Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan (TSP): May 30, 2011

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 14 Jun 2011 06:01

shiv wrote:
CRamS wrote:
Useless piece of clap trap IMO.
Your points notwithstanding - Schaffer rightly figures out that there is some piskological issue with Pakistan - and she points out these things at some length better than I have seen any other American writer do in the past. It may not have any effect - but it remains true nevertheless. Only Indian writers have tended to write this way. That has always been a minus point. And BRF saying is even more claptrap than Schaffer and ROTFL to boot.

Pakistanis believe they have been cheated and betrayed by both India and the international community. They feel that the very structure of their history and geography makes them dependent, vulnerable, and discounted. At the same time, national pride and the need to play up the ways in which they believe Pakistan is superior to India are important themes in their dealings with foreigners.

. As they argue it, Americans are taken in by the Indians and fail to recognise the overbearing, bullying policies and practices India inflicts on Pakistan and the other smaller countries of South Asia. Most Pakistanis believe that Americans are not aware of India's longstanding hegemonic goals and the dangers to Pakistani and U.S. interests that they entail. Pakistani tactics to correct these “misimpressions” and instil a “more realistic” understanding of what the Indians are up to will vary,

Pakistanis are well versed in their version of the truth

Pakistan will continue to see India as a basically hostile neighbour, and its negotiators will probably continue to believe that making India look bad is an important part of their task.

No point seeing claptrap where it constitutes a pointless self goal. Let me explain what claptrap means using Teresita Shraffer's article and analysing it through the traditional lens.
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp ... 099938.ece

Pakistan's view of the world begins with the trauma of the 1947 partition of India

..when thousands of muslims were slaughtered by the majority Hindus in Pakistan's giant and sometimes unrepentant neighbour

The most painful part of this history — the “core issue,” in the term preferred by Pakistani officials and commentators — is Kashmir. Pakistanis believe they have been cheated and betrayed by both India and the international community.

India maintains over 70,000 troops in Cashmere where more than 90,000 people have been killed in an insurgency agianst Indian rule in Muslim majority Cashmere by the Hindu majority India.

Most Pakistanis believe that Americans are not aware of India's longstanding hegemonic goals and the dangers to Pakistani and U.S. interests that they entail.

India has fought a war with every one of its neighbours apart from fighting at least a dozen insurgencies against its own people

Aware that Americans are impressed by Indian democracy and contrast it favourably with the congenital weakness of Pakistani civilian political institutions, Pakistanis will at times point to defects in the way India is governed, especially the way its Muslim minority is treated.

Hardly 1% of Pakistani have voted for the Islamist parties in a largely secular and moderate Pakistan. India on the other hand voted into power a right wing Hindu fundamentalist government who have massacred thousand of Muslims and torn down mosques.

that Indians (unlike Pakistanis) are not to be trusted, and that India's claims that they prefer a stable and secure Pakistan as their neighbour are false.

India started the nuclear arms race in South Asa. India is now the biggest arms importer in the world. India's missiles are Pakistan specific.

They contrast the hierarchical character of the Hindu caste system with the more egalitarian ethos of Islam. Stereotypes frequently found among Pakistanis hold that Indians are more duplicitous, less honest, and less courageous than Pakistanis. Some military officers in years past were fond of saying that vegetarian Indian troops could never hold their own against their carnivorous Pakistani counterparts.

reword this as

They contrast the hierarchical character of the Hindu caste system with the more egalitarian ethos of Islam. ~~Stereotypes frequently found among Pakistanis hold that~~ Indians are more duplicitous, less honest, and less courageous than Pakistanis. ~~Some military officers in years past were fond of saying that v~~ Vegetarian Indian troops could never hold their own against their carnivorous Pakistani counterparts.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 14 Jun 2011 06:17

I am not sure where to post this - it is a far serious topic for a meandering thread like this one:

Pakistan’s army battles enemy within

The Pakistan military is under attack: from militants who fight full-scale battles daily with its troops; from a US administration suspicious about its loyalties; and most alarmingly from within, where there is growing evidence of dissent and radicalisation in its ranks.

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 14 Jun 2011 06:39

Please do not be shocked by this. Police surgeon for Kharotabad incident beaten up. He is the guy who "had conducted the post-mortem of five foreigners killed last month in Kharotabad area by security forces".

