Please don't blame him. He must be a kid who might be not well trained.....Rupesh wrote: Totally incompetent suicide bomber. He Should have dispatched at least a dozen to meet their 72's.
United Kingdom Foreign secretary David Miliband wants Pakistan and India to resolve Kashmir dispute in accordance with the wishes of Kashmiri people, leading daily The Nation's Monitoring Desk reported on Wednesday morning.
Miliband, whose off-the-cuff remarks in recent past had created controversy, told a private TV channel on Tuesday, a democratic system was taking roots in Pakistan, and Britain would continue to extend support to it. The army should not become a part of government affairs, he opined. He said that the current wave of terrorism was a threat to Pakistan which had claimed life of Benazir Bhutto. He further said that the terrorism inside Pakistan was an equal threat to its neighbouring countries.
Miliband sought Pakistan's help in getting released the British Embassy staff detained in Iran. He said that he has asked Pakistan to help release British Embassy staffers detained by Tehran on their alleged involvement in fuelling anti-government protests in Iran. "I'll discuss the issue with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi," he added.
I have actually done nothing myself - I only cross posted the good work done by Samay.amit wrote:Shiv and Samay, thanks very much. Will do my bit to spread the love and harmony that the Land of the Pure preaches across the world.shiv wrote:wrote...
Acharya wrote: Can you extract the clip of the video with the terrorist entering the Taj hotel and make it a flash program.
THis will be good to spread to all desi worldwide
‘We are not in favour of increase in defence budget, especially when more than 75 per cent of the poor in our country earn Rs20 daily,’ said Kavita Srivastava at an interactive meeting with Lahore reporters at the South Asian Free Media Association office on Tuesday.
There have been 150 or so troubled districts in India where Maoists have influence.
‘The increase is for para-military forces to control internal insurgency,’ she said.
‘Our tribal areas are rich in minerals and the New Delhi government’s move to hand over the land to big foreign and local companies is being resisted by the people. We too are going to have war against the people of India as such which will be very unfortunate.’
‘You have internally displaced persons and we fight for people displaced owing to projects,’ said Kavita who had been on her maiden visit to Pakistan to explore the possibilities to revive socio-cultural links between Rajhistan and Sindh. The focus of the peace process between Islamabad and New Delhi had been the Punjabs even though the people of Sindh and Rajhistan too share many things. ‘We are planning to hold a Sindh-Rajhistan conference in Hyderabad in November this year,’ she said.
Social activist Dr Sandeep Pandey called for simplifying the process of visa between the two countries. ‘The visa system was enforced to check the movement of unscrupulous elements who don’t need visa and still cross the border without any difficulty. But the system creates a lot of problems for the general public.’
It is in the first video where the terrorists enter the lobby and walk cooly and into the corridors of the Hotel floors.shiv wrote:Acharya wrote: Can you extract the clip of the video with the terrorist entering the Taj hotel and make it a flash program.
THis will be good to spread to all desi worldwide
Acharya - I can do this easily. But I am unable to recall the scene that you are referring to here. Are you talking about the scene where the chap shoots someone across the reception desk. Just give me a clue wrt video number and approximate time.
Do you want it in email-size? (about a megabyte or two?)
Added later..
whooopps - sorry you want a flash program? I can make an 'flv video clip - but I am not sure if you mean something different
The danger within
By Ardeshir Cowasjee
TIME and time again one must retreat to the beginnings of the country and the exhortation of its founder and maker, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, that the first and paramount duty of any government is the imposition and maintenance of law and order.
What he did not envisage was the deterioration of the judiciary of his country, which was firm and steadfast during the short time he had.
For without an independent and responsible judiciary law and order is a far cry. And as we all well know, within six years of the country’s birth the judiciary had crumbled, by then largely bereft of its inherited judges. There has been no government since 1954 which could tolerate or survive an independent and honourable judiciary. Such has been our fate.
