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

putnanja · Post by **putnanja** » 15 Mar 2011 11:33

Irrespective of what the US ambassador says, the keralite "kitchen cabinet" of the PM reflects the truly "indian" mindset. A punjabi sikh PM surrounded by keralite bureaucrats, that is true unity in diversity

menon s · Post by **menon s** » 15 Mar 2011 11:37

M K Narayanan was removed from PMO and sent off as Gov to West Bengal, and the reason was that he was "Hawkish" , over Pakistan.

menon s · Post by **menon s** » 15 Mar 2011 11:51

Pakistan’s inconclusive IMF talks
http://thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail ... =3/15/2011

Talks between the IMF and the Pakistani authorities remained inconclusive even after 11 days of engagement. A trust deficit was quite visible as the IMF wanted action from the authorities, while the Pakistani team tried to convince the IMF that this country would be taking a series of measures to address its economic challenges. The trust deficit, nevertheless, could not be bridged and the talks ended inconclusively.

IMF having trust deficit with Pakistan!

Welcome to the club, boys!

More alarmingly, Rs237 billion and Rs302 billion worth of short-term debt is maturing in the first and third weeks of April 2011 as such, and the government would have to refinance Rs539 billion maturing debt in April alone.

OMG! that is close to 6BN dollars!

It would be a nightmare for the finance manager to raise such a large sum of money in just one month. The IMF team expressed their serious concern over this development and asked the authorities to improve debt management. The finance minister needs to devote more time to debt management and strengthen its debt office by inducting professionals. The debt office has been the nerve centre of the country’s macroeconomic policies. It has been crippled deliberately by the previous and current finance ministers.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 15 Mar 2011 11:57

^^^^
The Pakis wanted the tranche (which IMF was not releasing) to be counted as "Repayment" of this debt that was maturing.

http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 1#p1042581

menon s · Post by **menon s** » 15 Mar 2011 12:14

But thats only 1.7bn dollars, how do they cover the rest? i think this time they will default? Already the talk is getting around, that "there is nothing wrong in defaulting, because countries like Argentina have done it before?" For the shameless, even that is a credit! They will happily say, yes we are the only nuke power to default?

rsingh · Post by **rsingh** » 15 Mar 2011 12:54

They will happily say, yes we are the only nuke power to default?

One more milestone in the heavy garland of achivments ................that will take Bakistan to bottom

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 15 Mar 2011 15:10

>>>“Along with Principal Secretary TKA Nair, Narayanan constitutes what is now a Keralite ‘mafia’ in the PMO. In a bureaucratic culture dominated by North Indian Hindi speakers, this Keralite lock on the PM's inner bureaucratic circle represents something of an anomaly, which could in the long term create new faultlines around the Prime Minister.”

Rather than slyness, it suggests a fairly comprehensive lack of understanding, not to mention an inherent contradiction in what he says. First let's look at the contradiction...

He says the Keralites have a "lock" on the PMO, which is in fact laughable, but let's assume it's true. Then he says MKN was opposed to kissing up to the Pakisatans. And then he says this might create faultlines. Meaning what? That the Keralites in the PMO, of which undoubtedly MKN is/was the doyen, opposed talks with the Paks, and the rest of the people outside the PMO did not. This is clearly not the case. Then he talks about "long-term" faultlines... What the hell is that? PM is out in a few years. New PM, new PMO, new people.

What pisses them off, most probably, is that no one among the Mallus and others - despite the sweet talk all around - was willing to give an inch on the matter. Read between the lines, they were even determined to have a conclusive say in what exactly the US transmitted to Pakistan. It is pertinent, while we talk about sell-outs, etc., to keep this in mind. Nothing substantial is going to be given. There might be give (and take) on the "process" but nothing on the "substance". The only error, in my opinion, was the "Baluchistan" screw-up in Sharm - and this has been acknowledged all around including the people involved. Well, shit happens now and then. The fall-out has been minimised, if you look at it unemotionally.

