Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan - July 07, 2009

Bhima · Post by **Bhima** » 09 Sep 2009 02:20

manish wrote: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.

I'm just glad he said Pakistani and not Asian.

abhijitm · Post by **abhijitm** » 09 Sep 2009 04:01

US planning a Gitmo-style prison in Pak

so Sam is getting returns on his $.
How pakis must be feeling having been sold their a$$ for $. Oh I forgot thats what they have been doing since borned.

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 09 Sep 2009 04:58

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

16. A young officer of the PAF Akram Awan was under interrogation by the ISI for being an agent of Raw and Mossad. This officer was working in collaboration with enemy agencies to plan and execute an air strike on the Kahuta Nuclear Plant by Israel in connivance with India. He was arrested a few months back and did not know any thing about the Bahawalpur crash. Awan was shown a video covering the plane crash. When he came to know that Major General M. H Awan was also among those killed, Awan suffered an emotional breakdown and started crying. General Awan had helped the young officer with his education and career. Upon learning about the death of his benefactor, Awan wept uncontrollably. Experts confirmed that this reaction was not an act. In this instant reaction, he uttered, "Sir, I never knew these ******** would do this!"

17. Awan said that he had been handed over match-box type of device by a Mossad Officer in New Delhi to be delivered to Air Martial (retd) Agha Zulfiqar Ali Khan in Pakistan. The device, once placed in the cockpit, would render the crew unconscious in less than 25 seconds. He said that meetings took place at the residence of said Air Marshal and in which an Indian envoy, a US army colonel and an agent of Mossad, who had traveled to Pakistan on an American passport, were also present. Photographs, videos and other confessional material were handed over by ISI to General Aslam Baig. Awan was eventually imprisoned and is serving his sentence in jail. However, the case with solid leads is pending. Where are these files now? When the person involved is alive and available, why can't the investigations be carried out? Why was the retired Air Marshal not questioned? Instead he was allowed total access to intelligence agencies to further destroy the evidence.

18. The event at Bahawalpur did not require presidential participation. Munitions pieces are put to test before induction in the armed forces. It is normal practice. Why was the Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) so keen to have invited the president at this particular point in time? Why did General Durrani insist that the president attend the event? Who persuaded the Chairman JCSC to join the presidential entourage? Why were the doctors not allowed to carry out post-mortems? Why were those who knew about details of the incident transferred to far-off places? The then VCOAS insists that an inquiry was ordered and conducted. If so, where are the findings? Who benefited the most is the fundamental question. Those who killed Zia-ul Haq could have done so at any time. Why was this particular moment selected to kill him? Had the dismissed government of Mr Junejo been in place, no one would have gained anything by this crime. Both the ISI and IB had informed in advance about a possible threat and the president was cautious enough not to have left Rawalpindi after dismissal of the Government. Our frequent pleas to the Americans in connection with the investigations irked them to the extent that they blatantly told us that if we are to play a positive role with regard to servicing our country, then we will have to bear with this personal loss. Such countless questions remain unanswered to this day.

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 09 Sep 2009 05:15

Pakistan Afghanistanised ---- Mosharraf Zaidi

The point I made in my article last week was simple. When it comes to making use of foreign assistance, Pakistan has shot itself in the feet too many times. Calling out the Americans on administrative expenditure is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Arguing with any donor, American or not, about knowing development better than they do, is a case of selling fairytales. Countries that are net donors tend to be ones that have already sorted some of the deeper, more fundamental issues and challenges of statehood. Pakistan is a net recipient, not a net donor. It doesn't know development, and it shows.

Pakistan's life expectancy at birth is 64.9, placing it at number 125. Pakistani nationalists might sleep easier tonight knowing that, at that rank, it ranks two positions above India. Jai Ho. Pakistan's adult literacy rate, at 54.2 per cent places it at the 132nd position, occupying the same neighborhood as Liberia, Bhutan, Togo and Bangladesh.
Pakistan's combined, primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio is 39.3 per cent, only good enough for 169th position. Out of 179. The only countries worse off than Pakistan on enrollment figures are, in order, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Niger, Angola and Djibouti.

Why dig up quantitative proof of just how bad Pakistan is at this whole development thing? Simple. To reinforce that the Pakistani state, and all Pakistani governments, can't claim any expertise in the area, at all.

Moreover, by choosing to constantly beg donors for money, Pakistan has turned itself into a state that cannot choose what donors give it. Its entire argument for getting more money is that it is a weak state. Now it turns around and says, weak shmeak, give us the money, we know what to do with it, and how to do it right. It all seems ridiculously audacious for one reason. It really is.

For Pakistanis to get riled up about the term "Af-Pak" is similarly audacious. We should consider how this train ended up at this station. Af-Pak may be the shorthand used by one of many childlike geniuses working for the deeply misguided Richard Holbrooke. But it has now also become a global shorthand for state dysfunction. This lumping together of Pakistan with Afghanistan is not simply about security and terrorism. It is the result of a deliberate, and distinct, set of strategic choices that have been made by the Pakistani state, and in particular by this government. As a term, Af-Pak transcends security issues. Indeed, Af-Pak now transcends even Afghanistan and Pakistan. Af-Pak countries are countries that cannot survive without large and substantive injections of other countries' money. In the future, when countries go belly-up, they will say, "Whoa, look at them. They just went totally Af-Pak." Pakistan is a member of this club today because it chose to apply for membership. It is the only country in the world that has fought tooth and nail to be a part of this kind of club. It has organised high-profile open house sessions in New York, Tokyo and, most recently, Istanbul, to convince the "Friends of Developing Pakistan" to give it money.

The Pakistani military elite has been playing this game, much to its own detriment, for a long, long time. It has deliberately, and systematically, perpetuated fiscal dependence on American funds--from Ayub Khan's appetite for F-86 Sabres, to Zia-ul-Haq's appetite for Cobras and F-16s, to Pervez Musharraf's appetite for blank-cheque counterinsurgency funds.

