Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan (TSP): 15 Jan 2012

Roperia · Post by **Roperia** » 24 Feb 2012 00:21

Balochistan unrest created by Pakistan, not India: Bugti

Bugti calls on government to stop “repeating India’s name like a parrot”

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 24 Feb 2012 01:07

Arun Roperia wrote:Balochistan unrest created by Pakistan, not India: Bugti

Bugti's eight conditions to remove "trust deficit":

1. ~~General (r) Pervez Musharraf should be arrested in the Akbar Bugti murder case;~~ Not going to happen
2. ~~Military operation should be stopped and all forces should be withdrawn from Balochistan;~~Not going to happen
3. Controversial security posts should be abolished from Balochistan; Maybe
4. The killing of innocent people should end; Maybe
5. ~~13,000 missing persons of Balochistan should be traced;~~ Not going to happen
6. ~~The role of intelligence agencies in Balochistan should come to a close;~~ Not going to happen
7. Any Baloch being prevented from returning to their homes by intelligence agencies should be allowed to go back, Maybe
8. ~~The responsible officials of intelligence agencies who carried out the attack on Chief of Baloch Republican Party Barahmdagh Bugti’s sister and niece on January 31 in Karachi should be arrested~~. Not going to happen

So, there you have it. Impossible to implement conditions have been set. Battle lines have been drawn. Jhanday garh chukey hain. Lets see who fires the "proverbial first shot".

Nandu · Post by **Nandu** » 24 Feb 2012 01:15

What, the killing of Akbar Bugti is not a first shot?
The killing of his grand daughter and great grand daughter is not a first shot?

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 24 Feb 2012 01:26

Baloch people need our moral, diplomatic and financial support. Not to repeat the mistake of 47, we owe them at least 1 Billion Dollar a year for their freedom struggle. if India wants to emerge as the rightful leader and owner of South Asia , it has to start with Annual allocating of special funding for the periphery which includes Sovereign Afghanistan, Azad Balochistan and Autonmous Region of Sindh and Maldives. IMHO, the target of being the Boss of South Asia, Leader of whole East and West Asia and one of the Global Economic, Soft and Hard Power Centres is well within the reach of India by 2022. BNPP- Bhookha, Nanga,Pyasa Pakjab can then join as "Special Services Group" providing special services to the all of the above mentioned entities.

member_22872 · Post by **member_22872** » 24 Feb 2012 01:41

We (MMS) anyway acknowledged that we are involved in Balochistan, so why go covert, overtly support Balochistan. Along with ANA, train Balochi freedom fighters. Let people like C. Fair make noises about our involvement, we always can give moral support the way TSP does and also now we are relatively well off, fund BLA. Everything is fair. An eye for an eye and thousand cuts for thousand cuts.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 24 Feb 2012 01:55

Talak, Idda,consumation By China and Now Mahar settled, Nikah Next Month and Guboraat Ki Baat

US says Pakistan upbeat on eventual cooperation

LONDON: Pakistan welcomed the idea of resuming cooperation with the United States on counter-terrorism and Afghanistan after its parliament reviews badly strained ties, a senior US official said on Thursday. The official gave an upbeat assessment of talks between the US and Pakistani foreign ministers designed to help repair relations frayed by a November incident in which U.S. aircraft killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar that the United States fully respected the Pakistani parliament’s need to review relations carefully but also stressed the need to resume joint work.linton told Rabbani that “we had to get ready to get back into business with Pakistan and that that was particularly important (on) areas such as counter-terrorism, working together on some of the regional questions, very much to include Afghanistan”, said the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.“The foreign minister was very welcoming of that,” the US official added as he briefed on the ministers’ one-hour, 15-minute meeting in London, where Clinton is attending a conference on Somalia.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 24 Feb 2012 01:59

Tere Mere beech Mei, Kaisa hai yeh Bandan Anjana

Pasha, Petraeus held secret meeting

WASHINGTON: A US newspaper has claimed that a secret meeting between DG ISI Lt General Ahmed Shuja Pasha and CIA chief Gen David Petraeus was held this month.
The paper said the meeting took place this month in which both the officials discussed anti-terror cooperation between the two countries.The report further stated that the US wanted to send special envoy to Pakistan Afghanistan Mark Grossman along with a high level delegation to Pakistan.

archan · Post by **archan** » 24 Feb 2012 02:09

venug wrote:We (MMS) anyway acknowledged that we are involved in Balochistan, so why go covert, overtly support Balochistan. Along with ANA, train Balochi freedom fighters. Let people like C. Fair make noises about our involvement, we always can give moral support the way TSP does and also now we are relatively well off, fund BLA. Everything is fair. An eye for an eye and thousand cuts for thousand cuts.

