Bharat Rakshak

Anujan wrote:Now that Rakshaks were outraged about using a tiger in election campaigning, here is a humane alternative.

Neela wrote:
Hat tip to Pakis.
An excellent paint job.
They have become masters at this.

JE Menon wrote:Hey friend long time... Welcome back. I see you are focusing your keen and beady falcon eyes on the Pakisatan as always. Good to know you are fighting on our side....

SSridhar wrote:Peregrine saheb, nice to see you.

Anantha wrote:Great to hear from you. Please send an email when you get a chance.
Ananth

VikasRaina wrote:Now Mushy is in House-Jail facing murder and treason charges while NS rules TSP, So if Mushy is eventually exiled to Londonistan, would it be life coming a full circle for NS and Mush ?
TSP is a tragedy first time, second time and fart after that every time.

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has announced that it will boycott the re-poll in NA-250, DawnNews reported.In a press conference held on Friday evening, MQM’s senior leader Raza Haroon said that efforts were made to snatch the party’s mandate in Karachi.The press conference was held following an emergency meeting of MQM’s coordination committee in Karachi and London.Haroon alleged that it was a conspiracy to reject MQM’s application regarding re-polling in entire Karachi.He further said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should have thought of the well being of the masses.The ECP on Friday rejected the MQM petition which sought re-polling in the entire NA-250 constituency of Karachi.The ECP declared that re-polling would only be held in 43 polling stations in Karachi’s NA-250.Moreover, it was decide that military personnel would be deployed both inside and outside the polling stations during re-polling.Of the 180 polling stations in NA-250, polling was not held or delayed at 43 stations on May 11.

The Chinese think-tank’s warning that India is amassing piles of weapons and considers Pakistan a main threat is, in fact, a call for caution for Mian Nawaz Sharif, the prospective Prime Minister. To meet this threat, India has stressed strict vigilance. Mian Nawaz has, therefore, to move with measured steps, taking Foreign Office and other political parties in the country into confidence and carefully watching New Delhi’s reaction to his attempts at mending fences with it and giving it a well-thought-out response. After all, it is a matter of the country’s security. Already, Mian Sahib’s off-the-cuff invitation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to be present at his oath-taking ceremony has met with an expected rebuff. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, as quoted by an Indian news agency, has prepared a comprehensive report in which the issue has been highlighted. India has become the largest importer of armament in the global context, according to this think-tank. As its economy has taken huge strides, India has shown a marked tendency to acquire more and more weaponry. The academy also mentions the development that India has itself proudly announced that it is training its forces for a short-run fight on two fronts, Pakistani and Chinese. That, along with its expansion of deep-sea navy, poses a threat to Beijing.
We have no doubt that the new government that is to assume power in a couple of weeks would take these factors into account and would, under no circumstance, compromise Pakistan’s interests. Undoubtedly, there is need to improve relations with New Delhi; both regional and global factors are too compelling to deny that. Better ties would pave the way for cooperation to the mutual benefit of both the countries and result in progress and prosperity. But, side by side, the incoming Prime Minister would have to ensure that steady progress is made on the core dispute of Kashmir, water diversion and several other issues. Other than Kashmir and the water diversion issue that is linked to it, the rest of them are of a relatively minor nature. But it seems that India has decided not to resolve any of them till Pakistan succumbs to its pressure of acknowledging its hegemony in the subcontinent. Mian Nawaz must make overtures of peace and friendship, but not one-sided and not with the simplistic attempt to placate, rather than truly move forward on long standing issues bedevilling relation between two neighbours.

India has allowed Pakistani industrialists to set up industries there, a move that has been welcomed by Pakistan. This initiative will certainly be accompanied by several attractive privileges and benefits for Pakistani industrialists.

I wonder whether Pakistani politicians are too naïve or reckless to understand the long-term effect of this decision. Pakistani investors have already been shifting their investments out of Pakistan owing to the ever-increasing cost of doing business in Pakistan, terrorism, kidnappings for ransom, electricity shortages, increase in the crime rate and a never-ending list of snags obstructing business and economic activities. A large number of textile units have shifted to Bangladesh, and Pakistanis top the list of investors in the UAE after Iranians.

