Aboard The Democracy Train – Page 62

June 5, 2015

India and U.S. agree on ground-breaking defense projects

Indo US defense treaty (Credit: ibnlive.com) — Indo US defense treaty
(Credit: ibnlive.com)

NEW DELHI and the United States have sealed an agreement to jointly develop protective gear for soldiers against biological and chemical warfare, and another on building generators, defense officials said on Wednesday.

The projects were cleared as U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter held talks with Indian leaders to expand security ties between countries that were on opposite sides of the Cold War but have since drawn closer against the rising weight of China.

The United States has become one of the main sources of weapons for the Indian military, and under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make-in-India” program has offered joint development and production of military technologies.

While the two projects approved are modest in scale, India and the United States are also exploring collaboration at the higher end of technology, Carter told reporters.

“We have big ambitions, and jet engines, aircraft carrier technology are big projects that we’re working very hard on,” he said.

Carter signed a new 10-year defense cooperation pact with his Indian counterpart Manohar Parikkar and agreed to work on enhancing cooperation in maritime security, according to a joint statement released after the two leaders met.

The two countries conduct annual naval exercises in the Indian Ocean, where China has increased its presence in recent years.

In a separate meeting, Carter and Modi discussed “the recent developments in the Indian Ocean and the Asia Pacific region”, Modi’s office said in a statement.

The projects on protective clothing and next-generation power sources for the battlefield will each have $1 million in funding shared equally by the two sides, a U.S. defense official said.

“We’ve negotiated texts, we’ve agreed to texts and they’ll be signed into effect at the end of this month,” the official said. “We went from flash to bang, meaning from the joint statement in January to agreed to and signed texts in just under five months,”

India is also eyeing U.S. aircraft launch technology for a carrier it plans to build to replace an aging British warship. The two sides have set up a working group to explore cooperation and the defense official said military officials will meet later this month in the United States.

Carter and Parikkar agreed to expedite talks on cooperating on jet engines and aircraft carriers.

“We have the pre-eminent aircraft carriers in the world. They are excited about possible collaboration. There are multiple areas of possible collaboration. It’s a huge platform,” the U.S. official said.

(Additional reporting by Tommy Wilkes and Krishna N. Das; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

June 5, 2015

Lost Opportunity on Nuclear Disarmament

The United States and other nuclear powers failed to use a recent United Nations conference to advance the cause of nuclear disarmament. The meeting in May was supposed to strengthen international efforts to contain nuclear weapons. Instead, it was a reminder of the deep divisions over the future of nuclear weapons and what efforts should be made to eliminate them.

The conference is held every five years to review compliance with the 1970 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the agreement known as the NPT under which the countries recognized by the treaty as having nuclear weapons — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — committed to pursue nuclear disarmament.

The other 186 signatories promised to forgo nuclear weapons. India and Pakistan did not sign the treaty, and both have nuclear weapons. Neither did Israel, which refuses to admit that it has a nuclear arsenal, and South Sudan, which has none. North Korea, once an NPT member, withdrew in 2003 and is now believed to have perhaps as many as 16 nuclear weapons.

This year’s conference, after four weeks of often acrimonious debate and finger-pointing, collapsed on May 22 without the members formally agreeing on a plan of action. All decisions must be made by consensus, and the United States, Britain and Canada rejected the final communiqué.

One reason for the failure was a dispute between Egypt and Israel, which was backed by the United States, over banning nuclear weapons in the Middle East. This was not the first time Egypt and Israel had clashed over a proposal for a nuclear-weapons-free zone. The 2010 NPT review conference called for a meeting in 2012 on a regional weapons ban, infuriating Israel. Israel eventually agreed to attend planning sessions, but the 2012 meeting never took place, which angered Egypt and other Arab nations.

