب سے قابل غور بات یہ ہے کہ اس مطالبے کے باوجود کہ تین دن کے اندر اندر حکومت ایک عدالتی کمشن کو قائم کرے ، اس بات کا کوئی اشارہ یا عندیہ نہیں ہے کہ اگر حکومت ایسا نہیں کرتی تو میاں صاحب اور مسلم لیگ نون کی آئندہ کیا حکمت عملی ہو گی،

تبصرہ نگاروں کی اکثریت اس بات پر ہی مرکوز نظر آتی ہے کہ میاں صاحب ایک دوستانہ حزب اختلاف کا کردار ہی ادا کرتے نظر آتے ہیں اور خفیہ اداروں کے ہاتھوں وسطی پنجاب میں اپنی انتخابی حمایت کو نقصان پہنچنے کے ڈر سے کھل کر زرداری حکومت کے خلاف نہیں آ رہے اور فوج سے اپنی ذاتی تذلیل کا بدلہ لینا چاہتے ہیں

میرے خیال میں معاملات کسی اور ہی سمت کی طرف اشارہ کر رہے ہیں ، اس سارے ہلا گلا کے باوجود جو میں ملک میں برپا ہے اور زرداری صاحب کسی مشکل کا شکار نظر نہیں آتے تو اسکی واضح صرف یہ ہو سکتی ہے کہ میاں صاحب اور صدر آصف زرداری کے درمیان فوج کی مداخلت اور اختیار کے مکمل خاتمے کے بارے میں کوئی خفیہ سمجھوتہ طے پا گیا ہے اور شائد یہ بھی طے پا گیا ہے کہ اس سال کے آخر تک نئے انتخابات کروا دیے جائیں گیں ،اس بات کا بھی امکان ہے کہ آصف علی زرداری بدستور صدر رہیں گیں اور اگلی مدت کیلئے بھی مسلم لیگ انکی حمایت کرے گی . یہ سارا سمجھوتہ اسلئے کیا جارہا ہے کہ پاکستان میں فوج اور خفیہ اداروں کی سیاسی ، خارجہ ، قومی سلامتی اور اقتصادی معاملات میں بیجا اور غیر ضروری مداخلت کو ہمیشہ ہمیشہ کیلئے ختم کر دیا جائے ، نواز شریف کا کل کھل کر کہنا کہ اقتدار تو دیا جاتا ہے لیکن اختیار نہیں دیا جاتا اسی طرف اشارہ ہے

قاف لیگ اور پی پی پی کے معاہدے کو بھی اسی تناظر میں دیکھنا چاہیے کہ جناب زرداری کا یہ ترپ کا پتہ یعنی موجودہ شراکت اقتدار اصل میں قاف لیگ کے وجود کے خاتمے کیلئے ہے تا کہ آئندہ انتخابات میں ہیت مقتدرہ قاف لیگ کو استعمال نا کر سکے اور سیاسی قوتوں کا استحصال نا کیا جاسکے. اگر پی پی پی بجٹ پاس کروانے کے بعد قاف لیگ کا بستر گول کردیتی ہے تو یہ سیاسی یتیموں کا گروہ اپنی موت آپ مر جائے گا اور جناب زرداری کا چوہدریوں سے بھٹو کے پھانسی کے کاغذات پر دستخط والا قلم بطور تحفہ لینے کا بدلہ بھی پورا ہو جائے گا

