Day: August 26, 2022

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb has urged the media to use only verified twitter handles and not attribute statements to PML-N Vice President Marriyum Nawaz Sharif from unverified twitter handles.

In a tweet on Friday, the Minister said the statement attributed to Maryam Nawaz Sharif regarding climate change is fake.

She said it is regrettable that statements are attributed to Maryam Nawaz Sharif from accounts other than her official Twitter handle.

Source: Radio Pakistan

Since taking power last year, the Taliban have issued more than 700,000 passports to Afghan nationals inside the country, earning about $50 million in revenue, according to officials.

“We are issuing up to 4,000 passports daily and we aim to increase the number to 10,000,” Shirshah Quraishi, deputy director of Afghanistan’s passport department, told reporters Tuesday in Kabul.

Fearing the Taliban’s repressive rule, with many enduring hunger and poverty since their return to power, hundreds of thousands of Afghans have fled the country over the past year.

The U.S. government, which evacuated more than 120,000 Afghans last year, plans to resettle thousands of additional Afghans to the U.S. through the Special Immigration Visa and Priority-2 programs.

About half a million Afghans are estimated to have left their country in the months immediately after the Taliban’s takeover, according to the U.N. refugee agency.

While the Taliban have banned women from work, except in the health and education sectors, and have closed secondary schools for girls, passports have been issued both for male and female applicants, a Taliban official said.

The Taliban leadership also made more than $1 million in visa fees paid by more than 4,100 foreign nationals who have visited Afghanistan over the past year.

Passport and visa income is a small portion in the Taliban’s budget of about $2 billion for 2022 that reportedly is incurring a $500 million deficit.

Foreign donors have stopped all nonhumanitarian aid to Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover of the country, contributing to massive unemployment, heightened poverty and a widespread humanitarian crisis. Afghanistan received $4.2 billion in developmental assistance in 2020.

Corruption

While some observers say that the Taliban have tackled corruption, particularly in revenue-generating sectors such as customs, getting a new passport remains mired in bribery and administrative corruption.

“I paid $800 in bribes and illicit commissions to get a passport,” said Farzana, an Afghan woman who has applied for a U.S. visa in Pakistan and preferred not to use her surname in this article.

Two other Afghans who recently got their passports in Kabul gave similar accounts of outright graft in the process.

Even Taliban officials acknowledge the corruption.

“We have arrested more than 350 corrupt individuals, including tens of [passport department] employees,” said Quraishi, who urged the media to help report corruption in the passport department.

Passports of nonexistent government

To meet the high demand from Afghans who want to leave the country, Taliban authorities have finalized plans to print 2 million new passport booklets.

Lacking the print technology inside the country, the Taliban have sought assistance from the U.N. to produce the new passports in Lithuania, officials said.

A spokesperson for the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan was not available to answer questions about helping the Taliban print new Afghan passports abroad.

“The new passports will carry the logo of the republic,” said Quraishi, referring to the former Afghan government.

More than a year since the collapse of the former Afghan government, no country has officially recognized the Taliban’s Islamic emirate, which has annulled the Afghan constitution and changed the national flag, emblem and other official logos.

“Taliban cannot introduce new passports until their regime is recognized internationally,” Ali Ahmad Jalili, a former Afghan interior minister and ambassador, told VOA.

Afghanistan’s passport is ranked the least powerful travel document in the world by the 2022 Henley Passport Index, facilitating entry to no country without a visa.

Source: Voice of America

Tens of thousands of people fled their homes in northern Pakistan on Saturday after a fast-rising river destroyed a major bridge, as deadly floods cause devastation across the country.

Powerful flash floods in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa caused the Kabul River to swell, sweeping away a large bridge overnight, cutting off some districts from road access.

Downstream, fears of flooding around the riverbanks prompted around 180,000 people in the district of Charsadda to flee their homes, with some spending the night on highways with their livestock, according to disaster officials.

Historic monsoon rains and flooding in Pakistan have affected more than 30 million people over the last few weeks, the country’s climate change minister said, calling the situation a “climate-induced humanitarian disaster of epic proportions.”

The military has joined the country’s national and provincial authorities in responding to the floods and Pakistan’s army chief on Saturday visited the southern province of Balochistan, which has been hit heavily by the rains.

“The people of Pakistan are our priority, and we won’t spare any effort to assist them in this difficult time,” said army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Pakistani leaders have appealed to the international community for help and plan to launch an international appeal fund. The foreign affairs ministry said Turkey had sent a team to help with rescue efforts.