There is something to learn from cheenis. We need to learn to deny and keep a straight face while doing it. Rhetoric and psy ops have their place.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 24 Feb 2012 03:53

Massa vs Munna,Papa Vs Putta, Roadrunner vs Coyote, Tom Vs Jerry
An Inside Glimpse At How US Zabardasti Penetrated Pakistan

In 2005, for example, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake killed 75,000 people in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. After four solid years of war in the region, the United States poured relief services into Pakistan as a show of solidarity with the nominal ally in the war on terror.The U.S. intelligence community took advantage of the chaos to spread resources of its own into the country. Using valid U.S. passports and posing as construction and aid workers, dozens of Central Intelligence Agency operatives and contractors flooded in without the requisite background checks from the country's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. Al-Qaeda had reconstituted itself in the country's tribal areas, largely because of the ISI's benign neglect.The Pakistani army was focused on the threat from India and had redeployed away from the Afghanistan border region, the Durand line, making it porous once again. To some extent, the Bush administration had been focused on Iraq for the previous two years, content with the ISI's cooperation in capturing senior al-Qaeda leaders, while ignoring its support of other groups that would later become recruiting grounds for al-Qaeda.

A JSOC intelligence team slipped in alongside the CIA. The team had several goals. One was prosaic: team members were to develop rings of informants to gather targeting information about al-Qaeda terrorists. Other goals were extremely sensitive: JSOC needed better intelligence about how Pakistan transported its nuclear weapons and wanted to penetrate the ISI. Under a secret program code-named SCREEN HUNTER, JSOC, augmented by the Defense Intelligence Agency and contract personnel, was authorized to shadow and identify members of the ISI suspected of being sympathetic to al-Qaeda. It is not clear whether JSOC units used lethal force against these ISI officers; one official said that the goal of the program was to track terrorists through the ISI by using disinformation and psychological warfare. (The program, by then known under a different name, was curtailed by the Obama administration when Pakistan's anxiety about a covert U.S. presence inside the country was most intense.)Forward intelligence cells in Pakistan are staffed by JSOC-contracted security personnel from obscure firms with insider names such as Triple Canopy and various offshoots of Blackwater, but it is not clear whether, as Jeremy Scahill of The Nation has argued, the scale of these operations was operationally significant or that the contractors acted as hired guns for the U.S. government. Sources say that only U.S. soldiers performed "kinetic" operations; Scahill's sources suggest otherwise. The security compartments were so small for these operations (one By the end of 2011, SEALs and the CIA Special Activities Division ground branch were crossing the border to target militants whom Pakistan would not. Presently, Task Force Green (also known as TF 3-10) is the active counterterrorist task force in Afghanistan.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 24 Feb 2012 04:33

Apko Maloom hai, kabhi Pakistan tha ,Sapna Djinna Ka toot gya, BD Gya, Balochi Gya

Congress should support dismembering Af-Pak”

Over the last two months, a small faction of Congressmen has laid the foundation for an alternative Afghanistan-Pakistan policy. They do not favour strengthening relations with the Pakistan government nor do they accept normalising relations with the Taliban, if it leads to Pashtun dominance in Afghanistan. Instead, they propose backing remnants of the Northern Alliance seeking to establish semi-autonomous provinces in Afghanistan and Baloch nationalists hoping to create an independent state of Balochistan.In one broad stroke, their proposed “Berlin Mandate” would redraw the political borders of the region contrary to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of two of the administration’s most important partners in the War on Terrorism, as well as Iran. While their initiative might not have broad domestic or international support, their policy proposal is maturing and garnering increased attention as a result of a number of high-profile events. Whether you agree or disagree with their new AfPak approach, it is critical to understand its rapid evolution over the last few months and recognise that their efforts to promote self-determination in the region will not end with the Balochistan sovereignty bill.
Berlin Strategy Session
In early January, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher led an unofficial strategic exchange with Afghanistan’s newly formed National Front. Held in Berlin, the meeting reportedly discussed “alternatives to Hamid Karazi’s consideration of including the Taliban in Afghanistan’s coalition government.” Representatives Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and Steve King (R-IA), as well as Afghanistan’s former intelligence chief, were in attendance.The attendees explored constitutional reforms that would make Afghanistan a federal system. By vesting political and economic power in the provinces, they argued that pro-American minority ethnic groups could be safeguarded.Following the meeting, Rohrabacher expressed fear that the re-emergence of the Taliban as a major political force in Afghanistan risks “(betraying) those Americans who shed their blood in the last decade” and selling out “the brave Afghans in the North Alliance who cast their lot with (the United States) after 9/11 in order to defeat the Taliban dictatorship.”

