Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan (TSP): July 07, 2010

[kenop]

This after working overtime

India will not send to Pakistan the magistrate who recorded the statement of lone captured 26/11 attacker but is open to allowing him as well as the investigating officer to appear before a Pakistani court through video conferencing.

[vijayk]

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?266522
Pakistan - Business As Usual

' It is strange that while the International community seizes upon the slightest violation of human rights in some countries to condemn them from all corners, it is quite reluctant to put pressure on Pakistan to change course'

Cultural and ethnic minorities in Pakistan are in great distress, with suicide bombers routinely killing sectarian minorities like the Shia and the Ahmadi during prayers inside mosques, cross border terrorism once again raising its head after a brief lull, terrorists trained in Pakistan seeking to perpetrate terror even in the West.

After a few threatening noises following the recent Times Square bombing attempt, the international community appears to be treating its dealings with Pakistan as business as usual. But if we are to get rid of the menace of massive violation of the human rights of sectarian, religious, ethnic minorities and women in Pakistan as well as cross border terrorism, it’s high time the world took the issue of neutralising the epicentre of terrorism in the world more seriously.

Religious minorities like Hindus and Christians face similar persecution. There have been several incidents of these religious minorities having had their prayer houses burnt down, killing scores. Forced conversions to Islam, particularly of Hindu girls, who are abducted first, have become another routine. Hindu minorities who constituted 23 per cent of the population at the time of Pakistan’s creation in 1947 have now been reduced to barely 2 per cent.

For Muslims around the world, the concern is that Pakistan maintains such discriminatory laws and allows its misuse by the state machinery in the name o Islam, supposedly to promote Islam. After all, the terrorists who blow themselves up, killing scores of people in Ahmadi or Shia mosques, do not do so just because they have been offered some money, but because they have been brainwashed into believing that this act will take them instantly to heaven. There are ostensibly Islamic institutions preaching this evil, brainwashing their pupils and training them to do so. These institutions are well-known, their leaders strut around Pakistani cities, addressing large gatherings, preaching terror, openly collecting donations for their nefarious acts. Pakistani state cannot possibly be unaware of these events, particularly as it organises security for the leaders of these institutions like Hafiz Mohammad Saeed of Jamaat-ud Dawa and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.

Pakistani state’s continued involvement in promoting acts of terror abroad, even if it is more an act of omission rather than commission, as it claims, has to be inevitably viewed with concern by all those who believe in the indivisibility of human rights

[SBajwa]

Please check out this "alright in karachi" article by a Pakjabi

http://randomhouseindia.wordpress.com/2 ... n-karachi/

[kenop]

More evidence of coordination is required at this stage to accept that something is afoot. I am just looking for more prrof to be sure that there is something behind all this.
# Like all the major allies to speak on the topic with one voice (at different times is fine).
# Canadian contribution was retracted sort of.
# The UQ is hosting the top man these days and if they maintain the same message, it would be easy to accept.
# Nothing much has come from Ozland.
# Do not know if any reaction from GOTUS to the Cameron statement was in the news

For one, the source of some recent excitement, wikileaks, was an independent event. I would be quite CT-prone to think that the leak originated or was coordinated by US spook-set. Wikileaks has been used by a diverse group to give ungli whosoever they saw fit.

JMT

[jrjrao]

Fly to review and downgrade its relations with fly-swatter if the fly's H&D is not respected:

Pak to review its relations with UK if views against Pakistan remain unchanged: Kaira

[Prem]

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news- ... om-Chashma

MULTAN (PPI) - At least 172 Chinese engineers and 700 workers were shifted to safer places from Chashma on Sunday as District Mianwali was declared a calamity-hit area after a 910,000 cusec flood hit Chashma Barrage.
Confirming the reports, Relief Commissioner Akhlaq Ahmed Tarar said, “We have shifted 172 Chinese engineers and 700 workers serving on different projects in Mianwali to safer places.”
He said Chashma Hydro-power Proj-ect Bridge was damaged by heavy inflow, which also swept away the Ayub Bridge. DCO Layyah Javed Iqbal said, “Over one million cusecs of floodwater will enter into Layyah limits in the next 36 hours, posing threat of further damages.”
At least 15 villages of the district were inundated on Sunday noon due to flood in River Indus. Irrigation authorities said new flood tide had entered Layyah, and resultantly, the city’s protective embankment was in danger.

[Prem]

http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/05/repor ... eat-to-us/

On al-Qaida in Pakistan, the report said the group is “the most formidable terrorist organization” targeting the U.S. homeland and “has proven to be an adaptable and resilient terrorist group whose desire to attack the United States and U.S. interests abroad remains strong.”
It said the organization was “was actively engaged in operational plotting against the United States and continued recruiting, training, and deploying operatives, including individuals from Western Europe and North America.”
Although the Pakistani government has taken some steps to rein in the group, al-Qaida’s losses have been at least “partially offset” by partnerships, shared connections and objectives with groups such as the Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa-based al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and Somalia-based al-Shabab, the report said.
The State Department noted with concern that al-Qaida, particularly in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, appeared to be attracting growing numbers of radicalized Americans to its cause. Underscoring that concern, the Justice Department on

[anjan]

This after working overtime

India will not send to Pakistan the magistrate who recorded the statement of lone captured 26/11 attacker but is open to allowing him as well as the investigating officer to appear before a Pakistani court through video conferencing.

