Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan (TSP) - Dec 30 - 2009

[Nayak]

Book review: Demolishing myths of Indo-Pak wars —by Afrah Jamal

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.as ... 2010_pg3_6

The forthcoming edition has been further amended to include additional comments by the author where he reiterates his views about the 1965 and 1971 wars, revisits 6th September to analyse what he labels as command failures at Mauripur and Sargodha and their contentious decision making process that resulted in the “avoidable loss of Squadron Leader Sarfraz Rafiqui and Flight Lieutenant Yunus Hussain” — jewels in PAF’s crown. An incident about Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas has also been updated. The botched hijack attempt has now been replaced with one attested by Group Captain Zaheer Hussain, president of Air Investigation Board, who was also the officer in charge of the original investigation. The revised epilogue has been topped off with some scathing commentary, and the nuclear godfather of the nation — Dr AQ Khan — does not come off well when it is over. The third edition is expected be on the shelves in about two weeks.

[Nayak]

Foreign investment falls 40.6pc
Saturday, January 16, 2010

KARACHI: Net foreign investment in Pakistan fell 40.6 per cent to $1.28 billion in the first six months of this fiscal year compared with $2.16 billion in the same period the previous year, the central bank said on Friday.

Out of total foreign investment, foreign direct investment fell 56.9 per cent to $1.01 billion in the first six months of the 2009/10 fiscal year, beginning on July 1, from $2.35 billion the previous year, the State Bank of Pakistan said.

But foreign portfolio investment flows reversed, with a $272.10 million inflow in the July to December 2009 period compared with an outflow of $188.30 million in the same period in 2008.

Authorities imposed a floor on the Karachi Stock Exchange benchmark index in August 2008 as political uncertainty and economic and security worries drained investor confidence.

The floor discouraged new investment and also led to a sharp outflow of funds, as foreign investors sold holdings in off-market trade.

The floor was removed in December 2008.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=218910

[shiv]

KSA and the US will bail out this failed and rogue state!

Correction RayC - they will bail out only that entity of Pakistan that will accept funds from them to do their job. In the old days all of Pakistan was under control of this entity - right now large areas of Pakistan has fallen out of control despite payments. But yes the 3.5 friends will keep paying whoever promises to do their job,

[Nayak]

K2: A Trek to Danger’s Doorstep

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/tr ... wanted=all

The experience must have affected one of my Balti porters, Abbas. Later, around midnight, he ran barefoot over the dangerous crevasses back toward the memorial, my porters told me, screaming to the dead that he belonged with them. A couple of the other porters held him down and brought him back to the tent. Believing he was possessed, they read the Koran to soothe him, but he bolted again.

MY journey to K2 had begun two weeks earlier in Islamabad, the hot, tumultuous Pakistani capital. It was a time of escalating insurgency in the Swat Valley, and tensions were high. The capital was locked down by roadblocks and terrorist threats.

Our hotel was the Islamabad Regency, a dark, unfinished structure along the main highway from the Benazir Bhutto International Airport, with mold growing up the shower curtains. It was situated in a row of apparently empty villas whose boarded-up windows signified the unfulfilled promise of a city conjured from the wilderness five decades ago. Whenever we tried to leave the hotel, we were turned back by a guard with a gun swinging from his shoulder. “Unsafe,” he would say. It was sobering to realize that climbing K2 these days meant traveling through a country at war.

Our one main foray in Islamabad was to the Alpine Club of Pakistan, in a sunless room beneath the hot, empty terraces of the Jinnah Sports Stadium. There we met Javaid Iqbal, the honorary secretary, a kindly man with white hair and a moustache, who interrogated us about our plans and lamented the fact that the number of visitors had dropped precipitously this year because of Pakistan’s political problems.

In a normal season, he said, more than 80 full-fledged mountaineering expeditions and 200 trekkers came to the Karakoram, but so far in 2009 there were only 60 expeditions and 40 trekkers. The modern tribe of globe-trotting mountaineers willingly paid tens of thousands of dollars to brave the natural dangers of the world’s highest peaks, but shrank in the face of the more sinister threat of the Taliban. Who could blame them?

We left just after midnight, creeping out of Islamabad in a white Toyota minivan, on a journey that would take us close to the Swat Valley. Our guide from Jasmine Tours, Sajjad Shah, said the unusual starting time was to ensure that we passed through the most dangerous areas at dawn, when the militants would be praying and less interested in looking for kidnap victims on the road. It was small reassurance.

