Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan (TSP): Oct. 20, 2010

[Pratyush]

The news of Debt write off if true is disgusting. It just goes to show that the TSP can carry of with reckless behavior and will keep getting bailed out.

Moreover, inspite of the global financial meltdown, the powers that be in the western world still have this kind of money to flush down the drain.

[SSridhar]

So said Nehru to Eisenhower
Excerpts

We had hoped that the old conflicts and the policy of hatred and violence, pursued by the old Muslim League, which indeed had led to the Partition, would cease. It was obviously to the advantage of both countries to live in peace and friendship with each other and to devote themselves to their social and economic development which was so urgently needed to give a social content to our freedom and independence.

Unfortunately for us and for Pakistan, our hopes were not realised and the Pakistan government continued to pursue that old policy of hatred and violence. Every government that comes to power in Pakistan bases itself on this policy of hatred against India. It is this basic fact that has to be recognised. In our opinion, the settlement we so ardently desire cannot come if this policy of hatred continues.

Military pacts and military aid have made Pakistan think in terms of coercing India. No self-respecting country can submit to this, much more so when that country is an aggrieved party and the other country continues to profit by its aggression. Unfortunately, the encouragement that Pakistan has received in the Security Council and elsewhere has led it to continue its policy of aggressive intransigence.

We have always been of the view that a settlement of our various issues with Pakistan can only be arrived at satisfactorily by direct contacts between the two countries. If third parties intervene, even though that intervention proceeds from goodwill, the position becomes entirely different. The aggressor country and the country against whom aggression has taken place are put on the same level, both pleading before that third party.

It is this difficulty that has faced me in considering the proposal that you have made. Ambassador Bunker has told me that it is not intended that any person should act as a judge or umpire. Nevertheless, by whatever name the third person might be called, his intervention would tend to be regarded as of that kind and might well add to the present difficulties. Any visit of such a person could not be kept secret and the result would be greater public excitement.

Kashmir, canal waters and other matters in issue between India and Pakistan are the result, and not the basic cause, of Pakistan’s hostility to India.

[vnadendla]

Very well said. Nehru if nothing else is a master word smith.
I don't yet in my mind have an answer for "why Pakistan government continued to pursue that old policy of hatred and violence". Megalomania? Dreams of occupying India one day? Or plain stupidity?

So said Nehru to Eisenhower
Excerpts

We had hoped that the old conflicts and the policy of hatred and violence, pursued by the old Muslim League, which indeed had led to the Partition, would cease. It was obviously to the advantage of both countries to live in peace and friendship with each other and to devote themselves to their social and economic development which was so urgently needed to give a social content to our freedom and independence.

Unfortunately for us and for Pakistan, our hopes were not realised and the Pakistan government continued to pursue that old policy of hatred and violence. Every government that comes to power in Pakistan bases itself on this policy of hatred against India. It is this basic fact that has to be recognised. In our opinion, the settlement we so ardently desire cannot come if this policy of hatred continues.

Military pacts and military aid have made Pakistan think in terms of coercing India. No self-respecting country can submit to this, much more so when that country is an aggrieved party and the other country continues to profit by its aggression. Unfortunately, the encouragement that Pakistan has received in the Security Council and elsewhere has led it to continue its policy of aggressive intransigence.

We have always been of the view that a settlement of our various issues with Pakistan can only be arrived at satisfactorily by direct contacts between the two countries. If third parties intervene, even though that intervention proceeds from goodwill, the position becomes entirely different. The aggressor country and the country against whom aggression has taken place are put on the same level, both pleading before that third party.

It is this difficulty that has faced me in considering the proposal that you have made. Ambassador Bunker has told me that it is not intended that any person should act as a judge or umpire. Nevertheless, by whatever name the third person might be called, his intervention would tend to be regarded as of that kind and might well add to the present difficulties. Any visit of such a person could not be kept secret and the result would be greater public excitement.

Kashmir, canal waters and other matters in issue between India and Pakistan are the result, and not the basic cause, of Pakistan’s hostility to India.

[anupmisra]

Porkies online search habits
AoA.

