Daily Archives: February 18, 2017

The bitter cold in the Kashmir Valley cuts through the bones, but yet it fails to chill the publics spirit. Right through the winter, when hundreds of Indian security forces come to a locality to kill less than a handful of militants taking shelter in a house, the local population come out in support of the militants to prevent the security forces from conducting their operations, at times even managing to help the militants escape. For the security forces, of course, the local population supporting the militants are anti-national and they have no qualms in dealing severely with the civilians.

The fact is that many in the local population readily risk their very lives to save the militants. The killing of every militantand they are all Kashmiris, mostly from East Kashmir, administered by India, with a few from West Kashmir, administered by Pakistanis deeply resented. Each encounter killing of a militant or militants, and especially when civilians are killed, sparks public protests, despite the bitter cold outside. And when such protests gain momentum, the security forces fire into the crowds, triggering a wave of further protests.

The Kashmiri people have now faced what is akin to military rule for 27 years; practically the whole area is claimed to have remained disturbed, with the armed forces enjoying immunity from prosecution for harm done to civilians, whether of rape, torture, disappearance, or killing. According to a statement dated 10 January 2017 of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), in the ongoing uprising from 8 July last year, more than a hundred civilians have so far been killed. More than one thousand civilians have either been blinded or have sustained serious eye injuries as a result of the firing of pellets by the security forces. There have been mass arrests and detentions under the draconian Public Safety Act, 1978. Official government figures put the number of arrests under different criminal charges at around 8,000. Prolonged curfews, media and internet blackouts, suspension of the fundamental rights to freedom of speech and expression and of peaceful assembly, have been the order of the day.

Indeed, one can sense the agony of the parents and other loved ones of the disappeared persons. For the period from 1989 onwards, the APDP has estimated that 8,000 to 10,000 Kashmiristhe earlier Omar Abdullah-headed Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) government had admitted to a figure of 3,744 in the J&K legislative assemblywere subjected to enforced disappearance and subsequently killed in fake encounters. But the Indian state and the establishment have been in a state of denial of the enforced disappearances and subsequent killings, blaming the very victims of the violence for the violence. On the 10th of every month, the APDP stages silent sit-in protests against the enforced disappearances in J&K, and has been bringing out a memory calendar. It has taken on the responsibility of not allowing the memories of the sufferings of (the) families (of the disappeared persons) to pass into oblivion. Indeed, the callousness of successive state governments in J&K is also evident in the fact that the state assembly is yet to pass a law on protection from enforced disappearances. Successive central governments have also been utterly insensitive in not ratifying the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Basically for 27 years, India has been using military force against the people of the Kashmir Valley many of whom do not want to be part of India. New Delhi justifies all of this in the name of territorial integrity and secularism. It blames Pakistan for what is happening in the Kashmir Valleyall the mass protests and the militancy are supposed to be Pakistan-sponsored. Yet, the nationalism of the present union government is not even all-Indian; it is a communal Hindutvavadi nationalism representing a section of the Indian population. The Hindutvavadi nationalists in power currently have no qualms in forcing their rule on the Kashmiri Muslims in the name of secularism. Needless to say, the Congress version of nationalism was no less in this respect. Not that Pakistani nationalism is any better. Now the Hindutvavadi nationalists, clearly not out of any real solidarity, have claimed that they support the Balochi national liberation movement in Pakistan; the Pakistani nationalists, on their part, claim that they are for Kashmiri azaadi from India, even as they have made of Azad Kashmir a virtual colony. But given New Delhis use of military force in the Kashmir Valley over the last 27 years, Kashmiri azaadi is, indeed, among other things, principally a cry from the heart of the Kashmiri people for freedom from Indian oppression.

Read more:

AzaadiFreedom from Indian Oppression - Economic and Political Weekly

Interesting times these are.

While the Pope of my church seems to spare no occasion to castigate Western societies for allegedly not doing enough to welcome and accommodate Islamic refugees from the Middle East, he rarely says anything about the epidemic of anti-Christian persecution around the world.

In stark contrast, while addressing the topic of Middle Easterners who are seeking refuge in the United States, President Trump--who, readers may recall, Pope Francis once suggested wasn't really a Christian because of his expressed desire to build a wall along America's southern border--explicitly resolved to provide relief for Christians.