Beside the climbers, I got to know the other group of people traveling with us — our local Balti porters, drawn from the mud-brick shacks in the Karakoram foothills. There was the sirdar, or chief porter, our cook and his assistant, and then the troop of basic carriers and luggers. They looked thin and frail, dressed in dirty shirts, wearing too-short pants and sneakers or flip-flops. Some were teenagers, some as old as 60. There was no way, I thought, they could lift our belongings. But of course soon they were outrunning us, picking their way expertly over rocks and up slippery passes, carrying the tents, kitchen chairs, even our smelly gas stove, and stopping to help me as I took a wrong path or floundered numbly up the most difficult ascents. Come sunrise, they dismantled our tents. We had only to carry our day packs.

By late morning, halfway through our daily eight-hour slog, they would be waiting beneath willow trees or in the shelter of a rock, the stove lighted, chicken soup and green tea boiling, offering raisins and walnuts on a silvery tray. Usually, we were at the next campsite by 1 or 2 p.m., when the porters would put up our tents and the mess tent. We had the remainder of the afternoon to rest, read, recuperate and adjust to the new altitude, all the while gazing at the wondrous peaks around us. Ashok, our cook, a good-natured man in his late 30s, prepared excellent Balti dishes, slaughtering the three white chickens the porters had carried for us in a cardboard box.

[Nayak]

Violence haunts Karachi's streets

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8461192.stm

Taliban backbone

"Yes, you will find the Taliban here," says Imran Afridi, a young Pashtun local leader.

He is speaking as he guides me through the narrow streets of Orangi.

He says that while everyone in the neighbourhood is Pashtun - the ethnic group which forms the backbone of the Taliban insurgency - not everyone is a militant.

With nearly 8 million people, Orangi is home to the majority of Karachi's working class.

But it also has a reputation as a breeding ground for sectarian and ethnic discord.

It was the main battleground between the Pashtun and Mohajir communities in the 1980s. The Mohajirs are the descendants of Urdu-speaking migrants who moved to Pakistan from India at the time of partition.

Intelligence officials say both al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders sought refuge in Karachi after fleeing the army operation in northern Pakistan.

In fact, recent media reports suggest that both Osama bin Laden and overall Taliban leader Mullah Omar are now hiding in the metropolis.

Her worst fears were later confirmed when both her brother and her sister-in-law's charred bodies were discovered.

"Our children have been telling me for years, let's leave this country," she said.

"How many [more] people can we sacrifice?"

A local police official agrees. He confirms that the arrest of Taliban militants is at an all time high.

"Most of them are mid-level commanders from Swat or Waziristan," he said.

"Almost all of them have been arrested before launching an attack, although a few have been close calls."

One of these was in January when eight militants were killed and several others injured while trying to mix explosives in a house.

The men were a mixture of Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a militant group close to al-Qaeda.

They point out that the majority of Pashtuns have been living here peacefully since partition.

"The MQM's rhetoric has labelled everyone here a Taliban," says Imran Afridi.

"You can see yourself how much Talibanisation is here," he says, pointing to a Western-style cable TV channel which is running in a nearby restaurant.

[SSridhar]

Major (Retd.) Abdur Rehman arrested

Nirupama Subramanian reports from Islamabad:

Major (retired) Abdur Rehman, indicted by the Chicago court, has already been taken into custody in Pakistan.

Military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas told The Hindu that the retired Army officer was the same person who was detained last year and is now in the custody of intelligence agencies.

The former major, who retired from service just two years ago, was picked up sometime in September 2009. The military spokesman said there was as yet no formal communication from the U.S. about his indictment, nor any requests for questioning him.

I don't buy this 'retirement' part. Either he was seconded to LeT from PA (and is now being sacrificed for the greater cause of Ummah) or this is a lie. A country who claims that AQ Khan operated independently and selfishly (that the US accepts whenever it suits it or uses it otherwise to threaten Pakistan) can and will say anything. There are friends to bale it out.

[Nayak]

“Watching the performance of others is the best way to learn the craft”- Shieva Munjal

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/ent ... 04603.html

Shieva Munjal is making debut as the lead in Jawahar L. Jairath’s forthcoming feature film “Phaans-EkJasoos Ki Kahani’. Releasing on February 5, 2010, J.C Film Productions’ Phaans is directed by A. Chitransh and produced by Jawahar L Jairath. Star cast of the film includes Kanan Malhotra, Moin Khan, Jawahar, Vidya Sinha, Raza Murad, Shieva, Reshma Modi, Amita Nangia etc. Music is by Dilip Sen.

What is your character in the film?

I am playing the character of an advocate by the name Sameera. My father Jatin is someone who has dedicated his life for the benefits of our country. But in 1978 Indian Army declares him a traitor. Unable to take such allegations, he commits suicide. To prove that my father was not a traitor, I agree to go to Pakistan as a spy, to collect some important documents that hold information about a planned terror attack as well as proof for my father’s innocence. That is Sameera’s mission. She is a strong and an intelligent girl.

