Sunni Terrorist Fragments of Unstable Pakistan-Jan 24, 2016

[Falijee]

Pakistan Govt Seeks Military Help In Conducting National Census After A Period Of 18 Years
GHQ help needed for census, NA told

ISLAMABAD: The Natio­nal Assembly was informed on Friday that the government could not go ahead with the planned census until the General Headquarters assured it of elaborate security and administrative arrangements required for the 18-day exercise.

So all this past 15+ years, all the economic and social assumptions, that are needed for sound future planning was simply based on Lahori Logic and Madrassa Math

Parliamentary Secretary for Finance and Revenue Affairs Rana Mohammad Afzal Khan, who was responding to a MQM-sponsored calling-attention notice, said the government was in touch with the military leadership and it would become clear soon whether the exercise could be conducted as scheduled.

“As far as the civilian side is concerned all arrangements are in place to hold the census, but considering the precarious security situation in certain areas of the country, it cannot be held without deployment of military,” Mr Khan said.

Only in a country like Pakistan !

Without specifying the number of security men needed, he said the entire country had been divided into 166,800 census blocks and each block would need one civilian and one soldier besides the military deployment required for security.
A defence analyst pointed out that at a time when the army was already stretched thin because of its engagement inside the country and also at borders, sparing such a large number of troops would not be easy.

Are they "afraid" to face the reality that the Aam Abduls are breeding like rabbits!

Sheikh Salahuddin of the MQM criticised the parliamentary secretary.

In response, Mr Khan reverted to his earlier stance. He said that without military cover the government could not hold census. For one, he added, engagement of the army was a necessary requirement to provide credence to the exercise, and secondly the country was facing a fragile security situation. (euphemism for uprising in Baluchistan and collateral damage in FATA)

In reply to a question as to how the government would conduct census in the strife-struck province of Balochistan, Mr Khan said that despite all inadequacies Balochistan was the first province to hold local government elections, and “I have no doubt, it will do the same to perform this national task”.

In the nation's best interest, why don't they consider outsourcing the whole exercise to an outside and independent third party

Dr Fouzia Hameed, also of the MQM, asked whether any action had been taken against those responsible for faulty housing blocks made for the 2011 census which was later cancelled on technical grounds but not before the exercise had cost the exchequer an amount of Rs3 billion.
The parliamentary secretary gave a brief reply, “It’s the CCI’s decision to hold the census afresh”. [quote]It was in 1998 when the census was last held in the country.

[/quote][/size][/color]

[Falijee]

‘Countries with best roads are developed’
One Paki reader hit the nail on the head by sarcastically commenting :

anees from zaida
about 19 hours ago
He is right. By using these, people will go and 'bring' electricity from other cities

[Falijee]

Indian national holding Pakistani NIC arrested in Islamabad
As more than one reader (who have known the prominent Parsi family ) has rightly commented that a dispute about property between two relatives ( one of whom is Indian in origin) is being wrongly and deliberately misrepresented and depicted as an Indian-Pakistan thing, which is so far away from the truth !

[SSridhar]

Ahead of talks, fresh bout of Indo-Pak hostility as Pakistan high commissioner calls off Chennai visit - Sacin Parashar, ToI

The hostility between India and Pakistan is threatening to spill over despite the 2 sides insisting that there is no breakdown in communication in the absence of any formal dialogue.

Official sources told TOI on Saturday that Pakistan had forced India's FICCI to call off an exhibition it planned to organize in Lahore. This was even as Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit called off a 3-day visit to Chennai where he was scheduled to meet CM J Jayalalitha because, according to Pakistan sources, India delayed approval for the visit. {I see something fishy in a 3-day trip to Chennai at this stage and meeting Ms. JJ. After all, elections are about to take place in TN now. What is the point in meeting a lame duck CM? Pakistan is very active in Sri Lanka and the three day trip is sinister. No Pakistani embassy staff should be allowed to travel anywhere in India.}

Basit had also called off a visit to an institute in Greater Noida this week after a similar delay in approval from the Indian government. Describing India's conduct as unfortunate, Pakistan has alleged that it was MEA which called the institute in NCR to roll back its invite to Basit.

According to Indian government sources, who have maintained all along that such decisions are taken on reciprocity, it was Pakistan government which forced FICCI and its partner to cancel the planned exhibition in Lahore. "The organizers have had to suffer huge losses for that event," said a source.

The fresh acrimony predicates the deep-seated trust deficit which continues to bedevil relations even as top officials from both sides work overtime to keep alive the comprehensive dialogue process (CBD) they so unexpectedly announced last year in December.

These developments come days after a meeting between foreign secretary S Jaishankar and Basit during which they discussed the possibility of announcing dates for foreign secretary-level dialogue in the next few days. Jaishankar was scheduled to travel to Islamabad mid January for what would have been the first meeting under the CBD. India though backed out because of the attack on Pathankot airbase by Pakistan nationals. A day after the Jaishankar-Basit meeting, Pakistan registered an FIR in the Pathankot attack case. Indian officials were quick to hail it as a "step forward". {Clearly, Pakistan is perfidious again. Filing an FIR cannot be a face-saving trick to start the CBD}

While Pakistan wants that the dates be finalized and announced immediately, India has been reluctant because it expected Islamabad to act more decisively against JeM, which carried out the Pathankot attack, in the past few weeks. The FIR though is being seen as a positive development which could allow India to go ahead with dialogue between the foreign secretaries meant to chalk out the modalities for the CBD. India would have like the NSAs to meet before that to further underscore the significance of the need to address terrorism in ties but Islamabad has insisted that foreign secretaries meet first. {This bothers me. We cannot go the same earlier way which has proved a failure for the last 69 years}

The developments like those which came to light on Saturday will continue to act as irritants though.

"It is unfortunate that MEA has still not given clearance for our calls on governor and CM Tamil Nadu and Pakistan diplomats accompanying high commissioner for Pakistan Abdul Basit who was officially visiting Chennai from 21-23 February," said a Pakistan official.

"We do not know whether permission/ clearances will come through or not therefore the high commissioner has called off the visit. As this is high commissioner's first visit to Chennai he would not like to leave New Delhi amidst uncertainty {It is clearly with a sinister motive that the Pakistan HC has chosen the timing to visit Chennai for the first time},'' added the official.

[SSridhar]

Pak. probe team may be allowed into airbase - Kallol Bhattacharjee, The Hindu

Days after Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar opposed the idea of allowing Pakistani investigators into the airbase in Pathankot to join the investigation into the terror strike of January 2, the Union government, as per news reports, has decided to allow a special investigation team (SIT) from the neighbouring country to do so in March.

Though a formal announcement is still awaited, the decision reportedly followed after Pakistan lodged a case on Friday, under an anti-terror law, against unnamed terror suspects in Gujranwala in its Punjab province.