What were you expecting? You can't really send them there on account of Pakis not being a civilized lot. Short of refusing outright this seem the most sensible thing to do. Of course Pakis will likely still show inner Pakistaniat on video conferencing.

[Mihaylo]

Fly to review and downgrade its relations with fly-swatter if the fly's H&D is not respected:

Pak to review its relations with UK if views against Pakistan remain unchanged: Kaira

Man, you are funny !!!!

[kenop]

What were you expecting?

The same.
Ref:
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 36#p917136

[James B]

TFT Nuggets

Writing in Aajkal Mujahid Husain stated that Ahmadis are treated savagely, but their leader Mirza Nasir Ahmad called the Muslims non-Muslims when accused of being non-Muslim. The truth is that there are nearly 460 books floating around in Pakistan in which different sects who call themselves Muslims have done takfeer (apostatisation) of the sects they oppose, and even asked for their death (wajibul qatl).

Daily Express reported that lawyers called ‘wukla’ because of their violent behaviour resorted to beating up another police officer at Lahore High Court to help an accused person escape after his bail was cancelled. One Jahangir of Chunian was facing trial for felony at the Court when his interim bail was cancelled. The police was expected to take him to jail but he ran from the court. When the police stopped him, a group of wukla persons intervened and prevented the police officials from catching him, damaging their uniform in the process. Later the same wukla group took hold of an SHO and were taking him away when a senior lawyer prevailed on them not to take the law in their own hands and got the SHO released.

Quoted in daily Islam old PMLQ leader Sher Afgan Niazi said that those who got killed inside the Lal Masjid in Islamabad in 2007 were all terrorists and not innocent people. He said no one later claimed that their sons and daughters were missing. He said Maulana Abdul Aziz who led the activities of the Lal Masjid terrorists was a RAW agent. According to him Tehreek Insaf and Jamaat Islami had contacts with the Taliban.

Reported in Jang the Higher Education Commission (HEC) was greatly upset over the matter of false degrees submitted by the politicians elected to the parliament. About 141 degrees submitted by them were textually defective and could not be read. Out of the total MNAs, 40 never submitted their degrees. About 20 MNAs submitted degrees that were not of BA, some being Matriculation certificates. Two members of the Punjab Assembly actually submitted the degrees of their sons!

Writing in Zarb-e-Momin weekly ex-army chief Aslam Beg stated that once he told Musharraf that by joining up with the US after 9/11 he had betrayed the sacrifices made by Muslim warriors from all over the world who had come to the region to lay down their lives for Islam. He said Allah will deal with those who have compromised on these shaheeds. That was the last meeting between the two. Musharraf went pale in the face and never saw Beg again.

[James B]

TFT Such Gup

Sleep deprived

Our condolences to all those who lost loved ones in the Air Blue flight which crashed in the Margallas last month. Many distraught relatives are trying to dig up the truth about what went wrong and what caused the crash. One relative of a young man who lost his life in the crash had this to say: “The pilot was a seasoned professional of many years’ standing. He was also very religious. He had stayed up the whole night before the flight from Karachi to Islamabad since it was Shab-e-Meraj, and had been engrossed in prayer. He had not slept a wink, and whereas regulations say that pilots must have at least six hours of sleep before take off, this pilot had had none. When the control tower in Islamabad informed him that they had diverted all flights to Lahore, given the weather, the pilot replied that he was very tired and could not take the flight to Lahore. He insisted upon landing and that is when the crash took place.” (So, his extra piety didn't save the lives of the people)

Naughty graffiti

Our mole reports that the Chief Adjudicator and his brother judges are very peeved these days. Apart from their running battle with Hubby and his government, they have another pet peeve which is irritating them. Apparently, all sorts of naughty graffiti seem to be appearing on the walls of the toilets of the highest bench. These consist of irreverent comments about their lordships and many a foul limerick about their peccadilloes. So, the Chief Adjudicator has ordered that a cleaner be employed with the express purpose of painting over the graffiti every day. And there he stands at the door of the toilets, paint brush in hand, at the ready to wipe out naughty graffiti.

Don’t tell the beards!

Jemima Khan has bought a stately home and estate in Oxfordshire, Kiddlington Hall, and she threw a grand fund raising party there in July. The evening raised £400,000 which is more than Rs 5 crore. Amongst those present were Lady Helen Taylor (a British royal), Tom Jones (songster of yore), model Kate Moss and Imran Khan. On the menu was spit-roasted organic lamb, Brut champagne, vodka cocktails and espresso martinis. Let’s hope IK’s friends in the bearded brigade don’t find out!

[James B]

TFT Ittefaq Nama

I like David Cameroon. He is saying nothing but truth. Also, he is leader of Commonwealth. You know why it is called “Commonwealth”, hain ji? Because there are goras in it and kalas too. Kalas are “Common” and goras are “wealthy”. So, it is Commonwealth, hain ji? I also went to Commonwealth meeting when I was Prime Minister. After meeting, we all stood behind Queen to get our photo taken and Nelson Medallion who was then President of South Africa, asked President of Gambia that what’s far lunch. Gambian replied, “The Duchess of York”. On that President-for-Life of Botswana said, “that’s not fair. She’s lost so much weight.” I asked Inder Kumar Gujralji, who was also posing for photo as India’s PM, that what they are saying Gujralji. Gujralji said, “Ignore them. They are canimals.”

