“The story of DNA continues to twist and turn”!

Scientists Discover Quadruple Helix: Four Strand DNA In Human Cells

by Arjun

The human race knows very little of itself, almost like a race with amnesia. As we continue to move forward through time, new discoveries are made that make old theories obsolete and false. It’s a good lesson that shows us how we can attach ourselves to “truths” and believe them whole-heartedly, often forgetting that truth is constantly changing and new paradigms of perception always lurk around the corner.

Decades after scientists described our “chemical code” of life using the double helix DNA, researchers have discovered four-stranded DNA within human cells. The structures are called G-quadruplexes, because they form in regions of DNA that are full of guanine, one of the DNA molecule’s four building blocks. The others are adenine, cytosine and thymine. A hydrogen bond is responsible for holding the four guanines together. The four stranded DNA usually presents itself right before cell division.

The discovery was published online in Nature Chemistry, and you can take a look at it here. The study was led by Shankar Balasubramanian at the University of cambridge, UK.

For us, it strongly supports a new paradigm to be investigated – using these four-stranded structures as targets for personalized treatments in the future.We have found that by trapping the quadruplex DNA with synthetic molecules we can sequester and stabilise them, providing important insights into how we might grind cell division to a halt — Shankar Balasubramanian

The study went on to show certain links between concentrations of four-stranded G-quandruplexes and the process of DNA replication, which is crucial to cell division and cell production. G-quadruplexes, (when targeted with synthetic molecules responsible for trapping and holding these DNA structures) prevent cells from replicating their DNA, thus blocking cell division. Scientists believe that this discovery could possibly lead to a stop in cell proliferation at the root of cancer ….

Read more » Collective Evolution
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/07/17/scientists-discover-quadruple-helix-four-strand-dna-in-human-cells/

Via – Facebook

UN adopts landmark resolution on protection of human rights defenders

(21 March 2013 – Geneva) The use and abuse of national law to impair, restrict and criminalise the work of human rights defenders is a contravention of international law and must end, according to a landmark resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council today.

The resolution, which was led by Norway and adopted by consensus, calls on all states to support the work of human rights defenders and to protect them from harassment, threats and attacks.

‘The work of human rights defenders is essential to uphold democracy and the rule of law,’ said Michael Ineichen of the International Service for Human Rights.

Discussion on Pakistan, Constitution, Religious intolerance & Human Rights

Courtesy: Rawal Tv (Focus with Waqas Munawar – 19th July 2012)

Via- Siasat.pk

Baloch human rights campaigner Noordin Mengal addresses the Oxford University Pakistan society

Courtesy: YouTube

What is is Sufism?

By: Amar Jalil

Sufism (Sindhiyat) is neither a religion, nor it is a doctrine, a myth, a cult, or dogma. Sufism can neither be taught, nor it can be explained in concrete terms. Like fragrance Sufism is felt. It surrounds. It overwhelms. It encompasses us in serenity. Sufism Touches inner cords of our existence . It ultimately liberates human to embark upon his/her search for ultimate truth.

Courtesy: adopted from Facebook wall

Christian girl, 12, kidnapped, beaten and raped for eight months until she converted to Islam

Asian Human Rights Commission claim girl was lured on shopping trip by friend before she was kidnapped.

Abductors drove her 120 miles before raping her, then forced her to sign marriage papers

Victim managed to escape eight months later, but police refuse to prosecute rapists because they are tied to militant Islam group

By Wil Longbottom

A 12-year-old Christian girl was kidnapped and repeatedly raped for eight months in Pakistan by a man who then falsified marriage documents with her, it was claimed today.

The girl was lured on a shopping trip in Lahore by a friend, before she was driven 120 miles to Tandianwalla and raped by the friend’s uncle in January this year.

Two days later, she was forced to sign papers consenting to marriage with the man and beaten for refusing to convert from Christianity to Islam.

She was then held against her will for eight months, before managing to escape and contact her family.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has said the rapists have not been arrested because of their affiliation with a militant Muslim organisation – the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.

