The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Mission impossible for Pakistani progressives?
- Thais test taboos as war on royal slurs heats up
- Greece passes austerity budget after street clashes
| Mission impossible for Pakistani progressives? Posted: 06 Dec 2011 08:20 PM PST ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The small but enthusiastic group of "progressive" Muslims arrives at a hotel conference room in Pakistan's capital with the tools they hope will help blunt extremism in the unstable U.S. ally. The Khudi organisation -- self-esteem in Urdu -- does not expect the government to tackle the problem of spreading Islamist radicalism. So it has taken on what seems to be mission impossible -- creating a social movement that can reverse the growing tide. Seconds after using laptop computers, a slide projector, a film documentary and examples from history to highlight the dangers of militancy, Khudi leaders are confronted by hostile university students in the audience. A veiled woman says amputations of thieves' hands should not be criticised because they reduce crime in Saudi Arabia, which is accused of funding hardline Islamist seminaries in Pakistan. Others deny there is intolerance in Pakistan -- where al Qaeda-inspired Sunni militants kill members of minorities -- arguing instead that Western conspirators fabricate the problem. "I just don't know how to get my point across to you," said one of the lecturers, visibly frustrated. The United States and other Western countries have long urged the government to counter extremism. Critics say Pakistani leaders have failed, allowing everyone from clerics in small rural mosques to school teachers in big cities to spread radicalism in the nuclear-armed state. Khudi's struggle underscores the difficulties of stabilising Pakistan, seen as critical to U.S. efforts to tackle militancy. It was founded in 2010 by Maajid Nawaz, a former member of the Islamist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir, that tries to recruit military officers in Muslim nations to topple pro-Western governments. Nawaz, a Briton whose family comes from Pakistan, spent years persuading Muslims -- from Europe to Egypt -- that Western-style democracies were doomed and only Islamic theocracies could succeed. During four years in a notorious Cairo jail for his activities, Nawaz vowed to become a suicide bomber after watching state security agents electrocute fellow Islamists. After holding political debates with fellow inmates, he eventually decided to preach moderation in deeply conservative Pakistan, where liberals and intellectuals are seen as impotent. BRACING FOR THE LONG HAUL Although Khudi has spread its message in many Pakistani universities, its leaders say it could years to make an impact. Just mentioning the world secularism can be a problem because it is portrayed as a non-religious concept -- so someone secular could easily be labelled an infidel. "We are trying to create the al Qaeda of democratic movements," said Nawaz, 34, in a telephone interview, referring to the militant group's reach. "Pakistan is uniquely difficult. Anyone who mentions the word democracy is immediately labelled a Western stooge." Khudi believes holding free and fair elections in Pakistan is not enough, because religious radicalism is stifling democratic concepts like free speech and freedom of association. So it is reaching out to the young, since over 60 percent of Pakistan's population is under 25. Made up of eight executive committee members and about 5,000 volunteers, it deploys ideas as its weapons, insisting that military crackdowns on militants produce limited results. Khudi members hold workshops at universities, hand out pamphlets and show films that condemn violence. The group is trying to uproot hardline Islam that can be traced back decades. In the 1980s, for instance, President General Zia ul-Haq nurtured Islamist militants and turned society towards radicalism. National coordinator Fatima Mullick recalls how as a teenager in the 1990s she heard how 40 Shi'ite doctors were shot dead outside their homes or on the way to work in just a few months in her home city of Karachi, Pakistan's commercial hub. "There is no illusion," the 27-year-old said of Khudi's challenge. "This is the toughest job in the world." RECRUITMENT ON CAMPUS For Imran Khan, a senior Khudi trainer and spokesman unrelated to the cricketer-turned-politician, it was the September 11 attacks on the United States that raised his awareness. "People around me, even people from my family, were very happy that a few 'infidels' were killed by Muslim jihadis," he said, sitting beside teenage Khudi volunteers with funky haircuts and Western-style sweatshirts. Khudi pioneers work out of a type of safehouse in the capital Islamabad for fear of attacks by militants. To achieve its aims, Khudi holds workshops on university campuses. A big part of the problem is the growing perception that the West is plotting against Muslims. Recent events like the November 26 NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani troops on the border with Afghanistan are fuelling anti-Americanism, and making Khudi's job harder. "I have relatives who work for Pakistani intelligence. They told me the Americans were behind all the suicide bombings," said Sobia Baig, a Pakistani woman at the hotel workshop. Khudi is troubled by Pakistan's long history of creeping radicalism. But a far more recent event shocked its leaders. In January, Punjab province Governor Salman Taseer was assassinated by his own bodyguard. because the governor had called for the reform of Pakistan's anti-blasphemy law, which critics say is misused against minorities. Lawyers who once protested in support of democracy showered bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri with rose petals. Two months after Taseer's