Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan (TSP): Feb. 12, 2011

[RajeshA]

S M Hali- on opinion maker.

1.Under the garb of diplomats, the US government managed to place intelligence, security and guerrilla warfare experts in its embassies and consulates in Pakistan. These estimated over 3000 operatives have been conducting an internecine warfare within Pakistan.They have managed to infiltrate the Taliban and Al-Qaeda network and create their own Tehrik-e-Taliban (Pakistan) force, which has been recruited, trained and equipped by these CIA operatives to target Pakistan Army personnel, Armed Forces installations, markets, hospitals, schools and public places to destabilize Pakistan.

Spin doctors on uncut heroin? Baitullah was killed by a Drone, bro? And the answer would be-----u know destruction of evidence!

CIA operatives in Tehrik-e-Taliban (Pakistan) have also been unleashed to conduct political assassinations. Reportedly, PPP stalwart Benazir Bhutto was enabled to return to Pakistan by the US so that she could protect American interests in the region. The US even expected her to rollback Pakistan’s nuclear program. However, on her return to Pakistan, Benazir had a reality check and refused to play ball. Any bonafide Pakistani with roots amongst the masses would have had difficulty in toeing the US agenda and Benazir was a diehard Pakistani. Her reluctance resulted in her elimination and it is no coincidence that alleged CIA operative Baitullah Mehsud took responsibility for the assassination.

I love that take baby, in the end she died a martyr in the eyes of Pakistani army also. Who washed away the evidence, Hali Sir? Was the Pindi police also CIA?

The whole gamut of the CIA operations in Pakistan is still enshrouded in mystery and secrecy. The aspect of CIA giving its sister spy agency RAW a helping hand has also been uncovered. RAW has been facing disappointments in its Pakistan operations, however ever since it teamed up with the CIA and decided to ride piggyback, it has been having some success.

http://www.opinion-maker.org/2011/03/ci ... -pakistan/

This just proves that if India's strategy is pin any blame on Pakistan for anything, to show Pakistan for what it is, to plead to Pakistan's conscience; then in the court of Pakistan's public opinion, India has lost her case even before the arguments are heard. In Pakistan's parallel universe, there is an explanation for everything!

If India's strategy is to show the world, the international community what a bh**ch*d Pakistan is, then India has still lost the case, because Pakistan's culpability and evil have no bearing at all on how the West, or China, or the Ummah would treat Pakistan, for that is gamed on their own interests.

Pleading and Arguing is really for the naive and the wimps!

[vdutta]

Pak Army ? torturing people

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80guzmu76po

its actually a paki sperm donation center

[menon s]

Paki sperm donation center! thats a nice !

[Narad]

Now the porkis want to do an == with CIA

“There have been seven or eight major attacks on the ISI, whereas there has been only one on a CIA post in Khost,” an official said while comparing the brunt borne by the two spy outfits.

[Narad]

Gunman fires at diplomatic car in Pakistan

DOHA: Qatar says a gunman in Pakistan opened fire on a car carrying Qatar’s consul and two other Gulf diplomats in an apparent robbery attempt, but no injuries are reported.

The Qatar News Agency says the assailant in Karachi tried to open the car door Saturday, then fired shots at the vehicle from a pistol. The report says the Qatari official was accompanied by Oman’s consul and the deputy consul for Kuwait.

The agency says no one was injured in what it called an armed robbery attempt.

Its business as usual in tattistan.

RD was never wrong when he shot those two bloody poakroaches.

[arun]

Muslim Cleric of the Islamic politico-religious group, the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat which was formerly the Sipah-e-Sahaba, gunned down in Karachi.

Not clear if this was a Sectarian based kill with the Muslim Cleric being assassinated by fellow Muslim’s of the Shia sect or if this was a Sub-sectarian based kill with the Muslim Cleric being assassinated by fellow Sunni Muslim’s of the Barelvi sub- sect.

Such are the problems caused by the penchant of a not insignificant group of Muslim’s of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for eradicating each other for not being up to standards of Islamic purity :

Religious scholar, son killed in Karachi

[vdutta]

Paki sperm donation center! thats a nice !

if you saw what paki phauji was doing with clients then you would know what i am talking about

[shiv]

I am quite satisfied and proud the way BSF jawan responded. My blood boils when GoI is letting this incident go unnoticed. Why the fk we should be defensive about this? As a BSF jawan she has a responsibility to defend her country, same way we have the responsibility to defend their honor and dignity.

