Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan - September 15, 2009

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 17 Sep 2009 23:43

Pakis used to brag about the "death by thousand cuts" they would inflict on India. Looks like India is delivering a "death by thousand dossiers"!

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 18 Sep 2009 02:10

Grrr,
That death that India is delivering is so slooooooow, there is a risk they'll die of old age by then.

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 18 Sep 2009 02:40

America’s defeat to destabilise Pakistan: US senators

WASHINGTON: Three powerful US senators — John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham — warned on Tuesday that an American defeat in Afghanistan would further destabilise Pakistan.

In a joint statement issued by their offices, they urged the Obama administration to use ‘decisive force’ to defeat the extremists operating in the Afghan-Pakistan region.

‘The ramifications of an American defeat in Afghanistan would not only be a devastating setback for our nation in what is now the central front in the global war on terror, but would inevitably further destabilise neighbouring, nuclear Pakistan,’ they argued...

They added: ‘More troops will not guarantee success in Afghanistan, but a failure to send them is a guarantee of failure. As we saw in Iraq, numbers matter in counter-insurgency.’

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 18 Sep 2009 02:43

Proof that Pakistan is not begging for arms. It is actually placing orders for arms.
Pakistan ordered arms worth $4.5bn from US

WASHINGTON: Pakistan placed its largest ever arms purchase orders worth $4.5 billion with America between 2005 and 2008 and its weapons shopping list included more F-16 fighters and over hundred 155 MM artillery guns, a latest Congressional report has said.

The orders included thirty-six latest block 50/52 F-16C jets and their air-to-air missiles and bombs worth a whopping $640 million. The arms deal also provided for mid-life modification of its earlier F-16 A/B fighters.

Under the arms deal, Islamabad also sought 115 M109A5 155 MM self propelled howitzers worth $52 million, the guns it did not have during the Kargil conflict in 1999.

According to ‘US Arms Sales to Pakistan’ report, the major arms purchase agreement by Pakistan signed in 2006, was in excess of $3.5 billion, ranking Pakistan first among all arms clients of the US during that calendar year.

The report informs the US lawmakers that America can suspend or terminate any arms sales agreement with Pakistan or the delivery of weapons previously ordered, if the president determines that the actions taken by Islamabad are against the national security interests of the United States.

‘The Congress can also pass legislation that would suspend, modify, or terminate any arms sale contract should it choose to do so,’ said the report prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), a bipartisan and independent research wing of the US Congress, which prepares reports on various issues for Congressmen.

According to the report dated August 24, the deal has been cleared with stiff conditions which include if the US government chooses; it can stop the transfer of defence articles and services to Pakistan for which valid contracts exist.

The total value of Pakistan’s 2006 arms purchases from the US nearly matches the total value of all Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme purchases by Pakistan from the US for the entire period from 1950 to 2001.

When the Bush administration signed the contract in 2006 for sale of 36 aircrafts and associated equipment, it cited: ‘Given its geo-strategic location and partnership in the Global War on Terrorism, Pakistan is a vital ally of the US... This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of America by helping an ally meet its legitimate defence requirements.’

However, the report said apart from the major 2006 F-16 sales and related equipment, no additional major weapon systems have been sold to Pakistan.—Online

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 18 Sep 2009 02:45

US drones killed two terrorist leaders in Pak

Ilyas Kashmiri was killed on Sept 14 while Nazimuddin Zalalov was killed last week, said US intelligence sources.

WASHINGTON: Two prominent terrorist leaders were killed in recent drone attacks, US intelligence sources told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.

The sources said that their deaths further established the effectiveness of the US unmanned aircraft that also killed Baitullah Mehsud last month.

Both terrorist leaders — Nazimuddin Zalalov alias Yahyo and Ilyas Kashmiri — were killed within this month. Both were on a US list of most wanted terrorists.

Yahyo was a prominent leader of the Islamic Jihad of Uzbekistan and a close lieutenant of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Ilyas Kashmiri was the chief of Harkatul Jihad Islami, a Kashmiri militant group associated with Al Qaeda.

Kashmiri was among the four suspected terrorists who were killed in a Sept 14 drone attack while Yahyo was killed last week. Such strikes are launched regularly on Pakistan’s mountainous tribal region bordering Afghanistan, a stronghold of the Taliban.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 18 Sep 2009 08:46

Will they or won't they ? Guessing Game on Indo-Pak Meet in NY

The delay in finalising a date for the planned India-Pakistan Foreign Secretaries’ talks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York has set off speculation here {Islamabad} that the meeting is in jeopardy.

Top sources told The Hindu in New Delhi that both sets of India-Pakistan meetings in New York are certain to take place. But India’s lukewarm attitude to the meetings from the start, and the inability to settle on a date for the Foreign Secretaries’ talks, are conveying a different message in Pakistan.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 18 Sep 2009 10:41

Ilyas Kashmiri's death - Edit in DT

In the latest round, American drones have killed two important men in the hierarchy of Al Qaeda. On August 14, Uzbek commander Nizamuddin Zalalov, and leader of Harkatul Jihad Islami, Ilyas Kashmiri, were successfully targeted somewhere in North Waziristan. The first-named was one of about 5,000 Uzbeks that Al Qaeda has brought into Pakistan.

