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WikiLeaks diplomatic cables have revealed that the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi had described President Asif Ali Zardari as ‘dirty’ but ‘not dangerous’ and Nawaz Sharif as ‘dangerous’ but ‘not dirty’.
But!! Together and united, they will be dirty and dangerous.
Nawaz has had a big falling out with the Americans because:
1. His election camaign allegedly got funds from OBL himself. There are rumors that Nawaz Sharif actually met OBL.
2. Nawaz Sharif then was planning to declare himself Amir-ul-momeen {Emir of the people (of Pakistan)}, because his surname is Sharif - which means that his family is allegedly direct descendents of the Prophet.
The US doesn't trust him because if he is in touch with OBL and is also PM and is planning to annoint himself Emir of a nuclear powered nation, there is a risk that things might go out of hand.
3. He is a wheeler-dealer, rich business man, and might have business connections that are shady to say the least.
I suppose the first two are of significance to the US.
WikiLeaks diplomatic cables have revealed that the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi had described President Asif Ali Zardari as ‘dirty’ but ‘not dangerous’ and Nawaz Sharif as ‘dangerous’ but ‘not dirty’.
But!! Together and united, they will be dirty and dangerous.
Zardari is uber dirty.
Not only is his role dubious in the killing of Benazir's brother in Karachi, (conventional wisdom says that the ISI did it), but he has lead a colorful life even when he was married to BB. There are stories of grand mujras and wine and wimmen all over the world.
BB didn't/ couldn't confront him in the open because staying married was her only refuge in that country.
Err, why is the Charles de Gaulle stationed off Pakistan this long?
IIRC they were there after Kargil, after 26/11 too?
Is there any truth to the story that Hazrat Zaid Hamid (PBUH) brings out, when he says (as briefed by the ISI) that the NATO navies have 2 aircraft carriers off the coast of Pakistan with a huge land assault force deployed. Perhaps the NATO ships move in and move out to remind General Kiyani that retribution is just off the coast of Pakistan should he push matters too far.
Given that there is such a huge force just off the coast of Pakistan, probably with snatch / kidnap teams on hot standby, is Karachi a safe place for the No 1,2,3 of Al Qaida? Pakistan also stores some Nuclear weapons and missiles in a weapons depot off the Faisal Air base in Karachi. Are all these safe from massa?
Gagan wrote:Err, why is the Charles de Gaulle stationed off Pakistan this long?
IIRC they were there after Kargil, after 26/11 too?
Is there any truth to the story that Hazrat Zaid Hamid (PBUH) brings out, when he says (as briefed by the ISI) that the NATO navies have 2 aircraft carriers off the coast of Pakistan with a huge land assault force deployed. Perhaps the NATO ships move in and move out to remind General Kiyani that retribution is just off the coast of Pakistan should he push matters too far.
Given that there is such a huge force just off the coast of Pakistan, probably with snatch / kidnap teams on hot standby, is Karachi a safe place for the No 1,2,3 of Al Qaida? Pakistan also stores some Nuclear weapons and missiles in a weapons depot off the Faisal Air base in Karachi. Are all these safe from massa?
To support ISAF in Afghanistan. Either that or the propeller fell off again.
Cyril is trying very hard to make sure we know it's Kayani speaking off the record:
"When told of Prime Minister Gilani’s comment that there is no need for a fresh consensus because the support for the operation in South Waziristan also extends to North Waziristan, the official responded sharply: “I will not do it unless there is a political consensus on North Waziristan.”
Note the 'commander' descriptor that keeps popping up
Excerpt dealing with the IPI pipeline from the cable released by Wikileaks:
Friday, 12 June 2009, 12:11
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 BAKU 000478 ...............................
Projected Problems in Iranian Gas Links
---------------------------------------
¶9. (C) The annual Baku Oil and Gas Show, held June 2-5, brought a variety of energy company executives and pundits to Baku, though no senior officials from Iran. An American interlocutor told Baku Iran Watcher on the side of the show that a [Source removed] had confided to him in a private conversation on June 4 that he viewed near-term implementation of the Iranian-Pakistani gas link project as “very unlikely.” The downbeat comment by the [Source removed] was made despite the recent signing in Istanbul by President Ahmadinejad and President Zardari of an Iranian-Pakistani MOU committing to the gas project. According to this source, [Source removed] indicated that he had several reasons for this opinion, but the only one he elaborated was that “the Pakistanis don’t have the money to pay for either the pipeline, or the gas.”
