Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan - May 16 2009

[amit]

http://cricket.rediff.com/report/2009/m ... s-butt.htm
Plij to comment onlee...

You know I get a nasty feeling that this jihadi is actually threatening terrorist strikes during matches.

"The 2011 World Cup could come under heavy cloud if its host status is not restored," Butt said in an interview to 'News24' channel.

He also said that security situation in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is volatile and the ICC was unfair in stripping them off the hosting rights.

How the heck can the World Cup come under a heavy cloud? Nobody would miss the Paki team if they don't play. There's going to be no financial loss either. Then what gives?

I think the Indian Govt should take this matter very seriously. Hopefully now, with the Left out of the way, the Congress will take off its skirts in security matters and behave like mard. I hope it Pawar doesn't come up with the idea of hosting the matches in Australia or some such place like the IPL.

Also,

He travelled to Sri Lanka to meet cricket officials there...

The freaking idiot had the gall to visit Sri Lanka and request its help after almost the whole Lankan team escaped death by a hair's breadth in Lahore and its because of that the matches have been canceled.

Talking of having no self respect...

[SSridhar]

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ejaz Butt has accused the ICC [Images] and the BCCI of treating them as beggars and threatened dire consequences if they are not allowed to host 2011 World Cup matches.

What are the 'dire' consequences he's talking about? Paki's coming out of ICC? No one will miss them really. Atleast one major hyphenation on India-Pak cricket will end.

When a Pakistani, holding whatever position, talks about 'dire consequences', it only means a 'terror attack'. All Pakistanis are together in the enterprise of terrorism. We have seen several warnings from people of authority in Pakistani cricket world like Ejaz Butt, Moni, Miandad, Intikhab, Imran etc. We should not take it lightly. Pakistan will now make every attempt to disrupt the 2011 World Cup in India.

[harbans]

When a Pakistani, holding whatever position, talks about 'dire consequences', it only means a 'terror attack'.

I agree. Specially the dire consequences and other parts that Amitji pointed out tell us it's Butts' frustration inadvertantly pointing this will happen. But BCCI/ ICC can ask him blunt..what dire consequences? What will he call 'dire'? Max he can say is 'Pak pulling out of the WC'. And then no one will really miss them. Thats what i meant to say.

The freaking idiot had the gall to visit Sri Lanka and request its help after almost the whole Lankan team escaped death by a hair's breadth in Lahore and its because of that the matches have been canceled.

I have a SL friend, well connected. He tells me a SL player in the bus, while lying down put the mobile just on the window on video mode. He captured a gunman casually walking up to the bus, peering around and did nothing. They could have killed them, had it been a part of the plan. But even the ISI has its limits..

[SSridhar]

He tells me a SL player in the bus, while lying down put the mobile just on the window on video mode. He captured a gunman casually walking up to the bus, peering around and did nothing. They could have killed them, had it been a part of the plan. But even the ISI has its limits..

That's why I always held the view that the Lahore attack was a drama.

[Neela]

He tells me a SL player in the bus, while lying down put the mobile just on the window on video mode. He captured a gunman casually walking up to the bus, peering around and did nothing. They could have killed them, had it been a part of the plan. But even the ISI has its limits..

That's why I always held the view that the Lahore attack was a drama.

IMO, this statement has to be taken very very seriously. Clearly, desperation has set in.
If the WC drop all venues from Pakistan, that will set the precedent for any sporting activity and probably any other international event in Pakistan.
With nothing to lose once this happens, it would mean trying to drag others down with them at any cost.

[enqyoob]

Was there any real evidence that "6 Paki policemen were killed" in the LaHore "attack"? Like, ketchup on the road? I doubt if they even bothered to post 6 bogus names. But I hear that a couple of SL players were actually wounded, which is serious.

[shiv]

They are on the right side, and are among the good guys, though its possible they got this particular issue wrong.

If folks feel so strongly about what they feel, let them know it. They are not hoity-toityies, they will listen to what you say. Ranting on just the forum is probably not as productive.

I replied on there. Will cross post here

This analysis, which calls for moving Indian conventional forces away and relying on a nuclear threat to thwart Pakistani adventurism is seriously flawed on two counts

1) India has a "No First Use" policy for Nuclear Weapons. That means that if a Pakistani conventional attack should occur (as did occur in 1947, 1965 1971 and 1999), India would not have the forces to resist, nor would India be able to use nuclear weapons unless Pakistan used them first.

