CheersKARACHI: Shares on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE) took a plunge shortly after the start of the first trading session of the week.
Witnessing a slide by 1,216 points in the early hours on Monday, the benchmark index slightly recovered afterwards to clock up at 30,153.42 points at 12:30pm, which is down 2.7% from the start of trading.
But then the Saudis have their "own agenda" and are unlikely to compromise on this,( basically an "H&D issue") with Iran !ISLAMABAD – Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif met Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince and defence minister, Mohammed bin Salman, upon arrival in Riyadh on Monday.
“After arriving in Riyadh, the army chief met the Saudi defence minister,” the Inter Services Public Relations said in a statement. During the meeting, General Raheel highlighted Pakistan’s perspective on the Middle East situation.
“Due to the situation in Middle East, the Muslim Ummah is weakening,” sources said, quoting the army chief. The army chief stressed the need for opening up the communication channel between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the sources said.
As usual, his "boasting" completely ignores the fact that an indictment on this, would have been a bad reflection on his ex-employer (Paki Fauj, Paki Govt ) ; also, there is "some question" on the objectivity of the court in the first place !KARACHI - Former President Pervez Musharraf has said on Monday that the court verdict given on Akbar Bugti murder case has proved that this case was made against him on political grounds.
Musharraf said that it was a baseless case and other cases made against him will face same future.
During the hearing, the court also rejected the request by Nawabzada Jamil Akbar Bugti, son of Nawab Akbar Bugti, to order exhumation of his father’s body to ensure identity of the body.
So, for all practical purposes, the case has been put into "cold storage"On the other hand, the court has also issued arrest warrants for other three accused including former prime minister Shaukat Aziz, former Balochistan governor Awais Ahmed Ghani and former DC Dera Bugti Abdul Samad. The case hearing has been adjourned till arrest of the accused.
If, I recall correctly, the armed campaign began, when no action was taken by Mush, against an Army officer who violated the dignity (raped) a Balochi women doctor.Musharraf was indicted by the ATC on January 14 last year in the murder case. Bugti had led an armed campaign to press for provincial autonomy and a greater share of profits for the province from Balochistan‘s natural resources.
ISLAMABAD: A video game based on the Peshawar Taliban school massacre of more than 150 people, mostly children, was removed Monday after triggering a social media uproar, with critics blasting it as tasteless.
The game, called “Pakistan Army Retribution”, was released by the Punjab IT board on Google Play, and invites the player to step into the shoes of a soldier shooting extremists in the hallways of a school.
But after an article on Dawn.com criticised the game, social media users lambasted its makers for exploiting the tragedy.
Saif, in an interview to Guardian Newspaper, said Pakistan Army Retribution was just one of dozens of videos, jingles and social media items commissioned as part of a Peaceful Pakistan campaign intended to build on national revulsion over the APS attack.(and in the process lump the innocent Pashtuns with the perpetrators of this attack)
So, following "Lahori logic", there were no control measures in place to avoid "misunderstanding the brief"The game was produced by an independent company that had “misunderstood the brief”, Saif said.
“We tried to the use the campaign to galvanise support for peaceful Pakistan but I guess we messed up with this particular game.”
By Monday afternoon, the game was no longer available on Google Play.
Shortly after Sharif’s visit, Sri Lanka’s minister of defense, Karunasena Hettiarachchi, denied that the JF-17 was even discussed. “The matter did not even come up for discussion during the talks [with the Pakistani government],” he said, according to The Colombo Gazette. He added that “if there arises a requirement for Sri Lanka to procure aircraft of this nature, in keeping with the policy of the Government of Sri Lanka to maintain transparency, expressions of interest will be called for, from all concerned.”However, mere days after the deal was reported, sources claimed that the deal had been cancelled. The reason for the cancellation of the deal is revealing of current diplomatic dynamics in South Asia. According to The Indian Express, the Sri Lankan government, led by President Maithripala Sirisena, canceled its plans to purchase the JF-17s after a “diplomatic missive” from New Delhi suggesting that Colombo should refrain from adding these aircraft to its fleet.The report adds that New Delhi included a negative technical assessment of the JF-17 and “pointed out that [Sri Lanka's] defense requirements did not need fighters.” According to the report, the Indian government delivered a “non-paper”–described as a “white sheet of paper without a letterhead of signature”–to the Sri Lankan government weeks ahead of Sharif’s planned visit.If true, Sri Lanka’s decision to hold back on the purchase of JF-17 fighters demonstrates that the Sirisena-led government in Colombo is far more deferential to Indian interests than its predecessor was. Under Mahinda Rajapaksa, the former Sri Lankan president, the country tilted considerably toward China. After his surprise election victory last January, Sirisena signaled an intent to balance Sri Lanka’s foreign policy by visiting New Delhi before Beijing.It doesn’t appear that India is planning on offering Sri Lanka a substitute for the JF-17. New Delhi’s suggestion that Sri Lanka does not require multi-role fighters for its defense needs suggests that it does not plan to do so in the future. (The closest Indian analog, in terms of cost-per-unit, is the HAL Tejas Light Combat Aircraft, but its feature-set is very different from what the JF-17 offers.)
