Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan (TSP): Feb. 12, 2011

Hiten · Post by **Hiten** » 26 Feb 2011 09:14

thank you ArmenT. i did not know that

Since Google does not take into account a 302 re-direct as mark of authority, even a URL shortner employing it would be just as effective in depriving the site of a backlink that counts & would not help it in appearing higher insearch engine results

According to this site: http://searchengineland.com/analysis-wh ... -use-17204

http://hex.io/ employs 302 re-direct -should be good to use for pak sites

Google's idea that more the backlink equals greater authority is being put to good use by the likes of AQ

Cafe pyala had written about it
http://cafepyala.blogspot.com/2010/11/c ... -dots.html

.com domain aren't expensive. Around 7-8 dollars a year

He is adding sites to his portfolio. Unlike these older blogs whose WHOIS records though visible are all cooked up, recently came across one such new site which registered usnig a 3rd party service making the info not visible to the public

like this blog for ex,
http://who.godaddy.com/whois.aspx?domai ... id=GoDaddy

They have the same set of sites in their blogroll. Google IIRC had stated that they frown upon link exchange arrangements & penalize such sites. Not sure how these sites are being viewed though - blogrolls are integral part of blogging culture.
Google is possible getting gamed by this AQ scheme - his articles appearing on the 1st page of Google search

few of his sites sites i looked up are all being hosted by blue host
http://www.bluehost.com/

1 complaint mail from each member may get them to relook their decision to host them. Long shot though.

Their exitence on the Internet is not as harmful as much as their appearance in the first 3 or so pages of a google search result - require some way to maintain sanity on Google

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 26 Feb 2011 10:01

“In both Pakistan and ~~India~~America you have all this ‘God bless’ stuff and ‘the scriptures say,’ “ says Christine Fair, assistant professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. “Both countries have been hit by 9/11, and in both religiosity has become a national identity.

“The problem is that both Americans and Pakistanis are ignorant from the point of religion. These so-called scholars say what they want, attribute it to the Bible, and sell it to a bunch of bozos.”

It is obvious that the Professorni said Pakistan and America, Americans and Pakistanis, "god bless" and "the scriptures say". It is also obvious that journanimalism was practiced.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 26 Feb 2011 10:55

http://tribune.com.pk/story/124157/ener ... om-kuwait/

Energy crisis: Pakistan to seek free oil from Kuwait

A day after authorities refused to increase domestic oil prices in line with the international market, President Asif Ali Zardari is scheduled to visit Kuwait to find a solution to the matter – which may include seeking free oil from the Gulf state.

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 26 Feb 2011 11:04

“In both Pakistan and India you have all this ‘God bless’ stuff and ‘the scriptures say,’ “ says Christine Fair, assistant professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. “Both countries have been hit by 9/11, and in both religiosity has become a national identity.

Hehehe, perhaps the good perfesser meant to say 'In both Pakistan and the U.S.....'

Ramanan K · Post by **Ramanan K** » 26 Feb 2011 12:26

Haroon Siddiqui, the former Editor of that newspaper (Toronto Star) is a known anti-Hindu personality, that may have something to do with the "editing". Not sure if current editors have similar views or not.

anmol · Post by **anmol** » 26 Feb 2011 14:50

There is an elegant solution to Google giving better rank to paki sites because of links on BRF.

It is :-

nofollow is a value that can be assigned to the rel attribute of an HTML a element to instruct some search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the link target's ranking in the search engine's index. It is intended to reduce the effectiveness of certain types of search engine spam, thereby improving the quality of search engine results and preventing spamdexing from occurring.

source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nofollow

Wikipedia itself have nofollow tag for external links, that was added because people were adding spam links/articles to Wikipedia article to influence pagerank.

