Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan (TSP): 15 Jan 2012

[RajeshA]

Here are my views and why I currently support the intact Pakistan model.

<snip>

If the Pakjabi army and the US retain their current relationship they can pretty much guide the shape of those areas even if some areas are split away. A United Pakjab (90 million plus) controlling Karachi and allied with the USA would be a very dangerous thing for anyone else in the area. A Pakjabi army that "cedes" Gilgit to China could "cede" parts of Baluchistan near the Iran border to the USA and then earn the US's eternal gratitude and support against India.

1) Why would Pakjabi Army ever think of reducing its own area of operational freedom (whole of Pakistan) by allowing some regions to split from Pakistan?

2) And if they would not allow it, why would the Pakjabi Army be "co-operating" with USA in guiding the shape of those areas?

So the scenario doesn't make sense!

3) The question arises whether those regions can become independent without US approval! My answer is no!

Nations have two aspects - control and outside-recognition. Unlike Bangladesh which was on the other side of the Subcontinent, and Pakjabis had no hope of reversing their loss of control, in Baluchistan this is not the case. Pakjabi Army even if it loses de-facto control on the ground, can walk in anytime again in the future. So loss of control is temporary, and in areas of Pakistan, Pakjabi Army is often willing to cede control on the ground - simply because they know they can retake control anytime they need it.

As regaining control in Bangladesh was impossible, USA agreed to recognition of Bangladesh even if it was against its will and terms of its alliance with Pakistanis. That scenario cannot be repeated in Baluchistan.

If USA does not agree to independence of Baluchistan, then any declaration of Independence would go unrecognized in Europe, North America, Oceania, China and possibly the whole Ummah also (except say for Oman). And at anytime in the future Pakjabi Army can move in again.

So USA will have to be on board with this.

And if USA is on board and helps in realizing Baluchistan's Independence, and Pakjabi Army is dead set against loss of control over its areas, how can one speak of cooperation between the two countries in shaping the split?!!!!!

An intact Pakistan where we attempt to pacify Pakjab and protect the concept of Pakistan for the sake of historic unity of the subcontinent can be pulled off if the cards are played well. Baluchis and Pashtuns can get their due as Pakistan is pacified. I want india to have a reduced threat from the Pakjabi army which is the main ally of the USA. I want India to have land access to Baluchistan, Iran and Afghanistan via Pakjab. US meddling and ability to meddle needs to be reduced, not increased. Indians do not need to plan for something that benefits the US more and India less in the name of Baluchi freedom.

That is not simply status-quo GoI policy, but it is jumbled thinking in the GoI and takes one back to the square one in analyzing India's options with Pakistan.

The Truth is: Pakjabis would come to detente, and eventually to an entente with India, when all other avenues have been closed! We are their last choice!

There is per se nothing wrong with dealing with Pakjabis. But one would get only trickery, play for time and taqiyyah from them if they see some remote chance of going it alone!

The only way to get Pakjabis eating out of our hands, is if all other avenues of power are taken away from them. That means they lose access to Central Asia except through hostile Pushtunistan and Baluchistan. That means access to the sea only through a hostile India-friendly Sindh. That means access to China only through Gilgit-Baltistan which is under Indian control. De-facto Pakjab becomes a land-locked island dependent on sympathy from hostile neighbors and less-than-hostile India.

----------

X-Posted to 'Managing Pakistan's failure' Thread for any elaboration on this issue

[Lalmohan]

so instead of a "string of pearls" - more a "cordon of swine" (to borrow from "pearls before swine")

[arunsrinivasan]

Read in full
Jonathan Kay: The Pakistan problem isn’t just the government. It’s the people

Jonathan Kay Feb 18, 2012 – 1:32 PM ET | Last Updated: Feb 18, 2012 6:15 PM ET

Since the Taliban resurgence began gaining force in 2005, a common refrain in the West has been that Pakistan must “do more” to rein in the jihadis who are drawing support from bases in the borderlands of Balochistan and Waziristan. American officials have made countless visits to Pakistan to deliver variations on this message — with nothing to show for it.

Earlier this year, the BBC disclosed a secret NATO report, based on 27,000 interrogations with captured Taliban and al-Qaeda detainees, concluding that jihadis operating in Afghanistan continue to receive support and instruction from Pakistani military handlers. One interrogated al-Qaeda detainee quoted in the report declared: “Pakistan knows everything. They control everything. I can’t [expletive] on a tree in Kunar without them watching.”