PESHAWAR: At least 10 people were killed and over 20 wounded when a bomb exploded near a security checkpost situated close to the Karkhano Market area here on Tuesday.Most of the dead include personnel from the Khyber Khasadar Force, rescue sources said.The blast, which targeted a vehicle of the Khasadar Force, also killed the Assistant Line Officer Nawabshah and president of the Tribal Union of Journalists Mehmoob Shah."Although the exact nature of the blast is being ascertained, it appears to be a suicide attack," said political agent Khyber Agency Shahab Ali Shah.He said 10 people were confirmed to have died in the blast that targeted Khasadar personnel.According to initial reports, the exact nature of the blast could not yet be ascertained.TV footage of the blast showed vehicles parked near the blast site caught fire after the explosion.An emergency has been imposed at Hayatabad Medical Complex. The blast has been cordoned off.
A Turkish government official has accused Islamabad of moving slowly on a free trade deal, while admitting that the additional taxes imposed on Pakistani textile and ready-to-wear products have resulted in halving the trade volume between the two countries.
Turkey model bhi gaya. Ab Somalia model hi bacha hai.Dilemre explained that after the taxes imposed by Turkey in September 2011, trade volume dropped from $1 billion to half a billion in the first 10 months of 2015. Pakistan's exports to Turkey, $873 million in 2011, fell to $230 million last year. Dilemre underlined that the drop was due to measures employed by Turkey against Pakistan.
ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif during a National Assembly briefing on Tuesday said that a deal with the United States for the procurement of eight F-16 fighter jets is facing delays due to "some lobbyists working against us there".
He said an Indian lobby, as well as Pakistan's former ambassador to the US are "working against us" and had approached the US House of Representatives to lobby against the sale.
So, both the US and China are "helping" Pakistan in bombing the "terrorists" and the innocent civilian population, who by the way, are just collateral damageAsif said that despite lobbies efforts, "as of today, the US is committed to providing us eight F-16 fighter jets", adding that the jets which were instrumental during Operation Zarb-i-Azb were to be used for anti-terrorist activities alongside the JF-17 Thunder.
The bogey of "if not given, the Taliban will take over Pakistan" will of course, be played like a broken record and Massa will supply the "toys".The jets have a two-year lead time, he said, which means "if we start a contract today, they will give it in two years".
Talking about Pakistan's participation in the 34-state Islamic military coalition formed by Saudi Arabia to combat terrorism the defence minister said, "We don't have a military alliance with Saudi per se."
He added that the scope and participation of members in the 34-country coalition, although still undetermined, is being evolved.
So called "honest brokering"On mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the face of escalating tensions in the Middle East, he said the meeting between Islamabad and Riyadh was "encouraging".
"The response was very good and with that spirit they are going to Iran," he said.
In view of the above, their claim to "neutrality" in the inter-ummah tussle appears to be a sham !"Compared to all the countries in the world, we have the most defence cooperation with Saudi Arabia. On average, we have five exercises a year with them," Asif said.
He listed five different agreements for defence cooperation with the kingdom:
1980 and 1982: Deals with deportationists for training
2005: Defence cooperation training, defence production, medical training, supply of weapons and defence equipment
2007: Defence training and counter-terrorism training
2012: National Defence University and Naif University agreement for training
He said 1,125 officers and other ranking paresonnel are in Saudi for various purposes, and that this number is increasing. "Their capacity and role over there is training and instruction... Cooperation between Saudi and Pakistan in the Ministry of Defence Production is being multiplied."
Gagan ji, they have used terrorism against themselves!Gagan wrote:. . . The problem for the Pak Fauj is that there is NOT a single neighbour that they have not sponsored terrorism against. . . .
