Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan - May 16 2009

[Keshav]

I am wiling to bet my ass that this has definitely been done. I have no proof, but my certainty that a foul game is being played comes from the history of the subcontinent and the role of the US and China in Pakistan's nuclear arms.

I don't understand the "foul game" secret, conspiracy mentality with regards to US overtures to Pakistan.

You just gamed it, didn't you? If you were a patriotic US representative, of course you're going to play both sides. You don't have any specific loyalty to either side - you want an equitable solution that makes you look good, gives the region relative peace, and keeps America out of it.

[putnanja]

I don't understand the "foul game" secret, conspiracy mentality with regards to US overtures to Pakistan.

You just gamed it, didn't you? If you were a patriotic US representative, of course you're going to play both sides. You don't have any specific loyalty to either side - you want an equitable solution that makes you look good, gives the region relative peace, and keeps America out of it.

You got it wrong, if you are a patriotic US citizen, all you want to do is to protect yourself, India be damned. Why will they push for an equitable rational solution knowing full well that pakis don't want that? US is willing to give pakistan what it wants if it can stop attacks against it. For the US, India is a nobody in this game.

The "Foul game" is from Indian PoV. US whispers sweet nothings into India's ears while showering its whore with all gifts and attention

[Airavat]

Yo paklurks...this penniless man is not Jinnah's great grandson. The actual great grandson would be Ness Wadia, who is (a) an Indian citizen (b) a millionaire industrialist (c) boyfriend of Preity Zinta.

They broke up because Jinnah's great-grandson didn't want his future wife acting in films. He is rumored to be dating Delhi-based heiress Ayesha Thapar now.

[NRao]

Small quibble. The article also states: "The author quotes a former national security official as saying that if the US is involved, “we can make sure they don’t start testing, or start a war”."

However, there are two entities that can use the Pakistani nukes: an official government of Pakistan and (the unofficial government of Pakistan) the Islamists.

The prior are more likely to use it against India, but that is what the US is there for - to prevent one.

The latter - if it happens - the US itself better be more scared than India.

There is another issues I have been toying with. Pakistan using a nuke against India means not only the killing of millions of Muslims, but also the postponement of a South Asian Caliphate - until the nuclear dust settles after a few decades if not much, much longer.

[arun]

CNN finds out some Pakis are...well Paki.

Killed cleric's son: Some suicide attacks OK
Two weeks ago in Pakistan a leading anti-Taliban cleric was killed by a suicide bomber. CNN's Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson visited his son at the school where his father was killed and found surprises in security and nuances in attitudes toward suicide bombers.

Naeemi's crime in the eyes of the Taliban was to issue a religious ruling, a Fatwa banning suicide bombing. ... At least I thought that was the scoop until I started asking Naeemi junior more about the suicide issue. ...Then he told me suicide bombings in Afghanistan against U.S. and NATO troops are justified because they are invaders killing Muslims. That is when the penny dropped so to speak...

While Pakistan and Pakistanis are more committed than they have ever been to crushing their own internal Taliban problem, they are far from turning on the Taliban across the border in Afghanistan.
advertisement

Inside Pakistan the sentiment is clear; the Taliban are a menace to stability. Outside the country however they are still seen as a tool to achieve regional goals.

I am shocked I say ! Who'd have thunk that the Pakis are not Biss loving enlightened moderates !

What CNN, Nic Robertson and the West in general needs to learn is that the so called Anti-Taliban allies being touted by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan are not necessarily congenial bed fellows .

In this case what CNN needs to have cottoned on to is that the son is simply echoing the views held by his father.

The father, as I had mentioned back on Page 40 of this thread is on record of having held views supportive of suicide bombing:

……….. In opposing the May 18, 2005 escape clause filled fatwa against suicide bombing orchestrated by the Gen. Musharraf military dictatorship, Islamic Cleric Sarfraz Naeemi had said that suicide attacks were permissible in Islam:

“The edict will benefit unbelief. The entire world knows the motives behind the edict. The greatest benefit will reach to the murderers of the Muslims - India, Israel and the US. At the moment, the Muslims are being massacred all over the world. Instead of issuing the edict of jihad against the butchers of the Muslims, Musharraf has bribed the ulema to get an edict against suicide attacks. The suicide attacks are not haram [forbidden in Islam] but are the supreme form of jihad. There should have been an edict against Bush - that whoever will kill him will go to the heaven."

Rantburg

This is not the only case where the West is discovering that the Anti-Taliban allies being touted by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan are not necessarily congenial bed fellows. The recently terminated terrorist ally of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan , Qari Zainuddin, is another such voyage of discovery for the West:

Pakistan plays dangerous double game

Reports of citizens of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan exhibiting moderate religious views should always be rigorously investigated as it is very likely to come with many caveats and loopholes .

[SSridhar]

You got it wrong, if you are a patriotic US citizen, all you want to do is to protect yourself, India be damned. Why will they push for an equitable rational solution knowing full well that Pakis don't want that? US is willing to give Pakistan what it wants if it can stop attacks against it. For the US, India is a nobody in this game.

