Yes also Delhi their eternal dreamanupmisra wrote:Delhi, my friend, Delhi. More specifically, Delhi's red fort. Every two-bit paki general's (and their arab patrons') wet dream.KaranR wrote:It seems all the army Generals of Pakistan dream of becoming Saladin (1137 -1193) ('Salah Ad-din Yusuf Ibn Ayyub). Their Jerusalem seem to be Srinagar.
Pakistan Ministers Are Called Before the Courts
By JANE PERLEZ and SALMAN MASOOD
Published: December 18, 2009
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A sweeping Supreme Court decision that reopened corruption cases against thousands of politicians, including President Asif Ali Zardari, reverberated through the government on Friday as important ministers were barred from leaving the country and ordered to appear before the courts in the coming weeks.
Among those immediately affected were the interior minister, Rehman Malik, who is considered particularly close to the United States, and the defense minister, Ahmad Mukhtar, raising concerns about how effectively the Zardari government, under pressure from a violent Islamic insurgency, could continue to function.
The two men were among 247 officials, also including Salman Faruqui, the chief of staff to Mr. Zardari, placed on what is known as an exit control list. It bars them from leaving Pakistan, a measure Pakistani authorities often use to ensure that those under criminal investigation do not abscond.
At least 52 politicians were called to appear before corruption courts, according to the National Accountability Bureau, the anticorruption unit that was ordered by the Supreme Court on Wednesday to act expeditiously in reopening the cases.
By the end of the day on Friday, Mr. Faruqui had won an interim bail order from the Sindh High Court, a measure that would prevent him from being arrested, legal experts said.
Mr. Malik had also been ordered to appear before the Sindh High Court, according to Pakistan’s Express News television channel. Attempts to reach a spokesman for Mr. Malik were unsuccessful.
President Zardari has immunity from prosecution under the Constitution. He remained defiant on Friday against calls from the main opposition party that he step down.
Moreover, he has no intention of asking cabinet ministers or colleagues facing corruption charges to quit, a media adviser, Farahnaz Ispahani, said Friday.
“The president is fighting fit,” Ms. Ispahani said. “The president was clear that our Pakistan Peoples Party ministers would not be asked to resign merely on the basis of accusation.”
A cabinet reshuffle in which “some people will be out and some will be moved” will be the main response to the revocation of the amnesty by the Supreme Court, Ms. Ispahani said.
But as Mr. Zardari and his party, the Pakistan Peoples Party, the biggest in Pakistan, battled to survive, a groundswell of media and public opinion seemed to exult in the Supreme Court decision.
“We’ve never seen the mighty in this country held accountable,” said Babar Sattar, a Harvard-trained constitutional lawyer.
Now that the court, backed by public opinion, has come down hard on corruption in a way not seen before in Pakistan, the affected politicians are not sure how to react, Mr. Sattar said.
The confused response was evident when Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani dismissed the interior secretary, Qamar-uz Zaman Chaudhry, and three officials of the Federal Investigation Agency on Friday evening for barring Mr. Mukhtar, the defense minister, from traveling abroad on Thursday.
The incident was an embarrassment to the governing Pakistan Peoples Party and the defense minister, who was leaving for China on an official visit and called the move “shameful.”
A statement released by the prime minister’s office stated that the officials had not verified whether the minister’s name was on the exit control list and that their actions had “brought a bad name to the country.”
Also increases crossection and hence a bigger RADAR signature from all sides.AnantD wrote:This prevents them from flying in Low under radar because of the extra drag of the wheels and the reduced thrust means they can be caught/shot down if they attempt it easily. Hence no penetrating heavily defended areas for sneak nuke attacks.ArmenT wrote:
Guess why Paki F-16s cannot retract their wheels below 2500 feet and have reduced thrust?
So that they can't be used for A2G bombing role? Prevent the lob-toss??
