Headlines:
- Collective Punishment of the Muslims of Waziristan Confirms Treachery of Rulers
- “Pakistan is Up for Grabs” as Pakistan Steel Mills Offered to Private Parties
- Seven Pakistan Army Soldiers Martyred, with no Befitting Response
Collective Punishment of the Muslims of Waziristan Confirms Treachery of Rulers
In a lowly example of state supported cruelty, the Pakistan`s Raheel-Nawaz regime has collectively punished Muslims of Waziristan. As reported in Dawn, local authorities dynamited a market on 4 November in Rustam Bazaar of South Waziristan’s headquarters Wana under local laws, as a collective punishment for an explosion which killed an army officer and injured many others earlier this week, officials and local residents confirmed. Political Agent in South Waziristan Agency Zafarul Islam Khattak told Dawn that the action was taken under the collective and territorial responsibility clauses of the Frontier Crime Regulations (FCR).
Frontier Crime Regulations (FCR) have origins in the British Raj occupation, for British legislation was inadequate to contain Pashtun opposition to the British occupation of the Indian Subcontinent. The regulations took their present form primarily through the Frontier Crimes Regulations of 1901. As a particularly cruel measure, the FCR permits collective punishment of family or tribe members for crimes of individuals. Though on the face of it the Muslims of this region attained independence from the colonialists, the Kufr system, rules and regulations remained, including the inhumane law of collective punishment. Adding to the woes of the tribal Muslims, since the creation of Pakistan, FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) are being ruled through a setup of state appointed political agents. It is well known that political agents appointed by state are the ones who generally bid highest in bribery. In return these political agents earn through cross-border trade, smuggling of products, levying charges on trade and on tribal people at will. The tribal belt continues to be ruled by a law separate from the rest of the country, which makes their situation even more unbearable than the rest of the country, which also languishes under man-made laws.
The Muslims of tribal areas have long borne injustice for their determination towards Islam and steadfastness against foreign invasions. The British meted out particular brutality against the Muslims of the tribal regions and yet they contributed to the eventual evacuation of the British from our lands. These were the same noble Muslims who voluntarily defended the Muslims of Kashmir when India invaded during partition. These were the same hardy Muslims who were the backbone of the resistance against the Soviet Russian occupation of Afghanistan, striking at it so hard that it contributed to the collapse of Soviet Russia itself. Today, their cross-border support to the Muslims in Afghanistan is essential for their fight against the Kuffar occupiers of today, the US crusaders. It is their unrelenting support that has helped prevent the US from settling its occupation, even after fifteen years of trying. So on American dictates to rescue its war on Afghanistan, traitors in Pakistan’s military leadership started military operations in the tribal regions. Tribal Muslims were bombed and killed, their properties destroyed, their children deprived of school, millions were forced to evacuate the area and labeled as IDPs (Internally Displaced People) to live in state provided temporary shelters, under miserable conditions. This year, even when tribal Muslims were asked to return to their destroyed homes, they have been subjected to even more discrimination, regularly harassed at checkposts, their houses are raided regularly, they are detained and arrested at will, suffer regular curfews and even their private lives are being monitored as roofs of houses have been removed. As reported in Dawn “(The) military has removed the roofs of the houses to have a better aerial view and stop militants taking refuge in these abundant, fort-like mud houses.”
The current rulers of Pakistan have exceeded all limits. They serve colonialist powers, kill Muslims to secure their hegemony, discriminate against Muslims to create divisions, terrorize them, shamelessly dishonor their sanctities and yet claim that they are seeking stability! It was narrated from Anas that RasulAllah ﷺ said, «من روع مؤمنا لم تؤمن روعته يوم القيامة» “Whosoever terrifies a believer will not be secure from being terrified on the Day of Resurrection.” (Kanz al-Ummal). It is only the Khilafah (Caliphate) upon the Method of Prophethood that will unify the Muslims of Pakistan, Afghanistan, their tribal regions and elsewhere. Islam rejects discrimination amongst Muslims whether they are living in tribal or urban areas. The Khilafah upon the Method of Prophethood will not only restore the dignity of these tribal Muslims, but will ensure their respected status amongst all Muslims. And it will mobilize their fighters alongside the armed forces to strike at the hated crusaders, rather than allowing Muslims to point their weapons at each other. Moreover the rightly guided Khaleefah will severe the ties with head of snake, the United States and rip to shreds its hegemony , through which it has been suppressing, invading, killing the Muslims and turning them against each other.
