Pakistan's Arabian Sea islands risk environmental disaster

Pakistan's federal government is planning to build modern cities on the Bundal and Dingi islands, which could ease pressure on Karachi, the country's financial hub. Experts say it would be an ecological catastrophe.

The government wants to turn the Bundal Island into a mammoth real-estate project

The government's decision to establish the Pakistan Islands Development Authority and bring the Bundal and Dingi islands off the Karachi coast under federal authority shocked Majeed Motani, a 70-year-old fisherman.

"Our forefathers came to these islands centuries ago. Now, the government is trying to occupy them. It is a threat not only to our livelihoods but also to the island mangroves," Motani told DW.

Experts say the mangroves along the uninhabited islands are crucial to the environmental protection of Karachi, Pakistan's most-populous city and financial hub.

Bundal Island in the Arabian Sea is part of the Indus Delta region, which is protected under the international Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. It is already facing multiple threats – increasing air and water pollution, rising sea level, exploitation of resources, hunting, and habitat loss.

Moreover, Prime Minister Imran Khan said in September he wanted to turn these islands into mammoth real-estate projects, with a proposed investment of $50 billion (€41 billion) that would also help create 150,000 jobs. The proposed project aims to ease the urbanization pressure on Karachi, a city of more than 20 million people.

Watch video  01:33 Pakistanis planting trees to tackle climate change

DW has seen a Maritime Affairs Ministry tender notice, which seeks proposals from national and international firms for the urban development project.

Environmentalists and leaders of the provincial Sindh government are opposed to the Bundal Island "New Dubai" housing project.

"The federal government issued an unconstitutional ordinance. The Sindh government will resist it for the sake of our environment and our people," Murtaza Wahab, a spokesperson for the provincial government, told DW.

Ali Haider Zaidi, the federal minister for maritime affairs, and Malik Amin Aslam, the federal minister for climate change, did not respond to DW's request for a comment.
Diminishing mangroves

Environmentalists say that coastal mangroves help minimize the risk of natural disasters, including urban flooding, and work as natural barriers to avoid tsunamis. For decades, Pakistani authorities have neglected these small islands off the coast of Karachi.

"I have been filming the biodiversity on these islands for many years. A short boat ride from the mainland will take you to once-pristine mangrove forests, which are now in a terrible shape. Tree stumps dot the shores, with mud crabs clinging to the remnants of the once mighty mangrove," Mahera Omar, a Karachi-based filmmaker who covers environmental stories, told DW.

"At this rate of habitat loss, several of Karachi's marine species are at risk of extinction," she added.

The fishing community on the island is worried about its livelihood

Arif Belgaumi, an architect and town planner, slammed the government's island housing plan, saying a construction of the scale that is being proposed for the Bundal Island Project will destroy the mangroves there.

"It will also cause a tremendous environmental damage to the seabed. Also, the housing project will involve construction of roads, shorelines, bridges and other concrete infrastructure. It will pollute the area and damage the island's natural environment," he told DW.

Livelihood at stake

The fishing community is worried that the development of these islands could threaten their livelihood.

"The development of these islands will displace at least 2.5 million fishermen and their families," Mohammad Ali Shah, the founder of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), told DW.

"We have been protesting against the proposal since the government came up with it. We will not allow anyone to exploit our resources. We will go to court if the government starts illegal construction on these islands," Shah added.

Osama Malik, an Islamabad-based legal expert, urges the Pakistani government to fulfill its duties under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the ILO Convention 107 on Indigenous and Tribal Populations. "The conventions require Pakistan to respect the economic and cultural rights of the indigenous fisherfolk, who for centuries have earned their living around these two islands," Malik told DW.

Filmmaker Omar says the government needs to reconsider its island development plans as "new cities should not be an ecological nightmare for locals."

Watch video 02:32 Dams threaten Pakistan's unique Indus River dolphin

JUST A MAN DOING THE RIGHT THING

Julian Assange: Saint or sinner?