[asprinzl]

Shiv, you are right. The internal polls indicate that inspite of 50 years of Hate India campaign, avg. Pakistanis rate India much more highly than Unkil. The proportion is more than 70% if only Sindhis, Baluchis and Mohajirs(30% of pop) are counted.

The pakjabis have nostalgia of 1960s when they used to say "Our roads are wider, airports are bigger and women(on TV) are better and more beautiful than yours" .
Fast forward 50 years and now the only thing bigger and larger in TSP is the no. of daily Abdul blowups.

Are you sure that they didn't say "Our women (on TV) are bigger and wider"??
Avram

[Vivek K]

Are you sure that they didn't say "Our women (on TV) are bigger and wider"??

[rohitvats]

OT Alert:

Shiv garu, any update on the Sajjad Haider Book-flight of falcon? IIRC, you're reviewing the same.....and is it available in Bangalore?

[shravan]

One die as forces’ vehicle ambushed in Rawla Kot

Saturday, January 16, 2010

MUZAFFARABAD: At least one security man embraced martyrdom as the vehicle of security forces came under attack in Rawla Kot locality of Azad Kashmir on Saturday morning, Geo news reported.

[Philip]

Paki lament.

http://www.daily.pk/cia-bunglers-or-con-men-14711/

CIA: BUNGLERS OR CON MEN?
Written by (Author ) Editorials, World Jan 15, 2010 WILL THE REAL CIA PLEASE STAND UP?

Clwon CIAWere the seven CIA employees killed in the recent terror attack at Camp Chapman in Afghanistan really CIA? Sources now tell us that some were Blackwater operatives, not CIA at all.

Is the CIA and Blackwater one in the same? Are either one or both working for the United States or has the disease of privatization created a culture of greed and incompetence that has left the United States vulnerable and defenseless? Are we simply “out of our depth” in Afghanistan?

WHO IS PULLING THE STRINGS?

Blackwater/Xe is a multinational corporation with endless divisions who, not only work for the CIA but governments and intelligence agencies around the world. No one has ever successfully penetrated their cover organizations to find who they really are or who they really represent. The Blackwater operations run from Camp Chapman could have been for anyone, Iran, Israel, India or one of their dozens of clients.

We don’t know, the CIA certainly doesn’t know, nobody knows. Was the attack that killed Americans an attack on the CIA, an attack on Blackwater or a carryover from a local drug war? All we do know is that everything we have been told is subterfuge and not necessarily meant to serve the intelligence and security interests of the United States of America.

The secret base in eastern Khost province in Afghanistan is in an area convenient to move personnel and “other things” in and out of Pakistan. The base itself is supposed to be designated for the use of USAID, a division of the State Department meant to aid foreign governments but which has been a front for covert operations for decades, one of the worst kept secrets in the world.

The camp itself is guarded by Afghani tribesmen, not US personnel. No information about their ethnic affiliations, training or qualifications is available. However, the idea of a highly secure CIA compound being guarded under such circumstances is an absurdity beyond human comprehension.

American military and civilian operations inside Afghanistan have proven to be utterly incapable of finding any group within Afghanistan to work with that is free of penetration by Taliban elements. Many lives have been lost already from numerous incidents of Afghani military, police and security personnel turning on American allies.

THE REAL FACE OF TERRORISM

The region of Camp Chapman is a staging area for terrorist operations, not only againstCIA Director Americans in Afghanistan but against Pakistan as well. Some of the terrorist groups are working for India and Israel, some for the Taliban and, frankly, most are working for both.

America and the CIA are totally out of their depth, ill informed, uninformed and being played, not only by our supposed Kabul allies, but by India, Israel and our private contractors who are playing both sides against the middle.

BLACKWATER AND PAKISTAN

Camp Chapman, now identified as a Blackwater command post near the Pakistan border has an unclear mission. Continual reports coming out of Pakistan indicate that Blackwater and/or other US contracting firms have become involved in criminal activities and terrorism.

Top Pakistani military analyst, Brigadier General Asif Haroon Raja has tied Blackwater and other US contractors to the assassination of Pakistani army officers, attacks on government installations and ties to terrorist groups who have killed hundreds of civilians.

Raja has indicated that, rather than being employed as CIA contractors in search of high profile terrorists, these contractors are working with, among others Israel and India coordinating terrorist operations meant to destabilize the government of Pakistan, America’s only military ally in the region.

If US contractors are working inside Pakistan, under cover of the CIA but actually serving the intelligence services of India or Israel, primary enemies of Pakistan, but also countries who are doing nothing to aid the US in Afghanistan, this would represent a serious threat to US security.

It has been reported that US personnel have been arrested carrying explosives and weapons near Pakistani nuclear facilities. Are they working for Israel or are they working for Iran? How would we know?

WHAT DRUGS?