The spread of fighters is an unintended consequence of a relatively successful effort by the United States and Pakistan to disrupt the insurgents' operations, through missile strikes launched by unmanned CIA aircraft and a ground offensive carried out this fall in South Waziristan by the Pakistani army.
American and Pakistani officials say the militants' widening reach has added to the challenge for both nations' intelligence, which must now track an insurgent diaspora that can infiltrate Pakistan's teeming cities and blend seamlessly with the local population. A Pakistani intelligence official said the offensive had put militants "on the run" but added: "Now they're all over -- Afghanistan, North Waziristan and inside Pakistan."
"They have scattered their network and structure," said Muhammad Amir Rana, director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, a security-oriented think tank. "It's easy for many of them to hide in Punjab or Karachi."
The article is also very congratulatory about the Pakis' efforts at mounting a "successful" offensive against militants in the "Tribal regions"... which smells of Lifafa to me.Pakistani officials insist that they are doing as much as they can to counter the extremist threat and that they are paying the price. In recent months, militants have unleashed a wave of attacks in Punjab province, the military's home base, with many of the strikes carried out by fighters who have left the Federally Administered Tribal Areas as the pressure there has mounted.
The spread of fighters is an unintended consequence of a relatively successful effort by the United States and Pakistan to disrupt the insurgents' operations, through missile strikes launched by unmanned CIA aircraft and a ground offensive carried out this fall in South Waziristan by the Pakistani army.
AnantD & disha, thanks for confirming my hunch!disha wrote:Also increases crossection and hence a bigger RADAR signature from all sides.AnantD wrote:
This prevents them from flying in Low under radar because of the extra drag of the wheels and the reduced thrust means they can be caught/shot down if they attempt it easily. Hence no penetrating heavily defended areas for sneak nuke attacks.
What alarms Pakistan most is the possibility that India will gain control over the water from two Afghan rivers that flow into the volatile Pakistan border regions, where water shortages could inflame local insurgencies.
The fear now is that India will use the Afghan dams to deny Pakistan's border regions the water they need to sustain their farms and hydropower projects
LAHORE: Spokesperson for Congress - India's ruling party, Rajiv Shukla said that the Indian government does not blame the Pakistani government and people for the Mumbai attacks.
During an exclusive interview with DawnNews, Shukla said Pakistan currently faces greater challenges from terrorism than India and ‘faces Mumbai attacks every day.’
The Indian government, he said, has not given anti-Pakistan statements but only demanded that the perpetrators of 26/11 be brought to justice.
‘Pakistan bashing does not work anymore in Indian politics. And we do not blame the government or its people for 26/11.’
Shukla said if Pakistan and India fight terrorists together, then terrorism can end. ‘A prosperous Pakistan is in India’s best interest,’ he added.
Minor correctionRajiv_Shukla wrote:Hmm, BRFers are fringe Indians.
----
Shukla said if Pakistan and India fight terrorists together, then terrorism can end. ‘A prosperous Pakistan is in India’s best interest,’ he added.
Is that a joke or eccentric journalism ?http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_am ... ce_1325421
.......The tribesmen protested against the intrusion by the US fighters, saying international norms do not allow aircraft of a foreign country to fly over an independent nation without its permission............
THis is really insulting BaakistaaanLooks like Pukis National bird just got bigger and better.
Pliz do not change National bird that blesses Talibs. First the bird was small, so it was called breadeater, then it became teen- ager and called reaber, and finally now "the beast of Kandahar". This is the national bird of TSP.ArmenT wrote: Guess why Paki F-16s cannot retract their wheels below 2500 feet and have reduced thrust?
AnantD wrote:This prevents them from flying in Low under radar because of the extra drag of the wheels and the reduced thrust means they can be caught/shot down if they attempt it easily. Hence no penetrating heavily defended areas for sneak nuke attacks.
What wonderful news!disha wrote:Also increases crossection and hence a bigger RADAR signature from all sides.