The "Foul game" is from Indian PoV. US whispers sweet nothings into India's ears while showering its whore with all gifts and attention

Absolutely right, RaviBg. From a US 'realpoitik' point of view, Pakistan takes far more precedence than India. It needs a strategy to 'exit' Afghanistan as quickly as possible, and with as little dent to its military and pride as possible. At the same time, the US wants to ensure that future threats to itself do not emanate from whatever remnants have to be left behind in Af-Pak. This is exactly the Af-Pak strategy. India has only a limited role in this endeavour. Damn Indian lives and the high-moral stand on terrorism if that could help the US strategy. 'Giving the region relative peace' is neither a primary nor even a seconadry goal of the US. In fact, the US might prefer the attention of the Taliban and the terrorist groups be confined to conflicts within the region itself so that they do not get time to think and plan attacks on American interests elsewhere. US realizes that Al Qaeda, Afghan Taliban, Pakistani Taliban, home-grown Pakistani jihadi groups, and home-grown Pakistani sectarian groups have all coalesced today under the rubric 'Taliban' and keeping them focussed away from the US would be the strategy.

[ramana]

Small quibble. The article also states: "The author quotes a former national security official as saying that if the US is involved, “we can make sure they don’t start testing, or start a war”."

However, there are two entities that can use the Pakistani nukes: an official government of Pakistan and (the unofficial government of Pakistan) the Islamists.

The prior are more likely to use it against India, but that is what the US is there for - to prevent one.

The latter - if it happens - the US itself better be more scared than India.

There is another issues I have been toying with. Pakistan using a nuke against India means not only the killing of millions of Muslims, but also the postponement of a South Asian Caliphate - until the nuclear dust settles after a few decades if not much, much longer.

The Dutch scholar whose work I liked earlier says that China is seeking its warm water port through Northern areas as they are boxed in the Pacfic by uncle. The outlets are Northern Areas, Mynmar and BD. So nuking the Kashmir valley will cut off the Chinese drive westwards and box them in for a few more decades. So its not in Chinese long term interests to let the TSP nuke India.

[SSridhar]

There is another issues I have been toying with. Pakistan using a nuke against India means not only the killing of millions of Muslims, but also the postponement of a South Asian Caliphate - until the nuclear dust settles after a few decades if not much, much longer.

NRao, those Muslims who get killed in the process will be termed 'martyrs in the way of Allah'. No worries there. As for the nuclear dust, I don't think that will be a problem either. India is a big country and danger zones can be skirted. The US dropped two over a tiny Japan but Japan neither stopped functioning (though it capitulated immediately) nor did it stop the US from stationing its troops in bases in Japan.

[shiv]

I don't understand the "foul game" secret, conspiracy mentality with regards to US overtures to Pakistan.

You just gamed it, didn't you? If you were a patriotic US representative, of course you're going to play both sides. You don't have any specific loyalty to either side - you want an equitable solution that makes you look good, gives the region relative peace, and keeps America out of it.

You don't understand the foul game because you don't believe there is a foul game and think that the US is interested in "equitable solutions". My opinion is different and as I stated in my post I am wiling to bet my ass on my theory. Are you willing to bet your ass that the US wants "an equitable solution that makes you look good, gives the region relative peace, and keeps America out of it"?

[arun]

In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan besides holding the suicide bombing of Mosques to be halal, is the lobbing of mortar shells at Mosques also held to be halal:?: :

Western Pakistan Fighting Kills 50

By VOA News
29 June 2009

………………… In other violence Monday, in South Waziristan, officials said a stray mortar shell hit a mosque during prayers, killing three civilians and wounding seven. It is unclear who fired the shell. …………………….

VOA

[shiv]

60-Second Expert: Pakistan's Identity Crisis

On the surface, it appears that Pakistan's greatest internal threats stem from the dangerously autonomous Swat Valley and Southern Waziristan. Look deeper and you'll see that the country's ailment is rooted in a crisis of national identity

--
Foreign Policy In Focus (FPIF) is a "Think Tank Without Walls" connecting the research and action of more than 600 scholars, advocates, and activists seeking to make the United States a more responsible global partner. It is a project of the Institute for Policy Studies.

The following link leads to a more detailed article from the page linked above:

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/6215#_edn1

This is a great article that I have saved in my personal archives and I believe it may be worth linking off the first post of the Paki threads. Sridhar - please have a look at it when you get time.

[shiv]

Western Pakistan Fighting Kills 50

By VOA News
29 June 2009

………………… In other violence Monday, in South Waziristan, officials said a stray mortar shell hit a mosque during prayers, killing three civilians and wounding seven. It is unclear who fired the shell. …………………….

VOA

Why should it be "unclear"?If must be kafir yindoos or yahudis who did it.

[SSridhar]

Despite all of India's paeons to Urdu, it still doesn't get the recognition. I suppose you can't blame the media for being two-dimensional (have they ever told the whole story?), but I suppose that author looked up Pakistan and saw Urdu as the official language.