2) The future of the world lies in reducing the threat of nuclear war, not increasing it by foregoing the possibility of using conventional weapons and choosing to deliberately place the threat of using nuclear weapons as a priority (as the authors have suggested).

The authors have not thought this thing through fully.

[Rahul Shukla]

Pakistan's allies promise $224 mln for displaced (Reuters)

ISLAMABAD, May 21 (Reuters) - Pakistan's allies promised $224 million in aid for about 1.5 million people displaced by an offensive against the Taliban after the government warned that the militants could exploit a failure to help.

Another round number of 100,000 displaced has been added to yet another round number of 1,400,000 displaced which is comprised of several round numbers of alledgedly displaced people added together.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told the donors' conference in Islamabad that Pakistan was issuing an urgent call for help from "all those who are committed to fighting terrorism". Aid for the displaced would help win the battle against the Taliban, he said.

"It would also help in ensuring that the militants don't exploit the vulnerability of the displaced population ... We have to win the hearts and minds of the people," he said.

"We're the heart-breakers, and you are the one who must pay for such hearts to be fixed. Paying $$$ is the only way to win the heart of a displaced Paki. There shall be several more opportunities to win many more hearts later on during the year, courtesy of the ISI..."

"By and large, we are very satisfied with the donors' response," Khar [Minister of State for Finance] said.

"Umm... $220 million or so this time. Not bad, I guess. They've not been as stingy as they usually are in these matters."

[Rahul Shukla]

At least 1,100 militants killed in NW Pakistan operation (Xinhua)

[Pranay]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8061788.stm

On the ground report from Swat...

Except for some parts of the GT (Grand Trunk) road, some mountain tops and the circuit house in Mingora, all of Swat is under the control of the Taliban.
If the government really has cleared and taken control of the region, it should bring in the media and let the whole world see it for themselves.
I keep moving around, and in several places I have seen army checkpoints with a Taliban checkpoint nearby.
However, neither side engages the other, and even helicopters and jets are not called in to attack the Taliban positions.
A few days ago I tried to speak to a masked Taliban militant in Pashto, and then in Urdu, and he could not understand me.
Then another militant told me that his comrade was an Arab and did not speak Pashto or Urdu.
I then asked him 'how are you' in Arabic, and they all laughed.
This raises doubts over the government's claims that they have blocked all routes into the valley.
How could he get in, when all roads are blocked?
I also don't understand who the operation is aimed against.
A majority of the people who have been killed here are civilians.
This is not an operation, it is a drama. Swat's people cannot be made fools of.

[Keshav]

At least 1,100 militants killed in NW Pakistan operation (Xinhua)

Xinhua is state sponsored Chinese media, isn't it? Would be careful trusting them.

The BBC has an interesting article though. As I and others were saying, I think Pakistan is gearing up for a civil war rather than immediate Taliban takeover.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8059900.stm

Excerpts:

There are many people on the move here who have run away from that fighting and they have brought with them eyewitness accounts of the brutal things they have seen under the Taliban's control of the Swat valley over the past few months.

"They were beheading people, they were shooting innocent people without any warning, they were terrifying us," one woman tells me.

"They were stopping our kids from going to school, they were kidnapping young boys."

A man standing nearby is also eager to talk.

"With my own hands I have buried 18 people who were beheaded, even children," he tells me grimly.

"They are not friends, they are not our allies, they're our enemies, they are criminals, they are gangsters."

But who are the Taliban?

It is one word for a complicated and disparate movement.

Khalid Aziz, former chief secretary of North West Frontier Province, says the answer is to start at the top.

"We must separate it, we must identify the leadership," he says.

"If you look at it, how many people would be involved in the top leadership - 15 or 20. If the sixth biggest military cannot take care of 15 or 16 individuals, then I'm sorry, we're not good at it.

"If we have not contained it and it goes to Lahore and the rest of the area, we will lose the country," he warns.

"If the sixth biggest military cannot take care of 15 or 16 individuals, then I'm sorry, we're not good at it"
Khalid Aziz, ex-chief secretary,
North West Frontier Province

"Any kind of military operation that seeks to take out individuals is an intelligence-driven operation that requires a lot of technology, a lot of surveillance capacity, which we don't have.