murder, Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, was murdered by the Taliban for demanding changes to the blasphemy law. After the Bhatti assassination, U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay said Pakistan was "poisoned by extremism." It was never meant to be this way. Pakistan's founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah appealed for religious tolerance in his first address to parliament in 1947. Ironically it is young Pakistanis who seem most receptive to his message, like the ones in jeans, tights and sleeveless shirts at the Jammin Java cafe in the city of Lahore -- an ideal recruiting ground for Khudi. "Pakistan should be Jinnah's Pakistan where there is no room for extremism and intolerance," said student Nafeesa Ali, 22. But Nawaz's old Islamist group, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, is equally determined to find followers at the cafe as well. It has been known to leave its orange promotional stickers. Few are more aware of the long battle ahead for Khudi than Shakil Ahmad Chaudhary, a communications specialist who passionately delivers speeches at the group's workshops. "My children (aged 9 and 12) go to a so-called elite school in Islamabad. And they come back and say 'Our teacher tells us of conspiracy theories', 9/11 for example was a conspiracy by George Bush and the Jews," said Ahmad. "I try to educate them. But again, I have to be careful. I don't want them to pick a quarrel with the teacher or become outcasts in the class." (Additional reporting by Mubashir Bukhari in LAHORE; Editing by Ron Popeski) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. | ||
| Thais test taboos as war on royal slurs heats up Posted: 06 Dec 2011 06:39 PM PST BANGKOK (Reuters) - From a windowless room in a Bangkok suburb, computer technicians scour thousands of websites, Facebook pages and tweets night and day. Their mission: to suppress what is regarded as one of Thailand's most heinous crimes -- insulting the monarchy.
The government calls this its "war room," part of a zero-tolerance campaign that uses the world's most draconian lese-majeste laws to stamp out even the faintest criticism of 84-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch. Critics call it a "witch hunt" and few are spared if they fall foul of the process. Sixty-one-year-old cancer sufferer Amphon Tangnoppaku, dubbed "Uncle SMS," was jailed for 20 years last month for sending text messages deemed to have disparaged Queen Sirikit. The ruling prompted outrage. On Saturday, Human Rights Watch criticised the "shocking" severity of recent penalties for lese-majeste and urged Thailand to amend the law. The offence is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, possibly more if there is violation of the 2007 Computer Crimes Act, which has been used to block more than 70,000 websites, many for lese-majeste, others for pornography or cyber fraud. Washington-based pro-democracy group Freedom House says the two laws give Thai authorities "carte blanche to clamp down on any form of expression." Some Thais had hoped Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose party members are among those accused of lese-majeste, would reform the law. But she is treading carefully, aware her opponents in the military and royalist establishment could seize on any hint of disloyalty to the monarchy to bring her down. Independent analysts say the use of lese-majeste could undermine those it was designed to protect if the backlash against the law grows. The tough-sounding Cyber Security Operation Centre remains focused, however. "We don't have any impressive equipment to track suspicious Internet activity," said Nut Payongsri, an official in the vast government complex. "In most cases, we hear about misuse via calls to our hotline. We check each case and report them to the police." DANGEROUS GROUND The king is in poor health and has spent the past two years in hospital. He made a rare public appearance in a wheelchair on Monday at celebrations to mark his birthday. His health and the succession are sensitive topics. Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn has yet to command the same respect as his father, who is seen as almost divine in the majority Buddhist country. Lese-majeste shields the king, queen, crown prince or regent from criticism. In the latest case, the exact content of the messages Amphon was accused of sending is unclear -- disclosing it could also mean prison. He denied the charges and wept in court. Undeterred by the outcry, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Minister Anudit Nakorntab warned Thais they could face similar punishment if they clicked "like" or "share" next to Facebook postings about the case that were considered offensive to the throne. An ICT Ministry official told Reuters that Thais who received anti-monarchy messages by email or on their personal Facebook walls and failed to delete them were also in violation. "We would take them to court and prosecute them," said the official, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to speak to the media. "It is against the law to do such a thing and as a result, they will be fined and jailed." The ICT Ministry said it was in talks with Facebook to block pages hosted outside Thailand carrying offensive content its cyber police were powerless to block. The U.S.