During this year’s NPT conference, Egypt and its allies tried to accelerate the process by proposing that the United Nations secretary general convene a meeting on a Middle East weapons-free zone by March 2016, even if Israel refused to agree on an agenda; Israel insisted on including the broad range of security challenges in the region. The conflict is unfortunate because both nations view Iran’s nuclear program as a major threat.

The problems with the nuclear conference went beyond this dispute. Relations between the United States and Russia have deteriorated in recent years, and efforts to further reduce their nuclear arsenals have stalled. The Russian government has not only refused President Obama’s offer to negotiate a further one-third cut in deployed nuclear weapons beyond the 2010 New Start treaty limits of 1,550, Russian officials have made outrageous threats about using nuclear weapons in the confrontation with NATO over Ukraine. Russia has also been violating the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty by testing a new cruise missile, and Washington and Moscow have embarked on costly programs to modernize their nuclear stockpiles.

Such behavior makes it harder to argue for nuclear restraint with countries like China, India and Pakistan, which have an estimated 100 to 250 nuclear weapons each but are expanding their arsenals.

Despite the disappointments and backsliding in disarmament efforts, there is one real bright spot — the negotiation between Iran and the major powers on an agreement that would curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting international sanctions. If a sound and verifiable deal is reached, it should inspire new initiatives to rid the world of the most dangerous weapons, including in the Middle East.

June 5, 2015

‘Parween’s family threatened to withdraw the case’

Parween Rehman (Credit: zubeidamustafa.com)

KARACHI, June 4: With no effective measures taken by the authorities to check growing threats against the Orangi Pilot Project whose team was recently forced to stop work and relocate, the perpetrators have taken a step forward by visiting the house of slain OPP director Parween Rahman and threatening her sister and mother besides terrorising the caretaker, it emerged on Wednesday.

Threats with impunity, which have surged in recent times since the murder of OPP director Rahman in March 2013, brought together representatives of civil society organizations to the Karachi Press Club to publicly take a stand against Sindh government inaction and warn of public mobilization and moving court if security was not provided to the family of Ms Rahman and those currently associated with the project.

The press conference was addressed by chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Zohra Yusuf, executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Karamat Ali, architect Arif Hasan besides representatives of the Women’s Action Forum and other civil society organisations.

Speaking about how the OPP was left in the lurch with a constant barrage of attacks on its leadership causing the current director, Anwar Rashid, and over two dozen members of staff associated with the project to relocate, Piler executive director Karamat Ali said two men visited Parween’s house last week.

They threatened her sister, Aquila Ismail, and their 80-year-old mother, and also terrorised the caretaker, he said.

“This is an unacceptable situation,” he added.

“Previously, police officers in plain clothes had come to the OPP office in Orangi and asked workers to shut down the project and leave the country. Repeatedly, we have had senior police officials forcing us to take back the case against Parween’s killers,” said Mr Ali.

The state, specifically the Sindh government, was criticised for “failing to solve the question as to who murdered Parween Rehman and for what purpose.”

The civil society representatives also shared their frustration about how the threats were not being taken seriously by the authorities, “which has virtually brought the work of OPP to a halt.”

With the case finally making some headway in the Supreme Court (SC), the threats are a means to derail this progress, according to Mr Ali.
“We demand that the state fulfil its constitutional obligation to provide security to all family members of Parween Rahman, to Anwar Rashid and to the members of the OPP.”
Petitioners of the case against Parween’s killers, some of whom were present at the press conference, laid down other demands that included uncovering Parween’s killers, launch of an investigation into the coercion by the police officials who asked them to withdraw the case, as well as prosecuting all those who have broken the law and not carried out their duties with regard to the case.

“The SC’s binding instructions to provide foolproof security cannot be ignored any longer, and if action is not taken by the necessary authorities, we will file a complaint in court,” said Mr Ali.

“Also, we will have to resort to public mobilisation against the intimidation of OPP.”
HRCP chairperson Zohra Yusuf said that none of the petitioners would succumb to this intimidation by taking back the case.