"I have boots on the ground and troops that I can organise to go against organised resistance and cohesive militancy, but I can't really go after individuals," he says.
(The obvious consequence of perpetually trying to fight India, no doubt)

[p_saggu]

$ 224 Million for 1.5million people @ 80.56 Pakistani rupees to the dollar today is ~ PakRupee (PKHRe) 12,000/- onlee
That is what these people will make in like 6 months of back breaking toil.
Glad to see that the world at large is donating to the beggers. Of course if even ONE Percent of the abovementioned amount reaches the people, it will be a windfall for them.

The only aid that is reaching these people (who probably number about 5% of the claimed numbers) will be in the presence of some Gora sahib disributing a few goodies like blankets etc. The rest will be a 'bandar baant' amongst the powers that be in Isloo.

[jash_p]

If Pakis are taking real action against fundoos and giving up nukes, then I believe B. Husain Obama have given foolproof guaranty, which Pakis have verified by their own means that USA will hand over Kashmir from India to them.

[Keshav]

If Pakis are taking real action against fundoos and giving up nukes, then I believe B. Husain Obama have given foolproof guaranty, which Pakis have verified by their own means that USA will hand over Kashmir from India to them.

That seems like a pretty radical causality.

If Pakistan is winning, USA will guarantee Kashmir to India? Seems fallacious.

The other option is that USA is helping Pakistan or at least guaranteeing them victory, but that seems implausible at the moment. Its a positive story that would be followed by the New York Times, for example. If things get worse, however, Obama is sure to retaliate. People don't realize that on national security issues, he's more of a moderate than a radical liberal.

[James B]

NYC police: Terror suspects wanted to commit jihad

The suspects were arrested Wednesday night, shortly after planting a 37-pound mock explosive device in the trunk of a car outside the Riverdale Temple and two mock bombs in the backseat of a car outside the Riverdale Jewish Center, another synagogue a few blocks away, authorities said.

The confidential informant who broke the case told Cromitie that he was involved with Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistani terrorist group. It is one of several militant groups suspected of having links to Pakistani intelligence. Jaish set up training camps in Afghanistan under the Taliban and several senior operatives were close to Osama bin Laden.

[Ameet]

Pakistan, India and US begin sharing intelligence

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124287405244442187.html

Highlights:

Pakistan and India have begun sharing intelligence on Islamic extremists, with the prodding of the U.S., in an arrangement that represents unprecedented cooperation between the two nuclear-armed South Asian nations.

Washington hopes the cooperation will get a lift from last week's Indian elections, in which the incumbent Congress Party won by a wide margin over a Hindu nationalist party traditionally more hostile to Pakistan.

The U.S. is stressing to Indian and Pakistani leaders that they face a common threat in Pakistan-based militant groups. Washington hopes that when India sees the intelligence and evidence that Islamabad is seriously fighting the militants in some areas, it will ease its deployments against Pakistan -- which in turn would prompt Islamabad to put even more focus on the battle at home.

"We have to satisfy the Mumbai question, and show India that the threat is abating," said a U.S. official involved in developing Washington's South Asia strategy.

The official cautioned, "We're not going to tell them everything we know and they're not going to tell us everything they know. Nobody expects that to happen. ... But we're talking about [the attack]. We weren't doing that in December."

The U.S. also sometimes brings intelligence on Pakistan's efforts to combat militants to India's attention, with Pakistan's consent, this person said. Examples include showing Indian officials evidence of progress against militants in the Pakistani regions of Bajaur, Swat, and Buner.

[ramana]

The U.S. also sometimes brings intelligence on Pakistan's efforts to combat militants to India's attention, with Pakistan's consent, this person said. Examples include showing Indian officials evidence of progress against militants in the Pakistani regions of Bajaur, Swat, and Buner.

Wonder if India sometimes brings intelligence to identify who the militants are in the Pakistani regions of Bajaur, Swat and Buner.

[Prem]

At least 1,100 militants killed in NW Pakistan operation (Xinhua)

No NEWS about how many civilians are killed ? So far seems no civilians casualities worth mentioning beside "volunatry" displacement to extract Jizjiya .