Well - best let it be. If the rules are followed she should NOT have responded but complained to her superior who should have complained to the Pakis and punished the Pakmard which would not have happened anyway. But technically her act was a breach of discipline.

She must not be punished. I am sure she will not be punished other than a token taking her off that duty for X days. She will be let off with a virtual pat on the back. Let things be. Why kill her career by making waves.

[symontk]

Armed robbery attempts against foreigners in pakistan! . Someone wants big money for something big. Hope the target is not India

[Suppiah]

Such are the problems caused by the penchant of a not insignificant group of Muslim’s of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for eradicating each other for not being up to standards of Islamic purity :

What is needed is another Charles Darwin to classify various species of these animals and codify them for the benefit of humanity...

[Suppiah]

Armed robbery attempts against foreigners in pakistan! . Someone wants big money for something big. Hope the target is not India

Dont be silly...if they want something big done against India they write a check on the Consolidated Fund of Pakistan/KSA/Al-Qaeda. It is only for taking action against some impure within they need to rob money..

[Mahendra]

del

[menon s]

Is Ruccuss over Raymond Davis , just a smoke screen to stop the civil suit against Pasha

Amir Mir article.

Key American military officials, including Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commander General David Petraeus, reportedly held a daylong meeting with the Pakistani Army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, in Oman on February 22, to plot a course out of the diplomatic crisis. The Pakistani side reportedly made it clear that any step to resolve the crisis must include the withdrawal of the civil lawsuit against the ISI chief.Therefore, the possibility of a clandestine settlement between the two sides on both the cases — Raymond and Pasha — can’t be ruled out. A SPY FOR A SPY! http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_a- ... 516052-all

[SSridhar]

ISI redefining its terms of engagement with the CIA

Incensed over the `shock revelation` about growing network of CIA spies in Pakistan, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is trying to redefine its terms of engagement with the American spy agency before any settlement of the row over immunity for Raymond Davis, the jailed US operative.

In an indication that Pakistan and the US were actively considering a review of parameters of their cooperation, the chief of the Office of (US) Defence Representative in Pakistan, Vice Admiral Michael LeFever for the first time attended monthly White House Af-Pak meeting recently through video teleconferencing.

The meeting reportedly discussed various options on the table for getting out of the stalemate, which has serious implications for the bilateral strategic relationship.

LeFever`s first appearance at the monthly White House meeting indicated that the Davis issue was now being handled mainly by the two militaries, even though American officials emphasise that it was strictly an issue for State Department to handle.

In Pakistan`s context, they broadly use the term `Government of Pakistan` while some others say `political reality is there` _ an indication that the Army was their main interlocutor.

US Ambassador Cameron Munter and LeFever have both been intensely involved in dealing with the diplomatic crisis after Davis`s arrest.

The Lahore High Court will resume its proceedings on March 14 for deciding the issue of immunity for Davis, where the government is expected to testify on his diplomatic status. But, sources suggest, the hearing will be preceded by a lot of `give and take` between the two sides and negotiations to that effect were already under way.

American sources also confirmed that communication was taking place at different levels to sort out different contentious issues, which although simmering for quite some time, have gained urgency following the Davis saga.

According to an official privy to the ongoing negotiations, the Davis issue, although still primary for the US, has been overtaken by other matters pertaining to working of the CIA in Pakistan, the operational freedom it (CIA) had been enjoying and more specifically its ties with the ISI. Davis`s fate, a source said, hinged to a large extent on the outcome of this CIA-ISI dialogue.

The ISI believes that it had been betrayed by the CIA. Although their complex relationship was always marred by mutual distrust, the ISI officials this time look particularly perturbed over the CIA reportedly developing its own network of undeclared spies and disregarding their institution and sacrifices of their colleagues – 300 of whom have been killed during the war on terror.

“There have been seven or eight major attacks on the ISI, whereas there has been only one on a CIA post in Khost,” an official said while comparing the brunt borne by the two spy outfits.

One of Pakistan`s demands at the talks between military and intelligence officials is a categorical assurance from the American spy agency for ending its undeclared activities and being transparent in its dealings with the ISI.

There were unconfirmed claims that the CIA in its bid to pacify the situation, which is deteriorating fast, has already started withdrawing into shell by removing some of its men from Pakistan and cutting certain questionable activities.

A senior military commander, speaking on background, however, said it was premature for him to say whether or not there was some forward movement.

Even as Pakistani officials claim that they were caught unawares about the CIA developing its network of spies and mounting undeclared operations, the Americans insist that Pakistanis were fully aware of the activities now being questioned.