Gohmert’s SOTU Comments
Only a few weeks later, Congressman Gohmert’s rebuttal following the US State of the Union (SOTU) intensified the debate. In video remarks following Obama’s address, Gohmert argued: “We need to rearm the people who are the natural enemy of our enemy, the Taliban. That’s the Northern Alliance.”By pushing for the arming of internal groups, Gohmert further challenged Afghanistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. But, he did not stop there. In the same breadth, he also called for the independence of Balochistan from Pakistan: “Let’s talk about creating a Balochistan in the southern part of Pakistan. They’ll stop the IEDs [improvised explosive devices] and all the weaponry coming into Afghanistan, and we got a shot to win over there

.”

Over the horizon
In-speaking with those following the Berlin faction in Congress, the general sentiment is that the introduction of the new Balochistan bill is not their final move. They almost certainly will continue to pursue support for both the Northern Alliance and Baloch nationalists regardless of whether or not they can garner support for the new bill. Such efforts are likely to further frustrate the Obama Administration, State Department, and Governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan as they seek to work together on policies for the region post-US troop draw-down. However, it is unlikely that the Berlin faction will accept just frustrating the administration. Instead, they probably will seek to seriously challenge the administration on its AfPak policy record using Balochistan as the lever. This could present a major challenge to the status quo powers involved, especially in a presidential election year in the United States.

Eddie Walsh is a senior foreign correspondent who covers Africa and Asia-Pacific. He also serves as a non-resident fellow at Pacific Forum CSIS.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 24 Feb 2012 07:20

The US is manipulating its whore via Baluchistan. An independent Baluchistan will never occur as long as the US is involved.

The US has armed the Pakistani military enough to give the Indian armed forces a painful blow for the next ten years even if arms aid were to stop tomorrow. It's not a question of whether India can prevail in a war, but how much pain the Pakistani armed forces can inflict on India. And those armed forces are powerful. The US has built up those Paki forces to be an ally. Not to fight them. They both know that well. A Paki army that can cause pain to India will overrun an independent Baluchistan in a trice, leaving the situation as it is now - with pockets of civil war and abuses.

The US has the Pakistan army for a purpose. That purpose is never going to be thwarted by trusting the US and imagining that it has some goodwill for all the nations of the subcontinent.

I am nowadays hoping that the Pakis will understand what is happening and gradually build up s sensible polity. In the long term the people of Pakistan and India will benefit by moving the US out. Asia is our land mass. We need land access to all of Asia. The ideology has been made nearly invincible by the US and we are hopping mad trying to fight the ideology that has become vicious with US support.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 24 Feb 2012 07:30

In the long term the people of Pakistan and India will benefit by moving the US out. Asia is our land mass.

IMHO!! In the long term it will benefit for the people of India to let know Chinese and Americans that Pakistan is Indian territory!! Pakistan is a FALSE COUNTRY! a country based on FALSE Notions!! it was land of India and will always remain india!! even god didn't created any barriers (rivers, mountains, etc) between Indian and naPakistan. The sooner our IFS people do it the better it will be!

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 24 Feb 2012 07:50

Bajwa Saab
Dont fall for the old tricks of the Oldie. Oldie is talking to the Goldies of Djinahdolanders.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 24 Feb 2012 09:24

Deleted - in wrong thread.

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 24 Feb 2012 12:12

Jhujar wrote:Bajwa Saab
Dont fall for the old tricks of the Oldie. Oldie is talking to the Goldies of Djinahdolanders.

You mean Daulat Beg Oldie??

