Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan - July 07, 2009

Satya_anveshi · Post by **Satya_anveshi** » 08 Sep 2009 00:14

Cross posted from TSP Proliferation thread:

Satya_anveshi wrote:Here's an interview with Xerox Khan

Contains explicit statements about Pak's engagement with North Korea, Iran, and Libya.

Clearly he is going at pains to hide linkage to US and other western agencies in all this.

I say, that, given the North Korean explosions in the recent past and its ship carrying some "stuff" found recently near Indian shores, the security situation in India is already changed for us to review our position.

I wonder why Xerox mentions Mush in regard to Bhutto sahab's episode at about 34:00 - 35:00. He agrees that Mush should be tried under Article 6.

asprinzl · Post by **asprinzl** » 08 Sep 2009 01:03

Dudes,
I have come across NRIs of many hues. Those that are of the WKK types are not influenced by the US media. They were like that only right from the beginning. It is the same with the right leaning ones. They are like that only right from the beginning. Infact I would say that most of the right leaning ones that I have encountered are sons and daughters of Indian expatriates based on the Middle East or sons and daughters of Indians who escaped Idi Amin's Uganda. The real liberal ones are those who graduate from Indian colleges. My experience. Others may differ.
Avram

Vivek_A · Post by **Vivek_A** » 08 Sep 2009 03:42

Shrill joins the nutty nation...

TheNation welcomes new Editor

LAHORE - Dr Shireen Mazari yesterday joined the Nawa-i-Waqt Group of Publications as the Editor of daily TheNation. Shireen Mazari holds a Ph.D in Political Science from Columbia University, New York and is a highly respected scholar and commentator on Strategic Studies and Political Science.
She has also served as the Director General of the Institute of Strategic Studies. Ms Mazari was formerly an Associate Professor and then Chairperson of the Department of Defense and Strategic Studies at the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. In a statement issued on Monday she said, “It gives me great pleasure to join the Nawa-i-Waqt Group and I look forward to an interesting and exciting interaction.”
Mr Majid Nizami, the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of the Nawa-i-Waqt Group, and Ms Rameeza Nizami, the Deputy Managing Director and Managing Editor, welcomed Dr Mazari to the Group, “We are delighted Dr Mazari is joining us,” adding, “She will be an invaluable addition to our management team”. Dr Mazari will also be contributing a column for the daily Nawa-i-Waqt and hosting an exclusive weekly television show on the Waqt News channel.

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 08 Sep 2009 03:59

A conspiracy against my father ---- Muhammad Ijaz ul Haq

Part I

Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Muhammad Ijaz ul Haq

(The American embassy on September 6 denied any US involvement in the assassination of former president General Zia-ul Haq. This article, however, was received by The News before the denial was issued.--Editor)

1. Twenty-one years ago, on August 17, a C-130 aircraft of the PAF, known for its established standards/records of stability and safety, was made the target of sabotage and subversive act of terrorism. By employing the process of elimination, it was established by the Board of Enquiry that there was no doubt about the cause of crash.

2. In addition to the 29 military martyrs, two US nationals -- Ambassador Arnold Raphel and Brigadier General Herbert Wassom -- were killed. Pakistan's top military hierarchy was eliminated. The mystery is that the Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS), General Aslam Beg, having himself hovered over the disaster site, preferred to fly back to Rawalpindi. Major General Mehmud Durrani, the host of the whole episode, moved to Multan for a comfortable sleep.

3. Now, claiming credit for democracy and decorated with the democracy medal, General Aslam Beg did not feel obliged to care for the fallen comrades. Without knowing about the survivors and the urge to take over, he rushed to Rawalpindi where in a high-level meeting, he faced tough resistance.

4. The mortal remains were shifted to CMH, Multan. The doctors performed a post-mortem on Brig Gen Wassom which revealed that he had died in air before the plane hit the ground. For the rest of the victims, the doctors were stopped from conducting the post-mortem. If done, it could have determined the cause of their death. The Board of Inquiry confirmed the presence of sulphur, antimony and other lethal chemical agents on the damaged parts of the wreckage. It is also suspected that some odourless, poisonous gases were leaked inside the cockpit rendering the crew unconscious. That is how, it is deduced, no May Day signals were received at the control tower.

5. US law requires mandatory FBI investigation into the killing of any US national in any part of the world. In this case, when the FBI team was about to leave for Pakistan, it was mysteriously stopped by the US Secretary of State. It is also surprising that the team, which had already arrived to assist in the investigation, was without any formal request by the Government of Pakistan.

6. Ten months after the crash, an FBI team of only three Americans, without an air-accident expert or forensic expert, arrived. It only recorded the verbal statements of a few concerned individuals without any worthwhile effort to go into detailed investigations. By then, the PPP had come to power and it was futile to expect any cooperative move from the government. Colonel (retd) Ghulam Sarwar Cheema, Minister of State for Defence, in response to a question about the outcome, replied that anyone interested in knowing the outcome of the investigations should call Allah directly. Such was the callous attitude of the government functionaries responsible for conducting the investigation.

7. The FBI team which had arrived, as mentioned above, was found to be without any explicit mandate by both the US and Pakistani governments. The team was handed over a list of 25 individuals who should have been questioned for their possible involvement in the criminal act but none of them were confronted. After a trip to Taxila and Murree, the team finally left.

8. In 1979, Zulfiqar Ali (ZA) Bhutto, the executed leader of the PPP, in one of his writings had threatened that "If I am assassinated, my sons will take revenge." Even before his hanging, his sons and siblings formed a terrorist network "Al-Zulfiqar" (AZO) which carried out a series of terrorist attacks in the country. Die-hard political workers and estranged youth were recruited in its ranks and taken to India, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria for terrorist training. One such draft was arrested by the Pakistan Navy when found voyaging towards the Indian shores. AZO had gained strength and capabilities, and had effectively joined hands with RAW, Mossad, KGB, Afghan Intelligence and any other outfit willing to weaken Pakistan. It fired a missile on the president's aircraft at Rawalpindi but was unable to hit the target. Another aircraft was hijacked from Kabul and Damascus. From the manifest, Murtaza Bhutto singled out Major Tariq Rahim, had him killed and threw the dead body onto the tarmac at Kabul Airport. This ill-fated officer was the son of a retired general and had served as ADC to Murtaza's father. Traveling together in a car, Chaudhry Zahoor Ellahi and Justice Maulvi Mushtaq were ambushed at Lahore. The latter was Chief Justice, Lahore High Court, who presided over the trial of ZA Bhutto and awarded him the death sentence. In the attack, Chaudhry Zahoor Ellahi was killed while the Chief Justice sustained serious injuries.

9. Soon after the destruction of Pak-I and its passengers, Murtaza Bhutto claimed that the AZO was responsible for the crime, but detracted his claim when he came to know about the killing of American nationals.