Trump's critics immediately pounced on him for religious discrimination.

Some context on this matter readily reveals that the Pope's view is as morally confused as the President's is sensible.

Firstly, contrary to what the Christophobes would have us believe, Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world today. In 2016, approximately 900,000 Christians suffered persecution.

Secondly, many (though not all) of these victimized Christians to whom the President was referring, those seeking refuge from the oppression that they've encountered in places like Syria, say, are prey to Islamic predators.

Of course it's true that there are decent Muslims (and others) who are also victimized by their co-religionists. Equally true, however, is that it is predominately Muslims who are menacing the vulnerable.

And they are menacing Christians because the latter reject the religion of Muhammad.

Yet it would be a mistake to think that it is only Muslims who persecute Christians.

Open Doors (OD) is among the organizations that exists for the sake of drawing people's attention to the phenomenon of anti-Christian persecution around the planet. It defines "persecution" thus:

"Christian persecution is any hostility experienced from the world as a result of one's identification as a Christian. From verbal harassment to hostile feelings, attitudes and actions, Christians in areas of with severe religious restrictions pay a heavy price for their faith. Beatings, physical torture, confinement, isolation, rape, severe punishment, imprisonment, slavery, discrimination in education and employment, and even death are just a few examples of the persecution they experience on a daily basis."

Christians in at least 60 countries suffer persecution because of their faith. On a monthly basis, 322 Christians are murdered. When they aren't losing their lives, 772 acts of violence--from rapes to beatings; from abductions to arrests and forced marriages--are visited upon them. And each month, 214 churches and Christian properties are destroyed.

Open Doors distinguishes three gradations of persecution: "extreme persecution," "very high persecution," and "high persecution." Of the 50 most oppressive countries for Christians, about four out of five them, or 80%, are Islamic. However, the worse of the worst persecutors is North Korea.

North Korea's government is that of a communist dictatorship. Of its 25,405,000 residents, some 300,000 are Christian. The reasons cited by OD for the government's ruthless persecution of Christians are two: "communist oppression" and "dictatorial paranoia."

North Korea is a "totalitarian communist state" where "Christians are forced to hide their faith completely from government authorities, neighbors, and, often, even their own spouses and children." Because of the government's "ever-present surveillance, many pray with their eyes open, and gathering for praise or fellowship is practically impossible."

All North Koreans must worship the ruling family, "and those who don't comply (including Christians) are arrested, imprisoned, tortured or killed." Moreover, whole "Christian families are" routinely "imprisoned in hard labor camps, where unknown numbers die each year from torture, beatings, overexertion and starvation."

As for those who attempt to flee to South Korea via China, they "risk execution or life imprisonment [.]"

In North Korea, the act of possessing a Bible is a capital crime. Christians must meet secretly in the woods if they wish to worship.

In Islamic Nigeria, particularly the Borno State in the northeaster section of the country, there are 27 camps of roughly 5,000 "internally displaced peoples." The mostly Christian residents of these camps are infected with HIV/AIDS courtesy of the notorious Islamic terrorist organization Boko Haram, for most of the patients were once held captive by the latter.

The Boko Haram insurgency that transpired in Nigeria also decimated the Christian communities that had at one time existed there. Those Christians who returned to their homes are now in danger of starving, for there is no work, and those who did have work before they fled because of the insurgency have been fired from their jobs. Thus, they are under immense pressure from Muslims to convert to Islam in exchange for financial support.

And what about Iraq, a place that Christians had been calling home for as long as there have been Christians? Barack Obama's announcement to the world that he would be withdrawing troops from Iraq was the beginning of the end for the country's Christians, for the vacuum that he created in effect created the ruthless Islamic State (ISIS).

Iraq is the seventh most oppressive place on the planet for Christians. As OD states, although the Christian community in Iraq is ancient, it is now "on the verge of extinction." The Christian-aid organization elaborates:

"The overall persecution situation in Iraq is characterized by impunity, the threat of attacks and second class treatment by the authorities. Historical Christian communities and Protestant Christian communities are seriously affected by persecution, especially from Islamic movements, authorities and non-Christian leaders. Communities of converts to Christianity from Islam suffer severely from persecution, especially at the hands of family, but also from the above mentioned persecutors if their faith is known."

