Sunni Terrorist Fragments of Unstable Pakistan - 10 Oct 2014

[Shreeman]

It may be time for us to start ignoring the English language articles coming out of Pakistan. They are not telling us the truth and things are becoming surreal in which there is a genuinely satirical and humorous article (Modi Baffles Scientists) in an ostensibly serious paper, along with a pretence in Paki English media that all is well. The Pakistani English media are living in a dream and publishing what they want others to think about Pakistan. And since the Paki english media is our main way of seeing Pakistan - we believe that to be representative. I think we need to turn away from the English media and most of the Paki mainstream media in fact to see what is happening inside Pakistan.

I do think we spend too much effort celebrating what is funny about Pakistan. People like Lal Topi and their delusions are actually funny (for some) - but the funny stuff really should go into Benis. The fact that a lot of mainstream stuff looks like benis content shows how dysfunctional Pakistan has become. The bluff and bluster are everywhere in the media - the pretence that terrorism is either non existent or sponsored by India. The denial of sectarian killing. The complete inability to stop the killing of non Muslims. The constant updates that 800, no 1000, no 1600 terrorists have been killed in Nazm e ZamZam - with not a single image. There are reports of thousands of internally displaced persons - no news of that. Only denial. In a les dysfunctional state the media would head out and interview the displaced people - but not in Pakistan. The media are under threat of death.

Basically, the Pakistani media are not a reliable source of information about what is happening inside Pakistan. We need to rely on indirect reports or reports tcked away somewhere to see what else is being reported.

I think Pakistan may be in far worse shape than is being shown in public. Watch this space.

Shiv,

Bakistan english media is BENIS, there is nowhere else to get material. If we buplished the right to left here, this forum will not understand a "harf" of it. BENIS is trolling their exposed ankles in pinglish (or pingrezi if you are a NNNazi) and I am afraid they have always been returning the favor.

You may be off the mark re "far worse shape". The "institutions" of that state are many orders of magnitude stronger than they were on 9/11.

[Shankas]

Are there any English News channels in Pakistan?

[partha]

Please excuse me folks, but I cannot resist this. I have to let it out. If you stick a flute up your ass and fart, it will produce a note. And when it produces a note you can say that you will play an entire concerto in 6 months. But no. It is just a fart.

Nawaz Sharif will see more polio in 6 months.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/786611/no-d ... kesperson/

No deadline given for polio-free Pakistan, clarifies PM House spokesperson

[pankajs]

http://indianexpress.com/article/opinio ... wagahs/99/
Let there be more Wagahs

The attacks come as the Pakistan army is engaged in its most serious campaign ever, to fight at least one part of the terror infrastructure in the country. After decades of patronising terror groups, the army is finally taking on the Pakistani Taliban’s multiple factions and cells in a serious way. While the ISI still patronises many other groups, the offensive is a step in the right direction. Attacks like Wagah are a consequence.

The extremists in al-Qaeda, the LeT and other jihadi groups are shifting their focus to the east after years of fighting in Afghanistan. The drawdown of Nato forces in Afghanistan has removed their favourite target in the west. India has known years of extremist attacks, of course, but it is likely to be even more in the crosshairs of the global jihad in the years ahead.

Which makes Wagah all the more important. What India and Pakistan urgently need is a dozen more crossing sites like Wagah, where Indians and Pakistanis can cross the border to trade and socialise. The more interaction between average Indians and Pakistanis, the less likely that another terror attack could create confrontation and war. Modi and Sharif should respond to the audacious plots of the jihadi Frankenstein with their own bold plans to open the border between India and Pakistan, expand trade and communications links and build a stable and prosperous subcontinent for all its peoples. A dozen beating retreat ceremonies every night would be the right answer to Zawahiri.

India needs to do more. India needs to help create more WKK's on its side so that the capacity to absorb terror attack can be increased. Perhaps more access to the pakis who will then create more trouble within India rather than having to export it. BTW, Pakis need not do anything except facilitate more terror attack.