چونکہ پی پی پی اور میاں نواز شریف دونوں ہی فوج کے ڈسے ہوئے ہیں تو ایسی کسی مطابقت یا آہنگی کا ظہور پذیر ہونا کوئی بڑی بات نہیں ہو گی ، آنے والے دنوں میں فوج اور امریکا کی طرف سے میاں صاحب کے گڑے مردے اکھاڑے سے اس خیال کو تقویت ملے گی کیہہ ایسے کسی سمجھوتے کا وجود ہے ، امریکا کبھی بھی نہیں چاہے گا کیہہ پاکستان میں فوج کا اثر و رسوخ اور قومی حکمت عملی میں اسکے موجودہ اختیار کو چھیڑا جائے ، امریکا پاکستانی فوج سے معاملات طے کرنے میں آسانی محسوس کرتا ہے اور یہ چاہے گا کہ سیاسی حکومت صرف ہیت مقتدرہ کے غلطیوں کے ملبے کو صاف کرنے کیلئے موجود ہو نا کہ قومی حکت عملی بنانے کیلئے، ایک عوامی حمایت والی حکومت جو قومی حکمت عملی کو بنانے میں آزاد ہو امریکا کیلئے بھی اتنی ہی ناقابل قبول ہے جتنی فوج کیلئے

لگتا ہے کیہہ ہیت مقتدرہ کو بھی اس سمجھوتے کی بھنک پڑ چکی ہے اور لاہور ہائی کورٹ کا صدر زرداری کے دو عھدوں کے خلاف درخواست کا صدر زرداری کے خلاف فیصلہ ہیت مقتدرہ کی جوابی چال معلوم پڑتا ہے ،

By Bronwyn Curran
Published in TheNews on Saturday, April 30, 2011

As the author of a 2006 book on the Mukhtaran Mai case and a former Islamabad-based Western female news correspondent, I must raise a voice of dissent amidst the shrill reaction to the Supreme Court’s acquittal of 13 of 14 men accused in Mukhtaran Mai’s case.

In 2005-2006, after many months painstakingly poring through every police statement, medical record, witness testimony, and cross-examination transcript in this case, coupled with multiple visits to Mirwala, Jatoi and Dera Ghazi Khan for extensive interviews with members of both sides of this case, I reached the same conclusion as the Supreme Court has in 2011. The Lahore High Court reached the same conclusion in 2005. Indeed, I would challenge anyone who has the opportunity to pore through all such records and interview members and associates of all sides in this case to come up with any conclusion other than that 13 of the 14 accused are innocent.

May I stress that fundamental to that conclusion (shared by myself, the Supreme Court and the Lahore High Court) is that Ms Mai is indeed a victim of a heinous crime. The question is: of what? The Supreme Court and Lahore High Court find that Ms Mai is a victim of rape, hence their maintenance of Abdul Khaliq’s conviction for rape.

It is my belief that Ms Mai is a victim of two heinous crimes here. One is sexual assault: the kind of sexual assault experienced by women forced to marry against their will, and by women handed over by their men folk as compensatory chattel to settle a feud.

Which leads me to what I believe is the paramount crime here: Vani. Under current laws, Ms Mai’s men folk would be convicted for handing her over to the Mastoi family to atone for her teenage brother’s alleged misbehaviour with a teenage Mastoi girl. The tradition of handing women over to atone for their male relatives’ wrongdoing, known also as Swara, was outlawed by the Pakistan government in January 2005.

The police and court records shows that both the prosecution and the Mastoi family agree that it was Ms Mai’s men folk who presented her to the Mastoi family after many hours negotiating, via a local cleric, to resolve a feud. The feud had erupted earlier that day when Mukhtaran’s brother Shakoor was seen with the Mastoi girl Salma in the sugarcane field between the two families’ homes.

The prosecution’s version of what happened next is well-known. There is also a little-credited defence version; the other side of the story. For what it’s worth, the defence version fits the pattern of many a feud and its resolution in rural Punjab and Sindh: to settle the feud, the perpetrator’s family hands over a female to the victim’s family to be married off to one of their men.

I have met the women of the Mastoi family and heard their vivid accounts of what happened that night. They showed me the shoddy room in their home where, they say, they saw Abdul Khaliq bring Mukhtaran Mai to spend the night with him after a ‘sharai nikah’, an on-the-spot marriage without a certificate. For what it’s worth, they recall Ms Mai being thrown out one or more days later and sent back to her family, in a state of disgrace.

What happened to Ms Mai was outrageous, unsolicited, and must be punished. But the evidence, cross-referenced with my own protracted field research and interviews, suggests that what happened is considerably different from what is alleged by the prosecution.