It claims the police have refused to order a medical check-up on the girl, and have warned her parents that it would be better for them to hand over the girl to her ‘legal’ husband or a criminal case would be filed against them.

An investigation into the kidnapping found the girl’s father reported her disappearance in January and made complaints against her abductors, but police took no action for eight months.

Last month, the girl – who has not been named for legal reasons – called her family from Tandianwalla and told them she had been abducted, but had escaped and was hiding at a bus stop.

The girl’s parents travelled to the town and rescued her, before taking her to a local magistrate to give a statement.

The rapists then contacted the police through their religious group and produced a marriage certificate that claimed to show one of them was married to the 12-year-old.

As a result of their complaint, the Christian family has gone into hiding as members of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba are searching for them.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2048261/Christian-girl-12-kidnapped-raped-beaten-converted-Islam.html#ixzz1qVn3aSFg

Pak Must Stop Atrocities in Balochistan: Asma Jehangir

New Delhi: Prominent Pakistani human rights activist Asma Jehangir wants Pakistan to put its act together for a time-bound mechanism to address the unrest in Baluchistan while appealing for ending “hair-raising” atrocities in the troubled province.

Jehangir , who is in India as part of a delegation of Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan (SCBAP) attending a seminar organised by Supreme Court Bar Association, said her country was going through a “very difficult” phase which was not comprehended here properly.

“I think that the government (of Pakistan) has to put its act together. First of all, the atrocities which are very tragic, which are hair-raising have to stop,” Jehangir told PTI on the sidelines of a dinner hosted in her honour by South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA) and South Asian Women in Media (SAWM) here.

Read more » http://news.in.msn.com/pakistan/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5939005

The U.S. Empire’s Achilles Heel: Its Barbaric Racism

by Glen Ford

The American atrocities in Afghanistan roll on like a drumbeat from hell. With every affront to the human and national dignity of the Afghan people, the corporate media feign shock and quickly conclude that a few bad apples are responsible for U.S. crimes, that it’s all a mistake and misunderstanding, rather than the logical result of a larger crime: ….

Read more » Common Dreams

A national challenge

By Saad Hafiz

Excerpt;

….. Pakistan is being left behind as more developing countries make an effort to capitalize on the full human potential of their female population to drive economic development and social transformation. Muslim countries such as Bangladesh and Malaysia have made significant progress in implementing gender equality in five critical areas: economic participation, economic opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment, and health and well-being. If Pakistan is to make economic and social progress in the near future it needs to educate its women from primary to the highest levels, open up economic opportunities to women, introduce social infrastructure and services to unburden women of the domestic and child care burdens and enforce laws to protect women’s rights. Hopefully, the education and empowerment of women in Pakistan will also result in a more caring, tolerant, just and peaceful society.

To read complete article » PaK Tea House

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan requests your urgent intervention in the situation – Abduction of Two Sindhi Nationalist Leaders

URGENT APPEAL HRCP – Abduction of Two Sindhi Nationalist Leaders

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan requests your urgent intervention in the following situation

Description of the situation: On Monday night March 5, 2012 Dr. Mir Alam Marree, Senior Vice-Chairman Jeay Sindh Qomi Mahaz (JSQM) and Mr. Umer Teewano alias Raja Dahar were sitting at a restaurant opposite Rajputana Hospital,Gulshan-e-Sajad, in the jurisdiction Bhittai Nagar, Police Station, Hyderabad, Sindh Pakistan.

According to the eye witnesses they were picked up by plain cloth men belonging to law enforcing agencies who came in four vehicles including a police mobile. Before taking them away they were hit by the rifles butts.

Ms. Ghazal Maree D/O Mir Alam Maree told HRCP that on Monday at 7.30 pm her father talked with her but after twenty minutes when she called back her fathers’ cell phone was switched off. There was no FIR against her father.