[NRao]

Wonder if India sometimes brings intelligence to identify who the militants are in the Pakistani regions of Bajaur, Swat and Buner.

And, give away RAWs agents?

[tripathi]

So its all about Pakistan is West Punjab and west punjab is pakistan.punjabi can settle anywhere in pakistan as far as azad kashmir,bloachistan,nwfp sind but other province people cant even have temporary shelter in punjab.Afghan refugees camps were allowed in nwfp and balochistan and as far as karachi during 1980s but not in punjab.now u get this news.

Punjab not to allow IDP camps

ISLAMABAD: The Punjab government has decided in principle not to allow camps for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the province, The News has learnt.

“The IDPs can cause trouble for the province just like the Afghan refugees. So, we have decided not to permit their entry or setting up of camps for them in the Punjab,” sources in the provincial government said.

However, the Punjab government has formed an inter-provincial coordination committee (IPCC), after consultation with the ANP-led Frontier government, to provide aid to the IDPs at their camps in the NWFP.

The IPCC comprises two members each from the Punjab and the NWFP. “The NWFP members will inform the Punjab government of the requirements of the IDPs.” The director general relief and the district coordination officer (DCO), Attock, would coordinate with the NWFP members of the IPCC as representatives of the Punjab.

“If it becomes mandatory for us to accommodate the IDPs any way, a computerised registration system would be set up to ensure strict check on their activities till their return,” the Punjab official sources said.

As the Punjab describes such restrictions as part of its security policy, the Frontier government believes that such a step would create provincial disharmony as no Pakistani citizen could be barred from staying at any corner of the country.

[tripathi]

so every friday starts with a dhamaka.
Roadside bomb kills 5, injures 25 in D.I. Khan

Updated at: 2128 PST, Thursday, May 21, 2009
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: At least five people were killed and 25 others injured when a roadside went off near Jandola Bazaar here on Thursday.

According to reports, several shops and vehicles were completely destroyed in the blast.

Following the blast, security forces cordoned off the area, while the dead and inured were being shifted to nearby hospitals.

[sunnyP]

Speaking of cricket - the pukis star bowler shoaib Akhtar is set to miss the T20 world cup........because he has a sexually transmitted disease

The PCB has withdrawn Shoaib Akhtar from the 15-man squad for next month's World Twenty20, saying - in an unusually revealing statement - that he had been diagnosed with genital viral warts. Rao Iftikhar Anjum's name has been sent to the ICC's technical committee by the PCB as a replacement.

Shoaib's participation had been in doubt after Intikhab Alam, Pakistan's coach, said yesterday he hadn't recovered sufficiently from a skin infection to play the three practice games the Pakistan squad is playing in Lahore.

"Shoaib Akhtar has been withdrawn from the World Twenty20 squad and Rao's name has been sent to the ICC as a replacement," a board spokesman said on Thursday.

The PCB's unusually graphic press release said that a three-member medical panel appointed by the PCB had found that Shoaib was suffering from "genital viral warts and electrofulgration [a surgical procedure] was done on May 12, 2009."

http://content.cricinfo.com/wt202009/co ... 05415.html

[sudeepj]

They are on the right side, and are among the good guys, though its possible they got this particular issue wrong.

If folks feel so strongly about what they feel, let them know it. They are not hoity-toityies, they will listen to what you say. Ranting on just the forum is probably not as productive.

I replied on there. Will cross post here

[/quote]

I replied too, crossposting here:~

Nitin,

1) The strike formations are in Ambala, Bhopal and Mathura. Arent these far enough from the border?

2) How much work has actually been done on the ground level to implement the Cold Start doctrine is debatable. Almost 10 years after the doctrine was first published, there is no Self Propelled Arty, no integral air assets with the holding corps to implement cold start. No Integrated Battle Groups have been set up yet. Without these, cold start is just a paper exercise.

How can the Pakistanis claim that they are afraid of the Indians when the Indian posture is as defense oriented as it can be, given the circumstances?

3) Even if - as you say - we call the Pakistanis bluff and remove everything that they consider to be threatening to them from the border, what is the guarantee that Pakistanis will then take effective steps to fight the Taliban? My bet is that they will continue the Charade and continue to run circles around the Indian and the American foreign policy establishments. They can easily do this by running sham operations like in the Swat valley or by inventing yet another ‘threat’ from India.