Foolish, if true. This will end up like that judicial commission that came to India with much drama to record the evidences of the magistrate, police officers, doctors and other witnesses of the 26/11 attack. Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik promised that within three months after that visit, the case would be completed and the accused would get punishment. Just last week, the Islamabad court has refused to accept the commission's report.

[Aditya_V]

Yes extremely foolish if this true. Can't believe this stupidity, clearly a wrong decesion

[Falijee]

The Continuing Saga Of The "Untouchable Cleric" Of Lal Masjid
One land, two countries

He lives in a country of his own that no one can enter without his permission. There may be cases registered against him outside the boundary of his country but he cannot care less about them. He will not surrender to the police and the courts whose jurisdiction stops where his own jurisdiction starts. He can challenge the government, he can defy the state by issuing statements supporting those who are bent upon destroying it, and he – along with his family – can lead pitched battles against the law enforcement agencies causing a civil war within the heart of the federal capital. Anyone trying to arrest or try him better be warned. The whole country burnt the last time someone attempted to do that. His supporters blew themselves up as human bombs, taking hundreds of lives with them; his students launched numerous deadly attacks on security forces wherever they could.
He goes by his own set of laws and under those laws there is nothing wrong with spreading sectarian hatred, with accusing parts of the state of conspiring against him, even subjecting the writ of the courts to his own whimsical choices disguised as wait for a divine signal. It does not matter that there is a law against hurting other people’s religious sentiments; against questioning the integrity of the state institutions; against willfully indulging in contempt of the courts. What could have Abdul Aziz done to possess such superhuman powers? His Lal Masjid is a fort – made impenetrable by his acolytes willing to serve as human shields – where messengers from the police and the courts can only enter to confer not confront.

Contrast this with the hapless parents of a boy who topped all the exams he took. Coming from a poor family living in a crumbling single room house in a nondescript village, he moved to a big city for studies owing to the scholarships he had won on the basis of his stellar academic record. And then he went missing within months after his name had appeared on a merit list of students chosen for receiving laptops under a government scheme.

Nobody ever disclosed where he was arrested from and what for. Yet somehow, slightly less than 18 months later, an army spokesman released his name to the media. He was among nine people whose death warrants the army chief had signed at the turn of the year. A brief description under his name said he “was an active member of Al Qaeda” and “was involved in attacks on law-enforcement personnel which claimed casualties”. There was no other detail — who he had attacked and killed, or where and when he had committed these acts. He had pleaded guilty of committing those offences “before the Magistrate and the trial court” which had tried him on four charges and “awarded death sentence”. There was no mention of where and when he was produced before a magistrate (even though we can assume that the court that had tried and punished him was a special military tribunal). What could have Aksan Mehboob done to avoid that fate? His story has fascinated no prying journalists. His case has attracted no attention from human rights activists and lawyers.

The difference between Aziz’s might and Mehboob’s plight is not merely the difference between the situations of two individuals. It is the difference that defines how the state acts – or does not act – selectively. It is the difference that determines why the state can – or cannot – enforce its writ in a uniform and equitable manner in all parts of its jurisdiction, on all sections of its citizens.(Both are "products" of the Deep State !)

The reason: they live in two different countries. One, where a powerful mullah can hold the entire state apparatus hostage to his ability to shed blood. The other, where laws such as the Protection of Pakistan Act and forums such as the military courts are increasingly smothering the unheard voices of the already voiceless. Unless that difference ends, no amount of security operations, quick convictions and hurried hangings can bring peace. A first step to end that difference could be to deny Aziz the protection of a country within a country that he now so publicly enjoys.

Of course, the "untouchable" Mr. Abdul Aziz "enjoys" the patronage of the Deep State, as well as the powerful and unspoken backing of (the financial) patron of the Deep State, and the mai baap of Pakiland ( the Head Of The Land Of The Two Holy Mosque )

[shiv]

I offer my left ball for amputation by any BRFite if the news of allowing Shitistanis into Pathankot AFB is true*. I bet it is fake and lifted from Paki sources. News media in India (and in the world in general) are simply liars who want to publish what others do simply to catch eyeballs. We must learn that before we read and quote any news. With social media and blogs news is no longer what it used to be. News is mostly bluff to attract attention, mislead or obfuscate

*: If the news is untrue I must be given the choice of amputating the left ball of any BRFite of my choice

[Falijee]

Opposition leader warns Turkey in process of ‘Pakistanization’

Turkey’s main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu slammed the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) leaders for “turning Turkey into a bloodbath” and said they should be tried for “aiding and abetting terrorist organizations.”
In a speech to members of the CHP İstanbul branch, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said the neighboring Syria has become a new Afghanistan, an operational center for all jihadist groups. “They went there under protection offered by the government. Turkey has become embroiled in a process of Pakistanization,” (so, the word "Pakistanization" has at last made its entry in the lexicon of modern politics ) said Kılıçdaroğlu.

Why has Turkey been Pakistanized? Because of aiding
The CHP leader said the terrorist groups gained ground in Turkey because the country is not well governed and added that former President Abdullah Gül, who co-founded AK Party, partly shares these concerns as well.
Gül, speaking to reporters on Feb. 19, said Turkey was going through the most difficult time of its history, in comments on the latest bomb attack in Ankara.

Turkey, like Pakistan has "Islamic ambitions" to become the "head of the Ummah" under the patronage of the Saudi King !

[Falijee]

Edhi Foundation In Karachi Now Faces "Competition" From Hafiz Saeed !
'They call him an infidel': Pakistan's humble founder of a charity empire
Abdul Sattar Edhi runs a sprawling health charity from a Karachi slum, but that doesn’t stop the religious right condemning him for not saying his prayers

Even in Pakistan a cheap sofa covered with brown plastic is not most people’s idea of throw-restraint-to-the-wind luxury.
But Abdul Sattar Edhi, a legendary charity worker known for his asceticism, is still getting used to the two-seater that recently replaced the hard bench he sat on for decades in the corner of his office.
“I didn’t ask for it, it was given to me by my daughter,” he says. “I like simplicity, but I didn’t get angry with her.”
The dowdy piece of furniture does nothing to undermine the uncompromising frugality of the office of a man proud to own just two sets of salwar kameez, an everyday outfit in Pakistan.
The tiny room is accessed directly off an alley in a Karachi slum and has space for only a few desks for the handful of people who manage a sprawling, countrywide charity empire of more than 1,200 ambulances, hundreds of medical centres, graveyards and an adoption service for abandoned children.

Even in Pakistan a cheap sofa covered with brown plastic is not most people’s idea of throw-restraint-to-the-wind luxury.

And yet not everyone likes and respects this saintly figure, who reckons he is about 90 years old.In October last year eight men barged into the Edhi headquarters and smashed their way into a bank of strongboxes just a few feet away from where Edhi himself was dozing in his hospital-style bed.

