Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan - November 06, 2009

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 12 Dec 2009 11:07

anupmisra wrote:
Arnold Lewis Raphel: He was at one time married to fellow diplomat Robin Raphel, but they divorced prior to his death.
Gagan, buddy, you got something here.

Raphel is currently senior Vice President at the National Defense University in Washington.

Malayappan · Post by **Malayappan** » 12 Dec 2009 11:15

With all the terrorists duly forewarned and gone, paki army discovers heaven. No kidding read it. Small item, so taking the liberty of posting in full. Seriously, not a BENIS item! What a show!

PESHAWAR: Security forces on Friday discovered jannat (heaven) in South Waziristan Agency, with which terrorists used to brainwash suicide bombers. According to the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), a team of journalists visited the jannat at Nawaz Kot area of the agency. The ‘heaven’ consisted of four rooms. Each room contains beautiful paintings of running canals of milk and honey surrounded by hoors (maidens of paradise). Conducting Officer Major Saleem said Taliban clerics showed the jannat to the would-be suicide bombers to convince them that once they blew themselves up they would enjoy a status equivalent to that of the companions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). He said they were also told that they would live forever in the company of beautiful hoors. He said security forces had also seized hate literature, CDs, hashish and other drugs from the site. The official said two would-be suicide bombers and their trainers were also arrested from the place.

Security forces discover jannat in South Waziristan

Malayappan · Post by **Malayappan** » 12 Dec 2009 11:22

Some details of the arrested five. Found the email contact approach used by them interesting. One of them is born in pakistan. His US citizenship details not provided.
Interrogation Report: Profiles of the Foreigners Held

Hiten · Post by **Hiten** » 12 Dec 2009 11:26

Acharya wrote:
Raphel is currently senior Vice President at the National Defense University in Washington.

shes also been put in some position of responsibility for looking over US alms disbursement in pakistan

some months back their rags published many a articles gushing with praise over Obama's "far-sighted, visionary" decision - low profile since then

Malayappan · Post by **Malayappan** » 12 Dec 2009 11:28

Irfan Hussain donning the role of the apologist for paki army. Starts with a bang, but loses his plot half way down the line. Appropriate for the psyche thread. Still, a reminder, an affirmation that nothing with change in that land.
Pakistan as a security state

Malayappan · Post by **Malayappan** » 12 Dec 2009 11:40

‘CIA asked Blackwater to take out AQ Khan’ A DT report, quoting an interview in Vanity Fair

kidoman · Post by **kidoman** » 12 Dec 2009 11:45

Dipanker wrote:Most of the Porky Dorkies Forumites living in US/Canada/UK are scared sh1tless, they know that FBI/MI5 are digging through all their posts on Deaf and Dumb and Porky Dorky Forums and it is only a matter of time before they will end up in the slammer.
They are busy editing their pan islamist jehadistic posts from early part of the decade, unfortunetly for them FBI has the backups from the ISP's!

Hasta la vista Porkies!

Source???

Avinash R · Post by **Avinash R** » 12 Dec 2009 12:07

Any american official scheduled to visit pureland?

Qaeda Planner in Pakistan Killed by Drone

By MARK MAZZETTI and SOUAD MEKHENNET
Published: December 11, 2009

WASHINGTON — A missile fired this week by a Central Intelligence Agency drone over Pakistan’s tribal regions killed a top operations planner for Al Qaeda, American counterterrorism officials said Friday.

An American intelligence official said there were “strong indications” that a drone strike this week killed Saleh al-Somali, a member of Al Qaeda’s inner circle who was taking refuge in the mountainous tribal belt in western Pakistan. The report came amid a swirl of conflicting information about recent C.I.A. strikes in Pakistan, which have grown so frequent that several may occur in the same day.

Pakistani officials said a drone strike this week killed another top Qaeda operative, Abu Yahya al-Libi, but American officials disputed that claim. Mr. Libi has emerged as one of the terror network’s rising figures by posting dozens of radical videos on militants’ Web sites, and the rumors of his death spread through jihadi Internet forums.
...
If Mr. Somali was indeed killed, it would be a significant blow, an American official said. Little is known about Mr. Somali, but one American official said he was probably responsible for plotting attacks against the West.