The usual Sunday-Morning-talk-show explanation for this is that Pakistan is hedging its strategic bets: Pakistani military leaders doubt the United States military can tame Afghanistan before American combat forces’ scheduled exit in 2013. And rather than see the country degenerate into absolute chaos (as occurred in the early 1990s, in the wake of the Soviet departure), Pakistani military leaders want to be in position to turn Afghanistan into a semi-orderly Pashtun-dominated client state that provides Islamabad with “strategic depth” against India. And the only way for them to do this is to co-opt the Taliban.

This elaborate Great Game theorizing all makes sense. But there is another, simpler explanation: Most ordinary Pakistanis loathe America — indeed, not only America, but the whole of the non-Muslim world — and are only too happy to support jihad against the NATO forces next door in Afghanistan.

Pakistani support for the Taliban is not just a cynical expression of foreign-policy realpolitik, in other words, but a true expression of grass-roots Pakistani public opinion.

A good indication of what ordinary Pakistanis think comes to us courtesy of a U.S. government-sponsored study called “Connecting the Dots: Education and Religious Discrimination in Pakistan,” recently produced by the U.S.-based International Center for Religion & Diplomacy, in conjunction with an independent Pakistani policy think tank called the Sustainable Development Policy Institute. Together, their researchers conducted an in-depth study of the attitudes toward non-Muslims reflected in 100 sampled Pakistani textbooks, and in interviews with teachers and students at 37 of the country’s public schools and 19 madrassas.

The interviews with teachers were especially telling: This is precisely the stratum of society — literate, educated, middle-class — that one would expect to embrace relatively moderate and enlightened attitudes. But generally speaking, the opposite is true. Almost half of the surveyed public-school teachers did not even know that non-Muslims could become citizens of the Pakistani state. A common theme was that non-Muslim religions are inherently sinister, and that friendly relations between the faiths are worth maintaining only insofar as they can generate opportunities for Muslims to attract converts.

“All of the public-school teachers interviewed believed the concept of jihad to refer to violent struggle, compulsory for Muslims to engage in against the enemies of Islam,” the report concluded. “Only a small number of teachers extended the meaning to include both violent and nonviolent struggle.”

Ironically, despite the negative connotations we associate with the word ‘madrassa,’ many of the surveyed madrassa students and teachers actually displayed a more nuanced understanding of jihad than their public-school counterparts, and even supplied interviewers with religiously-based arguments against suicide bombings. Nevertheless, “in every madrassa textbook reviewed, the concept of jihad has been reduced from its wider meaning of personal development to violent conflict in the name of Islam, considered to be the duty of every Muslim. The Koranic verse commanding the believer to ‘kill the pagans [or infidels or unbelievers] wherever you find them’ is often cited with no context.”

In Pakistani textbooks, the line between mosque and state is virtually non-existent. Students learn that international boundaries – say, between Pakistan and Afghanistan – don’t count for much: “In all the textbooks analyzed, the student is presented a world where concepts such as nation, constitution, legality, standing armies, or multi-lateral organizations – except where they are prescribed by Islamic doctrine of sharia law – do not exist.”

There is some good news in the report: Many of the interviewed Pakistani teachers expressed the belief that, on an interpersonal level, non-Muslim students and their religious practices should be treated with respect. But overall, “as many as 80% of the respondents considered non-Muslims to be enemies of Islam.” This feeling of enmity was justified by reference to a grab bag of complaints against the West: acts of anti-Islamic “blasphemy,” “spreading the evil of alcohol in Muslim society,” “killings of innocent Muslim citizens through missiles,” and “the banning of veils [in France].”

These views help explain why Pakistani mobs often erupt in incendiary spasms of anger not only at drone strikes in Pakistani territory, but also at symbolic slights — such as perceived defilements of the Koran: Bitterness and anger at non-Muslims are deeply felt, widely shared attitudes in Pakistan; and it is doubtful they can be addressed by any sort of goodwill campaign or foreign-policy adjustment. Jihad, if only by proxy, will remain a popular cause for Pakistani governments seeking to promote their Islamic bona fides.

In the long run, in fact, Pakistan (which, let us not forget, has been a declared nuclear power for 14 years) may prove to be an even more dangerous problem than Iran, whose population is well-educated, and not nearly as anti-American as the increasingly unpopular Shiite dictatorship that rules over it.

