#afghan border

[risingpakistan]

پاکستان کس بنیاد پر افغان پناہ گزینوں کو ملک بدر کر رہا ہے؟

پاکستان بھر میں افغان پناہ گزینوں کی ملک بدری کا جاری عمل رکاوٹوں اور بدانتظامی کا شکار ہے، جس کی وجہ سے ہر طرف مصائب و تکالیف کا سلسلہ ہے۔ مثال کے طور پر ایک نوجوان افغان کو اس کے خاندان سے الگ کر دیا گیا، جب کہ اس کی بیوی اور دو ماہ کے بچے کو کہیں اور لے جایا گیا۔ نوجوان گرنے ہی والا تھا کیونکہ کوئی اسے نہیں بتا رہا تھا کہ اس کی بیوی اور بچے کو کہاں رکھا گیا ہے۔ پولیس تشدد کے واقعات عام ہیں۔ ’ہولڈنگ سینٹرز‘ بدانتظامی، ساز و سامان سے عاری اور تشدد آمیز ہیں۔ اتنی بڑی تعداد میں پناہ گزینوں کی بےدخلی میں بدانتظامی کا یہ عالم ہے کہ دستاویزات رکھنے والے پناہ گزینوں کو بھی پکڑا جا رہا ہے، ہراساں کیا جا رہا ہے اور ہولڈنگ سنٹرز میں رکھنے کے لیے ٹرکوں پر لادا جا رہا ہے، بےبس متاثرین کی تذلیل کی جا رہی ہے۔ اس سارے ذلت آمیز تماشے میں کچھ حقائق کو سہولت سے نظر انداز کر دیا گیا ہے۔ کیا پاکستان میں رجسٹریشن حاصل کرنا بےگھر افراد کی ذمہ داری تھی؟ نہیں۔ یہ پاکستانی حکام کا فرض تھا کہ وہ تمام پناہ گزینوں تک پہنچیں اور انہیں عارضی شناختی دستاویزات دیں۔

ان کی رجسٹریشن کرانے میں ناکامی نظام کی ناکامی ہے، افغان مہاجرین کی نہیں۔ انہیں صرف 20 دن کا نوٹس دینا انصاف کا مذاق ہے۔ تصور کریں کہ ایک خاندان تین دہائیوں سے کسی گاؤں یا قصبے میں رہ رہا ہے اور پھر اسے 20 دنوں کے اندر سب کچھ سمیٹ کر وہاں سے نکل جانے کا حکم دیا گیا ہے۔ بین الاقوامی قانون کے تحت، کوئی بھی میزبان ملک کسی ایسے خاندان کو زبردستی بےدخل نہیں کر سکتا جو ظلم و ستم، عدم تحفظ یا شدید غربت یا فاقہ کشی کے خوف کی وجہ سے اپنا اصل ملک چھوڑنے پر مجبور ہوا ہو۔ افغان معیشت تباہی کا شکار ہے۔ ملک کو بین الاقوامی بینکاری اور مالیاتی نظام سے الگ کر دیا گیا ہے۔ امریکہ نے امریکی بینکوں میں موجود افغان حکومت کے چھ ارب ڈالر کے اثاثے جاری کرنے سے انکار کر دیا ہے۔ امریکہ کے یورپی اتحادی اپنے بینکوں میں موجود افغان حکومت کے مزید دو ارب ڈالر کے اثاثے روک کر بیٹھے ہوئے ہیں۔ امریکہ واضح طور پر نظام کے خاتمے کو یقینی بنانا چاہتا ہے، لیکن یہ ایسا ہدف ہے جس کے حاصل ہونے کا امکان نہیں ہے۔