“I was punished by police for telling the truth about the killing of five foreigners,” he told Dawn on telephone. He was admitted to the Balochistan Medical College Hospital. Earlier on Monday the tribunal investigating the killing of five foreigners by security forces at the Kharotabad checkpost on May 17 was informed by Dr Shah that the victims had been hit by 56 bullets.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 14 Jun 2011 06:53

Gates: US Disappointed by Failed Raids in Pakistan
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/06 ... .html?_r=1
( No problem sir, it just calls for another billion or so for Paki Navy and Air force to fight against Thalibans)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates says in an Associated Press interview that the Obama administration was disappointed by the unexplained failure of a U.S. effort to share intelligence with Pakistan on the location of militants' suspected bomb facilities. As an act of faith to restore relations with Pakistan, U.S. intelligence in recent weeks shared the location of two such compounds in Pakistan's tribal areas. But by the time authorities reached the facilities, they had been vacated, Gates said. The soon-to-retire Pentagon chief said he was not certain how or why the effort went awry. He said "there was clearly disappointment on our part." Others have raised the possibility that Pakistan's intelligence service had tipped off the militants

.

shaardula · Post by **shaardula** » 14 Jun 2011 06:54

NRao, if you start to think about who the 'pakistani taliban' are and from where they derive sustenance from, I think there is a significant correlation to the theory that pak forces are in an internal state of civil war.

at the very least there is a massive cognitive dissonance. the islamic rhetoric and propaganda of the pakistani state makes it massively difficult and nearly impossible for the pakistani state to prevent a 'pakistani taliban' from rising, and even more difficult for them to create a negative narrative about them.

if pakistani state propaganda is true then how can 'pakistani taliban' be bad?

every single person now complaining about the army is basically a rationalist at heart who does not completely believe in either islamic theory or rhetoric, even if he prefaces every other sentence with nonsense like pbuh and aoa and jasba.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 14 Jun 2011 06:58

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wajid-ali ... 75935.html
Truth Will Set You Free
( A Poak talking about truth )

Even if the U.S. and Pakistan were on the same page on how best to combat terrorism, conflicting and false interpretations of history don't help. Pakistanis do try to twist the facts in their own favor to boost hatred against the United States. Their reason is primarily based on America's decision to abandon Pakistan after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan. They are now not ready to budge. This can easily be overcome if the U.S. comes clean about all their operations against the militants. They need to share their plans with their allies, especially Pakistani politicans and the people, instead of dealing solely with the military and carrying out covert operations. Did Pakistan agree with the U.S. to use drone strikes or not? If there was an agreement -- verbal or written -- the U.S. should share that information. This one point can help the U.S. gain trust and would go a long way towards eliminating biases and mistrust over the use of drones. Americans need to know truth about this war too. They need to understand why Pakistan is an ally and how it can help the U.S. negotiate with the Afghan Taliban. This could only happen once the big shots in Washington jettison their version of the war story and keep their facts straight. Here's an example. Richard Clarke -- a long time security expert who served four presidents and was the chief counter-terrorism advisor for the National Security Council was on Bill Maher's show blatantly accusing Pakistan of creating the Afghan Taliban to fight India. If someone like Clarke, who has been the decision maker on security issues, is way off the mark, then the outcome of this war could be disastrous. needs to negotiate and cut deals with the same Taliban back in Afghanistan. The efforts to achieve peace will be in vain until the U.S. considers Pakistan's position, keeps its facts straight, brings the truth out in the open and accepts its share of blame. The solution to the Afghan problem cannot be reached until all the facts are understood and all the parties involved are on board.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 14 Jun 2011 07:02

Paki Hunting Season finally on!!

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/26 ... hael-walsh
From my New York Post column today:

“Pakistani Intelligence Announces Its Full Cooperation with US Forces During Upcoming Top Secret June 12 Drone Strike on al-Qaeda At 5:23 A.M. Near Small Town of Razmani in North Waziristan,” read a recent headline in the online satirical magazine, The Onion.Alas, the truth is even worse than the fiction.Twice in the last few weeks, US intelligence officials have provided the Pakistanis with the coordinates of bomb factories in the rugged tribal region of Waziristan, on the Afghan border — only to see the info leak to the enemy, who evacuated the sites before the Pakistato bring you some thoughts on our “ally,” Pakistan, a country that makes perfidious Albion look like a pillar of trustworthy rectitude.ni military arrived.

[

b]The country is “an international jihadi tourist resort,” writes journalist and author Mohammad Hanif. It functions as a kind of mob informant, profiting from the rackets while occasionally giving up a small fish or two to the cops in exchange for police protection. Yet America treats it as an ally[/b]

shaardula · Post by **shaardula** » 14 Jun 2011 07:12

i think we ought to get to the bottom of 'understanding paki taliban'. pakistan created one taliban. and that was intended to be afg centric. but the current reality is there are good talibs and bad talibs. in my mind good Ts are those who operate within TSP and bad Ts are those who operate in AFG. official account is opposite.

but why did the Ts split? and how have they managed not to cross each others path? and how come TSP has managed to force/convince its munna Ts to act against the other camp?

mushi bending over backwards in 2001 is said to be one reason. but lal masjid also seems to a seminal event.

i think getting to the bottom of this good taliban thingie is likely to be insightful.

vina · Post by **vina** » 14 Jun 2011 07:21

BijuShet wrote:Yahoo currency calculator
1 Indian Rupee (INR) = 1.91 Pakistani Rupee (PKR) (approx 2 times) so mango TSPian is now paying 62.83 INR/liter for petrol (@ 120 PKR / liter)
or
1 USD = 85.7 PKR so mango TSPian is now paying 5.42 USD/gallon for petrol (@ 120 PKR / liter)

Yawn.. Equal- Equal onree.