Though I have never used phpBB, but "nofollow" can be added to all external links on BRF using a phpbb mod called "Prime Links"
Prime Link mod's page http://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/mod/prime_links/
Prime Link mod's thread @ phpbb forum :- http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=875585

Brad Goodman · Post by **Brad Goodman** » 26 Feb 2011 16:29

US for reinvigorating India-Pak trade and commerce

now u know what will be agreed upon in foreigb secretry level talks

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 26 Feb 2011 18:05

Anujan wrote:http://tribune.com.pk/story/124157/ener ... om-kuwait/

Energy crisis: Pakistan to seek free oil from Kuwait

Why ? Are the Pakistanis now giving the bomb to the Kuwaitis also ?

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 26 Feb 2011 19:20

The 'Karachi Affair' and the French Naval Bombing - TFT
Please replace 'TFT' with 'thefridaytimes' in the URL above.

Looks like it was a combination of the retribution against the French for withholding bribes & Al Qaeda's action plans.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 26 Feb 2011 19:38

abhishek_sharma wrote:Why the West should stop fighting with the Taliban for hearts and minds, and start letting the Islamists try their hand at governing

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2 ... libanistan

BRF search results for the word Talibanistan.

=1&sc=1&sf=all&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search]Talibanistan

Brad Goodman · Post by **Brad Goodman** » 26 Feb 2011 20:05

Pakistan foreign debt up by $12 bn

By courtesy of the present Government of the country, on one hand the rupee dropped by Rs22.50 against dollar while on the other the already frail economy of Pakistan has been further burdened by an additional international debt of 12 billion

Brad Goodman · Post by **Brad Goodman** » 26 Feb 2011 20:09

Pak investigators retrieve data from Davis' cell phones, GPS device

The data recovered from the GPS device seized from double murder-accused US national Raymond Davis' possession shows that the alleged Central Intelligence Agency agent had been to Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and even some tribal areas of Pakistan.

The CTW also succeeded in retrieving deleted text messages, incoming/outgoing calls, contacts, audio/video recordings, photos, schedules and emails from Davis' cell phones, and it also retrieved data regarding frequencies fed in his wireless set.

now the best part

Sources said that the tools and technologies used to extract the evidence are admissible in a court of law

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 26 Feb 2011 20:10

Brad Goodman wrote:US for reinvigorating India-Pak trade and commerce

now u know what will be agreed upon in foreigb secretry level talks

What is in it for US

They have opposed SAARC and made sure that Pak does not engage with India for the last 30 years.

Brad Goodman · Post by **Brad Goodman** » 26 Feb 2011 20:14

Pakistan in peril

On a Sunday afternoon last July, a Pakistani cleric named Maulana Mufti Saeed Ahmed delivered a sermon at the Jamia Masjid Mittranwali, a mosque in the eastern city of Sialkot.

“O Muslims,” Ahmed began, his voice warbling from loudspeakers atop the mosque, “get up and take in hand your arrows, pick up your Kalashnikovs, train yourselves in explosives and bombs, organize yourselves into armies, prepare nuclear attacks and destroy every part of the body of the enemy.

“Today Pakistan is at an important crossroads,” Ahmed shouted.

“Americans, Indians and Jews are crawling all over, disguised and hidden in cars with windows covered in black tint. ... The hatred among the people against the kafirs (nonbelievers) has reached a new height. ... We will have to create a graveyard of the Americans like the one created in Vietnam.”

In a country where more than half of the adult population is illiterate and one in three children doesn’t attend school, more misery leads to more recruits for militant groups.

Three years after a deadly attack on the heart of Mumbai by a team of young Pakistani militants that left 164 dead, several experts who study religious extremism say the conditions are ripe for a repeat.

Taseer’s killing raises an obvious question: Why doesn’t Pakistan simply crack down on radical fundamentalists like Ahmed, who fan the flames of extremism? After all, it’s not only outspoken politicians suffering at the hands of extremists. In 2010, 10,003 Pakistanis died in 10,283 attacks, according to the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies. Militants targeted refugee camps, school buses and the army’s general headquarters.

Suppiah · Post by **Suppiah** » 26 Feb 2011 21:14

From the link posted above...