Now about the "mafia" part. Although we have been alluding to this in another thread in the GDF, the reality is that no "mafia" stays for long. People come and go, are shifted here and there, all dependent on the political weathervane. It so happens that, at the moment, there is an accretion of Mallus around the senior ranks of the MEA, PMO, SoniaGs bureaucratic aides and to some extent a disproportionate representation (given the small population of the state) in other government bodies. What Mulford, and perhaps Roemer, fail to appreciate is that our system is very like their system in that respect - a bunch from Utah may be in the middle-ranks of the culinary institute in a disproportionate number. Or a humongous number of beltway insiders are from a particular area...

This can happen anywhere in a democratic set up. The problem would be if they try to re-engineer the system to impose an advantage along non-meritorious or non-democratic lines. Establishment Americans cannot believe, in other words, that Indians can be as democratically oriented as Americans - who will of course never do anything to perpetuate a "mafia" inside the beltway.

We need to recognise predisposition and ignorance when we see it. Occasionally, when required, we must also encourage it. No harm in letting them believe what they want to believe, if it is in our advantage.

Of course, we must be careful. The wikileak is a selected thing. We don't know exactly what else he said, and whether he mitigated his statement in later cables, or if he learned as he went along. In other words, this is not a post which aims to show Americans are idiots. Understanding between establishment elites is not a common thing, and rarely, if ever, complete.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 15 Mar 2011 15:14

JEM we need to write sly articles and talk of how a nigg3r with a Musim background has gained control of the White House and US policy is a shambles because WASPS don't like it. Same difference. And possible more true.

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 15 Mar 2011 15:18

doc, how did you read that so fast... I barely finished it and a response is already there!!! Yup, you are absolutely right, and this is something Indians can do with elan ... Perhaps infiltrate a blog or two and use a megaphone... Although I have to say that the nigger with a Muslim background theme, albeit with reluctant politically correct overlays, is par for the course in the right-wing discourse...

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 15 Mar 2011 15:46

The Great Leader, Jinnah

In the Quaid’s Museum in Peshawar, amongst a display of his photographs, clothing, shoes and accessories, is also parked the private plane that Jinnah and Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah would oft times use. Jinnah exclusively wore Saville Row. It is believed that, in those days of racial segregation, Jinnah remained a man whose shirts, shoes and accessories were custom-made in ‘white man’ boutiques. Advisor, confidant, sister, constant companion, Jinnah’s weakness in life (if any) was perhaps Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah, a lady with unparalleled external elegance and deep spiritual strength. The unmistakable taste, fine class and large heartedness of Muhammad Ali Jinnah is ably illustrated by the fact, bordering on myth, that he actually leased out the expansive Mohatta Palace for the Mohtarma to reside within. {A complete anti-thesis to Mahatma Gandhi}

There is the story of when the Muslims of Bombay had bought land for a mosque, paid in full and also secured with complete rights for the ceiling to be 40 feet. The Hindus had appealed to the municipality to allow a temple upon the roof. The situation was not agreeable to the Muslims because of sanctity, turf and ego issues. The Quaid suggested that the Muslims, despite ownership of 40 feet, leave the ceiling at 39. “Then you welcome your adversaries to build on top,” he is reported to have said.{I have never heard of an incident like this. I doubt if the Hindus would have asked a temple to be built on top of a mosque.}

Once questioned by someone, “Shall Pakistan be governed by mullahs?” he is on record as having replied, “Well, shall Hindustan be led by pundits?”

I exercise my democratic right of freedom of speech to mention an emergent national trend. There appears one personality upon Pakistan’s horizon with the potentialities of leadership, a man who was not only educated in the UK, he also achieved prominence in whichever field he entered, married a non-Muslim and was forced into politics through wide national demand, all the traits shared by Jinnah. However, he is also a nationalist, has gained no personal benefit from politics and brings with him the same amount of non-experience as Jinnah brought when he succeeded in turning the history of the world around!{AoA} All others appear to be vastly experienced, but vastly experienced in failure and poor governance! Our leaders are busy dividing and ruling, furthering rifts based on party, religion, sect, creed, caste, provincialism, ethnicity and any other divisible denominator convenient. At the risk of sounding like a loyalist, I shall state that only one personality seems to appeal to the nation as a whole cohesive unit, is forward looking and urges Pakistan’s independence from neo-colonialism.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 15 Mar 2011 15:50