For all of the left's crocodile tears over "Islamophobia," Muslims are by far the least persecuted religious group in the world, and certainly throughout the Western world where they live far freer and better than they ever could have imagined doing in their homelands.

It is Christians who are under attack for their faith.

Continue reading here:

Christophobia: a Global Perspective - AINA (press release)

President of The Gambia Adama Barrow and European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica during a bilateral ceremony. Photo by: European Commission

BANJUL, The Gambia The smallest nation on the African continent has a lot on its plate. Newly elected President of The Gambia Adama Barrow faces an insolvent economy, two decades of documented human rights abuses, reserves of only two months worth of imports, more than 40 percent youth unemployment, and a capital city that, according to environmental impact assessments, will slip into the Atlantic in less than 45 years.

Barrows inauguration tomorrow is billed as an end to 22 years of oppression and isolationism under the ousted Yahya Jammeh and a rebirth of The New Gambia.

As the world waits to discover how and when Barrow will carry out his promise to completely reform the fragile West African nation, aid donors are already crowding in, eager to get a read on Barrows agenda.

The new president is aware of the challenges he faces, and tries to remind the crowds of jubilant Gambians that its not going to be easy.

We had a dictatorship against governance, with human rights abuses, bad policies and violations of the rule of law. A dictatorship that cost us our friends; a dictatorship whose conduct deprived us of development and aid; a dictatorship that was against its citizens, he said at a press conference on Feb. 9 in the capital Banjul.

His predecessor, Jammeh, implemented a four-year freeze on the receipt of foreign aid from what he referred to as neo-colonial institutions, and political oppression was rifeunder his rule.

As a new government, what we have inherited is an economy that is virtually bankrupt, and in need of immediate rescue, said Barrow.

Despite the unflagging enthusiasm of Barrows followers, his plan for The New Gambia so far is vague. It consists of a self-imposed three-year deadline to achieve real economic, political and social reform, including job creation to keep Gambians in Gambia, infrastructure development, legislative and institutional reform, and good governance.

But he has a clearer vision of the role of international aid and investment. My view of our dire economic situation is that what The Gambia critically needs at the moment is immediate budget support, in order to rescue our economy from the brink of collapse, he said.

The country is experiencing high levels of unemployment and high fiscal deficits. Interest payments on public sector debt absorbed 40 percent of government revenues in 2015, according to the African Development Bank. And its economy is vulnerable to external shocks, such as the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which severely damaged its tourism sector.

Donors including the European Union, the World Bankand the International Monetary Fundhave confirmed more than $275 million in support since Barrows unofficial inauguration in Dakar, Senegal, two weeks ago. However, most of these funds are project-based, and most are dedicated to reactivating and expanding the scope of current small-to-medium scale initiatives such as shoreline erosion prevention, school-based nutrition and womens economic empowerment.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson also confirmed to Devex during a meeting in Serrekunda The Gambias largest town that more funding announcements are expected from the U.K. government. A source close to the Foreign Office added that these will include a new package from the Commonwealth, which Johnson said The Gambia will rejoin in a matter of months. Other funds will come from the Foreign & Commonwealth Offices share of official development assistance as part of the U.K. governments commitment to spend more aid through departments other than the Department for International Development.

However, regardless of which department sends aid to The Gambia, the U.K. government no longer offers general budget support because of concerns around accountability and transparency.

In other words, the aid Barrow wants is not flowing at least not yet.

When it comes to budget support, we have more precise criteria and more precise benchmarks that we follow and monitor and are the basis of each and every tranche, European Commissioner for International Development Neven Mimica told Devex in Banjul.

Mimica said that in addition to the 150 million euros packageannounced last week half of which will be available immediately to expand current projects and those suspended under Jammeh the commission will be announcing an additional 50 million euros in budget support most probably this summer. All in all, the increase so far will quadruple aid to The Gambia in less than four months, up from about 75 million euros for the full 2012-2016 period.

Now we have to discuss and negotiate the legal framework, the state building contract as we call it, to decide on the conditions of this budget support, Mimica said.