لیکن پاکستان اس فیصلے سے ایسا کیا حاصل کرنا چاہتا ہے جو آنے والی کئی دہائیوں تک پاکستان افغان تعلقات پر اثرات مرتب کرے گا؟ پہلی بات تو یہ واضح ہے کہ یہ فیصلہ کرنے سے پہلے کوئی مشاورت نہیں کی گئی جس کی وجہ سے افغان حکومت میں پاکستان کے خلاف اتنی دشمنی پیدا ہوئی ہے۔ اس معاملے پر سٹیک ہولڈرز سے کوئی مشاورت نہیں کی گئی، خاص طور پر خیبرپختونخوا اور بلوچستان کی سیاسی جماعتوں سے جہاں زیادہ تر مہاجرین موجود ہیں۔ 15 لاکھ لوگوں کی زندگیوں کو متاثر کرنے والے اتنے اہم فیصلے کے فائدے اور نقصانات پر کوئی بحث نہیں ہوئی، جسے کرنے کا نگران حکومت کے پاس اختیار ہی نہیں تھا۔ پھر ایسا فیصلہ کیسے ہوا؟ افغان مہاجرین پاکستان کی معیشت پر بوجھ نہیں ہیں۔ وہ سب اپنی دیکھ بھال خود کر رہے ہیں۔ وہ کبھی ملک میں کسی منظم بدامنی میں ملوث نہیں رہے اور نہ ہی انہوں نے مقامی سیاست میں حصہ لیا ہے۔ اور سب سے اہم بات یہ ہے کہ انہیں مقامی کمیونٹیز سے کوئی مسئلہ نہیں ہے جنہوں نے کبھی اپنی زمینوں سے ان کی بےدخلی کا مطالبہ نہیں کیا۔

ان تمام برسوں میں مقامی لوگوں اور افغانوں کے درمیان مکمل ہم آہنگی رہی ہے۔ اور اب، اس قدر اچانک بےبس افغانوں پر آسمان ٹوٹ پڑا ہے، حالانکہ اس بات کا کوئی ثبوت نہیں ہے کہ مہاجرین میں سے کوئی بھی سرحد پر حملوں میں ملوث رہا ہو۔ یہ حملے داعش یا تحریک طالبان پاکستان (ٹی ٹی پی) کی طرف سے کیے جا رہے ہیں اور وہی ان کی ذمہ داری قبول کرتے آئے ہیں۔ طالبان حکومت اس ناروا سلوک اور اسلام آباد کے معاندانہ رویے کو قبول نہیں کرے گی۔ کابل اس غیر ضروری، غیر منصفانہ علیحدگی کے ساتھ مفاہمت نہیں کرے گا۔ کیا پاکستان میں رجسٹریشن حاصل کرنا بےگھر افراد کی ذمہ داری تھی؟ نہیں۔ یہ پاکستانی حکام کا فرض تھا کہ وہ تمام پناہ گزینوں تک پہنچیں اور انہیں عارضی شناختی دستاویزات دیں۔ پاکستانی حکومت نے ایک ہی جھٹکے میں ہمدردی، حمایت اور تعاون کے تمام جذبات کو ہوا میں پھینک دیا ہے جس کے بعد ایک نئی حرکیات نے جنم لیا ہے۔ اب ایک دیوانگی اور غلط سوچ پر مبنی فیصلے کے ذریعے نئی تاریخ بنانے کی کوشش کی جا رہی ہے۔ افغان حکومت سے اس کی ٹوٹی پھوٹی معیشت اور نظام سے مطالبہ کیا جا رہا ہے کہ وہ افغانستان کے سخت موسمِ سرما میں پاکستان سے واپس آنے والوں کو پناہ، خوراک، پانی اور ادویات فراہم کرنے کی بھاری ذمہ داریاں سنبھالے۔ ان لاکھوں غریبوں کے مصائب اور حالت زار کی یاد تادیر زندہ رہے گی۔

رستم شاہ مہمند 

(رستم شاہ مہمند افغانستان اور وسط ایشیا کے امور کے ماہر ہیں۔ انہوں نے افغانستان میں پاکستان کے سفیر کی حیثیت سے خدمات انجام دیں اور ایک دہائی تک چیف کمشنر مہاجرین کے عہدے پر بھی فائز رہے۔)

 بشکریہ انڈپینڈنٹ اردو

[postcard-from-the-past]

Afridi firewood seller from the Afghan-Pakistani border region

British vintage postcard

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

great news!: tonight i finished the squares of the afghan i've been working on since october!!

horrible news!: tonight i also timed the first couple squares of i-cording border, and i suspect i still have twenty (20) hours of knitting remaining in this blanket

[pawsitivevibe]

I'm sorry I'm barely keeping up with the Crufts agility. I pay attention when it's a Cocker or an off breed. But if I wanted to see a million Border Collies do agility I'd just go to any agility trial ever. Boring.

[partialbirthabortion]

I s2g, yesterday I saw Blackpink graffiti in a 400 person pakistani mountain village

[thecrochetcrowd]

Mixing Crochet Borders & More

[sunnyshoress]

Valentines cards from my comic <3 Let me know if you send them to anyone!!