CheersPARIS: Pakistan had the highest rate of stillbirths in 2015 making it the worst performer out of 186 countries, a quintet of studies published by The Lancet on Tuesday reveals.
This news ain't so bad is it? Fewer Pakis being born? No wait. It is bad news, because Pakistan's population is not exploding as fast as it could.Peregrine wrote:Worst of 186 countries, Pakistan has highest stillbirth rateCheersPARIS: Pakistan had the highest rate of stillbirths in 2015 making it the worst performer out of 186 countries, a quintet of studies published by The Lancet on Tuesday reveals.
but many surviving babies of the stillborn epidemic will explode later in lifeThis news ain't so bad is it? Fewer Pakis being born? No wait. It is bad news, because Pakistan's population is not exploding as fast as it could.
As predicted by many forumites, the Pakis are not serious in taking action against their "strategic assets" .NEW DELHI: India doubts that Pakistan has taken action against anybody of any consequence in Jaish-e-Muhammed, the terror group which allegedly carried out the attack on the Pathankot airbase, a suspicion which may have a bearing on when the Modi government agrees to hold the foreign secretary-level dialogue.
Sources in the intelligence establishment here told TOI that, contrary to claims in the Pakistani media, Maulana Masood Azhar, the India-hating chief of Jaish, has not been detained. In fact, information trickling in suggests that though three Jaish operatives were detained in Pakistan, it is not for any direct role in the Pathankot attack but because literature on Jaish was found in their possession.
"There is no word from the Pakistan government on whether an FIR has been registered as regards the Pathankot attack and, if yes, the charges slapped on the possible perpetrators based on its soil. An FIR is the first step towards acknowledging that the hatching of conspiracy and training for the attack took place in Pakistan," said a senior officer of the security establishment. TOI that, contrary to claims in the Pakistani media, Maulana Masood Azhar, the India-hating chief of Jaish, has not been detained. week claiming Azhar had been arrested in connection with the Pathankot strike. However, there was no official confirmation.
...Indian intelligence officials now suspect that the news of Azhar being taken into custody could be more of a "misinformation". "Though Jaish is a banned outfit in Pakistan, it continues to be patronized by the ISI. It would be rather surprising if Azhar is directly held responsible for the Pathankot attack," said a senior officer.
Agencies are crossing their fingers lest the Pathankot investigation by Pakistan goes the same way as the 2611 probe.
The assessment of the intelligence agencies here is not a happy augury for the prospect for the two foreign secretaries to meet shortly.
I genuinely feel that it might have something to do with all the cousin marriages going on there.Peregrine wrote:Worst of 186 countries, Pakistan has highest stillbirth rateCheersPARIS: Pakistan had the highest rate of stillbirths in 2015 making it the worst performer out of 186 countries, a quintet of studies published by The Lancet on Tuesday reveals.
Most Arabs are nationalists, and have few if any similarities to non-Arab Muslims, especially South Asian Muslims.
I remember, once in 1990s, a bunch of Palestinians rented a house in my area in Pakistan. They had received scholarships from the local university. At that point in my life I was very pro-Hamas. When I found out Palestinians were renting a house in my area, I felt I had to meet them. The image I had in my mind was of God-fearing people, deprived, poor and religious, sporting beards and dressing like real Mujahedeen, praying five times a day in masjids (mosques). I had never seen a Palestinian Mujahedeen before, let alone met one, so I was so curious and delighted at the opportunity to do so. I set out and hurried toward their home, which was just a few minutes from my own.
I rang the bell and a tall guy, around six feet tall and clean shaven, with whitish skin like European, brown hair and a strong, muscular body, wearing a black T-shirt, black jeans with black boots and hat came to the door and said, “How can I help you”? “Asala’am Aleykum,” I said.
To which he replied in kind, before repeated the same question.
“I am here to welcome you to my area and want to talk to you,” I said.
He thanked me for the welcome, but said, “Sorry, we cannot meet you because we are taking a rest, please come tomorrow evening.”
After that, I met with them regularly. I was curious to learn about them, about their struggle against the Zionists. But every time I expressed my admiration for Hamas and my desire for its victory over Israel, they started laughing at me.
Slowly I began to discover that these Palestinians were very different than I had imagined. They never prayed in a mosque except for Jummah (Friday) and Id prayers.
They thought Pakistanis were stupid, and thought of us as second-class Muslims.(but the Arabs still think of them as "second class"!)