What is canimal, hain ji? Anyways, what David Cameroon has said that is not nice? Faujis and their spoons are criticizing him. Don’t come in their talks. Unki baaton mein na aana. I know I have said something like that too, and also Altaf Bhai who is holding British passport. We are only saying this from above, above. Ooper, ooper say. We do not mean it. Because we all know that Cameroon is saying what every body in the world is thinking, including our best friend USA. Cameroon must have picked up these wibes when in America. This is a new word I have lunt, wibes. It is not the same as wives but quite close. It is also not like wines which are haram, but again close. So it is dangerous word, WIBES, like wives and wines. Suffice it is to say it. That’s a new phase I have learnt. A phase is a saying, not crunt of bijli which is face. Face is not coming, as electrician says.

Anyways, I love Britain and Britishers. In fect, when I was PM, Tony came to Pakistan and I had a big reception for him in Lahore Fart. At dinner I told him, “Dearest Tony Blair Saab, this is the famous fart of Mughal emperors. It is a fart fit for kings. In Britain, you have lots of kings and queens but no farts. Here we are having only farts, no kings. If you like, I can dismantle this fart and expote it to beloved London, hain ji?”

Tony did not answer. Rather, he changed subject. “Have you met Prince Charles?” he asked me. “No, Mr Tony, I have not” I said. “He’s the heir apparent you know”. I said, “I know, I know. It is very nice that he is hair apparent. Can you tell me which shampoo he is using, hain ji?”

Gaye gi dunya geet meray

NS

[Muppalla]

Please check out this "alright in karachi" article by a Pakjabi

http://randomhouseindia.wordpress.com/2 ... n-karachi/

Hijab thingy is well know and nothing new but it is alway a good read

[shravan]

Customs seize arms at airport

LAHORE: Customs officials recovered 11 pistols, 200 bullets and 14 magazines from a passenger at the Allama Iqbal International Airport on Wednesday.

The customs officials ran a routine check on Rizwan, resident of Dharampura, who arrived at the airport at 6:50pm onboard PIA’s Flight PK-722 coming from New York, and found him in possession of 11 pistols, 200 bullets and 14 magazines. He had hid the weapons in a personal computer’s CPU and smuggled them into Pakistan. aaj kal report

---

[Lalmohan]

^^^ dharampura? must be yindoo raw agint onlee

[James B]

Jammed in Delhi - About Paki journos Piss process in India - from TFT

-Raza Rumi
visits India for the first time as a journo - Part One

Twenty-four hours before my departure to the enemy lands, I still had not received my visa. This time my rushed, jam-packed travel to India was a bit of an identity switch. From a development professional, a Sufi devotee and a culture-vulture, I was now a journalist representing none other than The Friday Times. Accordingly, I sat on a plane with pockets full of visitors cards and little idea of what this junket was all about.

Indeed, the peace industry across the globe is an unbroken series of junkets, high-sounding statements and admittedly a lot of fun. I was travelling with ten other Pakistani media persons: from Urdu, English, electronic and print varieties. Luckily, I knew Cyril Almeida of DAWN, our Shaukat Piracha (who also works for AAJ) and Asim Awan of Express-Tribune – there was little awkwardness in getting familiar with the group.

Between the two high profile visits of the Indian Home and Foreign Ministers this was a visit to give Pakistani media representatives access to the Indian mood and where it stood. Perhaps, an effort to forge a better understanding of what Indians were thinking and to hear of the Pakistani concerns from the non-state side. A tacit and slightly belated acknowledgement that the Pakistani media has arrived (perhaps nowhere) and has entered the power-game.

The more we fight, the more similar we look. After the 2008 tragic incidents in Mumbai, the Indian and Pakistani media displayed their raw power and the ability to shape public opinion. In India, the media stirred up jingoism even in the most pacifist human, while in Pakistan the India-centric paranoia and its paradoxical counterweight - our nuclear prowess - were drummed up by idiot box gurus.

For this reason, our trip was meant to be eventful and perhaps relevant too.

Bukhara diplomacy

After the usual PIA delays, we got into Delhi much later than anticipated. Luckily, the immigration counters were friendlier this time. Our High Commissioner was on the same flight and this was a good chance to have chitchat right there. Ali Zafar, a budding Bollywood star was also entering Delhi for the promotion of his new film - Tere Bin Laden - that remains banned in Pakistan due to its over- the-top name.

We had a set of earnest hosts adept at taking care of journos. We were greeted and whisked away to a luxury hotel. Delhi was hot, humid and unbearable - the rains were expected but the delayed monsoon cycle had dashed all hopes of a respite. Of course, inside the hotel one was miles away from the real India and its temperature. In this make-believe world, we all enjoyed a dinner at Bukhara, now a globally-acclaimed restaurant for its association with the Clintons, who loved the cuisine there. The food was fantastic - a medley of tikkas and roasts and tenderly grilled vegetables and paneer. Whilst the name and moorings of the restaurant is Central Asian, the cuisine had a distinctively Pakhtun aura and flavour.(one can see the central asian affinity of pakis here)

Next morning, we all huddled together for an incredibly long day. We met the Foreign Office bureaucrats first. The thrust of the briefing there was on how well India was advancing as an economy. At this point Dr Moeed Peerzada said that all such facts were available on the Internet. The conversation therefore drifted towards the inevitable: Terrorism, Mumbai and Pakistan’s reluctance to ‘do more’. However, as such conversations are, diplomacy on both sides was maintained, and never did the discussions go haywire. Later, in our meeting with the impressive Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, we had a replay of the earlier discussions, but with a strong signal that at least the Foreign Office was under instructions to demonstrate its quest for peace.