Bruce Riedel is one of those at the forefront of the noclear flashpoint arguments with books like "Avoiding Armageddon".

[Mahendra]

the title should have been let there be more wagah like attacks in pakistan

[SSridhar]

Are there any English News channels in Pakistan?

No

[Anujan]

http://www.dawn.com/news/1142680

Gujrat policeman kills man in custody alleging blasphemy
{You'd think, "Pretty normal, whats the big deal". But wait!}

A police officer on Wednesday night murdered a detained man with an axe

Police have arrested ASI Faraz Naveed and taken the axe into custody.

[shiv]

You may be off the mark re "far worse shape". The "institutions" of that state are many orders of magnitude stronger than they were on 9/11.

This is exactly the impression that I am accusing the English media of propagating, an impression that I dispute

The Pakistan army, formerly Pakistan's strongest institution is actually much weaker than it used to be. Even in 1999 to 2001 they were prepared to brazen it out and risk war. After 9-11 they had the influence to get Dubya to stop bombing Afghanistan to evacuate their personnel. Now they were unable to step in when Pakistan was going through its worst crisis of unity - and situations where they have come under open criticism. The army is definitely weaker.

The "civilian administration" still takes orders from the army. The invite to the ISI chief to appear in India - agreed by Sharif was roughly vetoed by the army. And the civilian government has been through a phase of real tamasha with ImranKhan and Friar TuQ paralysing proceedings for a month. Tax collections are no higher. Health schemes like polio drops administration are failing. Law and order is pretty much out of control.

The courts, which appeared to be finding their feet are now back to square 1, taking no firm decisions and sitting back and watching when it comes to issues like blasphemy

That is three institutions of Pakistan that are struggling,with the army being lower down than it used to be. The Islamists in the meantime are a splintered bunch, neither winning nor losing.

And the population has gone up by 30 million with no matching increase in literacy or enlightenment.

There is nothing that I can see in Pakistan that tells me that any institution is an order of magnitude stronger than in 2001.

[Baikul]

From athe above:

One thing is established: Modi is no Vajpayee.

Something we are all grateful for. A young and rising India doesn't need any more of the pre-partition north Indian prime ministers waxing nostalgic abount refined Lahori culture.

<OT RANT> I can't take this casual categorization of Vajpayeeji with other "pre-partition north Indian prime ministers" lying down. While Modi may yet go on to become the greatest PM India has had, it is yet to be seen, and so far it is debatable whether he has reached Vajpayee ji's stature.

And as for your young and rising India, a young and rising India has a long way to go before it get's a man of the calibre, statesmanship and vision of Atal Bihari Vajpayee / OT RANT

[Gagan]

http://www.dawn.com/news/1142680

Gujrat policeman kills man in custody alleging blasphemy
{You'd think, "Pretty normal, whats the big deal". But wait!}

A police officer on Wednesday night murdered a detained man with an axe

Police have arrested ASI Faraz Naveed and taken the axe into custody.

Bismillah!
The axe did the killing, not the police afsar
He, like Qadri, is a valued soldier of the deen, a muhafiz-e-deen

If the police afsar plays it right, he is headed for much higher things here...

[RajeshA]

Pakistan is the "Laboratory of Islam". This means all Pakistanis are Lab Rats, Guinea Pigs and Test Monkeys. Now if the Lab rats, Guinea pigs and monkeys get lesions, become blind, hysterical, mad, die or go up in smoke, it doesn't mean that Islamic Research is not making progress.

[K Mehta]

Shiv I had this same thought as well. I think we need to have a Urdu media watch thread which covers BBC Urdu as well as Indian Urdu news and a thread for pak Urdu/ Shahmukhi news.
We also need a thread for resources to learn Urdu Arabic and Persian. Both written and spoken.
Perhaps some one can do the honour.