[anupmisra]

Pakijabi mards discuss porki online search habits while pakjabi motormama sips coffee
Its actually quite funny. AoA

[kenop]

While POTUS is about to arrive in South Asia
Top Taliban commander held in Karachi: Official

[surinder]

Pakijabi mards discuss porki online search habits while pakjabi motormama sips coffee
Its actually quite funny. AoA

... all in terrible artificial Urdu in thick punjabi accent. Not to mention a false sense of incredulity and sanctimoniousness.

[ramana]

Nothing going on in TSP?

Are they too shellacked?

[Rangudu]

Nothing going on in TSP?

Are they too shellacked?

Or may be preparing for something across either border?

[harbans]

I'll be a bit sceptical on the 5th at least in J & K. Geelani has issued a statement no strike to allow Hindu's to celebrate Diwali. Hunch is something is on. Obama arrives next day. I just don't put anything past these hate filled mongrels.

[Raja Bose]

Pakijabi mards discuss porki online search habits while pakjabi motormama sips coffee
Its actually quite funny. AoA

Was this a comedy/satire show on purpose or was it an actual serious Paki talk show?!

[shynee]

Kurram: the forsaken FATA —Dr Mohammad Taqi

What has also become increasingly clear is that the Pakistani establishment is trying its level best to relocate its Haqqani network assets to the Kurram Agency in anticipation of an operation that it would have to start — under pressure from the US — in the North Waziristan Agency (NWA) sooner rather than later. This is precisely what the establishment had intended to do when it said that the NWA operation would be conducted in its own timeframe. The Taliban onslaught on the Shalozan area of Kurram, northeast of Mata Sangar, in September 2010 was part of this tactical rearrangement. When the local population reversed the Taliban gains in the battle for the village Khaiwas, the army’s gunships swooped down on them to protect its jihadist partners.

This is not the first time that the security establishment has attempted to use the Kurram Agency to provide transit or sanctuary to its Afghan Taliban allies. It did so during the so-called jihad of the 1980s and 1990s when the geo-strategic tip of the region called the Parrot’s Beak served as a bridgehead for operations against the neighbouring Afghan garrisons, especially Khost. In the fall of 2001, the Pakistan Army moved into Kurram and the Tirah Valley straddling the Khyber and Kurram agencies, ostensibly to block al Qaeda’s escape from the Tora Bora region. The Tirah deployment actually served as a diversion, as al Qaeda and key Afghan Taliban were moved through Kurram and in some instances helped to settle there.

The use of diversions and decoys has also become a de facto state policy when it comes to Kurram. The crisis in the region has been described as a sectarian issue since April 2007. However, the fact of the matter is that the Wahabi extremists, sponsored by the state’s intelligence apparatus, were used to prepare the ground for a larger Taliban-al Qaeda presence in the area. A local mosque in Parachinar served then as the staging ground for rolling out the Taliban rule in the Kurram Agency like similar operations in other tribal agencies. At the time, the Nasrullah Mansur network — an affiliate of the Afghan Taliban — along with the Pakistani Taliban was part of the alliance that had taken over the mosque. The resistance by the Kurram people was extraordinary and the jihadists were dislodged, albeit at great cost to the life, property and peace of the region. A son of Nasrullah Mansur, Saif-ur-Rahman was reportedly killed in a later round of fighting in December 2007.

From that point on, the Kurram tribesmen have come under increasing pressure from the establishment and its Taliban assets to allow the use of their territory for waging war against Afghanistan. The Parachinar-Thall road was effectively closed to the people from upper Kurram through jihadist attacks right under the establishment’s nose. The blockade became so intense that the people had to either use an unreliable and highly expensive small aircraft service operated by the Peshawar Flying Club to reach Peshawar or look for alternative routes.

A land route to Kabul was later opened through the efforts of some Peshawar based tribal and political elders. For about two years, this 230 mile-long arduous journey has literally been upper Kurram’s lifeline and its only land route to reach the rest of Pakistan via Peshawar. Given the fact that the Kurram Agency, with its over half a million population and a 3,380 square kilometre area, is the third largest tribal agency, this route has helped avert a massive humanitarian disaster by allowing food, medicine and supplies to reach the locals. The state did not stand just idle; it actively assisted in the blockade of its own citizens.