Action requested – Please write to the authorities in Pakistan urging them:

1. To disclose the whereabouts of two Sindhi nationalist leaders and reason for their arrest.

2. To release the detainees immediately if they are not to be charged with a cognizable criminal offense.

3. To allow the families of the detainee to meet them.

4. They should be provided lawyers access.

5. To protect them from torture and other ill-treatment while they are in detention.

We express our deep concern on the abduction of Dr. Mir Alam Muree, Senior Vice-Chairman Jeay Sindh Qomi Mahaz(JSQM) and Mr. Umer Teewano alias Raja Dahar by law enforcement agencies.

We demand that they must not be tortured.

We urge that they are dealt with according to law.

We urge that if there was no case against them they should be immediately released.

We urge to provide them all kind of medical facilities.

We demand that their families should be allowed to meet them

We demand that they should be allowed to meet lawyers of their choice.

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More details » Daily Times

BBC – Pakistan Hindu woman Rinkle Kumari ‘forced to marry’

By Riaz Sohail

A court in Pakistan has ordered police to find a Hindu woman who was allegedly abducted and forced to marry her Muslim husband.

In a petition before the Sindh High Court, the family of Rinkle Kumari say that her abduction was supported by a powerful politician.

But her husband’s friends say that she voluntarily left home in Sindh province and willingly converted to Islam.

Judges at the court said that Ms Kumari must be produced before them next week.

Human rights activists say that other reported abductions of members of minority communities in Pakistan, which is overwhelmingly Muslim, have not been properly investigated by the authorities.

In the most recent case, Hindu community leaders say that an oath Ms Kumari made in front of a court in her home town that she had freely got married and converted to Islam was made under duress.

They say that many others like her have been forcibly taken away by powerful politicians – some allied to the governing Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

The Hindu community has accused one of the party’s MPs, Mian Abdul Haq, of supporting the abduction and the forced conversion.

But in an interview with the BBC he strenuously denied the allegations.

“I contacted her family when Rinkle came to me last month,” he said.

“But they refused to respond – and then I was left with no choice but to convert her to Islam and get her married [according to] her will.”

Ms Kumari’s family say that she was kidnapped from her home on 24 February by Naveed Shah – who later married her.

They say that they have registered a police complaint against Mr Shah even though he appeared in court on 25 February with Ms Kumari, who made a statement before the magistrate that she had married him of her own free will.

The family and community leaders, however, say that the magistrate was under “a great deal of pressure” because hundreds of armed tribesmen loyal to Mr Haq were in the court premises.

Mr Haq said that his supporters would abide by the court ruling and that Ms Kumari would appear in court on 12 March.

Courtesy: BBC

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More » Where shall we go?

Baloch solidarity rally paid gratification to US Government and Congressmen

London, 5 March 2012 – According to the press Release issued by Samad Baloch, General Secretary, Baloch Human Rights Council (UK);  A Baloch solidarity protest rally was held in front of US embassy in London on Sunday 4 March 2012. Rally was organised by Baloch Human Rights Council (UK), Balochistan Raaji Zrombesh, Balochistan Libration Organisation and World Sindhi Congress. A large number of the Baloch and Sindhis despite of cold and severe rainy weather attended the rally.

Rally was organized to express gratefulness of the Baloch to congressional representatives Dana Rohrabacher, Louie Gohmert and Steve king and the US government for their support for human rights of the Baloch and the right of self-determination of Balochistan ie Free Balochistan. Speakers requested the congressional representatives to continue their efforts in this respect in order to save the Baloch from the brutalities of Iran and Pakistan. They requested the US government to support the bill asking for the right of self-determination of the Baloch including free sovereign Balochistan.

Participants of the rally expressed their solidarity with the Baloch and Sindhi national struggles. They condemned the state crimes against humanity being committed against the Baloch and Sindhi people.

Speakers condemned disappearances, torture and extra-judicial killings of innocent Baloch and Sindhi people by Pakistani security agencies. They termed this as a systematic genocide of Baloch nation. They requested the international community, the USA and the UK to intervene in Balochistan. They urged UN to put stringent sanctions on Pakistan … and pressurize these governments to end heinous crimes against Baloch and Sindhi people.