The law and order situation for too many years has been abysmal, as has been the state of the judiciary. The mighty Pakistan Army when in power has been either unable or unwilling to impose a system where law and order prevails — with the sole exception of a brief period in the early Ayub Khan years when a far smaller army than we now have, less politicised and radical, did manage to bring in a semblance of order and apply the law as it should be applied.
The 1965 war, the East Pakistan disaster, the wild years of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (the first civilian martial law administrator) during which the constitution was constantly violated, and the nightmare years of Ziaul Haq from which this country has never recovered ensured that law and order would not figure on the lists of priorities, nor would the judiciary be given a chance to recover and reform.
If the army, the most disciplined, orderly in itself, and the richest party in the country could do nothing about law and order, what could be expected from the immature, self-centred and even more corrupt civilian politicians? Corruption is endemic. One of the most telling remarks made by Gen Pervez Musharraf shortly after he took over, when asked by a BBC correspondent whether the army was corrupt, was his response: “We are all of the same stock.” Thus, any expectations for us to be an orderly nation, obedient to the law, must remain at the lowest ebb.
What was known as the ‘restoration’ of democracy in 1988 did not help matters, partially because there was no democracy to be restored and partly because a weak and corrupt government was totally in thrall to a hostile military.
The yo-yo years, with their political musical chairs and an erratic judiciary which normally gave legal cover to military or presidential coups but deviated in the one case of the 1993 dismissal of Nawaz Sharif (to no avail ultimately) helped to worsen the lack of law or order and the two participating political parties, in turn, saw to it that the judiciary became the tool of whoever was currently in power.
A few incidents from those 11 ‘restorative’ years will serve to illustrate the government-judiciary mentality.
Early in 1994, former chief justice of the Sindh High Court, Sajjad Ali Shah who had been elevated to the Supreme Court of Pakistan was sitting on the Lahore Bench. One day he received a message that the prime minister’s house had telephoned asking for a convenient time for prime ministerial husband Asif Ali Zardari to call on him. A time was fixed and Zardari duly turned up, with Aitzaz Ahsan. Sajjad was told that the prime minister was considering appointing him the chief justice of Pakistan. What was his reaction? Sajjad told his visitors that he would not care to leapfrog over three senior judges, but that he would be agreeable to go back to Sindh as its chief justice. This did not fit in with the government plan.
Contacts between Zardari and Sajjad continued and they met thrice at Zardari’s house in Islamabad when the offer of appointment as chief justice was raised again. On one occasion, Zardari, accompanied by Agha Rafiq Ahmad, “finally came out openly with the proposal that the prime minister was prepared to appoint me as the chief justice of Pakistan on the condition that I give my written resignation in advance, which would be used if I failed to oblige her. Obviously the letter was to be undated.” (Law Courts in a Glass House, Chief Justice (Retd) Sajjad Ali Shah, pub. OUP 2001).
There are many other anecdotes in the book which outline the constant contact between the judiciary and the governments in power, neither side at all respecting the concept of independence.
Come Nawaz Sharif as prime minister in 1977, with Sajjad Ali Shah as chief justice of Pakistan. A prickly person, not open to wheeling and dealing, he did not suit Sharif or his designs to assume full and complete power, transforming himself into an amir-ul-momineen and the country into his vision of a citadel of Islam. The tussle reached its peak in November 1997. Gohar Ayub Khan in his book, Glimpses into the Corridors of Power (OUP 2007) relates how on the 5th, when driving with Nawaz Sharif from the Assembly to his house, Sharif naively asked him : “Gohar Sahib, show me a way to arrest the chief justice and keep him in jail for a night.”
Later, on Nov 28, Sharif did the unthinkable. He arranged for a mob of his party storm troopers to physically invade the Supreme Court building at a time when its chief justice was sitting hearing a contempt of court case that had been brought against the prime minister and various others. Pakistan was disgraced in front of the world. Many of the attackers were identified, but, the judiciary being the judiciary, they got off lightly.