[arun]

http://www.dawn.com/news/1142680

Gujrat policeman kills man in custody alleging blasphemy
{You'd think, "Pretty normal, whats the big deal". But wait!}

A police officer on Wednesday night murdered a detained man with an axe

Police have arrested ASI Faraz Naveed and taken the axe into custody.

And so the “Land of the Pure” sees yet another murderous attack following yesterdays in which a Christist couple was slung into a brick kiln, that is sought to be justified by Mohammaddens claiming that their murderous action was response to an act of blasphemy .

This Green on Green Intra-Mohammadden religion motivated attack appears to be “Sectarian” in nature. The in custody prisoner killed by the Policeman of Assistant Sub-Inspector rank, was a member of the minority Shia Mohammadden sect. One of the contentious issues in the internecine sectarian squabble among Mohammaddens is the opinion about the “Companions of the Prophet” aka “Sahaba”. Sunni’s routinely respect them while Shia’s routinely revile some of them.:

Policeman uses axe to kill blasphemy accused: officials

[jagga]

Islamabad Airport is ranked 1st in the airport list
Islamabad replaces Manila at top of list of world’s ........ airports

[A_Gupta]

Jang, Nawai Waqt, and other Pakistani Urdu newspapers use images to display text and hence are immune to Google Translate. It seems the only way is to invest the time to learn the script.

[UlanBatori]

use images to display text to thwart search engines and translators

What a cool idea!
BTW, wasn't this invented in Harappa, Pakistan?

[Brad Goodman]

Christine Fair had asked the same in her talk at ORF. We have no alternative but to learn Urdu script.

[Brad Goodman]

Pakistani-Canadians: Falling below the poverty line

[dada]

To understand our enemy pk in a clear objective manner, we have to master urdu / punjabi / pashtun languages. This is not a new idea at all.
Pk has always been wary whenever india posted its diplomats (with complete mastery over spoken/written urdu). To enter the mind of the enemy , we have to master its language. Fortunately pk being a breakaway part of india , this should not be difficult for us. we need better organisation for that.

English press of pk is merely "dikhane ke daat" (teeth which you show to the external world). It is a world of make believe. Its real teeth are revealed by its urdu press alone.The thought process of pakistanis as revealed by both are very different. Over the years , the second one is now more important & more closer to reality.

[member_20385]

for urdu, nic has an online course.

http://www.urducouncil.nic.in/urdu_online.html

[Lisa]

http://indianexpress.com/article/opinio ... wagahs/99/
Let there be more Wagahs

The attacks come as the Pakistan army is engaged in its most serious campaign ever, to fight at least one part of the terror infrastructure in the country. After decades of patronising terror groups, the army is finally taking on the Pakistani Taliban’s multiple factions and cells in a serious way. While the ISI still patronises many other groups, the offensive is a step in the right direction. Attacks like Wagah are a consequence.

The extremists in al-Qaeda, the LeT and other jihadi groups are shifting their focus to the east after years of fighting in Afghanistan. The drawdown of Nato forces in Afghanistan has removed their favourite target in the west. India has known years of extremist attacks, of course, but it is likely to be even more in the crosshairs of the global jihad in the years ahead.

Which makes Wagah all the more important. What India and Pakistan urgently need is a dozen more crossing sites like Wagah, where Indians and Pakistanis can cross the border to trade and socialise. The more interaction between average Indians and Pakistanis, the less likely that another terror attack could create confrontation and war. Modi and Sharif should respond to the audacious plots of the jihadi Frankenstein with their own bold plans to open the border between India and Pakistan, expand trade and communications links and build a stable and prosperous subcontinent for all its peoples. A dozen beating retreat ceremonies every night would be the right answer to Zawahiri.

India needs to do more. India needs to help create more WKK's on its side so that the capacity to absorb terror attack can be increased. Perhaps more access to the pakis who will then create more trouble within India rather than having to export it. BTW, Pakis need not do anything except facilitate more terror attack.