Rahim Bandovi, Mir Ghulam Hussain (Mir of UK), Mustafa Baloch, Faiz Baloch, Hassan Hamdam, Abdullah Baloch, Mir Ometan Baloch and Samad Baloch were among those who spoke on the occasion.

Is Rohrabacher wrong on Balochistan? By Pervez Hoodbhoy

Excerpts;

…. Dana Rohrabacher’s resolution in the US Congress states that the Baloch people “have the right to self-determination and to their own sovereign country”. Expectedly, this unleashed a torrent of anger in Pakistan’s government and media which overwhelmingly saw this as a conspiracy to break up the country. Pakistan-US relations have descended another notch; attempts by the US State Department, as well as the currently visiting group of Congressmen, to distance themselves from the resolution have not worked. …

…. The official Pakistani response to Rohrabacher is still more flawed. Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar termed the tabling of his bill “a violation of UN charter” and of Pakistan’s sovereignty. But this line of defence could forfeit Pakistan’s moral right to criticise other states, Syria and India included.

Consider the fact that on February 17 Pakistan voted for an Arab League-sponsored resolution in the UN General Assembly which calls upon Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to step down. This surely constitutes interference in the internal matter of a sovereign country. But Pakistan did well. In a civilised world national sovereignty must come second, and human rights first.

Pakistan has also long criticised India — and justly so — for its human rights abuses. But more people are dying in Balochistan today than in Kashmir. For all their brutality against stone-throwing Kashmiri boys, the Indians have not yet used helicopter gunships and fighter jets against Kashmiris. Pakistan, on the other hand, uses airpower as a matter of course in Balochistan and Fata. ….

To read complete article » The Express Tribune

Michael Hughes – Pakistan takes vengeance out on Baloch after U.S. criticism

After Pakistan was condemned by the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee last week for human rights violations in Balochistan province, Pakistan’s security forces responded ruthlessly, outraged the Baloch would dare seek external help to escape a nightmarish existence.

According to Malik Siraj Akbar, editor of The Baloch Hal, on Feb. 13 the bullet-riddled body of a prominent Baloch leader was discovered who had been missing for over two years. The gruesome operation is called “kill and dump” and is the calling card of Pakistan’s spy agency – the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

The victim was Sangat Sana Baloch, leader of the Baloch Republican Party (BRP) …

Continue reading » Examiner.com

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More on SANGAT SANA BALOCH » » 30 bullets in a single fragile body shows the immense of Pakistan’s hatred towards Balochs

Inside Balochistan’s dirty war – Praveen Swami

Baloch secessionist leader Brahmdagh Bugti says he wants political engagement with Pakistan — but that its military wants war.

Late last month, Zamur Domki and her 12-year-old daughter were driving back to their home in an upmarket Karachi neighbourhood when a black car swerved across the road, blocking their route. Thinking she was a target of an armed robbery, Ms Domki offered the masked men who surrounded the car her jewellery and mobile phone — but the attackers weren’t interested.

An eyewitness recalls that Ms Domki watched in horror as the assassins repeatedly shot her daughter in the chest and neck. Then, it was her turn to die.

Baloch politicians allege the murders, for which no one has been held, were carried out by Pakistan’s intelligence services to send a message to Ms Domki’s brother, Brahmdagh Bugti — a soft-spoken 31-year-old father of three who, from exile in Geneva, leads the region’s largest secessionist party.

Concern over assassinations

In recent months, assassinations of Baloch nationalist politicians and their kin have provoked growing concern. Last year alone, the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has reported, there were at least 107 new cases of enforced disappearances. The missing, the commission’s chairperson Zohra Yusuf said, “were increasingly turning up dead.” The United States’ State Department has voiced concern, and political leaders have called for action.

Join Baloch Solidarity Protest rally in front of The US embassy in London, UK

Press release: Baloch Human Rights Council (UK), Baloch Raaji Zrombesh, World Sindhi Congress and Balochistan Liberation Organistaion are holding a Baloch Solidarity protest rally infront of the USA embassy in London UK.