The Musharraf years probably put the penultimate nail into the coffin of the judiciary of Pakistan. This last military regime started off with the usual PCO and a reshuffle of the judges of the superior courts, and in due course it was given legal cover by the Supreme Court. Totally averse to law and order, the country, under an army of half a million men, ran amok. Musharraf had other matters on his agenda of priorities and in March 2007 total chaos set in. He has gone, and it is now up to President Asif Zardari to hammer in the final nail.
The judiciary is broken as never before, and in the portion of the country which still remains under some sort of control of both the civilian and the army law and order has fled to an unknown destination.
arfc@cyber.net.pk
Donekidoman wrote:Mods , can you please fix the "Link to Previous TSP thread" in the first post.
Its not working..
Pakistan also defaulted on paying seigniorage charges which it agreed as part of the May, 1948 agreements for the Indus Waters. These are over and above the Rs. 300 Crores Partition debts.Prime Minister Nehru, whose attention was drawn to the forth-coming Indo-Pakistan talks on partition debts at his Press conference in New Delhi on July 7, said that he could not discuss the question in detail. “Some things are, however, obvious. One is that the national debt of pre-partition India was taken over entirely by India on condition that the Pakistan part of it would be paid back to India after five years. But nothing has been paid back. Then there are a number of other charges, minor and other things, which have to be considered separately.”
That will be a multi-disciplinary effort involving political, economic, military, strategic, religious, terrorist, sub-nationalist, and neighbourhood fronts. With Pakistan, every week is more complex than the previous week. May be, this should be a SRR/BRM type article with more than one author ? I can certainly be one of them. Any volunteers please ?ramana wrote:SSridhar, is it time for mid-year update on TSP picture?
OK.ramana wrote:First put together a presentation and that can be converted into a paper. Lets work on that.
Social activist Dr Sandeep Pandey called for simplifying the process of visa between the two countries. ‘The visa system was enforced to check the movement of unscrupulous elements who don’t need visa and still cross the border without any difficulty. But the system creates a lot of problems for the general public.’
[/quote]Social activist Dr Sandeep Pandey called for simplifying the process of visa between the two countries. ‘The visa system was enforced to check the movement of unscrupulous elements who don’t need visa and still cross the border without any difficulty. But the system creates a lot of problems for the general public.’
Duangkomon-saarDuangkomon wrote:The fact that a bunch of deranged bank robbers can wreck so much havoc and carry out this macabre slaughter in the financial capital of India is an indictment on the civil administration and the police force. There should be no excuse for a city like Mumbai to have such a criminal lack of security and quick response capability against even worse attacks.
``Militants and extremists emerged on the national scene and challenged the state not because the civil bureaucracy was weakened and demoralized but because they were deliberately created and nurtured as a policy to achieve short-term tactical objectives. Let's be truthful and make a candid admission of the reality,'' he said at a gathering of civil servants in Islamabad on Tuesday night.
``The terrorists of today were heroes of yesteryear until 9/11 occurred and they began to haunt us as well,'' Zardari said
Straight from the horses mouth?``The West stood by as a democratically elected (Pakistani) government was toppled by a military dictatorship in the late '70s. Because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the West used my nation as a blunt instrument of the Cold War. It empowered a Gen. Zia dictatorship that brutalized its people, decimated our political parties, murdered the prime minister who had founded Pakistan's largest political party, and destroyed the press and civil society,'' Zardari wrote in the Washington Post.
``Once the Soviets were defeated, the Americans took the next bus out of town, leaving behind a political vacuum that ultimately led to the Talibanization and radicalization of Afghanistan, the birth of Al-Qaeda and the current jihadi insurrection in Pakistan.''
``The heroin mafia, which arose as a consequence of the efforts to implode the Soviet Union, now takes in $5 billion a year, twice the budget of our Army and police. This is the price Pakistan continues to pay,'' wrote Zardari in the article, `The Frontier Against Terrorism'.
What would the TSPA say/do now? 
??In the second attack, five missiles were fired at vehicles carrying suspected Taliban on the main road between Ladha and another town, Sararogha, according to local officials.