The second man is the head of an outfit of non-state actors that Pakistan allowed to operate in Indian-administered Kashmir. After he was grilled for organising the attack on General Pervez Musharraf in 2003 and then let off, he went to North Waziristan and linked up with the vast network of warriors built up by Al Qaeda.

Kashmiri’s death revives the story of Major Haroon Ashiq (Retd) who began his jihadi career after getting out of the army and worked for a time with Lashkar-e-Tayba as a weapons expert before linking up with Kashmiri in Waziristan. After his capture, the major has revealed that he kidnapped a film producer, Satish Anand, for ransom on the instructions of Kashmiri, and then killed Major General Faisal Alvi (Retd) in Islamabad on Kashmiri’s orders.

While the abduction of Anand in Karachi was meant to beef up the kitty of Al Qaeda, the murder of Alvi became more controversial. Alvi, a dual-nationality British Pakistani serving in the commando section of the army with distinction, was prematurely retired. He told the British newspaper Sunday Times in December 2008 that he feared that someone from within the military establishment would kill him. Major Ashiq was finally the man to do the job for Rs 150,000 given him by Kashmiri.

In August 2009, the Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, stated on TV that “officers {note the plural form} of the rank of major” in the intelligence agencies with links with the Taliban and Al Qaeda had been arrested “because they wanted to target army generals”.

That raises a serious question. Qari Saifullah Akhtar, head of HuJI and under whom Ilyas Kashmiri worked, was himself extradited from UAE, detained for a few months and then released, arrested again for Ms. BB's death but quickly released thereafter. Ilyas Kashmiri was arrested for hardly a couple of months in c. 2003 for attempting to assassinate Musharraf but quickly released within a couple of months and allowed to go to Waziristan and join the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Professor Hafeez Saeed was detained under house arrest several times but no charges were ever pressed, even after the UNSC indicted him and the GoI gave dossier after dossier. Maulana Masood Azhar was similarly detained under house arrest but later allowed to go to Waziristan to join Al Qaeda with whom his association goes a long way back. Omar Sayid Sheikh openly challenged who would go to the gallows first, Musharraf or he. Nothing has happened to Omar and his case is not even being heard nowadays while Musharraf has gone into exile. Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz was similarly kept under house arrest but was released earlier this year. Goes to show that essentially the terrorist leaders were/are being protected by an invisible hand in TSP even when they are accused of trying to kill their own President and Prime Minister.

shravan · Post by **shravan** » 18 Sep 2009 12:11

Suicide Bomber Strikes In Pakistan Market
September 18th, 2009

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide car bomb attack killed at least 10 people after tearing through shops and vehicles at a market in a small Shiite-dominated town in northwest Pakistan on Friday, police said.

"A suicide bomber blew up as car filled with explosives in the market. Ten people were killed and many wounded," said Ali Hasan, a local police officer in Ustazai town where the attack happened.

"We have recovered 14 dead bodies. Many people were wounded. The suicide bomber was sitting in a car," said police spokesman Fazal Naeem in the nearby garrison town of Kohat

shravan · Post by **shravan** » 18 Sep 2009 12:17

Three held in Pakistan with pirated editions of Jaswant’s book

shravan · Post by **shravan** » 18 Sep 2009 12:20

Fresh firing from across the border

Pargwal border (Jammu), Sep 18 (PTI) Indian forward posts came under fresh fire from across the border here this morning leading the BSF to retaliate, the second such incident in less than ten hours.

Last night, two BSF jawans were injured in firing from Pakistani side when they were trying to foil an infiltration bid from across the border.

During the checking of border fencing around 0630 hours this morning, there was firing from Illyas post from Pakistani side on Nikowal forward belt along IB and BSF troops retaliated resulting in exchanges for some time, Inspector General, BSF frontier Jammu, A K Sarolia told PTI.

Sarolia, who is supervising search, combing and sanitisation operation along the International Border (IB) in Pargwal forward area in Akhnoor tehsil of the district, said there was no casualty in the exchanges this morning.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 18 Sep 2009 13:34

PA and the current political developments

The army doesn’t particularly like Zardari; but it dislikes Nawaz Sharif even more. This has worked to Zardari’s advantage so far. But here too, the issue is not so simple.

Zardari is clear about what Pakistan needs to do to address the internal threat. He, as well as the PPP, has never dithered over the requirement, like the PMLN, to fight and finish off the terrorist groups in Pakistan. The PMLN has come round to this view very late and then too reluctantly. The PPP’s position on the issue is therefore much closer to the army’s than the PMLN’s.

However, the army also looks at India as a potential threat based on a number of factors; it feels, given India’s interference in Balochistan and possibly FATA, that there is a linkage between the internal security threat and the traditional threat from India.