Faiz Ahmed Faiz fetes Allama Iqbal in Paradise

In the lush vast manicured paradise expanse, cooled by the shades cast by the floating clouds and sprawling majestic oaks overhanging the limpid honey, milk, wine and water streams, were seated the two most illustrious and revered scions of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal, enthusiastically acknowledged as the poet pioneering the idea of an exclusive land of the pure on this planet, had come to grace the centenary celebrations of Faiz Ahmad Faiz, idolised for his fight against tyranny, dictatorship, deprivation of the oppressed and the downtrodden and denial of the dignity and decent living to the toiling masses. The wide-eyed voluptuous houris and cup bearing Hermes hovered around in utter awe, admiration and wonder.

Suppiah · Post by **Suppiah** » 15 Mar 2011 17:29

I know this is offthread but most Wikileaks are going to be something to do with TSP anyway.

I strongly feel we should send out this message to Julian Assange...

We find it outrageous and ridiculous that Wikileaks seeks to join forces with hardcore Stalinist, Marxist pseudo-liberal media when there are so many credible publications available. The Stalinist propagandists pretend to be liberal because that suits their agenda and not beacuse they believe in freedom of expression or democracy. By actively supporting and coming out with biased news reports, they have on their hands, as much blood of the innocent victims of rapes and mass murders in Nandigram and elsewhere as their political masters. The track record of their patron saints in Beijing is even worse. That brings us to an interesting challenge - to see how commited they are to truth and freedom, just tell them you have some leaks about Beijing's treatment of Falungong or Tibetans or pro-democracy activitsts and see how enthusiastic they are for publishing it in front page. That should settle the truth about whether they are really what you believe them to be or are just another bunch of Marxist mass-murder / rapist goon's yellow propaganda puppets.

menon s · Post by **menon s** » 15 Mar 2011 18:30

Padded Bras are Devils Cushion! Says Pakistans council for islamic ideology!

http://www.roznamajawani.com/?p=1117

Lahore – The Council of Islamic Ideology met last night as scheduled in light of the protests held last month by JUI and other religious parties against the increasing import and eventual use of padded and colorful bras. The Council also invited shop owners who were in the business of importing and selling female underwear. The Council advised the shop owners to bring lingerie samples, so that the council could see about what the protesters were angry.
Last month the protesters gathered outside an outlet inside Park Towers and occupied the entire floor and chanted slogans against padded bras. They asked the government to put a ban on the import and sale of padded, vibrant, colorful bras and demanded legislation that would outlaw the purchase of any underwear that is not white or beige colored.
“Padded bras are evil as they make the breasts look bigger and perky”, said one of the protesters. “Only devil women show off private parts. Muslim women should be as humble about them as they can. In fact they should be ashamed of their breasts, both of them.” Another protester said that the purpose of underwear is not to accentuate the curves. “…especially of a woman’s body the breast should not look like they belong to a non-virgin even if she happens to be married.” he added.
“Those lacy bras? They are an abomination! Do you even know how they’re made? They’re made in China by underfed and underpaid children. That’s how they’re made.” said a placard that was held by a protester. They chanted slogans as the Mall security stood and watched helplessly while three female customers and two employees locked themselves inside the store. The third employee of the store who was on a break before the protest began, joined the protesters and was cheered up on by the crowd after she announced, “I will not wear these sinful, men-attracting padded bras that make my jugs look juicy.” She then ripped out her bra and threw it on the ground where the protesters stomped on it repeatedly. She was later thrown an abaya by someone in the crowd.
After the meeting of the Council was over, the recommendation was released to the media that says, “Padded bras are Devil’s cushions and he likes to rest of them. The Council of Islamic Ideology is recommending that Pakistani Muslim researchers should try to invent a bra that makes the female chest area unnoticeable.”
Zakir Naik, one of the leading Islamic scholars commented on the situation that if the Pakistani government approves of the funding grant for this research and if Pakistan is successful at making such a bra that makes the chest of women unnoticeable, Pakistan might become the biggest exporter for Shariah compliant underwear. He said that he’d personally sign and send the first of these Shariah-bra to Veena Malik and Ali Saleem.