In January Hafiz Saeed, a cleric wanted by India for his alleged masterminding of the 2011 terrorist attack on Mumbai, announced his Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) was establishing a bridgehead in Karachi for the first time with a fleet of 15 ambulances.
FIF is the charity wing of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the parent body of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, regarded by some experts as one of south Asia’s most dangerous terrorist groups.
Unlike Edhi, Saeed uses the platform of his fast-growing charitable works to call for jihad against India and to create a parallel state that makes a point of being first on the scene when disasters strike.
Edhi says he is not worried, pointing out he has a 60-year head start on Saeed: “If he wants to become Edhi in two years, how is that possible?”

Jamaat ud Dawa, which "enjoys" the patronage of the Deep State may have been "encouraged" by its Pakjabi sponsors to increase its "market share" in the lucrative and rich sector of Karachi !

But he is hurt at his treatment by some of the country’s mullahs, who are jealous of his fundraising power and suspicious of his lack of sectarian or ethnic bias in attending to the people who turn to him for help.
“They call him an infidel saying that he does not say his prayers,” says his wife Bilquis, who, with her children, helps run the foundation. “What we are doing should be done by the government and should be appreciated, but instead we are blamed.”
The foundation has lost much of the annual charity it once scooped up during Eid al-Adha, when families would donate the skins of animals sacrificed on the day, which could then be sold for cash.Armed robbers raid Karachi home of revered social entrepreneur
As well as hardline Islamist groups, the foundation has lost out to the strong-arm tactics of what Edhi calls an “ethnic organisation”, a reference to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the dominant political party in the ethnically divided port city.

But Edhi says he is unfussed by aggressive political parties or the mullahs’ claim that he is an atheist who will not be allowed into heaven.
“I will not go to paradise where these type of people go,” he smiles. “I will go to heaven where the poor and miserable people live.”

His "problem" probably is that he does not belong to the "right ethnic lineage"

[vishvak]

Indian national holding Pakistani NIC arrested in Islamabad
As more than one reader (who have known the prominent Parsi family ) has rightly commented that a dispute about property between two relatives ( one of whom is Indian in origin) is being wrongly and deliberately misrepresented and depicted as an Indian-Pakistan thing, which is so far away from the truth !

This is somewhat similar to a cricket fan being arrested for hoisting the Indian flag, no politics at all.
Didn't Know Being A Virat Kohli Fan Is A Crime, Says Jailed Pakistani
No sir, flying the Indian flag seems to be the crime here.

Regional Police officer Faisal Rana had said at the time of Daraz's arrest that could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine.

Flying Indian flag seems to generate huge amount of problems for some people.

[Shanu]

Three policemen killed in Pakjab city of Faisalabad. IS hand suspected. 2nd such incident this week. On 17th, 2 policemen were gunned down in Lahore.

http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-th ... ed-2180294

In other news, school blowups have restarted in FATA. 18 workers abducted.

http://in.reuters.com/article/pakistan- ... NKCN0VT0A4

Time to bring out the new shiny begging bowl..

[rajithn]

I offer my left ball for amputation by any BRFite if the news of allowing Shitistanis into Pathankot AFB is true*. I bet it is fake and lifted from Paki sources. News media in India (and in the world in general) are simply liars who want to publish what others do simply to catch eyeballs. We must learn that before we read and quote any news. With social media and blogs news is no longer what it used to be. News is mostly bluff to attract attention, mislead or obfuscate

*: If the news is untrue I must be given the choice of amputating the left ball of any BRFite of my choice

Surprising that BRFites, otherwise fully knowledgeable about the shenanigans and lies that the MSM peddles, falls for this line. Time and time again.

[Shreeman]

I suspect pawning family jewels in such a hurry might prove cavalier. In any case, before bounties are awarded based on membership, many/self will want their names struck from the lists.

On the non tangent NYT is gloating about the ongoing stand off by the "rebels".

[CRamS]

Foolish, if true. This will end up like that judicial commission that came to India with much drama to record the evidences of the magistrate, police officers, doctors and other witnesses of the 26/11 attack. Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik promised that within three months after that visit, the case would be completed and the accused would get punishment. Just last week, the Islamabad court has refused to accept the commission's report.

Disgusting to say the least. Nothing is going to come out of it. After another 3 months, TSP will say investigation was hampered because they were not given some access to some area in the AFB etc. I mean, this whole thing is an eye wash. What is India falling for I don't know, unless there is a larger game plan.

As we speak, another attack in Kashmir with our boys fighting and laying down their lives, while the terrorist sympathizers shout slogans in their support.

[CRamS]

Guys, I periodically have a fairly civil conversation, although nothing that changes the pro-Paki predilections of a well known "South Asia" expert. Just wanted to share my latest communication with him, one part of a long series of e-mails that started with Calotta Gall's disgusting piece in the NYT talking about TSP's role in "international" terror completely ignoring TSP's terror against India

Prof,

I am sure you have seen this analysis by DANIEL MARKEY on aid to Pak?

http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/02/18/pak ... terrorism/

In all US writing about Pak, including with due respect your views on Pak, you set up a premise as though its gospel truth, and then argue around that premise. You then omit a key geo-political objective in propping up Pak despite its terror and nuke proliferation to paint a picture that is more complex than it actually is. What I am referring to are:

1. Premise: Mr. Markey's claim that sanctions against Pak have proved counter productive (you have mentioned the same). This is absolute unadulterated rubbish. If US were to impose the Iran and North Korea type sanctions on Pak coupled with targeted aerial bombings on its terrorist infrastructure including deep into the heart of Punjab (I am referring to LET camps and such), Pak will come to its knees in a heart beat.

2. Obfuscation: An unstated and pivotal reason why US gives billions and billions of $s aid including sophisticated military hardware to Pak is not to fight terrorism as US claims (as though everyone in the world consist of stupid anchors and "experts" on CNN/Fox who buy into this horse manure), but you guessed it, to prop up Pak and harness its compulsive hostility to India and keep India caged in "South Asia" framework. And then use the threat of Pak to moderate and bend India's behavior to suit US objectives. Which is what we have been witnessing since end of cold war.

Pak, especially the Punjabi-dominated military/ISI/political elite thrive on the attention they get with their perpetual conflict with India. Take that away, and there is no reason even for Pak's existence, and thereby of any utility to US-led west.

Cheers

[Falijee]

Mumbai Engineer Sentenced To 3 Years For Espionage In Pakistan
Updated: February 16, 2016 14:39 IST

New Delhi: A 31-year-old Indian national, who had gone missing in Pakistan in 2012, has been sentenced to three years in prison by a Pak military court for espionage.
Hamid Nehal Ansari was convicted on Sunday in Kohat, a city in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, and was shifted to Peshawar Central Prison, a jail spokesman said.
He has a right to appeal under the Pakistan Army Act.
India had sought consular access for Mr Ansari, an engineer, and asked Pakistan to ensure his safety and security.