That is not Zardari’s view. His statements that India is not a threat and that Pakistan would be willing to relinquish its nuclear first use policy did not go down well with the army. The army has had to signal indirectly that that is not the case. The issue was settled after Prime Minster Yousaf Raza Gilani said, in so many words, that this was the President’s “personal” view. Let’s just say that Gilani’s intervention in the issue was interesting!

At the political level, while the army doesn’t like Sharif, it does begrudgingly acknowledge that he is a political force to reckon with and must be allowed to play his role in order for the system to stay stable. This is a mature approach. This is also why on the issue of the restoration of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, when Sharif threatened Long March, Kayani had to personally talk to the political actors and specifically to Zardari to convince the latter that restoring Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry might not be a bad idea after all.

There are many areas of friction and it is not necessary to go into small details. What is important to note is that, as things stand, the army thinks that Zardari and the PPP are a better bet than the PMLN. Since, as argued, the army cannot intervene directly or be seen to be doing that, the institution is relying on its historically dominant position and its institutional integrity and efficiency to find workarounds to keep its interests secure. But, it knows that it has to pick and choose its causes and battles carefully and cannot road-roller the politicians.

Far from being a disadvantage, this selective, behind the scenes and circuitous power play may actually redound to the army’s advantage by making its approach more nuanced, not only to the perception of its own interests but also to the interests of the politicians and the political process.

What I have said, however, presupposes that there will be no major political upheaval and the politicians, especially Sharif, would not keel over while playing the game of brinkmanship. This is what the army also fears because it doesn’t know what it would do if the situation were to really push it centre-stage again.

In a way then, all actors, the government, the opposition and the army are skating on thin ice. This offers the system an opportunity to consolidate itself by forcing them to understand the limits of what they can do and thereby respect the rules of the game.

arun · Post by **arun** » 18 Sep 2009 14:23

shravan wrote:Suicide Bomber Strikes In Pakistan Market
September 18th, 2009

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide car bomb attack killed at least 10 people after tearing through shops and vehicles at a market in a small Shiite-dominated town in northwest Pakistan on Friday, police said. {Snipped} ........

The Muslim holy month of Ramazan / Ramadan seems to have no impact in halting IED Mubarak’s aka Sucide Bombings in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The deathtoll in todays demonstration of the IEDology of Pakistan where it appears that the minority Shia Muslim sect has been targeted by the majority Sunni Muslim sect, has climbed from 10 to 25:

Official: Suicide bomb kills 25 in NW Pakistan

archan · Post by **archan** » 18 Sep 2009 18:01

SSridhar wrote:Ilyas Kashmiri's death - Edit in DT
That raises a serious question. Qari Saifullah Akhtar, head of HuJI and under whom Ilyas Kashmiri worked, was himself extradited from UAE, detained for a few months and then released, arrested again for Ms. BB's death but quickly released thereafter. Ilyas Kashmiri was arrested for hardly a couple of months in c. 2003 for attempting to assassinate Musharraf but quickly released within a couple of months and allowed to go to Waziristan and join the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Professor Hafeez Saeed was detained under house arrest several times but no charges were ever pressed, even after the UNSC indicted him and the GoI gave dossier after dossier. Maulana Masood Azhar was similarly detained under house arrest but later allowed to go to Waziristan to join Al Qaeda with whom his association goes a long way back. Omar Sayid Sheikh openly challenged who would go to the gallows first, Musharraf or he. Nothing has happened to Omar and his case is not even being heard nowadays while Musharraf has gone into exile. Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz was similarly kept under house arrest but was released earlier this year. Goes to show that essentially the terrorist leaders were/are being protected by an invisible hand in TSP even when they are accused of trying to kill their own President and Prime Minister.

This goes to show the degree to which Pakistanis love their jehadis. Perhaps they not only love, but also fear them. Perhaps this love in conjunction of the fear of a 'master' is a fetish that that culture seems to naturally prefer.

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 18 Sep 2009 19:45

Imminent threat of terror attacks across India: Israel warns

Jerusalem, Sept 18: Israel has warned that a Pakistan-based terror outfit affiliated to al-Qaida, which carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is planning to carry out a string of terror attacks across India.

Israel's counter-terrorism bureau at the National Security Council (NSC) in a travel warning for Israeli tourists in India rated the threat as "imminent and concrete", putting special emphasis on the Jammu and Kashmir region.

"The terrorist group that carried out the serious Mumbai attack in India is planning to carry out a number of attacks across India, particularly against concentrations of Western or Israeli tourists," warned a statement from the counterterrorism unit.

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 18 Sep 2009 19:59

Alrite, no link but TOI today carried a report saying current GOI stance means that TSP players will not be playing in the IPL. The TSP team went overboard in counting unhatched chickens after winning the T20 Worldcup by musing that perhaps their IPL contracts needed 'revising'. Bet they didn't expect this kinda revising, eh?