Could you explain, please...Marut wrote:So that they can't be used for A2G bombing role? Prevent the lob-toss??ArmenT wrote: Guess why Paki F-16s cannot retract their wheels below 2500 feet and have reduced thrust?
You can't do Air to Ground role from low altitude when the wheels are down and the plane thinks its going to land.Could you explain, please...
Actually control and feedback channels will always be encrypted (so you cannot take over a drone) but video was not since they were transferring a comparatively huge amount of frame data (even with compression, assuming low frame rate etc.) in real-time - so there is a constraint in terms of timely delivery also. All that must have been fixed now. It is quite common in embedded systems where processing overhead can dominate in terms of the cost.Gagan wrote:I don't think that news item about people using a 26$ software to recieve the unencrypted signals of Predator drones is credible. This news is more likely a plant.
I just don't expect the US military to have unencrypted data transfer ANYWHERE.
IIRC sniper pods were provided to PAF.AnantD wrote: Also, they probably had basic air to air radar only to shoot at Russian planes intruding from Afghanistan in the 80's. The Air to Ground mode, and accurate seekers were missing. I think the US promised this stuff after the S Waziristan efforts by TSPA, but now this vizzaa denial takleef has started, so dunno.
by TSP.This is in response to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s recent declaration that he is ready to mediate and start negotiations with the Taliban to secure a peace agreement if the government is willing to guarantee that it would not scrap the peace deal with them under US pressure. He made this offer in an interview with Dr Moeed Pirzada on a private TV channel. By now Imran Khan stands fully exposed that he is one of the forces of darkness — the jihadi generals like Hamid Gul, the Jamaat-e-Islami and other pan-Islamists like the Deobandis, neo-Wahabis and Akhwan ideologues. Together they have given the Taliban identity to the Pakhtun and caused massacre of over three million of them on both sides of the Durand Line. They continue to destroy the Pakhtun for a great game against India and in the name of global Islamism. It is, however, the duty of all educated Pakhtuns to challenge the bizarre fabrications that Imran Khan attributed to the people of FATA to justify his offer.
Imran Khan said one of the Taliban groups is made of tribesmen who hate the US and attack the state and society in Pakistan because they see the country in alliance with the US. This is a bizarre fantasy of Imran Khan having nothing to do with tribesmen in FATA. There are no tribesmen who are killing innocent civilians and security forces due to anti-US sentiment. The tribesmen who have joined the Taliban groups are seen as criminals by their fellow tribesmen. The tribesmen who have joined the ranks of different Taliban groups are lost to the global jihadi ideology of the al Qaeda and stand stripped of Pakhtunwali. They are no more Pakhtun! They themselves have given up their Pakhtun identity. They claim to fight for global Islam that disrespects ethnic sensitivities.
The militants, in Imran Khan’s own words in the interview, are 15,000. Clearly not all of them are tribesmen. They include the Punjabi Taliban and foreign terrorists. There are no signs that these 15,000 or so terrorists are backed by tribal society. There has never been any grand tribal jirga in any tribal area that backed the terrorists, local or foreign. The Taliban groups in FATA are Hafiz Gul Abrader Groups, Haqqani Group, Mullah Nazeer Group, Turkistan Brittani Group, Tariq Afridi Group, Mangal Bagh Group, and Maulvi Omar Group. These terrorist groups are killing indiscriminately inside and beyond FATA. None of them had ever been backed by tribal jirgas. In fact, some of them have banned jirgas and termed them as ‘un-Islamic’ institutions. These groups have to be crushed for peace in Pakhtunkhwa and wider Pakistan. Anyone seeking dialogue with such groups is the enemy of the Pakhtun and Pakistan.