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2 ... libanistan

Just as the creation of Pakistan involved a migration, or hijrah, the radical elements in both countries who yearn for an Islamic emirate can be allowed to migrate to this hinterland and help build their new political order

Nice to see a mainstream author say this so clearly.

The author has said exactly what I have said in many places - creation of Pakistan was primarily for fanatic barbarians and terrorist animals who do not believe in civilised existence with kufrs. It has nothing to do with Islam at least the sort of Islam most IMs believe in. The ones that did not agree to living amongst humans left and voted with their feet. Thus Pakbarianistan is the exact opposite of US - which was founded by those fleeing religious conservatism and monopolistic intrepretation. Here it is the other way around. The animals fled. Now they are culling each other to decide who is the purest of them all...

Which means nuking them forever ridding humanity of this curse is the only option before US, India and the West.

sum · Post by **sum** » 26 Feb 2011 21:22

In 2010, 10,003 Pakistanis died in 10,283 attacks, according to the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies. Militants targeted refugee camps, school buses and the army’s general headquarters.

Too many noobs crawling around if such a abysmal strike rate has been reported. Guess better training is needed for the faithfools.

sum · Post by **sum** » 26 Feb 2011 21:23

The CTW also succeeded in retrieving deleted text messages, incoming/outgoing calls, contacts, audio/video recordings, photos, schedules and emails from Davis' cell phones, and it also retrieved data regarding frequencies fed in his wireless set.

Impressive that Pak did this without any western help!

partha · Post by **partha** » 26 Feb 2011 21:33

sum wrote:
The CTW also succeeded in retrieving deleted text messages, incoming/outgoing calls, contacts, audio/video recordings, photos, schedules and emails from Davis' cell phones, and it also retrieved data regarding frequencies fed in his wireless set.
Impressive that Pak did this without any western help!

How about Eastern help?

Mahendra · Post by **Mahendra** » 27 Feb 2011 01:43

Pakistan to get $2bn worth of oil from Kuwait

ISLAMABAD: Kuwait on Saturday has agreed to provide $2bn worth of oil on deferred payment to Pakistan.

The agreement between the two countries is expected to be signed in the next ten days.

More high cost drugs being pumped in to keep the cancerous,syphilitic wh0re alive.

Wonder when Kuwait will see a revolution

Mahendra · Post by **Mahendra** » 27 Feb 2011 02:03

When Unwashed adult Abduls enjoy kids behaving in this manner one can jugde the extent to which the society is rotten in Islamic banana republic of Bakistan.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 27 Feb 2011 02:23

http://www.dawn.com/2011/02/26/nuclear- ... omics.html
Nuclear parity or economics?

WHO stirs the South Asian pot? Islamabad has allegedly the fastest growing nuclear arsenal in the world, fuels the South Asian arms race and blocks Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty negotiations at Geneva. Satellite images in the recent Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) report indicate a fourth military reactor is coming up at the Khushab nuclear site.Many must wonder why an economically fragile and internally weak Pakistan even contemplates games played by waning, resurging and emerging powers. Isn`t Pakistan`s existing arsenal enough to deter or destroy an adversary? A deeper look and some figures will show how perceptions are different to reality.The reports on asymmetry in nuclear weapons arsenals since negotiations at the conference on disarmament started last month are geopolitically motivated. It is interesting to note that scratching Khushab`s surface set alarm bells ringing but the inauguration of India`s Tarapur nuclear fuel reprocessing plant only days before the ISIS report made no ripples. Why?