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 18 Sep 2009 20:17

http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20090917/8 ... d-not.html

Islamabad, Sep 17 (ANI): The United States has provided 970 million dollars in aid to Pakistan since the PPP-led Government came to power and not three billion dollars as claimed by US Ambassador Anne Patterson, a Pakistani Finance Ministry official has said.

The statement of US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, about giving 3 billion dollars assistance to the Zardari Government even surprised the top economic managers of the country. They were completely clueless about the figure of 3 billion dollars floated by the US.

"Out of the total 970 million dollars funding, a major chunk of 550 to 600 million dollars was in shape of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) as it was the money which was spent by Pakistan on military's movement and it took several months for clearance from the US authorities," The News quoted a a senior official of the Finance Ministry, as saying.

The US has provided less than one billion dollars to Pakistan since the PPP-led government came into power, he said.

The US provided 497 million dollars in shape of CSF in May 2009. Earlier, the US provided around 100 million dollars on the same head a couple of months back - at the end of last financial year.

Around 300 million dollars were provided through USAID during the last financial year. Recently, the US authorities provided over 100 million dollars for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) of the Malakand Division.

"The US ambassador should provide details of 3 billion dollars assistance given to Pakistan during the last one and a half years period," the official said.

Official sources pointed out that Pakistan was bearing the borrowing cost owing to delays in payments from the US related to the CSF. (ANI)

Mahendra · Post by **Mahendra** » 18 Sep 2009 22:59

Suspected suicide blast kills 33 in Kohat

Hello unbelievers, what is the meaning of "suspected" suicide blast?

PESHAWAR: A suicide car bomb tore through a Pakistan market,

Anyway 33 is not a good score on a home pitch

shravan · Post by **shravan** » 18 Sep 2009 23:09

US-Pakistan partnership indispensable - Holbrooke

He was speaking at an event marking launch of a Pashto broadcast service along Pakistan-Afghanistan border regions by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) an international organization that promotes democracy and already has large audience in Afghanistan.

“The key is Pakistanis themselves, and we will support them every way we can, in the media area as everywhere else. We are not going to set up American broadcasting stations, this is an open part of the international network (providing) the means of communication to the people of Pakistan.

“We look forward to them (the service) contributing to the public debate in this democratic country Pakistan, which is so important to all of us, “ he said at Washington’s Newseum, an interactive museum of news and journalism.

<snip>

“In fact, there are eight marines in the embassy. And, in fact, we are enlarging the embassy, because Pakistan is very important and our embassy is smaller than that of let’s say Colombia. We need to increase the size of the embassy in order to serve the policies (that befit) relations between the two nations who have a complicated but indispensable relationship, (and) partnership.”
----

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 19 Sep 2009 00:09

The 'Such Gup' section of this week's TFT. My apologies if already posted:

Such Gup

Pak Lane

A lthough he hotly denies it, our mole says the (non-existent) Water & Power min’s lovely London apartment is situated in the heart of the city at Marble Arch. Our mile says it has four bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and that it is on the sixth floor of a classy, top-of-the-line building. It is said that the Min’s son lives there, because he is studying at a college in London. Very close to this apartment is that of Mush, with it’s 3 bedrooms, but with not so much cachet, as it is far less expensive that the Min’s place. And within a stone’s throw of Mush’s place is the Min of Int’s town house which he bought in the years that he lived in exile. Shahrukh Khan, the king of Bollywood, also lives in the neighbourhood in a large house worth a whopping 27 million GBP. Up the road from this Marble Arch-Edgware Road locale is The Man of Steel and Family’s apartment block on Park Lane. May we suggest that, because of it’s illustrious inhabitants from the subcontinent, this area should immediately be renamed “Pak Lane”?

The good life

Other newsof the good life in London is that Mush starts his day with a 45 minute work out and jog on his treadmill whilst listening to his favourite music on his ipod. Of an afternoon, he plays bridge with some of his friends who’ve moved to the British metropolis for a while, including TA (his former right hand man), a retired brigadier cums arms dealer,and a former civil servant. An old friend from the old days, a Brit High Commissioner of yore, also drops in occasionally for a hand of bridge. Our mole in Edinburgh reports that Billoo’s sibling, who is at university there, resides in a well-appointed place provided by an ex-pat Pakistani businessman. And that’s all well and good, because she needs her privacy and her security. We do hope that she’s paying rent and it’s not a freebie.

Alive and well

The back channel, we hear, is alive and well. And that the Indian and Pakistani interlocutors are the same individuals who were running it in Mush’s time. This came about, our mole says, when the khakis realized that they had to station troops in Swat and had to come to some sort of terms with India. Before that, they hadn’t given Mush’s interlocutor the green light.

Pakistan is basically a kleptocracy. The only reason they survive is that their benefactor's supply them with more money than they can steal.

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 19 Sep 2009 00:56

archan wrote: This goes to show the degree to which Pakistanis love their jehadis. Perhaps they not only love, but also fear them. Perhaps this love in conjunction of the fear of a 'master' is a fetish that that culture seems to naturally prefer.

