Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan - July 07, 2009

[hulaku]

Pakistanis shot at Somali mosque

At least five Pakistanis have been killed in a dawn attack at a mosque in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region, witnesses say.
Armed men in masks entered a mosque in Galkayo and ordered six Pakistanis and one Somali outside, they said.
The gunmen then opened fire, killing five men and seriously injuring two.
Those targeted are said to be preachers from a religious sect. Puntland has been tense recently, but correspondents the reason for the attack is unclear.
The Pakistanis are thought to be missionaries from an Islamic sect called Tabliq who arrived in Galkayo on Tuesday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8196740.stm

[shiv]

Pakistanis shot at Somali mosque

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8196740.stm

Must be Indians. Muslims don't kill Muslims.

[Gerard]

Pak goes ballistic about report on nuclear complex attacks

[ramana]

Pakistanis shot at Somali mosque

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8196740.stm

Must be Indians. Muslims don't kill Muslims.

And how does one come to this conclusion?

BTW Indians = Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains Christians, and others....

[Prem]

Pakistanis shot at Somali mosque

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8196740.stm

Must be Indians. Muslims don't kill Muslims.

True, Onlee Guns do, the bullets,trigger and fingre are kaffirs . Muslims are the best nation raised amon whole mankind. Dare to non belive and ask the proof

[Mahendra]

Dont ask for source please
RAW has 23 consulates in countries bordering Somalia

[Vivek K]

Pakistanis shot at Somali mosque

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8196740.stm

Must be Indians. Muslims don't kill Muslims.

Quick check their B*n$s! They're plobabry Hindu/Sikh. BTW do the Chinese Buddhists undergo circumcision?

[Anujan]

An interesting tidbit from an authentic source who knew Niaz Naik is that he was vell versed with the Vedas and the Upanishads and could quote them at will. It appears that Niaz Naik was killed by his avaricious servants. This was a particularly brutal murder, the complete details of which have not been revealed by GoP. Looks like there is no other angle to this.

So Niaz Naik living all by himself and neighbors find out after a week is all BS. So is his falling down the stairs part.

his face was badly damaged. He also said that four ribs were broken, liver and lungs were also damaged. .. there was a scar on his neck...The revelation that he has been murdered marked a turnaround from a police spokesman’s earlier statement that there were no marks of injury on the former diplomat’s body.A post-mortem examination of Naik’s body revealed he was tortured before being killed, said police officials and doctors who performed the autopsy.Naik was hit with a sharp and heavy object and there were signs of torture on his neck. Four ribs and the jaw were fractured and the lungs were damaged, the autopsy report said.

Niaz A Naik was born on May 31 1926....Naik, 70, was unmarried {madrassa math}

[Prem]

Well, him knowing Vedas would have made him apostate. After studying Upanishad , he must have known that "Merciful God" is not a necessity for mankind. Man must be comparing Moksha with 72 and Abdfoolls came to know .

[Satya_anveshi]

Supporters of Baitullah, Bhittani clash; 70 dead

TANK: Fierce clashes broke out between supporters of Baitullah Mehsud and rival Turkistan Bhittani in the Frontier Region of Jandola on Wednesday and each side claimed inflicting heavy casualties on the other.

According to sources, militants loyal to Baitullah attacked Bhittani’s men in Soor Gher area and torched 33 houses. They said that seven supporters of Bhittani were killed and 15 captured.

Bhittani’s men claimed to have killed over 50 attackers. (According to AP news agency, at least 70 fighters were killed in the clash.

Two intelligence officials said that militants used rockets, mortars and anti-aircraft guns against Turkistan’s men. The officials, who cited wireless intercepts from the area, confirmed that at least 70 people had been killed.

Bhittani said that 90 fighters were killed and more than 40 houses destroyed.

There was no way to independently confirm the death toll, as the fighting was taking place in a remote, mountainous area that is offlimits to journalists.)

A senior official confirmed the clash but did not give details about casualties. ‘The local administration has no writ in the area and we have no information about the number of casualties,’ he added.

Commander Bhittani, who enjoys the backing of the government, has emerged as the main challenger to the Baitullah group in Tank and Jandola.

The sources said the Bhittani group had eliminated the Baitullah group in Tank city and adjacent areas.