The official said Mr. Somali was the primary link between Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and the network’s allies in East Africa, including the Somali militant group Al Shabaab.

United States officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information about the C.I.A. drone program is classified.

Mark Mazzetti reported from Washington, and Souad Mekhennet from Frankfurt. Pir Zubair Shah contributed reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan, and Eric Schmitt from Washington.

Avinash R · Post by **Avinash R** » 12 Dec 2009 12:10

sum wrote:
IIRC it was some US diplomat who was responsible for setting up hurriyat.
Robin Raphael who has just returned from Hibernation into Ombaba's S.Asia team.

Has been posted already in nukkad to escape predator attack
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 50#p771150

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 12 Dec 2009 16:14

The clearest picture of the mindset of the Paki military and its inability to think straight, by an insider,Irfan Hussein,a Paki scribe who bemoans his country's fate under the grip of the military.

"Generations of young officers at the military academy at Kakul have been taught that India is the eternal enemy; and that civilians are a necessary evil who have to be endured, but never trusted. A part of this indoctrination is the notion that one Muslim soldier is equal to 10 Hindus.

These are the officers now manning the highest positions of the defence forces. They are also the ones who shape Pakistan’s foreign relations, especially with nations affecting our security. "

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/daw ... -229-zj-02

Pakistan as a security state By Irfan Husain
Saturday, 12 Dec, 2009 The army’s repeated interventions have weakened the fabric of the state than any other factor. –Photo by AP

Over the years, many readers have asked me why Pakistan should fear an attack from India. They suggest that as we are under no threat from our eastern neighbour, our army could move more of its troops to the Afghan border where heavy fighting is going on, and where our embattled units could do with reinforcements.

For the answer to this question, we need to enter into the innermost recesses of the Pakistani security establishment’s psyche. The younger generations on both sides of the border obviously have no direct knowledge of the bitterness and bloodshed that attended partition.

I was three when we arrived in Karachi from New Delhi, and the story of how our train was attacked on the way is part of the family lore. I have a vague recollection of Liaquat Ali Khan’s famous speech in which he pointed his fist in India’s direction in a show of defiance. He was assassinated shortly thereafter, in 1951.

For just a brief moment, step into the shoes of a senior army officer surveying the strategic scenario from his GHQ in Rawalpindi, shortly after the birth of Pakistan. He sees a large, hostile neighbour to the east. East Pakistan is separated from West Pakistan by over 1,000 miles of Indian territory. Hordes of refugees are flooding across the border. Many of the military resources that were to be transferred to Pakistan have been blocked by India.

Soon after partition, hostilities begin in Kashmir, confirming the establishment’s worst fears about Indian intentions. Never mind that after the initial attack launched by tribesmen into Kashmir to help their Muslim brethren, it was the Pakistan Army that played a major role. In the mind of most Pakistanis at the time, this was a legitimate campaign to bring Muslim-majority Kashmir into the fold.

Even as a child, I remember hearing constant talk about how India wanted to ‘undo’ partition, and was waiting for the new state to collapse. Newspapers were often full of statements by leaders on both sides of the border hurling threats and accusations at each other.

Against this backdrop of fear and paranoia, it is easy to see why the Pakistani leadership reached to the West to bolster security. India had already established close relations with the Soviet Union, and China had not recovered from decades of chaos caused by war and civil strife.

Every state has security concerns, and needs resources to address them. The task of the leadership is to decide how total available funds will be divided between the imperative of guarding national frontiers, and the needs of the population. In a democracy, these competing demands on the exchequer are mediated through parliament. But when the military seizes control of the state, it can dictate the size of the cake it wants for itself.

In Pakistan, where we currently have all the outer trappings of democracy, the army has made sure that elected governments are too weak to challenge it either on the question of resource allocation, or over core security-related policies. The recent army-inspired furore over the Kerry-Lugar Act is an indication of the grip the generals have on real power.

Over the years, the army came to perceive that apart from external threats, it also had to guard against internal weakness. In the eyes of the military establishment, the political class and the democratic system were both sources of instability, and thus had to be kept under strict check. What it failed to see (and still does not) is that its own repeated interventions have done more to weaken the fabric of the state than any other factor.