They rode bikes of a kind I had never seen in my city, except in Hollywood movies such as The Terminator.
The Palestinians were different. What I found out was disturbing. Our mosques were getting funds from international Islamic NGOs run by Saudi Arabia and Iran to promote anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and Anti-Jewish sentiment in the country, to further their political agendas.
Local mullahs were trained to recruit innocent Pakistani Muslims – many of whom would willingly give their lives based on these imams’ fatwas. The government of Pakistan had continually sponsored PLO fighters by issuing thousands of university scholarships. These mullahs had never visited Israel, had never met with any Palestinian before and had never studied the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. These hateful mullahs had only one concern: international Islamic funds to satisfy their greed.
PLO fighters were more interested in their un-Islamic activities than in study, they were fighting with locals and police had strict orders not to arrest them.
In over 40 years, despite the constant religious incitement I have yet to see al-Aksa endangered by Israelis in any way. Palestinians, on the other hand, have disrespected the purity of the Holy Masjid several times during that period – and no Muslim ever condemned these unholy acts committed by violent Palestinians.
RAWALPINDI: Pakistan on Tuesday conducted a successful flight test of the indigenously developed Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) – Ra’ad – said the military’s media wing in a statement.
The flight test of the cruise missile, which is also known as Hatf VIII, was the seventh since it was first tested in 2007.It is essentially a flying bomb, generally designed to carry a large conventional or nuclear warhead many hundreds of miles with high accuracy. Modern cruise missiles can travel at supersonic or high subsonic speed.These guided missiles are self-navigating and fly on a non-ballistic very low altitude trajectory in order to avoid radar detection.The most common mission for cruise missiles is to attack relatively high value targets such as ships, command bunkers, bridges and dams. The modern guidance system permits precise attacks.The Inter-Services Public Relations said Ra’ad, with a range of 350km, “enables Pakistan to achieve air delivered strategic standoff capability on land and at sea.” The missile is approximately five metres long and could weigh up to 1,000kg.
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has told the United States it is not playing any double game with India regarding investigations into the Pathankot airbase attack, The Nation learnt yesterday.The US has been pushing Pakistan to act against the extremist organisations that allegedly promote cross-border terror and create hurdles in peaceful relations between Pakistan and India.The US earlier said it was encouraged by the fact that the Pakistan government condemned the Pathankot terror attack and promised investigations.State Department spokesman John Kirby said Washington expected the investigations would be as transparent as possible. “We’re encouraged by the fact that the Pakistani government condemned the attack and said they would investigate it,” he said. John Kirby said the US would like the two countries to continue with their peace talks.
Last week, US Secretary of State John Kerry asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to find out the truth and urged the need to focus on the pressing challenge of terrorism in the region.
As Pakistan acted promptly after the Pathankot attack, Washington believed Islamabad was serious about investigations “this time unlike the past.”“I am not going to define it as a change in tone. I think we all recognise that more can be done. But that does not mean that we would not keep working on it,” a senior administration official said when asked if Kerry feels there is a change in tone of the Pakistanis given that ‘they have been dilly-dallying in the past.A senior government official told The Nation Washington was taken into confidence on the investigations conducted so far into the Pathankot incident. “We have told them we are serious in finding out whether someone from Pakistan is involved in the terror act. There have been arrests and the investigations are ongoing. There has been no double game and there will not be any double game on the Pathankot issue,” he added.He said the prime minister and the foreign ministry both have got the message from Washington that President Barrack Obama and his team were happy with Pakistan reaction to the Pathankot attack and hoped there will be fair investigations.
Another official said the US has convoyed to Pakistan that it is also pressing India to be patient and not to expect results within days.“The US believes it is a big game, so investigations to find out the real culprit should also be given time. It has discouraged India from issuing irresponsible statements that might hamper the improving ties,” he told The Nation.Pakistan has been actively investigating the Pathankot attack as Prime Minister Sharif conveyed to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi he will not allow anyone to derail the peace process. The authorities took Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar into ‘protective custody’ and sealed many madrasas (seminaries) run by the proscribed outfit. India had earlier accused JeM of masterminding the Pathankot airbase attack. The Interior Ministry officials said the government was also considering to ban Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, a charity organisation run by Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammed Saeed.JuD is also accused by India of promoting terror. New Delhi believes the JuD masterminded the Mumbai attacks that killed scores of people.Officials said the government was likely to ban FIF. The Ministry of Interior, these officials said, had started serious consultations with all the stakeholders before banning FIF and a final decision would be taken in next few days. Senior analyst Dr Pervez Iqbal Cheema said since Pakistan and India had started taking steps for the dialogue process, some radical forces were trying to derail the efforts for peace. “.