However, allowing Pakistani businessmen to invest in India is calling for a disaster. India will certainly be offering lucrative incentives to Pakistani investors to establish industries there.

Many industrial units in Pakistan will wind up and shift to India, leaving thousands of workers jobless. It will further boost terrorism, extremism and the crime rate. Export-related production by Pakistanis in India will boost Indian trade, whereas Pakistan’s trade deficit will increase . Thus, severe harm will be inflicted on an already limping Pakistani economy.

HUMNA KHAN
Karachi

This is the first time a foreigner has been accused of desecrating holy scriptures under Pakistan law, the BBC's Zulfiqar Ali reports

Last week Mr Lee told the doctor, named as Dr Sajjad, to relocate from one room to another in the workers' quarters of the compound

a copy of the Koran and some other religious books in his luggage were "thrown out" of his room

In a wide-ranging speech on India’s nuclear weapons’ programme and the country’s nuclear doctrine, Shyam Saran, chairman of India’s National Security Advisory Board, declared in New Delhi on April 24 that India’s plans to put in place a triad of land-based, air-delivered and submarine-based nuclear forces had made good progress. At least two legs of the triad, including a ‘modest arsenal’, nuclear-capable aircraft and missiles, both in fixed underground silos and those mounted on mobile rail and road-based platforms, were fully operational. The third leg of the triad, namely a sea-based deterrent, was ‘work in progress’, Saran said, and was expected to be in place by 2015 or 2016.Saran, a former foreign secretary, prefaced his speech with the caveat that it did not ‘in any way’ reflect the views of the Indian government. Nevertheless, as the Times of India reported, Saran was placing on record India’s official nuclear posture with the full concurrence of the highest levels of nuclear policy-makers in New Delhi.A large part of the speech was devoted to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme. These weapons, Saran said, were focused ‘in large part’ on the threat from India, ‘real or imagined’, but he then went on to raise the question whether, ‘given the evidence available’ the ‘so-called Indian threat’ was the sole motivation driving Pakistan’s nuclear programme. There were indications, he said, of significant shifts recently in Pakistan’s nuclear posture, taking it from the declared ‘minimum deterrence’ to a possible second strike capability.In this connection, he spoke of a ‘calculated shift’ from the earlier generation of enriched uranium nuclear weapons to a newer generation of plutonium weapons; progress claimed by Pakistan, but not yet fully verified, of miniaturisation of weapons, enabling their use with cruise missiles and with a new generation of short-range and tactical missiles; and the steady pursuit of improvement in the range and accuracy of delivery vehicles. Saran specifically mentioned the short-range nuclear-capable Nasr (Hatf IX) missile designed for battlefield use and first tested by Pakistan in April 2011. For good measure, Saran also added that “Chinese assistance to Pakistan’s strategic programme continues apace.”If Saran is to be believed, this formidable body of ‘evidence’ is proof of a ‘Pakistani mindset which seeks parity with and even overtaking India’, a cardinal sin in India’s eyes. Behind this sinister design, Saran detects a Pakistani effort to win ‘prestige’ in the Islamic world.Saran also sees another reason, even more convoluted and self-serving, for Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme. As he put it, the increase in the number of weapons, the planned miniaturisation of warheads and their wider dispersal were all designed to deter the US from undertaking an operation to disable, destroy or confiscate Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.Saran would not have had to agonise so publicly about the ‘motivations’ for Pakistan’s programme to develop tactical nuclear weapons if he had admitted frankly that it is Pakistan’s response to India’s Cold Start doctrine. As the British weekly The Economist wrote on March 30, 2013, the Indian Army has been working for much of the past decade on this concept, which would see rapid armoured thrusts into Pakistan with close air support. The idea, the newspaper wrote, is to inflict damage on Pakistan’s forces at a mere 72 hours’ notice, seizing territory quickly enough not to incur a nuclear response. India’s civilian officials and politicians, the paper said, unconvincingly deny that Cold Start even exists. Saran was in the same denial mode when he spoke.