The dirty little secret that none of the peacemaker crowd will tell you is that the jehadis are enormously popular with the masses. The only reason Paki elites go against their people's darlings is pressure from US and China. The jehadis respond by spanking aka bombing and killing.

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 19 Sep 2009 01:00

From this week's TFT:

Of snakes and countrymen

In this second of a three-part series, former civil servant Javed Bukhari describes his life in East Pakistan in the days leading up to the creation of Bangladesh

In late 1969, I had gone to Islamabad to inform the Establishment Secretary of the worsening situation in East Pakistan. I was posted in Lahore for a while, but it would appear that the East Pakistan government strongly remonstrated with Islamabad to ensure that I was posted back to the Eastern wing, this time as the SDO of Netrakona in the Mymensingh district.

Netrakona is situated in the same belt as Cherrapungi and its annual rainfall is about 250 inches. The sub-division was connected to the outlying thanas by boat. A single road ran through the headquarters and was illuminated by only one or two street lights. Much of the touring in this area had to be carried out by boat via the many waterways.

As evening fell, jackals would howl in the wilderness and my toddler daughter Nadia would cry. We would take her out in our jeep to put her to sleep.

Our house in Netrakona had a thatched roof which miraculously remained waterproof despite the heavy and frequent rain. On my arrival at the SDO’s house in Netrakona, I saw a boat tethered there. When I asked what it was meant for, I was told that the cook used it to travel between the residential part of the house and the kitchen, which was some distance away from the house.

Nine-tenths of the population was Hindu. The people were docile and the lawyers very vocal and observant. They once remarked that the SDO has clothes (suits, etc), but doesn’t wear them for fear of hurting the feelings of the people. This surprised me quite a bit. I carried on with my work unobtrusively, just listening to people. The most common problem was the theft of “dhan” or rice. The worldly possessions of the people were not much else and they lived on the margin. There was not much that I could do to improve their lot.

After about six months, I received a telegram from H. R. Pasha of the 1964 batch. He was posted as Additional District Commissioner (ADC) Kushtia. The telegram read, “For God’s sake, when are you coming?” I was absolutely delighted because I understood that I had been transferred to Kushtia as ADC. I soon left Netrakona.

Kushtia was a neat little town and well-connected with Dacca and the outlying sub-divisions. There were two sub-divisions, Chuadanga and Mehrpur. Tanvir and Zafarullah, my batch mates, were there and we were together most of the time. We had a great time, quite unmindful of the storm that was brewing and would be unleashed upon the hapless Eastern wing towards the end of 1970.

A word about the ADC’s house in Kushtia: It used to be the residence of the owner of Mohni Textile Mills, Kushtia, and was therefore palatial. The gardens were extensive and there were numerous coconut and jackfruit trees. I discovered that the gleaming floors of the house were made of some special material. They were very smooth, and I was told that this prevented snakes from slithering across floors if they strayed into the house from the lush vegetation outside.

My wife Popti and Nadia, my daughter, spent a lot of time in Kushtia. The pace of life was settled and there was harmony in the air. Nadia used to have a pet hen and she would insist on feeding it milk with her own milk bottles. The hen eventually disappeared, much to Nadia’s dismay. I must mention that we had the services of an excellent Portuguese cook, Gomez, who had earlier worked for Shahid Hamid. The meals dished out by Gomez were one of the high points of life in Kushtia.

Gomez himself was a lively fellow. He was of a slight build, and mostly dressed in a sleeveless vest and lungi. When the other domestic servants angered him, he would chase them through the house with a big knife.

My wife was greatly disturbed by the large lizards which she found in the house, and on at least two occasions, I shot at the lizards on the walls of a room with my.22 rifle. I blew them to smithereens, a rather risky thing to do considering that the shots might have ricocheted off the walls with disastrous results.

At around this time, general elections were drawing near. Hectic electioneering activity was going on in both wings of the country. Mujib-ur-Rehman of the Awami League was thundering all over the place and his party expected to win a majority in the forthcoming elections. In West Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was showing his oratorical skills and weaving his magic with words. Even at this point in 1970, it didn’t appear that in just one year, East Pakistan would be drenched in an orgy of blood-letting, ending in the creation of Bangladesh.

We were sitting at the Circuit House with a host of other officials and people, watching election results being announced on television. Everybody expected that Mujib-ur-Rehman would be invited to form a government in the centre and had that been done, Pakistan would have survived. Election results were flouted with characteristic arrogance and disdain. Mayhem followed.

Sporadic violence had spread even to the outlying areas of Kushtia. The Mukti Bahini was targeting the West Pakistani military forces stationed there. In one incident, the Bengali troops serving under a West Pakistani major in the East Pakistan Rifles (EPR) mutinied. The major was tied up and cut to pieces by his own troops.

