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"Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong; they are the ones to attain felicity".
(surah Al-Imran,ayat-104)
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User Name: International_Professor
Full Name: International Professor
User since: 22/Jan/2008
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Why U.S. is hurdle in relief operations for 700,000 flood-affected people from Jacobabad airbase.
By: International Professor
The Asian Human Rights Commission urges Mr. Ban Ki Moon, the Secretary General of the UN, and the international community, to immediately intervene in the matter of Jacobabad air base and urge the US government to allow the relief operations to use the airstrips of Jacobabad airport to reach out to 700,000 victims of floods in some parts of Sindh and Balochistan provinces.
It is very unfortunate that whenever Pakistan army try to do some good work and peoples feel relief that army is better than politicians, but echoes of praise even did not die that Generals at GHQ engage in merchandizing Pakistan.
Certainly there are professional soldiers in army but it looks like that CIA hired lobby at GHQ under command of Gen. Kiyani and Air Chief Rao Qamar Salesman is for more powerful and fascists in nature. It was extreme heights of greediness of dollars that more than one million peoples were set to die in floods just to save U.S. airbase at Jacobabad that is main launch pad for drones within the Pakistan and sold to U.S. for making money.
Following two reports of Asian Human Rights is self explanatory: 
It is reported in the media that relief operations for around 700,000 persons could not be carried out because an airbase in Jacobabad district, Sindh province, is controlled by the US forces. The US forces denied permission for the air strips to be used to deliver much-needed relief to the adjoining areas which are submerged in water and where 700,000 people are trapped. As there is no other air strips in the vast area close to Jacobabad and its adjoining areas, the authorities are finding it difficult to drop the relief in the flood-affected areas.

According to the Daily Dawn, the largest circulated English newspaper, Khushnood Lashari, the health Secretary during an appearance at the Senate Standing Committee on Health, revealed that health relief operations are not possible in the flood-affected areas of Jacobabad because the airbase is under the United States control. The coordinator of the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Centre, Dr Jahanzeb Aurakzai, told the standing committee of the Senate that foreign health teams could not start relief operations in remote areas because there are no airstrips close to several areas, including Jacobabad.

Jacobabad and its neighbouring areas have been evacuated and 500,000 to 700,000 people have been affected. People displaced from Jacobabad, Thul, Kandhkot, Kashmore, Ghouspur and Karumpur are camping in Dera Allahyar, Balochistan province.

The Jacobabad airport was leased to the US forces at the start of war on terror to provide air facilities to the US forces including fuelling and stopovers. Since then it has been treated as an exclusive base for US forces. In one case, two journalists of a television channel when visiting the Jacobabad airport in 2006, were arrested and tortured severely for many months for making a story on the airbase. Please see the urgent appeal for Mukesh Rupita and Sanjay Kumar of Geo Television:
http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2006/1801/
Asian Human Rights further confirmed that:

Drone jets are also flown from Jacobabad air base to attack suspected militants and their strong holds inside Pakistan and Afghanistan killing hundreds of suspected militants.

After the refusal of US-controlled air base to provide assistance in the provision of relief to the affected persons of the worst floods in the history of Pakistan, the Pakistan Air Force is trying to form an air bridge of relief supply for the victims in Jacobabad. Nevertheless, at a time where road transportation is impossible, the denial of permission to use Jacobabad air base to reach out to the victims has undoubtedly slowed down the process, while aid is urgently needed as food get scarce and children are falling sick due to lack of drinkable water. The longer it takes for the aid to reach the affected families, the higher the toll in human lives will be.

It is very regrettable and ironic that a country cannot use its own air strips at the time of a natural disaster of such scale that it was qualified as 'the worst I have never seen' by the UN Secretary General. The leasing of the airbase commenced when there was a military government but when a civilian government came into power with the vote of people, the US forces have not deemed it necessary to ask the permission from the civilian power to maintain control of the air base. The behavior of US forces is no different to that of a colonial power and this comparison is all the more relevant as they are not prepared to help the 700,000 victims who are facing hunger, water born diseases and are lying under the sky without shelter.

The United States pride themselves of being the country who has pledged the highest amount of aid to Pakistan since the beginning of the flooding but are
de facto creating obstacles to the distribution of foreign aid to flood-affected. This news comes only a few days after a speech given at the occasion of the 63rd anniversary of Pakistan's independence in which the President of the United States asserted that 'we will remain committed to helping Pakistan and will work side by side with you and the international community toward a recovery that brings back the dynamic vitality of your nation'. It seems difficult to understand how less efficient disaster relief will reinforce the vitality of Pakistan.