The Iranian problem can be solved by replacing the regime. In Pakistan, the problem goes much deeper.

New Europe
jkay@nationalpost.com

— Jonathan Kay is Managing Editor for Comment at the National Post, and a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C.

[anupmisra]

Jonathan Kay: The Pakistan problem isn’t just the government. It’s the people

I can’t [expletive] on a tree in Kunar without them watching.”

Not to digress but I wonder which tellibunny "expletive" was "bleeped" out from that comment? What would a tellibunny be doing on a tree that would interest his ISI handler?

[anupmisra]

Paki Taliban Gaining More Resources From Kidnapping
New York Times article.

A campaign of high-profile kidnappings has provided the Pakistani Taliban and its allies with new resources, arming insurgents with millions of dollars, threatening foreign aid programs and galvanizing a sophisticated network of jihadi and criminal gangs whose reach spans the country.

The business is run like a mobster racket.

Wealthy industrialists, academics, Western aid workers and relatives of military officers have been targets in a spree that, since it started three years ago, has spread to every major city, reaching the wealthiest neighborhoods. The victims tend to be wealthy — the police have recovered lists of prominent stock market players from kidnappers — and, often, from vulnerable sectarian minorities such as Hindus, Shiites and Ahmadi Muslims.

Kidnapping is a centuries-old scourge in parts of Pakistan

...sometimes, after meals, the militants would sit in a circle and make funny faces at each other Hey! Hey! Abdul! Look at me. Guess who this reminds you of?

[darshhan]

Re: Baluch independence, I have a question for Altair and others who know the facts on the ground.

My impression was that the Baluch are almost a minority in their own province -- the wiki article on Baluchistan has the Baluch-speaking population at 40%, Pashtu-speaking at 40%, and Brahui-speaking at 20%. So native Baluch are an absolute minority (but a relative majority), and have equal numbers to Pashtuns.

Seems to me that an independent Baluch state is rendered far less feasible given these demographics? Does this factor into discussions about the possibility of a free Baluchistan?

But Baloch and Brahui are both on same side(for independent Balochistan).And many pashtuns are actually refugees from Afghanistan who are concentrated in and around quetta.

[Y. Kanan]

Read in full
Jonathan Kay: The Pakistan problem isn’t just the government. It’s the people

Yup - what I've been saying forever. Pakistan cannot be reformed. Regime change won't work. Limited war won't accomplish anything.

Genocide is the only answer.

Indians are going to have to collectively "man up" and prepare ourselves for this. Any war with Pakistan must be an all-or-nothing affair, with the aim being near-total extermination of the other side's population. Otherwise we might as well just learn to live with Pakistan and get used to terrorist attacks and other mischief, even at levels 10-100x what they are now. I'm confident that my countrymen can learn to accept just about any level of humiliation, so I'm pretty sure passivity will our continued strategy.

[A_Gupta]

Sushant K Singh heads the National Security programme at the Takshashila Institution, and is the editor of Pragati-The Indian National Interest Review.
He writes:
http://in.news.yahoo.com/pakistan-trapp ... 09405.html

Unlike the past, when the U.S. would succumb to Pakistani blackmail rather hastily, the US not only seems unfazed by Pakistani antics but has become aggressive in dealing with Islamabad.

[Pranav]

Genocide is the only answer.

Indians are going to have to collectively "man up" and prepare ourselves for this. Any war with Pakistan must be an all-or-nothing affair, with the aim being near-total extermination of the other side's population. Otherwise we might as well just learn to live with Pakistan and get used to terrorist attacks and other mischief, even at levels 10-100x what they are now. I'm confident that my countrymen can learn to accept just about any level of humiliation, so I'm pretty sure passivity will our continued strategy.

Nice ... once you are exterminated, there's no mischief to worry about.

[ShauryaT]

Read in full
Jonathan Kay: The Pakistan problem isn’t just the government. It’s the people

Yup - what I've been saying forever. Pakistan cannot be reformed. Regime change won't work. Limited war won't accomplish anything.

Genocide is the only answer.