Even in Yindia, we pay the same @ approx Rs 62 per liter of Petrol in Bangalore, Kerala! Same , same no ?

And of course, i am sure that for every one rupee an Indian earns, the Pak Mard will earn 2* 10 times more (given the currency exchange rate) and hence is more pissed and plospelous onree.

arun · Post by **arun** » 14 Jun 2011 07:22

NRao wrote:I am not sure where to post this - it is a far serious topic for a meandering thread like this one:

Pakistan’s army battles enemy within

The Pakistan military is under attack: from militants who fight full-scale battles daily with its troops; from a US administration suspicious about its loyalties; and most alarmingly from within, where there is growing evidence of dissent and radicalisation in its ranks.

Was going to post the FT article here. Seeing that you have already done so will restrict myslef to X Posting comment from the Pakistan Arms Sales, Ops, Doctrine etc thread. ...................

You do not have to be a genius to understand an organisation such as the Army of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan which has opted to adopt the motto such as “Iman Taqwa Jihad fi Sabilillah” or translated from Urdu “Faith, Piety Jihad in the path of Allah” is inevitably going to be infected by the virus of Islamic Jihadi Terrorism as some its own members will at some point of time take the organisational motto seriously:

wig · Post by **wig** » 14 Jun 2011 08:04

meanwhile a Spurned Paki landlord unleashes dogs on woman

A woman was seriously injured and slipped into coma in Pakistan's Punjab province after her landlord unleashed his hunting dogs on her for rejecting his marriage proposal.

Village locals in Moza Katchi Shukrani said landlord Pir Buksh unleashed a pack of his dogs on Aliya Bibi. According to Katchi Shukrani resident Khurram, Pir Buksh had a longstanding dispute with Aliya's father Abdullah, the Express Tribune daily reported.

"A few years ago he sent a proposal for her hand in marriage but she refused him. Her father also refused the match and ever since Pir Buksh and his sons have been threatening her and her family," he told police officials. On Sunday afternoon, Aliya Bibi was visiting her neighbour's house to borrow some flour when Buksh spotted her and released six of his hunting dogs on her. The dogs chased the woman through streets and attacked her, the report said.

Another local resident said Buksh had been threatening her and her family for over a year and everyone knew that she had turned down his proposal because he was already married.

Moza Katchi Police Station House Officer (SHO) Razaq Bismillah said that he had questioned several people in the village in this regard. "When we went to Pir Buksh's house to take him in for questioning he had nearly 20 men standing outside with guns. I have called in a larger police contingent to deal with the situation," he said.

The ferocious attack by the dogs left the woman with severe wounds to her neck and her chest. Bibi is currently in coma in the THQ hospital and doctors have deemed her condition to be critical

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/worl ... 844510.cms

arun · Post by **arun** » 14 Jun 2011 08:23

In a country self-claimed to have been created as a safe haven for the Mohammaddens of the Indian Sub-Continent one sub-sect of Mohammaddens are being intimidated by another sub-sect of Mohammaddens simply for following a different variant of Mohamaddenism.

When violence motivated by interpretations of Mohammaddenism targeting fellow Mohammaddens is so rampant in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, what hope is there for the Dhimmi Non-Mohammaddens of that country?:

Pakistan's Sufi Muslims brave bombs to worship

A campaign of deadly suicide attacks fails to intimidate the mystic strain, which embraces tolerance and eschews the rigidity that characterizes hard-line Islamist doctrine.

By Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times

June 14, 2011
Reporting from Lahore, Pakistan— Amid the throngs of Sufi Muslim followers streaming through the white marble corridors of the Data Darbar shrine, a young man in a cream-colored tunic and oversized sunglasses shuffled gingerly, guided by a brother on one side and his father on the other.

Twice a month Qasim Javed Malik comes here, a place he associates with spiritual recharging, not with the deafening clap of a suicide bomb blast, the odor of charred flesh, the blinding flash before everything went black.
"There's a strong divine attraction that pulls me here," Malik, 28, said softly, his face and hands pocked with scars from a suicide bomb attack at the shrine last summer that also left him blind. "I cannot stop coming here."