10. General Zia-ul Haq lived and died for Islam. Having defeated and disintegrated the Soviet Union, he was dreaming of translating Muslim unity into one ummah. This would have caused alarm for those who didn't want this. The plant at Kahuta, still in its infancy, needed to be nursed. Given his patriotism, commitment and aspirations, President Zia-ul Haq was a willing donor. Pakistan, under him, could not be deterred from pursuing the nuclear path. Soviet Union's festering wounds could not be cured without the healing touch of the one who bled its nose.

11. The Soviet Union, through its Friendship and Defence Treaty with India, had broken Pakistan into two. Zia-ul Haq had paid back to the Soviets in the same coins and was determined to pay back the Indians.

12. Rajiv Gandhi had asked Pakistan that to stop interfering in the Khalistan Movement or else it would repent for generations. The Soviets resolved to punish Pakistan for its defeat. Pakistan, under Mr Bhutto during his last days in office, was about to be annexed with the Soviet Block. There was a strong nexus with Syria, Libya and Palestinian leaders trying to woo Pakistan to the Soviet Union. The game plan was reversed under General Zia-ul Haq. It could not have pleased the Soviets, being a global hegemonic power. Israel could not remain aloof and unconcerned from the emerging potential threat of Islamic revival. The vested interests in the region could not sit back and watch the fast-changing scenario in the global context. John H. Dean, a Jew and then US Ambassador to India, testified to Israel's involvement in the crash. He was later declared insane and sent to Switzerland for recovery and recuperation. Israel's involvement, by logic, means American consent, and Indian connivance and collaboration.

13. An interesting fact about Mr Dean is that he suspected that Israeli agents may have also been involved in the mysterious plane crash in 1988 that killed Pakistan's President General Zia-ul Haq. Later, he was rehabilitated by the State Department, given a distinguished service medal and the insanity charge was said to be fake by a former head of the department's medical service.

14. Various commissions were formed by the government to investigate the disaster without pin-pointing the criminals who had destabilised Pakistan via sabotage. No discreet Inquiry or criminal investigations were ordered by the then COAS who quickly covered up the tragedy. Justice Shafiur Rehman himself mentioned to me that the debris of the ill-fated C-130 had been removed and disposed off from the hanger, thus denying any examination/evidence. General Zia-ul Haq was a human and all humans have friends and foes just the way Brutus carried a knife while being in attendance in Caesar's court. What services did Major General Mahmud Durrani render (late) Benazir Bhutto so that even after her death, he could was not left unrewarded, and was made the National Security Advisor?

(To be continued)

The writer is a former minister for religious affairs. Email: ulhaq.ijaz@ gmail.com

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 08 Sep 2009 04:07

Let us not beg anymore ---- Tasneem Noorani

Why are we begging for the resumption of composite dialogue? Does it really have that much potential for us?

The Indians keenly sought progress on the trade issue but their starting salvo was the injustice by Pakistan for not awarding them the most favoured nation status (MFN). When we would say that despite that (non provision of MFN), Indian exports to Pakistan were growing faster than vice versa, they would offer to do whatever we wanted to rectify this situation. When we would point out that it is the high tariff on products in which we are strong; they would argue that tariffs are the same for everyone. When we would say that in addition to tariffs there are non-tariff barriers, for example, the test of dyes used in the printing of textiles, they would say again that this applies to everyone but they would see what could be done. As a result, our exporters would return frustrated from India.

Seeing the performance of the composite dialogue for the last five years, there does not seem to be any justification to beg for them. As for the Bombay carnage, Pakistan should have nothing to hide. The non-state organisations, if involved, should be exposed and taken to task. If the evidence provided by India is inadequate to do anything more than is being done, it should be made public for all to see why nothing more can be done.

Pakistan is poor, disorganised, beset with terrorism and has an unstable political system. However, all that does not prevent it from maintaining its self respect and dignity. In a conflict between a rich and a poor man, it is the rich man who stands to lose more.

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 08 Sep 2009 04:27

http://http-server.carleton.ca/~dcarmen ... index.html

An overview of South asian crisis

Nuclear Proliferation and Security in South Asia

SYNOPSIS

A) Assumptions:

1) Working assumption is that for both states (Pakistan and India) nuclear weapons are at hand;
2) Evidence - 1974 India exploded a nuclear device (and again in 1998 for both states);
3) In 1979 India's PM Desai declared that India would not build nuclear bombs but his government fell before invasion of Afghanistan. So not all Indian governments are necessarily predisposed to developing a sustained nuclear programme and a coherent nuclear strategy to go along with it.

Since domestic factors cannot explain all of India and Pakistan's behaviour what might be the strategic reasons that would explain why these states have nuclear weapons?

In general nuclear weapons serve three purposes:

- to counter conventional forces
- as a weapon of mass destruction/terror that would terminate a war
- to counter other nuclear weapons

If any of these points were informing a sustained and coherent nuclear strategy then we would expect that:

- For India: as a contingency against future conflict with China;
- For Pakistan: nuclear program would be undertaken to not only to deter India with its larger conventional army but also its more advanced nuclear capability. Precipitating event was the loss of East Pakistan in 1971.

C) However the evidence tends to suggest that there is no coherent nuclear strategy for South Asia:

1) No evidence of sustained or systematic development of nuclear doctrine that incorporates the use of or the threat of use of nuclear weapons;

2) Both claim that nuclear weapons would be used in retaliatory measures. However, India pursued normalization of relations with China in the early 1990s calling into question its claim of a threat from China;

3) Some argue that India's nuclear weapons programme would be a status weapon; one that might accord them a seat on a revamped UNSC;

4) For Pakistan the logic goes - extended nuclear deterrence allows Pakistan to continue high-level support of Kashmir knowing that India is unlikely to retaliate quid pro quo;

D) The last point would suggest that, within a regional context, the existence of nuclear weapons programmes is primarily a response to second order threats. Stephen Cohen has argued that both Pakistan and India's nuclear weapons programmes are a response to second order and not first order threats (Cohen 1994).

So it could be concluded that nuclear proliferation in South Asia will continue to permit ongoing low intensity conflict...very low intensity conflict. It might even serve to promote stability. Consider the amount of diplomatic attention the region is now receiving, probably more than the Middle East and Bosnia put together. It could also be argued that nuclear weapons may help to sustain regional interstate peace.