I was posted to West Pakistan early in 1970, and along with my colleague Tanvir, who was the SDO Chuadanga, we left East Pakistan at the end of January. We met the Deputy Commissioner at Kushtia before we left who tried persuading us to stay. But the rising tide of violence in East Pakistan left us apprehensive, and I thought it was best for us to return to the Western wing. We had to fly to Pakistan via Sri Lanka. Pakistani flights could no longer pass through Indian air-space given the worsening crisis in the region.

In retrospect, I would say that we left in the nick of time. My successor as ADC Kushtia was not so fortunate. He was killed by East Pakistani rebels some time after January 1971. Some 150 Pakistani troops, led by a major, took refuge in the Circuit House in Kushtia. They too were surrounded and killed by the Mutki Bahini.

One of the things that I noticed was that the government in Islamabad was transferring senior officers of the bureaucracy to the Eastern wing around the time I left. I assumed that the government had made adequate arrangements for their protection. Either that, I thought, or the government must be out of its mind. Months later, to my dismay, I realized that the latter was indeed the case. It was not just the Pakistani military which came under attack from the rising tide of violence in East Pakistan: these civilian officers were also targeted by the infuriated East Pakistani populace, and the government in Islamabad had not foreseen the need to protect them.

It was as if a dam had broken. As conflict broke out all over East Pakistan, it appeared as if the Mukti Bahini and the Pakistani military had gone wild. There were blood-curdling stories on both sides. What followed is history. We had forgotten the first lesson of administration: we never listened to the other side of the story. December 1971 was indeed the winter of our discontent.

Javed Bukhari lives in Lahore

shravan · Post by **shravan** » 19 Sep 2009 01:03

District mayor killed in a bomb explosion in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Sept 18 (KUNA) -- A district mayor was killed and two others were wounded in a bomb explosion in a Pakistani northern town Friday night, said police.

A bomb ripped through a small mosque in Hangu town, known to be hotbed of sectarian violence, police sources told KUNA.

Sources said that the explosion killed District mayor Khan Afzal and wounded two others. They said the explosion had already been planted inside the mosque.

This was the second explosion reported in region since morning.

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 19 Sep 2009 01:41

Massa impounds IL-78 tanker for Pure land.

which prompts the pakis to ask if massa was a
Friend or foe?

Islamabad - The US, far from the public perception and official claims of supplying Pakistan with substantive military hardware, is actually impeding Pakistan’s efforts to upgrade its capabilities especially in non-offensive systems.
According to inside sources, only recently, the PAF, which has an agreement with Ukraine for the purchase of air to air refuellers, asked Ukraine to send a trainee plane so that the PAF personnel could familiarise themselves with the systems that were expected later.
The Ukraine agreed to send the required aircraft which happened to be in the US.
However, before it could fly to Pakistan, the US authorities on learning of its destination, impounded the plane.
Earlier, the US had tried unsuccessfully to block the deal itself.

saip · Post by **saip** » 19 Sep 2009 04:02

just heard. New york terror plot has a paki connection. So the queston for the US to ask is is paki our friend?

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 19 Sep 2009 05:53

Hindu oppression of Muslims in India behind Pak youth turning terrorists: Musharraf
http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_hi ... af_1289587

ANISaturday, September 12, 2009 14:57 IST

Lahore: Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has blamed India for the formation of terror groups such as the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM).

Talking to a private television channel, Musharraf said it was the oppression of Muslims in India by the Hindus which forced the Pakistani youth to take up militancy and extremism and form terrorist groups such as JeM.

Musharraf also defended his action of supporting the United States in its 'war on terror' post 9/11 attack saying Pakistan's existence could have been endangered if he would have not done so.

"Pakistan's territorial integrity could have been jeopardized had Pakistan not decided to side with the US and allied forces in the post-9/11 scenario," The Daily Times quoted Musharraf, as saying.

Musharraf said during his regime Pakistan made unprecedented progress in all fields including on delicate issues like Kashmir, Siachen and the Sir Creek dispute.

"The country had moved forward on all major issues such as Kashmir, Sir Creek and Siachen through 'back-channel diplomacy' during my tenure," Musharraf said.

He also claimed that India has built consulates near the Pakistan border in Afghanistan with an aim to destabilize Pakistan.

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 19 Sep 2009 06:07

Jaswant Singh's book – an epiphenomenal work ---- C M Naim
Excerpt

That describes my experience with Jaswant Singh's tome Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence. I spent a good Rs695 and, therefore, felt that I had to get my money's worth. However, after a couple of attempts to read the book serially, I decided to cut my losses. I began to read the book in patches -- 50 pages here, 10 pages there, often letting the book fall open and then reading whatever fate dictated. I feel no shame in saying that the responses I offer below are based only on a partial reading.

My first response: it is an embarrassing book to read. I felt foolish when I found myself trudging through such awful expository prose as this:

"The League had claimed that it was the true upholder of Islam's ideological authenticity; also of representing a substantive Muslim consensus, therefore, it demanded, rather presupposed, just a single Muslim medium – and asserting its identity as a different conceptual 'nation', claimed a separate land for itself which is why this agonizing question continues to grate against our sensibilities: 'Separate' from what?"

