JEM MAKING A COMEBACK
One of Pakistan’s deadliest terror outfits is seeking to rejuvenate itself with a fundraising drive and “full-scale public activity.” Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) was officially banned by the government of Pervez Musharraf in 2002, but the Sunni Islamist militant group responsible for several high profile attacks in India and Kashmir has continued to operate openly out of Pakistan. JeM, which has constructed an elaborate network out of its base in Bahawalpur, is, in the realm of Pakistani militant groups, second only to the notorious Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in terms of size and strength. The group has apparently revived its charity, the Al-Rehmat Trust in the hopes of soliciting donations from inside Pakistan and the wealthy Gulf States, where oil-rich princes and monarchs regularly contribute to Islamist causes. The Pakistani government, meanwhile, has taken no action to curb the new fundraising activities; the Inspector General of the Punjab police force, Azam Joya, told Pakistan’s Express Tribune that not a single case had been brought against banned groups for raising funds in recent months. The Al-Rehmat Trust operates out of the same building as JeM’s headquarters and the trust’s coordinator, Maulana Ahmed, said it is re-establishing offices all over the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces. (Express Tribune August 19, 2011)
CHINA CLEARS NSG HURDLE, WILL SELL NUKE REACTORS TO PAK
China appears to have avoided a confrontation at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and will now move forward with selling two new nuclear plants to Pakistan in what many, including the U.S., have deemed a violation of China’s nonproliferation commitments. Early last year China floated the idea of building two new nuclear power plants at the Chashma complex, where Pakistan already operates two Chinese-built nuclear plants. Upon China’s announcement, several in the international community complained that when China joined the NSG, an international regulatory and nonproliferation body, in 2004, it pledged not to export nuclear material to countries – like Pakistan – without the required safeguards.
However, Beijing argued that the export of two new reactors should be “grandfathered in” – that it agreed to sell the reactors to Pakistan before joining the NSG, so the restrictions did not apply. On March 18, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake disagreed, explaining that the construction of “Chashma 3 and 4 would be inconsistent with [China’s] commitments.” Nonproliferation experts hoped this meant the U.S. and other countries would try to block the sale at the plenary meeting of the NSG on June 23 and 24. Their hopes were dashed. Days before the meeting the German government signaled it would not oppose the Chinese sale and though Beijing was “questioned” at the meeting, no effort to block the sale was made. (Times of India July 5, 2011)
UN REMOVES TALIBAN SANCTIONS, BUT NEGOTIATIONS HIT A SNAG
The United Nations Security Council has revoked sanctions on fourteen members of the Taliban. The measure, backed by the U.S. and Afghan governments, is designed to complement mounting efforts to engage in negotiations with the Afghan Taliban ahead of the U.S. withdrawal scheduled for 2014. The list includes four members of the High Peace Council of Afghanistan, a body formed by the Afghan authorities to promote reconciliation. German Ambassador to the UN, Peter Wittig, explained “The message is clear: engaging for peace pays off.”
However, the most serious set of negotiations to date with the Taliban appear to have hit a major snag this summer, after the name of the Taliban negotiator was leaked to the media in June. U.S. and Afghan officials have made repeated attempts to establish open lines of communication with the Taliban stretching back several years. Most of those efforts produced few results but a series of talks begun earlier this year with a senior Taliban commander with close links to Taliban chief Mullah Omar offered the most promising opportunity to date. Several meetings were held at third sites in the Middle East and Europe but the U.S. and Afghan governments have now lost contact with the interlocutor, Tayyab Agha, after his name was published in the Washington Post and other international news media. A member of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, Hajji Musa Hotak, believes “Agha was threatened by the Pakistani government” after the last set of negotiations were held in Germany. Pakistan, which wants to control any talks with the Taliban, arrested another high-ranking Taliban member believed to be in talks with the U.S. in March 2010. (CNN July 16, 2011; Global Post August 12, 2011)
INDIAN GOV UNDER PRESSURE FROM ANTI-CORRUPTION PROTESTS
Though far removed from the Arab Spring, India is facing its own intense bout of domestic unrest, albeit in the form of peaceful demonstrations. Indian media has over the past year been flooded with stories of endemic, high-level corruption that has cost the country billions of dollars and several top politicians their jobs. The uproar over this systematic corruption has evolved into a wide-reaching social movement that has centered its focus on the passage of a strict Lokpal (or Ombudsman) bill being debated in parliament that would create an independent agency to investigate and prosecute corrupt officials at the governmental level. The Indian parliament has drafted a Lokpal bill currently under consideratoin but anti-corruption crusaders led by the self-styled Gandhi-disciple, Anna Hazare, have denounced the bill as insufficiently robust, as the Prime Minister and other bureaucrats and politicians would remain outside the Ombudsman’s purview. On August 16 when Hazare was to begin an indefinite fast, was arrested along with over a thousand of his supporters after defying orders against holding a protest. He was subsequently released but the episode drew millions more to his cause and the ruling Congress is under growing fire for its crackdown on peaceful protesters. (Times of India August 16, 2011)