Rao, a gentle South Indian, emphasized creative solutions and the need to think outside the box. Who could disagree with that? But the limits of creativity set by Indian public opinion are tricky. Mumbai hovers all around. There is not a single sentence or idea that is not laced with Mumbai-talk. As we found out later in the trip, Indian public opinion, shaped by a ubiquitous media and national security lobby, is firm on this issue. Now, one can only imagine what a group of eleven journalists can say or do when faced with such an immense mood swing.

In any case, we tried our best. For instance, Anjum Rehman, a sprightly anchor on Express 24/7, time and again mentioned how Pakistanis shared the grief when the Mumbai killings were taking place. Asim Awan, also of Express group, mentioned that terrorism was abominable and unacceptable for a common Pakistani, regardless of where it takes place. Kamran Shahid, a popular TV anchor in Urdu, kept on highlighting how Pakistan itself is a victim of terror, and that there was a need to see the larger picture.

By then David Hedley, another misguided missile, had made all his ‘confessions’. Therefore, the Pakistan-victim brand did not sell, at least in these formal meetings. Privately, people did show a lot of concern and empathy, I must add.

Walking within the North and South Blocks of the Raj Secretariat in Delhi is a delight. The majesty and ambiance of the architecture, credited to Luytens, an English urban planner especially brought to Delhi to design magnificent buildings, has remained intact. Capturing a few images was not possible, as photography was banned here. Good old security policies redundant in this day and age.

All in the day’s work

At lunchtime, we were introduced to the motley stars of the Indian media. The big publishing houses and TV channels were all represented. A robust discussion took place around the table, that was thankfully informal and light. But the issues remained the same. There was a tacit admission by some among the Indian galaxy that media owners need to be brought to the Indo-Pak peace table, given their influence and outreach. Indrani Baghchi present there made some practical suggestions. Her detailed analysis after a day or two referred to the need to engage with the Pakistan Army as a strategic counterpart. Of course, the recent rounds of US-Pak dialogue have set a precedent of sorts.

By the time this pleasant lunch was over we were once again packed into a minibus and taken to the overwhelming secretariat to meet with India’s exceptional politician: Home Minister, P. Chidambaram. This was a short meeting, where we were advised not to take notes. Dressed in a white Mundu, a traditional South Indian dress (a distant and grander cousin of the dhoti), Chidmabaram spent half an hour with us. Once the meeting was over he rushed out for another appointment with little security, no hangers-on, in a modest Ambassador car. Indian politicians know how to keep their optics right. Unlike our crop of pseudo-regal, extravagant politicos, one rarely finds an Indian politician displaying his or her wealth, howsoever corrupt they might be.

Chidambram’s piercing intellect is the first thing you notice about him. While he tried his best to be diplomatic, his razor-sharp style made many of our colleagues rethink their questions and comments. He had just returned from his Pakistan visit and appeared to be quite satisfied with his discussions there. Interestingly, he was all praise for Rehman Malik, his counterpart in Islamabad, and called him a ‘capable’ investigator. Of course, the discussion, as expected, centred on Mumbai.

I raised the issue of information-deficit that ails the Indian mainstream media and by extension public opinion about Pakistan. Unlike us, Indians do not hear much about Pakistan, other than gory accounts of terrorism, spy thriller accounts of the ISI, and of course Mr Hafiz Saeed, who seems to have done well for himself. It is not too easy to scare a country with a billion plus population, a mammoth army and nuclear weapons, not to mention an eight per cent growth rate. For all the wrong reasons, the militant groups have succeeded in their mission, where millions of peace-loving Indians and Pakistanis have miserably failed.

Chidambaram agreed with my point on information, loosening media controls and rethinking unnecessarily arbitrary visa regimes. I also restated like an old parrot how every belligerent move by India undermined the chances for civilian supremacy here. Alas, this vicious circle is relentless.

So much for the information deficit on Pakistan. While the policymakers knew about the alleged jihadi camps, they had no clue that Bollywood films were now screened across Pakistan!

Tanking the thought

As if this day was not packed enough, our hosts had planned another meeting. The jatha of Pak journos arrived at the Observer Research Foundation. This ‘think-tank’ is managed by former diplomats, generals and bureaucrats, with the help of independent researchers, and is a well-ensconced Delhi talk shop. Two sweet old men - one a former Ambassador to Pakistan and another a Lahori who migrated and became the Naval chief – chaired the session. Pakistan was under the spotlight once again, and we all aired our views as well as pointed out the holes in the arguments presented to us by eminent analysts there.

Jyoti Malhotra, an independent journalist, challenged the discourse and rightfully pointed out how the bigwigs, while in service, toe the establishment line, but after their retirement turn into peaceniks. Saeed Naqvi, another well-known Indian journalist, made some incisive comments and hinted how Musharraf’s offers fell on deaf ears in India. Abid Hussain, former Indian Ambassador to the US, argued for a new peace framework, as older recipes had failed. Hussain also made us all swoon over his chaste renditions of Urdu poetry amid landlocked discussions.

Yet another event had been planned which I conveniently escaped, as I had to make my customary visit to the dargahs of Nizamuddin Auliya and Amir Khusrau. A visit in the night is the best experience, when the Qawwals are getting into a trance and magic takes over the dargah compound. But my visit was followed by a hysterical call from home about the suicide attack at Data Darbar. For many minutes, an imaginary shell struck me, for one could never have thought of this happening in reality.