Davis, revelation of whose CIA affiliation apparently caused the furore in Pakistani intelligence quarters, was declared by the US embassy as affiliated with Regional Affairs Office (RAO) in the registration request with the Foreign Office filed last year. The fact that the RAO is widely known to be linked to the CIA, therefore, raises questions as to why Pakistani security agencies couldn`t know who he was before the January 27 shooting incident in Lahore.

The lingering dispute, which has turned uglier with the public spat between the intelligence agencies of both countries, has started affecting their counter-terror cooperation.

A Pakistani general said the row had definitely impacted the Pak-US military-to-military relationship, because the ISI was a services intelligence agency and an extension of military. But, the brighter side, he maintained was that both sides continued to engage each other for resolving their disputes.

A senior American official seconded his view saying: “we are walking with the pebble in the shoe”.

Other sources, while trying to give an impression that military ties remained unhurt, pointed towards recent disbursement of $633 million in the Coalition Support Fund to Pakistan and delivery of long demanded night vision goggles. “We are now working on CSF disbursements for third and fourth quarter of 2010,” a source added.

While much of the media focus has been on the CIA and ISI washing their linen in public, sources say, disclosure about growing CIA network in Pakistan has further frayed civil-military ties in the country.

Military and officials are now questioning the grant of visas to some 450 Americans without any scrutiny allowing CIA spies to enter the country in great numbers.

At the same time, the ISI has also done a bit of soul-searching to find how they lost track of the CIA spies. This was followed by an internal reshuffle to express displeasure of the top brass, if not as part of fixing responsibility on the changed officials.

[A_Gupta]

Lahori knowledge of Balochistan:
http://cafepyala.blogspot.com/2011/03/d ... there.html

[SSridhar]

America created Muslim sects

Famous chief of Jamaat Dr Munawwar Hasan told daily Pakistan that America was responsible for creating Muslim sects in order to make Muslims fight each other instead of fighting America. {Oh yes. It was the evil Americans who created the Shi'a & Sunni sects in the first place because they wanted Muslim opposition to the Jews to be weakened by intenal divisions}

[Mahendra]

Yeah, the CIA predates the holy PBUH

[krisna]

UNITED STATES-PAKISTAN DENOUEMENT: STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIA

United States –Pakistan denouement in their so-called strategic partnership currently underway was inevitable as this relationship was never founded on the basis of sound long-lasting strategic convergences or shared values. Both the United States and Pakistan over the last five decades enjoyed only spasmodic proximity and that too when tactical expediencies on both sides prompted such a proximity.

The First United States-Pakistan involvement in Afghanistan in the 1980s emerged with the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan in1979. The United States and Pakistan had a strategic convergence in working together to see the exit of the Soviets from Afghanistan, and they succeeded.

The Second United States-Pakistan Involvement in Afghanistan arose from United States ultimatums and coercion applied to Pakistan to combine in US Global War on Terror against the Al Qaeda and the Taliban, both entities having been given facilities and infrastructure in Pakistan-Occupied Afghanistan till 2001. Tactical expediency dictated Pakistan succumbing to American dictates, but not without Pakistan Army double-timing the United States all along since 2002.

The United States and Pakistan had not only different strategic agenda but one could say opposing agenda. The Pakistan Army’s end-game in Afghanistan this time was to bide time, induce combat fatigue in United States war effort and thereby prompt a military exit of the United Sates from Afghanistan. Thereafter the Pakistan Army could once again reclaim Afghanistan as its strategic depth against India, once again through the Taliban nurtured in Pakistani safe-havens.

This decade of the 2000s also witnessed the tangential impact on India of the United States-Pakistan Army troubled relationship. The United States in a vain bid to keep the Pakistan Army on its right side so that it does not impede the US war effort in Afghanistan and also to keep US logistics routes through Pakistan to Afghanistan open, indulged in unabashed policies of pressurizing the Indian policy establishment to what can be termed as appeasement policies towards Pakistan Army’s strategic sensitivities.
The Indian policy establishment throughout this decade of 2000s kept succumbing to United States pressures to keep resuming the India-Pakistan Peace Dialogues which India kept calling off after every major terrorist strikes from Pakistan against India, the last notable one being the nationally traumatic 26/11 commando-trained attack on Mumbai.