Neither can thousands of other Pakistani adherents to Sufism, despite a campaign of suicide bombings targeting a strain of Islam that embraces tolerance, welcomes women to its shrines and eschews the rigidity that characterizes hard-line Islamist doctrine.

It's an open-mindedness that doesn't track with the attitude of the country's militant groups. Since last summer, militants have attacked Sufi shrines in four cities, killing at least 102 people and injuring 348. The blast that robbed Malik of his eyesight killed 47 people and injured 170. The latest suicide bomb attack, at a shrine in the city of Dera Ghazi Khan on April 3, killed 41 people.

"They consider it a service to Islam to cleanse the religion of all impurities," said Abdul Basit, an analyst at the Pak Institute for Peace Studies. "And for the militants, these practices at the shrines are impurities." ..................................

L.A.Times

CRamS · Post by **CRamS** » 14 Jun 2011 08:25

shiv wrote:How come you, of all people, seem to believe that "better people" are now running TSP and that Kayani and Pasha will be able think and do different from the rest of the mofos?

Not at all, I just invoked those 2 as examples of TSP RAPE pigLeTs who will come away quite satisfied with the conclusion that TS draws pretty much justifying TSP's abominable behavior towards India.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Jun 2011 08:28

Natgeo HD had a feature on pakjab yesterday. among other things the home and horses of a landlord was shown...pretty amazing the kind of setup and people they have on the payroll...a half dozen chaps just to look after the horses...a personal barber.....
and ofcourse the constant contest to be the most pious..shia people whipping themselves with belts, ropes, chains with daggers at the tip....

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 14 Jun 2011 08:32

Shiv, Let them talk.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 14 Jun 2011 08:36

Self-Inﬂicted Wounds: Debates and Divisions within al-Qa’ida and its Periphery

Pakistan's bubbling water crisis

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 14 Jun 2011 08:54

Another view of Cold start.

India likes to ridicule the notion that India wants to conquer Pakistan. And rightly so. India would be foolish to want to own that mess with a UN seat (sorry, that's the way it is). So why would India create a Cold Start doctrine for their entire army that gives India the capability to launch a broad offensive into Pakistan with no or little advance warning? Seriously, the worst outcome that would happen in a war under those conditions is an escalation to widespread use of nukes against cities. The second worse outcome would be that India succeeds and conquers Pakistan. The third worst outcome would be that India destroys Pakistan's army and then withdraws their army--not wanting to own Pakistan--leading to chaos in Pakistan as the Pakistani army loses the ability to hold Pakistan together (remember, the Pakistani army believes the very survival of their army is key to Pakistan's survival as a state).

http://thedignifiedrant.blogspot.com/20 ... inish.html
( india will put ColdStart in Cold storage in exch for UN PSC seat)

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 14 Jun 2011 09:05

Sherlock should think of the Indians making US do the needful.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 14 Jun 2011 12:24

i am sure that the US has a long term regime change strategy in mind for pakistan. was reading blair's memoirs last night - there was a clear understanding between him and GWB that regime change is preferable in order to bring about moderate islam ruled countries. he hints that mushy played along with this as a sort of game - and reading between the lines (i.e. contrasting with what Blair says about say Karzai) it is clear that mushrat was not particularly trusted, and also that the india-centric focus was well understood

ManishJ · Post by **ManishJ** » 14 Jun 2011 13:19

Pkaistan is now in a civil war, they are trying to make it 'the land of the purest' from 'the land of the pure'.

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 14 Jun 2011 13:30

i am sure that the US has a long term regime change strategy in mind for pakistan. was reading blair's memoirs last night - there was a clear understanding between him and GWB that regime change is preferable in order to bring about moderate islam ruled countries

The naughty kid with the grenade in the crowded market place will have to be disarmed of it's key obsession some time from now. The US indeed would have prepared a strategy about that. But it cannot happen without India. Even that realization is starkly dawning on them. Complete and open defiance of the US and Somalia like conditions where no one knows who's in control of what will entail US action. Most probably different Generals will control different nukes all over the place and plan a launch on Kabul and India. 24 x 7 satellite surveillance including through AWACS, complete destruction within 5 minutes of all PAF ability to operate and see will occur. Indian-US planes swarming at any heat signal detected and dispatching a cluster of ammo to neutralize the source..plane's hovering over Paki skies 24 hours for months will be needed maybe to prevent any kind of possibility of them launching. IAF forward airbases will need to be humming with round the clock activity, Carrier groups outside the Arabian Sea, bases in Afghanistan and Uzbek will all be required for the effort. SF units operating and securing suspected sites and carting away material would go on for month or two at the minimum. Sure there would be plans the US would have made, but i don't see it happening without India's assistance. Think some of the interoperability exercises between the USAF and IAF would have been to test out the scenario of interoperability with such a scenario in mind. It's a different matter if the IAF or GOI would be in the know if the US was checking interoperability etc for exactly this sort of scenario.. JMT/