The establishment’s strategy over the last month has been to impose the Haqqani network as the ‘mediators’ over the Kurram Agency to help resolve the ‘sectarian’ conflict there. They had coerced and co-opted three leaders from Kurram, Aun Ali, Zamin Hussain and the MNA Sajid Turi, to meet Ibrahim and Khalil Haqqani, sons of the network’s ailing chief Jalaluddin. The three Pakistani men, however, did not have the waak — a customary power of attorney or designation — to conduct a jirga or negotiation or seek nanawatai (sanctuary) on behalf of the Kurram people and therefore were not able to guarantee that Kurram would not resist the new Taliban-Haqqani network incursion there.

The flat out refusal of the Kurramis, who have lost over 1,200 souls since April 2007, to cede their territory and pride to the jihadists and their masters has thrown a wrench in the latter’s immediate plans. Having failed to dupe the citizenry, the establishment has elected to bring them to their knees by force. It announced last week that it is closing down the Parachinar-Gardez-Kabul route, trapping the people of Kurram in a pincer of twin blockades. Announcing the embargo, Colonel Tausif Akhtar of the Pakistani security forces claimed that they are closing down five border entry points to clamp down on sectarian violence. The people of Kurram, however, see this as the state opening the floodgates of oppression on them. But as long as the rest of Pakistan and the world at large do not take notice of the establishment’s tactics in Kurram, this forgotten part of FATA will be completely forsaken.

[abhishek_sharma]

http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/20 ... fghanistan

...

All this having been said, I agree with Mike Scheuer that killing these guys in onesies and twosies, while "hoping" for "hearts and minds" is a recipe for defeat. To do more than kill one or two at a time, we have to either: 1) make it in Pakistan's interest to once and for all end the sanctuary for both the Taliban and especially al Qaeda, or 2) if Pakistan cannot or will not do this, we need to eliminate the sanctuary ourselves -- not with fire weapons, but shock forces (marines and infantry taking and holding the ground and controlling not only the resources, but the people there.)

Given the political costs of option 2, I vote for option 1. The question is, what possible leverage can we give Pakistan to get them to once and for all remove the Taliban threat to Afghanistan that is currently based in the FATA? Surely, the world's remaining superpower -- despite the squandering of immense opportunities, treasure and too much blood over the past nine years -- still has the clout and the savvy to make Pakistan and offer it cannot refuse to embrace with the proper sense of urgency.

I will offer only one small item for contemplation, as I need to get back to work. Pakistan is an artificial construct whose legitimacy as an independent nation-state is increasingly called into question -- not only by some in the international community, but by increasing numbers of their own population. The largest Muslim nation in the subcontinent is not Pakistan, but India. Muslims live well -- indeed, on average, better -- in India than in Pakistan. This is not lost on the Pakistanis. Prognostications for India over the coming fifty years are pretty rosy from an economic perspective. That can hardly be said for Pakistan -- whose Punjabi elites control but a mere sliver of land between India and the FATA region to the north and west -- largely peopled by the Pashtuns. Further to the west are the Baluchis -- no friend of the Punjabis either and eager to go their own way.

Given all of this, what if the U.S. finally decided to take into account the strategic culture of the region and decided to go over the heads of both the Pakistani and Afghan governments and make the following offer. The Durand Line is no more. We support the existence of a free and independent Pashtunistan and Baluchistan. Moreover, we could invite India to assist in this with Muslim Indian troops. It worked in Bangladesh. Why not here?

If Islamabad were to be handed this as our alternative to their fixing the Taliban/ al Qaeda sanctuary once and for all, I think we would have their attention and their absolute cooperation.

I go back to something I read during the Vietnam War: A country that cannot defend its neutrality is not neutral. If the enemy is operating from and staging combat forces in your country -- and you do nothing about it -- you are no longer neutral.