“The magnitude of the calamity is bigger than estimated,” said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a tweet, after visiting flooded areas.

In neighboring Afghanistan, the Taliban administration also appealed for help after flooding in central and eastern provinces.

The death toll from floods this month in Afghanistan had risen to 192, disaster authorities said. Thousands of livestock had been killed and 1.7 million fruit trees destroyed, raising concerns over how families would feed themselves going into the cooler months while the country deals with an economic crisis.

“We ask the humanitarian organizations, the international community and other related organizations and foundations to help us,” Sharafudden Muslim, the deputy director of Afghanistan’s disaster ministry, said at a press conference, adding more than a million families required assistance.

Source: Voice of America

A Pakistani court on Thursday extended former premier Imran Khan’s protection from arrest through the end of the month, officials said, after police filed terrorism charges against the country’s popular opposition leader.

The court protected Khan from arrest until Sept. 1 over accusations that during a speech over the weekend, he threatened police officers and a female judge. The developments before the court relief for Khan had raised fears of violent clashes between police and Khan, who is leading mass rallies and seeking snap elections after being ousted. The government says elections will be held as scheduled next year.

On Thursday, Khan told reporters outside the court that he never threatened anyone.

He said the terrorism charges against him were politically motivated and that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s government feared Khan’s growing popularity.

“You are making fun of Pakistan,” Khan said of Sharif’s government.

Later, Khan went to another court where a criminal case was registered against him this week on charges of defying a ban on staging rallies in the capital, Islamabad. He was protected from arrest in that case as well until Sept. 7.

Earlier, Khan’s lawyer requested the anti-terrorism court to protect Khan from arrest. Babar Awan said the terrorism charges filed against Khan were “an act of revenge.”

Arriving at court, Khan was asked to walk toward the courtroom as ordinary suspects do.

Hundreds of Khan’s supporters gathered outside the court building, chanting slogans against Sharif’s government. Demonstrators said Khan is being politically victimized by Sharif’s government. Later, Khan left the court for his home on the outskirts of Islamabad.

Sharif replaced Khan in April when he was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament. Legal experts say Khan could face from several months to 14 years in prison, the equivalent of a life sentence if he is found guilty by the court during the trial which has not started yet against him on the terrorism charges.

Thursday’s appearance of Khan before an anti-terrorism tribunal amid tight security was the latest development in the saga between Pakistan’s government and Khan, who has been holding mass rallies, seeking to return to power.

Khan is also to appear before the Islamabad High Court on Aug. 31 to face contempt proceedings on charges of threatening a judge. His conviction, in this case, will mean his disqualification from politics for life under Pakistani law. No convicted person can run for office.

It is the second time that Khan — a former cricket star turned Islamist politician — faces contempt charges. After elections in 1993, he was summoned but pardoned by the Supreme Court after describing the conduct of the judiciary as “shameful” and saying it did not ensure free and fair elections.

Legal experts say Khan has limited options and could avoid a conviction if he apologizes for his remarks against Judge Zeba Chaudhry, when he told her to “get ready for it, we will also take action against you.”

Khan made that critical comment against judge Chaudhry after she allowed police to interrogate Gill, who is the chief of staff at Khan’s party. Gill was arrested earlier this month for allegedly attempting to incite soldiers to revolt against the top military leadership. Gill was sent to jail the previous day, pending trial.

Since his ouster, Khan has alleged — without providing evidence — that Pakistan’s powerful military took part in a U.S. plot to oust him. Washington, the Pakistani military and the government of Khan’s successor, Shahbaz Sharif, have all denied the allegation.

Khan came to power promising to break the pattern of family rule in Pakistan. His opponents contend he was elected with help from the powerful military, which has ruled the country for half of its 75-year history. Since his ouster, Khan has also demanded early elections and vowed to oust Sharif’s government through “pressure from the people.”

Source: Voice of America

A series of Twitter notifications alerted Gharidah Farooqi that she was once again at the center of a harassment campaign. A hashtag, using a Pakistani term for prostitute, pulled in tens of thousands of hate-filled posts directed at the political journalist.

“I had already seen the hashtag at night but ignored it, thinking it is just a few people,” she told VOA. “By the next morning, it was trending on top and I said to myself, ‘OK, here we go again.’”

The online attack was upsetting, but not a first for Farooqi. The host of “G for Gharidah” on Pakistan’s NewsOne, has dealt with years of online abuse during her 20-year career.

When it comes to online trolls, Pakistan has ranked among the top five worst offenders monitored by the Coalition For Women in Journalism or CFWIJ. The global non-profit has analyzed digital threats in 132 countries for the past two years.