By becoming the self-appointed guardian of ‘Pakistan’s ideological frontiers,’ the army took on a third role, and one for which it needed the cooperation of the Islamic parties.

This suited the mullahs perfectly, as it permitted them to advance their reactionary agenda in a Muslim country where they were regularly thumped at the polls. This marriage of convenience was sanctified during the Afghan war when jihadis from around the world flocked to fight the godless Soviet Union.

Generations of young officers at the military academy at Kakul have been taught that India is the eternal enemy; and that civilians are a necessary evil who have to be endured, but never trusted. A part of this indoctrination is the notion that one Muslim soldier is equal to 10 Hindus.

These are the officers now manning the highest positions of the defence forces. They are also the ones who shape Pakistan’s foreign relations, especially with nations affecting our security.

In the 1990s, when India made rapid economic strides, it became clear to even our military establishment that Pakistan could no longer compete in terms of conventional military power. While we matched India’s nuclear programme at crippling expense, we could not keep up with our traditional foe in terms of planes, tanks and men.

Above all, we had lost the technological edge that American weaponry had given us. Years of sanctions triggered by our nuclear programme lie behind the anti-Americanism that infects our officer corps, and through them, much of our media.

In order to restore the military balance, our establishment turned to the army of jihadis raised to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. When the Kashmiri uprising began spontaneously following rigged elections in the late 1980s, Pakistan reacted by first training Kashmiri freedom fighters, and then infiltrating Pakistani terrorists belonging to various jihadi outfits. India responded by sending in several army divisions. This suited our generals fine, as they had tied down close to half a million Indian soldiers by sending in just a few thousand jihadis.

In Afghanistan, Pakistan’s support of the Taliban in this period held out the promise of a compliant government in Kabul. These policies were turned on their head by 9/11, when all forms of terrorism began to be viewed as anathema by the international community. The Americans, in particular, put huge pressure on Musharraf to halt his use of Islamic holy warriors as proxies.

But old habits die hard. India is still seen as the real foe. Above all, Pakistan’s generals are convinced that sooner rather than later, the Americans will be forced to pull out because of flagging public support, much as they did from Vietnam. In this scenario, they are sure India would be asked to step in to ensure that the Taliban do not return to Kabul.

Should this happen, Pakistan would be encircled by Indian forces, and this is the security state’s worst nightmare.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 12 Dec 2009 16:26

Very enjoyable Newsline Article

There is something seriously amiss with the photo, which was published by The Nation. The photograph shows the US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates posing in front of both the US and Israel flags. Both look closely and you will notice a couple of odd things about the photo. For one, the Israel flag is fluttering while the US flag is stationery, indicating that the former flag was photographed outdoors and the latter indoors. Then, the dimensions and sizes of the two flags are completely out of proportion. This photograph has been Photoshopped, and very crudely at that.

Do a Google Images search for “Robert Gates” and the first result is the photographed used by The Nation. The flag that has been shoehorned into the Robert Gates picture can be viewed here.

The Nation’s motivations for this trickery are obvious. According to the editorial agenda the newspaper has been pursuing since Shireen Mazari replaced Arif Nizami as the editor, there is a US-Israel-India plot against Pakistan. These three countries, The Nation believes, are also responsible for the spate of terrorist attacks in the country. Showing Robert Gates posing in front of both flags is meant to represent his dual loyalties. The Nation has gone so far as to claim, without any evidence whatsoever, that The Wall Street Journal’s Matthew Rosenberg was a spy, forcing him to flee the country. The Nation was condemned by 21 international newspapers for that story. The paper has also been publishing story after story over the past few months on the alleged presence of Blackwater operatives in Pakistan.

I have been trying to contact The Nation’s editor Shireen Mazari for a comment on the Photoshopped photograph and will post an update here if I hear back from her.

Nadir Hassan is a senior assistant editor at Newsline. He has previously worked at various national and international media organizations.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 12 Dec 2009 16:43

Lahore Police intercept two US Consulate vehicles

Two vehicles of US Consulate intercepted on Saturday by the police personnel at a check-post near Simla Pahari area after their number plates were found bogus.