According to Dawn, Mr Ansari has confessed to illegally entering Pakistan from Afghanistan for espionage. He had seven Facebook accounts as well as around 30 email addresses. He was reportedly found to be in possession of sensitive documents, it claimed.
Over three years after Mr Ansari went missing in Pakistan where he had allegedly gone to meet a girl he had befriended on the Internet, authorities last month admitted that he has been in army custody and facing a trial in military courts.

He should have known better than to pursue his romantic liaison with a Pathani tribal girl! doubt that he will be released even after serving his sentence!

Mr Ansari, a Mumbai resident, was taken into custody by police and Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials in Kohat, about 70 kms from Peshawar, in November 2012. Ever since, his whereabouts were unknown.

Mr Ansari's mother claimed he was in touch with some Pakistani friends who had suggested him to cross into Pakistan from Afghanistan without a visa. She claimed that he had befriended a Pakistani woman through social media and had gone to Pakistan to meet her.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

[member_29325]

CRS, do we really care what the oiseaule Stephen Cohen or any of the US sooth asia experts think?

[Falijee]

Parliament to discuss 10 billion scam of Foreign Office

Islamabad: The parliament has taken the notice (whatever that means! but improvement from the days when notice was not taken and "everything" was swept under the carpet ) on Rs 10 billion scam in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The National Assembly has decided to discuss the matter on the attention seeking notice by the opposition.
According to details the spouses of high bureaucrats of Foreign Offices have made a association with the name of Pakitan Foreign Office Wife’s Association (PFOWA). The association used its influence and got a very expensive plot in the sector H-8 from CDA for the charity purpose. According to market value, the piece of land has worth of Rs 10 billion, but instead of using for charity purpose, PFOWA sold the plot to Roots School Millennium for Rs 500 million The owner of the school is the son-in-law of Senator Rahila Magsi and in the entire deal rules and regulations were put in the doldrums.
According to report Senate committee has also taken the notice of this suspicious deal and instructed CDA to look into the matter. After thorough investigation Capital Development Authority has declared that handing over the plot to Roots School administration was illegal. Now parliament would converse the important scam in the next session.
The wife of Secretary Foreign Affairs had signed the deal with the school management on the behalf of PFOWA. On the other hand Secretary Foreign Affairs has termed the deal lawful and in the best national interest.
The minister of parliamentary affairs has seek the details of the plot from CDA in order to submit reply in the parliament.

[Falijee]

Court Issues Non-bailable Warrants For Mushy

Mushy Advised "Rest" By Doctors

How come, whenever harassment warrant surfaces, the "learned doctors" advise him "rest" ; should not they advice him "rest" from domestic and foreign media interview- hain ji!

[member_29325]

@TimesNow Mere registration of an FIR in the #PathankotTerrorAttack case is not enough: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar

[Falijee]

Christians Are Required Only As Sweepers

On September 28, 2015, the Punjab Cardiology Hospital issued a corrigendum stating that both Muslims and non-Muslims were eligible for sanitation-related jobs. Earlier on September 17, the hospital, in an advertisement in several newspapers, had stated “Only Non-Muslims persons who belong to minorities will be accommodated” for the sanitation work. The corrigendum had appeared after the initial advertisement drew criticism on social media and coverage from BBC Urdu on the treatment meted out to minority communities.
This was not the first time that the government reserved sanitation posts for non-Muslims. The Mandi Bahauddin DHQ Hospital, on September 18, publicised ten vacancies. Sanitation jobs were reserved for minorities. In June, a similar advertisement was issued by the Lady Wellington Hospital in Lahore, requiring only “non-Muslims” for this work.

I guess, working in "sanitation" is not Sharia compliant !

Historically, the “untouchables’ ranked below the Shudra or kammi (laborer). They were assigned occupations described as “degrading” and “defiling”, that is: collecting carcasses, manually removing human excreta from lavatories, providing cheap labor in fields and executing criminals on the orders of the state. It was Tara Masih, a Christian, who carried out Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s execution in 1979 and Masih’s father had hanged independence movement hero Bhagat Singh in 1931. Masih’s nephew Sabir Masih has executed more than 180 convicts since the moratorium on the death penalty was lifted following the attack on Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014.

The ruling Muslim League found Punjabi Christians a useful substitute for filling jobs left by fleeing Hindus. But the state had to uproot hundreds of thousands of Christians from villages in the central Punjab to push them into this occupation.
Most Christians in Pakistan come from an ‘untouchable’ background. The 1855 census shows there were no native Christians in Punjab. With the efforts of missionaries, by 1881 there were only 3,912 native Christians who had come from various religious, social, economic and urban backgrounds.

The writer may be incorrect in his conclusion as there were pockets of Goa Christians residing in the port city of Karachi; many of them have migrated to "western culture countries" like Canada, UK, USA and Australia/NZ.

Only 60,955 out of 500,000 Punjabi Christians lived in eastern Punjab. For this reason, Speaker of the Punjab Assembly, SP Singha, favored Pakistan on behalf of the Christians before Radcliffe’s Boundary Awards in June 1947.
Ayesha Jalal, in her book Self and Sovereignty, says the practice of untouchability and the ‘Muslimized’ culture of the Christians also played an important role in their support of Pakistan:

They now probably regret their decision

During the Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2008, Pakistan stated that it is a Muslim-majority country, ‘and does not have the concept of Dalit… it is free from such kind of prejudices, and the existing norms do not contain discrimination on the basis of caste or creed’.(maybe, yes in "theory", but "practice" is another issue alto-gather )However, in practice, Pakistan has pursued a caste-based policy to force Punjabi Christians into the occupation of sweeping. This state policy needs to be revisited and the government needs to take extra measures to mitigate the disadvantage caused to poor Christians over decades.

This still relevant article should also have made a mention that Shahbaz Bhatti, a, Punjabi Christian and a Minister of Minority Affairs in a past Paki Federal Govt was killed by extremists, and his immediate family had to flee for Canada !

[Falijee]

altaf-hussain-spoke-his-mind-and-lost-his-voice-the escalating clampdown on Altaf Bhai
Altaf Hussain: Politics on mute

If you happened to visit the Herald website where votes for the Person of the Year were being polled, you might have noticed that the image of one contender was conspicuous by its absence. That contender is none other than the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain. You can write his name in print media, but publishing or broadcasting his image is forbidden, as is airing his speeches or statements.

In late April last year, Hussain made a speech (nationally telecast, of course) in which he made some unsavoury comments about the Pakistan Army and its leadership. The reaction was immediate, with the director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) warning that the matter would be “pursued legally”. Subsequently, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) issued show-cause notices to television channels that had aired the speech, barring them from airing what it called “inflammatory content”.