Indians are going to have to collectively "man up" and prepare ourselves for this. Any war with Pakistan must be an all-or-nothing affair, with the aim being near-total extermination of the other side's population. Otherwise we might as well just learn to live with Pakistan and get used to terrorist attacks and other mischief, even at levels 10-100x what they are now. I'm confident that my countrymen can learn to accept just about any level of humiliation, so I'm pretty sure passivity will our continued strategy.

An article written in a foreign publication, by a foreign author in a foreign land becomes justification for a war of annihilation for the Indian people!

I am usually opposed to Shiv's Jihad against NRI's but at times like these sometimes wonder, if he is right?

[Altair]

Genocide is the only answer.

I have no problem with that.Genocide can be done in many ways. Not all ways needs guns and firepower. I have a better plan. Lets starve them until they start to eat each other off. They have started to kill each other and their food supply is on a downward spiral. It is only a matter of time before Pakistan will be food starved nation. Many regions in Pakistan are already reeling under severe water and food problems. Economic strangulation and sanctions will starve the nation. Millions can be killed off in a forced famine.
It has been done before by British on us and it can be repeated here once again,this time by us on Pakis. If it is called a Genocide I have no problem with that. I can sleep with that on my conscious.

[A_Gupta]

An article written in a foreign publication, by a foreign author in a foreign land becomes justification for a war of annihilation for the Indian people!

I am usually opposed to Shiv's Jihad against NRI's but at times like these sometimes wonder, if he is right?

He is.

Straightforward answer to simple question.

[RajeshA]

I have a better plan. Lets starve them until they start to eat each other off. They have started to kill each other and their food supply is on a downward spiral. It is only a matter of time before Pakistan will be food starved nation. Many regions in Pakistan are already reeling under severe water and food problems. Economic strangulation and sanctions will starve the nation. Millions can be killed off in a forced famine.

To be honest, I do have a problem with that. I have a better plan! Give food to the starving population, provided they rethink their loyalties.

Genocide is really for the intellectually lazy! But mass coercion, that is beautiful surgery!

[jrjrao]

Jonathan Kay: The Pakistan problem isn’t just the government. It’s the people

I can’t [expletive] on a tree in Kunar without them watching.”

Not to digress but I wonder which tellibunny "expletive" was "bleeped" out from that comment? What would a tellibunny be doing on a tree that would interest his ISI handler?

Undeleted quote here. Perhaps the Paki ISI handler has full training and a constant need to check if a nearby peeing dick is circumcised or not:

Link

[Altair]

To be honest, I do have a problem with that. I have a better plan! Give food to the starving population, provided they rethink their loyalties.

Genocide is really for the intellectually lazy! But mass coercion, that is beautiful surgery!

Sir jee
Pakistani people are way,way beyond the point of no return. Your plan did strike me initially but it is way past that point. They are thoroughly brainwashed.
Besides, It is not that India need to do anything extra to starve the Pakis. We just need to stop walking the extra mile. Economics would take care of the rest just like gravity!

[RajeshA]

To be honest, I do have a problem with that. I have a better plan! Give food to the starving population, provided they rethink their loyalties.

Genocide is really for the intellectually lazy! But mass coercion, that is beautiful surgery!

Sir jee
Pakistani people are way,way beyond the point of no return. Your plan did strike me initially but it is way past that point. They are thoroughly brainwashed.

It is plain and simple Mafia mentality. You show them you are the bigger boss whose kicks are stronger, they will follow! Besides hunger has a way of being very persuasive!

Besides, It is not that India need to do anything extra to starve the Pakis. We just need to stop walking the extra mile. Economics would take care of the rest just like gravity!

Oh I think, India can walk the extra mile! Based on our purchasing power, we can suck off all the food produce from Pakjab!

[Gus]

somebody mentioned Brahui. Interesting fact - Brahui language is Dravidian. Not Indo-Aryan.

[Brad Goodman]

Pakistani extremists shout 'death to America' at Islamabad rally

[Brad Goodman]

Pakistan Can't Seem to Figure Out Why Bin Laden Was Hiding in Abbottabad

Part of the reason the commission may be late in releasing its findings is that it has spent a great deal of time investigating Pakistanis accused of aiding the Americans in their raid on Abbottabad, rather than on finding out who was hiding Bin Laden. A prime target of this witchhunt has been the now-former Pakistani ambassador in Washington, Husain Haqqani, who stood accused of issuing visas to American intelligence and military personnel. The charge is absurd and baroque on its face, of course; The Pakistanis are, officially at least, cooperating with the U.S. in the fight against al Qaeda (unofficially, elements of the ISI are supporting organizations that kill Americans in Afghanistan), and Pakistan's military budget is underwritten by the American taxpayer, so naturally there is a great deal of military traffic between the U.S. and Pakistan.