comparison of the fissile materials and warheads of nine states with nuclear weapons dispels the perceptions. The December 2010 International Panel for Fissile Materials report (IPFM) holds that the global stockpile of highly enriched uranium (HEU) was almost 1,475 metric tons, worth more than 60,000 nuclear weapons. About 90 per cent of this material is held by Russia and the US. Their military needs are not compromised in the process.Similarly, the global stockpile of plutonium is almost 485 tons and nearly half of it is used for weapons.As to the question of who has the fastest-growing plutonium-based programme in South Asia and why, the IPFM report says that India`s Dhruva produces 17.8kg and CIRUS reactor used to produce 7.1kg of weapon-grade plutonium every year. India has produced 630kg to date.The Tarapur reprocessing plant has replaced CIRUS and has a 100-ton annual fuel reprocessing capacity. Besides this India can also get 95kg of weapon-grade plutonium — 13 warheads — every year from its eight power reactors that the International Atomic Energy Agency cannot watch.It is estimated that Pakistan can produce somewhere between 7kg to 9kg plutonium per year from its existing Khushab reactors, which equals two warheads a year. The upcoming reactors will have similar production capacity once they are fully operative by 2014-2015. Pakistan is believed to have produced up to 100kg weapon-grade plutonium since 1998. This simplified comparison shows that the Indian giant will starve on what is a surfeit for the Pakistani dwarf.

The South Asian animus has grown since the US signed the not so civil nuclear energy agreement with India in 2006 and it has allowed New Delhi to expand its military power. It is not out of hate for Pakistan but primarily because India is a big market and can pay its bills.So what should Pakistan do? It has taken steps to militarily deter India. Has it done so in economics? Pakistan has to take steps to pay its bills and create incentives for investors. The atomic commission and the nuclear establishment cannot be as helpful as economists, politicians, businessmen, academics and commoners.

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 27 Feb 2011 02:57

The South Asian animus has grown since the US signed the not so civil nuclear energy agreement with India in 2006 and it has allowed New Delhi to expand its military power. It is not out of hate for Pakistan but primarily because India is a big market and can pay its bills.

What makes him so sure?

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 27 Feb 2011 05:59

sum wrote:
In 2010, 10,003 Pakistanis died in 10,283 attacks, according to the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies. Militants targeted refugee camps, school buses and the army’s general headquarters.
Too many noobs crawling around if such a abysmal strike rate has been reported. Guess better training is needed for the faithfools.

The number of attacks seems too high - it works out to about 30 attacks a day - more than one attack per hour? Pakistan does not even have a system to record such attacks.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 27 Feb 2011 06:02

Mahendra wrote:Pakistan to get $2bn worth of oil from Kuwait

ISLAMABAD: Kuwait on Saturday has agreed to provide $2bn worth of oil on deferred payment to Pakistan.

The agreement between the two countries is expected to be signed in the next ten days.
More high cost drugs being pumped in to keep the cancerous,syphilitic wh0re alive.

Wonder when Kuwait will see a revolution

This has to be carefully analyzed. Kuwait already provides a 2 month deferred payment facility to Pakis. The arrangement would have ended in Dec 2011.

Dus percenti visited Kuwait for 2 reasons

1. Get 50% of the 3.2 billion $ or so oil import from Kuwait for free ( ~ 1.5 billion/year baksheesh)
2. Extend the deferred payment agreement for 2 more years.

If all the Pakis got was deferred payment agreement, Kuwait basically showed their finger to the ummah birather for the free oil request and this is just a H&D preservation news.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 27 Feb 2011 06:38

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDe ... =2/27/2011

The estranged leader of the Pakistan People’s Party and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has decided in principle to say goodbye to the PPP and establish the People’s Party Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Group.

So the lotas have been set rolling. The Khakhis who neither like PPP nor Badmash are starting a third front of Shah Mehmood Qureshi. (PPP Shaheed BB). BB must be rolling in her grave.

jrjrao · Post by **jrjrao** » 27 Feb 2011 07:00

The good and dear Christine can get pretty salty, when it comes to talking about the Pakis:

From TIME:

The Davis Spy Crisis: Top Spooks in the U.S. and Pakistan Get in the Act
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/ ... 90,00.html

For the ISI, the Davis affair has offered a rare opportunity to exercise leverage over the CIA and even the civilian government of President Asif Ali Zardari. "It's the first time that the CIA has been caught with its pants down," says a Pakistani official. The ISI had faced a series of embarrassing allegations in recent years. "This is an unequal relationship," adds the official. "The Americans bully because Pakistan is in the weaker position. And Pakistanis retaliate in an effort to increase their leverage. It is somehow built into an unequal relationship with a junior partner not being comfortable playing the role a junior partner."