Cold Start has recently been renamed by the Indians as ‘proactive defence’ strategy. In his speech, Saran tried to present it as legitimate response to a terrorist threat. Pakistan’s motivation, he said, was to ‘dissuade India from contemplating conventional punitive retaliation to sub-conventional but highly destructive and disruptive cross-border terrorist strikes such as the horrific 26/11 attack on Bombay.’The Economist gave one reason at the tactical level and two at the strategic level why Cold Start might not work or be a practical policy. At the tactical level, the newspaper wrote, it assumes a capacity for high-tech combined-arms warfare that India may not possess. At the strategic level, first, it supposes that Pakistan will hesitate before unleashing nukes; second, ‘it sits ill with the Indian tradition of strategic restraint’.
Pakistan, of course, cannot be complacent and cannot make its policies on the basis of the best case scenario. India might not yet possess the capacity for launching blitzkrieg warfare by integrated battle group (IBG) formations but it is making preparations. Nor can Pakistan rely on ‘the Indian tradition of strategic restraint’ that The Economist speaks of, especially in view of the encouragement India is receiving from Washington to don the mantle of a global power and assume bigger responsibilities in the region.For Islamabad, the best option therefore is to disabuse India of the notion that Pakistan will hesitate to use its nuclear weapons if India launches a lightning attack across the border to seize Pakistani territory. For deterrence to work, it is absolutely essential that the threat to use nuclear weapons must be credible.
That is why, in addition to strategic weapons that target urban centres, Pakistan must possess tactical nuclear weapons for theatre warfare to stop advancing armoured forces. Doing so will not lower the nuclear threshold, but will strengthen deterrence by reinforcing the possibility of the use of one kind of nuclear weapons with the probability that those of another kind will be used.There is already a precedent. During the Cold War, the Warsaw Pact enjoyed conventional superiority over Nato in Central Europe. In order to guarantee that nuclear deterrence would work, Nato therefore deployed tactical nuclear weapons in the European theatre.The possession of tactical nuclear weapons no doubt entails added responsibilities for their security and for command and control. Pakistan’s National Command Authority is no doubt taking this challenge very seriously. Washington has also taken up the question of Pakistan’s tactical weapons programme with Islamabad and pointed to the risk that they could be stolen or diverted. Pakistan’s rejection of these fears has apparently not dispelled these concerns completely.
Precisely because a tactical nuclear weapons capability would substantially enhance the credibility of Pakistan’s nuclear deterrent, India has been trying to generate international pressure on Pakistan not to go ahead with the programme. In his speech, Saran warned that even a limited Pakistani nuclear attack involving short-range weapons would be met with a massive response from India and that the country would not hesitate to escalate the nuclear conflict to the strategic level. “If (India) is attacked with (nuclear) weapons,” he said, “it would engage in nuclear retaliation which will be massive....The label on a nuclear weapon used for attacking India, strategic or tactical, is irrelevant from the Indian perspective.”
The Indian dilemma is that after the nuclear tests it carried out in 1998 and the Pakistani response in kind, a balance of terror has been established between the two countries which virtually rules out a full-scale conventional conflict between them. As a consequence, Delhi has lost much of its ability to threaten Pakistan with India’s superiority in the conventional field. The Cold Start doctrine and the latest threat by India to respond to the use of tactical nuclear weapons by escalating the conflict to the strategic level are nothing but desperate and highly dangerous attempts by India to regain its former ability to threaten Pakistan.
Nuclear deterrence between Pakistan and India has worked so far. But India continues to nurse the dangerous illusion that it could wage a ‘limited’ conventional war under Pakistan’s strategic nuclear threshold. Our tactical nuclear weapons programme will fill this gap in our nuclear deterrent and is essential for its credibility. We must therefore remain steadfast in pursuing this programme, for our own security as well as for the peace and stability of the region.
The writer is a former kabootar.