The US justifies their presence in the country by the necessity to fight terrorism and act in favour of the stability of the region. Throughout the history of the US war on terror and of their presence in Pakistan and in Jacobabad in particular, the US has looked down on the necessity to eradicate the root causes of terrorism and anti-American feelings in the region, which could have been achieved by valuing such things as the sovereignty of the people, the respect of human rights and humanitarian laws or the emphasis put on bringing assistance to the people. Those elements are necessary to guarantee the much-valued 'stability' of the country. Unfortunately, keeping control of an airbase in another country without having received the explicit approval of a democratically-elected government, using this airbase to conduct extrajudicial executions of suspected militants and not authorising the authorities of this country to use this airbase at a time of major natural disaster therefore slowing down the transportation of food and medicine to dying children, is point by point at odds with those principles.

This is the worst kind of arrogance shown by the US forces at the time of the worst kind of disaster faced by the poor people. If US forces are afraid of anything then they should control the relief operations in the areas of Jacobabad Sindh and Dera Allahyar, Balochistan province.

After almost ten years of the unsuccessful fight against terrorism, the US forces should understand that allowing foreign aid to reach those in dire need as soon as possible should be a priority not only for humanitarian reasons but also to ensure the security of the US forces there.
http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2010statements/2751

Dera Allah Yar drowned to save Jacobabad airbase: 17-08-2010

Former Prime Minister Mir Zafar Ullah Khan Jamali said that in order to save Shahbaz Sharif, Jamali bypass was demolished and Dera Allyar was drowned; however he also said that Federal Minister Ejaz Jakhrani is a liar.
Talking to a PakistanNews.com, former Prime Minister said that nobody has so far contacted him and no aid has also reached to him till now. Despite of orders given by Corps Commander Quetta for halting the demolishing of bypass, the water was still spilled by cutting the bypass and drained into Dera Allayar, he added. This action was forcefully implemented even after civil administration, DPO, DCO and himself reached the site. Mir Zafar Ullah Jamali also said that when Shahbaz airbase was being constructed, at that time DCO Jacobabad.

Note: Ijaz Jakhrani is not a big canon but he was deputed by CIA hired generals at GHQ to save Jacobabad base on any price. Imagine how ruthless and anti-peoples generals we have in army and air force. Jakhrani is right hand in Zardari mafia.

Hell was produced to save U.S. colony at Jacobabad: 17-08-10

JAFFARABAD— after causing vast flood devastation in Baluchistan’s District Jaffarabad, thousands of families are trying to flee by every available mean of transport to take refuge in other places on Monday. The flood flow from Jacobabad, after creating havoc in Jaffarabad’s District Headquarter Dera Allah Yaar, has hit Usta Muhammad and Gandakha.

According to details, after overflowing from the Jamali Bypass, flood water has entered Goth Jamali, ex Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali’s village and Kashmore Kot. Approximately 13,000 rural houses of Dera Allah Yaar have been devastated by the flood. The Deputy Commissioner of Jaffarabad, Dr. Ahmad Jamali, told that flood water has entered into thousands of houses in Sohbatpur, Usta Muhammad and Gandakha. People have been instructed to vacate these areas immediately.

The flood water has also damaged railway track and national highway and consequently the road and communication links of Jaffarabad have been cut from Sind and Punjab. Due to the scarcity of food items, people of Jaffarabad have been afflicted by famine while the Jamali Bypass is submerged in flood water.

Millions of internally displaced people (IDPs) of Dera Allah Yaar and various areas of Sindh have taken refuge in Sibbi and Dera Murad Jamaali and are passing a miserable life under open.

The recent high flood in Sindh has disconnected land link between Balochistan and Sindh as Indus highway become inundated here on Monday while, the land route to provide relief goods to Jafferabad and Naseerabad cannot be used now. The floodwater was closing in on various areas in Sindh and Balochistan on Monday land link between Sindh and Balochistan has disconnected and relief goods are being supplied through helicopter service.

The aging waters from the Indus River continued to inundate more villages and towns across the country. After causing havoc in Jacobabad the flood waters forced thousands of people climbed onto rooftops to save their lives as in Dera Allah Yar. Authorities are trying to evacuate or warn people in Rujhan Jamali, Nasirabad, and Usta Mohammad.

Kiyani mafia are liars and against sovereignty of Pakistan. Jacobabad airbase is among those bases sold to U.S.

Google Earth reveals secret history of US base in Pakistan Shamsi airbase in 2006: (February 19, 2009 report)

The US was secretly flying unmanned drones from the Shamsi airbase in Pakistan's south-western province of Baluchistan as early as 2006, according to an image of the base from Google Earth.

The image was obtained by The News, showed what appear to be three Predator drones outside a hangar at the end of the runway. The Times also obtained a copy of the image, whose co-ordinates confirm that it is the Shamsi airfield, also known as Bandari, about 200 miles southwest of the Pakistani city of Quetta.