I would beseech anyone who is concerned with justice and human rights to examine this case in real detail, retrace its genesis and comb through the records, and ask themselves whether a dangerous miscarriage of justice lies beneath the famous Mukhtaran Mai story.

I urge the detractors of the Supreme Court’s brave decision to objectively examine whether the 13 acquitted men, who have each spent between six and nine years in jail despite earlier acquittals, have been wrongly accused and imprisoned.

Perhaps the most obvious wrongful imprisonment is of the eight men accused of being part of an alleged panchayat. These men, who lived 3.5 hours travel from Ms Mai’s village on the other side of the Indus, were acquitted in the original 2002 trial for want of evidence. It is worth reading what the original trial judge had to say about how those men came to be arrested and why he released them without charge. This is the same judge who convicted four others of gang-rape and two of aiding and abetment. Astonishingly, these eight acquitted men were re-arrested two and a half years later in reaction to the storms of outrage that followed the Lahore High Court’s 2005 acquittal of five out of six convicted men. They have been in jail for the six years since 2005, without charge. Where are the human rights advocates standing up for them?

Apart from a wealth of inconsistencies in statements to police and witness testimonies, the paucity of evidence affects many celebrated aspects of the prosecution story. The allegation that Shakoor was molested by three Mastoi males is pure fabrication and easily revealed as such on any study of the case. The claim of Ms Mai being paraded naked before hordes of people was thrown out in the original 2002 trial, yet nevertheless has embedded itself in many re-tellings by media and rights groups. The presentation of the Mastoi tribe as wealthier and more powerful than Ms Mai’s clan was discounted in the original 2002 trial, when police admitted under cross-examination that Ms Mai’s family owned more land and had more powerful connections than the Mastoi family, well before this story began.

It is also my belief that Ms Mai is a victim of characters around her who have used her, her family, the local police and courts for their own purposes. Talk to any lawyer in southern Punjab and they will tell you how often false cases are filed between enemies. It’s my belief that Ms Mai was shamefully taken advantage of and had little control over events once the charges, filed not by her or her family but by two unrelated men, went public.

The charge of gang-rape was brought to the police by the cleric Abdul Razzaq and a local journalist-cum-rights monitor who had heard rumours after Razzaq made claims in a Friday sermon. Ms Mai was not involved in the lodging of charges. Some hours later, she was hauled into the police station unceremoniously in the back of a police truck. There she found a statement already written by the cleric in her name. She was told to attest it with a thumbprint. As is well-known, at that time she could neither read the statement, nor write her name. How was she to know what she was attesting with her thumb?

The next day the charge was in a local newspaper, the following day in national and international press, and just three days later Ms Mai had a cheque for 500,000 rupees in her hand from President Pervez Musharraf. No investigation had taken place, and Ms Mai was already both an international heroine and wealthier than any illiterate villager from a wretched Indus backwater could have ever dreamed.

The writer is a former AFP news editor

TheNews Link :

http://thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?IDD406&Cat9&dt4%2F30%2F2011

By Dr Ghayur Ayub
On the map of Pakistan, the Kurram agency resembles the closed beak of a bird pecking its way into Afghanistan. The Himalaya mountains close off the valley from the north, south, and west, leaving an opening at the east for the Tal-Parachinar road to run through the picturesque meadows alongside the tortuous Mar Toi (the dead river), linking Tal with Parachinar-the residing town of the top political and military administrations. During the British Raj, the valley was used as a buffer zone to counter Afghanistan interference into what was then undivided India. Without disturbing the tribal culture, the British government through the political agent, ruled the region by combining the western judicial system with the local Jirga system. In this way, the PA made good use of his authority (which was brutal at times in the shape of FCR) and kept the tribal society in check. After the partition of India, the Kurram valley became part of Pakistan as a tribal belt inheriting all the original traditions, including the style of governance. The system worked satisfactorily for decades despite sectarian divide between Sunni and Shia. Pakhtunwaly played a harmonising role abating hate reaching its crescendo during the infrequent skirmishes between the sects. Two major charters of tribal culture helped calm down sentiments in such clashes; the Tiga and the Lokhai systems. A truce was maintained through the Tiga system which was enforced by Jirga; and individual social and business interests were preserved in enemy territory through Lokhai system during the skirmishes. There were no road blocks, beheadings, kidnappings for ransom or random killings seen in recent upsurge of Taliban.