[pgbhat]

insight: Project India? —Ejaz Haider

India does have a Pakistan problem but it is not about the “nature of Pakistani society and Establishment”; it is because India has an India problem, not just in relation to Pakistan but vis-à-vis all its neighbours
Here’s my agreement with Shekhar Gupta (“A new Project Pakistan”; The Indian Express; August 8 ): I would not just want a green card or H-1B to migrate. I would like all of Pakistan, population and territory, to up and leave. Why take territory along? Because it’s great land, but in a lousy district.

In a decent neighbourhood, perhaps somewhere in Europe, Pakistan would be a big country. Next to India? Canada to the US, or worse, Mexico to the US — now, Egypt to Israel, forget the irony of size in that case.

Here’s the good news. India does want to live in peace with its neighbours, not just Pakistan. The bad news is it wants peace only on its own terms.

But let’s be more specific about India’s case: Pakistan is trouble; a rogue state with a rogue army that wouldn’t let India “leverage its many newfound strengths”. There is “longing” in India over how to solve this Pakistan problem; how to leave it behind or aside “or, in a more perfect world, even [take] it along as a partner, not adversary”. Not possible, perhaps because Pakistan is configured in the wrong way.

Corollary: Pakistan is congenitally bad. Dilemma: that, if accepted, would also mean India can do zip, zilch and zero to make Pakistan right. In the real world does such reasoning make policy? No.

Notice the emphasis. Pakistan must do this, that etc. The onus of change is on Pakistan. India and the world have to find some way of getting Pakistan to behave, realise the folly of its actions, maybe throw it some crumbs, toys for its uniformed boys, development money and so on.

Deconstruct this, shall I? India sits there, sage-like, shaking its head over the misconduct of a small brash boy who is always too big for his boots. Sometimes it is about the folly of Partition; at times it is about the ideology of Pakistan; now it is Pakistan’s military-bureaucratic combine and its hold over that country. India also has a Pakistan problem because Pakistan has a Kashmir problem.

Shekhar Gupta is spot-on when he talks about “creative thinking”. Let’s try it.

How about India begin to put Pakistan’s “perfidious” behaviour in a “context” given that Gupta himself has identified the “burdens of history” which impact further the tyranny of geography and in turn create more bad history?

Putting things in context is generally accepted to be helpful for problem-solving. For, at least in a moment of realisation, we can also feel the feathery touch of empathy.

Gupta’s “impatient” American interlocutor was right when he said that “‘the Indians only talk to us about five LeT guys who were caught infiltrating last week’ rather than engage on what to do with Pakistan”. He was implying just this. LeT is not the problem because it is operating — or is made to — in a context. Change the context and LeT will disappear. But no, it is much easier to talk and talk incessantly about LeT because that can dodge the real issue(s). {as usual shifting the blame on India}

Of course the context can be changed in many ways, not all of which can be benign. India could kick Pakistan’s backside and alter the ground realities once and for all. But if that is not possible — and as a student of military affairs I don’t think it is, at least in the near future — then perhaps a new approach, more benign and fruitful for both sides, may be in order.

Should this approach, however, be based on an Egypt-Israel model; can it be? I have grave doubts. Gupta has been a Pakistan hand for a long time. If he almost laments that there was no Hosni Mubarak “parked in the closet” to replace Pakistan’s Sadat, then I am not too hopeful about those in India who haven’t had much of an opportunity to visit and/ or study Pakistan.

There is also a contradiction here, one deeply ironic. On the one hand the perfidy presumably flows from the military-bureaucratic combine. On the other the democratic transition is supposed to have first thrown out a Sadat, then blocked the way of a Mubarak and, resultantly, by that logic, thwarted the Egypt-Israel-like peace that was almost reaching fruition.

India does have a Pakistan problem but it is not about the “nature of Pakistani society and Establishment”; it is because India has an India problem, not just in relation to Pakistan but vis-à-vis all its neighbours. It follows the realist model for itself and seeks Lockean cooperation from others. That is what needs to change before we can be creative and think of new ways to partner each other even in an imperfect world.