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 14 Jun 2011 15:24

Chaighar nuggets:
http://pakteahouse.net/2011/06/14/pakis ... f-dissent/

I myself recall a tale relayed to me about one of the typical Pakistani gatherings one finds in the diaspora. Over dinner discussion frequently shifts to the politics of Pakistan. In this instance the topic was the Taliban. Bear in mind this was a discussion between doctors, all highly educated, all highly trained; in other words those Pakistani doctors who made it abroad. One cannot possibly cite poverty, socio-economic conditions or any other sociological explanation for the following chilling tale

One Pakistani doctor remarked that the Taliban was a grave threat to Pakistani security and that their actions are not in accordance with Islam and their social practices they institute (this discussion took place shortly after the Swat incident) are completely barbaric. Another Pakistani doctor got enraged and remarked to this fellow, ‘’Why don’t you leave Islam?’’ This is a true incident that took place – and what’s more most of the Pakistani doctors present nodded in tacit agreement. Others in the diaspora, particularly in the UK believe that the Taliban simply get a bad press by Western news outlets or that the Taliban is an instrument of the CIA used by America to undermine Pakistan to acquire its nuclear assets.

Cosmo_R · Post by **Cosmo_R** » 14 Jun 2011 15:59

I don't know the veracity of this report but if true, it would appear the US is bracing for a confrontation:

http://www.indiastrategic.in/topstories1017.htm

New Delhi. The US Navy deployed an unprecedented three aircraft carriers to support Operation Geronimo, and gave very strong air cover to the SEAL commandos who hunted down Osama bin Laden in Pakistan’s garrison city of Abbotabad.

An analysis of the operation, the deployment pattern, and the possibilities of a clash with Pakistani forces clearly indicate that at least two squadrons of US Navy’s sophisticated F/A 18 E/F Super Hornets, several AH 64 Apaches, one or two EA 18 G Electronic Attack Growlers, two aerial refuellers and one E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (J-STARS) combat management aircraft would have been airborne to engage any aircraft that interfered with the mission.

It is not known from which carrier the attack aircraft would have taken off but two of the carriers, USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and USS Enterprise (CVN 65), were deployed right in the Arabian Sea and the third, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), not far away at another point in the Indian Ocean."

You don't do three CVNs to 'cover' SEALS.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 14 Jun 2011 16:08

ANd the Damn Pakis did not confront them, Imagine Pakis attacking Seals after geeting Bin Laden. US STate Dept would have had no where to hide under excuses that Pakis were a Trusted Ally any longer. Damn.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Jun 2011 17:58

RAPE/PA likely thing their next 15 yr development plan and get out of jail parole card is offering themselves to both USA and China as a conduit and center of control for CAR resources , playing them off, taking money from both and keeping India at bay.

but as surely as night follows day, the combined effects of meddling by these two will destroy pakistan...and reduce it to what afghanistan.
afghanistan atleast does not have 200 million mouths to feed, they are resource rich and have friendly neighbours to the north, east and west eager to buy their resources and trade.

between the pathans, the arabian sea, india, china and usa - pakistan has nowhere to escape to.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Jun 2011 18:01

AFP

Fresh violence kills 12 in Karachi: officials

(AFP) – 5 hours ago

KARACHI — A fresh wave of violence blamed on political and ethnic tensions killed at least 12 people in Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi overnight, officials said Tuesday.

Tensions are high between the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP), which represent different ethnic communities and straddle volatile political fault lines. Killings have been blamed on their loyalists.

"At least 12 people were killed in targeted killings, which started Monday evening and lasted late in the night," Sindh province's home ministry spokesman Sharfuddin Memon told AFP.

Memon said police and paramilitary troops were stepping up patrols in the troubled western and central neighbourhoods to avert further violence.

Among the dead was an MQM activist in Aligarh Bazaar area and local lawyer Zia Alam, a member of the main ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

In 2010, political violence in Karachi was the deadliest for years, dominated by flare ups in August after an MQM lawmaker was shot dead and in October on the eve of the election for his successor.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says 748 people -- 447 political activists and the rest innocent citizens -- were killed in targeted shootings last year. Targeted killings in 2009 claimed 272 lives.

Karachi is also plagued by ethnic and sectarian killings, crime and kidnappings.