Is there a danger in having unsupervised privateer mercenary operators working in the midst of the world’s largest narcotics production area? What if such a company also owned private airlines that can fly from country to country without any supervision by customs or drug enforcement organizations?

With the press filled with reports of organized crime activities tied to mercenary contractors working for the US in Iraq and Afghanistan, reports of murder, drug running, money laundering and arms smuggling, is there some possibility that tying groups involved in these acts to CIA intelligence gathering capabilities a poor strategy for success?

Why are the papers filled with accusations of every imaginable crime from mowing down civilians with automatic weapons to blowing up mosques and yet no mention of the remote possibility of participation in the regions $50 billion plus per year drug industry?

In fact, is participation in drug production, smuggling and related money laundering the only real secret we seem to be keeping?

THE BUSINESS OF FAILURE

America mourns 7 dead citizens, victims of an attack, maybe terrorism, maybe “business,” now uncertain as to who were loyal Americans and who were private contractors working for the highest bidder. CIA secrecy keeps us from knowing our heroic dead. Criminal absurdity keeps us from knowing the truth.

Decades ago, the CIA got involved with the Mafia in an attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro, someone who has outlived everyone sent to kill him.

We are told that we never hear of the successes, only the failures. However, the failures are of such a devastating and catastrophic nature, the communist takeover of Cuba, the fall of Iran and the Iran/Contra scandal, the Chile coup, bungled buddies: Noriega and bin Laden, the Russian coup against Gorbachev, Vietnam, 9/11, the Ames spy case, the Iraq War, Afghanistan and so many others, that the “secret successes” are unlikely to measure up.

What could possibly be done to take a failed organization and make it worse? We only need to sit and watch, you can be assured that everything possible, humanly and otherwise, will be done as it always has.

Is it possible that decades of claimed incompetence and bungling is simply a cover for serving masters other than the United States of America? Can 70 years of consorting with dictators, swindlers, gangsters, war criminals, drug lords and politicians have blurred the CIA’s vision?

Gordon Duff

[SSridhar]

DT Editorial explains the spat between Zardari and the PA

It's India, stupid.

GHQ remains an important factor in Pakistan’s politics and success in taking it on board is a major achievement of the president. It seems to have come as a result of a major shift in the government’s approach towards India. Delhi’s unrelenting stance post-Mumbai seems to have convinced the Pakistani leadership that there is no need to bend over backwards to appease an unappreciative neighbour, which is not interested in mending fences. Hence the ambitious peace offensive undertaken by the government at the cost of the military’s fiercely held strategic thinking has been put on the backburner, which has had a salubrious effect on civil-military relations within Pakistan. This must be welcomed.

[Dilbu]

Hence the ambitious peace offensive undertaken by the government

What peace initiative is currently going on between Indian and TSP other than the 'a man ki ayesha'? So is it TSP govt sponsored tamasha?

TSPA will be itching to up the ante in Kashmir. So expect more shoot and scoot incidents in J&K in the coming days.

[milindc]

Gwadar port is turning out to be white elephant.

TCP continues to bear huge financial losses

Such huge losses that are being borne both by government and TCP just to make the Gwadar Port operational have turned into permanent suffering for the masses who have to buy wheat and urea on unbearable rates, the experts said.
It has also been learnt that the TCP has to pay Rs 110,000 as extra cost on the off setting of every 50 thousand Metric Ton bulk cargo at Gwadar Port, while it has so far given more than Rs 5 billion since March 2008 in this regard.
Though the connectivity via Coastal Highway is available, which was used during and for the construction of Gwadar Port, now handled more than 69 thousand trucks carrying wheat and Urea weighing from 20 to 85 tons each.

[SSridhar]

300-year old historic Imambargah pulled down the Punjab despite court orders; commercial plaza constructed over the land
I haven't even heard a whimper.

Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday sought an explanation from the Punjab home secretary for allegedly failing to resolve the demolition issue of a 300-year old imambargah despite a court order.

The petitioner alleged that a group of land grabbers led by Ammad Mushtaq not only demolished the Imambargah in violation of a court order, but also started constructing a commercial plaza on the site.

[SSridhar]

Zardari on BB's assassination

To a question, the president said former Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud was a “mere character” behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

I think this is the first time he has said that others used Baitullah in the assassination.

[Akshut]

The only plus side that comes to mind is the advance in the advertising business in Pakistan, where the ballooning of the TV advertisements is reflected in the quality of TV commercials and the photo-shoots that then improve lighting broadcast - the modelling everything related to the TV screen. Bringing Pakistan at par with our Indian neighbours. This then is our silver lining.
The writer is a political analyst.

OMG!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jALeDS2UtFk (Bachhan family imitation)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH6DSWf_ ... re=related (Ad with Indian song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkU0Y9W1 ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkBg24vp ... re=related

Monotonous tortures, if anything!