[zodiacsea]

went to the dog show yesterday and took some exceptionally bad images of some exceptionally good dogs

[weepingfireflies]

People & countries mentioned in the thread:

DR Congo - M23, Cobalt

Darfur, Sudan - International Criminal Court, CNN, BBC (Overview); Twitter Explanation on Sudan

Tigray - Human Rights Watch (Ethnic Cleansing Report)

the Sámi people - IWGIA, Euronews

Hawai'i - IWGIA

Syria - Amnesty International

Kashmir- Amnesty Summary (PDF), Wikipedia (Jammu and Kashmir), Human Rights Watch (2022)

Iran - Human Rights Watch, Morality Police (Mahsa/Jina Amini - Al Jazeera, Wikipedia)

Uyghurs - Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) Q&A, Wikipedia, Al Jazeera, UN Report

Tibetans - SaveTibet.org, United Nations

Yazidi people - Wikipedia, United Nations

West Papua - Free West Papua, Genocide Watch

Yemen - Human Rights Watch (Saudi border guards kill migrants), Carrd

Sri Lanka (Tamils) - Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch

Afghans in Pakistan - Al Jazeera, NPR

Ongoing Edits: more from the notes / me

Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh/Azerbaijan (Artsakh) - Global Conflict Tracker ("Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict"), Council on Foreign Relations, Human Rights Watch (Azerbaijan overview), Armenian Food Bank

Baháʼís in Iran - Bahá'í International Community, Amnesty, Wikipedia, Minority Rights Group International

Kafala System in the Middle East - Council on Foreign Relations, Migrant Rights

Rohingya - Human Rights Watch, UNHCR, Al Jazeera, UNICEF

Montagnards (Vietnam Highlands) - World Without Genocide, Montagnard Human Rights Organization (MHRO), VOA News

Ukraine - Human Rights Watch (April 2022), Support Ukraine Now (SUN), Ukraine Website, Schools & Education (HRW), Dnieper River advancement (Nov. 15, 2023 - Ap News)

Reblogs with Links / From Others

Indigenous Ppl of Canada, Cambodia, Mexico, Colombia

Libya

Armenia Reblog 1, Armenia Reblog 2

Armenia, Ukraine, Central African Republic, Indigenous Americans, Black ppl (US)

Rohingya (Myanmar)

More Hawai'i Links from @sageisnazty - Ka Lahui Hawaii, Nation of Hawai'i on Soverignty, Rejected Apology Resolution

From @rodeodeparis: Assyrian Policy Institute, Free Yezidi

From @is-this-a-cool-url: North American Manipur Tribal Association (NAMTA)

From @dougielombax & compiled by @azhdakha: Assyrians & Yazidis

West Sahara conflict

Last Updated: Feb. 19th, 2024 (If I missed smth before this, feel free to @ me to add it)

[postcard-from-the-past]

Dead Afghan frontier raider - loosewala, religious fanatic - in the Pakistani-Afghan border region

British vintage postcard

[animalsland]

TOP 10 FASTEST DOG BREEDS IN THE WORLD 2023

The dog breeds on this list are the fastest ones, according to the American Kennel Club (AKC). Some of them can travel at speeds of up to 40 mph. Some of these are sighthounds, which are dogs that have a lot of speed and hunting ability. They are old dog breeds that have been around for a long time.

Read more at my blog: http://bit.ly/3JNCHXE

[carolinemillerbooks]

New Post has been published on Books by Caroline Miller

New Post has been published on https://www.booksbycarolinemiller.com/musings/the-operative-word-for-2023/