Dilbu · Post by **Dilbu** » 24 Feb 2012 12:39

3 dead in Pakistan police station attack

Peshawar - Suicide bombers armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked a police station in the northwestern Pakistan city of Peshawar early on Friday, killing three officers in an assault authorities said was likely in revenge for offensives against nearby strongholds.

Victor · Post by **Victor** » 24 Feb 2012 13:33

IMO, it's useless "hoping" any sense settles on paki intelligence. The inbreeding has irreversibly mutated them into a baser form of orc on the wrong side of evolution. It's also useless complaining about what unkil-auntee have done. We need to man up and do what we need to do first--take back PoK and arm the Northern Alliance with Su-30mkis and Prithvis. We get access to Central Asia, NA gets access to the sea and the Chinese get their nuts handed to them. In IOR we need to establish a potent Indian Gan mein danda (fighter-bomber & sub base on Gan Island) and keep the chinese out with a pistol up the rectum of the Maldivian thugs if necessary. Turn Andamans into a mega fortress-cum-aircraft-carrier on a war footing, not like pussies. These are not just our right but our duty and if they are done, everything else will fall into place. If we can't accomplish these things in the next 10 years, or worse, if we don't even have such a plan, we have nobody to blame but ourselves for being treated like dirt by pup nations, forget unkil-auntee.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 24 Feb 2012 14:54

Victor wrote:IMO, it's useless "hoping" any sense settles on paki intelligence. The inbreeding has irreversibly mutated them into a baser form of orc on the wrong side of evolution. It's also useless complaining about what unkil-auntee have done. We need to man up and do what we need to do first--take back PoK and arm the Northern Alliance with Su-30mkis and Prithvis. We get access to Central Asia, NA gets access to the sea and the Chinese get their nuts handed to them. In IOR we need to establish a potent Indian Gan mein danda (fighter-bomber & sub base on Gan Island) and keep the chinese out with a pistol up the rectum of the Maldivian thugs if necessary. Turn Andamans into a mega fortress-cum-aircraft-carrier on a war footing, not like pussies. These are not just our right but our duty and if they are done, everything else will fall into place. If we can't accomplish these things in the next 10 years, or worse, if we don't even have such a plan, we have nobody to blame but ourselves for being treated like dirt by pup nations, forget unkil-auntee.

I hope that what was not done for 60 years will get done in 10 years

Just wonder if Pakis will see sense sooner.

RajeshA · Post by **RajeshA** » 24 Feb 2012 14:59

-deleted- wrong thread!

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 24 Feb 2012 17:20

Why are we even discussing this case here ? Was the exonerated defendant a Pakistani immigrant ?

RajeshA · Post by **RajeshA** » 24 Feb 2012 17:25

SSridhar wrote:Why are we even discussing this case here ? Was the exonerated defendant a Pakistani immigrant ?

Can't say! I presume yes, since A_Gupta posted the news here!

CRamS · Post by **CRamS** » 24 Feb 2012 18:27

Not solely related to TSP per se, but guys, especially my friend R-man, you take me to task for my constant refrain about US-led western colonial condescension towards India. Now, please see this truly infuriating, insulting, racist, ignorant diatribe against India by the western ruling class mouthpiece Economist: The elephant in the region.

Now here we are 10+ years into the so called war on terror, TSP is epi-center of terror is established beyond a shadow of doubt, but yet, it is India that is to blame for the sorry state of affairs in the region, and is it any wonder why TSP terror against India doesn't stir any moral consciousness in the minds of the bloody Economist b$%^&$ds.

India, the regional superpower, is largely to blame. Though it is a democracy and has easily the biggest economy and armed forces in South Asia, it has rarely been a force for good. Instead it has treated the neighbours, by turns, with negligence and high-handedness.

Not one word about the relentless terror unleashed on India by TSP, but a sly oblique reference to TSP's allegations

Pakistan says its old foe is supporting separatists in the province of Baluchistan. It has offered no evidence for the claim. But past Indian arrogance makes neighbours ready to believe anything.

And then the colonial pat on the back for being good girl scouts in Afghanistan

And for all the accusations of anti-Pakistan meddling in Afghanistan, Indian efforts are accomplishing some good there: training police, and building roads and electricity lines. All over the region, India is opening new consulates. It may even recruit more diplomats

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 24 Feb 2012 18:46

regular "south asia" contributors to the economist include a couple of well known "Journalists" from TSP land... clearly the editor goes along with what they have to say...