Pakistan: Jamaat-ud-Dawa
leader found murdered


PTI | May 18, 2013, 11.10AM IST
LAHORE: A Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) leader
has been found murdered near this eastern
Pakistani city, the group said on Saturday.
The body of Khalid Bashir, who was
associated with JuD's information wing,
was found in Sheikhupura, 40 km from
Lahore, yesterday. He was in his forties.
JuD spokesman Yahya Mujahid claimed
unidentified men kidnapped Bashir while
he was on his way to the group's office at
Chauburji.

He said the kidnappers had not demanded
any ransom. "On Friday, Bashir's body was
found in a canal in Sheikhupura with
multiple wounds, including gunshot
wounds," Mujahid said.

JuD chief Hafiz Saeed demanded the arrest
of the killers. Lahore Police registered a
murder case against unidentified persons
and launched an investigation.

BEIJING: Pakistan is set to become the fifth Asian country to use China's domestic satellite navigation system which was launched as a rival to the US global positioning system, a report said Saturday.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister-designate Nawaz Sharif excused himself from a meeting with the Japanese Ambassador, with officials of his PML-N party saying he had become selective about meetings with foreign dignitaries because of his busy schedule.

The Japanese envoy came from Islamabad to Mr. Sharif’s residence at Raiwind in Lahore on Friday to congratulate him on the PML-N’s victory in the May 11 polls.

Mr. Sharif asked his close aide Ishaq Dar to meet Ambassador Hiroshi Oe, a PML-N insider said.

Selective approach

The insider told PTI that Mr. Sharif would only meet Ambassadors of select countries and would not meet all the foreign dignitaries coming to congratulate him.

SSridhar wrote:Nawaz Sharif skips meeting with the japanese ambassador

Pakistan’s Prime Minister-designate Nawaz Sharif excused himself from a meeting with the Japanese Ambassador, with officials of his PML-N party saying he had become selective about meetings with foreign dignitaries because of his busy schedule.

The Japanese envoy came from Islamabad to Mr. Sharif’s residence at Raiwind in Lahore on Friday to congratulate him on the PML-N’s victory in the May 11 polls.

Mr. Sharif asked his close aide Ishaq Dar to meet Ambassador Hiroshi Oe, a PML-N insider said.

Selective approach

The insider told PTI that Mr. Sharif would only meet Ambassadors of select countries and would not meet all the foreign dignitaries coming to congratulate him.

ramana wrote:Peregrine, Welcome back. I see you have your 'Guinness' (?) signature icon back. Do visit the Nukkad in GDF.

anupmisra wrote:Chinese man held in PoK over 'Koran desecration'

This is the first time a foreigner has been accused of desecrating holy scriptures under Pakistan law, the BBC's Zulfiqar Ali reports

Last week Mr Lee told the doctor, named as Dr Sajjad, to relocate from one room to another in the workers' quarters of the compound

a copy of the Koran and some other religious books in his luggage were "thrown out" of his room

chetak wrote:

SSridhar wrote:Nawaz Sharif skips meeting with the japanese ambassador
...

Fitting islamic gratitude for all the past support that the banzai guys have extended to them!!

May be the ambassador did not bear the expected gifts due to the paki emperor?

LAHORE: Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani met the Sharif brothers in Lahore on Saturday. Gen Kayani met both Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif at the former Chief Ministers residence in Model Town Lahore.Kayani, who was in plain clothes, had lunch with the Sharif’s after the meeting, which took place for around an hour.
the Army chief congratulated the Sharif brothers over their victory in the recent general elections. Matters of the state and future course of action were also discussed in the meeting.Nawaz, Shahbaz and Kayani spoke about democracy’s success in the country after the first time a government completed its five-year tenure.All three hoped that the democratic process would continue in the same manner which will help strengthen the institutions in the country. Sources said that PML-N’s foreign policy and Pakistan’s internal security issues also came under discussion.The Sharif's emphasised their party’s top priorities, which included stability in the country’s deteriorating security conditions.The Army chief had also given Imran Khan a phone call few days ago, congratulating him and his party over the victory in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Just hours before re-elections in some polling stations of NA-250 are due to begin, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf central vice president was shot dead outside her house in Karachi. According to initial details, Zahra Shahid Hussain was shot dead outside her house in Defence Phase IV late on Saturday evening.