The Operative Word For 2023

In The Book of Hope, a dialogue between Jane Goodall and writer Douglas Abrams, the pair discuss the difference between hope and optimism.  According to Goodall, the latter means wishful thinking while hope reflects a decision to work toward a good end.  A philosophy major in my undergraduate days, I grew accustomed to word parsing.  Whether hope and optimism are different or the same, I leave to the opinion of others.   That said, Goodall’s book recounts many anecdotes about individuals who have acted to make the world a better place. In turn, these uplifting stories foster an atmosphere of hope which is what the world needs.  Even so,  my word for the new year isn’t hope but kindness.   Hope reflects an intent to work toward solutions. Kindness is the solution. Daily, the news media screams about the need for kindness as it reflects human acts to the contrary. What we see is a montage of human greed and cruelty. Like the ghost of Christmas Past, headlines present us with a history of billionaires and grifters who stand ready to trawl for the last fish in the ocean, destroy the last tree of a forest, and sustain themselves with polluting industries that reward their workers with cancer.  We read stories of churches that spew hatred and observe leaders so driven by blind ambition, they threaten world peace.  We’ve grown so inured to this resume of human history that the humanitarian crisis at our southern border brings few tears to the eye. Why should it when scenes of Afghan women being beaten like cattle barely makes us blink? Scrolling down the pages of any newspaper, we witness horrors greater than any to be found in Dante’s Inferno–suggesting, perhaps, that where cruelty is concerned, the mind of man exceeds God’s imagination.   Hope, the intention to do good, as Goodall describes it, strikes me as insufficient to the challenge of shaping a better world.  We can do more than hope.  We can act. Some people are succeeding in bringing about change.  A recent gathering of nations closed with an agreement to support biodiversity;  U. S. scientists have made a breakthrough in nuclear fusion, a clean energy source;  The omnibus spending bill Congress recently passed hints at a return to bi-partisan politics,  though elsewhere goodwill barely registers a pulse.  Russia sends drones to reduce Ukraine to shrapnel. To their credit, the brave citizens of that country use this technology to guide Russian soldiers to safety. What a piece of work is man.  Our truth is born from our assumptions,  Our state of mind determines our health.  Entanglements in the brain point us to a plane where truth becomes ephemeral, altered by the presence of an observer. In sum, we create our world. Shall we despair or hope for the human condition? We have a choice.  As Eric Maria Remarque wrote in All Quiet on the Western Front,  there is always a choice, even in war.  A word of command has made these silent figures our enemies; a word of command might transform them into our friends. Goodall is right to honor hope. But, if we wish to save our species, let us choose kindness

[thecrochetcrowd]

Tunisian Entrelac Border Pattern

Entrelac Borders Entrelac Borders Most crocheters and Tunisian knitters prefer to have a flat border around their Entrelac projects. I don’t blame them as the technique of Entrelac does make the mini boxes curl up on the edges. The border, whether going around or in rows across are exceptionally easy as long as you understand how to decrease your stitches. Free Pattern: Crochet Entrelac and…

[narrie]

as a lot of attention and media coverage is focusing on the critical situation in palestine atm, i wanna make this post to bring some awareness to the devastating earthquakes that have hit western afghanistan (herat) recently. this past weekend (october 7, 2023) over 2000 ppl died due to the 6.3-magnitude and another earthquake with the same magnitude hit the area again today (october 11, 2023).

the ppl are in dire need of financial aid since a lot of those had been cut in recent years due to the taliban taking over again. the wfp regional director for asia and the pacific said this drastic drop in funding (wfp had 80% less money for afghanistan than last year!!!) is going to lead to a famine and the situation is looking hopeless; especially children and women are suffering these consequences.

here are some organizations that are working on the ground rn and are reliable! please share and consider donating, even if it's just the money u would've spent on takeout or an iced coffee today.

islamic relief and doctors without borders are 2 very well established nonprofits that always help out financially and medically in emergency situations in developing countries

visions for children - german nonprofit founded by two afghan sisters which sets up educational programs and emergency funds!

asiyah international - another german nonprofit that's running national and international aid projects!

srowzar children - australian nonprofit that's on the ground in afghanistan and always posting updates on how ur donations are making a difference!

[decolonize-the-everything]

In response to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, Operation Enduring Freedom officially began 7 October 2001 with American and British bombing strikes against al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan. Initially, the Taliban was removed from power and al-Qaeda was seriously crippled, but forces continually dealt with a stubborn Taliban insurgency, infrastructure rebuilding, and corruption among the Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, and Afghan Border Police.

On 2 May 2011, U.S. Navy SEALS (Sea, Air, Land) launched a raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, during Operation Neptune Spear, killing the al-Qaeda leader and mastermind of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Operation Enduring Freedom officially ended on 28 December 2014, although coalition forces remained on the ground to assist with training Afghan security forces. The United States Armed Forces completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan on 30 August 2021, marking the end of the 2001-2021 war.

