Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan (TSP): 29th May 2012

[jamwal]

SSridhar jii

Sent you a mail

[Charlie]

http://dawn.com/2012/06/07/film-tackles ... -conflict/

Zinda Bhaag (Escape Alive) revolves around the youth and their urge to find short cuts to life abroad. Farjad Nabi, Meenu Gaur and Mazhar Zaidi are the people behind the latest venture which is in its post-production phase. Dawn.com talks to the trio to know more about activities of Zinda Bhaag.

Do you think the new breed of filmmakers are recreating our long lost cinema or following Bollywood?

It is the other way around, the industry which is called ‘Bollywood’ has at its heart a style and form of filmmaking that is shared by the entire region of South Asia.

So there you go. Slowly a narrative is being pushed. Bollywood = South Asian film industry. Next up: "Bombay" has at its heart a culture and tradition that is shared by the entire region of South Asia. "Bombay" is as much a Pakistani city as an Indian city. Remember how Adnan Sami claimed on national television that he is a proud Mumbaikar?

Paki Rapes have already started claiming Aamir Khan as a South Asian actor and his Sathyamev Jayathe as the answer for South Asian problems.

[partha]

NYTimes: Another calculated slap on Paki H&D

Mr. Panetta’s remarks on Wednesday, delivered during a question-and-answer session following a speech he gave here at the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, demonstrate yet again how strained the relationship between Islamabad and Washington has become.

Mr. Panetta at the India Gate war memorial, where he took part in a wreath-laying ceremony.
He chuckled along with his audience about Pakistan’s lack of warning before the United States killed Osama bin Laden in a raid last year near a huge Pakistani Army base. “They didn’t know about our operation,” Mr. Panetta said to laughter. “That was the whole idea.”

Joking with a group of high-level Indians about a raid that has been keenly embarrassing to Pakistani military leaders is not likely to be received warmly in Islamabad. But Mr. Panetta made clear that the United States and India both have troubled relationships with Pakistan.

“Just as India views the relationship with Pakistan as complicated, so do we,” Mr. Panetta said. “And it is.”

India and Pakistan have fought three wars and still have a tense face-off over disputed boundaries. That Mr. Panetta would compare the American relationship with Pakistan with that of India’s may represent a new low in the administration’s assessment of its ties with Pakistan.

Outrage level = Israeli flotilla * 10. How dare he says all these things in India. Just like how dare Veena Malik strips in India.

[Charlie]

Outrage level = Israeli flotilla * 10. How dare he says all these things in India. Just like how dare Veena Malik strips in India.

Per Paki Islamist code of Honor, Abtabad Osama abduction and water dump<<<<<<< Joking about it in Yeevil Yindia.

Paki Abdul = $100
AlQaeda No.3 = few millions daalars
Salala attack= 5000/container
Joking about abtabad in Yindia= Priceless

[Altair]

^^ Intentional swipe by Panetta.
Pakis will retaliate in some strange H&D saving operation which will *push* Obama order another dare devil seal team 6 op sending his ratings soaring.

[Charlie]

Calling leaders of Ummah to teach immediate and unforgettable lesson to the Kufr Chinese for committing blasphemy.

Cross Post from Islamism Thread


Global Times: Kids rescued from illegal Xinjiang Koran camp
By Xuyang Jingjing

Never heard "Illegal" and "Koran Camp" in the same sentence. Always thought Koran camp supercedes every man made law even in Kuffar countries.

Police rescued 54 children from an illegal Koran teaching center in Hotan in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region yesterday, during a raid in which 17 people were injured by suspects setting off explosives that caused a fire.

A total of 12 children suffered mild burns, while three police officers and two of the three suspects arrested were also injured, local authorities said yesterday.

At around 2 am yesterday, police in Hotan, an oasis town in southern Xinjiang's Tarim Basin, received a tipoff from a parent whose child was held at the Koran teaching center.

When police arrived at the scene, the suspects lit home-made explosives that sparked a fire, Hou Hanmin, chief of the regional information office, told the Global Times yesterday.

The raided center was located on the fifth floor of a six-storey residential building. Fire destroyed much of the floor, said a local resident who works a block away from the building.

But the resident, who requested anonymity, told the Global Times she had no idea about the Koran classes or congregation of children in the building.

Police said the rescued children have been reunited with their families, adding that the case is still under investigation.

Hou said the children, aged between 6 and 10, were previously not allowed to meet with their parents.

"Some of the children were abducted or lured from the streets, while others may have been sent there by their parents," said Hou.

But when these parents wanted to pull their children out of the school, the suspects refused. "That's why parents called the police," said Hou.