To its credit, the Pakistani political elite has almost always been a little more circumspect, because realpolitik simply will not allow a country as big as this to be charged off as a business expense for empire--any empire. There is too much ethnic, religious, political, social, and ideological diversity in Pakistan for it to be the kind of poodle that British prime minister Tony Blair bequeathed to the ingloriously incompetent Gordon Brown. Real politicians, like Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, and Mian Nawaz Sharif, know this. That is why their relationship with the Americans was, and always will be, kind of prickly.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 09 Sep 2009 05:21

Al Qaida Khan getting down to reality and tells Fuddu Pakis to stop collective methane discharge on daily basis.
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=197353

Random thoughts
Dr A Q Khan

Many may disagree but to my mind the bitter truth is that the people of occupied Kashmir have erred in many ways. They have, so far, sacrificed almost a 100,000 people. Thousands of women have been raped by Indian forces while scores of young men are missing. The overall situation is steadily deteriorating. Had their leaders realised what the ground realities were, they would have participated in the elections, won the support of the majority and formed a government. They would have been in a much stronger position to present their case to the world community. Unfortunately, Mir Waiz Umar Farooq, Yaseen Malik, Professor Gilani, etc, are all still day-dreaming that they will be able to liberate Kashmir from Indian occupation and join Pakistan. No struggle for liberation is successful unless a powerful neighbouring country actively helps with money and material. Kashmir will have to stand on its own, form a combined front, win the support of a majority of the people, negotiate for maximum autonomy and serve their people through peace and prosperity.

Here I would like to give a few examples of the making or breaking of liberation movements due to the support, or lack of it, of neighbouring countries.

Kashmir: Since we were neither very powerful nor effectively able to help them, they lost almost 100,000 people. If anyone thinks that Kashmir can be liberated under the present circumstances, he/she is living in a fool's paradise. The Kashmiris lost 95 per cent of their bargaining position after Ayub Khan's folly in 1965. The remaining five per cent was lost after Kargil.

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 09 Sep 2009 05:22

Change in Asia ---- Shahid Javed Burki

India is also making rapid economic advances but the most important development in its case is the clear signal sent by the electorate in this year’s elections. The voters were unambiguous in their message: they would not tolerate extremism of any variety, and certainly not one that would allow Hinduism to become the dominant force.

The development of the Indian political system has also influenced the countries on its periphery. Pakistan, after being dominated for years by the military, has turned the corner and is now engaged in developing a political structure in which the will of the people will prevail. Bangladesh is moving in the same direction. It has also discarded strongman rule in favour of a system based on people’s representation. Sri Lanka continues to follow a broadly representative system but has still to come to terms fully with minority rights.

Afghanistan is the only South Asian country that is still struggling to find a direction.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 09 Sep 2009 05:24

Ram Adan Celebrations Continue

24 more militants killed in Khyber Agency
Updated at: 2320 PST, Tuesday, September 08, 2009
BARA: Twenty-four more militants were killed during the ongoing operation here in Khyber Agency.

According to FC sources the operation was carried out in Zao and Qamar Khel of Tehsil Bara.

Two militants’ hideouts and as many of their vehicles were also destroyed, FC sources added.
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/updates.asp?id=86641

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 09 Sep 2009 05:27

Now India's turn to expand its embassy
( yeh kya hua,kyon hua,kisne kiya , Baki Mushhraraf Greassed to Accomodtate Indian Special Frocess Inside)

LAHORE - After giving 58 acres of land to the US Embassy, the Indian Embassy in Islamabad has also been allotted 10-acre land for its expansion, it was learnt on Tuesday.
The Indian Embassy will construct more offices as well as residences on the land, provided to it in the Diplomatic Enclave. Besides that, Indian commandos and security guards would be deployed at the Embassy for security purpose.
It has been learnt that the land has been given after a request by New Delhi.
However, a government department had made provision of land conditional to some steps.
Highly-placed government sources said it is not an unusual thing. Keeping in view modern day requirements, the Indian request was accepted and “we are well aware of the situation”, they said.
It has been learnt that construction work has been started for expansion of the Indian Embassy.
On the other hand, some circles in Islamabad are expressing their reservations over the allotment of land to the Indian and US embassies, besides raising questions regarding the purpose of providing land to these embassies.
They say that at least the Parliament should have been taken into confidence over this sensitive matter.
These circles also are of the view that a question arises whether Pakistan’s friendly countries, including Saudi Arabia, China, and other Muslim states have land equal to that of the US and Indian embassies’ and as to why these countries did not feel need to expand their missions and take extra security steps.
Moreover, China’s protest over unnecessary expansion of the US mission as well as extra security measures and later its denial is being discussed in the government and diplomatic circles. It is being said reservations of friendly countries over the issue should not be neglected, because this would isolate Pakistan at the international level.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news- ... ts-embassy

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 09 Sep 2009 05:27

Greek national kidnapped from Kalash museum

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 09 Sep 2009 05:35

Madam's usual Ghrran Ghrran ( Female Frog's Night Call)
Shireen M Mazari

A piecemeal, Gubo and voluntary ceding of sovereignty

This becomes even more evident when we recall that the FODP have demanded that the government establish a Trust Fund before September 25 when the FODP meet again. This Fund will take away any façade even of control the Pakistan government may want to show over aid disbursement in the sensitive areas of NWFP and Balochistan. The US wants to spend the aid earmarked for this Trust Fund without any involvement of the government of Pakistan and all the Pakistanis can now do is moan and whine about having a "joint platform" for the relevant aid spending! This is the height of despair because the prime minister is prepared to allow Washington to actually be the dominant actor in this "joint platform" and identify the areas for capacity building in the public sector! All the PM wants in exchange is some façade of "joint-ness"! So we are ready to surrender partial sovereignty in any case to the US for the trickle of assistance that may eventually come.
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news- ... overeignty

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 09 Sep 2009 05:58

Well so pakistan has now officially become the 51st state.