I would say that in India, Urdu is in a far better shape than Sanskrit. Anyway, it doesn't matter here. What matters is why Pakistan chose Urdu as an 'official language' and what were the consequences.

Pakistan deliberately chose Urdu, in spite of the fact that the four provinces that make up Pakistan, have their own languages and Urdu was just a transplanted language. Urdu was identified as a symbol of the 'Muslims' and the constant tussle between Hindi and Urdu in undivided India made the Pakistanis adopt Urdu as the elitist Mughal legacy. The need that Jinnah and his coterie of Muslim League supporters felt in the days before and after the Partition was to subsume provincial issues in the greater cause of Pakistan. Most of these leaders came from the Lucknow belt and were thus not only comfortable with Urdu but also felt superior to the local population in terms of their elitist culture and language. Rather than choosing Bengali, Sindhi, or Punjabi or Pashto or Balochi as a national language, the transplanted Urdu also appeared as a less 'divisive' choice. It was, alas, not to be. It was one of the very first grievances of the Bengalis and riots broke out and Jinnah had to rush to Dhaka where a roundly jeered and heckled Jinnah, who himself spoke only a smattering of Urdu, had to beat a hasty retreat. Jinnah was at the height of is popularity at that time ! Of course, the choice of Urdu also caused huge problems in Karachi in particular and all over Sind in general. It continues to do so. In fact the vigorous sub-nationalist movements based on language like Seraiki (which BTW is rearing once again strongly), Hindko, Sindhi, Brauhi etc. are a direct fallout of the decision on Urdu. The early Pakistani leaders also felt that Urdu would lead to more seeping of 'Islamic' culture and fervour into the society which would then act as a bonding against Hindu India. They needed whatever props that could develop unity among the disparate groups against the adversary.

Today, Urdu has not only strengthened ethnic divisions but also added to extremism as Urdu is associated with the religious right in Pakistan. Khalid Ahmed had opined recently (though I am unable to find the link now) that Urdu seemed to be in a relatively better shape in India than in Pakistan mainly because various forms of activities that would further Urdu are banned since Zia's days there while Indian Urdu litterateurs enjoy unfettered freedom. Just a couple of pages back we had discussed how Qurattulain Hyder returned to India totally disappointed and how other Urdu writers who moved to Pakistan had to endure penury because of negligence of the language.

[g.sarkar]

Today, Urdu has not only strengthened ethnic divisions but also added to extremism as Urdu is associated with the religious right in Pakistan. Khalid Ahmed had opined recently (though i am unable to find the link now) that Urdu seemed to be in a relatively better shape in India than in Pakistan mainly because various forms of activities that would further Urdu are banned since Zia's days there.

I do not know how it is today, in my time Urdu as spoken in Radio Pakistan had a terrible Punjabi accent. Nothing like the classical soft UP style Urdu spoken in All India Radio. Muhajirs from Karachi have told me that Pakistani Punjabi military laugh at Urdu spoken in Pakistan as effeminate and prefer to speak Panjabi.
Gautam

[SSridhar]

The 'failed state' syndrome again - Editorial in DT

Editorial: The ‘failed state’ syndrome again

An American journal has compiled a list of 177 states with a descending order of viability in the modern world; and Pakistan is in the top ten “failed states”. There is only a marginal improvement in status as the last time the list appeared Pakistan was 9th on it. The other “top-notchers” are: Somalia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Central African Republic and Guinea. {What a company ! Pakistan Paindaabad} The journal ranks states on the basis of the following factors: demographic pressure, refugees/internally displaced persons (IDPs), group grievance, uneven development, economic decline, de-legitimisation of the state, public service, human rights, factionalised elites and external intervention.

To sprinkle salt on the Pakistani wounds, India is 87th on the list with its neighbours all doing badly {This is a must for a Pakistani. Any reference to itself must invariably be followed by a comparison with the Hindu Bania SDRE India} : Sri Lanka is placed 12th, Bangladesh 19th and Nepal 25th. The rubrics under which states are given their marks tend to exclude any subjective feeling about the state. Therefore, the disorder in Nepal has come out looking less dangerous in 25th place. Sri Lanka must have improved its standing after the defeat of the LTTE uprising; and one imagines that the recent development of a national consensus against the forces of chaos in Pakistan must have pushed it down a notch from the more seriously endangered place it occupied last year.

There was a time when we all rejected the category of “failed state” when it began to be applied to Pakistan in the late 1990s, especially after the testing of the nuclear device which we thought should have given us the status of a non-failing state together with India. Today the new list puts off but also gives pause. We ourselves have been assessing our chances conservatively, saying things close to despair, until the country decided to take on the Taliban instead of kowtowing to them in an unprecedented collapse of collective will. Our economy is in a bad shape, which it wasn’t in the first five years of the 2000s; and they don’t give positive marks for being in the oxygen tent of the IMF.