Sinful political satire, dont take it serously!
On a serious note, read Praveen Swami`s take
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/prave ... redundant/

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 15 Mar 2011 19:43

SSridhar wrote: There appears one personality upon Pakistan’s horizon with the potentialities of leadership, a man who was not only educated in the UK, he also achieved prominence in whichever field he entered, married a non-Muslim and was forced into politics through wide national demand, all the traits shared by Jinnah. However, he is also a nationalist, has gained no personal benefit from politics and brings with him the same amount of non-experience as Jinnah brought when he succeeded in turning the history of the world around!{AoA} All others appear to be vastly experienced, but vastly experienced in failure and poor governance! Our leaders are busy dividing and ruling, furthering rifts based on party, religion, sect, creed, caste, provincialism, ethnicity and any other divisible denominator convenient. At the risk of sounding like a loyalist, I shall state that only one personality seems to appeal to the nation as a whole cohesive unit, is forward looking and urges Pakistan’s independence from neo-colonialism.

Who is this Mahdi? Blahwall?

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 15 Mar 2011 19:48

Can't be blahwall... Not married. The rest is true, for instance:

"has gained no personal benefit from politics"

mraghu · Post by **mraghu** » 15 Mar 2011 19:59

Imran Khan and Just Like Jinnah His wife left him...

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 15 Mar 2011 21:52

Lightning does strike twice in TSP!

There was this picture from FATA of four abduls in front of an underwear shop.

abhijitm · Post by **abhijitm** » 15 Mar 2011 22:23

Oye, after this Japan incident how come I am still not hearing paki cries like "give us latest nuke tech otherwise our plants will explode bigger than Japan" ?

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 15 Mar 2011 22:40

That too will happen.

shravan · Post by **shravan** » 15 Mar 2011 22:43

Seven prisoners killed, 20 injured in Hyderabad jail riot

Later, police conducted a search operation in the jail and recovered 600 mobile phones, two Kalashnikovs and six pistols from prisoners.

milindc · Post by **milindc** » 15 Mar 2011 23:09

shravan wrote:Seven prisoners killed, 20 injured in Hyderabad jail riot

Later, police conducted a search operation in the jail and recovered 600 mobile phones, two Kalashnikovs and six pistols from prisoners.

Hyderabad, Pakistan

Nihat · Post by **Nihat** » 16 Mar 2011 00:34

'PM isolated on Pakistan'

The silver lining in this being that atleast others in the core cabinet and seeing sense.

Baikul · Post by **Baikul** » 16 Mar 2011 00:51

SSridhar wrote:Faiz Ahmed Faiz fetes Allama Iqbal in Paradise
In the lush vast manicured paradise expanse, cooled by the shades cast by the floating clouds and sprawling majestic oaks overhanging the limpid honey, milk, wine and water streams, were seated the two most illustrious and revered scions of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal, enthusiastically acknowledged as the poet pioneering the idea of an exclusive land of the pure on this planet, had come to grace the centenary celebrations of Faiz Ahmad Faiz, idolised for his fight against tyranny, dictatorship, deprivation of the oppressed and the downtrodden and denial of the dignity and decent living to the toiling masses. The wide-eyed voluptuous houris and cup bearing Hermes hovered around in utter awe, admiration and wonder.

With all respect to Faiz.

It was later regrettably learnt that the floating clouds were all dronacharyas, the majestic oaks were taller than mountain mijjiles ready for action, the streams were drying up because the Yindoos on the other side of heaven had blocked all the 'honey, milk, wine and water' and were letting through only a suspicious, yellowing, pungent liquid.

One of the wide eyed 'houris' was sporting a mustache and a strap on, the other bore a suicide vest, and the third was a scimitar-horned Sind Wild goat. All three were hovering around, rapaciously leering and grinning.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 16 Mar 2011 01:17

If only we can get hnair to draw that picture!

mayo · Post by **mayo** » 16 Mar 2011 02:32

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12749349

A Christian convicted of blasphemy in Pakistan has died in mysterious circumstances in a jail in the southern city of Karachi.