My second response to the book is to call it unneeded and irrelevant. It has nothing new to offer, except some rare photographs. If one is interested in Jinnah as a person, Stanley Wolpert (Jinnah of Pakistan) is presently our best guide. On the final years of Jinnah's political life in undivided India, Ayesha Jalal (The Sole Spokesman) cannot be bettered. If one is more narrowly focused and wants to know how things went wrong in 1946, Abul Kalam Azad (India Wins Freedom) tells it all quite succinctly. For readable polemics, one can turn to Ram Manohar Lohia (Guilty Men of India's Partition). As for finding a meticulously argued and documented single book on why the partition of India came about and who must take on what share of responsibility for it, one cannot find a better guide than H. M. Seervai (Partition of India: Legend and Reality). Then there are any number of review essays by that man of amazing memory and erudition, A. G. Noorani.

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 19 Sep 2009 06:17

Forced conversions

The parents of a young Hindu nurse, who disappeared over a month ago after leaving her Karachi home for the welfare hospital where she worked, continue their search for the daughter. So far their efforts have proved futile. They are not alone. The Sindh Assembly was told in its last session that during the last four months of the current year, 30 to 35 members of minority communities – most of them Hindu – had been kidnapped; eighteen girls had converted to Islam and one was killed. The fate of the others is presumably unknown.

Vivek_A · Post by **Vivek_A** » 19 Sep 2009 06:21

Gagan wrote:

That's a US customs and Border Protection drone. CBP drones are dropping bombs on TSP?

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 19 Sep 2009 06:25

Army and the people ---- TN Newspost

munna · Post by **munna** » 19 Sep 2009 06:28

Those who can read Hindi please follow the Jalandhar/Amritsar edition of e-paper, lots of incoming migration of Hindus in India! Seems that conditions are going markedly bad on the ground level, refugees complain of increased pressures such as striking off of students name from school rolls under pressure of taliban. I have been reading sporadic instances of such migrations which seem to have become regular and the flow seems to be qualitatively and quantitatively different!

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 19 Sep 2009 06:37

Pressure by India on Hafiz Saeed is creating backlash

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 19 Sep 2009 06:54

Is this an exchange of populations or one way? Will they be given evacuee properties or the pavement as were the Kashmiri Hindus?

After all India is the land of the Hindus-they have an inalienable right to its footpaths.

munna · Post by **munna** » 19 Sep 2009 06:57

Acharya wrote:Pressure by India on Hafiz Saeed is creating backlash

I think yes in a perverse way the GOI inaction is a continuation of PVNR's policy of deliberate inaction causing buildup of shearing strains in Bakiland due to absence of a villain/valve.
Sanjaykumar they are crossing over after giving up everything and most of them end up as destitute barring the fact that some "communal" organizations are providing them rudimentary legal guidance.

munna · Post by **munna** » 19 Sep 2009 07:03

मेश शुक्ला सफर, अमृतसर : शायद यह सुनकर आपको अचंभा लगेगा कि एक गज की दूरी किसी को करोड़पति से शरणार्थी बना देती है। जी हां, हम बात कर रहे हैं भारत-पाकिस्तान की जीरो लाइन की। पाकिस्तान में करोड़ों का व्यापार करने वाले हिंदू परिवार जैसे ही जीरो लाइन क्रास करते हैं उनके माथे पर लिख जाता है शरणार्थी। पाकिस्तान में तालिबान का खतरा दिनों-दिन बढ़ता ही जा रहा है। करीब 1000 हिंदू व सिख परिवार भारत आने के लिए वीजा का इंतजार कर रहे हैं। पाकिस्तान को हिंदुओं के बाद सिख भी अलविदा कह रहे हैं। गौरतलब है कि दैनिक जागरण ने सबसे पहले खुलासा किया था कि पाकिस्तान में स्कूल-कालेजों में हिंदू परिवारों के बच्चों के तालिबान समर्थकों के कहने पर नाम काटे जा रहे हैं। ऐसे परिवार बच्चों के भविष्य के लिए भारत में शरणार्थी बन कर आ रहे हैं। वीरवार को समझौता एक्सप्रेस से पाकिस्तान छोड़कर तीन हिंदू व एक सिख परिवार भारत आया। पाकिस्तान छोड़ कर आने वाले इन परिवारों का दर्द उनके चेहरे पर साफ झलकता दिख रहा था। वीरवार को अटारी रेलवे स्टेशन पर पाकिस्तान के सिंध प्रांत से आए संजय कुमार (29) पत्नी शारदा (28) बेटी प्रियंका (7) दूसरे परिवार में कन्हैया लाल उनकी पत्नी, बेटा-बेटी, तीसरे परिवार में अनिल कुमार उनकी पत्नी और तीन बच्चे शामिल हैं। जबकि एक सिख कबीर सिंह का परिवार भी पाकिस्तान छोड़ भारत आया। ये सभी परिवार मध्य प्रदेश व राजस्थान जा रहे हैं। पाकिस्तान से आए संजय कुमार कहते हैं कि उनका पाकिस्तान में करोड़ों का कपड़े का व्यापार था। तालिबान ने उनकी दुकान लूट ली, घर पर कब्जा कर लिया। सब कुछ छोड़कर वह भारत शरणार्थी बन कर आए हैं। संजय कुमार कहते हैं कि एक रोटी कम खा लेंगे लेकिन भारत में परिवार सुरक्षित तो है, पाकिस्तान में तो पता नहीं किस तरफ से हमलावर घरों पर धावा बोल दे यही डर बना रहता है। वह बताते हैं कि पाकिस्तान में एक हजार ऐसे हिंदू व सिख परिवार हैं जो कि भारत आने के लिए वीजा का इंतजार कर रहे हैं।