The MQM and ANP are partners in the PPP-led coalitions that rule both Sindh, of which Karachi is the capital, and the federal government.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved

saip · Post by **saip** » 14 Jun 2011 18:39

A Sikh Pakistani Ranger?

http://www.thenews.com.pk/blog/blog_details.asp?id=1286

A Sharma · Post by **A Sharma** » 14 Jun 2011 19:38

^^
He is from BSF. Uniform is different.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 14 Jun 2011 19:42

A_Gupta wrote:Chaighar nuggets:
http://pakteahouse.net/2011/06/14/pakis ... f-dissent/

I myself recall a tale relayed to me about one of the typical Pakistani gatherings one finds in the diaspora. Over dinner discussion frequently shifts to the politics of Pakistan. In this instance the topic was the Taliban. Bear in mind this was a discussion between doctors, all highly educated, all highly trained; in other words those Pakistani doctors who made it abroad. One cannot possibly cite poverty, socio-economic conditions or any other sociological explanation for the following chilling tale

One Pakistani doctor remarked that the Taliban was a grave threat to Pakistani security and that their actions are not in accordance with Islam and their social practices they institute (this discussion took place shortly after the Swat incident) are completely barbaric. Another Pakistani doctor got enraged and remarked to this fellow, ‘’Why don’t you leave Islam?’’ This is a true incident that took place – and what’s more most of the Pakistani doctors present nodded in tacit agreement. Others in the diaspora, particularly in the UK believe that the Taliban simply get a bad press by Western news outlets or that the Taliban is an instrument of the CIA used by America to undermine Pakistan to acquire its nuclear assets.

In gatherings of Pakistani medics there is a tacit understanding not to inivte rabid mad docs to ensure peace and harmony in the gathering. Shia, Ahmediya docs are not invited to pure Sunni gatherings. And vice versa only moderate Sunnis are invited to Shia or Ahmdeiya doc's houses. Still ocassionally someone slips in and it turns unpleasant.

BijuShet · Post by **BijuShet** » 14 Jun 2011 22:25

From The News an opinion piece on TSPs budget difficulties. Grab pop corn and watch the show unfold.

A non-serious budget

Dr Ashfaque H Khan
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh presented his second budget on June 3. The federal budget for 2011-12, the present government’s fourth, is a non-serious budget because it understates expenditures and overstates revenue and thus injects elements of risks. No sensible finance minister and his team would prepare a budget replete with serious risks.

There are several risks associated with revenue, expenditure, budget deficit, and financing of fiscal deficit. On the revenue side, the first and foremost risk is the tax collection target of the FBR itself. The FBR is targeted to collect Rs1,952 billion in 2011-12, up 23 percent over this year’s revised collection of Rs1,588 billion. Whether the FBR could collect Rs1,952 billion next year is dependent upon its collection of Rs1,588 billion this year, the chances of which are slim. With all its efforts, the FBR may collect revenue – including a one-off collection from the energy and banking sectors in the range of Rs1,530-1,540 billion.

Any slippages in this year’s tax collection would make the task even harder for the FBR to collect Rs1,952 billion next year. Tax elasticity in Pakistan has fallen below unity (0.9), hence the autonomous growth in tax collection would lead to a collection of Rs1,760-1,770 billion next year. The FBR has taken various tax measures in the budget which, instead of raising revenue, has in fact estimated to be Rs23 billion in the red. The FBR is trying to bring its house in order and striving to improve its efficiency. Assuming that its efforts will bear fruit, an additional amount of Rs30-40 billion could be added to the next year’s tax collection, thus taking the total tax collection to Rs1,790-1,800 billion – Rs150-160 billion short of the target.

There are three major risks associated with non-tax revenue. The first is the expected sale of licenses of third generation (3G) cellular services. Rs75 billion have been added in the non-tax revenue under the sale of licenses. Interestingly, the government had kept Rs50 billion under the same heading in non-tax revenue last year as well. Can the PTA sell these licenses in a transparent bidding process this year? The answer is in the negative, and as such the Rs75 billion may not be collected.

Secondly, the government expects to receive Rs119 billion under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) in the next budget. In the current year it has received Rs63 billion ($742 million) and is striving hard to get the remaining amount in the next two weeks. Can Pakistan get the remaining amount this year? Can we expect $1.35 billion (Rs119 billion) under the CSF next year from the United States? Certainly, there are serious risks involved in such inflows.

Thirdly, the government has targeted Rs200 billion from the profit of the State Bank of Pakistan in next year’s budget. To deliver Rs200 billion to government, the SBP will have to further hike the discount rate and also allow the government to borrow directly from the SBP to finance the budget deficit. I expect neither of these to take place in the next fiscal year, and as such there is risk attached to the Rs200 billion from the SBP.