This article originally appeared in The Indian Express. Ejaz Haider is Consulting Editor of The Friday Times and Op-Ed Editor of Daily Times. He can be reached at sapper@dailytimes.com.pk

[pgbhat]

Islam khatre mein hain

DT edit
Second Editorial: Indian movies on cable TV

The PMLQ MNA Ms Bushra Rehman became hysterical in the National Assembly Tuesday, as she attacked the projection of Indian movies by cable TV in Pakistan. Three other party members joined her in describing these films as “an assault on Pakistani culture and Islamic religious values”. She also exploited Pakistani textbook nationalism to the hilt as she described the movies as a projection of “alien” Indian culture.

She roped in the general public, claiming that they were concerned over this cultural assault especially during the upcoming month of Ramadan. Nothing gives the National Assembly the jitters like an appeal to “Islamic culture and Pakistani identity”. The members remained impassive though uneasy but it gave Maulana Fazlur Rehman of the JUI a chance to ask the government not only to ban Indian movies but also all other movies “to save the country”. {In P'stan one has embrace Islam completely or remain kufr}

Once you start on the theme of “Islamic culture” you are sure to land in the inquisition of the Pakistani clergy, the generally rich-feudal parliamentarians creeping back into their bedrooms to watch films on CDs, and the rest asking no questions about what alternative entertainment can be given to the common man. If you go on with the debate, then music is banned and uncovered women on TV are banned too.

Should the state start doing to cable TV what the Taliban did to the music shops in the Tribal Areas? In Swat, all the CD shops are back on line and people are enjoying Indian movies without becoming anti-Pakistan or anti-Islam. Ms Bushra Rehman is being hypocritical. She didn’t question her leader General Pervez Musharraf when he allowed Indian movies to be shown in Pakistani cinemas.

[sanjaykumar]

So I guess the world has a world problem to, else why would they want India to put Pakistan out of their misery.

India might be getting a good chuckle on the side. The west that supported Pakistan for 50 years has a little of India's Pakistan problem-and they get to handle Pakistan. Last I checked the Afghanistan body count did not include any Indian soldiers. Oh Wicked schadenfreude. Oh Wicked Hindu India eh, Ejaz mian?

[AmitR]

US to use funds for aid on ‘super embassy’ project

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/daw ... ject-za-09

[NRao]

I am amazed that Pakistan is not tired of Pakistan.

[Hari Seldon]

I am amazed that Pakistan is not tired of Pakistan.

I am amazed that you are amazed.

[Satya_anveshi]

I didn't see any more updates or interviews from aunty Naseem Zehra after her sessions with certain baloch leaders.

Anybody heard anything?

[arnab]

Not sure if this has been posted

In A La-La Land
Some of the most popular Urdu Columnists in Pakistan seem to function in a world of their own creation—it challenges rational thinking.

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?261284

Dr. A Q Khan of Kahuta fame writes regularly in both Jang and its sister English journal, The News. In his Urdu column on April 29, Dr. Khan claimed that President Obama had no authority of his own, that he was in fact totally controlled by the white men who stood to his right and left in photographs. He then asserted, without naming his sources, that President Obama had once asked that the Ka’ba should be destroyed, for that would put an end to all the conflicts the world was faced with. When I checked the English version I found it contained no mention of the Ka’ba. On inquiry, an editor at The News informed me that it had been deleted because it was based on hearsay. Apparently, hearsay was all right so long it was in Urdu.

What happened to all that EnMo that Kissinger had been trying via Gola?

[archan]

What happened to all that EnMo that Kissinger had been trying via Gola?

Lutf-e-GUBO, lazzat-e-Gola bahut der nahi rahti,
Kuttay ki poonch, kabhi seedhi nahi hoti.

[SSridhar]

Some of the most popular Urdu Columnists in Pakistan seem to function in a world of their own creation—it challenges rational thinking.

arnab, not some, but all the Urdu newspapers/magazines in Pakistan thrive on falsehood. They are the most effective brainwashers in Cuckoo Land, more than even the clergy. Each newspaper/columnist has to outdo the other in order to survive in that dog-eat-dog world of Urdu press in TSP. The Urdu press is the true pulse of the Land of the Purest.

[vera_k]

Terrorists in Pakistan making dirty bomb says analyst

[Chinmayanand]

What happened to all that EnMo that Kissinger had been trying via Gola?

Lutf-e-GUBO, lazzat-e-Gola bahut der nahi rahti,
Kuttay ki poonch, kabhi seedhi nahi hoti.

bliss to explain who is kutta here, Kissinger or Gola or Both ...