[ramana]

Neither has US, so what the point of the above article?

[Brad Goodman]

Purchase of 75 engines by Pakistan Railways

The PPP government’s recent actions could prove the last nail in the coffin of Pakistan Railways, as a cabinet’s special committee has condoned the PPRA rules violations and allowed PR to go for the procurement of 75 locomotives from China at a cost of $105.143 million (Rs12.7 billion).

Sheikh Waqas Akram publicly said that the Chinese company had attached forged and fake performance certificates, which were initially not attached with the tender but were attached with the documents after the National Assembly’s Committee took cognisance of the matter. The certificates had to be issued by the Railway department of the country to whom the locomotives were to be supplied and were to be attested by the Pakistan Embassy functioning in that country but the documents, which were attached, were not attested by the embassy, he said.

[Prem]

I have a better plan. Lets starve them until they start to eat each other off. They have started to kill each other and their food supply is on a downward spiral. It is only a matter of time before Pakistan will be food starved nation. Many regions in Pakistan are already reeling under severe water and food problems. Economic strangulation and sanctions will starve the nation. Millions can be killed off in a forced famine.To be honest, I do have a problem with that. I have a better plan! Give food to the starving population, provided they rethink their loyalties.
Genocide is really for the intellectually lazy! But mass coercion, that is beautiful surgery!

Poaquation solution requires working with multiple methods of eliminations. The falsehood of Poaqhood will go away Truth will shine alone in the end.

[anupmisra]

VooDoo Economics at Work
Major economic targets to be lowered

The government is working on a plan to lower major economic targets for next financial year because of economic difficulties and transfer the responsibility of financing social sector projects to the provincial governments from the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).

Starting with the next budget, the federal government will largely move out of the social sector and it will become the responsibility of the provinces

So what is no longer one's responsibility is therefore no longer one's expense. Right? (Please don't ask where will the provinces come up with the added expense burden. Thats another irrelevant matter). So how does this help the newly invigorated nation's djinn economic numbers? Voila!! (and Presto!!):

The economic (GDP) growth rate for the year is being estimated at five per cent, instead of 5.5 per cent, and the inflation target will be set at 10 per cent

[Prem]

You dont want to know how it is defined in the streets of Punjab
(Picture worth Hajar words, The Missed Kiss Caused Fliss)

Brotherly love

With the recent trip of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai, Pakistan’s ties with its two Western neighbours seem to be strengthening.“The presidents of the three countries, at their summit, agreed to bolster their counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics cooperation despite bitterness during bilateral parleys between Pakistan and Afghanistan over allegations related to Taliban,” a report in this newspaper said on Saturday.Later on Saturday, Pakistan reportedly agreed to launch an operation against banned militant organisation Jandullah on the insistence of the Iranian president.The two countries have also agreed to carry on working on the gas pipeline, with Iran saying it will honour the commitment despite international sanctions against it.Will the two countries be able to turn the gas pipeline project into a success?

[Prem]

http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/019344.html
Those Moderate Muslims!
They don't hate our "freedoms". They hate our guts.

The usual Sunday-Morning-talk-show explanation for this is that Pakistan is hedging its strategic bets: Pakistani military leaders doubt the United States military can tame Afghanistan before American combat forces’ scheduled exit in 2013. And rather than see the country degenerate into absolute chaos (as occurred in the early 1990s, in the wake of the Soviet departure), Pakistani military leaders want to be in position to turn Afghanistan into a semi-orderly Pashtun-dominated client state that provides Islamabad with “strategic depth” against India. And the only way for them to do this is to co-opt the Taliban.
This elaborate Great Game theorizing all makes sense. But there is another, simpler explanation: Most ordinary Pakistanis loathe America — indeed, not only America, but the whole of the non-Muslim world — and are only too happy to support jihad against the NATO forces next door in Afghanistan.

( Pakistani ka Matlab Kya Hai)

[Prem]

[Not to digress but I wonder which tellibunny "expletive" was "bleeped" out from that comment? What would a tellibunny be doing on a tree that would interest his ISI handler?