Let me now turn to the risks on expenditure side. The Inter-DISCO tariff differential has fluctuated wildly in the current budget. The government had targeted a power-sector subsidy of Rs30 billion in last year’s budget, but the year is expected to end with Rs240 billion. The government has targeted a power subsidy of Rs50 billion in next year’s budget – a reduction of Rs190 billion. How credible is this number? Is the government ready to increase power tariff in the range of 22-25 percent next fiscal year? Has the power tariff hike resolved our power-sector issues? An increase in power tariff alone has not worked, is not working and will not work in the future. By raising the power tariff the government is perpetually financing the inefficiencies, theft, corruption and overstaffing of WAPDA/PEPCO and the power distribution companies. Thus, like last year, there will be massive slippages in power-sector subsidies, given the fact that Budget 2011-12 is an election budget as the finance minister has himself proclaimed.

The government has targeted a budget deficit of Rs851 billion, or four percent of the GDP, consistent with the IMF requirement for the next fiscal year. The federal government deficit is targeted at Rs976 billion, or 4.6 percent of the GDP, and it is assumed that the provincial governments would generate surpluses of Rs125 billion or 0.6 percent of the GDP to arrive at the targeted deficit of 4.0 percent of the GDP. The governments of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have already presented their budgets with combined surpluses of less than Rs1 billion. In other words, the budget presented on June 3, 2011, will not even see the light of the new fiscal year. Pakistan will begin the new fiscal year with a budget deficit target of 4.6 percent of the GDP, instead of four percent. Slippages on both revenue and expenditure sides, as stated above, would certainly take the deficit to over six percent of the GDP; that is, in line with the average deficit of the last four years.

There are risks on the financing side of the deficit as well. The government will need Rs976 billion to bridge revenue-expenditure gap. On external sources of financing, the launch of Euro Bond amounting to Rs44 billion is not going to be materialised. Similarly, Rs118 billion is expected to come under programme loan as against the revised estimate of Rs39 billion this year. What would make such a large difference in the next fiscal year?

From the foregoing, it is safe to conclude that Budget 2011-12, far from being people-friendly, is a non-serious and a non-functional budget whose fate will not be different from the current budget.

The writer is principal and dean at NUST Business School, Islamabad. Email: ahkhan@ nbs.edu.pk

BijuShet · Post by **BijuShet** » 14 Jun 2011 22:38

From The News editorial, the truth emerged about the shooting of the unarmed youth by Rangers in a Karachi park.

Orders prevail

Tuesday, June 14, 2011
After fears that the government was set to go against both Supreme Court orders and public opinion, it seems better sense has prevailed and the government has decided not to appeal the Supreme Court’s June 10 directive to remove Sindh Rangers’ director general and the inspector general of police over the killing of an unarmed youth by Rangers personnel in Karachi. Last Friday, the court set a three-day deadline for the removal of the two officials and directed the accountant general of Pakistan to withhold their salaries if its orders were not implemented. On Monday, the attorney general told the court the government respected the suo motu action and the directives issued by the court.

After eyewitness accounts of the crime were recorded Sunday night, there is now some evidence to suggest the Rangers’ initial claims that Sarfaraz Shah was armed are false. In a startling disclosure, police sources say the shooting was the result of a personal feud between Sarfaraz and a gatekeeper at the Benazir Bhutto Park and that the Rangers personnel involved in the incident were well aware that the victim was no robber. A few days before Sarfaraz was shot dead, he and the gatekeeper had a fight outside the park; the Rangers were called in by the gatekeeper but Sarfaraz managed to flee. On June 8, however, Sarfaraz was not so lucky and after another brawl with the gatekeeper, the Rangers were called in and the rest, as they say, is history. Police sources even claim that a Rangers sub-inspector supplied the gatekeeper with an illegal weapon to facilitate filing the report against the ill-fated young man. As more details of the sorry case emerge, it has become ever more important that those responsible be held accountable, and that those at the top be tasked with checking the behaviour of the men in their charge and ensure that they face consequences for a change. We have a court that has taken the right decision, and left no room for excuses. The government must implement the court’s decision in letter and spirit if it wants to pacify a frightened public that is hungry for justice.

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 14 Jun 2011 22:43

Prem wrote:Gates: US Disappointed by Failed Raids in Pakistan
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/06 ... .html?_r=1
( No problem sir, it just calls for another billion or so for Paki Navy and Air force to fight against Thalibans)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates says in an Associated Press interview that the Obama administration was disappointed by the unexplained failure of a U.S. effort to share intelligence with Pakistan on the location of militants' suspected bomb facilities. As an act of faith to restore relations with Pakistan, U.S. intelligence in recent weeks shared the location of two such compounds in Pakistan's tribal areas. But by the time authorities reached the facilities, they had been vacated, Gates said. The soon-to-retire Pentagon chief said he was not certain how or why the effort went awry. He said "there was clearly disappointment on our part." Others have raised the possibility that Pakistan's intelligence service had tipped off the militants
.