It is not clear how long the suspects had been teaching the Koran at the center.

Illegal religious activities held in unregistered places and carried out by unauthorized preachers are a major target of a crackdown in Xinjiang.

Earlier this week, local authorities announced that a 12-year-old boy was beaten to death by his fellow "classmates" at an illegal Koran teaching center in Korla, central Xinjiang.

The boy was sent there by his uncle to learn the sacred Islamic text. On May 17, the "teacher" instructed other students to beat the boy because he could not finish reciting scriptures. The boy died three days later on the way to a hospital, the Korla local government said on its website.

Hou said many children were harmed at illegal schools in Xinjiang.

Last December, a 4-year-old girl was raped at such a center in Urumqi. In February, a 7-year-old boy was tied up against a radiator and suffered burns to his back, said Hou.

"We respect people's religious beliefs, but illegal teachings are strictly prohibited and children especially shouldn't be involved in such activities," said Hou.

Although the Law on Protection of Minors does not prohibit children from religious practices, local regulations related to the law in Xinjiang stipulate that parents should not allow minors to engage in religious activities, nor should any organization or individual force minors to practice their religion.

Illegal Koran teaching centers have specifically recruited women and children in recent years, Li Jiansheng, a professor at the School of Economics and Law at Xinjiang Normal University, wrote in the Tribune of Social Sciences in Xinjiang.

He said that such centers are vulnerable to manipulation by outside forces and many underground Koran teaching centers are linked to separatists and extremists.

From the Forum section of Global Times:

Xinjiang problem can be solved either by driving out the Muslims from the country or by converting the Uighurs Muslim community into Buddhists. Buddhism is the only religion in the world that allow the people to live in peace and harmony.
Xinjiang like problem can be averted in future if China adopts Buddhism as its state religion and ban all other religion especially Christianity and Islam from being practised. These two religions are anti-people and the sermons preached are usually anti-national.
China's glorious past had always been associated with Buddhism. China's progressive future too will rely on a peaceful and a liberal Buddhism that will provide ample opportunity for the leaders to think, ponder and strategise plan that will help China out-prosper the world, rather than plan on how to control terrorism

The next time Turkey criticises China for its handling of the Uighurs, the Chinese Foreign Ministry should remind Turkey of its own sordid history, namely its genocide against the Armenians. If Mr Erdogan wishes to champion the so-called plight of the Uighurs, the Chinese can champion the cause for Kurdish independence. I am sure the Kurds living in northern Iraq and in Turkey would love to have their own nation-state, which should it come to fruition will earn instant recognition from the PRC. China should, if it is not already doing, flood Xinjiang with Han Chinese. There is nothing for China to apologise. After all, see the manner in which historically white settlers in North America and Australia seized possession of the land from the original natives and decimated them most ruthlessly.

I don't see any reason for us Chinese to hold back righting the wrongs that's been done on our hard working brothers and sisters in this western most province.
Get rid of the terrorists & hoodlums there ....asap... Central Govt. or we'll take the matter into our own hands.
No Ifs and Buts about it.

This is why China needs to remain 100% Han Chinese. Look at the West: multiculturalism has destroyed their harmony. Recently in England, the Africans rioted in London. And the Africans and Hispanics do most of the crime in the West, are all on welfare, and don't like to work. Well, that is the West's business, but China must not make the same mistake. Kick all non-Han Chinese out of China. Or at least sterilize them so that they cannot perpetuate themselves. They all have their own countries. Turkish terrorists have their own country: they don't need to be in China. Have some courage, China, just like Mao did.

Uighurs who are not happy living under Han rules should seriously consider migrating back to their ancestral homeland . We Chinese need to develop the place and you lot unhappy souls are a hindrance to our plans .
We have no rooms for your kind.

There are some more NSFW comments best left ignored.

So what say Paki birathers. We Indians offer moral support to all your bious endeavours to bring justice to people of Xinjiang.

[pankajs]

US losing patience with Pak: Panetta

"It is difficult to achieve peace in Afghanistan as long as there is safe haven for terrorists in Pakistan," Panetta, who arrived in Kabul a day after a deadly insurgent bombing, told reporters. "We have made this very clear and do this again: we are reaching the limits of our patience."

It will be interesting to watch if and when this get translated into action.

[Aditya_V]

US losing patience with Pak: Panetta

"It is difficult to achieve peace in Afghanistan as long as there is safe haven for terrorists in Pakistan," Panetta, who arrived in Kabul a day after a deadly insurgent bombing, told reporters. "We have made this very clear and do this again: we are reaching the limits of our patience."

It will be interesting to watch if and when this get translated into action.