4) Lets say we remove what we consider to be all offensive formations from the border and there is a unconventional terrorist spectacular in India. It will take weeks (possibly months) for us to bring any military pressure to bear on Pakistan. Meanwhile, the wheels of international diplomacy will continue to turn and tremendous pressure will be brought to bear on India, to make sure that nothing untoward happens to their Afghan war effort. Do you think it will be possible for Indians to stand up to that? (Hint: we haven't in the past).

5) If we call the Pakistanis bluff and force them to engage the Taliban, what stops an ambitious and tactically brilliant Pakistani Army or ISI commander to set up an unconventional terrorist spectacular in India, specifically to provide an excuse to turn around their forces and bring them back to their Eastern border? (there are indications that this is the true reason for the Mumbai outrage).

In such a scenario, the western reaction would be to pay lip service to assuage Indian anger, a few C130s of relief material, a slap on the wrist to the Pakistanis and tremendous pressure on Indians to not disrupt the Afghan war effort.

Finally, in conclusion, the reason why the Pakistani Army does not engage the Taliban is because ideologically, they are kin. No amount of Indian posturing and ‘calling their bluff’ is going to change that. The only reason for the PA to fight the Taliban and AlQaeda is for them to feel threatened about their way of life by the Taliban advances.

The western powers are ruthless in their goal to keep their cities safe and can countenance any number of Indian casualties towards that end. Its just collateral damage to them. No amount of Indian cooperation with these powers is going to change this western attitude.

The dharmic Indian approach of showing these powers the error of their ways is not going to work. Only ruthless statecraft will.

[Chinmayanand]

Ruthless statecraft???
Does it mean "Dove Cards"?

[sudeepj]

Ruthless statecraft???
Does it mean "Dove Cards"?

I dont have a problem with Doves as long as they have fricking lasers guns on their heads

[Rahul Shukla]

NYC police: Terror suspects wanted to commit jihad

There is more to the story.

None of the suspcts is Pakistani but there is of course that minor detail of linkage to Pakistani 'miscreants' that are not sufficiently moderated as of yet. Also, the FBI informant had given these dudes a realistic but inoperable Stinger missile to fire at military jets a nearby airbase.

Too bad the wait for their houries is going to be longer than forever and a day. How can allah be so unfair to the faith-fools?

[p_saggu]

Speaking of cricket - the pukis star bowler shoaib Akhtar is set to miss the T20 world cup........because he has a sexually transmitted disease

The PCB's unusually graphic press release said that a three-member medical panel appointed by the PCB had found that Shoaib was suffering from "genital viral warts and electrofulgration [a surgical procedure] was done on May 12, 2009."

I hope they test him for HIV. If you get an STD you could have got the other one free!!!

Y'alla they are passing Bijli ke jhatkey through the mard's tool!!! That has got to be painful onlee.

[Prem]

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=178806
Taliban -- asset or enemy?
Sala Safi ( dont know about pakibans, but sure Indians are Jija jis onlee)

Here is the crux of the problem. Before 9/11, Pakistani policy-makers considered the Taliban a strategic asset and hence invested heavily in human and financial terms to enable them to sweep from Kandahar to Kabul. All this had to be abandoned under US pressure after 9/11. Nobody wants to dispose of their assets willingly. But there was another reason too. Pervez Musharraf could see that if the Taliban and Al Qaeda's problem ended, his own importance in western circles would also end.

[AnimeshP]

The Indian election - Dawn

PAKISTANIS should find a proper study of India’s latest general election quite rewarding — that is if they can abandon their utterly irrational resolve to learn neither from friends nor from foes. One of the most peculiar features of the Pakistani mindset is an incredibly strong sense of self-righteousness.

[Amber G.]

A picture was posted in the other dhaga.. but x posting it here too
(without the picture ... but one can see that in the other dhaga or the second link given below)

dang! that is scary!