E) Evidence from the International Crisis Behaviour Project shows that the presence of nuclear weapons in S Asia (since India acquired weapons in 1974) has indeed prevented vertical escalation (interstate war) and has also created opportunities for low intensity horizontal conflict:

Evidence from evaluation of crises in South Asian Region, 1947-1994

- few wars, many crises, no wars since 1971;
- most if not all crises between India and Pakistan are associated with decolonisation
- there is a shift from interstate to intrastate conflicts and crises since 1971;
- all post 1971 conflicts are low intensity and contained in terms of violence - few crises are salient beyond subsystem;
- conflict between India and Pakistan since the 1980's has moved from interstate conflict to diffusion and terrorism and other horizontal forms of conflict;
- Most Pakistani activity in the region focuses on supporting insurgencies in Kashmir but also in the Punjab, Assam and Sri Lanka...

F) Conclusion:

South Asia's low intensity conflicts are not likely to go away over the short term because of Pakistan's decidedly weaker position on the nuclear issue.

India's actions this spring may have pre-empted Pakistan and forced it into to pursuing a policy that it cannot sustain.

If this is the case then Pakistan may simply revert back to its role of supporting insurgencies in the region until it gets what it wants on Kashmir.

Policy implication: Kashmir may be the key to ensuring that relations between India and Pakistan do not go awry. However, solving this dilemma does nothing to prevent ongoing proliferation in the region.

http://www.carleton.ca/cifp/app/serve.php/1217.pdf
Regional Fragility assessment

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 08 Sep 2009 04:44

Pakistan - the gift that keeps on giving....

Airline terror trial: The bomb plot to kill 10,000 people

Vivek_A · Post by **Vivek_A** » 08 Sep 2009 04:50

Roadside bomb kills five soldiers in S Waziristan

JAMRUD: Five soldiers were killed when a remote-controlled bomb exploded in South Waziristan on Monday, a day after forces killed 33 Taliban as part of a weeklong campaign in the Khyber Pass, officials said. The blast struck a routine military patrol en route to Wana from Tayarzai.“The patrol was sent ahead of a military convoy to check the security on the road and a bomb planted by the Taliban went off and killed five soldiers,” an intelligence official said. Separately, unidentified men killed Tahir Khan, a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid in Kanju area of Swat. staff report

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 08 Sep 2009 05:17

Jinnah to Hafiz Saeed Similarities in their anti-India agenda ---- G Parthasarathy

While Mahatma Gandhi tried to address centuries of exploitation and alienation of Dalits in India together with leaders like Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Jinnah endeavoured to foment Dalit alienation. He also encouraged elements in princely states like Jodhpur and Travancore-Cochin to declare independence. His aim was to Balkanise India and ensure domination of the sub-continent by a minority of its population. Jinnah’s approach to the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 was motivated by the belief that after 10 years, a united Punjab and Sind in the west, together with Bengal and Assam in the east, would break away from a fragile and fragmented India.

The statesmanlike visit of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to the “Minar-e-Pakistan” in Lahore signalled that India had no intention of reversing Partition and that it wishes the people of Pakistan well. The challenges that Pakistan’s establishment poses will be overcome when the values of secularism, pluralism and inclusive democratic development are established as being more enduring than the fantasies of nationhood based exclusively on religion, which Jinnah propounded, or the hate and bigotry of Hafiz Mohammed Saeed. Banning books whose contents many may find objectionable is not the way to deal with such challenges.

khan · Post by **khan** » 08 Sep 2009 06:06

Vivek_A wrote: Shrill joins the nutty nation...

TheNation welcomes new Editor

LAHORE - Dr Shireen Mazari yesterday joined the Nawa-i-Waqt Group of Publications as the Editor of daily TheNation. Shireen Mazari holds a Ph.D in Political Science from Columbia University, New York and is a highly respected scholar and commentator on Strategic Studies and Political Science.

Is there any way to verify this?

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 08 Sep 2009 06:22

Acharya wrote:http://http-server.carleton.ca/~dcarmen ... index.html

An overview of South Asian crisis

. . . .Policy implication: Kashmir may be the key to ensuring that relations between India and Pakistan do not go awry. . . .

That is a mistake all the Western experts make. It is not irredentism that is the root cause.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 08 Sep 2009 06:47

khan wrote:
Vivek_A wrote:LAHORE - Dr Shireen Mazari yesterday joined the Nawa-i-Waqt Group of Publications as the Editor of daily TheNation. Shireen Mazari holds a Ph.D in Political Science from Columbia University, New York and is a highly respected scholar and commentator on Strategic Studies and Political Science.
Is there any way to verify this?

Oh. . .that has been verified and found to be so untrue.

khan · Post by **khan** » 08 Sep 2009 06:57

SSridhar wrote:Oh. . .that has been verified and found to be so untrue.

I am talking about the Ph.D from Columbia... I know a few people that go there, even the dumbest is more articulate than she is. I find it hard to believe that she has a post graduate degree from any Tier 1 institution.

disha · Post by **disha** » 08 Sep 2009 07:03

CRamS wrote:.. and here come 2 Indian women, beautiful ones at that, requesting the restaurant manger to put up some 'South Asia' independent film festival poster. ...

Are you sure they were Indians? And not Pakis? Or 2nd generation ABCD types with Paki BFs? I come across a lot of Pakis who are suddenly from UP, India and lived in Karachi. And lot of women who have Paki BFs suddenly going South Asian.

disha · Post by **disha** » 08 Sep 2009 07:07

Chandragupta wrote:Had a similar experience with two Indian chicks (young & beautiful ) in Delhi earlier this year. Typical DU educated, loose, vodka guzzling b$%^&*#s ...

Instead of popping your vein next time, you can invite them over to Pakistan. Let them know how they can be very useful there.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 08 Sep 2009 07:48

khan wrote:
SSridhar wrote:Oh. . .that has been verified and found to be so untrue.
I am talking about the Ph.D from Columbia... I know a few people that go there, even the dumbest is more articulate than she is. I find it hard to believe that she has a post graduate degree from any Tier 1 institution.

From ProQuest dissertation database,

International regimes and concepts of hegemony: A comparative case study of the international trade and nonproliferation regimes
by Mazari, Shireen Mehrunnissa, Ph.D., Columbia University, 1987 , 391 pages; AAT 8809391
Abstract (Summary)

This thesis attempts to evolve a distinctive concept of international regimes--linked to but distinguishable from concepts such as international order. It examines the concept of international regimes through two differing perspectives, the hegemonic stability theory and the broader Gramscian notion of hegemony, in order to understand the origin and development of international regimes.