The vehicle was allowed to go without checking after arrival of US Consulate squad.

Another vehicle was intercepted near Sherpao Bridge where police and law enforcement agencies officials stopped a vehicle with Karachi number plate. The vehicle than shifted to undisclosed location for checking. Later, the vehicle was permitted to go.

arun · Post by **arun** » 12 Dec 2009 17:41

SSridhar wrote:Very enjoyable Newsline Article

Publishing a photoshopped picture of Robert Gates with an Israeli flag added is not anomalous behaviour when it comes to The Nations current editor, Dr. Shireen Mazari.

Dr. Shireen Mazari has a well established history of being caught at embellishing stories besides being caught out for indulging in other dubious journalistic practices.

The earliest that I recall is Claudia Kolkers expose in Salon of Shireen Mazari’s embellishments in the Baby Osama affair:

Little Osama: How the murder of a Muslim boy in Houston fanned the flames of anti-Americanism in Pakistan

The Committee to Protect Journalists delivered this rebuke to Shireen Mazari in the Mathew Rosenberg affair:

Playing the spy card against WSJ in Pakistan

Besides the above the CPJ had this to say on the Daniel Berehulak affair:

Doubling down on playing the spy card

Indeed Shireen Mazari has even been rebuked by the Army of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan:

Newspaper editor rebuked for misusing ISI name

AdityaM · Post by **AdityaM** » 12 Dec 2009 18:09

^ If you read the comments section of the photoshopped flag article, you will realise that the article falls flat.
It is well intentioned, but using photoshopped images is quite a widespread thing.
plus the image was not created by the publication being blamed

bart · Post by **bart** » 12 Dec 2009 18:12

From the article posted earlier:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/daw ... -229-zj-02

Soon after partition, hostilities begin in Kashmir, confirming the establishment’s worst fears about Indian intentions. Never mind that after the initial attack launched by tribesmen into Kashmir to help their Muslim brethren, it was the Pakistan Army that played a major role. In the mind of most Pakistanis at the time, this was a legitimate campaign to bring Muslim-majority Kashmir into the fold.

So the Pakistani non-state actors and army attack India as he he himself admits, but that confirms the establishments worst fears about Indian intentions.

What a bunch of effing retards.

bart · Post by **bart** » 12 Dec 2009 18:18

AdityaM wrote:^ If you read the comments section of the photoshopped flag article, you will realise that the article falls flat.
It is well intentioned, but using photoshopped images is quite a widespread thing.
plus the image was not created by the publication being blamed

Hardly, the article is completely right about Pakis especially Shrilleen trying to misrepresent facts and images to give an illusion of YYY conspiracy against Pakistan. Its shameless inflammatory propaganda. Regardless of the source of the picture or the act of photoshopping it, it is the content of the image and the motives behind photoshopping it that are the problem.

Also the comments claim that the photo source is rupeenews and it's editor. In case you have not visited that site, it is a rabid fundamentalist nutjob website mostly containing cooked up anti-India news items.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 12 Dec 2009 18:36

AdityaM wrote:^ If you read the comments section of the photoshopped flag article, you will realise that the article falls flat.
It is well intentioned, but using photoshopped images is quite a widespread thing.
plus the image was not created by the publication being blamed

Aditya, not quite. a mainstream newspaper is not supposed to source images or any other content from a conspiracy theory rumour mill like rupee news. (whose "editor" moin ansari starts every article with "the bharati army" ) rupee news is as bad as deff and dumb.

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 12 Dec 2009 20:25

It is this photoshopped photo that is being talked about in that article

This was published by shrileen mazari's The Nation to project the US as representing both the US and Israeli interests.
These pakistanis are truely crazy.

arun · Post by **arun** » 12 Dec 2009 20:53

I am confused that a nation that revels in calling itself the world’s first ideological Muslim State and further is one that has proclaimed itself to be an Islamic Republic sees fit not to derive great pride in becoming “a magnet for those inspired by a millenarian doctrine”.