“We have lost three great women working for society — Parween, Zahra Shahid and Sabeen Mahmud. We are no longer afraid and will take this matter to the court if justice is not upheld and the loss of lives not prevented,” she said.

Architect Arif Hasan said the mapping section of OPP, which is at the centre of all these threats, had to be relocated. “We had planned to return to Orangi but due to the severity of these threats, we are unable to do so.”

Of the many projects OPP was working on, the regularisation of goth land garnered the most controversy. Working alongside the PPP government, Parween had helped facilitate this process by establishing the existence of more than 2,000 goths. Around the time of her death, 1,063 goths had been regularised with more than 1,000 others pending. After her murder, not a single goth has been regularised so far.

Threats with impunity have become a regular feature with OPP projects, specifically the one related to goth regularisation. These are, according to those present at the press conference, merely discouraging other community-based organistions from taking up the cause of the poor.

May 31, 2015

India Backed Baloch Hijackers Executed after 17 years

Baloch separatists executed (Credit: detroitnewstime.com)

Pakistan has executed three Baloch separatists who hijacked a plan and attempted to fly it to India in the hope of disrupting Islamabad’s first nuclear tests.

Two of the men, Shahsawar Baluch and Sabir Baluch were hanged in Hyderabad prison in southern Sindh province while the third, Shabir Rind, was hanged in Karachi, officials said.

The executions were carried out on the 17th anniversary of the tests, which made Pakistan the world’s seventh nuclear-armed power – a landmark event for the impoverished Muslim country of 200 million people.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted ban on the death penalty for those convicted on terrorism charges on December 17 last year after Taliban gunmen killed 136 children at an army-run school.

The trio were sentenced to death for hijacking a Pakistan International Airlines aircraft with 30 passengers on board on 24th May 1998 – four days before the country’s first nuclear test.

The flight took off from the port town of Gwadar in Baluchistan and was set to land in the southern port city of Karachi when the men stormed the cockpit and tried to force the pilot to fly to India.

May 31, 2015

After Pakistan bus attack, worry an insurgency growing worse

Pashtun looks at deceased relative (Credit: washingtonpost.com)

QUETTA, May 30 — As hundreds of mourners on Saturday protested the killing of 22 people in deadly bus hijackings in western Pakistan, the assaults raised new fears that a long-simmering insurgency there could be growing more violent.

The country’s restive Baluchistan province has seen two major attacks in the span of a month, including an April assault on a dam project that killed at least 20 people and Friday’s bus hijackings. In both, gunmen let Baluch people flee while killing others, signaling a worrying ethnic bent to an insurgency seeking independence for the oil- and mineral-rich region that’s also home to Islamic extremists.

Mureed Baluch, a militant who identifies himself as the spokesman of United Baluch Army, which has attacked security forces in the past, claimed the bus attacks Saturday.

The attacks Friday night, which happened in the province’s mountainous Mastung district, saw gunmen wearing security force uniforms stop the buses, then check ID cards to determine the ethnicity of their captives, one survivor told private satellite news channel Geo TV.

Local Pashtun leader Allah Dad told The Associated Press that the gunmen made Pashtun passengers stand in a line, then shot them dead.

“What was the fault of the Pashtun passengers who were killed in the attack on the buses?” Dad asked. “We want assurance from the government that the attackers will be arrested and they will be punished.”

On Saturday, hundreds of Pashtuns, who make up about 35 percent of Baluchistan’s 9 million residents, placed 16 coffins with the bodies of their dead in front of the governor’s house in the provincial capital, Quetta. The protesters later dispersed peacefully after meeting with Abdul Malik Baluch, the province’s top elected official.

The country’s paramilitary Frontier Corps said Saturday that 200 troops were taking part in an operation to find the gunmen, while Baluchistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said security forces already killed two of the attackers.