All Baloch , Sindhis and other democratic and peace loving people are requested to join in the rally.

· To show your solidarity with the genuine struggle of Baloch and Sindhi people for their sovereignty and human rights.

· To say thanks to Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and USA government for their support of Human rights and sovereignty of Baloch Nation.

· To protest against crimes against humanity committed by Pakistani security establishment against Baloch and Sindhi people.

· To condemn the disappearances, torture and extrajudicial killing of Baloch and Sindhi people.

· To request the international community, the USA, the UK that the deep state committing crimes against Baloch and Sindhi people.

Samad Baloch

General Secretary

Baloch Human Rights Council (UK)

Role of security establishment

By Aqil Shah

WHAT is a human life worth in Pakistan? Guessing from the impunity with which the intelligence agencies engage in the alleged torture and extrajudicial murder of its own people, apparently not much.

The gruesome deaths of four terror suspects in ISI custody, and the visibly brutal treatment of seven others, has belatedly caught the attention of the Supreme Court, which otherwise seemed to many observers to be obsessed with serving instant ‘justice’ to the ruling PPP leadership.

How far the SC is willing to pursue this and other missing persons’ cases will be a litmus test for the rule of law in Pakistan which is under constant attack from a security establishment hiding behind the armour of national security.

The renowned sociologist Charles Tilly once compared modern states to organised crime rackets. For Tilly, states essentially function as protection rackets because they foment danger and then offer protection against it, usually for a high price. ….

Read more » DAWN.COM

Brahamdagh : No talks with government, We welcome if US, NATO or India intervene, says BRP chief

Baloch Republican Party chief Brahamdagh Bugti living in exile claimed Wednesday Baloch movement did not enjoy any foreign support, saying but they would welcome it, be it from the US, NATO or the India.

‘We know foreign powers have their own interests; we think of our own greater interests”, he said in a telephonic press conference at Quetta Press Club.

Mr. Bugti said Baloch women, leaders, activists, students, writers, poets, and intellectuals were being picked up and eventually being disappeared and eventually turning up dead. Under such circumstances, we would welcome the support of foreign countries for independence, he said.

Bugti backed the US resolution on Balochistan and justified it was not against the sovereignty of Pakistan as every country possessed right to intervene in another country’s affairs if that state was involved in human rights violations ….

Read more » The Point

More details » BBC urdu

Pakistan’s festering wound – TOI

On February 8, representatives of Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International testified before the Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee on Oversight and Investigations at the US Congress against grave human rights abuses committed by Pakistan’s security forces in the restive province of Balochistan. Since then, Islamabadhas used as many as 10 different channels to strongly protest against what it calls America’s “blatant interference” in its “internal affairs”.The issue has flared up further following the introduction of a House Concurrent Resolution by Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher seeking the right of self-determination for the native Balochs. Pakistan has summoned the acting US ambassador to Islamabad twice in a single week at the foreign office, passed a parliamentary resolution and protested through its ambassadors in Washington DC and at the UN. Wasim Sajjad, a former Pakistan Senate chairman, while referring to HRW, has called for “immediately taking action against those NGOs or persons who are accepting dollars from the US and are pursuing their agenda on the lands of Pakistan and destabilising Balochistan.”

Although the congressional hearing and subsequent resolutions were not sponsored by the Obama administration, American diplomats still face the wrath of Pakistani officials due to utter ignorance of the American poli-tical system. Anti-Americanism is not unfamiliar in Pakistan, but bashing the Obama administration for a ‘crime’ it has not committed simply means there is something fishy in Islamabad’s cupboard.