Out of the ten “failed states” at the top, half are Muslim states. One wonders why Yemen is not the 6th country because the state is rapidly breaking down there with Al Qaeda support growing and a sectarian war gathering momentum by the day. It should be noted that in all the five states the presence of Al Qaeda is common: in Iraq, Al Qaeda is involved in the Sunni-Shia conflict that kills a large number of people every month. In Somalia and Sudan, Al Qaeda has a large footprint. Pakistani troops serving the UN in Somalia in 1993 were ambushed and killed by Al Qaeda terrorists then supporting the local warlord Farah Eidid. (A Somali militia today contains Pakistani fighters serving Al Qaeda.) It was located in Sudan before Osama bin Laden decided to return to Afghanistan in 1996. {Najam Sethi needs to remember the following. Maulana Masood Azhar, whom the State of Pakistan had nurtured and protected, was a close friend of OBL from his Sudan days. Maulana Azhar was against the deployment of Pakistani troops in Somalia under the UN umbrella and took part in killing 24 Pakistani troops in Mogadishu. He also wrote a booklet against Pakistani troops in Somalia and even distributed that in Pakistan. Maulana Azhar was helped to escape from the Indian prison through the Kandahar hijack by Pakistan. He was accorded great reception upon arrival from Kandahar. He was fake-arrested after 9/11 and allowed to escape through the 'revolving-door' mechanism of Gen. Musharraf. So much for the power of the ISI}

Looking from Pakistan, Al Qaeda seems to be ensconced inside Afghanistan, most probably in the province of Khost. Looking from Afghanistan, it seems hiding somewhere in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) although its operatives have been arrested from all the major cities of Pakistan in the past. In the middle of these two observation points, it is safe to say that Al Qaeda is on the Pak-Afghan border even though the border is just a line and Al Qaeda can’t stay perched on the line. What is meant is that it could be anywhere in Pakistan and/or Afghanistan. It is a kind of virus that makes “internal sovereignty” and territorial control vanish from the state. Joined at the hip with the Taliban, it extends the “ungoverned space” far into the non-tribal areas.

We attract lethal categories too: we have the world’s largest refugee population; and there is “group conflict” in many parts, led by Karachi, where we don’t know who is killing whom. The state lacks legitimacy because of the “incomplete” enforcement of sharia, especially riba, and the marufaat side of the sharia like not punishing people for not saying their namaz and not keeping beards, etc. {It means that Pakistan is still perceived as an 'incomplete Islamic' state by the vast masses themselves, leave alone Sufi Mohammed and the Taliban. The Petri dish has still room therefore for more colonies of the bacteria} Other factors of viability like population control and education — both achieved by Iran despite clerical domination — are also absent here. But if there is a hope quotient, Pakistan is more upbeat about survival than it was six months ago. {Time will tell, sooner than later, how incorrect that hope of Najam Sethi is. Of course, Pakistan may still survive solely because of the US especially now that even the 'desert' friends and the Japanese friends are deserting the ship} That should count as something. *

[SSridhar]

Another Jinnah scion emerges

Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s great grandson, one Aslam Jinnah, and his family, have been given a warm welcome in Islamabad by the Baitul Maal Managing Director, Mr Zumurrad Khan. It is expected that Aslam Jinnah will get some help from the state in the shape of a stipend, a house and a family car, etc. Since the family was living as paupers in Karachi, this is the least that can be done.

Another scion of the Quaid, Mr Liaquat H Merchant, has however questioned the family credentials of Aslam Jinnah. He says the family never approached the trust he runs in the name of the Quaid for help. He doubts if he can be truly called the great grandson of Jinnah. For that he has to be the offspring of either Jinnah’s son’s grandson or his daughter’s grandson. He is probably descended from Nathoo Poonja, an uncle of the Quaid.

Liaquat H Merchant, appointed by the Sindh High Court as Administrator of the Estate of Quaid-e-Azam, is a civil lawyer in Karachi and is the grandson of Jinnah’s sister Maryam Bai. His mother Sher Bano, married to Habib Hoosain Merchant, was Maryam Bai’s daughter. He should know. In his book Jinnah: a judicial verdict (East-West Publishing Company Karachi, 1990) it is revealed that one Jena Bai, wife of Jan Muhammad Nathoo, had also impleaded herself in the case relating to Jinnah’s property in 1976.

Jan Muhammad Nathoo was the father of another Shirin Bai whose grandson, Sikandar Ali, was killed mysteriously in Karachi in police custody some years ago. If any help is provided to the Aslam Jinnah (or Aslam Nathoo) family by Baitul Maal, it is necessary that the true identity of the person be established and made public. Announcing him as the great grandson of the Quaid is not enough.

This guy Aslam Ali Jinnah is an impostor and this dispute goes a long way back.