Undeleted quote here. Perhaps the Paki ISI handler has full training and a constant need to check if a nearby peeing dick is circumcised or not:[/quote]

[Prem]

RAW Sahib, in case of failure to pass the ISI test, Then

[ramana]

Remember mota lota the former PM of TSP! He would have no problem there.

[Philip]

Genocide? NO! We aren't inhuman beings.However,what the US as lost is after the Bin Laden "hit",when Pak was in the international sh*house,was to have brought on the B-52s and pasted the Af-Pak region ad nauseum,where the Taliban hang out.If any Paki troops were also caught in the carnage,the better for it to teach them also a lesson not to double-cross Uncle Sam. This is where BO,who must be congratulated for taking out Bin Laden from under the noses of his Paki minders,failed to deliver the "coup-de-grace" to Pak,to bring its military rulers to their knees.Knowing that they were in the cross-hairs of the US,the military/ISI have now regrouped and are hiding themselves amidst a whipped up brainwashed population,fed on an anti-US diet,have widening the base of targets who will have to be despatched in the future,making it more difficult for the US to pursue a military option against Pak should it become neccessary.

It is only a spanking and sound defeat that brings the Paki military to its senses.Unless they suffer catastrophic military losses across the board,and are totally disgraced in the eyes of their population,they will continue their global Islamist terror campaign,which will one day given the increasing lunatics at the helm of Paki affairs,inevitably have a nuclear dimension."Appeasement today,holocaust tomorrow?" Has the US learnt nothing from the lessons of WW2?

[Satya_anveshi]

Interview with TTP leader Wali-ur-Rehman Mehsud

Press TV: Pakistan's Baluchistan province is going through sectarian violence nowadays. It is being said that the attacks follow the Taliban style and have support of the Taliban militants. What do you have to say about it? Are you supporting the extremist groups in Baluchistan?

Mehsud: Let me make this clear that our war against the Pakistan government and its armed forces is a fight on ideologies. We have never said that we want to break Pakistan nor we have any intention of doing so. We are part of this country and defending it is our responsibility.

Therefore, any act by any particular sect especially in Baluchistan is not associated to us in any way nor do we have any contacts with them. We have our separate operations in Baluchistan and its surrounding areas. We have our strong presence in the Baluchistan province.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan does not need such a support of such sectarian matter or organizations which are far from our ideology.

Press TV: Afghan Taliban have announced of their peace talks with the United States. What is the point of view of the Pakistani Taliban on that?

Mehsud: In this regard, I would like to make this clear that Hafiz Mullah Mohammad Omar Mujahid is our Amir-ul-Momineen and following him is our responsibility. We completely support his policies and we think it’s a positive way forward.

Americans along with their NATO forces came into Afghanistan 10 years ago to give only two options to the Taliban which were either to surrender or to be ready to die . But the world is seeing that their mission has failed.

For the past two years, they have been trying to get Taliban to peace talks. Now, Taliban have opened up an office in Qatar for active contacts. But we think that talking with the Americans on peace seems to be a non-reachable destination because the negative picture that the world has for the Taliban is not how Taliban are actually are.

We do not look for a share in the government or power, but we want an Islamic ideology for which hundreds of thousands of lives have been sacrificed. That is why there are way too many complications for these talks to succeed. The Americans and the NATO forces are trying to hide their defeat in Afghanistan by this so that their defeat in Afghanistan can be overshadowed by the so-called peace talks process.

They are trying to change the name “defeat” to “dialogue” in Afghanistan. The Americans have failed in all their actions since the last 10 years in Afghanistan; this failed attempt will also not bring them any success Inshallah and they will never be able to over shadow their defeat with anything.

Press TV: There were reports that TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud has died in a drone strike. Is it true?

Mehsud: The respected Amir Hakimullah is alive and fine. Such false reports have surfaced in the media before but all of them have been false. I have personally met him a couple of days back and he is perfectly fine and alive.

[Satya_anveshi]

Turi Bangash Tribes of Parachinar - between the devil (Taliban) and the deep blue (Paki state)

The youth argued that the people of Parachinar have faced four years of terrorism in which more than 1,500 Turi Bangash tribesmen have been murdered and over 5,000 have been injured. Furthermore, they argued that the Thall Parachinar Road was closed only for anti-Taliban Turi Bangash tribes but opened for both security forces and Taliban fleeing to Orakzai and Waziristan.