Undeterred, Hussain made another speech in July 2015, accusing the paramilitary rangers of the “atrocities being committed against Muhajirs” and alleging that the MQM workers were being extrajudicially killed. This time though,(trumped up ) cases were lodged against him and some of his party members in several cities of Sindh and as far afield as Gilgit-Baltistan. The complainants accused him of wanting to destabilise the country. Some called for a complete ban on the MQM itself. Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan also joined the chorus, saying that Hussain’s remarks were “intolerable” and “unacceptable”.

A month later, Hussain delivered what was arguably his most provocative speech of the year. Addressing the MQM’s annual convention in Dallas, he called upon his workers to request North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) and the United Nations (UN) forces to go to Pakistan and investigate what he called the “atrocities” being committed against the MQM members, in particular, and the Urdu-speakers, in general. He also went on to use some unflattering language against the Pakistan Army.

In late August 2015, a full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) banned the live broadcast of his speeches and then, on September 7, directed Pemra to ban the broadcast of any and all images and speeches by him. Even his name was no longer to be mentioned. In October, a Gilgit-Baltistan antiterrorism court sentenced Hussain to 81 years of rigorous imprisonment and also ordered the confiscation of his properties due to his “anti-state” speeches.

Does Paki Govt has legal jurisdiction in this occupied territory?

While many of the MQM’s political opponents (specially Immi, who went to Londonistan to plea the case against Altaf with London Police !) welcomed the move, advocates of free speech...

From his May 2013 speech warning of bloodshed and violence to his unpalatable remarks against a senior female leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Shireen Mazari, his harangues had long since crossed over from being eccentric to being plain irrational. Each time he spoke, the MQM’s spokesmen would privately gnash their teeth at the thought of having to defend his utterances on air.When it came to the Dallas address, even these skilled spin doctors, having tried and failed at the usual techniques of distraction and deflection, opted for the “well, what he really meant to say was” strategy. No one bought it.

Though they may defend these policies in public, many MQM leaders in private acknowledge the damage some moves by Hussain have made. ...

Party sources say when some local channels recently ran tickers about certain MQM parliamentarians wanting to leave the party or set up an alternative group, Hussain called them and upbraided them based on television news alone. “If he believed that, then shouldn’t he also believe it when channels run news about the party’s links with RAW [Research and Analysis Wing]?”( the "Indian Agent Bogey!) asks an MQM parliamentarian. Did he actually put that question to Hussain? “Of course not,” comes the reply.

...besides playing the kingmaker at the national level every now and then – Hussain cannot fathom the thought of losing control over the party’s affairs. Adding to this is the expatriate syndrome: One’s image of the homeland becomes frozen in the long years of living abroad. “[Hussain] is so used to doing things a certain way that he doesn’t realise that times have changed and the tactics of the past cannot be used anymore,” says the MQM parliamentarian.(the ego factor?)

Even in England, 2015 has not been a good year for Hussain. With every summons to a British police station, there is corresponding media frenzy in Pakistan.

“The cases against him have added to his health problems,”(increased use of the haram liquid ? ) says a long-standing MQM leader who also suggests that Hussain’s legal problems may be more serious than most imagine.

Ironically, the MQM’s recent success in local government elections is only adding to the worries among the senior party leaders. “[Hussain] may well take this success as an endorsement of his modus operandi. Certainly, that is what the yes-men will tell him and that is what he will likely believe,” says an MQM member. “There will be no hope of getting him to step back or change his ways.”
He also suggests that Waseem Akhtar’s nomination as the next Karachi mayor is an indication that Hussain only wants to further strengthen his position within the party rather than relaxing his control. Akhtar can be seen vociferously and aggressively defending his party chief on television screen every now and then, even though the security establishment has already shown its displeasure over his nomination by booking him in a number of cases.

An" East Pakistan like scenario" is not too too far away for this artificial entity if it pursues its current policy of alienating all non-Pakjabi sections living in the provinces

[Falijee]

After Halal Food In Pakiland , It Is Halal Cosmetics Now

Pakistan Halal Food Authority to be established soon, says Rana Tanveer
Ummah leadership, in this burgeoning sector is assured cent per cent !

LAHORE (Staff Report) – Federal Minister for Science and Technology Rana Tanveer Hussain Monday said that Pakistan Halal Food Authority will soon be established to promote trade in halal food.
Addressing a function in Lahore, he said a bill in this regard has already been passed by the Parliament.
The Minister said Halal Food processing in the country will help earn precious foreign exchange to strengthen national economy.
He said besides halal food, government will also ensure halal cosmetics (haram ingredients in the non halal products ?)in the country.
The Minister said the world has also acknowledged that Halal food is good for human health. And by implication, non haram food is "bad" for health
Later, talking to the media persons, Rana Tanveer Hussain said the government is open for accountability.The early establishment of this august body (Halal Food Authority) would surely have prevented the "serving" of donkey meat masquerading as "halal stuff"
He said the relevant institutions including National Accountability Bureau are working to check the curse of corruption in the society. He, however, said there was a need to further improve the functioning of NAB (Is he authorized to comment on areas outside his jurisdiction of (halal) Science and Technology !)to make it more efficient.

[SSridhar]

After ]Halal Food In Pakiland , It Is Halal Cosmetics Now

. . . He said besides halal food, government will also ensure halal cosmetics (haram ingredients in the non halal products ?)in the country.

Alcohol, for example. Many Middle Eastern countries do so. I am surprised that Pakistan was not following such a practice so far.

[Mihaylo]

Somethings' fishy in Toronto

Canada Border Services Agency officials found packages of heroin in cargo of flight from Pakistan

[Falijee]

Paki President Made To Sit On Hot Seat As He Decides Whether To Grant Or Not Grant Mercy To Killer Mumtaz Qadri
Mamnoon’s family moved to presidency over Qadri’s mercy plea decision

ISLAMABAD – President Mamnoon’s family moved to Presidency for fear of a backlash as he is expected decide the mercy plea of malik Mumtaz Qadri – the murderer of Punjab’s former governor Salmaan Taseer, a private TV channel Express Tribune reported.
A former commando of the Punjab Police’s Elite Force, Qadri was sentenced to death for the murder of former Punjab governor Salman Taseer in Islamabad’s Koshar Market on January 4, 2011. Qadri had admitted to the murder saying he was opposed to Salman Taseer’s calls to reform the blasphemy law.

Currently, only the president and the prime minister are provided security under the ‘Blue Category’ – the highest security protocol for anyone in Pakistan. “Despite these heavy protocols, security of the president has been further beefed up as he is about to decide the mercy appeal of Qadri,” said an official privy to the development.
The president has three sons. And the official said last year one of his sons, Salman Mamnoon, escaped a bomb attack on his convoy in Hub, near Karachi. Three people were killed in the attack claimed by a banned separatist group, Baloch Liberation Army.