Please note, that the picture is from serious sources:
UK's Times story (of aug 2008)
Mentally Instable Asif Ali Zardari was ‘crippled by depression’
which was bloged at:
Mentally Instable Asif Ali Zardari was ‘crippled by depression’

with the quotes:

Psychiatrists report the detention of Mr Zardari left him with severe “emotional instability, memory loss and concentration problems”

[sunilUpa]

Porkis at the deaf and dumb forum are tearing their beard in rage over alleged discovery of a body of 'Indian Ghorka'! ...confirmation...uncircumsized benis offcourse. They even have the picture showing the benis!

[pgbhat]

A society misunderstood by Farzana Shah

Things can get terrible and fear can take over us but people forget that there is a resilient side to us too. Let me tell you an interesting story. There is a woman I know who works in my colony as a maid. She has about five kids and her son and daughter are married. She is very fond of Indian movies and every so often she goes to the cinema. Although she makes sure she covers her face when she goes, she would never sit home scared at the cost of missing her movies!

Now, in Peshawar, when girls go out with boys to cinemas, the Taliban is not what scares them. The bigger risk always is that the girl’s family might find out that she was out with a boy, which is why most of the time this woman is accompanied by another woman who is older but shares her passion of Indian movies.

[Amber G.]

Picture (today in Lahore) of US Ambassador visiting Madhu Lal Hussain's shrine.
<click>

(Madhu lal - Brhamin name - was taken by a sufi saint in Lahore)

[SSridhar]

Kashmir is the issue, says Pakistan

“We are opposed to nuclear or conventional arms race in South Asia. At the same time, however, Pakistan cannot remain oblivious to increasing conventional asymmetries, unrelenting arms acquisitions as well as preferential treatment being accorded to certain countries in the region,” he said. “Such developments disturb the strategic balance and Pakistan is constrained to adopt necessary safeguards as it deems fit.”

"It is also important that our two countries adhere to the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960,”

[Gerard]

Pakistanis bring their unique culture and way of life to Greece

Muslims clash in Greece after ‘Quran incident’

Greek police on Thursday used tear gas during clashes with hundreds of Muslim immigrants protesting in Athens over reports that an officer had torn up a copy of the holy Quran during a routine check the day before.

After word spread of the alleged incident, the local Muslim immigrant community, mainly from Afghanistan and Pakistan, organised Thursday’s protest.

[SSridhar]

Selected NUGGETS from TFT

Girls want to marry Taliban

Reported in Jang, Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said that the Taliban have set up a website with three hundred boys and girls wanting to get married. He said there was a lot of enthusiasm on the part of the girls who went to the website for marrying the Taliban boys. He said telephone calls were being received from girls wanting to marry Taliban warriors.

America killed Zia

Columnist Haroon Rashid wrote in Jang, that General Zia defeated the Soviet Union but when it came to plucking the fruits of this victory he did not give all the fruits to America, as a result of which he was killed. President Zardari’s begging for money in Tokyo was humiliating. Are we, the inhabitants of this greenest of all the world’s countries (dunya ki sab sey ziadah sarsabz sarzamin), all beggars in the streets of this world?

Taliban pay more

Writing in Nawa-e-Waqt General (Retd) Abdul Qayyum stated that when a policeman in the NWFP died at the hands of suicide bombers the government paid his family Rs 5 lakh. But for each suicide bomber used or a Taliban soldier dead, the Taliban high command paid Rs 16 lakh.

America and Israel doing suicide bombing

Great military genius Major General (Retd) Zaheerul Islam Abbasi was reported by Nawa-e-Waqt as telling a press conference that Nizam-e-Adl laws of Swat should be enforced in the entirety of Pakistan. He also said that suicide bombing was being done in Pakistan by Israel, America and India.


Who got the American money?

Quoted in Jinnah PMLN leader Ch Nisar Ali Khan made a reply to a former fellow partyman Gohar Ayub. Gohar had said that Nawaz Sharif put Nisar Ali Khan in charge of letting the Americans get hold of Aimal Kansi, wanted in the US for killing CIA officers. In reply Ch Nisar said that the time Aimal Kansi disappeared he was petroleum minister while Gohar Ayub was foreign minister so he should tell the nation what happened to $5 million received for Aimal’s arrest and handover.

Fazl ur Rehman says the unspeakable

Daily Jang quoted Maulana Fazl ur Rehman of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam as saying in the National Assembly that the Taliban had reached close to Islamabad. He said it was useless to accuse India of interfering in Pakistan. It was time to decide we wanted to get Kashmir or save Pakistan.