Davis, according to Pakistani officials, had been spying on Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), an outlawed militant group that has been involved in the anti-Indian Kashmir insurgency, and other "Punjabi jihadi groups." LeT is also believed to be responsible for the November 2008 Mumbai massacre. Pakistan has so far refused to hand-over the group's leaders. The LeT's chief, Hafiz Saeed, is supposed to be under house arrest but still manages to appear occasionally to lead public rallies.

The CIA and the ISI appear to be at odds over the nature of LeT's activities. "The CIA had told the ISI that it believes that LeT is working with al-Qaeda," said a senior Pakistani official familiar with the discussions. In response, the ISI is said to have denied this was the case. According to the official, the CIA subsequently enlisted the services of contractors, like Davis, to independently establish whether the link existed.

The current negotiations over Davis's fate, says a senior Pakistani official familiar with the discussions, are trying to hammer out an agreement whereby there would be some "face-saving" for the Pakistanis in exchange for the American's release.

Some officials and analysts believe, however, that the army is in danger of overplaying its hand on this occasion. "This issue, with this [U.S.] Congress, could become really more problematic than anything we've had," says Christine Fair, assistant professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. "The Pakistanis have been very ungracious about American support. We've been the biggest donors in terms of flood relief. And yet, the Saudis and the Chinese who've donated a fraction of that get all the genuflection."

"There are people in this town," adds Washington-based Fair, "who are simply saying, 'F--- this, let's just call Pakistan the enemy.' They are saying Pakistan is supporting the killing of our troops in Afghanistan, they're supporting the LeT, they call [the rogue Pakistani nuclear scientist] AQ Khan a national hero. The fact that the CIA is coming to this conclusion should be very worrisome for Pakistan. For years, the CIA was the only organization in this town that would defend the Pakistanis."

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 27 Feb 2011 07:44

She lost all her credibility long ago when she made up stuff about Indian consular staff. I don't care two hoots for her scholarly opinion!

rgsrini · Post by **rgsrini** » 27 Feb 2011 07:48

shiv wrote:The number of attacks seems too high - it works out to about 30 attacks a day - more than one attack per hour? Pakistan does not even have a system to record such attacks.

Saar. I think you are understimating the capabilities of TSP in maintaining TFTA statistics comparable to the West. As an example I am offering another statistics generated from TSP TFTA sytems during the recent floods.

Within a day and a half, they were able to say that "1192 villages were completely drowned and 873 villages partially drowned, 73,878 families were displaced 45,392 goats were missing"

I hope this will help you correct your misconception about TSP.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 27 Feb 2011 07:53

rgsrini wrote: Within a day and a half, they were able to say that "1192 villages were completely drowned and 873 villages partially drowned, 73,878 families were displaced 45,392 goats were missing"

I hope this will help you correct your misconception about TSP.

Whoops - I stand corrected.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 27 Feb 2011 10:25

From article posted above
The Davis Spy Crisis: Top Spooks in the U.S. and Pakistan Get in the Act

The CIA and the ISI appear to be at odds over the nature of LeT's activities. "The CIA had told the ISI that it believes that LeT is working with al-Qaeda," said a senior Pakistani official familiar with the discussions. In response, the ISI is said to have denied this was the case. According to the official, the CIA subsequently enlisted the services of contractors, like Davis, to independently establish whether the link existed. {They are interested in LeT only as far as its activities with Keeda. ISI is going to give CIA a 400% assurance that LeT is only against India and CIA-ISI will kiss and make up}

The important point is to note that CIA is not verifying or demanding the shutting down of LeT, only whether it co-operates with keeda.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 27 Feb 2011 10:27

World Cup fever catches Pakistan

Pasban is the students wing of the politico-religious Jamaat-e-Islaami and it has got into World Cup action by claiming to have built the longest and the biggest bat in the World.