[shaardula]

Junoon's salman ahmad
http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/01/sal ... d#comments

i listened to it in parts yesterday. the usual celebrity fluffiness and selfserving, how "I did this", "I did that" etc.

A couple of paki callers i heard. as anup mishra says with pakis it is always about image. same old about the wrong image. and never about the actual injustice. same with salman ahmad, that taliban flogging the girl vieo, salman called it a "mistake". i.e.e, distributing the video was a mistake, bcoz it was bad pr, log kya kahenge.

salman also how taliban has usurped what islam means. and fdm (firangi dork ...) nodded. i forget others, but chiron-ji was part of group here who dissected how nobody has ever branded taliban heretic. in anycase, nobody spoke how even salman was finding fault with the "wrong" (aka currently incovenient) interpretation of a book, when the fault really is in seeking succor in a written word, rather than experience. as long as you are seeking guidance from a written word, literalists are bound to gain primacy. so wtf is he cribbing about? again celebrity fluff and pulling wool.

[animesharma]

May be a response to aman-ka-tamasha
India is a 'mature democracy', says Al-Dus-percentilyas

But then..
India faces threat of another 26/11, likely to act militarily: Report

Several conceivable circumstances could alter this conclusion, but two stand out: "(1) India suffers additional catastrophic terrorist attacks in the midst of the crisis, driving it to intensify the conflict to a point where Pakistan's army [ Images ] determines it cannot defend the state by conventional means, and (2) Pakistan's nuclear command, as yet untested by major conventional attacks, is blinded or confused to the point that it authorises a first strike," the report stated.

[arun]

^^^ The CFR Report by Daniel Markey is available here:

Terrorism and Indo-Pakistani Escalation

[milindc]

^^^ The CFR Report by Daniel Markey is available here:

Terrorism and Indo-Pakistani Escalation

In the above report Daniel Markey has given significant coverage to re-build safety valves to release pressure after a terrorist attack from Pakis.

One lesson to be gleaned from the 2008 attack on Mumbai is that the Indian government felt tremendous domestic political pressure to take action, even if the prime minister believed that military retaliation would prove counterproductive. To help appease popular sentiment and respond to critics within and outside the governing coalition, the Congress Party leadership took several nonmilitary steps, including announcing a pause in its “composite dialogue” with Pakistan, approaching the UN Security Council to proscribe JuD as a terrorist organization, and canceling a tour of Pakistan by India’s national cricket team. In the months after Mumbai, India used many similar diplomatic “safety valves” to the point that few remain today in the event of another crisis.

Anyone still wants US made planes for MRCA

Washington’s ability to threaten sanctions becomes more powerful the more Indian and Pakistani militaries and economies are tied to those of the United States. To the extent that India and Pakistan purchase or receive weapons systems and platforms manufactured in the United States, they become tied to U.S. suppliers for parts and technologies that could be withheld or slowed by Washington.

These think tanks are devoting significant resources on developing strategies and tactics to protect Munna in case it decides to launch another attack.
So once this 'Aman ka Tamasha' campaign succeeds, and the composite dialogue process is restarted, Uncle thinks that it has another safety valve in place to release the domestic Indian pressure...
So we need to prepare for terrorist attacks once the dialogue process starts....
One wonders where the actual give ahead for terrorist attacks on India takes place...

[animesharma]

Just a curious question.. who buys fuel for all these think tanks?

[vishal]

Deepak Kapoor admits superiority of Pak army

Posting full article.

Indian Army chief has acknowledged for first time about the superiority of the Pakistani armed forces over the Indian armed forces, especially fighting capability of Pakistani forces is far more superior then the Indian forces.
General Deepak Kapoor was speaking to the media on the 62nd Army day where he said that Pakistani armed forces have 80% capability while the Indian forces have 20% capability to fight in the dark. He said India wants to have peaceful relations with its neighbors including Pakistan and China. Situation is under control of the army in the Kashmir region.

Wet dreams are made of these thoughts baby

[A_Gupta]

New Delhi, Jan 14 (IANS) As the Indian Army geared up for the 62nd Army Day Friday, its chief General Deepak Kapoor expressed concern about the force’s “night blindness” in the area of armoured corps and mechanised infantry.
“My major concern is that night blindness of the army is removed so we are able to fight in the night as in the day,” Kapoor said.

Earlier when his attention was brought to the fact that the Indian Army’s tanks have a night vision capability of 20 percent, Pakistan’s have 80 percent while China has 100 percent, Kapoor only replied: “You are right.”

“Projects are already in the pipeline to ensure that we have the night vision capability that our adversaries have. It may take three-four years,” Kapoor added.

The lack of night vision capability of the Indian Army has affected its fighting capability during the night. The deficiency has been persistent since the Kargil conflict.