¶10. (C) Meanwhile, during a panel discussion at the conference on the future prospects of Caspian gas, several commentators noted the difficulty of doing business in “unpredictable, overly bureaucratic” Iran, and the alleged historical “unreliability” of Iranian gas supply contracts previously reached with Turkey and Turkmenistan. For example, panelists recounted that, after long negotiations, Iran has four times failed to sign separate Liquid national Gas contracts at the last minute. Two panelists claimed that Iran has repeatedly diverted gas supplies to meet domestic needs, thereby interrupting its contractual gas exports - and has not paid contractual penalties for these violations.
¶11. (C) A [Source removed] asserted bluntly that Iranian political leaders are totally focused on domestic needs and personal jockeying, and are simply not interested in hearing about the value of optimizing foreign gas exports. The only exception, he claimed, is their interest in the notional prospect of annually exporting ten billion cubic meters (bcms) of gas to Europe. He attributed this interest to a conviction that such a deal will significantly increase Iran’s political leverage in Europe and substantially insulate it from future European pressure - a perception he characterized as revealing, and “typically” unrealistic.
DERSE
Gagan wrote:There are rumors that Nawaz Sharif actually met OBL.
Currently reading Steve Coll's 'The Bin Ladens - an Arabian family in American century'. I will post a detailed review in the books thread. It has a wealth of information. OBL's first camping in Pakistan was in Lahore where he met many politicians, ulema etc to liaise and general building of network in the early stages of KSA involvement in Afghan jihad. At that time, he was aligned with the Al-Saud family and did not fall out of his own family. He was very much a part of the informal Saudi govt involvement in the jihad. He was not seen as a threat to Al-Saud and USA that he is now. He may have met NS at that time. There's not much to read into that because he pretty soon decamped from there and moved to Peshawar because he figured out that the Lahore elites are a bunch of hypocrites from his PoV. I think NS was still the PM when he came back to the region from Sudan, but he was then based out of Kandahar and not sure he had any dealings with NS.
How much the Paki's going to extract from Unkil for the WikiLeaks ? They won't miss a chance, do they ? How often they get a chance like this to get more Moolah !!!
* India should work towards setting up SEZ-type enclaves in Af where Indian Companies would produce goods using Afghan raw material & trade it with neighboring countries, pakistan included. Beneficial offset - trained Afghan manpower & elevation in the profile of its trade as that not just trading in primary goods. Similarly Indo-Iranian or Indo-neighboring CAR nation ventures that can process what Afghanistan would've otherwise shipped to India, for further trade to other market - cut off transit of goods to India via pakistan to the maximum possible extent - will in turn land a blow to pakistan's own industries hoping to make a quick buck at India's expense
* Afghanistan must insist on a similar arrangement for pakistan in its trade with CAR countires through Afghanistan, with Indian-operated Afghan industrial enclaves in full operational flow
* Afghanistan must insist that for value equivalent to pakistan's trade with CAR through Afghanistan, it must be allowed to bring in goods from India on its way back
Though the second and third option restricts the growth of India's trade with Af to the extent of inefficiencies of pakistan's own industry, well-protected SEZ-type enclaves for India Inc. can prove to be mutually beneficial to both India & Af
KLNMurthy wrote:
For the TSP mindset, not blocking the visit is a sign of weakness and cause for celebration of victory over the SDRE yindoos. The decision should be based on whether we want to send a message to TSP, and what that message is.
Forget the H&D stuff, do we need to invite a man who as general ordered the eyegouging of Indian Soldiers? I can believe that not everything in a state happens as per wishes of a chief minister, but can an act in a professional army happen without the orders of a General?
Guys,
Two things, it is not an invite from the GOI. As GOI gains nothing from inviting him. Second, the visit as a result of private invite should not be blocked. Simply because it shows that GOI is sensitive and apprehinsive of MUSH. We know that this is not the case.
As far as the eye gougig of IA men. The GOI of the day should have thought of that when he was invited to Agra. Today, a bycott of him makes no diffrence to any one. So why bother making a point, that no one cares about.
The best option in this case will be have some Pvt citizen file a case of crimes against humanity against him in an Indian court for the torture of Lt Kalia and his men and have him arrested. When he lands up in India to give a speach. The GOI should not touch him with a mile long pole.