I am also surprised that in a nation that revels in calling itself the world’s first ideological Muslim State and further is one that has proclaimed itself to be an Islamic Republic it is halal to state that Islam in any way or form “preaches hate and seeks to wreak devastation”:

The threat within

Dawn Editorial
Saturday, 12 Dec, 2009

The story of five young men who made their way from Washington D.C. to Sargodha ostensibly in search of extremist indoctrination and possibly terrorist training is deeply unsettling.

Let’s drop the pretence of this being a purely law-enforcement issue: the latest incident is yet more evidence that Pakistan has become a magnet for those inspired by a millenarian doctrine that preaches hate and seeks to wreak devastation in the name of religion. ...........................

Looking at the world from inside Pakistan, it may not be clear just how poorly this country is viewed elsewhere. But there are frequent clues for those willing to connect the dots. For example, a BBC report has claimed that ‘Pakistanis are more likely to be turned down for visas to visit the UK than any other nationals.’ ………………….

Let us also be clear that shutting down the jihad and terrorism infrastructure in Pakistan is not just about helping the outside world. Clearly, any responsible nation has duties towards other nations. …………………

Dawn

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 12 Dec 2009 21:04

Those virginia porkydorkies have probably been listening to too much Jahil Hamid.

After Shrileen, Jahil Hamid and Ahmed 'chuha' Qureshi need to be taken out by the west. This unholy trio is the source of islamo-fascist bullcrap for the educated youth in la la land.

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 12 Dec 2009 21:10

Americans arrested in Pakistan had bright futures
Well they certainly were going to have a blast.

"I have always known these kids as fun-loving, career-focused children that had a bright future for themselves," said Mustafa Abu Maryam, youth coordinator at the I.C.N.A. Center, an affiliate of the the Islamic Circle of North America, in Alexandria, Virginia. "As far as I know they were wholesome kids. Very goofy. You know, talked about girls. Very wholesome."

Next to the mosque is a home surrounded by a tall white fence listed in the name of the mother of Umar Farooq, one of the men arrested.

The accounting student at George Mason University was born in 1985 in Sargodha, Pakistan, the city where the five Americans were arrested on Wednesday, according to a report released by Pakistani authorities.

His mother said she and her husband were already in Pakistan looking for a wife for their son when she received news that her son was in the country. She said she assumed that he was there to surprise her, but he was arrested before she could meet him.

Parents were looking for 1 but he was looking for 72.

enqyoob · Post by **enqyoob** » 12 Dec 2009 21:30

Re: PakiDummiesForum:

They are busy editing their pan islamist jehadistic posts from early part of the decade, unfortunetly for them FBI has the backups from the ISP's!

Hasta la vista Porkies!

And we did our share to spread their wisdom all over Google after the space Shuttle Columbia disaster (Pakis celebrating the death of an Israeli and an Indian) and the London terror attacks of July 11 (2005 was it?) when the PDF dorks where putting out APBs for missing Abduls and Imrans as in

Yeah! Imran lived in that house in Leeds. Hasn't been seen on the forum after the glorious achievement!

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 12 Dec 2009 21:50

There you koofers, the job is finis.
South Waziristan operation is over, says Pak PM

Islamabad: Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Saturday that the country's armed forces had concluded a vital operation against the Taliban in the tribal district of South Waziristan.

"The operation in South Waziristan is over, and now there is talk of an operation in (the neighbouring district of) Orakzai," Gilani told reporters in the eastern city of Lahore.

However, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik, speaking hours later, said the operation would continue against "specific targets" in South Waziristan, the Taliban's heartland near the Afghan border.

...

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 12 Dec 2009 21:55

Pakistan is going to milk these US citizen wannabe terrorists to the hilt.

Now and henceforth, if any american ever tells the pakistanis that they are training terrorists or are a source of IT worldwide, the pukes are going to retort with 'why are US citizens eagerly entering into terrorism?' or 'The US is also a source of terrorism wannabes' or even 'The US needs to do some self introspection into why its citizens are into terrorism'

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 12 Dec 2009 22:12

bart wrote:From the article posted earlier:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/daw ... -229-zj-02
Soon after partition, hostilities begin in Kashmir, confirming the establishment’s worst fears about Indian intentions. Never mind that after the initial attack launched by tribesmen into Kashmir to help their Muslim brethren, it was the Pakistan Army that played a major role. In the mind of most Pakistanis at the time, this was a legitimate campaign to bring Muslim-majority Kashmir into the fold.
So the Pakistani non-state actors and army attack India as he he himself admits, but that confirms the establishments worst fears about Indian intentions.