The change started when the pro-American and pro-Israeli royal family of Iran was deposed through a religious revolution, threatening western interests in the region. They saw an observable tilt in the new regime’s policies towards Palestine. The rousing welcome given to Yaser Arafat on his first official visit to Tehran was seen with great concern. The Arab royalties on other hand, saw themselves next in line to losing their thrones through identical revolutions in their countries. This became a common factor of interest between them. For them the Iranian revolution needed curtailment and the best way to do that was to give it a sectarian shape. Thus Khumeni’s Islamic revolution was propagated as Shia revolution and Saudi Arabia influenced by Wahabism became the launching pad to counter its spread. The events including the Iran-Iraq war, propaganda against Khumeini, and the emergence of a sectarian hate in neighbouring countries such as Pakistan was all part of the policy. Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was used as a stone to kill two birds; the expansion of Soviet Union and export of Iranian revolution. Jihad led by the Wahabi zealots was successful on both accounts- it disintegrated the Soviet Union and ignited a fire between the two major sects of Islam. Its fall out on the tribal belt of Pakistan was beyond comprehension especially in areas where Shia presence was prominent. The fire spread rapidly when general Babar’s sponsored Taliban took over Afghanistan, adversely effecting the life of the Shias in Kurram and Aurakzai Agencies.

The Shias in these two agencies have been increasingly targeted by the surging Taliban ever since. The sane elements in the Turi-Bangash tribes in Kurram agency and Ali Khel, Stori Khel and Feroz Khel tribes in Aurakzai agency want honourable peace with the Taliban. In return, they expect the Taliban to tolerate other sects. But the Taliban accept peace on their terms according to the strict sectarian edict they follow. Two other factors encourage the Taliban in their aims; first, the weak policies and poor governance of the government of Pakistan; second, the trickled down sectarian zeal introduced by general Zia in some army ranks, files and its agencies. The Taliban’ intentions were seen recently in a failed peace deal between the Turi Tribes of Kurram and Haqqani Network of North Waziristan brokered by Rehman Malik under the close scrutiny of ISI. The aim of the deal was to give safe passage to Haqqani group through Shaheedano Dand and Ahmadi Shama posts in Lower Kurram into Zazi Maidan of Paktia and Muqbal areas of Khost in Afghanistan. It is important to note that these routes are already under partial control of Taliban. It is the routes passing through Shia dominated areas of the Upper Kurram, namely Borki, Kharlachi and Tari Mangal which Taliban wish to have access to. By having control over these posts, the Taliban want to make Kurram Agency a logistically useful sanctuary, thus opening new routes leading from North Waziristan to Afghanistan. This would be like a death sentence for the Kurmi Shias as they know that the Taliban would rather see them annihilated than survive as a result of peaceful negotiations.

They were proved right within two months of the deal as on March 25, 2011, three minibuses carrying Shias from Peshawar to Parachinar were attacked by the Taliban at Bagan in lower Kurram killing 15 and injuring 37. They then hijacked the two remaining minibuses with 45 passengers, including women and children on board. According to a news story, they were taken to North Waziristan. In another incident a few months earlier, a Jirga of both Shia and Sunni was convened by the Commandant of the Kurram Militia in which he invited Javed Ibrahim Paracha from Kohat- who is known for his pro-Taliban and anti-Shia sentiments, and hated by the Shias. They blame him for the frequent attacks on Shias passengers at Doaba and Japanese Tunnel near Kohat on the Tal Peshawar road. The Shia Maliks in Jirga doubted the Commandant’s intentions shown by his action.