More at : ‘Night blindness’ worries Indian Army http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/unc ... z0cnEkMmVB

[anupmisra]

Porkis see cup half empty

FoDP delaying committed funds

Pakistan is finding it difficult to bridge its fiscal gap after members of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP) form, who pledged over $5.6 billion economic support to help Islamabad fight terrorism last year, failed to make any project-specific commitment, delaying materialisation of required financial flows. So, my problem is your problem

Several multilateral partners had originally pledged over $2.2 billion but firm commitments had so far been available to the extent of $1.1 billion

He said except for Saudi Arabia, Japan and the US, almost all other members of the group have reneged on their commitments at least for the current year. Even the taller then the tallest.....freinds

Their (FoDP’s) only contribution so far has been to the extent of improving our writing skills as they repeatedly seek improvements in project summaries, design and portfolios even though our written/spoken english is better than the evil yindoos

Most of the projects presented to the FoDP meeting in December did not get through.

Pakistan and IMF have now come to the conclusion that disbursement of Tokyo pledges lagged behind schedule, and the amount projected to be disbursed in 2009-10 has been revised downward. Reality bites the porkis in their collective musharraf

My advice: Porkis should spend the $1.1Bn quickly before the three donors demand it back.

[anupmisra]

Irfan Hussain's wet towel
He moans about the lack of proper porki representation at the climate change summit. The title says it all.

Our place in the world

(W)ho represented Pakistan at the recent UN summit on climate change in Copenhagen? Give up? Pakistan, a nation of some 180 million people, was represented by Mr Asim Hussain. He is chairman of the National Reconstruction Bureau.

India, of course, was a central figure in the talks, and its views were solicited in every important discussion.

While our fearsome tribe of anchorpersons and talking heads threaten to topple governments, I do not recall any of them seriously discuss the issue of global climate change and its implications for Pakistan.

However, the problem goes beyond our official attitude: the media and parliament are equally preoccupied with mundane, day-to-day and mostly self-created crises. Sit before your TV and flip from one Urdu channel to another, and chances are that you will find one talk show after the other discussing nothing but the NRO, drone attacks and when the Zardari government will be sent packing.

The answer lies in our fixation with things like the NRO and the 17th Amendment.

More and more, we have convinced ourselves (with a little help from our private TV channels) that we are at the centre of the universe.

As a nation, we have become so intent in gazing at our own bellybuttons that we have forgotten that there is a world out there, and what happens beyond our borders does affect us.

The other day, I spent half an hour watching a video clip of Imran Khan being interviewed by a popular anchor on an Urdu channel. Mr Khan expounded at length on his theory of how America, India and Israel were bent on destabilising Pakistan. Drone attacks and Blackwater were the pieces of evidence that underpinned this hypothesis.

OK. enough with the hara-kiri. As always, all porki columnists resort to some kind of face-saving measures.

There was a time when Pakistan commanded a measure of respect in international gatherings. Our voice was heard, and our diplomats were seen as professionals who spoke for much of the Third World. When was that?

Under Ayub Khan and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, our foreign policy projected our concerns and our views effectively and clearly. Hey, Ayub even got an open-car motorcade ride in Manhattan

Equally importantly, India’s rise as a regional power has eroded Pakistan’s demand to be treated as an equal. The usual equal-equal BS

If the Americans were seriously interested in securing the break-up of Pakistan, why on earth would they be investing such large sums of money in us? The same reason why we fatten out farm products before we eat them!

[Gagan]

wrt the PAN Am Flight 73 hijack on September 5, 1986 in Karachi airport. This was a Bombay-Karachi-Frankfurt-New york JFK flight.

Neerja Bhanot was the famous yesteryears Charmis girl. I remember seeing all those years in that and numerous ads (She modelled for over 3 dozen companies).
She is the only female ashok chakra awardee and also the youngest at age 23.


Read more about her and the hijack here and here

And here

[Gagan]

PAN Am Flight 73 hijack on September 5, 1986 in Karachi airport. This was a Bombay-Karachi-Frankfurt-New york JFK flight.
The plane had landed in karachi from Bombay and was carrying indian and American citizens mainly it seems.

The terrorists plan was to load the aircraft with explosives and crash land it on the Israel defense ministry building. (This hijack was allegedly funded by Libiya).

There is a similar hijack, that of Air France Flight 8969 on 24 December 1994, and Algiers-Paris flight. The hijackers' plan here was to crash the aircraft onto the Eifel Tower.

During the Khalistan movement days there was intel that the pakistanis had prompted the khalistanis to Hijack an airliner and crash it onto some major building in india.

Then we all know about the Sept 11 attacks in the US.