Unless Pakis do somthing stupid nothing will happen.

[Rajdeep]

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2012/jun/07 ... n-2011.htm



Missing starlet Laila Khan recced city for LeT in 2011

After supplying the LeT with information on the city of Mumbai, the four received orders from the terror outfit to go to Delhi, to carry out the blast. They then left the city in three separate cars — a Mitsubishi Outlander, a Mahindra Scorpio and a Daewoo Cielo. They reunited at Laila’s farmhouse in Igatpuri. At Igatpuri, the four met members of the LeT — Dr Wasim, Major Yasin and Major Gulam. After concluding the meeting, they set fire to the bungalow, to destroy documents and all other evidence. According to sources from the Intelligence Bureau, the four split up at Igatpuri — Tak and Sheikh went on to Delhi in the Mitsubishi Outlander, where they carried out the blast.

They took the vehicle on to Kishtwar in Jammu & Kashmir. The Outlander, with the registration number MH02 AY 7867 was registered under Laila’s name. Tak was later ordered by the LeT to take the same vehicle back to Mumbai for his next operation — a blast in Mumbai. However, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) tipped off the J&K police that a car carrying explosives was on its way to launch a terror attack in Mumbai. Based on this tip off, this car was then traced to a garage in Kishtwar, which Tak had rented for Rs 800 a month.

Terror link
Three years ago, Laila had married Munir Khan, a member of the Bangladeshi terror outfit HUJI. It is suspected that it was through him that she came in contact with the LeT. Director Rakesh Sawant, who was working on a project with Laila about three years ago, has also revealed that she would often receive mysterious visitors. “When I went to Laila’s house for a meeting three years ago regarding my film, I saw a Kashmiri sitting with weapons in her bedroom. I had even gone to Igatpuri to talk to her about my film, where I saw a similar gathering. When I asked Laila about them, she said they were her relatives,” said Rakesh.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another chapter in the story of Laila Khan’s disappearance
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes ... -militants

Laila Khan, best known for her role opposite Rajesh Khanna in the 2008 film Wafaa, is reportedly living in Dubai with her mother Saleena, two sisters, two cousins, and her step-father Ateeq. When contacted, officers of the Anti-Terrorism Squad confirmed that Laila had been traced to Dubai.
She had been in the news last year after her father, Nadir Patel, had filed a missing complaint with the Oshiwara Police station. Nadir, who lives in Mira Road with his second wife, had told the cops that his daughter Laila, and several other members of his family, had been untraceable for several months. When cops had gone to Oshiwara's Sunshine Apartments, Turnwhere Laila lived, neighbours had confirmed that the flat was empty for a while, and that no one knew of the family's whereabouts.

[Aditya_V]

Well we Know that are are a lot of Bollywood - INC contacts
We know there are a lot of RAPE and Pakis - Bollywood Contacts.

Question which worries many of us are the RAPE- Bollywood- INC contacts are at the detriment of the Aam Aadmi in this nation.

[SSridhar]

US losing patience with Pak: Panetta
"It is difficult to achieve peace in Afghanistan as long as there is safe haven for terrorists in Pakistan," Panetta, who arrived in Kabul a day after a deadly insurgent bombing, told reporters. "We have made this very clear and do this again: we are reaching the limits of our patience."It will be interesting to watch if and when this get translated into action.

Unless Pakis do something stupid nothing will happen.

Aditya, I generally agree with that comment as far as the US-Pak relationship goes. However, the cruise phase has come to an end in the AfPak region for the US and it is in the terminal phase. Normally, at such times, as history has shown, the US-Pak relationship suffers a break. I guess that was what prompted GP to claivoyantly say what he said. How severe that break will be, is hard to guess now as events are still to unfold a lot more. The Pakistanis know perfectly well the imminent break. That's why they are trying to make as much money as they can from the US before that happens (USD 5000 per truck etc). The Pakistanis must be hoping that the US-China relationship deteriorates further so that China becomes more generous towards TSP than it usually is. At the same time, they want to hedge these bets by cosying up to India economically. That would be a mutha kind of nikaa'h steeped in taqiyyah.

As usual, the jihadi Islamists are impatient and do not understand the intricate nuances of geopolitics and strategy. They therefore demand no MFN to India when the brilliant Pakistani strategists have delicately calibrated their approach by dovetailing the granting of the MFN status with the drying up of the US largesse, and with it the drying up of IMF loans too.

[Singha]

TSP is like a piece of sponge with three people stepping on it and some gaps left over. when one guy increases pressure the sponge moulds itself toward the other two and so on...and its very absorbent of any food/water/money on the table.