As I made my blog entry that night, the fear of losing the Lahore I knew was palpable and immense. I did not know that this was to be picked up by the international media, and for the next twenty-four hours, I was engrossed in soothing my nerves by endless email and phone interviews, including a short hop to the BBC offices in Delhi. A catharsis of sorts.

Our day two in Delhi was also chaotic. Starting from a fascinating briefing at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) to a lively meeting at Indian Express, the day was informal and allowed for a wider interaction than the purely official ‘hard-talk’. Shekhar Gupta at Indian Express amused us with his spot-on analyses, as well as his lighthearted banter about the ‘vigil’ crowd at Wagah, and how the Punjabi nostalgia community had shrunk to nothingness. Identifying newer peace lobbies was a clear message from this day. Seema Chishty, another editor at the Express, highlighted how Indian Muslims were also part of mainstream public opinion regarding Mumbai. Pakistan, we were told, needed to take this into account. I wondered if the extent and intensity of this position was even known across the border.

From the Express we set out to the Indian Council of World Affairs where another group of serving diplomats and former Ambassadors had organized a big meeting with Delhi-based journalists and ‘intellectuals’. Kamran Shahid and Shaukat Piracha spoke from our side. Shahid was vociferous about Hafiz Saeed obsessions, while Piracha focused on how people-to-people contact was essential to the future of this region. Now the questions from a large group, assembled in a town hall style, were not all that sweet. There was bitterness and lament, and the ‘do more’ mantra was loudly chanted.

After the chairpersons (former diplomats of course) summed up the proceedings, echoing a tough line on Pakistan, we all had tea together. Now, this was a different world, amiable, warm and hospitable. Pran Neville was also there, who met me with boundless affection, and a few other acquaintances were found among the melee around the spicy dhokla and tender pieces of barfi.

Jyoti Malhotra waited for Shaukat Piracha and me while we gave countless interviews to young journalists on the peace process. Gita from X news was the most impressive in her articulation. Later, Jyoti took us to another Delhi watering hole: the India International Centre, where we sat around Delhi’s gifted, sometimes self-conscious, intellectuals and artists. IIC is a space that Lahore lacks, for its hangouts are now class-driven, where ordinary mortals are not allowed in.

Raza Rumi is a writer and policy expert based in Lahore. He blogs at http://razarumi.com; and manages Pak Tea House and Lahore Nama

[shravan]

TFT Such Gup

Sleep deprived

...When the control tower in Islamabad informed him that they had diverted all flights to Lahore, given the weather, the pilot replied that he was very tired and could not take the flight to Lahore. He insisted upon landing and that is when the crash took place.”

Something really wrong with this crash. Yesterday on Paki Forum (HistoryofPIA).

As per my inquiry the Captain is warned that he is in the danger zone and he is heading towards the no fly zone but he replied that 'I Know'.
It is not confirmed that is there really Capt. Pervaiz at Captain's seat or any other person.
The above inquiry is told by my Uncle who went to Islamabad to recieve the dead Body of my Father

[jagga]

Obama, Cameron jointly scripted pincer attack on Pak?

LONDON: British PM David Cameron's remark, that Pakistan exports terror, was calibrated and an outcome of strategy discussions between Cameron and US president Barack Obama in Washington just a week prior to UK PM's visit to India, to impel Pakistan to give up its duplicity.

[jamwal]

Jammed in Delhi - About Paki journos Piss process in India - from TFT

-Raza Rumi
visits India for the first time as a journo - Part One

Saeed Naqvi, another well-known Indian journalist, made some incisive comments and hinted how Musharraf’s offers fell on deaf ears in India.

Non-resident Paki

[Prem]

[quote="jamwal Non-resident Paki[/quote]
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/daw ... -580-sk-08

Strange, since Dalit and tribal children are nowhere in the frame as far as the Commonwealth Games are concerned. In fact, for the less privileged lot India’s gala event has become a source of daily fear of the police and pervasive insecurity from the municipality. Thousands of beggars have already been deported to far-flung states from where they were said to have arrived. For Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the Games will be a diversion from the daily mayhem of civilian deaths in Kashmir, Chhatisgarh, Manipur and many other hotspots that have spun out of control across India. People are asking why when the country was growing at a snail’s pace of 2.5 per cent India was more peaceful than now when it is supposed to be galloping at between 8 and 9 per cent. Dr Singh told his alma mater at Oxford not too long ago that the British gave India the “rule of law” which was the result of its meeting the “dominant empire of the day.” The fact is India did not ‘meet’ the dominant empire of the day. It was conquered and colonised, her economy plundered, and her people as a whole, irrespective of class status, converted for the first time into inferior beings in their own country. The Commonwealth Games is a tribute to that slave mentality.

LOL, a deracinated convert paying daily homage to Alien land and dogma and having alien name associated with bloodshed, mayhem and loot is talking about others and that too in Poak news paper where children of an Arab name Qasim live . Who is he kidding or talking to,does he has Indian audiences?

[Airavat]

Trade delegation to Russia returns empty-handed

During the week-long visit, the delegation could not even sign a single memorandum of understanding with the Russians despite scheduled meetings with important ministries and other potential investors.