Pointedly asserted in my Papers on this issue repeatedly in the last few years was the fact that the Indian Prime Minister in pursuance of his pro-American policies was succumbing to American pressures on policies designed to appease Pakistan Army's strategic sensitivities. This approach was in a state of severe disconnect with Indian public opinion which wanted no truck with Pakistan until it resiled from terrorism.
Currently when the United States itself perceives that United States-Pakistan relations may have headed towards an irretrievable damage, it becomes pertinent to point out to the Indian policy establishment that its Pakistan policy postulations would need serious revision. After all the architecture of India’s policy formulations on Pakistan in the past decade were crafted from Washington’s perspectives than India’s national security interests.

This Paper intends to focus broadly on the issue of overall United States-Pakistan denouement and its strategic implications for India with a discussion under the following heads:

* United States-Pakistan Denouement: The Major Issues of Friction
* Breakdown in Relations Between United States and Pakistan Intelligence Agencies
* US Secretary of State Recent Observations on Pakistan Analyzed
* United States Follow-up Pakistan Policy Options: Perspectives
* Strategic Implications for India Arising From United States Follow-up Pakistan Policy Options.

United States-Pakistan Denouement: The Major Issues of Friction

Pakistan’s tainted reputation as an opportunistic and readily available as a ‘rentier state’ and a ‘regional spoiler state’ affected its image as a dependable state and a durable ally of the United States when the Pakistan-China strategic nexus is considered. As reiterated in many of my Papers, if when the chips are down and Pakistan is forced into making a strategic choice between China and the United States, Pakistan would align with China.

United States stabilization of Afghanistan and its continued embedment there is a United States strategic imperative of the United States. This is diametrically opposite to Pakistan Army’s fixative obsession to reclaim Afghanistan for its strategic depth strategy. Hence Pakistan Army’s continued hosting of the Afghan Taliban Shura, keeping the Pakistan-Afghanistan border porous for Taliban operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan Army Chief’s continued refusal to launch military operations in North Waziristan.

On all of the above contentious issues of concern to the United States, it is the Pakistan Army and its ISI which is the central actor and controlling authority. Why is then the United States tolerating Pakistan Army’s shenanigans? Why is it that the United States instead of ‘disciplining’ the Pakistan Army continues to pressurize India to yield to Pakistan Army’s dictates to the United States that India should yield on Kashmir, India should demilitarize Kashmir by withdrawing troops, and that the United States should not allow India to effect a presence in Afghanistan?

Break down in Relations between United States and Pakistan Intelligence Agencies

The bedrock of the United States-Pakistan relationship, irrespective of the varying intensities had been the close links and close cooperation between the CIA and the ISI, the respective intelligence agencies of the United States and Pakistan.

US Secretary of State’s Recent Observations on Pakistan Analyzed

She is reported to have observed that Pakistan faces major instabilities at home and that Pakistan should stop fomenting anti-American sentiments and that shocking and unjustified anti-Americanism will not resolve Pakistan’s problems.

Such remarks emanating from the highest level of United States foreign policy establishment indicates that something has seriously gone amiss in United States-Pakistan relations.

The Davis case seems to be only a pretext for the Pakistan military establishment to a tipping point where the United States yields further to Pakistan Army blackmails or failing which the United States is forced to a military exit from Afghanistan.

It needs to be reiterated that Pakistan’s foreign policy on United States, Afghanistan and India is under direct control of the Pakistan Army Chief General Kayani. Therefore, deductively it can be stated that the downslide in United States-Pakistan relations currently underway and the lowest point that has been reached as observed by Secretary Clinton, has taken place with the full knowledge of the Pakistan Army Chief.
It is not without purpose that in Pakistan media reports, General Kayani is being attributed as having observed that Pakistan is the most bullied ally of the United States and that ‘the real aim of United States strategy is to de-nuclearize Pakistan’. Such assertions by General Kayani can whip up nationalistic fervor and also position General Kayani in Pakistan’s political space.

And its strategic implications for India cannot be far behind especially when India’s Pakistan policy is so much enmeshed in serving Washington’s strategic interests in Pakistan.

United States Follow-up Pakistan Policy Options: Perspectives

The Hard Option of the United States could initially involve strong use of political, economic and diplomatic coercion, including cut- off of military and financial aid, to make the Pakistani establishment yield on all American demands extending from the Davis episode to launching of Pak Army offensives in North Waziristan and secure logistics to Afghanistan. It is premature to visualize military intervention against Pakistan at this stage. It would be an extreme last resort arising more from another 9/11 against the United States.