[Aditya_V]

arnab wrote
In A La-La Land
Some of the most popular Urdu Columnists in Pakistan seem to function in a world of their own creation—it challenges rational thinking.

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?261284

From the above article.

Safir Ahmad Siddiqui, not a regular columnist, wrote a piece in Jang on May 17, denouncing any possible attempt on the part of the government to allow transit facilities to India in its trade with Afghanistan. Mr. Siddiqui reminded the readers: "what the Indians did to the Pakistanis POWs after the war of 1971-2 was of such cruel nature that historians forgot what Hitler and Mussolini had done in their prison camps."

This is how mercy shown is misrepresented. Looks like only way to get respect in TSP is murder them like Ghori, Ghazni and the Pathans.

[kenop]

bliss to explain who is kutta here, Kissinger or Gola or Both ...

I see plural of kutta though plural of poonch is not present.

[Raj Malhotra]

Pakistanis shot at Somali mosque

At least five Pakistanis have been killed in a dawn attack at a mosque in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region, witnesses say.
Armed men in masks entered a mosque in Galkayo and ordered six Pakistanis and one Somali outside, they said.
The gunmen then opened fire, killing five men and seriously injuring two.
Those targeted are said to be preachers from a religious sect. Puntland has been tense recently, but correspondents the reason for the attack is unclear.
The Pakistanis are thought to be missionaries from an Islamic sect called Tabliq who arrived in Galkayo on Tuesday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8196740.stm

Stitch in Time saves Nine

[Chinmayanand]

Army running Pakistan's foreign policy: Asma Jahangir

KARACHI: The Pakistan Army is running the foreign policy of the country and dictating vital policy decisions as it continued to be in power in

the country, Asma Jahangir, the chief of Pakistan's top rights watchdog, has said.

"I don't want to be pessimistic," said Jahangir, the noted Pakistani lawyer and social activist.

"We can deal with it, but we should not only insist on the transition to democracy but democratic forces should deepen the process further," she was quoted as saying by The News daily today.

Jahangir, the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), said the military was still in power as it is not only running the foreign policy of the country, but also dictating vital policy decisions.

Apart from ruthlessness of the army that we witnessed in former East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) or were witnessing today in Balochistan, the military didn't even have a clear perception of the major issues that confronts the country, Jahangir said at a lecture on "Democracy and Human Rights in Pakistan: A dead-end" .

The noted lawyer regretted that while Pakistan was overspending on external security, it had no funds to ensure internal security and the police was in a bad shape, the report in the Pakistani daily said.

Speaking at the Aga Khan University here, she said that a media cell was working to improve the image of spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and advising young journalists "what to write and what not to write".

One of the major obstacles Pakistan was facing today, Jahangir said, was the lack of a leadership. She claimed the civil bureaucracy had been sidelined because the military perceived it to be the only force that could counter-balance it.

Trying to analyse the separatist problem in the restive Balochistan province, the leading rights activist said the seat allocations in parliament for Balochistan was unfair. Balochistan was given 14 seats against the 14 percent population of the country while FATA having 2.5 of the country's total population was given 12 seats.

"Recently there has been some development work in Balochistan, but it has not been carried out according to the wishes of the people of Balochistan, and the only set of people benefiting from the work are the Pakistan Army," Jahangir was quoted as saying by the Daily Times newspape

[RajeshA]

‘Dominant power’ India, major factor in region: Holbrooke: by Arun Kumar: IANS

Washington, Aug 13 (IANS) The US is keeping New Delhi informed about its policies in Afghanistan-Pakistan region as it looks at India as a “dominant power” in South Asia, a major factor in the region.

“The Indians are a major factor in the region. They are a dominant power,” US special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke said at a panel discussion on Af-Pak region organised by a Washington think tank Thursday.

“Improving US-India relations has been a continual goal of the last three administrations, all of whom have been successful in that regard, I think starting with President (Bill) Clinton’s term,” he said.

India was outside his portfolio, Holbrooke said, but “I am in constant touch with the embassy. I meet with the Indians continually, the New Delhi’s ambassador in Washington (Meera Shankar) and I have had dinner recently. She and I are in close touch.”