Separatists in Baluchistan, which borders both Afghanistan and Iran, want a substantial share of revenue from gas and mineral resources and complete autonomy from Islamabad. In the mid-2000s, Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s government launched a crackdown on insurgents there, with Baluch and human rights activists say Pakistani forces detained their people for years without bringing them to court, sometimes killing them and dumping their bodies in the desert.

The current violence is the deadliest to target civilians in the region in recent years. Kalim Ullah, a retired history professor who lives in and has extensively studied Baluchistan, said he worries the insurgency may be growing increasingly violent and spark further ethnic tension.

“There is a need to wisely handle the situation following yesterday’s attack on Pashtun people as this is something that is very dangerous,” Ullah said. “The government must take immediate steps to avoid such incidents in future because Baluchistan could plunge into a deep turmoil if Baluch and Pashtun people clashed.”

May 31, 2015May 31, 2015

China Pak Economic Corridor faces Major Challenges

Economic corridor route (Credit: worldtribune.com)

A month ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping was in Islamabad, where he unveiled a $46 billion infrastructure spending blueprint for Pakistan, to serve as a linchpin of Beijing’s drive to open new trade and transport routes across Asia and challenge the U.S. as the dominant regional power. Pakistani officials hailed the visit as a landmark and game changer.

Despite decades of mismanagement and a feeble socioeconomic infrastructure, Pakistan does enjoy a strategic location. Among its neighbors, the only one with which Pakistan has maintained cordial ties since independence is China. Enjoying genial relations with a neighbor that is also a major power is clearly a boon for an otherwise diplomatically isolated Pakistan.

For China, which has begun to build a presence in multiple regions, Pakistan is a gateway to the Gulf States and Middle East, where China seeks to showcase its soft power, and develop trade and diplomatic links. While the U.S. still dominates in the Middle East, China has certainly made ground over the past decade. It wants to continue that progress, and supplementing its energy trade, improving the balance of trade, and identifying new investment opportunities with more robust commercial links will be vital. Securing a route to the Indian Ocean via the port of Gwadar will do the job nicely, and will also help China develop its military presence in the region, while playing a role in its “String of Pearls” strategy.

So Beijing’s decision to establish an economic corridor in Pakistan, switching access to the Middle East from a lengthy sea route to a much shorter (about 1200 km) road journey is a win-win. Xi’s visit saw 51 agreements signed, among them the pledge of $46 billion in investment. Many of the agreements focus on infrastructure development in Pakistan; however, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project is the standout development.

The CPEC will run from the Chinese city of Kashgar to the port of Gwadar in Pakistan. Gwadar is a deep-sea port that was initially developed and upgraded by the Chinese, who now have effective control. An all-weather, all-season port, Gwadar is strategically located, particularly vis-à-vis Dubai and Oman. Aware of its importance, China has now decided to lay down road (primarily) and air-train networks (gradually).

The concept to develop the port at Gwadar first emerged several decades ago, although for many years little progress was made. In 2003, however, formal construction commenced under Pakistan’s former President Pervez Musharraf, with economic and technical assistance from China. The Pakistani military felt that existing ports were not sufficient for defensive purposes, and was seeking a second option. Beijing meanwhile had its eye on easier access to the Persian Gulf and Middle East.

Now, with agreements signed and budgets allocated, the respective states are trying to eliminate or at least minimize the hurdles to CPEC that remain. Pakistan in particular has a job on its hands dealing with insurgents operating along the proposed CPEC. The country has been combating an Islamist insurrection for more than a decade. Nonetheless, it still hopes that Chinese investment will spur its long-underperforming economy, which the IMF projects will grow 4.3 percent this year.

Beijing worries about militants from Pakistan’s FATA region possibly penetrating China’s western Xinjiang province, which has its own unrest, and may be eyeing greater pledges from Islamabad on that issue.

Meanwhile, some political parties in Pakistan have expressed deep reservations about the CPEC, claiming that the ruling party is deliberately trying to alter the design of the corridor to favor the constituencies of its own MPs.