Bruce Riedel is one of those at the forefront of the noclear flashpoint arguments with books like "Avoiding Armageddon".

Mr Riedel conveniently forgets the PLO situation with GOTUS. Should he not explain why the GOTUS did not talk with the PLO for so many years or for that matter may be if Al Qaeda opened an office in the US for talks less people would be dying.

Yes?

[RajeshA]

Let there be more Wagahs

Let there be more Visa Waiver Program, e.g. for Pakistan.

[A_Gupta]

Urdu script to Devanagari script transliterator.
http://uh.learnpunjabi.org/default.aspx

Need a new STFUP thread - Short Trans(liter/l)ations From Urdu Press.

[chetak]

Interesting how bruce riedel trots out the "nuclear flashpoint" straight off the bat and mohtrama fair says that the pakis full well know the result of such a foolish strike by the pakis.

more wagahs or more headaches??

[gandharva]

I am tentatively titling it "American policy in the region: Balancing China, India and Pakistan"

https://twitter.com/majorlyp/timelines/ ... 1140154368

[SBajwa]

from that news story about policeman hacking a malang
The latest incident comes two days after a Christian couple was burnt to death in a brick kiln in Kot Radha Kishan for allegedly desecrating pages of the Holy Quran.

A christian couple murdered in a village named Kot Radha Kishan for desecrating pages of Quran!! What a circle!!

[SBajwa]

All of their Urdu news papers are "Pictures" and not UniCode. Do you know any Urdu unicode websites which we can translate using this translator?

http://uh.learnpunjabi.org/default.aspx

[khan]

Alas, when I was younger, I didn't take the opportunity to learn Urdu. Now Like most middle class professionals, I have more disposable income than time.

I wouldn't mind paying a reasonable amount of money for an English translation of top Paki and Indian papers once a week.

We could create a new sub-form within BRF for this and host this as a service. This would have the added benefit of drawing Pakistani researchers into our orbit and convert them to our worldview.

I would say the first step is to find an Urdu speaker in (say) Hyderabad and getting a price.

If enough of us donated money upfront for a years worth of service, we could get it done.

[SBajwa]

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20141106/punjab.htm#1

Imports from Pak resume at Attari ICP
Perneet Singh
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 5
A couple of days after the suspension of Indo-Pak bilateral trade via Attari border following a recent terror strike at Wagah, the imports from Pakistan resumed today with trucks loaded with cement and dry fruits arriving in India. The exports are expected to restart tomorrow.

Central Warehousing Corporation manager Rameshwar said the imports were back on track. Twenty-five trucks had arrived from Pakistan since morning, he added. He said the trade might return to normal tomorrow.

Exporter Rajdeep Uppal said they were expecting that the border would witness resumption of exports soon. He said there were around 100-150 trucks, mostly loaded with soyabean, stranded at the Attari Integrated Check Post (ICP), waiting to cross over to Pakistan. He said they had called back trucks loaded with perishable items like tomatoes. He said they had not suffered any major losses till now as they were already prepared for at least a couple of holidays on Moharram.

All-India Cement Importers Association chief MPS Chatha also heaved a sigh of relief while stating that it would have certainly hit them if the trade had remained suspended for a longer period. Earlier, there were reports that one of the reasons behind the suspension of the trade was the fact that the porters on the Pakistan side were injured in the terror strike at Wagah and some of them had died.

The suicide attack at Wagah on Sunday has also underlined the need to further beef up the security at the Attari check post. At present, manual checking is done when trucks arrive from Pakistan. Full-truck scanners, which were promised at the time of the ICP's inauguration in April 2012, are yet to be installed.

While Pakistan has two such scanners, the Indian authorities have to rely on small gadgets. Traders have also been seeking installation of full truck scanners at the ICP so as to make sure that a foolproof mechanism is in place to curb illegal activities like smuggling of contraband.