The court of public opinion remains undecided on Julian Assange. But the fate of the WikiLeaks founder is currently in the hands of a London judge who will decide whether to extradite him to the US.

Julian Assange is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006

Julian Assange is regarded by many as a hero who uncovered war crimes and corruption and is the father of modern investigative journalism, having dealt with huge amounts of leaked data. But others see him as a traitor, an enemy of the state, an accomplice to Russian President Vladimir Putin, perhaps the man responsible for Donald Trump's 2016 election as president of the United States — or all of the above.

Julian Assange and Daniel Domscheit-Berg (r)

His disgruntled former employee Daniel Domscheit-Berg once characterized Assange as "brilliant, paranoid, and obsessed with power" and accused him of turning WikiLeaks into an "ego trip" that he had "tied too closely to himself and his belligerent personality."

German magazine Der Spiegel quotes Assange as saying "When you are much smarter than the people around you, you develop an enormous ego — and you get the feeling that any problem can be solved if you put your mind to it."

Assange's alleged paranoia, in turn, has proven justified. Since 2010 he has been on a "Manhunting Timeline" list of US intelligence agencies, the online publication Intercept reported, citing secret documents leaked by Edward Snowden. These mention extensive intelligence operations whose goal is to investigate, stop, or at least damage WikiLeaks.

Watch video 02:06 Assange in London court for US extradition hearing

Rape accusation

Just when Assange was at the pinnacle of his fame, his reputation was massively damaged for the first time. It was the summer of 2010 and the release of the "Collateral Murder" video had made WikiLeaks a household name around the world. With the "Afghan War Diaries," Assange became a recognized figure in journalism.

Then, on August 21, 2010, the Swedish tabloid Expressen reported that Assange was the subject of rape allegations. This became the basis of an investigation that would go on for years — although no official charges were ever brought against him.

The accusation came from two women who walked into a Stockholm police station. Assange, who has a reputation for promiscuity, had sex with both of them during a visit to Stockholm in August 2010. One woman said he tampered with a condom during sex, while the other accused him of having sex with her while she was asleep.

Assange said he was not concerned about any proceedings in Sweden, but believed the Swedish allegations were designed to discredit him and were a pretext for his extradition from Sweden to the United States.

Günter Wallraff, a renowned German investigative journalist, told DW that there had been a "character assassination" against Julian Assange.

"He has been accused of the worst thing you can accuse someone of in an enlightened society: rape," he said. The accusations against Assange were contrived to make the man who had uncovered so much a persona non grata, Wallraff believes, citing research by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer.

German author Günter Wallraff has been campaigning to organize support for Julian Assange

Melzer, a Swiss professor of international law, speaks fluent Swedish. As such, he has been able to inspect a wealth of original documents. In an interview with the Swiss publication Republik, Melzer raised accusations against the Swedish authorities in early 2020 for the first time, arguing that evidence had been manipulated for political reasons.

Watch video 02:02 Hearing on Assange extradition to US begins in Britain

Spokesman for Putin?

Criticism of supposed links to Moscow first emerged in 2012. Julian Assange continued his journalistic work, initially under house arrest and then as a political refugee in the Ecuadorian embassy in London because of the Swedish extradition request that was later filed.

He produced a political talk show called "The World Tomorrow" with his own company, Quick Roll Productions. The client was Russia's state-owned foreign broadcaster Russia Today. The first interview guest was Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Shiite Hezbollah in Lebanon, via video link. It was the first international interview with the controversial Hezbollah leader in six years.

But was it a scoop? In Germany, there was a barrage of criticism. The main criticism leveled at Assange was that he was too uncritical of Nasrallah.

He was also criticized by the New York Times and the Guardian, whose former Moscow correspondent Luke Harding called him a "useful idiot" of the Russian propaganda machine. The BBC, in turn, focused on the mediation offers Nasrallah had made for the Syrian Civil War.