Despite the concerns, the CPEC is potentially a game changer that could transform economic growth and inject some prosperity and capital into Pakistan’s frayed socio-economic fabric. However, it is unlikely to come to fruition in either the short or medium terms. Mega projects like the CPEC all too frequently run aground, either falling prey to a lack of vision or stalling on political tussles. If that happens to the CPEC, it would be a sad outcome for a Pakistan that desperately needs some good news.

Muhammad Daim Fazil is a researcher who has an M.Phil (International Relations) from the National Defence University Islamabad, Pakistan.

May 29, 2015

Axact Chief Executive Arrested in Pakistan Over Fake Diplomas Scandal

Axact CEO arrested (Credit: deccanchronicle.com)

KARACHI, May 27 — Pakistani investigators arrested the chief executive of Axact, a software company accused of running a global diploma mill, early Wednesday after discovering a storage room filled with blank fake degrees.

The chief executive, Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh, and four other Axact executives were initially charged with fraud, forgery and illegal electronic money transfers, law enforcement officials said. The charges were later expanded to include money laundering and violating Pakistan’s electronic crimes act.

The arrests were a sharp blow to a company that claimed to be Pakistan’s biggest software exporter and that was on the cusp of starting a major television network. Axact has been under investigation since May 19, after an article in The New York Times described how the company had made millions of dollars by running hundreds of fake online education websites.

Since then, federal investigators have sealed Axact offices in Karachi and Islamabad and requested help from Interpol and the F.B.I. Mr. Shaikh sought to defend himself in a series of television interviews and video appeals, and asked the courts to halt the investigation.

But his legal move proved unsuccessful, and late Tuesday, after hours of questioning, he led investigators to a building next to the Axact headquarters in the upscale Karachi neighborhood of Defence.

Inside, they found a room filled with blank certificates bearing the letterheads of dozens of fake universities and high schools operated by Axact under names like Bay View, Cambell State, Oxdell and Nixon.

“There were hundreds of thousands of documents there,” said Shahid Hayat, head of the local office of the Federal Investigation Agency, which is leading the inquiry.

Pakistani television networks broadcast images of the room, and of Mr. Shaikh, wearing a black polo shirt with the Axact logo, being led to a car waiting outside the office. As he got into the car, he could be heard telling officials of the investigation agency that he would “see to every one of them.”

Mr. Hayat, the investigator, expressed surprise at the remark. “I don’t think he can threaten us,” he said.

Mr. Shaikh appeared in court later on Wednesday. A judge granted the Federal Investigation Agency custody of Mr. Shaikh and the four other executives until June 4. Investigators had said earlier that they would seek to extend his detention by 14 days while they examined the Axact network, which spans a number of countries and includes several offshore companies.

Axact’s online activities appear to have effectively shut down. Attempts by a reporter to contact sales agents at 221 of the company’s websites in recent days produced no response. Several of the fake accreditation bodies set up by the company, in a bid to bestow legitimacy on the universities, have gone offline.

Pakistan has requested F.B.I. assistance because many of the universities run by Axact purported to be based in the United States, operated bank accounts and mailboxes there and sold fake degrees to Americans. Axact sales agents also sold State Department authentication certificates bearing Secretary of State John Kerry’s signature.

Experts say that fake degrees can pose dangers to public safety and national security in many parts of the world and can enable immigration fraud. They can also have serious consequences for customers who are caught using them.

Two former Axact officials, speaking separately, said that in 2009, an American married couple, both members of the United States military serving in Iraq, had emailed Axact to say that they faced courts-martial for having presented academic credentials bought from a university run by Axact.

The couple requested an accreditation certificate from the university to help defend themselves, said Ahmed, a former sales agent who asked that his last name not be used. An Axact manager instructed subordinates to block the couple’s calls, he said.