The motive of the attack could not be immediately ascertained.

However, SP Clifton Division Nasir Aftab said that initial findings pointed to a case of a purse snatching gone wrong. {Vaccum bulb blast}

Peregrine wrote:

ramana wrote:Peregrine, Welcome back. I see you have your 'Guinness' (?) signature icon back. Do visit the Nukkad in GDF.

Ramana Ji :

Many thanks.

Grateful if you can provide a "Lager" Icon as all the Iron in the Guinness is doing my head in!

Cheers

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf Chief Imran Khan Sunday strongly condemning the killing of PTI Sindh Vice President Zarah Shahid Hussain in Karachi said that he is “shocked” and “deeply saddened”.On his Twitter account, Imran Khan wrote “I am shocked & deeply saddened by the brutal killing of Zara Shahid Hussain, Zara apa to us, in Karachi tonite. A targetted act of terror!”He held Altaf Hussain “directly responsible” for the murder, saying that the MQM chief had openly threatened the PTI leaders and workers.“I hold Altaf Hussain directly responsible for the murder as he had openly threatened PTI workers and leaders through public broadcasts.”He also held British Government responsible in the murder of the PTI Sindh senior vice president, saying that he had already “warned” the British government about Altaf’s “open threats” to kill PTI workers.“I also hold the British Govt responsible as I had warned them abt Br citizen Altaf Hussain after his open threats to kill PTI workers”, he said.It is pertinent to mention here that British High Commissioner (HC), Adam Thomson said a couple days ago that UK police had received countless complaints againstMQM chief Altaf Hussain for his remarks about detaching Karachi from Pakistan.In a statement, the British HC said Pakistan should take serious notice of Altaf Hussain’s statement.Thousands of complaints were sent to the London metropolitan police after Altaf addressed his supporters in Karachi where he allegedly threatened PTI supporters who were protesting against rigging.Imran Khan in his address today to the participants of the sit-in in Lahore by telephone, announced that the party would also protest the killing of the woman leader in London.“You have laid foundation of New Pakistan, be firm as I will announce future course of action today, I congratulate you for fighting for your rights,” Khan, who has been recuperating at the Shaukat Khanam Hospital said.Imran Khan said that the PTI had given a three-day ultimatum to the Election Commission of Pakistan but the electoral body didn’t take party’s demands seriously. The incident of the PTI leader Zahra Shahid’s killing took place just one night before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was all set to hold re-election on 43 polling stations of NA-250 constituency in Karachi on Sunday. The ECP had decided to hold re-poll on these stations following the concerned RO submitted reports of irregularities on several polling stations on this constituency during the May 11 general elections. It is also not out of place to mention here that MQM had announced to boycott the re-polling on the above polling stations, demanding to hold re-election in the entire NA-250 constituency.

Anujan wrote:http://tribune.com.pk/story/551263/pti- ... n-karachi/

Just hours before re-elections in some polling stations of NA-250 are due to begin, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf central vice president was shot dead outside her house in Karachi. According to initial details, Zahra Shahid Hussain was shot dead outside her house in Defence Phase IV late on Saturday evening.

The motive of the attack could not be immediately ascertained.

However, SP Clifton Division Nasir Aftab said that initial findings pointed to a case of a purse snatching gone wrong. {Vaccum bulb blast}

On top of it, she was a Shia. Which leads to one and only conclusion. It was a robbery gone wrong.

arun wrote:Former UK legislator Ann Cryer blames “cultural practices that have been imported into this country from Pakistan” for the Paedophile activity of a group of Mohamaddens, five of whom originated in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan:

"It's cultural practices that have been imported into this country from Pakistan and we must not lose sight of that fact.
"We can't just turn a blind eye to it."