Jinnah's father's name: Jina Poonja
Jina Poonja's Siblings: Walji Poonja and Nathoo Poonja.
Jinnah's siblings: Bande Ali, Rehmatbai, Mariambai, Ahmed, Shirinbai and Fatima Jinnah. The children of the Quaid's sisters Rehmatbai, Mariambai and Shirinbai are no more alive. The daughter of Ahmed Jinnah lives in Switzerland while Fatima Jinnah did not marry. Bande Ali had no children.
Jinnah's siblings' grandchildren: The grandchildren of Jinnah's sister Mariambai, presently living in Karachi, are Kulsoom Ibrahim, Zehra Chandoo, Gulshan Chandoo, Abbas Peerbhoy, Rohina Peerbhoy, Liaquat Merchant, Hussein Ibrahim and Moonira Kassam. Some grandchildren of Rehmatbai and Mariambai live in India. Jinnah's own grandson is Nusli Wadia, son of Jinnah's daughter Ms. Dina Wadia.

[SSridhar]

Are we a failed state ?

While negotiation is the best option in any conflict, we may also like to keep the example of India in mind. They have committed half of their army for the last twenty years for a small part of their country, just to ensure that the writ of the state and its solidarity is maintained in all regions, however remote.{Wow! Suddenly, Pakistan sees some virtue in the 700,000,000 soldiers that India maintains in Cashmere ?}

[SSridhar]

Locating the threat within

The truth is that Pakistan -- even under heavy moral and tactical compulsion -- cannot, and will not, accept Indian dominance in Afghanistan. More urgently, the truth is that in negotiations between India and Pakistan henceforth, the conversation needs to begin with Afghanistan, if Pakistan were to be honest, rather than Kashmir, which is now, a secondary foreign policy issue for Pakistan.

AoA only.

[pgbhat]

^^^^
Posting couple of excerpts from SSridhar's link

Gen Musharraf ran out of party tricks with the Bush administration when it became widely accepted conventional wisdom in Washington DC that though he was telling the Americans everything they wanted to hear, the general wasn't the kind of kitten they had thought, but rather a different kind of cat deep down inside. By the time he left office, Musharraf's invisible alter ego, to the Americans at least, was a dude with a turban, a long beard, with a chair deep in the heart of the ISI headquarters, ready to take it to the next level in Kabul, Delhi and anywhere else he had to, to deepen Pakistan's 'strategic depth'.

The truth is that neither Gen Musharraf nor President Zardari is incentivised to tell the truth. Why would they tell unpleasant truths when they know that they can tell pleasant lies and get some money out of the bargain? They can milk the US taxpayer for the injection of American assistance into the Pakistani economy (albeit in a manner most inefficient) by continuing to whisper sweet nothings to the three Dicks -- Dick Armitage, Dick Boucher and now Dick Holbrooke. When they are in town, Pakistani presidents don't need to tell the truth.

[chetak]

Yo paklurks...this penniless man is not Jinnah's great grandson. The actual great grandson would be Ness Wadia, who is (a) an Indian citizen (b) a millionaire industrialist (c) boyfriend of Preity Zinta

(c) boyfriend of Preity Zinta

Not anymore

The happy couple have split like before the IPL series

[Singha]

but isnt there a expensive watch ad featuring them both?

[chetak]

but isnt there a expensive watch ad featuring them both?

Maybe a contractual obligation.

Money is after all money!

However, the kissing and cuddling is over.

She herself said so during a TV interview from the recent IPL series

[SSridhar]

Hafiz Gul Bahadur of North Waziristan pulls out of 'peace deal' with Pakistan

``This accord is being scrapped because of Pakistan's failure to stop the American drone attacks in North and South Waziristan,'' Bahadur spokesman Ahmadullah Ahmadi told The Associated Press via phone Monday. ``Since the army is attacking us in North and South Waziristan, we will also attack them.''

[SSridhar]

TSP not to relocate troops from its Eastern Border

Pakistan has begun to up the ante once again now that they feel emboldened with the US support after Obama seems to have put the US-Pakistan-India relationship to the Cold War era.

Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira has ruled out the withdrawal of troops from the eastern border for deployment at the western border.

‘We cannot and will not do it,’ he said at a press briefing along with military spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas here on Monday.

The minister said Pakistan could not remain oblivious to the conventional threat. ‘It is up to the local commanders to decide about the strength of troops required to conduct a counter-insurgency operation in Swat and tribal areas of the NWFP.’

Mr Kaira said Pakistan did not want to create problems for India and urged it to fulfil its international obligations. He said Pakistan wanted resumption of the composite dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

He said President Asif Ali Zardari’s statement that India was no more a threat for Pakistan had been reported out of context. What the president meant was that there was no imminent threat of a war, he added.

Asked why did the government not openly say what it had told parliamentarians during an in-camera briefing that India was among the countries which were arming militants in tribal areas, he said Islamabad was not scared of New Delhi, but it could not say so without having a concrete evidence of this.

‘We will not only raise the issue but will also take an appropriate action when a solid evidence is in hand. The government is behaving responsibly.’

