Bharat Rakshak

Meanwhile, the brits have arrested 32 caucasian brits who were planning some 'reverse terrorism' back in the UK by planning to bomb Mosques there. They all belonged to the right wing British Nationalist Party.

LAHORE: Pakistan’s national security is not threatened by India, rather by terrorism and extremism, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Sunday. According to a private TV channel, he said the enemy was present on Pakistan’s borders and there were deep-rooted differences between its four provinces.

LAHORE: The increasing sense of insecurity among the American diplomatic staff stationed in Pakistan can be gauged from the fact that most of them are carrying loaded guns and other such weapons on the pretext of self-protection while moving around in the federal capital.

This embarrassing development for Pakistan government came to light recently when several US diplomats in different instances were intercepted by Islamabad police while carrying guns and other weapons.

In a most recent incident, a senior US diplomat was spotted carrying a loaded pistol in front of Serena Hotel located in the federal capital’s high security Red Zone area. In another incident on June 22 2009, three American diplomats were caught by the police with assault guns in their vehicle while returning from Peshawar... In yet another episode early this month, the Islamabad police got hold of two US diplomats near Super Market of the federal capital for possessing weapons.

According to the laid down diplomatic rules an regulations, diplomats stationed anywhere in Pakistan are by and large required to get authorisation from the Ministry of Interior before moving out of Islamabad. However, in this case, the American diplomats had traveled to Peshawar without either getting permission or giving any intimation to the Pakistani authorities.

...the US security staffers have usually maintained that they were carrying guns under instructions from their high ups in view of the worsening law and order situation in Pakistan and the ever-rising number of threats coming from the jehadi mafia to target the American officials stationed in Pakistan.

Some senior foreign office officials in Islamabad say the possession of arms by diplomats require explicit approval by the host government, which is responsible for their security. However, he wasn’t sure, if the US embassy had been granted such authorisation or if the Americans ever requested for it.

Three people have been killed in two separate sectarian attacks in the troubled district of Dera Ismail Khan in north-west Pakistan, officials say.

All of those killed belong to the Shia religious group.

They are the latest victims in a wave of violence which has claimed dozens of lives there over the past few weeks.
...

Last year, in the heady first months of heading an elected civilian government, the Pakistan People’s Party broke a huge national taboo. Presenting its first budget, the government gave out more details of defence spending than had ever been revealed before. Instead of the usual practice of putting down the defence allocation in a one-liner, the budget outlined two main headings and four sub-headings under which the money would be spent.

Even more astonishingly, there was a two-hour debate in the Senate, or upper house . . . This year, the defence allocation was detailed as it was last year, over the same number of headings and sub-headings. But it is a measure of the swift rehabilitation of the military in the public sphere that this time there was no offer from the government to debate defence spending, nor was there a demand for such a debate — not by parliamentarians and not in the media. And unlike last year, no service-wise breakdown of the allocation was provided.

From about mid-2006, around the time a military operation killed the Baloch chieftain Nawab Akbar Bugti, the Pakistan Army suffered one public relations setback after another. , , , The Mumbai terror attacks, which saw the Pakistani establishment whip up fears of an imminent military strike by India, gave rise to the first positive vibes between the military and the people in a long time, with the public spiritedly rallying behind the Army preparatory to what they believed was an imminent war.

In March 2009, when the opposition Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) threw its weight behind a “long march” movement for restoring Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary, rumours of a military takeover to prevent the street protest threatened its image once again.

But in a master stroke, the Army decided not to oppose a popular cause. Instead of thwarting the protest as many expected it to do, the Army chief was seen in a behind-the-scenes role forcing President Asif Ali Zardari to give Mr. Chaudhary his job back. . . .

But the real transformation in the public attitude towards the Army has come with the operation in Swat. . . . A recent Dawn Television documentary series on the Pakistan Army called “We Are Soldiers” best exemplified its rapid progress in rebranding itself.

Public opinion wants the Pakistan government to act against extremism and militancy, but these twin menaces have come to be only and completely identified with the Taliban. There is no similar demand for action against the jihadi groups that target India or Kashmir, even though these have radicalised entire towns and villages in the Punjab province.