The protesters demanded that the alleged mastermind of the suicide attack, Taliban Commander Fazal Saeed Haqani should be hanged and given exemplary punishment. They also sought court martial and exemplary punishments for security personnel and FC men who opened fire on protesters and crushed them under tanks

'Good Taliban' leader Fazal Saeed Haqqani kills 39 civilians in Kurram suicide attack

This is what he said when he defected and joined the Haqqani Network, or what Pakistani officials like to call the "good Taliban" (those who do not attack the Pakistani state):

"I repeatedly told the leadership council of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan that they should stop suicide attacks against mosques, markets and other civilian targets," Saeed told AFP by telephone.
"Islam does not allow killings of innocent civilians in suicide attacks," he said, likening what TTP does in Pakistan to "what US troops are doing in Afghanistan" and vowing to continue the fight alone against the Americans.

"I have therefore decided to quit TTP," Saeed said, claiming to have defected along with "hundreds of supporters." A 10-member consultative council will meet within days to formulate the group's programme, he told AFP.

Fazal Saeed's "defection" from the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan means little in the big picture when it comes to the jihadi groups that operate in Pakistan. He still supports jihad in Afghanistan, seeks to impose sharia law in Pakistan, and shelters terrorists, including la Qaeda, in areas under his control. Just like the Haqqanis and Taliban commanders such as Hafiz Gul Bahadar and Mullah Nazir, all of whom are not members of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. The only difference between them and the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan is that the former do not advocate attacking the Pakistani state

[shiv]

There are many western (English) expressions and concepts that mean zilch when it comes to either Pakistan or large areas of turd world nations

Pakistan is no more hungry than India and because of the Sindhu river Pakistan will never be any more hungry than India. oh yes there will be starving people but how you refer to starving and poor people depends on your perspective. In America the "poor" (as per a video posted in this forum) have no homes. That makes them poor. But they have computers and flatscreen TV and miss one meal once in a while.

Bombing a country back to the stone age is a joke. Vast areas of Pakistan still live in stone age conditions.

Afghanistan under the Taliban was not chaos. I have not heard such rubbish in my life. It was Muslims under sharia. The US wanted that. Pakistan wanted that. India could do nothing, but all that India wanted was no terrorism. Afghanistan under the Taliban "raised eyebrows" and caused people to shake their heads in dismay when the Bamiyan Buddhas were destroyed and when IC 814 was hijacked. But that's all.

Only 9-11 made Afghanistan bad. Now after 11 years the US does not have victory in Afghanistan. The same country that was praised right on here as "America took two countries in exchange for two buildings. Why can't spineless India do a fraction of that?"

Spineless India may be right in not have having a policy of feeding and arming people who may not be your friends, or calling people friends just to make them do a job for you, not because you really feel kinship with them. But we have to decide for ourselves whom we admire.

[Prem]

Maar Diya Jayye ki Chorr diya Jayye , Ganje tere saath kya Salook kiya jayee

NAB may open cases against Sharifs

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is preparing to take up cases against PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. According to sources, the cases relate to default of Rs4.9 billion loans obtained from nine banks in 1994-95.
“Cases against Sharif brothers were to be approved in a recent NAB board meeting but were deferred on the directives of the Chairman, Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari,” an official of the bureau said on Monday.The chairman is reported to have said that all pending cases about politicians would be taken up soon.
The NAB spokesman was not available for comment.The bureau had earlier frozen some assets of the Sharif family against which the loans had been taken.

[Neela]

Only 9-11 made Afghanistan bad. Now after 11 years the US does not have victory in Afghanistan. The same country that was praised right on here as "America took two countries in exchange for two buildings. Why can't spineless India do a fraction of that?"
Spineless India may be right in not have having a policy of feeding and arming people who may not be your friends, or calling people friends just to make them do a job for you, not because you really feel kinship with them. But we have to decide for ourselves whom we admire.

Been saying this all along. Amreeki stupidity is often overlooked here. Imagine in 2001. Very Veryy angry Amreeka travels 20000 miles and starts punching the wrong people. TSP must have had a long laugh. And guess what. Now many Afghans hate Amreekis as well.
Anyway, all of the above does not interest me. Amreekis / Pakis dead => yawn, happening for 30 years now there.