About allegations that terrorists are crossing into Afghanistan to carry out attacks on US troops, Maj-Gen Abbas said: ‘We are trying to stop all those who cross into Afghanistan.’

[RajeshA]

Pakistani forces prepare pivotal Taliban battle by Peter Goodspeed: National Post (Canada)

Armed and financed by Arab militants affiliated with al-Qaeda after they were forced to flee Afghanistan in 2001, Mehsud has earned a reputation as a fierce enforcer who has slaughtered up to 283 tribal elders in South Waziristan in a bid to solidify his position. In the process, he has turned South Waziristan into the centre of gravity for terrorism in Pakistan and placed it high on the list of likely hiding places for Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders.

Mehsud is rumoured to have narrowly escaped assassination last week when a U. S. Predator drone fired three missiles into a group of Taliban leaders attending the funeral of a comrade. Unconfirmed reports say Mehsud missed death by a matter of 10 or 15 seconds {AoA} and the vehicle he was travelling in was damaged in the attack.

Pakistan's army appears prepared to attack the Islamist insurgents in South Waziristan on several fronts at once, inserting commando units deep behind enemy lines by helicopter and using jet fighters and heavy, long-range artillery to attack their strongholds. But unlike the eight-week-old Swat campaign, where the Pakistan army was determined to drive the Taliban away from the capital Islamabad, the army doesn't intend to seize and hold territory in North and South Waziristan.

The focus of the pending campaign will be to attack Mehsud and "break his network, the classes and training schools for suicide bombers," says Major-General Athar Abbas, chief spokesman for the Pakistan army.

Originally, Islamabad tried to follow the age-old policy of divide and conquer by enticing two former Mehsud allies to turn against him in a power struggle for control of South Waziristan. Relying on the region's tribal blood feuds, Pakistan enticed local warlords Qari Zainuddin and Haji Turkistan Betani to turn on Mehsud and his followers in a high-profile split that undermined the Taliban leader's authority.

But Mehsud responded by successfully infiltrating an assassin into Mr. Zainuddin's entourage who murdered him last Tuesday in the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan, just hours before the CIA tried to kill Mehsud in the drone attack.

The murder may have temporarily inoculated Mehsud from the threats posed by tribal fissures and it will force Pakistan to rely more heavily on its own military might.

But last week an editorial in the Pakistan newspaper Dawn anticipated the fight to come: "What is clear so far is that the security forces are squeezing Baitullah Mehsud's strongholds by cutting off the three main routes that lead to them and pounding targets from the air," the newspaper said.

[RajeshA]

Pakistani militants abandon deal: BBC News

The faction, led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, in North Waziristan withdrew from the deal as the army stepped its offensive against the Taliban in the north-west.

The announcement comes a day after his men ambushed a Pakistani military convoy, killing 16 soldiers.

The group signed the peace deal with the army in 2007.

Announcing their decision, spokesman Ahmedullah Ahmedi, also said they would now carry out attacks on military targets in the region until the army left and US drones strikes were halted.

Most of the drone strikes have been targeted at Hafiz Gul Bahadur and another tribal leader, Maulvi Nazir.

Both leaders signed the peace deals with the army in 2007.

But Maulvi Nazir also abandoned his deal when he declared war on the Pakistan army two days ago.

The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says the scrapping of the deal leaves the army facing a near impossible task - no one has ever defeated a combined insurgency in the Waziristan area.

Baitullah Mehsud, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, Maulvi Nazar all together against the Pakistani Army. AoA! Where is Sirajuddin Haqqani??
The Taliban should forget Afghanistan. Pakistan is where the action is. The kafir military of Pakistan continues to do Amreeka's dirty work and target pious Pushtuns. The pious and the Pushtun will never find peace as long as the Pakjabi Army is not brought to its knees. Did somebody say Jihad?

[RajeshA]

Deadly Ambush Could Indicate Threat to Pakistan's Army by Joshua Partlow: Washington Post

"These two, Maulvi Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur, they were focused on Afghanistan," said Mahmood Shah, a security analyst and retired Pakistani army brigadier with experience in the northwestern tribal areas. "What we've heard is they've called back their fighters from Afghanistan and are bringing them to Pakistan."

Baitullah Mehsud, Maulvi Nazir, Hafiz Gul Bahadur have for years sent their men to die for the Afghan Taliban and Mullah Omar. Will Mullah Omar now pay back the blood debt and send his men in Afghanistan to fight the Pakistani military in FATA and NWFP or not? Or is Mullah Omar a thankless Ghilzai?

[RajeshA]

‘Foreign forces trying to strength nationalists in north’ by Iqbal Khattak: Daily Times

GILGIT: External forces are trying to strengthen the hands of nationalist forces in the northern areas bordering China and Indian-held Kashmir (IHK), Northern Areas Chief Executive Mir Ghazanfar Ali has said.

“Foreign money is being used” against the government, he told a group of visiting journalists last week. “This situation is strengthening nationalist forces,” he said. “This money is strengthening the anti-government forces as the people are (also) getting disappointed with Islamabad’s delay in giving Northern Areas a provincial set-up,” he added.