“Pakistan is Up for Grabs” as Pakistan Steel Mills Offered to Private Parties
As reported in the Express Tribune on 10 November 2016, the government has decided to give Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) on lease to foreign investors after failing to privatise or revive the industrial giant despite injecting over Rs26 billion over the past two and a half years. Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) is the largest and the only integrated steel plant in the country, with an installed production capacity of 1.1 million tons per year. PSM has an area of around 19,000 acres of land with 20 different plants, including a thermal power station, forklifts, warehouses, conveyor belts, railway tracks, stockyards and even housing colonies for its thousands of employees. However in June 2015, all of its 20 processing units were abruptly brought to a halt due to cumulative losses that swelled to Rs164 billion in June 2016, in addition to over Rs150 billion in liabilities.
It is criminal neglect that allowed such an important state asset to collapse. Under IMF supervision, successive regimes have intended to privatized the PSM even when it was a profit making company. In 1999-2000, the Mills made an annual loss of 1.141 billion rupees, taking its total accumulated losses to 9.326 billion rupees. But by 2005, not only were the accumulated losses all gone, the Mills had actually accumulated an impressive profit of 4.866 billion rupees. In the financial years 2006-2007 and 2007-2008, it was running at a capacity of 82 per cent and 89 per cent, respectively. Its net annual profit stood at 3.159 billion rupees in 2006-2007 and at 2.081 billion rupees in 2007-2008. Yet even during this period, under IMF supervision for privatization, the regime did not seek to build upon profits but to somehow privatize the PSM. By 2005-06, the rulers had finalized a deal with private investors to sell-off PSM, but it was overturned by courts. At this stage, it seems the rulers had then to resort to the standard tactic of running the asset into the ground so that they can justify privatization on the grounds that it was a burden on state resources. Thus, over a span of only six years, between 2008 and 2013, the Mills not only eroded previously accumulated profits of 9.536 billion rupees, they added around ten times as much in losses, such that the total losses stood at a staggering 104.533 billion rupees. Having run the PSM into the ground, the regime’s Privatization Commission (PC) now has a stronger case for privatization, with the PC Chairman Mohammad Zubair declaring on 9 November that, “PSM is not running, bleeding heavily and liabilities are piling up with each passing day and something has to be done urgently,” and in an earlier statement he declared, “it will be a wise move to sell the Mills at whatever price it attracts. That will, at least, ensure the resumption of its operations.” Indeed, the current democratic rulers have ensured that Pakistan is “up for grabs,” throwing away its most valuable assets to the highest bidder.
Muslims must consider the Quranic verse displayed on a billboard at one of the entrances of Pakistan Steel Mills in which Allah سبحانه وتعالى said,
وَأَنزْلْنَا ٱلْحَدِيدَ فِيهِ بَأْسٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَنَافِعُ لِلنَّاسِ
“And we have sent down iron, wherein is might and benefits for the people.”
(Surah al-Hadid 57:25)
Indeed, iron and its alloy, steel, are of the backbone of heavy industry for a modern state, including munitions manufacture, as well as representing great wealth. Moreover, in origin, iron is a mineral and so falls under public property and as Hizb ut Tahrir has adopted in its book, Funds of the Islamic State, minerals will have their own department under the Diwan of Public Property. The Khilafah will establish a strong heavy industry and cutting edge military technology, which will allow it not only to wield dominance over other states on its way to becoming the world’s leading state, but will also be a significant source of revenue generation. The state will administer the public properties and their revenue will be spent on the interests of the Muslims and abolish the back breaking taxation which has crippled private industries that depend upon iron and its alloys.