The Soft Option would be to maintain the status-quo of the frayed US-Pak relationship and perpetuate the myth of a strategic partnership. Pakistan would be cajoled to release Davis from captivity and his exit from Pakistan. United States would continue business as usual with the Pakistan Army, at least till 2014.

The Pakistan Army establishment is likely to read it(soft option) as American capitulation and persist in its blackmailing tactics.

Strategic Implications Arising for India from United States Follow-up Pakistan Policy Options

This constancy of strategic implications arise from the hostile and confrontational Pakistan Army attitudinal approaches towards India manifested as follows (1) Proxy war in Kashmir (2) Widened and enlarged terrorist attacks all over India (3) Unprovoked border incidents and clashes along the LOC (4) Pak-China strategic nexus as an anti-Indian strategy (5) Hostile propaganda internationally against India over Kashmir and alleging India’s aggressive instincts.

The Pakistan Army strategy of blackmailing USA to pressurize India has been successful with the present Government in New Delhi repeatedly succumbing to resume dialogues with Pakistan after every major terrorist attack against India, unmindful of India’s national security interests

Pakistan’s five manifestations of its hostile stances against India spelt out above did not cease despite Indian Government’s succumbing to US dictates favoring Pakistan. In fact Pakistan Army since 2007 has stood further emboldened under General Kayani to be more hostile to India secure in the belief of Pakistan’s nuclear deterrence and United States keeping India pressurized against any retaliation against Pakistan.

( hope the GOI knows this all the time and not succumb to uncle-pak machinations.)

In terms of United States follow-up Pakistan policy options, whether the Hard Option or the Soft Option, the crucial deduction that emerges is that in either case Pakistan stands threatened by the prospects of internal strife, Talibanization of Pakistan and possibly civil war and fragmentation.. In such an ensuing scenario where both anti-US and anti-India war hysteria is likely to be whipped up to frenzied levels, the strategic implications for India suggest heightened security vigilance, enhancing India’s war preparedness, and increasing and qualitatively improving India’s strategic weapons inventory.

(Very important and well known observation indeed)

If United States adopts the Soft Option as a follow-up strategy then India can expect even much more United States pressures on India to yield on the Kashmir issue, demilitarization of Kashmir and end to Indian involvement in Afghanistan’s reconstruction, as per Pakistan Army demands. The United Sates in the follow-up phase would be doubly prompted to increase pressures on India to re- rehabilitate itself with the Pakistani military establishment.

The Indian policy establishment needs to ask itself the serious question that irrespective of the health of United States-Pakistan relations, in the event of an India-Pakistan military showdown for whatever provocation would the United States standby with India against a Talibanized Pakistan? Also another critical question as to whether the increased Indian military equipment purchases from the United States would become subject to US sanctions in the event of an India-Pak conflict in the future?
Lastly, is it a strategically sound option for the Indian Prime Minister to keep acceding to repeated resumption of Peace Dialogues with Pakistan, when the very existence of Pakistan is in question? Peace Dialogues with Pakistan under US pressures can neither ensure peace for India nor swing the United States strategically in favor of India.
It is strange that leading policy advisers of US President Obama should be writing best seller books entitled “United States Deadly Embrace of Pakistan” and the US Administration in a doublespeak pressurizing India to go in for a “Deadly Embrace with the Pakistan Army”.

Concluding Observations

In the 1950s and 1960s when India was strategically infirm, India followed an independent policy on Pakistan. Today when India is strategically powerful and strong, the Indian Prime Minister of seven years standing has remained silent on the crucial issue as to what strategic advantages accrue to India by repeated resumption of Peace Dialogues with Pakistan under United States pressures.

India would have to enhance its security vigilance, achieve high levels of war -preparedness and be politically ready for strong deterrent actions to counter any Pakistan Army adventurism. This is all the more necessary especially when the Pakistan Army is headed by a Pakistan Army Chief who openly flaunts that he is “India-Centric” and stands rated by US intelligence establishment as the most anti-Indian Pak Army Chief ever in Pakistan’s history.

[sum]

Even as Pakistani officials claim that they were caught unawares about the CIA developing its network of spies and mounting undeclared operations, the Americans insist that Pakistanis were fully aware of the activities now being questioned.

Pathetic counter intel setup of ISI if above is true....

[Ananya]

Even as Pakistani officials claim that they were caught unawares about the CIA developing its network of spies and mounting undeclared operations, the Americans insist that Pakistanis were fully aware of the activities now being questioned.

Pathetic counter intel setup of ISI if above is true....