A study is made of the structure and evolution of two regimes from two very different issue-areas: international trade and nuclear nonproliferation. While there has been work done on regimes within one particular issue-area, no comparative study of regimes from such different issue-areas has been undertaken. Therefore, a comparative study will allow one to assess the extent of relevance of a general concept of regimes in relation to diverse issue-areas by determining whether similar forces prevail in both issue-areas, governing regime formation, change and decay.
Indexing (document details)
School: Columbia University
School Location: United States -- New York
Source: DAI-A 49/03, p. 615, Sep 1988
Source type: Dissertation
Subjects: International law, International relations
Publication Number: AAT 8809391
Document URL: [deleted for personal reasons]
ProQuest document ID: 753045991

Its too old, needs to be ordered on paper, no e-copies around.

asprinzl · Post by **asprinzl** » 08 Sep 2009 09:19

What? Columbia University is a Tier 1 institution? Heck NO!!! If you have the money to pay the 65K to 80K per year, you can be assured a place in Columbia U or NYU. Nothing else matters. On top of it a degree in Political Science or English Lit from any Ivy League is no different from any other colleges big or small.

Some elites with half the brain of an ameba just because of their deep pockets get to go to these big name schools and do their political sciences. Once out, they get to do their internships in big name outfits from congressional offices to other places and in turn get the short cut to power positions. Any wonder you most times find idiots for advisers in high political offices and government bodies? Thats what Ivy League schools are for. and we saw how smart some of these folks are. They messed up the economy and had to have the tax payers bail them out. And it was these same people who for very long time whinned about the welfare recipients. Ooops going OT here.
Avram

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 08 Sep 2009 10:25

What? Columbia University is a Tier 1 institution? Heck NO!!! If you have the money to pay the 65K to 80K per year, you can be assured a place in Columbia U or NYU. Nothing else matters. On top of it a degree in Political Science or English Lit from any Ivy League is no different from any other colleges big or small.

Avram, It can be argued that any Tier 1 univ in US one can get enrolled into an undergrad course and graduate based on money and influence ..... but a PhD is something I believe which cannot be bought EASILY especially from Tier 1 univ.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 08 Sep 2009 10:41

Zia's son on the 'Criminal Conspiracy' that killed his father
Excerpts

The mystery was that the Vice Chief of the Army Staff General Aslam Beg, having himself hovered over the crash site, preferred to fly back to Rawalpindi. Major General Mehmud Durrani, the host of the entire episode, moved to Multan for a comfortable sleep.

Now claiming credit for democracy and decorated with a Democracy Medal, then General Beg did not feel obliged to care for his fallen comrades. Without inquiring about the survivors, and with the urge to take over, he rushed to Rawalpindi where in a high level meeting, he faced stiff resistance from powerful personalities.

Colonel Ghulam Sarwar Cheema (retd), minister of state for defence, in response to a question about the outcome, said that anyone interested in the outcome of the investigations should make a direct telephone call to Allah , who alone can reveal the outcome of the investigations.

Die-hard political workers and estranged youth were recruited by Al Zulfikar and taken to India, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria for terrorist training. One such draft, on its way to Indian shores, was arrested by the Pakistan Navy.

Al Zulfikar gained strength and capabilities, and effectively joined hands with the enemies of Pakistan — RAW, Mossad, the KGB, Afghan intelligence, and any other outfit willing and working to weaken Pakistan.

General Zia-ul Haq lived and died for Islam. Having defeated and disintegrated the Soviet Union, he was dreaming of an Islamic renaissance and of transforming the Muslim world into a united ummah.{In other words, he was trying to become a Caliph} This could have caused alarm in those opposed to this idea. The plant at Kahuta, still in its infancy, needed to be fertilised with bloody; for his patriotism, commitment and aspirations, General Zia-ul Haq was a willing donor. Pakistan under him could not be deterred from pursuing the nuclear path. The Soviet Union, through its Friendship and Defence Treaty with India, had broken Pakistan in two. Zia-ul Haq paid the Soviets back in the same coin, and was determined to pay back the Indians.

The Soviets had resolved to punish Pakistan for the defeat it had suffered in Afghanistan. Pakistan under Mr Bhutto during his last days in office was about to be annexed into the Soviet bloc. There was a strong nexus with Syria, Libya and Palestinian leaders, who were trying to woo Pakistan towards the Soviet Union. This game plan was reversed under General Zia-ul Haq. That could not have pleased the Soviets, given their status as a global hegemonic power.

Rajiv Gandhi had threatened Pakistan that it should stop interfering in the Khalistan movement or else it will repent for generations. Israel also could not remain aloof and unconcerned from the emerging threat of Islamic revival.

The relevant quarters, interested and anguished, could not just sit back in this fast changing global scenario. John H Dean, a Jew and then US Ambassador to India, testified to Israel’s involvement in the crash. He was later declared insane and sent to Switzerland for recovery and recuperation. Israel’s involvement, by logic, means American consent and Indian connivance and collaboration.

An interesting yet mysterious fact about Mr Dean is that he suspects Israeli agents may have also been involved in the C-130 crash. That probably led to a decision in Washington to declare him mentally unfit, forcing his resignation from the Foreign Service after a 30-year career. Later he was rehabilitated by the State Department, given a distinguished service medal and the insanity charge was confirmed to be phoney by a former head of the department’s medical service.

General Zia-ul Haq was a human, and all humans have friends and foes; and some friends-turned-foes. Carrying and concealing his knife, through centuries, Brutus is always in attendance in the court of Caesar. What services, for example, rendered endeared Major General Mehmud Durrani to Benazir Bhutto to the extent that even after her death, he could not be left unrewarded and was made the National Security Advisor? {So, it was the combination of the former NSA Mehmud Durrani & Gen. Aslam Beg who killed Zia ?}

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 08 Sep 2009 11:52

Stan_Savljevic wrote:
From ProQuest dissertation database,

International regimes and concepts of hegemony: A comparative case study of the international trade and nonproliferation regimes
by Mazari, Shireen Mehrunnissa, Ph.D., Columbia University, 1987 , 391 pages (of utter senile rubbish) ; AAT 8809391

The only positive outcome of Shrileen's PhD that I see is that she had to painstakingly type 391 pages and hopefully her advisor used to red ink large chunks of it so that she had to re-re-re-type those 100s of pages through countless nights

arun · Post by **arun** » 08 Sep 2009 12:12

Excerpted portion restricted to Pakistan’s investigation of the Mumbai terrorist attack and treatment of Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists implicated in the attack:

UPDATED ON:
Monday, September 07, 2009
10:22 Mecca time, 07:22 GMT

In an interview with Al Jazeera's Hamish Macdonald, P Chidambaram, India's minister of home affairs, says Pakistan is "deliberately" stifling the investigation into the attack on Mumbai in November last year.

Chidambaram said Pakistan was failing to follow up on the evidence provided to it by India linking the leader of the Lashkar-e-Taiba organisation with those who carried out the attacks.

During the interview, the minister produced documents detailing names, times and locations of alleged meetings involving Hafeez Sayeed, the Lashkar-e-Taiba chief, and the attackers. Pakistan has repeatedly refused to re-arrest Sayeed because it says India has failed to produce convincing evidence.