From the Huffington Post:

Oxford Paedophile Ring: Former Labour MP Ann Cryer Blames 'Cultural Practices' From Pakistan

Shia, Ahmadi, Hindu? Then Run for Your Life
Pakistan's Hindu population is steadily decreasing as families seek immigration to India due to various discrimination faced by them in Pakistan.

By Pervez Hoodbhoy

Blaise Pascal, the famous 17th century philosopher and mathematician, observed that "men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it for religious conviction". His words could apply to Gujarat 2002. {Let me invoke Gujarat riots in an article about genocide of minorities in Pakistan to reinforce the idea that there are extremists on both sides of the border.} Or to today's Pakistan, where your religious affiliation-whether by birth or conviction-can land you in your grave. The killers do their job fearlessly and frequently. The police and army don't interfere much. Equipped with just enough religion to hate those having another faith-but not enough faith to love their coreligionists-many Pakistanis have turned their backs on religious atrocities.

What happened to Hindus and Christians is unsurprising. These communities were never enthused about India's partition (even though some individuals still pretend that they were). Indeed, they were soon slapped with the Objectives Resolution of 1949 which termed them "minorities", hence freaks and outcasts dispatched to the margins. Some accepted their fate, keeping a low profile. Others altered their names to more Muslim sounding ones. The better off, or more able ones, emigrated. They took valuable skills and capital along with them. The outflow has picked up again in past years.

Until recently, Pakistan's Shias did not have the self-image of a religious minority. They had joined Sunnis in supporting Mr Bhutto's 1974 decision to declare Ahmadis as non-Muslim. But now they are deeply worried as voices from the extreme Sunni right shrilly demand that Shias also be labelled kafirs.

Partition can never be undone, although RSS extremists dream of it. But to be viable, Pakistan will have to reimagine itself as a state that treats all its citizens equally and curb its enthusiasm for jihad{How? Good luck with that.}. This is not impossible, and India can help Pakistan achieve this by moderating its rhetoric and improving relations. This will go a long way towards decreasing the influence of Pakistan's militant Islamists.

The leftist intellectual also criticized the use of a fake vaccination campaign to discover the location of bin Laden. Chomsky said the CIA operation cast doubt on legitimate vaccinators, hurting efforts to eliminate polio.
We were very close to war with Pakistan, which easily could have turned into a nuclear war, which could have destroyed all of us,” he told Jason Liosatos of Global Peace Radio. “The Obama administration was willing to take that chance, though there were other ways of finding and apprehending bin Laden.”
Chomsky explained that U.S. Navy SEAL special forces were secretly sent into a heavily fortified mansion in Pakistan, with orders to “fight their way out” of the compound if Pakistani forces arived. Pakistan had mobilized its air force to respond to the 2011 attack, according to Chomsky, but only reached the compound after the SEALs had left.

A senior female Pakistani politician has been shot dead in the southern port city of Karachi.

Zahra Shahid Hussain was the senior vice-president of Pakistan's Movement for Justice party (PTI), led by former international cricketer Imran Khan.

She was killed by gunmen on a motorcycle outside her home in the city's upmarket Defence neighbourhood.

Is India Pakistan peace possible
By Farrukh Khan Pitafi
Published: May 17, 2013

The writer hosts a show called “Capital Circuit” for News One and tweets @FarrukhKPitafi

Regional peace, and to an extent, the peace of the world has been held hostage by India-Pakistan hostility for the past 66 years. Many in the region get a nervous stomach when they see the two nuclear rivals flexing their military muscles. And yet, most of us have given up on the hope of there ever being true peace. This is because both countries find themselves slaves of their history. When Pakistan was carved out of India, its creation was deemed an existential threat to India’s secular identity. And a newly created Pakistan was so vulnerable that it had to identify itself with whatever India was not. Indian virtues hence became vices for us and our vices were often celebrated. As a consequence, people on both sides had to suffer.