What a bunch of effing retards.

This is the narrative which they have spread for the last 60 years.

Intead of gaining freedom from British they have spun Pakistan as freedom from Hindus and India.

Nayak · Post by **Nayak** » 12 Dec 2009 22:25

enqyoob wrote:
Yeah! Imran lived in that house in Leeds. Hasn't been seen on the forum after the glorious achievement!

Damn, I have tried multiple times to infiltrate the forum to conduct some undercover burkha ops, but buggers have stopped registration of new members.

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 12 Dec 2009 22:28

To take matters further, in an attempt to discredit Gandhiji, they talk of how the congress delayed India's independence, and if it had been left to Jinnah, Pakistan would have been formed much earlier.

The fact is that they have still not reconciled to their independent status, as not a week goes by where you have a news article where they have to reaffirm their 'homeland for the muslims of south asia' theory.

Watching all those talk shows on PTV, I was always struck by the lie that they were all living, by not talking about the freedom movement at all, instead only talking about the two nation theory.

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 12 Dec 2009 22:29

Nayak wrote:Damn, I have tried multiple times to infiltrate the forum to conduct some undercover burkha ops, but buggers have stopped registration of new members.

Change your IP address. Perhaps they don't accept Indians anymore.

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 12 Dec 2009 22:38

Desert Mirage:
Dubai woes not to reach Pak shores

Former governor of the State Bank Ishrat Husain captured the mood of experts here by stating: “Our exposure is minimal.

Whereas, the reality:
Pakistan economy could be hit by Dubai woes: minister

Pakistan could be hit by the Dubai debt crisis because investors from the country have put $6 billion into the emirate, mainly in the troubled real estate sector, a Pakistani government investment official said on Thursday. “A lot of money — as much as $6 billion — has gone out of Pakistan and got stuck in Dubai, most of it in real estate,”

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 12 Dec 2009 22:41

Everyone is taking a hit in the Dubai real estate crash.

All the way from Dawood bhai, to Indian Film stars and netas to paki Generals to bureaucrats and netas.

Nayak · Post by **Nayak** » 12 Dec 2009 22:43

Pak Fashion industry making inroads internationally

http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?opt ... 2&Itemid=2

LONDON, Dec 12 (APP)- Pakistan Fashion Industry is thriving quite well and making inroads in international haute couture as its rich heritage of embroidery and fabrics is a source of attraction for the high street fashion in the European markets.Noted Pakistani designer Hassan Sheheryar Yasin speaking at the Asia House here as part of “Pakistan Now” series of cultural events, told the gathering that the biggest satisfaction that he draws from his work is seeing “Made in Pakistan” labels on the high class fashion apparels being displayed and sold in international markets.

On the occasion three sets of his bridal collections were displayed by elegantly styled models. The patterns were inspired by Multani, Moghul, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern motives and colour combinations.

Nayak · Post by **Nayak** » 12 Dec 2009 22:44

Akram says doctors were more interested in making money than saving wife’s life

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/spo ... 88141.html

Wasim blamed doctors in Lahore of keeping him in the dark about his wife’s ailment, saying they failed to diagnose the real problem.

“The doctors of Lahore hospitals took no pain while treating Huma and they failed to diagnose her ailment. They were more interested in making money as after their failure to cure Huma, they asked me to pay 150,000 dollars to arrange an air ambulance for her treatment in Singapore,” Wasim said.

Nayak · Post by **Nayak** » 12 Dec 2009 22:45

Pakistan should explore Maldives for exports: Maldives HC

http://dailymailnews.com/1209/13/CityPa ... Pages9.php

ISLAMABAD—Maldives meets most of its needs through imports and this situation offers Pakistani businessmen a good opportunity of enhancing exports by increasing contacts with their Maldivian counterparts. This was said by Miss Aishath Shehnaz Adam, High Commissioner of the Republic of Maldives during her visit to Islamabad Chamber of Commerce.