Walz and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul said Saturday morning that the vast majority of those who were arrested Friday night were outside agitators who were not from the Twin Cities region. Walz called those people a group "bent on adapting their tactics to make it as difficult as possible" to maintain order. "Let's be very clear: The situation in Minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd. It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great cities," Walz said. He said he had mobilized more than 700 National Guard soldiers on Friday night, and that after television cameras found large gatherings of protesters with no police presence at all, he was authorizing the head of the state's National Guard to fully mobilize on Saturday.

Contrary to activists’ calls to defund the police, the bill provides over $3 million in new funding for these initiatives and extends an existing $6 million in annual training funds until 2024.

[...]Dropped from the bill were DFL provisions that would have turned over prosecutions involving deadly force to the attorney general’s office and restored voting rights to some felons.

[...]Civil rights lawyer, activist and former Minneapolis mayoral candidate Nekima Levy Armstrong called the bill “watered-down legislation” and “a slap in the face, especially to Black residents in the state of Minnesota.” Activists weren’t the only ones disheartened. Andy Skoogman, executive director of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he wanted to see greater changes to arbitration as well. And Julia Decker, police director for the ACLU of Minnesota, told the Star Tribune that she was disappointed the bill didn’t require an independent prosecutor like the attorney general to handle cases like Floyd’s.

Did you know that the Minnesota State Board of Investments holds around 10,000 shares, worth a whopping $1.2 million, in Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems — the world’s largest exporter of drones?

Elbit has been involved in all of the major Israeli assaults in Gaza, contracts with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for, among other things, a virtual surveillance wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, and markets its equipment to governments around the world as “battle-tested” (on the Palestinian civilians). Elbit drones constantly fly over Gaza, providing surveillance targeting for military assaults and Israeli snipers that hit peaceful protestors.

What are the odds that the drones over Minneapolis were Elbit drones, especially given that Metropolitan State University, located in the Minneapolis–St. Paul, metropolitan area, partners with Elbit on a state of the art cybersecurity training facility? A number of Democrats in Congress have written to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf expressing “grave concern” over the use of drones over Minneapolis on May 29th to “surveil and intimidate” protestors.

Pro-Palestine protesters have been demanding that the state of Minnesota divest its financial stakes in Israeli companies and bonds, which they say are worth around $119m. Activists have also for years been urging the state to repeal its anti-boycott legislation, which forces state contractors to sign a pledge that they will not engage in a boycott of Israel. The law was first passed in 2017, prior to Walz becoming governor. However, he has made no moves to try to repeal the law. In December, a group of 1,000 Palestinian solidarity activists in Minnesota disrupted Walz's Christmas party, demanding the governor commit to divesting from Israel. “Governor Walz has ignored our calls for the divestment of taxpayer dollars and public pension funds from Israeli apartheid. But he will never stop hearing from us or seeing us until he finally ends Minnesota's complacency in genocide,” Christine Hauschildt of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee said back in December.

"I don't know of a single educator who wants our money invested in weapons companies, and in bombing school buildings in racist wars,” Drake Myers, a member of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee who is also active in the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, told the panel. Max Vash, who has a Palestinian son, spoke out against the state’s holdings in Elbit Systems, an international defense and aerospace contractor based in Israel. “You have the power and the responsibility to ensure that neither my son, nor any other Palestinian person experiences these horrors,” Vash said. Lucia Wilkes Smith, a longtime member of Mothers Against Military Madness, said the BDS movement — Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions — shouldn’t be written off as antisemitic. Mike McDonald of Veterans for Peace didn’t address Israel directly but said the Board of Investment shouldn’t have money in defense contractors that are arming nations across the planet. He asserted the state has $800 million in holdings in companies that make weapons of warfare. It’s not the first time the investment board has heard from people calling for divestment from Israel. In 2015, activists unsuccessfully pressed the board to sell off its Israeli government bonds. This time around, activists look to build support based on outrage over thousands of Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza in the war between Israel and the Hamas militant group. That fighting was sparked by a series of coordinated surprise attacks by Hamas on Israel Oct. 7, in which 1,200 Israelis and foreigners were slain and 250 others were taken hostage. Since the war began, the Gaza Health Ministry has reported more than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed, roughly two-thirds of them women and minors. The board members — Walz, Simon, and Blaha — listened and took notes, but didn’t take any action in response to the request.

.....gonna wait to hear more but I'm not super impressed thus far.

I don't give a shit what your domestic policy is when you're actively making money off of a genocide started by the "war on terror" you personally helped start.