Does this mean that the family now will "forever" be protected under the highest security protocol ?

Another senior security official told the channel that overall security in Islamabad would also be reviewed if Qadri’s mercy plea was rejected by the president. “Security situation will be reviewed following the decision. And most probably the district administration will impose Section 144 in the capital,” he said. Secretary to the President Shahid Khan refused to comment on the issue.

Chickens -nurtured by the Deep State - coming home to roost ?

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has upheld the death sentence of Mumtaz Qadri, Qadri had challenged the Islamabad High Court (IHC) verdict on his death sentence in the Supreme Court. Lawyers for Qadri filed the plea in the apex court claiming that the matter was not about murder but provocation. In its ruling the Supreme Court also declared the IHC decision of annulling the death sentence under the Anti-Terrorism Act null and void.

Mumtaz Qadri, whose death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court of Pakistan for assassinating former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, has appealed the president for mercy.

This "Salman Taseer Drama" itself shows the extent of government writ in Pakiland, where the mullahs and their fanatic supporters rule the roost; it will be very, very difficult for any Paki Govt to put the genie back in the bottle

[shiv]

Somethings' fishy in Toronto

Canada Border Services Agency officials found packages of heroin in cargo of flight from Pakistan

Liars! They must have placed it themselves. How could any Pakistani - at least a good Muslim ever do that?

[Falijee]

'Pakistan, a nuclear power that can't operate a small steel mill?'
Reuters — Updated Feb 18, 2016 07:39am

KARACHI: Once the producer of almost half the country's steel needs, state-owned Pakistan Steel Mills' (PSM) cavernous factory buildings on the outskirts of the metropolis stand eerily still.
A 4.5-km-long conveyor belt that once carried coal from the nearby port is idle and blast furnaces rest silent. Birds build nests in Soviet-era equipment and stray dogs nap outside abandoned plants.
The company is for sale, but the government cannot find a buyer as it struggles to get privatisations back on track after a series of setbacks. A glance at PSM's finances may explain why.
The company has $3.5 billion in debt and accumulated losses, loses $5 million a week and has not produced steel at its 19,000-acre facility since June last year. That was when the national gas company cut power supplies, demanding payment of bills of over $340 million.

Like many Pakistani industrial firms, political meddling and competition from cheaper Chinese imports left PSM vulnerable.
They also undermine Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's promise to the International Monetary Fund to privatise PSM by March, in return for a $6.7 billion national bailout loan agreed in 2013.

More than 14,000 jobs are at risk, while the Pakistani economy needs industrial growth to provide employment for a growing population.
“Nine billion rupees ($86 million) are immediately needed to see the company through to June,” company CEO Zaheer Ahmed Khan told Reuters at its sprawling premises.
“It's really sad, it's a national asset. We are a nuclear power but what does it say that we can't operate a small steel mill?”( but churns out countless "jehadi graduates" !)

While the loss-making firms are a drain on Pakistan's resources - around an eighth of the government's fiscal revenues last year - few fear Pakistan will slide into economic crisis.(the "too big" to fail argument!)

The IMF has continued to release installments of its 2013 bailout package despite missed targets, and Pakistan is exploring other sources of support, like ally China which plans to invest $46 billion in a new economic corridor.

International buyers show little interest. Officials close to the government's privatisation agenda said suitors offered barely $100 million for PSM against an expected $900 million.“You have the land and ... infrastructure but it doesn't have the machinery,” said Arif Habib, a businessman whose conglomerate bid for the company a decade ago but would not touch it now.

Why does an Islamic society like Pakistan need a steel mill anyway, when they yearn to go back to the days of the Prophet, when life was "perfect" without one !

Privatisation would be contentious: this month, protests against the sale of PIA turned violent.
PSM employees, half of whom live on the site in a residential complex complete with hospital and cricket stadium, haven't been paid for five months.
But pride and few alternatives mean most spend their days at the plant, repairing and chatting.
At sunset, the remaining 7,000 workers pile into buses (if the buses still work!) for homes in Karachi.

[Falijee]

Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif Under Fire Over Travel Expenses

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan's billionaire prime minister has triggered outrage in his homeland after billing $2.2 million per year in travel expenses and spending one-fifth of his term abroad.

Nawaz Sharif has embarked on 65 foreign trips since taking office in June 2013.
Image: Joe Biden and Nawaz Sharif
Vice President Joe Biden poses with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 21. Michel Euler / AP
The cost of Sharif and his officials spending on the 185 days overseas has reached more than $6 million — or $187,000 monthly, the country's foreign ministry revealed in a report presented to parliament this week.
The average worker in Pakistan earns a monthly income of around $116, according to figures published by the U.N.'s International Labor Organization. Sharif's official monthly salary is about $1,600, which he donates to public education projects.
According to a the foreign ministry document, Sharif visited the U.K. 17 times for a total of almost two months. He also visited the U.S. four times and China three times.

The prime minister has attended just 36 of the 256 National Assembly sessions held since he took office.
Sharif — a billionaire industrialist who also serves as foreign minister (but still has no control over foreign policy!)— has long been criticized for his frequent travel abroad. A Gallup poll released last week showed that more than half of Pakistanis think he spends too much time on foreign tours.
Amid the backlash, the three-time prime minister's political opponents criticized his travel expenses as "ridiculous."
"All our problems are domestic," said Shafqat Mehmood, a senior opposition leader with the Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf party. "Terrorism, bad governance, schools being attacked, and the prime minister spends 6 million bucks on 65 foreign trips?"

A senior official at the prime minister's office denied suggestions that Sharif's travel costs were excessive.
"If you compare Mr. Sharif's average entourage size of 17 to that of former prime minister [Yousaf Raza] Gilani or [Raja Pervaiz] Ashraf, who used to take over a 100 people on junkets, then the difference is quite apparent," the official told NBC News.
Sharif's political allies insist that his frequent travel was money and time well spent in the national interest.

"It is of note, that unlike previous expenditures and trips, the prime minster's efforts have resulted in $47.5 billion in foreign investment," said Daniyal Aziz, a member of parliament for Nawaz's Pakistan Muslim League. "One can clearly justify that such proportion of investment in Pakistan's future and rising stature is the reason for these trips."
According to World Bank data, Pakistan was the country with the 37th lowest GDP per capita — $1,316 — in 2014. That compares to $54,629 for the U.S.
Sharif is one of Pakistan's richest men and is reportedly worth more than $1 billion.

The report omits to mention that on top of this, the cabinet is "padded" with family, relatives, business cronies and assorted lackeys !