It is interesting that these trends have come to the fore concurrent with the Army’s image makeover.

I think the evil yindoos are already playing cowboys and pakis there.

Pakistan checkmated for now, 60,000 additional troops in Arunachal. Lots of things happening.


And now Uigharistan. But then it is in the nature of the mind to seek patterns.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani combat jets today pounded Taliban positions in the troubled South Waziristan tribal region as the army claimed 14 militants
were killed in clashes with security forces in the northwestern Swat valley.

The jets attacked militant positions in Ladha area of South Waziristan, a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud though there were no reports of casualties. The army has said it is preparing for an offensive against Mehsud and his network.

In the Matta area of Swat, security forces apprehended five militants, including a Taliban fighter named Hazrat Karim, who had beheaded two children for providing food to an army unit deployed near their home.

Two militant bases and three training centres located in an area between Tank and Dera Ismail Khan were destroyed in strikes by gunship helicopters, Express 24/7 news channel reported.

says he was shocked about a UNDP report saying the newer generation P'stanis are shorter and he was unprepared to hear that news.

"We will do exactly what we have been asked to by our leaders which is quite clear that Pakistan will tell as to what they have done and we will tell them about our concerns," Mr. Menon said when asked what India would be looking for from the meeting.

Mr. Menon said they would report to their leaders about "where we stand on issues which for us are very clear that bringing the perpetrators of terrorism against India to justice and dismantling infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan which supports these activities."

The Foreign Secretary said the leaders will take stock of the situation "and we will see where it goes from there."

Making it clear that terrorism would be the only agenda of his meeting with Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir, Mr. Menon said this is the issue that has "bothered" India for long.

"It is a fact that terrorism coming out of Pakistan, that affects us, is really the issue. This has bothered us for many years. We have had assurances from Pakistan. That we will be discussing so that terrorism does not affect us," he said.

He was responding to a question about the timing and venue of the meeting which Mr. Singh and Mr. Zardari had decided upon in Yekaterinburg on June 16.

Mr. Menon did not specify the date of the meeting but it is likely to take place on July 13 or 14, ahead of the NAM Summit on July 15. {If the MMS-Gilani meeting is to be decided by the outcome of the Foreign Secretaries' meeting on terrorism, why are we even discussing the dates ?} Mr. Singh, who will be attending the Summit, will then meet Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the multilateral event.

Pakistan is yet to clear a pre- partition debt of Rs 300 crores to India, which has been carrying forward year after year in its Budget account as a "liability".

The Budget books refer to this Rs 300 crores as "amount due from Pakistan on account of share of pre-partition debt."

The amount was entered as a liability in the first Budget of independent India in 1950-51 and has been there ever since.

However, India has cleared its share of the pre-partition debt of Rs 50 crores soon after independence in 1947.

Pakistan still owes India Rs. 300 crores as Partition settlements



And, Pakistanis still claim that the delayed Indian payment at Partition time for which Mahatma Gandhi intervened on behalf of the Pakistani government, betrayed Indian intentions of undoing the Partition by squeezing Pakistan economically. That and the stoppage of waters from the Madhopur headworks on April 1, 1948 are often cited by Pakistan of India's evil intentions. But, nobody talks of the Pakistani perfidy. As usual, India would be expected to be generous.

Pakistan is yet to clear a pre- partition debt of Rs 300 crores to India, which has been carrying forward year after year in its Budget account as a "liability".

Pakistan has already felt the heat of the Arab-Iran rivalry in the context of its gas deal with Iran. It has been discussed even in the parliament in Islamabad. Both the Gulf Arab states and Iran are counted in Islamabad as Pakistan’s closest allies in the region. But Tehran has been too aggressive in its pursuit of a policy of challenge to care for the muted Arab response on the other side of the Gulf.