[Prem]

http://public.dawn.com/2010/11/04/obama ... ssues.html
Pak should fulfil pledges on Mumbai attacks: Obama

NEW DELHI: US President Barack Obama sees India as the cornerstone of his country’s future engagement with Asia but he told the Press Trust of India in Washington that New Delhi’s expectations of his support for UNSC membership and transfer of dual use technology were “difficult and very complicated” issues.Mr Obama asked Pakistan to bring to book “transparently, fully and urgently” those responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008, PTI said.Answering Indian criticism that Washington had not “leaned enough” on Pakistan to deal with terrorism emanating from its soil, Mr Obama said the United States had taken every opportunity to make it clear to Pakistan that “confronting violent extremism of all sorts is in its own interests and in the interest of regional stability”.
About Mumbai attacks, the US leader said that Pakistan should fulfil its stated commitments to bring to justice those responsible for terrorism.“Since the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, we have told the Pakistani government that they have an international responsibility to cooperate to bring the perpetrators to justice, and that there is a special responsibility to do so transparently, fully and urgently,” he said.“Pakistan is taking important steps and making sacrifices in our shared fight against extremism, and we will continue to underscore the importance of taking additional action to eliminate terrorist safe havens.”Outlining the objectives of his three-day maiden trip to India beginning on Saturday, Mr Obama said that building “a true strategic partnership” with India had been one of his “highest foreign policy priorities” since he assumed office in January last year.

[vic]

The Terrorist Nation of Pakistan divided in Ten parts is best solution for Stable World

[jagga]

Lot of Bositiv news
No regrets for calling Pak fans 'bunch of animals': Gibbs

Out-of-favour veteran South Africa opener Herschelle Gibbs has no regrets about the "bunch of animals" remark directed towards the Pakistani fans during a Test at Centurion in 2007 but said by no means he was a racist.In his recently published controversial autobiography, 'To The Point', Gibbs wrote that the entire South African team was "irritated" by the unruly behaviour of the Pakistani supporters during that match.

Indian films corrupting minds of young: Pak lawmakers

"Children are now incorporating Indian words and terminologies in normal conversation,"

"But if foreign films and especially Indian movies are discontinued, the struggling cinema culture will completely die. The idea is to keep the cinema houses going, that would otherwise have been turned into marriage halls and other business ventures," Jilani said.

Border Agency 'may discriminate against Pakistanis'

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) may be is unlawfully discriminating against Pakistanis, the man appointed to scrutinise the organisation has said

[harbans]

Out-of-favour veteran South Africa opener Herschelle Gibbs has no regrets about the "bunch of animals" remark directed towards the Pakistani fans during a Test at Centurion in 2007

Gibbs deserves to be fined and given a suspended Jail sentence for his heinous words. The SPMA must act (Society for prevention of Maligning Animals) must get it's act together and file a suit against Gibbs for maligning Animals. How can Animals and Pockroaches be equated? DO we see hate filled and bigotry within animals to the level pockroaches exhibit. Cats, Dogs, Monkeys, Goats, Pigs we apologize on your behalf for these unfortunate remarks made by Mr Gibbs equating your Kingldom and species with that of the pockroaches West of our border.

[Neela]

Gang rape justice - Paki style.

PESHAWAR: A hospital probe committee has decided to expel from the hostel two trainee nurses who were gang-raped in this Pakistani city. The reason: The victims violated the rules.

They are not Hindus. They are Muslims. And muslim women are not allowed to go shopping. The deserved it. ....lol lol

That country ...those people....those morons ....those [insert most despicable word here] are sick. I feel like puking. Not that women in other professions deserve any less sympathy but nurses? Probably all those web searches and the results manifesting and mutating into these heinous acts.

[niran]

Neela Guru, the Nurses went out without 4 male relatives accompanying them each, or they should have breastfed
4 males to make up the short numbers, see, this is Law in Pigistan, the perpetrators will be rewarded for their truly
TFTA mardangi.
Pakistan pain in dabutt.

[Lalmohan]

very likely the act was committed by well connected peepals with phrends in low places. the open meat was easy to consume and discard onlee. the hospital even if it cared would be coerced into 'taking care of business'

[anupmisra]

Victims of discrimination
AoA. Illegal Pak immigrants face deportation from UK. Note how the victim mentality rises to the surface.

Thousands of poor Pakistani immigrants in Britain are being discriminated against in the style similar to the South African apartheid era; hundreds have been arrested by the UK Border Agency officials, even in violation of international laws.