Qamar David was serving a life sentence in Karachi's central jail for insulting the Koran and the Prophet Muhammad.

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 16 Mar 2011 02:35

Chinmayanand wrote: The cardinal said: "To increase their aid when religious freedom is not upheld and those who speak up are killed is tantamount to an anti-Christian foreign policy.

Uncle cardinal,

Are you talking about Vatican?

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 16 Mar 2011 03:51

SSridhar wrote:The Great Leader, Jinnah
There is the story of when the Muslims of Bombay had bought land for a mosque, paid in full and also secured with complete rights for the ceiling to be 40 feet. The Hindus had appealed to the municipality to allow a temple upon the roof. The situation was not agreeable to the Muslims because of sanctity, turf and ego issues. The Quaid suggested that the Muslims, despite ownership of 40 feet, leave the ceiling at 39. “Then you welcome your adversaries to build on top,” he is reported to have said.{I have never heard of an incident like this. I doubt if the Hindus would have asked a temple to be built on top of a mosque.}

Perhaps the story is that the height of the mosque could be 40 feet, and so Hindus wanted a 40-feet high temple? Jinnah's solution was to cap the mosque at 39 feet?
Just guessing.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 16 Mar 2011 04:00

On the Islamisation of Pakistan Army
first bearded general in TSPA

Lieutenant General (retd) Javed Nasir who was the Director General of the Inter Services Intelligence from March 1992 to May 1993.

Without having any doubt about his personality, he is a true Muslim and a true patriot. He has written over 100 articles. His pro-Islam, anti-US and anti-India stance has created a very large readership in Pakistan and abroad. He symbolizes the institutions of practicing Muslims through his association with the non-political and peaceful Tablighi Jamaat. He was noted for being the first Pakistani general to have a full-grown beard against tradition of having only clean-shaved generals in the Pakistan Army after joining the Tablighi Jamaat

For years, the top brass drummed into midranking officers a sense of Islamic mission. A Prophet-length beard helped an officer’s promotion, as did praying five times a day. Now, says Masood, “the army is taking measures against officers who are too religious minded.” Those deemed overly fanatic are discreetly steered into nonsensitive or dead-end jobs, he says, and a soldier needs permission from his commanding officer before he is permitted to grow a beard

Now

Two instances will prove how radicalisation has seeped into the core of the Pakistan Army. One, when Pakistan Army moved in to Swat for Operation Rah-e-Haq in 2007, it was a great challenge for the army to explain to its troops (315 Brigade) as to why the soldiers had to fight fellow Muslim jehadis who were merely asking for the Shariah, an Islamic religious law (see this blogpost).

For its part, the army has so far failed to express regret about either Bhatti’s murder or Taseer’s. The army chief General Ashfaq Kayani declined to publicly condemn Taseer’s death or even to issue a public condolence to his family. He told Western ambassadors in January in Islamabad that there were too many soldiers in the ranks who sympathize with the killer, and showed them a scrapbook of photographs of Taseer’s killer being hailed as a hero by fellow police officers. Any public statement, he hinted, could endanger the army’s unity.[NYRB]

For many years, it has been said that Pakistan Army controls the Islamist jehadi groups in the region. Then, it was seen as a military-jehadi complex in Pakistan. That is also passée now. Perhaps the balance has now completely shifted to the other side. It is the jehadis and the Islamists which control the Pakistan Army now.
And yes, not to forget, it is the very same army which has 110 nuclear bombs in its arsenal.

The great leader must be enjoying his after life in jannat seeing his country living upto his ideals.

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 16 Mar 2011 04:09

The great leader wanted to create jannat in kufr lands which is haram. Allah will give him the pakistan in jannat as more and more pakis are halaled thru qadrification.

vina · Post by **vina** » 16 Mar 2011 06:14

Oh well. More "enlightened moderation". Looks like a poor Christian Abdul has been bull-cattled.

Christian convicted of blasphemy dies in jail

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 16 Mar 2011 08:58

krisna wrote:On the Islamisation of Pakistan Army
first bearded general in TSPA

We have discussed him here before.