“Still don’t believe Media Matters functions as a propaganda machine to aid and abet Hillary Clinton’s political aspirations? Just read its response to a Vanity Fair article titled Is Huma Abedin Hillary Clinton’s Secret Weapon or Her Next Big Problem?
The left-wing attack machine wasted no time in posting an article with false information and smears in order to protect the Clinton campaign.
Hillary Clinton has stated publicly that she helped “start and support” Media Matters, and that organization has consistently come to Clinton’s aid with a consistent campaign of misinformation, half-truths and smears of her critics that can then get repeated by the mainstream media.
The Vanity Fair article must have sent shockwaves through the Clinton camp. It’s rare to read mainstream press criticism of Huma Abedin.
Despite the fawning coverage she has received, there are many unanswered questions about Abedin, especially given her complete access to Hillary Clinton, one of the most powerful people in the world, a former Secretary of State and possible future president. As Vanity Fair’ William Cohan writes in his piece:
Over the years Huma has served in several positions, with increasingly important-sounding titles. She has been Hillary’s “body woman,” her traveling chief of staff, a senior adviser, and a deputy chief of staff when Hillary was secretary of state. Now, based in Brooklyn, she is the vice-chair of Hillary’s 2016 presidential campaign.
[iz University, her father founded the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, a think tank, and became the first editor of its Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, which stated its mission as “shedding light” on minority Muslim communities around the world in the hope of “securing the legitimate rights of these communities.”[/quote]The Facts about Huma Abedin and Abdullah Omar Nasseef
To his credit, Cohan’s Vanity Fair piece on the secretive Abedin confirms a number of facts that have been reported by conservative media for a couple of years but have been twisted and convoluted by the mainstream media.
For example, the Vanity Fair article flatly lays out the information that Huma Abedin was an assistant editor at a publication called the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs from 1996 until 2008. He writes:
When (Huma) Abedin was two years old, the family moved to Jidda, Saudi Arabia, (from Pakistan ) where, with the backing of Abdullah Omar Nasseef, then the president of King Abdulaziz University, her father founded the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, a think tank, and became the first editor of its Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, which stated its mission as “shedding light” on minority Muslim communities around the world in the hope of “securing the legitimate rights of these communities.”
It turns out the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs is an Abedin family business. Huma was an assistant editor there between 1996 and 2008. Her brother, Hassan, 45, is a book-review editor at the Journal and was a fellow at the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies, where Nasseef is chairman of the board of trustees. Huma’s sister, Heba, 26, is an assistant editor at the Journal.
Not one statement is actually controversial because they can all be confirmed by simple research that refers to primary sources. In other words, you don’t need to reference conservative media in any way to determine the truth about the Abedin family and their connections to Abdullah Omar Nasseef.
As the masthead of this 1996 issue of the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs shows, Huma Abedin was an assistant editor at Journal. Down the masthead you can see the name of Abdullah Omar Nasseef.
In his early years as the patron of the Abedins’ journal, Nasseef was the secretary-general of the Muslim World League, which Andrew McCarthy, the former assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the “Blind Sheik,” Omar Abdel Rahman, in the wake of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, claims “has long been the Muslim Brotherhood’s principal vehicle for the international propagation of Islamic supremacist ideology.”
Although it describes itself a nongovernment organization, the Muslim World League is an effectively an arm of the Saudi Arabian government. As a lawsuit posted on the Philadelphia Enquirer website states “a full time employee of the Muslim World League testified as follows:”
Let me tell you one thing, the Muslim World League, which is the mother of IIRO (International Islamic Relief Organization) is a fully government funded organization. In other words, I work for the government of Saudi Arabia. I am an employee of that government.
Second, the IIRO is the relief branch of that organization which means that we are controlled in all of our activities and plans by the government of Saudi Arabia.
So, it appears that she may be the conduit between the Clintons and the Saudis, through her "Islamic" family in S.A.The mainstream media has done nothing to serious vet the connection between the Clinton and Saudi Arabia, and the key role Huma Abedin plays in the life and work of Hillary Clinton are one core link. Abedin not only lived in Saudi Arabia from the time she was two years old, but her mother currently lives in Saudi Arabia and runs the Journal for Muslim Minority Affairs as well as being a dean at a woman’s college there.