[pankajs]

Pakistan blast: 'Many dead' at Quetta religious school

At least six people have been killed - including four children - in a blast outside a religious school in Quetta, Pakistan, officials say.

A bomb was detonated outside the school as a degree ceremony for students was being held inside, a senior policeman has told reporters.

According to local media, the bomb was strapped to a bicycle left by the school gates.

At least 30 others have been injured, hospital sources say.

[CRamS]

At the same time, they want to hedge these bets by cosying up to India economically. That would be a mutha kind of nikaa'h steeped in taqiyyah.

SSJi, a couple of questions. I must admit that I am not an expert on economic issues, but why is India so desperate for MFN from TSP? By all accounts, Indian economy is in the doldrums, the "brilliant economist" at the helm notwithstanding. Please see for e.g., A Bric hits the wall. How is a 3rd rate terrorist abomination like TSP granting MFN to India going to reverse India's fortunes? Finally, if TSP wants to hedge its bets with India, wouldn't be more effective from their POV to address India's pigLeT concerns? I mean one minor move TSP makes on India specific pigLeTs, and can you imagoine the Paki pasand Delhi elites gyrating about their hips on how sincere TSP is in addressing India's demands? Or is it the case that seeking MFN for India is the "brilliant economist's" passion so "South Asia" can become a garden of Eden, and terrorism, much less 26/11 is hardly on his radar screen?

[CRamS]

It will be interesting to watch if and when this get translated into action.

US is brilliantly toying with both India & TSP. Onle action that is needed from US is to mention India, and that will throw the TSP generals into a tizzy, and you will see Kiyani grovel before Obama. All US has to say is we support India in Afghanistan. No other action is necessary from US to force TSP to act.

[Rajdeep]

Untangling the Web of Pakistani Terrorist Groups and their Links to al-Qaeda

Discussion at Heritage Foundation, with usual suspects, Riedel, Lisa Curtis, etc. But the gloves are off now. Good pointer on how the US establishment now views Pakistan - what a change from even six months ago!

http://www.heritage.org/events/2012/05/ ... ror-groups

Nothing new for BRFites but still worth a watch to see how they are building up a consensus slowly over attacking pakis.

Thanks for the link.

[Rangudu]

US is brilliantly toying with both India & TSP. Onle action that is needed from US is to mention India, and that will throw the TSP generals into a tizzy, and you will see Kiyani grovel before Obama. All US has to say is we support India in Afghanistan. No other action is necessary from US to force TSP to act.

Too simplistic my friend.

Kayani will not grovel until he is humiliated again a la Abortabad. He fears the loss of H&D from premature groveling more than Unkil at the moment.

As I noted elsewhere, TSP experts are agog with reports of an impending assassination campaign to create a soft-coup situation. Kayani will use it to push the nuclear terror fear buttons.

This is like the stubborn monster creature in horror movies. It needs to be swatted down repeatedly or else it will be in the sequel.

[surinder]

US is brilliantly toying with both India & TSP. Onle action that is needed from US is to mention India, and that will throw the TSP generals into a tizzy, and you will see Kiyani grovel before Obama. All US has to say is we support India in Afghanistan. No other action is necessary from US to force TSP to act.

Among the array of things the khanate has to pressure TSP, it can use the India card on it. The india card itself is a scaled version from simple visits and friendly gestures to outright support and encourage of Indian positions. Going even to the extent of military collaboration. This is part of carrot and stick approach to make TSp do its bidding.

Bharat should stay aloof and not let itelf a tool of pressure on TSP.

[anupmisra]

Paki Rapes have already started claiming Aamir Khan as a South Asian actor and his Sathyamev Jayathe as the answer for South Asian problems.

Get ready for more of that "we south asians.." crap. Wait till these inbred mutants start claiming Indian and Hindu/dharmic heritage as their own. This vast list would consist of the vedas, all our history and scriptures, inventions, knowledge, yoga, ayurveda, and even our heroes. On the Indian side, do not be surprised if many (if not majority) of ghar-ka-bhedis (WKKs) support this blatant attempt.

[anupmisra]

...some strange H&D saving operation...

This is an old paki hyperbole. "O' my H&D"!! Now its all about "HS&D" (Honor-Sovereignity-Dignity).

[saip]

Is it me or does the beggar look more like a poor brahmin rather than a paki fakir?