Similarly, in January a convoy of 24 trucks carrying food supplies and medicines to Upper Kurram was looted and then torched at the village of Durrani near Sadda in Lower Kurram. The Shias held colonel Sajjad responsible for the attack as the convoy was under the protection of the Kurram militia. They linked the attack with the camps at Pir Qayyum, Sateen and Shasho in Lower Kurram which are operated by the Haqqanis and the Taliban. Their worries don’t stop there; they fear that with the help of the army and the unconcerned government officials, these elements would extend their influence to their bases in Tari Mangal, Mata Sangar, Makhrani, Wacha Darra and Spina Shaga in Upper Kurram. Spina Shaga is supposed to be a common platform of Gulbadin Hikmetyar and the Haqqani networks and Mata Sangar is a possible hideout of Siraj Haqqani. In another case a few weeks earlier, armed men from North Waziristan kidnapped 20 Shia residents of Kurram, whose whereabouts is still unknown.

The Kurmi Shias feel embattled on the face of these linkages. They find themselves trapped and insecure both from the Taliban on one side and the unconcerned civilian and army administrations on the other. To make the things worse, they find their MNA Sajid Hussain Turi shrugging his shoulders of responsibility because of his weak personality and lack of political vision. He is known for his feeble nerves and bad reputation making him prone to even weak pressures. So they are stuck between the careless civilian and military officials having no hold on the Taliban and the aggressive Taliban spreading their wings in their backyard. For them, it is a question of survival in their homeland where death has become as easy and cheap as sipping water from a stream.

They find their beautiful valley is burning in a fire lit by the successive poor policies of zealous Zia and moderate Musharaf; a fire which is different from the one seen in rest of the tribal areas. A fire based on emotions against Taliban and disgust about the indifferent attitude of the government. The sad part of it is that a large number of known politicians and intellectuals consider the Taliban as saviour of Islam. They look at the anti Taliban Muslims as Zionists and American sympathisers and if they have a Shia background than they are labelled as Iranian agents. In short, the Kurmi Shias are in a precarious position landlocked by fanatic Taliban and their sympathisers making their life a living hell, burning in emotions full of anxiety and hostility. There is a Persian proverb for people like them which states ‘Tang Amad Ba Jang Amad’. After getting disappointed from continuous failure by the government, in desperation, they have started looking for alternate venues to safeguards their families and maintain their livelihood. In pursuance of an optimum survival they are turning to Afghan government, NATO, and even Hezbollah. This is a bizarre situation, the likes of which was once seen in early 20th century when a prominent Shia Turi Tribe Chief, Noor Khan (alias Dur Khan) sought British help when he found Shias under siege in identical circumstances. How unfortunate it is that both the Taliban and the government are pushing the peace loving Kurmi Shias to the brink where they might take law in their own hands and follow the example of certain tribes in Baluchistan.