[Mauli]

Saudi Arabia only Islamic country to send relief items{No Money}

“By Thursday, there has been no relief supply from any Islamic country except Saudi Arabia,” KP Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain said. “Last (Wednesday) night, a Saudi plane brought some 150 tents,” he added.

However, the KP government spokesman said the Saudi government should send more tents.....

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?pa ... 010_pg7_18

[SSridhar]

Anti-India rhetoric won't help: SM Krishna

“We have drawn the attention of the government of Pakistan to Jehadi forces which are pouring venom on India. Hostile anti-India propaganda has been carried on there day in, day out… This certainly does not help in building confidence, nor does it help in reducing the trust deficit,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told the Rajya Sabha during question hour. “At the same time, we would like to carry on with our talks with Pakistan.”

Asked repeatedly by Venkaiah Naidu and S.S. Ahluwalia, both of the Bharatiya Janata Party, to explain his criticism of Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai, Mr. Krishna began by describing the bureaucrat as a distinguished civil servant and then sought to pin the blame on a “mess-up between the news agency and the Home Secretary.” Whatever Mr. Pillai had said reflected terror suspect David Headley's confession to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “We interrogated him for a considerable length of time. As a result, we have come to the conclusion that whatever Headley has said to the FBI and to our own interrogators, matches more or less with what the Home Secretary has conveyed.”

Mr. Krishna said he chose not to respond to the observations made by his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, on Mr. Pillai because he did not want to get into a slanging match with him. “It was ridiculous to compare the Indian Home Secretary with a terrorist. When such comparisons are made, there is no point in just talking to him on the same line. So, I thought, it is best treated with the contempt he deserves.”

Another BJP member Ram Jethmalani rose to Mr. Krishna's defence by “complimenting and congratulating” him on the “extraordinary postures of impressive dignity and good manners.”

Mr. Krishna disclosed that there was an agreement with Mr. Qureshi on several humanitarian issues such as taking a liberal attitude to fishermen who unintentionally cross territorial waters and are imprisoned, exchange of academics, students and youth leaders and increasing trade. “These were some of the issues on which there was a broad agreement. So we thought we would expand these areas so that both countries can stand to benefit.”

[RamaY]

^150 tents? The tallal flend must have sold them $50 a piece...

So the wealthy concubine of sole superpower sent $7500 worth of goods? That must be cheaper than the flight fuel from KSA to paukistan...

AoA onlee.

[Mauli]

Najam Sethi proposing to use a white guy as facilitator to resolve water dispute between Punjab& Sindh

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[Mauli]

Time to Start Demanding Answers From Pakistan
Jere Van Dyk: Some of Our $1 Billion Aid to Pakistan Winds Up in the Hands of the Taliban

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/ ... 0230.shtml

[Airavat]

Eric Maro-goli says paki duplicity is "common sense"
Read the comments:

JR
August 1st 2010, 3:40am
Did this ISI buddy of yours tell you that Pakistan created Taliban (an army of Islamic fundamentalists) and INVADED Afghanistan?? Pakistan is the Islamic terror factory of the world and solely responsible for Afghanistan's misery. If only Bush had half a brain, he would have busted Pakistan right after 911. Instead he chose them as the ally. Talk about sleeping with the enemy!!

WATCHER
August 1st 2010, 7:44am
Eric, you must be a muslim as all of your columns demonize western nations and non-muslims. Since you know it all and have many important friends over there, why don't you go and live in Pakistan and write as you do today against them.

Mike Winner
August 1st 2010, 9:54am
To fully believe Eric Margolis' premises you have to believe that the ISI is somehow some innocent little organization. There are 3 intelligence agencies in Pakistan, and the ISI has been fomenting rebellion in league with Al Quaida and the taliban in NW Pakistan to unseat the democratically elected government of Pakistan.

harry
August 1st 2010, 1:24pm
I don't think that it is relevant to any discussion to state that Mr Margolis' mother was an Albanian muslim, who cares. His heritage may provide him with a bias but then everyone has their own bias.

Tom
August 1st 2010, 11:56am
Calling Pakistan an ally is a real stretch. And while the US does so in hopes of salvaging the situation, the prospects are grim. Perhaps a strategic retreat is in order. Put all the alliance eggs into India's basket. At least the basic premise of their behaviour is more in tune with Western interests.

margolis: secret Muslim, paid by Pakistanis
August 1st 2010, 11:25am
His mother was Albanian Muslim, he is a paid journalist for Pakis largest paper Dawn, and wrote an essay 'Dont blame Hitler for World War 2'. Also wrote a book on WW2, 'Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War'.

[shiv]

Eric Maro-goli says paki duplicity is "common sense"
Read the comments:

JR
August 1st 2010, 3:40am
Did this ISI buddy of yours tell you that Pakistan created Taliban (an army of Islamic fundamentalists) and INVADED Afghanistan?? Pakistan is the Islamic terror factory of the world and solely responsible for Afghanistan's misery. If only Bush had half a brain, he would have busted Pakistan right after 911. Instead he chose them as the ally. Talk about sleeping with the enemy!!

WATCHER
August 1st 2010, 7:44am
Eric, you must be a muslim as all of your columns demonize western nations and non-muslims. Since you know it all and have many important friends over there, why don't you go and live in Pakistan and write as you do today against them.