Link

[anupmisra]

Post-Chicago, after the sixth non-stop drone attack on pious dharti of pakiland the PM, Al-Groper complained bitterly about the violation of his country's HS&D and that his nation of 180 million would not tolerate it anymore. Here's the reaction in the White House when his complaints were first announced:

[anupmisra]

1. Quarantine issue: Russia threatens to ban fruit imports from Pakistan
2. Russia stops clearance of Pakistani potatoes

Pakistani exporters of potato are facing a loss of millions of dollars as Russia has stopped clearance of consignments after complaining that the potatoes from Pakistan are infected with a disease.Yes, its called Pakistaniyat. I wonder what gave it away?

Russia is learnt to have threatened that it may ban fruit imports from Pakistan because of their lower quality and unreliable quarantine standards.

[saip]

I dont know guys what to make of this stupid country - USA. On one hand Panetta say Pakistan is gouging us and they are harboring terrorists and we are at war with them and on the other hand Kerry the loser sends billions of dollars to the same people.

Link

[RCase]

Bade Dilwale and Hindoo Zehniyat

PCB shows its 'large-heart' by intending to invite Indian players for PPL! (Never mind the tournament is still yet to take off). But will 'narrow-minded' Hindoos reciprocate?

Its better for Indian players to play Duleep, Ranji, etc. matches, after all they will be sure of what bowled against them is a Cricket ball not a grenade !

[Gus]

US is brilliantly toying with both India & TSP. Onle action that is needed from US is to mention India, and that will throw the TSP generals into a tizzy, and you will see Kiyani grovel before Obama. All US has to say is we support India in Afghanistan. No other action is necessary from US to force TSP to act.

you are back.

Please go easy on the mighty US stuff. It is jarring. Nothing is going to change until US has the stomach to sever all ties and bomb PA proper.

[shiv]

Onle action that is needed from US is to mention India, and that will throw the TSP generals into a tizzy,

And to think that just 11 years and 50 billion Dollars ago an American President could refuse slobbering BJP/NDA offers of support after 9-11 and threaten the Pakistani army unilaterally with a "bomb you back to the stone age" and he would instantly change course. Now the US is saying "OK you're not scared of us any more 'cos you know we won't touch you. But what if we support India instead of supporting you?" What a sad fall for a once great superpower.

Soon India and Pakistan will be great friends and the US will not be able to use even that crutch.

[Altair]

And to think that just 11 years and 50 billion Dollars ago an American President could refuse slobbering BJP/NDA offers of support after 9-11 and threaten the Pakistani army unilaterally with a "bomb you back to the stone age" and he would instantly change course. Now the US is saying "OK you're not scared of us any more 'cos you know we won't touch you. But what if we support India instead of supporting you?" What a sad fall for a once great superpower.

Soon India and Pakistan will be great friends and the US will not be able to use even that crutch.

The situation is becoming quiet embarrassing for the Americans everyday and they appear to be using drones to salvage some pride. Surely It cannot go indefinitely. It might be the reason we have Panetta in ND and Hillary Clinton meeting next week. Expect a big offer for India.

[Prem]

Are Pakistanis patriotic?
Michael Kugelman
Michael Kugelman is the program associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC
http://dawn.com/2012/06/07/are-pakistanis-patriotic/

Last week, I read the poignant account of Major Shafaat, an ethnic Hazara in the Pakistani Army who suffered from discrimination and recently lost his life. The most telling words came at the very end:
“Maybe he deserved to die because he naively believed himself to be a Pakistani. But in today’s Pakistan, he was just a Hazara.”Pakistan is a nation rife with division, and nationality is rarely a unifying label. Citizens like Major Shafaat are identified by (or self-identify with) ethnicity. For others, it is religion. According to a 2009 British Council poll of Pakistani youth, 75 per cent describe themselves as Muslims rather than Pakistanis.Another fault-line of this fragmentation is provincial. Manifestations range from the Punjab/Sindh rivalry to separatist sentiment in Balochistan and recent calls for new Seraiki and Mohajir provinces.In all this, the notion of nationalism – a people united by nationality – is missing. The notion of patriotism – love of one’s country – is absent as well. It is difficult to love one’s country if allegiances are to sub-national entities instead of to the nation itself.Does this mean Pakistanis are not patriotic?Not at all. There is plenty of patriotism in Pakistan.
do not intend here to make blanket statements about Pakistani patriotism. To be sure, some Pakistanis define their patriotism in chauvinistic ways, and look not to heroes such as Edhi, but rather to the likes of Zaid Hamid. Meanwhile, persecuted minorities have every right not to be patriotic in a nation that treats them as third-class citizens.Yet none of this can deny the fact that Pakistanis are proud of their country (a 2010 Herald poll finds that nearly 80 per cent of Pakistani youth are “proud to be Pakistani”). This is why there is such concern about Pakistan’s “image problem” abroad. The world’s reductive perceptions of the country filter out heroes like Edhi, and ignore the geographical diversity, the arts, cuisine, and other dimensions of the nation cherished by the citizenry.Several years ago, I wrote an op-ed on the roots of this image problem, and how it can be overcome. I received responses from readers across Pakistan, expressing their gratefulness that an American shared their concerns.hose readers’ sentiments exemplify patriotism in Pakistan: Love for a much-maligned nation, whose political problems increasingly drown out what makes the country a special place.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
( BR need WWIC Watch)