“Most women journalists are resilient and continue to do their work,” said Kiran Nazish, founding director of CFWIJ. But, “it does have a negative effect on their ability to carve time and resources to be able to report freely.”

The country’s female journalists disproportionately experience sexualized abuse and gender-related threats.

“Remove the online trolling from the equation, and what do you see? Women journalists being able to pursue journalism freely and asking tough questions without fearing discrediting campaigns online,” Nazish said.

In Farooqi’s case, the online attacks started after she shared news and commented on the arrest of an aide to former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Most of the attacks came from accounts that appeared to support his Pakistan Tehreek e-Insaf, or PTI, party.

Twitter took action to try to halt the abuse but by that point, the hashtag had appeared in more than 128,000 tweets.

Farooqi believes the PTI is behind the online harassment. She and other female journalists in Pakistan have previously accused the party and government officials of “instigating” online attacks that their supporters then amplify against critics.

Andleeb Abbas, the PTI Punjab information secretary and former National Assembly member, acknowledged that online attacks are an issue but said the PTI does not support harassment of the media.

Abbas told VOA that the youth running the PTI’s digital media are passionate volunteers who have far more important party activities to work on than pushing abusive hashtags.

Media bias should also be taken into account, Abbas said.

“Just because you are a woman and you are giving whatever news you want to, then you should expect whatever reaction there comes. Do not play [the] woman card,” she said. “If you are continuously giving news with a tilt and you are being identified as such, there will be a reaction, maybe not from the party but from the supporters. And the reaction comes not just for women but men as well.”

Online dynamics

When Farooqi first started covering the PTI, she says the party was generally pleased with the coverage, especially when she reported on their dharna, a 2014 protest that lasted over 100 days.

But when the party came to power in 2018, the dynamic changed.

While being a fierce critic of the government when it was in opposition, the party had no idea it would come under the same criticism and scrutiny when it formed a government, Farooqi said.

She said the PTI and its supporters launched vicious social media campaigns against journalists, calling them Lifafa (sell-out), Ghaddar (traitor), Boot Polishiya (boot-lickers), and worse. Female journalists are on the worst end of a campaign to discredit media, she said.

Life as a journalist has always been a struggle for women, says Mazhar Abbas.

The political analyst and senior journalist at the Geo and Jang media group has been at the forefront of press freedom efforts in Pakistan.

Women in the field have always been under threat in Pakistan, Abbas said. They have fought through tear gas and baton charges, and one has spent time in prison with her 1-year-old child.

He recalled a time when women were denied assignments but said some progress has been made. Nevertheless, they are still exposed to online harassment and violence, and still face restrictions and physical abuse, he said.

“As far as online trolling is concerned, it has been observed that the digital media wings of political parties target women politicians and women journalists with a single agenda of discouraging and stoking fear in them, so they either leave their profession altogether or stop reporting fearlessly,” he said.

Asma Shirazi, a political journalist with AAJ TV, says that for years she has been targeted with abusive comments, false allegations, doctored pictures and character assassinations.

“If we complain to the leadership, we are told that the reaction must have been due to our critique of the political party [but] raising questions in the public interest is our job,” said Shirazi, who in 2014 was awarded the Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism.

Like Farooqi, she blames the PTI and other parties.

Both journalists believe the misogynistic attacks aim to stop women reporting freely by making them vulnerable.

“They are scared,” Farooqi said. “They do not accept democratic rights, do not want journalism or critical thinking to thrive in Pakistan, neither do they respect differences in opinion.”

Support network

Farooqi said she has filed multiple complaints to the Federal Investigation Agency’s cybercrime wing and is still awaiting action.

She jokingly says she has skin “thick as a crocodile” and pays little attention to online threats and violence. Shirazi also has coping methods: she has limited the reply option on her social media posts.

Farooqi, however, says she has seen colleagues self-censor– either abandoning social media or avoiding asking tough questions.

Pakistan’s journalists have previously tried to improve conditions.

A group of journalists in August 2020 released a joint statement calling on the government and political parties to stop sexualized online abuse directed at women who report critically on the government.

In a little over a month, the joint statement carried more than 160 signatures.

Separately, in 2021, under Khan’s government, a Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Bill was passed.

Under it, threats, coercion, and acts of violence and abuse of journalists are to be investigated, prosecuted, and penalized.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders says that the protection offered is “conditional on reporters adopting a certain ‘conduct.’”

Source: Voice of America