Pakistan not threatened by Taliban

PMLN leader Nawaz Sharif was quoted in Jinnah as saying that Pakistan was not threatened by Taliban but from foreign powers and therefore drone attacks should be at once stopped. But the activities of the Taliban are a danger to Pakistan.

Pakistan a house on fire

Columnist Nazir Naji asked the question in Jang: if my house is on fire and some American tells me to do something to put it out, will I refuse to put it out just because he is an American? In Sri Lanka, there is agreement that the terrorists have to be fought to the last. But not in Pakistan.

General Kayani and his cigarette

Columnist Haroon Rashid wrote in Jang that when NWFP leader Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao met American deputy Secretary of State Richard Boucher the latter asked him as to what the Army Chief Ashfaq Kayani wanted, he replied that he did not know. Then Sherpao asked Boucher if he knew what Kayani wanted. The answer was: the General instead of replying reaches for his pack, slowly takes out his cigarette, feels it around and then lights it and says nothing much.

Sufi Muhammad is right!

Reported in Jang Ahle Hadith leader Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer together with other Ahle Hadith leaders declared that Sufi Muhammad’s claim that Pakistan was not Islamic was right but his statement that democracy was against Islam was not right.

[Sanjay M]

Pakistanis bring their unique culture and way of life to Greece

Muslims clash in Greece after ‘Quran incident’

Greek police on Thursday used tear gas during clashes with hundreds of Muslim immigrants protesting in Athens over reports that an officer had torn up a copy of the holy Quran during a routine check the day before.

After word spread of the alleged incident, the local Muslim immigrant community, mainly from Afghanistan and Pakistan, organised Thursday’s protest.

I propose a new rule that Muslims produce 4 witnesses before alleging Koran burning, or else face charges of incitement.

[SSridhar]

How incoherent is the US-Pak relationship ?

Pakistan was broke after the Bhutto interregnum of democracy and General Zia-ul Haq saw his patrons in the Middle East spoiling for a jihad that would rain dollars on Pakistan. He went into Afghanistan because of a “confluence” of policy with the US. And he got big money for it too.

One can’t fault General Zia for this “realistic” decision. And in the end he hardly did “America’s bidding”. What Pakistan got out of it was its nuclear bomb, hardly a result of the supineness that policy critics often bemoan. In fact if you look closely, it is Pakistan which appears to be “milking” the US constantly. {a very BR term} General Pervez Musharraf did the same sort of thing to the US. There was no money in the kitty after a decade of unstable democracy; and the dollars poured in when he joined the war on terror but drew a line when asked to send troops to Iraq in 2003.

The US-Pakistan relationship has endured because both have needed each other. There is hardly any incoherence in that. There have been vicissitudes in it because one has global worries to take care of, and the other is regionally obsessed with India. Without reference to the US, it is for Pakistan to meditate over its single-item foreign policy: can it go on risking its survival by following an uncreative and imitative approach to its big neighbour, India.

[aryank]

Pakistan as a failed state is a peril, says Kerry

[SSridhar]

Maulvi Nazeer refuses to fight PA: Reports

Unconfirmed reports say Nazir has told Baitullah: “I am ready to give you passage through Ahmedzai Wazir areas to Afghanistan if you want to fight the occupational forces there. But I cannot join you against the Pakistani forces...”

Maulvi Nazeer was an ISI warlord. He entered into a peace deal with the TSPA and for a couple of years now has maintained peace in his area. However, after the Swat peace deal of February, 2009, Maulvi Nazeer along with Gul Bahadur of North Waziristan joined hands with Baituallah Mehsud in a breakthrough agreement brokered by Jalaluddin Haqqani and formed Shura Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen. At that time they announced they had overcome the ‘divide and rule’ policy of the Pakistani government which they blamed for “more losses to mujahideen than the US. It handed over 700 Arab mujahideen to the US and jailed our people”. They also pledged their support to Mullah Omar whom they accepted as the Emir of Shura Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen. They proclaimed that the Shura had been formed at the express wish of Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden.

It is doubtful if this could have come unravelling so soon especially as Taliban have been fighting the PA due to circumstances beyond their control. We also know that the ISI plants such stories. Let's wait and watch.