Satya_anveshi · Post by **Satya_anveshi** » 09 Sep 2009 07:54

US embassy plans spur concern in Pakistan

The US says it needs to expand mainly to disburse billions of dollars more in aid to Pakistan, an impoverished nation of 175 million people. Are US folks so shameless that they don't think anyone will question this blatant non-sense?

arun · Post by **arun** » 09 Sep 2009 08:17

Satya_anveshi wrote: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.

X Posted.

The US medias rather delayed reaction to A.Q.Khan’s August 31 interview by Pakistan’s Aaj TV the video recording of which you had posted.

The article views A.Q. Khan’s interview as “an unusually direct claim of broad, official Pakistani support for an Iranian nuclear weapon” :

Pakistani Scientist Cites Help to Iran

Official Aid for Nuclear Program Claimed

By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The creator of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program boasted in a recent television interview that he and other senior Pakistani officials, eager to see Iran develop nuclear weapons, years ago guided that country to a proven network of suppliers and helped advance its covert efforts.

A.Q. Khan, whom Washington considers the world's most ambitious proliferator of nuclear weapons technology, told a television interviewer in Karachi, Pakistan, that if Iran succeeds in "acquiring nuclear technology, we will be a strong bloc in the region to counter international pressure. Iran's nuclear capability will neutralize Israel's power."

Although Khan has previously claimed nationalist and religious justifications for helping to spread sensitive technology, several experts said his latest statement was an unusually direct claim of broad, official Pakistani support for an Iranian nuclear weapon. .........................

The Pakistani government has repeatedly asserted that Khan acted alone in illicitly spreading nuclear weapons technology, and it has denied that there was official support for helping either Iran's nuclear program or North Korea's. But Khan, who has spent the past several years under a form of house arrest, has long insisted privately that his contacts with both countries were approved by top military officials.

In the interview, Khan was less direct about his contacts with North Korea. He confirmed that Pakistan obtained critical missile technology from the country but refused to comment "at the moment" on aiding its nuclear program. .......................

Washington Post

The FAS website has the complete text , translated from Urdu to English, of the Aaj TV interview:

Pakistan: Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan Discusses Nuclear Program in TV Talk Show

jash_p · Post by **jash_p** » 09 Sep 2009 08:41

Its time to strat making noice to boycot Kalkata Knight riders and Shaharook Khan for signing Abdul Razaq.
Composite dialogue is just cherad,Rape Pakis wants more than Kashmir. They wants to make money and glamour. Pakis are dying (like fish without water) to play with India and in India,work in Bollywood. We should hit them where it hurts them most. Just boycot all contacts with pakis till they hand over 42 terrorist to India.

p.s. Wasim Akram also sign with knight riders with Shaharook, who is gaddar and working against interest of India.

PCB allows Razzaq to join KKR

Wednesday, September 09, 2009
KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday allowed all-rounder Abdul Razzaq to sign a contract with Kolkata Knight Riders for next year's Indian Premier League (IPL).

PCB officials had a meeting with Razzaq at the board headquarters in Lahore, and after that chairman Ijaz Butt allowed the cricketer to join the IPL outfit.

Razzaq had informed Butt that the Knight Riders are seeking his services for the 2010 edition of the IPL. The all-rounder, who quit the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) earlier this year, recently met Butt to seek permission for what is expected to be a lucrative stint for Knight Riders, owned by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

Razzaq, who was banned by the PCB for his links with ICL, made his international return with the ICC World Twenty championship in England, this June.

He was part of the Pakistan's team's that toured Sri Lanka earlier this summer but was dropped for the Champions Trophy because of lack of form and fitness.

The all-rounder was delighted to receive PCB's permission to join the IPL. "It is a great news for me and I'm now looking forward to give my best for Knight Riders," he said.

GuruPrabhu · Post by **GuruPrabhu** » 09 Sep 2009 08:50

Nikita Anand wants Pak co-star Muhammar Rana to be allowed in Mumbai
Posted by Calcutta Tube Team in Bollywood News

Nikita Anand wants Pak co-star Muhammar Rana to be allowed in Mumbai

Actress Nikita Anand is extremely upset hearing talks about her Pakistani co-star Muhammar Rana being refused entry into India on the pretext of Mumbai terror attacks.

Muhammar, who is a superstar in Pakistan, stars opposite Nikita in Partho Ghosh’s forthcoming film ‘Ek Second– Jo Zindagi Badal De’ along with the director’s favorites Jackie Shroff and Manisha Koirala.

When the ex-Miss India heard the talks about Rana’s visa being denied, she promptly shot, “Not all Pakistani’s are terrorists. Muhammar is a cute Pakistani and I want him in India for my premiere, no questions asked.”

The actresses grouse is justified too. If performers such as Adnan Sami, Atif Aslam, Meera, Javed Khan and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan can freely perform in India and even be treated as ambassadors of cultural exchange, why should there be any discrimination for her co-star Muhammar Rana.

Nikita, who made a successful debut as an actress in Prakash Jha’s Dil Dosti Etc opposite Shreyas Talpade and Imaad Shah, will also be seen in Nileish Malhotra’s ‘Monopoly’ where she plays a grey character similar to the one Eva Green played in the James Bond blockbuster ‘Casino Royale’.

http://calcuttatube.com/nikita-anand-wa ... bai/40298/

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 09 Sep 2009 08:59

Shahid Javed Bukri
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/daw ... asia-qs-04
Change in Asia

The agreement allows the US to keep 50,000 soldiers on the island. The other change will be the Japanese withdrawal from another agreement that has the Japanese ships fuel the American fleet in the Pacific. This is controversial in Japan; it has been vigorously opposed by the left especially as the refuelling involves the fleet engaged in active operations as has been the case in the Iraq war. As Japan begins to pull back from a close military relationship with the US, Washington may get even more dependent on India as a friend in the Asian region. If that happens it will have implications for Pakistan. ( Japanis are making noises about taking seat at Chinese feet. japanese alsa want Dollar to go but both rely in Uncle for Market. MMS visit to US get whole new meaning in this light )

