Pakistan: Supreme Court of Pakistan – Press Release (11.04.2023)

Pakistan: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif letter to President Arif Alvi

Pakistan: Veterans of Pakistan (VOP) – Press Release (17.03.2023)

Pakistan: Pakistan Ex Servicemen Society – Press Release (10.03.2023)

Pakistan: Pakistan Bar Council – Press Release (06.02.2023)

Pakistan: Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan – Press Release (09.11.2022)

Kenya: A Pakistani Journalist assassinated by the GSU…

“A senior police officer confirmed the shooting and added a comprehensive statement will be released later. “We had an incident of shooting which turned out to be a case of mistaken identity involving a journalist. We will release more information later,” the officer said” (Cyrus Ombati – ‘Pakistani journalist shot dead by police at roadblock in Kajiado’ 24.10.2022, The Star).

This whole story is tragic, a Pakistani civilian was murdered or assassinated in Kenya. That’s the story and the General Service Unit (GSU) is the one behind it. They are the ones that is mentioned. The little military wing of the National Police Service. A military wing of the Police Service. They are highly trained and capable para-military group, which is either in Recce-brigades or part of the Presidential Guard Company. Most likely not the trainees from the Embakasi training school. This was done by professionals. Especially, in the way and manner the car was shot at.

Just read this:

“4. The shooting hit the car from all sides. The incident left the car with nine bullet holes on the left side of the windscreen, which is the side the deceased was sitting; two bullet holes on the rear left back screen, one bullet hole on the rear right door, four holes right side of the boot and one front right tyre that had been deflated.

5. The driver, Mr Ahmed, reported finding a gunshot wound on Mr Sharif’s head, which was likely the fatal shot. The bullet penetrated the back of his head and exited the front” (Stanley Ngotho – ‘Shooting of Pakistani Arshad Sharif: 5 things we know so far’ 24.10.2022, Daily Nation).

When you read this and the “mistaken identity” don’t make sense. They shot the vehicle from all sides, as it was coming to a roadblock. There are so many issues with this and needs further independent investigation. The DPP and DCI will most certainly “kill” this gave and ensure it gets cold. Because, the GSU and the ones ordering the bullets don’t want to take accountability. This must come from up high and that’s why the assassination happened in such a mysterious way.

It’s not just me pointing the obvious out:

“The police statement on the Arshad Shariff killing has too many gaps. First, if it was a case of a stolen vehicle, the number plates of the stolen car and the one Arshad was are different. They don’t say the make. By the time of the incident, the “abducted” son had been found. The driver was his brother, Khurram Ahmed. They now say the road was blocked “with small stones” and on passing them, there was a shooting by GSU officers. Interestingly, no chase to recover the “stolen” vehicle is reported. We have a problem here. Clarification: I am being told Khurram Ahmed is not the brother as indicated in the OB report. Probably a cousin” (Eliud Kibii, 24.10.2022).

This is why this has to be properly investigated. The National Police Service first statement is already poked holes in. Secondly, I highly doubt he was shot at from all sides, because of “mistaken identity”. That sort of profile and targeted vehicle happens for a reason. The GSU doesn’t spray a vehicle with bullets and aims maliciously like they did without intent. That is just the obvious and an assassination like this happens for a reason. There is ranking officer and “high above” who ordered the hit. It must be something shady behind all of it…

This is an extra judicial killing, which isn’t new in Kenya. Mysterious murders and assassinations has happened with the assailants leaving without a trace. That’s the reality right here. The Pakistani journalist was hit, targeted and assassinated. We just don’t know why and for what reason. We don’t know the motive or the ones who issued it. Certainly, there is more to this. Since the story doesn’t add up. Peace.

Somalia: Famine looms in Somalia, but many ‘hunger hotspots’ are in deep trouble (21.09.2022)

The number of people facing life-threatening levels of hunger worldwide without immediate humanitarian aid, is expected to rise steeply in coming weeks, the UN said on Wednesday, in a new alert about looming famine in the Horn of Africa and beyond.

NEW YORK, United States of America, September 21, 2022 – In Somalia, “hundreds of thousands are already facing starvation today with staggering levels of malnutrition expected among children under five,” warned the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).“Large-scale deaths from hunger” are increasingly likely in the east African nation, the UN agencies continued, noting that unless “adequate” help arrives, analysts expect that by December, “as many as four children or two adults per 10,000 people, will die every day”.

Complex roots

In addition to the emergency already unfolding in Somalia, the UN agencies flagged 18 more deeply concerning “hunger hotspots”, whose problems have been created by conflict, drought, economic uncertainty, the COVID pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Humanitarians are particularly worried for Afghanistan, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen, where a record 970,000 people “are expected to face catastrophic hunger and are starving or projected to starve or at risk of deterioration to catastrophic conditions, if no action is taken”, the UN agencies said.

This is 10 times more than six years ago, when only two countries had populations as badly food insecure, FAO and WFP noted, in a new report.

Urgent humanitarian action is needed and at scale in all of these at-risk countries “to save lives and livelihoods” and prevent famine, the UN agencies insisted.

Harsh winter harvest

According to FAO and WFP, acute food insecurity around the world will worsen from October to January.

In addition to Somalia, they highlighted that the problem was also dire in the wider Horn of Africa, where the longest drought in over 40 years is forecast to continue, pushing people “to the brink of starvation”.

Successive failed rains have destroyed people’s crops and killed their livestock “on which their survival depends”, said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu, who warned that “people in the poorest countries” were most at risk from acute food security that was “rising fast and spreading across the world”.

FAO’s QU calls for massive aid scale-up

Vulnerable communities “have yet to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic are suffering from the ripple effects of ongoing conflicts, in terms of prices, food and fertilizer supplies, as well as the climate emergency,” the FAO chief continued.

He insisted that “without a massively scaled-up humanitarian response” to sustain agriculture, “the situation will likely worsen in many countries in the coming months”.

Echoing that message, WFP Executive Director David Beasley appealed for immediate action to prevent people dying.

“We urgently need to get help to those in grave danger of starvation in Somalia and the world’s other hunger hotspots,” he said.

Perfect storm of problems

“This is the third time in 10 years that Somalia has been threatened with a devastating famine,” Mr. Beasley continued.

“The famine in 2011 was caused by two consecutive failed rainy seasons as well as conflict. Today we’re staring at a perfect storm: a likely fifth consecutive failed rainy season that will see drought lasting well into 2023.”

In addition to soaring food prices, those most at risk from acute food insecurity also have “severely limited opportunities” to earn a living because of the pandemic, the WFP chief explained, as relief teams brace for famine in the Somali districts of Baidoa and Burhakaba in Bay region, come October.

Below the “highest alert” countries – identified as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen – the joint FAO-WFP report notes that the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Kenya, the Sahel, the Sudan and Syria are “of very high concern”, in addition to newcomers the Central African Republic and Pakistan.

Guatemala, Honduras and Malawi have also been added to the list of hunger hotspot countries, joining Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

Barriers to aid

Humanitarian assistance is crucial to save lives and prevent starvation, death and the total collapse of livelihoods, FAO and WFP insist, while highlighting chronic access problems caused by “insecurity, administrative and bureaucratic impediments, movement restrictions and physical barriers” in 11 of the 19 hotspot countries.

This includes “all six of the countries where populations are facing or are projected to face starvation…or are at risk of deterioration towards catastrophic conditions”, they said.

Pakistan: Veterans of Pakistan (VOP) – Press Release (03.09.2022)

Afghanistan: Afghan Woman Coalition for Change (AWCC) – Seven Actions to Restore Justice in Afghanistan (15.08.2022)