[KJo]

Alas, when I was younger, I didn't take the opportunity to learn Urdu. Now Like most middle class professionals, I have more disposable income than time.

I wouldn't mind paying a reasonable amount of money for an English translation of top Paki and Indian papers once a week.

We could create a new sub-form within BRF for this and host this as a service. This would have the added benefit of drawing Pakistani researchers into our orbit and convert them to our worldview.

I would say the first step is to find an Urdu speaker in (say) Hyderabad and getting a price.

If enough of us donated money upfront for a years worth of service, we could get it done.

We used to do this about 10 years ago. You might remember since it says you joined in 2003. Some people here had studied Urdu and were translating articles of Urdu Paki press.

[khan]

Alas, when I was younger, I didn't take the opportunity to learn Urdu. Now Like most middle class professionals, I have more disposable income than time.

I wouldn't mind paying a reasonable amount of money for an English translation of top Paki and Indian papers once a week.

We could create a new sub-form within BRF for this and host this as a service. This would have the added benefit of drawing Pakistani researchers into our orbit and convert them to our worldview.

I would say the first step is to find an Urdu speaker in (say) Hyderabad and getting a price.

If enough of us donated money upfront for a years worth of service, we could get it done.

We used to do this about 10 years ago. You might remember since it says you joined in 2003. Some people here had studied Urdu and were translating articles of Urdu Paki press.

I remember this quite well. If memory serves SSridhar taught himself Urdu.

The last time we did this, it was volunteer driven and it unfortunately fizzled out as people moved on with life.

Also, last time we were translating specific articles (as volunteers time permitted). This time I propose doing (say) every link on the front page + opinions and editorials for one day a week.

This time it would be a paid service - much more reliable and representative of what's going on in the media over there - instead of cherry picked articles by non-native Urdu speakers.

[Aditya_V]

Islamabad Airport is ranked 1st in the airport list
Islamabad replaces Manila at top of list of world’s ........ airports

I remember seeing NDTV program mes in the 2002 period where RAPE and WKK would always state how Pakistani Airports are soo much better than ours, have these 2 groups tucked their tails between their legs?

[partha]

Jang, Nawai Waqt, and other Pakistani Urdu newspapers use images to display text and hence are immune to Google Translate. It seems the only way is to invest the time to learn the script.

Use "Project Naptha" Chrome plugin to select text from images - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... f?hl=en-US

Select Urdu text from images and use Google translate for English translation. It works pretty well.

[MurthyB]

This time it would be a paid service - much more reliable and representative of what's going on in the media over there - instead of cherry picked articles by non-native Urdu speakers.

We could leverage Amazon Turk or Odesk types of services too.

[Shreeman]

Jang, Nawai Waqt, and other Pakistani Urdu newspapers use images to display text and hence are immune to Google Translate. It seems the only way is to invest the time to learn the script.

Mullah,

The right to left is not hard, courtesy of correspondence courses at Jamia Milia Islamia. And solutions exist to OCR urdu (given that it is typed urdu, even more so) into text. Material is handy if needed.

It is not a harappan invention,but a neccessity as MIME types and font availability has lagged for lesser used scripts.

As an aside, Devnagri script development suffered the same (as did most Indian languages, although mostly caught up now) and the history of hindi typing, trans-literation solutions (typing hindi words in english to obtain hindi results), keyboard layouts are all actually a social mirror. A very interesting socio-political commentary if read thoroughly.

This forum has countless readers of the script. Just not enough importance of the matter at hand to resort to regular translation. In the golden days of laal-kendostyx, we did. But that was another era...

Edit: ^^^^ I see the forum has responded with vigor re. options

[jamwal]

Pakistan is the "Laboratory of Islam". This means all Pakistanis are Lab Rats, Guinea Pigs and Test Monkeys. Now if the Lab rats, Guinea pigs and monkeys get lesions, become blind, hysterical, mad, die or go up in smoke, it doesn't mean that Islamic Research is not making progress.