The second area of interest for Pakistan will be the likelihood of closer relations between Japan and China. Since Beijing has been close to Islamabad for decades — it has been rightly called Pakistan’s ‘all-weather friend’ — it is conceivable that we may be seeing the emergence of two blocs. Washington may form a close working relationship with India while China, Japan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Pakistan — the last three countries nervous about India’s hegemony in the region — may form some kind of an alliance. The main point to be underscored is that the election in Japan has produced a dynamic of considerable consequence for Asia, in particular Pakistan.
( Back to 40s with litle change in allignment)

Vivek_A · Post by **Vivek_A** » 09 Sep 2009 09:10

Still trying to figure out how the US government pressured India into giving these rats a visa

Pak's first women's band to rock India

MUMBAI: Zeb and Haniya, Pakistan’s first all-women rock band, are as far removed from the rock musician stereotype as sunlight from strobes.

The Lahore-based duo, originally from the Taliban-infested North West Frontier Province, missed the opportunity to perform at an event in Chennai just after the 26/11 terror attacks. ‘‘Our visas expire in November,’’ says Haniya, who plays the acoustic guitar. ‘‘So despite being down with flu, we decided to come to India. I’ve been to Mumbai in the past but it is Zeb’s first visit.’’

The band is in India to perform and do a spot of networking. The duo, whose first album is called ‘Chup’, will also meet Louis Banks in Mumbai.

‘‘If things work out, we will come back to India, and if people like our music, we will keep coming back,’’ says Haniya.

amit · Post by **amit** » 09 Sep 2009 11:54

Prem wrote:Moreover, China’s protest over unnecessary expansion of the US mission as well as extra security measures and later its denial is being discussed in the government and diplomatic circles. It is being said reservations of friendly countries over the issue should not be neglected, because this would isolate Pakistan at the international level.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news- ... ts-embassy

Poor Pakistanis. My heart bleats for them. It's so difficult to choose whose Munna you want to be, particularly if you are TFTA.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 09 Sep 2009 12:11

Keep on mollycoddling Pak Brown and Labour!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 818794.ece

Airline bomb plot: mosque has been recruiting ground for 20 years

(Chris Harris/The Times)
Queen's Road Mosque in Walthamstow, London was a regular place of worship and meeting place for central figures from the airline plot terror cell
Sean O'Neill, Crime and Security Editor

A mosque frequented by the leader of the airline plot terrorist cell has been a recruiting ground for extremists for more than 20 years.

The Queen’s Road mosque in Walthamstow, northeast London, where Abdulla Ahmed Ali met his associates, is controlled by the ultraorthodox Tablighi Jamaat. Intelligence services around the world believe that Tablighi’s fundamentalism makes some of its followers easy prey for terrorist recruiters.

Two decades ago the same mosque was hosting talks by followers of Omar Bakri Mohammed, one of the first Islamic clerics in Britain to preach jihad. The disclosure of the mosque’s history indicates that, despite the focus on the Pakistan-based terrorist threat, the roots of Islamist radicalisation are deeply embedded in Britain.

The men involved in the fertiliser bomb plot of 2004, the July 7 and July 21 bombings of 2005 and the airline plot were all radicalised in Britain.

Their initial contacts with the al-Qaeda network were through fundraisers and recruiters in Britain and Rashid Rauf, who has been identified by security sources as a key link man in Pakistan, was from Birmingham.

Ed Husain, of the Quilliam Foundation, an anti-extremist think-tank, said the first contact with radicals for many young Muslims was at British colleges and universities. “In the 1990s it was Arab political refugees, not Pakistanis, that helped radicalise many British Muslims,” he said. “Pakistani militants provide training for would-be violent Islamists. But they go out radicalised and willing — it is folly to think that visits to Pakistan are points of first contact with extremism.”

Ali, who will be sentenced for the airline plot next week, was heavily influenced by a suspected al-Qaeda facilitator who is known to the authorities. That man, who has not been arrested and lives freely in East London, claims that he has no links to terrorism and is a Tablighi missionary. But long before the Walthamstow mosque came under Tablighi influence, it hosted “study circles” led by Bakri Mohammed’s followers. I attended one of those meetings as a reporter in August 1989 and heard young men decry the evils of drink, discos and “free intermingling of the sexes”. One called Kysar, then aged 19, told me: “Islam isn’t a religion where you can only adopt part of it. You have to adopt the whole Islamic viewpoint on society. There can be no compromise with the divine system revealed to us.”

The threat of Islamist terrorism was not recognised at the time but the ideology of the supremacy of Islam was present in Kysar’s fundamentalism and “no compromise” attitude.

Bakri Mohammed, a Syrian who had arrived here after being expelled from Saudi Arabia, later set up al-Muhajiroun, which he used to radicalise young men. His followers included the two Britons who carried out a suicide bomb attack on a Tel Aviv bar in April 2003. Bakri Mohammed now lives in exile in Lebanon but his followers in Britain persist in advocating jihad.

That the airline bomb plot was based in Walthamstow has shocked residents of this northeast London suburb. The area prides itself on having a mixed and well-integrated community and, unlike in many areas of East London, there are no ghettos. But the plot has revealed that Islamist extremism is deeply rooted in elements of the large Muslim population.

Many of the people whom Ali tried to recruit to his terrorist cell were his Walthamstow school friends and his bomb factory was an upstairs flat in the busy Forest Road. In the flat, Ali — who had lived almost all his life in Walthamstow — experimented with bottle bombs and liquid explosives and recorded martyrdom videos. Bombmaking components were disposed of in the rubbish bins across the road in Lloyd Park, once the garden of the philanthropist William Morris.