-based social networking site did not respond to questions from Reuters. CASES PENDING Some cases are overtly political, others just bizarre, such as that of a Swiss man jailed for spray-painting a portrait of the king because he could not buy alcohol on the monarch's birthday under Thai law. He was pardoned and deported after a short prison stint. Lese-majeste complaints can be made by any citizen and, because of the sensitivity of the allegations, police usually feel compelled to probe them. The army filed charges of lese-majeste in May against academic Somsack Jeamteerasakul for comments he allegedly made in a web posting about the king's youngest daughter, Princess Chulabhorn Walailak, who is not protected by the laws. Chiranuch Premchaiporn, director of online newspaper Prachatai, is accused of failing to delete anti-monarchy postings fast enough. Political activist Chotisak Onsoong is accused of insulting the monarchy by refusing to stand during the royal anthem that precedes movie screenings in Thailand. Thai-born American Lerpong Wichaikhamma, also known as Joe Gordon, pleaded guilty to lese-majeste in October after being arrested during a visit to Thailand for having posted a web link to a Thai translation of a banned book about the king. Critics of lese-majeste say it is being used as a political weapon to stifle opponents, pointing to the huge jump in cases since the 2006 coup that overthrew former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck's brother, and triggered a polarising political crisis. Thailand's lese-majeste laws date from the start of the 20th century. Other countries with constitutional monarchies, such as Spain and the Netherlands, have such laws but cases are nowadays extremely rare. David Streckfuss, a scholar who monitors lese-majeste laws, said 478 known cases had been submitted to the Thai Criminal Court since the coup, and the 397 cases between 2006 and 2009 compared with an average four or five a year in the preceding 15 years. The conviction rate, Streckfuss says, is currently 94 percent. Thailand's military, which sees protecting the crown as its top priority, is behind a number of complaints, particularly those against members of the pro-Thaksin "red shirt" movement, which fought troops in the street in 2009 and 2010. Thaksin and the red shirts have been accused of republican leanings, charges they deny. But some take issue with the punishment handed down for lese-majeste. "In the time of absolute monarchy, the highest punishment was three years, so how is it that now, with our constitutional monarchy, the punishment has been increased to up to 15 years?" said Weng Tojirakarn, a red shirt leader and parliamentarian. CALLS FOR REVIEW The police and judiciary feel obliged to follow up accusations of lese-majeste -- for fear of being accused of disrespect themselves -- and so the charge has become an easy weapon for political groups to use against each other. In the case of Thaksin, allegations against him of lese-majeste were used by the royalist "yellow shirts" to draw supporters to huge street rallies that helped undermine his government, and the claims were cited by the military as one reason for the 2006 coup. The Santiprachatham Network, a group of academics and social activists, started a campaign against a "flawed judicial system" in the wake of Amphon's 20-year sentence. Some newspapers that for years were reluctant to carry stories on lese-majeste now call for a review of the law. "The idea that discussion of the lese-majeste law is somehow disloyal to the monarchy is emotionally loaded but empty. The law cannot affect love of the monarch," the Bangkok Post said in an editorial, describing the cyber war as "futile and self-defeating." Anand Panyarachun, a former premier and senior statesman, last week rebuked those who had politicised the law and said ordinary citizens should not be allowed to file complaints that undermined rather than strengthened the monarchy. "The harshness of the penalty should be reviewed," Anand said. "Many Thais try to protect him, try to defend him. In actual fact the consequence is we ourselves are doing a lot of damage to the monarchy or even to the king himself." (Editing by Alan Raybould and Nick Macfie) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. | ||
| Greece passes austerity budget after street clashes Posted: 06 Dec 2011 03:42 PM PST ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's coalition government on Wednesday passed an austerity 2012 budget aimed at shrinking its debt mountain with tax hikes and spending cuts, hours after protesters clashed with police outside parliament.
Three major parties backing technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos solidly voted for the budget plan, a package of deeply unpopular measures needed to cut the deficit and show foreign lenders the country is sorting out its finances. "Successful implementation of this budget will restore the country's international credibility and create the conditions to rescue the economy," Papademos told lawmakers. "We can't afford to keep whining...the targets are ambitious but feasible." But one of the leaders, conservative party leader Antonis Samaras, made clear his support was solely aimed at rescuing Greece from immediate default and vowed to soften tax steps and boost growth measures if he wins power in elections expected in February. "Our disagreements remain... we are approving the budget because it is an absolute priority to safeguard the viability of Greek debt," said Samaras, whose New Democracy party is the front-runner to win the next election but fall short of an absolute majority. Samaras, who has long opposed the EU/IMF austerity policies imposed by his Socialist rival, former prime minister George Papandreou, under a 110-billion euro bailout agreed in 2010, made clear he will insist on snap elections in February, after Athens clinches a bond swap deal to cut the country's debt. As lawmakers debated the budget, hundreds of masked youths hurled petrol bombs and clashed with Greek police outside parliament when protesters marched to mark the police shooting of a student in 2008, which led to the worst riots in decades and helped topple the then conservative government. (Additional reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Angus MacSwan) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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