Further tying the Clintons to the Saudis is big money. CNN reported in 2008 that “donations to the William J. Clinton Foundation include amounts of $10 million to $25 million from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” Vanity Fair points out Huma’s ties there after Clinton left her role as Secretary of State:
In addition to the State Department and Teneo jobs, Huma was hired as a consultant to the William J. Clinton Foundation to help plan for Hillary’s “post-State philanthropic activities,” and as a personal employee of Hillary’s.
But then they are now also denying their connection to ISIS as wellThe Saudis have denied the accusation they’ve funded terrorism and also say they complied with U.S. orders, telling ABC “that after the Sept. 11 attacks, the country took prompt action and “required Saudi banks to identify and freeze all assets relating to terrorist suspects and entities per the list issued by the United States government.”
One of the organizations specifically singled out for funding terrorism was founded by the Abedin family benefactor. In 1988, Naseef also founded the charitable giving arm of the Muslim World League, an entity called Rabita Trust.
Afghanistan forged not only financial networks but important bonds among those who believe in violent jihad. During the Afghan war, the man who ran the Muslim World League office in Peshawar, Pakistan, was bin Laden’s mentor, Abdullah Azzam. Another official there was Wael Julaidan, a Saudi fundraiser who would join bin Laden in founding al Qaeda in 1988.
US Dollars being recycled back to US for the cause of MalsiAlso on the list is Rabita Trust, a Pakistani charity that at least until recently had Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, on its board. Administration officials said they warned President Musharraf of the impending order against the Rabita Trust and encouraged him to disassociate himself from what they described as its founder’s links to Al Qaeda, Mr. bin Laden’s terrorist network.
In March, 2002 federal law-enforcement officials conducted raids on 15 organizations that the Treasury Department suspected of laundering money. The New York Times reported:
One other place searched today was the office of the International Islamic Relief Organization at 360 South Washington Street in Falls Church, Va., another Washington suburb.
f you want to be clear on why Andrew Breitbart said: “The media is the enemy” take the time to see what people who don’t read conservative media were being told about Huma Abedin during the last election cycle.
For a prime example, watch Anderson Cooper’s explanation on his CNN show AC360 in 2012 talking about the connection between Huma Abedin and Abdullah Omar Nasseef. He takes over a minute to explain what he calls a “conspiracy” and never once mentions that Huma was the Assistant Editor of the Journal for Muslim Minority affairs for 12 years.
If Hilary is elected POTUS, there is a good chance that there is a Paki agent sitting right there in the inner circles of power.Huma Abedin Must Be Vetted
The Vanity Fair article may be the first crack that breaks the mainstream media’s protective shell around Hillary Clinton’s top aide.
The case for raising questions about Huma Abedin is compelling but needs to be laid out in a methodical, fully documented and factually accurate way that will stand up to the inevitable defense mechanism of the mainstream media and Democrat machine.
It’s not just the media that needs to be held accountable; it’s the entire Democratic machine as well as Republicans who defended Huma, including John McCain and Marco Rubio.
Pakistan 'blasphemy' boy 'doesn't regret cutting off hand'
A Pakistani boy who cut off his own hand, believing he had committed blasphemy, says he does not regret his action.The 15-year-old raised his hand by accident when a cleric asked worshippers who did not believe in the teachings of the Holy Prophet to identify themselves.Admirers praising the boy's "devotional" act have travelled to his village to meet him, but his cleric has been arrested under anti-terrorism laws.BBC Urdu's Iram Abbasi is the first international broadcaster to speak to the boy.
As an exercise, we should look at how these tactics map to DDM tactics in the Indian / Indo-Pak context.Anatomy of a Smear Campaign
The “protect Huma” smears have six elements:
Never mention that Huma Abedin was an Assistant Editor at the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs for over a decade. Simply leave that fact out of your reporting and assume your audience won’t do the research themselves.
Never mention Abdullah Omar Nasseef’s clear connections to terror funding, as supported by both the U.S. goverment and reporting in sources non-right wing sources like the New York Times.
Write the whole thing off as a convoluted, completely unsubstantiated conspiracy theory. Because the audience does not know Huma worked at the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs or about Naseef’s terror funding ties., with no clear connection to Huma Abedin at all.
Call it a conservative fantasy. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy since nobody else in the mainstream media will report the facts, so the facts are only being reported by conservative media.Point to the lack of MSM coverage as proof the the whole thing is a right-wing chimera.