Afzal Akram, the local councillor whose brief includes “community cohesion”, insisted that Queen’s Road mosque itself was not part of the problem. “It’s got nothing to do with the imams or the mosque — some of my friends and family pray there, I’ve been there myself,” he said. “None of the mosques here have been used to preach extremism. Individuals may have met at particular mosques and individuals may live within a stone’s throw of the mosque. But I wouldn’t put two and two together.”

Mr Akram says that extremism locally is little more than youngsters “mouthing off” and “spouting conspiracy theories”. But the Government is spending £90,000 in the borough to teach “leadership” to young Muslims.

The Queen’s Road mosque declined to comment, despite approaches made through the Muslim Council of Britain. However, two years ago Tablighi Jamaat set up a website, to publicise its plans for a giant mosque next to the Olympic site, on which it said: “We do not teach an extremist line, but we clearly can’t speak for every single one of those who have ever attended our mosques — there are several thousand people at our weekly gatherings.”

They added: “We utterly refute any links to terrorism or terrorists.”

One community leader, who is involved in interfaith work in Walthamstow, said the Muslim community did not recognise that extremism was a problem.

“I don’t want to add fuel to the fire, but the problem is within the Muslim community and its attitude to the extremists,” he said. “You speak to the community elders and they smile and say, ‘It’s not a big problem, if we ignore them they’ll go away’. That seems a dangerous attitude to me and the wrong one to take.”

PS:Aren't the Tablighs the ones who are allowed to have no four but seven wives?

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 09 Sep 2009 12:21

Prem wrote: . . . Washington may form a close working relationship with India while China, Japan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Pakistan — the last three countries nervous about India’s hegemony in the region — may form some kind of an alliance.
( Back to 40s with litle change in allignment)

So, from 3½, it will become 2½ (assuming KSA will continue with TSP) ?

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 09 Sep 2009 12:28

Philip wrote:
. . . That man, who has not been arrested and lives freely in East London, claims that he has no links to terrorism and is a Tablighi missionary.

Anybody who thinks that Tablighis or Sufis or Pirs cannot be terrorists live in a fool's paradise.

arun · Post by **arun** » 09 Sep 2009 13:51

X Posted.

The UK’s venerable Times Newspaper takes notice of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s terrorist sponsoring ways and accuses the Islamic Republic of Pakistan of playing a “double game”:

September 9, 2009

Double game that let bin Laden slip through net

Anthony Loyd and Zahid Hussain: Behind the Story

The hunt for Osama bin Laden has been at best complicated, and at worst obstructed, by Pakistan’s ambiguous relationship with the Taleban and al-Qaeda. …………….

After 9/11 America made it clear that Pakistan had no choice but to co-operate in the War on Terror — and pressed it to purge the ISI of Taleban and al-Qaeda sympathisers. But it continued to play a double game — most controversially airlifting hundreds, possibly thousands, of Taleban, al-Qaeda and ISI operatives out of the northern Afghan region of Kunduz in November 2001. Later that month more al-Qaeda fighters — probably including bin Laden — escaped from the southeastern Afghan region of Tora Bora by slipping over the border into Pakistan.

In 2002 the ISI created a Counter Terrorism Cell to work with the CIA and MI6 in hunting down al-Qaeda figures in Pakistan. Since then it has helped to capture or kill hundreds of low and middle- ranking al-Qaeda operatives but has yet to find substantial intelligence about bin Laden or his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Pakistani intelligence officials said that it had become difficult to track bin Laden after that because he stopped using satellite phones. In 2006 al-Zawahiri had narrowly escaped death in Bajaur when he was targeted by a US drone.

Western military commanders tend to scoff at Pakistan’s failure to deal with bin Laden. ………………

Times Online

arun · Post by **arun** » 09 Sep 2009 14:06

X Posted.

"Top diplomat" from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

:

Stop blaming Pakistan for UK terrorism - top diplomat

Vikram Dodd and Ian Cobain
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 September 2009 23.31 BST

Senior Pakistani sources have accused Britain of failing to do enough to tackle home-grown terrorists and maintain they are falsely being blamed for harbouring extremists plotting to attack the UK.

A senior Pakistan diplomat told the Guardian that his country was being treated as a "whipping boy" by Britain. The terrorists, including those convicted on Monday for the airlines plot, were "born and brought up" in Britain, not Pakistan, he said. ........................

In a calculated move, a senior Pakistani diplomat in London hit back, saying :

"Sometimes for our British friends the truth is bitter. We have somehow turned out to be a whipping boy, there is a long history to that. The British need to search their own house. Britain has to take responsibility and they have to look into the issues which are driving these youth to extremism, which is the third-generation British – they weren't born and bought up in Pakistan." .........................

Guardian

arunsrinivasan · Post by **arunsrinivasan** » 09 Sep 2009 14:26

Saudi Arabia's political clout in Pakistan

AMIDST the clamour in Pakistan to put the former president Pervez Musharraf on trial for his many unconstitutional acts, one of his advisers Mushahid Hussain declared that 'just one phone call from Saudi Arabia will stop all the non-sense' about sending the General to the prison house.

Hussain is a former editor who morphed himself into a politico and served many masters including Nawaz Sharif. Hussain has not lost any of his reputation for utter clarity (bordering on the cynical) and the capacity to cut through a complex debate.

The House of Saud has not yet dialled Islamabad. It has done one better. It has summoned all the top figures of Pakistan to discuss the latest political crisis. Among those who serenaded themselves in Riyadh last week were Rehman Malik, a close adviser to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Gen. Musharraf himself. Sharif heads for Saudi Arabia this week.

The latest crisis follows Sharif's campaign to have Gen. Musharraf tried and sent to prison. Sharif wants revenge for Musharraf's coup against him in October 1999. Zardari, who is in power because of a deal between his late wife Benazir and Musharraf, has no reason to ask the judiciary to revisit that mutually beneficial understanding. We don't know where the current Army Chief, Gen Ashfaq Kayani, stands. Will he protect his predecessor or hang him?