I hope the Jama'at-e-Islami leaders take immediate action against this kind of munkar. The Taliban have already shown their displeasure with this kafir game.

Ashoka · Post by **Ashoka** » 27 Feb 2011 10:44

Time for some video game.

Pakistan has potential to fetch $1 billion forex every year: PSEB

http://www.brecorder.com/component/news ... id=1157655

Pakistan has full potential of fetching precious forex of $1 billion every year through promotion of Animation Industry (Video Games Industry) that is full-fledge entertainment industry world over having export potential of $70 billion. This was stated by Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) Managing Director Zia and CEO of Mindstorm Babar Ahmed, while addressing a press conference of "Official Game" for the ICC 2011 Cricket World Cup that gets under way from today (Saturday).

I say why not..... It could be as big as $50 billion considering all the action pakis can show. I have already thought of few games

1. LeT vs Lashkar-e-Jhangvi - Full throttle
2. The battleground for the warriors of Jihad
3. Jamat Ud Dawa - Invasion of the Jews & Yindoos.

Creative BRF members can add more....

Dilbu · Post by **Dilbu** » 27 Feb 2011 11:06

"There are people in this town," adds Washington-based Fair, "who are simply saying, 'F--- this, let's just call Pakistan the enemy.' They are saying Pakistan is supporting the killing of our troops in Afghanistan, they're supporting the LeT, they call [the rogue Pakistani nuclear scientist] AQ Khan a national hero. The fact that the CIA is coming to this conclusion should be very worrisome for Pakistan. For years, the CIA was the only organization in this town that would defend the Pakistanis."

Which is absolutely true. I hope for the sake of unkil that there are more sane people like that in see eye yeah.

Kati · Post by **Kati** » 27 Feb 2011 11:45

Looks like Christine Fair has replaced Uneven Cohen-ji...........she is getting a lot of media time lately.
Ramana-Sir, is this "Fair" lady Cohen's shishayya?

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 27 Feb 2011 12:10

jrjrao wrote:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/ ... 90,00.html
For years, the CIA was the only organization in this town that would defend the Pakistanis."[/b]

Hmmm..

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 27 Feb 2011 13:20

>>Within a day and a half, they were able to say that "1192 villages were completely drowned and 873 villages partially drowned, 73,878 families were displaced 45,392 goats were missing"

Are you serious, did they really say that?

- I mean with BENIS in full flow, so to speak, and the real news in Pak striving to keep up, it's hard to pick out which the fu(k is which!!!

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 27 Feb 2011 13:27

As for Christine Fair, she is almost certainly a graduate of the culinary institute... maybe only a diploma but something for sure

sum · Post by **sum** » 27 Feb 2011 13:52

One of our WKKs ( or is it just ummah love?) visits Karachi and waxes eloquent about Karachi and how it all so similar to Delhi:

A city not unlike home

It appears to be a truism much acknowledged that Delhi and Lahore are soul sisters. Yet, I must confess, I saw no such striking resemblance between the two cities on my first visit a couple of years ago. A recent visit to Karachi, however, struck a chord in my born-in-UP but raised-in-Delhi heart. Here was a city that was brimming with joie de vivre, was sassy and smart, strangely known and familiar. Despite being festooned with banners showing a hauntingly brooding Benazir Bhutto (I was there during the last week of December when the city was observing her second death anniversary and her husband, the President, was visiting the city), there was nothing haunting or brooding about the city itself. My fears about Kalashnikov-toting Taliban and marauding Muhajirs proved to be entirely unfounded as I discovered a city not unlike my home, Delhi.

Weight of expectations

My first visit to Pakistan — to Lahore, Faisalabad and Sargodha, to read papers at the universities — three years ago had reminded me, more than anything of rural Punjab, our Punjab that is. And while I remember being struck by the keenu-laden trees of Sargodha and the pretty women of Faisalabad, I must confess to being oddly un-struck by Lahore itself. Perhaps, it was the hype and expectation. Perhaps, it was the weight of expectations. Or, perhaps, it was being told to look for similarities between the so-called twin cities. Yes, there were the wide, tree-lined avenues and grand colonial-style buildings. Yes, there was the Jama Masjid and parts of the old city. Yes, there was the profusion of tombs, pavilions, mosques and dargahs. And, yes, there were the tall, well-built, good-looking people. But still, something was missing.