Mr. Shaikh has vehemently denied any wrongdoing but admitted some involvement in the online degree business. In his last video message before his arrest, he said that Axact provided telephone support and what he termed “document management services” for other companies. He did not identify those companies.

The scandal has cast a cloud over Bol, the Axact television and newspaper group that had planned to begin broadcasting in June. On Saturday, the network’s editor in chief and several leading journalists resigned, after Pakistan’s interior minister spoke of “substantive” evidence against Axact.

Saba Imtiaz reported from Karachi, and Declan Walsh from London. Griffin Palmer contributed reporting from New York.

May 26, 2015

Exodus in the making: Senior journalists quit Bol TV as Axact controversy deepens

BOL studios (Credit: journalismpakistan.com)

KARACHI, May 24: As the scandal surrounding Axact’s fake degree empire roiled the country, several senior journalists announced on Saturday that they were leaving the Bol Network, a sister concern of the controversial IT company.

Those who quit Bol included the network’s two top executives, Kamran Khan and Azhar Abbas.

“Charges against Axact are far from having been proved in court but my conscience is not letting me continue,” tweeted Bol’s president and editor-in-chief Kamran Khan, who had earlier called on the Supreme Court to form an independent panel of experts to look into the NYT claims about Axact.

“I have decided to disassociate from Bol immediately,” he continued in his post on the microblogging website.

Bol News President and Chief Executive Officer Azhar Abbas has also stepped down. “I have resigned after speaking to my editors and staff. I put together a great team of journalists and I wish them [the] best,” he tweeted.

Kamran and Abbas were followed by Iftikhar Ahmed, who in a post on Twitter said he “cannot work for an organisation whose basic workings conflict with my professional commitment.”

“I have decided to disassociate myself from Bol,” he added.

Bol Executive Vice-President and senior anchorperson Asma Shirazi, who had earlier said she would quit the network immediately if any allegation against Axact was proved, also announced her resignation on Twitter.

“I have resigned from Bol News. Truth must prevail,” she posted on the microblogging website.

Other senior anchorpersons to leave Bol on Saturday included Wajahat S Khan and Nusrat Javeed.

“It’s done. I will be back, but not on Bol,” announced Wajahat, who joined Bol News as executive vice-president and senior anchorperson.

“Although I strongly feel that my colleagues in the media rushed to pass a final judgment regarding our relations with Bol, I am quitting,” tweeted Nusrat Javeed.

Other anchorpersons said they would remain with Bol News for now and take a final decision later.

“I have not resigned yet from Bol… I will let my viewers know about my decision soon,” said Jasmeen Manzoor.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2015.

May 26, 2015

Tracking Axact’s Websites

Axact’s immensely profitable empire is centered on its network of hundreds of websites. The stars are the sites for fictitious high schools and universities — some have names and details evoking the appearance of American or British schools, others of Persian Gulf-region institutions.

Critical support for the scheme comes from a host of dedicated Internet search portals, and a smaller list of dummy accreditation bodies meant to put potential customers at ease by giving Axact’s fake schools a more credible appearance.

Below is a partial list of sites analyzed by The New York Times and determined most likely to be linked to Axact’s operation in Karachi, Pakistan. Some of the details came from interviews with former employees of Axact, who identified roughly 50 sites, along with servers used by the company and blocks of custom website coding it developed.