Prem wrote:In Poak Speaking, Son, Son in law and Beerather can be one and same single Poak. Deduct the fair value of the missle from Aid and give the man fresh Kushboo to entertain himself. A Wife for a Life should settle this Strife.
Gagan wrote:Err, why is the Charles de Gaulle stationed off Pakistan this long?
IIRC they were there after Kargil, after 26/11 too?
Is there any truth to the story that Hazrat Zaid Hamid (PBUH) brings out, when he says (as briefed by the ISI) that the NATO navies have 2 aircraft carriers off the coast of Pakistan with a huge land assault force deployed. Perhaps the NATO ships move in and move out to remind General Kiyani that retribution is just off the coast of Pakistan should he push matters too far.
Given that there is such a huge force just off the coast of Pakistan, probably with snatch / kidnap teams on hot standby, is Karachi a safe place for the No 1,2,3 of Al Qaida? Pakistan also stores some Nuclear weapons and missiles in a weapons depot off the Faisal Air base in Karachi. Are all these safe from massa?
To support ISAF in Afghanistan. Either that or the propeller fell off again.
This is the NATO version of Op Parakram to get PA to behave and cooperate.
Former Pak President Pervez Musharraf has refused to accept a questionnaire sent by Pakistani investigators to get his views on crucial issues related to former premier Benazir Bhutto's assassination in 2007, according to a media report.
The Federal Investigation Agency's questionnaire was sent to Musharraf, currently living in self-exile in London, by special mail last month but he refused to accept it, the Dawn newspaper quoted its sources in the Interior Ministry as saying.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the letter was sent to Musharraf because the statement of everyone directly or indirectly accused in the assassination case was being recorded.
Following Musharraf's refusal, the FIA has prepared a new questionnaire and intends to send it to his residence in London.
"We have prepared a questionnaire for the former President to record his statement," said FIA chief Waseem Ahmed.
"We want to record the statement of everybody who has any connection with the case," Ahmed said.
Musharraf's aides have already said he would refuse to accept any questionnaire sent by Pakistani authorities.
Musharraf has also said he enjoys presidential immunity from criminal prosecution.
A joint investigation team of the FIA, which has completed its report on the assassination, prepared a 32-point questionnaire for Musharraf.
Asked why Musharraf was being involved in the case after the investigation team had completed its report and presented it in an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi, FIA
chief Ahmed said though the report had been submitted in
court, it did not mean that the probe had been closed.
The probe would remain open to include all supplementary information in the days to come, Ahmed said. Moreover, the FIA's investigation team headed by Directors Chaudhry Majeed has not recorded the statement of the Interior Minister.
Sources said the FIA had prepared a questionnaire for Malik but "could not dare to send it to him".
Though the head of the FIA investigation team told reporters on Saturday that he was working independently and not taking instructions from the Interior Ministry, observers have questioned why the questionnaire was sent to the ministry for approval as announced by the FIA chief.
Moderately enlightened comment
Comments
Pak Army killed Benazir Bhutto
By: Hyder Ali` | 29-Nov-2010Reply | Forward
There is no doubt that Pak Army Corps Commanders' conference held at GHQ, Rawalpindi, chaired by Gen. Musharraf and attended by Gen. Kayani, ordered the killing of Benazir Bhutto. By answering the questions he may incriminate himself and subject himself to possible prosecution in UK. So, he was well advised by his British lawyers to not answer it. Pak Army also ordered the killings of Baloch liberation forces' leaders.
anupmisra wrote:
India should consider the "Armenian, Israeli and Kurdish sensitivities" when dealing with Turkey the next time.
This is not a slap in India's face - just Turkey (a friend of India) pandering to Paki howls, just for this one time, in an area that borders Pakistan. Business ties between desh & Turkey speak much louder than words.
"Considering Kurdish sensitivities" would actually be similar to Turkey "considering Khalistani sensitivities", i.e. an internal issue that will sink all ties between India & Turkey.
We do why always have to defend actions of other countries (Remember Iran) when they go against us.
Why rationalize and push it under the carpet if Turkey actually did that.
They acted in their self interest and we will (If we invite Kurds) in our self interest.
We too (a close friend of Turkey) will be pandering to Kurdish howls, just for this one time, in an area that borders Iraq. No hard feelings !!