The draconian crackdown on Pakistanis

Hundreds have already been deported and hundreds await forced deportation within weeks

The “clean-up operation”, targeting Pakistanis only

the memorandum between Pakistan and Britain is flawed as there are millions waiting to be regularised in UK and deportation and or removal of only Pakistanis without due process will be discriminatory

The MoU did not take into consideration the very poor human rights record of Pakistan

The number of Pakistani immigrants is very small yet they are being singled out for the discriminatory treatment, especially after the signing of this MoU.

Abdul Rehman Malik said that Pakistan had reached an understanding with Britain that it will accept only 120 Pakistani nationals who will be deported every month from Britain.

Wait...wait...wait...here comes the India connection:

The crackdown on Pakistanis comes at a time when the British government is known to be contemplating, at the behest of Indian authorities and its business groups, measures to exempt Indian economic immigrants from the upcoming immigration cap from the countries outside of the European Union.

Jeehaaaad!!

[Prem]

Well, Poaks are now being stabled in Britanistan. If Poakland wont accept its litter then they ought to be shipped to Muhamamd Bin Qasim 's land who seeded and planted the Poaksters in indian land.

[RajeshA]

Published on Nov 03, 2010
By Meredith Buel
Republican US Election Victory Could Impact South Asia: VOA News

"I think Pakistan will have to understand that there has been a change in the political landscape of the United States," said Retired Pakistani Army Lieutenant General Talat Masood. He points out the U.S. election results were, in part, fueled by voter anger because of the poor economy and U.S. government spending.

Pakistan is one of the major beneficiaries of U.S. foreign aid and receives billions of dollars in economic and military assistance.

The increase in the number of Republicans in Congress is likely to have an impact on bilateral relations, said Masood.

"I think there will be a greater scrutiny as far as assistance is concerned and greater conditionality imposed on Pakistan," he said. "And I think Pakistan would be expected now to do even a lot more and perhaps there will be even greater pressure on Pakistan."

Now an Islamabad-based defense analyst, Talat Masood believes Republicans will bring more demands on the Pakistani Army he says is already stretched too thin.

"Pakistan's sanctuaries in North Waziristan and other areas, perhaps there will be greater pressure that Pakistan launch and clear those sanctuaries," Masood said.

[RajeshA]

Published on Oct 31, 2010
By Baqir Sajjad Syed
Symbolism in Obama`s India visit worries Pakistan: Dawn

Anxious eyes in Islamabad will meticulously examine how the American president manages ties with India without impacting on long-term partnership with Pakistan. Dawn

Senior officials in background interviews with confirmed that they had been reassured by the Americans that, unlike the British prime minister`s allegations of terror export from Pakistan during his visit to India, there would be no brazen anti-Pakistan remarks.

Nonetheless, they are worried that President Obama will try to ratchet up pressure on Pakistan to act against leaders of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and its reincarnations; and certainly to speed up the trial of suspects in the Mumbai attack. But the forthcoming statement on terrorism is not Pakistan`s only concern. What Obama, during his three-day stay in India due to begin on Nov 6, says or doesn`t say on Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi`s long-standing desire for permanent membership of the UN Security Council and India-US military cooperation would not only be important for Pakistan, but also for the future of Islamabad-Washington ties.

[joshvajohn]

Why do not India support Openly Sindhis freedom from Pakistan?
India does not need to send terrorists or people with guns to fight Pakistan army in Sindh area. But the aspiration of Sindh people can be raised while Pakistan raises Kashmiri voices. I do not know why Pakistan is concerned about Kashmiris, if there is a good reason (ofcourse they occupy ha part of it) and also possibly they are Muslims or historical reasons, the same reasons also apply to India to raise the voice of Sindhis in Pakistan!!! Indian government has to decide on this factor openly and raise voice internationally.

Gm Syed The Pride Of Sindh And Freedom
http://wn.com/GM_Syed_The_Pride_Of_Sind ... m_Movement

CONTRIBUTION OF SINDHI FREEDOM FIGHTERS TO INDEPENDENCE
http://www.sindhulogy.org/DynImageConte ... path=std01

[JwalaMukhi]

Why do not India support Openly Sindhis freedom from Pakistan?
India does not need to send terrorists or people with guns to fight Pakistan army in Sindh area.

Politely would like to point out that the above comment is unfit. Typical sly operation by people who pose as do-gooders. Wouldn't even challenge this comment, as it would elevate its merit. Can the above comments be expunged including reference to that in this.