The second significant departure from past practices is the clear division — each with its own set objectives — between economic and military aid. More conditions will be attached to the former; far fewer to the latter. . . . The house bill reflects the work of the various lobbies that have an interest in the outcome. The most active one in this respect is the Indian lobby, made up of non-resident Indians, the NRIs. This lobby has emerged as a well-organised and well-financed endeavour that seeks to advance the perceived interests of the homeland. . . . Rather than locking in a level now for military aid which might not be in line with rapidly changing Pakistani capabilities and commitment, the bill buys flexibility for the US administration by leaving the quantum and content of military support to be determined on a year-by-year basis. . . . . South Asia now has a large number of people living and working in several parts of the world. Formed over several decades, these diasporas now have about 40 million people, 23 million from India and 16 million divided almost evenly between Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Given the size of the diasporas and their economic strength, it is not surprising that they have begun to exert their political weight. The Indians have a considerable political presence in all the continents of the world, while the Pakistani community is better organised in the US. It is in that country that the economic presence of the Pakistani community is considerable. Numbering about a million people in Canada and the US, immigrants from Pakistan have a combined income of $50bn, a savings rate of $10bn a year and economic assets of about half a trillion dollars.

Some of this income and some of these assets are being put to use for both economic and political purposes. There are some two and half times as many NRIs as the Pakistani community. Their assets and incomes are proportionately larger. Unfortunately the two diasporas often clash as they seek to influence US politics. This has happened in particular with reference to the US approach towards Kashmir and is now happening in the case of American assistance to Pakistan.

It is important for the two diasporas to recognise that aid to Pakistan legislation as drafted by the Senate is in the interest of both countries since it focuses on the economic and social development of the country. The main US purpose as reflected in the draft bill is to contain the spread of extremism in Pakistan. That should also be the Indian concern. {What a lie}

In an announcement that boosts Washington's hopes for a united front against al-Qaeda and related Islamist insurgents, Mr Zardari said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph that operations would in future target figures who were the military's "strategic assets".

The powerful military had given its backing in recent days to Mr Zardari's shift from seeing India as the foremost threat to the country towards the domestic danger posed by radical Muslim groups that hold sway in large parts of Pakistan. "I don't think anybody in the establishment supports them any more," he said. "I think everybody has become more wise than this.

"I would love to be remembered for creating a Pakistan where militancy – I know it can't totally be diminished – is defeated."

These diplomats are members of the newly formed SDF (Special Diplomatic Forces) out on a classified mission to hunt Osama who was last spotted boarding the number 11 bus going to Army HQ after recording his 72nd album which is sure to go aluminum as soon as it is released.

QASIM PULA, Pakistan — Islamist charities and the United States are competing for the allegiance of the two million people displaced by the fight against the Taliban in Swat and other parts of Pakistan — and so far, the Islamists are in the lead. Although the United States is the largest contributor to a United Nations relief effort, Pakistani authorities have refused to allow American officials or planes to deliver the aid in the camps for displaced people. The Pakistanis do not want to be associated with their unpopular ally.

Last week, a crowd of men, the heads of households uprooted from Swat, gathered in this village in northwestern Pakistan for handouts for their desperate families. But before they could even get a can of cooking oil, the aid director for a staunchly anti-Western Islamic charity took full advantage of having a captive audience, exhorting the men to jihad.

“The Western organizations have spent millions and billions on family planning to destroy the Muslim family system,” said the aid director, Mehmood ul-Hassan, who represented Al Khidmat, a powerful charity of the strongly anti-American political party Jamaat-e-Islami. The Western effort had failed, he said, but Pakistanis should show their strength by joining the fight against the infidels.

The agreement, signed after a summit in the Kremlin between US President Barack Obama and Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev, allows 4,500 US military flights annually over Russia at no extra charge, a US official said.

Mr Shaukat Aziz, our erstwhile prime minister, collected so many foreign gifts during his tenure that his next seven generations could live in luxury without doing a day's work. Rauf Klasra has provided a long list of costly gifts worth millions of dollars which Shaukat Aziz pocketed with no pangs of conscience. He hides behind the government "policy" which allows such unethical plunder by government functionaries. But who makes the policy that legalises larceny? It is made by prime ministers who are the main beneficiaries of this swindle. A government policy unlike a law could be changed at the whim of the sitting prime minister. If the gift policy was ever submitted to the National Assembly for converting it into a law, the opposition would smash it to smithereens, provided the opposition existed.