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 24 Feb 2012 18:50

India could pay Pakistan transit fees if we built a gas pipeline from Iran to India. That would benefit the region no? Surely no one can have any objection to that? It meets some of the demands of that article. India would be cooperating with its neighbors.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 24 Feb 2012 19:17

SSridhar wrote:Why are we even discussing this case here ? Was the exonerated defendant a Pakistani immigrant ?

Sorry, if I posted the news item in the wrong thread. It was meant to be in the Islamophobia thread only.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 24 Feb 2012 21:58

From twitter and PTI correspondent in Pakistan
Rezaul Hasan Laskar ‏

Turkish Aerospace Industries to refurbish 45 Pakistani F-16s in service since 1982-83. Avionics & structure will be modified.

Turkish Aerospace Industries to complete upgrades of 45 Pakistani F-16 Block 15 jets by September 2014.

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 24 Feb 2012 22:59

Hari Seldon wrote:
Jhujar wrote:Bajwa Saab
Dont fall for the old tricks of the Oldie. Oldie is talking to the Goldies of Djinahdolanders.
You mean Daulat Beg Oldie??

It is a wonderfully apt name. But probably it is his cousin Hakimullah Oldie.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 25 Feb 2012 05:12

Baloch bodies and Punjabi conscience —Abbas Zaidi
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.as ... 2012_pg3_5

The difference between the Adiala Seven and the hundreds of Sangats is that the former are Punjabis and Deobandis and the latter are Baloch and secular. The Punjabi conscience is hurt when a Punjabi is tortured even if he belongs to a terrorist organisation and openly claims to want to kill anyone who does not subscribe to his fascist ideology. Punjabi anchors and judges can take on a most revered and lionised institution, the army, when a Punjabi is kidnapped or tortured. But let the entire Baloch nation be brutalised, and no media conscience is hurt. It is not that the media does not report the inhuman atrocities unleashed on the Baloch. Newspapers do editorialise on the Baloch. But mostly it is the English language newspapers that do so. Very few Pakistanis read English language newspapers. Whenever our Urdu newspapers report the Baloch problem, they temper it with banalities like ‘foreign hand’ and ‘Baloch terrorists’. Our talk show anchors do discuss the Baloch problem. But they always bring on ‘experts’ who denounce Baloch human rights campaigners (such as Sangat) by calling them Indian agents. Mostly these ‘experts’ are retired generals or their lackeys.
The Punjabi ruling elite has not learned any lesson from history. In the past it was the Bengalis whom the Punjabi media and the Punjabi generals called traitors. What the Bengalis wanted were their fundamental human rights. Now the same arrogant mindset is calling the Baloch a bunch of traitors financed by India, Israel, and the CIA. And Rehman Malik has the shameless chutzpah of declaring ‘amnesty’ for Baloch leaders. His own colleague, Israrullah Zehri, Federal Minister for Food Security and a Baloch himself, has said that he does not trust Rehman Malik. Amnesty for what crime? Is demanding one’s natural rights such a crime that the queasy Punjabi conscience is outraged and then the same conscience is filled with compassion for the traitors and consents to offer them amnesty?I believe we can save Pakistan from being dismembered for the second time. I believe that the Baloch leaders will opt to live with and in Pakistan if the abusive and anti-Baloch Frontier Corps (FC) is withdrawn from Balochistan, its abuses and atrocities investigated and made public, and the culprits in its ranks punished. The Baloch should be given provincial autonomy as per Pakistan’s constitution. This can be a good beginning. But I am afraid that the Punjabi mindset is not tailored to treat others with respect. Punjabis can either enslave others or be willing slaves to others. One sincerely hopes that some sense will prevail before it is tool late.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 25 Feb 2012 07:08

devesh wrote:
archan wrote:Lets not make statements that take the credit away from pakis. Pakis deserve full credit of the cesspool they have created for them. I see a lot of people looking for a chance to pass a comment on Islam. The Arab countries have done well financially. Granted it is oil, but it is an industry nonetheless.
It is pakis that have messed up pakistan. Give them full credit.

is this a "moderating" comment? as in, is this some rule that we're not supposed to cross? or is this merely your belief/observation? I would like to know b/c Islam deserves full credit along with other issues for creating Pakistan. and I don't intend to sugar coat that truth. and if it is a "rule" that you are propounding, then the other mods need to make their stand clear on this ridiculous proposal of "blaming Pakis" and "not blaming Islam". that is one heck of an oxymoron if I've ever seen one!