Freedom for Balochistan – Protest against Pakistan’s barbarism in Balochistan

London: The barbarism of Pakistani security agencies in Balochistan continues to infuriate the Baloch people. A Human Rights Watch report titled “We can Torture, Kill, or Keep You for Years’: Enforced Disappearances by Pakistan Security Forces in Balochistan” exposes the fact that Pakistani agencies are responsible for widespread disappearances of Baloch political activists. The 32-page report slams Pakistan authorities for taking people into custody and then denying all responsibility or knowledge of their fate or whereabouts. The rights group investigated several cases in which uniformed personnel of the Frontier Corps, an Interior Ministry paramilitary force, and the police were involved in abducting Baloch nationalists.

Courtesy: South Asia News » YouTube

Rights violations shame Pakistanis at Congress hearing

By Anwar Iqbal

WASHINGTON: Guilt and shame were the two dominant feelings that overwhelmed many Pakistanis at a US congressional hearing room on Wednesday as witnesses detailed human rights abuses in Balochistan. Some were also troubled – while some felt elated – as all five US lawmakers who attended this unusual hearing of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations stressed the Baloch right to self-determination.

But this emotive session – which often drew warm applause from Baloch nationalists – offered little insight into how to resolve this difficult issue. Perhaps, that’s not even the intention of those who had organised the meeting. They wanted to highlight Balochistan as a possibly explosive spot close to a US war-theatre and they succeeded in doing so. …

Read more » DAWN.COM

LONDON – TORONTO: World Sindhi Congress and the World Sindhi Institute strongly condemned the Target-Killing of Brahmdagh Bugti’s Sister and Niece

Zamu Domki, her daughter Jana Domki and their driver Barkat Baloch were returning home at their resident from a wedding when unknown assailants on a motorbike fired at them in an ambush, killed all of them and conveniently escaped.

Zamu and Jana Domki were wife and daughter of Balochistan MPA, Mir Bakhtiar Khan Domki. They were also sister and niece of most loved Baloch Leader Brahamdagah Bugti and grand daughters of Nawab Akbar Bugti.

WSC, sees these recent murders of prominent Baloch leaders and their families in Sindh as an attempt to create gulf among historical solidarity between the Nations of Sindh and Balochistan. WSC calls upon Sindhi people to protest and condemn this heinous crime against innocent people. WSC also call upon on International community to condemn and influence Pakistan to stop these genocides against Baloch people.

In another press release, Humaira Rahman, General Secretary, World Sindhi Institute USA-Canada, submits its deepest condolences to the Baloch Human Rights Council and the Baloch nation on the disappearances and brutal murders of innocent men, women and children that takes place on a daily basis in Balochistan.

The latest case of the targetted killing of Saieen Brahmdagh Bugti’s sister and niece is a highly provocative act underlined with disrespect and designed to deliver a premeditated and insulting blow to the legitimate struggle for fundamental human rights (including the right of self determination) of the Baloch nation.

Instead of respecting the historical rights of the Baloch, the Sindhi and other nations, the Pakistan Army + ISI insist on holding these indigenous nations hostage whilst siphoning off their rich national resources, with impunity.

The World Sindhi Institute condemns these brutal killings and demands a judicial enquiry from the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and a UN sponsored and monitored investigation to publicly identify and punish the perpetrators of these crimes against humanity.

Israel: High Court Rulings Undermine Human Rights

Recent Decisions Uphold Discrimination, Exploitation of Occupied Territory

(Jerusalem) – Recent decisions by Israel’s high court aim to legitimize clear violations of Israel’s international legal obligations, Human Rights Watch said today. In one decision, the court disregarded international law prohibiting discrimination, and in another, it ignored international law on the use of resources in an occupied territory. Israel should annul a law preventing Israeli citizens from living with their Palestinian spouses and end policies that permit private Israeli companies to strip rocks and other construction materials from quarries in the occupied West Bank for their own economic gain.

“With these rulings, Israel’s highest court has veered seriously off course in serving as a final bastion for upholding human rights,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “For the system of legal checks against rights abuses to break down like this is one more indication of the unraveling of protections for rights and freedom in Israel.” ….