But I differ in the approach India has taken. We have had this problem within our borders for 30 years. What is the metric by which we assess our policy against TSP sponsored terror.? 26/11 was macabre and gruesome compared to earlier attacks. It seems to get more ugly. Comparing Amreeki actions vs Indian actions is best not pursued. But that does not mean Indian actions need not be judged.

[KLNMurthy]

shiv
What you say could be true. But people in Baluchistan are doing a very thorough job of reaching out to US Congressmen,Representatives, Diplomats, Ambassadors, UN, etc through Emails, Phones etc. There is a quantifiable effort here. I have mentioned about my effort on Baluchistan before on this forum. Your assessment discounts all the effort of the people who are doing a very thorough and professional job.
The effort may be 0.01% of what is needed for the final objective but it is definitely measurable.
The resolution tabled is in part a result of 1000's of man hours of campaign effort to reach the people who tabled it. I see it as a quantifiable result of the effort.
Altair

IMO Balochis will be courting tragedy if they make US their patron. US will ditch them at the first opportunity. They are like Kurds, too many powers are against their independence. Their best bet is to have de facto autonomy within either TSP or Iran.

[KLNMurthy]

We should support the baluchis in the exact same language that the pakis use for cashmere.......

We should on no account do == between Balochistan and Kashmir. Balochis are professing an agenda of an open and relatively liberal society. They have a record of defending Balochi Hindus against Pakjabi depredations. Their ideals deserve the sympathy and support of all good people, though they may never get their independence.

Kashmiri azadi-pasands' ideals and record are the exact opposite, they are exactly like the Nazis of Sudetenland, and should be crushed without mercy just as the the Nazis were, for the survival and betterment of humanity.

[Aditya_V]

Purchase of 75 engines by Pakistan Railways

The PPP government’s recent actions could prove the last nail in the coffin of Pakistan Railways, as a cabinet’s special committee has condoned the PPRA rules violations and allowed PR to go for the procurement of 75 locomotives from China at a cost of $105.143 million (Rs12.7 billion).

Sheikh Waqas Akram publicly said that the Chinese company had attached forged and fake performance certificates, which were initially not attached with the tender but were attached with the documents after the National Assembly’s Committee took cognisance of the matter. The certificates had to be issued by the Railway department of the country to whom the locomotives were to be supplied and were to be attested by the Pakistan Embassy functioning in that country but the documents, which were attached, were not attested by the embassy, he said.

Good, the IR railways lease sensible option has been done away by the Pakis. I think for Pakistan better to shutdown Pakistani railways, it is used only aam adbuls anyways. RAPE should build and use Isloo- Lahore type highways built by Nawaz Sharif and live in Gate communities. while the Army should be used to regularly kill aam abduls outside if they ask to improve their lot.

[member_20617]

Pakistan has been armed and aided by USA for donkey years. Would USA continue to do so for the foreseeable future? I think so. The geo-political advantages to USA far outweigh the costs of supporting Pakistan. The financial cost to USA of supporting Pakistan is peanuts considering the size of US economy. USA can easily afford to sustain Pakistan for at least next 50 years.

In the meantime, China will overtake USA as the biggest economy of the world. Currently China has a massive trade balance surplus and this is likely to increase many times over unless there is an exceptional crisis. China has already got in PoK and they are planning to secure a route to Gulf region all the way from Gwadar to PoK. China is already copying US tactics. China is also providing arms and aid to Pakistan.

Hence there will be a ‘cold war’ between USA and China over Pakistan. Pakistan, as usual, will play off one against the other and milk them both.

India needs to play a game here. If we can reduce the value of this wh**e to both USA & China then it would be beneficial to us. The question is what steps do we need to undertake to achieve this? Can we entice Russians to carve a route through Afghanistan to Paki coastal region to secure a route to Gulf region?

[shiv]

India needs to play a game here. If we can reduce the value of this wh**e to both USA & China then it would be beneficial to us. The question is what steps do we need to undertake to achieve this? Can we entice Russians to carve a route through Afghanistan to Paki coastal region to secure a route to Gulf region?

Can we entice the Pakistanis to give us a route to Afghanistan and Iran and then invite the Russians and others to use that route?

[RajeshA]

Can we entice the Pakistanis to give us a route to Afghanistan and Iran and then invite the Russians and others to use that route?

And let them blackmail us in all eternity? Naw!