An investigation by The Times yesterday revealed that the CIA was secretly using Shamsi to launch the Predator drones that observe and attack al-Qaeda and Taleban militants around Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

US Special Forces used the airbase during the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, but the Pakistani Government said in 2006 that the Americans had left and both sides have since denied repeatedly that Washington was using Pakistani bases. (Gen. Kiyani is a bloody Liar)

Shame on Government of Peoples Party and fraudulent democracy:

Zardari and Gaillani are making money on the dead bodies and miseries of peoples, humans have no value in the eyes of fascists sitting at GHQ, President House and Prime Minister House. Concrete and mud structure of American post at Jacobabad has more value than human in the eyes of greedy, hungry and naked politicians and generals.
 Reply:   Who is behind embankment breaks?
Replied by(International_Professor) Replied on (22/Aug/2010)

Pressure mounts for inquiry into embankment breaks

By Hasan Abdullah, Saturday, 21 Aug, 2010

 

KARACHI: A growing number of politicians from opposition and ruling parties are putting their weight behind the demand for an independent inquiry into the unannounced and mysterious breaches in the Indus river embankments in upper Sindh that led to the inundation of large areas of Balochistan.

Local people and politicians have expressed frustration at the “secretive handling” of the case and the flat refusal by many government officials, both in Sindh and in the federal capital, to say on whose orders the river water was diverted.

The question still being asked is: who took the decision to breach the Jamali bypass?
“I don’t know. It’s a top-level decision. The word breach does not exist in our dictionary,” says Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo.

However, former Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali refuses to believe that the breach in embankments which destroyed his hometown and adjoining towns and villages was caused by water pressure or was unintentional. A furious Mr Jamali insists there could be a few specific reasons behind this decision.

“I believe there was American pressure on the authorities to safeguard the Shahbaz airbase,” he told Dawn. “Furthermore, it is well known and established that the Jakhranis have a stake in this airbase and the contractors were linked to them,” he said, adding that federal Minister Aijaz Jakhrani also had his land to protect.

“I was in Karachi when I was informed that Aijaz Jakhrani along with the local administration and Sindh police were trying to breach the Jamali bypass. I immediately tried to speak to the Sindh and Balochistan administrations, but to no avail,” he said. “Then in the middle of the night, I telephoned Corps Commander Quetta who was kind enough to respond immediately,” Mr Jamali said.

The former prime minister further said: “The civil authority at present is indecisive with no desire to save the country. All decisions to breach bunds are unfortunately being taken by merely looking at factors such as whose land to save.”

This assertion is supported not only by the opposition members but even partners in the ruling coalition.
“These decisions are being heavily influenced by feudal lords of the areas concerned. It’s not about saving people, the decisions are based on saving the land of these influential. We strongly condemn this,” says Haider Abbas Rizvi, MQM’s deputy parliamentary leader.

Several attempts were made to contact Aijaz Jakhrani to get his side of the story, but he refused to take calls. But some parliamentarians, when contacted for their views, pointed fingers at the military establishment, accusing them of influencing the decisions to breach bunds.

“The media is pointing fingers at Syed Khurshid Shah over the Ali Wahan controversy but the fact is it was GOC Pano Aqil who has been interfering in the case,” claimed one PPP official.

While many appear perplexed, still trying to figure out how decisions are taken to breach bunds, the irrigation department tries to offer some assistance.

“Contrary to what some believe, there is actually a proper procedure to decide if a bund should be breached or not. We look at factors such as population density of the concerned areas, the direction of natural flow, elevations, and water stopping points and so on,” said a senior official from the Sindh Irrigation department.

But not everyone buys this claim.

“I have been closely following the floods since the 30th July. I am convinced that the government does not have any standard operating procedures in this regard,” asserted PML-Q MNA Marvi Memon.

The flood waters journey towards Balochistan started with a breach at the Tori bund, which lies close to the Ghauspur town of Kashmore district. This breach triggered huge controversy as many argued that the breach was deliberately caused in an attempt to avoid a breach at Ali Wahan bund. Some critics and local people have alleged that despite being a logical and tested choice, the Ali Wahan bund has been spared to protect the interests of a federal minister. The breach at Tori bund flooded Guddu canal, Ghauspur, Karampur and entered the Shikarpur district. As the water headed towards Khanpur and Sultankot, the Begari Sindh feeder which is an offshoot of the Guddu canal was breached to save Shikarpur city. The water then made its way into Jacobabad district, causing mass destruction and evacuations. This is where Nur Wah, an offshoot of Begari canal and the Jamali bypass were breached to save Jacobabad city but leading the water into Balochistan. After initially moving north into Sohbatpur, Dera Allahyar and Dera Murad Jamali, the flood water made its way down south towards Usta Mohammad, Garhi Khairo and Qubboo Saeed Khan.