DT LettersThe most outrageous statement he made is that the assassinated tribal leadership in Waziristan was pro-US. The leadership has been eliminated by the Taliban with state collusion according to the families of the assassinated people. I challenge Imran Khan to prove that even a single person among the assassinated 600-plus tribal leaders, religious scholars, teachers, doctors, etc., was pro-US! Were respectable tribal elders like Shah Alam Wazir, Khandan Mehsud, Mirza Alam Mehsud, Mohammad Nawaz Mehsud, and Farooq Wazir pro-US? The Taliban beheaded Mufti Sibghatullah and killed Maulana Mohammad Hussain, Imam of Godam Mosque, Tank. Does Imran Khan believe that those religious scholars were also pro-US? Imran Khan must tender an unconditional apology to the people of Waziristan, especially to the family of the assassinated people for making this bizarre statement.
Exploiting the infamous anti-Indian stance, he argues that the government of Pakistan is pleasing India by making the soldiers of the Pakistan Army fight with the Taliban. This is the interpretation of the pro-jihadi forces in Pakistan. It is not the view of the people of FATA. This war is not about India or the US. It is about us — the citizens of Pakistan, whose lives are disrupted by the terrorists who are hell bent upon subjugating us to their version of shariah. The jihadi pursuit of our state created these terrorists and it is now the duty of the state to eliminate them if Pakistan has to survive as a modern democratic state.
Washing one’s sins
Sir: The other day I was checking my son’s Islamic Studies homework and came across a question asking students: “What is that act/thing which can wash away all of human beings’ sins?” My son’s answer was: ‘NRO’.
DR IRFAN ZAFAR
Islamabad
No wonder Nixon thought she was a witch 
Suprising after seeing the video posted above and this looks like History repeats itself
A lady with a million faults but when the push came to shove she had the balls when nobody else did.Haha, someone has left a comment for BRF there. Appears very agitated
The userid used is basanti. I can think of 1 user who was big time into Gabbar and sholay in general.Sriman wrote:Haha, someone has left a comment for BRF there. Appears very agitated
One of them felt that in creating a separate country, Quaid-i-Azam was actually carving out a space where universal human ideals could be achieved, something he found unachievable in the framework of the Indian union {
Rejecting hardliners’ view to deal with the current situation, el Presidente dus Percenti made it clear that PPP would never use Sindh Card to achieve political ends.
thus adding to confusion between the terms "Khappay (rhyming with dabbay or boxes)" and "Khappy (rhyming with happy)". Happy pukistan indeed.“I am opposed to Mujeebur Rehman style of politics" adding how could a person think of using Sindh Card who had raised the slogan of Pakistan Khappy (We need Pakistan) at the time of Shaheed BB’s assassination.
On the question of resignation, dus percenti reportedly said that he would not resign come what may. “They would only lift my dead body from the Presidency,” he said, referring to his opponents.
Adding to the Ameer’s rant Jama’at-e-Islami Secretary General Liaquat Baloch had this to say:India latest edition of Nazism, says Munawar
Published: December 17, 2009
LAHORE - On the third and final day of its anti-India protest drive, the Jama’at-e-Islami (JI) on Wednesday staged demonstrations and rallies all over the country against India’s involvement in terrorism, and called upon the Federal Capital to present New Delhi’s real face to the world and adopt a bold stance against the enemy.
Addressing the party workers at Mansoora, JI Ameer Syed Munawar Hassan termed India as 21st century edition of Nazism, which was committing genocide of Kashmiri Muslims, whereas the United Nations, world community and human rights bodies were not pressing for Kashmiris’ right to plebiscite simply because they were Muslims.
He said that December 16 reminded the nation of the tragic incident of losing the eastern wing of the country due to Indian conspiracies. India, he said, was again hatching conspiracies against the remaining Pakistan while the Interior and the Foreign Ministries were defending New Delhi instead of taking any action against it. He, however, believed that the brave Pakistani nation would foil India’s nefarious designs through unity in its ranks and the spirit of Jehad. ……………..
From here………… US was the mastermind of terrorism in the country whereas India was acting as its agent. He said that the bomb blasts at Moon Market were planned by India.