[Nandu]

The link anupmisra posted above, I love how Pakis are whining that UK is not giving them a prize for having poor human rights record.

[Kati]

WSJ article......
TSP Al Qaeda behind Yemen plots......
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... TopStories

[Prem]

Ahead of Obama's India visit, US slaps sanctions on LeT, JeM

On the eve of President Barack Obama`s maiden visit to India, the US today slapped sanctions on Pakistan-based terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e- Mohammad, besides targeting LeT commander Azam Cheema, a key operational figure in the 26/11 attacks.
Washington: On the eve of President Barack Obama`s maiden visit to India, the US today slapped sanctions on Pakistan-based terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e- Mohammad, besides targeting LeT commander Azam Cheema, a key operational figure in the 26/11 attacks.

http://www.thepakistaninewspaper.com/ne ... p?id=18280

[Prem]

Small plane crashes in Karachi, 20 on board
( Nothing happen in Poakland without jeedadi reason, something fishy here)

http://public.dawn.com/2010/11/05/small ... rport.html

KARACHI: A private-owned aircraft belonging to an oil company crashed Friday soon after taking off from Karachi with about 20 people on board, said a Civil Aviation Authority spokesman.
There was no immediate word on casualties after the plane came down near the COD area of Karachi airport, DawnNews reportedAfter the plane crashed, it broke out in flames. Rescue teams have reached the site.Pervez George said the aircraft was carrying company employees to an oil field at Bhit Shah in the southern province of Sindh.“It was a small plane and there were about 20 people on board. It was a privately-owned aircraft belonging to an oil company,” George told a local news channel.“Soon after they left, they contacted the airport control tower and said there was a problem in one of the engines. The plane was directed to return and soon after it crashed,” he said. —Agencies

[Altair]

To all Paki birathers
Great news!
http://profit.ndtv.com/news/show/investors-richer-by-rs-19-trillion-in-last-1-year-118367
Indian investors got richer by Rs.19 Trillion in the last one year. It comes down to $ 440 Billion,that matches your GDP-PPP 2009 according to CIA world fact book and IMF.
"Investors" who invested in the Indian financial markets can buy off Pakistan with just one year earnings!. I am not even counting the earnings in exports or other sources of income.
That must hurt! ouch!

[Altair]

Nothing going on in TSP?

Are they too shellacked?

Or may be preparing for something across either border?

Pakistan knows US baksheesh would be hard to come now that Obama is weakened in House. If an attack on India happens baksheesh would become even more difficult. I think Pakis would display Pakistaniyat now. Pakis know they cant touch the next door gal or any other gal in the town so they rape their own sister.
My guess is they would surge the genocide in Balochistan.

[shiv]

Pakis know they cant touch the next door gal or any other gal in the town so they rape their own sister.

As you probably know that is literally true. No jokes. Nothing is excessive for Pakistanians.

Gang rape justice - Paki style.

PESHAWAR: A hospital probe committee has decided to expel from the hostel two trainee nurses who were gang-raped in this Pakistani city. The reason: The victims violated the rules.

[Altair]

Yes Shiv. I did read that article.This is true Pakistaniyat on display. I am hoping to see they attempt another 1971 in coming months to "get over" their thirst for blood and revenge. Pakis also know US wont be holding to their Afghan pullback timetable now that Republicans hold the house. Pakis will have to do something more insane than you and I can ever imagine to pull out of this mess. And I am sure they will do such a thing.

[shravan]

Peshawar : Blast in a mosque kills 20

[SSridhar]

NUGGETS

Fazlur Rehman ‘Bharat agent’

Quoted in Express, chief of Jamaat Islami, Dr Munawwar Hasan, said that he would not deny that JUI’s chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman was an agent of India (Bharati ajant). He said this in the wake of a JUI statement that he (Munawwar) was a communist. On the other hand, Fazlur Rehman issued a statement against India saying India was on the run (qadam ukhar chukay hein) in Kashmir; and Hafiz Saeed said that Kashmir was about to become a part of Pakistan.

‘Kashmir is not our issue!’