Just make India give Cashmere, make a TFTA nuke pact and all will be well.

saip · Post by **saip** » 14 Jun 2011 22:53

The government has targeted a budget deficit of Rs851 billion, or four percent of the GDP

So they are assuming the total Paki GDP to be about $250 billion. Really?

CRamS · Post by **CRamS** » 14 Jun 2011 23:17

KLNMurthy wrote:Gates: US Disappointed by Failed Raids in Pakistan
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/06 ... .html?_r=1
Just make India give Cashmere, make a TFTA nuke pact and all will be well.

In fact, it will be all well. Recall, TSP's main demands include:

1) pigLeT outside the ambit of GWOT
2) India hand over Kashmir valley
3) TFTA nuke deal
4) India's ass out of Afganisthan

My bet is that at least for the short-term, TSP will do whatever US wants if all of the above TSP demands are met.

#1 is more or less met, especially in light of Hilary's list of 4 where LeT is not even mentioned. Plus the spate of BS justifying TSP's need to keep pigLeTs. And fianlly, MMS declaring Mumbai dead and kirket love-making to resume, so no Indian presssure on LeT either

On #2, there may not be white flag surrender ceremony in Srinagar, but MMS has pretty much agreed to give away the valley to Mush through his "borders are irrelevant" fraud

On #3, the jury is out. Quite a few US strategic elite want that honor bestowed on TSP

On #4, MMS has indicated that he wants no more than a girl scout's role, which most probably TSP will welcome in the end after making sure India really won't be able to develop any teeth there. TSP doesn't mind Indian goodies but not India itself.

Brad Goodman · Post by **Brad Goodman** » 14 Jun 2011 23:21

What is going on guys a few days ago some dubai based Indian business man paid ransom for some paki sailors and now this
Thanks to Pakistan, Indian sailors gain freedom

Six Indian sailors held captive by Somali pirates for 10 long months are finally free, thanks to a respected Pakistani rights activist, officials said Tuesday. The families of the Indians offered their heartfelt thanks to the Pakistanis while denouncing Indian politicians for their alleged indifference.

The six Indians, part of a 22-member crew of Egyptian merchant vessel MV Suez, were released after ransom was paid for their freedom by the shipowners, the family members of the sailors said. MV Suez was hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden Aug 2, 2010.

Pakistani activist Ansar Burney, who negotiated with the pirates and raised ransom money through donations, announced in Karachi that all the men had been freed. He said they would reach their homes in a few days.

Brad Goodman · Post by **Brad Goodman** » 14 Jun 2011 23:23

Pakistani woman villager is forced to 'parade naked'

Police in Pakistan say they have arrested two men for stripping a woman naked and parading her in a village.

One of the offenders had accused the woman's son of having illicit relations with his wife, the police said.

Public dishonouring of women is not uncommon in Pakistan and other parts of South Asia, but the incident is rare in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Police said villagers where the incident took place did not try to stop it because the offenders were armed.

Haripur district police chief Mohammad Ali Gandapur told the BBC that a resident of Nilor Bala village had complained to village elders that two men had had sexual relations with his wife.

According to the police, a village council advised the complainant to divorce his wife.

Instead, he and four armed men stormed the house belonging to the mother of one of the men alleged to have slept with his wife in order to kill her son.

Because the son was not there, the men dragged the mother out, stripped her and made her walk through the village, the police said.

They have now registered a case against seven people, but only two have been arrested so far. They say they are looking for other offenders.

Campaigners say achieving justice for women who are abused in Pakistan is difficult.

In 2002, Mukhtar Mai was gang-raped by members of a tribe in the village of Meerwala in Punjab province after her brother was accused of having sexual relations with a local woman.

Ms Mai launched legal proceedings against the alleged offenders. Six men were convicted but five were acquitted on appeal by the Pakistani Supreme Court in April.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 14 Jun 2011 23:27

BijuShet wrote:From The News an opinion piece on TSPs budget difficulties. Grab pop corn and watch the show unfold. A non-serious budget
[

Any idea how and when did their GDP grew to 230Bill plus?

Brad Goodman · Post by **Brad Goodman** » 14 Jun 2011 23:35

Pakistan's Sexual Harassment Problem

"In Pakistan [harassment] is like a white elephant in the room that no one sees," says journalist Shazia Nawaz. The problem is so deep-rooted that sexually harassing women is considered a form of recreation rather than a crime, with the focus squarely on the victim's conduct and appearance rather than on the aggressor. When a woman complains about harassment, people tend to turn a blind eye.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 14 Jun 2011 23:48

Should post the Groper video for ref to above article.

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 14 Jun 2011 23:55

In 2010, Pakistan became the first South Asian country to declare sexual harassment a crime.

I'd be surprised if India doesn't have a bill for that till now, specially with so many women's NGOs and stuff all over.