The Internet is full of places where religion may be discussed. The BR Forum is NOT one of those places.

Those who wish to "blame" any religion are free to do so elsewhere. The moderators will not tolerate such behavior on BRF.

Cease and desist.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 25 Feb 2012 08:48

by Jujhar
Punjabis can either enslave others or be willing slaves to others.

Change that to Pakjabis and we are in business!!! Only punjabi musalmaans are willing to be slave of Arabians, Americans, Chinese and whoever!! as they have been (in built in their genetic code) and will always!! only way possible is to enslave pakjabis and treat them like slave! The worst you treat them the better they will be for humanity!! Problem is that our leaders are too scared of their loud threats (Geedar Bhabhki i.e. threat of a jackal).

Arav · Post by **Arav** » 25 Feb 2012 09:13

http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/25/railway- ... sindh.html

Railway tracks blown up in different parts of Sindh

KARACHI: Four blasts took place on Saturday morning at the up and down country tracks located near the Mirpur Mathilo, Khairpur, and Bin Qasim Town of Karachi and in Hyderabad, DawnNews reported.

The blasts destroyed around two feet of railway track. The first blast took place at the up and down tracks near Hussainabad, a town of Hyderabad city in Sindh. The blast took place around 7.15 am.

Due to which, the trains were halted at the other stations. The Business train heading towards Karachi from Lahore was stopped at Rohri, a town of Sukkur District, Sindh province, Pakistan.

After a short while, second blast took place at up and down tracks near Mirpur Mathilo. The third blast took place near Khairpur. The fourth took place near Bin Qasim Town of Karachi. A person is reported to be killed in the blast. The security of the ‘Thar Express train’ was tightened up after the blast.

Dipanker · Post by **Dipanker** » 25 Feb 2012 10:39

^ Jiye Sindh! Jiye Baluchistan!

Arav · Post by **Arav** » 25 Feb 2012 11:03

Barter deal in the offing with Tehran

ISLAMABAD: Sitting over a huge surplus wheat stock and having increased support price to encourage more production and votes, Pakistan has found an opportunity to export one million tons of wheat to Iran, and that too under a barter trade deal....

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Feb 2012 11:26

In secret deal, ISI allows US drone wars to resume - Praveen Swami in The Hindu

Pakistan's military has agreed to the resumption of the United States' drone strikes against terrorist groups operating on its soil, highly-placed diplomatic sources told The Hindu .

The agreement, the sources said, was hammered out by Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lieutenant-General Shuja Ahmad Pasha and Central Intelligence Agency director David Petraeus at a secret meeting in Doha last month. {Has Shuja Pasha extended his tenure by another year now because of this ?}

The pact ends a six-week cessation of operation that began after a November 26, 2011 U.S. airstrike claimed the lives of 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Islamabad had responded to the deaths by shutting down drone flights from the Shamsi in Balochistan, and ordering dozens of CIA staff out of the country.

Pakistan's intelligence chief also agreed, the sources said, to allow the CIA to expand its presence at the Shahbaz airbase near Abbottabad. The base is a key hub for the CIA's field networks to identify targets and plant electronic microchips that guide drone-fired missiles to their targets.

The drone agreement, a senior western official familiar with the negotiations told The Hindu , was driven by Pakistani intelligence's desire for greater influence in ongoing negotiations in Doha between the U.S. and the Taliban.

It also reflected, he said, the realisation that the U.S. support would be critical to rescheduling repayment of loans from the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral institutions.

Nine drone strikes have taken place since the meeting. Badr Mansoor, believed by the CIA to be al-Qaeda's seniormost Pakistani commander, was killed in one attack on February 9. Aslam Awan, another alleged al-Qaeda commander, was killed in a strike on January 10.

Even though upwards of 30 people have been killed in the new wave of strikes, there have been no protest from the Pakistan Army or politicians — in stark contrast to the fury aroused by similar attacks last year.

ISI about-turn

Leaked U.S. diplomatic cables show that both Pakistan Army Chief Parvez Kayani and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani had secretly authorised the drone campaign, even while opposing it in public.

The Pakistan Army, however, stepped up its opposition to the drone programme last year, seeking to use it as a bargaining chip to deter CIA operations targeting terrorist networks with close links to the ISI, like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Afghan jihadist Sirajuddin Haqqani's networks.