Of the above three incidents are related to Pakistan. (Pan Am 73, Khalistani plans on India, Sept 11 attacks)
All this points towards the fact that the pakistanis have this longstanding fetish about crashing airliners onto buildings. With the recent news report about a possible big terror attack on India, and also an airliner hijacking being involved. I think one can make out the likely contours of such a planned attack.

[Satya_anveshi]

Hakimullah leader denies his death in new recording

“Today, on the 16th of January, I am saying it again -- I am alive, I am OK, I am not injured... when the drone strike took place, I was not present in the area at that time,” Mehsud said.

“After the audio I released yesterday, some people speculated and said that I did not mention the date.”

“This is propaganda of the kafirs (unbelievers). They want to weaken us through this propaganda,” he added.
Reporters familiar with Mehsud said the voice appeared to be his.

The show will go on..

[vera_k]

X-post from Indo-Israel thread.

Yes, people have been waiting for years for peace and Israeli's knew that this situation will one day come where extremists will come to power as people have lost all hope. It all makes sense of course, media is just going to have sympathy for the Israeli's, Israel has an excuse not to negotiate now. Who wins with extremists in power? Its Israel. Even the US and EU can't push Israel into negotiations now, even if Hamas has offered its hand of peace.

Am I right in thinking that a similar dynamic with Pakistan should see the Taliban in power?

[Muppalla]

Was General Deepak Kapoor's two-front statement part of the smoke or the smokescreen? - by M.J. Akbar

One of the more curious episodes in recent weeks is the indignation with which Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor's statement that India 's forces were ready to face war on two fronts simultaneously, against China and Pakistan , was received.

The Islamabad establishment has treated this as a virtual declaration of war. It is possible that the politicians of Pakistan have begun to confuse Islamabad with Delhi .

Generals in Delhi do not declare war. The Prime Minister and his Cabinet do that.

Generals have only one duty. They have to reassure the government and the nation that they will be able to protect the country even in the worst possible circumstances, and deliver on the assurance.

The nightmare scenario for India is a concerted, coordinated offensive by China across the main Himalayas , and by Pakistan on its Kashmir wedge. This is, conversely, the dream scenario of General Headquarters in Pakistan .

General Kapoor was doing his job when he made that statement.

There was a time when, to put it in the language of the Fifties, war-war was the business of generals and jaw-jaw was the responsibility of politicians.

The taciturn warrior began to disappear with the British Empire and Soviet Union ; and as American military power began to fill the strategic vacuum the greater individual freedoms of America began to permeate the Pentagon and its equivalents.

American officers took their final orders from the White House, but they had plenty to say in-between. The most recent case was last year's debate on a troop surge in Afghanistan . The Pentagon not only told the White House, which was dithering, what it wanted, but made sure the American voter and the citizens of Pakistan and Afghanistan got the message as well.

The infection has reached the stiff upper lips of Britain : generals there make demands for equipment through the media. Discipline cannot completely sanitize the military brass from the influences of the democratic spirit, and its institutions.

China did not react sharply to General Kapoor's comment, although it can hold its own in any sparring match. It may be argued that it did not need to do anything but laugh.

A little after General Kapoor's claim, the Government of India admitted, formally, that China had eaten away vast amounts of [presumably unpatrolled, or sparsely visited] border territory. Even more interesting than the government's admission was the fact that Indians seemed beyond caring.

The Opposition parties shrugged and concentrated on screaming at one another; television, which gets hysterical when a leaf flutters, had other things to do. Clearly, media reserves its visceral reactions only for its western rather than its northern border. This is maybe because the occupation of distant, barren land cannot compare, in televisual terms, with the throbbing drama of the heights and valleys of Kashmir .
Islamabad 's reaction has nothing to do with any threat from India , because there is no threat from India . India does not desire an inch of land beyond the Ceasefire Line or the international border. Equally, it will not surrender an inch of what is under its control. Pakistan, however, has built a layered case before America which boils down to this: it cannot fight all of America's enemies on the Frontier, or those who treat the Frontier as sanctuary for the conflict in Afghanistan, as long as Indian guns are pointed at its back. It needs relief in the east to fight in the west. Washington has bought this argument and Delhi has obliged as unobtrusively as possible.

Our two-front General Kapoor has quietly presided over the withdrawal of over 40,000 troops from the Kashmir valley, and their transfer to the eastern Himalayas under the cover of rising worry about China . It's very neat actually: we use China , possibly with Beijing's knowledge, to help out America in its Pakistan war.

As long as there is no change in ground realities, this game can be played to triangular, or even quadrangular, satisfaction. Alas, everyone is not playing the same game. The spurt in terrorist violence in Srinagar during the last fortnight could be aimed at disturbing this dainty strategic daisy chain. Specialists are warning of an impending attack on the Indian mainland.