The end

By Yvonne Ridley in Benghazi
Just a few weeks ago I stood on a public platform and vigorously slammed proposals for Western military intervention in Libya.
The hasty scramble by the Americans, French and Brits lacked strategy and a clear goal.
To me it appeared to be yet another oil-fuelled, reckless act by gung-ho leaders who would end up being sucked in to a long military campaign as futile as the Bush-Blair adventures into Iraq and Afghanistan that we are still paying for in terms of wasted lives.
“Here we go again,” I said. “Another imperialistic adventure with the long-term aim of getting our grubby hands on other peoples’ oil.”
To those few Libyans present, I warned they would live to regret this pact with the West that I likened to jumping into bed with the Devil.
Being very conscious of the fact I’m not a Libyan and desperate at not wanting to be seen as another opinionated Westerner sticking my nose into matters I didn’t understand, I sought the views of many Libyan friends and contacts.
Their reaction was mixed, but more often than not I was told that without outside help the Libyan people would be slaughtered by Gaddafi who himself described those who opposed him as cockroaches that needed to be crushed.
To justify my stand I reasoned that all revolutions are bloody and that the heroic people of Tunisia and Egypt had paid the blood price in their hundreds to win freedom.
I even recounted Malcolm X telling people that if they were not prepared to die for it they should remove the word freedom from their vocabulary.
Of course making grand statements from platforms in central London is one thing but going to see for myself what was happening on the ground was something else.
My few days in Libya proved to be extremely humbling, illuminating and provided me with a reality check.
I was wrong about opposing military intervention. No if, buts or maybe – I was wrong, wrong, wrong.
The people of Libya would have been brutally crushed without mercy if the West had not responded to their cries for help.
Perhaps the greatest shame is that Arab leaders stood by emotionless as the Libyan people begged everyone and anyone for help to bring down Gaddafi.
Some of those Arab leaders had no such hesitation in answering cries for help from the oppressive royal regime in Bahrain … obviously the Saudis and rest of the GCC cabal felt uncomfortable helping to bring down an evil, brutal, dictator who routinely abused and oppressed his people while happily propping up another.
It could have been an opportunity for the rising regional power Turkey to step in to the breach but to the massive disappointment of the Libyan people Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to become embroiled.
So in the end the West did intervene and although the blood of innocents is still flowing in the streets at least it is not a torrent.
And maybe this is a war led by no one, with no particular aim but the enforcement of the No Fly Zone has prevented a massacre.
That is the view held by one of Libya’s spiritual leaders Sheikh Mohammed Bosidra who told me: “We had no choice. It was either make a pact with NATO or be crushed. It was a matter of survival, as simple as that.”
However many have already paid the ultimate blood price. Each town and city has a special place for its martyrs, and there are many. Faces of young men stared back at me from family portraits proudly hung in the central square Benghazi and what struck me was how young they were.
In Derna, more portraits of the sons of Omar Al-Mukhtar hung in the town centre and some of the bodies have been buried in a cemetery next to the tombs of three Sahaba and 70 other martyrs who fought against Roman and Byzantine forces in 692AD.
“We have a very fine tradition of producing martyrs in Derna and that is why Gaddafi hates the people of Derna more than anywhere else in Libya,” one woman told me.
And then she pointed to a French Tricolore and a Union Jack whispering: “Thankyou, we will never forget what you have done for us.”
I admit I felt uncomfortable, even a fraud, on several different levels by accepting her thanks. Usually I end up apologizing for the deeds of various British governments and Empire so this was something new for me.
We are still not clear what is the endgame of the NATO-led force, but the Libyan people are crystal clear in one thing: Gaddafi must go.
Only then can they begin to work out the next move, and it won’t be easy.
The Transitional National Council, says it is committed to liberate every part of Libya from Aamsaad in the east to Raas Ajdair in the west, and from Sirte in the north to Gatrun in the south.
But from what I could see the mission is unstable and unpredictable, chaotic, disorganised and confused.
However, what is undeniable is the bravery and courage of the Libyan people who we in the media routinely refer to as rebels … these people are not rebels. They are shopkeepers, students, doctors, businessmen and mechanics who have never owned a gun or wanted to pick one up in anger, until now.
And yet there they are, tens of thousands, prepared to die for freedoms and liberties they’ve never known in Gaddafi’s 41-year rule.
I was moved to tears by a regiment of young men who marched, rallied and chanted demanding to be sent to the front lines in Misrata to help their brothers in arms.
Their personally-delivered message in Benghazi was to the members of the interim government and they were extremely critical of some elements of the TNC who they said were more interested in parading around with bodyguards intoxicated with the little power they had than making real decisions.
The criticism of the leadership was stinging but reassuring that these young men were not blind to the shortcomings of their own. Too often in the Middle East people are blind and unquestioning in their loyalty to their leaders.
It is clear to me that once Gaddafi is gone – and he will go – that the Libyan people will not replace him with another tyrant or a Western puppet. Whatever government and constitution they choose will be one of their own making.
But first we in the West must give them all the help and support they need to accomplish the removal of Gaddafi until it is time for NATO to go in a dignified exit.
And who knows, for once, Western intervention might just be regarded as a force for good.
* British journalist Yvonne Ridley is European President of the International Muslim Women’s Union.