However, he has no plan to visit India on his second trip to the Af-Pak region this month over the weekend. “I will go to India whenever the schedule permits,” Holbrooke said.

Leaving Saturday, he will visit Pakistan first and then Afghanistan. From there he will fly to Istanbul for a friend of democratic Pakistan meeting, and then return to Afghanistan to be on the scene during elections.

What is that? When did Flop FoP become FoDP?

[arun]

X Post.

Comments of Archbishop Adolfo Yllana, the Vatican's apostolic nuncio in Pakistan, in an August 12 interview with the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano:

PAKISTAN-CHRISTIANS Aug-13-2009 (450 words) xxxi

Vatican nuncio fears more anti-Christian violence in Pakistan

……………….. "In practice, the law against blasphemy has become an easy instrument to accuse Christians of any type of illegality. It's enough, for example, that a Christian doesn't pay a debt for him to be accused of blasphemy -- and from there, it's a short step to violence," Archbishop Yllana said.

"I'm afraid that unless there is a change there will be more violence. Above the heads of Christians and followers of other religious minorities hangs the sword of Damocles, represented by the blasphemy law," he said. Church leaders in Pakistan have appealed for the abrogation of the law.

The archbishop said in recent years there had been a worsening of relations between Muslims and all religious minorities in Pakistan. Acts of violence and intolerance against religious minorities are common and are often unreported by the media, he said.

He blamed some Muslim clerics for inciting the violence.

"In the mosques of some cities the imams use megaphones to broadcast diatribes against the minorities. The (Muslim) faithful get worked up and become violent," he said. …………….

Catholic News

[RajeshA]

More of the same for Baitullah's fighters by Syed Saleem Shahzad: Asia Times Online

Some analysts say the TTP, the main Taliban militant umbrella group in Pakistan primarily in conflict with the central government, will fall apart and that its various groups will operate as stand-alone outfits.

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (Taliban Movement of Pakistan) embraces militants from Afghanistan and Pakistan who have pledged their allegiance to Taliban leader Mullah Omar. They therefore call themselves Taliban, although they have imbibed al-Qaeda's Takfiri ideology, which means the state of Pakistan is Darul Harb (a place of war) and the Pakistan army, being an ally of the United States, is heretical.

The TTP does not have a formal infrastructure, such as a central treasury, arsenal or war room, despite this being reported by the Inter-Services Public Relations Department.

Instead, various warlords with independent resources and strategies work for the same cause and share the same ideology. Occasionally, they cooperate with one another.

The binding force between these various groups is ideology and it is possible that should Baitullah be dead, they will not select a new chief and work even more independently, but pledging Mullah Omar as their figurehead and al-Qaeda as their ideology. There is no chance Fazlullah will lay down his arms.

The fact is, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan is already a shadowy, loose nexus of essentially independent groups without too many formal structures and hierarchies. As such it is a difficult group to pin down, let alone destroy, and this will remain the case with or without Baitullah.

No need to worry.

[RajeshA]

Guessing games over Taliban leader by Syed Saleem Shahzad: Asia Times Online

They quickly agreed that Abdullah Mehsud, who was injured when the security forces tried to rescue the engineers, would be declared dead. His comrades issued statements to the media that he had been buried in Shawal in North Waziristan.

He laid low for several months and the army did not move into the tribal areas. Abdullah Mehsud then continued his activities until he committed suicide last year after being surrounding by the security forces in Balochistan province.

Al-Qaeda used this tactic with Osama bin Laden when the US invested heavily all around Pakistan and Afghanistan to catch him after he fled Afghanistan in late 2001. By 2005, several special forces operations were close on his trail. At this point, he disappeared off the map, only leaving in his wake speculation about whether he was dead or alive.

Rashid Rauf, a dual citizen of Britain and Pakistan who was arrested in Pakistan in connection with the trans-Atlantic aircraft plot in August 2006. He escaped and went to North Waziristan. London was incensed and turned the screws on Islamabad, which in turn rounded up scores of Rauf's family and jihadi colleagues. In November 2008, news was leaked that he had been killed in a drone attack and the pressure was off. Asia Times Online is aware that Rauf is very much alive and kicking in North Waziristan.

with the drones buzzing around and the army almost on the march against him, Baitullah might have decided to simply take the heat out of the situation by disappearing, much as Abdullah Mehsud did.