Dissatisfaction with Pakistani investigations

Al Jazeera: So you have made it very clear that you are not satisfied with the response [from] Pakistan … to chasing down those responsible for plotting the Mumbai attacks. Why are you not satisfied?

P Chidambaram: Because they are not arresting the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks. They are still on Pakistan soil. We know their names. We have shared their names with them. They are not investigating the case. The trial has not opened yet. It will be a year on the 26th of November. Therefore, we are thoroughly, totally dissatisfied with the Pakistani response.

Do you believe that they are deliberately holding up the investigation?

Yes. Regrettably that is the answer, but yes.

So the Pakistani government, the Pakistani authorities, let's be clear about this, are deliberately stifling the investigation into the Mumbai attacks?

Yes.

Five individuals, militants, arrested in Pakistan, went before a court in Rawalpindi last weekend. Why is that not enough?

Where is the trial? Where is the charge sheet? When is a trial starting? When is the first witness being examined?

Implicating Lashkar-e-Taiba

You've handed over dossiers to the Pakistanis which you say include cogent and convincing evidence that links Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafeez Sayeed to the Mumbai attacks. What is that evidence then?

Well firstly I am a trained lawyer, so you'll have to accept my word as against a non-lawyer's word. The evidence that we have presented tells any investigator, any prosecutor what Hafeez Sayeed did, where he was, whom he met, what he told them, what his role was. If that is not evidence to continue [an] investigation against Hafeez Sayeed, what else is evidence?

But he was held and then released because the courts in Pakistan were not convinced that there was enough evidence?

The court can only be convinced if you present evidence… There is a vast distinction between the responsibility and role of the prosecution and the role and responsibility of the judge. The judge does not investigate. The judge weighs the evidence presented to the court. If no evidence is presented to the court, what will [the] judge do?

Why won't you tell us what that evidence is though? Because at the moment we have the Indian authorities saying there is sufficient evidence, the Pakistani authorities saying it's insufficient. What is the evidence? Where was he when the attacks were being planned?

December 2007 - January 2008 he was in a place where Kasab and others were trained. He spoke to the trainees on many occasions. There was another training camp at a place called Chekhalabandi mountain of Muzaffarabad. Hafeez Sayeed was in the camp and met the trainees.

He was accompanied by a person known as major general "saab" [sir].

Hafeez Sayeed finally selected the trainees and gave them new names. Kasab was given a new name - "Abu Mujahid" - that name was given by Hafeez Sayeed.

Then they underwent marine training at a training camp and Hafeez Sayeed was present for that training too.

On the 13th day of roza [Muslim fasting during Ramadan] the selected trainees were called to the office of the Bait-ul-Mujahideen and Hafeez Sayeed met them there. I could go on. Places, dates, names, conversations.

Now if a prosecutor is unwilling to take this as prima facie evidence, investigate further, visit the places, go to the places, arrest Hafeez Sayeed, and discover further evidence what does the prosecution of Pakistan do?

You mentioned a ... major-general "saab". Who is he?

I don't know. All I know is there is a reference to a major-general "saab" who accompanied Hafeez Sayeed.

And you believe [him] to be a member of the Pakistani military?

I don't know. Somebody must investigate that. You see, please let's understand what investigation means. We can only give leads to our investigative agents.

That's pretty concerning though … of a major general accompanying him?

He may be a retired major general, he may be a serving major general. I don't know. That has to be investigated. So Hafeez Sayeed has to be asked where he was on those days, did he visit those places, who accompanied him. That is the purpose of investigation. In no crime, in no case [would] the accused or the culprit… come and tell the investigator "I did all these things". Purpose of investigation is to take leads and investigate. That I am afraid the Pakistanis are not doing.

Al Jazeera

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 08 Sep 2009 12:26

4 schoolchildren killed in Orakzai by Taliban because they were Shi'a
I hope TNFJ is taking note of this monstrous atrocity. I expect it will choose a time and place of its reckoning to retaliate.

Malayappan · Post by **Malayappan** » 08 Sep 2009 12:31

Do not recollect this being picked up before -

In today's Indian Express - http://www.indianexpress.com/news/north ... s/514237/0

Northern Errors by Rekha Chowdhary (Jammu University)

Some excerpts -

Last week, the federal cabinet of Pakistan approved the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order, 2009. By virtue of this order, the official name of the area has been changed from ‘Northern Area’ to Gilgit-Baltistan, and it has been granted political autonomy.

....the order might further complicate the thorny Kashmir issue. There are already voices expressing concern over the unilateral change in the status quo of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is being seen as a step towards the merger of Gilgit-Baltistan with Pakistan. It is not only India that has expressed its apprehensions in that direction, the political leaders of ‘Azad Kashmir’ and the Kashmiri separatists have also reacted in a similar manner

According to Syed Salahuddin, since the political status of the state is still unresolved, any change in its territorial integrity would have a negative impact on the issue. JKLF leader Yasin Malik and other separatist leaders echo this stand.

arun · Post by **arun** » 08 Sep 2009 12:53

SSridhar wrote:4 schoolchildren killed in Orakzai by Taliban because they were Shi'a

I hope TNFJ is taking note of this monstrous atrocity. I expect it will choose a time and place of its reckoning to retaliate.

There is no mention of the Shia identity of the victims in the article you posted.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 08 Sep 2009 13:25

arun wrote: There is no mention of the Shia identity of the victims in the article you posted.

See this

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 08 Sep 2009 14:59

The assassination of that "Good Muslim",Gen Zia (the snake),could not have been engineered without the assistance of insiders,within the Paki military.They also could not have done it without the help of outsiders.At the time it happened,the CIA was one favourite villain of the piece,because of Zia's radical Islamist ideology.The way in which Saddam was dealt with ,a former pro-US despot indicates that Zia could well have been on Uncle sam's hit list especially if he had ambitious nuclear plans for the "ummah".However,the presence of two Americans ,the ambassador and a general leaves a big Q mark as to its involvement.It has happened before,the US sacrificing its "soldiers",Churchill was a past master at this,but why were these two Americans expendable? Where they getting to be too close to Zia or where they just accidental victims taking a ride at Zia's invitation? We are unlikely to ever know.Suffice it to say that Zia's departure was well received in general by Pak's neighbours like Afghanistan,India,Russia,etc.

Regarding the Kashmir "Issue",India should take the stand that the whole of J&K belongs to it,if only to justify going after the Chinese in a manner if our choosing at an opportune moment.China is squatting on territory ceded to it by Pak in so-called POK.If China is deliberately preventing any movement on the border issue ,so that it can take advantage of the border's "opacity" and land grab as in '62,then India should adopt the same attitude towards Pak,China's all weather friend AND China,for we can pay China back in similar coin.After all,"what's good for the goose is good for the gander"!