In 2012 Julian Assange sought political refugee in the Ecuadorian embassy in London

Assange produced 12 episodes of his talk show with such diverse interlocutors as current Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, and leftist intellectual Noam Chomsky.

Trump's election aid?

In the middle of the 2016 US presidential campaign, WikiLeaks published tens of thousands of emails from Democrats, including their presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. These not only damaged Clinton's election campaign against Donald Trump, but also Julian Assange's reputation, according to investigative reporter Wallraff.

In this case, public interest in the information was relevant, showing some of the irregular influence of the Democratic party leadership in favor of Hillary Clinton to the detriment of Bernie Sanders in the primaries.

Watch video 28:35 WikiLeaks - Public Enemy Julian Assange

Wallraff says accusations of Assange's closeness to Russia are undermined by WikiLeaks publications on Putin or human rights violations in Russia.

Andy Müller-Maguhn, former spokesman for the Chaos Computer Club, said he visited Assange almost every month during his time in the embassy in his capacity as chairman of the Wau-Holland Foundation, which campaigns for freedom of information. Regarding Assange's stance on the US election campaign and specifically Hillary Clinton, Müller-Maguhn reports "extremely critical disputes about which comments are still in the spirit of journalism and freedom of information and when it starts to relate to personal disputes."

But Müller-Maguhn also told DW he can understand Assange's position. "Hillary Clinton has said publicly several times that he should be killed with a drone," he said. "She was secretary of state when he published the embassy dispatches in 2010, the Afghan and Iraqi war diaries. Whether this woman became president was a question of life and death for him. You can't blame him for what he did."

Clinton denied she ever made the comment about wanting to kill Assange with a drone, and media fact-checkers have described the alleged remark as a rumor.

This article has been translated from German.

DW/AFP

Pamela Anderson Pleads With US President Trump to Pardon Julian Assange

Pamela Anderson Pleads With US President Trump to Pardon Julian Assange

© Sputnik / Anton Denisov

US

17:51 GMT 02.01.2021Get short URL

by James Tweedie

Actress and activist Pamela Anderson, a long-standing supporter of jailed journalist and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, has made previous appeals to President Donald Trump to end his prosecution. Trump has already pardoned several associates more controversial convicts.

Actress Pamela Anderson has again called on US President Donald Trump to grant an 11th-hour pardon to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

The Canadian-born Baywatch and Barb Wire star, also an animal rights and HIV activist, urged Trump to act in the name of press freedom before Monday, when Judge Vanessa Baraitser will rule on whether he can be extradited to the US.

The campaigning journalist faces 18 criminal charges over Wikileaks publishing of classified Pentagon files documenting the killings of civilians by US armed forces in Iraq, which were leaked by jailed whistle-blower Chelsea Manning. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 175 years in jail. 

“The case is simply a criminalisation of a free press,” Anderson told the New York Post. “Julian is being charged with journalism. Documents that have exposed war crimes and human rights abuses. Now the US wants to punish him for exposing crimes."

The actress added: “If this extradition is successful, it will mean that no journalist is safe from prosecution. This will set a precedent where any US journalist can be charged and sent to any country that requests their extradition."

Trump is set to leave office on January 20, when president-elect is sworn in. He has already issued several presidential pardons in his final weeks, including for his former national security advisor General Michael Flynn, his son-in-law Jared Kushner's father Charles, and the four Blackwater security personnel imprisoned for the 2007 Nisour Square massacre in Iraq.

© PHOTO : FACEBOOK/@FORUMVOSTOK

Pamela Anderson

Anderson cautioned other journalists against acquiescence in Assange's extradition, warning that it was the thin end of the wedge for their own freedoms.

"Don’t think ‘it won’t happen to me,’ because it absolutely could, and countries will use it to silence whatever they don’t like the sound of,” she said.

“Everyone should be asking Mr. Trump to pardon him,” she said. “Anyone with influence should speak up for his freedom because it is our freedom, too. Take to Twitter and start a storm of requests.”