[SSridhar]

Pakistan presses India hard on J&K‎; confirms JeM chief Masood Azhar is in its custody - Sachin Parashar, ToI

Pakistan has confirmed that Masood Azhar, the chief of JeM which carried out the Pathankot attack, is in its "protective custody". Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif's adviser Sartaj Aziz told a news channel that Azhar has been in custody since January 14 in what is the first official confirmation of his detention by Islamabad. {He is under custody under provisions of 'Maintenance of Public Order', not under any specific charges related to Pathankot terror attack. Under MPO provisions, he would have to be released in a couple of months as was done for Hafeez Saeed after 26/11. I am sure that the Punjab Govt will also give his family monetary compensation as was done again for Hafeez Saeed. Moreover, he is under 'custody' in his own palatial bungalow in Bahawalpur again like Hafeez Saeed with practically no curbs on his activities. This is a usual Pakistani fraud.}

Pakistan, which wants an early dialogue between the foreign secretaries, is hoping the confirmation would soothe nerves here. This is even as Islamabad continues to pedal the Kashmir issue hard, even demanding that India should not prevent Hurriyat leaders from travelling abroad.

While Pakistan has in the past been content with issuing statements on India's handling of J&K, Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit last week sought time with foreign secretary S Jaishankar to raise the issue of detention of Hurriyat leaders and alleged human rights violations in the state.{I hope the High Commissioner was told on his face to get lost}

As TOI had first reported on Saturday, Basit had called for early talks between the foreign secretaries during the meeting. Sources, however, said on Monday that the main agenda of the meeting was to reiterate Pakistan's position that the J&K issue needed to be resolved in accordance with "UN resolutions and aspirations of the people of the state". Sources said Hurriyat leaders had earlier met Basit and asked him to take up their concerns over the situation in J&K with India.

Aziz also confirmed that phone numbers provided by India to Pakistan as leads had been traced to JeM headquarters in Bahawalpur. He said only one of these numbers was found active. Indian officials though said they would wait for Pakistan to directly confirm to them that Azhar had been detained.

While Pakistan wants to focus on Kashmir in the foreign secretary meeting, which is meant to finalize modalities for the comprehensive bilateral dialogue (CBD), Indian officials said they would insist on progress in both 26/ 11 and Pathankot investigations in the meeting.

A day after the Jaishankar-Basit meeting, Pakistan filed an FIR in the Pathankot case but did not name anyone. Aziz though said it was only the first FIR and that subsequent ones would have names.

In his interview to Karan Thapar from India Today channel, Aziz said the ball was in India's court now as far as the dates for the talks were concerned. Aziz said that agencies in Pakistan had told the government that Azhar was in custody. He expressed hope that both SIT visit and foreign secretary talks can take place simultaneously later February or early next month.

Aziz made another point in the interview when he said the Pakistan SIT, which wants to visit India for Pathankot investigations, will need access to some parts of the Pathankot airbase, a sticking point for India. Defence minister Manohar Parikkar, in fact, has already declared that India won't allow any access to the airbase.

While Mumbai accused David Headly, in a deposition from the US, blamed Pakistan agencies for the attack, Aziz dismissed it saying he had no credibility as he was a double agency and a drug peddler. On Hafiz Saeed, another Mumbai mastermind, Aziz said there was no evidence against him.

Aziz also said that Pakistan was sequencing its fight against terror by first targeting TTP and other internal groups and then LeT and Jaish. However, he added that while the NSAs remained in touch, India seemed to be obsessed with terror. According to Aziz, Pakistan will also propose troop withdrawal from Siachen.

Since the Hurriyat leaders have already met the Pakistani High Commissioner, it means the FS-level talks are imminent. IMO, India must call-off talks not only when the Pakistani FS meets the Hurriyat leaders but even when the Pakistani HC meets them and takes up issues on their behalf. There should be no flexibility in dealing with Pakistan. That has been our bane since before Partition.

[member_29325]

PM Modi just couldn't leave well enough alone and ignore pakistan -- his actions to resume dialogue with pakistan have resulted in 3 terrorist attacks so far, compared to zero attacks when there was no dialogue. And what has India gained from all this? Nothing. So what was the freaking point of this "talks" drama with Pakis by the NaMo regime?

[member_29325]

WTH is appalling nonsense from Shyam Saran, and this tool is writing top secret papers on Indian defence strategy? These rotten tools from bureaucracy don't really care that any such peace moves with the pakis will only kill more Indians. Why provide positive PR for the pakis in India? WTF is his game?

link

'The Pakistan government, we were told, has a plan to renovate several Hindu temples and Buddhist sites, which over the years have fallen into disrepair.'
'The aim is to create a pilgrimage circuit to attract visitors from all over the subcontinent.'

Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran explores the sights and flavours of Lahore and Islamabad on a recent visit.

Perhaps the recent terrorist attack at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda has led to heightened anxiety. But an evening spent at the city's most popular restaurant, the Monal in the Margalla hills, spread out like a vast terrace overlooking the bright lights of the capital, had an air of relaxed celebration. Entire families, young and old, were busy tucking into vast quantities of food, taking pictures with their smartphones or iPads, and engaged in animated conversations.

So all indications are that this govt. may resume talks with the pakis, while they continue with terror attacks in India, going by this tripe. This may as well have been written by some starry eyed New Delhi socialite.

[habal]

Sun Tzu

do not negotiate with the enemy when you are winning.

[Karan M]

Shyam Saran was MMS's blue eyed boy.. what did you expect?

[member_29325]

Looks like Shyam Saran was wined and dined by the paki army, since he has been given a guided tour of pakistan by the Paki Army and ISI. Hope he choked on their hospitality.

SS joined Australia's Lowy Institute last year, and is in charge of spreading of this stupid brain-snot about lovely Pakistan for an indian audience.

[SSridhar]

I had a mail exchange with a retired Pakistani Army officer. He wrote to me,

I have a lot of respect for the Indian Army’s professionalism. Your chief in question was called a boastful braggadocio by an American general, your new friends. That is a question of military understanding. You can consult a professional on my contention.

The reference to our COAS was in the context of the 'Two Front War'.

I replied the following

Be that as it may, let me come to the issue of the Indian COAS being called a 'braggadocio' by our new-found American friend, a General at that. I am unaware of any American General having called our COAS so. But, then, you may very well be right and it could have been said so as well. But, then what do you or the American General expect our COAS to say when asked if India was prepared for a two-front war? Can he say "No, we cannot do that. That is a nightmare scenario for us. We will be over run within a week"?

In fact, anybody closely monitoring Indian armed forces, which I am sure the Pakistani armed forces do, must know that India is *INDEED* preparing for a two front war. There is a greater urgency these days after China became deeply entangled with Pakistan especially through GB into Gwadar and the militaristic developments between an aggressive China and all its neighbours including us. That a two-front war has not happened so far speaks more for the maturity of India and China than anything else because Pakistan has always been pestering China to attack India simultaneously whenever it started a war with India, hasn't it?