Fixed it for you:

Pakistan is the "Lavatory of Islam". This means all Pakistanis are turds, farts and piss drops. Now if the turds, farts and piss drops are not flushed out, they stink even worse and spread disease in neighbourhood.

[vishvak]

If you use website translate.google.com in certain way, you can get line translations easily, too.

From example,
type website address: https://translate.google.co.in/
(then for auto detection of language): #auto/
(then target language symbol EN): en/
(then line to translate): باكستان كا كيا ماتلاب

All this put together this way:
https://translate.google.co.in/#auto/en/باكستان كا كيا ماتلاب

The link gives translation in new web page: Pakistan Ka Matlab Kya?
Note: Phonetic translation probably.

[Mihaylo]

Jo Lahore aur Rotherham mein g@@^d00, woh Florida mein bhee ...

http://teacherhunt.org/


-M

[member_28442]

from the above ^^

reporter: do you have daughters studying here?
woman: yes
reporter: would you trust your daughters to be with this man? (alleged rapist)
woman: yes

[Agnimitra]

X-post from Indo-US thread:

Heartwarming stuff. Long-time anti-India eggspurt within the US policy machine, motorma Robin Raphael, is under the lens for spying...

WaPo: U.S. diplomat and longtime Pakistan expert under federal investigation

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/nat ... .0_strip_1

A veteran State Department diplomat and longtime Pakistan expert is under federal investigation as part of a counterintelligence probe and has had her security clearances withdrawn, according to U.S. officials.

The FBI searched the Northwest Washington home of Robin L. Raphel last month, and her State Department office was also examined and sealed, officials said. Raphel, a fixture in Washington’s diplomatic and think-tank circles, was placed on administrative leave last month, and her contract with the State Department was allowed to expire this week.

Two U.S. officials described the investigation as a counterintelligence matter, which typically involves allegations of spying on behalf of foreign governments. The exact nature of the investigation involving Raphel remains unclear. She has not been charged.
...
Although Raphel has spent much of her career on Pakistan issues, it was unknown whether the investigation, being run by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, was related to her work with that country.

At the time of the raid, Raphel was a senior adviser on Pakistan for the office of the special representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan. In that job, she was chiefly responsible for administering nonmilitary aid such as U.S. economic grants and incentives.

The 67-year-old longtime diplomat was among the U.S. government’s most senior advisers on Pakistan and South Asian issues. She is a former assistant secretary of state for South Asia and a former ambassador to Tunisia. At the time of the FBI search of her house, she had retired from the foreign service but was working for the State Department on renewable, limited contracts that depended in part on her secret clearances.

Arnold Raphel was U.S. ambassador to Pakistan when he was killed aboard a plane carrying then-Pakistani President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq in 1988. The cause of the mysterious plane crash has never been proved but is widely assumed to have been an assassination plot against the military dictator.

Robin Raphel was divorced from Arnold Raphel when he died. She was then a State Department political officer serving in South Africa but had spent earlier portions of her career in Pakistan. She was also posted in Washington, Britain, India and elsewhere. Then-president Bill Clinton named her as the first assistant secretary for South and Central Asian affairs in 1993.

Raphel began her government career as a CIA analyst, according to a State Department biography. She served 30 years in the foreign service and retired from the State Department in 2005. She returned to the State Department in 2009 to work as an adviser to Richard Holbrooke, who had been named by then-secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton to the new post of special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Prior to returning to the State Department, Raphel worked as a lobbyist for Cassidy & Associates, a Washington-based government relations firm. She represented Pakistan, Equatorial Guinea and Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government, according to federal disclosure forms.

Spy cases involving State Department officials are relatively rare. In the last major case, a former State Department official was sentenced to life in 2010 after he and his wife were convicted on charges of spying for Cuba over three decades. She received nearly seven years in prison.