It is into this minefield that Saudi Arabia has boldly stepped into.

This is certainly not the first time. In the last two decades, Saudi power in Islamabad has grown enormously. More than the US President, it is the Saudi King who is now the real arbiter of Pakistan's domestic politics.

After Musharraf's coup against Sharif, the Saudis got the former prime minister out of prison and gave him political asylum. When Sharif broke his promise not to play politics and landed in Pakistan, the Saudis lifted him right back from the airport tarmac. When the US was brokering a deal between Musharraf and Benazir, the Saudis put

Sharif back in play against the wishes of President George Bush and Musharraf.

That Saudi Arabia can exercise such influence in a country of more than 160 million people with a powerful army equipped with nuclear weapons should tell us two things about Pakistan.

One. For all the shared history and culture, the Pakistani state is very unlike ours. As a 'frontier state' (some Pakistani liberals might call it a 'rentier state'), Pakistan is organised on a different set of rules. In a frontier state, there is no separation between the internal and the external. The frontier and rentier states deal with external benefactors with a kind of ease that normal states can never imagine. They don't define national sovereignty in opposition to the external world.

Two. If the House of Saud is now an integral part of Pakistani politics, it makes sense for Delhi to treat Riyadh as a neighbour and engage it intensively and on a strategic basis.

arun · Post by **arun** » 09 Sep 2009 15:12

The quoted Washington Times article suggests that Dr. Shireen Mazari joined the Nawa-i-Waqt’s “The Nation” because she was upset with the Jang Group, owner of her previous employer “The News”, delaying her article by a day on the complaint of the US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson.

Dr Shireen Mazari is also reported as alleging that the US tried to have her “silenced or removed” from her position at the Pakistan Institute of Strategic Studies

. The US was no doubt miffed that the charms of the ladies working under her at the Pakistan Institute of Strategic Studies was unfairly reserved for Anglo Saxons from the other side of the pond

:

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Embassy Row

PAKISTAN PIQUED

The U.S. ambassador to Pakistan enraged anti-American critics who accused her of pressuring a newspaper into censoring a fierce opponent of U.S. policy in South Asia.

Ambassador Anne W. Patterson last week wrote a letter to the publisher of the News International to complain that columnist Shireen Mazari spread incorrect information that endangered the life of a U.S. citizen in Pakistan in a recent article. The newspaper's editor responded by withholding another column by Ms. Mazari, scheduled to run Sept. 2, for a day, while he asked her for comments on the ambassador's charges.

Meanwhile, Ms. Mazari, one of Pakistan's most-prominent foreign-policy analysts, held a news conference to accuse the Jang Group, publisher of the News International and other periodicals, of caving to U.S. pressure.

Mrs. Patterson "leveled a serious allegation against me - that of endangering the life of an American citizen. What proof does she have of that from my columns?" Ms. Mazari wrote, after the editorial board of the Jang Group posted its version of the controversy Monday on its Web site (thenews.com.pk). ...........................

The editorial board defended its decision for a 24-hour delay in Ms. Mazari's column and said it was surprised that she accused the news operation of censorship, calling her charges "unfounded allegations."

"We are sorry that she chose to go public with accusations that have no basis in fact," the editorial board said.

In her column that ran on Sept. 3, Ms. Mazari referred to the "murderous former Vice President Dick Cheney" and claimed that U.S. diplomats are targeting "their critics in Pakistan with a new ferocity."

Ms. Mazari also accused the U.S. Embassy last year of seeking to "have me either silenced or removed" from her position at the Institute of Strategic Studies, a think tank funded by the Pakistani Foreign Office. ............................

On Monday, Ms. Mazari left the Jang Group to join the rival Nawa-i-Waqt Group of Publications as editor of an English-language newspaper, the Nation.

Washington Times

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 09 Sep 2009 15:51

Nawaz Sharif met Osama five times: Ex-ISI official

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 09 Sep 2009 15:56

US overlooked Pak nuke program, bomb was ready in 1983: Khan

Vivek_A · Post by **Vivek_A** » 09 Sep 2009 16:26

arun: shrill's debut column for the nutty nation...

A piecemeal and voluntary ceding of sovereignty
Published: September 9, 2009

Shireen M Mazari
First it was the begging bowl the leaders took around the globe; then there was all that hype over the so-called Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FODP) who would turn on the dollar tap for our democratic regime; and finally we were supposed to welcome the "wonderful" Kerry-Lugar Bill which still has to become law. These begging tactics and dreams of dollars flowing in have come to nought and now the man who constructed our annual budget on false expectations, Minister Shaukat Tarin, has been reduced into whining that the US aid is turning into a trickle.
The new, supposedly more understanding Obama Administration has informed Pakistan that it will provide only $174 million for budgetary support 2009-10 from the $1.5 billion annual assistance promised under the Kerry-Lugar bill. For the rest of the $1.5 billion, some is earmarked for the expansion of the US embassy and what is eventually left over will be money the Pakistani government will have no control over. Instead the US will disburse that amount through its own institutional mechanisms as it sees fit! Now, even if one were to ignore the massive purchases of land by the US, the questionable manner in which the expansion of the US embassy is taking place and the threatening covert activities of the US and its "partner in crime" Blackwater; the unregistered comings and goings of US personnel on chartered flights; we would still find it difficult to see the whole aid disbursement issue as anything other than a sign of US gradual occupation. It is no wonder we have the term AfPak: Afghanistan they control through direct occupation loosely premised on a UN resolution; Pakistan they are occupying as a result of willingly ceded sovereignty by the past and present leadership.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 09 Sep 2009 17:01

At the macro level perhaps the Saudis can crack heads and provide the "rent-boy" a new set of tricks to perform,but at the micro level,the genie is out of the bottle.The rise of Islamist fundamentalism in Pak is now like the swine flu pandemic.Nobody is immune from it.How many who are exposed to the disease ,catch it and die from is is the unknown factor and treating the Paki disease is as efficient or inefficient as treating swine flu.What can the Saudis do in truth? Stop Mushy from being prosecuted,Zardari from being overthrown,or when he has outlived his usefulness engineer another military coup with another set of military rulers?The Saudi influence is only at the level of the elite,they cannot control the street and are also having a problem within their own kingdom controlling elements from the street who want a change in Saudi society using violent means.