[Prem]

Pak-China friendship beyond the confines of time limits: Zardari
Z in P Again

PEIJING: President Asif Ali Zardari said Thursday that the bonds of Pak-China friendship were beyond the confines of time limits and the legacy of this friendship would continue to pass on from generation to generation.The president expressed these views during his meeting with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping at the Diaoyutai State Guest House.The president on his part while highlighting the Pak-China friendship conveyed to the Vice President Xi Jinping the sentiments of the people of Pakistan to see Pak-China friendship getting even stronger under Chinese leadership.The president also extended invitation to Vice President Xi Jinping to visit Pakistan at convenient date which the latter accepted. He said that people of Pakistan greatly value the unparalleled friendship with the Chinese and appreciate in big way their assistance at every hour of distress.President Zardari said that Pakistan wanted to transform its traditional equation with China into economic terms and wanted to learn from the Chinese experience of growth and development.He said that the government was keen to see Chinese investors and business community playing active role in the socio-economic development of the country and getting benefit from the investment friendly opportunities offered by the Government of Pakistan.The president said that it was heartening to see that some important developments were taking place between the two countries like the currency swap agreement, the implementation of 2nd Trade and Economic Programme, opening of Chinese banks in Pakistan and two countries entering into understandings to extend cooperation in the areas of agriculture, irrigation, infrastructure development and others.He conveyed to the Chinese Vice President the gratitude of the people and the Government of Pakistan for China’s unflinching support to Pakistan’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and its appreciation of huge sacrifices made in fighting the menace of extremism and militancy.He said that Pakistan was making every effort to contribute its share towards promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan by lending its full support to an Afghan led national reconciliation process.

[Prem]

Ahmad in Jacket was there in NEW DC too

President Asif Ali Zardari and Iranian President Ahmadinejad held talks in Beijing on Thursday on the wide ranging bilateral relations with special focus on the energy related projects. The two leaders agreed to vigorously pursue the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project as well as supply of electricity to Pakistan. They agreed to resolve urgently the issue of credit for the I-P gas pipeline so as to complete it expeditiously. Relevant minister and officials from both sides will now meet to further take forward the decisions taken in principle. President Zardari also assured Iranian President that Pakistani territory will never be allowed to be used against Iran. Other bilateral matters and regional situation also came under discussion during the meeting

[Pattom]

US terminates funding for Sesame Street

Pakistan's version of Sesame Street is no more after Elmo blew himself up on the street with a bomb strapped to his chest, taking with him Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird. Workers are still clearing scattered stuffing and yellow feathers from the street.

[Charlie]

More on Sesame Street fraud by Rape Pakis. How did Pakis inveigle $20 Million for a puppet show to be made in Pakistan at Paki costs and how did USAID fall for it.

From below article it seems Sesame Street was strictly made to wean away nanha Mujahids from Kaafir hating with Hindu sounding character names. Ofcourse liberal Pakis will steal Amreeki dollars and go and teach Ghazwa-e-Hind to their kids in Sunday Koran classes.

KABUL: The US has terminated funding for a $20 million project to develop a Pakistani version of Sesame Street, the US Embassy said Tuesday. The decision came as a Pakistani newspaper reported allegations of corruption by the local puppet theater working on the initiative.

The organization in question is the Rafi Peer Theater Workshop, a group in the city of Lahore that jointly developed the show with Sesame Workshop, the creator of the American series.

The show, which includes Elmo and a host of new Pakistani characters, first aired in December and was supposed to run for at least three seasons.

The US hoped it would improve education in a country where one-third of primary school-age children are not in class. It was also meant to increase tolerance at a time when the influence of radical views is growing.

US Embassy spokesman Robert Raines said the US Agency for International Development terminated funding for the program, but declined to provide further details.

A Lahore-based newspaper reported Tuesday that the cause was ”severe” financial irregularities at Rafi Peer, citing unnamed sources close to the project. Officials at Rafi Peer allegedly used the US money to pay off old debts and awarded lucrative contracts to relatives, the sources claimed.