One of the prime security paranoia of Pakistan since Independence has been the pincer attack on it from India and Afghanistan, hasn't it? I am sure if Gen. Raheel Sharif is asked a similar question on two front war, he would have said exactly the same thing or probably even bragged more. That is the nature of Generals, whether they mean it or not.

As for Americans, you should know more than us - because your deep collaboration goes more than six decades - that their words should not be taken literally, at their face value. I am not too sure if they are our Friends, but, certainly they will never become our Masters, which must be to the delight of your late Field Marshal.

Anyway, that so-called bragging by our COAS is better than that self-appointed Field Marshal with poor ACRs claiming that every soldier of his army was worth 10 soldiers of the enemy Indian Army. We know what happened. Of course, he said it more nastily, but I won't repeat that. But, you should know exactly what I mean. In fact, in the early 90s, Ms. Benazir Bhutto raised that ratio to a 100:1 !!

[SSridhar]

Shuja Pasha admitted ISI’s role in Mumbai attack: ex-CIA chief - PTI, The Hindu

Soon after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack the then chief of Pakistan’s ISI conceded that some of the powerful spy agency’s retired members were engaged in training those involved in the heinous crime but refused to take action, a former CIA chief has said in a new book.

In his latest book ‘Playing to the Edge’, Michael Hayden, the former CIA Director, expressed his deep frustration of the “duplicity” of the Pakistani leadership when it came to taking action against terrorist groups in particular al-Qaeda, Taliban, LeT and the Haqqani network.

Arguing that the Pakistan Army is built to fight against India and not terrorists, the top leadership in the country, in particularly those from its military in the past one decade, have repeatedly expressed its inability to take on the terrorist groups in the tribal regions as desired by the U.S., he wrote.

Referring to the Mumbai terrorist attack, Mr. Hayden, who was the CIA chief till 2009, said it was very clear that there seemed to be so many Pakistani fingerprints on the atrocity.

“I began routinely harassing my counterpart in Pakistan, now Ahmed Shuja Pasha [the former director general of Military Operations, the Pakistan army’s top operational post], on the phone, urging him to get to the bottom of the attack and to discuss it frankly with us,” he wrote.

“We had no doubt that the attack was the work of LeT, and there was mounting evidence that preparation for and direction of the attack took place from within Pakistan, where LeT enjoyed the protection and support of ISI,” Mr. Hayden said.

Pasha, who had come to ISI only a few weeks earlier and had no previous intelligence experience, came to the U.S. on Christmas Day and spent most of the next afternoon in his office.

“He worked carefully from notes. His investigation had revealed that some former ISI members were involved with Lashkar-e-Taiba [no surprise there]. Pasha admitted that these unspecified [and still uncaptured] retirees may have engaged in some broad training of the attackers, but he was characteristically vague about any detailed direction the attackers had gotten during the attack via cell phone from Pakistan,” Mr. Hayden wrote in the book.

“I took to passing sufficiently sanitised intelligence to Pasha on what we believed was going on in order to try to goad him into action. If he knew that we knew...perhaps we could get some movement. We didn’t have a whole lot of success,” Mr. Hayden wrote.

Narrating an incident when the then Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf refused to fill up gas in the airplane that flew him to Islamabad, where he had gone to press him to take action against terrorists, Mr. Hayden wrote: “One more bit of evidence that these guys really were the ally from hell“.

The crew had forgotten their government credit card— you can’t make this stuff up— and the Pakistanis wouldn’t budge, he wrote.

Mr. Musharraf refused to take action, despite some crucial evidence being provided to him.

[VKumar]

Visa requirements for PAKIS to attend CANTON FAIR IN APRIL. Enjoy.


LCCI DELEGATION TO VISIT CANTON FAIR –APRIL-2016
The 119th China Import and Export Fair 2016, Guangzhou, China
China Import and Export Fair (119th Canton Fair) is scheduled to be held in the following three phases:
Phase 1 (Apr.15 - 19, 2016)
Phase 2 (Apr.23 - 27, 2016)
Phase 3 (May. 01-5, 2016)
Electronics & Household Electrical Appliances Lighting Equipment Vehicles & Spare Parts Machinery Hardware & Tools BuildingMaterials Chemical Products Energy Resources International Pavilion
Consumer Goods Gifts Home Decorations
Textiles & Garments Shoes Office Supplies, Cases & Bags, and Recreation Products Medicines, Medical Devices and Health Products Food International Pavilion
Interested members are requested to submit their applications (along-with filled-in Proforma) to LCCI latest by Saturday 5th March 2016 along-with the following documents:-
1. All Original Passport (s)
2. Copy of CNIC
3. Four (4) White Background Photographs with the given specimen
4. Copy of valid LCCI Membership Certificate
5. Copy of valid LCCI Membership Card
6. Copy of NTN
7. Request Letter for Issuance of Visa to The Visa Officer, Embassy of the Republic of China, Islamabad on company’s letterhead
8. Police Character Certificate duly attested from Foreign Affairs Office (for first time visitor to China)
9. Pay Order an amount of Rs: 100,000/-in favour of LCCI in case of employee (s)
10. 6 months Bank Statement (Personal or Company) with signature of Bank Manager and stamp (must have minimum balance Rs: 300,000)
11. Guarantee letter by the owner in case of employee (s)
12. Last three months salary slips and salary NTN in case of employee (s)
13. Two Blank Company Letterhead
14. Tentative Hotel Booking and Air Ticket
15. Copy of Polio Vaccination Certificate NOTE: In case of presenting any fake document for obtaining visa, the Embassy of China will ban the applicant and his company for two to ten years and the LCCI will also cancel the membership of that company.
For more details, please contact INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT OF LCCI Telephone Nos 111-222-499, 36305538-40 Ext. 354, 353, 325
THE LAHORE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT LCCI APPLICATION FORM FOR CANTON FAIR, CHINA From April 15, 2016 to May 05, 2016 Did you visit China before? Yes  / No 
1. Name of representative
2.Education
3.Name of Firm
4.Position/Designation
5.Company Address
6.Phone
7.Cell
8.Fax
9.Email
10.Type of Company
Sole proprietor
Partnership
Company
11.Business Interest
12.Home Address & Phone No. (Home)
13.Name and relation of Person in case of Emergency with Contact No.
This is certified that the above information is true to the best of my knowledge. I undertake to abide by the rules and regulation of China and will come back with in the stipulated time of my visa.
SIGNATURE
Date:
Checked by International Affairs Department: ___________________________________

[Falijee]

VKumar-ji:
One Question here:
Keeping in line with the Reciprocity Principle in Diplomatic Relations , should not the Paki Govt "demand" that the( "Higher Than Himalayas And Deeper Than The Ocean ) Chini Fliends undergo the same bureaucratic requirements, when they come to " work and play " in Gwadar and Balochistan for the much touted CPEC Project