This is apparent as no two officers of ISI know what each other is doing including their bosses, this was intentionally designed for the fear of RAW after their foolishness was revealed in 1971

[RamaY]

Yeah, the CIA predates the holy PBUH

Kafir... CIA created holy PBUH to dominate Middle East, Pakistan.

[Anujan]

Armed robbery attempts against foreigners in pakistan! . Someone wants big money for something big. Hope the target is not India

The french consul's house was robbed. Rs 3000 and 2 Laptops were stolen. Most probably ISI was after the laptops.

[negi]

^ Is it about the supmarines ?

[saip]

Yeah, the CIA predates the holy PBUH

Kafir... CIA created holy PBUH to dominate Middle East, Pakistan.

This type of comment would have been considered blasphemous deserving capital punishment in our friendly neighbor country.

[ramana]

So you want facilitate it? What is your take?

[Anujan]

Potentially all Pakistanis who do not turn into salafists. But, it could be Fauzia Wahab, Asma Jehangir and Nilofer Bakhtiar to start with.

Fauzia Wahab's son escaped a goat-napping attempt in Karachi a few hours ago. Apparently their families are also Wajee-bull-Cattle. Lot of Lulz surround this goat napping, follow it when it breaks.

By the way, he is an official ISPR (propagandu arm of Paki army) release. Riddle: Spot the RAW agent (hint: The one demonstrating Yoga levitation techniques in the back & floating without legs)

[Charlie]

Pakistan fantasy of Kashmiris

We all know how weird Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) among humans could be. Obsessive Compulsive Affinity – not necessarily a disorder - is a term which doesn’t exist. But imagine if it were coined now, wouldn’t the masters of semantics describe Kashmiris’ obsessive affinity to the ‘rogue’, raw, yet superb, Pakistani cricket team like that?
I know this statement is going to raise eyebrows. But, tell me, what different side is the Kashmiri heart this Cricket World Cup?
As if rising from the ashes, as Lala (Afridi back home is so lovingly called that) and his ‘boys’ go on a winning spree, you observe a new triumphism overtaking Kashmiris again.
The past few years have been painful years of loss and dejection to Lala’s Kashmiri fans. The worst to them was perhaps the team’s almost-usual losses at Team India’s hands, which has unarguably matured to be the world’s No. 1 cricketing team, past Australia. Kashmiris, by and large, had shunned watching cricket clashes of these ‘titans’ since Misbah-ul-Haq gave away what Kashmiris to this day see as a catch which deserved plain hanging in the 2009 T-20 World Cup final with India.
It is debatable if Kashmiris’ affinity for that country – or the public display of that - is the same as before. Nevertheless something happened in the last twenty years which makes things look different. But even today wearing green uniforms in the village or town cricket tournaments are no passé in the valley. The daily news of death and destruction emanating from Pakistan do have people in Kashmir to receive with that I-told-you-so-always kind of thinking. But the kind of people who see that situation ‘an aberration’ in history are just everywhere. They seem unmindful of everything.
In our childhood we would commonly see even school going children – not brainwashed about any particular type of politics anywhere - making Pakistani flags and unfurling them on its independence day. At my own school we had boys trying to march like Pakistani soldiers, brandishing hockey type wooden sticks – masquerading as guns.
We have even heard of times when listening to Pakistan Radio on radio sets was banned by law in Kashmir. Those days the government would pay spies – probably known as khoftan faqirs – who would report which family tunes in to Pakistan radio. Today things are hardly different. All Pakistani satellite TV channels stand banned in Kashmir. People cannot make phone calls from here to that country. Although Internet does provide some glimpse of Pakistani life to some people, yet Pakistan remains as distant to a common man as before.
A lot for the worse has happened for Pakistan as a country and its cricket team in the last two decades or so. Today we have people like George Fulton who in his stunning article George ka khuda hafiz last week went to the extent of calling Pakistan being a state on a precipice. A wafer-thin sliver is all that stands between you and becoming a failed state, he wrote while narrating the circumstances of his ‘divorce’ to the country.
But Kashmir’s cricket fans seem oblivious to everything. You talk match fixing, they will close their ears. You talk temperamental sportsmanship, they will sound indifferent. There is a sudden rush of energy today that Lala’s team may at last break the team’s world cup jinx – not letting Team India beat them again – and even clinch the cup.
But with love comes the pain. This world cup has had its share of the usual nail chewing moments for the Kashmiri fans. Any crazy act by Afridi’s ‘boys’ invites instant ridicule and anger. Already two big sins have gone to the team’s credit – their unpardonable fielding in the match with Sri Lanka and dismal batting with minnows Canada.
And it is not only about the fans among the common people. We have heard stories of Kashmiri politicians having their loyalties to the south of the state and secretly skipping office to watch a Pakistani cricket match. We have heard of senior police officers taking leave from work to see Pakistanis play. We have heard of failing pretensions of loyalty in plenty when it came to an Indo-Pak match. Of uncontrolled jubilations and heart breaks.
When it comes to Team India’s fan following in Kashmir, it isn’t that bad. Its fan following has increased significantly in proportion over the years. But a public viewership of the thrilling India-England match a few days back in Srinagar could have been baffling. The prayers that went up for England to win were massive. These are the moments when our friends in India find such Kashmiri behavior illogical, bizarre, intolerable and even blasphemous.
But why are Kashmiri hearts on the side which most of our Indian friends see the wrong side?
A friend sometime back offered an explanation which is both debatable and contestable. He called this attitude a ‘revenge syndrome’ - for a sense of loss in politics, in the battlefield, in the street, in the hearts.
An unknown number of Kashmiris have died unsung for nursing this syndrome. An unknown number of cardiac arrests have gone unreported. People have died in shock for that loss. People have died of bullets, fired from bunkers whose custodians would not take Kashmiri chants of jubilation at a Pakistani win easy.
Today the world damns Lala’s boys as the most mercurial, immature and even suspect. And yet most Kashmiris’ affinity to them remains as ever before. That is what perhaps the first love is all about - damn crazy, blind and venomous.
And let me tell you even as people like Omar Abdullah are not so well known to wear their hearts on their sleeves, he tweeted on the evening of 26th February - Finished work just in time to watch the last few overs of the Pak- SL match.
It is as crazy as that.