Next time you are in Copa Cabana, look around and see if you can spot Baitullah!

[ramana]

So all these articles mean that Baitullah Mehsud is still around? What does this mean to the credibility of US NSA who said on CNN that BM was droned out!

[RajeshA]

Next time General James Jones would be wiser and not put his credibility on the line based on hear-say from his Pakistani friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As one can remember, there were reports of some contacts between Baitullah Mehsud and GoP just before this drone-strike.

One way to look at it is that the GoP was double-crossing Baitullah even as they were negotiating.

Another way to look at it is that Pakistani Army dreaded going into the Waziristans, and wanted to get America off its back. But as long as Baitullah was alive, Pakistani Army had no excuse to waver. The only way out was if Baitullah was taken out beforehand. That would "end the imperative" for an onslaught. What better way to get rid of Baitullah, than with his cooperation. So Baitullah and GoP reached a deal, that he would disappear for a couple of years, become a ghost like Osama bin Laden, and in exchange GoP will not attack the Mehsud tribe.

We all saw the drama between Rehman Malik and the TTP. Both of them were challenging the other to provide proof of dead or alive. The confusion was good because each side could carry on with their version of truth. We will see in time to come, that TTP will also not nominate a new Emir to lead them. One explanation some would give is that TTP has chosen not to do so, because all the warlords have fallen apart and so has TTP. Others would say that TTP wanted to avoid a leadership battle so they have chosen to not elect anybody. The truth could just as well be that with Baitullah alive, TTP will not be choosing a new leader. My hunch is that TTP will not be choosing a new leader.

By going underground, Baitullah can catch up on sex and try for a male heir. He can also take some time off for his medical condition (he has diabetes). Baitullah may also have got a fat cheque from the GoP to go underground, and some promises on share in power.

The confusion is good for America as well. It can show some success to the Americans. It can also score some brownie points with the Pakistanis themselves. It allows the GoP to try to impress upon the Pakistanis that America is on their side and has decided to hit out at a Pakistani's enemy. This would allow GoP to give the Americans far more facilities and services. The American Embassy in Islamabad with 300+ Marines being a case in point. Moreover Pakistan would not be obliged to stop the drone strikes as they would be accepted by the Pakistani public as being beneficial to Pakistani interests.

The only way the Rehman Malik and General James Jones can give such categorical answers with such a level of confidence in Baitullahs death is if they checked out the site of the strike and sifted through the debris, and made some DNA analysis. There were no reports that Pakistan or America went closer to have a look at it, nor did Rehman Malik claimed so much. The other way is if they had an understanding with Baitullah!

Just my two paise!

[NRao]

X-posting:

China calls halt to Gwadar refinery

Wonder what is the latest on Baluchistan.

[pgbhat]

Pakistan ka matlab kya? ---- Ayesha Ijaz Khan

It is our greatest challenge to build a country tolerant and reflective of Islamic principles resulting in societal benefit, and avoiding misuse of religion to advance the political motives of vigilante groups. For this, we do not need to look to the West, and nor do we need to look to the Arabs. We are the children of a rich heritage. Poets and mystic saints like Bulle Shah taught us to soul search, and later, the Pakistan Movement and our great Quaid-e-Azam laid the foundation for an inclusive democracy. Pakistan needs to look no further than its own history to find its much-needed meezan and reclaim not just its founding purpose, but also its true potential.

Another Aug 14 ---- Qamar Zaman Kaira

Another Independence Day has dawned seeking from us the account of 63 years of the emergence of Pakistan. Pakistanis drew inspirations from what the Quaid-e-Azam told the first Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947, at Karachi upon being elected its first president. "… We should wholly and solely concentrate on the well being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor…. No matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his colour, caste or creed, he is first, second and last a citizen of this state with equal rights, privileges and obligations, there is no end to progress you will make," was the first and the foremost message of the father of the nation.

62 years on, 'the state is responsible' ---- Ahmad Rafay Alam

It is clear that social change is often brought about by technological innovation. The moral brigade never forgets to remind us, for example, that the root cause of ills in our society is the Western and Indian entertainment constantly broadcast on satellite and cable television. We should acknowledge writer, poet and PML-Q's Bushra Rehman who, no doubt having resolved the other problems of the world, used her opportunity as representative of the people to lecture us on how Indian films are somehow "spoiling our youth."