The biggest enemies of the two nations are common. Take for instance poverty, overpopulation, disease, natural calamities, terrorism and inefficient state apparatus. But we fail to come together to fight these menaces. On the contrary, this hostility has changed the very character of the two states. We have spent far too much energy in trying to weaken each other. As a result, India has not been able to realise its true potential and the Pakistani state has gone soft.

Saner minds, of course, understood the cost of this churlish behaviour and tried to fix the anomaly through talks. But the baggage is such that despite repeated attempts, we have failed badly. The best attempt came in the shape of the Lahore Declaration in 1999. Since then, whenever an opportunity has arisen, the state apparatus on both sides, and often non-state actors, have thwarted such initiatives.

Is it possible that this time when Nawaz Sharif returns to power, we can see a peace road map that cannot be sabotaged that easily? I think it is. I believe that a window of opportunity will exist immediately after government formation in Pakistan and before the Indian elections next year. Leaders on both sides need big achievements in the immediate future to build their legacy and if thorny issues like Kashmir are resolved, they may even end up winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

But is it not merely wishful thinking? We know that the constituency of hostility on both sides is bigger than the constituency of peace. Then why would such elements let peace prevail? I think it is because of the changing nature of regional and national challenges. Both countries are energy hungry, struggling with poverty, terrorism and growing populations. In such circumstances, emphasis shifts from border disputes to new opportunities of acquiring more resources. Unfortunately, due to our mutual hostility, the landlocked Central Asian Republics have not been able to export their natural resources through peaceful trade routes. As the date of US withdrawal from Afghanistan approaches in the absence of a broader India-Pakistan settlement, there is fear that such projects will remain mere pipe dreams and their absence will cause more poverty across the region. However, if both countries can settle their differences before that and keep economic matters away from politics, there are enough benefits for both of us to last a lifetime.

Both countries have compromised a lot in order to fight each other. Perhaps, we have always approached the issue of peace from the wrong angle. In order to build peace, it seems we will have to be ready to build a partnership. After all, we have done it in the past with China where we resolved our border disputes and became partners.

Such a solution will help India tap the Central Asian resources and give Pakistan an opportunity to build its economy through developing new trade routes. As an added benefit, it will afford us more time to fight and get rid of non-state actors.

Nihat wrote:

Pakistan: Jamaat-ud-Dawa
leader found murdered

LAHORE: A Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) leader
has been found murdered near this eastern
Pakistani city, the group said on Saturday.
The body of Khalid Bashir, who was
associated with JuD's information wing,
was found in Sheikhupura, 40 km from
Lahore, yesterday. He was in his forties.
JuD spokesman Yahya Mujahid claimed
unidentified men kidnapped Bashir while
he was on his way to the group's office at
Chauburji.

He said the kidnappers had not demanded
any ransom. "On Friday, Bashir's body was
found in a canal in Sheikhupura with
multiple wounds, including gunshot
wounds," Mujahid said.

JuD chief Hafiz Saeed demanded the arrest
of the killers. Lahore Police registered a
murder case against unidentified persons
and launched an investigation.

hmmmm......

Mysterious death: Hafiz Saeed’s security chief murdered
MULTAN:
The body of Khalid Bashir, chief security officer for Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD)’s Hafiz Saeed, was found near Sheikhapura canal on Mureed Kay road in Lahore.
According to sources, Bashir received a phone call from an unknown person while having dinner at his residence. Later at night, he went missing and his body, showing signs of torture, was found in the morning.
Bashir, apart from being the head of all the security matters of the organization, was responsible for coordinating all of Hafiz Saeed’s movements. The 42-year-old Bashir had joined JuD as a worker about 25 years ago and had risen in the organisation, ultimately becoming the security head.Hafiz Saeed told The Express Tribune that Bashir was an old loyalist who had thwarted many attempts on his life. Saeed alleged that Bashior’s role in the JuD had irked certain powers, who wanted him dead.
Security for major JuD leaders was tightened as a result of the killing.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/551375/mysterious-death-hafiz-saeeds-security-chief-murdered/

svenkat wrote: Security for major JuD leaders was tightened as a result of the killing.