She said Maldives economy is regarded exemplary in the region as it has shown growth at an average of over 10 percent during the past two decades, which should be a source of encouragement for investors. She said Maldives always welcomes foreign investment andPakistan investors should accelerate efforts to explore Maldives for investment opportunities.

She said tourism is the main industry of Maldives’s economy as about 700,000 visitors annually visit this country of islands and added that both countries could reap benefits by increasing bilateral cooperation in this area.

Aishath Shehnaz said 100 percent of population of Maldives is Muslims which provides an additional advantage to strengthen bilateral trade and economic relations between Pakistan and Maldives.

Zahid Maqbool said Pakistan provides quality education at very low cost than Western & European countries and desired that Maldivian students should come to Pakistan for higher studies, which will bring both countries further closer in different spheres of life.

—Agencies

Nayak · Post by **Nayak** » 12 Dec 2009 22:47

US forces using Shamsi airbase in Balochistan

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/daw ... stan-za-02

Talking exclusively to DawnNews, Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar said that the US was still using the Shamsi airbase, however, the govt is not satisfied with payments for its use.

Earlier, the US was also using the Jacobabad Airbase and Pasni for its operations in Afghanistan.

Nayak · Post by **Nayak** » 12 Dec 2009 22:48

Blackwater Predator missile-load contract ending

WASHINGTON (AP) — CIA Director Leon Panetta has canceled a contract with the former Blackwater security firm that allowed the company's operatives to load missiles on Predator drones in Pakistan.

Panetta canceled the contract earlier this year and the work is being shifted to government personnel, a person familiar with the contract said

Nihat · Post by **Nihat** » 12 Dec 2009 23:55

Zahid Maqbool said Pakistan provides quality education at very low cost than Western & European countries and desired that Maldivian students should come to Pakistan for higher studies, which will bring both countries further closer in different spheres of life.

whats so surpirsing , TSP has the world famous Post graduate diploma (IT) from LMU to offer.

archan · Post by **archan** » 13 Dec 2009 01:25

[quote="arun"][/quote]
arun, could you contact my 4th cousin at pbubaqr at gmail ? thanks.

MurthyB · Post by **MurthyB** » 13 Dec 2009 01:35

A method to the madness - Vir Sanghvi

Kissinger’s bright idea, my don explained, had been to convince the Russians that President Richard Nixon was unstable. He drank late into the night, flew into rages, went down on his knees in the Oval Office to ask Jesus for instructions. In other words, Nixon was a madman.

I thought back again to this Madman theory of politics on the first anniversary of 26/11 as I witnessed the sorry spectacle of Pakistani commentators and defence experts appearing on Indian TV to deny all responsibility for those monstrous attacks. I first thought: are these people mad?

Then, remnants of my education kicked in. Oh my God, I said to myself. They are using the Madman theory of politics!

Look at it this way. When our prime ministers (whether it is Atal Bihari Vajpayee or Manmohan Singh) talk to Pakistan, they act like statesmen. They are reasonable, flexible and willing to go the extra mile. When Pakistanis talk to us, it is an entirely different story.

In this day and age, war may not be possible. But, let’s be realistic: peace is not possible either. It’s time to stop acting like statesmen when we are dealing with cunning madmen. There’s only one language that works in these situations.

And that, sadly enough, is the language of strength.

Johann · Post by **Johann** » 13 Dec 2009 01:37

SSridhar wrote:
Johann wrote:. . . yes of course the PA would have to be transformed in order to stop threatening India, Afghanistan and the wider world.

What I am talking about is the kind of efforts the two-faced opportunists who run the PA will have to make in order to prevent the committed jihadis from blowing them all to hell.
Johann, certainly you know that PA alone is not involved in the terrorism directed at India. The whole country has been redicalized and hatred for the Hindus, and by extrapolation India, is still being taught in textbooks. A powerful Musharraf could do little to remove these. From the early 70s up until now, hatred for India has been systematically institutionalized all the way from Kindergarten to the highest echelons of the administration. That is why, the Punjabi bus driver who was credited with saving the Sri Lankan cricketers, while being felicitated, still held aloft proudly the photo of his shaheed brother who was killed fighting Indian soldiers in the Kashmiri jihad. Reforming PA alone is not going to be helpful as the PA is nothing but citizens of Pakistan who are all radicalized at least as far as India is concerned. TSPians may change their attitude towards the Americans but not against what they perceive as kufr Hindu India.