Last month Anderson, a longstanding supporter of Assange, tweeted glamourous photos of herself with a message to Trump to let Assange return to his native Australia. 

Assange was accused of sexual assault in Sweden in August 2010, although he was not charged and allowed to leave the country and travel to the UK. In November that year Swedish prosecutors decided to charge the journalist with rape and sought his extradition from London.

After failed legal battles in British courts against being sent to Sweden, from where he feared he would be re-extradited to the US, Assange was granted political asylum in June 2012 by the left-wing government of Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa, and took refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

In April 2019 Correa's successor Lenin Moreno, who was cultivating good relations with Washington, ordered Assange expelled from the embassy after Wikileaks reported on corruption allegations against his government. Police were called to forcibly remove the journalist. He was arrested for breaching bail conditions imposed seven years earlier during his appeal against extradition. 

​Anderson said Assange was being held on remand in "medieval" conditions that put him at risk of infection with the deadly coronavirus strain.

“It’s madness. He is … crammed in amongst murderers in a prison that is rife with COVID,” she said. “It’s the middle of winter and it’s freezing in there and his winter clothes haven’t been delivered. The whole thing is a medieval madness.”

She urged others to join her campaign to free the journalist.

“Drop the charges. Stop this persecution of a man who was brave enough to stand up for the right thing,” Anderson pleaded. “We can be a part of setting him free. We just need to have the courage he had and speak up.”

Bobi Wine: From pop star to presidential hopeful in Uganda

Uganda votes for a new president in January. Popular musician and challenger Bobi Wine wants to build a united coalition. In his way is President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled with an iron fist for over three decades.


Bobi Wine has always been a popular figure among Ugandans. Over the past few years, though, he has become a thorn in the side of Uganda's government. The 38-year-old will take on the country's longtime president in the January 14 election.

Wine — one of President Yoweri Museveni's biggest critics — became famous as a reggae and pop musician. His albums and singles have made him a household name across East Africa for over 15 years. Among other honors, he has won an MTV Music Award.


President Museveni, in power for 34 years, faces a significant challenge from Bobi Wine

But, since 2017, Wine has been a prominent member of the opposition in Uganda's Parliament. In November, Wine, whose given name is Robert Kyagulanyi, was named the presidential candidate of the National Unity Platform (NUP) opposition party.

Wine has predicted a difficult fight to free Uganda from Museveni's 34-year rule in his nomination speech: "Today, we close the book of lamentation and open the Book of Acts."
The 'ghetto president'

With this statement, the pop star signal led his intention to end Museveni's grip on power. This is a serious threat for Uganda's political elite, and, directly following his presidential nomination, Wine was detained for a few hours by police. Wine later said he was harassed and abused.

The election campaigns in Uganda have been fraught with violence, especially for the opposition. In November, the government said dozens of people were killed in campaign-related violence. In December, one of Wine's aides suffered serious injuries from rubber bullets during a confrontation between security forces and opposition supporters.

Just three weeks before the presidential vote in Uganda, the death of Wine's bodyguard threw a spotlight on the violence in the run-up to the poll. Wine said his aide was purposefully run over by a military police vehicle, which the military denied. 

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A singer's ascent

The music star, who was raised in a poor neighborhood of Kampala, embraces his background as the "ghetto president," and says he fights for his vision of a democratic Uganda.

"I want to live in a free Uganda. But as an ideology, we are people who want to feel that we matter in our country," he told DW in 2018.

No obstacle seems too big for the charismatic singer. Torture, abuse and accusations of high treason from the government have so far not been able to deter his campaign.


Presidential candidate Bobi Wine has been arrested multiple times by security forces

"I must also say that I am presidential material," Wine told DW in August. "I'm well educated and well researched and well traveled. But most importantly, if we are to compare with a president that has presided over our country for more than 34 years, he is not as educated as I am. He was not as credible as I am."

A united Uganda?