Meanwhile,more details are emerging about Pak's handiwork in the London aircraft bombing plot.

"western intelligence officials both in the UK and the US have grown more fearful that further attacks on the west will be planned on Pakistani soil and carried out by people of Pakistani heritage."

Airline bomb plotters' links to al-Qaida and other convicted terroristsConnections established with those behind failed attacks on London, and senior figures in Osama bin Laden's network in Pakistan.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/se ... stan-links

Plot leaders Assad Sarwar and Abdulla Ali had made several trips to Pakistan. Sarwar had a telephone with multiple SIM cards and both men used international cards and public telephone boxes to make calls to Pakistan.

They seemed to have knowledge of counterterrorism techniques. "Their operational security was very, very good," a senior police officer said. "A large part of this plan was invented in Pakistan."

'This plot was so ingenious it would have by-passed enhanced security' Link to this audio Woolwich crown court was told that Ali, 28, and Sarwar, 29, exchanged coded emails with terrorist masterminds in Pakistan after they visited the country in 2006. UK counterterrorism officials believe one of those referred to by the codename "Paps" or "Papa" in the correspondence is Rashid Rauf, suspected of masterminding the plot. The emails also refer to his lieutenant sent to Britain in August 2006 to oversee the final stages of an al-Qaida plot aimed at causing mass murder and stunning the west.

Prosecutor Peter Wright QC told the court: "The tenor of the emails from Ali or Sarwar to Pakistan is of a progress report. The tenor of the emails from Pakistan is of instruction, command, direction to the men on the ground.

"They demonstrate also that Ali and Sarwar had entirely different but equally important roles to perform, and they were entirely under the control and direction of Pakistan."

The two men began to lay the groundwork for the airline plot when they returned to the UK from trips to Pakistan in December 2005.

In June 2006 Sarwar flew again to Pakistan, where he was taught how to refine hydrogen peroxide to the high concentration required to produce a bomb, and how to make the chemical detonator HMTD.

Giving evidence to the jury in his own defence, Sarwar told them of a method he had learned to calculate the strength of hydrogen peroxide. He told jurors that his tutor in Pakistan, a Kashmiri freedom fighter called Jameel Shah, had given him advice on handling HMTD and how to boil down the volatile hydrogen peroxide without injuring himself.

"You tend to place it in a large metal pot over a camping stove, keeping it at a low temperature," he said. "You need to monitor it constantly because if it gets too hot, it could catch fire.

"That's how they do it in Pakistan, in the outdoors."

Both Sarwar and Ali were in Pakistan for what police believe was terrorist training at the same time as members of the cell that attacked London on 7 July 2005. Ali was still Pakistan both on the day of attacks on the capital's transport system that killed 52 innocent people and at the time of the attempted attacks of 21 July.

After the two men were arrested along with six fellow plotters, investigators found links to a past terror plot. Ali had been in regular phone contact with one of the gang who tried to bomb London on 21 July 2005. There were several calls between telephones registered to Ali and to Mukhtar Ibrahim in the months running up to the failed suicide bombings. Ibrahim is serving a life sentence for the attempted attack.

UK counter-terrorism officials believe that a trip by Ibrahim to Pakistan in December 2004 for terrorist training was allegedly organised by a man known only as "Gabs" in the airline plot trial. He knew several of the plotters involved in the conspiracy to use bombs disguised as soft drinks to blow up seven transatlantic aircraft, the jury heard.

A naturalised British citizen born in Syria, "Gabs" lives in east London. He was tried and acquitted of a terrorist offence in 2004 but is accused by US authorities of a string of terrorism-related offences. They say he provided "material and logistical support to al-Qaida and other terrorist organisations" and facilitated "travel for recruits seeking to meet with al-Qaida leaders and take part in terrorist training".

They also accuse him of having been "in regular contact with UK-based Islamist extremists, involved in the radicalising of individuals in the UK through the distribution of extremist media" and of having trained at jihadi camps run by a militant Kashmiri group.

Tracked to his last known address, a woman who answered the door denied all knowledge of the man. The Guardian is not naming him for legal reasons.

A counterterrorism source described "Gabs" as a "shadowy figure" and confirmed that he had been one of the factors that had led investigators to the terrorist cell behind the airline plot.

A senior British police source did not rule out the possibility that other people had been involved, but said they believed they had arrested the main conspirators. "We ripped the heart out of this one," he said.

The links between the airline plotters and previous terrorist conspiracies, plus the sophistication of the devices and plotting, led western counterterrorism officials to believe al-Qaida was involved.

It was the arrest of Rashid Rauf in Pakistan under suspicion of being part of the conspiracy that led UK police to speed up their plans to arrest the other suspects. They feared that if the UK cell learned of Rauf's arrest they would believe their capture was imminent and either lash out or try to go to ground.

Rauf later escaped from Pakistani custody. He is thought to have been killed by a US drone strike in November 2008, but some believe he is still alive.

US intelligence believes the cell was directed by al-Qaida leaders, possiblyAbu Obaidah al-Masri, who died of natural causes this year in Pakistan.

Seven of the accused refused to answer questions from detectives after their arrest. Their first accounts came only at the trial when they gave evidence in their own defence. Ali said he had worked in refugee camps on border between Pakistan and Afghanistan after the US invasion, and he decided that British and American foreign policy were the root causes of the suffering he witnessed both personally and through the media.

He would meet Sarwar, with whom he discussed politics and how to try to change things, and together they came to the idea of setting off explosions in Britain. Ali said he and Sarwar discussed a list of targets including Canary Wharf, Liverpool Street station and the Bank of England, "anywhere that is iconic and sensational". UK officials say the planning for any attack on these targets was less advanced than the airline plot.

Ali said that at one point in 2006 he was struggling to find a suitable device when Sarwar said he knew "someone in Pakistan who might be able to help us". Ali said this man had fought in Kashmir against Indian forces based there.

In his suicide video Ali says that warnings from the al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden to the west to leave Muslims alone had been ignored. The themes in his rhetoric chimed with those from other al-Qaida videos, notably Bin Laden's "foreign lands" speech, and also the video suicide note left by the 7 July bomber Mohammed Siddique Khan.

The strong connections between the convicted plotters and figures in Pakistan are part of the reason the British government has applied increasing public and private pressure on Pakistan to do more to tackle terrorism. Since the plot was disrupted in summer 2006, western intelligence officials both in the UK and the US have grown more fearful that further attacks on the west will be planned on Pakistani soil and carried out by people of Pakistani heritage. Pakistani officials reject these suggestions and say their country is being used as a scapegoat.

arun · Post by **arun** » 08 Sep 2009 16:45

Headline in an Australian newspaper to be complimented for capturing the essence of global terrorism, namely links to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

No pussy footing around the fact that the UK Aircraft bombing plot, along with very many other terrorist plots around the world, has a link to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan by obfuscating those links with misleading references to Asian’s, South Asian’s or Muslim’s:

Pakistan link in UK airline bomb plot

20:39 AEST Tue Sep 8 2009

By Guy Jackson

A plot to blow up at least seven transatlantic aircraft using liquid bombs was masterminded from Pakistan, intelligence services said as more details emerged on Tuesday of the complex planned attacks.