Mike Winner
August 1st 2010, 9:54am
To fully believe Eric Margolis' premises you have to believe that the ISI is somehow some innocent little organization. There are 3 intelligence agencies in Pakistan, and the ISI has been fomenting rebellion in league with Al Quaida and the taliban in NW Pakistan to unseat the democratically elected government of Pakistan.

harry
August 1st 2010, 1:24pm
I don't think that it is relevant to any discussion to state that Mr Margolis' mother was an Albanian muslim, who cares. His heritage may provide him with a bias but then everyone has their own bias.

Tom
August 1st 2010, 11:56am
Calling Pakistan an ally is a real stretch. And while the US does so in hopes of salvaging the situation, the prospects are grim. Perhaps a strategic retreat is in order. Put all the alliance eggs into India's basket. At least the basic premise of their behaviour is more in tune with Western interests.

margolis: secret Muslim, paid by Pakistanis
August 1st 2010, 11:25am
His mother was Albanian Muslim, he is a paid journalist for Pakis largest paper Dawn, and wrote an essay 'Dont blame Hitler for World War 2'. Also wrote a book on WW2, 'Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War'.

http://www.albca.com/aclis/modules.php? ... nt&sid=958
Margolis is the majority owner and chairman of Jamieson Laboratories, a leading manufacturer of vitamins and herbal supplements.

[pgbhat]

Margolis is the majority owner and chairman of Jamieson Laboratories, a leading manufacturer of vitamins and herbal supplements.

explains everything.

[R Vaidya]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/wor ... #ref=nlint

Losing Faith in Pakistan's Future

Long a home to Pakistan's intellectual elite, the tolerant city of Lahore has become a favorite target of the Taliban. The development is causing the country's leading writer, Ahmed Rashid, whose books are required reading in the West's military academies, to lose his optimism that the Islamist militants can be defeated.

R Vaidya

[SSridhar]

Pakistan's inaction froze ties with India: US

Pakistan's lacklustre approach to bring to justice the 26/11 perpetrators has basically frozen Indo-Pak peace talks, said an official U.S. report on Thursday, which also warned that the Lashkar-e-Taiba remained a serious threat to Western interests.

U.S. State Department's annual “Country Reports on Terrorism for the year 2009 said Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and northwest continued to be a “safe haven” for Al-Qaeda and Afghan insurgents.

“In response to allegations of involvement by LeT in the Mumbai attacks, Pakistani officials cracked down on an LeT camp in Muzzafarabad and arrested or detained more than 50 LeT or JUD leaders in Punjab and elsewhere in Pakistan, but it subsequently released many of them. LeT remained a serious threat to Western interests.”

“Pakistani officials pledged to prosecute all individuals in Pakistan found to be involved in the Mumbai attacks and offered to share intelligence regarding the attacks with the Government of India. At year's end, however, peace talks between Pakistan and India remained frozen amid Indian allegations that Pakistan was not doing enough to bring the terrorists to justice.” The State Department said foreign terrorist organisations, continued to operate and carry out attacks in Pakistan.

[chetak]

Something that we at BRF always knew.




http://acorn.nationalinterest.in/2010/0 ... extremism/

A strategic shift towards extremism


The silent majority in Pakistan is not moderate

Move over Wikileaks, the sit-back-and-take-notice piece of information comes from Pew Global Attitudes Project. It’s latest report on attitudes towards extremism shows just how bad the world’s Pakistan problem is.

We are used to hearing the cliche that the majority of Pakistanis are moderate. Well, this is what the survey shows:

Pakistanis overwhelmingly support making segregation of men and women in the workplace the law in their country (85%), and comparable percentages favor instituting harsh punishments such as stoning people who commit adultery (82%), whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery (82%), and the death penalty for those who leave the Muslim religion (76%). Support for gender segregation and for severe punishments is pervasive across all demographic and regional groups.

Majorities among those who identify with modernizers and among those who side with Islamic fundamentalists in a struggle between the two groups endorse making harsh punishments the law in Pakistan. However, those who identify with fundamentalists are much more likely than those who side with the modernizers to support harsh punishments under the law. For example, 88% of those who say they identify with Islamic fundamentalists favor the death penalty for people who leave the Muslim religion, compared with 67% of those who side with the modernizers. [PewGlobal emphasis added]
“
”

If that’s not bad enough, there’s more: the proportion of people who identify themselves with ‘modernisers’ has decreased from 71% to 63%. As the survey report says “even though Pakistanis largely reject extremist organizations, they embrace some of the severe laws advocated by such groups.”

Almost all Pakistanis say that terrorism is a big problem. They disapprove of terrorist and militant groups that directly or indirectly target Pakistanis. Disapproval ratings for al-Qaeda, ‘The Taliban’ (presumably the Mullah Omar group), Tehrik-i-Taliban (Pakistan Taliban) and Afghan Taliban are 53%, 65%, 51% and 49% respectively. When it comes to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a group that attacks India the disapproval rate falls to 35%. The LeT enjoys higher support too—at 25% it beats al-Qaeda and the Tehrik-i-Taliban who are tied at 18% for the second place.

As many as 40% of the respondents answered “don’t know” or refused to answer to the question whether they viewed the Lashkar-e-Taiba favourably. Even if we accept the the improbable contention that four in ten Pakistanis somehow do not know about the LeT despite its nationwide presence, the fact that such a large proportion of the population is ambivalent about this outfit strengthens the hands of its supporters.