Remember, when certain US officials visited Pak, Pak would capture a Al Qaeda or Taliban #3? Well, they are playing the same game, now that Zardari wants to barter cement with Sri Lanka.
Lahore: Pakistani police on Monday claimed to have arrested an activist of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi on suspicion of involvement in a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in March last year.
Turkey-India relations good? I wonder why i was informed it takes a month to get a Turkish visa. I was told it's the normal time required for Indians to get one. 2 others in my company took that same time to get one. Things are not that good.
Being Jihad Pasand is one thing. Oversteping its authority is another. By doing so they have exposed them selves to impeachment. The president should be able to sack them.
Or I am giving the Bakis too much credit when it comes to constutional and legal proprity.
WikiLeaks diplomatic cables have revealed that the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi had described President Asif Ali Zardari as ‘dirty’ but ‘not dangerous’ and Nawaz Sharif as ‘dangerous’ but ‘not dirty’.
But!! Together and united, they will be dirty and dangerous.
This in fact is exactly the image that the Pakistan army wants to cultivate - to reserve for itself the prime spot as Pakistan's only savior. I think India can benefit from giving nuanced and conditional support to these corrupt SOBs against the even more corrupt army. Nobody is allowed to say that the army is corrupt in Paquistan.
Interesting to see that Gen. Ashfaq Kayani has come out with a select press briefing to say that the US wants Pakistan to be permanently destabilized and the goal is to denuclearise. In the backdrop of the leaks, I think he is making ground for two things
(i) Making sure that he gains complete control without being formally in power - whoever is the facade is determined by the powers that control pakistan - the current US choice is Zardari kept in check by Gilani. However, the Saudi choice seems to be Nawaz or Musharaff (hence he is jockeying -Kayani may prefere Mush) and China may prefer Musharaff too.
(ii) Create room for Pakistan to regain space and time with regard to Afghanistan, buy time to regroup and then get back to destroy India agenda in full earnest.
The private briefing and the leaked reports of it by the editors seem to indicate that they are making a move to wriggle out of a vice like grip that the US wants on the nuclear arsenal.
Another blow to paki H&D, and not to mention its TFTAness. Not Hobbit enough
Race row erupts over ‘Hobbit’ casting
Peter Jackson’s troubled “The Hobbit” project was embroiled in a race row Monday over a casting agent sacked for telling a would-be extra she was too dark to play one of the pint-sized creatures.
The row erupted after Briton Naz Humphreys, who has Pakistani heritage, attended a casting session in the New Zealand city of Hamilton last week, queuing for three hours only to be told her skin tone was not suitable.
Now the paki motormas can only play the role of extras (third row, fourth from the left behind the lead) in a Bollywood B-grade item movie.
A suicide bomber blew himself up close to a police van in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, killing six people and wounding 17 others, police said. The blast took place in Bannu close to the Afghan border, said officer Nawaz Khan said. He said that initial reports suggested the attacker was on foot. Police officer Iftikar Khan said that one of the six victims was a police officer, while the rest were civilians.
A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility.
It seems spot-fixing controversy is not over yet. Geo News on Tuesday released a video of bookie Mazhar Majeed in which he disclosed that four more Pakistani cricketers Wahab Riaz, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal and Imran Farhat among suspended trio – Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer involved in spot fixing.
I don't think we give enough credit to Pakis in BR. They are terrific in their own way. They don't disappoint you at all. Everyday they some how find a way to make the day interesting! Thankyou pak lurks. What will we do with our days without you...
The cables show just how weak the civilian government is: President Asif Ali Zardari told Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. that he worried that the military might “take me out.”
The cables reveal at least one example of increased cooperation, previously undisclosed, under the Obama administration. Last fall, the Pakistani Army secretly allowed 12 American Special Operations soldiers to deploy with Pakistani troops in the violent tribal areas near the Afghan border.
“Kayani made it clear regardless how much he disliked Zardari he distrusted Nawaz even more,” the ambassador wrote, a reference to Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister.
By 2010, after many sessions with Mr. Zardari, Ms. Patterson had revised the guarded optimism that characterized her early cables about Mr. Zardari.
“Pakistan’s civilian government remains weak, ineffectual and corrupt,” she wrote on Feb. 22, 2010, the eve of a visit by the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III. “Domestic politics is dominated by uncertainty about the fate of President Zardari.”