Seven Pakistan Army Soliders Martyred with no Befitting Response
Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif on 17 November said 11 Indian soldiers were killed on November 14 after Pakistan Army ‘responded to unprovoked firing’. The Pakistan Army suffered the loss of seven soldiers on the day; all casualties were sustained in the Bhimber sector of the Line of Control (LoC). Over three days after the Pakistani soldiers were martyred, amidst mounting anger within the Muslims, General Raheel came forwards to announce that eleven Indians were killed on the same day. Yet, there was no mention whatsoever of a befitting response, which would stamp out the several months of Indian continuous belligerence.
Nothing more can be expected from General Raheel. He is clearly not the man that can deliver what the Muslims need. The reason is that like Musharraf and Kayani before him, General Raheel will never break out of the limits that the United States have decided for Pakistan through its so-called “alliance” which is a euphamism for slavery. Far from being a source of strength by which to counter India’s regional mischief, “alliance” with America is the root cause of our being progressively weakened before India. During the era of the Musharraf-Aziz regime, the US exploited Pakistan to ensure its invasion and subsequent occupation of Afghanistan. Then the US promptly opened the doors of Afghanistan to India to grant it an unprecedented presence and influence there, which the Hindu State began using as a base to destabilize Pakistan, igniting the fires of chaos and Fitna throughout Pakistan. Then, the Musharraf-Aziz regime declared Jihad in Kashmir as “terrorism,” an American demand that granted great relief to India, whose cowardly troops were shaken by small groups of poorly armed, yet highly motivated Muslims. Then the Kayani-Zardari regime fully engaged our armed forces on the Western border in defense of America’s occupying forces in Afghanistan, an American demand which granted India on the Eastern border even greater relief, further bolstering its regional ambitions. Moreover, in the era of Kayani, General Raheel personally revised Pakistan Army’s military doctrine, as embodied in its “Green Book,” to remove Army’s India centric focus as America demanded, thereby removing the Ummah’s most powerful and capable armed forces as an obstacle to the rise of India.
And now during the Raheel-Nawaz regime, traitors in the military and political leadership are hurtling towards US sponsored talks with India to bury any hope of a liberated Kashmir being unified with Pakistan forever. This American demand is to grant the Hindu State a victory through the maze of diplomatic talks that it could never secure for itself on the battlefield. This is why General Raheel echoes the American demands for diplomatic measures only over Kashmir when he proclaimed on 6 September 2016, “Kashmir is our lifeline, and we shall continue our diplomatic and moral support to the freedom movement at all levels.” And as for the “normalization” of relations, it represents even greater dangers for the Ummah as it is an American demand to further remove Pakistan as an obstacle to India as the dominant regional power. “Normalization” includes forceful suppression of Islam under the cover of “fighting extremism,” stabbing the Muslim resistance in Kashmir in the back under the cover of “ending cross border terrorism” and falling on the sword of self-inflicted nuclear disarmament under the banner of “restraint.” So it is no surprise that the General has never delivered a jaw breaking response and limited himself to tit-for-tat.
No doubt, alliance with the United States is an illusion of strength but in reality represents our greatest cause of weakness. America is the foremost in ensuring that the Muslim Lands burn in the fires of chaos, occupied and savaged with impunity by both its own forces and those of the Jewish and Hindu states. An alliance with any openly belligerent enemy guarantees nothing other than repeated betrayal. Allah سبحانه وتعالى said,
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لاَ تَتَّخِذُوا عَدُوِّي وَعَدُوَّكُمْ أَوْلِيَاءَ تُلْقُونَ إِلَيْهِمْ بِالْمَوَدَّةِ وَقَدْ كَفَرُوا بِمَا جَاءَكُمْ مِنْ الْحَقِّ
“O you who believe! Take not My enemies and your enemies as friends, showing affection towards them, while they have disbelieved in what has come to you of the truth”
(Surah al Mumtahina 60:1)