What does all this mean? Well, that the majority of Pakistanis disapprove of extremist groups only to the extent that they cause trouble for and in their own country. When seen in the context of their perception of the threat from India and the salience of the Kashmir issue, their ambivalence towards the LeT is understandable. Also understandable is why neither the Pakistani civilian government nor the Pakistan army will act against the LeT. It supports our argument that there is a limit to which the Pakistani army can genuinely fight jihadi groups—how long can they fight those who share the same vision? In this context, it is not difficult for the military-jihadi complex to engineer events to pursue its own geopolitical agenda.

What is not understandable though is just why anyone—in Washington, New Delhi or even in Pakistan itself—thinks that endogenous change is possible. The United States is deeply unpopular despite all the financial, political and diplomatic support it gives. President Zardari is deeply unpopular despite his perhaps genuine attempts to improve relations with India, which ostensibly, is what three in four Pakistanis say they support. General Kayani and the military are held in high regard, despite their obvious lack of interest in quelling extremist groups and in improving relations with India.

More than averages it is the margins that are important. At the margin, Pakistanis have grown closer and more accommodative of extremism and its practitioners. And Obama administration officials want the Pakistani government to continue the “strategic shift” away from militant groups. It’s not happening, Barack!

[Amber G.]

Saw some place...an expert explanation on why some people pronounce certain words ...

The Arabic language does not have a letter in the Arabic alphabet to make the P sound, which is why a lot of Arabs who are not exposed to English (or other languages that have the P sound) continue to pronounce words that begin with 'P', such as Pen or Pencil, as Ben, Bencil.

But typically the usage of the word 'Bakistani' by Indians is deliberate and in a derogatory context (most often seen on one notorious Indian forum), given that Indian languages do not suffer from the same limitation that Arabic does.

Anyone knows which notorious forum they are talking about?

[derkonig]

^^^
What do they mean that Hindooo languages don't suffer from limitations like holy beloved arapic? Tell me its not true.
Btw, any url for this story, this needs to go into BENIS fast.

[Prem]

Saw some place...an expert explanation on why some people pronounce certain words ...

The Arabic language does not have a letter in the Arabic alphabet to make the P sound, which is why a lot of Arabs who are not exposed to English (or other languages that have the P sound) continue to pronounce words that begin with 'P', such as Pen or Pencil, as Ben, Bencil.

But typically the usage of the word 'Bakistani' by Indians is deliberate and in a derogatory context (most often seen on one notorious Indian forum), given that Indian languages do not suffer from the same limitation that Arabic does.

Anyone knows which notorious forum they are talking about?

Are they accepting the that beautiful Indic Devbhasha is superior to the Arabic language of Allah? How do they say Poakland in Arabic?

[Sanjay M]

(BBC)Al-Qaeda in Pakistan is top threat, says US report

[rsingh]

But typically the usage of the word 'Bakistani' by Indians is deliberate and in a derogatory context

What is "derogatory" in Bakistan hein.

[SSridhar]

'Enemy property' ordinance will be allowed to lapse
This does not directly pertain to Pakistan; it is concerned with those who migrated to Pakistan and whose properties were taken over by GoI as 'enemy property'

The UPA government has withdrawn its efforts to push through a new law that would throw into question the possession of ancestral property by citizens whose parents or grandparents migrated to Pakistan after partition. The decision to keep the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2010 in abeyance was taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, official sources said, after a cross-party delegation of prominent Muslim MPs met him on Wednesday and registered its protest at the draft.

Sources in the delegation said the Prime Minister, after hearing them out, “consulted” Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on the matter and a decision was then taken to back off. An ordinance currently in operation will be allowed to lapse on July 28, the last date by which it must be replaced by an Act of Parliament.

The Bill, had it been passed, would have prevented Indian family members of those who migrated to Pakistan at the time of Partition from going to court to regain possession of the property of their forefathers that had been seized as “enemy property” and had been vested in a custodian.

At Wednesday's meeting, the MPs told Dr. Singh that they requested him to examine the Bill as it would have “a politically adverse impact on a large number of families in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and Maharashtra.”

The government, according to North Block sources, was forced to promulgate an ordinance to bring an end to the rash of appeals in various High Courts seeking repossession of properties held by the custodian, triggered off by the Supreme Court order restoring the properties of the Rajah of Mehmoodabad to his heir, Mohammad Amir Mohammad Khan.{We should remember that Rajah of Mehmoodabad was one of the architects and financiers for the creation of Pakistan and we are restoring his property to his 'heir' ? Rajah of Mehmoodabad left for Pakistan with his family. So, who is this 'heir' ?}

But Muslim MPs felt that many such properties owned by those living in India had been wrongly taken over by the custodian on the assumption that their owners had migrated to Pakistan. Such properties had been under litigation for decades, but now the Rajah Mehmoodabad case had created a precedent for many Muslims to cite and recover their properties from the custodian.

According to one estimate, there are over 2,000 such properties across India, with 55 in Lucknow.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the impact of the ordinance was already being felt: the Raja of Mehmoodabad, who had won possession of his ancestral properties, worth hundreds of crores, after a 32-year court battle in October 2005, lost them all over again, when the Lucknow district administration formally took possession of six of his properties, as directed by the Custodian of Enemy Properties under the Union Home Ministry.

[SSridhar]

From DT Editorial

The prime minister floated an offer to Baloch nationalist leaders to engage in a political dialogue to solve the Baloch problem. However, in the presence of the Frontier Corps, which acts independently of government control and has been accused of responsibility for many Baloch killings and disappearances, any such offer does not hold much meaning.