Read more » Human Rights Watch (HRW)

U.S. State Department’s Spokesperson Victoria Nuland “officially” states that there is a “human rights issue” in Balochistan

U.S. Department of State Spokesperson Victoria Nuland answers questions submitted to the Department’s 10 official Twitter feeds during a Twitter Q&A at the Department of State in Washington, D.C. on January 13, 2012.

» YouTube

PAKISTAN’S Supreme Court opened a potentially government-toppling commission into the “Memogate”

‘Memogate’ scandal threatens Pakistan stability

PAKISTAN’S Supreme Court opened a potentially government-toppling commission into the “Memogate” scandal yesterday, ignoring accusations from the human rights commissioner that the law was being used to transform the country into a “security state”.

Asma Jehangir, also president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, lashed out at the judiciary as she announced she was standing aside as legal counsel for former US ambassador Husain Haqqani because she believed he had no chance of a fair hearing.

Courtesy: THE AUSTRALIAN

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/memogate-scandal-threatens-pakistan-stability/story-e6frg6so-1226235079207

PAKISTAN: ISI Head must be prosecuted for hatching conspiracy against democracy – AHRC

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – AHRC-UAC-248-2011

19 December 2011 – The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the Director General of the Inter Services Intelligence Agency, the country’s foremost intelligence agency, has hatched a conspiracy to overthrow the democratically elected government and parliament by taking help from some Arab monarchies who have strong influence in the affairs of the country. The Pakistan Army has been trying for two years to overthrow the civilian government and it is alleged that in the month of May 2011, Lieutenant General Shuja Pasha, the chief of the ISI, visited several Arab monarchies in a personal capacity and sought clearance for the army to take over the country. It is also alleged that he was given the ‘OK’ by these monarchies. He also visited China, without taking permission from the prime minister, but apparently did not get any formal assistance.

Pakistani Man Executed in China Still Lives In His Mother’s Dreams

By Tasneem Fatima

Excerpt;

… Rafia Bibi, 70, is an unlucky Pakistani woman, who lost her son in China, after the Chinese Supreme Court sentenced him to death. Besides other human wishes, seeing loved ones before their death is one of the most important desires of every person, but Rafia was one of those mothers who could not see her son, when he was passing through the final stages of his life.

“In my mind, my son is still in front of me, and he will remain alive in my dreams,” said Rafia, with tears in her eyes.

Rafia’s son, Syed Zahid Hussain, was a 30-year-old resident of Haripur, Pakistan. He had a business importing and exporting jewellery in Thailand, and visited China in connection with a business deal. Narrating the fateful story, which has ruined the lives of Zahid,s family members ….

Read more » News Blaze

UN Security Council condemns Ashura attacks in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif reminded “States” to combat terrorism comply with all their obligations under international law

Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York

Security Council Press Statement on Afghanistan- SC/10474- Afg/380

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Vitaly Churkin ( Russian Federation):

The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the abhorrent terrorist attacks on 6 December in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif causing numerous death and injuries.

The members of the Security Council expressed their deep sympathy and sincere condolences to the victims of these heinous acts and to their families, and to the people and Government of Afghanistan.

The members of the Security Council called on the Government of Afghanistan to bring those responsible to justice.

The members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, and that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.

The members of the Security Council reiterated their determination to combat all forms of terrorism, in accordance with its responsibilities under the Charter of the United Nations.

The members of the Security Council reminded States that they must ensure that measures taken to combat terrorism comply with all their obligations under international law, in particular international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law.

The members of the Security Council reiterated their support for the people and the Government of Afghanistan.