Reported in Nawa-e-Waqt, ANP leader Pervez Khan answered a query raised in the National Assembly by JUI leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman about Kashmir by saying that after the Simla Accord, Kashmir was no longer a UN matter and that it was not the jugular vein (shah rag) of Pakistan. He said Pakistan has been involved in terrorism in Kashmir through religious elements and today it was therefore a matter agitating only the clergy.

Fazlur Rehman’s sacred turban

Reported in Jinnah, head of the Kashmir Committee, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, refused to have his photograph taken without his turban for a visa to the US. He said it was his most sacred possession (pagri ki izzat) and he was not willing to take it off. He had insisted that he go to the UN session as head of the Kashmir Committee, complaining that he had not been sent there in the past.

Christians see light of Islam

According to Nawa-e-Waqt, a Christian family of Qila Deedar Singh – parents, two sons and two daughters – said that Islam was the only true religion (sacha mazhab) and became Muslims. Riaz Masih embraced Islam and became Muhammad Riaz. In Pakistan there is no bar on non-Muslims becoming Muslims, but Muslims converting to other religions are mysteriously killed.

Fazlur Rehman met generals in secret!

Quoted in Nawa-e-Waqt, Maulana Samiul Haq of Akora Khattak said that JUI leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman used to meet the generals in secret about which the MMA leaders were not told. He said neither Jamaat Islami nor JUI was sincere about reviving MMA. He said the US should move an agenda of negotiations and the Taliban will talk. He also said that Al Qaeda was the product of the US.

PM Gilani as ‘filmi hero’

According to Jang, film directors in Lahore expressed their keenness to engage prime minister Gilani as a hero in their films after the American filmstar Angelina Jolie complimented Mr Gilani on his looks and suggested that he act as hero in Hollywood. {A throwback to Eisenhower days} Directors Syed Nur and Masud Butt stated that they would happily take Mr Gilani opposite film actresses Reema, Mira, Saima and Sana.

When Zia shouted ‘haramzada’

Columnist Hamid Mir wrote in Jang that once General Zia as army chief was keen on proving his loyalty to Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Once he asked Bhutto to arrest PPP leader Meraj Muhammad Khan but Bhutto did not accept his advice. On which he said that Meraj Muhammad Khan abused Bhutto and anyone who abused ‘my prime minister’ was haramzada (illegal seed).

[SSridhar]

Khaled Ahmed in TFT, "Fighting Terror versus using it"

Excerpts

The war against terrorism is not supposed to be Pakistan’s war but of the US which is thrusting it on Pakistan in return for dollars and continues to insult Pakistanis by asking them to “do more”. This is by and large the popular Pakistani view. But this diagnosis goes on to complicate matters for Pakistan instead of making them easy. Facts on the ground say the terrorists are killing Pakistani security personnel. Normally, Pakistani opinion should be aroused against the terrorists but it is not. The Pakistani mind then performs two somersaults: 1) that the terrorists are helpless in eliminating troops fighting the wrong war against them; 2) that the killers are not really Pakistani terrorists but ‘agents’, sent in by states hostile to Pakistan: the US, India and Israel.

The state of Pakistan had to develop ‘handlers’ for these non state actors. More importantly it had to ‘handle’ foreign warriors including Al Qaeda operating from Pakistan. The ‘agreement’ between the non state actors, the foreign warriors and the Pakistani establishment was perceived as Pakistan-driven and therefore the task of ‘handling’ was not analysed for fear of appearing to see these friendly warriors as the origin of some future mischief. Public opinion in Pakistan was favourable, which further precluded the need to analyse the consequences of a policy of using terrorism in foreign policy. Most retired and serving military officers subordinate such concerns to the over-arching task of countering India in its projection of power in the region and prosecuting the revisionist Pakistani nationalism of changing the status of national frontiers.

In the last debate that took place on a Pakistani TV channel between experts in the US and Pakistani intellectuals – read retired military officers – it was clear that the latter did not know what was happening on the ground in Pakistan. One American scholar referred to Al Zawahiri’s ‘constitution’ – which is actually a critique and correction of the 1973 Pakistani Constitution – being widely circulated in Pakistan. (The document has been painstakingly removed from the Internet.) The Pakistani intellectuals were not aware of this document but if one focuses on the enthusiastic welcome it has received from the madrassa network in Pakistan, there remains little doubt that with his latest book (‘The Lamp and the Morning’) Al Zawahiri is preparing the ground for the acceptance of a ‘truly Islamic state’ in lieu of the current malfunctioning democratic system in Pakistan.