The columnist can be emailed at [email protected]

[anchal]

^ That fantasy can only be explained by Ummah glue. The article once again validates why a gutted down Pakistan is essential for this fantasy to turn into a nightmare. Besides for Kashmiris not having to work hard for daily ghosht courtesy heavily subsidized supplies adds to having extraa time for day-dreaming. Dream on!

[Charlie]

IB, RAW job aspirants lack 'intelligence': Report

In a worrisome trend, researchers have found that candidates with less or poor general aptitude are getting attracted to jobs in the Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) among other agencies and suggested changes in selection procedures.
According to a report prepared by Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF)and the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) on 'Reforming India's Intelligence Structure', interviewers are encountering candidates who have no general knowledge and awareness on current affairs.

Citing examples, a researcher requesting anonymity said a candidate identified Hyderabad as the capital of Karnataka instead of Bangalore while facing such an interview. Another candidate could hardly speak a sentence when asked to brief on the situation in Kashmir and cross-border infiltration.

This, according to the report, is a "tail-end" syndrome which is attracting aspirants with less marks in the civil services exams to the country's intelligence agencies.

The report suggested a need for comprehensive reforms, paradigm shift of working, improving recruitment, deputation, promotions, training for new recruits and better quality supervision of operations in intelligence agencies to get better result. "With the growing threat to national security, there comes a greater need for the strongest and most efficient structure of intelligence that can possibly be aspired to," the report said.

It also pin-pointed several deficiencies like lack of specialised staff for gathering intelligence, analysis and modern snooping equipment among others.

A former bureaucrat, who was part of a deliberation held here recently on the report's findings, said the interview board often gets a list of candidates who are basically rejected for the other services or get low marks in the civil services examination.

Researchers have expressed concern over vacant posts in the intelligence units like Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and the National Technical Research Organisation.

The report proposed the concept of National Intelligence Coordinator (NIC) to coordinate with central security agencies and directly discuss the matter with National Security Adviser (NSA), Home, Defence and External Affairs Ministers under overall supervision and control of the Prime Minister.

It also envisaged the role of NSA as main diplomatic adviser under the proposed concept of NIC and National Grid for quick and secure communications.

We must be one lucky SOB's to still be breathing a free air with defenses like RAW and leaders like MMS. We have a murderous/genocidal Islamists on one side and a nut case Chinese on the other, this should have been enough to wake us up..but no...we are the same old international whipping boys.

[Vivek_A]

Earth-e-Shaster takes a crack at the shahzad bhatti case and, after eliminating all possibilities, reaches the conclusion that it was a plot by paki christians and eastern and/or western intelligence agencies...

great job, sherlock..

http://earth-e-shaster/detailnews.asp?id=79492

replace earth-e-shaster with real link.