They said all the vehicles were destroyed and the dead were mostly Taliban, as well as members of banned militant organisations from Pakistan’s Punjab province.
In his Whiskey Bottle!Acharya wrote:Where is Qaid-e-Azam?
This lack of empathy for ummah brethren suffering at the hands of kufr is most unseemly.Is it a mere coincidence that we are now seeing unprecedented violence breaking out in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi?
This is rank opportunism. The US did not leave the place as abruptly as they claim. They secretly continued to supply arms and send in funds for the mujahideen. It was Pakistan which created the mess with its desire to have a Government of its liking that would serve only its interests.tsriram wrote:Zardari admits terrorism nurtured by govt for tactical use
``Once the Soviets were defeated, the Americans took the next bus out of town, leaving behind a political vacuum that ultimately led to the Talibanization and radicalization of Afghanistan, the birth of Al-Qaeda and the current jihadi insurrection in Pakistan.''
Pakistan produces No 3 Al Qaeda guy every time its President visits the White House. The same is the case now. This time it is to convince India to re-start the stalled composite dialogue. GoI can now say that it has seen enough sincerity in Pakistan now to continue with the peace process. Remember the Jan. 12, 2002 speech of Musharraf ? Terror against India went to a much higher level after that. I am sure the same fate awaits us now also.tsriram wrote:Zardari admits terrorism nurtured by govt for tactical use
Straight from the horses mouth? What would the TSPA say/do now?
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said the Al Qaida leadership resides in the federally-administered tribal areas (FATA) of Pakistan and the United States is determined to defeat them.
"The top priority, with respect to that strategy, is to defeat al Qaida, whose leadership resides in the FATA -- in the federal areas, the tribal areas -- in Western Pakistan," Mullen said in his remarks at a luncheon held at the National Press Club in Washington yesterday.
I have a very bitter and bad feeling when brits talk about Indo-pak issues. I am not at all comfortable with them talking about subcontinental issues. Bloody brits say A and do B. May the force be with MEA and RAW to do a topsy turvy stuff in GB.Prem wrote:Pak-India talks depend on Mumbai: UK
MULTAN - British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband has said that his country supports resumption of dialogue between Pakistan and India, adding that it is subject to a result-oriented trial of those involved in Mumbai attacks.
“In respect of the restarting the frozen dialogue process, the key next step is the successful prosecution of the people who are involved in the Mumbai attacks,” he said while addressing a news conference at State Bank Auditorium on Wednesday. Chota Mahmood Qureshi was also present on the occasion
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news- ... -Mumbai-UK
I was looking for a "misquoted" statement in the papers. Now I know the most likely explanation of no backtracking on this one. Additionally, this statement was made in a meeting with retired bureaucrats and people like that. Does not mean much internally.SSridhar wrote: Pakistan produces No 3 Al Qaeda guy every time its President visits the White House. The same is the case now. This time it is to convince India to re-start the stalled composite dialogue. GoI can now say that it has seen enough sincerity in Pakistan now to continue with the peace process. Remember the Jan. 12, 2002 speech of Musharraf ? Terror against India went to a much higher level after that. I am sure the same fate awaits us now also.
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira on Wednesday said that security forces have successfully completed military operations in Swat and Buner, clearing out militants and making the area safe for return of the displaced local population.
Kaira said the returnees will be provided transport facility and one month ration and will be entitled to food support till December.
In reply to a question about reported use of US and Indian arms by the Taliban, Mr Miliband said that an arms trade treaty was under consideration so that weapons did not reach terrorists.
David Kilcullen: The Australian helping to shape a new Afghanistan strategy
By Kim Sengupta, Defence Correspondent
Thursday, 9 July 2009
……………............. “What will happen in Pakistan is absolutely critical. There are sections of the military and the security apparatus which are a rogue state within a state. They have a long history of supporting the Taliban, we have an elected government in Pakistan but they have no control over these elements”. …………….............
The Independent