It is an amazing gift list of over 1,000 items, of which one-third were not even reported by Shaukat Aziz. The cost of these gifts runs into millions. The gifts included diamond necklaces, gold ornaments, pearls, Persian carpets and jewelled wrist watches. The Saudi king was most generous. One necklace alone which he gifted to Shaukat Aziz would easily bring one million rupees in the open market. The sultan of Brunei and the prime minister of Bahrain also showered him with expensive gifts. The oil-rich Arab countries are in the forefront as gift-givers.

All the costly gifts Mr Shaukat Aziz had accumulated as prime minister and finance minister have disappeared from Pakistan. They have either been smuggled out or exported with the government's acquiescence. Or perhaps our ever-vigilant Customs was compensated with adequate gifts which made them look the other way.

SINGAPORE, July 7 (Reuters) - Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has issued a tender to buy 910,000 tonnes of high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO), 350,000 tonnes of low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO), and 120,000 tonnes of jet fuel for August to November delivery, according to a tender document seen on Tuesday. The tender closes on July 15, followed by two days of validity.

NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S.-trained Pakistani scientist accused of helping al-Qaida has repeatedly interrupted her competency hearing to declare her innocence and insist she's not anti-American. The outbursts came during a daylong hearing in federal court in Manhattan to decide whether 37-year-old Aafia Siddiqui (ah-FEE'-uh see-DEE'-kee) is competent to stand trial.

She is charged with attempted murder and assault. The U.S. government says she grabbed a gun and fired at U.S. soldiers and FBI agents in Afghanistan last summer. She shouted in court Monday that she did not shoot anyone. She also said she's not really against America and never was.

The outbursts came as psychologists testified whether she is fit for an October trial.

Siddiqui, a specialist in neuroscience who trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University...

India is not a threat to Pakistan, and New Delhi has "better things to do" than end up in a standoff with its neighbour, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said.

"The enemy that Pakistan faces is a domestic terrorist, not a large and successful neighbour India, which has got far better things to do in the world of commerce and politics than end up in a standoff with Pakistan," Mr. Miliband said in an interview with CNN.

When pointed out that it was British colonial powers which drew the boundary line between India and Pakistan, causing almost half a million people to die, Mr. Miliband said:"We did. And we have to recognise our own history."

At the same time, he was quick to point out: "But remember, 61 years, India is the world's largest and most successful — the largest democracy and the success story of the region."

Pakistan on the other hand, he observed, has had 31 years of military rule and two-thirds of its boundaries were still contested.

"Communities from Baluchistan through to the Punjab split by lines between countries and of course, the Bangladesh experience of the early 1970s. So, you see, let me just make the point that Pakistan has been a society deeply challenged — socioeconomically, politically, geographically — over the last 60 years," Mr. Miliband said.

"I think what is important is that countries like Britain and America are engaged in the right way. And we have to support credible strong government in Pakistan that is able to come to grips with its own problems, because it's the mortal threat that their own society faces that is the greatest threat to us," Mr. Miliband said.

Suspected U.S. missiles slammed into a training camp ran by Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud on Tuesday, killing at least 12 militants in the latest in a flurry of strikes against him and his followers, intelligence officials said.

The attack took place in the Makeen area of South Waziristan close to the Afghan border, four officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. The missiles were believed launched by unmanned American planes.

"Our initial reports from agents in the field say at least 12 to 14 Taliban have died in today's American missile attack," said one official, adding several militants were also wounded. Mehsud was not among the victims, the officers said.

The United States has launched more than 40 missile strikes against targets in the border area since last August.

Tuesday was the fourth in two weeks against Mehsud and his followers in his stronghold of South Waziristan. {The game plan is to decimate as much of Mehsud's strength through US drones in South Waziristan before the PA begins its attack. Suddenly the US drones have become acceptable. There is no longer an outcry even as Pakistan is about to get the drone technology from a grateful US.}

"Communities from Baluchistan through to the Punjab split by lines between countries and of course, the Bangladesh experience of the early 1970s. So, you see, let me just make the point that Pakistan has been a society deeply challenged — socioeconomically, politically, geographically — over the last 60 years," Mr. Miliband said.

“We have rented our military out to US in exchange of mere 1.5 billion dollars while US is spending sixty billion dollars on its army comprising 55,000 troops in Afghanistan,” ‘The News’ quoted Khan, as saying.