Bharat Rakshak

The party's new vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi said a decision on forming an alliance with Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League will be taken in due course of time after considering circumstances.

SSridhar wrote:Imran Khan Hints at Joining with Musharraf
Simply, wow !

The party's new vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi said a decision on forming an alliance with Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League will be taken in due course of time after considering circumstances.

So, Imran would be the PM and Musharraf, the President and the PA will be in complete control by mid-2012 ?

Hari Seldon wrote:^^^ This proposal to sell bijili to Pak is all hot air, IMHO.

Good talking points for GoI to trumpet but will magically be scuttled when push comes to shove thanks to coalition/internal/external/both constraints.

Opposition will howl the roof down if a power-deficit India exports power at cheaper-than-domestic prices. Imagine all the towns and villages suffering crippling power cuts being fed this tale. This act getting through is about as likely as consensus on the lokpal, I'd say.

Officials from the two countries have decided to trade in electricity through a specially-built high voltage direct current link between Amritsar and Lahore

In addition, talks will start in the second week of January on a 200-km pipeline originating from the Bathinda refinery to move surplus diesel from India to Pakistan. Sources said discussions at the commerce secretary level have taken place, and now specialists from the two countries would thrash out the details, when a delegation from across the border visits the country.

The Guru Gobind Singh Refinery Project - being jointly built by Hindustan Petroleum and LN Mittal's Mittal Energy Investment Pvt Ltd Singapore - is expected to go on stream shortly and add to the country's surplus refining capacity.

Aditya_V wrote:
At Sri-> This proposal should have never been brought up, and regarding Positve press we never get it in Pak and with Pak population. The Indus Water treaty has been generous, our ceasefire accords have been generous to Pakis. We have been treating them respectfully inspite of them using fake currencies, most despicable form of Proxy war against us.

Anyways, we now have Chanakyan theory I guess for this.