Pakistan as a revisionist state embraced the strategy of non state actors long ago. The idea is deeply ingrained in the army and its thinking has been dominant enough to indoctrinate the population of Pakistan in favour of its India-centric strategy. Islamisation has taken root in Pakistan, but among the military officers it has given rise to a very radical mindset aiming at a reordering of the global order through jihad. Many view Al Qaeda as a legitimate Islamic reaction to ‘anti-Muslim’ American policy in the Middle East in particular and in the world in general. This thinking is also ‘revolutionary’ as it disagrees with the current trend among Muslim rulers to cooperate with the US as a global hegemon.

‘Reverse-indoctrination’ caused by decades of handling of non state actors and Al Qaeda have complicated military opinion. As the army fights the Taliban terrorists and pretends to act against Al Qaeda, many in its ranks don’t really believe that fighting the terrorists is the right policy. One very public demonstration of ‘reverse-indoctrination’ was the conversion of an air force officer Khalid Khwaja to the thinking of Al Qaeda, resulting in his split allegiance while serving in the ISI. (Khwaja was killed in the Tribal Areas with a telephone call from Islamabad just as Benazir Bhutto was assassinated before him.) Journalists are picked up and thrashed by the ISI – as alleged in October by the law minister of the PMLN government in Punjab – if found to be reporting too close to the perceived ISI nexus with the non state actors and the Taliban.

Journalist Umar Cheema was thrashed months after he reported on an FIR registered in Jhang that ‘Taliban are in Punjab now officially’ (The News, 17 May 2010) writing: ‘Though the provincial government is in a state of denial, the Punjab Police have officially admitted for the first time the movement of the Taliban, their network in district Jhang and southern Punjab and their fund-raising and recruitment drive in the province’. The beating he got was punishment for his naming of a terrorist organisation whose leader was sprung from an Indian jail after a plane hijack in 1999. Banned groups affiliated with Al Qaeda continue to hold threatening rallies in Lahore and Islamabad against India as a ‘message’ to India about the reversal of the policy of ‘dialogue’ started by Musharraf.

Is the army itself united? Or is it acting under pressure from strong groups within it persuaded that jihad is the only way to go? There could be many reasons for Pakistan army not attacking North Waziristan. It is definitely not because the Taliban of North Waziristan have not attacked Pakistan and have kept to attacking only the Americans across the Durand Line. Commander of Brigade 313 Ilyas Kashmiri is said to be an ex-army commando who has become a terrorist. This was revealed by journalist Hamid Mir in his article ‘Ilyas Kashmiri ex army commando became terrorist’ (The News 20 September 2009) but is generally believed to be an adjunct of Al Qaeda, at times called the ‘New bin Laden’. The man has caused kidnappings inside Pakistan to make money for Al Qaeda and has killed a retired army commando officer in Islamabad. (Normally that would have caused a military invasion of North Waziristan where he is ensconced.) He is said to have a lot of influence in Pakistan through his killers and could be linked to ‘jihadi’ officers opposed to the policy of cooperating with the US.

For the first time, the army may be threatened from within and its present contradictions could be owed to the dominant jihadi mindset which is revisionist, not so much against India, as against Pakistan’s ‘pagan’ democratic system. It is not rare to hear opinion-makers talking in private about ‘a divided army’. After a divided civilian polity this would pose a much more palpable danger to the state and should worry the international community assisting Pakistan in its reluctant war against terrorism.

[SSridhar]

It is a slew of attacks in Pakistan today.

20 Killed in Darra Adam Khel blast in a mosque
5 Killed in Peshawar mosque blast
Lakki Marwat suicide blast thwarted

[shravan]

Suicide attack on Darra Adam Khel mosque kills 40

[arun]

^^^ Yet another Friday and yet another demonstration of the IED Mubarak variant of the IEDology of Pakistan.

In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Muslim Sabbath on Fridays seems to make it a favoured day for some Muslims to proverbially end their life with a bang while simultaneously killing other Muslims .