Faizaan Peerzada, the chief operating officer of Rafi Peer and one of several family members who run the organization, denied the corruption allegations. He said the US ended its participation after providing $10 million because of the lack of additional available funds.

”Rafi Peer is proud of its association with the project and of the quality of children’s educational television programming created within Pakistan as a result,” the group said in a statement sent to The Associated Press.

If the corruption allegations prove true, it would be an embarrassment for the multibillion-dollar US aid program in Pakistan, which some analysts have criticized for lacking focus and not achieving results.

Rafi Peer plans to seek alternative sources of funding to continue producing the local version of Sesame Street, which is called Sim Sim Hamara, or Our Sim Sim.

The show is led by a vivacious 6-year-old girl named Rani who loves cricket and traditional Pakistani music. Her sidekick, Munna, is a 5-year-old boy obsessed with numbers and banging away on Pakistani bongo drums, or tabla.

Other new characters include Baily, a kindly donkey who loves to sing, and Haseen O Jameel, a vain crocodile who lives at the bottom of a well.

The action centers around a mock-up of a Pakistani town, complete with houses, a school and Baaji’s dhaba, a small shop and restaurant found in many places in the country.

The town also includes a large Banyan tree, known as the wisdom tree in South Asia, in the shade of which the children often play.

Each episode is based around a word and a number, like the US version, and tackles general themes like friendship, respect and valuing diversity. This last theme is particularly important in Pakistan, where extremists often target minority religious sects and others who disagree with their views.

The American version of Sesame Street first aired in 1969, and the US government has worked with the company since then to produce shows in about 20 foreign countries, including Muslim nations like Bangladesh and Indonesia.

[Charlie]

Pakis bear the brunt of Greece's Neo Nazis

Greece's huge immigrant population has borne the brunt of the tidal wave of anger and despair that last month catapulted Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) into parliament. A surge of recent attacks in recent weeks on migrants, particularly from Pakistan and Afghanistan, has been blamed squarely on the neo-fascist party. Immigrants have been assaulted in their homes, on the streets, on trains and buses in and outside city centres with most requiring intensive hospital care.

Last week, far rightists were accused of an arson attack on a migrants' hostel in Athens. Ourania Michaloliakou, the daughter of Chrysi Avgi's leader, was among six masked party cadres charged with conducting a motorcycle raid against Pakistani migrants although they were later released. The party's motto is that Greece should "rid itself of such filth." Immigrant organisations say the rise in attacks has prompted a growing number of migrants to voluntarily return to their homelands.

[Roperia]

Yawn complains of loss of Paki H&D in its editorial. This is deja vu, if you remember a similar editorial criticizing Hilary for lashing out at Paki perfidy in dealing with LeT, at Kolkatta.

I almost convinced myself of putting this in the BENIS thread but instead chose to put it here to make it accessible to a broader audience.

Panetta and Pakistan

THE US-Pakistan relationship is going through one of its roughest patches. But that does not justify the US defence secretary’s provocative public remarks in foreign capitals on each side of Pakistan in recent days. In Kabul yesterday Mr Panetta said America was reaching the “limits of [its] patience” regarding terrorist safe havens in the tribal areas. And New Delhi was an entirely inappropriate location for him to publicly discuss US-Pakistan tensions, compare them to India-Pakistan tensions, or share a joke about hiding the Osama bin Laden raid from Pakistan — all while describing India as an integral partner for America’s new military strategy in Asia. The language the secretary has used, in the locations he has chosen to use it, only runs the risk of making Pakistan’s security establishment more intransigent and paranoid and will become fodder for right-wing forces propagating anti-India and anti-America opinions. All of which will only make it tougher for the Pakistani government to cooperate with the US. It is unclear to what extent the State Department agrees with Mr Panetta’s approach, or whether, along with the stepped-up drone strikes, his words are part of a new and more aggressive American tactic to address the current impasse over Nato supply routes. But sending such messages publicly in foreign capitals with which Pakistan has complicated relationships — rather than limiting them to private discussions in Islamabad or Washington — will likely be counterproductive.

...

[krisna]

From dreams to drones: who is the real Barack Obama?
Pankaj Mishra

Barack Obama, according to Foreign Policy magazine, “has become George W Bush on steroids”. Armed with a “kill list”, the Nobel peace laureate now hosts “Tuesday terror” meetings at the White House to discuss targets of drone attacks in Pakistan and at least five other countries.