China not sympathetic: He said the nationalist forces were “financed” by foreign forces that were “Pakistan’s sympathisers”. Asked to name the countries “sympathetic” to Pakistan, he said: “I do not need this ... you know who these sympathisers are.” However, he said that China was not among the countries funding anti-government forces.

Ghazanfar said Hameed ??, a political leader from the Northern Areas, was leading the anti-government drive from his residence in Europe. “He is the Northern Areas’ Altaf Hussain,” he added. He said Islamabad had been informed of the situation, but would not discuss the response he had received.

Defeat coming: “The pro-Pakistan parties will likely be defeated in the next election, as the nationalist forces are exploiting Islamabad’s policy towards the Northern Areas,” he warned. He said he had suggested to Islamabad that the Northern Areas should be given a provincial set-up similar to the one available in other provinces. “We are not interested in Kashmir. We want to remain part of Pakistan,” he added.

“We can fight these forces if Islamabad gives constitutional powers in our hands,” Ghazanfar said. The NA chief executive said the federal government should allow the Northern Areas Assembly to debate the matter, before it announced any constitutional package for the region.

[RajeshA]

Unraveling the Myth of Al Qaida by Peter Chamberlin: Global Research (January 13, 2008)

An old article, but an article that seems to impress many Pakistani conspiracy theorists and 'writers'.

Another more recent article -
US/Pakistan Showdown by Peter Chamberlin: CrossCurrents.org (February 2, 2009).

Warning: It is pro-Pakistani!

[Gerard]

Small quibble. The article also states: "The author quotes a former national security official as saying that if the US is involved, “we can make sure they don’t start testing, or start a war”."

The original article reads like ayatollah p0rn... Pakistanis approaching ayatollah Blair to help them with nuclear weapons (pakis must be really hard up) ... Indians approaching a Russian design bureau (that never designed a nuke) for 'help'. Former officials making tall claims about 'stockpile stewardship' of Pakistani nukes.

There are reports, years old and quoting far more credible sources, that the US DOE considered and rejected transfer of PAL tech to Pakistan because it would (a) involve leakage of design knowledge of US nukes (b) be a violation of the NPT (c) allow operational deployment (making CRE all the more difficult)

Cockburn? More like Cock and Bull....

[SSridhar]

World appreciates Pakistan's sincerity in fighting terror

The whole world appreciates Pakistan’s seriousness to exterminate completely the menace of terrorism and extremism from the region, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Tuesday.

India has also started to understand that the world is ready to help Pakistan. Indian strategy has failed to isolate Pakistan diplomatically especially after Mumbai mayhem, he added.

[shiv]

Judging by its record since 1947, Pakistan does not have problem in killing muslims,

Maybe it is poetic justice, or maybe it is Islam's own paradigm of "self control" which we failed to see after years of discussing Islamism, but it seems to me that the first target of Islam is Muslims.

And while Islam is constantly making Muslims kill other Muslims, they are always complaining that non Muslims are responsible for Muslim deaths. The only method to stop Muslims killing other Muslims in the name of Islam is to dilute Islam and force Muslims to openly (and without guilt) flout tenets of Islam that call for a death sentence or other harsh punishment.

Such dilution has occurred time and time again in various societies. But in Pakistan the opposite was encouraged. More and purer Islam was fostered in the mistaken impression that every Muslim would turn around and attack the kafirs of India when they opened their minds to this pure Islam. However, Islam is doing what it does - clean up its own society and restrict its own power.

[arun]

And talking of Islam on Muslim violence in Pakistan X Posting editorial in the Pakistani newspaper The News reporting that the Shia Muslims are being subject to “what amounts to a genocide in Kurram”.

Certainly does suggest that there is something in the notion that in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan the first target of Islam are Muslims :

Kurram clashes

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

……………while the government has essentially stood by and watched, twiddling its' thumbs, there has been what amounts to a genocide in Kurram – the only tribal agency that houses a significant non-Sunni population. The Shias have in some places reportedly been virtually wiped out; those who could do so have fled. ……………..

The News

Separately Pakistani Newspaper Dawn in yet another editorial is reporting that violence pitting Sunni Muslim against Shia Muslim has contributed to 3,000 deaths in Kurram since 2007.

So much for Pakistani claims that Pakistan was formed as a safe haven for the Muslims of the Indian Sub-Continent:

Kurram Agency violence

Dawn Editorial
Tuesday, 30 Jun, 2009 | 07:46 AM PST

…………… Clashes over the weekend between rival tribes led to at least 36 more deaths, the total from 12 days of fighting going up to nearly 90 killed with hundreds injured. Because of the military’s focus on Swat and South Waziristan, the fighting and consequent humanitarian disaster in Kurram Agency seem eclipsed. But the truth is that a minimum of 3,000 people have been killed in the sectarian clashes there that have been going on intermittently since 2007. ………………..