On my second visit to Pakistan, this time to Karachi — again to read a paper but this time at a seminar organised by an NGO called Tehrik-e-Niswan — I found that elusive connect when I was least expecting it. For one, I heard the most immaculate Urdu, the sort one would in a provincial town of Upper India. For another, there was the city's in-your-face chutzpah and cosmopolitanism that reminded me in many ways of Delhi. Yes, there were no Mughal tombs and pavilions. Yes, there were fewer leafy avenues and parks. And, yes, the salt of the sea breeze and the dockyards were more reminiscent of Bombay. But, like Delhi, this city of migrants had brought bits and parts of their old selves from different parts of undivided India – from Goa, Delhi, Kutch, Saurashtra, Madras, Hyderabad not to mention large swathes of United Provinces, Bihar and Bengal. And while they named their enclaves after their cities back home, where they sold Dilli ki nihari or Bihari kababs or Hyderabadi biriyani, they had also created other spaces, spaces that are liberal and secular.

Common ties

Walking into the seminar room of the Oxford University Press building in Korangi, I feel I could be at any book launch back home. Women in silk saris and men in natty blazers, and the ebb and swirl of the usual chatter among writers, publishers, journalists and book reviewers tells me how artificial borders can be sometimes.

Sheema Kirmani, the indomitable driving force behind the Tehreek-e-Niswan (The Women's' Movement), is a woman of many parts — a trained Bharatanatyam dancer, a teacher and choreographer, a street theatre veteran and a battle-scarred activist. She has collaborated with Ameena Saiyed, the dynamic managing director of Oxford University Press, to gather a bunch of eclectic delegates – writers, activists, women's rights experts and theatre persons – to celebrate ‘Tees aur ek saal' (Thirty and One Years) of the Tehreek's existence.

The conference begins with a ‘Tilla' performed by a young man from Baltistan with slanting eyes, high cheekbones and near-perfect footwork followed by a ‘ Pushpanjali' by one of Sheema's 11-year old pupils.

The feisty Urdu poet, Fahmida Riaz, reads a scholarly paper on being a woman, a writer and an activist soon after we have watched a dramatic re-enactment of her seminal poem, Chadar aur Chaar diwari (The Veil and the Courtyard). I am intrigued by the way in which performances are interspersed with academic presentations all through the two-day seminar.

My paper on ‘Rashid Jahan: Communist Doctor and Writer' is accompanied by an enactment of two of her plays by the Tehreek's troupe. Rashid Jahan's plays and stories, written in the 1930s and 1940s, transcend their time and age and still speak to us with the same urgency.

Moreover, they remind us yet again of the commonalities, of the ties that bind, ties of history and culture, which transcend the ties of religion or nationhood.

Slice of history

Zafarullah Poshni is a spry, immaculately dressed 83-year-old. He works for ‘Manhattan', a posh advertising agency in the upscale neighbourhood of Old Clifton. Long years ago, he had shared a jail cell with Faiz Ahmed Faiz, the legendary Urdu poet. Then a young captain in the Pakistan Army, he, along with 16 others, had been jailed in the infamous Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case. Charged by the Liaqat Ali Khan regime of a conspiracy to overthrow the government and destabilise the country at the behest of left-leaning intellectuals and foreign powers, Poshni, Faiz, Sajjad Zaheer and other fellow-accused faced an uncertain future as the threat of death hung over their hapless heads. Convicted of high treason in a trial that was a travesty of justice, Poshni recalls those days that marked the death of democracy in Pakistan. Unlike the case of Georgi Dimitrov and the Reichstag Fire Trial that had seized the imagination of the world in the early 1930s, the curious case of Zafarullah Poshni and others had been cloaked in secrecy and conducted behind the high walls of the Hyderabad (Sindh) jail. Eventually released in 1955 for want of evidence, the accused had walked away to build new lives; 50 years later, as Pakistan reels from coup to catastrophe, no one remembers the details of the so-called conspiracy. Poshni sahab's parting gift to me, his memoir Zindagi Zinda Dilika Naam Hai ( The Meaning of Life is Being Lively), bears witness to the indomitable courage and strength of character I found etched in every line and wrinkle of his still-handsome face.