Anyway, he was a born-again Muslim. He was confidante of Nawaz Sharif and that was why he became the ISI Chief. Eventually, he had o be removed because his activities were causing a big problem for even brotherly ummah countries. It was during his time that the US wanted to recover the Stingers 'loaned' to the mujahideen, a task which he refused to do. This also contributed to his removal. He helped Osama bin Laden establish bases in Afghanistan. He used to personally run the Tablighi-Jamaat annual conferences at Raiwind in which Nawaz Sharif has been an unfailing participant, save for the nine years in exile. Lt. Gen. Javid Nasir was also involved in corruption, like all officers of the PA, and later fled with Rs. 3 Billion of EPTB (Evacuee Property Trust Board) funds when he was Chairman of the EPTB. He sold off or leased Hindu and Sikh properties at throwaway prices and pocketed huge money. As ISI Chief, he did just the opposite. He bought properties for the ISI at inflated prices and pocketed the money. He continues to advise Tablighi-Jamaat along with Hamid Gul, Mirza Aslam Beg et al. He has since returned to Pakistan and his corruption cases appear to have been dropped.

CRamS · Post by **CRamS** » 16 Mar 2011 09:39

Nihat wrote:'PM isolated on Pakistan'

The silver lining in this being that atleast others in the core cabinet and seeing sense.

I have been watching the media debate on these leaks. What is interesting to me is US claim that India's Iran policy is dictated by the domestic Muslim lobby. But somehow India's, or specifically MMS's TSP appeasement policy has nothing to do with domestic Muslim lobby. In other words, as long as a particular policy is in US interests, it does not matter whether the policy is dictated by domestic Muslim lobby. So which ever domestic lobby, be the communists, or the Muslim lobby, or whatever, as long as they are "useful idiots" serving US interests, no problem. I wish Indian diplomats and media would be this self-centric and professional.

And I was laughing my ass off listening to the rants from the likes of N.Ram, SV et al, ostensibly castigating the govt for supposedly toing the US line on Iran, but have nothing to say on MMS toing the US line on TSP. Selective, agenda-based criticism if you want to call it that.

ManishH · Post by **ManishH** » 16 Mar 2011 11:49

Roemer is deluding himself if he thinks lobbies control GoI's Pak policy. Dialogue is just one facet of the GoI tactics and that has remained consistent from ABV to MMS. If he thinks dialogue makes GoI complacent about it's security needs vis-a-vis Pak, he comes across as naive enough not to be considered as a source of good advice even to US DoS.

Mulford's contention that India's Iran policy is appeasement for a domestic "vote bank"(sic) is equally dumb simplification. India needs Iran for oil, access to central asia and for isolating Pak. Probably he was just smarting from a perceived snub from GoI not toeing the american line on Iran.

"mafia"/"vote bank" are just the kind of terms that make these leaks naive at best and psy-ops at worst.

Vikas · Post by **Vikas** » 16 Mar 2011 12:32

We still don't know if these leaks are genuine or planted. Not even sure if rest of the world is being forced to look at US diplomats in a certain way thanks to these leaks.

jamwal · Post by **jamwal** » 16 Mar 2011 13:51

An open letter to Gen Kayani

View from the other side Col ® Harish Puri

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Dear Gen Kayani,

Sir, let me begin by recounting that old army quip that did the rounds in the immediate aftermath of World war II: To guarantee victory, an army should ideally have German generals, British officers, Indian soldiers, American equipment and Italian enemies.

A Pakistani soldier that I met in Iraq in 2004 lamented the fact that the Pakistani soldier in Kargil had been badly let down firstly by Nawaz Sharif and then by the Pakistani officers' cadre. Pakistani soldiers led by Indian officers, , he believed, would be the most fearsome combination possible. Pakistani officers, he went on to say, were more into real estate, defence housing colonies and the like.

As I look at two photographs of surrender that lie before me, I can't help recalling his words. The first is the celebrated event at Dhaka on Dec 16, 1971, which now adorns most Army messes in Delhi and Calcutta. The second, sir, is the video of a teenage girl being flogged by the Taliban in Swat -- not far, I am sure, from one of your Army check posts.