Dawn

[Keshav]

You don't understand the foul game because you don't believe there is a foul game and think that the US is interested in "equitable solutions". My opinion is different and as I stated in my post I am wiling to bet my ass on my theory. Are you willing to bet your ass that the US wants "an equitable solution that makes you look good, gives the region relative peace, and keeps America out of it"?

That's not necessarily true. I was gaming from the perspective of an American representative who probably doesn't understand the situation properly. In this case, I was talking specifically about face. SSridhar pointed out that America is focused on Afghanistan and the Af-Pak area (with little to no Indian involvement), which I agree with.

What an American views as equitable may not be what an Indian or a Pakistani views as equitable. The British thought the creation of Pakistan was equitable to counter all those evil, crafty, Hindus.

If the media can concoct the story that America has done good in the region than they will receive positive worldwide attention about their "equitable" solutions in India.

I'd want to remind you that I did not rule out the idea that Americans aren't concerned with India's safety with regards to Pakistan.

[shiv]

What an American views as equitable may not be what an Indian or a Pakistani views as equitable. The British thought the creation of Pakistan was equitable to counter all those evil, crafty, Hindus.

If the media can concoct the story that America has done good in the region than they will receive positive worldwide attention about their "equitable" solutions in India.

I'd want to remind you that I did not rule out the idea that Americans aren't concerned with India's safety with regards to Pakistan.

There is no historic or logical basis for going through this contorted thought process.

The equation (game if you like) is very straightforward

Pakistan works for its interests. Opposing India and bringing India down are in Pakistan's interest, particularly that of the Pakistan army.

America works for its interests. Keeping Pakistan alive and surviving as a nation state with nukes under control of the wholly anti-India Pakistani army is in the interest of the US.

Under the circumstances, neither Pakistani interests nor American interests are in Indian interest.

The question of the US being "equitable" in this case does not even arise and what the media say or do not say have no bearing on this equation.

[Keshav]

The question of the US being "equitable" in this case does not even arise and what the media say or do not say have no bearing on this equation.

Ultimately, we do not disagree with each other. You didn't understand what I meant by "equitable" in quotation marks. America supports Pakistan currently but will attempt to bury the enmity between the countries if it finds that it no longer requires the land of the pure through a media circus showing.

Naturally, the world will believe that America has done something good when it either doesn't mean anything or makes the situation worse.

I think we're talking past each other. Either way, India has to make a lot of noise ("the squeaky wheel gets the grease") if it wants any recognition in its destiny.

[NRao]

Report: Pakistan's Ideological Blowback

[NRao]

Editorial: Our demands from the US

[sanjaykumar]

. The Taliban have been assisted immeasurably in this by the political and ideological alienation of the Pakistani state in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Previously, Pakistan brandished its Islamic credentials by presenting itself as a champion of regional causes from Afghanistan to Kashmir. Its foreign policy reorientation after 9/11, when it allied itself with the United States against its former Taliban allies and curbed its support for militant Islamists in Kashmir, has called its Islamic commitment into question. But Pakistan has failed to re-imagine its moral authority in different normative terms.

In effect, the Taliban are stepping into this breach. They are out to realize the state's rhetoric. This subverted discourse is not precisely illegitimate or terroristic since it originates with the state. The state finds itself hamstrung in its ability to craft a strategic narrative on taking concerted action against the Taliban, in military as well as political terms. From a strategic perspective, this is the primary reason Pakistan's vast military machine is foundering against the Taliban. Opposing the Taliban's message of Islamization would hurt the legitimacy that the state has tried so hard to embed within Islamic qualifications. However, acknowledging alternative actors for such Islamization subverts the state's de jure authority. In either case, the state stands to hemorrhage its legitimacy.

This schizophrenia is reflected in the ambivalence and prevarications of the broader public as well as the elected parliament on the issue of Talibanization. Recent opinion polls indicate that as many as 69% of Pakistanis recognize the Taliban as presenting a profound threat to Pakistan. Yet 56% also state that they support the Taliban's key demand of spreading Sharia to all parts of Pakistan.


Report: Pakistan's Ideological Blowback

A superb encapsulation. It may be racist but the author can't be a Pakistani-maybe Indian, Bangladeshi? Okay. he grew up in Karachi-probably a Mohajir Shia.

I hope he does an analysis of the nuclear gamesmanship being exploited by all sides.

[chetak]

Editorial: Our demands from the US

Prime Minister Gilani, apart from asking for a debt write-off, has requested him to convince India to get back into talks with Pakistan. Mr Gilani has also tried to persuade him to get the US “to play its role in resolving the Kashmir and water disputes with India”. Gen Jones’ comment on TV was: “the US wanted to be of help in the process of normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan” and that he would be carrying a message of equality, fairness and reason for the Indian leadership.

The porkis are really desperate for water and eager to drag the water issue into the porki public domain. To divert attention from their porki government's failures and to blunt criticism, they will squarely blame and castigate India, holding us solely responsible for all their self created water problems.