Pakistan is divided also into two camps.Those that see the US as "shaitan" and those that see the US as a saviour,a benevolent uncle .Add to this a congenital hatred of India by the Paki miliatry,who have mass fed the populace for decades and the insanity in Pak's functioning becomes apparent.Pakis hate the US while they want US arms and money.Hunting with the hounds and hiding with the hares is natural to the ruling classes.In fact it is here that they most resemble their godfather,the kingdom of Saud ,who are also bum chums of the US.If the Pakis have their Taliban,the Saudis have their Wahabi wing,explaning why both countries are so close.Given their role of an eminence grise over Paki policy,what India can do is to send a clear cut message to the Saudis that if there is no concrete action from Pak on either handing over the perpetrators of 26/11 and Dawood to India,or prosecuting them with full vigour at home,Pak will suffer the consequences,diplomatic and military in the fullness of time at India's choosing.India if it so wishes can play a major role in destabilising Pak if it seriously wants to do so.The fissures in Pak are widening with each day and much mischief can be organised as a catalyst for the failed state to fail.With Pak's international reputation at its lowest level ever,thanks to the spate of terror plots emanating from Pak,India can achieve much diplomatic success if it puts its mind to doing so.

saip · Post by **saip** » 09 Sep 2009 18:48

Senior Pakistani sources have accused Britain of failing to do enough to tackle home-grown terrorists and maintain they are falsely being blamed for harbouring extremists plotting to attack the UK.

For once I am in agreement with this top paki pig. UK should immediately strip every damn paki of citizenship (incl those that were inbred in UK) and ship them back to porkiland, like they did to their criminals (botany bay, was it?)

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 09 Sep 2009 19:10

saip -> why on earth would you want that. The lesser no. of Pakis in a country, the lesser the simpathy for Indian causes. However, if pakis are 15% of a country's population they would more come round to an Indian point to view.

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 09 Sep 2009 21:13

Aditya_V wrote:saip -> why on earth would you want that. The lesser no. of Pakis in a country, the lesser the simpathy for Indian causes. However, if pakis are 15% of a country's population they would more come round to an Indian point to view.

And what exactly is the yindian POV, sir?

UQstan deporting all its packees would be an act of foresight, patriotism and compassion worthy of even BR's respect (not easily given, mind you). However, I doubt packee vote chasers currently in whitehall will oblige with anything resembling common-sense when it comes to packee policy.

Besides, UQstan created nurtured and sustained TSP all these yrs at tremendous cost to yindia and yindians. Their getting off that lightly with mere deportation would be very fortunate for them indeed - karma gone to sleep, basically.

Harsha.H.D · Post by **Harsha.H.D** » 10 Sep 2009 01:58

10 percenti on a roll, 10 paisa on every balance inquiry

LAHORE - The cartel of all cell-phone companies operating in Pakistan has unanimously imposed 10 paisas plus tax on every balance inquiry request with effect from September 4, 2009. Sources revealed that all the cell-phone operators agreed to impose 10 paisas plus tax on each balance inquiry request to increase revenue collection at a meeting even without getting approval from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 10 Sep 2009 03:47

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.as ... 2009_pg7_3

Pakistan won’t follow suit if India carries out N-tests: FM

* Qureshi says Pakistan ready to cooperate with India on all issues
* ‘No mini-Pentagon’ to be allowed in name of embassy expansion

By Sajjad Malik

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will not follow a tit-for-tat policy if India tests a nuclear device but will act to guard its national interests, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Wednesday.

“We will not follow a tit-for-tat policy, but we are fully capable of protecting our national interests,” Qureshi said.

Addressing reporters on the eve of an Iftar-dinner hosted by him at the Foreign Office, Qureshi denied that the US was building a huge embassy complex in Pakistan, saying that “no mini-Pentagon will be allowed in the name of expansion of the embassy” in the country.

India: He said Pakistan was ready to cooperate with India on all issues, as it was the only sensible method to resolve differences.

“The only sensible way forward is dialogue and any other method would be suicidal,” the foreign minister said. He also said Pakistan and India should end their differences for the sake of peace and stability in the region.

Qureshi said the people of Kashmir should be included in the talks between Pakistan and India about Indian-held Kashmir. He asserted that without involvement of Kashmiris, the talks would be “a non-starter”.

“It is obvious that if we want to discuss the Kashmir issue, we must take the Kashmiri leadership into confidence,” the foreign minister said. To a question, Qureshi said he was likely to meet his Indian counterpart on the sidelines of the UN annual session in New York later this month. He said Pakistan was ready to meet Indian leaders anywhere and at any time.

He said the Mumbai terrorist attacks last year had led to the suspension of talks but hoped that the process would resume, as it was the only way to move forward to address issues.

To another question, he said Pakistan had provided evidence of the involvements of Indian intelligence agencies in Balochistan.

“Yes, the matter of Indian involvement was identified and it was acknowledged by India. We will take it up with New Delhi again but not through the media,” the foreign minister said.

He also said former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf had kept the Foreign Office out of the loop regarding the back-channel diplomacy and there was no record of the consultations and talks in the office. The foreign minister said he would chair two important inter-ministerial meetings in the next two days to consult all stakeholders on engagement with India and Afghanistan. He said the past year was “eventful” as Pakistan had engagements with various countries including the United States, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan.