While the government denies any malafide intention, Baloch nationalists have a different perspective.
“The Balochs are a poor and deprived people. The government felt that these people would not be able to do anything anyway, so they decided to destroy our only greenbelt,” Fahad Bugti, the nephew of the late Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, told Dawn.
They too are demanding an independent inquiry to establish who issued the order to breach the embankments at different places, and to save whose land and property at the cost of houses and livestock of the poor Baloch people.

The irony, as pointed out by many people in the area, is that after causing mayhem in various districts of Sindh and Balochistan, the flood water is once again on course to re-enter Sindh to cause further death and destruction in Shahdadkot and adjoining areas.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/pressure-mounts-for-inquiry-into-embankment-breaks-180

 


 
 Reply:   Who really controls Shahbaz airbase?
Replied by(International_Professor) Replied on (21/Aug/2010)

Who really controls Shahbaz Air Base?

By: Kaswar Klasra | Published: August 20, 2010

ISLAMABAD – The floods have not only shown the ineptitude of the Pakistan government but also the confusion that prevails within government institutions. On Wednesday the Federal Health Secretary informed a Senate Panel that Jacobabad air base was under the US control so health relief operations could not be provided. On Thursday, the PAF through APP issued a strange press release stating that “certain sections of the print and electronic media have wrongly reported that the PAF Base Shahbaz (Jacobabad) is under the control of the US. This has been spread by uninformed people”. So was the PAF referring to Federal Health Secretary Khushnood Lashari as “uninformed? After all, it was he who gave out the information about the Base being under the US control and to a Senate Panel.
While the PAF stated that Shahbaz Base was under complete command and control of the PAF and was being used extensively for providing relief and medical care to the affected people of the area, the US embassy had already issued another interesting response to the Khshnood Lashari’s claim. On Thursday, the US press note issued from Embassy of US in Islamabad stated that Shahbaz Air Base in Jacobabad is a Pakistan Air Force Base and is commanded and operated by PAF forces. The base is home to Pakistan’s newest F-16 Block 52s, which arrived this summer. PAF personnel maintain high security standards there to ensure that the technologically advanced aircraft can be securely maintained and operated from the base. On August 18, at the request of the Pakistan government, US Air Force C-130 aircraft flew to Shahbaz Air Base from the Pakistan Air Force Base in Rawalpindi bringing urgently needed relief supplies for Jacobabad.
What was left unsaid was that it was the PAF that was denying all manner of access to the airbase because of the presence of US personnel who had come along with the Block 52 F-16s, which were delivered at this base and had US conditionality’s including the presence of US personnel to “keep an eye” on how the planes were used by the PAF.

While the PAF was responsible for the security of the base, it was the pressure from the US on security grounds that were preventing access to the base-even of Pakistanis who had been involved in carrying out building work at Shahbaz.

So, it appears that both the US and the PAF together are responsible for the relief work hurdles as news from the ground shows that the hurdles are very much there.

Hopes are fading away to provide food and clean drinking water to 500,000 to 700,000 people who have been displaced from Jacobabad, Thul, Kandhkot, Kashmore Ghouspur and Karumpur (currently campaign in Dera Allah Yar) as Jacobabad was still no-go area for choppers or C-130 due to security concerns to the American personnel deployed at the Jacobabad air base, well-informed sources told The Nation on Thursday. Organisers of national and international NGOs told The Nation on condition of anonymity, when contacted on telephone, that they could not reach Jacobabad to provide food and drinking water to as many as 500,000 to 700,000 flood victims due to strict security conditions adopted for Shahbaz Air Base.

Although Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman has ordered PAF to form an air bridge of relief supply for Jacobabad which has been cut off from the rest of the country and make operational an airfield near Sibi for immediate supply of relief goods to flood-hit areas in the vicinity, however, Jacobabad is still the only location in Pakistan where rescue choppers of PAF have no access to carry out relief operation.

The sources told this scribe that foreign health teams could not start their relief operations in remote areas because there are not airstrips close to several areas, including Jacobabad.

The town has been evacuated and 500,000 to 700,000 people have been affected. The people displaced from Jacobabad, Thul, Kandhkot, Kashmore, Ghouspur and Karumpur are camping in Dera Allah Yar.

Earlier, it was reported that Shahbaz Air Base was under control of American personnel who were guarding the air base while monitoring the operations of F-16s against militants and extremists in FATA and Waziristan. As one seeks to discover the reality on the ground, the flood-stricken people of this devastated area of Sindh continue to suffer.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/20-Aug-2010/Who-really-controls-Shahbaz-Air-Base/1

 


 
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