Wine has outlined five key goals for his potential presidency. He wants to establish law and order and respect for human rights. He promises improvements to the health sector, education system and agriculture sector. Land ownership should return to the people. He also wants to unite Uganda's ethnically diverse society.

Watch video Will young voters decide Uganda's presidential election?

To achieve his goals, Wine believes he must use both sides of his personality: "The different characters have different roles to play. As Kyagulanyi, I walk into Parliament and articulate issues. As Bobi Wine the musician, I also use the microphone to make sure that the message goes as far as possible. I think they just complement each other."

Wine speaks to the frustrations of younger Ugandan voters, who make up a considerable portion of the population.

Museveni — who has led Uganda since 1986 — once held this role. But today, many of the younger generation are critical of corruption and ineffective governance. Wine demands change — with the help of a peaceful revolution.


Wine has support from youth in a country where 70% of people are under the age of 30

"The People Power Revolution is actually an initiative that seeks first and foremost to create or to unite all change-seeking forces in Uganda. After that, then we can proceed and change our country. It is a belief in the sovereignty of the people, as indeed provided for in our constitution right at the beginning. That old power belongs to the people. So, we are reminding people about their power, but most importantly, about the ability to make use of that power that they have," Wine told DW.

Wine said Uganda's 2016 election was a key moment for him in deciding to run for office. Museveni officially won by a landslide, but the vote was not seen as transparent or fair.

When he saw, as many saw, there was no chance a peaceful transition of power through elections, Bobi Wine decided that his candidacy would "bring back the hope and confidence in the people and make them realize that we can change our destiny."

This article was adapted from the German by Cai Nebe.

Bobi Wine likens Uganda election to 'a war and a battlefield'

Bobi Wine, the former reggae singer turned Ugandan opposition .leader, has spoken about his country’s bitter and violent presidential election campaign as it moves into its final two weeks

© Photograph: Getty Images

Bobi Wine, left, escorts an injured supporter to a medical centre in December.

“The campaign is crazy. It’s like a war and a battlefield,” Wine said in an interview conducted before he was detained for a third time in two months on Wednesday.

“Every day, we are met with heavily armed military officers. It’s always teargas and grenades, live bullets and beatings,” the 38-year-old said in the town of Lyantonde, 112 miles (180km) from the capital, Kampala.

“I am afraid and concerned every day. I fear for my life and the lives of my comrades in the struggle. The regime is after our lives. It’s after hurting and incapacitating us. Every day we live is as if it’s the last one.”

The January polls pit Wine against Yoweri Museveni, who came to power in 1986.

© Provided by The Guardian Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni. 

Photograph: Tiksa Negeri/Reuters

The campaign has already been marked by the worst political violence in Uganda for decades, with more than 50 people shot dead by security forces over two days of protests that followed Wine’s arrest in November.

Ten days later, police fired shots into Wine’s car, prompting him to briefly suspend his campaign. Last week, Wine said one of his bodyguards was killed when military police ran him over while Wine’s convoy was taking a wounded journalist to seek medical help. Military police said the bodyguard had fallen from a speeding car.

On Wednesday, Wine was detained again, along with members of his team, while campaigning in the country’s central region. Wine was flown back to Kampala and was back on the campaign trail again on Thursday, although dozens of his team remained behind bars.

Opposition supporters are routinely dispersed by security forces using teargas and rubber bullets.

“We wake up in the morning and we don’t know what to expect for the day. It’s only by the mercy of God that we manage to make it through the day. I have to wear a bulletproof vest all the time to protect my life. The brutality and violence continue to escalate,” Wine told the Guardian.

© Provided by The Guardian

 Bobi Wine (centre) during his arrest on Wednesday. Photograph: Reuters

The intensifying violence in the small east African state has prompted international concern. “We are gravely concerned by the election-related violence, the excessive use of force by security personnel, as well as the increasing crackdown on peaceful protesters, political and civil society leaders and human rights defenders,” a panel of UN experts said in a statement this week.