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 10 Sep 2009 05:57

India won’t follow suit if Pakistan carries out suicide: FM

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 10 Sep 2009 06:05

The Gilgit-Baltistan bungle ---- Asif Ezdi

Since the purpose is to equate Gilgit-Baltistan with Azad Kashmir, the government needs also to do two more things. One, it should rename the new legal framework for Gilgit-Baltistan as the Interim Constitution, just as the fundamental law of Azad Kashmir is called. Two, the new constitutional package should be passed by the elected Assembly of Gilgit-Baltistan, just as the Azad Kashmir Interim Constitution was passed by the elected Assembly of Azad Kashmir, instead of being promulgated through executive fiat.

The concerns of Kashmiris in Azad Kashmir and Occupied Kashmir are two-fold. First, their position has been that Gilgit-Baltistan is part of Jammu and Kashmir and cannot accede to Pakistan separately from the rest of the state. Second, Kashmiri leaders, both from Azad Kashmir and from the occupied part, have expressed the fear that the accession of Gilgit-Baltistan would be taken as Pakistan's acquiescence in the permanent partition of Kashmir and would harm the freedom struggle in Occupied Kashmir. Such misgivings have been voiced by Yasin Malik and by some political circles in Azad Kashmir.

These apprehensions are not unfounded, but the good news is that they can be overcome if both Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir provisionally join Pakistan, either jointly as one entity or separately but simultaneously as two entities. Gilgit-Baltistan acceded to Pakistan in 1947. Azad Kashmir could do so now on behalf of the entire state, including the occupied part, through a resolution of the Azad Kashmir Assembly. This should be followed by an amendment to the Pakistani Constitution, declaring that: (a) the final status of Jammu and Kashmir is to be decided through a plebiscite in accordance with UN resolutions; (b) until the final status of the state has been so determined, Pakistan admits it to the Federation on a provisional basis in accordance with the wish expressed by the elected representatives of the liberated territory; and (c) Pakistan remains committed to the implementation of the UN resolutions.

For two generations, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan have been languishing in a constitutional limbo. Their international status has also remained frozen in a nebulous state. This has stunted their democratic and constitutional evolution and prevented the people from participating fully, as they wish, in the political life of Pakistan, giving rise to some disaffection.

It should take the following steps: First, withhold promulgation of the Self-Governance Order; second, start a public debate in Pakistan and consultation with representative Kashmiris on both sides of the LoC on a provisional accession of Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan; third, leave it to the elected Assembly of Gilgit-Baltistan to pass a law on an Interim Constitution for the territory; fourth, ask the Azad Kashmir Assembly to pass a resolution declaring provisional accession of the state to Pakistan pending the implementation of UN resolutions; fifth, amend the Constitution to provisionally admit Jammu and Kashmir to the Federation; sixth, and last, ignore any protests, warnings and threats from India.

arun · Post by **arun** » 10 Sep 2009 07:15

X Posted.

This is a problem the British would be very wise to immediately address else given the very high demonstrated propensity of Pakistani origin individuals to indulge in acts of terrorism, Britain will suffer from more and more acts of terrorism:

Failure to vet immigrants from Pakistan 'a threat to security'

Officials interviewed only 29 applicants in nine months

By Robert Verkaik, Home Affairs Editor
Thursday, 10 September 2009

Ministers were last night accused of a major security lapse after it emerged that British immigration officers based in Pakistan had interviewed just 29 of the 66,000 people applying for British visas in nine months. .........................

The Independent

arun · Post by **arun** » 10 Sep 2009 07:30

X Posted.

The recognition of Pakistan and Pakistani origin individuals as the breeding ground of terrorism in Britain, spreads.

From the Australian newspaper, The Age:

The diligent work to thwart Britain's home-grown terrorists must continue.

Philip Johnston
September 10, 2009

………………. the fact remains that the greatest threat to security both here and in America is based in Britain. Operation Overt, the bombings in London in July 2005, the Operation Crevice conspiracy to target shopping centres, the failed car bombs in London in 2007, the so-called Operation Rhyme conspiracy four years ago to detonate a dirty radiation device in London - all were either masterminded by British citizens or long-term UK residents, usually with Pakistani backgrounds, or their support networks were based here. …………….

Three-quarters of those convicted of involvement in terrorist activity are British with a Pakistani heritage. …………..

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 10 Sep 2009 08:19

US Wants to Give Iraq War Equipment to Pak

http://www.reuters.com/article/politics ... =0&sp=true

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 10 Sep 2009 08:58

Wars of liberation

This is regarding Dr A Q Khan's article titled "Wars of liberation" (Sept 9). While I appreciate the informative summary provided by Dr Khan of various insurgencies and liberation movements around the world, I found it fitting that he only devoted a line and a half to the liberation movement in East Pakistan that split our country. I say fitting because this is an apt example of how our countrymen view their history, especially those portions of it that have been so tragic and disastrous. Instead of highlighting the well-documented negative role played, over many years, by the Pakistani military, politicians and our society in general in causing the dismemberment of the country, Dr Khan has simply laid the majority of the blame on foreign enemies such as India and Russia.

This is a sad example of us not fully acknowledging our misdeeds, and does nothing to bring us closer to reconciling with our past.

Sohaib Athar

Boston, MA, US

Is India really our enemy?

Malik Mohsin Nisar in his letter of Sept 8 has raised a very valid question: is India really our enemy? We celebrate Sept 6 as Defence of Pakistan Day every year but at the same time our younger generation enjoys watching Indian films, songs and our respected mothers and sisters watch and love Star Plus dramas. Unfortunately our younger generation is ignorant about how Pakistan came into being and the sacrifices rendered by millions of Muslims.

From day one, India has been creating problems for us. It backed out of the UN resolution on Kashmir, attacked Pakistan in 1965 and helped dismember our country in 1971. India is building dams and reservoirs on Pakistani rivers which would have serious environmental and survival implications for Pakistan. Indian culture is a slow poison -- and listening to their music and watching their dramas should not take away from the fact that India indeed is our enemy.

Lt-Col (r) Mukhtar Ahmed Butt

Karachi