[Anujan]

^^^
Vivek_A-ji that Pakobserver site is run by a inbred Paki. In the past, malware was also detected there. Maybe we shouldnt have links to that rag?

[vijayk]

Pak a Tinderbox, Poised to Explode: Zardari

Blaming the recent political assassinations on religious fanatics, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari today warned that fanaticism in his nation was a "tinderbox" poised to explode across the country and asked Washington to avoid confrontation and work together with Islamabad against terror.

"The religious fanaticism behind our assassinations is a tinderbox poised to explode across Pakistan. The embers are fanned by the opportunism of those who seek advantages in domestic politics by violently polarizing society," Zardari said in an oped in the Washington Post.

[Dipanker]

The shameless beggers!

Finance Minister urges timely provision of coalition funds

ISLAMABAD: Federal Finance Minister, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh met with the new US special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Marc Grossman at his office and urged the US for a timely provision of coalition support funds to Pakistan.

Talking to media after the meeting Marc Grossman said that the US will make certain the provision of Coalition support funds come through.

Pakistan has to receive $2.5 billion from the coalition support fund. This year the allocated amount is $1.4 billion from the fund but Pakistan has so far recieved only $630 million.

Lack of funds is the major cause of pressure on Paksitan’s economy.

[Brad Goodman]

^ That fantasy can only be explained by Ummah glue. The article once again validates why a gutted down Pakistan is essential for this fantasy to turn into a nightmare. Besides for Kashmiris not having to work hard for daily ghosht courtesy heavily subsidized supplies adds to having extraa time for day-dreaming. Dream on!

Can amputing arm cure a patient whose gangrine has spread to torso? Doc sahab you can chime in. The ummah glue runs far deeper and wider. This is the issue we were discussing in the other thread of undoing partition.

[Prasad]

How many limbs are you willing to amputate before targetting the cause of the disease? Thats the question we're faced with. Not if we're willing to cut off whats left!

[arun]

X Posted from the Pakistani Role in Global Terrorism thread.

Citizens of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan are willing to travel long distances to obscure places in order to indulge in the national pastime of IT aka Islamic Terrorism.

Police in Kenya arrest a citizen of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in a crackdown on Islamic Terrorists belonging to the Al Qaeda linked Somali Al Shabaab Islamic Terrorist group:

Kenya arrests six Shabaab fighters in border town

[svinayak]

Blaming the recent political assassinations on religious fanatics, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari today warned that fanaticism in his nation was a "tinderbox" poised to explode across the country and asked Washington to avoid confrontation and work together with Islamabad against terror.

"The religious fanaticism behind our assassinations is a tinderbox poised to explode across Pakistan. The embers are fanned by the opportunism of those who seek advantages in domestic politics by violently polarizing society," Zardari said in an oped in the Washington Post.

Revolution will come from within Pakistan: Pagara
Daily Times - ‎5 hours ago‎
KARACHI: Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) chief Pir Pagara has said that revolution would come from within Pakistan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi could become the next prime minister after elections.

[archan]

Pak a Tinderbox, Poised to Explode: Zardari

Blaming the recent political assassinations on religious fanatics, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari today warned that fanaticism in his nation was a "tinderbox" poised to explode across the country and asked Washington to avoid confrontation and work together with Islamabad against terror.

"The religious fanaticism behind our assassinations is a tinderbox poised to explode across Pakistan. The embers are fanned by the opportunism of those who seek advantages in domestic politics by violently polarizing society," Zardari said in an oped in the Washington Post.

Please don't fight with us or else we will self destruct!

[Anujan]

Please don't fight with us or else we will self destruct!

I read it as, "Negotiations with IMF going badly "

I, for one, regret Mush was not the president. Then Mush (and by extension the army) would be forced to make statements about Blasphemy victims and abduls could have taken their guns and pointed it at their officers

Would have ended in lamposts for quite a few and I could have finish my case of Brother's reserve. Looks like that beer & popcorn has to wait....

[Anujan]

Little birdie tells me that Fauzia Wahab's son was goat-napped and bundled into a car. Car went 100 Kms, ran out of petrol. Couldnt find a petrol station to fill because of Petrol station strike. So yahoos had to abandon the car and run.

Waji-Bull-Cattle escaped.

So you see, economy drowning in pakistan does have its advantages

Little birdie tells me that Sherry, who was making brave statements about a comeback (from phoren country), after hearing the story of this Waji-Bull-Cattle, wisened up.