Over 50 parliamentarians, bureaucrats, advocates, technocrats, media men, prominent members of the civil society and politicians assembled at the National Defence University to conceptualise the contours of Comprehensive National Security. The participants of this five-week intellectual activity interacted with a resolve to ‘seeing beyond perceptions’. This group cut across all ethnic, sectarian, social, gender and political strata. All federating units, and even political parties not having seats in the Assemblies, were represented.
In the beginning, it was a rowdy crowd trapped in the shells of respective identities and perceptions engraved in stone. The learning process began with the exposure of participants to experts of all contributory fields of national security. Each discourse was followed by discussions in an environment that afforded complete freedom of expression; the participants spoke their heart out, at times, breaching the limits of logic. The academic part was followed by visits to the three services headquarters, military-industrial complex and provincial capitals. At the services headquarters, the participants questioned the senior military leadership about their spending procedures and ability to respond to security threats, keeping in view the Abbottabad and Salalah attacks.
Discussion about turbulent civil-military relations, especially with reference to the Abbottabad attack and memogate were indeed, lively interactions. Also, the lack of inter-services coordination during the attack on Mehran was thrashed threadbare. The high mark of this activity was an event when a politician mother and her son, a serving senior general, confronted each other on sticky issues impacting national security. At the provincial headquarters, interactions with government officials broadened the horizon about the way they function.
This was followed by a group exercise, ‘Qaumi Salamti’, encompassing evolving of ‘national purpose’, recasting of vital interests and formulation of strategy to tackle all major issues besetting our State, government and the society at large. Eventually, prejudices gave way to tolerance, the unruly bunch became a decent team with collective approach and due regard was given to difference of opinion. Logic began to prevail; emotional outbursts gave way to candid debate and discussion. Going by the collective wisdom became a norm. It was, indeed, a cathartic experience. The final conclusions of ‘Qaumi Salamti’ were prudent and interesting.
Paradoxically, a significant portion of the threat to Pakistan emanates from the space that lies between the boundaries of national defence domain and the outer parameters of national security. This, however, does not mean that there is no significant military threat; moreover, difficulties residing in the areas beyond the traditional defence domain are coming back in circles to further accentuate the military component of threat.
The major concerns to our national security radiate from international isolation, poor governance, shaky economy, lack of control over non-State actors, an aura of insecurity among the general public, no-go areas in the context of imposition of State’s writ, penetration of foreign influence in our domestic media, lack of our outreach to international media, and the ability of foreign intelligence agencies to penetrate into our socio-political fabric. Ambiguities as to whose war are we fighting have resulted in a huge perceptional gap between the national policy (both political and military) and public opinion. This dichotomy has the potential of tearing apart the fabric of the State. This gap is being filled by the hostile States, both regional and extra regional, to create fissures and promote separatist trends.
From the military perspective, the biggest challenge is to restore public confidence in the ability of the armed forces to provide security to the people; the Abbottabad and Salalah incidents have eroded their confidence. The next challenge is to secure our strategic assets against a false flag operation by extra regional forces. Though the judiciary functions with moral ascendancy, its vital component - the bar - has yet to learn the ropes. For example, some defence lawyers in the memogate trial are resorting to sensationalise an issue of vital importance to pressurise the State institutions, including the judiciary.
Our electronic media, too, has to attain maturity; it continues to be speculative. It has failed to evolve a robust mechanism of self-accountability. A section of the electronic media has a tendency to breach the limits of ‘media freedom’ and enter the domain of ‘media terrorism’. Once again, the coverage of memogate in some of the talk shows is indicative of the monetary linkages of some of the channels and anchors. There is a need to appoint a media ombudsman to afford relief to the victims of media terrorism and scrutinise the funding sources.
Nevertheless, a concerted effort is on to create gap between the civilian and military components of national leadership with an objective to tarnish the State’s image and paralyse the government. The army and the ISI are targets of vested interests aimed at demoralising the troops, as well as the public at large.
Pakistan, however, is not a source scarce State; most of its vows emanate from poor governance. The economy can be re-railed by tapping natural resources, improving human development indicators and making a transition from traditional to knowledge-based economy. Unrest in Balochistan can be overcome through a dual strategy of mobilising the patriotic Baloch leaders and ending the appeasement of troublemakers.
Anyway, the silver lining of the workshop was that Pakistan, indeed, has a bright future. The challenges that we face today are of transient nature, and can be overcome through national resolve and by following an approach of comprehensive national security.
Hopefully, the workshop would significantly contribute towards dispelling negative perceptions about our State institutions and cultivating sustained cordiality in the civil-military relations.

The writer is a retired Air Commodore and former assistant chief of air staff of the Pakistan Air Force. At present, he is a member of the visiting faculty at the PAF Air War College, Naval War College and Quaid-i-Azam University.

Aditya_V wrote:Yes but 500MW power when we have not electrified all our villages, powercuts in many parts of the country, Many Indian small scale large scale factories are running on generators and Chip manufacturers stating pubillically in spite of local talent they have run away due to "Power situation", isn't this a bit too generous??

pankajs wrote:Seeing beyond perceptions

Pakistan, however, is not a source scarce State; most of its vows emanate from poor governance. The economy can be re-railed by tapping natural resources, improving human development indicators and making a transition from traditional to knowledge-based economy. Unrest in Balochistan can be overcome through a dual strategy of mobilising the patriotic Baloch leaders and ending the appeasement of troublemakers.

shiv wrote:Pakistan, however, is not a source scarce State; most of its vows emanate from poor governance. The economy can be re-railed by tapping natural resources, improving human development indicators and making a transition from traditional to knowledge-based economy. Unrest in Balochistan can be overcome through a dual strategy of mobilising the patriotic Baloch leaders and ending the appeasement of troublemakers.

whaa..?

Sri wrote:PEA: Janaab I am seeking posting to our Washington consulate. Can you solve our electricity problem by media management?
SDREPD: Sure. Check out tomorrow' paper.

PEA: Thankyou
SDRPD: Mention not. Any movement on Dawood / mumbai / hafees Saeed / terrorist camps / fake currency etc?

PEA: Are joo trying for Washington too?
SDREPD: No No. I yum trying for passport office Chennai.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to challenge in the international court of arbitration a decision of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to grant carbon credits to India on a controversial hydropower project without mandatory clearance of its trans-boundary environmental impact assessment.