I am not advocating commercial Indian cinema. Most of it is tedious. What I am talking of is how changes in society, caused by changes in technology, can be influenced by political ideology. Last week, I wrote about how sociologist Manuel Castells suggested that the personal computer could not have been invented in Soviet Russia, that it could only have been invented by a people whose political ideology leaned towards individualism and private property. It's as if the political ideology creates the space in which technological innovation could take place.

Technological innovation and social change doesn't occur in isolation.

It is deeply linked with the political ideology of a people. With people like Ms Bushra Rehman, MPA (Reserved Seats), constantly informing us that singing, dancing and the television that brings them to us will be our ruin, it's not surprising that we have no locally manufactured televisions. A conservative political ideology clearly makes technological innovation difficult.

Aug 14 and the perpetually carping brigade ---- Ayaz Amir

We criticise the army, very rightly, for its coups and shall do so again if, God forbid, it repeats its past follies in that direction. But when our soldiers do a good job they deserve to hear of it, without qualification, from our lips. After the 1948 Kashmir war (which gave us what we have of Kashmir) this is the only necessary and useful war the army is fighting and, thanks to the heavens above and its own efforts, it is winning.

[pgbhat]

Beyond borders The News edit

The Khan of Kalat has become the latest to talk of the possibility of autonomy for Balochistan – or parts of the province. His words follow similar sentiments expressed by the controversial men who represent Baloch nationalism. These people are traitors for some, heroes for others. The fires fuelled by the nationalist quest though burn on in the province. The killing of two policemen in Quetta appears to be the latest act of violence stemming from these unfortunate motives. Under the present government there have so far been meaningless comments about beginning a reconciliation process there. Anger in the province has been on the rise in recent months as a result of several murders of key nationalists and comments made by people including the interior minister in the Senate.

Film crazy

It is apparently necessary to have one's reality interface disconnected before taking up the position of MNA. Two of our parliamentary representatives who have had the necessary surgery are MNAs Bushra Rahman of the PML-Q and Maulana Fazlur Rahman of the JUI-F. This pair of stalwarts are practically frothing at the mouth over the screening of Indian films on cable TV channels, which will apparently lead to a wholesale breakdown in the nation's moral fibre, widespread rioting, the complete collapse of the national banking system and severe headaches. In order to avoid the implosion of civilization as we know it, they suggest that PEMRA - that well-known bearer of the chalice in which lies the very soul of national morality - should ban the transmission by the cable companies of all Indian films with immediate effect.

<SNIP>

Film generally and Indian films specifically are the mainstay of what is left of our entertainment industry. The 'common man' has few choices when it comes to recreation and entertainment, and given our family-oriented culture where 'going out' to have ones fun is an option for very few then home-based entertainment has become the norm. We share many aspects of our culture with India. Film is one way of keeping a cultural bridge open, and if we censor that what are we left with? A cultural desert to match the one that covers much of our landmass. Rather than attempting to strangle the celluloid snake of Indian film our MNAs would be better employed lobbying for our own film industry, pushing for better-quality television and promoting the performing arts generally.

[Vivek_A]

TFT is out


Get Musharraf!

Mr Nawaz Sharif has recently upped his campaign to hold General (retd) Pervez Musharraf “accountable” for staging a coup d’etat in 1999, thereby committing High Treason as defined by Article 6 of the Constitution. The PMLN’s leader of the opposition in the national assembly, Chaudhry Nisar, has been making fiery speeches exhorting the PPP government to initiate a case of treason against General Musharraf. So the PPP faces a political dilemma. It cannot afford to be seen as protecting an unpopular former dictator. But it also cannot afford to go back on its word to the Pakistani military leadership and the international community of providing safe passage to General Musharraf. What happens now?

Mr Asif Zardari was happy to edge General Musharraf out of power when the popular tide turned against him last year, and occupy the presidential palace himself. This, despite the deal brokered by the Americans and British in 2007 between General Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto to open up space for the PPP to return to power. But Mr Zardari was also obliged by the international intermediaries to guarantee safe passage to General Musharraf – after all, they had been staunch supporters and persuaded him to accommodate the PPP.