Welfare states

Asif Noorani, veteran journalist for The Dawn, takes me on a drive around his city. He draws my attention to a crowd sitting under a tent with a van, which functions as a mobile kitchen, parked beside the road. It belongs to the Chhipa Welfare Association, which harnesses the goodwill of local businessmen with the ingenuity and drive of one man – Ramzan Chhipa. Where the government cannot — or does not —intervene, civil society groups, philanthropists and do-gooders step in to run what is virtually a parallel welfare state; what matters is the slack gets picked up and, as Asif Noorani tells me, no one sleeps hungry in the city. Edhi's ambulances ferry the sick and ailing to hospitals and relief and rehabilitation programmes are undertaken by intensely-driven young people such as Adnan Asdar.
......

Hangout zone

On my last evening in Karachi, I find myself at T2F, the city's most radically hep hangout zone. Café-cum-bookstore-cum-art gallery it also has a small performance/lecture space for an invited audience. I talk about Angarey, an Urdu anthology published in 1932 and banned three months later by the imperial government on charges of being subversive and blasphemous. My audience – a healthy mixture of young and trendy, and grizzled and sedate – represent the liberal face of Pakistani civil society. They know, perhaps better than most, the politics of proscription. The people I meet here, such as Sabeen Mahmud, the owner of T2F, are true-blue Karachites. They are also globalised citizens of the world. They enjoy their cappuccinos almost as much as they savour the poetry of a master such as Mirza Ghalib or a contemporary Karachi icon such as Zehra Nigah. Moreover, they speak Urdu and English with almost equal aplomb. I leave Karachi convinced that a city is not made of parks and promenades, clubs and colonies, malls and monuments; instead, it is the sum total of its people.

Regarding the last ( bolded) line, when the death rate is nearly 4-5 per day in gang wars and ethnic strife, one can surely guess a lot about the people there!!

sum · Post by **sum** » 27 Feb 2011 13:55

The CIA and the ISI appear to be at odds over the nature of LeT's activities. "The CIA had told the ISI that it believes that LeT is working with al-Qaeda," said a senior Pakistani official familiar with the discussions. In response, the ISI is said to have denied this was the case. According to the official, the CIA subsequently enlisted the services of contractors, like Davis, to independently establish whether the link existed.

This should let all our US fanboys on the forum know as to how concern US will show towards Desh regarding LeT etc given that we have outsourced our Pak policy to them and actively take American guidance on every step with Pak.

RajeshA · Post by **RajeshA** » 27 Feb 2011 14:03

Originally posted by jrjrao

The Davis Spy Crisis: Top Spooks in the U.S. and Pakistan Get in the Act
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/ ... 90,00.html

"There are people in this town," adds Washington-based Fair, "who are simply saying, 'F--- this, let's just call Pakistan the enemy.' They are saying Pakistan is supporting the killing of our troops in Afghanistan, they're supporting the LeT, they call [the rogue Pakistani nuclear scientist] AQ Khan a national hero. The fact that the CIA is coming to this conclusion should be very worrisome for Pakistan. For years, the CIA was the only organization in this town that would defend the Pakistanis."

US policies towards Pakistan are influenced by the institutional memory within USA of cooperation between USA and Pakistan. Most important is the supporters of Pakistan in corridors of power in Washington (and Langley). That institutional memory is turning hostile!

The opinion of this lobby is far more relevant to US support to Pakistan than all the strategic papers and imperatives put together.