In December 2010, the ministry of foreign affairs said there were enough credible ground to refer the project to a neutral expert or court of arbitration, but it was obvious that the project was at the stage of fait-accompli, not due to the India’s design but careless attitude from Pakistan side and it was difficult to get a favourable outcome from the arbitration. It remained, however, unclear why ministries of law, foreign affairs and other related institutions failed to know about the Indian success at the UNFCC during 4-5 years of carbon credit approval process.

ISLAMABAD: Syed Jamaat Ali Shah, former commissioner of Pakistan Commission of Indus Water, whose name was put on the Exit Control List after it was established that he had helped and facilitated India in building a hydropower project on Pakistan’s Indus River, inflicting huge damage to the country’s water interests, has escaped to Canada.

According to Additional Secretary Hamid Ali, it was established in the report prepared by Mohammad Imtiaz Tajwar, Secretary Wapda, that Syed Jamaat Ali Shah did not play his due role and remained silent about the Nimoo Bazgo Hydropower Project (built by India during 2002- 2009) and did not raise any objections during the Pak-India meetings at the level of Permanent Indus Commission of Indus Waters.

shiv wrote:

Aditya_V wrote:Yes but 500MW power when we have not electrified all our villages, powercuts in many parts of the country, Many Indian small scale large scale factories are running on generators and Chip manufacturers stating pubillically in spite of local talent they have run away due to "Power situation", isn't this a bit too generous??

Aditya I promise to pay you US$ 100,000 if you stop objecting to the supply of power to Pakistan. Will send the MOU for you to sign and return to me. Just email me.

I have no fundamental objection to giving you the money and I am certain i won't have much trouble from my family, bank etc in dipping into their funds as well. I am your friend onlee.

Aditya_V wrote:
This is penuts, give me the real package a.k.a Zia to Jimmy Carter.

Can the package Involve Paki and Chinese withdrawal from POK and Askai Chin and Handing over to India, I would gladly accept it.

shiv wrote: Everything is on the cards including withdrawal of Indian troops from Baluchistan.

shiv wrote:

Aditya_V wrote:
This is penuts, give me the real package a.k.a Zia to Jimmy Carter.

Can the package Involve Paki and Chinese withdrawal from POK and Askai Chin and Handing over to India, I would gladly accept it.

Everything is on the cards including withdrawal of Indian troops from Baluchistan.

Water and Power Minister Syed Naveed Qamar told the National Assembly on Friday that the agreement to import 5000 MW of electricity from Iran was under process, during Question Hour.

KABUL, Afghanistan — NATO says it hopes for a quick reopening of the blocked supply routes through Pakistan because the 5-week closure is damaging the economies of both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

NATO spokesman Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson says the coalition has a stockpile of supplies that can keep operations in Afghanistan running at their current level even if those routes remain closed.

Given the high stakes involved, why don’t the Americans just apologise? In England, I notice that even when somebody accidentally bumps against a pedestrian on a pavement, both apologise repeatedly. Even if a person is not at fault, he’ll still say ‘sorry’.

The Americans have already expressed their regrets over the incident. Why can’t they just take the small step necessary to turn this into a formal apology? As they have already offered to pay compensation to the families of the dead soldiers — an offer rejected by our generals — it isn’t that an apology would have any financial implications.

“All the negative things which we heard about Pakistan before arriving here proved baseless as we found the Pakistanis very loving and caring and we don't feel for even a while that we are not in India. The Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) and specially the general masses give us so much love and respect and we are taking back very fond and sweat memories back home,” these views were expressed by Jagdish Chandar Malik head coach of Indian Boxing team in an exclusive interview with TheNation just before their departure to India.

Gerard wrote:Why’s it so hard to say ‘sorry’?

Given the high stakes involved, why don’t the Americans just apologise? In England, I notice that even when somebody accidentally bumps against a pedestrian on a pavement, both apologise repeatedly. Even if a person is not at fault, he’ll still say ‘sorry’.

The Americans have already expressed their regrets over the incident. Why can’t they just take the small step necessary to turn this into a formal apology? As they have already offered to pay compensation to the families of the dead soldiers — an offer rejected by our generals — it isn’t that an apology would have any financial implications.