For all BRFites readers this was published in Friday's Dainik Jagran Jalandhar (Punjab) edition. As per this report atleast 1000 Hndu-Sikh families are awaiting visa from GOI to cross over for good. The people crossing over report of losing their trades and shops at the hands of Taliban. One Sanjay Kumar who crossed over from Sindh sums it up as "we will eat one roti less atleast our families are safe in India".
Dainik Jagran

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 19 Sep 2009 07:16

I have real hard time understanding why would any Hindu or Sikh want to live in pile of poop i.e Pakisatan. No minority had ever lived safely and peacefully in any land occupied by islamists.

munna · Post by **munna** » 19 Sep 2009 07:28

Prem wrote:I have real hard time understanding why would any Hindu or Sikh want to live in pile of poop i.e Pakisatan. No minority had ever lived safely and peacefully in any land occupied by islamists.

The Hindus and Sikh who were farming classes were butchered in 1947 while the rest left were either moneylenders(forbidden for faithfools) or lower castes forced to do menial work.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 19 Sep 2009 07:46

FIR on what Hafeez Saeed said
This is a hogwash again, as it happened just before the SeS meeting when Pakistan released a 32 page document detailing activities by Zarar Shah et al. But, after SeS, the Anti Terrorism Court in Karachi did not proceed with the case, no charge sheet has been filed, the case was adjourned indefinitely, journalists have been barred from the court or discussing it etc. Effectively, the case stands dumped as of now. The flurry of activity before SeS was just a ruse to make Indian PM agree to meet Gilani which only further consolidated my theory that at every one-on-one meeting by an Indian leader with his Pakistani counterpart, the Indian leader surrenders and concedes ground.

The FIR against Hafeez Saeed now falls under the same age old and successful Pakistani practice of appearing to take some innocuous action to wrest major concessions from friends and adversaries alike. This time, they want the meetings at NY and they want Ms. Nirupama Rao to visit Islamabad. I am sure that if SM Krishna meets Quereshi in NY, it will give another opportunity to vindicate my above theory of concessions. The fact that an FIR has been filed against Hafeez Saeed for speeches he supposedly made more than 3 weeks ago makes this whole drama hollow. He will, at the most, be held under house arrest once again with all the access to his jihadists, his friends and his wives and no curbs on his activities.

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 19 Sep 2009 08:02

American Rose fights for Pakistani husband
Marry a paki and suffer.

arun · Post by **arun** » 19 Sep 2009 08:07

The impact of Islamic piety on the RAPEttes

.

Maybe time for BR to drop the use of the term RAPE and instead substitute it with RIPE ie: Rich Islama-Phone Elite ? :

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Rich, Islamist and post-feminist

Rafia Zakaria

Their headscarves match their outfits perfectly, often held up by jewelled pins sporting emeralds, rubies and other precious stones. Their make-up is impeccable and a cloud of perfume follows them wherever they go. In the past few weeks of Ramazan, many have been chauffeured in their shiny sedans to taraveeh services held in venues usually reserved for weddings. ................................

Daily Times

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 19 Sep 2009 10:26

Continuing rocket attacks on Peshawar

Peshawar has come under seven rocket attacks during the last eight days. In each attack, four to eight rockets were fired that hit residential buildings, factories and other places in Hayatabad, Badaber, Jamrud Road, Ring Road and other localities.

Chief of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) Mangal Bagh along with his commanders including Wahid and Saifur was charged with carrying out one of these rocket attacks on the city. However, no efforts were made to arrest him as he is in Khyber Agency where police have no control.

Though the LI has denied its involvement in rocket attacks on Peshawar, it is generally believed that Mangal Bagh-led militia and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and Ansarul Islam were behind the rocket barrages.

“Every night before going to sleep, we fear that rockets would hit our township. The frequent attacks have scared not only women and children but the entire population,” . . .“This practice needs to be brought to an end. I don’t know if our security forces can do this,”

Innumerable rockets have been fired at the provincial metropolis during the last few months. These have hit the Peshawar International Airport, offices of the security agencies, residences and innumerable public places. Five out of the six international airlines have diverted their flights to Islamabad following threats of rocket attacks.