General Ashfaq Kayani also didn’t want anything less than that for his former chief. He owed General Musharraf for handpicking him and he didn’t relish the prospect of the army being dragged through the mud by association with its former chief. Indeed, he had signaled his position by allowing General Musharraf to stay on in Army House in Rawalpindi long after he left the presidency.

In due course, General Musharraf agreed to play by the rules of the game, lecturing all over the world from an uncontroversial and patriotic “national interest” point of view and stopping short of ruffling any feathers back home.

Now certain developments have changed the situation and encouraged Nawaz Sharif to lash out at General Musharraf. First, the restoration of the judges has given a fillip to Mr Sharif to advance his political and personal agendas. He has benefited enormously from a string of judgments handed down by the supreme court under CJP Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. In fact, the SC’s declaration of the second PCO as unconstitutional, followed by a wholesale sacking of over 100 judges appointed by General Musharraf and President Zardari, has paved the way for a reconstruction of the higher judiciary from among lawyers and judges who are allied to the CJP or inclined to be pro-PMLN and anti-PPP. Therefore Mr Sharif knows he has a powerful ally in the institution of the judiciary, emboldening him to seek political advantage.

Second, Mr Sharif’s attempts to decimate the PML-Q have not yielded too much fruit. A rump PMLQ still poses a long-term threat to his ambitions because it can ally with the PPP and thwart him at any stage. Although the PMLQ’s leadership is discredited and is internally squabbling, the faction could conceivably benefit at some stage in the future from political input from General Musharraf as long as he remains a credible figure in powerful sections of the public, especially among the pro-West business and urban upper middle classes who find “the din and corruption of democracy” tiresome and like the country to be ruled with an iron hand. Even if revenge is an issue, Mr Sharif is only protecting his self-interest by ensuring that General Musharraf doesn’t become a political player and take a slice out of his popularity.

Third, Mr Sharif reckons that if he can put pressure on Mr Zardari to prosecute General Musharraf he might drive a wedge between the army and the PPP, destabilising the Zardari regime and opening the route for his own re-entry into power.

Mr Zardari’s response is predictable. His prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, says he will move only if parliament were to pass a “unanimous” resolution seeking General Musharraf’s trial for High Treason. Since this is well nigh impossible – given the opposition of the PMLQ and MQM to any such move because it would drag his “aiders and abettors” in the army high command and among the ruling politicians of the ancien regime into the net as required by the law – the PPP is sitting pretty.

Indeed, in order to forestall any attempt by General Musharraf to return to Pakistan and provoke a bigger storm, the PPP government may well have nudged a nondescript lawyer to file a case in Islamabad against General Musharraf for ordering the home-detention of the SC judges in 2007. An obliging lower court judge has ordered General Musharraf’s arrest for an offense with a maximum punishment of three years. This cunning step is probably meant to keep General Musharraf out of the country.

Will it fly? Mr Sharif is in a Bonapartist mode because of his popularity, much as he was after his heavily mandated stint in power from 1997 to 1999 when he sacked one army chief that he had inherited and then tried to sack another that he had handpicked. The media is with him, baying for Musharraf’s blood. But the judiciary has passed the buck to parliament and the PPP is not going to risk angering the army. So Article 6 will have to remain in cold storage.

[bart]

http://www.daily.pk/threatened-indian-d ... them-8456/

Indians under threat: With the boom of the media industry in Pakistan the Indians are under threat. The Pakistani market is huge and untapped. The Indians are feeling insecure and want to crush it before it can grow into a formidable force. To do this they have paid magazines, websites and newspapers to slander upcoming artists.

This is shameful. Pakistani fashion journalists should be playing a positive role and use all their forces to back up its creative industry. Instead, local dailies are carrying planted articles maligning the one jewellery designer who is making waves in New York, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Not sure whether to or

[pgbhat]

^^^^

For the nth time .....Pakistan has to be Balkanized. No other solution.

[bart]

^^^^

For the nth time .....Pakistan has to be Balkanized. No other solution.

Dont worry, have curry...or any of these.

11. Vinegar ( سرکہ ):

A food Prophet Muhammad (SAW) used to eat with olive oil. [That's now a fashion in elite Italian Restaurants]

The prophet invented Vinaigrette apparently, the same way that Al Gore invented the Internet.

[Sanju]

^^^^Did you notice the name of the author of that article? --> Abhijay Patel