Unlike the slacker Bush, who famously disdained specifics, Obama routinely deploys his Ivy League training in law. Many among the dozens of “suspected militants” massacred by drones in the last three days in northwestern Pakistan are likely to be innocent. Reports gathered by NGOs and Pakistani media about previous attacks speak of a collateral damage running into hundreds, and deepening anger and hostility to the US. No matter: in Obama’s legally watertight bureaucracy, drone attacks are not publicly acknowledged; or if they have to be, civilian deaths are flatly denied and all the adult dead categorised as “combatants”.

Obama himself signed off on one execution knowing it would also kill innocent family members. He has also made it “legal” to execute Americans without trial and expanded their secret surveillance, preserved the CIA’s renditions programme, violated his promise to close down Guantnamo Bay and ruthlessly arraigned whistleblowers.

It can’t be said Obama didn’t prepare us for his murderous spree in Pakistan. It is also true that drone warfare manifests the same pathologies of racial contempt, paranoia, blind faith in technology and the superstition of body counts that undermined the US in Vietnam.

The last US personnel in Vietnam had to be evacuated from the roof of the American embassy in Saigon, and this may yet be the fate of the western mission in Afghanistan. The Taliban, it is clear, won’t be killed and mutilated into submission. A weak Pakistan is the easier setting for a display of American firepower. In ways, his Pakistani college friends couldn’t have foreseen, their country now carries the burden of verifying Obama’s extra-American manhood, especially at election time.

Obama was quick to say sorry to Poland last week for saying “Polish death camps” rather than “death camps in Poland” in a speech. But he refuses to apologise for the American air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November last year.

We’re killin’ ‘em! We’re killin’ ‘em all!” Bush exulted, according to Bob Woodward, during his last months in office. And now another man sits in the White House, surveying his own kill lists and plotting re-election, after having already pulled off the cruellest political hoax of our times.

fun to see the choice of words used.

[arun]

US drone strikes 'raise questions' - UN's Navi Pillay

US drone strikes certainly raise questions but not necessarily limited to what Ms. Pillay has raised.

The biggest question is how come that there has not been a single incident where the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has demonstrated a willingness to protect its airspace from US drones ?

To date I have yet to see reports of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan locating its AEW resourses, the Saab 2000 Eriye and Shaanxi ZDK-03 to patrol its borders with Afghanistan.

I have not seen reports of of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan locating its AAM resources, the Spada 2000, RBS-70 Bolide etc to protect its borders with Afghanistan.

Neither have I seen reports of of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan locating its fighter interceptor resources, like the F-16 to protect its borders with Afghanistan.

So why is the Islamic Republic of Pakistan constantly whining about the peregrinations of its National Bird of Prey when there is not a single recorded event of an attempt to protect its airspace from their predations ?

[pankajs]

From dreams to drones: who is the real Barack Obama?
Pankaj Mishra

Has this piece been published in any of the mainstream American paper? Did he try to get this published at his favorite NY Times where he is a frequent contributor? Or was it written with a particular audience in mind? Who is the real Pankaj Mishra?

Just being declared no-b@ll does not mean Obama can't develop b@lls later in his life.

[Anujan]

US drone strikes 'raise questions' - UN's Navi Pillay

Pakis might exult that UN human rights commission has decided to investigate the drone attacks, but as a saying goes in my mother tongue "It is like a thief who just got bit by a scorpion". If a UN fact finding mission gets into FATA, many US skeletons will tumble from the cupboard. Followed by many Pakistani skeletons which will also start tumbling out.

Expect Pakis to deny permission to UN to investigate.

[ArmenT]

US terminates funding for Sesame Street

Pakistan's version of Sesame Street is no more after Elmo blew himself up on the street with a bomb strapped to his chest, taking with him Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird. Workers are still clearing scattered stuffing and yellow feathers from the street.

But Sesame street was already in Bakistan in the days following 9/11. Proof seen in this poster: you can clearly see Bert standing behind Osama in the poster here:

Lest someone asks, NO it was *NOT* photoshopped into the protest image directly. What happened was that there was a website called "Bert is evil", which shows photochops of evil Bert along with his evil pals (Hitler, Osama etc.) and it became a decently popular meme. When 9/11 happened and mango Pakis were loudly proclaiming "Osama is our herrow onlee", one enterprising printing guy decided to make a huge poster and sell copies to the local abduls to take with them on their protest marches. Since he didn't have any pictures himself, the chap went on google image search and downloaded a bunch of images and fired up his printing press. As it happens, one of those images on the top of the search list was the Bert is Evil webpage and the printer guy lifted the image directly and didn't even notice the significance of Bert in the image, as he didn't watch Sesame Street. Result: The infamous image of Bert and Osama showed up in a Reuters news article and it was a huge source of amusement to readers .

[edit]
Another image of the poster from a different angle:

[/edit]