Known by supporters as “the ghetto president”, Wine broke into formal politics in 2017 when he won a seat in Uganda’s national assembly, and has since been badly assaulted and detained many times. The politician, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, grew up in poverty in Kampala before his successful musical career.

Wine has repeatedly accused Museveni of being a dictator, and has enthusiastic support, especially among Uganda’s young and urban population who want change.

“This is a generational cause. I am a Ugandan that represents the pain, misery, aspirations and dreams of millions of Ugandans. What I am saying and representing is what millions of young people in the ghettoes, unemployed and those in universities want,” Wine said.

© Provided by The Guardian 

Bobi Wine campaigning in December. 

Photograph: Sumy Sadurni/AFP/Getty Images

But Wine has yet to lay out any detailed policy programmes, and faces an experienced opponent who can count on loyalty from individuals and institutions in Uganda that have benefited from his rule over decades. Museveni, 76, has the support of security forces and much of the bureaucracy. Decades of economic growth and subsidies have won him a loyal mass following in rural areas.

The authorities say force is necessary to ensure compliance with measures against Covid-19. “In Uganda, Covid-19 regulations have been weaponised … as [a] pretext for political repression,” said Deprose Muchena of Amnesty international.

Amnesty said supporters of Museveni and the ruling party had repeatedly gathered in large crowds unhindered by police.

At rallies and in national media, Museveni has accused Wine and other opposition leaders of being “traitors” who planned “insurrection … with their foreign backers”. At one rally, Museveni said the protesters were “being used by outsiders … homosexuals and others who don’t like the stability and independence of Uganda.”

Richard Emanio, a party worker for the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), said foreign powers wanted to use the opposition to destabilise Uganda.

“Museveni should continue to rule Uganda because of his proven leadership ability. He has helped stabilise our country politically, economically and socially. He has helped other African countries see peace,” Emanio said.

There are also international concerns over the harassment of journalists and government critics in Uganda.

The recent arrest and week-long detention of Nicholas Opiyo, a prominent Ugandan human rights lawyer, sent “a chilling message about their disregard for basic rights”, said Otsieno Namwaya, the senior researcher for Africa at the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Lincoln Project ad shows Trump border wall built from tombstones of Covid victims

Trump’s border wall was ‘paid for with 330,901 American lives’, says the a
Matt Mathers@MattEm90

Republican anti-Trump group, the Lincoln Project, has released a new ad attacking the president's handling of Covid-19, claiming his Mexico border wall is made from the tombstones of the more than 330,000 Americans who have died.

The silent clip, shared on Twitter earlier this week, displays the figure 330,901 - referring to the number of Covid deaths in the US.

"More than 330,901 Americans are dead," states the video. It then shows a mocked-up version of the president's US-Mexico border wall, with a row of tombstones stacked on top of the concrete structure, which is lined with flowers and a US flag.

"This is Trump's wall," another message reads. "Paid for with 330,901 American lives", it adds.

"330k+ dead and counting. Because of the #TrumpVirus," says a Twitter post accompanying the video.

The president has been repeatedly criticised for his approach to the pandemic. During the election campaign, he crisscrossed the country for public rallies, disregarding public health advice and refusing to wear a face mask.

Covid-19 deaths and cases have continued to rise since the video was released.

There were 230,982 infections reported on 31 December - up slightly from the 229,349 logged on 30 December. In total, the US has now recorded 20 million cases and some 346,000 Covid-related deaths, official figures show.

The Lincoln Project is a political action committee formed in late 2019 by several current and former Republicans.

The goal of the committee “is to prevent the reelection of Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election and defeat his supporters in the United States Senate," according to the group’s website.

The Lincoln Project

@ProjectLincoln

330k+ dead and counting. because of the #TrumpVirus. This is #TrumpsWall.

12:11 PM · Dec 29, 2020·Twitter Web App

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Lincoln Project ad shows Trump border wall built from tombstones of Covid victims | The Independent