School Sites

Alford High School

High School Diploma Profs

Beacon Falls High School

Brooksville High School

Buffville High School

Federal High School

Ford Worth High School

High School Diploma Experience

Foster City High School

High School Diploma Pro

High School Diploma Fast

Jersey High School

Lorenz High School

Luther City High School

Mary Grand High School

High School Diploma Professionals

Panworld High School

St. Angelo High School

Stenford High School

Victorville High School

West Coast High School

WinFord High School

Woodfield High School

Global Institute of English Language Training and Certification

Adamsville University

Al Arab University

Al Khaleej University

Al Khalifa American University

Alpine University

American Gulf University

American Mideast University

Anchor Point University

Arab Continental University

Arab Women University

Ashbery University

Accredited Degrees Pro

Ashley University

Bakerville University

Brooklyn Park University

Brooksville University

Cambell State University

Camp Lake University

Chapel University

Columbiana University

Creek View University

Crestford University

Fast Online University

Fort Jones University

Galewood University

Gibson University

Glenford University

Grant Town University

Online University Programs Pro

Hill University

Hill Online Degrees

James Adam University

James Harding University

Johnstown University

Kennedy University

Kingsbridge University

Kings Lake University

Laurus University

Madison Hills University

Mayfield University

McFord University

McGraw University

Affordable Accredited Degrees

McGraw Online Degrees

McKinley University

Midtown University

Mount Lincoln University

Nelson Bay University

Nicholson University

Nixon University

Northern Port University

Northway University

Olford Walters University

Panworld University

Accredited Online Degrees Now

Advance Online Degrees

Paramount California University

Parkfield University

Payne Springs University

Pine Hill University

Pittsford University

Port Jefferson University

Queen City University

Queens Bay University

Ray University

Affordable Degrees Pro

Universal Online Degrees

Redding University

Riverwood University

Rochville University

Roseville Community College

Thompson University

WalesBridge University

Walford University

Western Advanced Central University

Online University Profs

Western Valley Central University

Willington University

Windham University

Woodbridge University

Woodfield University

Woodrow University

Accreditation Bodies

Accreditation Bureau of Online Education and Training

Arab Accreditation Council

Association for Accreditation of Business Schools and Programs

European Accreditation Board for Online Education

European Accreditation Council for Online Learning

Global Accreditation Board for Distance Learning

Global Doctorate Council

Gulf Accreditation Council

Gulf Bureau of Higher Education

Gulf Engineering Council

International Accreditation Board for Business Studies

International Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Education

Education International Accreditation Board for Psychology Education

Education International Accreditation Council for Open Education

International Accreditation Organization

International Business Accreditation and Regulatory Commission

May 26, 2015

Pakistani Media’s Divisions Sharpen on BOL TV issue

To say that the exposé done by the New York Times on a Pakistan-based IT company, Axact’s shady business practices has caused ripples in the Pakistani media industry would be an understatement. The way it has divided opinions among the working journalists, be it senior or those still learning the ropes, is even more startling.

The NYT story had detailed alleged involvement of Axact in running an international network selling fake online diplomas and degrees through sleek websites of ghost foreign schools and universities. However, among the circles having anything to do with the Pakistani media, most of the content in the NYT story about Axact has already been common knowledge. The fact that the NYT has done a story quoting sources has only led credence to these rumors and made it more sensational. The other part of the allegations against Axact that they also host pornographic websites has not even been mentioned by the Times. Axact emerged as a known name in Pakistan’s media fraternity in mid-2013 when they announced plans to bankroll a new television channel, BOL. They offered unprecedented salaries and perks to the aspiring employees and subsequently hired several eminent journalists. At times, the figures simply didn’t add up and their claims about revolutionizing Pakistan’s media landscape sounded too good to be true. Still, the surreal nature of these promises and the rumors about questionable funding behind this new entity hardly deterred the journalists, including some very senior and celebrated names of Pakistani journalism, from joining this new company. It defies logic that these journalists got duped during the hiring process and didn’t know of the accusation on Axact when Pakistan’s media landscape was abuzz with these rumors about shades of grey. For many of them, this was not the first time because hardly any new player in Pakistan’s television industry, since it was deregulated in 2001, could be absolved of having an entirely above-board financial record.