Hundreds of Pakistanis enraged at severe gas shortages clashed with police and blocked the highway to Islamabad airport today. They also blocked roads leading to the garrison town of Rawalpindi. The protesters burnt tyres during the demonstration which coincided with strike announced by compressed natural gas (CNG) dealers against the recent hike in the gas price. Yawning energy shortfalls frequently trigger violent protests across Pakistan, where opposition parties are setting in motion campaigns designed to force elections earlier than scheduled in February 2013.

Virupaksha wrote:it is an H&D issue of being a super power. It shows to them who has the upper hand in negotiations.

pankajs wrote:Seeing beyond perceptions

Hari Seldon wrote:^^^ This proposal to sell bijili to Pak is all hot air, IMHO.

Good talking points for GoI to trumpet but will magically be scuttled

SSridhar wrote:

pankajs wrote:Seeing beyond perceptions

It is obvious it was a PA funded five week R&R.

It can be discussed if Pakistan withdraws from Indus Water treaty, withdraws from POK , persuades China to withdraw from Askai Chin, All Officers from 3 military wings of TSP are beheaded along with any Mullah who has made an anti-Indian comment, Dawood, IM Khalistani related folks

SSridhar wrote:

pankajs wrote:Seeing beyond perceptions

It is obvious it was a PA funded five week R&R. What conclusions did the 50-odd intellectuals from diverse sections of the society come to ? That the PA should continue with is security paradigm. That the civilian government must know its limits in initiating actions against the PA/ISI as a fallout of the Memogate. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose (The more it changes, the more it remains the same)

The high mark of this activity was an event when a politician mother and her son, a serving senior general, confronted each other on sticky issues impacting national security.

President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday took notice of the crisis and ordered the ministry of petroleum and natural resources to resolve all matters pertaining to gas shortages across the country.

The president also ordered to prohibit gas loadshedding in residential areas.

He ordered the concerned authorities to re-open the closed gas field to ensure the gas supply.

Brad Goodman wrote: Salman Ghumman was taken in to custody on December 21 by Immigration Department officials at Merlynston Station, just days after he was quizzed by authorities about phone calls made to Pakistan, NATO attacks, his movements and why he was in the country.

shiv wrote:Surinder the author is probably guilty of dramatization at best and bluffing at worst. Every single offensive weapon supplied to the Pakistan army was automatically assumed to be available to the Kashmir terrorists because India had no illusions about the separation between Pakistan army and mujahiddeen.
...
The entire idea that the US supplied Pakistan with a deadly sniper rifle and then warned India sounds ridiculous to me. What would happen after that? if someone got killed would they have said "Hey don't say we didn't warn you. You didn't take precautions." The man needs to sell his book - so he has to add masala I guess.

Aditya_V wrote:Now People have been asking why MMS and INC are sell outs. Here is an example why, when India is reeling under power cuts. Many Industries have to generate their own power, Chip manufactures have run away because of the power situation.

Jaspreet wrote: That's not enough for me.

All Pakistanis should reconvert to Buddhism.

Is this too much to ask for?

In what could be the biggest change in a decade in a relationship that has been a mainstay of U.S. military and counterterrorism policy since the 9/11 terror attacks, the United States and Pakistan are lowering expectations for what the two nations will do together and planning for a period of more limited contact.

The change described by both Pakistani and U.S. officials follows a series of diplomatic crises over the past year that strained an already difficult partnership based around the U.S. goal of stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan and a reduction in Islamic-inspired terrorism.

For Pakistan, cooperation on that agenda was rewarded with billions in financial aid. The change means less cooperation with Washington and a willingness to swear off some aid that often made Pakistan feel too dependent, and too pushed around.

For the United States, scaling down an expensive military and economic program that has not met expectations could come at the cost of less Pakistani help in ending the war in next-door Afghanistan.

Both U.S. and Pakistani officials said the November killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a NATO airstrike and Washington's refusal to outright apologize for the deaths has been a game changer in a relationship characterized by mistrust and mutual acrimony.