Following a strike directed at Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, which claimed over 40 lives, General Kayani called the drone operations “intolerable.”

The drone war, his aides privately argued, had made Pakistan a target of retaliatory bombings by terrorists, and diminished the ISI's influence with jihadist groups at home and in Afghanistan.

Figures compiled by the Washington, DC-based New America Foundation show there were 362 drone strikes last year, in which between 362 and 500 jihadists were killed. In 2010, the U.S. carried out 581 strikes, killing up to 939.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Feb 2012 12:13

Pakistan stays clear of blaming India on Baluchistan

Fielding questions on Balochistan at the routine briefing of the Foreign Office, Mr. Basit's reply to questions on the involvement of foreign hands in the situation in the province was: “There has been evidence of this. Let us not talk about this now. The government is cognisant of the issues involved and is trying to handle all the issues politically.”

Asked how it was that Baloch separatist leaders took asylum in Europe when Pakistan has traditionally blamed India of supporting them, he said: “Without blaming any country, there has been evidence of foreign powers trying to destabilise Balochistan. At this stage, it is better not to engage in public recrimination because the government is working very hard to resolve our own internal problems politically.”

On being reminded of the mention of Balochistan in the joint statement issued by India and Pakistan after the two Prime Ministers met at Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt in July 2009 and whether the Foreign Office's refusal to point the accusing finger at New Delhi now reflected a shift in policy, Mr. Basit said: “There has been evidence but we do not want to take names at this juncture”; adding that Pakistan was committed to not interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and expected reciprocity on this count.

The use of phrases 'at this stage' & 'at this juncture' mean that Pakistan is expecting some big concession from India soon and is playing safe therefore. Liberalized visas, withdrawal of objection to EU etc. are already done deals and Pakistan knows that India does not de-commit. So this must be something else.

vanand · Post by **vanand** » 25 Feb 2012 12:16

Arav wrote:Barter deal in the offing with Tehran

ISLAMABAD: Sitting over a huge surplus wheat stock and ........... that too under a barter trade deal....

Iran under sanctions, Pakistan in economic turmoil. So Iran is saving dollars and for Pakistan with its huge inflation, sure barter trade will help them both. Can any one tell what type of economic changes will Pakistan have by this barter trade .

nvishal · Post by **nvishal** » 25 Feb 2012 12:34

@shiv
India would have never developed a military capability as the one it has today if it weren't for hostilities from invaders or colonizers. I'm not saying that US/pak/china combine is a blessing in disguise. I'm saying, look at the "opportunity" they have forced upon india.

Regarding pakistan... we cannot account for a nation that is kept floated by two N5 states(US and china). That's three nuclear states in total. A cold war with that sort of combine is nothing less than madness.

What india can do is increase costs for others to a point where it becomes unbearable. That means arming and cultivating the yahoo abduls of af-pak to a capability where it can march to punjab and take over the army's state of pakistan. At the moment, the pakistani army holds the burning baton over the jihadi loonies. Without that baton, the tanzims get to follow a liberal policy wrt the west and the xinjiang province of china.

Arav · Post by **Arav** » 25 Feb 2012 12:49

Arav wrote:Railway tracks blown up in different parts of Sindh

KARACHI: More than ten blasts blew up the railway tracks in various areas of Sindh on Saturday morning, DawnNews reported.

It has now increased to 10 blasts. Sindhu desh Liberation Army is claiming the attacks.

RCase · Post by **RCase** » 25 Feb 2012 13:36

^^^ Didn't they not have sufficient locomotives and had to cancel most of the train service? So what difference does it make if there are no tracks?

Who needs trains when they can put their camels to better use and emulate their phorfathers from ancient Saudi Barbaria.

I am eagerly awaiting when they blow up all the tracks from Krachi and cutoff the port access to Pakjab.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 25 Feb 2012 15:17

nvishal wrote:@shiv
India would have never developed a military capability as the one it has today if it weren't for hostilities from invaders or colonizers. I'm not saying that US/pak/china combine is a blessing in disguise. I'm saying, look at the "opportunity" they have forced upon india.

This is a thought that I have had and expressed. But the extension of this thought is that India needs vicious enemies to be strong. If one problem just vanishes we ill relax and let things slip. World domination requires that you are strong in the absence of credible enemies.