The delicate diplomatic balance could crumble if Pakistan and America push too hard, and believe that they can maneuver Delhi into a final settlement on Kashmir . There is very little space for negotiations on Kashmir itself, given that Pakistan is searching a major dilution of the status quo and India , at least at the moment, will agree on only the Ceasefire Line as the solution.

Is the sudden talk of National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan being shifted to a powerless Governor's bungalow indicative of a major change in Delhi 's Kashmir policy? He was a status quoist.

Dr Manmohan Singh thinks, perhaps, that he can remobilise the constituency that cheered the nuclear deal with the United States .

That may be easier in theory than practice.

Pakistan, after all, is far more explosive than any number of nuclear plants.

[svinayak]

Our two-front General Kapoor has quietly presided over the withdrawal of over 40,000 troops from the Kashmir valley, and their transfer to the eastern Himalayas under the cover of rising worry about China . It's very neat actually: we use China , possibly with Beijing's knowledge, to help out America in its Pakistan war.

Looks like it could be even more than 100k+ troop transfer

[rohitvats]

Our two-front General Kapoor has quietly presided over the withdrawal of over 40,000 troops from the Kashmir valley, and their transfer to the eastern Himalayas under the cover of rising worry about China . It's very neat actually: we use China , possibly with Beijing's knowledge, to help out America in its Pakistan war.

Looks like it could be even more than 100k+ troop transfer

And the insight is based on what? and which additonal 100K troops does IA have in J&K which it can withdraw and to where?

[RamaY]

And the insight is based on what? and which additonal 100K troops does IA have in J&K which it can withdraw and to where?

The troop movement need not be from JK alone. The 40K troops could be part of the overall 100+K troop movement to eastern sector.

Gen. Kapoor's statement had a purpose and IMO it achieved it, before dilli-billis made their cool-down statement.

[rohitvats]

And the insight is based on what? and which additonal 100K troops does IA have in J&K which it can withdraw and to where?

The troop movement need not be from JK alone. The 40K troops could be part of the overall 100+K troop movement to eastern sector.

Gen. Kapoor's statement had a purpose and IMO it achieved it, before dilli-billis made their cool-down statement.

I'm not sure how aware you're of the Orbat of IA but here is the break down on the de-induction: 39 Mountain Division-back to YOL in Himanchal Pradesh-its peace time location;27th Mountain Division back to West Bengal/Sikkim-its original location. 27th is part of 33 Corps facing China in Sikkim, so it reverting back to its mother formation is nothing out of ordinary. It was in COIN Ops in Valley and is back to doing what it should be in first place

As for the overall 100K+ troops movement to China border/eastern sector, IA is raising new formations; without denuding the western sector, it does not have formations to move to east; unless, if we are staring down the barrel and the balloon is about to go up. Even for army the size of IA, 100K is a big number.

[Amber G.]

wrt the PAN Am Flight 73 hijack on September 5, 1986 in Karachi airport. This was a Bombay-Karachi-Frankfurt-New york JFK flight.

Neerja Bhanot was the famous yesteryears Charmis girl. I remember seeing all those years in that and numerous ads (She modelled for over 3 dozen companies).
She is the only female ashok chakra awardee and also the youngest at age 23.

BTW, she (and other crew members etc) also received "special courage award' from US (DOJ)
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/ncvrw/2006/2006bios_4.htm

Also from story (Link by Gagan)

After the daughter's death, the Bhanot family put the insurance money of Neerja in a trust — Neerja Bhanot Pan Am Trust — in which Pan Am also contributed an equal amount. Every year, the trust honours airline crew that acts beyond the call of duty and one Indian woman who has shown exemplary courage.

[CRamS]

Was General Deepak Kapoor's two-front statement part of the smoke or the smokescreen? - by M.J. Akbar


Dr Manmohan Singh thinks, perhaps, that he can remobilise the constituency that cheered the nuclear deal with the United States .

Does this mean MMS is ready to give up Kashmir to TSP?

[AdityaM]

24 yrs after Pan Am hijack, Neerja Bhanot killer falls to drone

Gagan, was your post about Neerja Bhanot prompted after reading this news? if not then what a coincidence.

[Gagan]

^
Not this particular news item. There was a discussion on the last page about her after the drone termination of one of the hijackers.

Neerja Bhanot was the person who shouted "Hijackers" and alerted the aircrew, so that the pilot and the copilots departed the plane. The hijackers then were left bargaining for a flight crew for the aircraft to take off. She then collected all the passports and hid them. She opened an escape door when the lights went out in the plane this allowed several passengers to exit the plane. Later when the hijackers started firing, she placed herself between the bullets and three young girls saving their lives.

The moment the hijacking was announced her father is reported as saying, "She is going to get herself killed". Just the way some people are - completely unswervingly dedicated to what they do.

These hijackers had a $ 5 Million bounty on them announced by the US. Looks like someone in Pakistan collected the money.