British police were forced to go to extraordinary lengths to build their case against the men who prosecutors say were hoping to cause more deaths than the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The trial, which ended in the convictions of three British Muslims on Monday, was peppered with evidence that members of the London-based gang were frequently in communication with figures linked to al-Qaeda in Pakistan.

"In terms of al-Qaeda involvement, there is a large part of this plot that has been thought through or invented in Pakistan," one senior counter-terrorism source said after the trial.

The jury were shown intercepted emails in which Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, Tanvir Hussain, 28, and Assad Sarwar, 29, asked Pakistani contacts for advice on building bombs in drinks bottles to detonate on flights over the Atlantic........................

Reports said the men's main point of contact was Rashid Rauf, a British-born Muslim who fled to the tribal areas of Pakistan in 2002 after the murder of his uncle and developed strong links with al-Qaeda.

Intelligence services also reportedly believe he was a key contact of the gang in the 2005 bombings of the London transport system which killed 52 people.

The trial heard that Ali had already been identified as a dangerous radical when he was stopped at London's Heathrow Airport in June 2006 on his return from a trip to Pakistan.

Customs officials found a large quantity of batteries and a high-sugar powdered drink in his luggage. Both are ingredients for homemade bombs.

He was not arrested but police broke into his flat one night and installed hidden cameras and microphones.

Over the next few months, they watched as Ali and his colleagues experimented with injecting drinks bottles with a mixture of the explosive liquid hydrogen peroxide which they planned to carry on to flights and detonate with a bulb filament. ..................

Fearful that the gang were close to carrying out the plane bombings, the US authorities put pressure on Pakistan to arrest Rauf in 2006. .....................

Rauf escaped from police custody in Pakistan in mysterious circumstances in 2007.....................

Nine MSN

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 08 Sep 2009 17:43

How ISI masterminds FICN

chilarai · Post by **chilarai** » 08 Sep 2009 19:28

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/ ... 35/1/.html

SINGAPORE: A Pakistani couple was caught on Sunday evening trying to steal S$2,000 by sleight of hand.
The man and woman were alleged to have stolen S$2,000 from two Chinese men near a cable car station at Sentosa island.

there goes the taller than oceans and deeper than mountains !

edited to correct the url.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 08 Sep 2009 19:53

8 NATO tankers torched at Quetta city
This is a new development. Earlier the Taliban used to desroy them at Jamrud and Landi Kotal. Later they began doing all that damage in Peshawar itself. Thus Khyber crossing became extremely dangerous and expensive for NATO/ISAF. The Taliban then began targetting Chaman, the other less glamorous crossing. Now, they have escalated the attack to Quetta city itself just like Peshawar.

The armed men opened fire at the oil tankers and set them ablaze in Akhtarabad area of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province . . .

archan · Post by **archan** » 08 Sep 2009 20:25

chilarai,
you got the link wrong.

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 08 Sep 2009 22:06

Israel rejects Mossad’s role in Zia-ul-Haq plane crash

Karkala Joishy · Post by **Karkala Joishy** » 08 Sep 2009 22:12

Tasneem Noorani wrote:
Pakistan is poor, disorganised, beset with terrorism and has an unstable political system. However, all that does not prevent it from maintaining its self respect and dignity. In a conflict between a rich and a poor man, it is the rich man who stands to lose more.

Why are they poor? They are rich... rich in Islam. That's all that should matter.

BijuShet · Post by **BijuShet** » 08 Sep 2009 23:09

archan wrote:chilarai,
you got the link wrong.

Here you go. Posting in full.

Two Pakistanis arrested by police for theft

ChannelNewsasia.com - 7 hrs 30 mins ago
SINGAPORE: A Pakistani couple was caught on Sunday evening trying to steal S$2,000 by sleight of hand.

The man and woman were alleged to have stolen S$2,000 from two Chinese men near a cable car station at Sentosa island.

The suspects are said to have asked the Chinese men to show them some of their Renminbi currency. They then distracted the victims and stole the money by "sleight of hand".

When the victims realised something was amiss they called the police who then arrived at the scene and arrested the 42-year-old Pakistani man.

The 39-year-old woman accomplice and her two young sons were detained at the Woodlands Checkpoint later while trying to leave Singapore by bus.

About S$24,000 in different currencies was subsequently seized from the two suspects.

The couple will be charged with theft. If found guilty, they face up to three years in jail, or a fine or both.

manish · Post by **manish** » 08 Sep 2009 23:10

This is something I came across online today. Its a dated article, but the reference to MuNNA caught my eye. This is a review of the Suzuki Swift written by none other than Jeremy Clarkson, who is famously non-PC and is not known to mince words...
Suzuki Swift Sport: Better than a Mini — so just pretend it's British

....
...{SNIP}...in a yawning and fathomless bout of insomnia last night I struggled to think of a single thing that we in Britain could be proud of.
...
Of course, we shall be proud when Britain hosts the 2012 Olympics, but only if the stadiums are built on time and all the athletes aren’t blown to smithereens by a Pakistani who came to live here because we’re so proud of our tolerance. And even then I bet we only win one bronze for pushing kettles around on some ice.

Although he takes quite a few digs at other nationalities and displays a fair bit of xenophobic tendencies, the reference to Pakis was really funny IMHO! Bakistan Pain-in-da-b#$@!!

BijuShet · Post by **BijuShet** » 08 Sep 2009 23:35

Too small so posting in full. Ensoi...

Nato-supply trailers catch fire

Updated at: 1800 PST, Tuesday, September 08, 2009
QUETTA: At least three oil trailers caught fire in Quetta’s area of Akhtarabad, Geo News reported Tuesday.

The oil trailers were en route to Afghanistan for supply to Nato forces.

According to police sources, first an oil tanker caught fire which engulfed the other two as well.

BijuShet · Post by **BijuShet** » 08 Sep 2009 23:47

You may recall Groper enjoying his Sherry in the youtube video. He explains why...

Literacy rate to surge to 66pc in 2010: PM

Updated at: 1555 PST, Tuesday, September 08, 2009
PESHAWAR: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilanion Tuesday said education was the top priority of the government and it has doubled the budget to increase country's literacy rate.
...
The Prime Minister attributed the current rise in extremism, violence, religious bigotry and falling moral standards in the failure to recognize its women as effective tools for social harmony and national reconstruction.