Exaggerate the claims of the critics. Tell your audience that Huma is being accused of being “a spy” when in fact what critics are pointing out is that there are clear connections and gaps in the record that raise troubling questions about Huma Abedin that should be answered. If you make the claims seem outrageous, you can distract from the actual facts.
Point to Huma Abedin’s Republican defenders such as Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)36%
or Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) as proof that “even Republicans” don’t think questions should be raised about Huma Abedin. Once again, this conveniently avoids the actual facts.
This is meant for the international audience, since this new has gone viral over social media. Standard paki tricks apply: when everyone moves to the next outrage, this mullah will be sent home, but until then he has to get comfortable in his prison cell. Pakis are not about to change, but even the likes of the "nationalist" politicians in charge have forgotten hard lessons and seem to be intent on repeating the UPA's mistakes. That's a pity, but then maybe expectations were unrealistic and just getting normalised.nirav wrote: This is the weird. They charged the cleric under anti terrorism laws !
Pakistani Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif arrived to Riyadh, where he will discuss the bilateral strategic relations between Riyadh and Islamabad. During the visit, he will meet with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz.. The meeting will handle the bilateral relations between the two countries and ways of strengthening them in various fields, in addition to the regional and international issues of common concern. With the entry of the nuclear agreement between Iran and the major powers into force, the world's attention turned from Tehran's controversial nuclear program to its regional policies, which are described by many as hostile. The fires, which were set by so-called protesters in the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad, ignited concern in the Gulf countries from the fact that Iran crosses the red lines. The decisions to cut off diplomatic relations or reduce them, and stop the joint cooperation and trade exchange between the Gulf states and Iran were the results of these concerns. This situation raised fears that a conflict would take place in a volatile region and it has also prompted some regional and global parties to try to mediate.(Paki "honest brokering" ?) These attempts come in a visit by the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his army commander Rahil Sharif on Monday to Riyadh, after which the two officials will head to Iran. According to Islamabad, the Pakistani delegation will meet the Saudi Monarch King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, and then the Iranian President Hassan Rohani, but Iran does not seem ready to respond to these diplomatic efforts. Saudi Arabia opened the door to efforts aiming at calming the situation with Iran. It asserted that it is only seeking an Iranian commitment to the international law, and the rules of good neighborliness. Iran did not welcome these efforts as news on the visit of the Pakistani Prime Minister and the commander of his armies was strongly mocked by the Iranian media means. Fars News Agency quoted a source in the Iranian Foreign Ministry as saying that the visit's date has not been set yet and that the whole issue is still under study.
Rouhani described sowing discord and disputes among Muslims as an unacceptable issue...Iran favors increase in unity and solidarity among all Muslims either Shia or Sunni and is ready to cooperate with countries of the region in direction of fight against terrorism, extremism and sectarian.
Rouhani said, 'We want expansion of ties and do not welcome tensions on the condition that Muslim rights be respected and nations of the region be honored and diplomatic frameworks be observed.'
Is Ganja reading from a wrong script again! he should have conveyed the above words to the King Of Saudi Arabia, instead of to RouhaniReferring to the current situation of Muslims and problems of peace and stability in the region, Nawaz Sharif said that the wave of Islamophobia in the world is so worrying and agents of terrorism and extremism in the region are abusing lack of alliance between Muslim states.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber driving a motorcycle hit a roadside checkpoint on a major highway in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, killing 10 people and injuring 42 others, according to local officials.
A child was among those who died when the attacker riding "an explosives-laden motorcycle" struck the checkpoint on the Torkham-Jalalabad Highway linking Pakistan to Afghanistan, said Saiful Islam, a senior official in the semi-autonomous tribal government of the region.
clicky on link for pictures and video of blastThe highway was closed after the 9 a.m. (11 p.m. ET Monday) bombing, blocking trucks carrying supplies to NATO forces in neighboring Afghanistan.
A prominent local journalist, Mehboob Shah Afridi, was among those killed, according to Islam. Several vehicles and nearby shops were also damaged in the blast, Islam added.
YouTube has become available in Pakistan today, ending a three-year-ban on the Google-owned video site.
The Pakistani government blocked YouTube back in 2013 in response to Innocence of Muslims, a controversial video on the site that gained a global audience and was widely condemned by Muslim communities for its depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. A U.S. court ordered Google to remove the film, but it had refused to cave in to multiple removal requests in Pakistan, where the film incited deadly protests and — ultimately — a full block on YouTube.