Barrow, who is under pressure to demonstrate results while his public remains largely enthusiastic, is keen to expedite the process. So is Mimica: The Gambia represents a possible linchpin for his controversial 2 billion euros EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, which uses traditional development assistance combined with private sector tools, security-related measures and repatriation packages to stem and reverse the flow of African migrants to Europe. The Gambia is small, but is the source of more migrants per capita to Europe than any other African nation. Gambian migrants typically men aged between 18 and 30 have fled the country for political and economic reasons. Investing early in Barrows economic reform agenda could mean early wins for the fund, setting an example for implementation in the rest of the region.

Still, budget support is among the most difficult modalities for donors to track. As a result, offering it is the clearest vote of confidence a donor can send to an aid recipient, in terms of its institutions and capacity to manage funds. Although Mimica insists the funding will be subject to all the human rights, governance and accountability conditionalitiesthe EU has placed on this type of funding, it begs the question: can a regime as untested as Barrows demonstrate this level of effectiveness in its first four months?

The new president often refers to his pledge to bring The Gambia in line with international conventions on human rights. For example, he has released many of those imprisoned without trial, including two of his newly appointed government ministers, and says he will release them all. But the extent of Barrows human rights agenda remains unknown most prominently, his stance on what is known as the aggravated homosexuality law, which can carry a penalty of life imprisonment. The Gambian legal system does not define homosexuality, but specifies that serial offenders and those infected with HIV who are deemed to be gay or lesbian may be prosecuted. An act of homosexuality is in some cases punishable by death or life imprisonment, a point of discord with international conventions that Barrow has yet to address, despite criticism from local media.

Asked during a Banjul press conference whether he intended to repeal or amend the laws, Barrow said: Homosexuality is not an issue in The Gambia.

He clarified that he felt homosexuality was a personal matter, and added again that it is not an issue in The Gambia.

Asked what she thought Barrows statement meant, Minister of Employment Dr. Isatou Touray, who is also a human rights activist and a former presidential candidate, told Devex that Barrow believes homosexuality is not an issue and people have a right to have whatever orientation.

Its their personal life and we are talking about the inclusivity of rights, and the indivisibility of rights. Of course everyone has a right to exist, she said.

Yet Barrows stance on the legislation is unknown, and will play a key role in the commissions decision to offer budget support, Mimica told Devex. He said that it was the previous administrations poor record on human rights that led to the EUs suspension of budget support to The Gambia in 2013.

We discussed that briefly with the president. He put it in the context of the overall democratic process, that its very important that the political agenda that he came with was democratic, that whatever reforms or changes he would make would stem out of this democratic agenda, Mimica told Devex.

In a word, we do hope that this part related to aggravated homosexuality will at least be under discussion for the changes here in the legal framework, so we are to discuss it again within the political dialogue of the Article 8 [of the Cotonou Agreement]. The article of this partnership agreement between the EU and 79 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific of which The Gambia is a signatory includes addressing areas of discrimination.

Another public concern that appears even less frequently in Barrows statements is climate change. The Gambia remains among the top 20 countries most vulnerable to climate change, due to its low-lying topography, reliance on subsistence agriculture and poor drainage systems. A study conducted by Columbia University found that sea-level rise could drown more than 8 percent of the countrys land area in as little as 15 years, including the coastal capital city Banjul.

Coastal erosion, meanwhile, continues to wear away at the countrys beaches, the main draw for tourism to The Gambia and lifeblood to the economy. Tourism is responsible for around 40 percent of the countrys economic output.

Despite the adoption of a national climate policylast year under the previous regime, Barrow has yet to take ownership of his own climate change agenda. But his supporters feel certain he will prioritize the issue, particularly in Banjul, which is flooded annually and still relies on machinery built during the British colonial presence in the late 1950s.

He lived in Banjul for 22 years [so] I know he will make it a priority, Tunis Jammeh, a ward councillor, told Devex during a visit to the often nonfunctional colonial era pump.This is the city, where the government ministries are and his palace and its sliding into the sea. How can he not?

Still, as the city warms up for Saturdays inauguration, its hard to imagine Banjul plastered with photos of a smiling and youthful Barrow under any kind of threat. The 49,000 people who fled fearing unrest around the election are trickling back over the borders, and as people celebrate in the streets in 85 degree heat, only the occasional and sudden chilly breeze marking the cold months serves as a reminder: its still winter in The Gambia.

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Continue reading here:

The New Gambia: What's on and off the aid agenda - Devex