The surrender by any Army is always a sad and humiliating event. Gen Niazi surrendered in Dhaka to a professional army that had outnumbered and outfought him. No Pakistani has been able to get over that humiliation, and 16th December is remembered as a black day by the Pakistani Army and the Pakistani state. But battles are won and lost – armies know this, and having learnt their lessons, they move on.

But much more sadly, the video of the teenager being flogged represents an even more abject surrender by the Pakistani Army. The surrender in 1971, though humiliating, was not disgraceful. This time around, sir, what happened on your watch was something no Army commander should have to live through. The girl could have been your own daughter, or mine.

I have always maintained that the Pakistani Army, like its Indian counterpart, is a thoroughly professional outfit. It has fought valiantly in the three wars against India, and also accredited itself well in its UN missions abroad. It is, therefore, by no means a pushover. The instance of an Infantry unit, led by a lieutenant colonel, meekly laying down arms before 20-odd militants should have been an aberration. But this capitulation in Swat, that too so soon after your own visit to the area, is an assault on the sensibilities of any soldier. What did you tell your soldiers? What great inspirational speech did you make that made your troops back off without a murmur? Sir, I have fought insurgency in Kashmir as well as the North-East, but despite the occasional losses suffered (as is bound to be the case in counter-insurgency operations), such total surrender is unthinkable.

I have been a signaller, and it beats me how my counterparts in your Signal Corps could not locate or even jam a normal FM radio station broadcasting on a fixed frequency at fixed timings. Is there more than meets the eye?

I am told that it is difficult for your troops to "fight their own people." But you never had that problem in East Pakistan in 1971, where the atrocities committed by your own troops are well documented in the Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report. Or is it that the Bengalis were never considered "your own" people, influenced as they were by the Hindus across the border? Or is that your troops are terrified by the ruthless barbarians of the Taliban?

Sir, it is imperative that we recognise our enemy without any delay. I use the word "our" advisedly – for the Taliban threat is not far from India's borders. And the only force that can stop them from dragging Pakistan back into the Stone Age is the force that you command. In this historic moment, providence has placed a tremendous responsibility in your hands. Indeed, the fate of your nation, the future of humankind in the subcontinent rests with you. It doesn't matter if it is "my war" or "your war" – it is a war that has to be won. A desperate Swati citizen's desperate lament says it all – "Please drop an atom bomb on us and put us out of our misery!" Do not fail him, sir.

But in the gloom and the ignominy, the average Pakistani citizen has shown us that there is hope yet. The lawyers, the media, have all refused to buckle even under direct threats. It took the Taliban no less than 32 bullets to still the voice of a brave journalist. Yes, there is hope – but why don't we hear the same language from you? Look to these brave hearts, sir – and maybe we shall see the tide turn. Our prayers are with you, and the hapless people of Swat.

The New York Times predicts that Pakistan will collapse in six months. Do you want to go down in history as the man who allowed that to happen?

The writer is a retired colonel of the Indian army who lives in Pune. Email: [email protected]

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 16 Mar 2011 14:32

Good refreshment !!

wig · Post by **wig** » 16 Mar 2011 15:19

A Pakistani court on Wednesday formally charged a CIA contractor on two counts of murder at a hearing held at a prison in Lahore, a police official said, in a move that may further strain relations with the United States.

Raymond Davis, 36, shot dead two Pakistanis in the eastern Punjab city on January 27 following what he described as an attempted armed robbery. He said he acted in self-defense and the United States says he has diplomatic immunity and should be repatriated.

"He has been indicted," a police investigator assigned to the case told Reuters from inside Kot Lakhpat prison, where the trial is being held under tight security.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/ ... 5T20110316

shravan · Post by **shravan** » 16 Mar 2011 17:06

CIA contractor Raymond Davis is freed after a 'blood money' deal with families, Punjab law minister says, Reuters

Sanku · Post by **Sanku** » 16 Mar 2011 17:11

shravan wrote:CIA contractor Raymond Davis is freed after a 'blood money' deal with families, Punjab law minister says, Reuters

As predicted on BRF.

Suppiah · Post by **Suppiah** » 16 Mar 2011 17:12

where ? Where? google is yet to find it?