During the ban, the government had discussed ways to bring YouTube with a content filtering model to would enable authorities to independently block content deemed suitable, but such a setup would run contrary to how YouTube manages the service. Indeed, a YouTube rep confirmed to TechCrunch that there is no special arrangement in place in Pakistan. That means that content will only be removed if Google agrees to do so, while all government requests will be logged in Google’s biannual transparency report, the company said.
Essentially, YouTube confirmed, it has launched a local version of its site in Pakistan as it has done in other markets worldwide. That means local language support and a country-specific homepage with content that is tailored to Pakistan-based audiences.
“We’re glad that YouTube is now accessible in Pakistan so viewers can watch and share videos, as well as take advantage of the vibrant and growing global online video community,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement.
YouTube isn’t the only tech company on the receiving end of censorship demands in Pakistan. BlackBerry was all set to exit the country last year in response to demands to monitor its data, but it cancelled the withdrawal after those demands were dropped.
The Pakistanis overplayed the nuclear thing and we succumbed to it, says Lt. Gen. Mohinder Puri.
The Kargil conflict of 1999 was an opportunity to call Pakistan’s nuclear bluff but India failed to do so for political reasons, says Lt. Gen. Mohinder Puri (retd.), who played a critical role in the battlefield as the commander of 8 Mountain Division.
Within the last month, Islamabad has signed a number of financial and technological agreements with China aimed at exploiting massive coal reserves at the Tharparkar mine in Sindh province, in the south of the country.
Under the terms of the agreements, 3.8 million tonnes of coal will be produced each year at the Tharparkar opencast mine to fuel a 660MW power plant and other facilities.
The estimated cost of the project is US$2 billion: China’s banks and private companies will supply US$1.5bn in loans, while Pakistan will contribute US$500m in private and public finance.
Five Pakistani soldiers were killed on Monday when a bomb exploded next to their vehicle in Baluchistan province, officials said, the latest attack in a region that will be home to the planned route of the $46 billion China-Pakistan economic corridor.
The bomb, planted in a coal-mining district 50 km (30 miles) east of the provincial capital, Quetta, was detonated remotely as members of the Frontier Corps patrolled the area, said Khan Wasey, a spokesman for the paramilitary force.
At least two members of the Frontier Corps, the main state security force in restive Baluchistan, were wounded in the attack, Wasey said.
No one has claimed responsibility
Legendary actor Raj Kapoor’s son Rishi Kapoor has reacted to the demolition of his grandfather Prithviraj Kapoor’s ancestral house in Peshawar and has said that the Kapoor family has no emotional connect to that place and they would let the Pakistan government to do whatever they wish to do with it.
“We don’t have any emotional connect to that house since we haven’t seen it. Let the Pakistan government demolish it. I am not even sure if that was Raj Kapoor’s own house or rented because he didn’t have that much money then to own a house. So I don’t think that anyone from the Kapoor family has any problem with that,” he said.
“We came to India even before the partition happened and never did see the house. I don’t know why others are having an issue, when we ourselves don’t have any problem with the demolition. We three brothers never stayed there. Why would we have a problem?” the actor completed.
This means that the pastor video is still online or if posted can be blocked out only inside pakistan, anything other than date-a-goat videos and the burka-beauties awards, true pure islamic science, and Paki army propaganda will probably be removed by google on post paki-outrage.Essentially, YouTube confirmed, it has launched a local version of its site in Pakistan as it has done in other markets worldwide. That means local language support and a country-specific homepage with content that is tailored to Pakistan-based audiences.
Wotsissain wrote:As for Falah-e-Insaniat, we all know it will be renamed Islam-e-bak(r)chodi or some such name and Masood will be unspoken leader of that group. As long as unnamed groups are bombing the cr@p out of the paki army
But, Pakistan's nuclear bluff was called out during kargil.Brad Goodman wrote:'Kargil was a lost opportunity to call Pakistan’s nuclear bluff’
The Pakistanis overplayed the nuclear thing and we succumbed to it, says Lt. Gen. Mohinder Puri.
The Kargil conflict of 1999 was an opportunity to call Pakistan’s nuclear bluff but India failed to do so for political reasons, says Lt. Gen. Mohinder Puri (retd.), who played a critical role in the battlefield as the commander of 8 Mountain Division.