Courtesy » http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/sc10474.doc.htm

SOUTH ASIA: India is not Pakistan

A Statement from the Asian Human Rights Commission – AHRC-STM-183-2011,

November 29, 2011 – The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) is a subject of severe criticism by human rights activists and jurists in India and across the world. The alarming number of human rights abuses committed by the security agencies deployed in regions where AFSPA is currently put to use is depressing proof to the draconian nature of this law. Many lives lost already – estimated to be more than 4000 since the Act came into force in 1958 – to this the Act underscores the non-compatibility of this law to the notion of democracy. The statutory impunity provided in the Act and the extreme nature of force, that could be used arbitrarily on mere suspicion, empowering a soldier to shoot to kill with no fear of prosecution which is used without restraint till today, proves that this law has not only failed, but would not by any stretch of imagination be of use to curb armed secessionist militancy in the country. Yet, the Indian Army is now entangled in a browbeating debacle with the civilian government in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the state’s legislature concerning the withdrawal of this law from certain parts of the state. The army’s attempt is to continue enjoying the despicable impunity this law provides therefore unbecomingly benefiting from it.

World Sindhi Congress (WSC) Appeals for an Independent Enquiry to Investigate the Murders and Disappearances of Sindhi Political activists at UN

LONDON,  (Press release NOVEMBER 10, 2011) World Sindhi Congress (WSC) participated and took floor in a meeting with Committee on Enforced Disappearances by Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) at United Nations, held on 10th November, 2011 in Geneva. Dr. Rubina Greenwood, Vice Chairperson of WSC presented a statement on recently killed and disappeared Sindhi political activists.

In her statement she informed OHCHR that security forces and other security agencies have been actively engaged in hundreds of forced disappearances and targeted killings of political activists and ordinary peace loving people of Sindh and Blochistan. Media sources in Sindh have reported the official count of missing people who were picked up by the various security agencies is to be close to 175.

Dr. Greenwood reported that more than 45 Sindhi political activists belonging to various students’, labors’ and other political organizations have disappeared in recent years. Amongst them are Mr. Muzaffar Bhutto, Mr. Noor Muhammed Khaskheli, Mr Shahid Notayar, Lala Yasser, Shoukat Brohi, Faisal Wagan, Riaz Kakepoto, Shah Nawaz Bhutto, Jam Bhutto, Yasir Notiar, Ali Nawab Mahar, Zulfiqar Jamalim Hameed Shar are some of the prominent names. She also said that number of ordinary law abiding Sindhis who belong to Shah Bandir and Jati areas (border villages to India) have been illegally captured by Intelligence agencies too. Among those who are also abducted include Ali Bachal Themor, Ghulam Kadir Boryio, Taj Mohammed Themor and Mohammed Boryio to name a few.

Recent appeals made by Asian Human Rights Commission which was issued on 11th October 2011 with names of students who were taken by Pakistani Agencies from Sindh University including Afzal Pahnwar, Sanaullah Bhatti and Mukhtiar Pahnwar was presented as a supporting document to OHCHR by Dr. Greenwood.

“As recently as in last two weeks i.e. 6th November and 29th October 2011 five prominent political activists including Mohammed Brohi, Nadeem

Lashari, G M Abro, Noor Abro and Anwar Depar were arrested and their whereabouts are unknown since then,” said Dr. Greenwood in her statement.

Security agencies and Police regularly engages in the murder and killing of political activists. She said that from February to April 2011 a number of prominent political leaders and activists have been killed including Zulfiqar Kolachi, Aijaz Solangi, Sirai Qurban Khuhawr, Roplo Choliani and Nadir Bugti and Noorullah Tunio. She also reported the

murders of two active leaders of Pakistan Fisher folk Forum (PFF): Haji Abubakar and Abdul Ganai Mirbahar in May 2011.

She said that this callousness of security agencies completely ignores the commitments Pakistan made just last year when it signed the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in which Article One very clearly states, “All peoples have the right to the self-determination.”

Rubina appealed to the OHCHR Committee on Forced Disappearance to put pressure on government to set up an independent investigation of the recent killings and disappearances of political activists andordinary Sindhis in line with Pakistan’s commitments to the UN Treaties addressing freedom of speech and association.

In an email message, Dr Hidayat Bhutto, the Chairperson of the WSC said, “It is important for International Community to know about the atrocities towards progressive and secular human rights and democracy workers.”

WSC regularly attends UN events where it comments on the human rights situations in Sindh and other parts of Pakistan.