"So all of us must forge complete unity and join hands in making this dream a reality," he said.
...

BijuShet · Post by **BijuShet** » 09 Sep 2009 00:47

Anybody know a Nigerian who wants to share his ill gotten wealth coz TSP handballers are looking for some easy cash. Ensoi...

Cash-strapped PHF can miss Commonwealth Handball

Tuesday, September 08, 2009
By Alam Zeb Safi

KARACHI: The handball authorities of Pakistan are yet to come up with a clear stance about the Greenshirts’ participation in the Commonwealth Handball Championship penciled in for December 3 to 12 in Abuja, Nigeria, due to lack of sufficient financial resources.

“There is a fifty-fifty chance of Pakistan’s participation in the event as it would cost us around two million rupees and we could hardly afford one million rupees from our own resources,”{Story of Pakistan "Aamdani atthanni Kharcha rupaiya" (Income of 50 Paisa but Expenses of a Full Rupee)} the secretary of Pakistan Handball Federation (PHF) Muhammad Shafique told ‘The News’ from Faisalabad on Monday.

“We have provisionally confirmed our participation but have also informed the organising committee about our financial problems and if we get economical tickets as the fare is very high due to Nigeria’s location off the busy international aerial routs then there is the possibility that we may send our team to the mega event,” Shafique said.
...
The whole sports scenario of Pakistan looks drab as few days ago due to lack of government support the Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) had also announced that the country’s senior volleyball team would not feature in the 15th Asian Volleyball Championship scheduled to be held in Manila later this month.
...

BijuShet · Post by **BijuShet** » 09 Sep 2009 00:59

On a more serious note, I am posting in full . I get a bad feeling about this editorial. The timing seems to be around the 1971 war time and he was 47 years of age at the time. He got arrested for murder but the FIR does not identify the victim and nor has the details of the crime. The guys goes insane after spending 2 years in prison and spends the next 26 years in different hospitals and prisons. Around 1999 when the Vajpayee's hand of friendship initiative was on in full swing, this guy's case shows up on Nawaz Sharif's desk who forwards it to the Home Department. Could all of this mean that this guy is one of our missing PoW soldier? Gurus any opinions or am I spending too much time under my tin foil hat and need to get out more.

38 years lost

Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Just occasionally in a land where injustice is so commonplace as to be unremarkable, there comes to light a case which is truly appalling even by our own jaded standards. Today an 85-year-old man, unable to speak and unable to remember who his family are or where he comes from, is cared for at a shelter home run by Christian missionaries in Murad Memon Goth, Malir. He has spent 38 years in assorted prisons and psychiatric units and has never been tried before a court or convicted of any offence. He stands as a pitiful and shameful indictment of a system that is careless, inept, corrupt and callous to the extreme. Every institution that Saeed-ul-Haq has come into contact with over all those years has failed him – the police, the judiciary, the prison authorities and the highest officers of the land over successive governments. He became 'lost in the system' – a man in name only shuffled from pillar to post, who, having lost the power of speech and reason long ago has never been able to plead his case himself.

His long-time advocate Qadir Khan Mandokhail has for many years spoken for him. He was originally charged with the gravest of offences – murder – in 1971. The FIR does not identify the person he was accused of murdering and there are no details of the crime – and nobody can trace a scrap of paperwork relevant to it either. Two years after his arrest he was transferred to a mental hospital in Hyderabad and then to various hospitals and prisons until 1999 – when institutional neglect really began in earnest. His advocate wrote to the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif who referred the matter to the Sindh Home Department which then compounded his misery by ignoring him for the best part of a decade. Every single one of the officials on whose desk this man's file has sat is culpable. Each of them played a part in the amplification of the suffering of a man who was never proved to be guilty of anything. The only thing he could be said to be guilty of is being a powerless and poverty-stricken nonentity – and there are more than a few million of them in Pakistan on this day. The thing that chills our bones to the marrow is that in all likelihood this man is not alone. There will be other Saeed-ul-Haqs shuffling around the prison system. Other men – and women too – who have become faceless nothings and will die un-mourned. Today he at least is cared for, and may have a little more dignity afforded him in his last years than he has for the last thirty-eight.

BijuShet · Post by **BijuShet** » 09 Sep 2009 01:09

Pakistaniyat on display by everyone involved here. Posting in full Ensoi...

CDGK anti-beggary campaign benefits police

Tuesday, September 08, 2009
By Qadeer Tanoli
Karachi

In an irony of sorts, the anti-beggary campaign being run during Ramazan by the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) has ultimately benefited a few police personnel who have allegedly increased charges for “providing protection” to beggars, The News has learnt.

Beggars from Tariq Road and the surrounding areas reportedly pay up to Rs1.5 million to Rs2 million per week to a few police stations of Jamshed Town, and Rs50 daily to each mobile police officer. CafÈ Liberty to Subahan Bakery are considered “beggary hotspots”.

The influx of beggars has also raised the rent of houses in areas where they usually live. The News learnt that a house which was previously rented at Rs3,000 per month is now being given for Rs6,000. Beggars hailing from Southern Punjab have taken shelter in areas such as Rahmtia Colony, Zia-ul-Haq Colony, Qayyumabad, Neelam Colony and Chakra Goth, while Afghan beggars are living in areas such as Banaras, Sohrab Goth and Nusrat Bhutto Colony.

Around 2,000 beggars are served Iftar at a camp set up just opposite to Delhi Colony by an NGO. The News learnt that this is where they decide their strategies and finalise transactions.

Meanwhile, since the anti-beggary campaign of the CDGK has no impact in areas which fall under the jurisdiction of the cantonment boards, the beggars have focused their attention toward such areas, especially the Clifton Cantonment Board (CCB). The News learnt that heads of teams of beggars were paying as much as Rs500,000 per week as “adjustments” to the Gizri Police Station - a fair amount above the figure of Rs200,000 charged for Defence Housing Authority (DHA) areas last Ramazan.

However, SHO Gizri Safdar Mishwani, when contacted by The News, refuted all such claims and said that there is no question of police invlovement in such activities. However, he said that no FIR has been registered against beggars operating in the area.

Moreover, the contract of begging at Cantonment Station has reportedly been awarded for Rs1 million for the entire month of Ramazan, while beggars at PIDC are bound to pay Rs200 each to the beater of the police.

The details of the other police stations that come under the jurisdiction of the DHA, such as the Boating Basin and Darakhshan police stations, are yet to be known. Around 10,000 beggars are estimated to be operating this Ramazan in DHA, including Phase IV, Ibrahim Masjid, Phase VI, Sultan Masjid, Shabaz Commercial, Mubarak Masjid, and Imambargah Yasrib. A majority of them come from Ibrahim Hyderi and the police have allegedly assured them that they will not be arrested.