Soon after the Axact scandal broke in the media, a war of words broke out between the journalists from both sides (BOL and other organizations) in the mainstream as well as social media. The severity with which they attacked each other was not only surprising but also disturbing. In more than 15 years of being an active journalist before taking a break to return to school, I have never seen such polarization in the Pakistani media. Both sides are nitpicking, showing selective perception, and speaking only half-truths to justify their own positions. The battle lines have been drawn based on the affiliation with different media organizations, leaving no room for objectivity.

Those who have already joined BOL have accused their former colleagues in other media organizations of siding with their owners to spread misconceptions about the new venture (BOL) to block its potential success. Somehow, they conveniently forgot that a few weeks ago, they were themselves employed by the very same media organizations that they were now criticizing. What is happening with BOL now has already happened with Dunya and Geo but these protectors of media;s integrity and independence were silent at that time for obvious reasons. The question is that if the already existing organizations were so bad and the owners were such Satans, did these noble souls question those practices when they were part of that set-up? If the answer is no, then does it mean that the ethics and morals are dependent on the “doctrine of necessity” and material interests?

On the other hand, those journalists who have not (or not yet) joined BOL have been critical of their colleagues who moved on and joined BOL for better prospects as somebody who sold their souls to an allegedly corrupt organization (Axact) only for a few bucks. Could these torch-bearers of uprightness and clean reputation look inwards and say with certainty that everything about their own organization and the respective managements is absolutely transparent? Moreover, how many of them never changed a job for higher salaries or better working conditions? If they cannot answer these questions, then they have no right to point fingers at those who can’t be faulted for availing the opportunities coming their way.

Most of the journalists in Pakistan have knowingly and willingly joined these new channels left, right and center during the last decade or so. For a majority of them, the increasing zeros on the paycheck after years of professional struggles and financial strife have provided enough justification to fall for this bargain. They have taken solace in the fact that their professional working wasn’t getting affected by whatever reputation their organizations’ owners had otherwise. There was a general acknowledgment of what was wrong at least in private conversations, if not very openly. The last thing I expected was to witness both sides to defend these wrongdoings so vehemently. It is clear that both sides are sitting in glass houses and throwing stones on each other, taking a self-righteous position. In trying to take potshots at each other, they have conveniently forgotten the skeletons in their own closet.

There are no two opinions that journalists in Pakistan have endured several decades of tough professional and financial circumstances and have every right to good earnings and lifestyle. But becoming part of an alleged scam, and getting blinded by the digits on the paychecks, does not provide any justification whatsoever to shy away from the troubling questions staring everybody associated with the Pakistani media in the face. If it does happen to be of no priority for anybody, then that person is clearly in the wrong profession. If the “so what” argument being presented by the journalists predominantly on the social media on the grounds that “none of the earlier media owners has clean hands” is to be bought, then what would they say about the police officials who were being offered more money by Taliban to switch sides at the height of counter-terrorism operation in Pakistan?

If the accusations have been raised on Axact management, it is true that they are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Simultaneously, it is also true that the accusations are of very serious nature and rubbishing them or making claims of innocence are also a bit premature. Being a journalist is much more than being somebody’s employee (and mouthpiece) to ensure taking a fat paycheck back home every month. The last thing a journalist is expected to do is to act as an irrational activist of a political party but that has started happening increasingly in Pakistan. Driven primarily by financial rewards, all ethical and professional journalistic considerations have been put on the backburner and both sides are equally at fault in doing so. That’s certainly a far more disturbing big picture that merits attention, debate and some honest soul-searching on the part of all those involved.

The reality of employment opportunities and working conditions available for Pakistani journalists at the moment is not all black and white but has definite shades of grey about it. They can either (at least) acknowledge and get on with it or take a clear stand against it based on nothing but strict principles. The latter option is easier said than done. But some honesty from both sides would do no harm. In this small industry, nothing remains hidden forever and there are no permanent friends and foes. Let journalism retain some sanctity as a profession and allow each other to remain professional colleagues instead of making it resemble a chessboard. Remember, at the end of the game, the king and the pawns go into the same box.