SS,

I think you may misunderstand what I'm trying to say, so let me back up a second.

The Pakistan Army from around 1964-65 onwards reworked Pakistan's ideology in a way that has until about 2003 been quite durable.

The PA was portrayed as the army of Islam. *Whatever* the PA did, under the command of the COAS and senior officers was for the greater good of Islam and of Pakistan.

In other words, Islam==Pakistan==Pakistan Army==PA brass

The acceptance of this ideology by Pakjab and significant sections of the NWFP's population gave the PA's leadership enormous manoeuvring room in terms of overall strategy and tactics, because at the end of the day the public accepted the general officers decisions as the right choices for Pakistan and Islam.

Certainly, it was not significantly questioned within the PA itself, and that significantly contributed to the stability of the chain of command within the PA.

Zia however introduced a new, more restrictive set of yardsticks of how the interests of Islam and Pakistan were to be measured, and he heavily promoted those within both the PA and the wider society. Although the people who succeeded Aslam Beg in commanding the PA were closer in mold to the pre-Zia leadership, these kinds of officers and men remained a powerful minority, and with them the dangerous (to the opportunists) that there was a higher moral authority on earth than the COAS and collective senior PA leadership.

Musharraf purged the generals of anyone who might think of acting independently, but the lower ranks have not received the same kind of attention.

The PA as an institution can not survive this current conflict when it has officers who not only think that the PA is on the wrong side, but are prepared to act against the PA and its leadership as well.

In Egypt, Algeria, Syria, the old Irag, monitoring and purging of *all ranks* has been a priority since the revolutionary regimes came to power in the 1950s and 1960s - after all these countries were wracked by ideological conflicts that swept every institution, including the army, and produced coups, counter-coups and counter-counter coups. Those who emerged on top like Hafez al-Asad, or Saddam, or Nasser, etc paid *very* close attention to military loyalty, acting swiftly and ruthlessly against all threats. Their successors continue to do so. It has allowed them to survive *every* internal threat from both secret organisations, as well as general unpopularity with the public.

Pakistan and the PA in many ways saw far fewer ideological conflicts at the grassroots level until the arrival of the 'War on Terror', and so the mechanisms of lower level surveillance, deterrence and punishment within the government and army were not nearly as well developed. The PA is moving in that direction now. They can not tolerate strong independent opinions or convictions in the PA's ranks any longer. They have no choice but to assert the pre-Zia ideological formulation, and back it up with a disciplined, unquestioningly loyal police state.

What will this do to the PA as a fighting force? It remains to be seen.

Johann · Post by **Johann** » 13 Dec 2009 01:43

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ... 5e6SMnyOZA

(AFP) – 5 hours ago

HONG KONG — An American member of Al-Qaeda on Saturday issued a video denying the organisation was behind a recent deadly string of attacks in Pakistan that have killed hundreds of civilians.

Adam Gadahn said in a video entitled "The Mujahideen Don't Target Muslims" that the organisation was being framed by the United States and Pakistan and blamed the media for helping implicate Al-Qaeda in the attacks.

"The mujahideen have condemned, and continue to condemn, all attacks which indiscriminately kill and wound innocent Muslims," he said according to a transcript from US-based monitor IntelCenter.

...In the video, Gadahn refers to "un-Islamic bombings which target Muslims in their markets, mosques, schools, shops and streets".

"The mujahideen declare themselves innocent of these attacks, and pronounce them part of a cynical, calculated and clandestine international campaign by the secular political forces," said Gadahn.

Note the difference in narratives here;

The PA and Pakistan government, and its loyalists insist it is India that is behind the attacks on public places.

The TTP, Al Qaeda, and the Ziaist elements of the Pakistani establishment insist that its the Americans who are behind it.

Given that anti-American sentiment has now eclipsed anti-Indian sentiment in Pakistan, there's a greater chance that the Pakistani public will believe the jihadis than the PA.